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By Marissa Hanson

Boredom during the COVID-19 pandemic launched a new opportunity for one Lake Mills teenager. 

Anna Stene, daughter of Andy and Kendra Stene, is 16 years old and is going into her sophomore year of high school. 

Anna said she made a coloring book inspired by her interest while she was bored. 

“I like the outdoors and I was bored during COVID so I started drawing stuff,” Anna said. 

She drew things she was interested in and said the drawings just came together. 

“There are tree houses, outside activities and campers,” Anna said. 

“It’s all nature based,” her mom added. 

The teenager said it was her mom that sparked the idea for the coloring book.

“I have always liked art and I really like painting,” Anna said. 

“Her father’s family is all very artistic — that’s who she gets it from,” Kendra Stene said. 

The book includes 11 coloring pages put together with a spiral binding, which makes it easier to use, along with a plastic cover and a cardstock back page, the mom said. 

She said if people are interested in ordering one, they can send her a message on Facebook at Kendra Stene.

The books cost $16 each. 

The teen’s coloring books are also helping raise money for the Humane Society of Northern Iowa, and for each book sold, $2 is donated to the organization.

Though they started the book as something fun to do, Anna said right now they don’t have any other plans with it, and art remains a hobby. 

“We just started this as a fun thing but a lot of people have been interested in it,” Kendra Stene.  “It’s a children’s coloring book because of how big the drawings are, but we’ve had some adults order them for themselves.”