Diva's Challenge and Bookmarks

Bookmarks

When my niece turned 4 (almost a month ago) she got a really beautiful book of fairy tales.  I decided then to make her a colorful bookmark so she would know which story her mom was reading her in the evening.

I made a few for myself years ago from pieces of painted canvas, and I absolutely love them.  They have been bent, folded, and even dropped in bath water several times, and they still look like new!

Since the bookmarks came from the same piece of painted canvas, I made one for Rowan and one for her mom.  Rohan's had to have beads, of course :).  I made the large beads with a Paper Source catalog and UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel) years ago; the hearts were printed from hand-carved stamps (and sequin waste on Raquel's little hearts).

Diva's Challenge

Somehow I couldn't find the time last week to participate in the challenge, but I found a few minutes last night to create a tile this week.  The Diva's #160 challenge was to use a spiral as your string.  I had fun with it :)  Please take a look at all the other participants' art; it is really inspiring.

Diva's challenge, Teabags, and Coloring Pages

Diva's Challenge #158: Duotangle: Diva Dance + Crescent Moon

I had never tried to stick to 2 tangles on a tile or ZIA (Zentangle Inspired Art).  I must say it was challenging!!  I kept wanting to add others for interest and contrast!  Well... I did it, but now looking at it, I would have liked to have left some space between the shape in the middle and the one on the right.  Oh well... I keep learning :).  For instructions on this challenge and to see the beautiful art others have created for it, please click here.

Teabags

Since I love tea, I have a lot of used teabags around :).   I keep wanting to experiment with them, so here are my latest created a couple of nights ago.

The flowers were printed from hand carved blocks with acrylic paint.  The red in the front, and the white in the back.  The outlines were also added some in the front and some in the back.  This is a "one-ply" teabag - meaning, I opened it up completely.

Same process as above.  Ah!  Forgot... the pinkish tone around the border and flower was added with  colored pencil.

These are "2-ply", meaning the tea bags are intact except for a torn piece along the top where I got the tea out.  Again, I used some of my hand-carved blocks to print the designs with acrylic ink.  I then added some details with black and white pens, colored pencil, and a touch of copper paint.

I may also to varnish them or use gel medium so they are not as fragile.  I do like the feel of them as they are, though...

Now the question is... what do I do with them?  Cards?  Put a bunch of them together and create one piece?  Any ideas?  I'm completely open to suggestions.  

Coloring Pages

I love to color and paint, and I often use the same design to try different color combinations or media.  I decided to create pages of some of my designs and add them to my Etsy shop.  People can just download them and start coloring or painting right away.  So, yesterday I added my first coloring page from one of my tile designs inspired by Portuguese tiles called Azulejos.  I have a blog post about those here.

Tile design "Swirls" in my Etsy shop ready to be downloaded, then colored or painted.  It would look great tangled, as well!  Click the picture for the link

Diva's challenge #157 Charlie (2)

I was not so thrilled with the other entry for the challenge; it was one of those days where everything you try isn't quite right.  So, I gave it another try today and I'm happier with this tile.  For instructions on how to draw Charlie by Erin Olson, please click here.

Diva's Challenge (#157), junk mail houses, and meet Rainbow!

Diva's Challenge

This week's challenge was to try a new tangle created by Erin Olson called Charlie - instructions here.  I've seen some amazing art created with it in the Diva's blog!  Check it out; it is worth it!  I'm always so inspired by all the creativity!

After another day of looking for a job (hardest job I have ever had!!), my mind was spent, so it was time to relax a bit and try this new challenge.  I'm not thrilled with it, but... it will have to do for now :) (ATC size this time)

Junk Mail Houses

In the last couple of weeks I have been saving some junk mail and using it to paint backgrounds.  I have lots of painted papers created with many different techniques, but unfortunately they are in storage at the moment, so... needed to create some new ones.  With limited supplies as well, this has been a challenge, but a very fun one.  During one of my short breaks (sometimes as short as 10 minutes), I will gesso a piece, or paint it, or stamp it, or add some doodles.  Little by little my stack of junk mail is becoming quite a colorful and interesting collection of painted papers. 

So... having my great-niece's 4th birthday party last Sunday, I grabbed some of these painted papers and made her a card.  I had a lot of fun with it, as you can tell!  The houses open and the sky and clouds are on the inside of the card.  The sky is actually a piece of tissue paper.

Meet Rainbow

As I mentioned last week, I made another bunny.  This one was for Rowan (the now-4-year-old great-niece), and they met last Sunday.  Within a minute, the bunny had a name: Rainbow :).  This one was much easier to make than the first one as I didn't have to undo and redo pieces of it quite as many times :)