Challenge # 182, Stamp Fun, and New House

Challenge # 182

This week's challenge (here) was pretty simple: stripes.  So, rather than go with straight stripes, I twirled them (OK... maybe just in my mind).  I wanted to use tangles you wouldn't usually associate with a stripe, and I had fun, as usual.

More Stamp Fun

This week, I barely had time, but did have a couple of hours to relax last weekend.  So, I played with a print I had already painted with watercolors, and outlined with ink (you can see it here).  So I added a lot more pen work, a bit of shading with watercolors, and some colored pencil.  I think that's it for this one:

I also wanted to stamp some of these on fabric and try some embroidery.  I don't know much about embroidery, but as usual, I'll make it up as I go along and will learn what I can from the internet and books.

So, I grabbed a pair of my son's old jeans, cut a piece, stamped it, and started working on it while watching TV with my husband.  I have not gotten very far yet, I will post pictures next week.

New House

The closing on the sale of our condo and purchase of our new house was scheduled for yesterday.  Unfortunately, the buyer of our condo could not secure a loan with the lender he had chosen, so it didn't happen.  The good news is that it seems he will get it from another lender, and therefore it is just a matter of a couple of week's delay (WE HOPE!!!).  So, this week it was all about getting some info to help with the lender, and undoing everything we had already set up for the move.  So... not much time for anything else.

Last weekend, though I wanted to check out the reservation 1 block from our new house.  I loved it!  We only spent an hour walking and hiking, but we loved what we saw; a really beautiful place.  Here are a couple of pictures I took with my phone, not great pictures but I think you will be able to see what I mean.

I'm feeling so lucky to have such beauty and inspiration so close to my new home!  Let's hope it all works out soon :)

Challenge #181 and Play with hand carved stamp prints

Challenge #181 Water

This week's challenge was to use water in your tile; either water tangles, watercolors, or... anything else you can think of water related.  You can see the challenge description here. 

I went with another Bijou (trying to get used to the size), a couple of water tangles (Waves and Agua), and a lot of fun :)  Since I didn't get a Summer vacation, this will have to do :)

And here are my first 3 Bijou's so you can see the size:

Play with Hand Carved Stamp Prints

As it is getting closer to our move (a bit over a week) free time is almost non-existent.  So, I just grabbed some of the printed hand-carved stamp patterns I still have around, and played with them.

This is one of the triangle repeat stamps I carved for the workshop.  You can see the original print here.  I added some details with black Micron, white, and purple gel Sakura pens.  The print had already been painted with watercolors.

That's it for today.  I'm working on a couple more, but they are not ready yet.

Have a fun week!!

Challenge #180 and Well Inspired Stamp

Challenge #180

First of all... THANK YOU to all you wonderful people who leave such nice comments on my posts.  I absolutely love getting comments, reading them, and answering them.  With my lack of time lately I have not been able to answer as many as I'd like, but know that I really, really appreciate them.

This week's challenge (here) is to use the tangle MacDee by Anneke Van Dam.  I went with another little 2x2 inch tile again this week - I'm trying to get used to the new size :)

Well Inspired Stamp

I love the Well tangle, and a few months ago I carved two little stamps so I could play with the tangle in different ways.  You can see a couple of the prints in this post.  I still like these as I can do different things with them.

When I got home on Friday, I decided to create a bigger stamp with 2 squares to make the Well pattern.  I added a few other shapes to the stamp as well; I hope you enjoy it.

Created this card for a friend's birthday on Saturday.
Here I just outlined the bigger shapes painted with watercolors.

This one (SIL's birthday) was also painted with watercolors,
but I added a lot more detail with some tangles thrown in :)

After giving those 2 away right after I was done with them, I decided to make one for myself :)

Just a little test with the first print and Inktense

Challenge #179 and Apple / Pig Nose / Alien Carved Stamp

Challenge #179

Diva's challenge this week was to create a 2'x2' tile... ok... that's really little!!  You can read all about Bijou's story, the challenge, and the new small, fun tiles here.

So, I cut a few 2x2 inch squares from Bristol paper, and thought for sure I would only use 1 tangle per tile.  Hmmm... it didn't turn out quite like that, did it?  I spent about the same time as I do on a larger tile, and by the time I was done I was not thinking about the size of the tile anymore.

Size relative to mechanical pencil - tiny, isn't it?

Apple / Pig Nose / Alien Carved Stamp:

So, to relax this last weekend, I decided to carve a triangle stamp, that when printed together would form a pattern.  Well... it turned out really weird :)... and it made everyone at home think of completely different things when looking at it.

This is the original printing of the triangle stamp

And this is the same print after having been painted with watercolors, and outlined with pen

So, what does it make you think of?  I think of apples, but my husband and son came up with aliens and pig noses :)  I had fun, anyway :)