Challenge 238 and Tree Stencil / Mask

Challenge 238

This week's challenge was to learn and use the tangle Tri-bee created by Beate Winkler.  You can see the instructions and the challenge here.

I probably should have practiced it before I grabbed the tile, but... that's the way it goes :).  I did have fun with it.

Tree Stencil / Mask

I have been thinking for a while that I would like a tree stencil, mainly to play around on the Gel plate.  I felt really courageous one afternoon and cut it with an X-acto knife.  I wanted to end up with a stencil and a mask, but... when I picked up the stencil, 2 big pieces just fell from it :(.  OK, so now I have a tree mask :).  Next time I have to be a bit smarter with my design, and not get so close to the other branches.  

Still... here are a couple of gel prints I got from a quick session last Sunday.

 

Challenge # 214 and Envelope Swap

Challenge #214 Earth Day

The challenge this week is quite obvious by the title :)  You can see The Diva's challenge and everyone's entries here.  I haven't taken a look yet, but I'm sure they are wonderful as usual.

My entry is quite simple... I tried to use tangles I rarely use or have not used in a long time a  I had a lot of fun with it. 

Envelope Swap

I was asked if I wanted to participate in a painted envelope swap.  It sounded very interesting and challenging as I have never been involved in one or seen very many around.  So, I decided to go for it, and was actually surprised how much fun I had creating these envelopes.  There are a lot of pictures coming up, so you can skip them if you're not interested :)

Instead of using bought envelopes, I decided to make my own so they can be colorful all over.  So, I grabbed some Americana Satin paint and an old credit card and got color on both sides of printer paper (and 2 deli papers as well, just to see how they would turn out).

As you can see... completely random and... not pretty :)

Here are the same papers, now cut into the envelope shape from a template I created.  Once cut, I grabbed some of the stencils I designed and cut, and with a cosmetic wedge and some of the same paint, got some designs and shapes on top of the painted paper.

Starting to look a bit more interesting
with a stenciled layer

How they are looking now folded and glued.  You may see some others here as I was trying some with regular Americana acrylic paint (not satin).  I like the feel of the satin paint better, it feels smoother to the touch, so those are the ones I used for the swap.

Front of envelopes waiting for the next layer

Next each envelope was stamped with a couple of hand-carved stamps to add another layer, and a bit more interest (maybe too much in some cases :)).  Then I grabbed pens, brushes, H2Os, Inktense pencils and started playing.  This is what I ended up with.

Front of envelopes after all the playing -
deli paper envelopes are on the top (middle)
and the one on the bottom.

Some other views of the finished envelopes.

Instead of writing my name and information on the envelopes, I saved some of the paper each was created with, stenciled something on one side and wrote the info in the back.  

I hope you enjoyed looking at these colorful envelopes and cards.  It was my first try, but I really enjoyed the process and it worked well with my lack of time (a few minutes here... a few minutes there...)

Challenge and Carved Tree and Houses

Challenge

This week's Diva's Challenge (here) is to use variations or tangleations of Rain, an official Zentangle tangle.  You can find the step outs for Rain here.

I had a lot of fun playing around with variations in my sketchbook.  I then decided which of the variations to use and created my tile.  I added a background tangle and once I was done the Rain variation had blended so much into the background that it was all a big mess.  So, I decided to color the background with colored pencil, and that made Rain stand out a bit more.  

I'm probably going to do another one with the other variations I created, especially since I'm not so thrilled with this one.  Comment away !  :)

UPDATE:  I did create a new tile with a couple of other Rain tangleations

Carved Tree and Houses

In the carving workshop this week, I had fun with carving you-complete-me type of stamps.  I went for a tree and houses.  

So, these are the prints of the individual blocks. The house blocks were carved on cheap erasers; I just wanted to try it out.

Unfortunately I had so much fun with them, I haven't carved "real" ones yet :).  I started out with this one:

Then created another one with the tree and had a lot of fun adding in details :).

Before - with just the printed blocks

After - with details

Completely fun and funky :)