Challenge 216 Brella

The Diva's challenge this week (here) was to use the tangle Brella created by Bunny Wright. 

I am not going to have much time this week and I wanted to do the challenge, and play a bit in my mini accordion journal I posted about last week (here).  So, I decided to do this week's challenge in 2 of the pages - that's why it is so colorful :)

This is probably my shortest post ever, but it is content that counts, right?  :)

Enjoy your week!

Challenge 215 and Quick Accordion Journal

Challenge #215 - Labyrinth

This was quite a fun challenge (here); I learned how to draw all different kinds of labyrinths :).  It was so much fun!  The idea was to draw a labyrinth as a string and then tangle away :)

Here is mine.  I think that I would have liked to have made the spaces between the walls wider and less patterned so that it would be easier to walk the labyrinth.  Oh well... next time :)  I went with a leaf shape, but if I turn it upside down it could also be a heart.

I made it extra large today so you can "walk" the labyrinth if you want :)

Quick Accordion Journal

A few years ago a bunch of people at work were moving to another floor, and lots of office supplies were being dumped.  I asked if I could take a couple of sheet protector packages, and the admin told me to take anything I wanted.  Oh boy!!  I got lots of transparencies, some sheet protectors, tent cards, brochures, labels, etc.  

I have used lots of transparencies and have started using some of the sheet protectors to keep my home made stencils.  But I had not found a use yet for the tent cards and they are made with good heavy paper.  So, after the envelopes last week, I decided to try to see how the same technique would work on these tent cards, and then use them for a journal or something like that.

It took no time at all to paint them on both sides.  I used 2 tent cards for this - one in blue tones, the other in red tones.  I then cut them up in 3 equal parts and put them together with come washi tape I had gelli printed a while ago.  It really cannot get much easier than this :)... and it is so colorful!

Now it is ready to tangle on :).  I have started on one of the pages already.  Here are a few pages close up.

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 #212 and Pattern Inspired by Indian flower

Challenge #212: "UMT: Fanz by Susan Goetter"

This week's challenge was to use the Fanz tangle created by Susan Goetter - you can see step-outs through a link in the Diva's challenge page here.

I loved this tangle (the one on the top right) as it is very forgiving.  I decided to try out a few variations, but you can just have them quite plain and it looks really nice!  I can't wait to see everyone's entry in the challenge - they are always so inspiring!

Pattern Inspired by Indian Flower

When I was in India last month, I had a weekend "free" and visited several temples and palaces near Bangalore.  As my mind has been stuck on patterns recently :), I took some pictures I would hope would inspire me to create new designs. 

I have not yet created anything with the patterns other than sketch some of them, but saw the sculpture of a flower, that inspired me to create this very simple hand-carved stamp. 

When you print it all the way around (4 times) you get this pattern - and you can see the flower in the center.

If you print it again but with the "flower center" towards the outside corners this time, you end up with a very different pattern (I love this one).

I tried it out again, now printing it 4 times across and 4 down, starting with the flower center at the corner.  You can see how different it looks from the one below where the stamp was pointing the other way.  These were finished with colored pencil, pen and ink, and Sakura gel pens 

(to highlight the shapes - cross vs. flower)

This next set is the same, except these were painted with H2Os (shimmering watercolors) and finished with pen and ink.

Challenge #210 and Back from India

Challenge #210 - "Spiralstring - that's the thing!"

This week's Diva challenge (here) is to use a spiral as your string.  I went with a Bijou tile (2 x 2 in), and had some fun.  After 2 weeks of doing nothing art related, it was really fun to get back to it.

I'm sure there are gorgeous tiles from the other participants; this is such a talented group!!  They inspire me all the time.  If you want to check them out, click on the link above and see all the other entries.  I try not to look at them until after I've posted mine, otherwise I may change my mind :)

Back from India

I spent a week and a half in India (Bangalore) on business.  It was a very, very busy business trip with very long days and very short nights :).  Anyway, I had a very good time meeting the people I work with every day, and it was all worth the exhaustion I feel now.

I took some pictures while I was there and  I'm sure I will be making something with them - stamps, stencils, and drawings/sketches.  It will be a lot of fun.

I was amazed by the colors everywhere, even in one of the local fruit/vegetable/flower markets.  Here are a couple of pictures I took there; don't you love all the colors and how everything is displayed?

I saw her across the street and
had to capture her and her choice of backdrop :)

Challenge #207 and Making THE Card

Challenge #207 - Unbatz by Sandy Hunter

I absolutely loved this new tangle; it is one of those really fun ones that you can't mess up.  OK... you can, and I did (every single time), but you can't really notice it too much :).

You can see here the challenge with a link to the step by step instructions.  Definitely try it, if you haven't yet!!  So easy and fun!  Unbatz is the whitest of the tangles below and a variation on the tallest mountain.

I used a hand-carved stamp I created last year for the mountains, traced them with a sepia micron pen, and then had fun tangling inside the mountains.  Then had this crazy idea of tangling the sky and leaving the moon white :).  This was done on an ATC sized Bristol paper.

Making THE Card

I have a little niece who loves to make cards for people on their birthdays.  On my last birthday, I got an awesome one, and was asked if I would please make one for her on her 5th birthday :).  She said she loved the one I made her last year (here) and was really looking forward to her next one.  That was 5 months ago! 

So, I had to make her something special.  I started out with getting out my Gelli Plate.  You can see below how I had everything really organized when I first started :)

• Mark making recycled items on the right
• Acrylic paint all lined up behind them
• My 6x6" Gelli plate
• Some hand-carved stamps, a couple of my home-made stencils
• brayer
• Different types of paper
• baby wipes
• container with water (the black thing next to the paints) to put my hand-carved stamps in after using them

Let me just say that's not how this table looked after an hour or two :)... it looked like a hurricane hit!  But I did get a lot of fun prints; here are some of them (including one of my cats' tail).  The one I ended up using for Rowan's card is the pink /blue one on the left (in the middle).  It was printed on both sides - on purpose :)

I cut the bottom piece for the card, stamped a bit more on both sides with my hand-carved stamps, and then added more details with acrylics, colored pencils, sparkling pens (which she loves), watercolors, pen and ink, and a Sharpie for the edges.  When I folded it to make an accordion book, because it was thick bristol paper, it cracked and it looked awful.  So... I cut it, added eyelets, thread, and... done :)

Challenge 206, a Card, and a New Stencil

Diva's Challenge 206

This week's challenge was really, really challenging!  It was to do the challenge using a tool we would normally not use with Zentangles.  So, I used a script liner brush, and a waterbrush (has water in the handle) for the solid parts.  The shading was truly a challenge with the liner brush!!!  The control is just NOT there... lol.  Anyway, here it is:

The Card

For some reason, it is now expected that I make a card on family's birthdays.  Last weekend was one of my son's birthday party (late because of all the snow we've been having).  I find it really hard to make cards for men, so I try to think of things they like and go with that.  Last year was a moose (that also ended up on a mug for Christmas :)), this year was his cat that is more like a puppy dog - follows him around like one :).

His name (the cat) is Vincent and I carved this stamp of his eyes a few years ago.

A New Stencil I Designed and Cut

My Dad posted a picture of an iron gate that I found really beautiful.  After seeing that, I drew a repeat pattern on a piece of Tyvek (inspired by the gate, but not the same), cut it out and tried it out.  I loved it, so then I cut a stencil from a transparency and tried it out on a painted journal page.  I think I will have a lot more fun with it (once I find a little time :)).