Tangling

Still not managed to work out how to add a new post to a tabbed page but I've added a bit more ZIA to my Zentangle page.  When I see them enlarged on the screen it is a bit scary because I can see every 'wobble' and some poor filling in both of which are less evident on the small page of the original. I must try and slow down a bit and take more care with my lines although the hand isn't as steady as it was in my younger days .  I have tried the white card recommended by Paula (thanks for sharing the results of the tests on various papers and pens) and the solid areas do seem easier to execute than they were on my original sketch book paper.

Make My Monday Challenge

The colour wheel challenge continues on Make My Monday and this week we are asked to use analagous colours and specifically the BLUES which lie next to each other on the colour wheel.

I selected a piece of light blue paper from my stash and stamped some swirls around the edge, added  ink to one side of the Blooming Season embossing folder from Craft Concepts and embossed some white card to make the next layer.  I then cut a labels shape with  a Nestability die and swiped it through some watered down Distress ink, then inked the Agapanthus Cluster stamp (Stampendous) with two colours of ink, spritzed with water and stamped twice onto the shape..  Final additions were some Marianne die cut swirls, a greeting and a flower made from a die cut and a couple of odd ones left in my embellishments box. It's been interesting working these colour wheel challenges and there's one more to come this month before they move onto a different theme.

Shambala Style Bracelet

Who remembers macrame?  It was very popular in the sixties and seventies and I must have made countless plant pot holders, wall hangings, bags et al using huge wooden beads and heavy string.  Last week I caught a few minutes of a demonstration on jewellery making on the TV and it was macrame all over again but with very fine cord (1mm) and glitter-ball beads which I think is where the term Shambala comes in but not sure on this.   I don't actually have any of the glitter-ball beads - yet - but did find some 1mm cord knocking around and as you can guess I have loads of other beads so I just had to have a go, hoping I could remember how it was done.  This type of bracelet has a sliding section so that it can open up to slide over the hand and then you just pull the two small bead ends to close it although I'm not quite sure how you can pull both ends once it is on the wrist - it's not a style of bracelet I've tried before.  I had to resort to one hand and one mouth.  It was really nice to revisit macrame again and it is much more my style to work with fine thread on a smaller scale.  When I can get some more fine cord I will be using up some of my oddments in beads to make a few more and of course starting with longer lengths necklaces could be made too.

Simply Stampin' Challenge 69

There is a theme challenge at Simply Stampin' this week and one of my favourites - VINTAGE.  After giving it some thought I decided to go along with the obvious choice of using SU Vintage Vogue stamp set which I've combined with other suitable items.  Background paper was from Tim Holtz Shabby Vintage pad. The details are:-

Vintage Vogue - flowers stamped and cut out, also sentiment cut with SU label punch
Vintage wheel - stamped across background to form a border
Notably Ornate - label stamped and cut out
Framelits die cut run through a Textured Impressions embossing folder
Quickcitz dies - cameo and oval
SU ink pad - Simply Suede
Tim Holtz - Distress ink pad Tea Dye
SU card - crumb cake and simply suede

For Two challenges

Hopefully I'm catching up with myself a bit but only because I was awake soon after four this morning with no chance of getting back to sleep so I decided to get up, have breakfast and then into the craft room.  Mind you it feels like almost lunch time now (or at least elevenses!!).  I think I'm in time for the Make My Monday challenge which is to use the complimentary colours of  PURPLE AND YELLOW  and because I've used an embossing folder which has lain unused for such a long time and a small dragonfly X-cut punch equally neglected I am putting this card in for Judith's Forgotten Friday challenge as well. Background paper was a piece from my scrap box and of course the die cuts and punched elements used more scraps.  Embossing folder is from Cuttlebug, as is the word die, the large dragonfly was cut with a Sizzix die and Memory Box Tessatina die for a border.. The yellow card is from Coredinations whitewash range and has been sanded and inked with Lemonade Distress ink to bring out the colour.

I'm off now for early elevenses!!

Zentangle Inspired Art

Another tangle has been added to my Zentangle page.  Hopefully I will be able to catch up with some of my usual challenges tomorrow before it is too late - this week seems to have passed me by far too quickly somehow.

Twinchie challenge week 2

The challenge this week on the Twinchie blog is SUMMER - what summer I say - it has been raining steadily here again although thankfully looking a bit brighter now.  Anyway back to the twinchie and for a bit of fun and because I seem to be having a muddled week somehow I had a very quick play in Craft Artist and produced a summer scene which I then shrunk down to the regulation 2" size.  With hindsight I think I should have started with a square of the correct size but sadly more time to play at the moment - some weeks are like that I find. All in all this wasn't terribly successful but at least I've managed one challenge so far this week.

Edited to add one which is a bit more colourful and I started with a 2" 'canvas' on the screen in Craft Artist - pure fantasy of course and very quickly cobbled together.

This one looks smaller but in fact prints out at exactly 2"