Tuesday, June 25, 2013

My take on 'tangle



I have never figured this blogger thing out and when I put up all these "Zentangle" photos, I thought I should make use of this empty space since I have trouble moving the photos around. This zentangle stuff is making patterns, one stroke at a time. It breaks them down into easy strokes and even someone like me who can't draw, can make stunning things - at least I am pleased with them. The materials I used are ones that I had. I felt the tiles when I was at a show and they are similar to drink coasters - they are nice and thick. I have scads of Gina K white card stock since that is what I used to learn copic coloring on. I tried lots of things in the beginning. The ink sits on the top and doesn't blend super well, but it doesn't bleed either. I use it when I can't put something behind. It doesn't bleed thru either. I do a huge amount of blending now and when you get too much ink on the Gina K, it builds up and shines. Do not like that. But I did learn how the ink works very well. I went from that to Staples card stock which is fairly thin but if you are careful, blends great. I use the simply smooth (which I now think is made by Bazzil) or xpressit which is the
copic cardstock.
For these zentangles, since I didn't realize they would come out so good, I used the staples card stock as it is so cheap and I have lots of it for making card bases. I use it for about everything. I have found that my favorite pen to use is the new sharpie pen. I have lots of the Sakura pens left over from my quilting days and I like them but I like the Sharpies more. They are about half the price, too. Maybe even less. You can get online and find instructions for about all the patterns that are official. There are even some you tubes. I find its much better for me to start with someone else figuring out how best to make that pattern. As I copy it into my book (will tell you shortly), I have the chance to make notes and write better ways for me to make the pattern. Like direction I am drawing - maybe bottom up works better.
So any of you who follow me, know I keep notebooks for my supplies. I have a notebook for my stamps which is organized by type - flower, people, words, things, animals.
I have a notebook for my dies. That is organized by type and on the page I have where I keep that particular die. I am still not thrilled with my die storage as I need to keep everything moveable. So this notebook  for the zentangle patterns is just a blank one that I have drawn the patterns in. I could have used a notebook - looseleaf but I started with a little blank book that would be handy to travel with. Go to www.tanglepatterns.com and splurge a tiny bit and buy their electronic book of patterns. It works so nicely and takes all that looking online for patterns away. You click on a picture of the pattern you want, it takes you online to where it shows you step by step. I am only in the "c"'s! I do look ahead for patterns when I am filling shapes in though. This one is a very inexpensive art.The shading on all of these was done with pencil. I don't know why they photographed so oddly. I am going to post some of my cards for Operation Write Home. I made quite a few lately and need about 15 more to fill my box so I can send them. I am thinking of making Christmas cards next. I think that deadline is in

October sometime. I took photos of most of them. There are some very similar to others, so I didn't take photos. Hugs to you all, Barb F

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Various Odds n Ends

 First is a graduation card for a guy. I used my copics to color Edwin and then cut him out. He is on dimensionals.  Most of this card is from a page kit that is a couple of years old. Since we have so many grandchildren - lots of ages, I pick these things up when they are super cheap and just hang onto them until I need them. Of course, you have to like most everything in that pack. I probably will never make a page from any of it, but it sure works well for cards. This is actually the second card I made with this kit and I do have quite a bit left - even the stickers. I glittered stuff up with stickles and that was about the size of it.
This one to the right is the inside of the card. I was really pleased with it and too late realized that it could just as well have been the outside! The background on the outside was actually fussy cut so that it actually had whole words even though Edwin is in front of part of them. After I put the gray banner sticker on, it looked so plain, so I put the grad's name on it using stickers that also came with the kit.




This one is the anniversary card I made for DH. Those little houses are made of wood and colored with copics that I chose to match the colors in the star paper. Finding that paper was a happy accident! It was among a bunch of sport papers that I have never found a use for - it is now missing all the stars!! I love that shape for some reason. That banner is from a spellbinders die and I actually cut two of them. One was white. I arranged my stamp greeting on the white one and cut out the entire front. I thought it would look so nice on the red, but it didn't. Then I colored it very lightly with Tim Holtz vintage photo and cut it out close to the letters. After I glued it on, I added
glossy accents over the letters and really liked the way it came out. That car is from a Sizzix movers and shapers die. It can be cut if you have just the tray which I bought early on so I could use those cute little shapes. Before I cut though, I embossed a piece of card stock with a new Tim Holtz embossing folder. It looks like the diamond tread that is used on trucks where people might walk so they don't slip. I colored it with the pewter TH paint that just finally became available and let it dry. Then I cut the car out. It looked ok but I added a small piece of red card stock behind the windows and stickled them. Then I really liked it. The "road" is just a piece of wavy cut card stock. You can draw the shape on the back so you know it will have gentle curves. The line is done with a unibol white gel pen. It is the whitest white and flows so very nice. The inside heart is cut from a spellbinders heart die and then I cut out the love which is a mover and shaper die. If I had to do this again, I would cut the word out first and then place the heart die where it needed to be.  I got very lucky and it actually came out for me. I added some white colored with vintage photo behind the words so it would match the front lettering. And it looked plain so I added the dots of stickles. The bottom houses is from a sizzix on the edge die. I absolutely love that die and have probably used it more than almost any other I have. You can set it several inches above the edge of your paper if you wish or right on the edge or anywhere in-between. I have cut this out of chipboard and painted it for embellishments but this one is cut from the star paper and glued to a red piece of paper. The dice are from a cheap flat sticker that I stuck to card stock, cut out and put on dimensionals, also stickled the dots. The winner is a purchased sticker.
This is a new page in one of my art journals that I thought I would share with you. Lets start with the background. I used a spellbinders die as a stencil. It cuts out dresses. It is a new die for me and I also bought the stamp set that goes with it and haven't had a chance to use it at all. So I thought why not? I colored the background with distress inks and if you look closely you will see 3 different dresses. The leaf stamp at the top is from a Dyan Reavely set (as is the turquoise dress and hat). The other leaves are from a Heartfelt Creations set. The purple flowers are stamps and dies (Asters) also from Heartfelt Creations. I stamped that hat and dress directly onto the page and also on card stock that I colored with copics. Cut them out and glued them where I stamped them on the page. The reason to stamp on the page is that it will not only tell you where to glue your image but also if you cut any of the black edge off, it won't look like it.  And then added stickles. That dark blue at the top is something bled from the back of the page. See that cool line by the spiral binding- it is from the same set as the leaves at the top.
I have been learning zentangles lately and it is about the most relaxing thing you could ever imagine. Very similar to doodling only it is making patterns one line at a time. At least that is my take on it. I bought an online book of pdf's that is the neatest thing - it takes you directly online to where each pattern is laid out (how to create it). you will find it at Tanglepatterns.com. They ask for a really small amount of money for this book so they can continue to support this art form. I can't believe how very pretty most all of my things are. And it is so relaxing - I said that didn't I? There are lots of youtubes out there if you are interested. Maybe next time I will post some. Until then, lots of hugs! Barb F