String Theory : Leaves!

It was a week of fall leaves! Two entries for The Diva Challenge. This first is on a Zentangle® Renaissance tile using tangles Flux, Fescu and Featherfall (variation). These tiles look nice with layers. You'll see black and brown Sakura Micron pens, Faber-Castell Polychromos color pencils, General's Charcoal White and Derwent pencil graphite shading.

This is my second TrimARim project. Philip at TrimARim liked my earlier post creating my own Zentangle inspired border and sent me more product! One side is a mirror and the flip side is a dry erase surface. This one is the smaller size, 7.5" wide.

Here are the steps I used to make it. I traced the border shape with the plastic template that is included with the mirror onto a cream colored lightweight cardstock. I used a leaf punch from McGill to punch out several leaves out of scrap paper. I used Zig 2 Way Glue on one side of the leaves and let it dry.  This gave me repositionable stencils that I placed in sections over the border.  Alternately you could punch from post it notes.

I used my Copic air brush using fall shades of Copics (yellow, orange, red & brown shades) and moved the stencils from one section to the next.  I probably did two to three layers of stencils and Copics before I had the result I liked.  Alternatively you could use blow pens or spritzers with water and ink.

I chose Orlique as the Zentangle pattern, using brown and orange Sakura Microns. The hardest part was determining what sections to tangle and which to leave alone.  I did add just a bit of shading around the edges with Polychromos, but mostly the airbrushing provided the shading.



















On to a card that has a leaf as it's focal point.  The leaf is a stamp by Personal Stamp Exchange PSX E-1046.  That leaf has nearly every embossing powder I own on it (ok only half of what I own)! The background utilized a Darice embossing folder and I applied Ranger Distress Ink direct from the ink pad.  I used Sakura Microns to add the vein detail and the sentiment.

So if you made it all the way through my post, you've come to a reward! TrimARim has offered to provide my first blog giveaway!  Just leave a comment below.  One comment per person and limited to US and Canada only.  You have until midnight Pacific Daylight Time, October 17, 2014 to leave a comment.  Please note that if you leave it as anonymous I'll have no way to contact you, so please sign in or leave contact info.  I will select 2 winners using random numbers.  Yes, they're nice at TrimARim.  I was going to incur the postage, but they've agreed to handle that as well!  So I will either give your contact information to them or they will reimburse my postage cost. The lucky winners will be able to decorate their own TrimARim!  I'll post the winners on October 24, 2014.   Good luck!

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So, where are the cookies?

This is my first of two posts today and is my submission for The Weekend in Black and White. I snapped this cookie cutter set while shopping.

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Diva-Phicops-Dance

The Diva Challenge this week is a duotangle combining Phicops and Diva-Dance. This was drawn in my Strathmore toned tan sketchbook and the page measures approximately 5.5" x 8.5" drawn with a brown Sakura micron and shaded with Polychromos. Be sure to check back next week as I hope to have my first giveaway!

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Fort Vancouver

Three photos from Fort Vancouver, Washington, USA for The Weekend in Black and White.

 Another post follows with my Zentangle art of the week.

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Hip to be square +

I have a couple of cards to share in this second post for the day. This month's one layer simplicity challenge is "hip to be square". This card itself is square (a 8.5" x 4.25" piece of hot press watercolor folded in half). I noticed this leaf point (Images © 1990-2014 Stampin' Up!) created a nearly perfect 90 degree angle for each corner. This card, came together in my head first and actually worked out exactly as I'd planned (I usually have to change things up). I used a square centered on the card as a template and put down artists tape beside it as a mask. After removing the template I was able to stamp the leaf easily in each corner using a stamp positioner and Big and Juicy Foliage Rainbow Ink. I stamped the ink pad onto an acrylic block and added water then painted the ink onto the card edges with a wet brush for a watercolor effect. The colors separated nicely with the water so you can see the yellow, orange and red shades instead of just one color. I removed the artists tape and let the card dry before finally stamping "friends" (also from Stampin Up) with the same ink.

 Images © 1990-2014 Stampin' Up!

Back to my basic A2 card base for this next card. I stamped this background stamp (also from Stampin Up) with Momento Tuxedo Black ink and then tangled Maryhill inside the circles, drawing with a black Sakura Micron pen. I was a little surprised that the Momento ink seemed to smear a little from my hand so I quickly heat set it. I decided it would look best with a glossy red card base but felt I needed to add red to the image to tie it together. I added another offset stamp layer in Lady Bug Momento ink. While I do like the end result, it does create a bit of an optical illusion of being out of focus. (oh, maybe I should try tangling it with Oof next time? :)

If you'd like to see more Zentangle®, check out my first post today here. Or click on the Zentangle label to the right. Thanks for dropping in!

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Trim-A-Rim ING (say what?)

This is the first of two posts today. I'm combining this week's Diva Challenge with my personal project this week. We wanted a mirror for our camper and I found this fun mirror and message board called a Trim-A-Rim. I had some questions about hanging it as I wasn't going to hang it magnetically. I received an almost immediate reply to my online inquiry. It's a small friendly company. I ended up buying the larger of the 2 sizes which is 10.25" wide. While it comes with it's own paper rims or you can download them, I opted for designing my own. It came with a template (which will be nice for other craft projects too) that I used to trace over 12" x 12" lightweight card stock.

Before trimming to fit

I combined ING, the new tangle from Zentangle® and also this weeks Diva Challenge, with Coil. Tortuca(ish) fills in ING.

End result

If you'd like to see the cards I made this week, I've posted them here. Thanks for stopping by!

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Travel watercolor book

Isn't this a cute little book? It's my watercolor book. The idea has been rolling around in my head since I saw this post. That was such a nice idea and nice little book. Instead of scribbling color down like Jane did, I decided to use the Peerless watercolors I had in my stash. I hadn't used them in a while and had forgotten just how nice they are. I have the Complete Edition set of 15 color sheets 2 1/2" x 6 1/2" (which ironically isn't the full set of colors, but a nice variety). I only used a strip 1" by 2 1/2" for my book so I still have most of the sheets left. My book is only 3 1/2" x 4" made from watercolor paper, waxed paper as divider sheets, and recycled chipboard for the covers. I included an envelope page that can hold additional sheets of waxed paper to use as disposable palettes. I also had a couple scraps of marbled paper I had done quite awhile ago, and covered both sides of the chipboard with that.

In case you want to try the Suminagashi marbling, I used a dye set by Boku-Undo imported by Aitoh that I got at my local art supply store. I used Sundance Cover 65 lb Bright White Felt paper. It holds up well to the technique and has a nice texture. The book is spiral bound with my Zutter bind-it-all. No worries where you see the spot of color on the left, that's actually on the waxed paper separator page.

And here is the Zentangle® tile I drew and then watercolored while camping. Tangles used: Avreal, Printemps, Paradox, Hazen, and 'Nzeppel.

And this tile I did at home, 'cuz these watercolors are too nice to only use traveling. Tangles used, Gneiss, Isochor and Striping. In addition to the Peerless watercolors and Sakura Micron pen I used zenstone.
Thanks for dropping by!

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