Flowers? It's Meer-ly January!

This new stamp, Crimson Blush, from Penny Black is just beautiful....  I stamped it with tattered rose Distress Ink and then "watercolored" with more distress inks, candied apple, wild honey, crushed olive, bundled sage, vintage photo, chipped sapphire and hickory smoke.  I also used a gelato, snow cone, on the sky.  Mainly I'm noting the colors so I have something to refer back to...I was so pleased with the outcome!  The sentiment is from another new set (yes, I've been shopping) So Loved.  I stamped on Portofino Acquerello 140 lb watercolor paper.  I haven't played with this paper much and this is my first time water coloring using distress reinkers.  I'm not sure whether it was the paper or the ink or the combination that caused the bleeding, but it worked well anyway....I just added a few thin lines with a 005 black micron.  The reinkers are SO saturated with color, I'll try them more diluted next time, but again I'm happy with this one!

Here is how I started, at this point I thought it would be a vertical card.

And after  i dropped candied apple and wild honey onto individual wet petals.  

And I was also busy with Christmas thank you cards.  These Beautiful Day flowers from Altenew were stamped over a distress oxide background and then I added colored pencil.  The thanks die is from Hero Arts.  

And I enjoy making the backs of my cards special too.  

Another Penny Black stamp, peony using distress and distress oxide inks.

The dies used on both card backs are a Sizzix Tim Holtz set wildflowers.

And my January calendar for my journal using the tangle Meer.  I drew the string loosely but in pen.  I even outlined the wrong number of squares initially and then added in a few more!  And although the string was loose, I took my time filling it in.  

Thanks again for stopping by!

Hex 8 Fragments

A little friend helped show me just how simple a fragment could (should?) be.  This fox is a die cut set from Karen Burniston that is cut from white watercolor paper, water colored then assembled.  Adorable isn't he?  And I'm still using my Papertrey Ink hexagon cover plate die.  This time I cut from Strathmore mixed media paper.

Reticula and fragments from a different perspective!

I saw some extremely basic geometric inspiration on Pinterest.  Wow, I have grown accustomed to seeing triangles within the hexagon, but this made me look at things quite differently.  

Paradox

I put the hexies on the back of a piece of post-it tape to keep them corralled while I drew.  

Maryhill

I started putting the puzzle pieces together and went for a pattern that radiates out from the center.  

I tried them out in the honeycomb frame.

Paradox and Maryhill alternating.

Did you notice the large hexagon created by the 6 triangles?  Too cool!

I  temporarily adhered them to some cardstock for watercoloring.

Now for some watercolor ( I used Derwent Inktense pencils) 

I decided to emboss the coverplate on a card with the design (I die cut copper card and then hand cut around the honeycomb Reticula to just frame my design) and add a little stamping ( stamp by Momenta) and embossing powder.  

The fox thinks it's a little busy, so I think I'll try again.....

I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving holiday.  Thanks for stopping by.

Halloween Visit

Wishing you a happily haunted Halloween!

This was stamped on a Brusho background using a rubber stamp by Penny Black, halloween visit.  

Check back in the next couple of days for my October project!

Hex 6 fragments

And I thought I was about done....ha!  I'm still playing with hexagon fragments I'm creating with my Papertrey coverplate die.

Triangles keep emerging.  Sometimes deliberately, sometimes not....

Rearranged, Maryhill triangles also emerge.

Cubes of patterns...

...that can be added to or rearranged over and over.

And a glimpse of my outside table (luckily no wind!)

Of course I needed to update my prestrung Zentangle® journal with hexagon fragments.

And this is how my May BuJo calendar turned out.  I have a similar hexagon theme for June. Will I have sufficient fragments?

Back to the cube.  Remember it is a central point with 3 radiating lines out to alternating corners.

I liked Emingle (Ambler?) in the earlier tile....and I had played with it in a cube in this earlier post.

I wanted to explore with it more.

Note, if you start Emingle at an interior corner, you end up with an "impossible" type frame. 

Here I added weight to two sides (I always chose the outside edges of the diamond to make it easier).

And here is a rounded version

Let's not leave out triangulation! (in hind site I like being more selective with this technique vs hitting each corner as I later did.

And this is an Emingle variation of Quadrose.

And look at this unassuming little fragment.  The black makes the cube.  I aura-ed those lines with brown and then filled in leaving a hilight where I added generals white charcoal.

I love it in multiples.  Do you see the black lines form hexagons, as do the brown shapes in addition to the die cut fragments themselves.

And did you notice that the white also forms hexagons?   

So even tho 6  would seem the appropriate number of posts to explore hexagons, I believe I've only just scratched the surface.  I will likely mix in other things as well, but I'm sure there will be more hexagon adventures to follow.

I'll leave you with this card.  It utilizes Spellbinders Kaleidoscope die that I used to cut both watercolor paper and black cardstock.  Arukas is done in black Pigma micron ink and the blue is watercolor with some colored pencil shading and gelly roll hilites. 

I hope you enjoyed your week and I appreciate you sticking with me for this long post!

Molygon?

Look closely, it IS Molygon!  Even Bijou got into the act...  Molygon is the focus of this week's Diva Challenge and the topic of a recent Kitchen Table Tangles from Rick and Maria.  The fragment you see here in the Molygon reticulum can be attributed to Antonine.  Check out her's here. (And while you're visiting her blog, remind her that we miss her!) Color on mine from Tombow Dual Brush pens.

Spring-y card #2

This card was made using Art Impressions (AI) watercolor stamps with Tombow Dual Brush markers on Fabriano Studio cold press watercolor paper.  I used the AI covered bridge, flower, foliage and tree sets.  I've got to admit that I did make a few attempts.  AI is great to provide color, paper and even video suggestions/information for their stamps. But my waterbrush markers are Tombow and they didn't match well with my initial paper choices.  Of my paper stash, they worked fabulously with the Fabriano paper.  If you're having difficulty with any technique or medium choice, I suggest you try using different paper.  It's amazing the different outcomes with just that slight change.  And of course that additional practice can only help you in the long run!

I also used the largest of Lawn Fawns small dotted rectangle stackable to cut out the piece before mounting to a periwinkle A2 card base. 

This is the final day for Art Impressions Spring-y challenge.  Check it out!  And in case you're wondering, YES so far I've managed to do a little color each day so far this month, my personal challenge for the 30 day coloring challenge!

Do have a good week!

Enyshou, today's MacNCheese

The Diva Challenge this week is to use your MacNCheese tangle, or comfort tangle.  Mine can vary from time to time, however I always get lost in Enyshou, even on a small Bijou tile (approximately 2 inches square).  Today, in keeping with the 30 days of coloring challenge, I did mine in Rose Pigma micron and shaded with a CretaColor watercolor pencil.  If you're viewing this from the card-making/coloring world, be sure to check out the Zentangle® world over at the Diva challenge, and if your a tangle fan, be sure to check out the coloring examples.  I think you'll find they blend, hilight, compliment and contrast each other well just like any fascinating art piece!

Picturesque Notes

While stepping through the Zentangle® Primer, I found myself going back and forth between it and the first book, The Book of Zentangle, and taking notes.  After taking notes the standard way in my bullet journal and realizing I'd like to keep my drawings with them too, I decided to devote an art journal to the task. This one is one of my favorites, a hand.book by Global Art Materials.  After all, I hope to have more visual notes or drawings than words, so I thought the nice drawing paper would be ideal.  Of course, you could opt for one of the nice journals from Zentangle too, they just aren't in my budget at the moment.

While we were on vacation last week, camping, I started working on a title page.  We had a nice, sunny fall day at Farewell Bend State Park in Oregon.  An ideal time to sit outside and draw.  I started with the faux calligraphy then added Poke Leaf.  I knew it would add dimension to the page.  While I was considering which tangle to use for the background, my eye kept going to Maria's Umble heart tile on their cover.  It is a gorgeous tile.  Then somehow, I just knew my take on her inspiring tile needed to be on my page.  

As soon as I got to this point, I knew I wanted to add at least a touch of color.  I had brought my travel watercolor book, but I had forgotten a brush!  Like most things do with Zentangle, it worked out well regardless.

A view from the campground of the Snake river.  Farewell Bend was the last stop on the Oregon Trail before the trail turned north through more rugged country.

We wound our way up and around to Lake Roosevelt in Washington.  Somewhere along the way, I picked up some inexpensive brushes.  We had one gorgeous afternoon at a National Parks Campground before a full day of rain hit.  Here is the sunset view from our campsite!  Even during the gloomy rain the next day, we had a nice view.  

While we were holed up in the camper, I finished the page.  Watercolor, shading, and I added white gel pen around the letters where they were over the background.  (I saw this little trick done by Sandy Allnock on one of her YouTube videos.  Not sure which video it was, but I'll link you to one of her nice videos here. She's quite talented and offers lots of tips as you watch her work.)

So, that's all the further I got with my "notebook". While I feel like I should be further along, I know Bijou understands!

Notice I added a page for an upcoming Shading class.  Check it out if you're interested!

I appreciate your comments! Have a great week!

Only the ink is distressed...

Rubber stamps, ink and tangling. Sometimes it all works together so well.

Supplies used include a Penny Black stamp "single iris".

I forgot to take a photo of just the stamping. I used the ink pads to ink the stamp and added the purple Momento ink from the pen onto the stamp. I didn't have a dark purple distress ink, that's why I used the Momento. The two inks worked fine together. After I stamped onto damp watercolor paper, the image was pretty light and splotchy, so I touched up the stamping by scribbling some ink onto my craft sheet and using my waterbrush to pick up the inks to fill in any missed or light areas. Then I let it dry thoroughly before tangling with the black 005 Sakura Pigma Micron and the graphite Derwent Graphik line maker 0.1. Tangles used: Mooka, Skwim with Flux, Tipple and Stiritup. I added more distress ink to the tangles here and there with my waterbrush and added graphite shading and gray Fabrico marker (whoops, left it out of my supplies picture).

Here is the final result mounted on an A2 sized card I cut from gray cardstock.

Have a great week!