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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