Zentangles - Second Attempt and Weekly Challenge 191 Betweed

Hello everyone...

I am attempting to do the Zentangle thing again.  The bug bit me.  I did one a couple years ago and never picked it back up.  Now, at work, we are in our slow season (working in a call center) and have some time on my hands in between calls.  We can't really bring in any crafts (crochet, macrame, etc) that I used to do at my desk.  However, we are allowed pens and paper. The next best thing was trying my hand at Zentangles again.

I am an extreme novice.  I have been browsing Pinterest and seeing so many amazing works of art.  I think, "Geeee  I wish I was that good...  I want to do that."  With that said, my attempts are very amateur looking.  But I guess if I keep on trying I will get better.  I am not real happy with my results.  But they are what they are.  I will share them any how.

The first one was done yesterday.  It was my second Zentangle ever.  and the Second one is for a challenge on Diva CTZ web site blog for her weekly challenge.  This week is about Betweed tangle and is the second pic.

on this one I just doodled and added some purplish pink for some color.

This is a bookmark that I made.  I am going to back it with scrapbook paper and laminate it for my mom.  She has never heard of Zentangles and tried to show and explain to her what they are.  I thought I would make something for her. I still have to get the shading down.  I seem to get it too dark where I scribble with the pencil and it does shade but remains too dark in the middle.  Start with small  projects and work my way up to bigger ones.

Thanks for reading and have a great day.

Polymer Clay Leaves

Good evening.  It is late here in Pennsylvania... almost 11pm.  I spent the evening with my mother beading.  My dh is out of town on business tonight.  I got home around 9pm tonight and decided to play some more.  I am on a macramé and polymer clay kick lately.  But, I created these fall leaves out of polymer clay to use on some Fall themed ATC cards for a swap on Mini Album Scraps ning site.

I conditioned my clay and rolled it out with my roller (shame on me, can't find my pasta maker that is dedicated to my clay work), and I used a tear drop shape cutter to cut out the shapes.  Then I used a sharp piercing tool to do little dotted lines for the veins and then played connect the dots to fill in the lines.  I learned that trick on Pinterest.

Here is another trick I learned on Pinterest.  I found out that you can microwave Polymer clay.  You heard me right.  You use a microwave safe dish, put plenty of water in it and nuke it for about 10 - 15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the clay.  The only thing that I read was not to do this in a ceramic dish.  The ceramic changes the composition of the clay and it will break down or something like that.  IT WORKED LIKE A CHARM!!!!  I poured out the hot water and replaced it with ice water and my leaves are super hard.

Then I took red acrylic paint and painted them.  I used a damp paper towel to wipe most of the paint off, leaving it in the crevices.  I also dabbed some paint on the edges.  That was another Pinterest find too.  I didn't glaze them yet.  I am thinking I will leave them as is to make them look more organic than shiny.

Now, just if I could find my pasta machine.  I have not played with my clay in so long that I put it away somewhere.  I had to hunt for all my clay tools too.  Found those.  I looked all over my craft room.  I am either over looking it or it got packed into a tote and taken to the basement for storage when I cleared out my craft room to make room for all of my paper crafting stuff.

My Mom's Birthday Card

Hello Bloggers!

Today I am posting a birthday card that I made for my mother.  Her birthday is coming up here shortly but we celebrated early.  We took her and my dad to see an Elvis impersonator.  That was for her birthday and it included dinner.  So, she already has her card.

I used a deep brown base for the card and layered purple card stock and then Halloween colored plaid designer paper on top of that.  I had some white lace that I sprayed with a brown glimmer mist.  I added a little bling on the lace.  The stamp is of a standard poodle.  My parents have had these poodles for many years.  I used a paper flower and 2 polymer clay roses that I made.