No Strings and Some Other Things

     I had a chance to play several times with the stencils I won from the Rainbow Elephant give-a-way.  They are the one from Tangle Harmony.  If you haven't gotten them and you like doing zendalas, go get them or at least put them on your Christmas list.  I wanted them, but wouldn't buy them because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to use them - they looked complicated.  Quite the opposite.  They are absolutely serious fun!  I can't wait to have more time to play with them.  I did several, but here is the one that is my favorite. 

   Next I went to work on the template for the zendala by Bright Owl.  Erin gives us such great templates to work on.  I loved this one.  I just wish I had thought of the beautiful Christmas bells I have seen other doing!  Oh and the the daffodils!  The work that you can see over at the Bright Owl site is awesome!  Check the sidebar link to be amazed.

Dare #33

   Monday was challenge time at the Diva's site.  This time we had to draw a tile but NOT use a string.  I love the free flowing things others do, but couldn't get settled on a thought.  So . . .  I drew a triangle in the center and put in paradox.  Then I added another, and another and so on.  Just doodling trying to come up with a better idea.  When I was finished, I decided I didn't need a better idea - this was fine.  I really sort of liked it.

Challenge #97

    I had a few spare minutes waiting on supper to cook, so I worked on this next one.  Not for anything, just playing.  I did use one of Judy West's strings she has over at her site (Creative Doodling). 

    Guess that is all for this week.  See you soon and thanks for dropping by.  Oh, how could I forget?  I won the Friendship Cup and it is headed my way - how cool is that?!  I will write a whole post about that in a bit.  Stay tuned and make sure you check back by for a chance to have it come your way. 

Creative or Insane, you decide!

So much fun stuff this past week with the challenges and dares!  I love this - even if I did get a bit out of control this time. 
    Let's set the stage for my mental wobbling - I get paid the first of every month.  Our printer is out of ink and won't print.  It isn't the first.  Get the picture?  I am out of school for this week so I have NO access to a printer.  Friday night I began hoping (okay, praying) for an "easy" template from the Bright Owl.  One I could duplicate by drawing.  At least to some degree.  Hide the wobbly lines with tangles . . . Oh Erin, it was not to be!  This template was intense.  Beautiful, if I could have printed it.
   So I began to devise plans.  Creative ones.  My very best - I would bring it up on my tablet, Ray would hold it up to a mirror while I traced with marker on the mirror.  Then I would put tracing paper over it, copy it and transfer it to a "real" piece of paper!  Genius!  (or nuts).  Ray just looked at me - I am sure it was an admiring glance, not matching his words of "have you gone crazy?"  Thinking he might not cooperate fully, I thought about putting a piece of paper on the computer screen to trace it.  This sent him around the bend with words of admiration.  Leading him to suggest we go to the library to print me a copy when it opened on Monday.  Okay, that was plan C.  I would have thought of it.
   After all that I got to pull out the pen and grab some zen for myself!  I love this template - it is so frilly and delicate (if you are not considering ways to copy it).

     Judy - over at Creative Doodling (see side bar) - had a really great template this week.  It was built on interlocking boxes stacked.  Remember the no ink?  Still a problem, but she said we could do our own and I can duplicate boxes without damage to any personal property.  I had some serious fun with this one!  I got all caught up in the scenes and the little stick people.  What a blast!

       After the library visit on Monday, I went off to check out the Diva's challenge.  This week we had to use a new tangle called "Zingers".  Cute little filler type tangle.  I really love the work of fellow tangler, Helen Williams, and had loved what she did with randomizing "bloom" on her video.  So this gave me a chance to try out both tangles.  If you have not checked out her gorgeous style of tangling head over to A Little Lime.  Her work takes my breath away.  Seriously.

     It has been a great vacation so far.  Tomorrow, I plan on pulling out the cricut and working on December birthday cards and Christmas cards . . .
  For now, I need to step outside to my yard and see what that man with the strange white jacket in his hand is saying about "coming with him peacefully".  Odd.
                                  Happy Thanksgiving and have a great week!!

A Bit of Disney

First a little reflection . . .
    Every Sunday night growing up, our family would crowd around the TV for "The Wonderful World of Disney" and all the magic it brought.
    My brother and I would rush around the house every morning to get ready for school so we could see a few minutes of the Mouseketeers club.  Oh Cubby and Bobby were divine! "M - i - c  - see you real soon . . ."
    The moment a Disney movie hit the big screen, the four of us - mom, dad, Ray and I - would head out to see it.  Ray's favorite was "The Jungle Book".  I love Winnie anything!
    When Disney World in Orlando opened, my family packed up our camper and headed to Florida.  It was a trip filled with awesome memories.  Disney opened in October and we went down on the following Christmas.  Everything was wonderful - however the lines were "miles" long.  Then you would stand for what seemed like hours and just as you got to the entrance, some freshly scrubbed guy would say, "sorry we just broke down".  It got to be a joke - okay, a frustrating one. 
    We had an 8mm home projector and Dad cam home one day with a big surprise - he had gotten a copy of the original "Steamboat Willie".   From that moment on, every time the projector came out, we begged to see that cartoon.
     There have been Disney character stuffed animals, games, toys, you name it.  I grew up with Disney and took many an imagination filled "trip" with those friends.

Thank you for such a wonderful guest post over at the Diva's.  It was loads of fun - actually, I spent more time looking around at cartoon characters and quotes and such than I did drawing, but that's okay.  I had a blast.

     Thank you for stopping by ad indulging my ramblings.  Hope your imagination is never limited and your dreams go on forever.  Have a great week-end.

Dare #31 and some cherries

  I love this template from the Bright Owl.  It is full of lots of potential.  I chose to center on straight lines and keep it pretty geometric.  I may try one later and do the opposite!  Who knows?
     Next bit of fun - I cut a template using my cricut out of watercolor paper, then I tangled the cherries.  Last I took my watercolor pencils and paints and played a bit.  I am really happy with how it looks.  I cut some Christmas shapes that I plan on doing next.

  

     Thanks for dropping by and now it is off to see what I can do for the Diva's challenge.  Have a great day!

Celtic Knot # 13

    Okay.  Being a teacher, this is hard to confess.  But I clearly didn't read the directions.  Just don't tell my third graders, okay?  Judy West posted a beautiful celtic knot (as always).  I got really excited about what I wanted to do and zipped away to tangle.  Then I went back to look and see if anyone else had posted and I actually read it this time.  We were supposed to use at least one "original" design.  Oops.  Well, the fringy thing around part of the outside, I think is mine - I sort of just made it up and use it frequently as a filler or edging.  Either way, I really had fun and I certainly love this knot. 

        If you haven't checked out Judy's awesome site, head over to Creative Doodling and be prepared to be amazed.  There are some really cool things to see.
     I also had a few minutes to play around with some other things this week.  I found an old pattern book and copied Santa onto watercolor paper.  Then I tangled him.  I used watercolor pencils to finish him up.  I think he is pretty cool.  One day, I will have some fancier watercolor pencils with more color selections, but for now it is not too bad.

Santa

    I hope you are having a great week-end.  I now need to head over to the Bright Owl and see what I need to do there.  (I promise to read the post first and not dash off in excitement).  Thanks for dropping by!

Lots of fun this week!

  Pumpkin pie, apple pie, peach pie, chocolate creme pie, and the most divine - pecan pie!  Oh wow, Erin over at the Bright Owl has made my mouth water with this dare.  Dare #30  had us searching our tangle files to find tangles that started with the letters p,i,e.  And then if that wasn't a big enough dare, one (at least) of those tangles had to be one we weren't used to using!  Erin must've taken her "nasty" pill this week!  Seriously, it was a super fun dare and really made me think outside the box.  I used pea-nuckle, paradox, purk (a newbie for me), insydout (another new one), and emingle.  Great dare, Erin!

     I also had a lot of fun this past week-end with Judy, at Creative Doodling's celtic knot challenge.  This was a super template.  I tangled the knot, then found a quote from a scrapbooking book I had to put in the middle.  The really neat thing about this knot is that it's so versatile.  I can see using it to do frames for photos, scrapbook pages . . . lots of uses.

    Finally, the Diva had a challenge for us.  The first of each month she randomly chooses a tangle for us to focus on.  This month the choice was none other than Erin's (the Bright Owl) own tangle - Socc.  I love this tangle!  It is loads of fun and adds so much to a piece.  I grabbed a string from Tangle Patterns and then just played around - nothing special.

     While playing, I became inspired as often is the case when I free my mind to just drawing without a purpose.  A while back, I watched a youtube video of a Suzanne McNeill event.  She featured several tangle artists telling how they used tangles in various ways.  One that absolutely fascinated me was these "continuous line" people.  I fell in immediate love!  You draw the entire person without picking up the pen - yes, it is hard.  I really have to think or I get all jumbled up.  Then you give them personality with tangles.  Socc just had to be a head of unruly hair!  Isn't she adorable?  Get ready for some more of these gals.

Bad Hair Day

  And last but certainly not least . . . I WON!!! What you ask?  A set of Genevieve Crabbe's mandala stencils!  Seriously!  You probably heard me shouting!  I had been wanting them, but was not sure I wanted to spend the money on something, I wasn't sure I could figure out how to use.  Still may not be able to, but they were free.  If any of you have any tips on how to make these gadgets turn out gorgeous stuff - please let me know.  Oh, before I forget, I won them in a random drawing over at the Rainbow Elephant.  If you have not been there (why not?) go check out Cindy Angiel's cool site.
   Hope your week is going great and thanks for stopping by.  As always, I love your comments.