Monotangle Adventure- IndyRella

     When  I first read Roy's post asking us to us the tangle "Indy-Rella" for our monotangle, I thought I would just hurry do one and move on to more fun endeavors.   I mean, how much fun can one little really basic tangle be?  Ha!  Several pieces later I am finding them show up in every tile I try to start!  They sneak in and before you know it - they have taken over!  Eeek!  They had to be dealt with - over and over!
     I first used the stencils I won a while back from Genevieve Crabe to make a mandala.  Then I monotangled it with indy-rella.  That was a lot of fun.  Next step, a tile with my beloved brown tones.  I really like this one until I added the part in the center.  It spoiled it for me.  But here it is anyway.

     But it took the color to make me fall head over heels in love!  It also showed me I had to work slower.  The gel pens needed a more slow stroke than the regular micron.  I like the effect of the slow, more deliberate stroke.

     You need to head over to Mindful Creations and check out the other entries and maybe get involved with the Monotangle Adventure yourself!  Have a great week and thanks for dropping by.

This Child Survived!

   Strange title?  Well, not really if you read the quote further down on one of my tangles.  In school we learn that people need certain things to survive - air, water, food, shelter.  I don't confuse them but in my opinion add creativity to that list.  And I am on definite overdose this spring break week.  I love having long hours to draw and do other things that feed my creative need.  It is so great to have the challenges and dares done so quickly.  Then to have the time to go and look over all the other's entries and get to comment.  Generally  I am in such a hurry I don't get to do those things.  What fun!
     The Diva wanted us to revisit the tangle "mooka".  I rewatched the video.  That was inspiring.  Then I just played with mooka all over a tile.  Nothing really spectacular, but it was very fun.  I need to stop avoiding this tangle.  It isn't as daunting as I seem to think at times.  Actually it is just a lot of fun.  A real departure from my normal very controlled tangles that I lean toward.  I plan on trying to use this one more often.  Check the link to Diva's site on the sidebar to see lots of beautiful examples of this tangle, plus the video that I mentioned.

     Margaret Bremner posted a couple of templates to some really cool orb looking things.  I loved the look and of course, had to give it try.  I chose to use "dex" because it looked like it could fit nicely.  There were a couple of tight squeezes around the edges, but overall it is pretty cool looking.  Check out her site and see the orbs for yourself - really cool!  

     Thank you for dropping by and I hope you are finding the time you need to help the child in you survive!

Every Inchie Monday - "map"

     I can struggle with an idea forever for this little one inch of creativity!  This week the word was "map". I had some map scrapbook paper.  So I cut out an inch.  Then I took my glaze pens and colored the landforms.  Not very unique and really sort of blah.  But here it goes.  I am determined not to miss a week - even when my ideas are not all that great.

    The next two pieces of art are for Show us your Twinchie - a two inch piece of paper to absorb my creativity!  I can't post these on the site because I didn't start until late, but I am somewhat obsessive about things being complete, so I went back and did the entries for January and February.

January - "Anything Goes"

February - "Love is in the Air"

     Thanks for dropping by and I hope your week is getting off to a wonderful start!

Spring Break - Yahoo!

    This is day two of a wonderfully long nine days of spring break.  I am so glad to have time to "play".  I have plans to tangle and catch up my Tangle-a-Day calendar.  I want to spend some time doing that Diva challenge again this time with the wood burner.  Also, the cricut is calling my name to get some cards done!  Unfortunately it has started out a rainy break, so my football time has had to go on hold.  Lakota is not so keen on that.  He walks around the house sighing - loud,  exasperated sighs. 
     A monotangle is a tile or piece of art work using only one tangle and lots of variations.  Each week, Roy at Mindful-Creations gives us a monotangle challenge.  I love the concept.  Past choosing the tangle I want to use, which can sometimes be a problem, it becomes a very relaxing tile to do.  I don't have to think about which tangle to use - just relax and tangle.  Nice.  If you enjoy tangling, check out his site.

Monotangle #3 - using Twile

     We had a storm last night.  The significance of that remark is that because of the storm,  I wasn't sitting at the computer playing the Sims3.  So I took the time (with all the electronics off) to sit and work on the dare from Bright Owl.  See the sidebar for the link to her site - she has a wonderful new look and lots of great information for tanglers.  At first glance the template was not my favorite.  It took a lot of staring for me to get an idea.  Even so, it still isn't one of my favorites.   I like the results, but the template was difficult.

Dare #50 - nzeppel, paradox, and betweed

     Hope you have a wonderful week and thank you for dropping by!  I love your comments - they make my day!
    

Outside the Box!

      I loved the Diva's challenge this past week of doing something you don't normally do!  If this had been next week, when I am on spring break, and had loads of time, I would have tangled a tile with my wood burner.  I already have that in my plans and have the wood ready and waiting.  But no time this week.  So I grabbed my Sakura souffle markers and tangled on a piece of black cardstock.  I had not used them on black before and oooo, I love the results.  I am going to try this more often.  I love the intensity of the colors.

Dare #49
      All through the week when I have had a spare second, I grabbed the template from the Bright Owl.  I really had fun with this one and love the results.  One little bobble early on almost caused me to trash it, but I decided to stick it out and it really isn't visible.

Twinchie?
     Totally by accident I found another challenge.  This one is only once a month though.  So I really should be able to do this.  And it is only 2 little inches of paper.  Okay, I hope I can do it.  But summer is fast approaching and I should have lots of spare time.  The theme for March's "twinchie" was "flower or flowers".  I used watercolor paper and pencils.  Then I added a gold bee from my pack of beads I won a while back.  Check out Show Us Your Twinchie to see some of the other entries and perhaps get involved yourself.

And the winner is . . .
     Me!!  I entered a giveaway from Michellle Beauchamp.  And I won!!  I love, love , love her art work and could stare at it for hours.  Now I have a wonderful piece all my own.  I was thrilled.  Zip over to the link and see this piece for yourself - totally awesome.   She also put a nice tangled card and a book mark in the package.  Great surprises.
     Guess it is time to wrap this post up.   I now need to go to work on the monotangle challenge.  And since I now am officially on spring break - I have the time to do just that!  Thanks for dropping by and leaving a smile!

Footsteps

Every Inchie Monday's word for this week was "footsteps".  I had lots of ideas, but only a few minutes on Sunday afternoon to get this done and posted.  My 3rd grade writing assessments took a large amount of my day!  Whew!  Glad to have them graded though.

While mine doesn't show actual footprints, it is what I think of - a small child following in his dad's footsteps.  So I watercolored some paper and then just did a simple silhouette.  I really like this one!

Please do stop by and leave a comment - it does mean battling the word verification monster.  I am so tired of spam.  I was getting up to 7 or 8 a day.  Nonsense things that did not connect to my blog at all.  I so wish this could be fixed.  Ah well, in a perfect world people wouldn't do "mean" things. 

A Couple of Challenges

     Finally had time this weekend to finish up a few of the tiles I had started.  It was so nice to sit and tangle for more than a few minutes here and there.  Oh, I can't wait until spring break!  Just one week away!  Yahoo!
     Diva's challenge was  . . . well, challenging.  I love the 3d look of the parallel lines.  I even feel I did them pretty well.   They have the effect I wanted.  The challenging part?  How will I put it into a tile with other elements?  I just couldn't get it with anything I liked.   Even now, it is just okay when I look at the whole picture.  I just couldn't make it "fit" with anything.  There are times I will go and look at everyone's entries before I get started - I have an idea already and don't feel like I will be swayed by looking at other's artwork.  This time, I didn't even glance at them.  Since I was desperate for an idea, I didn't think that would be a very good idea.  Now I am going to go off and see how everyone else worked the parallel columns into a tile.  Then I will "steal" a few ideas for my sketch book only.

     Love, love, love the idea of a monotangle!  It is so relaxing to just play with one tangle.  This week we had to use "Rick's Paradox".  That is a big favorite of mine.  I decided on a shamrock which I probably will end up putting on a birthday card I am making.  I make birthday cards for all the staff at school.  It is something I have done forever and really enjoy.  I sometimes will use my cricut or sometimes will use a tile I have tangled.  This one will look nice on a card.   Thanks for a great challenge, Roy.  Keep it up - these are fun.

   
     Now what to do with the rest of my free afternoon?  I could a) get my tangle notebook caught up, b) work on the inchie challenge, c) check and see if Bright Owl has posted her template, or d) go outside and play ball with Lakota.  Right now, he seems to be swaying the vote.

     Thank you for dropping by and also thanks for any comments you may leave.  I look forward to reading them.  Have a great week-end!

Dare #48

    The Bright Owl template was loads of fun.  I needed very calming and relaxing tangles to offset my hectic week.  So I choose tangles with lots of repetitive lines.  Something about those are so soothing.

    The circles fit in really well with our school event last night.  We held our first - hopefully annual - Pi Night.  (Get it, March 14 - 3/14?)  We served pizza pies, sold pie cookbooks, and even dessert pies!  There were several art activities for the kids to do - all centered around circles.  It was a very nice evening - although I think I may be too old for 12 hour days!  I was really tired today.
     Hope you are having a great day and thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment.  Does anyone know (a blogspot user) if I mark "no anonymous comments" if that will be as effective as that annoying word verification against spam?  I started to check that but I did not want to keep "real" people from commenting.

Every Inchie Monday - "glasses"

  Honestly, I do know the days of the week.  So I am well aware this isn't Monday.  I just seem to be behind on everything these days.  Seriously.  But I do persevere and finally get things done - well, nearly everything.  There is that stack of papers to be be graded and that one corner of my house I have been intending to sort through . . . Maybe eventually all really will get done.
     The word this week was "glasses".  I took a bit of creative liberty just so I could use an idea I had.  I made the word singular - glass.  Then inspired by a line in a song I like, I drew and painted an hour glass.  I like the way it turned out.

"Life is an hourglass glued to the table." - Anna Nalick, "Breathe (2 a.m.)"

Monotangle Challenge #1

   Oh my! Another wonderful challenge!  Will I resist?  No, I will not.  Roy Stauffer over at Mindful-Creations has started a new challenge.  Each Thursday, he will post a monotangle for us to use.  While we could choose which tangle to use this week, I went with the one he did - "cubine".  I like this tangle and it was fun to just play with only one tangle.  There is something very nice about a monotangle.  You don't have to think about what tangle to use next, just relax and go with the flow. 

  

        Hope you have a great week and hope you join us with the monotangles.  It is going to be fun!

Trio of Posts

     I really meant to post sooner.  I had things done, but no time to write even "here it is".  Ah well.  At least they are all three done and I had a relaxing time doing them.  That is what really counts.
     Before the challenges and dares, I need to "apologize".  I really hate those ridiculously hard to read word verification things.  Can't stand them.  Of course I still post when am on a site that uses them, afterall comments are just plain fun and I shouldn't let that stop me.  I set this up so it wouldn't use them.  Until now.   Some wonderful individual is posting spam onto my site - over and over.  Nonsense junk proving they have never seen my site.  They post up to 7 or 8 times a day.  It is very distressing.  I am told the best thing I can do is to enable word verification.  I hate that and I really hope you still will stop by and leave me a bit of sunshine.  If any one of you with more blogging experience can offer a better suggestion, I would love it.  As it is, I guess I will have to use whatever means I can to dissuade them. 

Every Inchie Monday

     Or Wednesday if you're me.  The word of the week was "wave".  I used the tangle "golven", which is Dutch for wave.  Then added a pretty gold sailboat.

Dare #47

    Erin at the Bright Owl asked us to use her template, but leave something out of it.  This sort of stumped me at first.  I do that sometimes.  I even add things sometimes.  But my mind couldn't get going with this at first.  Then I had an "a-ha" moment and here are my results.

Challenge #108 - "Whyz"

    A bit ago when this tangle was first published, I had some issues with it.  It just didn't connect with my brain.  So when I saw that it was the tangle for us to use - uh-oh!    But the more I played with it the friendlier it got.  I may find myself using this one more often.  I decided on a large "whyz" to use as my string and then filled parts of it with smaller ones.

     Again thank you for dropping by and I hope you will do battle with the word verification monster and leave a comment.  Have a great week.