Days 86 - 88 and some extras

      Oh the wonderful spring weather that has happened for my spring break!  Granted, it is a bit colder than it probably needs to be, but still the sun is shining and it is so lovely outside.  I have shaken the stomach nightmare - unfortunately, being a very "sharing" sister, I shook it right onto my brother.  Yikes!

Day 86

     I worked on my challenge piece for Adele Bruno's Tickled to Tangle.  This was sort of a tough one because it had tangles that I had trouble getting to work together.  We had to use kelp, printemps and mumsy. 

Day 87

     Today I worked on using the tangle "squid" for Square One.  I haven't really played with this one so much.  However once I started it turned into the only tangle I used.  I had a lot of fun with this one.

     I also worked on one of my journal pages for Journal52.  I had gotten behind and really want to try to keep up this year (of course, I won't, but I still want to try).  This week's prompt was "spring cleaning".   Not really how I want to spend my break.  So I decided to take a more comic approach. 

Day 88

      One more journal prompt and my inchie.  The inchie word was "oak".  I guess this turned out okay, but it is not my most imaginative piece. 

     The journal prompt was from a couple of weeks ago.  The prompt was "Inspiration Board".  I decided to collage what inspires my work - or at least some of it.  I am not really much of a collage artist.  I enjoy the look, but always feel I miss the spontaneity of a good collage.  Either way, it does cover a lot of what makes me want to create.

     I hope you are having a wonderful day!  I guess my creative time is over or at least that is what the look Lakota is giving me is saying.  I think I see some football in my future . . . Thanks for dropping by and sharing your comments! 

Day 85

    I finally finished a piece I had been working on for several days now.  I wanted to try some flowers I had seen on someone else's work (sorry, I can't remember where) but wanted something different.  So I drew the flowers and then "added" some tiles to the background.  I decided to set the tiles apart, I would use the brown tone pens.  I love this piece because it is different.

    I hope you are having a great day - one more for me until spring break!!! Did you hear my large shout?  I am so looking forward to some time off. 

Day 84

     I made it today - to school that is.  There were times I almost gave it up, but I managed it.  I tried to eat hardly anything so my stomach wouldn't roll.  Not healthy I guess but the only way I could deal with the day.  Two more until spring break.  Oh I hope I am not sick during break. 
     The challenge at Made by Joey was to use a border or borders as part of your string.  This was fun.  I added just a touch of a color border to separate the areas even more.

      Have a great day and see you with day 85 soon! 

Days 82 and 83

     Not feeling any better right now, but the beauty of tangling is I can sit and very quietly draw.  And should I have to dash from the room, I cap the pen.  There are no paints to put away or anything like that.  That is nice.  Plus it is very relaxing when I definitely need that.  
     Day 82 was a challenge (yesterday's work) for the New to Me website by Suzy Mosh.  We had to use tangles, or at least one new tangle that began with the letter O.  I try to use all new tangle with that letter. So far I have been able to do that.  For that tile I chose opera, ozzie, and oola.  All three were new and lots of fun to draw.
     The Diva's challenge was what I worked on this morning.  We had to use a spiral string.  I love the looks of that type of string, but have a lot trouble getting it to be "right".   I started to go over to Michelle Beauchamp's site to look at some of her work, because in my opinion she is number one with spiral strings.  I decided that I really did not want too much influence on what I might do.  Now that I am finished though I may try another one after looking at her work. 

Day 82

Day 83

    I think I will finish sipping this water and then take a nap.  My goal is to be at school tomorrow.  Probably only a teacher would understand this, but it is more work to be absent than to go in.  Trying to find a sub last night was ridiculous.  I must have called 20 people!  Thanks for dropping by and I hope you are having a wonderful day.

Days 77 - 81

     Lots of days to enter!  I hate having to do them all at once, but it has been a busy week.  Then weekend arrived and I immediately got sick.  Apparently a stomach virus and much worse than the last round.  I can't decide what I need to do about school tomorrow.  I hate missing,  but I can't seem to hold anything down. 

     Day 77

     This challenge piece was for Made by Joey.  We had to use the tangle "rose" in a sphere.  I decided on phicops (I think) for a string.  I am not so pleased at how it turned out, but overall I guess it is passable.

     Day 78

     For the Tickled to Tangle challenge, I had to use amoeba, arrowheads and antique.  I am okay with this tile.  Maybe it is just my mood but nothing is appealing to me right now.  Sorry.

     Day 79

     Square One's challenge was to use mooka.  I used to avoid that tangle but here lately I really enjoy playing with it.  Combined with aquafleur and few others, it has an underwater look.  Lots of fun with this one.

     Day 80

     The inchie word for this week (Every Inchie Monday) was lasso.  I searched everywhere for some smaller thread or yarn, but no luck.  Thanks to my brother for tying this for me.  No way would my fingers cooperate. 

     Day 81

     And so we arrive and what I did today.  Journal52's prompt for last week was "Just Write".  Not a problem for me as I love to write.  The piece I chose came from about 12 or so years ago.  I had had to take a writing class for school and this was one of my pieces.  The writing is small, but I had to get it to fit.  The piece itself has some need for work, but this is how it was for me then and it still holds a lot of emotion for me.  I wrote about the trip we took as a family to California and the time mom got so sick.  We nearly lost her then.  Being so far from home was a nightmare for all of us. 

     Back and forth to the computer.  I really feel quite poorly and hope for better tomorrow.  Have a great day and I promise the blog will not transmit germs! 

Days 75 and 76

     Day 75

     For the New to Me challenge, I used 4 tangles that I have not used before in a piece.  The letter we had to use was "B".  My tangles are B, banderole, boze, and BWIYA.  There is really nothing unusual about the arrangement - I just played a bit with color.

Day 76

     Diva wanted us to go green for St. Patrick's day!  I used the tangle "oof" for my string.  I have recently rediscovered this tangle in another challenge and am having so much fun using it!

     Have a wonderful day and thanks for dropping by.

Day 73 and 74

Day 73

     I had a few minutes to work on the challenge for Square One.  We had to use the tangle "oof".  At first I was a bit put off by a tangle I wasn't too crazy about.  Then the more I played with it the better I liked it.  It has so many ways it can be varied.  I am still exploring variations in my sketch book.

Day 74

     An inch is about all I have for creativity today!  I have a stack of papers to grade that is daunting at best.  But I did work in one tiny bit of creativity.  The word for Every Inchie Monday was "nail".  I wanted to find a tiny nail to glue on my inchie, but could not find one small enough.  So I went with another meaning of nail.  I don't paint my fingernails, but I do admire the beautiful artwork others wear.  It is amazing!

     Guess I better get back to work!  Have a wonderful day. 

Days 69, 70, 71 and 72!!

     I had such great intentions of sitting down each night after creating and posting my blog.  You can see how that worked out!  I had papers to grade.  I had some other things I wanted to do.  I also wanted to spend those precious few minutes creating not blogging.  So the posts all piled up and here we go!  Four days worth!

Day 69

     I worked on Diva's duo tangle #208.  We had to pokeroot and cubine.  Both are fun go to tangles for me.  The issue came in trying to get them to look okay together. 

Day 70

     Over at Made by Joey's challenge, we were given the string and had to use the tangle "clove".  I haven't ever used this tangle but decided rather than to fill the string to use it for a background instead.  Plus a little bit of color and voila! 

Day 71

     On Thursday, Kelly gives us a prompt.  Of course, we don't have to follow it, but it is there to help us along.  Actually it looks like I followed her prompt of spring.  I didn't really.  I had started this picture over the weekend when we were having some really pretty spring weather.  So it seemed like the right time to finish it up.  Our weather still feels like spring, but I do wish it would get dry.  I am so tired of rain.

Day 72

      Tickled to Tangle up for today!  The string is a shamrock and the tangles are lucky and shrock.  I really had fun using lucky.  It is not one I had used that much.  One of the petals of the shamrock turned about a bit "wonky".  It was the first one I did.  The others seemed okay.

     I finished up today's piece of creativity (Day 73, Saturday).  But my brother is at the computer and scanning it isn't going to happen for a bit.   Oh well, it is finished.  I will post it tomorrow with something for Day 74.  It has been a very long tiring week.  This is the first full five day week I have worked - due to weather issues - in a very long time.  Needless to say, I felt worn out by the end of the week.  Thank you for dropping by and leaving me some sunshine.  Maybe you can chase this rain away!  Have a blessed day!

    

Days 67 and 68

Day 67

    I am slowly feeling better.  I still cough a lot when I change elevations - sitting, standing.  But right now I am on the mend.  I just hope tomorrow and school doesn't zap me.  I don't have a lot of energy.
    I love Suzy Mosh's challenge!  It really forces me to dig around and use some of those tangles I never seem to look at after putting them into the notebook.  Sometimes there are a lot to choose from, sometimes only a few.  The two tangles I chose are "amalea" and "acrosstick".  Obviously the letter was A.  I used acrosstick as my string and nestled amalea into the center boxes.  Kind of cool how it turned out.

Day 68

    Every Inchie Monday's word was Egyptian.  Many, many years ago I purchased a set of Egyptian hieroglyphs stamps.  I have no idea why.  They were just interesting.  On the inside of the set, it shows you how to write your name (and anything else) in hieroglyphs.  The stamps wouldn't fit on the inch, so I had to draw them.  They - supposedly - spell Cathy.  I am not sure how accurate this is since I don't know many ancient Egyptians.  Either way it is kinda fun!

My hieroglyph kit

     Today wasn't quite as bad as I feared.  I am however extremely worn out.  Bet I don't have any trouble sleeping tonight, or right now if I just lay my head on the keyboard!
     Thanks for dropping by and saying hello!  Have a grand week!  Ours looks to be rainy.  I so wish we could have some dry pleasant weather and so does my labbie, Lakota!  He wants to go out and play so badly. 

Day 64, 65, and 66

Day 64    

 More bad weather today.  I really was hoping for a full five day week.  But in all honesty I am super delighted with today.  I was up all night sick and my head feels like a locomotive is inside it.  About 4 o'clock this morning I was pretty sure I would not be going in.  So when the school cast came and said no school, I nearly cheered.  I am planning on spending the day doing some school work - which I did bring home this time.  I also snuck in a few minutes art.  I still feel rather worn out and I am not sure what I will do tomorrow, but today was a blessing.
    Over at Tickled to Tangle we had three tangles to choose from - daggerly, dl nebula and dutch diamonds.  They are all great tangles but I have struggled putting them into the string we had to use.  Yikes!  This was hard!  I decided to pencil a background of Dutch diamonds to keep it from feeling empty.  What do you think?

   Day 65

      No school for me today.  I feel miserable.  I have coughed all night.  I also have had stomach issues to go with it (which does not go well with violent coughs, if you understand).  I absolutely hate to miss school.  I fight staying out.  But I was just too exhausted.  Fortunately we have a principal who is extremely understanding.  I am sure he doesn't like us to be out but he is never unkind about it.  Just wishes us a speedy recovery.  That is a blessing.  When I first started at this school, the principal would yell into the phone and then slam it down.  Made you feel about 2 inches high and even more miserable than you probably already were.  Don't miss him. 
     The facebook group, Square One, gives us one tangle to focus on each week.  It is to be done in the traditional black and white and on the "correct" tile size, 3.5 x 3.5.  While mine isn't on a tile, it is the right size.  I was finding I had stacks and stacks of loose tiles.  I gave them away, I stored them, but they kept growing.  So I decided to use my Tangle A Day Calendar and a sketch book for all of this year's challenges.  I really like seeing them all together.  The tangle this week was "bunzo".  I like this bold little tangle. 

Day 66

     Still coughing and such, but I am feeling a bit better - awfully tired though.  It was nice to just sit and chill out with art stuff.  Journal52's prompt this week was coloring book.  Okay, I am absolutely "silly" when it comes to opening a brand new box of crayons.  I love the bold colors, the waxy smell, you name it!  It excites as much now as when I was a kiddo.  As a child, I had a huge collection of coloring books.  Every time mom went to the store, my parting comment would be bring me a coloring book!  A great memory is sitting with either mom or dad, me coloring on one page and them on the other.  Sometimes visiting, sometimes just enjoying the time.  Needless to say this journal prompt took me back a few years. 

     I started out by drawing my coloring book page.  Then I colored it using the best (and only, in my opinion) crayons - Crayola.  Next I took my exacto knife and cut away the wrapper to make my "crayons" for the page.  I started to draw them, but I wanted them to look more realistic.  I love this page.  To me it speaks of worry-free times and the joy of having my parents in my life. 
       Might be the cold meds, but my eyes are really watery right now.  Guess I will see you later!  Have a blessed day!  Find a child and color for awhile. 
 

Days 62 and 63

     Diva's challenge was to use the tangle "Unbatz".  This was brand new to me so it was a challenge!   I found myself really liking this tangle.  It is a lot easier than it initially looks. 

     The challenge for Mady by Joey was to use the tangle Vonn in a monotangle.  This really cool sunburst type pattern was just begging for some color. 

      They are giving bad weather for tonight.  I don't know whether we will be in school tomorrow or not so I did the smart thing and brought every thing I might need home.  Have a great day!

Day 61 - New to Me Challenge!

    Have I mentioned I am somewhat (some would argue quite a lot) obsessive?  I can be.  For example the challenges I am involved in.  It drives me nuts to skip one.  I am so linear.  Of course, a while back I gave myself "permission" to skip every now and then when life got hectic.  It still makes me a bit nuts, but I have accepted I may not get them all.  Doesn't mean I don't try, though.
    Back to the obsession.  Every time a new tangle is posted - Tangle Harmony, Tangle patterns, and any other place - they immediately go into my HUGE green three ring binder.  I must have thousands there.  Then the ones that catch my eye, I use.  Others get stored away.  That is what is so great about this challenge by Suzy Mosh.  It forces me to look at some tangles that I might not have done beforehand.  My notebook has three sections - open space patterns, grid based patterns, and borders.  Each section in alphabetical order.  So when Suzy introduces a new challenge, I go through each section looking for tangles that are "New to Me".  She only asks that we use one new tangle with the target letter, but ever the crazy that I can be, I try to use only tangles that start with that letter and also try to only use new ones.  Some letters are easier than others.
     This week we were looking for tangles that started with the letter H.  I went through the sections and made "notes" about new ones of to the side of my tile (drawn in my Tangle A Day calendar).  Then I just let the process take over.  I copied the whole page because I thought it might be fun to see what it looked like.

      Thanks for dropping by.  Your comments make my day and I love hearing from you!  Have a great day!  I am somewhat tired today as it is my first day back to school and kiddos in a very long time.  It is going to be a very long week.  Then again, they are saying the "s" word for Thursday!  Oh my!

Days 58, 59 and 60

Day 58

      Another snow day today!  I am going to be totally spoiled and have a rough time getting back into the routine come Monday morning!  And it has been fun.  I spent the entire day working on my Journal52 page for this week.  The prompt was "restraint".  We had to first choose one basic shape - I chose a circle.  Then we needed to choose one color - blue for me.  This was so relaxing and fun.  I do an activity like this with my kiddos at school and often will join in and work with them.  It was peaceful to just have only one color to work with (black and white don't count as colors here).  I also added some tangles around to make it more interesting.

Day 59

      For the Square One challenge (Facebook), we needed to use the tangle SeZ.  This wasn't a new tangle to me, but it is one I rarely use.  I also had time today to play around with another tile.  For this tile I used TanglePattens.com's string 001. 

Day 60

      Really?? Day 60!!  I haven't missed one day - yet.  I know it is coming but so far so good.  Today I worked on my inchie for Every Inchie Monday's prompt of "love".  My first thought was the quote by Charles Schulz, "love is a warm puppy".  I really wanted a picture of Lakota, but couldn't find one that tiny.

     I - finally - got ink for my other printer so now I can print out the templates for Ben Kwok's Ornation Creation group (Facebook).  I won't be trying to complete one of these a week, but they will be fun to pull out and add things to along.  The ice cream cone really took me several days on and off, but since I finished it today, I am counting it as part of today's challenge.

     Thank you for dropping by!  I also want to welcome the new people who have started following my blog - I really appreciate your time and comments.  Now I will go and spend the rest of my day working on things I want to since I again left all my things at school.   My brother says it is planned, now how could I know it would snow??!  However . . .