Days 162 and 163 - ATC frenzy!

    It has been awhile since I have done an ATC swap.  Postage can do me in even though I love doing them.  The really nice thing about this swap for Stacked and Tangled (a facebook group) is that I can send all my cards to one place and then they will send me a stack back.  Essentially two times for postage.  Not bad.  I also get lots of gorgeous art work from some of my favorite tanglers.   Swaps are fun.
     My first ATC that I worked on for day 162 is also for Diane and Carolien's ABC  challenge.  I figured, why not?  Our piece of art had to use tangles that begin with a number, C and R.  I used (from the bottom up) chainging, chuchu, 2n5, rolling in, rain or shine, and cle.  Lots of fun and it set the stage for the rest of my ATCs.  Also today I finished 3 others.

      While I had other challenges to work on, I got caught up in some more of the ATCs.  So for day 163 I finished four more cards.  I like the quick work you can do on these.  I can sit while visiting or watching TV and get several done. 

    I wish the colors were brighter in the scan - they are very vibrant in person.  I think for today's creative work I will get to some of those challenges I want to do.  After all, I have until July to finish the cards and I am almost half way there! 
     By the way, welcome and thank you to my new followers!  It is so exciting to see that number grow!  I remember when I started this blog adventure and I went to school and begged asked a few close friends to please follow me so I wouldn't look so lonely over here.  They were nice and said yes.  Now . . .  I have so many wonderful new friends!  I still get excited at each new follower though.
     Have a wonderful day!

Days 159 - 161

     Monday is the day for the Diva challenge!  Each year at this time we are asked to show our support for Beads of Courage by doing a tile with that theme.  I decided to enlarge the beads so I only have a few on the tile for day 159.  Last year, I think I did lots of little ones - can't really remember.  While the beads are for children battling various diseases, I think probably each one of us could start a strand for ourselves.  We have all seen times when we had to dig deep to  find the courage to move forward.

     Susy Mosh's New to Me challenge can be a real challenge.  Sometimes, I can't find a new tangle to use.  Could that perhaps suggest I spend too much time tangling if I use most of them at some point?  Uh, let's not go there.  Moving right along, for day 160, we had to use tangles that started with the letter D (that were new, of course) and also use a tangle by artist, Genevieve Crabe.  She is an awesome artist and does so much with her weekly newsletter to keep people informed about new tangles and things.  I went first to her tangle site to find one to use.  I discovered a tangle by her that I had not used before - dessus-dessous.  Surprise!  It also began with a D.  Was that lucky or what??  I also used the tangle demi, another by her but more familiar to me.

     Today is day 161.  I have had the Cricut out to cut out an alphabet to use as templates.  I also will probably go back to the Cricut when I finish here.  But I also took a few minutes to do my string challenge for Adele Bruno.  This string and the tangles she gave us to use presented some problems.  I couldn't figure out how to put it all together.  I am sort of happy with it.   The tangles are nvelope, nipa, nuwave, and neuron.

      My crafting table is now a major disaster!  I have cutting things and drawing things everywhere.  Probably I should decide what I am going to do and clean a space to do it.  A messy crafting table really doesn't bother me - except it is also the dining table.  And there is no room for a plate (or two) later on.  One day - I will have a craft ROOM. 
      Thank you for dropping by and I hope you are having a wonderful day. 

Day 158 - Every Inchie Monday

    While the title says "Monday", I did this piece on Sunday for the create each day challenge.  I just knew I wouldn't get it posted til today.  Actually it is the ONLY piece I created yesterday.  I just couldn't work up much creative energy.  Some days are like that I guess. 
     The word this week was "wave".  I thought of a hand waving because I knew drawing an ocean wave would be a stretch.  But as usual I decided to go the harder route.  I am not sure it exactly looks like an ocean, but it is close.  Sort of. 

     I guess I need to get going on something for Monday.   They just updated my gypsy, which is a device that works with the Cricut cutting machine and I am so excited!  I plan on heading off to the world of card making and other goodies!  Thanks for dropping by and saying hello! 
    

Days 156 and 157

     Another beautiful day!  For yesterday (day 156) I worked on the Square One Facebook challenge.  We had to use the tangle msst.  That tangle tends to show up in a lot of organic pieces because well, it looks like rain and mist.   My tile is sort of haphazard.  I drew a string and then just played around on it without too much of a direction.  It kind of works, I guess. 

     Diva, this past week introduced us to the tangle "boxed up" by Alice Hendon.  I have already done that challenge earlier, but I knew I would have to play with that tangle some more.  It is easy and very relaxing.  So today I worked on a couple of other pieces with that tangle, amongst others.  Here are a few pieces for day 157.

Emerson quote

Snail's Pace

        I hope you are having a wonderful day.  I think I will go and think about - and maybe work on - the Journal52 page.  I cannot decide what to do for the prompt this week, "small success".  See you later!

Day 155

      Even though the weatherman says there is a possibility of evening showers, the weather right now is gorgeous - perhaps a bit warm.  We were out playing a little with Lakota and being very large and black, he just can't take the heat for very long.  Honestly I don't do so well for very long either.  So I headed inside to tangle up some challenges. 
      The first one I completed was for Made by Joey.  We had to use tangle string #006 and tangles that began with a J.  My tangle choices were jajazz and jetties.   I really like this tile.  It is always a favorite of mine to use black and white with a touch of red.
      Diva wanted us to try Alice Hendon's tangle "boxed in" for the UMT challenge.  I think I want to play with this tangle some more.  It is a lot of fun and the shading just makes it pop!  The other tangle is a variation of Amy Broady's troellog. 

     I almost did not do Adele Bruno's string challenge this week.  The tangles she chose were some of my absolute favorites, but I could not get the string drawn.  I drew and erased a dozen times.  It nearly drove me nuts.  I am glad I persevered though because I really like everything about this tile.  The color of pink, my favorite tangle - nzeppel.  Everything.  Guess that shows why you should not give up.

     Now to get all of these posted to their appropriate sites!  That is always an endeavor.  Thank you for coming by and checking this out.  I hope your day is filled with lots of blessings!

Day 154

     I sort of "goofed" with today's challenge tile.  It is for Suzy Mosh's New to Me Challenge.  We were supposed to use new tangles for us that start with an A and also a tangle by Margaret Bremner.  The tangle by Margaret Bremner is sort of new.  I don't use chebucto very much because it is a struggle for me - as you can tell.  I was hoping adding some color to it would help.  It didn't.  I think I like it even less.  As for the new tangles, I got busy and filled the tile and neither are completely new to me.  Arabel (lower right) is one of my favorite go to tangles.  So it is definitely not new.  Now, the other one - afreeka - is not an overly used one.  So for the sake of the challenge I will count it as my "new" one, even if it is not completely new.  I will do better next time, Suzy, I promise!

      I think I will spend the rest of the day working on my paper dolls for my class door.  I can't wait to finish them up and share those - although that is going to be awhile.    Have a great day!

Days 152 and 153

     Hello!  I hope you are having a wonderful day.  It is not raining here and the weather is very pleasant.  Yahoo! 
     Day 152 was the day for my inchie!  The word this week was pillow!  I promise I seriously thought about a really cute 3D stuffed pillow.  But that is as far as I got.  Being needle and thread challenged I decided on drawing a pillow.  I am sure if you go over to Every Inchie Monday (see sidebar), you will see some awesome interpretations of this word.  This group is fantastic.

     Somehow I am missing the challenges over at Facebook's Stacked and Tangled.  So for day 153 I worked on two that I had overlooked.  While I love Facebook, I do not like the lack - in my opinion - of organization.  The first one is for the challenge, Name Your Stripes.  It also is going to be for the alphabet challenge - YZA.  I used the tangles zanzee (mine!), zanella, yewdee, amalea and arckles. 

     The other challenge at Stacked and Tangled I missed was to use string #157 and stack some tangles in it.  I used cadent, come and go, c-scape, and chainging. 

     To me it looks like the top of a knitted bonnet or cap!  Oh well, not intentional.  Now I am going to pull out the Cricut and cut some really adorable kiddos for my door at school.  I cut and plan a paper doll for each child to show who is in my room.  It is a ton of work, but honestly just as much fun!  I try to make it look as much like the child as I can.  (Okay, I did love paper dolls as a child)  I will share some of these along as I get them done.  It usually takes several weeks, so it may be awhile. 
     Thanks for coming by and I hope you have a great day!