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iTangle

Tackle it Tuesday!!!! (Or Tangle it Tuesday as I always think of it!) from  Cheryl over at Artful Creation was an alphabet challenge. Today's tangle is using patterns that start with the letter "I" so I am calling this my "Itangle" since I was listening to music on my ipod, took the pic with my iphone and posted it to my instagram. :D

3 out of these tangles were new for me and I love IX. Love it. I need to practice it some more, but I love way it looks when it's finished. Very layered. 

This is my finished tangle, I don't love it, so I may re-do the one for this week, or I might just let it be. 

My tangles of choice were...

IX

Ixorus

Inapod

Intersection

Ilana

Happy Earth Day!

It's Earth Day!

I forgot all about it until The Diva presented us with this Earth Day challenge, challenge 164.

I thought it was a great opportunity for me to use my earth tone pens and try a little color.  It's a little different than many I do, but I like earth day... I like nature, so here we go.

For this one I used Chainging, Featherfall, Budz, Henna Drums, Pokeleaf and Verdigogh

What if anything do you do to celebrate Earth day? It's often still too cold here for spring clean up or planting, so we do that a little later in the season. 

Easter Eggs

These are too simple to really feel like they counted as being creative, and they didn't turn out QUITE the way I was hoping but they were easy, and sometimes.. Easy is good! I threw them in a collage for something different.

I used gel colors and next time I will just use the regular cheapos, I think they will turn out more vibrant.
Next time I think I'm going to blow out the insides to zentangle eggs... can't have them room temp because ew, so the pen doesn't work "quite right" on the shell otherwise.

That's ok. It's Easter. :) They were fun, that's the point right?

I love the artsy shot in the middle that I took while dying the eggs. (Please ignore my messy counter tops!) I had to stand on a chair and shoot THROUGH my pretty tulip plant to get that. :D

(I AM NOT a photographer!. Duh. Obviously!)

I hope your day is filled with bright spring colors, sunshine and if you celebrate Easter, lots of chocolate bunnies!

Happy Easter Weekend!

This one is actually for the Diva's first challenge, it was called Simplicity, and that worked for me. I went with a simple shape,1 pattern and the first one I ever learned... Flux! Then I just filled in with some different types of circles. Love the way it turned out but not sure why my photo is pink. It's not pink at all in reality. 

Oh well.  I like pink. 

This was for challenge 10, but I just did it.

It's "Exploring white space"

I'm really happy with how the depth came out on this one. 

That's it for today.

The weather is beautiful finally, I have the windows open and it smells like spring!

Happy Easter everyone!

How to Draw Budz

I've been drawing this pattern since... forever I think. I didn't see it stepped out anywhere so I thought I would do it.

I've called it Budz and I hope you like it!

Step 1: Make a loopy line. My example almost looks like cursive L's but it can be any type of swirly line you like.

Step 2: Add a swirl on a slightly angled stick, one motion anywhere on your curve. I opted to show you with it just across from each swirl. 

Step 3: You can either finish your flower on step 2 with a quick line up to the curve of your flower, or you can skip it and finish it off when you put in your teardrop shape for a leaf.

Step 4: Place a tiny line at the bottom of the teardrop shape

Step 5: Dots make things fun!

Step 6: I shade at the base of the flower and the curve of the leaf.

You can actually stop after step 3 and decorate it however you'd like, and this can be done in rows as a variation to fill a space. It's more versatile than it seems at first glance!

I look forward to seeing what you do with it! If you use it, please drop me a link so I can take a look!

A little inspiration

On facebook I've been participating in the Wacky ZentangleWeekly challenge group, (Seriously this is fun, go check it out!)

This weeks challenge I could do 90 times!
Here is it from the group...
"We all like quotations or inspirational notes, so here is your chance to share your favourite ones with this amazing group.  I will leave it up to your interpretation, whether its writing the quote and tangling around it or tangling the quotes!  i can't wait to see what people come up with."

I simply adore quotes, especially ones that inspire me.

This is what I came up with last night. I don't LOVE it, love it.. because it was a very fast tangle and I wasn't trying to make it perfect, I was just kind of experimenting. I was playing with a tangle that I *think* is actually MINE (I'm still looking to see if it's listed anywhere else).

I actually have the infinity symbol with the quote drawn on my sketchbook and I really love that which was why this was my first attempt at this weeks challenge. I may do more. I love, love, love this challenge. 

We'll see how much time I have this week! 

Rixty and H's

I didn't think I was going to be happy with this weeks Diva challenge. It was to use the latest official Zentangle pattern, Rixty.  I sometimes feel constrained by having to put a tangle into something, so I approached it a little different today.

Since it was a new tangle that I had never done before (that happens a lot honestly) I grabbed my sketchbook, threw a string down and just started tangling Rixty and the variations. I figured I'd not plan it and see where it ended up and then slide in whatever else seemed to work.

Here's my final result and I'm actually pleased with it. I also really like this new pattern and think it will be one of my "go-to's" because I like that woven look and really liked the versatility of it.

Anyway, here is my take on Challenge #163.

And how did Tuesday come and go already? This week for Cheryl's weekly Tackle it Tuesday challenge over on Artful Creations, our letter is H.
I used:

• Heartstrings
• Heartrope
• Hibred
• Hollibaugh
• Huggins
• Hopscotch
• Hi-C's

and then.. I filled in with some hatching!

I'm going to start a challenge of my own on here soon I think, a very quick tangle a day I think. If you're interested, follow me or shoot me an email over at WhimsybyKelly@gmail.com and I'll let you know when it gets started!

Alright, I guess that's it for today!
Oh.. one more thing! How many pens are sitting in front of you RIGHT now???

Sunday tangle

I worked on this yesterday and finished it up today.

I had some friends ask me how it goes from in my head to finished so I took some step by steps.

This is how it started.. with some breakfast and an idea on Sunday morning.
Here is my basic string.

The vision in my head. Yes the circles are freehand, I've been asked 4 times. LOL

This part comes together pretty quick for me. 

A close up of this section

Where I was in the evening on Sunday.

Done .. except the shading

Some shading

And done... I need to rescan it because my scanner is glitchy but here it is! 

Something totally new and a little color

Ok... it's a lot of color! The Bright Owl challenge was to use paper not normally used to zentangle on for the 13th project, and I had this cute pink dotted scrapbook paper. Holy hell is it hard to shade on texture!
The pink is actually prettier than it shows in this picture, not sure why it has that purple-ish cast, but I like it.
I'm a huge fan of the color pink though..
Here it is.

Then for my project this weekend that is something different, I"m working on a mask.

Preshading...

Some shading and a little more detail. It's not done.. I struggled with not being able to use really fine point. I think I need some ultrafine sharpies. Shading on this was a DREAM though. I love it.
Now if only the darn puppy hadn't eaten my favorite eraser. :(

It's a good thing she's cute right? I think she's sorry. :) I'll forgive her.

Some new tangles...

This is one of Erin's (from The Bright Owl) older challenges. This was number 8 and the challenge was to use tangles starting with
L
O
V
E

Well.. I realized i didn't know many tangles that started with some of those letters. So time to try some new ones!

For L: Laced
For O: Ornamato (A favorite ... I think it looks like jewelry but I never use it)
For V: This was my biggest struggle. I couldn't find anything I felt "fit" with these other tangles that started with V. Finally, I went with a new one, Verdigogh and I really like it, but I'm not sure I love it on here. I'm going to make it a goal to use it a few times in the next few weeks to really get a feel for it.
For E: Another one I wasn't sure what to use, but I found embellish and it looks like it was made to go with Laced!

This was fun, I need to do a few more with only a handful of tangles, they come together so fast and I'm almost always happy with them.
(My shading could be better... but next time)

Something fun I posted on my instagram but didn't post on here til today. I got a new sketchbook the other day, and I put this on the cover. It's not really a tangle, but it works for me. I sometimes need the reminder.

In case anyone is interested, I really like the new sketchbook. I haven't yet decided if I'm going to use it for sketching in or for cataloging tangles... mostly I just hold it and look at the perfectly crisp and blank pages. I'm such a nerd. :D

Here's the link if you want to check it out for yourself. 

Mexico and Ribbons?

The 4th Bright Owl challenge was supposed to say something about mexico or the ocean... I don't know how I ended up with this... but I did. There are no tequila shots or fajitas anywhere and I don't think I've ever seen anything like these seed pods while snorkeling!
Maybe I'll do it again in the future and see if I can come up with something with a little more mexican flair... for now, I really do like the way this one turned out, even if it did go rogue on me!

The next one again, going back to the beginning of these because I started "in the middle" and my ocd makes me want to catch up, I have The Diva's second challenge which was a 2 pencil string. 

I have to say I really like this technique and the results. I'm a girly girl. I love ribbons. :)

Hope you like them! What did you draw today? 

I do love a challenge!

Ok, so I am excited to make one blog post with not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4, yes FOUR different challenges completed. I suppose I could have combined a couple but that never occurred to me until I was typing this JUST NOW.
Hmm. Note to self for next time.

All but the last of these are in my small sketchbook, so at largest 4x6.

I'm going to post the pages that I got the challenge/dare from for you in case you want to join in and play along.

The first one is my first for the Wacky Zentangle Weekly challenge. It's the first time I've participated in one of these and it was a lot of fun. My style is a little looser, I just kind of played with it. The challenge was to tangle Easter Eggs. This year I don't think we are going to do real eggs, (the kids are older, C is in Germany until the day before, it's just weird this year and I'm not really big on celebrating Easter anyhow) so instead I made a card that I will send to a friend of mine for Easter. I think it turned out cute and was fun to do, and that's the goal anyway right?

This next one is The Diva's weekly dare #162. She calls it String Theory- Initial String, and has you use your initials for your string. BRILLIANT! I am always having a hard time coming up with strings. 

Moving right along... 

This is the weekly "Tackle it Tuesday" that's posted over at Artful Creations. 

This one was to use on "G" tangles, I used:

Girdy

Geos

Grid

Gingham

And my last one is from the Bright Owl's Zendala Dare.

She isn't currently posting new challenges, but I came in at the end so I've simply gone back, checked them all out and am slowly working my way through them all. There are close to 100, so that should keep me busy for a while. This is #6 and I've had it ALMOST done for weeks, but just finally finished it. 

This one is larger, probably 6" in diameter. There's a mistake in there that I see every time I look at it so I may redo it another time... or you know, just let it go (cue Disney music here) and remind myself that perfection isn't a virtue. :)

This one took a few days

I've been working on this one off and on for a few days, I had a really hard time deciding which tangles to use and where to put them and how I wanted it to look. It didn't actually come together until the last little bit, and I almost wonder if there should be MORE shading. This great template is also by Ben Kwok. I love his style and if you haven't checked out his artwork you really should.

Several people have asked about the size of my work, the zendala style pieces , the rose, the zebra and most of my patchwork style stuff are usually on 8x10 pieces of cardstock or in my 11x18 sketchbook.

The weekly challenges and Tackle it Tuesday challenges are always small and done in my little sketchbook, so they probably turn out about 4x4.

Time to break out some of those new pens

A while back I bought a ton of new pens,and then quickly found that I didn't quite need them yet. Well, I certainly could have used them at any time, but I liked them being brand new and looking at them untouched (I'm the same way with sneakers. I have 3 pair of converse just WAITING to be painted ) so I've had them in my little kit untouched. I didn't think today would be any different.

Anyway, I  knew it was time for a new project and decided to try one with some bolder patterns. I find that much of my work has a very "light" touch to it, but I do love bold and darker patterns. I picked Diva Dare #3 and here was my result. While working on this, I had 3 of my pens go "into retirement" which means I don't throw them out, they get tagged with a piece of blue painters tape and thrown in a baggie for emergencies and one run out of ink completely. It doesn't even have that much solid in it... so I'm going to say it was just time.

.

The shading in the center isn't as clear in the photo as I'd like, but otherwise I'm happy with it and it did make me push myself a little. The new pens were as fantastic as I knew they'd be.

Keeping them simple

These have a lot of white space and something about them seems really peaceful and yet fun to me.
Both of these come from Erin over at The Bright Owl and are past challenges, she's not posting any new ones right now and since I came in towards the end I have a ton to catch up on.

This is the 9th.

And this is #91

I'm noticing I really love dots.

Scanned

My phone usually takes pretty good pictures but it's really hard to capture detail.
My daughter knows how much I hate scanning things so the credit for scanning these goes to her.

I have the most awesome 16 year old in the world by the way. She's packing for Germany right now for the student exchange program and I'm going to miss her so much while she's gone, but I'm really glad she has this opportunity. (She leaves in the morning so I expect to be extra creative... I need something to keep my mind off her being gone!)

Anyway, here is my zebra again... much clearer!

This one I did for my friend Heather because it's exactly what she wanted. My daughter instantly said it looked like Tim Burton world and  tried to claim it but I'll make her one of her own.

Zebra Sighting!

This one was a project I started the other day and only worked on for a quick minute until today, when I dove in. I enjoyed doing this, it's a little different than the stuff I've been doing but how much fun is this? I did get "lost" in his stripes a few times, but always found my way out.

I was going to post WIP but I got into it and never got to it. Next time I'll at least put some up on my instagram. (whimsybykelly if you're on there!)

 I've decided his name is Zed. :)

I'm not sure I'm thrilled with the photo so I may retake it, but here he is!

The template comes from the Ornation Creations facebook page.

Tackle it Tuesday Letter F and Challenge 161 (Quandary)

I have 2 completed today, for 2 of my weekly challenges.
I have 2 really cool new projects that I'm not talking about yet, but I'm not going to stop doing these!

This from the Laura over at I am the Diva and it was to use Quandary. I can tell you honestly, I've never used Quandary before, and I don't know if I will never use it again. While I do like the way the tile turned out,I did not enjoy doing that tangle. I found it really hard to focus on and my patterns didn't come together the way I wanted them to.
Maybe I will practice it more, maybe I won't. :)
Challenges are good, they push me outside my comfort zone.

This next one I really liked. I didn't realize how many of the F tangles I really like.  This is from the Tackle it Tuesday weekly challenge from Cheryl over at Artful Creations and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out! (I may try something new with these in the next few weeks as well... wait and see!