Whew happy new year!

I think blogging every day for a year burnt me out temporarily.. plus I had to put the studio back together after the water damage... but I'm back!
I won't be blogging every day but I'll be putting some awesome stuff up and I have a lot of new and exciting things going on this year.

I know you like to see all the things I'm doing, so here is a group of sneakers that I did over the last few weeks. (Some were holiday orders) but I've revamped things into collages.
I have been playing with alcohol inks and the February Troves just shipped out. Things are busy and life is going well.
I miss the 365 challenge though. I really do.
I've been creating almost every day but not posting... I should consider posting more. I will if you'll share links to your stuff with me in the comments!

And it's over... 1 year of creativity.

I had planned out this piece for most of the year. I suspected that it would be seasonally appropriate when I did it... but oddly, it's not. There's still no real snow here in Buffalo NY for the first time that I ever remember.
But I put the final touches on it today to make it my final piece for the year.

And... Wooohoo! We did it.
I created something, most days art of some kind... EVERY DAY This year.
Every. Day.
The push to do so has been amazing and has held me accountable. I'm going to continue next year, although I won't be posting daily. I found that harder to do than the creating.

I'm going to create a weekly challenge of some kind and I'm still going to continue to create every day and I hope you will as well. If you completed your 300... please send me either your email or your mailing address. I want to send you a little something!

Not my image... I can't find where I found it, but I loved it. :)
If it's yours please let me know so I can credit you

Thank you so much for your participation, for your friendships, for joining me on this really great journey.

Make stuff everyone.
Make stuff EVERY DAY.


Now... starting tomorrow... um.. yeah, tomorrow...
I have a contest. :)

So check back, learn a little more about what I'll be doing next year and hey,
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Tangling, tangling and more tangling!

Not a creature was stirring.. not even a mouse. Or the dogs. Or my minions. It was a silent morning and it has been GLORIOUS!

I spent it with my pen, my pencil and some tea and I feel refreshed after the busy holidays and happy. 

I hope your holidays were wonderful and that you did get some down time to recharge.
This is my first attempt at using Sam Taylors "Crease" and I love it. So simple, so much at the heart of what Zentangle is all about one. One line, then another and then a little shading and something so simple turns into something that looks so amazingly complex!

I liked it so much I had to do another tile to use it in. 

I'm already planning on adding it into some classes!

What are you working on today? Do you have time off this week as the year wraps up?

Sometimes there's a story

A number of years ago I opened an Etsy shop. August of 2008 actually. In 2009 I put up a number of things, most greatly different from what I now sell. Lots of handmade cards, lettering art, etc. Nothing sold, I got discouraged and busy and let Etsy fall to the wayside for a while as I focused on other things. When I came BACK to Etsy I changed what I was doing and never relisted the things that had expired.

A couple weeks ago I was contacted by a VERY close friend. She linked me to post on facebook where a piece of art, a lettered quote had been shared and she said it looked like my work and asked if it was.

I looked and it was. It was one of the cards I'd placed on my Etsy shop during that first go round.
It was a card I'd made for a friend who was very interested in heritage and history and legacy, and I'd used an amazing quote by Linda Hogan.

I never marked it in any way. Someone saw it, liked it, saved it and eventually uploaded it to Pinterest, where the links lead.... nowhere, and yet it was shared all over the internet. Lesson learned.

So I've relisted it. I even made a bigger version for those that wanted larger prints and scanned it at a higher resolution and it's quickly become the most popular item in my shop.
Here it is in my shop.
Weird huh?

Anyway, just a little note about watermarking things or putting your info on them at the very least.

Coloring Book Stuff

This is only a quick peek of part of my new and upcoming coloring book for the holidays.
It will be available on my Etsy shop, my facebook and my website both in completed format and as a per page download. (Per page only on Etsy)
It is not being offered this year in a physical format due to time constraints.

It will be Countdown style with 1 page per day starting December 1st and leading up to Christmas and will be available on (Cheyenne's 18th birthday)November 18th for $12.95 or per page at $.99 per page.
Preorder now by email for only $10 (Whimsybykelly@gmail.com)

Remember, sneak peek only!

Hope you are having a great day and that you are continuing to create!

Found Poetry....

I took a class this weekend at Camerida with the AMAZING Cherryl Moote, if you don't know her work, you should check her out.  It was on found poetry. I've seen it before, I've done some looking into blackout poetry, etc, but the truth is... I'm not much of a poet.
I like Dr Seuss and while I can appreciate poetry mine tends to often read like that of a 14 year old girl.
Which isn't awful, I mean, I was a 14 year old girl once but that was a while ago. :)
So I was a little skeptical and hesitant. I'll be honest here, I was nervous and felt totally out of my comfort zone. One of the great things about this weekend was how often I was pushed out of my comfort zone. It makes one grow, even if it's not super comfortable at the time.
So here is my found poetry in process. I have a bit more done with it and hope to finish it up today.
I used a technique Cherryl taught about faux eco printing (that I loved!) and I used my new inktense blocks, which I loved and then I kind of got stuck.

But I'm working at it. :)


Hope everyone is having a great week and being productive! I have a big event this weekend I'm pretty excited about so I'll be prepping for that and then hopefully lots of pen time!

Show me cool stuff friends!

New tanglers!

I taught a Zentangle 101 yesterday (I worked on other stuff too, but I love to share what's created by my classes)

We completed 2 tiles, for a total of 7 patterns.
Here's a few in progresss

My class hard at work! I had a couple and 2 sisters in this class! Such a nice group! No one had ever tangled before they were truly new to the method!

 Look how great their tiles came out!

I love the way I can see individual personalities come through in the tiles!

I also worked some on the Tangle Troves and did a little tangling of my own yesterday!
It was a very good, if very busy day!

Hope your looking forward to a fantastic weekend!

Tangle Troves™ launched yesterday and I'm so excited

I've been talking about a project that I have going (I have several that I still can't talk about) that was my top secret surprise!

It launched yesterday.
Tangle Troves™

This is the first subscription box made for Tanglers and also the only boxed subscription services that includes monthly instruction! Something new, something fun in the mail every month!
You'll receive a gem each month, which is top secret instruction you can only get with the access that is granted to subscribers and only the highest of quality materials will be included. 

I've been tweaking the page and getting all set for launch and
*breathes a GIGANTIC sigh of relief* and other than some small hiccups that resulted when international orders were charging people things like $75 dollars to ship a box, it went off without a hitch.
The international thing has been corrected, and all is going GREAT!
It's going so great that I'm going to send a prototype box free to one of the first 50 to subscribe (and there's only a little bit of time before I reach that number so if you are on the fence and want a chance to get a protype, get in quick!)

One of the things I wanted and was hoping for was the opportunity for other CZTs to have the opportunity to showcase their products and that is happening! I have some great instructors who have things they want to share with you, some amazing artisans who have created things you will adore and some really innovative and amazing tools to share with you!

So that's what I've been doing.
I'm a little tired :) but happy and I feel like I've created something pretty awesome and I hope you are as excited as I am. 

It'll be fun, I'm going to create a facebook group for people to share as well, I have a facebook page, instagram and twitter too and we'll be using the hashtag #TangleTroves if you want to check things out. (Not much to see yet!)

What are you working on?

CanT a tangle that's new to me!

I've been practicing this one and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

It's Can T by Chris Titus.

Hope you are doing something fun today!

Sorry about yesterday, EEK!

I did get a post up, such as it was in the hopes of letting you know  and the blogger issue appears fixed today , so phew! I hope you still got something awesome done!
Here's a little bit of coloring I did.

AND I got a fun new coloring book! If you haven't seen it yet, you should check it out, it's a LOT of fun!
I bought mine at amazon. (I'm pretty committed to my prime membership!)

Then this is still a work in progress. It's some tangling on a beautiful hand marbled tile made by my friend and fellow CZT, Diane Yaciuk! Her work is SO incredibly beautiful!

So that's some fun stuff. Also, a few little announcements.
I was commissioned to do 20 pieces of art that will be included in a coloring/activity book. 
I am almost finished creating my coloring book and hope to publish it early next year. 
I have a new product launching in beta test in the next 6-8 weeks. I'm really incredibly excited about this and some of you may be receiving protoypes in the mail for your feedback and I'll be giving one away here as a giveaway too!

So that's why I'm so busy!!! Keep creating. Keep making awesome art!
Lots of love friends!!!!

Pen work!

Today I am more focused on sharing with the world one young lady, who started college today.
One of the greatest creations I've ever had a part in.
Congrats Cheyenne. I am so incredibly proud of you, you are going to do amazing things. I hope the world is ready for you.

But I do have this to share as well.
(I'd like to say it kept me from crying like a mom on the first day of kindergarten... but nope)

Shading for dimension

I love shading. From a relaxation perspective, I adore the way the graphite lays on the paper, I get satisfaction from the way it blends into the cotton fibers. It makes me happy.
If it doesn't.. if it really stresses you out, then it's ok to not shade.

Art confession time. I used to be terrified to shade. I was always thinking, but I like it the way it is, what if I "wreck it" and then I discovered that it really needs it most of the time.
I shade very intuitively  to tell you the truth. I can tell when it needs some darkness, some light.
Everything needs depth.

I get asked a lot if tangling needs shading. That's a choice only you can make, but I do want to show you the difference in the richness of a tile that's been shaded and one that hasn't and encourage you to give it a shot if you've been holding back.

Fun isn't it?

Here's some closer pictures.
Before. It's a pretty tile right? Some fun stuff going on. Printemps, Nipa and Jetties, that I finally learned thanks to Sonya Yencer! 

But it's nothing special. 

I spent another 5 minutes on it. I blacked in the white space, I added some highlights. I added shadows and now...
I kind of love it. 

Are you a shader? In love with graphite? 

Did you shade from the beginning or were you nervous?
And what are you working on today?