Zen Pumpkin

Last year I saw a video by Suzanne McNeill, CZT, where she Zentangled on a foam pumpkin.  She made it look so effortless and fun!  Well, I went out and bought foam pumpkins, but then I never did Zentangle on them.  Last night I decided it was time, so I got one out.  Suzanne used Sharpie paint pens, which contain an oil based paint.  Here are some pictures of my efforts.  It's really not as easy as it looked when Suzanne did it!

By Dianne Johnson

You can definitely see that the lines are far from perfect, but I didn't care - it was a lot of fun to do!  Drawing on a curved surface was a lot harder than drawing on a flat one!  Every once in a while, my pen would just go off on it's own and the lines would not be what I had planned.

By Dianne Johnson

Although the paint pen that I used is the smaller one that is available, it is still has a bullet point tip, which is much thicker than the Micron 01 that I'm used to.  With that being the case, some patterns are better than others to use.  

By Dianne Johnson

I ended up coloring in some lines where my pen just veered off!

By Dianne Johnson

Wherever the oil based paint dried, it acted like a "speed bump" to my pen.  The pen would hit it and come to a screeching halt and then jump over the painted place.

By Dianne Johnson

I even did the bottom, because you KNOW people are going to pick it up to look at it!

In spite of it being more difficult to do, there was such joy in doing this, and I actually love how it turned out.  You should definitely try it!  I chose a white pumpkin and a black pen to do first, but I also have a black pumpkin and white pen, and I'm going to do that next.

September Magenta Challenge

We have a new Magenta Challenge!

Magenta Challenge - September 2013 :

Anything Goes!  Make a Card, a Layout, Mixed Media piece, ATC, anything you desire.

Use any color scheme you wish!  You just need to use some Magenta products for your creation.

You can win this fantastic Magenta prize!

To enter, go here and use linkz to enter your creation


Here's what I created

by Dianne Johnson

Magenta Stamps Used:  Samara Branch 42.184.J; Colors and Shapes 07.805.I
Magenta Paper:  Red Canvas sheet
Distress Stains: Aged Mahogany; Peeled Paint; Spiced Marmalade; Tea Dye;
Mustard Seed
Gold Detail Embossing Powder from Judikins
Jet Black StazOn Ink; Versamark
Hero Hues Pearls
Embossing Folder:  Branches with Leaves & Flowers Sizzix 657252

First, I stamped the Samara Branch onto Kraft cardstock with Versamark, and embossed with Gold Detail embossing powder.  

I love the Distress Stains from Ranger, which have a dauber top.  If you have a new bottle of Distress Stain, be sure to press in the dauber top once to open the valve.  Then you can turn the bottle upside down and press the top onto your paper while you squeeze the bottle lightly to apply as much stain as you like.  

I tested the colors I have onto a scrap piece of Kraft cardstock.  I'm glad I took this extra step, because some of the colors really soak into the Kraft, and some appear brighter.  They look completely different than they do on white cardstock.  And I..uh..might have contaminated some of my dauber tops with metallic Distress Stains on a previous project.  That's ok though, because these can be cleaned off.  Here's my test swatch:

Distress Stain samples on Kraft

I chose the fall colors I liked the best and went from there.  Oh, and if you do a test swatch like this, wear an apron and cover your table.  Some of the colors are juicier than others.  Just sayin'.

I ended up making a larger card than I normally do.  I was just experimenting with the Samara stamp and the stains, and I liked it so much I didn't want to cut it down.  I stamped the sentiment onto a piece of Vellum and mounted it in the middle with vellum adhesive.  I added a sprinkling of pearls from the top left to the bottom right.  

This card was so much fun to do!

Zentangle Guru Update

At Art 'n Soul we have been hosting a trunk show from Dreamweaver Stencils.  Our good friends Lynell and Wayne Harlow of Dreamweavers came one Saturday recently, to demo fabulous techniques with their stencils.  They stayed all day, and everyone who attended had a fantastic time.  Wayne Harlow, who is a CZT (Certified Zentangle Teacher) showed us lots of his tips and techniques with Zentangling, especially doing tangles inside of the marvelous Dreamweaver Stencils.  Here's a picture of Wayne talking to Sherry Barello (our first ever Featured Artist) that day.

Wayne Harlow and Sherry Barello

While giving us lots of good info on Zentangling, Wayne shared a tangle with us that he invented himself, called Crusade.  Imagine how happy we were to see that Wayne's tangle made it onto the TanglePatterns website!  Here's the link for the step-outs to Wayne's first published tangle!  Congrats Wayne, we're so proud of you!

By the way, you can link to the Dreamweaver Stencils blog from my blog (See "Dream It Up" under "Blogs I Love to Visit" at the  bottom of this page).  There is also a link there to the TanglePatterns site.

By the way, we still have a lot of fabulous Dreamweaver Stencils in stock!  (We can't seem to bear to send any back yet, but we must soon).

Inchie Art Squares Card

I came across this card that I haven't shared with you yet.  This is a technique invented by Lisa Lee of Inchie Arts, to use dies with Artsquares.

by Dianne Johnson

For this technique, you need masking paper, Artsquares, a die of your choice, pigment ink, and clear embossing powder.  I used 4- Inchie Plus Artsquares, and I pushed them together to work on them, but this is also a great technique for the 3" squares, or the ATC sized Artsquares.  The die is Memory Box Cheshire Branch Outline 98599, and the sentiment is Magenta "Thanks for Touching My Heart" 07.731.I

I applied temporary adhesive to the backs of the squares to adhere them to a scrap piece of card stock while I worked.  I covered the Artsquares with the masking paper, and put the die face down onto the masking paper.  You need to experiment with your sandwich when you run this through your machine, because the Artsquares are about 1/16" (or about 1.6 mm) thick.  You want it to go through firmly, but not so that it's hard to crank through.  The die will cut the masking paper, and emboss into the Artsquares.  You then peel up the masking paper selectively, for areas you want to color.  I did the background first, and applied pigment inks with sponge daubers.  I then peeled the masking paper from the petals, applied the purple pigment, and the last piece of masking paper was on the leaves, which I left white.

For the last step, you apply clear embossing powder over the whole image and heat emboss.  In order to get the shiny finish, I then applied Versamark clear sticky ink to the entire image, clear embossing powder again, and heat embossed.  I did this last step once more, until the finish was shiny and smooth.

I peeled the squares up off the scrap card stock, and mounted them onto a square of purple card stock with dimensional adhesive.  I then mounted the purple square onto my card and stamped the sentiment.

Lisa Lee of Inchie Arts is coming to Art 'n Soul on Saturday, September 21st from 1:00-3:00 to teach this technique, and students will make a number of beautiful cards, using different dies and colors.  If you are local, be sure to call or come by the shop and sign up for this great class!  Once you get the hang of this technique, you can make beautiful cards that look MUCH harder to make than they are!

Hero Arts Stamp Your Story

Oh my gosh everyone, check out the Hero Arts blog today!

http://heroarts.com/blogs/club/2013/08/14/art-n-soul/

They are featuring Art 'n Soul, and ahem, cards from yours truly.  There is a blurb about the shop and pics featuring Patti's beautifully arranged table with the Stamp Your Story stamps from Hero Arts, and cards from Marj and myself.  We are thrilled!

Leaf Fish

I've talked before about how when Helene was in Washington to teach, she challenged us to use our stamps in different ways.  This is one that she showed us - how to make these adorable fish with a leaf stamp.  Just draw a triangle for the tail, and add an eye.  I wanted to make a sample for our shop to remind everyone to look at their stamps differently.  The seaweed is a leafy branch stamp.  Try it, it's really fun!

by Dianne Johnson

Magenta Stamps used:  Bold Leaf 23.180.C;   Bold Branch 37.266.O;   Dots 23.114.C; 

There is Magic All Around Us 07.807.I

Memento Inks used:  Bamboo Garden; Rose Bud; Tangelo; Bahama Blue; Grape Jelly; Tuxedo Black

Other:  So Silk Blue cardstock; Embossing Folder - Tiny Bubbles - Cuttlebug 37-1229

Enamel Dots from My Mind's Eye

Happy Birthday Charlotte Gail!

Dreamweavers has a few new stencils with chunky lettering.  I love them because they are perfect for adding tangles.

by Dianne Johnson

One of my closest friends, who has known me most of my life is almost exactly one month older than I am.  I sent her a card in the mail, but I also made this one to post on her birthday.  Happy Birthday Chez!  Thinking of you today, OLD friend! xoxoxo

Zen Fan

I think that Dreamweaver Stencils and Magenta sentiment stamps make a dream team for simple, pretty Zentangled cards.  I have paired them up quite a bit.  Here's the latest

by Dianne Johnson

Dreamweaver Stencil: LM 189 Fan

Magenta Stamp:  07-804-F "I'm a fan of yours!"

This card didn't really want to get made.  I had this stencil from Dreamweaver for a while, and wanted to Zentangle with it on a card.  I didn't really have a good sentiment for it though, and Helene from Magenta kindly consented to make this one for me, which is just so perfect!  [this stamp can be obtained through Magenta - or for local Art 'n Soul readers, you can get it through the shop].  Once I got the stamp, then I couldn't find the stencil.  I looked for it for a while, and then decided to get another one; which would surely mean the first one would turn up. Yeah, that didn't happen.  In fact, the second one disappeared also.  Ok, I'm embarrassed to admit that this is the third one of these stencils I have purchased.  I decided to quickly make this card before this one joins the others.  Yes, I am doing some renovation in my studio, but why am I only losing this one stencil, over and over?  Some things just can't be explained.

Local Art 'n Soul readers, we are having a gigantic trunk show of Dreamweaver products at the shop for the next couple of weeks.  This Saturday the 10th, Lynell and Wayne Harlow of Dreamweaver Stencils will be in the shop to demo their products, all day from 11:00 - 4:00.  Lynell will demo molten paste and other techniques, and Wayne will be showing Zentangling inside Dreamweaver stencils!  I know I will be there!

I will also demo Zentangling using Dreamweaver stencils on Wednesday the 14th and Thursday the 15th.  Ok, actually, for those of you who know me, you know I will demo Zentangle pretty much any time anyone asks.  Or even if they don't ask.

Magic All Around

Just a short post today - I wanted to show a card I did for the Magenta blog.  I love the new Dandelion image from Magenta.  It says Summer and making wishes to me.  First, I stamped the Dandelion in Versamark ink, and embossed with white embossing powder.  Then I masked off areas and applied different colors of Distress Inks in layers.  I stamped the sentiment in Memento Tuxedo Black.  The card is matted with So Silk Purple cardstock.  I embossed a small piece of Stardream Fuse Vista cardstock with an embossing folder called "Blooming Season", and affixed it to the purple.  I mounted the Dandelion image on top, and applied Stickles and Dragonfly brads.

by Dianne Johnson

Magenta Stamps used:  Dandelion 42.181.L; There is Magic All Around Us 07.807.I

Distress Ink:  Shabby Shutters; Tumbled Glass; Broken China; Dusty Concord

Cardstock:  So Silk Purple; Stardream Fuse Vista

Embossing Folder:  Blooming Season, Craft Concepts 2011 CR900045

Other:  White embossing powder; Waterfall Stickles; Dragonfly brads

Zen Keyboard

First of all, three things to tell you:  One is that Art 'n Soul's first ever Featured Artist, Sherry Barello has started her own blog.  Please check it out, and visit often.  Her work is amazing!  Click here to visit, and be sure to bookmark.

Art 'n Soul customers, please be sure to visit us this weekend for our monthly Recycled Rubber event!  It will be the biggest one ever, and it will be super fun.  Lots and lots of fantastic bargains to be had, so come early!

Please check out the post I did yesterday about the August Magenta challenge.  Just do a project using one or more Magenta product, with the theme "Garden Party".  Click over to the Magenta blog to link to a picture of your project, and you have a chance to win a cool prize.  It's easy and fun!

OK, here is my newest Zentangled project:
I work a lot at my desk where my laptop usually resides, and since my laptop normally sits open, my work often ends up ON my laptop keyboard.  I'm constantly cleaning adhesive, inks, paint, etc. off my keyboard.  I remarked to my hubby that I really need something to protect my laptop keyboard, but I wanted to leave the trackpad open.  The next day, I found that he had cut this perfect piece of illustration board, and left it for me on top of my keyboard!  After thanking him profusely, the next thing I thought was "what a nice, large, open area, that really, really, needs to be Zentangled!"  Here is the keyboard in question.

 Here is the illustration board cover that my hubby cut for me.  the trackpad is showing so that I can still scroll and click, even when the cover is on.

Here is the progression.  I worked on it for 4 evenings, a few hours at a time.  I don't really time myself when I'm Zentangling; how long it takes seems so not the point.

Evening one

Evening two

Evening three

 I just had a little left to do for the last evening.  This project was SO much fun.  This is the finished piece.

Evening four

A few closeups

If you're thinking that now I need something to protect my Zentangled board, I'm all over it!  I can just flip it over!