Falling Blossoms: A Tangle Pattern

Maybe ten years ago, I discovered zentangle through an artist trading card swap. I gave it a try, and I've been addicted ever since.

I enjoy perusing the many zentangles and tangle patterns out there. This one, though, started out as a random doodle while I was on the phone with a client. Since then, it keeps cropping up on random bits of paper. I'm just a bit in love with it. Originally it was just a design. Now it has come to look like falling blossoms, fluttering down from the trees.

Whatever it is, I love the physical act of drawing them. It's so relaxing.

Start at the bottom, and draw an elongated, upside down teardrop. Without lifting your pen, draw another one, then another. Most of the time I create enough to make a quarter circle. Once you have your blossom, draw a dot over the point.

Vary the appearance by changing the width of the teardrops. Fat ones mean fewer petals; narrow ones make room for more petals.

Have fun!

Baby Surprise Jacket in the Works!

I know I haven't posted in forever, but believe me, I have been making things left and right! Not making things simply isn't possible for me.

Right now, I have two big focuses: baby knitting and art journaling. Baby knitting, because my sister (due April 1) and my sister-in-law (March 17) are both pregnant, WITH GIRLS, as well as two friends (March 20 and April 8). I've decided to make baby surprise jackets for the nieces, and hat-and-bib sets for the other two babies.

I've wanted to make a baby surprise jacket for the longest time, but I've lacked an excuse. When I didn't make one for the first two nephews, I didn't feel right making one for the next three. And if I'm not making them for nephews, I couldn't very make a sweater for a friend's baby, right?

But after five nephews, I'm getting nieces. Girls! Perfect excuse.

I took that pic when I was on row thirteen, and I'm on row thirty-nine now. I should take a new photo, but if I wait to do that, I'll never post! So you'll have to use your imagination.

The yarn is Pichasca, a hand-dyed thick-and-thin cotton yarn by Ester Bitran (colorway 901). I bought this yarn in September, but found out today that it has been discontinued! I better not run out, or I'm really in trouble.

I cast on 134 stitches; that's what the directions for the A-B-C-SJ version of the pattern give for a gauge of five stitches to the inch. My gauge is actually eighteen stitches to four inches, but I figure it doesn't hurt if a baby item is slightly large. After all, they grow so fast!

Some people find Elizabeth Zimmerman's directions a bit difficult to follow, since she doesn't present them the way we are used to. But the kind folks in the Ravelry Baby Surprise Jacket group hosted a perpetual knitalong earlier this year, and their clarifications are incredible! Such a big help. That's where I stole the idea of doing single increases on either side of the marked stitches. It seemed way easier than removing the marker, doing a double decrease, and then replacing the marker for every decrease!

This is a very easy knit, since it's in garter stitch. My only error was in going along on autopilot after you switch from decreasing to increasing, which happens on row thirty-nine. I had to rip back to my lifeline, because on a few rows I decreased instead of increasing! Apparently I REALLY got the hang of decreasing on either side of those marked stitches. :)

Believe me, I'll be watching that very closely! But I don't anticipate any trouble getting both sweaters and the other baby items finished on time, even taking breaks to work on my entry into the Sketchbook Project.

That's all for now. Keep creating!

Recycling in Paper Arts

I have to admit that I've never approached ATCs and the like with a deliberate intention to use recycled materials. But in truth, most of the stuff I use for them is reclaimed materials. I'm a graphic designer for a printing company, so most of my cool papers are the trimmings from jobs we've printed; I've also claimed leftover parent size sheets (read: really, really big sheets) that would otherwise go in the trash. I've taken to dismantling paper swatch books, too, which would normally go in the trash once the new version comes out.

And I end up using lots of little bits of my leftover fancy papers from bookmaking, too. And all those images I can't bear to throw away...and all those supplies I never got around to using. In the end, ATCs (and inchies) have turned into an environmentally-responsible art form.

Inchies just seem so fun...

I’ve made ATCs and scrapbook pages, and I’ve made lots of avatars. Inchies are a natural next step, right?

One inch square pieces of art; I love it! Who says art has to be BIG?

See more progress on: try my hand at making inchies

I think I've created a monster...

I’ve done two (three?) Swap-Bot ATC swaps, and I’m signed up for about five more. I think I’m getting the hang of this, don’t you? :)

See more progress on: swap artist trading cards

As if ATCs aren't addictive enough...

I just discovered inchies. Yes, inchies. What's that, you ask? Well, best as I can figure, they're little one inch square pieces of art. The ones you see here are by soleclaw23; I found them on Flickr. (And yes, they have a Creative Commons license!)

You thought ATCs were challenging? That's almost nine square inches! Now make one square inch visually interesting and unique!

I think I'll like these, too. Just think, I can make inchies, and then put them ON ATCs, which I can then use in a scrapbook page...

Hmm...seems inchies might make interesting adornments for the fronts of my album-style books, too. There's an idea for my (still empty) Etsy store! I really need to photograph my books and get them listed!

100 Themes...Will I ever learn?

I have got to stop visiting Craftster! On a whim, I decided to visit the ATC section and just browse around. Big, big mistake! The artist trading card bug has bitten me again...but now I want to work on the "One Hundred Themes" project.

Yep, one hundred. I have to make one hundred artist trading cards. I was so inspired I made a little checklist, sized to fit in an ATC sleeve, of course! Download it and use it if you want. I figured I might as well convert it, since InDesign makes is so very easy!

I've done number twenty-three, Cat, number sixty-one, Fairy Tale, and number sixty-three, Do Not Disturb. The first one is very literal, but the other two aren't really.

Let's see, that's ninety-seven to go...