so just what is this Zentangle stuff?

Well first and foremost, Zentangle is art.  In its most basic form, it is single lines drawn, "one stroke at a time" to form either simple or much more complicated patterns.  Those patterns, in turn, then are put together in ways that form shapes, patterns, fill-ins , etc that form ART.  i, myself, prefer the black and white form but Zentangle can be done in any color and any media.  I recently saw Zentangle being carved into pottery before it was fired or glazed and it came out looking wonderful!  The only limit I have come across is the one you place on your self!  And for those of you who know me you can hear me saying it it. "that's  a bunch of hoo haa!"  because that is what I would probably say to you if you were standing or sitting in my store or my home.  Everyone can do Zentangle!  I met a man who does Zentangle holding a pencil in his teeth, yup his teeth.  You have probably seen his artwork on cards or other kinds of art work but if he can do it so can you.

So what do you need?  Time and some money.....money for the supplies and the initial lessons, time to learn and practice......that is it.....how much time you say...I don't have a lot of free time!  I say do you have 10-15 minutes a day....."yes" you say...."GOOD" says I "because that is all you need!"

it only takes 10-15 minutes to draw a zentangle on a 3x3 space, which is what we draw on.

you get the pen, the pencil, and some tiles to draw on when you leave the class, and a nifty bag to keep all your Zentangle goodies in!  i have drawn a tangle waiting in line at stores, the bank, waiting for kids, my husband, at the hospital, dentist etc.... anywhere you have to wait it is a great thing to do.  i tangle when i can't sleep, when i'm worried about something or when i'm just plain mad ( i tangle until i'm not mad any more) helps a lot!   

i keep a small book and a micron in my purse just for those times when i need to use them.   ever been somewhere and got stuck,  in traffic, a lecture a meeting?  Tangling helps,   there is research that says if you are drawing you will retain much more of the information presented in a meeting or class than if not.

"but I'm just not artistic".....hoo haaa....I'm the one who got kicked out of art class....yup that's right!  teacher said, no talent, out you go.  broke my little girl heart and I didn't do art for a lot of years.  took a looong time to work up the courage to try again and a really super college art professor who said "everybody has art inside of them" i believed him and i am glad that i did.  look at where i am today.  I send blessings out to him each and every day because without him........my life would have been a whole lot different and this is why i say " HOO HAA!!!"  loud and clear to all of who you doubt yourselves....

come and try Zentangle and be a doubter NO MORE!!!!!

Itty Bitty Mini

okay it seems that one of the new trends is making minis pretty small.  this one is adapted from one I saw on you tube by card crazy.  She used coin envelopes and some other ideas.   Now I don't like to use materials that are not made for scrapping due to the fact that they are not acid free etc.  So that means that I usually spend a lot of time figuring how to make the scrappy item without the processed piece.  This is what I have tried to do here.  I think I have done it okay. :-)

here are the pics of one that I finished:

 

here are the instructions and more pics (hopefully)

first you will need to choose what color cardstock you are going to use.  i used both white and in the example here imam using kraft.  it doesn't matter as long as it folds and scors ok.   you will need for the two pockets to cut two pieces (2) 3.75 wide by 4.75 long and then scor them at 2.25 and 4.5.  Now there are two schools of thought on which way to scor, scor the way you feel is best.....I haven't found that either way makes a whole lot off difference.  Next you will need to fold your scors and then glue or scor tape the tiny (.25) fold so that

you create a pocket

now it is glued:

next you will need a tiny little hinge.  this will hold the two pockets together and create the "hinge" mechanism that opens and closes the little book.  this will need to be about .50 wide and 2 1/8 long.  put this on your scor board and scor down the middle and fold.  Mitre the corners (cut the corners so that they have a slant on them).  This makes it easier to put the hinge inside the pockets.   Now this is important.....glue ONE pocket at a time,  put your glue on both back and front of one side of the hinge and place gently inside the pocket edge of the hinge, just barely up to the scor: 

like so:

do the same with the other pocket.  Make sure that your hinge works.

tada....the hardest part is done!

Now for some fun, covering the pockets.  You will need four pieces of patterned paper cut @ 3 5/8 wide by 2 1/8 tall.   Double check your measurements in case something went wonky in the cutting and scoring process.....  adhere your papers to the pockets and there you go, pretty pockets.

as so:

G 45 Bohemian Bazaar is the paper i am using for this mini. ( fyi this is the Martha mini scor board - i am in love with this mini - will do a post on fav tools soon)

okay next will be the fold over pockets that go on the front and back of this bitty.   you will need to cut 2@ 3.75 wide by 5 long out of your cardstock.   scor at 1 and 3 or if you want a bit of the bottom of your pocket to show scor at 3 1/8 iinstead of 3.   DON't go any more or your pocket won't fit on the bitty!   You can also trim a bit off the sides if you like also.   But keep this in mind when measuring for the covers of patterned paper as the measurements WILL change.  this is what i did as i like the look of the peek out. 

so cover the inside of this pocket before you glue it :-). as so: 

my measurements:  3 5/8 wide by 1.5 tall as you don't need to go past the inside of the pocket all that far

one glued shut:

one not.  at this juncture it is better to use a strong glue as compared to scor tape because the little books we will put in will stick to the scor tape and not the glue.....

front space: 7/8 by 3 5/8 

flap:  1.5 by 3 5/8

inside cover top:  1 7/8 by 3 5/8

please remember to adjust your measurements as needed. 

 remember " measure twice, cut once" Norm

okay so here they are with their covers on:

and next glue them to the front and back of the pockets.  you can use scor tape here if you want.  Please make sure you get both pockets on going the same direction :-) 

as so

now the tri fold that goes on the inside is measured at 2 1/8 by 11.25.  scor at 3.75 and 7.5.  again check your measurements...fold in on your scors and cover five sides with patterned paper.  you don't need to cover the back as we will be attaching to the inside of one of the pocket pages of the bitty.

as so

glue to the inside right or left if you like, of the pockets (or scor tape)

as so

and now the tiny inserts for the two front and back pockets

cut 2@ from cardstock, 2.5 by 3.5.  scor at 1.75 and fold on scor.  make sure it fits in the pocket.  again check your measurements.  paper cut at 1 5/8 by 2 3/8.  you will need 8 to cover both inserts.  

like so.

then last but not least the tags for the pockets ....lots to these bittys....:-). good practice

now you have lots of choices as far as the tags go, double, single, where the fold is, how you cover them.  the only thing you HAVE to do is make sure they fit into the pockets we created way back at the beginning.  so i am going to give you some general measurements and show what I did and you can do what you like :-).   completely democratic bitty!

here you go:

general size of cardstock is :  2 by 3.75 if you want a little hang out

that is for a plain single tag.  double on the side:  4 by 3.75, scor at 2, fold at 2.   double on the end would be 2 by 7.5, scor and fold at 3.75.  you can add a pull of some sort at the end, this makes the tag come out easier.   paper covers would be 1/8 smaller than the cardstock.  so 2 becomes 1 7/8 and 3.75 becomes 3 5/8.  this is easy to figure out if you have a ruler with all the marks on it.  

now if you don't want to make one of these i do have the ones i made for sale in the store :-)

ttfn

karen

New Yarns

Hi All!

Don't you just love getting packages in the mail?   Today I got one from my distributor and guess what,  new yarns.....I love yarn....mmmmmmm.....yup...luv it!

Now I have to find the perfect project to go along with each yarn and that is what usually takes me more time than just picking the yarn, or even the colors.   Color doesn't usually matter to me, I like them all.

I have recently been working out of a book called " Crochet One Skein Wonders", edited by Judith Durant and Edie Eckman, cost is $18.95.  So far, so good.   One of the things I really like about this book, is all the projects take one skein of yarn, or close to it.  They tell you how much you will need ahead of time and all the projects I have worked have been pretty true to what they have asked for.  (as long as I folowed their recommendations for hook size). They also have the projects listed by yarn type,  thread, lace weight, thick, super thick, etc.  This makes it really easy to find a project based on the yarn you have in your hand at this moment and each project is listed under that heading.   I have made a project in each category except the lace weight and that is forth coming.   Made a Mobius Cowl Out of the really thick wool yarn from lion brand and a size N hook.   Followed their directions pretty close and it turned out really nice.  Once I figure out how to put pics on here I will add one.

There are a lot of patterns that I found useful and have bookmarked to go back and do in the future.  Overall, I found thid to be a pretty good resource for patterns, easy to use read.  The ONLY thing that I could ask for is a spiral binding so it lays flat and doesn't close up on me.......but I suppose that is what bookmarks are for.

until next time
TTFN
Karen. :-)

day one

well here goes....hmph. a blog,,,, me...who would have thought....well they say even and old dog can learn new tricks.  I guess that IS true cause here I am finally figured it all out.  This one seemed to be the easiest one to work out in the long run.  now as to purpose.  I want to show how to do some things, talk about some web sites that I come across, good or not so good, talk about products here in the store (duh, i know) maybe do a book review, again, good and not so good, share patterns etc.   I will post at least once a week, hopefully more but sometimes the demands of life get in the way of things that we would like to do.  some goals:  just two right now figure out how to get pictures into the blog and then maybe a video....

today's website is www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com

this is a website where, Jillee, talks about and shares all kinds of tips.  99% of them I have found to be useful and good, especially if you are into doing and making things yourself.  There have been a very few posts where I went huh?  I can only hope I don't do that to you guys! She has a daily email that gives you a heads up of the day's topic and a link to that post and you can decide to go there or not, which I like, know what you are getting ahead of time.  The site itself is colorful and organized so that you can find previous topics and go back when you need to find something else.  All in all this is a site that I keep in my list of bookmarks.

TTFN

Karen