Every Inchie Monday: Magical

The last inchie of 2014 for Every Inchie Monday.   Magical somehow seems to be an appropriate word with the beginning of the new year approaching and hopes high for a great 2015.  Maybe a magical rainbow unicorn will help.

One of my favourite sayings that swirls around the internet is "Be yourself.  Unless you can be a unicorn, then be a unicorn." 

And because I couldn't resist it, here is a link to the Irish Rovers singing the  Unicorn Song.  (No video, but this is the version I remember.)

I've loved unicorns since I was a little girl and it was so sweet to see my great niece wearing a hoody with a unicorn horn on the hood on Christmas day. 

Hope everyone has a festive and safe New Year's Eve.  Here's wishing all a Happy New Year.

And hugs to all of you who dropped by and left comments (or even if you didn't comment but just dropped by).  I've really enjoyed finding a community of supportive artists.

Every Inchie Monday: ZigZag

Hello Fellow Inchers,

Even though I only joined in the summer, I can't believe we are up to the letter Z.


This week's word at Every Inchie Monday is Zigzag.  I wanted to do an inchie with a zigzag stitch, but that would have meant getting my sewing machine out and I don't think I'm sufficiently adept at using the machine to sew on one square inch.  I much prefer hand sewing.

I like to do unusual inchies, but this week Christmas got in the way and I settled for something mundane.  I do, however, love to get out my Inktense pencils.

 

 

 

 

 

May all the joy of the holiday season be with you, however you celebrate (and even if you don't).

 

 



Diva 198: Keep it Simple, Silly

In the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season, I am the Diva has suggested that we tangle something in the K.I.S.S. tradition:  Keep it Simple, Silly (or, as an English teacher we would say keep it short and simple).

I wanted to do something festive for the season, so chose a simple round ornament (yes I used a compass - it's simpler!)
I then decided that the simple grid pattern Holly fit the bill for both of my criteria.  A tiny bit of shading and Voila: (wish I knew how to put the accent on that 'a')

One of the things I find neat about tangling is that although this was easy to do, it looks fairly complicated.  But really - it was simple!

I wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season, however you celebrate, if you do.  Finding this site has been a joy to me this year and I hope that joy will continue into the New Year, for me and everyone else.  See you in January.

Every Inchie Monday: Yellow

Yellow.  Euch.  My least favourite colour.  It actually makes me physically uncomfortable to look at it.  But Inchers are strong people and this week's word at Every Inchie Monday is yellow, so I shall persevere!

I decided to go not only with the colour, but also with probably the most famous yellow object:  the yellow submarine.  It's fairly accurate to that found on album covers and in the movie, at least as well as I could do in one square inch.

 

 

 

 

Let's hope for a nice sunny week (not forecast in my immediate future according the Weather Network.  Fog seems to be most called for, but at least that means it's fairly mild.  Ah, mid December in Southern Ontario.  Bring on April)

Diva 197: Arukas

Hello Fellow Tanglers,

This week's assignment at I am the Diva is to use the new tangle Arukas.  For some reason I cannot say that twice in a row and come up with the same word!

I tried very hard to tangle this new pattern in a correct way, although I do realize there is no 'correct' in tangling.  But I'm not good at drawing aura-like lines close to each other.  I filled a number of pages in my sketch book, but was never happy with any of the results.  Instead, these odd creatures kept appearing.  So I gave in and let them take over.

 

 

 

 

 

These look a bit like those creatures from the Burgess shale (look it up in Google images).

 

 

 

And these look more like ghosts than the pretty angels and stars others are drawing, but what you see is what you get this week!

 



Have an interesting week.

Every Inchie Monday: Yo Yo

Hello fellow inchers,

Almost forgot it was Monday today!  This week's challenge word at Every Inchie Monday is yo yo.  I've never been able to figure out how to use a yo yo and I envy those who can do tricks such as walking the dog, etc.

So I decided to go the other way and make the world's smallest fabric yo yo.  My goodness, but it was hard to sew, and it really doesn't look like a yo yo at all, but it is!

Edit:  Thought I'd insert a picture of a larger fabric yo yo in case they are new to some of you.

 

Have a week mostly on the up swing.

Diva 196: Doll

Hello Folks,

I've been busy making Christmas presents these past few weeks, so I am a little late in posting my entry for this week's I am the Diva challenge. 

Now I can draw faces (sort of), but I cannot draw arms and legs, so it seemed the way to go was to use a matryoshka doll.  Not quite sure why she has a peak at the top of her head, but that was the way she wanted to be drawn.

pais, huggins, hollibaugh, telis, holly, cadent, flux, pokeroot 

 

 

 

Have a jolly week.

Every Inchie Monday: Xenon

Hello Fellow Inchers,

Well this week's word at Every Inchie Monday is Xenon.  So I had a hard time again this week coming up with anything creative.  Hard to draw a gas:  "Xenon produces a brilliant white flash of light when it is excited electrically and is widely used in strobe lights. The light emitted from xenon lamps is also used to kill bacteria and to power ruby lasers."   (http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele054.html). 

Then there is a character called Xenon in some kind of game (MapleStory?) where he is a Thief/Pirate hybrid class, whatever that means.   And I think it's different, but there is also a strategy game called Xenonauts.  

Or I could have gone with the Greek meaning of the word:  stranger. 

Did I choose any of those things?  No.  The whole game thing confuses me and I wasn't sure how to draw a strobe light or ruby laser or a stranger.  So I took the easy way out and used the element shorthand from the periodic table.

At least this week it's pretty - sparkly pink letters on a lovely purple background.

Have a sparkly week (as opposed to a gaseous one).

195 Diva: Turning old into new

I am the Diva challenge number 195.

First of all I must apologize for not attempting last week's challenge.  I'm afraid my arthritis is much worse in my left hand than in my right, which is lucky for a right handed person, but made doing the challenge impossible as I can't hold a pencil or pen in my non-dominant hand without a great deal of pain.  So no entry.

This week's challenge is fun!  I couldn't decide which way to go: gridding a freeform tangle or freeforming a grid, so I did both.

Pais is one of my favourite patterns and it was fun to put it into a grid:

And then I had to do it the other way.  This time Well begins in it's grid at the bottom and then escapes into the tile, mutates in various forms and escapes the tile, and shading, completely.

Just a note on comments.  I love comments.  They warm my heart and keep me motivated.  Thank you so much. 

In return I try to comment on as many entries as I can, which is usually quite a lot.  However,  I've found I can't comment on Google + because it crashes my computer, and if I haven't proved I'm not a robot after the second attempt, I stop, because I figure only a robot would continue to try.  So that may explain why you don't have a comment from me.  I don't mind the numbers, but those letters are very difficult.  I wish we could do without those letters altogether.

Have a happy week.

Every Inchie Monday: x-axis

This week's word at Every Inchie Monday is x-axis.  Wow.  I love to work outside the box, but this one is the box.  I came up with very little except a chart.  I have a friend who said I should just draw a line and call it the x-axis, without adding the y-axis, but I thought that would be as confusing as trying to explain the idea is.

So here is my very boring, not even pretty, chart.  I couldn't even think of anything interesting to graph.  And I didn't  include the sometimes used z axis because I don't know what it is for.  I liked math in school, but would never survive a job in today's world that required the use of graphs.

One slightly more interesting thing I found while researching the topic is that there is a company called X-axis that manufactures tires for racing bikes, so here is a second inchie:

I guess some week's the brain simply won't function creatively.  I'm looking forward to inspiration from other people's inchies.

Hope your week is in the black.

Every Inchie Monday: Weapon

Hello Inchers,

This week's word at Every Inchie Monday is weapon.  Here is my offering (sorry it's a bit messy; I meant to redo it a final time, but forgot to do so before Sunday night):

 

 

 

Have a peaceful week.

193 Diva: Tritangle THX

This week at I am the Diva the assignment is to draw a tritangle using Huggins, Trio and Xyp, the first letters of which spell thx (thanks).   It is also in honour of November 11, which in Canada we call Remembrance Day.  I have a lot to be thankful for, but one of the things that makes me proud is that both of my parents served in WW2.  As a teenager, they started dropping bombs on my mother's home, so she joined the Royal Air Force in England.  My father joined the Royal Canadian Air Force.  They met, and in 1945 married, which made my mother a war bride, and they came back to Canada.   They are both gone now and I miss them terribly.

One of my challenges as a tangler is to integrate patterns together.  I can put them side by side, but I have trouble making them look as if they belong together.  I would like to be able to make them organic and flowing, but still am having trouble.  I was limited timewise making this tile, so I only half succeeded in my goal.  The patterns look ok together, but they don't mesh organically.  A challenge in progress.

The three red trios are meant to represent red poppies.  Lest we forget.

Have a thoughtful week.

Every Inchie Monday: Wheat

Hello Folks,

It's Monday again and time for Every Inchie Monday.  This week's word is wheat.  I tried a number of times to draw some sheaves of wheat, but they didn't pass my standards.  So I did a couple of different things. 

Of course wheat makes me think of cereal.  Ceres, goddess of agriculture, grain crops, and fertility is often depicted carrying wheat.  But I couldn't draw her either.  So I took the easy way out.

Now regular Cheerios aren't made from wheat, but the Multigrain ones contain wheat, so these qualify.


My second inchie goes off on a tangent, as I am wont to do. 

This is a wheaton terrier. 

Have a healthy week.

Diva 192: Seton

This week's challenge at I am the Diva is a UMT (use my tangle) with the tangle Seton.  I really like this pattern - it is kind of Art Deco-y, which I love.  It also reminds me of a quilt, and being a quilter I couldn't resist emphasizing that aspect of the pattern. 

This particular tangle is a little larger than normal - about 7" x 7" because I wanted to have room for all the detail of the patterns.

Have a decorative week!

Every Inchie Monday: Violet

Where do the days go?  I can't believe it's time for another Every Inchie Monday.  This week's word is violet.  I love the colour words.  I found when making this inchie that some of my beads, such as the large Swarovski cube, were really too heavy for the fabric background I was using.  Also the fabric kept fraying and if I kept cutting off all those ends it would have ended up a half-inchie!

 

 

 

Also, for some reason, I drew a violet crayon, but I used an Inktense pencil to colour it.  How I loved those 64 crayon boxes with the sharpener as a kid. 

 

 

 



 

Have a colourful week.

Diva 191: Betweed

This week's assignment from I am the Diva is to draw a monotangle using Betweed.

I'm quite late posting because it has been a difficult week in Canada.  We -- I,  have gone from outrage, to pride, to intense sorrow at having to bury a hometown boy.  (Here's a reference if you don't know what I'm talking about.)  I haven't felt much like creating art and it was difficult to know how much to include in this post, as this should be a place of art, not politics or world affairs.  I've written this post half a dozen times, from saying nothing, to pictures.  But I won't be visiting everyone's site this week, as I usually do, which needed some explanation.  Please forgive the lack of comments. 

 Still, we must continue life as usual or else the bad guys win.  So here is my rather lackluster Betweed monotangle:

Every Inchie Monday: Vegetable

This week's word at Every Inchie Monday is vegetable.  Now how many of us don't say under your breath 'veggie-table' when pronouncing this word?  So it seemed only right that I draw some veggies sitting at a table.  Somehow I don't think their mothers would tell them to eat their vegetables.

Have a hearty week.

190 Diva: pink

At I am the Diva Laura has asked us to honour her grandmother Ardath who passed away last winter due to complications from breast cancer.  October is breast cancer awareness month as well, so we are to use pink in our tiles.

I made a tile with lots of symbolism.   First, I chose to use a quilt-like pattern because quilts are an art form typically (but not always) made by women.  Each of the tangles I chose represent some aspect of woman (although I am aware that men, too, can get breast cancer). 

Kuke: to represent a woman's role in feeding her family
bateek:  to represent her role in clothing her family (and as an art form itself)
buttercup:  because all women deserve flowers
mumsy: for all the mothers out there
a heart: while not a tangle I wanted to use the heart to represent all the love and support we feel for the women in our lives
chemystery: for all the advances made by science that has made the survival rate for breast cancer much higher than it used to be
hopscotch: for all the children women take care of
holiday ornaments: for the role women play in making homes for their loved ones

And I hope Laura doesn't mind but I felt the need here to make a tribute to my own mother who died from pancreatic and liver cancer.  This is a particularly virile form of cancer with a very low survival rate.  My mother died five weeks after diagnosis.  And even though it's been 25 years, I still couldn't make this Zia without tears streaming down my face.

All the tangles have hearts in them:  heartstrings, heartvine, rose (couldn't figure out how to get the accent on the 'e'), Haley's hearts, leafheart, heartrope, heartfully

Joey 31: Witch's Hat

With Halloween rapidly approaching Joey at Made by Joey has suggested we tangle a witch's hat.  I thought that Birds on a Wire looked a little bit like tiny witches' hats so I filled the background with that tangle.  Fun, fun, fun.

Boo!

Every Inchie Monday: Umbra

Umbra, this week's word for Every Inchie Monday , is a neat word.  It basically means shadow, but is usually used in conjunction with the planets.  I decided to go the easy way, and include an "Umbra-ella" and the shadow it casts.  It's getting brisk in Southern Ontario, so the sun and the sand and the water, as long as I have an umbrella, is where I would rather be in the upcoming months. 

Have a sunny week.

 

M O N tangle

I've been without internet for a couple of days so I'm a little late submitting this tangle.  At Artful Creations this week's Tackle it Tuesday is to create a tile using tangles that begin with the letters M - O - N.  So here is my offering:

morning glory, mak-rah-mee, ojo, nipa 

Diva 189: Yuma

It's a Use My Tangle (UMT) week at I am the Diva .  The randomizer machine (I have visions of some huge cartoonish machine with lots of buttons and flashing lights) chose Yuma by Tina-AKUA, CZT.   I found this tangle rather difficult to get my fingers around at first because I am not good at patterns with lots of tiny lines.  I do like the way the pattern looks, so I simplified it a bit, using fewer lines farther apart

At first the pattern made me think of the pods from "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," but I couldn't figure out how to make the tangle look like they were coming from outer space!  Maybe I'll keep trying. (I don't seem to be able to stop my brain from wanting to see things in tangles although I know I'm not supposed to.)

So instead, I decided the pod-like shape reminded me a bit of Purk.  This is what I came up with:  

It was Thanksgiving for me on Monday and one of the many things I am thankful for is that my arthritic hands still allow me the joys of drawing.  Have a happy week.

tag 59 spooktacular

Hello folks,

This is my first try at a Tag Along challenge.  It was made using some paper from Graphic 45's Magic of Oz series (I'm addicted to all things OZ), as well as some other Halloween-y paper I had.  It's a bit simplistic, but I don't have a lot of spooky or dark stuff in my stash as I tend more towards pastels and bright colours.  I also don't usually make tags, but it was kind of fun working outside of my comfort zone.

 
Kia

Ungual: Every Inchie Monday

Every Inchie Monday has had some unusual words in the past, but ungual?    According to Wikipedia,  "An ungual (from Latin unguis, i.e. nail) is a highly modified distal toe bone which ends in a hoof, claw, or nail. Elephants and other ungulates have ungual phalanges".  So rather than draw just a nail or claw, I decided to expand the definition a little and include the ungulate as well; they do have unguals after all (which my spell check insists I am misspelling).  This opened up the field to any one of a number of different animals.  So here is my offering of the week:

So I did draw the ungual (she's even lifting up the hoof to show you), I just added the animal on top of it!  She has a bit of a smile, so have a happy week. 

Oct 12: World Arthritis Day

I'm a bit late posting this because we celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday in my family.  Because I suffer from Rheumatoid Arthritis (R.A.) I felt it was important to acknowledge World Arthritis Day. 

I also wanted to direct anyone who feels like it to visit this site which gives a somewhat accurate account (it emphasizes the fatigue but not the pain as much) of what it feels like to have R.A. : 

http://www.healthcentral.com/rheumatoid-arthritis/cf/slideshows/what-does-rheumatoid-arthritis-feel-like?ic=obnetwork

 

 

30 made by joey: Thanksgiving

I'm sorry I've missed a couple of challenges at Made by Joey.  I can't draw knyt at all and I've been rather busy these past few weeks.  So I saw Joya's pumpkin and liked it so much I couldn't resist doing a Zia as well:

 

trivet, half-onion, allium, nvelope, kuke, sunflower

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

188 Diva: National Coming Out Day

This challenge from the Diva at I am the Diva was so much fun to do.  First of all, the cause is essential.  Second - (not to make light of the seriousness of the issue) - I get to use my rainbow coloured pens!  I do want to say that I think equal rights and acceptability for all types of sexuality should be a non-issue, as everyone is human, and that's that.

My first offering uses rainbow colours and tangles beginning with the letters LGBT.  And because my bff is, by chance, gay, I've included lots of hearts for him.

 

girlande, luv-a, heartvine, telis, brayd, loveline, heartstrings

 

 

 

 

 

I wanted to do a second tile because I wanted to do some shading, which I find difficult to do with the colours (and I didn't have time this week to get out all my coloured pencils).  I also wanted to use the correct process.  I am forever forgetting to put those four dots in the corner and join them.  (I still forgot to sign both of them.)

 

 

 

lazy eights, giotto, betweed, trumpits

 

 

 

 

And finally, I can't resist showing off the embroidery project I finished this week that I started 30+ years ago.  Unfortunately, the camera doesn't pick up all the sparkle from the sequins.  I had so much fun doing it, I've bought another one to do.  And I've found another unfinished embroidery project to work on.  Fun, fun, fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks so much for the lovely comments that have been left in past weeks.  They truly warm my heart.  Have a great week.





Every Inchie Monday: Thistle

This week at Every Inchie Monday the word is Thistle.

Ah, another opportunity to depict my Scottish heritage.  My grandmother was forever embroidering Scottish thistles on handkerchiefs and table cloths - anything she could get her hands on.  I have a few left, but they are packed away somewhere as I try to get my house into some sort of shape to be able to move.  I would have liked to use one of her embroideries. 

Here, instead, I have just drawn a thistle, with the word Scotland, The background is blue for the flag of Scotland - the flag of St. Andrew.  I used inktense pencils.

 

 

 

 

 

Thought I'd share the project that has had me obsessed over the past weeks.  I started it 30+ years ago and finally finished it this week.  It's too bad the camera can't capture the sparkle from all the sequins.  Now I have to figure out what to do with a Christmas tree skirt when I no longer am able to put up a Christmas tree.  Oh well.  Nevertheless, I had so much fun doing it, I've started on another.

 

 

 

 

 

Have a sparkly week.



187 Diva: Blind String

This week's assignment at I am the Diva is to us a 'blind' string (or for those who aren't zentangle aficionados, drawing a string without looking at the page while drawing -  like blind contour drawing).  My first attempt resulted in a mess right in the middle of the square - totally unusable.  My second wasn't too bad.  I kept trying for a nicer string, but I just got worse and worse!  So here is my string:

 

As you can see, I went outside the box with my string (I'm drawing in a sketchbook) so I used an eraser (horrors!) to remove those lines. 

Here is what I came up with.  This time I darkened the shading so the scanner wouldn't wash it out, but I did it a bit too dark.  Not sure I'd like anything with a string with small spaces like this, but this is what I ended up with.  I used the tangles bales, demi, neuron, hollibaugh, beweed and gryst.

Have a fabulous week.

Every inchie Monday: Throne

At Every Inchie Monday this week's word is Throne.


Time for a (short) history lesson!  (The teacher in me just can't resist, although I taught English and Art, not History.) 

This depiction is of the English coronation throne, also called King Edward's chair, in use since 1308.  It was used to crown Elizabeth II (although I'm not sure whether or not she used a copy of the chair - different articles from Wikipedia make this unclear.)   Also, every time a coronation occurs, the Stone of Scone, first mentioned in the 14th century,  is brought from its home in Scotland and put underneath the throne, which was built to hold it.  I love my British heritage.

 

 

  

 

 

The Stone of Scone:

 

 



 

 

Have a regal week. 

 

 

P.S.  I'm having connectivity problems, so if I don't get to your site to comment on your inchie, please forgive me.

 

27 Joey: Birthday Cayke

Well Happy 12th Birthday to Joey's daughter.  Here is some cayke for you.

I often find I have problem with strings.  (String #12 here.)  I can't seem to get creativity into them and I want to fill in every little space.  I think this time that I did a little better than usual with a string.  Or at least I'm happier than usual with my string work.

cayke, pokeleaf, mooka, finery

 

 

 

Hope every one has a happy week.

186 Diva Leaves, Leaves, Leaves!

Well I'm a little late posting this week.  I found some embroidery I started something like 20 years ago and for some reason decided to finish it.  I haven't been able to put it down since. 

I had a lot of problems deciding what to do with Leaves, Leaves, Leaves!  There are so many ways to go -- too much choice.  I'm not ecstatic about what I did, but I don't hate it either.  Ho hum. 

I went to google to find some pictures of leaves and saw a gorgeous close up of a green leaf, so that was my first choice of subject.  I'm still in denial about the upcoming seasons and most of the foliage in my part of Southern Ontario is still quite green.  I used different green pens and Prismacolor pencils.

Then I decided I should try and get into the spirit of things and try something fall-ish.  I cut this stem off the bush at the front of my porch.  (I don't know what it's called - I'm not the mad gardener my mother was.)  It was the only red on the entire bush.

 

 

I wanted to use my Inktense pencils to colour the tangle because they give such vibrant colours, but in my first attempt, I found the reds were so close in colour that shading one into the other just ended up with one solid colour.  I think it's adding the water that causes this effect.

Then I tried again with a little less colour.

Hope you enjoy my offerings.  I had fun making them.

Kia