Four panel zentangle

This was a project  I did from the book One Zentangle A  Day by: Beckah Krahula.  It is four separate Zentangles that flow into each other. I loved the book, and I highly recommend it to any one who wants to learn more about Zentangles.

Doodle art in ink, color pencil and watercolor

These watercolors don't have very many patterns that are official zentangle patterns. Most of them I made up or came from pinterest.com

Blue chalk paint box

I found this box in with some old toys, it had battleships and pegs in it. I liked the pattern on the box.

I mixed together one part blue and white paint and one part Plaster of Paris. Normally for chalk paint it is 3 parts paint to one part plaster of Paris. I mixed it up with a wet paint brush and than covered the outside of the box.

After the paint dried I used a medium grade sandpaper to sand off some of the paint letting some of the pattern to show.

I found an old earring and some fuzzy yarn with colors I thought would look good on the box. I hot glued the earring on the lid and wrapped the yarn once around the lid and three times around the bottom of the box. My cat Gir is in the picture because when ever I get the yarn out, she thinks it's for her.

I love how this turned out. I liked the chalk paint also, I will be using it again.

Ink and graphite drawings

I drew these on different colored cardstock. I find that these drawings are a lot more relaxing to do than the colored ones.

Mandalas and Zentangles

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I painted this on a 4x4 piece of heavy watercolor paper. First I drew a string with pencil. String is a Zentangle term, it is a random line drawn in pencil which creates an area within which you draw your patterns. I filled in half of the paper with yellows and the other half using blues and purples. After the paper dried I filled in the string with patterns. Only a couple of the patterns are Zentangle patterns, the others are from Pinterest or I made them up to fit the space.

I made the circle on heavy watercolor paper using a CD as a template. I filled in the circle using watercolors, pens and black ink.

With this one I did not try to stay in the lines when I painted the watercolor background.

This one is on thinner watercolor paper and is watercolor pencils and black ink.

This one and the one after it are on thick watercolor paper, watercolor and markers outlined with black ink.

Bird upcycled stationery box

I started with a box that steaks came in.

I cut off the tabs and cut a piece of cardboard to fit across the bottom of the box to form a tray.

I glued the cardboard in place using tacky glue. The tacky glue did not work very well, but it was good enough. Next I got out different colors of resume paper and tore them into strips. Using a half glue and half water mixture I glued the strips to the box. The paper helped to hold the cardboard in place.

After the glue dried I painted a blue back ground with watercolors. on top of the box. Using a toothbrush I dipped in green paint I sprayed paint on the top and sides of the box I painted a bird on a branch on the top of the box.

Next I took some pink scrapbook and ripped out the corners and glued them to the corners of the box. I ripped the paper on the bird a little bit, and painted a light brown wash over the bird and background using watercolor pencils. Using watercolor pencils I painted the edges of the scrapbook paper red.

I outlined the flowers with magic markers and glued glitter on the flowers. I painted more red on the edges of the scape book paper, and outlined the inside with black ink.

I thought the edge was too smooth, so I took a wet sponge to the edge and ripped and tore it until it looked a lot more ragged. Using pastels I drew in more trees, sky and fixed up the bird a little bit. I used pastels because I think it is a good contrast to the paper. I filled in more dots on the paper.

I covered the entire box with a sealant. I put more glitter on the flowers, than I used mod podge puzzle saver on only the paper to give it a glossy finish.

I made a pull from some red velvet ribbon I think mom had left over from the 60's. I attached it to the inside of the lid using my glue gun.

It is  hard to tell from the pictures, but the bird part of the box is nice and chalky and the paper is shiny with glitter. I wanted it to look like the flower paper ripped away to show an older painted bird underneath.

All in all I am happy with the results.

Box with bead tassel

I started this project with a box a candle came in. I liked the metal decorations on the corners and the holes on the top of the lid.

I started by removing the decoration from the top of the box. Than I painted the entire box turquoise, being careful to clean any paint off the corners.

Using a sponge I added some dark blue ink and light green ink. I painted the metal silver, I filled the holes in with black ink to give the box an aged feel.I made the tassel stinging turquoise flat beads and  chips, silver beads, a silver star, green seed and bugle beads and a light  blue glass bead on .015 bead stringing wire and a silver hoop.

I made simple patterns with copper, light blue and silver acrylic paint. In the center I made swirly patterns with copper paint, then decided I did not like it. So I painted over it with light blue paint. I like the way you can just barely see the patterns under the light blue.

I am happy with this box.

Zentangle inspired box

This was an easy project, I had the perfect box, I think a phone or something electronic came in this box.  I cut out watercolor paper to fit the sides and top. I created a design that would run around the box, then I painted in the background color, then I filled it in with patterns. I used pens and colored pencils to color in the patterns, then I glued the watercolor paper to the box.

The box is ideal for storage of my small drawings.

"look a squirrel" box

I have loved looking at other peoples art journals for years, so I thought that I would use that style on this box.
I started with an old shoebox. The box was pretty ragged, but that was OK I was just using it to try out some new techniques.

I had a old magazine that was all type, so I used it to cover the top and bottom.

One of the techniques I wanted to try was done with watercolor crayons. First I sharpened a few crayons in a clean pencil sharpener, then I put the shavings in the box.

then I sprayed the shavings with water.

In the tutorial I read, the next step was to put two pieces of paper together then iron them. I could not do that, so I placed a peace of watercolor paper on top and heated it up with a blow dryer. I kept the watercolor paper the way it was, I will use it for a different project.

I did the same thing to the other half of the box with green and blue. When I was finished I had several pieces of pretty card stock and watercolor paper with lumpy bits of watercolor crayons to use in different projects.

I smoothed out the crayons in the boxes with a wet brush to coat the entire inside of the box.

After making sure the paint was not too waxy to draw on with ink, I did the same to the outside of the box.

 On the inside of the shoe box I painted black intersecting lines, and filled it in with watercolor crayons.

Years ago, my sister and I were at a park with her three girls. The youngest came up to us limping and started to tell us how her sisters had given her the limp. Before she could finish her story a squirrel ran past, she stopped in mid-sentence and said "look a squirrel". She then, forgetting to limp, ran after the squirrel. So now when I feel like I'm being mistreated, I just think "look a squirrel", and I go on with my life. So that's the meaning behind the art on the top of the box.

I drew the squirrel with an ink pen and the butterfly's are ink on top of acrylic. I mane the balloons by putting down a round piece of paper I cut out and rubbing a red ink pad on top, then red and white pencil on the inside of the circles. I put red ink on a purple piece of card stock and wrote look a squirrel, thin ripped the words out and glued them to the box.
I had a lot of fun with this one, and I like my squirrel.