Got the Winter Blues

 

Welcome!

It was 2 degrees Fahrenheit last night.

Brrrrr…it also snowed a couple inches…brrrr…

Today it got up to 42’ and a lot of the snow is gone now. Typical Colorado weather. 

It’s giving me the Winter blues. So, how about I share some of my favorite blue things with you? Let’s go!

Jellyfish. Way cool creatures. Fascinating shapes and colors, each one uniquely beautiful.

Teacups. Can’t get enough of them! This one has a moriage technique with raised areas in the design. Typically you will see this with dragon motifs.

One of my original zentangles that I have then used an app to manipulate the colors. I can get some pretty wild looks doing this!

My hand painted rock flowers. I love putting them outside around my garden areas, in all colors of the rainbow.

Kaleidoscopes made with my camera and an app called KaleidaCam. I am totally addicted…

Artwork about tea time. These fit in with my love of teacups, I’m guessing.

I love making cards to give to people. I have been doing this for over 40 years. Wow. My styles, techniques and overall quality have morphed and changed through the years, as they should. I continue to learn new things! I love to experiment with embellishments and supplies. This card uses a background technique called Polished Stone. Way. Fun.

This is an app called Word Pack. I can type in whatever words I want, choose one of their pre-set shapes and color groups, and come up with one-of-a-kind word art.

I enjoy seeing what other people collect. We human beings can be very strange in our likes and dislikes! While I may not want to collect dead bugs, it’s fun to see a well done collection of them. These blue vessels are very attractive.

My Collage Art Dolls continue to be a happy time for me. I use all recycled junk mail, catalogs, flyers, magazines - anything headed for the trash.

These snowflakes were cut on my Cricut machine. I LOVE my Cricut! Making custom ornaments is so easy with it. And it uses paper and cardstock of which I have an over-abundance of. 

This is one of my Iris Fold technique cards made with recycled gift wrap paper. Wrapping paper comes in soooo many beautiful colors and patterns. This is a great way to use up those leftover bits. I used to cut the openings by hand with an Xacto knife. Now I use my Cricut.

Just have to add in another snowflake photograph. Did you know there are NO identical snowflakes? Mind boggling. I cannot imagine that level of creativity. Says alot about God, don’t you think?

For this card I used a metal die and ran it through my Spellbinders Platinum machine. This is another machine I use very frequently. I used to be frustrated with dies not cutting well, or too difficult to crank through the pressing bars. Then my friend showed me her Spellbinders Platinum and I’ve been hooked ever since! The background is Polished Stone (see above).

This is a double pour glass pitcher made by Blenko. If you are ever in West Virginia and close to the Blenko factory - go! They have a seconds gift shop in the front where you can purchase beautiful hand blown glass items at very low prices due to some ‘flaw’.  We were there many years ago and also got to go on a tour. Not sure if they still do that.

This is a digital manipulation of a photo taken of my garden. Columbines are the state flower of Colorado. Blue ones that is!

I did not make this lovely example of quilling. I love the way it looks. I do not have the patience to do this paper craft! I still enjoy others work however.

Nudibranchs are fascinating, tiny ocean creatures. They were ‘discovered’ not so long ago, and since then they are still discovering new types! At first they thought they were a kind of sea slug. Then the scientists realized no, these little guys are their own species. Nudibranchs are absolutely beautiful. Just think, for centuries they have been living and dying and no one but God knew about them. He created them for His own pleasure. Again, unbelievable creativity! Truly, our God is an awesome God.

This bracelet pattern is what got me back into beading after many years. A friend taught me the pattern, and I have made several. After a few years’ break, I am back to beading again, and you guessed it - I’m beading a bracelet with this pattern!

What is it about gingerbread houses that I love? Perhaps because of the huge variety of decorations you can use to customize your own. I did not make this one. I am simply an appreciative fan!

I find vintage song sheet art to be a wonderful inspiration for me. You can find hundreds of examples on the Indiana Music Library site, in Harmony.

Are you feeling the Winter Blues, yet?

This is a purchased large letter ‘S’ covered in recycled jewelry pieces. I am saving up broken pieces of jewelry so I can make one of these someday. Think I will pick the letter “K” however…

This is one of my very first papercuttings. I used construction paper, as that is what I had at the time! I received the book Chinese Papercutting one Christmas and was fascinated by it. Since those first crude cuttings I have continued my love of papercutting of all kinds and from all nationalities.

Here is another papercutting I did, many years later!

Kaleidoscopes and quotes - doesn’t get much better!

I have downloaded so many wonderful free apps from AppAdvice. One of the best apps ever. The seahorse is a Zentangle original drawing of mine that I then used a photo app to manipulate. Love the colors.

My Collage Art Dolls are just so fun to make. Of course I have many mermaids, and the ocean is all shades of blue, so they fit right in for today’s blog.

Did I mention I love mermaids? :) and I love making cards? and I love my Spellbinders Platinum?

There’s just something so creative about doors that are…different. I love painted ones, and doors with interesting door handles, or windows in them.

I bought a rock painting book by Lin Wellford. Oh my! Totally addicted to painting rocks now! I especially love painting little cottages and shops.

Vintage beaded gowns - a lost art today. Can you imagine the hours that went into this dress to hand bead all those tiny beads? (They were also pretty heavy with all those beads!)

These winter blues are inspiring me to go make something…blue! How about you?

Iris Fold technique Cinderella dress I made with my Cricut and scrapbooking paper scraps.

Yes, playin’ with my apps again and an original drawing. Zentangles are so relaxing to do.

Time to close!

‘Til next time,

inkspired

Pinterest: K.Kloberdans

My favorite Art Tools

 Welcome!

All kaleidoscopes by inkspired and KaleidoCam 

Thank you for visiting!

I recently did a blog on things that have made my creative endeavors easier. Today I thought you might like to see what tools I love to use, and perhaps you will find something new for you to try.

Disclaimer: I get no kickbacks, freebies or anything like that. This is just me sharing what I like.

Craft/Art space

As you can see, when I craft I spread out!

However there are some things I always have close to me to use frequently.

Having art supplies that work with me are part of that!

A good set of permanent ink pens is a must for Zentangle and ink & wash technique water coloring. These Sakura micron pens are my favorite.

An original Zentangle elephant by inkspired

This is a handy size chart if you forget what the numbers mean.

They also come in colors, which I have used for this Zentangle Fox:

Zentangle Fox by inkspired

For coloring after using a permanent pen outline I really enjoy the look of watercolor pencils.

I have used several different brands and truthfully right now I do not have a preference. My first set was by Kimball.

Something I invested in was this great carry-all case for pencils. Look at all the different features to fit your needs. I found mine on Amazon. This one I have filled with regular colored pencils.

It even has elastics to hold pencil sharpener and erasers.

You can have great pencils, etc. but if your paper is lousy, it won’t matter much. I have found Strathmore to be a consistent brand I look for. I like the mixed media weight paper, spiral bound for much of the zentangles I do. For a larger piece I use same brand, tape bound.

I have also used Canson.

I have many different brands of colored gel pens I use for all sorts of things like lettering on envelopes and cards and coloring stamped images. Some are great, some are ok. I look for them at Costco during the holidays when they have large assorted packs of things in the art department. Crayola also carries some nice assortments.

BUT 

For white gel pens I only buy these:

Gelly Roll white opaque. Any other brand just seems to be a waste of money.

I love to color whether it is an entire image or just accents. I cannot say enough good things about Stampin’ Up! Duo-ended water-based markers. My dh bought me a complete set some 30 years ago and many of them are still juicy! And I do ALOT of coloring. They come in a set of 10 colors, with 4 different color groups. At least mine did. They might have added a 5th set of neutrals.

These are ‘Brights’ with a softer brush tip and a thin writing tip.

Stampin’ Up! Duo water based markers

Another brand that seems to be consistent and long lasting is Tombow duo-ended markers. Here is a chart someone else made that shows the 2 sizes you get in each duo marker.

Tombow duo markers

 Next, watercolors.

For years I was quite happy with any cheap pan watercolor set, similar to these:

Then I received a set with even more colors! Used it for years; still have it!

A few years ago I was able to take some watercolor classes from a true professional. She had been painting for 40+ years and had a great reputation as both an artist and a teacher. I have learned so much from her, including different paint qualities, brushes and how important the right paper is.

These are 2 brands that I now like:

Daniel Smith extra fine watercolors

Winsor and Newton

If you are having to use a lot of pigment to get the right color shade, try buying the next more expensive paint tube in the same color, different brand. This really made a difference for me, and I ended up using less paint from the tube to get the right color I wanted.

Next I would like to share a product that has made a world of difference to me.

A power Punch tool.

I had seen punches for years of course, and found them cute but not too practical to use frequently. Until the Power Punch tool was shown to me. Super easy to use, it uses weight dynamics so that I can punch cardstock without trying to step on the punch, jump up and down on it or completely smash my hand trying to get a clean, punched image. 

Yep. Tried all of those.

Punch Bunch made the best Aid. It is discontinued now. I did find this one:

It looks flimsier than the Punch Bunch one. I would still give it a try.

Polished Stone is an inking technique with several different variations. I like to use metallic pens to get a great ‘ribbon’ of metallic ink through the paper surface. I think the best is made by Krylon:

For other metallic highlights I like these:

Be sure to use in a well-ventilated area.

Here are a few samples of Polished Stone backgrounds I have made:

My favorite ink is discontinued art pen refill inks Studio II. Try different brands to see which you like best. Not all reinkers are alike.

SplitCoastStampersCommunityFunBoard; Pinterest

Let’s talk Acrylic Paint Pens.

Paint pens have been a game-changer for me in my painted rock endeavors. 

My first set was by Artistro and they remain my favorite. I have tried many other brands. Some good. Some okay. Zeyar is a good brand.  I do lots of detail work and miniatures so the ultra-fine tip is my favorite.

The last product I want to mention is Glitter Glue.

If you are not using Stickles then you don’t know what you’re missing!

Purchasing any other brand glitter glue, for me, is a waste of money.

Made by Ranger, it has the most glitter-per-drop and best variety of color choices available. You might think that larger $1.50 bottle of sale glitter glue is a better deal? It’s not!

I sincerely hope you find a new-to-you product that you fall in love with. Missed my blog on fave tools? Go back a few blogs and you can catch up.

Being creative, no matter the medium, is such an essential part of being human I believe. You were created in the image of an incredibly creative God. So go ahead and explore some new avenues of creativity to discover more about

You!

‘Til next time,

inkspired

You can find me on Pinterest: K.Kloberdans

I love feedback.

I love to see what others are creating.