One prize came! Also: have you seen this pattern?

I got my first prize package, the one from Jeanne Forsyth! It consists of a Pelikano junior pen, a Stillman & Birn beta series sketchbook, and a lovely watercolor ATC. I haven't gotten to actually *use* either of these yet, but I am enjoying the feel of them. ;) The paper in the sketchbook is *really* good. Very heavy watercolor paper. I just have a problem now that I haven't thought of anything that I want to do on such nice paper. I'll probably end up doing a zendala or three. I can see how this would be a fantastic field journal. Good sturdy covers that will give a clipboard feel. The pen has a fountain head, but no mess of dealing with dipping ink. I haven't dared actually *use* it yet, because I'm going to a formal dinner on Monday and don't want to do so with ink stained hands. So, playing with it will have to wait until next week. ;) I just know I'm going to have a lot of fun playing with these new toys. Unrelated to the package, I did another pattern (taken from the background on something I saw on TV), and I want to see if anyone's done this or not. It's similar to the official pattern Assunta, but not quite the same. I could have sworn I've actually seen this before, but I haven't been able to find it. So, have you seen this pattern before? If not, let's name it! (And I'll get a better scan if this pattern isn't already out there)

Zendala Dare 4, plus a new pattern

So, I'm a bit late getting this one posted, but I finally scanned my entry for Erin's Zendala Dare 4. I've had it finished for a couple of weeks now, it's just been a matter of getting it scanned. The idea this time was to have either a beach or Mexico theme. Well, I love ancient archaeology, and will always remember the trip my parents and I took to Chitzen Itza when I was in high school. So, when she said Mexico, I thought Mayan. To finish the piece in the way I wanted, I needed a pattern that in this setting would evoke thoughts of Mayan Hieroglyphics, so I put together my own pattern. For Mayo-Hiero, the idea is to put formless blobs in the center of the block.

Just a few cards

I guess you would call these cards. Cards? Picture frames?
Paper Crafts. That'll cover it. :D

These are what I've been working on lately.

This one is for a friend's daughter and their baby granddaughter.




And this one's for my grandfather's upcoming birthday




I did this one for my grandma for Mother's Day




This one for mom for Mother's Day (that's her cat, Figaro, in the quilled black and white)



And this as just a 'thinking of you' gift for my aunt and uncle. My uncle's Parkinson's has gotten worse, so this is just for a pick-me-up.

This is my week for great prizes!!

I really don't win things that often, so to get two in one week has me wondering who moved my birthday. LOL!

First, I found out that I'm one of the winners for Jeanne Forsyth's yearly appreciation giveaway.  She does some beautiful watercolors inspired by her native Arizona's climate.  I happen to love the Southwest (though my experience is more in southern Colorado and in New Mexico), so I do appreciate her work. :D  New sketchbook (I love sketchbooks), new pen (I love pens), and a piece of art?  Yay!  (Or is it I get sketchbooks and the other winner gets the pens or vice versa?  Either way, I'm happy)


Then today, I got a notice from Kathy over at Double K Krafts that I should check her blog in a few minutes.

OMG, I won the Crafter's Companion Boxer and Envelope Creator bundle!!  With the paper folding I've gotten into, this is going to be perfect!

So thanks to these wonderful contests and incredibly generous bloggers and suppliers, I have new toys for home and out and about crafting!

I'll post pictures when the prizes come :D

Diva's challenge 68

So, there's a bunch of challenges that I've missed, but I'm so far just picking up with the current one(s).

Didn't feel the love for this one, really, so I ended up not shading it.  I think because in part I started out with too much of an idea in mind and this just doesn't match what I had in mind.  I may try again at another time, but I think other tangles would be better for what I want to try.

The Rose Garden (rose patterns)

When working on the 'Earth Day' piece, I hunted and hunted for exactly the right flower pattern.  I ended up scouring some of my Dover books to find more flowers, typically roses of one sort or another, and put together steps for quite a few.  I call them my Robyan set -- ROse BY Any other Name. :D The initials after refer to the name of the rose, the book it was from, or similar origin notes.  Of course... do I remember what any of the abbreviations stand for, 6 months later? Of course not...  Except that Tu is from Tudor Rose, and Do is from the Dover book.

Earth day? Sorta?

While I didn't make this one specifically for Earth Day (if you look at the date on the piece, it was done in October), it actually works for an Earth Day theme. Even if I am a few days late for Earth Day, and a few months late for when it was actually drawn. :D

Zendala Dare 3

I'm really happy with how this zendala dare came out. :D





This was done on bristol smooth with micron pens and with 6b pencil to shade.
Tangles used include: egg shell (Neil Burley), ceramix (Neil Burley), erbluehen (Simone Bischoff), YAF (Sandy Bartholomew), the leaf portion of Kristy's Crown (Molossus), a flower pattern of mine I haven't named yet, and Mi2 (Mimi Lempart)