Friday, November 11, 2016

Diva Challenge #292, Made by Joey #138 and More Travelling Tangles...

Use My Tangle: "Eaxy"

The first Monday of the month is a Use My Tangle challenge, where The Diva chooses a pattern submitted by one of her many fans and followers. This is Nadine Roller's pattern "Eaxy", an easy pattern using X's. Easy in theory, but in practice?...well, I can't remember when a pattern vexed me so. I suspect most of you reading this feel my pain.
It's been an unsettling week and I've been trying really hard to get my Zen. I've found windows here and there but mostly my focus has been scattered. I practiced "Eaxy". A lot. I got frustrated. Took breaks. Practiced some more. Started an ATC. Got frustrated. Tossed it. Noodled around on Pinterest. A lot. Checked out other submissions. I was not alone.
Then two things happened within minutes of each other. I came across a gorgeous (is there any other kind?) Lily Moon tile and read Jennifer Sparrow's blog post. Jennifer posted of picture of a garden path and I immediately thought of cobblestones which always makes me think of 'Nzeppel. 
'Nzepple Eaxy! That was the solution to my frustration of the shabby cross-overs that I couldn't clean up. So, many thanks Lily and Jennifer!

Finish my Tile: Twile

Joey started us off this week with a ring filled with Twile in the center of a tile. I had some left over ATC's from the current Travelling Tangles swap...

... and in keeping with my personal challenge of adapting the Joey challenges to ATC's, I took a little artistic license with this.

Earlier in the week, I finished the last of my Travelling Tangles backlog to make way for new round starting to trickle in.
Here are two recent finishes to a tile and ATC sent by Sue Olsen.



I love these! They're so cool just on their own.

Sue is the inspiration behind my latest coloring technique obsession-tissue paper. Check out Sue's tutorial here. Sue recently posted some additional tissue paper play here where she overlays the white tissue for a really interesting effect. This is next on my To Do list. Thanks Sue!

A while back, I sent Margaret Bremner one of the first ATC's from my tissue paper trial run.

This is so freakin' awesome!

Margaret applied torn paper (orange) to the ATC and continued to work her magic. 

"You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club"-Jack London


Thanks so much for visiting my blog. Your thoughtful and generous comments delight and inspire me!




16 comments:

  1. Michele, your Eaxy tile is such creative - I Love it! And all the Otter beauties... Great work!

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    1. Thanks so much Simone! I truly appreciate your appreciation;-)

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  2. Love your Diva tile - I just couldn't find the patience for Eaxy, but might try again after seeing yours. Good to know I'm not the only one to struggle this week - in all ways!

    But the best thing about this post is seeing your swap tiles and spotting the one that now waits for me in my little basket! The world is a closer place thanks to things like that.

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    1. Indeed it is! Thanks so much for being such a generous champion of my work, all of the kind words you leave here and most of all, the inspiration through our shared art. Jem, you're a gem;-)

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  3. Michele, I love your solution to combine Eaxy with 'Nzeppel! This one vexed me to, until I just let it be wonky, then it turned out to be pretty fun. Your Joey tile is lovely and I really like how you work the coffee stains in. The traveling tiles are going to be such a treat for those that receive them. question for you though. How do you get such dark rich looking coffee stains? No matter what roast I am drinking mine seem to be so light and washed out.

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    1. Thank you for your kind words Kate. I have a jar of instant coffee exclusively for this. That way I can get it really dark when I want and dilute it with more water to lighten it up.

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    2. Thank you! I will have to try that.

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  4. I always love your tiles Michele, as you use more earthy colours than I would. I absolutely LOVE the pink/black/white tile. I'm going to have to try that tissue paper technique! Sounds fun!

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    1. Thanks Deanne! The tissue paper technique has had a much more colorful effect on my work for sure. It used to be even earthier than it is now;-)

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  5. I LOVE your take on EAXY! Beautiful tiles.

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  6. No one can see that you've had a struggle with Eaxy, your tile is beautiful and so are the others...
    I love the tissue paper technique and I am going to look if it is available in Belgium. The results of the T.T. are fabulous, especially the one with Margaret!!!

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  7. Yeah, that was a great idea to mix Nzeppel and Eaxy!!!

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  8. Wonderful Eaxy tile! Great idea the combination with ´NZeppel! As always a very inspiring post, dear Michele!

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  9. WOW! Your tiles are soooo beautiful, Michele! Happy Sunday!

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  10. Wow. These are all so beautiful. I'm particularly drawn to those bright colors today. I must get some tissue paper! N'zeppl is always my fake-out tangle for tricky ones. You used it so well in your Diva challenge. Thanks for the shout-out! All the credit goes to my dear friend Didier for his lovely photos.

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