Weekly Challenges and a Travelling Tangles Reboot

Diva Challenge #361

"Amanda Day"

favorite organic patterns

The Diva is back this week with her 7th Earth Day Challenge and it couldn't have come at a better time!

recycled bits and pieces

a piece of cardboard 

and

found bookmarks

I'm in the beginning phases of what I hope will be a massive overhaul/re-organization of my art supplies, mixed media bits, journaling supplies and works-in-progress/abandonned art  so I can more efficiently get on with my "Just Use It" campaign. I'm going all mixed media on everything I can.
I found my little box of pre-painted tiles and ATC's which included the cardboard tile  that I'm pretty sure I made for last years challenge. I also have a bunch of bookmarks I've collected from my cafe over the years. One of my neighbors and fellow cafe patrons is a print artist and constantly refills the book shelf with trimmings from her art. As I completed the artwork on the two bits this morning, I looked over to the stack of coasters and found the perfect frame;-) This was fun!

Joey's Weekly Challenge #214

&

It's a String Thing Challenge #241

Joey's challenge started this off with Spoken. I've only used this pattern once. My spokes were wonky and the spacing is off. I almost started over, but thought better of it. This isn't about perfection. Adele's challenge introduces Lily Moon's new pattern "Caracole" and "Mumsy". I've been wanting to play with Caracole and I had a feeling it was gonna show up here. I forget to use Mumsy, but I love it. This one came together much easier than usual. Thank goodness.  The fill patterns in the Spoken side were inspired by something I saw on Margaret Bremner's blog The Enthusiastic Artist.

I was also inspired to work my way through the box of tiles and ATC's, though I rarely use them anymore in my day to day drawing and Zentangle practice. Awhile back, I discovered a several sheets of super cool postage stamps tucked in a Goodwill book I bought ages ago. Serendipity? so, I made a bunch of Travelling Tangle starters, decorated a stack of random envelopes and mailed out some Happy Mail yesterday!

I want to make a Travelling Tangle Mail Art Journal. Stay tuned!

A few of my swap pals have asked about the backgrounds. Here are a couple of links:

my watercolor tutorial
Susan Rink Olsen's Art Tissue Paper technique
The blue soapy bubbles from this YouTube video

I have  a very large collection of mediocre and just darned ugly tiles from over the years. I never throw anything away.

Upcycling yucky old tiles...

...into mixed media envelopes...

...oh...I think not.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Your thoughtful and generous comments delight and inspire me!