A New Journey

Duo-Challenge

Joey Throwback Challenge#1
and 
It's a String Thing Challenge #250

Greetings my tangling friends joining me here for what will be a new, and hopefully inspiring new road in my art journey.
I started Coffee & Creativity 3 1/2 years ago as a way to share my responses to the weekly Zentangle challenges and other artsy endeavors. The challenges seem to have run their course, but It's a String Thing still endures as does my Zentangle practice. 

So,  my idea for the next couple of weeks is to continue on with my Duo-Challenges partnering the IAST weekly challenge with a grab bag of throwback Diva and Joey Challenges and Square One: Purely Zentangle weekly patterns. I made a list of 5 challenges from each. I put them in a jar and will draw one every Monday. I will loosely interpret them, if necessary, to fit the purposes of my page which is to have a useful and interesting pattern reference.
This one was challenging to say the least. I had difficulty integrating the two sides and Adele's string went totally out the window.
I was watching a Southern Gal Designs video as I was trying to slog through and at one point she says "sometimes ya gotta just work through the ugly". That's my new favorite quote 😉

The Travelling Tangles Project:

My finishes...

...to this pile of fun

from Elaine Sampson

Travelling all the way from the UK

My finishes...

...to these gorgeous starters by Sue Olsen

My finishes...

...to these starters by Cathy Cusson

I posted a few pictures on the Travelling Tangles FB page of the new journal I started and got a lot of comments and questions about my process so I'm sharing a few process pics.

A little background...I've been involved with the TT Project for close to 2 years now and filled up two very lovely, traditional, and large scrapbooks with my results. They live in my hall closet and I rarely look at them;-( I needed a new format.
Recently, I discovered the whole mixed media rabbit hole (from my addiction to YouTube) as I pondered a way to use up years of collected papers, paints, cards, maps, brochures and postcards from my travels, not to mention all of the research and inspiration I had archived over my years as a student in pursuit of degrees in Theatrical Costume Design and as a working Costume Designer for over 20 years. My own rule is only to purchase mediums and tools I can re-use like stamps and stencils.
I've included links to some of my favorite YouTube channels at the end of this post.

Here's a look at a few TTMMJJ pages in progress:

not sure if this is a finished page or not...

The bare bones

starts with 8 1/2" x 11" papers

some are dyed with coffee and stained with coffee rings

some of the larger envelopes with the  flaps still in tact

 are glued to the edge of the cardstock pages

and made to flip out

maps and brochures cut down to 8 1/2" x 11"

miscellaneous bits of card stock, 
note cards and envelopes
are stenciled and/or stamped,

the envelopes are colored with art tissue
Once I get a good amount of  "Arting" done then
I'll go through and start deciding which tiles will go where


I created 4 signatures consisting 
of about 4-6 pages 

with a couple of happy mail note cards and smaller bits in between. 

Each signature is sewn using heavy duty carpet/buttonhole thread into 3 holes.

Re-using art tissue

This is still wet and will be lifted off

I love the muted colors I get from each use

Finally when I've coaxed out every last bit of color, I'll glue the pieces down to another piece of something or other to get some texture going

decorating the envelopes

stencils, stamps (a couple of handmades)
 and drawing on top of the colored envelopes

I hope this was helpful to those who had inquired and of interest to those who didn't. Please leave me any questions or comments. Here are the links to some of my favorite channels. Welcome to my addiction.

Junk Journals:

ArtyMaze: this is the start of her junk journal. She has 7 subsequent tutorials on how she's filling it.
LorrieMarie: she does some amazing journals and altered books. This video shows how she does the pamphet books which is sort of the technique I'm using. I don't do all of the machine stitching she does but I like how she assembles these.

Backgrounds:

MaremiSmallArt: this is where it all began for me. She's delightful!
SouthernGalsDesigns: she cracks me up!
MimiBondi: I love her abstracts and her colors are so much fun.

Bookbinding:

Nik the Booksmith: this video is the first in her series of making a junk journal
SeaLemon: This video is how I make all of my DIY journals and how I'll probably end up binding this one together. She has several videos on different ways to bind books.

I had a little visit with Aimee yesterday 🐾😻❤

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