Zen Coloring My Zen Doodle

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I posted a Zen Doodle I had drawn back in June. My cousin actually went through my doodle art journal and suggested putting them together to create a coloring book. I gave it some thought and decided to color one of my doodles to see if maybe others might like to color them as well.

And the result is featured above! I love the way her hair came out. I used both markers and colored pencils to try and blend my colors. I'm not sure about the face-it looks too small for her hair. But this is just the first draft. I can print up as many as I wish and try different media and colors. But I hope you like this first draft. 

Let me know in the comments if I should continue putting my doodles together into a collection...  

Art Journal - Mixed Media page

 

Today I pulled a page from my art journal. It was created with a combination of markers, colored pencils and black pen. If you zoom in, you can read each line, which is a positive affirmation. The water, land and mountains represent my life path...

Turtle-y Awesome

  Since recovering from bronchitis and then getting Norovirus (which I am still recovering from), I haven't had much energy nor inspiration to craft anything. Since drawing and doodling is within reach and requires only pen and paper, I'm running out of blank pages in my art journal. 

Today I not only doodled a sea turtle, but decided to put some color on the page with pencils. My son had a box turtle when he was younger. He named it Michaelangelo (he was a big-time Ninja Turtles fan). We also had fish, mostly guppies and a swordtail fish or two. 

It wasn't until he was grown and my daughter out of high school that we decided to rescue a dog. I had some parameters because I was allergic to most dogs. I was told that some terriers and bischon frise were as hypoallergenic as dogs get. I also stated that we had never trained a puppy before, and our house wasn't big enough for a large dog. We got lucky that a Silkie Terrier was available to adopt, and it didn't take us long to fall in love with him.

Even when we found out he had Lyme Disease and needed to be treated and eat only prescription food, he had already become a part of our family. Wilson was with us only five years, lasting not much longer than my hubby. To help in the grieving process, my daughter and I would make up stories of what Wilson and my husband were doing up in heaven. They were funny and played up their interests and antics.

I decided to write a story about their time "beyond the rainbow bridge" and published it here on my blog. Click HERE for Part 1. Part 2 was published the next day. Click on the links if you want to discover what shenanigans they are up to. It really helped us on days when we missed them so much we were drowning in misery.

Now we have another terrier mix. Her name is Honey, short for Honeycomb, and life is good. She is our emotional support dog. Both Wendy and I suffer from anxiety and she comforts us. We are positive that Wilson sent her to us!

Challenges I am Entering:

Use Your Stuff - Animals (coupled with Double D challenges)

Inspiration Station - Photo (inspired not only by color but imagining a turtle family living in the water)

Kraftin' Kimmie's Stamps - Spring, Circles or Yellow/Green

Beyond the Blue - It's Not Easy Being Green

Garden Party

 

I had fun creating this whimsical garden of flowers and mushrooms. Maybe it's because I started with that swervy base line. I drew the garden above the line and used colored pencils to give my scene some highlights. I found the perfect sentiment, "Your words can plant gardens OR burn down whole Forests". I am a lover of words, metaphors, similes, antonyms, homonyms, phrases and onomatopoeia. Words have so much power, and I strive (and sometimes succeed) to think before I speak.

My "troll" is from Ike's Art, one of a set of Gnomes available at her store. I chose the plain gnome so that I could color in clothes. After I did that, he looked more like a Troll than a gnome. So of course I added the HAIR! LOL I had some leftover tie-dye fur from a previous project and used it for his "up-do".

Then the page below that swervy line looked awful, so empty and white. So I had to stick in a bit of doodling, which I think improves the overall look.

 

There's Fun in the Sun to be Had at Scribbles Designs Challenge Blog

In this age of technology, a person get anything on a computer or digital device. Parents no longer have to buy expensive sets of encyclopedias, students no longer have to go to the library for references and citations. Avid readers can store numerous books on their Kindles and Nooks, etc.
I don't know about you, but I like to hold a PAPER BOOK in my hands. It's easier on the eyes, I don't have to charge it and the words I read seem to have more "weight". 

As a book reader, I often find myself looking for a bookmark, so I thought I'd make a set of bookmarks for my DT make today for Scribbles Designs Challenge Blog. The theme at Scribbles Designs is FUN IN THE SUN. I love to sit in the sunshine with a book in one hand and a tall cool glass of iced tea in the other hand. Preferably looking out over the Caribbean, but living in Chicago makes that an impossibility unless I'm vacationing.

My bookmarks use a digi image from the Scribbles Designs Store called #848 Flip Flops. I digitally colored a few pair of flip flops, lined them up and printed my sentiment over them: "Summer reads are to flip over". After adhering the bookmarks to some handmade paper, I hand-colored another set of flip flops for each bookmark. I used colored pencils and glitter gel pens and placed these in the corners where the bookmarks will stick out of books.

This challenge runs until the 14th of August, so don't forget to link up your card or project for your chance to win a gift certificate to the Scribbles Store.
By the way, what are you reading right now? I just finished an Anne McCaffrey book that I must have missed throughout the years, and have started a China Bayles mystery series by Susan Wittig Albert.

Happy crafting, peeps and don't forget, "Fight evil...Read a book."

Challenges I am Entering:

A Bit More Time to Craft -Anything Goes
Love to Craft - Anything Goes
Fabrika Fantasy - Anything Goes

Time to Relax at Ike's World Challenge Blog

 What do you do to relax? Besides, craft, that is?! I like to lose myself in a book. I like to read science fiction/fantasy, as well as themed mysteries like Joanne Fluke's Hannah Swenson mysteries.

One of my favorite authors is Charlaine Harris, whose Sookie Stackhouse series spawned the TV show True Blood. Her new series, about the people in the town of Midnight, will be a summer TV show in the States, premiering later this month.

Relaxation is the theme for this fortnight's challenge at Ike's World Challenge Blog, and I ran with my love of reading to create the book bag above using a digi image called Book of Dreams. Ike's Store is celebrating a summer blowout sale and you can get this image for just $1.50 US! The sale lasts through July and there are LOADS of images for 50% off.

Here's a close-up of my colored image on my book bag. I used colored pencils, gel pens and Copics, as well as Stickles for a little sparkle.

You have one more week to create something that shows how you relax and link it up to the IWC challenge post for your chance to win free digis from the new store. While I Keep Calm and Read, you  Keep Calm and Craft On!

Challenges I am Entering:

Allsorts - Magical & Mythical

Crafty Calendar - Anything Goes