Peek in My Art Journal: Link up #5

This first page was created in response to a prompt from a book that I borrowed through Amazon Prime, Mindful Mandalas by Dawn Summerall.  The symbols and colors used are supposed to inspire confidence.  It turned out a little wonky, but overall I like it.

This page was inspired by Wheel of Fortune.  I don't usually watch Wheel but recently ended up watching an episode.  The very first puzzle was "Witches casting spells," and I was immediately inspired to create this page.  I did a Google image search as inspiration and started sketching.  I used my new favorite pen, Pentel Finito X-tra fine point, to complete the image.

This last page was inspired by this week's Supernatural episode(I love that show!!).  Again I used my Pentel Finito pen for this page.

Peek in My Art Journal: Link-up #4

 After a few weeks away, I have decided to rename my link-up because I don't really have a sketchbook; what I have is more of an art journal.

This week, I have two pages to share, although one is much more successful than the other.  "Morning Breath" is a page that includes collage, journaling, lettering and paint.  First I collaged the page with a blue-green magazine page and a page from an old book.  I then journaled on top of the collage.  Next I drew the letters and painted around them, leaving the collage exposed in the lettering.  I tried to paint a sunrise to fit with the theme of the page.  I am happy with this page.  My hasty and blurry picture does not do it justice.

The next page was less successful but I may add more to it later.  For this page I took on two different Zentangle challenges:  The Diva's Challenge #240 and That's New to Me Challenge #42.  The Diva challenged us to tangle on a leaf, and Suzy challenged us to use tangles beginning with the letter P, especially tangles by Sayanitka Ray.  Here is my ZIA on a leaf with Pots and Pans and Pufff.

As you can see, the ink in Pufff rubbed off the leaf when I glued it into my journal.  I think that the leaf was not dry enough.  I will definitely have to experiment more with this idea.

What have you been creating this week?  Share a page from your sketchbook or art journal.

Tips and Tricks Tuesday: Sizing a Crochet Hat

This summer, I crocheted a lot of hats.  It got me thinking about an accurate way to size a hat.  Usually I try things on a lot when I am crocheting, but my head is not always a good reference point.  This summer I was crocheting for babies and men, so I needed a different way to measure the size.  I had to use math.

Technically, a hat is a circle, and the outer boundary of the circle, or circumference, should fit around the person's head.  So the question was:  how can I calculate what the circumference of my finished hat will be?

The answer is to use the formula for calculating circumference: diameter(π). 

 Knowing that π = 3.14, we can use this formula to figure out what diameter is needed to get the necessary circumference.  First, I needed to measure the head.  I cut a string and measured where I wanted the brim of the hat to sit on the person's head.  When I measured that string, I knew what the circumference of the completed hat needed to be.  I then plugged it into the formula.

Circumference = 39.5 cm

39.5cm = diameter(3.14)

12.5796cm = diameter

Remembering that most yarns will stretch a little, I crocheted my initial circle to a little less than the actual measurement and then continued with my hat.  I used this same method to size some baby hats after mommy sent me some head measurements.  This simple math trick can help you easily size crochet hats for anyone.

Have you ever used this trick to help size a crochet hat?