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?

A Peek in My Sketchbook - Link-up #3

This week I created two pages in my sketchbook/art journal.  The first page was experimenting with some zentangles.  I tried a couple of audio zentangle meditations from ha! designs and then I added a little Betweed in the corner.

I made the second page to commemorate my time at the Oregon Country Fair this summer.  I started by collaging with parts of the program from the festival.  I added a chair and painted yellow to represent light shining down on it because we had a funny encounter with a chair under a spotlight this year.  I also added some phrases/events I want to remember and highlighted with yellow paint.

I'm happy with both of my pages this week, although I do think that I misunderstood the directions in one of the audio meditations.  Oh well.

A Peek in My Sketchbook - Link-Up #2

This week, I created three new pages.  For the first page, I collaged with some pages from an old book first.  Then I outlined some words/phrases that I liked.  I went back through the page and outlined a few more words/phrases to help the words flow together a little better.  Then I drew an image around those words.  I used my Chartpak Admarkers.  It's more like using paint than markers.  I definitely still have a lot to learn about how to use these markers effectively, but I am having a lot of fun experimenting with them.

 My second page also involves a little collage.  This page is to commemorate a wedding I attended this summer.   Two of my good friends got married.  Their wedding is featured on the Bummed Bride blog.  They chose a handfasting ceremony where their hands were bound together with a cord as they said their vows.  I wanted to represent this in my page, so I found a picture of two people holding hands in a magazine and glued it down on my page.  Then I sewed embroidery thread around the hands to simulate the handfasting ceremony.  The background for this page is an info sheet about handfasting and the seating cards for me and my husband.  I outlined the description of the colors used in the cords, added some green and purple paint and drew in some details that remind me of their wedding.  I am really happy with this page.

 This final image is a little bit blurry, unfortunately.  This page was created in response to the Diva's challenge for last week:  Use c and s curves.  I chose to use c curves and tried this fun idea that I found on the challenge's inspiration Pinterest board.  I colored using crayons, which was super fun.  I pulled out all the blue and green crayons in my box and used them in random order.  So many pretty colors.

What have you been creating this week?

FO: Sock Monkey

Pattern:  Sock Monkey

Hook:  F

Yarn:  Random Acrylic

Modifications:  I didn't do all the color changes.  I also did not add any facial features because I felt that the yarn coloring was busy enough without more clutter.  I did not put plastic in the ears.

Rating:  I really like this pattern and would definitely make it again.  It was easy and fun to crochet.

I paired this sock monkey with a baby bear hat and gave them both as a gift to a coworker of my husband who recently had a baby girl.  They loved the gift.

I love his adorable little ears.

A Peek in My Sketchbook - Linkup #1

This is the page that I have been working on this week.  I chose a Stephen King quote, "Quiet people have the loudest minds," and wrote it in bubble letters in my sketchbook.  Then I outlined the letters to make them stand out more.  I added a background design based on the tangle Popcloud.  Finally I added color to emphasize the word 'loudest.'  I really like this page and had a lot of fun creating it.

I have always enjoyed getting a glimpse into other people's sketchbooks, art journals, doodle pads, etc. and I hope that you enjoy this glimpse into mine.   I would love to see all the arty fun that you are having, so I have decided to make this a link-up.  Please add the site-specific URL of your blog or image to the link-up below.  Make sure you link back here in your post and grab a button if you want.  Have fun visiting the links below and don't forget to leave comments and feedback.

A Peek in My Sketchbook: Things are Funny

Diva Challenge 228:

The Diva's challenge this week is to use tangles that represent all things natural and organic.  I chose Mumsy as the focal point of my ZIA and surrounded it with Pendrills and Pokeleaf.  All three are new tangles for me.  I am pretty happy with how it turned out.

 Diva Challenge 226:
This ZIA is for the challenge from two weeks ago.  The challenge was simplicity.

 Finally here is a recent page I added to my sketchbook:  Things are funny.