Art and Recycling

Normally school holidays are a time when I can get in and do some craft projects that I just don't have time for during the school term, but these holidays I have mostly been working ... and when I wasn't working there were other claims on my attention and time.

However I have managed to do a couple of arty things that have been planned for a while and do something practical, while recycling at the same time.

First up was a project I have been planning for a while. About this time last year I got very interested in Zentangle. It's a form of art involving repeated patterns. It gave me a name for the doodling I have been doing since I was a child. I found it to be very restful (some people think of it as a form of meditation). In a shop I picked up one of those plain black letters that are rather popular for home decorating at the moment. I wanted to personalise it and make it less boring, so I got out my sketch book, traced it and then started looking for some Zentangle patterns to use on it.

This is the result:

It now hangs proudly on my wall.
I used a white Gelly Roll pen. And the tangle patterns are Jacki and Pixie both originally by Sandy Steen Bartholomew. I slightly modified my original idea, but I love the finished result.

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Yes, I'm also interesting in colouring in, and this next piece of art is just that. I'm not a recent colouring enthusiast - I've been doing it for years.
If you haven't heard of Lorien Atwood you should totally check out her work. She has combined art work with Bible verses to give you something to really think about while you colour.
She has a couple of colouring books available and I have done one from her second book 'Reflections'.

My word for this year is 'Trust', so this colouring verse was perfect. It, too, is now gracing my wall as a daily reminder to trust God and to pray.

I used Gelly Roll Stardust pens and I really like the glittery result. Even when the light doesn't make it sparkle this still looks amazing.

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Finally, I have been in need for somewhere to store notepads, sticky notes and homemade stickers that is easily accessible. I hadn't found anything in the shop that really fit what I needed and most things around the house were just too flimsy.
We have been doing a little bit of spring cleaning - particularly sorting out plastic containers that always seem to multiply. Mum found an old icecream container, so today I made it look a whole lot better, I covered it with scrapbooking paper, then contacted the whole thing to make it last longer.

I'm really happy with the way it looks and it sits ready on my desk for me to grab what I need without needing to rummage around in a difficult to get to spot.

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There is just one more project that I'm working on, but I can't talk about it at the moment, so you'll just have to keep watching and waiting for that one to pop up in your feed!!