Decide on the basic pattern you want your zentangle to follow.  Seeing as this is a snowflake inspired one, I’m going symmetrical starting from a central point.

Next, fill in some extra lines, be intuitive at this point.  Anything goes with a zentangle.  For the next section you will be filling in the spaces with patterns.  You may wish at this point to look up some zentangle patterns on the internet.  You are likely to get into a medative state at this point which is why I completely forgot to take another photo until I’d finished.

Be very careful what pens you use though.  Anything other than permanent markers may smudge so you’ll have to be very careful and do it in stages allowing it to dry in between.  See below for an example of what happens when you rest your hand on a bit with a lot of filling in:

Here are some Zentangle links to get the creative juices flowing:

Zentangles on Flickr

A great list of zentangle patterns

A how to zentangle video

Happy Tangles!

In this blog you’ll find help with Amigurumi, including how to make a magic ring which gets rid of that ugly hole you have when crocheting into a stitch.  You’ll also find free crochet patterns, free punchneedle patterns and tutorials on a wealth of subjects!

Head on over and have some fun!

This week I’ve been mostly interested in altered art and pamcarricker has a wonderful series on making altered art journal pages.

Here’s a very detailed tutorial on altered tags.  This looks fun, I think I’ll have to give it a go!

TerriSproul has a great series on how to make an altered book.

And finally I found a tutorial on weathered backgrounds for art journalling.

Happy watching!

Thank you for your patience!

Vikki

I haven’t made a Dotee doll before and I thought that while I’m learning I’ll create a tutorial too.  So no laughing at the finished product.  It was my first ever Dotee!

Dotees are altered art dolls that are typically between 3 and 7 inches in length.  They are simple enough for most beginners to get a hang of with basic sewing techniques.  They consist of a body, a felt face, a hanging loop and a tail of fibres.

To make a Dotee you will need:

• Material scraps
• Card for a template
• Skin coloured felt
• Permanent ink fine line marker
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Needle and thread
• Co-ordinating ribbon, fibres and embellishments
• Stuffing material

To start off draw and cut out your template from the card.  You may find it easier to make your dotees as simple rectangles.

Attach the template to the materials with pins or draw around the template and cut out your material.  Pin the two pieces of material together wrong side out to ensure they don’t slip while sewing.

Take a piece of ribbon about 3 inches long and fold in half.  Tuck this in between the two halves with the loop inside and the tails sticking out.  This will be useful when you come to flip the doll inside out.

Now starting at the bottom sew around the doll leaving a gap at the bottom for turning inside out and stuffing.  You can do this by hand but I used a sewing machine.

Now unpin the material and turn inside out through the hole you left.

You promised not to laugh!

Next up we are going to stuff the Dotee firmly.  You may find it easier to use a pencil to help get your stuffing right down inside.  You’ll be surprised just how much stuffing you’ll need but make sure you put plenty in or your doll will have a lumpy feel to it.

Now take some lengths of fibre and sew the bottom of the doll using ladder stitch and incorporating the fibres.

Take a small piece of the skin coloured felt and cut out a circle.  Attach the circle to the doll.  Here I used blanket stitch but you can use whatever you’re familiar with.

Take your fine pinot marker and draw a little design on the face.

You’re laughing aren’t you

Finally stitch on some fibres for hair and embellish using whatever co-ordinating buttons, beads etc you have!

I think next time I’ll try a rectangular doll as the shape should be better.

Mulle86 over on Swapbot gave me a few more Dotee tips:

• It is easier to attach the face, embellishments and trailing fibres before you sew together the two halves.
• To prevent your pen from running, embroider your dolls face on.
• Create the face before you attach it to the doll.  It is easier to get a nice image this way.

Here are some Dotee links to spark your inspiration!

The original Dotee artist!

Dotee Dolls on flickr

The idea was to make an ATC that was not completely regular but still measured 3.5 x 2.5 inches at the longest point.

So let’s get cracking.  I used a butterfly theme but you can tailor it to whatever punches and stamps you have that match.  The colour theme is also up to you but again it’s better if the colours are roughly similar.

To start with you will need:

• A craft knife
• Glue (I use spray glue)
• A sharp craft knife
• A cutting mat
• ATC Blank
• Background paper
• Old book page
• Embellishments
• Paper punch in the theme you chose
• Stamp in the theme you chose

Start by covering you ATC blank in glue and attaching the background paper.  Use the craft knife to cut around the ATC blank on the reverse side.

Next up tear the edge of the old book page along an angle.  Cover the page in glue and attach the page to the ATC from corner to corner like so:

Take your paper punch and punch out shapes along the edge of the ATC.  This will require quite a bit of effort!

Take one of your embellishments (I chose a 1 inch bit of paper with a butterfly on that co-ordinated with my colour scheme) and add it to the top left corner.

Take another embellishment (this time a cool 3D butterfly sticker) and add it to the centre.  It is best to make this something fairly large and pretty as this will be the focal point for the ATC.

Finally use your stamp to create an image in the top right.  Don’t worry if your image is too large, go off the edge, it will give it character.

And there you have your completed ATC!

Here’s a cool idea on what to do with those left over punches and papers:

The background is one i made whilst writing this tutorial on ATC backgrounds.

I hope you enjoyed our first Make it with me Monday, I hope you’ll join me next week!

I found a really fun website that has loads of really neat tutorials for easy craft projects!  Take a look.

I always hesitate to throw away the cardboard inner tubes from loo rolls and kitchen rolls.  Thanks to this lens on squidoo I have plenty of ideas on what to do with them.

Here’s a cool idea from disney family fun, felt book blankets!

Being as I have a chronic illness myself, I found this podcast on crafting through illness very interesting.

Well thats all for this week.  Check back next week for more interesting links!

I’ve taken time out of my crafting to warm up by the fire and to tell you about whats new here a Kucachoo.  Well I noticed that a lot of the links on the Journal Making post were broken so I’ve scoured the web and filled in the blanks.  I’m hoping to be able to be able to bring you a few journal tutorials myself soon.

Also I’ve decided to change things up a little around here.  Rather than me just updating and posting whenever, I’ve decided to dedicate each day to a theme so from now on we have:

• Make it with me Monday
• Tutorial Tuesday
• Watch this Wednesday
• Thoughtful Thursday
• Found this Friday
• Show it off Saturday
• Weekend Links

I do hope you’ll join me for them when we go live on Monday

I made it for my son who was going on about whales that day (he wanted to fish for one!).  It’s very simple to do but the result is so cute!  Here is the link to the original pattern.