My students were wonderful and enthusiastic. Many of them have taken to zentangle® as if they were born to do it. It's so rewarding to watch them enjoying it so much. I'm going to miss the class very much now that it's over and I'm heading South for a few months. But, I already had someone inquire about my giving a class there. Who knew zentangle® would open up a brand new world for me?!
In this week's class, the last one of the series, I'm going to teach my students how to make greeting cards and holiday tiles using Zentangle® Inspired Artwork (or ZIAs). Some of the cards shown below are originals, but to save time others are made with reproductions of ZIAs I created specifically for greeting card use.
To do that first I measured my blank greeting card to decide how large I wanted to make my ZIA. Next, I drew four boxes the size that would work best for my cards, in this case 3" X 4 1/2", onto Strathmore Vellum Bristol paper, a favorite of mine for use with colored pencils or ink. If you notice in the picture below I did not make the boxes go all the way to the edge of my paper. This is because, unfortunately, copy machines do not always print your original correctly. Therefore, I like to leave a lot of leeway on the edges so that I don't lose part of my drawing. Although it's not necessary I did, however, put all four boxes touching each other at the center as you can see here. There is less cutting of the finished copies that way. Here is my finished greeting card master:
I used Prismacolor pencils, a Micron black pen, and Pilot Razor Point colored ink pens for my tangling. Before I use a card I always stamp or write any sentiments on the inside of the card AT THIS POINT! All too often I've worked diligently on the front of a card only to make a mistake on the inside afterward with the stamping process or handwriting process and then have to throw the entire card away--a real bummer as you can imagine.
After cutting out the ZIA photocopies, and being happy with any interior work I've done on the blank card so far, I glued my ZIA copies onto the blank card front (bought the cards in a local craft store) with a glue stick. Double sided tape or dots works well for this purpose, too. If I plan to add words or a saying to the front of my card I do any necessary stamping or handwriting at this point. Next, I use a ruler to make a light pencil border around my Zia and go over that with either Prismacolor pencils or ink in a matching color to add accent. Lastly, I added a bit of decoration on some of the cards
These are the sample cards I wound up with and will be using in this week's class along with a few original ZIA greeting cards shown here. Of course, there are also many other creative ways to make greeting cards using tangles:
Can you find purk, pais, dragonair, vertigo, cadence, zander and shattuck, among other tangles, in the cards and ibex and BTL joos in the two tiles on the lower left of the picture? Unfortunately, it's difficult to see the enhancements I've added to the cards in this photo. I used three dimentional stickers, puffy paint and tiny bling (jewel) stickies on the cards I will be sending to special family members and friends.
I was lucky to find tiny black plastic easels to display the tiles on. A tile and an easel makes a nice little gift for a friend or a great hostess gift. And, you can display them on your own coffee table whether they're done in a holiday motif or not.
I have quite a few family and friend birthdays coming up in the beginning months of 2012. I think I'll get busy after the holiday season is over making birthday cards. I hope I've been able to inspire you, too.
Wishing your holidays, whatever they may be, are wonderful in every way, and are filled with love and lots of fun. May all of you have the best of health and happiness in 2012!
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