MM03: Deconstructed

It's a Wavy Gravy Macro Mandala Monday in which we focus on the detail of the patterns rather than an overall design.

Tombow Dual Brush Pens, White Posca and Letter It Fineliners in my Dina Wakley 6x6 Kraft Journal from Ranger. 

Will It Go Round in Circles? (YES!)

It's a Multi-Tag Mandala Monday in my Dina Wakley Kraft Journal* from Ranger. I made the shapes with Letter It Fineliners, filled in soft color with pencils, and added a few extra patterned paper circles in the background. Wishing you a happy and productive week! ♥

*The 6x6 Kraft Journal is currently out of print, but there are lots of other options in kraft, in square, and well, lots more choices; you should check them out! ;)

Gourd-geous

It's a Smashing Pumpkin Mandala Monday doodled with all three sizes of Ranger's Black Letter It Fineliners in my Dina Wakley Kraft 6x6 Journal. Hope your Halloween Week will be full of fun and treats! ♥

MM40 (and 39!)

It's a Many Splendored Mandala Monday, once again working in my Dina Wakley 6x6 Journal* and letting the kraft pages shine. This time I did most of the basic shapes with a few different sizes and colors of Posca paint pens; then outlined everything with a Ranger Letter It Fineliner.

Last week's mandala was just lines, and a bit smaller, but probably as close to symmetrical as I'm ever going to get, so I was pretty pleased:

I hope your week is off to a good start and that you'll find time to do something creative and fun this week! ♥

*Sadly the Dina 6x6" Kraft Journal is discontinued, but you can still get a larger Dina kraft version; or an 8x8 Dylusions Journal in kraft, ledger or black; or lots of other cool journals and accessories from Ranger!

Diamonds (& Speckles) Are a Mandala's Best Friend

It's a 6x6... (plus a little bit extra!) ...Mandala Monday in my Dina Wakley Kraft Journal, with Letter It Fineliners laying down the basic shapes; a combination of inks, markers and paint pens adding color; and a finishing touch of splattered White Gloss Spray.

Wishing you a wonderful week ahead! ♥

Double Page Dina Wakley Journal

It's an extra-wide Mandala Monday, taking place across two pages of my Dina Wakley MEdia 6x6 Kraft Journal!

Basic shapes and black embellies drawn with my Letter It Fineliners, I love the set of three in black which are the perfect sizes (.1, .4 and .9) for a variety of line weights.

Colored lines and accents added with Posca Paint Pens in white, pale green, and metallic pink. Splattery bits are White Glossy Spray, flicked on with a wet paint brush.

Collagey corners composed of torn sections of Typed Ledgers, layered with Collage Paper and finally pieces of Dina's colorful Collage Sparks.

Journal Cover

I've been working off and on in my Dina Wakley 6x6 Kraft Journal from Ranger for several months, but I hadn't gotten around to decorating the cover... until NOW! 

Of course I raided all of my favorite Dina Wakley MEdia goodies: Fly High Stamps, Collage Sparks, Transparencies, Typed Ledgers and Collage Paper; not to mention a bit of Marine Gloss Spray mixed with White Gesso, which added color to the tissue and transparency pieces as well as adhering them to the journal cover.

And now it's even more inspiring to work INSIDE the journal, so I think I will!

MM21

It's a Multi-Tag Mandala Monday drawn with Letter It Fineliners in my Dina Wakley 6x6 Kraft Journal from Ranger... the size and shape of which is making it a current fave. I staggered/overlapped the tags* then added all the shapes, and finally colored and shaded with a mix of Tombows and Prismacolor Pencils. 

Wishing you a fabulous and creative week!!!

♥♥♥

*Apologies in advance for the fact that this technique is likely going to be a Serious New Obsession!

Rainbow Stripes

It's a Rowdy Rainbow Mandala Monday featuring about fifteen different tone-on-tone shades of Tombow Dual Brush Pen with white Posca highlights and outlines courtesy of my skinniest Letter It Fineliner; in my Dina Wakley 6x6 Kraft Journal from Ranger. Hope your week is off to a colorful, creative start!

Magic Pencil Mandala Monday

A few years ago, Stephanie gave me this amazing set of @kohinoor_hardtmuth Tri-Tone Pencils, which I don't use nearrrrrrrly enough, but when I do, it's always a lot of fun. I like to combine them with my original Koh-i-noor Magic Pencil and I often pop in a little more structure by adding outlines with my Letter It Fineliners from Ranger. This creation is in my Dina Wakley 6x6 Kraft Journal which I love for its sturdy, square pages!

February 19th? Already?!

It's the second-to-last Mandala Monday of February (already?!) and this one is colorful in a restrained sort of way; and... more unusually... pretty close to being entirely symmetrical! Test-driving the new set of 2.5mm Posca Paint Pens that Gina gave me for Christmas, mixed in with some of my older .7mm ones, in my Dina Wakley 6x6 Kraft Journal from Ranger; which, incidentally, is an absolutely wonderful size to work in and I'm enjoying very much!

Dragon Mandala

The Lunar New Year is technically still a few days away (February 10th) but it's never too early to celebrate, imo, especially since it's a Dragon Year (my Chinese zodiac sign) and specifically a Wood Dragon Year (I was born in 1964). I've read conflicting ideas about whether the year of one's own sign is generally lucky OR the reverse. But I love dragons, and mandalas, as well as interesting holidays and traditions, so let's just go with it! 

I found this beautiful dragon illustration in a children's book; the zodiac calendar and sheet music are from my stash; and all the flowers and circle motifs are cut from gorgeous paper I found at Pearl River Mart. The substrate for all this collagey goodness is my Dina Wakley 6x6 Kraft Journal from Ranger.

New Art Journal

I will take any excuse to sit and make a random collage, and the christening of my brand new Dina Wakley 6x6 Kraft Journal from Ranger is definitely the perfect time to combine some of my favorite vintage goodies (sheet music, nature illustrations) and some of my favorite Dina elements (Collage Paper, Typed Ledgers) and even a brand new Simon Hurley create. stamp set (Watercolor Flowers).

I made a background of torn, strongly patina-ed, sheet music layered over a few different ledgers, then added bits of collaged script on top. I inked up some of the larger Watercolor Flowers with a combination of Oxide Inks (Prize Ribbon, Wilted Violet and Chipped Sapphire) then misted the stamps lightly with water to get sort of a blurry, faded look... like vintage fabric. 

I put the tissue paper lady on top, having selectively inked and shadowed her face; then added a cluster of white flowers from a gardening book and a hummingbird from one of those free giveaway calendars that my mom always saves for me. 

I could easily write more about this spread, but the fact is, my lovely little journal has 63 more blank pages and I could be adorning them, so I'll sign off for now!