Blick Finds

During a recent visit to Blick Art Materials online (dickblick.com), I came across a wonderfully versatile craft/work station that I would love to have. I think I'm going to save up a bit to get it. I'm on a limited budget, so everything I buy has to be a reasonable price; and great quality. Studio Designs Pro Craft Station is less than $200, and I am in dire need of a new work/craft station. Being able to use this work/craft station would be a blessing.

Right now I work on my bed or on a small three shelf recycled bookcase. The top of the bookcase is torn off, and I have a small rectangular shelf atop it. Not much space for supplies or work/craft area. The drawbacks of living in a small place. Someday I will save up enough to get a nice place with lots of space (indoors and out).

This is my current work area. As you can see, a new set up would be a dream come true.

Another item I've had my eyes on are the Faber-Castell Polychromos Colored Pencils. I'm planning on buying these later this month, or next month. I've wanted to replace my colored pencils for some time, and I think I've finally decided on these. They look lovely, reviews say they are amazing. A must have for my art/craft supply collection. I would love to have all 120 colors, but I think I'll start with the 36 pack.

The Blick Artist's Acrylic Easel Set looks promising. I think I'd like to test their artist acrylics. Plus, I just love the tabletop easel and have been wanting to get a new easel for quite a while. A tabletop easel would be convenient, considering my lack of space. Comes with 12 colors and modeling paste; as well a gel, gloss, and matte medium. It looks like it has plenty of storage space. Isn't it cute.

I've wanted to replace my pitt pens for years. I've recently come across 24 and 48 color palette brush nib Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pen Box Sets. They are lovely. I adore color, so the 48 set would be amazing. However, I may only be able to afford the 24 set since my craft/art budget is so small; if at all.

These are just a few finds that I'm greatly interested in. I've also been saving up for a new printer, since I lost all of my materials and supplies. I've been considering buying the Epson WorkForce 3520 Color Multifunction Inkjet Printer from Target. It has good reviews, better than any other printer I've looked at in my budget range. Full Color, Printer/Copier/Scanner/Fax, and Wifi. For under $150, it's a fantastic deal.

Someday soon I will have these things for my artsy escapades. Oh the possibilities, oh the things I could create. Looking forward to filling my wishlist finds. Until next time, embrace your creativity.

Art comes in many forms... Mandalas

Recently, I've delved back into drawing. Although I enjoy many other art forms, and mediums. Drawing is where my heart has been lately. After years of not being able to work on my art, it feels wonderful to be doing it again. I thought I'd share some of my recent works with the world. Most of what I've worked on in the last few months revolves around Mandalas. There's just something about them I'm drawn to. So here's a look into some mandalas I've created in the last few weeks. I apologize if the image quality is lacking, I had to use my camera phone. Currently in the process of saving for an all-in-one printer/scanner/copier. Click on any image for a larger size.

To start with, here's a simple mandala pen sketch. Not too many details here.

Here is Seven Mandalas. Seven is a holy/sacred number, and also one of my favorite numbers. This is my homage to the number 7 and my love of mandalas. For a close-up of each mandala, visit the post Seven Mandalas.

Here we have a Mandala drawn over a watercolor wash.

The New Essence Enchanted Logo Mandala.

Three More Mandalas (each individually shown below)

A colored Mandala. Wish I'd taken a photo before I colored it. Some of the Gel pens pooled a bit and it didn't quite turn out the way I'd hoped. Guess I'll have to recreate this one, just for the raw image (no color).

The rough pen sketch of the Essence Enchanted Logo. Before details were added, and I tweaked the design a bit.

I shall call this one Horizon Mandala, since the color of the pen I used was Horizon Blue.

Another Mandala over a watercolor wash. Blues & Greens, with a splash of purple. May add more to this page at a later date. I originally intended to draw the mandala in white, but my gel pen wasn't behaving; so I had to go over it in black. I think it turned out just fine.

That's all I'm sharing for now. There will of course be more in the near future. I'm already working on more as I type this blog entry.

Until next time, embrace your creativity.

Seven Mandalas

I've recently completed a drawing I'm quite proud of. I call it Seven Mandalas.

Seven is a sacred, spiritual, and holy number. Seven Wonders, Seven Seas, Seven Deadly Sins, Seven Holy Virtues, Seven Chakras, Seven Seals, Seven Saints, Seven Heavens, Seven Sisters, Seven Blessings, Seven Mothers, Seven Archangels; as you can see, 7 is very prominent in this world. There are also seven stars in the constellation Orion, my favorite constellation. In Hinduism, it is believed that there are seven worlds in the universe. Go here to read more about the number 7.

Mandala is a spiritual symbol, representing the Universe. Mandalas are often used as an aid to meditation, they represent the nature of experience, and the intricacies of both the enlightened and confused mind. Read more about the Mandala here.

While creating Seven Mandalas, each mandala in itself became as unique as an individual ecosystem. Thereby transforming into little worlds, each their own. All together, they represent my universe as a whole. All the intricacies, all the mistakes; it's not only art, it's a story. I created this piece in small bursts, coming back to it several times over the course of one week (seven days). ^_- Click on any image to see a larger size.

Now, on to the art...

Seven Mandalas

A closer look at each Mandala is as follows...

Mandala 1 - It all started with this.

Mandalas 2 & 4

Mandala 3

Mandala 5

Mandala 6

Mandala 7

More Mandalas to be posted soon. Thanks for visiting. Until next time, embrace your creativity.

New Essence Enchanted Logo - Mandala

Recently I changed my brand/blog name to Essence Enchanted. Read about it here. It was a long since forgotten brand name I used to use during my festival/craft fair days. Due to the name change, I wanted to design a new logo, banner, etc. My love for mandalas once again came into play. However, this time I went for a hand drawn approach, as opposed to digital. This is what I came up with.

I'm more than pleased with how it turned out. I like the fact that it's not perfectly symmetrical. Those little details give it character. I'm in the process of putting together the logo, banner, google cover, etc. More to come soon.

Until next time.

Re-Branding

I decided I didn't much care for the title of my business (yet again). I've changed my business name/brand many times over the years. With an ever-changing mind; such as my own, it seemed rather unlikely I'd find a business name/brand I could use for years to come. Which brought me back to a business name I'd long since forgotten. I came across it in one of my many notebooks from years past. Seems that due to environmental changes in my life, I thought the name was no good. How wrong I was. You see, Essence Enchanted has a deeper meaning to me. I am drawn to all things creative, crafty, and artsy. When I'm able to delve deeper into my artsy side, I feel free. A great wonderment for life washes over me. Therefore, I suppose I am enchanted by my own essence of creativity. Hence, Essence Enchanted. Seems fitting.

Now, I remember when I used this name/brand.. I had only sold at shows, fairs, & festivals. I had no online presence back then. Since becoming a mother, I haven't frequented many shows. So all I have is a online presence. I felt it was time to get back to my roots, and build my business around something that has meaning for me. It will be a daunting process, but a process I'm willing to tackle. In the coming weeks, things will be revamped. I am currently designing a new logo; among other things. So, without further ado: My business/blog will again be called "Essence Enchanted". And I couldn't be more pleased.

Until next time.

Tangled up in Tangles

I came across an incredible art form that greatly reminded me of how I've always drawn. It's called Zentangle®. Now obviously it's not the same thing. I'd draw repeatable pattern filled images, or just make a circle divided into sections and fill it with patterns. It's similar, no doubt. However, I never used strings and always called it doodling. I've heard people say that doodling is a mindless art form. Something you do while your mind is occupied with something else. With all due respect, I have to say that it's never been that way with me. My drawing/doodling has always been zen for me, which is why I felt that Zentangle would be a perfect fit.

I discovered that what I've always done could be considered Zentangle Inspired Art. Although when I was doing it, I had no idea about this art form. I'd just go where the passion took me, and oftentimes that meant being inspired by random patterns.

The Zentangle Method was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. It is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. "Zentangle" is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc.
Learn more at zentangle.com.

So, I've been perusing the internet for tangle patterns and have found a plethora of them. Between Pinterest and Flickr alone, there are hundreds; possibly thousands. Then of course the official tangles from zentangle.com, and the amazing collection at tanglepatterns.com. *Thank you Linda for compiling such a phenomenal database of tangle patterns. Needless to say, I'm up to my ears in tangle patterns and still haven't collected all of them. It's a never-ending quest to gather them all. But worth it of course.

I've even been inspired to create my own tangles. Not sure if they've been done already, or if they'd be accepted at tanglepatterns.com. So at this point, I've made no effort to share them, yet.

However, I will share some recent ZIA (Zentangle Inspired Art) I've worked on. Just a simple circle, sectioned off and filled with tangles. Organic, nature inspired tangles and doodles growing up from the edges of the circle. Then I proceeded to use colored pencils for a little something extra. Overall, I like how it turned out. My camera phone doesn't do it much justice, but I don't have a scanner, so this is as good as it's going to get.


Tangles used are: Henna Drum, Zinger, Ciceron, Printemps, Slalom, Drupe, Copada, Deelish, Lacy, Barberpole, Yew-dee, Ixorus, Beeline, Spokes/Shons, Crescent Moon, Fescu, D-vine, Atorm, Opus, Tipple, Pokeleaf, Scrawlz, Bronx Cheer, P-wizzles, Muscari, Euca, Fafolia, Fifolia, Antidots, and I can't remember the names of any others (if I missed any).

I'm sure they're somewhere, if I come across them I'll post the names here. If anyone knows what they're called , please let me know. Thanks.

Until next time, tangle away.

Diva Challenge #160 - Spiral Out, Keep Going

Well, so much for my plan to post each day in March. Life caught up with me, and I didn't give myself a chance to sit down and blog at all. Maybe next year.

Anyway, in honor of National Craft Month; I decided to enter my first ever blog challenge. (Thanks to the amazing Laura Harms a.k.a. The Diva) http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com

I've developed a deep love for Zentangle®, and have been reading much about The Diva and her well known challenges. This week's theme is spiral. I've always been a fan of the spiral, it's inspiring. Therefore, I felt this would be the perfect challenge for me. I found the challenge a tad late, starting it on Thursday. However, I was able to finish it in time and that is wonderful.

My entry was done in my mixed media art book with black micron 01 & 03, and a 2B sketch pencil. The picture was taken with my camera phone, since I don't have access to a scanner at the moment. The sun cascades over the top of the art book, so I took a second photo and posted both. Overall, the quality is pretty good. I had a lot of fun with this challenge, and I look forward to entering more of them. So, without further ado, here is my entry.

Tangles used are written across the top of the page, they are: Knase, Centipede, Snugz, Printemps, Starawn, Reticulate, Sparks, Metal Plate, Peaks, Jonqal.

I hope you like it as much as I do. ^_^ Until next time, embrace your creativity.

Crafting Up A Storm...

In honor of National Craft Month, I'm going to try to post something new each day. But please don't hold me to that. I'm a mommy, I can be very forgetful sometimes. Not to mention, I've made it a priority to find time for crafting; often finding myself lost in it.. which leads me to forget to post. Please bear with me, and check back often for new crafty goodness.

First up, my munchkin and I made some homemade clay a few weeks ago.

Here's the clay. It's an easy recipe, I will share it in another post. Anyway...

With it we made a little clay bunny and ducky. Using nothing but our hands and a plastic toothpick. My clay tools were missing in action. (I've since found them, yay!) The homemade clay cracked a bit while drying, so I think I'm going to Zentangle® the entire surface area of both with a fine sharpie. Here they are unfinished...

As you can see, they cracked quite a bit (due to the dry heat in my home I presume). I'm sure they can be salvaged though. Moving on...

Next up, since we're on the topic of Zentangle®; I've been drawing/doodling lately. Some of it has been ZIA (Zentangle® Inspired Art). One of my upcoming posts will be dedicated to that. In the meantime, for your viewing pleasure.. a tangle I made last week.

Can you see my little snail friend that came to life from a simple spiral? Haha, I just noticed that it looks like he's admiring the tangle. ^_^ Cute.

An upcycled cereal box, now a book/file/paper storage folder. I covered it in turquoise acrylic paint, then using a black marker I doodled swirly trees, and finished by adding washi tape on the cut edges. Here it is...

I don't much care for the little tree on the left of the big tree. Not pleased with how it turned out, but that's ok.

I took some photos of some barefoot sandals I crocheted and beaded. They'll be available for purchase in my online store, hopefully soon. I have to find the time to upload images and post descriptions. Anyway, here's a sneak preview of three pairs of barefoot sandals.


In order by appearance.. Azalea Barefoot Sandals, Blue Dream Barefoot Sandals, Dogwood Cinnabar Barefoot Sandals. I hope you like them, I know I do. ^_^

That's all for today. I have to make dinner and put my munchkin to bed soon, so I'm off. Thanks for visiting. Until next time, keep on crafting.

**The Zentangle® method was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. "Zentangle®" is a registered trademark of Zentangle®, Inc.
Learn more at zentangle.com.

Happy National Craft Month!

Fun on Pinterest

So, the last few days I kind of got lost on Pinterest (don't we all, haha). One thing led to another, until I found myself trying to figure out how I managed to open 50 tabs. Needless to say I had a blast, hopping from one topic to the next... it's been awhile since I visited Pinterest, and now I remember why. I spend countless hours exploring and pinning, getting lost in all that the site has to offer. Of course, the frequent interruptions from family and whatnot could be the reason I'm logged in for hours; or it could be that Pinterest is an addictive and genius website. Here are some amazing craft storage ideas I came across that I wanted to share with you.

A Genius Idea: Shoe Box and Toilet Paper Tubes for Craft Storage


Such a cheap and creative storage idea. Going to have to try this and jazz it up a bit.

Amazing Yarn Storage


So inspiring. Love this yarn storage. I've always wanted to do this, but haven't yet had the opportunity.

Craft Storage Redo


I adore the designs on these drawers.

Awesome Craft Storage


I love how everything has it's own special place. One of the nicest, most organized, and inspiring craft storage areas I've seen. I just love the ribbon and button storage. :)

Tutorial – How to Make Foam Core Shelves to Store and Display Your Crafting Supplies by Creative Team Member Naomi Towner


This is an amazing idea! I am going to have to try this someday.

How To Build A Custom Craft Desk

This is amazing! I'm going to have to try this. Such an awesome tutorial, and a great storage idea.

I still have a bunch of tabs open in my browser, most of them pinterest. ;) What a great site! I'll be back soon to share more interesting finds. In the meantime, check out my pinterest page for more great pins. http://pinterest.com/irieworldwide
Until next, Happy Crafting. :)