Bible Journaling: three more examples

Posted on 4th March 2018 by perfectly4med

So February turned out to be a bit quiet on the daily bible journaling. I managed three days. Well, it was a short month. Here are two…

The above were drawn freehand, with a couple of stencil flourishes. I’ve started pencilling outlines first after finding this, though taking a little longer, gave better outcomes. I still enjoy designing with more fonts than I can draw, so for my next verse, Psalm 8:1, I created a digital version first and traced it onto my Bible margin for colouring.As a quick experiment, I’ve saved the digital image as a PDF and you can download it below if you’d like to add it to your own Bible. If there’s interest, I’ll be sure to pop up some more printables in the future (that’s the experiment bit).

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Organisation: Mini Archival Ink Tins

Posted on 26th October 2017 by perfectly4med

It’s always great to know where things are in your craft space, which requires organisation. It’s even more important in a teaching studio to be able to tell at a glance if anything is missing and for studio guests to know where to put things back. As part of the Creative Chemistry course, Tim Holtz made available inserts for his mini-distress ink pads to fit the storage tins. I’ve just looked for similar for the mini-archival ink tins, and couldn’t find one. So I made some:

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Book Review: FloraBunda Style by Suzanne McNeill

Posted on 21st August 2015 by perfectly4med

I’ve been asked to review this book by the publishers, Design Originals, and have been provided with a preview copy. Other than that, this review is independent and I haven’t been paid for it.

Florabunda Style is billed as the next generation of zentangle, and the author should know, as she has written more than 200 craft and hobby books including the popular Zentangle series. With the rapid rise in popularity of colouring books for adults, this book seems ideal for those that are looking to create their own illustrations to colour and benefit from the relaxation that that affords.

The FloraBunda aesthetic is based on simple nature inspired doodles. The book is printed on high quality artist paper, and readers are actively encouraged to draw in the book with plenty of white space to practice in around the examples. The paper is of a sufficient quality to decorate with markers, pens, coloured pencils, watercolours and more. As well as providing more than 200 different designs the book also includes a selection of craft projects with step-by-step instructions. The reader is actively encouraged to experiment, have some fun, be eclectic, be whimsical and above all have some fun.

The book opens with a chapter on the various tools that you can use to draw the elements as well as colour them in. The following chapters follow a similar pattern, opening with a preview of all the designs, step-by-step instructions to draw them and examples of finished artwork by other zentangling experts. There’s a basic guide to plant anatomy, and every element of a typical plant is included, including stems, vines, tendrils, flowers and seed heads. There are tips and tricks scattered throughout the text, as well as snippets of encouragement to develop your own style and creativity. The book finishes with both a visual and written index of all the designs and projects. The author has a chatty style of writing, and even if you don’t dare draw in it, the book is well worth the read in it’s own right.

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My 500th post!

Posted on 21st June 2014 by perfectly4med

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to my 500th post on my little corner of blog-land. In a little over three years, I’ve enjoyed hundreds of thousands of visitors, views and comments, and in celebration (and as promised) I have a giveaway for my readers.

Here are the prizes:

Tangle Pattern Book – hard copy

Limited edition print

Mini-quilt

Technique Tag Book

And here are the winners:
Terri Young – Tangle Pattern Book
Sam Smithard – De-stress with Distress Technique Tag Book
Denise Fletcher – Mini-Quilt Square
[Please email me via the sidebar link with your details to send the prize out if you’d like it. Any that are unclaimed by next weekend will be added to the public giveaway below.]

And the final prize, a limited edition hand made print of one of my tangle patterns mounted for a 4×6″ frame, will be given to a random commenter on this post. Closing date: 0001 GMT on Sunday, 29th June. Winner(s) will be announced later that day. Good luck!

250,000 views – the giveaway

Posted on 7th October 2013 by perfectly4med

It’s not long to wait before my little corner of the blogosphere captures it’s 250,000th view. I gave you a sneak preview of my giveaway a couple of weeks ago… and here’s the whole thing! I’m giving away an A3 quilt featuring 100% cotton fabric onto which I have hand drawn and shaded tangle patterns that I’ve published on this blog, quilted with cotton/polyester wadding and then hand bound with a black fabric binding. It’s labelled on the back with my name and the fact it’s my seventh quilt.

Pentel Gel Pen for Fabrics

Derwent Inktense block and water

Quilting on Pfaff Quilt Expression 4

As mentioned before – all you have to do to win this giveaway is to be the person closest to the 250,000th view that leaves a meaningful comment somewhere on this blog (spam doesn’t count!). All you have to do then (Sandy F. take note – that’s twice now) is respond to the email from me asking for your postage details!

Just a little thank you from me for supporting me over the months and years 🙂

Liberty 100 – tangle pattern (and giveaway)

Posted on 5th January 2013 by perfectly4med

This is my 100th published tangle pattern. It’s a step-by-step breakdown of a carved wood panel in one of the side rooms on the ground floor of the Liberty department store, off Regent Street in London. It’s quite an intricate, full pattern, but builds easily.

In recognition of my 100th tangle pattern (did I mention that yet?), I’ve got five limited edition drypoint prints of my tangle pattern ‘Rokpool’ to give away. Each will be numbered and signed by the artist (me). If you’d like the chance to win one of these unique prints, leave a comment below indicating what you will do with the print if you win, and sign up for email updates for my blog if you haven’t done so already. Entries will close at midnight GMT on 18th January, and I will choose my favourite top five commentators on 19th January 2013.

This is one of the print editions – each is a unique print of the same engraving plate and will be framed as shown (though see caveat below!). The print itself is 6.5 inches square. I’ve engraved, printed and mounted them myself, so you will be receiving a totally one-off piece of artwork. The giveaway is open to all, international or local, though I do reserve the right to send an unmounted print if the postage turns out to be prohibitively expensive!

And if there’s any of my tangle patterns you’d like a similar print of, let me know – I’m very happy to take commissions 😉

And you’ll be pleased to know there are more tangle patterns on their way – I’ll be publishing one each Saturday for the next few weeks.

UPDATE 19-JAN-13:
The lucky winners have been selected, and they are: Nana, Joyce Ford, Melinda Butcher, Sandy F and Kris. Congratulations, and watch your email inbox for details on how to claim 🙂

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Last opportunity…

Posted on 22nd May 2012 by perfectly4med

The 100,000 views prize giveaway for this ‘ere blog ends at midnight GMT tonight, with the winners announced tomorrow – this is your last opportunity to enter and have a chance of winning a unique piece of artwork. For prizes and how to enter, check my original posting here.

100,000 views!

Posted on 15th May 2012 by perfectly4med

Hi all – this blog has just ticked over it’s 100,000 views in just 14 months of going live. And I think the person putting the time in today was Alice checking out my tangle patterns – thanks for all your comments, Alice!

As promised, I have a giveaway in honour of this momentous occasion. The lovely Tania at WOW! Embossing Powder has kindly provided a set of six powders in a handy carry case: Green Glitz, Princess Pink, Red Glitz, Metallic Gold Sparkle, Blue Glitz and Indigo Super Fine. As a second prize, I’ve also decided to give away a signed, limited edition copy of my drypoint print.

All you need to do to have a chance of winning is to leave a comment anywhere on my blog between now and midnight GMT on 22nd May. Only one entry to the draw per person, though feel free to comment as much as you like! The two winners will be announced at some point on 23rd May. Good luck, and thank you for your continuing support 🙂

First Birthday Giveaway – the commissioned piece

Posted on 9th April 2012 by perfectly4med

If you remember, I had a giveaway at the beginning of March in honour of this ‘ere blog’s first birthday. The first prize was for the person giving the most comments and is featured here. The second giveaway was to the longest active subscriber to the blog at the 12 month point – and that was/is Shirley at 11 months and three weeks. I asked her what she would like as her commissioned artwork and this was her reply: “I have been looking through your blog and saw the ‘largest ZIA to date‘. I used to do a lot of counted cross stitch (until my eyes rebelled). Samplers was one of my favourite things. Would I be asking too much to have that as my prize?”.

Of course I couldn’t give that particular example away again as it was a unique piece for that particular giveaway. So I’ve created this one instead, including some of my new Faberge patterns and using my first attempt at a Celtic Knot. It’s a biggie again, being A3 sized, and took almost 6 hours to complete. Well done Shirley, I hope you like it!