Tangled Butterfly Trail (posted by Judith)

As a fan of Zentagle, I was over the moon when I first saw this new set of stamps. They are full of possibilities for a beginner like myself, or someone with more experience to create some lovely artwork. They can also be used for some lovely projects that do not incorporate Zentangle elements at all, as you will see over the coming days.

For my first project, I chose a soft colour palette of dusky lilacs and honey tones. I made a mask by drawing a thick line onto Eclipse masking tape, using two pencils strapped around a glue pen. This is known as a 'string' in Zentangle terminology. I placed the string shape onto my background card, and also covered a thin strip at the top and bottom of my card with masking tape. I then created the background by colouring onto a craft sheet with Distress Marker pens and spritzing them with water. I placed the background card onto the craft sheet to pick up the colour, and then dried the card with a heat gun. I then patted the card onto the mat again, to pick up some of the remaining blotches of colour, and dried the card once more.

Once the card was dry, I removed the Eclipse tape, and drew the Tangle patterns inside the string, and within the narrow edge borders. I coloured the designs using watercolour pens and a blender pen. I stamped the Butterfly onto a spare piece of card, and coloured this with pens as before, and added some black wire for antennae, curling the ends. I also added a flower to my design, taken from the Bold Blooms stamp set, to complete the design.

Keep popping back to see what my Design Team mates have made with these great stamps over the coming days. Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx