Zentangle ATCs

 I made a few ATC's for the gals in our Zentangle club.  I hope Richard and Maria don't mind that I trimmed official tiles down to ATC  ( 3.5x2.5 inch )   size for this project.

My husband was sitting beside me as I was finishing up and he really doesn't like any of them....

that's just the way he is.... 

But he did say the second one down looks like

Noah's Ark

?????

Thanks for stopping by

Marianne

Yes Carola, it is a real snake skin.

A comment on my blog made me smile today.
Yesterday I posted about the wonderful gifts I received during the One World One Heart event and one eagle-eyed reader noticed the snake skin I have displayed on a shelf in my living room.

Carola asked.... " Is that a real snake skin?"     

Yes it is.

I usually have it displayed with photos and books and stuff

I like the texture and I do think it is beautiful.

Here it is without all the stuff around it

My daughter hates it and when she visits for any length of time I move it to my office.

I have had this skin for several years now. What I like about it is that it is intact from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail. Mother Nature has gifted me with several snake skins, but this one is the only one that is complete. I feel that it is a miracle that a 5 ft snake can shed its skin and manage to keep the whole thing intact. They usually have long tears or are found in three or four pieces. This one is also so very fragile and becomes more delicate as the years go by. 

My family has become very accustom to me bringing nature indoors. I have a few food storage containers with "gifts" inside.  Feel free to click on any of these photos to enlarge them. You may copy them to use in your art. The Cicada wing makes makes delightful fairy wings. Just reverse the image to get a perfect pair.

Dragonfly Wings

Butterfly

Cicada Wings

I also have a large collection of maple seeds, acorns, dried leaves, rocks, shells, feathers, bones....yes bones.... and some bumble bee wings ....but I can't find them  :(

So tell me. Do you have any gifts from Nature that you treasure?  I'd love to see them.

                                 Please post your gifts from Nature on your blog. 

Text Me ( jb09 )

copied from the jingle belles blog :

"  This week's Jingle Belle holiday card prompt is ... Text Me.

We're asking that you incorporate text into your holiday creations ...
 it could be a book page, Christmas carol lyrics, a poem, or even a card that features a sentiment as the main focal point of the design.   "

I almost forgot to add my card to the pot over at jingle belles.  Just a quick post today as it is beautiful outside and I have a lot of twigs and branches to clear out....I saw my daffodils popping their tiny leaves out so I need to be quick here.
 I found a great page in one of my gardening books and took a photo of it to use as the background on this card

So it's beginning to look a lot like Spring so why am I posting a Holiday Card?

go visit jingle belles to find out

WOYWW # 91 - gifts and more

This week finds me in a huge moment of thanks.
During this year's One World One Heart event held the first part of February, I was fortunate enough to "win" a few gifts.
This first grouping of photos features the sewn pouch from Lorraine of Creative Daily . She sent the fabric collage pouch and a card all wrapped up in the blue musical note paper and sealed in a collaged and sewn envelope.  Thanks Lorraine....I love this !     I have already used the blue paper in this journal

love love love this paper

 a closeup of her envelope

 the card

 and a close up of the pouch

You won't believe what I found in the next

 envelope, from  Shena  at WildSpiritDancing

I had so much fun playing with them.

We had fun climbing trees in the warm sunshine

too wild !

Then they came inside to relax on a shelf

 perhaps a bit of yoga

 this is a great spot for this wild thing

Thanks Shena, I love them !

I also received this detailed polymer clay baby from Belinda.

LOOK at that face !

This baby is so life like I felt she needed to be put down for a nap

Thanks Belinda  she's amazing.

Belinda can be found here.

Now for the

MORE

I'd like to welcome all my new readers. Be sure to bookmark, favorite, subscribe or follow

because I am gathering goodies for a giveaway

here's a sneak peek at what is on the giveaway table so far

This is going to be HUGE !

and there will be more added as I go through the cluttered studio !

Now off you go to Julia's to see what everyone else has on their desks!

Have a wonderful Day !

#11 - Monotangle

This is week # 11 in Laura Harms' challenge.
 This week we were asked to create a tile using one tangle only. I love love love Paradox so I had to use it.
I used curved lines to give it a bit more movement. Although it did not turn out as expected  and there are a few mistakes...

 ...I like it.

I chose to shade only the center portion. It just seemed to say stop....so I did.

Oh, and since there is someone else who uses the initials MB I decided to change my initials to M @ RH . It's my online name so I feel it's a good fit.   Now I need to go visit all the great artists who joined this week.

Thanks for stopping by
Marianne