Malibu Ken

Miss me?
I hope you enjoyed your holiday, if you're in the States celebrating Thanksgiving. If you're elsewhere, and everyone, I hope you are enjoying whatever holidays you wish. Mine included a visit from the paramedics. I am grateful for the persons who had the foresight to dial 911 and for the wonderful folks who attended to my health.
Lucky you, I'm back to my normal and pretty demented self. I say that as I really went on a limb with the Diva's challenge today. The guest post host went all girlie and asked for doll-inspired art and all I could think of was Malibu Ken. While I know where my Barbies are packed, I just did a little research and found some really awesome examples of hideous Ken clothes. And a real-life human Malibu Ken on Twitter.

That was entertaining, wasn't it? I know you looked.

[12.02.14: I really think he's on tumBLr or whatever that is. I'm sure you'll find him if you're really looking...!]

I used the fabrics of those clothes as inspiration and String 008 from tanglepatterns.com.

Mod Cloth

I also finally did LAST week's Diva challenge:

Yuma Grid

The Inchie for the week is Xenon. I learned that it glows blue under certain conditions. Once upon a time I knew Chemistry, but this was new information for me, so I doctored up some plain type:

And for the Twinchie, for Advent, I found this great photograph on Ski Australia:

I love lights, I wish I could keep them up all year. The challenge is that all of mine have been packed away for almost three years and I suspect this will approximate the mess I'll be getting into next week! I did not take the photograph, and cannot claim ownership of it. I just think it's funny. 

Tis the season to celebrate the LIGHT! 

Yuma V2

I didn't want to be accused of cheesing out and using one response for two different challenges this week, thus I revisited Yuma and Uncorked again. Yuma was on my mind early this morning as I wanted to try my hand at a more straightforward approach to the tangle. (At 1AM MST I really could be doing other things!) Here's a much more traditional ZIA for the Diva Challenge:

Be sure to see what all the other tangly people did with Yuma, starting with the Diva herself! And thanks so much for all the wonderful comments on my first attempt. 

Peacock Feathers

As I wander the internet and blogosphere, I meet some wonderful people and some crazy awesome talented people. A couple weeks ago, I stumbled upon Tina/Aqua-Art new tangle pattern that she calls "Yuma." I like Tina's style and I was intrigued by the Yuma pattern, as I am Arizonan, after all.

Yuma gets a bad rap for being just an overblown trailer park for snowbirds. It's hot, it's sandy. It's everything that people think of when Arizona is mentioned. I've not spent much time there, usually stop for a bite en route to California. Supposedly, it's the lettuce capital of the USofA. If you have a head of Fox lettuce in your fridge, it most likely came from Yuma. But none of that comes to mind when you see her new pattern.

I also participate in Adele Bruno's weekly challenge, and sometimes I actually submit my response by the Saturday deadline. She also came up with a new pattern she dubbed, "Uncorked." There may have been wine involved. I immediately thought the two patterns could do a duotangle tango. Again, there may have been some wine involved. (Usually). Her challenge this week is to use her Uncorked, with or without another choice.

I also participate in the Diva's weekly challenge by Laura Harms and this week the challenge is to use the tangle Yuma. (Happy Canadian Thanksgiving, BTW). She is quite talented and manages a huge community of tangle artists from around the globe.

So, Lo! and Behold! Twist all of these together and I got this:

Oh! and full disclosure: I had to get Photoshop involved and I know, that's a big NO-NO! But in order to fully realize that artistic vision in my head, that's where I had to go. (That and the Morgue Files to see what peacock feathers look like!)

Other tangly people drag out their Copics and Sakuras. I use a Sharpie, plain paper and voila! So many blessings for a brilliant, sunny Arizona day to all the viewers of this blog entry! Be sure to check out the multitude of talent across the planet for the two challenges from this week.