Three NEW Books!

It made me crazy 2 nights ago that I came to post the new art books I bought Wednesday on my blog and the blog was down for maintenance! Then it was down yesterday as well with technical issues... Yikes!!!

I am excited to share with you my new book finds from Michaels:

1)   'A String of Expression' - Techniques for Transforming Art and Life into Jewelry by June Roman
              I picked up this book because there is an unusual necklace on the front cover, and when I looked through the inside I found that the necklace projects are each inspired by a piece of beautiful journal collage artwork and poetry!!! June's techniques for stringing, knotting, wire work, charm collage (using resin), leather work, and working with precious metal clay (PMC) (you can substitute polymer clay for the PMC projects) are fresh, aboriginal, colorful, eclectic, doable (inspires "I can do this!") and inviting. I totally GET the subtitle, speaking of  'transforming', after reading through the book...it's spot on! I'm looking forward to doing some transforming of my own soon! :)

2)   'Letter Better' - Doodling Guide by Cyndi Hansen
               With over 280 patterns of letters and creative borders, I grabbed this Design Originals book as a quick inspiration reference for when I want to write in my journal and my regular handwriting is not satisfying me. You know how it is, even though my handwriting may be cool looking to others, I get bored of it sometimes and go straight to my lettering books to get unstuck.

3)   'Zentangle Basics' - by Suzanne McNeill
               If you've never seen Zentangles and like to draw (or even if you've never drawn before and would like to try), this book is a real treat! I first saw an article on Zentangles in a magazine about a year ago and fell in love...It's another way of doodling with a pen or pencil that helps to "reduce stress while improving focus". This Design Originals book contains excellent step-by-step pictures of the process. The contrast of the black and white 'Tangle' design patterns and shading examples have such a powerful impact on me. The book even suggests trying to add to the completed b&w designs colors from watercolors, color inks, watercolor pencils, markers, etc. Sounds like fun...give me a piece of paper and a Micron pen and I'll see ya in a couple of days! Learn more at Zentangle.com

Happy Reading!  Tristina :)