Monday, November 24, 2014

Zentangle® Mooka in a Box, a Zendala and an Inchie

Well, it's Monday morning, and the first thing I do is head over to I am the Diva to see what this week's challenge is (#195). Visiting CZT, Sandy Hunter, came up with a doosy. At least I think so. She asked us to take something that is usually in a grid and take it out of the grid, or take something without a grid and put it in one. I'm not really fond of grid based tangles most of the time. I find them better for borders and backgrounds. I often take grid based tangles and yank them out of their confinement any way. My favorite tangle is Paradox, but I think that taking it out of the box still looks like it is in a box, so that wouldn't do. My second favorite is Mooka. Put Mooka in a box? Horrors!!!! But that's what I did. I went for a tan tile this time and I also added some perfs and rounding for a bit of interest. Thanks for the push, Sandy!
For Square one, the tangle this week was Assunta, to which I added some Arukas. (Don't know this one? Find a CZT and take a class to learn how to do it!)
I have an In the Round class coming up, so I was playing with Zendalas this week too.
XYP, Betweed, Paradox
To get started, I used the little plastic toy, Ravensburger Mini Mandala Make, that I ordered through Sue Jacob's site. Read about it here. If you do decide to order one, do it through her site so she gets a few pennies on the sale. I'm fairly proficient with a compass, so I probably won't use it much, but it was something different and fun. I got one for my granddaughter for Christmas also.

And, finally, this week over at Every Inchie Monday, the prompt was X-Axis. So, I made the blue and red cross and guess what jumped in? Paradox, of course!
Thanks for stopping by. I wish all of you, who celebrate it, a very Happy Thanksgiving. I am thankful for all my friends, including all my readers, who make getting up each morning a joy.


Monday, November 17, 2014

Zentangle® Lefty, Hurry, and an Inchie

Well, this WAS a real challenge. The Diva has a guest host this week, Elisa Murphy, who challenged us to use our non-dominant hand to do our tile today. It stressed me quite a bit, because, as some of you may know, I have developed trigger finger in my thumb from all my tangling. So, I have such a fear of this becoming a reality that I was completely unable to find my "Zen" in this tangle. And, I think it shows. This will be a fun one though to see what others have done. Check them out here.
I used Purk, Ixorus, and finally, I thought, just go for it, and I bravely? used Static. And, it's funny, but I think I did Static best as a lefty :) 

For Square One, the tangle of the week was Hurry, to which I added Poke Root, Cubine, and BB.





And, for Every Inchie Monday, the prompt word was weapon. I think the most harmful weapon that we all carry is our words. Be careful what you say and to whom you aim those hurtful things. I know I have done that in the past. You can never "unsay" those things and they will haunt you forever. (Wow, that's kind of a downer way to end a post. Just go back up to the first picture and laugh at how terrible I am with my left hand and then leave me a happy comment!)

Monday, November 10, 2014

Zentangle® Challenges and an Inchie

This week, over at I am the Diva, the guest CZT for the week is Holly Atwater from ha! designs. She has selected a trio of tangles for us to include in our tile this week. They are, Trio (Hanny Waldburger), Huggins, and Xyp. I will be interested to see how others combined this grouping of tangles. I decided to "play" with Trio and then do the other two straight up.
For Square One on Facebook, the tangle of the week is Swarm. I added Scarabou, and Mooka to this one.
And, for this week's Every Inchie Monday, the prompt was "Wheat." As you know by now, if you are a regular follower, I have a hard time going directly for a representation of the word and have the need to look for something interesting.

Now, I am not a beer drinker so I couldn't tell you much about this. I even looked it up but the recipes for beer used words like "hops" and "mash" and such that mean nothing to me. All I can tell you is that more wheat is included in a wheat beer and I thought this looked like a mug of something sudsy!

If you missed my post this weekend, I did a short recap of my presentation, Mindfulness Through Zentangle, at the AZ Art Teachers' Convention. Click HERE if you'd like to read about it.

Thanks for stopping by. I love reading your comments!


Saturday, November 8, 2014

Zentangle® and Sakura Presentation at AZ Art Teachers' Conference 2014

I was a presenter at the AZ Art Teachers' Conference yesterday in Tempe. My presentation was "Mindfulness Through Zentangle" and I had 20 wonderful students. Sakura and Zentangle kindly sponsored me and supplied all the materials (Apprentice Kit) and some raffle prizes. Participants were enthusiastic, receptive, and did fabulous tiles.

Here are some pictures of the event:

Me Teaching
Students Working
Second Tile (we didn't have time to finish)
Busy Tanglers
Class Mosaic

Monday, November 3, 2014

Zentangle® with Seton, Punzel, Heart Vine, and an Inchie

The Weekly Challenge, over at I am the Diva, is being hosted this week by Cris Letourneau. She offered up her tangle, Seton, as a UMT (Use my Tangle.) This tangle just lends itself to so many variations. It looks complicated but, if you follow Cris' links, you will find that it is actually quite easy. My first thought was a climbing trellis, so I went with a ZIA (Zentangle Inspired Art) and pulled out my Sharpies and Prismacolors with just a touch of a gray Fabrico pen for shading. A bit lopsided, but you know I didn't use a ruler!

Punzel was the tangle for the week at Square One. I added some Heartvine by Lori Howe as well.

















Did you know that violet was the royal color during the reign of Cleopatra? Our Every Inchie Monday word was "Violet".

Friday is my "big" day. I have 24 students signed up already for my presentation "Mindfulness Through Zentangle" at the Arizona State Art Teachers' Conference. I am all packed up and ready to go. Wish me luck :)

I'm also a guest designer over at House-Mouse & Friends and have become part of the design team for The Outlawz Twisted Thursday. If you have any interest in Copic coloring or card making, click on the tab on the top bar and see what I am up to.

Thanks for stopping by. I look forward to reading your comments.