Zendala Dare #99

Wow - it's been a REALLY long time since I've done any tangling!

Thanks to Erin at the Bright Owl for continuing to provide beautiful templates for her challenges - I was able to get one done this morning.  Love it.

My tangles

template #99

Thanks for stopping by - hopefully I'll take less than a year to put out the next one!
Steph :)

Zendala Dare #68

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - awesome idea for an additional challenge this week at The Bright Owl! I had a lot of fun with this one - the idea was to incorporate contrast of some sort.  I used a lot of my favourite tangles, however I varied them up so that there is a distinct difference from one side to the other.  I really like how it turned out - one side is delicate and light, the other is heavy and dark.  I only shaded the lighter side because I think the dark side was intense enough. 

Anywho, lots of fun!  Thanks for stopping by :)

Paradox, Opus, Shattuck, Web, Zedbra

Zendala Dare #58

Last week I attended a beading class during which I made necklace charms with wire-wrapped beads.  It was interesting, and since I had all kinds of wire left over, I've made a few since then.  Here are the ones I made at the class... they turned into mother's day gifts for my mom and my boyfriend's mom.

My first attempt

My second attempt

I also recently tried my hand at embellished letters using zentangle and colour.  I think I need to play and experiment with them a bit more - I don't like to make mistakes, and I need to let myself so that I can learn how to play with my artwork.  I like how they turned out (Sakura gel pens are so much fun!).

This week's mandala challenge was a lot of fun for me - I loved the design and the combination of curves and straight lines.  Here's my submission - thank, Erin, for doing this every week!  I don't always get to them, but I always go and check out everyone else's!

Crescent Moon, Flux, and a bunch of other ones!

Zendala Dare #56

Oops!  I forgot to do the added challenge of this week's dare (to do the entire mandala in pencil)... but I'm still going to post the result :)  To see the Bright Owl post, click here.

I'm attending a new bead class this week and can't wait to share the results! 

Paradox, Beetweed, Florz, Shattuck

Zendala Dare #52

Erin (The Bright Owl) posted her latest challenge this morning, and mentioned how she hates circles in her mandalas.  Honestly, I love them :)  I have developed a serious love for Verve, and when I see circles, I now feel compelled to fill them with this pattern!  The idea for today's challenge was to use Hollibaugh across the mandala as a string.  I kind of got it, but got carried away and forgot to put in a second band... and while I was playing, I didn't really like what I had done - I felt it was missing something.  I ended up adding the words into the background of the torn section, and voila!  Complete! 

If you want to see the directions for "That's Torn It", click here - it's a really fun addition to any piece. Glad I stumbled upon it on the Zentangle fan page on Facebook!

verve, fescu, zedbra/striping, that's torn it

Zendala Dare #51

Instead of doing the work that I brought home today, I decided to tangle instead - much more rewarding!  Here's my entry for Erin's Zendala Dare for this week (with a template I loved!), and one from several weeks ago that never got submitted...

Paradox, Zedbra (uncoloured), Bales, Printemps

From Dare #38 - Hibred, Paradox, Verve

Zendala Dare #48

A second entry for today - this is my submission for The Bright Owl's Zendala Dare #48.  I loved this template, but was totally at a loss for what to do in some of the spaces!

Verve, Shattuck, Rain

Zendala Dare #47

 Wow!  It has been a looooong time since I've posted (or even done a zentangle anything!).  I've been busy busy busy - but decided to finally make time today to tangle :)  The Bright Owl's challenge this week was to NOT use the entire template of the zendala.  I usually print & use - this time, I couldn't do that! 

Thanks for the great challenge, Erin! 

Striping, Nipa, Flux, Meer, Beadlines

The original template

Zendala Dare #29

Didn't make it to the Zendala Dare on Saturday this weekend.... report card mania has taken over!  Fortunately, I'm actually somewhat on top of things this year, so it hasn't been too bad (and I had a marking date with a friend at Starbucks this morning, so that made for a fun day!).  This is the result - it's a little busy, but there are some new-ish (to me) tangles in there, so it's fun and a bit different!

Coaster, Web, Nipa, Paradox, Ibex, Flux

I'm also including a mandala that I not only filled with tangles, but that I designed.  If you want to see the original, click on "Mandala Designs" here or above.  It's the star one :)

Gneiss, Paradox

 I'm also including my entry to this week's Diva Challenge (really late, though!).  Positive thoughts to Laura, while her little Artoo is recovering in the hospital. 

Coaster, Hibred, Nipa, Onomato

Zendala Dare #28

I loved this week's template for the Zendala Dare!  There was a lot to it, and if I wasn't up to my eyeballs in stuff to do, I would totally take another stab at it. That being said, due to my extraordinary procrastinating skills, I will likely find all kinds of new tangle-y things to occupy my time this week!  My to-do list is lengthy.... I often visit Dawn's site "A Tangle in Time", and she always has the most interesting journal pages - I think I would love to create a journal much like the ones she shares, just so that my to-do list could look appealing!
I enjoy Erin's Zendala Dares so much that I decided to try my hand at creating my own mandalas - I've included some of them here, via the "Mandala Designs" page.  Please check it out -  I had a lot of fun making them!
Here's my submission for this week's challenge:

Ixorus, Striping, Hibred, Shattuck

Zendala Dare #27

I really liked the Zendala Dare template this week, but I found myself very indecisive about the tangles I picked!  I decided on some favourites, and one that I rarely use - I ended up with a good combination of geometric and organic, I think.  I like how it turned out - the Dragonair added a bit of flair to the paradox.

Betweed, Paradox, Tipple, Cubine, Dragonair

Zendala Dare #26

It's October already!  Happy Thanksgiving, to my Canadian friends!  I had a wonderful weekend visiting with family, and traveling with my Dad to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto to see world-renowned paleontologist, Phil Currie.  A wonderful lecture, and a fantastic special exhibit (Ultimate Dinosaurs).... we had so much fun!
So, that explains why my dare submission is on Monday instead of Saturday!! This week, Erin's Bright Owl Zendala Dare encouraged us to use "Halloween-y" tangles, or somehow otherwise "Halloween-up" our zendala.  I chose to use some tangles that I felt had a gothic/eerie feel to them.  And then I added a couple of spiders :)

My "Halloweeny" tile - Web, Golven, Striping, Msst

This is the same mandala, but with Halloweeny colours... I used Sakura Glaze
pens - the sheen doesn't show up on the scan, but in real life, it looks pretty cool :)

(please also check out my Friday submission to Judy's Celtic Knot Challenge!)

Zendala Dare #25

Another Zendala Dare!  I loved this template - the varying sizes of the pie slices gave it endless possibilities.  I used some favourites, and as I was completing this zendala, I realized that I really need to branch out!  My goal for next week is to use at least 2 patterns I haven't used in the last few months.  It's not like I don't know any other ones :)

Auraknot, Striping, Dragonair, Rain, Tipple

I also played a little with the "tornado" pattern that has been making its way around.  A great activity - here's a link showing how to do it: Tornado Line Design

Tornado activity with Staedtlar Ergo Soft pencil crayons on a Zentangle tile

Zendala Dare #24

I love the Saturday dare!  I feel like I can put more thought into the zendala... I'm not tired and rushing to complete it.  Tonight, my boyfriend and I are watching the UFC fight, and between rounds and fights, this is what emerged!  I know that Zentangle and ZIA is supposed to be done in peace, in order to achieve the calming effects of the art, but I usually complete mine with background noise (be it UFC, xBox 360 games, Dexter....).  I still feel rejuvenated when I do them! And this week (with all the controversy surrounding Ontario teachers), I needed that :)
Thanks for another great one, Erin!

Paradox, Zedbra (uncoloured), Flourish

The template

Zendala Dare #23 & Paper

This week, Erin told us in her blog, The Bright Owl, that the Friday Dares will be moved to Saturdays.  I'm quite happy about that - I have time on the weekends to do these, and am usually zonked by Friday night! I really liked this week's template and found it to be a lot of fun!

Meer, Onamato, Paradox, Tipple

I also wanted to share a piece that I did last night, using an app on my iPad (Paper) - it's actually just the string that was done on the iPad, then I transferred the jpg of the string to my laptop & printed it. From there, I tangled it & voila!  Neat use of an app - thanks to my boyfriend for suggesting it!

Nightsbridge, Hibred, Nipa, Cadent, Betweed, Paradox, Tipple, Striping

Thanks for stopping by!

Zendala Dare #22 - Monodala

This has been such a busy week!  School has started back up, and it feels like I've been lucky to find a minute to sit down.  Fortunately, I get to teach our Grade 8s Visual Arts this year (as well as a whole whackload of other things, but the Visual Arts is my favourite!), and I've already introduced them to some tangle patterns - on their request.  They love them!  I'm seeing Paradox on journals and scrap pages all over the place!  I can't wait to become a CZT so that I can do this all the time :)

This week's Bright Owl dare challenged us to use only one tangle - a monotangle on a mandala.  I missed last week's dare - not by choice, but I got really stumped.  I loved the mandala, and I started two different tiles, but I could not get it together to complete one (lots of stress about having only one day to get a "new" but old & gross portable ready without proper desks, electricity, air conditioning, or proper ceiling tiles might have had a hand in it).  This week's, though....!!  I chose Hibred as my tangle and I absolutely LOVE my zendala.  You know those weeks when you just create something you love, but you weren't sure you were even going to like it when you started??  That's this week for me!  Here it is:

Hibred

I also completed a Relay for Life zendala, and thought I'd throw it in here too, just for fun :)

Striping, Fescu, Deelish, Paradox (again!)

Zendala Dare #20

I loved this week's zendala dare!  The template was layered, so I tried to give a layered look to my final product - I think it worked out alright :)  Thanks to Erin for all of her efforts in providing us with awesome templates, week after week!

Paradox, Hibred, Cadent, Hi-C, Tipple, Puf, Angel Fish

Celtic Knot - Challenge #2

Judy West has begun issuing regular Friday challenges in which we have to use our tangle-powers to complete celtic knots - a new direction, and a fun challenge!!  This is my first one, and I really enjoyed it (although choosing Zander was an interesting choice - took me a lot longer to complete than I'd anticipated!).

'Nzeppel, Tipple, Flourish, Zander

The original template

Haliburton Treasures

What a day today!  Spent the whole day hanging out with friends at Chari-Lynn's amazing Zentangle workshop at the Haliburton School of the Arts. We did more tangling in one day than I thought possible! I thought I'd share some of the resulting fun :)

First tile of the morning - Printemps, Bales (which I turned into Puf b/c I love it!), Ahh, and Nipa

Second tile of the morning - Knightsbridge, Hollibaugh, Tidings, and Pokeleaf

Black tile with white gelly roller Sakura pen - Mooka, Flux, and Fescu

Black tile with white and pink gelly roller from Sakura - Echoism, Flux, Fescu, and Shattuck

Playing with Pendrills - watercolour pencil crayon (which does not translate well with a scanner)

Using a stencil and sponges & stamp pad to get the background; tangles Verdigogh, Dragonair, Jonqal, Opus, Finery, and 'NZeppel

Thanks for popping in to see what we did!  I'm re-inspired, so I'll have a few new ones to post soon :)

Diva Challenge #78 - Auraknot

School is done for the summer!  I'm hoping to get in touch with my tangling again now that there's time to breathe.  I'm always stunned that as school "winds down" for the summer, my schedules just get more packed and crammed.... things keep winding UP until the PD day after the chaos ends!  The fact that I had to pack up my entire classroom to move to a portable next year didn't ease the madness.... man, I have a lot of stuff.  No worries though - I have a mini-retreat in Haliburton this weekend with Chari-Lynn (my local CZT who is amazing!), with a bunch of friends from work - can't wait to spend the day tangling and playing!

Update:  Spent the day tangling at the Haliburton School of the Arts - please click here to see what we did!

This week's Diva Challenge is one that asks us to experiment a little with the new official tangle, "Auraknot".  I have spent the entire day playing with this!  It's a lot of fun, and has endless possibilities.  I think it's a tangle that stands on its own, more than one that I'll use to fill space (mainly because I haven't tried yet).  I'm still playing with the shading, but here are the two (of the many, many I tried!) that I thought I'd share. Happy Monday!  Have a great week :)