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 #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 #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 #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

Mandala Designs and Celtic Knot Challenge #10

Today I purchased a good compass.  It's something that I know I should have, but have never treated myself to.  I also grabbed a 360 degree protractor (which just looks cool... I'm such a math nerd).  Using these, I created 6 mandala designs which I hope to fill while procrastinating on my report cards! I've also included my Celtic Knot submission for Judy's 10th challenge.

Shattuck, Dragonair, Paradox, Zedbra

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

Diva Challenge #89 & Celtic Challenge #7

Hm.  I started the Diva challenge, and I liked what I was seeing (rain - one of my new faves).... then I realized I'd coloured the whole tangle in sepia!  Of course, then I had to finish it in sepia.... and I have to admit that I don't love it.  That, and I found the tangle this week really tough, so I ended up cutting it off before I mucked up the bottom part of my tile. Erg!  I still ended up with a tile that I like, I just wish it had been in black ink!

Flux, Rain, Sankegg, Printemps, Hollibaugh

And, I did the Celtic Challenge on the weekend, and have been contemplating how to colour it for a few days.... and then I did colour it and remembered why I like Zentangle... black and white is my friend :) It's not that I don't like it with colour, but I just don't have the flair for the colours.... and choosing colours is tough! 

Paradox, Bales

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!)

Diva Challenge #84 - Blind-sighted

Yay!  Laura's back and there's a new Monday challenge!  This week, we had to draw the string blind - yep, no peeking!  I really liked my string, but when I prepared to put pen to tile, I found myself at a loss.... I did the tile, and I think it looks alright, but I think I'll try this again later this week.  Here is my tile, before and after :)

(I used my new tangle "Deelish" - please check it out & let me know what you think.... your opinions mean a lot!)

Ahh, Shattuck, Nipa, Hollibaugh, Paradox, Deelish

The original string (edited so you can see it - that's why it's so dark!)

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

Zendala Dare #19

Not too chatty today - had a brutal sleep last night (in that I didn't sleep at all), so now I have a crushing headache :(  Nonetheless, I had to complete my zendala today because I'm away this weekend and I had too many ideas swirling through my head for it!  I liked the boxy shape of this week's dare. I didn't venture out of the box much (no pun intended!), but I still like my zendala - I got to use a lot of my favourite tangles :)

Nipa, Holibaugh, Flux, Paradox, 'Nzeppel, Crescent Moon, Shattuck, Cadent, and Hurry

The original mandala

Zendala Dare #18

This week, we're celebrating my dad's birthday... and in honour of his love for barbecuing (and his epic love of hamburgers), my sister commissioned a special "Dad's birthday" cake - it was a (gluten-free) chocolate cake with a brownie center for the meat, and fondant for the fixin's.  It was deeeeelish!!

The best burger ever for the best dad ever!

This week's mandala took me a while longer to do than I'd expected.  I kept seeing Paradox in everything - and I mean everything - and was doing my best to NOT use it (I rely on it quite a bit, and I needed to branch out a little!).  I may do another one with nothing but Paradox... just for fun!

This week's mandala template

Flutterpie, Betweed, Hibred, Flux, Hi-C, Shattuck, Tipple

Additional Zendala!  I completed one with JUST Paradox... much much busier than the first version, but still very cool to see what can happen with the same template!  I love that tangle more than any of them!!

Second Zendala with this week's template - JUST Paradox!

Zendala Dare #17

Today's Zendala Dare was issued with an additional challenge - to honour someone who is still with us or who has lost their battle with cancer.  Today's Zendala (once I finished it) reminds me of a party - a celebration of life.  The small triangles in the middle remind me of party hats, and the Ahh in the background seems like fireworks or sparklers.  Happy memories of those we've lost are so important, and celebrating their lives and accomplishments is one way to honour those memories :)

the original mandala outline

Auraknot, Paradox, Ahh

Zendala Dare #16

This is my first post for the Zendala Dare, which is given on Fridays by Erin Koetz Olson.  I had a lot of fun participating in her guest challenge on I Am The Diva, so I thought I'd give this one a try, too!  I use the full size pages instead of the smaller pieces, because it gives me more room to work with, however on this piece, I think the smaller one would have been fine.  No worries - I still love it!   Thanks, Erin!

Paradox, 'Nzeppel, Gneiss, and Dragonair