Diva Challenge #129

I always find that creating a string is the hardest part of my Zentangle experience - they always seem to look the same.  I love that Linda Farmer at TanglePatterns.com has a section for string ideas... it gives me some direction!  This week's Diva Challenge was to use string 4.  I started with a different set of patterns, but my heart wasn't in the tile and I ended up getting sloppy.  This one is a much "happier" tile! 

Happy Monday!

Fricle, Verdigogh, Msst, Tipple (inside Fricle), Striping

Diva Challenge #116

I loved this week's Diva Challenge!  The blind string - one of my favourites.  My string ended up being a really closely drawn circle/loop.  I wasn't sure what to do with it, but it ended up kind of creating itself.  I think it has an underwater-type feel.

Striping, Flux, Dragonair, Nipa, Verdigogh, Tipple

Something else that I had wanted to share was my new found love of beading.  I went to a "beginner" workshop last Monday, and began working on a bracelet that required several different bead types, fireline, and A LOT of skill!  I'd never beaded before, and was completely overwhelmed, but when I finished it yesterday, I was so happy with the result, that I'm planning another visit to this little bead store soon (tomorrow or Wednesday, perhaps!). Great - another hobby that prevents me from marking! 

My first-ever beading adventure!  More to come - I've already signed up for another beading workshop!

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 #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

Diva Challenge #91 - Beads of Courage

This week, Laura's Diva Challenge was to incorporate "Beads of Courage" into our tile.  "Beads of Courage" is an organization that helps children who have chronic illnesses to tell their stories of courage.  Happy birthday to Artoo, who turned 2 yesterday!

The idea of being courageous was a theme at our school today, too - many classes participated in "Dignity Day", and one of my students was brave enough to share her story with a thousand people via webcam.  I was really proud of her :)  Click here to see her reflection of the day (and to check out her awesome tangles)!

This is my contribution to the Beads of Courage challenge - I was planning to leave the background blank, so that the beads would stand out, but I felt it was very stark and missing something.  I decided to go with a  lightweight tangle, and I'm really happy that I did, because Florz was perfect for what I envisioned.  Happy tangling!

Florz, Flux, Jetties, Striping, Echoism, Betweed, Tipple, Zedbra, Fricle, Hollibaugh

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 #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!)