DIVA CHALLENGE #72

I really enjoy doing monotangle tiles and simple basic patterns.  That puts the true "zen" in zentangle for me.   So, I was thrilled when our Diva challenged us with a mono tile filled with variations of the tangle Crescent Moon.  I really had fun doing this challenge and got carried away.  Amazing what you can do with one simple tangle!

Thanks for visiting!

ZENDALA DARE # 7

I really liked this week's template the moment I saw it and wanted to do something feminine and girlie with it.  So, this is what I came up with...

Have a great week!

A FUN WAY TO USE ZENTANGLE

I recently came across something new and fun to do.  I kind of think of it as making a Zendangle.  Joanne Fink, author of the wonderful book, "Zenspirations", is the creator of this idea.
She made a fantastic YouTube video showing how she does it.  You can watch her video by clicking here.  Meanwhile, I thought I'd demonstrate the steps I use to make my Dangles below:

Materials

Black Micron Pen

Ruler (if needed)

Colored pens, pencils, markers of your choice

For the sake of this demo, and because this is a rather large Dangle, I used a ruler to make my lines, but it's really far more fun to freehand it if you can.  Although, I admit I've never done one without a few ruler guidelines to "keep me in line" overall.  LOL

Step 1

I always begin with at least some main horizontal lines to establish the top bar and then begin adding my vertical lines (where I'll be hanging my dangles later on) before I've completely finished that top bar.  If you'll notice, I've placed a few of my vertical lines into the horizontal lines to form boxes (that I'll later be adding color to) in the top bar.  Many of the verticals will be attached only to your bottom horizontal lines though.  You get to choose where you want to make your boxes.  There are no rules for it.  So, as you begin, it pretty much will look like this:

Step 2

In this step I've continued to fill in the top lines and chose a few boxes up there to color in with my Micron pen until I'm happy with the way it looks. I've also finished adding all of my vertical lines, or better yet let's call them "strings".  As you can see I've already begun adding decorations into my strings, beads, tiny shapes, etc. and also added a few decorative strings here and there, using zentangle® patterns to make them.   It's a good idea to stagger the length of your strings.  It will give you room to add the bangles at the bottom of them and give your overall Dangle a nice sense of balance.  Now we're ready for the fun part!

Step 3

At this point I'm ready to add all my bangles, or shall we call them "charms"?  Whatever we call them, they're fun to do!  You can use whatever your imagination comes up with.  zentangle® patterns work great, but any kind of shape, bead, or crazy design is just fine for your bangles.  You can see below that I've used tangle patterns, circles, triangles, ovals, a tiny leaf, a birdhouse, and on and on.  Once you've finished adding a bangle to every string, and you're satisfied with how it looks, the real fun begins....adding COLOR!!

Step 4

The sky's the limit when adding colors.  And, so are the materials you use to do it.  Whatever is your favorite "color maker", whatever gets the job done, is my philosophy.  When choosing what colors to add you may want to stick to a theme or then again, maybe not.  Maybe you've used charms that are nature oriented in which case you might use earth colors for your charms.  Or, maybe you'd like to only use blues and greens, or only the three primaries, only warm colors, only use glitter pens, and maybe even no color at all, just shapes.  It's all up to you.  

As you can see in my finished piece below I've pretty much used a rainbow of colors and added plenty of color to the top horizontal bar, as well.  I'm new to "dangling" and hope to get a lot more creative in time, but I was anxious to share this idea with others because it's just so much fun to do.  I'm sure you'll come up with far more inventive ideas for your Dangle than I have.  Please feel free to share them with me in the comments section below.  I'd love to see and hear about what you're doing!

"Dangles, Bangles, and Beads"  11" X 14"

Applications

I'd really like to say that I make art purely for the sake of making art.  And, Of course I do love doing that, love "being in the zone".   But, being a practical person, once I create something like a Dangle I can't help myself; I start thinking about how many ways I could use it.  So with that in mind, below are two blank greeting cards I dangled.  I  also hope to start a Dangle journal or perhaps combine them with my zentangle® journal.  And, I could certainly see adding a few strings into the margin of a written journal and they'd be a great addition to any visual journal.  I'm sure there are other things to be done with this fun idea.  Please let me know if you think of any!!

I hope you've enjoyed this demo and don't forget to watch Joanne Fink's, the creator of Dangles, YouTube video demo (link above)!!

Thanks for looking in and I hope you'll give this a try and share your dangles and ideas with me here.  Have fun!

DIVA CHALLENGE #71

This week's Diva Challenge can be found here.  The challenge was to use the new tangle presented by Molly Hollibaugh, Pea-nuckle.  I found this tangle to be a real challenge, too!  But, the more I did it the more I grew to love it and now I'm hooked, for sure.  


I'd also recently stumbled on Shelly Beauch's tangle, Blooming Butter and was waiting for a chance to use it.  In my first attempt below I combined the two tangles and was going for the feel of a basket filled with flowers.  Sadly, my tile fell far short of my goal, but I had fun doing it, anyway.  LOL  


In my second tile I used Groovy (another very addictive tangle Laura recently challenged us with), Shattuck and Unme (pronounced "you and me") with Pea-nuckle.  


You may have read Debra Castaldi's touching story as to how she came up with her pattern, Unme, recently on Linda Farmer's Tangle Patterns website.  As I was doing this pattern I realized that the main stroke in it is a tear drop.  And, so I was rethinking Debra's story and then "Time In A Bottle" began playing on the radio.  By the time I finished I was a basket case!  May God bless Debra with faith, peace and joy.

As always thanks for looking in and enjoy your week!

ZENDALA DARE #6

This week's Zendala Dare was another fun one to do.  For more about the Weekly Zendala Dares, see Erin's blog, The Bright Bowl.  Hubby surprised me by having my two zendalas scanned and ready to post before I woke up this morning.  Now I can't wait until Erin reveals next week's Dare!

Thanks for looking in and I hope you're having fun with your zendalas!

DIVA CHALLENGE #70

Yikes, it's Diva Challenge #70.  How time flies!  For more information about the challenge and to join in just click HERE.  


This week's challenge was to somehow use the color sepia in our tangling.  I tangled a tile using the tangles Nipa and Onamato.  And, I had so much fun with the tangle Floatfest in last week's challenge that I used it on the front of a blank greeting card for this week's challenge.

So, here are the results....

Thanks for looking in!

ZENDALA DARE #5

Wow, I can't believe we're already on our fifth zendala dare.  There's still plenty of time to get in the groove of this weekly fun, though.  For more information just visit Erin's blog, The Bright Owl.


I love doing the tangle, Paradox, so I couldn't resist doing an entire zendala mono tangle tile of Paradox with this dare.  Once I got that out of my system, I began to play with other tangles and created the second zendala you see here...

I hope you're having fun with your zendalas this week.  :-)

DIVA CHALLENGE #69

On Mother's Day I always thank my three children for making me a mom.  Since our daughter is coming to visit us in our vacation home for Mother's Day this year I wanted to surprise her with a little something and make her a card thanking her "For Being The First One To Make Me A Mom".  So, this week I did my Diva Challenge on a blank card.  


We were asked to do the tangle, Groovy, and I fell in love with it.  It goes well with so many other tangles, too.  Here I chose to pair it with Featherfall...

As always, thank for peeking in.....

ZENDALA DARE #4

This week's Zendala Dare was a real challenge!  For a look at this week's template, other tangler's results and to find out more about The Dares, something you can join in, too, just click on Erin's blog here: The Bright Owl.  Erin is on a cruise near Mexico at the moment and was kind enough to take time out of her vacation to dare us this week anyway.  In fact, I'd call this one a "double dare"!  Since cruising is on her mind, Erin asked us to use the themes of "ocean" and "Mexico" in our zendalas this time around. And, it wasn't as easy as it sounds for me, anyway.


While I was trying to think of watery tangles to use in my first zendala Sandy Steen Bartholomew's great book, "Totally Tangled" immediately came to mind because I know she has several tangles adapted from Japanese art depicting water in this book.  To take a look at "Totally Tangled" and her other wonderful zentangle® books and learn more about Sandy (and there's so much more to know about her and her fabulous work) please go to her blog here:  Beez in the Belfry.  Well, as I guessed I was inspired and tentatively began my zendalas...


In the end I wound up with one Mexico/ocean combination zendala and one zendala devoted to the colorful art of the Mexican people.  Here are my entries for this week's dare:  

"Gulf of Mexico"

"Hola"

Thanks for looking in!!!

DIVA CHALLENGE #68

This week's Diva Challenge is to do a zentangle with only two patterns, or a "duo tangle".  We're using the tangles "hibred" and "strircles".  To learn more about, or to join in, the weekly Diva Challenges, please see the Diva's blog here:  I Am The Diva CZT.  


I'd never used either of these tangles before, so I'm afraid my zentangles are not very creative.  I did really enjoy learning both patterns, though, so thanks once again, Laura, for your wonderful challenges!

As always, thanks for looking in and happy tangling!