Two Challenges in One: Diva Challenge #239 & Zendala Dare # 112

Have not been able to participate in any of the challenges that I usually do. Decided

that it I was going to do it needed to come up with a way to use one tile for both challenges. The Diva Challenge is to use the tangle Muchin. You could also add the challenge of doing white on black. The Zendala Dare was the usual format of The Bright Owl posting a template and pretty much leaving it up to the person what they wanted to do with it. This did present a challenge as I usually do not change the template a lot. There is nothing that says you cannot change it but I always viewed it as part of the challenge was using the template. Well to complete one tile for both challenges I did not think I could accomplish that with the template that was provided. What I did was a pretty significant change. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Munchin, Tipple

Shading done with White Charcoal pencil. 

To see the original zendala template, and look at what others did, go to The Bright Owl. This is the first Zendala Dare that I have done in a while.

To see what people have done with the tangle Munchin, go to I am the Diva. I would encourage you to try either one of these challenges or if possible both of them. I am hoping to see what is posted in both challenges. I may also get lucky and get to the the focus tangle of the week on Square One.

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !! 

Zendala Dare #107

Did not realize how out of practice I was in doing Zendalas. I have used the round Zendala tiles before but more recently it has not been with a template. It is taking me a little bit of adjustment having a template and deciding how I want to use it or even what tangles come to mind when I look at it. I have to admit that the recent templates have been an additional challenge for me. The template is similar to a string and it is a guide that you can decide how you want to follow. I have tended to not modify the templates in the past. May have to revisit that. Here is what I ended up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Auraknot, Finery, Fassett, and Zenith

Shading done with HB, 2B, and 4B pencils

I was hoping to participate in the Zendala Dare a little more regularly. Have not been able to do so. Will have to examine that as I continue to have a number of other things that are occupying my time. Not sure if some of the challenges lately have been the style of the templates or just my lack of doing them. Am looking forward to looking at what others have done. If you have not done so would encourage you to go to The Bright Owl and look at what others have done. Give it a try yourself. You do not have to use a circle tile to do it. 

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Zendala Dare # 102: Two in a Row & a New Job

The Bright Owl is on a roll posting two Zendala Dares in a row. She does have a reason to be pleased with her ability to do this as she is starting a new job which allows her to use her Nursing degree. Starting a new job while exciting is also stressful. Hopefully, creating her zendala allowed her to relax a little. This is an interesting template. Kind of fits in with this week's Diva Challenge on simplicity. Last week's template had a multitude of sections. This one had a lot of larger space. Simplicity and  easy are not always synonymous. I actually had more difficulty deciding what to do with this template. I finished this earlier but did not get around to posting it right away. That is probably a good thing as this is one of those tiles that my first reaction was so-so. After letting it set a while and then looking at it again, I am more pleased with it. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Betweed, Cubine, Flux, Shattuck, Blooming Butter with Mak-Rah-Mee, Cadent, Antidots, & Zander.

The shading is done with 2B and 4B pencils. 

The center ring is somewhat inspired by some stacked circles that I have seen on the FB Stacked and Tangled page. Did not really turn out exactly like I envisioned, but that is okay.  Have only looked at The Bright Owl's blog a little. The last I looked there were only a few things posted. I hope more take the time to  do something and post it. I know it is hard and there are more challenges now than when she first started the Zendala Dare. I enjoy doing them and it is different than the other challenges and FB page ideas/focus. Not sure that I will get to every one she posts and will probably have to rotate what I participate in a little. If you have time, check out what others have done at The Bright Owl and try it yourself. 

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !!

Zendala Dare #101: She's Baaaaack !!!

Guess who's baaaaaack? That's right, it is The Bright Owl with Zendala Dare #101. I remember seeing the previous one, but not sure how long ago it was or if I even participated. For a couple years it was one that I participated in regularly and I do enjoy Zendalas. I have to admit that it took a little getting use to. I have not done a lot of Zendalas lately and those that I did were more free hand so I was not dealing with a template. Some would think that having a template would make it easier but there is a little decision making about how you want to use the template. I put the whole template on the tile and just took a little at a time. I started on the outside, then the center and then the middle part and the shading. It really was easier once I decided on the center. Before that I was not sure exactly what I was going to do with the majority of the template. Well enough gabbing. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used : Verve, Betweed,  Gneiss

Shading done with 4 B pencil

The last I looked there were not a lot of other zendalas posted at The Bright Owl. Hoping that a few more will do something. It is always interesting to see what people do with the templates. Would encourage you to take a look by clicking on the link above. Why not give it a try yourself, even if you do not post it.

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !! 

Zendala Dare # 97

This may be the only post that I get done this week. I was intrigued when I saw the template. I had an idea of what I wanted to do. I just was not sure exactly how to proceed or how it would turn out. I wanted to use the sections in the template as negative space. I did  accomplish that. I am generally pleased with the  results of the Zendala. The highlighting with the white pencil did not turn out as well as I would have hoped. I do not remember it being a problem before as I had used colored pencils on the Renaissance tiles before. The paper seemed to break down when I tried to do any blending. Was frustrating. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Vache (variaiton), Stripes, The rest is just line work.

Shading/highlighting done with colored pencils, Prismacolor white pencil, and 4B pencil. The colored pencils was a mixture of pencils. 

I have not had a chance to look at many of the things that have been posted on The Bright Owl. Would encourage you to take a look and check out her giveaway. You may want to try it yourself, even if you do not post.

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !!

Zendala Dare #96

After a significant absence Erin at The Bright Owl has again started to post the Zendala Dare. She posted one last week, but I was unable to get anything done for that. Before I was pretty regular in posting Zendalas. I like doing them but after not doing them with template for a while, it took a little time getting used to doing them again.

This is an interesting template. I do not remember one quite like this before. There were probably a number of directions one could go with this. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Paradox, Betweed, Stripes. Fasset, & Zander

Shading was done with #2 pencil. 

I have only seen Erin's Zendala. Hope to look at a few of the others. If you are not familiar with the Zendala Dare, go to The Bright Owl and look at what others have done. Give it a try yourself.

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated. 

Go Tangle !!

Zendala Dare #94 - Happy

Was not sure I was going to get any of the challenges done this week. It has been a very hectic week and not sure that things will change anytime in the near future. Was glad to see that Erin had returned to post the Zendala Dare. As is typical for the first dare of the month, she added the extra challenge of Happy. She suggested that people could use tangles that started with the letters in the word happy. I have to admit that after I started, I kind of forgot about the extra challenge. I did get one letter as I used Hollibaugh and I did use tangles that I enjoy, and I am happy that she will be able to post a Zendala Dare for at least a couple of months. I hope that this qualifies as meeting the criteria for the Dare. Here is what I came up with.  I hope that you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Knightsbridge, Flux, Zinger, Ennies, Hollibaugh, 'Nzeppel (variation)
I have a student that does 'Nzeppel freehand. I have never tried this before so decided to try it here. Did not turn out exactly like I pictured it but was pleased with it for a first try.

This is getting posted late enough that I am assuming that most anyone that sees this has all ready looked at the things posted on the Bright Owl. However if not, would suggest that you do so. I hope to look at some of them this evening. I have no idea even how many have participated this week. 

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !!

Zendala Dare #93: Snowflake Surprise

This week's Zendala Dare was a challenge. The challenge was to use the template to create a representation of your vision of a snowflake. While I did like the template, as  hard as I tried I could not think of anyway to come up with something that represented a snowflake. I looked at the second one that Erin did, which was beautiful, but could not come up with anything. I did not want to duplicate hers. I think it partly is just the way my brain processes the templates. I think I mentioned in an earlier post that when I see a template I usually look at spaces and think of tangles that might fit. Other people have mentioned before that they will look at a template and it reminds them of something so that directs their zendala. That rarely happens to me. There maybe have been a few times that a template reminded me of something, but to me it was an obvious connection. Trying to come up with a representation of a snowflake stumped me so much I just could not get past it. Since I really did like the template I finally decided that I would just proceed with a zendala and hope for the best. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it, even if it is not a snowflake.

Tangles used: Quib, Knightsbridge, Betweed 

The center is what I would call a starburst.

I have not taken the time to look at what others have posted but hopefully will be able to do so later. I am still hoping to complete the Diva Challenge, but this week has been chaotic. I feel lucky to get this one done. If you have not looked at the posts on The Bright Owl, would strongly encourage you do so.

Thanks for visiting. As always comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !!

Zendala Dare #92

This zendala turned out way different than I first imagined. Erin at The Bright Owl, posted how she usually approaches the zendala templates and how she did it differently this time. I rarely change the overall character of a template. Like a lot of  people, when I look at it, I think of tangles that might be able to be used in a particular space. I did start out this way but it quickly went in another direction. The "gifted tangle" this week is paradox. I knew that I wanted to use that. Began to look at how I could use it in a less traditional way. Then I decided to do something around the outer edge. I like Quib for this and it worked well. This really resulted in my having to look at some other ways to finish this. Overall I am comfortable with the end product. The process of creating this, even though not completely smooth, was still enjoyable. As typical for me the hardest part is the shading. Wanted to get some perspective/dimension created with this. Not sure how successful I was in doing that. I must admit though that since there has been some time between my completing this and posting, the more I look at it the better I like it. Here is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Flora, Zander, Paradox, Quib

If you have not all ready, would encourage you to visit The Bright Owl and see the other pieces posted. I hope I can spend some time doing this. I have not decided yet whether this will serve a dual purpose this week. The Diva Challenge is using white space. Will have to see what time allows from me.

Thanks for visiting,  As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !! 

Zendala Dare #91

Getting this completed late in the week. Have mixed feelings about this one. I enjoyed doing most of the tangles but when got down to the finishing it was tough. I tend to fill in most spaces so am trying to leave some negative space. Was not sure if should just shade or put in some color, or just leave it entirely blank. If would have had more time could have copied this and tried all three to see which I liked best but decided to go with the shading. Did not turn out the way that I envisioned but is not bad. Hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Dragonair, Shattuck, Betweed, 

Used a 6B for the shading in the center, a 4B in the next and a 2HB on the outside. Evened it out with a blending stump.

Have not looked at any of the other posts, except for Erin's. Would encourage you to go to The Bright Owl and look at what others have done. 

Thanks for visiting.  As always comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !!

Zendella Dare #90: Happy Birthday

The first dare of the month from The Bright Owl contains an additional challenge besides the template. This year Erin tied it in with her birthday, Feb 3, and asked contributors to give her a gift of using their favorite tangle in the template. When I read that I felt the same way I usually do when the Music Director asks the Praise Team, what is your favorite Praise Song or Worship Song. There are so many.  What I usually think about is the one that we just did or did recently. There are so many great tangles, how do you pick a favorite. I also figured that there would be some that would be repeated by others and I wanted to come up with something that others maybe did not use. I have my go to tangles like everyone else, but was not sure I wanted to use them and then I had to look at the template and figure out if there was a way to incorporate it into the template. I finally narrowed it down to a few tangles and included them all in this zendala. Here is what I came up with. Happy Birthday Erin. I hope you enjoy your present. I also hope the rest of you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Betweed, Paradox, 'Nzeppel, Twirl

Twirl is a tangle developed by Helen Williams at A Little Lime. She has a lot of great patterns. A lot of them have an organic character but they usually have some nice flow and curves to them, even if they use a grid as a base. If you have not been to her web site would encourage you to do so. Can see the step out for Twirl and her other patterns by clicking here. You can scroll down to see all of here patterns and pick a few to try. Regular participants in the Diva Challenge are probably familiar with her work. 

If you have not visited The Bright Owl to look at the other posts, I would encourage you to do so. There are some great pieces of art posted.

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !!

Zendala Dare #89

Erin at The Bright Owl has been providing some unique and interesting templates the last few weeks. This week's template is another one. I am not one that typically changes a template a lot. I enjoy looking at the things that people who do this come up with. My mind just does not work that way. I also do not look at templates and see other images, at least very often. I think I have at times. Usually I look at the template and think of different tangles that I can use in the template. This is not always easy, but it seems to be the way my mind works. There is some thinking about composition, but generally it just develops. This is what happened with this template. I was not really sure about it until it was finished, or at least until I added the last tangle(Scrawlz). Until then I looked at it and it looked incomplete but I was not sure what to do with it. Overall I am pleased with the result. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Auraknot, Cubine, Diva Dance, Knot Rick's, Flora, and Scrawlz

I have not had a lot of time to look at many of the Zendala's posted at The Bright Owl, but since I finished earlier this week I hope to have more time to look at them. If you have not gone there would encourage to do so and take some time to comment on the different posts.

Thanks for visiting. As always comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !! 

Zendala Dare #88

I do not know that I have ever posted a submission to a dare so late in the week. I had a lot of ideas of this just not the time to get to them. Then I did one that was a little more detailed. Over all I am pleased with the results. I felt a little rushed trying to get it done before the deadline, so I am not sure I gave as much thought to the shading and finishing of the tile. Here is what I ended up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Meer(variation), Florz(variation), Antidots, Quib, S-flowers, Fescu

I hope you have checked out all the submissions at The Bright Owl. I admit, that this week I have not had the time to look at them. I am hoping I get some time this weekend.

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, appreciated, and encouraged.

Go Tangle !!

Zendala Dare #87

Erin has come up with some interesting templates for the last couple of Dares. This is another one. There are a lot of possibilities and I am sure that will see a lot of them as people post their work throughout the week. At first I was thinking of using a lot of tangles which would have left little negative space. As I was working on it decided that that would have looked too busy. So I ended up allowing for more open spaces. Overall I am pleased with the end result.  I could not resist using Crescent Moon in the inner crescents. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Crescent Moon, Quib, Shattuck, ( Do not know if the vine on the outside is a tangle)

If you have not all ready done so, would encourage you to go to The Bright Owl and look at the other pieces that have been submitted. There should be many great Zendalas and great ways of interpreting this template.

Thanks for visiting. As always comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !!

Zendala Dare # 86 - Grateful - Happy New Year!!

This will be a little bit different than my usual posts. It will become obvious why as you look at what is here. This is the first Zendala Dare of the New Year and the first one for the month and usually on those, there is an added challenge. The added challenge was to use the center of the template to show something that we are grateful for. Easy enough. RIGHT!!!. Issue was not so much thinking of something that I am grateful for but which thing to chose. I am grateful for my Savior. I am grateful for the 6 granddaughters that I have. I am grateful for 3 adult children who have grown into great responsible people. But the next issue would be what would I use to try and depict what I was grateful for. There would be a number of possibilities if I had a working scanner or even had a Photoshop program on my computer.  I do not.

I chose to do something that fit with Zentangle®.  It does not mean that this is what I am most grateful for, but it has become a large part of my life. It is a source of enjoyment, relaxation, and a little extra income.
So what I chose to do was to use the center to those people that were involved in my becoming a CZT. What I chose to do is to use a tangle that I associate with these people. I limited it to 3 people. The first is my sister, who first introduced me to Zentangle and got me started by giving me one of the Zentangle kits. She got this when she was attending her own training, CZT 4. She has been fortunate enough to have a tangle posted on tangle patterns so I used this tangle, Arckles, for her. The other two are somewhat obvious as it is Rick and Maria, who without there efforts to develop Zentangle, many of us would not have discovered and nurtured that creative side of ourselves. For them, I chose the tangles Paradox and Betweed. Here is what I ended up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Knightsbridge, Cockels 'N' Mussels, Chillon, Chard(variation). As mentioned above, the tangles in the center are Arckles, Betweed, and Paradox.

I was able to work on a few other things as well today. One is a bookmark that I finished. Well almost finished. Not sure whether I should add color to this or just shade it. Here is what that looks like.

Would be interested in any suggestions, or preferences that you might have. Not sure which one I will decide to do. They both have possibilities. Let me know what you think. 

Part of the reason I was able to spend so much time tangling today is because of the weather. Everything was cancelled today and most things are cancelled for tomorrow. That is because they have issued a travel warning which basically means that if you are out on the roads and not on an emergency run or a member of the police you can be arrested and fined. We have gotten through the snow and the next part is the frigid temperatures.  Here are a couple of pictures of what it was like this afternoon.

These are all pictures taken from our house. When these were taken it had been snowing for about 5 hours. By the time it was all done we ended up with 12+ " of snow on top of about 5" that was all ready on the ground. We are under a Wind Chill advisory for the next 36 hours. The high tomorrow is suppose to be -12º F.  The low on Tuesday night is predicted at -16ºF. That is bad enough but they are predicting 30 - 40 mph wind gusts so the Wind Chill will be -30º to - 40º F.  Am really hoping that the power stays on because I do not want to deal with the possibility of frozen pipes. I am sure that for some of my Canadian visitors, this is not unusual, but for here it is not the norm. It has been about 30 years since we have had such conditions.

Hope that things are much nicer where ever you are located. If not, hope that you stay warm and safe.

If you  have not all ready, would encourage you to visit The Bright Owl and look at the great pieces that others have posted. There are usually some unique and creative things.

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !!

Zendala Dare #85: Last Dare of the Year - #2

Liked this template and wanted to try a second one. It took a little longer than I expected. Some of that was because of other things that I was doing and I also worked a little harder on some things. I think I may have gotten carried away with what I was trying to do with the shading. Was trying to do a little more gradation and it was hard in the smaller spaces. I think sometime I get too impatient. Well it is a learning experience. Here is what I finally ended up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Paradox, Tipple, Cubine

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !! 

Zendala Dare #85: Last Dare of the Year

Was excited when I saw the template as could see so many possibilities. That was a part of the challenge. There were so many different tangles that I could think of using, that was not sure what to use. I finally decided to use some tangles that were some of the first one's that I learned and used. As is usual for me, the toughest part about this challenge, besides what tangles to use, is the shading. I am not displeased with it, but not completely satisfied with it either. I hope that the New Year brings many blessings for you and your family. I hope you enjoy this Zendala.

Tangles used: Zander, Shattuck, Zinger

If  you have not all ready been there, would encourage you to go to The Bright Owl and look at the great pieces of art that others have submitted. If I have time, I may try to get a second one done to use some of the other tangles that I was thinking about.  You can also extend a little "Get Well"  wish to Erin as she thinks she may have broken a finger. Many blessings in the New Year and looking forward to participating in the Zendala Dares again next year.

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !!

Zendala Dare #84: Merry Christmas!!

This was a fun template to work with. I think it was for a couple of reasons. One, there were a lot of possibilities. Second, I returned to the basic Zentangle® method of using tangles and not planning. It again reinforced how the process works. I started out with one tangle and just decided what I would do next. As I was working on it, I had mixed reactions to the results. When I was done, I liked the way that it looked. Here is what I ended up with. I hope you like it. I also want to take the time to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year.

Tangles used: Daggerly, Betweed, Flux, Zinger, Paradox, Flora (variation)

I am guessing that due to the holidays, not as many people will be on line and looking at the things submitted by others. If  you have the time, take a few minutes to go to The Bright Owl and look at the neat things others have done.

Thanks for visiting.  As always, comments are welcome, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !! and Merry Christmas

Zendala Dare #83: Baby, it's cold out there

I kind of got stuck on this dare. When I read about the added challenge to create something that reminds you of winter, I could not get the the image of the cut-out snowflakes that use to make in school. I may have also been influenced by the 6" of snow that we received the day of the challenge. I considered doing something else like using tangles that the beginning letters spelled snow, but when I was looking at possibilities and the template, nothing quite seemed to fit for me. I am sure that some others would have made it work. I set out trying to put different shapes in the sections. This was different for me as I usually do not have this much fill. When I got done I was not sure how much it resembled a snowflake. I began thinking of some other way to depict winter. All I could think of was color. Blue is the color that usually associate with something cold. I began to use it highlight. I have to say that this is not what I envisioned when I started out, but I am satisfied with the result. Once again the magic of Zentangle® demonstrated. You do not have to start out with an idea and only go in that direction. You can start and let it go where it leads you.

I usually list the tangles that I use, but I did not use tangles in this one. I used my Micron pens, a Gelly Roll white pen and two generic blue colored pencils.

I have not looked at much at The Bright Owl but plan on taking in all the great works that people submit. Would encourage you to do the same. 

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !! 

Zendala Dare #80 & Diva Challenge #144

Did another two for one challenge this week. I thought it would be quicker. I am not sure it was. The Diva Challenge, A Bug's Life was to use the video released by Sakura as inspiration to create a tile. You could use color, hide a bug somewhere, create a tile inspired by nature, or shade the tile using color. The Bright Owl posted a little different template than is usual. It had more open space or fewer sections. That created some interesting challenges.  I did put some "bugs" in mine, kind of. They are a little weird, but chose to use color. All of the color is done with Sakura Metallic Gelly Roll pens. One of the things that adds to a challenge like this is that I feel like I am going back a lot to touch up spaces. Some of this is that the Gelly Roll pens have a larger ball than the Microns and the ink flows differently. That being said, overall I am pleased with the result of this. When I started putting in the color, I was not sure. I hope you enjoy it.

Tangles used: Shattuck, 'Nzeppel, Flux, Strircles, 

Was hard to take a picture to get the metallic quality. This is a little dark but the flash as too light.  Probably would help if I had a camera with more pixels, but not going to happen. Have only looked at a few tiles so far, but would encourage you to go to I am the Diva and The Bright Owl to check out the great pieces of art.

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are welcomed, encouraged, and appreciated.

Go Tangle !!