Hope

This is a zentangle I gave to a dear friend of mine yesterday who is going through chemotherapy. She is an inspiration to me and I know God's plan for her life isn't yet complete! She still has a lot of living to do :)

I didn't realize the Diva's challenge this week was to give a tile away until I saw her post today. What great timing! Although this isn't a tile; it's an 8x8 canvas. Making this was a challenge. I've never tangled on canvas before - it's so bumpy I couldn't get a straight line to save my life! But I kept at it and think it turned out great. That's the beauty of zentangle; it's not the individual line that counts, it's the total of all the lines together that make it special.

The message of this piece is Hope, and how fitting a sentiment that is for Christmas, when God reached out to men and women by sending His Son to give us hope, not only for today, but for eternity.

Merry Christmas to all!!!

Zentangle House

 

This is my first attempt to make a picture out of tangles. I enjoyed the process, especially the coloring part. I used pencils and chalk. It was hard to stop! I feel like it's begging for more color :) I guess I'll have to call this Zentangle House part 1.

Here are a couple of close-ups:

Diva's Challenge #51

The challenge this week is to create a zentangle using Molly Hollibaugh's tangle 'Fife.' I love this tangle! I decided to keep it square and use three other grid-based tangles, Chap, Helicopters, and the bottom one, whose name I can't remember. I hate it when that happens! Help, anyone?

My New Tangle - 'Helicopters'

The inspiration for my tangle 'Helicopters' came from my daughter's video game! There were these weird flying contraptions with jagged, spinning 'blades' on their undersides. They reminded me of those maple tree seeds that you can throw in the air and as they fall, look like helicopters.

This tangle begins with the ever-popular grid of dots. Connect the dots with alternating crescent shapes, vertically and horizontally (I turn my tile so I'm always working vertically). I then start to draw the 'blades' on each concave side, turning my tile 180 degrees to do the other side of concave shapes. Then I turn my tile 90 degrees and repeat process (again, I'm working vertically).

This is the first tangle I've created, so I'm really excited about it! I hope you like it :)

Get Biggity With It!

This week The Diva challenged us to go big or go home! This was a tough one and I'm not sure that I was very successful. I decided to take a zentangle that I had just finished and enlarge a section of it.

The bottom of this tile looks like a Christmas Ham!! (Not intentional:)



Really weird, but interesting. By the way, the center tangle in the top tile is something I created this past weekend. I call it Helicopters, but maybe it's a tangleation of something else? Not sure, but I think it's really fun :)

The Red Thread Challenge

"An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet regardless of time, place or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but it will never break." -Chinese proverb

The Diva's Challenge this week is brought to us by Cris Letournea, who invites us to weave a red thread throughout our zentangle in support of an organization called The Red Thread Promise which helps impoverished kids everywhere with medical care.

The red thread in my zentangle reminds me that even though we may seem to be going around in circles, never really getting anywhere, the total of our life experience can be something really beautiful if we let it.

This was a great challenge and I really enjoyed it, even though my week was hectic. I'm extremely thankful for the creativity and joy Zentangle brings to my life!

Diva's Challenge #48

This week's challenge is to feature a square, triangle, and circle as your zentangle string, and if you incorporate tangles you've never tried before - bonus!!! I call this zentangle 'Balance Act' and I used new (for me) tangles Pendrills, Demi, and Bubbles. I hope you enjoy it!

Happy Halloween!

For this week's Diva Challenge, the theme is, fittingly enough, Halloween! This is my favorite holiday:) I live in 'the neighborhood' in my town where all the kids come to trick-or-treat. It's so much fun to walk around with my own kids; everyone's so happy and friendly, which isn't surprising given the amount of sugar-highs there must be!

My zentangle is kinda creepy and goofy at the same time. The Halloween-themed tangles I chose are: Msst, Rain, Gothic, HekZee, Lava Juice, Swarm, Web, and Crescent Moon.

Diva's Weekly Challenge #45

I really enjoyed this challenge and I LOVE punzel! Once you do it, going back to Chainging just seems a bit anti-climatic. It's like chocolate - a little is good, but a lot is better!

My big problem now is my camera. There seems to be a yellowish oval blur right in the middle of the lense! I have no idea how it got there and I can't get it off. So I took the picture above with my phone. Not so great, but better than nothing, I suppose :)

Anyway, I'm hoping everyone has a great week and had as much fun doing Punzel as I did!

Diva's Weekly Challenge #44

Hello! I'm back with another entry in the Diva's Weekly Challenge, courtesy of the fact that I now have 2 whole days off a week! I feel a huge creative spurt coming on...yay!

This 'tangle within a tangle' began with a string made from Assunta, which is a very challenging tangle for me, but I love the way it forms Cadent in the middle. By the way, who needs diamonds? Auras are a girl's best friend! :)

Diva's Weekly Challenge #39 - 'Love is all you Need'

This is my first entry in the Diva's Weekly Challenge. When I think about love, I remember a girl named Cecilia who was taken away from this world too soon. Although I know she's in heaven, happily sitting at her Father's knee, I selfishly miss her. I love you, Cecilia!

January Gemstone of the Month: Spinel

Happy New Year everyone! Do I have resolutions? You bet I do! They are, in no particular order, as follows: Eat less sugar (no brainer), read my Bible regularly, give my children more life experiences, blog more, and watch every episode of Psych ever made. Some important, some not so important, but all worthy endeavors nontheless! So in order to fulfill at least one resolution, I have decided to add a regular post to my blog: Gemstone of the Month.

One of my favorite gemstones is Spinel. To help you with its pronunciation, let me put forth the following scenario: Elle Woods is at the gym (wearing fabulous pink workout wear, of course) and decides to take a spin class. Unaware of the rigorous nature of spinning, she is, not surprisingly, pedaling as if taking Bruiser on a leisurely ride down to the shops. The instructor, not liking her oh-so-casual attitude, yells, "Spin, Elle, spin!" There you have it. And since the most prized color of spinel is a beautiful, deep, dark pink, I think my story is most fitting!

Aren't they beautiful? Spinel has its own branch on the gemstone family tree, next to Corundum (Ruby and Sapphire), Beryl (Emerald and Aquamarine), and Diamond. It is a hard stone, rating an 8 out of 10 on the mohs' hardness scale, behind only Diamond and Corundum. This makes it great to use in jewelry that might take a beating such as rings and bracelets. The most important Spinel deposits can be found in Cambodia, Myanmar (formerly Burma), and Sri Lanka. Spinel was recognized as its own mineral just 150 years ago; before that it was classified as Ruby. In fact, many of the famous rubies are actually spinels, such as the "Black Prince's Ruby" in the English crown (see picture below), the 361ct "Timur Ruby" in a necklace in the English crown jewels, and the drop-shaped spinels in the Wittelsbach crown of 1830.

Spinel comes in various colors, such as orange, red, pink, blue, violet, dark green, and black. I enjoy using black spinel in my jewelry designs. I love the sparkle it gives my pieces and the fact that it is harder than other black stones, such as onyx, which is simply dyed quartz, or jet.

I'll leave you with an image of one of my necklaces, made with Black Banded Agate, Black Spinel, and Sterling Silver. Even though it's mostly black, it still has a fabulous sparkle and shine, thanks to one of my favorite gemstones, Spinel. Whaaat!?