Letters

I love to make and give letters to friends and relatives.  By letters, I mean the initial of their first name.  I have made quite a few now and all different sizes.  I usually always mat and sometimes frame them (if they don't have to be shipped).  Everyone loves to have their initial done as a personal gift.  If you haven't done this, give it a try.  It's sure to bring a smile, and if you are really lucky a hug! 

The last two letters I made were done with the inspiration of Joanne Fink at Zenspirations, her website. She also has a book out that I will be ordering soon.

Since this is a gift, I am going to use this as my entry in The Diva's Weekly Challenge #52.

If you are new to my blog and want to see my other letters, I am going to provide a link for each of them (most recent back to the first):
"D" for Darla
"K and P" for Karen and Pete's 50th
"S" for Sonia
"L" for Linda
"FISH" nickname for my brother
"T" for Tim; "L" for Lucy; "S" for Sue
"P" for Priscilla
"A" for Anne
"J" for Joanne

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

This is the very 1st year, ever, that I made my own Christmas cards.  I love Zentangle and the creativity it has brought to my life.  It has also brought me friendship with all of you, my Zen friends (here on blogger and facebook).  I want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  Looking forward to spending time with all of you, and hopefully many more, in 2012. 

Just tangling.....

Alphabet Soup

Sue Jacobs, CZT in Illinois, issued an unofficial challenge that I thought looked fun called Alphabet Soup.  You can find it here. The challenge is to use a tangle from each letter of the alphabet.  Sue completed hers in 5 tiles, which you can see here.  Nice work, Sue! 

I decided as an extra challenge for me, to use black tiles and the white gelly roll pen.  Even after the challenge, I still need to practice this more, especially shading with the white charcoal pencil.  I jumped right in and used a lot of new tangles, without practicing them first.  I tried to use tangle patterns from different tanglers too.  Some of the tangles I really screwed up, but kept on going. (Sorry if it's your pattern)  No mistakes in Zentangle, right!  

There are a lot of tangle patterns out there that I have never tried.  I will use a lot of these again and will need to try more in 2012.  It was also fun not knowing what would come next. 

I completed my soup in 6 tiles.  They are pictured together, but start in the upper left and go across the top row (left to right), then the bottom row (left to right). Names listed after the picture.  Thanks, Sue for the fun challenge! 




1st:  A-D:
Arc Flower ( J. J. LaBarbera)
Bilt (Lisa Skeen)
Crossroads (Sandra Strait)
DL Nebula (Donna Hornsby)

2nd:  E-H:
Euca ( Anne Marks)
Fishnet (Marïet Lusten Houwer)
Gewurtz ( Linda Farmer)
Hopscotch ( Suzanne McNeill)

3rd:  I-M: 
Ionic (Margaret Bremner)
Jalousie (Stephanie Kukla)
Kinetic (Ann Griffin)
LaBel (Sue Jacobs)
Mooka (Rick Roberts & Maria Thomas)

4th:   N-R:
Nutz (Lizzie Mayne)
Oke (Michele Beauchamp)
Pegs (Arja de Lange-Huisman)
Queen's Crown (Suzanne McNeill)
Ragz (Christina Vanderlist)

5th:  S-V:
Swirly Dot (Thomas Gallagher)
Triral (Pam Pincha-Wagener)
Unyun (Carole Ohl)
Vache 1 (Geneviève Crabe)

6th:  W-Z
Wigwam (Annet Spitteler)
XYP (Rick Roberts & Maria Thomas)
Yin Linx (Mary Masi)
Zenplosion Folds (Danni O'Brien)

Letter "D" for Darla

I had the chance to visit my sister-in-law, Darla recently at her home in AZ.  I don't get to see her often, but when I do, I am always reminded of what a loving, kind, and generous person she is.  We enjoyed wonderful meals and great conversation with family and friends.  I made her a letter "D" as a thank you for her hospitality. 

Challenge #51 "New tangle-FIFE"

This week's challenge from the one & only Diva, Laura Harms is to try the new tangle, FIFE.  This tangle was announced here, in the zentangle newsletter.  Molly Hollibaugh came up with this tangle, and it's quite lovely.  I did a couple of tiles after the newsletter came out and haven't posted them yet in hopes that this would be one of the weekly challenges.   So here is my contribution using the new tangle, Fife.  Thanks, Molly & Laura!

Shrink Art Jewelry

In the Zentangle 5 book by Suzanne McNeill, CZT there are quite a few different methods to make zentangle jewelry.  All of the methods have step-by-step instructions that are very easy to follow. I decided to try the shrink art that is displayed by Sue Jacobs, CZT   I have never worked with Shrinky Dinks before and found it to be quite strange and amazing stuff.  You draw the tangles on the shrink plastic quite a bit larger than what the piece turns out to be when it shrinks in the oven, which makes it very easy to tangle on the larger size.  I only tried the necklaces but Sue has instructions for bracelets and earrings too.  One of these days, I will be trying out some of the other great methods in this book.  If you are looking for zentangle jewelry ideas, check out this book!