Diva Challenge 111 Mooka Monotangle

This week's challenge from the DIVA is to use the tangle, Mooka in a monotangle.  If you haven't seen the video of Maria drawing Mooka, you really must take a look.  You can link to it from my right side bar, or from Laura's (the Diva) post.  Maria makes it look effortless, keeping the lines all the same uniform distance apart.  If it's new for you, keep on practicing....it really does get better with practice.   I love Mooka and I use it a lot! 




I am so ready for spring...I used watercolor pencils.

New Tangle: Ceebee

Over the weekend, I saw a pattern on the background of a poster and decided that it needed to be a tangle.  So here is Ceebee..........

 

 

CLICK TO ENLARGE




 

 

Note:  If this pattern has been developed before, please let me know.  Thanks!

 

Diva Challenge #110 Get rid of the box

This week's challenge from the DIVA is to think outside the box, or try something you haven't tried yet.  I have tangled on a lot of different surfaces, and still have some more projects I want to try once the weather warms up.  For now I decided to try some color.  I have played a little with colored pencils, watercolor, and blending Tombow markers in the past, but my ventures have been small and I am not really comfortable with color yet. 
For my first tile I used Tombow markers in their full color (without blending).  I made a string with bright bold colors and then tangled.  I then used a white charcoal pencil for highlighting.  I surprised myself and actually like the brightness of it.

 

For my second & third tiles I wanted to try the watercolor technique of applying a watercolor wash   and then salt. That was fun to see how the salt changed the look of the color.  Next time I would get    my paper even wetter then I did this time.  The paper the tiles are made out of really takes water well.  They curled up when wet, but flattened right out when dry.  For the purple tile I used a regular  Micron for the tangles and for the blue tile I used Sakura Gelly roll pens and highlighted both with a white charcoal pencil.   The color on both looks so much better in person then in the photo.              

           

Thanks, Laura!  It's always fun to try new things!

 

                                                                                                                                    

 

 

Moments to Treasure with the Hawaiian CZT's

A wise person once told me that it only takes a moment to make someone smile....I love that! 

My husband and I recently had the opportunity to take a 14 day cruise to Hawaii.  It was a last minute (6 weeks out) 1/2 price deal the we couldn't refuse, and are so glad we didn't.  We had never been to the islands before and we knew that while it may not be the best way to see Hawaii, instead of a week on one island,  we did get to spend a day on each of the 4 islands (Oahu, Maui, Kauai, and the Big Island of Hawaii, and we both love cruising.  So we checked out books from the library and did our research and picked the places we wanted to see that were within distance of our ports.  We made the most of every day, and really every moment.  Each night we got back on the ship we were so blown away by all the beauty of the islands! 

I sent an email to the Hawaiian CZT's (Lois & Earl Stokes and Julie Evans) who all live on the Big Island asking for suggestions of things to see while there, and if there was any way we could meet, even just for a few moments, to share a cup of coffee or tea or whatever we could work out.   All of them were so great in responding and giving us wonderful suggestions.  It turned out that they both live close to two attractions we wanted to see, so we rented a car when we got to Hilo.  As it turned out our ship was an hour late getting into port and there was quite a wait getting to the airport to rent the car. (Is it a good thing, is it a bad thing....who's to say! We love this way of thinking that Maria shared on the zentangle blog that you can read about here.)   So while we didn't have the time to share that cup of coffee or tea, we did get to meet each other for a few moments, share some conversation and hugs, and we were all smiling! 

We met Lois & Earl at their beautiful home.  They live in the middle of a tropical rain forest that is just incredible.  We got to enjoy their home, yard, studio, and work they are doing.  Earl is recovering from a stroke and has such a great attitude about taking it one stroke, one step, one day at a time (sound familiar).  Lois has that soft and peaceful voice that she sends all of us her wonderful whispers with.  Mahalo, Lois & Earl!

After see Lois & Earl we did a quick tour of Volcano National Park and then headed the other direction to Akaka Falls, where Julie was kind enough to meet us. We again were able to have a short conversation, with hugs and smiles!    Julie said that Akaka Falls was like being in the movie, "Honey, I shrunk the kids", and she was right.  The beauty of the falls and the size of the trees and plants in the park were incredible.  Mahalo, Julie!

 

 

 My picture with Julie was accidently deleted from my PC.

 

 

It's so great to meet other CZT's!  In just a few short moments you can feel the love and energy that Zentangle has brought to our lives. 

Diva Challenge #109 Zentangle Quest

This week our one and only DIVA, Laura Harms came up with another great challenge!  We are to explore a new technique that Maria Thomas developed.  You can read all about at the link to Laura's blog or by going to the zentangle blog and viewing all the eye candy that Maria created.  Maria continues to teach us new and fantastic techniques to use in our zentangle creations, and I love this one!  It creates such a great 3D effect and is just plain fun!  I look forward to trying out this technique some more.  Thanks, Laura and Maria! 

Diva Challenge #108 UMT: Whyz

I've been gone on a 2 week cruise to Hawaii (more to come on the trip later), but for now I am trying to catch up on the DIVA challenge  that I missed.  Yes, the housework, laundry, and bills can wait, but the Diva challenge is a must! 

This challenge is a UMT (use my tangle) challenge from CZT, Jane MacKugler.  We are to use her tangle, Whyz.  I have never used this one before, and it's always fun to try out a new tangle.  I found you really have to concentrate with this one, and it has so many variations, depending on how you alternate the "Y's" and how you color it in.  Thanks, Jane for the fun tangle!  Thanks, Laura for another challenge!