Walking ’round in Circles

July 26, 2016July 26, 2016 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 10 Comments

Seems to be a moving kind of theme this past few weeks. I have been a lot more active, and seems like the Diva Challenge (#277) is right there with me. This week’s theme is Running ’round in Circles. But…I am a walker. I loved to run, and missed it a lot when I had to stop because of joint and back issues…but…I still walk. And I can do circles. I found tile in my bin that looked like it had a circle on it for my string (Twinkling H2O background!)

And I decided to stick with an “orby” type theme…

It is so sparkly in person…one of these days I’ll figure out how to photo the sparkles.

I also got this one in during yesterdays private lesson. I love working on Kona paper. It has such great tooth for using the General’s Multi Pastels on. The glow is amazing! (5.5″ square)

Over the weekend, I did a new weekend crafters market at Vail Headquarters. It was super hot, so there weren’t many people out. I will be doing this once a month and then a bit more frequently right before Christmas. Here is our little set up:

And now, I’m off to practice calligraphy, since I have not done that all week.

Stay Crazy & Catch Them All My Friends!

(Last weeks tally: 75,259 Steps, 38.03 miles, 4 pounds gone!)

Moving On Down the Road

July 21, 2016 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 9 Comments

It has been a week for moving…mostly moving my feet! I have caught the Pokemon Go bug, and have been clocking more than 10,000 steps a day, which has really gotten me back on track with my exercising. I know, I know…its a silly little game, and isn’t really all that important, but any little trick I can use to get my butt off the couch and moving works. And…this week I hatched our new tangle mascot…lol.

We have become rather attached to him, so I was inspired by this weeks Diva Challenge (#276) entitled “Space Trucking – Moving Tangles” to do my interpretation of this cute little ball of Hollibaugh (which I am calling variation PG114.)

And Olivia, my step-daughter and shop minion, joined in the tangly fun too:

While I don’t normally tangle in a vehicle, I do tangle a lot on the road, at my local Starbucks or on longer trips as well. I spend a lot of time, killing time, in airports, working in a cute little 4×6 Midori MD journal. I still need to tangle/decorate the plain cover (it also has a protective plastic cover,) but here are some of my musings from a few of my trips:

I also have an affinity for coasters, especially when they have a “doodle spot,” like this one from the Garage Brewing Co.:

Oh, and by the way, don’t tangle on coasters with your Microns…its a good way to bleed them dry. I always carry a few Pentel G2’s or other Gel Pens in my purse for this.

We had an awesome Zentangle 101 class last Saturday evening, and the class was nice enough to let me capture their mosaic so I could post it. Everyone had a blast.

The words were from a meditative focus from the leader of this particular group. I think they fit in quite nicely!

The August Schedule is up…be sure to check it out!

Stay Crazy My Friends!

Give Peace a Chance?

July 13, 2016 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 8 Comments

I sit here writing this with a lot of turbulence in my brain today.

I’ve just come off a very awesome week of working at the Major League Baseball All-Star Game Fan Fest as a volunteer. It was a lot of fun helping people get the most out of their visit to beautiful Southern California. The weather was perfect and there were only a few negative folks around. All in all, everyone, including me, had a good time. (Excuse my bright, shiny forehead, but it wasn’t easy taking a selfie at the world’s largest baseball with all the crazy lights they were using.)

And I carried on having a great start to this week, with a guest Diva (#275), Suzanne Fluhr, CZT. Suzanne is an awesome blogger, and I enjoy reading her travelogs very much, so when she wrote this week’s challenge, she did so with a heavy heart over all the hateful things that have been going on in our beautiful country as of late. Suzanne wanted us to Give Peace a Chance. I love that song…and it played over and over in my head while I was working on this:

I wish that everyone on the planet would take a minute and step out of their own lives and just be nice to other people. I trust that this can happen. I meditate on it frequently.

The conflict in my brain today comes from my desire for peace, and my desire for safety in my community. In the past couple of years, the homeless population in our town has increased quite a bit. Well intentioned people give them food and money, instead of directing them to the social services that can help them, and now suddenly we have a problem. I’m sad for their plight. I truly feel for them (and its been a bit on the warm side here, so that makes their comfort here a bit uneasy.) I know there are many programs here set up to help them, but as we all learn the hard way, you have to want help to seek it. But what do we do? It is a bit of a conundrum.

Just Trust Peace.

On the shop notes for this week, we have some fun stuff on the schedule. Rock and Tangle is Friday night (the 15th) from 4-9 pm. Regardless of what you are working on, come on down and play! I have all kinds of fun things to try if you are in a slump. Making stuff always makes you happy!

Black and White Summer is shaping up to be a great time too. Saturday, the 23rd, from 10-3, I have an awesome technique to share with you. Bring your basic tangle supplies, I will supply the rest. My good pal Karen did hers ahead of time since she will be out of town, so here is a preview:

She says it is not done yet, but I think it is shaping up quite nicely! I am working on a small set of my initials, so far I finished K. Hopefully will have the C done soon!

I should have the August schedule up by the end of the week.

A parting shot from the traveling exhibit from Cooperstown (The Baseball Hall of Fame.) There be Giants there. Say Hey Willie Mays!

Stay Crazy My Friends.

Bang…Boom…BLAM!

July 4, 2016July 4, 2016 ~ CharkatTangles ~ 12 Comments

Yep, that’s right…it is Independence Day here in the United States. I also like to call it the day we find out which of our neighborhood kids are not that smart and got illegal fireworks. (Disclaimer…Southern California is VERY dry and we have a really wicked fire season here, where many of the fires are human caused…)

But…all in all, it is a good day to be American. As a veteran, I know what it took to get here, and while I worry about the future of my country, I do celebrate it with the traditional baseball (Giants won, 3-1 over the Rockies,) hot dogs (bacon wrapped and baked, with mole aloi, chopped onions, and dijon,) and tangling (in support of this week’s Diva Challenge #274 entitled My Country Tis of Thee.)

The scanner never picks up the glitter and sparkle, but I think sometimes less is more. I sprayed the background through a star stencil with my eBrush and Spectrum Noir markers, then tangled with a blue Micron, clear Stardust Gelly Roll, Silver Gelly Roll, and indigo and white chalk pastels. Seems more complicated when I type it out (kinda like those hot dogs…lol.)

Been doing some other finishing this week, and this ultra cute elephant (or elephunk as I call him) emerged.

I seem to use an awful lot of pens for something so small…lol. He is Brusho paints dabbed through a Dreamweaver stencil. I decided I liked the paint bleeds and didn’t cover them up. I think it makes him look artsy.

I also finally finished this great up-cycle project for a display frame.

I had 2 frames left from a reframing project, and used a piano hinge to join them, and installed eye screws and picture wire in copper and silver. The clips are quilting clips. I did learn the importance of drilling pilot holes for the eye screws after one of them slipped and left a nasty gash in my left palm. But other than that, I think it came out really CUTE!

I am going to be a bit busy this week, with classes and I volunteered to work the Major League Baseball All-Star FanFest in San Diego. For anyone that knows how much I love baseball, this is going to be a very memorable event for me, and I get to be involved for free! I don’t get to see the game (except on TV) but just being around so much baseball stuff is awesome!

Stay Crazy My Friends!