This weeks challenge from the Diva was to celebrate Earth Day. And I swore after last week, I would not do another larger tile, but that Strathmore Toned Tan paper was calling my name…

So, I am still a little stuck on the Rixty from last week, so I started off with that. Man symbolized in the middle, with the other 4 elements (earth, air, fire, and water.)

Pens used: Brown and Sepia Micron, red, green and blue Gelly Roll, and white Signo uni-ball (UM-153.) I really like the crisper white line from the Signo, but it raises a bit and makes it hard to shade. As always, my trusty General’s Pastel Chalk pencils. They are crazy easy to use, and blend really well.

Ok…yes…its punny. (Pretty in Pink…Rixties in Pink…whatever.)

This one I worked on a 6 x 6 in Sakura Gelly Roll Black & Pink 06, General Pastel Chalk in Pink and White, and General’s Layout Pencil in Extra Black (My go-to shader…very black.)

I think this is my first real monotangle…I like it…but it may be a while before I entertain any pink paper again. This paper was rather…toothy, and I had to switch to the Gelly Roll because the Micron wan’t making nice lines on it. Anyone looking at the back of my more experimental work like this, with color, will see all the pen tests, pencil tests, watercolor tests…you have to do this to find the right combos…I think it works pretty good.

I think I’ve had a breakthrough…finally.

This weeks challenge was to use your initials as the string. I used just my CK…and used all tangles with C or K (well…except for Purk and Zinger.)

This is one of the first tiles I’ve done I’m truly happy with. Seems like I do better without a set string, and without assigned tangles. I take a little longer, but I think I am much happier with the results.

Whew…ok…its been a while.

This week, I tried my hand at a new challenge. I am the diva (http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com) hosts a weekly challenge on her blog. I have been a bit intimidated by it, because it’s not as structured as the ones I have been doing. Add to that, I seem to be a bit string-phobic. I seem to do a lot of my Zentangle® work without a string.

So that being said, this was a bit tough. I had bought a packet of pre-strung tiles a while back, and have never used any of them. So I closed my eyes and picked one.

I am the diva Challenge #161 was to use the tangle Quandry. This is a bit of a particularly hard one, so I practiced it a bit and watched a couple videos on youtube. That seemed to make it a bit easier, but still not the best one I’ve done.

Whew, what a whirlwind March has been so far. Wrapped up my classes in Anaheim with Sharla Hicks, and have come out from under a mountain of homework, and still have time to tangle!

In honor of new things, and the impending spring, I will share a few from the last 2 weeks with you!

First, some really cool textured gold paper, with black Permawriter and gold Gelly Roll pen.  It was a very irregular grid, with N’zepple (the name of the tangle used.) Unfortunately, the gold pen doesn’t seem to want to scan too well, but that’s ok, I still think its cool!

So in January, I started taking classes with Sharla Hicks, CZT, up in Anaheim. I figured I needed to get more practical experience since I signed up to go to CZT (Certified Zentangle Teacher) training in June. And boy, did I bite off a big bite there!

I tend to stay in a comfort zone, and rarely waver out of it unless I’ve done a lot of practice and research (hence not having very many tiles to show for my effort!) Sharla has a tendency to really push her students to the very limits of that comfort zone, and in some cases, well beyond it.

I can honestly say, I was relieved when the semester ended and I for a nice fat 5 whole weeks off from school. All I really wanted to do was not think about anything to do with school, kinesiology, biology or anything else that would tax my already strained brain.

I went to Arizona and visited…Quartzsite…Mindy and Andy in Phoenix…mom and Lori in Tucson. Got to spend Christmas day with Mike and his family in San Diego. It was nice, and when Mike was at work, I had some quite time to work on my sewing room/studio. It was a hot mess, and made me not want to work in there. Caused more stress than creativity.

I think it came out pretty good. When I want to tangle or work on jewelry, its easy access to my work table and lamp, and those tractor seat chairs are very comfy (the drafting one at the work table hadn’t come in yet when I took the pictures.)

The nice part is that the room now makes me want to be in it. I love being in here, and I have so much more room to work!

But all my fun had to end sometime, and school started back up toward the end of January. That’s also the time when I started my classes at Soft Expressions in Anaheim with Sharla Hicks, CZT.

Ok…so to pick up the Zentangle story where I left off.

After I took the class in July 2013, I really didn’t do much with it. I obsessed a bit, read a lot, looked at pictures, and generally thought my work wasn’t good enough (keep in mind, I had only done 4 tiles by this time, and I hadn’t really practiced much.)

And then…school started. I was stressed, and inundated with homework, so I pushed it to the back burner, all the time toying with the idea of becoming a Certified Zentangle instructor (after all, I have a degree in education, I like teaching, and this is good for a lot of things, like depression and PTSD.)

In my excessive reading, I found a couple of blogs I really liked. One of those blogs led me to a weekly challenge, which I found…intimidating…but challenging. So I tried one. I didn’t finish it in time to send it in, but here was my success.

A brief break from the story.

I made this über cute stripy rag quilt yesterday. 2 jelly rolls of *very* bright pink/orange/red batik and about a yard and a half of *very* bright pink flannel cut into strips.

Super, super easy to make. cut the flannel into strips the same width as your jelly roll (2.5″ in this case.) Sandwich the flannel between the jelly roll strips (wrong side out of course) and sew them straight down the middle. I used the jelly roll prints in the order they were on the roll because I liked the way they were laid out there. Also, its the same on the back as it is the front, since I did 2 rolls. Then sew them together with a 1/2″ seam, and sew around the perimeter with the same 1/2″. You can throw it in the dryer to rag, but I washed and dried it. It takes a considerably amount of trimming because of the long strips (as opposed the cut rag method) but I like the overall look better. Gives it a rather chenille feeling.

So…Part 2 of the story goes like this…

After I took the class in Poway…I didn’t do much for several months. I felt a little intimidated. A little overwhelmed. Everyone’s art was so intricate. So perfect. Mine felt…like I was finger painting. I did a lot of other things in the mean time. While we were in Japan, I had gone on a wild binge at a craft store. One of my finds was a foam Kumihimo loom. I was familiar with Kumihimo as I love all types of fiber art. I started playing with it a bit, and got totally engrossed.

Ribbon Yarn and Satin Bug Tail Cord, 3-wrap with a magnetic clasp.

Satin Bug Tail and Leather Cord, Magnetic Clasp.

You can do anything with them…necklaces, bracelets…even pens.