Diva's Challenge #156 Curvy Gridlock

When the Diva posted this week's Challenge,  

"Well, this week the challenge is to try grid-based patterns on curvy or uneven grids.  Feel the freedom of not being constrained in right angles!!"

I thought "Piece of Cake!".  I often use grid-based tangles on curvy grids. But of course when you're challenged to do something, even something you often do, it becomes, well, a challenge.

So I played around with a few strings, and a few freeform ideas of my own, and finally ended up using String #73: 

Of course, I've got it flipped over, but you get the idea.

I'm not really sure how I feel about this one; I'm a little ambivalent. 

Since it's early in the week, I may try another.

In the meantime, be sure to visit the Diva's site to see the other wonderful entries; it's amazing how different all the responses are. Maybe you'll be inspired to try out one of the Challenges yourself.

Thanks for visiting; please leave a comment, favorable or not. I'd love to hear your thoughts. That's how we learn and grow; and how we know someone out there is paying attention.

Have a wonderful day, week, month; see you all next time.

String Thing #28

It's a String Thing #28

 Our directives were to:
 Use string # 014

 
and any (or all) of these tangle patterns:
Jeewels, Jelly Roll, Jemz, Jessicup, and Jetties
I actually ended up using all 5 tangles. 

I finished the tile, and somehow didn't send it in to Adele till the last minute. But here it is:

Be sure to check out all the entries @ Tickled to Tangle, on Monday, when Adele Bruno posts them. The vast differences that can be achieved using the same tangles on the same string are truly incredible. And, if you've a mind to try a String Thing yourself, check back on Tuesday, when she offers the new ones.

Thanks for visiting; please leave a comment, favorable or not. I'd love to hear your thoughts. That's how we learn and grow; and how we know someone out there is paying attention.

Have a wonderful day, week, month; see you all next time.
 

Diva's Challenge #155, A Little White Space, and another response to Zendala Dare #92

When the Diva's Challenge for this week: "Try leaving a big open white space in your piece this week!" was posted; I thought, that's hardly challenging. I occasionally leave open white spaces in my tiles. So I set about to do the tile, and realized that when I do leave open spaces, it's not usually planned; it just happens. When you try to do it on purpose, it doesn't always come so easily. So I found that the best way to plan for open spaces was to start with a string that suggests open spaces.  One of them is String #037; it worked out perfectly.

I used AntiDots, AuraLeah, Flux, and a tangleation of Luv-a.

While I'm at it, here's my second entry for Zendala Dare #92:

 After posting my first try,  I discovered that we were supposed to use Paradox (one of my favorites). So here is one using Paradox, Betweed, and Aura Knot; 3 of the first Tangles I learned and that are still favorites.

Be sure to visit the Diva's site, as well as the Bright Owl's site; see all the wonderful entries to both the Challenge and the Dare. It's amazing how different and creative the responses to the same challenge can be. After viewing them, perhaps you'll be inspired to try one yourself.

Thanks for visiting; please leave a comment, favorable or not. I'd love to hear your thoughts. That's how we learn and grow; and how we know someone out there is paying attention.

Have a wonderful day, week, month; see you all next time.


 

Zendala Dare #92

This is the template for Zendala Dare #92 

(Can you believe it, #92? Doesn't time fly?)

 

For some reason, this seemed to just draw itself.  I had a few other ideas, but the minute I put pen to paper, this seemingly sprang forth with little or no guidance (in true Zentangle fashion.) Unfortunately, by the time I finished it, I had become quite tired; hence the uneven sized diamonds around the circumference, and the uneven shading as well. I probably should have waited till tomorrow to post this, but I was really antsy to get it up. And now that it is, 

I seem strangely satisfied with it.

 

I'm really too tired to write anything further, 

so please leave a comment, and be sure to check out Erin's site to see the other entries. Or perhaps you'd like to try your hand at this Dare yourself.

Thanks for visiting; please leave a comment, favorable or not. I'd love to hear your thoughts. That's how we learn and grow; and how we know someone out there is paying attention.

Have a wonderful day, week, month; see you all next time.

Diva's Challenge #154: Valentangle, and a little bit String Thing #26

The Diva's Challenge for this past week has been Valentangle. Isn't that a fabulous word? It was coined by CZT Nancy Lubin, and it's perfect for this challenge; which is to take your inspiration from Valentine's Day. Of course, that inspiration can come in many ways: hearts, kisses, cupid; you know the drill. I chose to stick with Hearts. 

Be sure to visit the Diva's site; see the other wonderful entries, and maybe try out one of the Challenges yourself.

And since we're talking hearts, here, I'd like to offer a tile that I did for Adele Bruno's String Thing. Last week, we were given this string:

 

and told to fill it with patterns that we love. Well, I was still (and am still) obsessed with Aquafleur, so I came up with this:

 And since it was coming up on Valentine's Day, I felt it should be in color:

Be sure to check out all the String Thing entries @ Tickled to Tangle, on Monday, when Adele Bruno posts them. The vast differences that can be achieved using the same string are truly incredible. And, if you've a mind to try a String Thing yourself, check back on Tuesday, when she offers the new ones..

Thanks for visiting; please leave a comment, favorable or not. I'd love to hear your thoughts. That's how we learn and grow; and how we know someone out there is paying attention.

Have a wonderful day, week, month; see you all next time.

Zendala Dare #91

Here's Erin's template for this week:

 

and here's my Zendala:

 As you can see, I'm still enamored with Aquafleur. As soon as I saw the template, I knew what I wanted to do, and just went ahead and did it. Hope you all like it. 

Comments are always welcome; Pro or Con. 

I love to hear what you think.

Be sure to visit the the Bright Owl's site; see the other wonderful entries, and maybe try out one of the Zendala Dares yourself.
 

Thanks for visiting; Have a wonderful day, week, month; 

see you all next time.

String Thing #26

We're getting close to Valentine's Day, and this String Thing reflects that. We are to use String #039 by Jo Fletcher,

 

 and fill it with patterns that we love. Since I have been obsessed with Aquafleur ever since it was introduced, it seemed like the obvious choice.  I could actually see it in my mind's eye. So I just started in setting down what I was seeing, and with little deviation, this is what I came up with.

Being a Heart, and for Valentine's Day at that, I considered color, so  I used a couple of my photo editors, and came up with these 2:

Then I thought, hand color it.

So I made a couple of copies, and colored this one with Prismacolor pencils

and this one with Derwent Inktense pencils, and a little water.

All in all, I think I still favor the original, even though it's just black and white.

 Let me know what you think.

Be sure to check out all the other entries @ Tickled to Tangle, on Monday, when Adele Bruno posts them. The vast differences that can be achieved using the same string are truly incredible. And, if you've a mind to try a String Thing yourself, check back on Tuesday, when she offers the new ones..

Thanks for visiting; please leave a comment, favorable or not. I'd love to hear your thoughts. That's how we learn and grow; and how we know someone out there is paying attention.

Have a wonderful day, week, month; see you all next time.

Diva's Challenge #153, UMT:Jailed Johnny

Being the first challenge of the month, we have UMT (Use My Tangle.) In other words, use the tangle Laura designates. This time around, it's a tangle called Jailed Johnny, by Sadelle Wiltshire. The step-outs for this tangle are here on her blog. 

This is my interpretation. 

 I've used 2 variations, or tangleations, of Jailed Johnny; one using Flux, and one using Antidots.

Be sure to visit the Diva's site; see the other wonderful entries, and maybe try out one of the Challenges yourself.

Thanks for visiting; please leave a comment, favorable or not. I'd love to hear your thoughts. That's how we learn and grow; and how we know someone out there is paying attention.

Have a wonderful day, week, month; see you all next time.

Zendala Dare #90, Happy Birthday Erin

This is this week's Template for the Zendala Dare,

 

 and because it's the first week of the month, there's an extra challenge. Since February 3rd was Erin's (the Bright Owl's) Birthday, she asked us to gift her with the gift of inspiration, in the form of our favorite tangle. Well, that's a hard challenge, because I don't have just one favorite tangle. Those of you who have been following this blog lately know that my new favorite tangle is Aquafleur. But Paradox and Betweed have been favorites for a long time, along with Purk and a few others. So I'm gifting Erin with 3 of my favorite tangles: Aquafleur, Betweed, and Paradox. Unfortunately, in checking out some of the early entries, other people also chose Paradox, and I think possibly Betweed as well. But I've already finished my Zendala, so it will have to do. Sorry that you're getting so many repeats, Erin. I know you were hoping for lots of inspiration. I'm sure that by the time all the Zendalas come in, there will be plenty new ones for you to enjoy. So, that said, here's my Birthday Zendala:

Happy Birthday

 I hope you like it, Erin. And I hope it brings you much inspiration.

Be sure to visit Erin's (the Bright Owl's) site; see the other wonderful entries, and maybe try out one of the Zendala Dares yourself.

Thanks for visiting; please leave a comment, favorable or not. I'd love to hear your thoughts. That's how we learn and grow; and how we know someone out there is paying attention.

Have a wonderful day, week, month; see you all next time.

More Aquafleur; Are you ready?

I've been so obsessed with Aquafleur; I just can't stop playing around with it. I need to be able to draw it out in a more freeflowing manner. Some of what I did at first was too static. I got a little help from Helen Williams' video, but I still have far to go before I approach the level at which I'd like to be. If you're not familiar with Helen's work, you must check out her blog. Her work is fabulous.

Since I've been working on Aquafleur practically non-stop, I figured I might as well post some of the tiles and ZIAs that I've done.

This one is done on an ATC. As you can see, I'm still hung up on floating ribbons. They really appeal to me aesthetically. 

 No floating ribbons on this one, but I kind of like it.

 Back to the floating ribbons again. The color on this is not quite right. I tried photographing and scanning; neither is really true. Even using a photo editor didn't work. Suffice it to say that it's a really bright shocking pink. I don't think I'll use it again.

 The three previous ones were done before I watched Helen's video. This next one is after. There are 2 versions; before and after filling in the stripes (for lack of a better word.) I'm sure they probably are influenced be Helen's style, but I really like it, and hope I can find a way to make it my own.

Aquafleur is still the Diva's Challenge right now, so be sure to visit her site; see the other wonderful entries, and maybe try out one of the Challenges yourself.

Thanks for visiting; please leave a comment, favorable or not. I'd love to hear your thoughts. That's how we learn and grow; and how we know someone out there is paying attention.

Have a wonderful day, week, month; see you all next time.