Decisions, Decisions

Have you ever had a week like this?

It seems like everything I worked on this past week ended up with multiple versions. I just couldn't make up my mind which to go with. I narrowed them down to two for each challenge.

First is the Diva's Challenge #202, a DuoTangle:   
Chebucto versus Copada.

 

They are similar, yet different; different enough that they even look better seen from different directions. 
I just couldn't decide.

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. ``````````````````````````````````````````````

The next one is That String Thing #77.
String 077 by Barbara Finwall

and any or all of the following patterns:

Heartrope by Bunny Wright
Heartstrings by Helen Williams
Heartvine by Lori Howe
Luv-a by CZT Sharon Coforio

I used all 4 of the patterns in one form or other. 

I actually had 4 versions, but broke it down to just 2: 

1 black and white and 1 in color. I like them both.

Be sure to check out all the entries @ Tickled to Tangle, on Monday afternoon, 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 afternoon, 

when she offers the new ones.

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I was also working on SquareOne and joey's challenge, but wanted to get at least these 2 posted. 

I'll see if I can finish the others and post them soon.

Diva's Challenge #201: Moebius Syndrome

This Saturday, January 24th, 

is Moebius Syndrome Awareness Day. This week's challenge is to do a tile in honor of the Diva and her son, Artoo (who has this syndrome), and to help raise awareness of it.

I have used the Moebius Syndrome Foundation's logo as the string for this tile, the tangles Meer and Kiss within the string, and the Diva's tangle Artoo lacing through it.

 

I used a Sharpie fine purple pen, as well as a Micron 05 purple pen, and Prismacolor pencils in Dark Purple, Parma Violet, Mulberry, and Spring Green; and overlaid the Artoo tangle with with a Green Metallic Gelly Roll pen. Of course the metallic shine doesn't show up.  

I have another idea; if time allows I'll try it, and maybe post it.

Square One, BB;

The tangle selected for Square One this week is BB.

I dashed this off, and was quite pleased with it until I noticed that it was a bit messy here and there.

 So I did another one, much neater, but I don't think the shape and flow are as good as the original. Which only proves, yet again, that you can never regain the spontaneity of your original try.

You be the judge.

joey's weekly challenge #43

When I saw joey's latest challenge I wasn't so sure that I wanted to do it, because it involved doing 4 tiles. I just didn't think I could devote that much time to one challenge. Essentially, it involves doing the same tile 4 times, and then putting them together to create a new tile altogether. I decided to cheat a little, and use Bijou (2") tiles instead of the full 3½" ones. I based it on a tile I did for an earlier Diva's Challenge

 Here are 2 versions I did with the Bijou tiles:

I tried putting them together in different configurations, but none of them worked at all. So this is it. I've looked  at some of the other entries, and they obviously did tiles that worked better in this concept. So, lesson learned, I think. If we get this sort of challenge again, I'll be prepared.

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I just found another way that works, sort of:

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Take a look at joey’s site to see the other entries, 

and maybe try one yourself.

String Thing #75

Well, this week the String Thing challenge is #75;  

where does the time go?

For this challenge the string to use was Maria's #075, naturally

What a fun string!

 

 and any or all of the following tangles by Maria:
Bales
Echoism
Ennies
Poke Leaf  and/or Poke Root

I used Echoism, and tangleations of Ennies and Poke Leaf.

 This was a fun challenge to do, although I have to admit that I wasn't so sure about it before I started. But once I got going, 

it did fall in place nicely.

Be sure to check out all the entries @ Tickled to Tangle on Monday afternoon, 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 afternoon, when she offers the new ones.

Diva's Challenge #200!

It's the 200th Challenge from the Diva!

In celebration of this Bi-Zen-Tennial, the challenge is to use your go-to tangle in a Monotangle; fill the tile, use no borders, and include the number 200 somewhere on the tile. I have many favorites, but one I've been using a lot lately is Paradox, and it seemed perfect for this challenge.

So here it is, Ta Da!

I really enjoyed doing this tile, and as you can see by the fact that I'm posting it on the first day of the challenge, I sat down to do it, and it just practically drew itself. I just hope that I can zip through the other challenges this week as easily.

Don't forget my usual caveat: 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 
a Challenge yourself.

Diva's Challenge #199, UMT: Hitched

The Diva's Challenge #199 is a UMT challenge; 
the tangle being Hitched, by Heidi Sue. 
I played around with it all week, and couldn't 
come up with anything that I really liked. 

 Until this morning, 

when String #139 by Barbara Finwall was introduced.

It immediately gave me some ideas, 

and here's the one I decided to go with:

You can see that I didn't use all of it; 

it just seemed done without the lower corner section.

If you saw my blog yesterday, you know that I am already on a new tack; I've been leaving lots of white/open space. Not particularly planned; just happening, in Zentangle fashion.

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.

XYP, That String Thing, Joey's, etc

This past week's tangle for Square One was XYP, which I'd never actually done. So to make up for it, I did 2:

  

If you're not familiar with Square One: Purely Zentangle, they are a group over on Facebook, devoted to the original basic concept of Zentangle: Artwork created with nothing more than a 3.5" x 3.5" paper tile, pen and pencil...no color, no eraser, no distraction. Check it out and perhaps you might want to join in.

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Over at Adele Bruno's site, Tickled to Tangle, 

the String Thing challenge for the week was to use 

 String #74, by Melodie Hampshire

 

with the tangles:  

Kiss by Katie Booth
Lealad by Lily Moon
Twizted by CZT Terri Brown
 

As you may have noticed, I've been leaving quite a bit of white space in these tiles. I don't know why, it just happens. Perhaps it's my new style.

If you check out Tickled to Tangle on Monday afternoons, Adele Bruno posts all the entries. 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 afternoons, 

when she offers the new ones.

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Joey's Challenge #42 is Lucky in '15

Wishing everyone Luck in 2015, use Adele Bruno's pattern Lucky in String #15

Here's what I came up with (notice the open spaces again)

Joey's challenges are on her blog made by joey. Check it out; another opportunity to see others' work 

or try your hand yourself. 

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I haven't had a chance to try the Diva's Challenge yet, but that will have to wait for another day; I really want to get this posted tonight.

An inchie and a String Thing start off the New Year

Or finish up the old, it all depends on how you look at it.

This past week, the week of New Years, has come and almost gone, and I've managed to do 2 challenges. The Diva's challenges are on hiatus until after the New Year; but I did do It's a String Thing, and barely  managed to do joey's weekly challenge. 

The problem with Joey's challenge is that we were asked to do a mini Mooka on an inchie. Now, I love doing little Bijou tiles; but I don't do very well on a 1" tile. No matter how small I go, I just can't  seem to fit anything creative onto the tile, and it looks very uninspired to me. I  came up with the barest minimum I could possibly do. I look forward to doing better next week.

 

Take a look at joey’s site to see the other entries, and maybe try one yourself.

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Over at Tickled to Tangle, the home of It's a String Thing, I think I fared a little better.  We were charged with using String #68 by Barbara Finwall

 and the tangles Schway and Paradox. Paradox has always been one of my favorites, and I can usually fit it in anywhere. I can't remember having used Schway before, except in my sketchbook, but it seemed a natural for the main section of the string. Maybe too obvious, but I went with it anyway. I ended up doing 2 versions; couldn't decide between them, so here they both are:

They're really pretty similar, which may be why I couldn't decide between them.

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.