The Diva's Weekly Zentangle Challenge #224

I use Tipple quite a lot, usually for those little spaces I want to fill. It's not a pattern I am likely to choose for a monotangle so this week's challenge from the Diva was a bit of a challenge for me. I traced around a large hexagonal button a few times then - lots of Tipple.

Laura is away from her blog (www.iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com) for a while, enjoying Summer with her family. I was glad to read that there will be guest posts in her absence and I'm looking forward to next week's challenge already...

Yes, sometimes and other times No.

It's been a busy week for me, with a couple of particularly exciting days. One was a first day working at a new school. I was very nervous beforehand and it was quite a challenging morning but I was very pleased afterwards with how it went. The other was a pamper day held yesterday for which I had been part of the organising group. It's been quite a lead up and there were the usual worries before an event - Will it work? Will anyone come? Will there be enough food? What have we forgotten?

I was again very pleased afterwards and it was a wonderful day. There was heaps of delicious food and pampering experiences available, including hair styling, massage, tea tasting, henna tattoos, meditation, make up, warhammer figure painting, tai chi, and yoga.

My main part in the day was to plan and run a table with a few wordplay activities. There was sand, playdough, a quiz (matching quotes to authors), and writing inspiring words on bookmarks (inspired by Patti Digh's book, Four Word Self Help). Stay tuned for a longer post about this! 

There were lots of inspiring conversations during the day. At one stage there were three of us chatting about various things. One of the other women was playing with pebbles in the sand and making a word. I began making the word Yes on the table with some of the pebbles. When I had done the Y and e she turned hers around and I saw it said No. We had a great laugh at the synchonicity! We talked about how they can both be difficult to use at times and both important.

 

My six words for this week -

Yes, sometimes and other times No.

 

Since, I've been thinking about how for some things the answer is not a clear yes or no but maybe a not yet. I'll be writing some more about that soon...

 

See how other people describe their week or part thereof in six words at www.showmyface.com.

 



Tangle with J-W-O

Back again for Diane and Carolien's Weekly Zentangle Challenge. This week the letters are J, W and O. I decided to choose a pattern for each letter and then put them together. After a bit of experimentation (and a couple of false starts), I found they could fit together quite well.
The tangles I used are Jonqal, W2 and Oof.

The Diva's Weekly Zentangle Challenge #223

I'm continuing to enjoy the The Diva's Weekly Zentangle Challenge. What I really like about this challenge is how it stretches me out of my comfort zone, and encourages me to try techniques I may not otherwise. I find I explore a tangle more than I probably would have without the challenge. This week's challenge was to use the tangle Umble. I first met Umble a week or so ago through Rick and Maria's Zentangle newsletter. I gave it a bit of a go, combining it with Funf which I discovered on www.tanglepatterns.com.  

Umble and Funf, as yet unshaded

Fun, but I don't think that I would have used Umble again for a while if not for the Diva's challenge. I thought I would try a monotangle but in the end I thought a Jetty (is that the term for one of Jetties?) would be just right in the centre.

I almost stopped partway through as I liked it a lot at that stage. I think I may replicate it to there and then do something different in the future??

I kept going and here's my (almost) monotangle of Umble.

It was good to spend a bit more time with Umble and starting to see more possibilities...

Tangle with F-M-T

This week for Diane and Carolien's Weekly Challenge the letters are F, M and T. As always you are able to use only tangles starting with those letters or add others as well. I chose to have one tangle for each letter this week and used Finery, Man O Man and Tagh.

To join in the fun go to http://www.dianeclancy.com/blog/2015/06/weekly-challenge-11-tangle-with-f-m-t/.

The Diva's Challenge - Take 2

I had another go at the Diva's Weekly Zentangle challenge. I find that sometimes when I do a tile I get ideas of how to improve it. That happened this week and I'm much happier with my second attempt. I really love the pattern, Funf which I discovered on www.tanglepatterns.com.

The Diva's Weeky Zentangle Challenge #222

Another fun challenge this week - to use the colours of the rainbow. I wasn't sure if I'd join in at first. I hadn't used colour in my zentangles until today. What a great excuse to get those COPIC markers I've had my eye on at Officeworks. Such a treat! A few little changes I'd like to make but overall I'm happy with this week's effort. Now the dilemma of whether to use colour or not in my next creations.

Visit www.iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com to see how other people interpreted this week's challenge.

Shadow Shot Sunday - June 14th, 2015

A cute plant shadow near my front door for Shadow Shot Sunday today.

See other people's shadow shots at www.shadowshotsunday2.blogspot.com.

Tangle with #-C-R

I was a little confused when I saw that this week's task for Diane and Carolien's Weekly Zentangle Challenge was to tangle patterns beginning with #, C and R. Once I found out that # meant a pattern beginning with a number I could get started!

This one certainly didn't turn out as I first imagined. I was trying to do 63Y but wasn't happy with it. I think I was doing the grid too small. I'll give it a go later. Instead I decided to use 2n5 which I quite like. The other tangles are Cyme and Rixty as well as some Knightsbridge to cover up.

You can join in the fun at http://www.dianeclancy.com/blog/2015/06/weekly-challenge-10-tangle-with-c-r/ I'll be back next week with F, M and T.

The Diva's Weekly Zentangle Challenge #221

Another fun challenge from Laura this week at www.iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com

The task was to be inspired by Beads of Courage. Laura's youngest son is involved in this program where children receive a bead for courage in undergoing various medical tests and procedures, overnight hospital stays etc. Beautiful strings of colourful beads are a wonderful symbol of how courageous they have been.

Initial ideas were to do a representation of beads or perhaps something symbolic to represent someone who is having a very difficult time at the moment and inspires me with how courageous they are. Unfortunately I can easily think of a few people that applies to at the moment. After tossing around a number of possibilities I settled on using a version of Laced which looks like beads.

 

The beginnings of a backyard makeover...

It's Saturday again. That was fast! My six words this week for Six Word Saturday -

 

The beginnings of a backyard makeover

 

 

A few weeks ago I received a table and a couple of benches from a friend who was moving house. We have decided to paint them and began painting today. It was fun deciding on the colour and buying our supplies. A few weeks ago we asked some questions at the local small hardware store and got some great advice so yesterday when we were ready to buy we decided to go back there. Again we got excellent service. 

 

At first we had plans to mosaic the table but now are thinking of some zentangle designs on the edges. We have another small table that we have been planning to mosaic for a LONG time and will likely still do that. Alysha began painting the chairs that go with that table today and I think they will look fabulous with bright cushions. I also moved an old tyre and plan to plant a small garden in it. I began painting an old pallet and plan to make that into a garden too. I'm certainly not into gardening to the extent I was a few years ago but it will be fun to plant a few things again I think. These ones I will be able to see through the kitchen window too when I'm doing dishes. It was a great start today and I should get another coat of paint onto the table tomorrow. Here's some before and in-progress photos.

 

So many colours! We chose Alta Sierra

Before (and lots of sandpaper)

Busy sanding

One more coat for the table top then to do the legs.



This should make a good garden!

To see how others describe their week or part thereof in six words or to join in the fun go to www.showmyface.com

 



Tangle with Y-Z-A

Thanks, in large part, to Diane and Carolien's Weekly Challenge I have now tangled patterns beginning with every letter of the alphabet. This week it was time for Y, Z and A for the second time. I met Zinger a while ago and love it. Yincut was a new one to me and I see the possibilities, particularly as a filler. For A I looked for patterns I am not yet familiar with and discovered Assunta which I found was lots of fun to draw. I'll be exploring it more for sure. I also added a little Ahh. I haven't shaded this one yet and am not sure if I will. I quite like it as is.

You can join in the fun at http://www.dianeclancy.com/blog/2015/06/weekly-challenge-9-tangle-with-y-z-a/ 

The Diva's Weekly Zentangle Challenge #220

It's the first Monday of the month this week so it's time for a Use My Tangle challenge over at www.iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com This week's tangle is All Boxed Up by Alice Hendon.

I enjoyed my first meeting with this tangle and as I had read, shading really makes this one pop! I was quite surprised with the result. Now I wish I'd taken a photo before I shaded it. Oh well...

Here's my tile for challenge 220 -

You can join in the fun and see lots of other examples of this tangle at www.iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com