Diva's Challenges # 321 and #322

Exciting news! My spinach has germinated! Oh, right. You don't know that I've been spending most of my daylight hours putting in a "kitchen garden" that will resist the insatiable appetites of the local wildlife--deer, rabbits, chipmunks, birds, squirrels and who knows what else.  This is to explain my recent absence from the blogosphere. I've been tangling daily, posting on Mosaic, but not hanging out with you all :( It's good to be back!

Last week's challenge was to use our non-dominant hand. I had done this once before, for a Diva Challenge, I think, with a wonky N'zeppl. This time, we were asked to use aura tangles. I had been a bit fascinated with an unidentified, Warble-like tangle, and decided to go with that. (Please tell me the name if you know it!) This was an awesome exercise that helped me focus on making one, simple stroke, over and over, without moving my non-dominant hand. The trick was using my dominant hand to put the tile in the right position. A powerful reminder to always, always, turn the tile and keep your drawing hand comfortable. Slow and easy, relaxing.

Later, I did this with my dominant hand for fun.

And on the flip side:

Aquafleur, this week's challenge, has always been problematic when I get to that last little bit that tucks into the center. I decided to combine it with Shattuck, using a new embellishment trending on the Mosaic app, transzending. The goal is to try to achieve a sense of transparency. 

In this week's T3 on the Mosaic app, Rick asked us to explore tangling with our chop.

This Mooka was so much fun, I tried another so I could play with my watercolor markers:

Finally, I taught a Zendala class last Sunday, and made a pillow box with two Zendalas. I cut out the top and turned it into a shadow box frame for my brother's picture.

Thanks, as always, for stopping by. I apologize for my delay, but I should be out blog-hopping again once the fence is up. Have a wonderful week!

Diva's Challenge #320: Dansk

This week's challenge involved using Margaret Bremner's tangle, Dansk. Margaret's distinctive style, with its swirls, bold graphics and "simple" lines, always leaves me drooling! I've tried to use some of her tangles before, but sans magic. They just kind of sit on the paper, staring back at me! I was anxious to try Dansk again. In my first attempt, I combined it with wonky Tripoli, a long lost fav that I recently reunited with. And guess what? Dansk just sat there. So I tried to spice it up with some graphite ghost tangles. Nothin' doin'. Sigh.

I thought I'd give it another go. It finally made sense to me in this tile! (I haven't tried it again since. Don't want to test my luck!!!)  S   L   O   W   I   N   G down for the auras worked wonders in getting a feel for the texture of Dansk.

In other news, I made a 3.5 x 3.5 inch Zentangle journal this week. (Our muggy heat wave has me staying inside.) I used some water color paper for the cover, which I "washed" with bubble wrap. Inside I used  10 sheets of multimedia paper. This was my first handmade journal, inspired, once again, by Michele Wynne's June 7 post.  I really love the size. It tucks perfectly into my "Go-Tangle" wallet from zentangle.com.

Have you read the latest Zentangle blog by Julie Willand? She reminded us of our "humble beginnings". Rick, Maria and Molly followed up on the Mosaic app by posting their first tiles and inviting us to do the same. A wonderful exercise!

2/8/14, my humble beginning

And lastly, this morning I picked up my blue pen, after admiring Marguerite Samama's Delft Delights on Mosaic. As I tangled, I thought about my family. (I often do when I'm tangling.) I finished the tile, and then remembered a picture of my brother in 1948, when my family lived in Holland for two years. That picture was the finishing touch on the tile.

Thanks for stopping by, and staying until the end of my lengthy post! Have a lovely week!

Diva's Challenge #319: Beads of Courage

This week, the Diva asked us to BEad INSPIRED by the Beads of Courage organization, an arts in medicine program that helps kids with serious illnesses tell the story of their medical journey by making necklaces with colored beads that represent different medical procedures they have undergone.  (On their website, I was pleased to see that they are present in the two major children's hospitals near me.) Laura organizes a color fun run fundraiser every year, with all volunteers and all the proceeds going to Beads of Courage. She is a diva in so many ways!

I used bubble wrap to apply the watercolor and remind me of beads and the splashes of color you get during a color run.

Have you ever done a color run?  Is there a Beads of Courage hospital near you?

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful week!

Diva's Challenge #318: Diptych

I now believe the Diva is PSYCHIC!!!! This is the second week in a row where she has challenged us to do something that has been on my list of "must trys". This week, we took a tile and folded it in half, on the diagonal, to create a three-dimensional piece, with a "hinge" in the middle. Maria had done many of these on the Mosaic app, as well as a video. Even so, I wasn't sure how to go about this. So, in the spirit of the Method, I began with gratitude and appreciation. The rest followed quite painlessly.
So much so, that I made two of them.

On Facebook, I recently saw a video to make your own fidget toy--from a sheet of paper!  This had me so excited! I wished I was still teaching middle school so that I could teach it to the kids! But since that's not about to happen, I'll share it with you! This flexible prism has four sides. You can turn to prism inside out and thus change the sides that you see. I used Mooka, N'zeppl, Bales and Crescent Moon for the different designs. It was really fun to make, and I even like to play with it! Reminds me of the changing patterns in a kaleidoscope.

Thanks for visiting! Have a wonderfully dimensional week!