A new day

There are so many things I love about zentangle. Something I discovered today is that things will always look different next time.
I tangled this yesterday using the string and tangles of Adele Bruno's challenge "It's a String Thing" #68.Last night I thought it just looked messy and was just a bunch of scribbles. This morning, I looked at it from a slight distance and thought it didn't really look too bad! I added some more DripDrop, Jax and shading.
I also tried to keep in mind that shading is not about where the light hits, but, rather, it's about where you want to highlight.

Catching up

I fell behind a few days! Caught up with the tuesday square with inspiration from "its A String Thing" #67 using

Crescent Moon and Cornerz, and today was inspired by Assunta from the Square One Challenge on FaceBook

It's A String Thing" #67

This week's  Challenge  from Adele Bruno of Tickled To Tangle offered us an opportunity to pause and think about the blessings in your life.
Using tangle patterns string 070, write 3 things you're grateful for in the bands of the triangle then use crescent moon and cornerz to do a zentangle.

I came up with 3 things I am grateful for very quickly, but being me, I could not leave out my most important and my most constant blessings: my husband and children. So I added them, not as an afterthought, rather as the centerpiece.

Droplets/Tears

Sometimes, I have to cry.

Embracing the Yuck

The diva challenge struck a cord with me on so many levels this week. 

When I first read the challenge "embracing the yuck" my knee jerk reaction was that of "no shit". You see, I only have use of one hand due to the creeping paralysis of progressive MS. As I scoffed at the notion of even having a dominant vs non-dominant hand, I realized how fortunate I am to still have use of one hand, and even more grateful that it is my right hand as I am right handed.

So as I read Elisa's story, more coincidences became evident as I slowly came to realize the beauty of this challenge.

And today, I just started my morning with my zentangle calendar. Yesterday I had attempted Linda's prompt for Charlotte and I "failed" horribly. I just could not do it "right". This morning, I didn't feel right going on to do the next day on the calendar without finishing yesterday first. I had already started Charlotte with my green pen in memory of my Mom. This morning, I just went with what I had. It's not "right", but I like the way it came out!

As I tangled my "peace", the calm came. Then I peeked at the other submissions, and found peace and inspiration in other people "peaces" and stories.

What a fantastic way to realize the good in the yuck.

So "embracing the yuck" is to me "shit happens". Now what are you gonna do with it?

Embracing the yuck:

Shit happens

Put your big girl panties on and deal with it

Don't cry over spilt milk

When life gives you lemons...make lemonade 

Every cloud has a silver lining

The sun will come up tomorrow

Tomorrow is a new day

Things will look brighter in the morning

Make the best of it

Do what you can

....

It's not the goal, it's the journey

The spirit of gratitude

Ok, maybe I was overthinking and obsessing, but isn't that what you'd expect from me?The  Diva challenge #193 was guest hosted by Holly Atwater, CZT. Allow me to take this opportunity to add my well wishes to Laura and her family as Artoo recovers from eye surgery. Having worked as an optician for 12+ years, I've actually seen the results of this type of surgery, and it is just short of miraculous. I know Artoo will be fine, and the surgery will be of huge benefit. With that said, I really wanted to tangle this challenge because, as Holly explained, in honor of both Veterans Day and Thanksgiving, the inspiration was gratitude and THX, hence the tangles Trio, Huggins, and Xyp.

The timeliness of this challenge was so very poignant for me as I also received an email to contribute to my friends Gratitude Quilt that she will piece together for thanksgiving. Read about Laura's (different Laura, not the Diva!) gratitude project here at Shine the Divine.

So I learned the tangles, but couldn't figure out how to make them into one tile. I confess I peeked at the other submissions, and that's when I realized what I am most grateful for! I am grateful for all the creative Tanglers who blog about and share their creations! I just really enjoy browsing those blogs, viewing the pics, and reading their stories!

So with that realization, I decided to make my tile simple and basic. That's what 

works best for me in my life now. So I chose string 08, and tangled my Zen thinking about how grateful I am to have discovered Zentangle.

Diva challenge #193
With Trio, Huggins, and Xyp

 

It's a String Thing challenge #65

Yesterday, I did Adele Bruno's Its A string Thing Challenge #65.
I had fun with this one especially because I like Pais in memory of my Mom and Angel Fish because it's so fun to do and so pretty! I did not think I would enjoy Tesali, but, as the magic of zentangle unfolded, I fell in love with it too!

String 065, Pais, Angel Fish, Tesali

Paradox

I wasn't planning on tangling this morning. I really need to spend time trying to make my blog site look better, but, alas, the calendar and zentangle was calling to me. I've been practicing Paradox. I really concentrated and took advantage of the hope that the morning would be a time when my hand would cooperate. All went so well, that I even used my colored pencils to add to the fun! I used green as that color represents my Mom and purple cuz that's my favorite color. I was just so pleased with how it came out, that I had to share!

Working out the Blog Basics

CurlCurl

Whirlee

Yesterday Linda's prompt on her blog TanglePatterns.com was to draw Whirlee. I found it to be a very fun tangle with lots of potential for the experienced Tanglers to take this pattern to many levels! For me though, I kept it real simple. Still lots of fun and I really like the way it looks! I also enjoyed reading the accompanying story on how Lynn Meade was inspired to create this tangle pattern!
I'm going to play with this pattern lots more, but here's my calendar spot for today. Again, I used colored pencils for fun and because I was waiting for the song on the radio to end!

I'm learning and practicing the patterns for the It's a String Thing challenge #65.
When I learned AngelFish, I loved the way it looked and it was so fun to do! I thought it would make a perfect Bijou Tile.String thing challenge #65

Pais and Gnarly

Today is Thursday November 6, 2014. I've been playing with Pais as it it is part of the challenge of

It's a string thing #65. I especially love Pais because it is like a paisley pattern and my Mom loved that so it makes me think of her. It was just screaming for Gnarly, so I added that. I also used color because it makes me happy. I have found that colored pencils are the easiest for me to work with.

It's A String Thing Challenge #64

The challenge from Tickled To Tangle  It's A String Thing #64 October 29, 2
014 was to use string #095 and tangles that spell CORN for candy corn for Halloween - Charlie, Owlz, Roxie, and N'Zeppel.

I had a lot of fun with this challenge. First I practiced the patterns then I filled in the string!