Diva Challenge #186 - Leaves, Leaves, Leaves

The leaves I have chosen for this challenge are very special to me.  They are from an indoor Ficus tree and my long suffering Philodendron plant. Both came from the love of my life and I have managed to keep them alive since he died. I normally manage to kill most plants I try to grow so I was amazed that these have survived 2 moves and almost 6 years now. I was going to head up to the mountains to take some pictures and gather a few leaves, but unfortunately I have been under the weather. So I used these two. I was just getting the feel of tangling them when my pen apparently took over and finished for me. It took me a luxurious complete day to do this one in my sketchbook, so it's not on a tile until I start it again. But my son agreed with me that I should just submit this one and I do kind of like it, so here are my leaves!

Not the best picture, but I quite like the work this time!

As always, comments (good and bad) are appreciated.  I'm off now to check out the other offering's at the Diva's place (here)

Diva Challenge #185 ~ Duotangle - Phycops and Diva Dance

First off, I want to thank all of you who commented last week on my submissions. I appreciate all the comments.

Well, it's been an interesting week here, we seem to have some rather agressive fish in our tank that have been eating my favorites :(.  But one of the new ones is doing great and I hope he survives...a very pretty Angel Fish. I don't know the actual names of them, because they are hubby's domain.  Then son decided to fall and hurt his back and hip when he slipped and hit his head on the tub. He's been pretty much in pain for a few days. But my biggest challenge this week was actually getting anything I like out of this duotangle. While I absolutely LOVE Phycops and all that you can do with it, I have never done Diva Dance before and I am just not real thrilled with anything I did. I probably filled a dozen pages trying to get something I actually liked, but in the end, just decided to post these two.  My son suggested that maybe I was having problems is that the parameters of using just two tangles may be inhibiting me. I think it is just that I am still trying to find my style of tangling. But that's why I try these tangles....to challenge myself. So without further comment, here they are!

The first one I sort of liked...my son thought it was my best

I actually liked this one better, in spite of all the mistakes.

So here are my humble offerings this week and I am still going to attempt them some more.  If you would like to see the other submissions for this week, head on over to the Diva's place to see what everyone has done.

Diva Challenge #184 - Just play-ING around!

It's been a long week with a few challenges on the home front, but getting better. I am sorry that I am so late getting this up this week, but while I absolutely LOVE this tangle, finding things to go with it proved to be quite a challenge for me. I probably filled a half dozen pages in my sketch book, just playing with the steps in ING (which I must say is really quite fun!), and trying how to best use it.  The very first thing I saw when I did ING was the Olympic Cauldron here in Salt Lake for the 2002 Winter Olympics, as well as the Hoberman Arch details. So I played around with that idea for a bit and came up with this tile to remind me of the great time we had here during the Olympics. Not my best work, but it was a lot of fun even though it didn't quite come out the way I had intended.

Olympic Cauldron in SLC - Color actually looks better in person

Tile #2 using ING, don't know the other tangles because the pen took over

The I tried a not quite so straight ING and I love the flow-ING lines here. I may have to copy this one and try it with some color

Tile #3 - Just let my pen take over on this one ... LOL

This last one is probably my favorite because I just let it free flow and anded up making lots of mistakes, but tried to cover them and make them into something else.  Hope you enjoy my offerings this week!  And don't forget to check out all the other on the Diva's blog

Diva Challenge #183 (X-did) .... Almost didn't *giggle*

This week has been a bit hectic with out anniversary and all and my dad's birthday (and yet again, I ask myself why I wanted to get married on his birthday....oh yeah, it was so I wouldn't forget my anniversary!) But anyway, it's been 32 years for us now as man and wife with lots of ups and downs, but we have stayed the course *grin*  Hubby doesn't get my Zentangle hobby because he is an art purist who also loves classical music and paints miniature figures. But he strives for realism and doesn't get anything abstract. So when I ask him what he thinks about my ZIA, he just says "....interesting....". At least my son is of a more artistic and creative bent, so he gives me some wonderful criticism. Although I majored in graphic design in college, I never did anything with it, so needless to say I was thrilled when I stumbled on Zentangle in June of this year. I'm trying to keep up with the challenges and have been going through the old challenges to try some of them.

This particular tangle (X-did) gave me fits because I could see in my minds eye what I wanted to do with it and for some reason it wouldn't translate to my hands. I am a big fan of Art Deco and Art Nouveau, so that's more or less how I saw it.  Although I was very hesitant to put my first attempts on here, I saw that others were doing that, so (deep breath) here goes!

ZIA Tile #1 is done on some chocolate brown paper I had laying around and I decided to try it with the white pen. Not my favorite and I have absolutely no idea why i decided on putting the purple in *shrug*

ZIA Tile #2 is mostly along the same lines, but the pattern for the X-did got so small it is barely discernable

But with ZIA Tile #3, I think I got the look I was looking for. This is also the first time I have actually used a Zentangle Tile and I actually may have to break down and buy some to work on. The paper is fabulous and I'm afraid that I am a paper junkie.....have been all my life, I'm afraid *grin*

Well, that it for this challenge, but I want you to know that I worked on finally getting this pattern right in my sketchpad almost constantly since the challenge was posted.  Thank you all for your comments on my other submissions....it always helps to have feedback, good or bad, to help one improve.  Thanks again!

Stripes of a sort! Diva Challenge #182

I've been playing with Blogger, so for the next little while, I am playing around with different templates and colors. I think I know what I want, but expect to see changes whenever the mood strikes. Since I have a thing for pink, it will likely stay with a pink theme of some sort *grin*

Well, I had so much fun with the challenge last week, that I thought I would try again. The first one I tangled really didn't feel all that great to me and it just felt kind of awkward but I at least finished it. I was just kind of grasping at tangles that I thought might look pretty good, but somehow they didn't want to cooperate. I like the Brayd (sort of), but it wasn't quite what I had in mind. The Scrolled Feather ( I think that's the name anyway) didn't quite manage to come out at all.  And then when I took the picture tonight, it looks all tan but I think that's because I didn't use a flash. I guess I need to work on that too.  But anyway, here is Tile #1 for this challenge:

So, I tried again and I think I like this one much better and for some reason, the picture turned out better too. Strange because they were both on the same background, but I think this second one is a lot better anyway. Anyway, here is my submission for this week.  Can't wait to try the new challenges.

I know the tangles in this one because I actually wrote them down as I was doing them *giggle*. They are: Bunzo, Paradox, Shattuck, Onamato, Ciceron, and Hibred.  I think that Bunzo is quickly becoming a favorite of mine, just because it is so adorable and just plain fun to draw.  Enjoy and check out the others out at the Diva's place.

Finally . (Diva Challenge #181)

Well, never did get my scanner working, but my son and I managed to sit down and actually take a few pictures. I wasn't sure I was going to get them done before next week because with all the storms going on, I have hardly been able to move. Storms tend to make everything hurt and my knees and back have been driving me nuts.  Age, accidents and fibromyalgia seem to have taken a bit of a toll, but it's all good because I have my computer AND loads of blogs to explore.  Anyway, here it my submission for the Diva's Challenge # 181... Water. Didn't quite turn out the way I envisioned it, but it's not half bad, I don't think for my first submission.  I've done a few of the others, but this is the first one I have actually submitted to the challenge.  Any and all feedback welcomed...good and bad!  I am so new, I need all the help I can get. I just started this in June.  So without further ado, here is my Tangle

Tangles used: Mooka, Flux, Bunzo, Mssst, Phicops, Angel Fish, and I don't know if the others are even tangles or not...*giggle*  So forgive me please. I will definitely learn them as I start to tangle more. :)

Still no pictures! :(

Well, I tried to scan some of my tiles to try to enter one or more of the challenges, but apparently my scanner doesn't like me anymore. So now I have enlisted the help of my son (who is very good at helping me with all things electronic) to see if he can figure it out. Otherwise, we will be trying to take some decent pictures. I am really new at tangling, but am so excited to get some feedback and suggestions that I really need to get the pictures up. Please bear with me.

I am also going to try to get some pictures up of the jewelry that I make. I've been crafty all my life and have so many interests that it is hard for me to keep up with everything I am interested in. But for now, I am mostly interested in tangling because it relaxes me very much. My home life tends to be a bit hectic and I find that if I can even just tangle for a few minutes to take myself "out of my head", I can relax more easily. So here's hoping that I can finally get something posted up here within the next couple of days.