Pinwheels for Peace

This week the Diva challenged up to create a Zentangled Pinwheel for Peace.  This was a fun challenge as it gave me a lot of creative license.  I wanted to add a little color so I googled "the color of peace" and there didn't seem to be a concrete answer so I went with the answer I liked best which was from someone who responded "I think that peace can be evoked by any color, except the color red which is too fiery".  I decided to go with my original thought which was yellow.  I hope you enjoy.

Tangles:  Weave, Huggins, Betweed, Crescent Moon

Diva Weekly Challenge #39

This week the Diva challenged to create a tile full of love.  With the 10th anniversary of 9/11 happening this week she wanted us to focus on love instead of hate.  I have strong feelings regarding 9/11, as do most Americans, but as a paramedic it especially hit home knowing that many of my fellow firefighters, paramedic, EMT's and police officers perished in that unthinkable act of terrorism.

Tangles:  Rectangles, Fans, Alice, Beadlines

We have a winner....again.

A few weeks ago I had a giveaway for a portable Zentangle case and a custom zipper pull to go with it.  Unfortunately the prize went unclaimed.  I already have plenty so I figured the next logical move was to pick another winner and that winner (as chosen randomly by my husband) is:

Molossus

I have another giveaway coming  so check back soon!  

I don't have a Zentangle tile to post today but I couldn't resist posting this picture.  My mother was having a family dinner and I was wavering on whether or not I wanted to make the drive.  Then my brother sent me this picture of my niece Avery with the caption "Don't you want to come and play airplane with me?"  

Love the shorts with the cowboy boots!

Needless to say, I went to dinner. 

Hope you all have a fantastic day.

Erin

Paradox

This weeks Diva Challenge was to use the tangle Paradox as a monotangle.  I had mixed feelings about this challenge.  On the up side, I love monotangles.  I feel like they give me a license to be more creative than I might normally be.  On the down side, I have always been intimidated by Paradox, and therefore, have never tried it.  The silver lining is that Margaret Bremner, CZT posted and amazing tutorial about Paradox a couple weeks ago which gave me some extra confidence.  Armed with the tutorial and my "Just do it!" mantra I jumped in.  I have to admit I love, love, love the result.  Paradox has earned a place as one of my favorites.

Tangle:  Rick's Paradox

Since I love creating monotangles I thought I would post some of my favorites from the past.

Tangle: Buttercup

Buttercup is one of my favorite tangles so I mixed it up a little by putting it in a round format.

Tangle: Skeins

Skeins is one of my go to tangles.  It has so many variations and can fit in almost any space.  Getting this one right was a little challenging but totally worth it.

Tangle: Brix

In my opinion, Brix is one of the easiest tangles to learn.  This is one of my earliest Zentangle's and I remember how excited I was when I was able to achieve the look of the tangle "emerging" out of the holes.

Do you enjoy monotangles?

Why or why not?

Erin

Just do it!

Do people ever tell you to just do it?  My mom is always saying this in some variation, "Just get started and see", "Just try it, what's the worst that can happen?"  It's a little weird to me that this is her philosophy on so many things because it definitely did not carry over to me.  Maybe she wasn't this way when I was growing up.  Maybe her stance has changed as she has gotten older.  In the end it doesn't really matter, what matters is that I am not a "just do it" kind of girl, and in the creative world that can sometimes be a big stumbling block.

My mother is one of those people who can start a project without having it totally thought out.  She will redecorate a room and start with the wall color, decide a month later on the curtains then decide to change the closet and doors.  Six months into it she will decide on different furniture.  A year after she started she will have this beautiful room that for her caused almost no anxiety.

This...is...so...not...me.  I have to have every detail planned out well in advance and since home decor is not my strong suit I get almost paralyzed by the process.  To be honest, my house has almost no pictures because I'm worried I will pick the wrong frames to go with furniture I might buy in a year. When I purchase furniture, it is all picked by my sister-in-law who works in interior design because I trust her judgement, not my own.   I don't paint walls because choosing color on a large scale scares me. What if it doesn't match the carpet that might not match the furniture that might not match the picture frames?  If a room needs to be painted, I pick a bunch of colors but my mother makes the ultimate decision.    The one big decision I did make was picking the exterior color of my house and that turned out great so maybe I am getting somewhere, who knows.

This has translated into my crafting life as well.  I have been an accomplished beader for many years now so you would think most of the stumbling blocks are gone, right?  Nope.  Still there.  Still taunting me.  I have many sketchbooks filled with ideas for future projects that I never started because I was worried my designs might not work out.  What if I have to start over?  What if I have to change the size of the beads half way through?  When I think about it as I am writing this, who cares?  What's the big deal?  Now that I am writing this all down I think this may be an issue with perfectionism and not motivation but I'll save that for another post.

So why all the rambling about not being able to "just do it"?  I have been thinking about adding color to my Zentangles for a while now.  I love the graphic quality of black and white Zentangles but as I see more and more examples of the colored ones the thought of adding a spot of color becomes more and more intriguing.  I purchased Tombo markers and a set of Prismacolors colored pencils (the biggest one they make!).  I have Microns in every color and just bought a set of Derwent Inktense watercolor pencils.  I have researched Copic and Letraset markers.  I have all this color, all these options, and have NEVER put on speck of color on a Zentangle.  All because I'm worried it won't turn out "right".  So today when I was looking through my pens for a new 01 Micron to sign my Diva challenge tile and came across a bronze gel pen, I said "Today is the day!"  I quickly put a mark on the tile so there was no going back.  I filled in a few more spaces and my first Zentangle with color was born.

Tangles:  Buttercup, Puf, Cubine

I  don't hate the color but I don't love it either.  I guess I would just classify it as "interesting".  This tile  is also the Diva's 36 th challenge ,"Kiss my grids" where we had to draw a string over a grid pattern.  I love the tile, like the color, but most importantly I am ecstatic that I finally "just did it" and got going in a new direction.

Now that I have written this post and acknowledged my lack of motivation regarding my house and art I feel I can push forward.  This week I am going to create at least one more tile with color and post it.  I don't have to worry about planning projects for my house because as soon as my mother reads this she will be calling with a list!  I'm going to get started on something and I'm not going to worry how it's going to turn out in the end.  I'm going to JUST DO IT!

I challenge you to all pick one thing and "just do it" this week.

Big or small, it doesn't matter.

Let me know what you choose and how it turns out.

I will keep you posted.

Erin