Diva Challenge #365 She's Back! #divachallenge

Do you follow Laura Harms at

I Am the Diva - CZT?

Each week for the past 7 years -

yes, I said 7 years -

Laura has given the tangling world a challenge.

Something specific to tangle up -

something to stretch us and help us

learn new techniques.

Laura took the summer off - a much deserved break!

And this week I was excited to see she is back!

This week's challenge is #365 and Laura's

challenge to us was to go back to basics.

Go back to our tangle roots.

Use the four dots and a string and use

some basic, easy tangles.

So I did.

I hadn't done a Diva Challenge in a loooong time,

my life has gotten too busy.

And I really don't want to 'just' tangle lately.

So I guess going back to basics was a super idea.

Here is my basic tile -

Laura suggested a 3.5" title.

Yeah, my eyes don't do 3.5" so well anymore

so I tangled a 4.5" square.

For tangles, I used hollibaugh as my string which 

I filled with printemps and crescent moon.

Shaded and called it done!

Want to check out all the Back to Basics tiles?

Head on over to Laura's here.

Leave some love in the comments section

and feel free to join along. 

Diptychs With Bijou - Diva Challenge #318

I've been playing with a lot of new tangles lately. Putting them in my sketchbook, showing the steps of the ones I thought I'd have trouble remembering. The Diva Challenge this week is diptychs. And that is where my sketchbook comes into play.
According to Mr. Google, a diptych means: a painting on two hinged wooden panels that may be closed like a book.
Well, I wish I'd looked that up before completing this drawing. Just pretend it is folded in half - down the center. That center line of diva dance divides the two sections.  The mirrored part (loosely - according to the Diva) would be the strutz and Bijou parts. Left and right. Right down the middle.
Diptychs. They are the thing to do this week. And I will be doing more. BUT to check out everyone else's diptychs, just click here for the Diva Challenge.

Moebius Syndrome Awareness With the Diva, #300

 It's week 300 with the Diva Challenge!

And a special achievement requires some

special recognition!

Laura's cutie pie little son Artoo is a

champion and survivor with

Moebius Syndrome. 

Extremely rare, 

Moebius affects the cranial nerves

and is present at birth.

It has been a joy watching Artoo

and his brother Chewie grow up.

Artoo is part of our zentangle family

and we salute him this week!

Sending him and the family loads of hugs

and well wishes and love!

To check out all the Moebius art,

click this link.

Diva Challenge #299

 Hard to believe, but it's the Diva's

299th challenge!

This week Laura asked us to work with the 

new official tangle from Zentangle® HQ

called Drawings.

You pronounce that draw-wings.

Here I mixed it with waybop,
another new official tangle.
And I added some sparkle
because . . . why not?

Head on over to Laura's page and
check out all the renderings of drawings!

String #15 and Diva #243 Combined

Welcome to Thursday String Idea #15.

 Yes, I still owe you a step out for ringz, but first

here is Thursday String Idea #15,

also posing as The Diva's challenge #243 - Just a Tiny Taste.

A simple string on the surface.

Deciding where to go with those sections is another thing.

If you would like to print the string out at the 3.5" square size, 

click here and print.

Then just pick a section and start tangling.

For me, when I looked at this string I had

crescent moon screaming out my name. 

I draw my crescent moon a little different than most,

but this is what consistently works for me. 

The Diva's Challenge was to consider white space. 

More specifically to leave a majority of the tile blank.

I didn't quite hit the mark on the "majority"

but this is still a major step for me. 

Like the Diva - I tend to tangle everything in site,

every bit of the paper is filled when I am done.

So this was a bit of a challenge for me,

and isn't that what the Diva Challenge is all about anyway?

Stretching us to be better tanglers.

If you would like to see all the artwork posting this Diva Challenge, click here.

If you would like to print the string out, click here. 

I would love to see what you do.

AND if you are new to my blog,

wherever you see pink in the post, that means it is a link, because

Pink = Link.

The Diva's Bi-Zen-Tennial Celebration!

Laura Harms hosts the Diva Challenge each week. This is her 200th offering. Each week Laura posts a prompt,  a tangle, an idea, an event -  something specific for us to tangle and share.

Wow! Getting brave here! This was my drawing the very first time I participated. I'd been tangling for a couple weeks and this was the first drawing I ever posted online. It was April 18, 2012, her 66th challenge. (I've learned a bit since then.) The challenge was to use auras.

Jump forward to almost three years later . . .

. . . and this week's challenge is to use our bread and butter tangle, the one we turn to most often, and draw a monotangle using it. All the way to the edges. No frame. And to have the number '200' on the tile somewhere.
Basically what that means is to use only one pattern and make it go all the way out to the sides. I chose to use TootsieMoon, which is one of my own patterns. I showed it in both the positive and negative formats.
Thanks, Laura, for 200 awesome challenges! Happy Bi-Zen-Tennial, y'all!

The Diva Challenge

Turning Old into New, Diva #195

This week's Diva Challenge is a bit of a fun one! And the old becomes new. Take a favorite tangle, one I use all the time, and make it new. Change it up. Change the structure.
Kind of reminds me of a Bible verse :). Romans 12:2 actually.
Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.
The Diva Challenge was fun this week. I took popsicles and urchin - which are normally fill patterns for me - and turned them into a gridlock spectacular!  Hahaha!
I plan to do more of this kind of drawing. Heading out of town soon for a few days. I hear Disney World calling my name. I like to go sit in a hotel room and draw for a few days,  depending on theme park food to keep me alive. And ice cream. And jelly bellies if I get to Downtown Disney. It's a tough life, but someone's gotta do it!

Betweed, Diva Challenge #191

This week's Diva Challenge was to make a monotangle using the pattern betweed.  This is a tangle I use in small areas, not one I normally do as a monotangle. Here is what I did:

I used a standard 3 1/2" square official zentangle tile. This wonky oval in pencil became my string.

Using a micron, I began my betweed with some overlapping, arcing lines creating six sections.

Then I took one section at a time and drew the alternating lines that make it betweed, ending each line with a  little fescu.

I kept adding one section at a time . . .

. . . until I had each section tangled with betweed.

Typically in zentangle® we don't use erasers. The lines are supposed to blend into the drawing. I elected to ignore that directive and I erased the outside line - my string. To make this piece of art have a more finished look, I added more fescu into the outer edges of some of the sections. Shading with a pencil provided dimension.
To check out all the offerings of betweed head on over to Laura's page here. There is still time for you to try a little betweed of your own. 

I Can Draw That With My Eyes Shut Tight!

Draw with your eyes shut? Strange question? Perhaps, but that is exactly what the Diva asked us to do this week in her The Diva Challenge. I always love this challenge. I've gotten away from using a string when I tangle. I like the freeness that comes from not using a string. But sometimes we just need to go back to our roots. Back to where it all began and start over. That is what Laura asked us to do in this week's Diva Challenge. 
I took a 3 1/2" zentangle tile and used a pencil to lay down a dot in each corner, then connected the dots with lines forming a box. With my eyes open :).
Then I closed my eyes, kept one hand on the tile so I would know where it was, and I drew a string. I like loopy-di-loops, so it kind of went in that direction.
Then I opened my eyes and went whoa! not such a great string! But I had decided beforehand that I would go wherever my blind string took me . . .

. . . and this is what I drew. I am forcing myself to leave some white space (negative space) in my tangling lately.  And also lately - I am having trouble remembering what tangles I actually know. I have 4 or 5 basic ones that I use all the time. Talk about being stuck in a rut. So, I have started working on something that I learned from Cherryl Moote that I will share with you soon.  An ongoing work in progress. Coming soon.
For now, head on over to the Diva's page here and check out all the blind string offerings. You could even close your eyes and try your hand at a blind string.  I'd love to see how it turns out!

New Product, New Tangles, and Diva Challenge #180

It has been a rough week. A summer cold in Florida is not the way to spend a few pleasant days. Trust me on this one. So I am trying to fight my way back to being healthy with a little tangling. 
This week's Diva Challenge is to use Anneke van Dam's new tangle MacDee. 

I was thinking MacDee would be a perfect background to another new tangle I wanted to try out - nymph. Melinda Barlow's new tangle nymph is similar to 'nzeppel - only fancified :). I really love how it turns out! You can tangle singles or tangle in clumps. You should give it a try! Here are Melinda's steps to nymph.

So I combined the two tangles and used a tile that I had pre-misted with Lindy's Stamp Gang's new Moon Shadow Mist. The color I used is named Phantom Fuchsia. If you haven't heard of these you can check them out at www.joggles.com - that's where I get mine. Moon Shadow Mists are walnut ink based with a glimmer of shimmer that comes from mica. (Unfortunately, the glimmer-shimmer-awesomeness did not photo well. Sad day.)

So. As promised - one new product, two new tangles, and Diva Challenge #180 - √.

You can check out the Diva Challenge here.

Bijou Diva Challenge, #179

There's a new kid in town.  In zentangle town, actually. And he's a little squirt! Twinchie sized, actually. Two inches squared. Two inches of tiny, awesomeness, packaged and name Bijou. And the Diva's challenge this week is all about Bijou's twinchie awesomeness. I figured - what the heck! I could totally dangle up some Bijou-twinchie-fun! And here it is!
Head on over to the Diva's (Laura's) page here and check out all the Bijou fun!

DuoTangle, Diva Challenge #178

Laura's Diva Challenge this week was to use two tangles - starting with your initials - to create a duotangle. My intitals are A and H. I started looking through www.tanglepatterns.com to see what tangles were available under those letters. I knew right away I wanted to try aquafleur, which was developed by Maria Thomas. I just needed a tangle with some shape for my H pattern. Helen Williams has a beautiful tangle called heartstrings, that I thought would work perfectly with aquafleur. A little highlighting, a little shading, and I was all done. For this particular tile, I started with Lindy's Stamp Gang Cosmo Pink Starburst ink spray and added a little Cotton Candy Starburst to it. I love this line of ink sprays. They each have two color tones in one bottle. Beautiful colors! Then I tangled over the color with a Sharpie fine point.

Check out the Diva Challenge here, you can even post a duotangle of your own!

The Diva Challenge, #174

It has been quite some time since I've taken one of Laura's Diva Challenges! I got too bogged down in swaps and they were taking up too much of my time. So for now I am holding off on swaps and trying to reconnect. This was Laura's 174th challenge, wow! that's hard to believe! The challenge was to superimpose one string on top of another. To do that, I went to Linda Farmer's string page on Tangle Patterns.

I started with string 089, lightly marking those circles with pencil in the corners. I filled those in with some Diva Dance Rock 'n Roll.

Next, I took string 094 and lightly marked those lines onto the same tile. I used those basic lines as an additional string - and added a couple more - then ran them like hollibaugh, and tangled cheesecloth in the middle sections. 

Add some shading and it's all done! This was a fun challenge presented to us by Aimee Belair, CZT. You can head on over to I Am the Diva's page and check out all the superimposed string renderings and perhaps post one of your own!