Sunday, September 20, 2015

IC511 - All Things Tangled, Plus a Pep Talk

Over at Splitcoast Stampers, Audrie (a.k.a. Girlgeek101) heads up the Inspiration Challenge every week, and this week, she's using an "All Things Tangled" theme. Well, I'm starting to cut my teeth on Zentangles, so I thought I'd use this chance to get some more practice by making a thank-you card.



Today's piece is on a 2" x 3.25" rectangle of ordinary Papertrey white card stock. The sentiment is incorporated in the design, although my hubs thought it said, "HANK YOU" because the "T" doesn't stand out quite as well as it should.



It's pretty clear I'm a beginner at this, but it's so much fun I can see myself doing this for years. The meditative quality of it appeals to me as I've been trying to be more mindful anyway. When zentangling, time sort of stops. I just keep adding and tinkering until I get something that seems sort of finished. It's an organic, unstructured process full of imperfections that flows smoothly as long as you don't think about it too much.

If you're like me and are an over-thinker with some obsessive, perfectionist tendencies that get in the way of relaxing and having fun, this is an excellent antidote!

For those of you contemplating Zentangles but feeling insecure about it...dive right in! I am. Like anything we do, doodling gets better with time and practice. (At least, I hope it does!) I want to share my admittedly lame early attempts to let you know that you don't have to be an artist or designer to have fun zentangling.

And why not get started with Audrie's challenge at Splitcoast?

Just a thought.

Supplies
stamps: none
ink: none
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: dimensionals, Micron extra-fine pen, soft-lead pencil, cardboard blending tool for shading


6 comments:

  1. Look at you! I bought the Tanglepatterns 2015 ebook and printed it out. I went to a few of the pattern's links and printed out the step-by-step for the patterns. It's a great resource! Not that I've been as successful as you have been, but ...

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  2. I've been wanting to dive right in, and I think you just pushed me into the deep end! I've never been much of a doodler and the thought never entered my mind that you could improve with practice; I thought you were either a doodler or not. Now off to check out what a cardboard blending tool is... Oh, love the card!

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    1. If you're referring to blending stumps, I need to figure out another way to blend. I cannot tolerate the feel of a blending stump in my hand - nails on a blackboard is music to my ears in comparison.

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  3. very cool! I was struggling with filling a large area with doodling, this might be my answer! Also,maybe if you put a light wash of color behind the "thank you" it will stand out more.

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  4. I dont know how you can say your a beginner, your tangle looks brilliant. It has depth and leads the eye to believe its curved. I sowish I could naturally tangle. I tried, its not me. I need step by step. Your card is so cool

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Thank you so much for taking time to comment!