Weekly Challenge #250: "Bringing it Back To The Old School"

Wow, Gang! It's been a while! Don't have any excuses, really. The Holidays weren't particularly hectic for me....just been livin' the life instead of writing about it I guess. The best,and most fun, way I know to jump back in is by doing the Diva Challenge! This is #250!!! Congrats Laura!!  And it's one I sorely needed; 'Bringing It Back To The Old School'! The instructions were to go back to basics and only use a 3.5", white space, official Zentangle patterns, Sakura pens and graphite to create this week's tangle.

(My apologies for the flash bounce off the graphite. )

This was a wonderful challenge after the push to 'create' in and around the holidays; to just take a step back, use the old tried and true patterns and tangle without thoughts about the end result. I did it like I used to when I first started; by candlelight, with the TV and all other electronics OFF and just relaxed. It's always mind-blowing to me how well this works on my stress and anxiety levels. I slept like a baby afterward despite nearly being crowded out of bed!

 

Thanks Diva for reminding me why I started this journey and that it's good to check back in there more often!

I've been doing some stuff other than the basics for a bit now, to submit to the company art show at then end of this week. 

Earth and Fire Tortoise 12x12 (Ben Kwok template)

Sea and Sky Turtle 12 x 12 (Ben Kwok Template)

The pair together in frames

I tried Gemz on Book pages...

Basically, I've been Gemz crazy!

And then there is REAL jewelry...

And when I got tired of that, I knit socks:

Yep. That pretty much sums up the last month and a half of my life, along with a holiday concert in a cave, working at the barn, reading great books (find me on 'GoodReads') , dinners with wonderful friends, knitting with the girls, and planning to make this year the greatest yet for Wisconsin Tangle Artists Coalition. (If you like to tangle, be sure and check out the link! We've got great projects and demos coming up at this year's meetings!) 

So now that we're caught up, I'll try to be better about posting more often. 2016 has a lot of great things in store!