Such a great class last night!!!!

Last night's class was fantastic. I can't tell you enough fun it was to watch everyone's eyes light up when they added their white "moonglow" to their tiles.

So, I'm going to show you what we did!

The majority of these ladies had attended last month's Zendala class so to get them warmed up and used to using their new pens, we made a Zendala using mostly patterns they already knew.
This was the easel with mine done on black foam board... which worked surprising well when my regular "large sheet of black paper" supplier dropped the ball on me.

SO much fun!

Then we did a tile... 

Some work in progress shots as well!

Aren't they fantastic!?!?! I love how great they look!

They did such an amazing job and I'm so proud of each and every one of them!!!!!!!!!!!!

We're going to do a Renaissance tiles for our next class in June. 

Moonlight and Zen....

One of my favorite effects in Zentangle is the glow of white on black. It's the basis of my Moonlight and Zen class.

I know I SHOULD have a set class format that I use for each class, but I often find myself reinventing my wheels so to speak, because there are JUST SO MANY FUN THINGS TO DO!!!

So, I played around and here are some of the things that may make it into tonight's class.
Including a BRAND NEW just announced today pattern by my friend (and CZT) Mabel Yap!
It's called Palmer and it's so much fun!

So that's a little sneak peek if you happen to be joining me tonight, and if not... and you live in the area, maybe you'll want to join me another time!

I hope everyone is having a nice week, the weather has finally broken here and the sun is shining and it's "warming" up enough that outside is an inviting place. Almost. It's still chilly.

When the weather gets nice, do you find yourself inspired to create outside?

Look! Giant tiles!

This doesn't look all that exciting but holy smokes was it a lot of work! (It will be more impressive when you see it all done, but for now, it's kind of lame looking.

I created giant 20x20 burlap wrapped tiles.
Burlap is itchy by the way.
Like... super itchy and unravels if you don't pull threads and it's just not my favorite thing to work with, but the results are cool.

It was kind of hard to photograph them, but the edges are nice and crisp, they are all smooth and ready for display! WOO HOO!!!

Did you make anything fun lately? What have you created?

Banners and Classes

Today I'm working on a few odds and ends that don't look like much, mostly my new banner.
I want to show you the gorgeous tangles my class did yesterday though!
I'm so proud of each and every one of them

Work in progress shots!

Aren't they awesome?????

Suminagashi practice

It's been a busy time of planning for things. I prepped some papers for tangling using Suminagashi, which is Japanese water marbling and I have been getting ready for a class I have today.
These are the results which are going to make such great tangled images!

Here are what the individual papers look like

This one looks like Elmo. 

So aside from that I made up kits for today's class and went over my lesson plan. :)

And now I need to go get ready for that class... :) I love teaching beginners!!!

A bit about Tangling

So many mornings I pop up my little piece of creativity and hope that it encourages and inspires you to take a few minutes out of every day and come up with something creative, whatever that may be or mean to you. Creativity fuels creativity and adds so much to life. My little gift to you is hopefully the push that you will use YOUR gifts to enrich your life.

Today I want to talk about tangling. That's what I did this morning. I took less than 5 minutes, I sat down with my cup of tea, I focused myself and I tangled. I used the time to reflect on my day, and on my creativity challenge and how far we've come! I'm so proud of each and every one of you that has joined me on this journey.
See my little bijou? Isn't it cute? They're so perfect for morning tangling!!!

As you can tell I come to this with some art background and I've had people ask me "Why Zentangle? What is it about Zentangle that you love so much?"

As a CZT my brain kind of goes into overdrive when I hear that because there is SO MUCH I want to share with EVERYONE about it, because I've seen amazing results with literally every student I've worked with....
I like Zentangle because it let's me share.
It lets me take a few minutes  create something beautiful, while calming myself as well.. or it lets me take a couple of hours and open up a whole new world to someone who never thought they were artistic.

Trust me when I say that ANYONE can do this. Anyone.

If you are the type that tells me you draw lousy stick figures, that makes me happy because it means I am about to open a new door for you, one that you may not visit often, or that may become a new favorite destination, but one that will allow you to see that this IS something that you can do.
I love to watch someone's eyes light up when they hold their tile out at arms length for the first time and see that THEY DID THAT. They made that beautiful piece of art they are holding in their hand.

There are some that didn't love what they did at first, but they trusted and continued, or they put it aside... and yet every single one has told me that when they took it out later, they were amazed at what they had made.

Perfectionists take a bit of time to realize that this is an art that allows you to embrace the parts of you that make you unique. That yours SHOULDN'T look like mine any more than your handwriting should be a mirror of anyone else's. It should be exclusively yours and part of what makes it beautiful.

I love tangling because it lets what's in you shine out.... all while coming together piece by piece. It's like growth and life and discovery in a tile no bigger than your hand.

If you haven't tangled yet... you should. :) I'd love to share it with you. If you are far... well, let me encourage and inspire you and if you want help finding someone to teach you in your area, let me know. I can probably hook you up.

Remember. You are awesome. Whatever you make is awesome.
Trust in that.

Affirmations

I used to work with a wonderful man named Darren when I worked in the corporate world. It feels like a lifetime ago...
I learned a lot from him and one of the things that stuck with me was the affirmation that would be said before big events, meetings, etc.

It called out to be put on an Opus tile so I can hang it over my work area.

I'm not sure if I will add color, if I don't then it's done. 

This is my first large stacked tangle. 

I think I'm hooked. 

And as it says... 

I am excited, by what this day will bring. 

I hope you are creating something wonderful! I can't wait to see!

I got a rock....

Actually... I got an entire bag of them! I have a collection of rocks but I also ordered some from North Carolina because I wanted some specific ones a project.

I'm going to tangle them and display them.
I tested one out this morning to put into a gift basket. I really like the way they turned out!

I'll plan on making a whole bunch. 

 This is my Zentangle® gift basket. It includes tiles, a kit and a gift certificate for a Zentangle 101 class with me as well as info on what Zentangle is. I think it turned out cute!
I made the the "basket" from an Amazon shipping box and some cute tissue paper.

That's what I have made today, and I'm pretty pleased with it. 

What are you working on today?

Business cards are done!

Wooohoo!!! That was a lot of work!
Since I am using Moo.com for my CZT business cards, I got to use 50 different designs. Do you know how hard it is to select 50 different designs and then also get the logo and everything else the way I want it?
It's hard friends! So hard!
But I finally did it and I'm really pleased with how they appear to be going to look.
(I won't know of course until they're actually here in my hands) but here's a sneak peek!

I'm also still working on the website, and hoping that'll be done by the weekend.

After that I can spend some more time with my hands messy! :D

Here's hoping you are having some really creative days yourself and that you have lots to show me!

More superheros!

These were kind of fun and cool to do. I used a new distressed technique to do these superman sneakers. 

I have a class tomorrow night and one on Sunday so I'll be prepping for those in the next few days and I have 2 pair of sneakers to do as well. Busy, busy!

Monday morning

Today is a lot of the type of things that make me twitchy, paperwork and record-keeping and all that stuff that business owners do.
But... I did get awesome and amazing Wonder Woman sneakers done. 

What you can't tell from the pictures is that the spines and the WW are done with a shimmery, glittery paint. The red especially is amazing. Ruby red slippers would look DULL compared to these.
I love them and kind of want to keep them for myself.
The black and white star/microstar background pattern I painted myself in a chalkboard style and they look really cool.

I hope she likes them. Her name is on the back spines and I'm super glad I put it on before I finished them or I'd have had to make another pair LOL :D :D :D

I hope you all had time to create something awesome this weekend and that you have time planned for yourselves this week too.
I have some painting to do as well as some tiles to make! I have a class on Wed and a big Zentangle 101 on Sunday as well! (if you're local to the Western NY area and want to come, I do have a couple spots still available so shoot me a message)
So that's my plan for the week.

Oh yeah, and it's Monday. So... This feels appropriate for today