An inspired tangle

So I was inspired in two different directions this week with my tangle. First, I was inspired by Easter here coming in a couple of days and created a "string" with the cross symbol.

Then I was inspired by the challenge over at the I am the diva blog with the weekly challenge to use the new official Zentangle Rixty (named so in honor of one of the founders of Zentangle Rick, who turned 60 - get it, Ri(ck-si)xty?). At any rate, I was planning to use Rixty for the lines of the cross, so it worked out perfectly! The rest I did rather randomly - I used the official Zentangle patterns Rixty, Hibred, Huggins, Tipple, Quandary and Ixorus, and unofficial tangles Arnia, Y-Ful Power, Pavonia and FishNet.  Here is how it turned out:

I really like how it turned out. It feels so organic and alive.

Zentangle-Inspired Tangle

I recently started going back to doing an art form called Zentangle, and related tangled doodling. I was inspired to blog again in response to a Zentangle challenge posted by CZT Laura aka I Am The Diva. In the challenge, our string is supposed to be our initials; so I used my full set - LADC. This is the string before I started on the actual drawing.

I had done some die rolling to find select some patterns semi-randomly and that's the notes that you see. I followed some of those, but ended up doing a few things differently. Here is the final product, which I kind of like:

I put the names of the official (Keeko, Beelight, 'Nzeppel, Paradox, Jetties, Ennies) Zentangles used as well as some un-official ones (Bead by Bead, Paushalov, Puf, Waves, Stone Necklace, Reticulated, Quare, and Onamato).

I am hoping to get some tiles to use, but for now I am using some Canson sketch paper. I am using Pigma Sensei instead of the recommended Pigma Micron, and I've opted to use blenders to help with my shading. I also hope to take a class one day with a CZT. Luckily, not too far away is Carole Ohl, a CZT whose work I really love and has designed a number of un-official tangle patterns (such as the Puf one I used in the above drawing).

Project 365 - Take 2

So I'm trying to do project 365 again this year. So far so good, but we're only 2 days into the year.
Here is the picture for January 1st:



One of the off-and-on traditions I/we have for New Year's Day is to eat Texas Caviar, which is a black eye pea salad with peppers. Supposedly, eating black eye peas and similar legumes is considered to be good luck as they represent money and fortune. Last year I don't believe we did this, and we had crappy luck in 2009. We have to have better luck this year. Please.

For yesterday, here is the photo:



We spent a lot of money yesterday. Normally, I am not into those weird sales times to get good deals. But yesterday, I found myself getting up at the crack of dawn to go out shopping at Kohls and get some towels - bath towels at $2.49. Jon and I had talked about getting a new set of towels, and this was the time. I had already thought about getting bras and undies at Lane Bryant, but again Kohls had a really good price so I took advantage of it. Only spent $67 for 4 bath towels, 2 hand towels, 2 wash cloths, 3 undies, and 2 bras (with mail in rebates for $6 additional to get 2 more bras), saving $75. When I went to Sock club yesterday morning, I found the sock I had been working on for several months had dropped stitches and I had no idea how to fix it. So I ripped it completely out and decided to start a new one - with a new book. Then yesterday afternoon, Jon and I decided to exchange the BluRay player I got a couple months ago, for a Sony one with a coaxial input. In doing so, Jon decided to get his camcorder and I got a new camera. I can't wait to play with it, but I will have to wait - until I get a memory card for it. Ch-Ching...