Trip to Tripoli

This challenge was set by Laura back in June 2011, when the official tangle Tripoli was released.

Tripoli is a tangle I love to hate! It is so beautiful when tangled by other people, but when I use it.... well, it's a struggle. Still, I rate it as a great tangle. Hopefully it'll get easy for me in time!

As it was such a struggle (I made a 'mistake' nearly as soon as I put pen to paper!), I chose not to make a monotangle, but used Tripoli in the centre section of my tile.

The process started with me using my Random Number Generator to choose the string to use, and TanglePatterns String 021 was selected:

And then I got tangling:

Without shading

Trip to Tripoli
Tangles: Bateek, Nzeppel, Tripoli, Shattuck

A few close-ups:

Happy tangling...
Claire

Bunzo

At work this morning I was wondering what Laura's next challenge would bring, when I suddenly thought about the new official tangle, Bunzo, released my Rick and Maria in their recent newsletter. "I ought to try it out today... maybe I'll get chance during a meeting..."

So when I checked and saw Laura's post, I opened it quickly to see... Bunzo (Ta-da!)
I think my subconscious is two steps ahead of the rest of my brain!

When I got home I pulled out my sketch pad and green pen to practice a little before I got cracking on my tile. But I had so much fun practicing Bunzo that I got a little carried away!!!

And this is what happened:

Wahey!

Updated: Wednesday 31st October
I had sooooooo much fun with Bunzo that I carried on Bunzo-ing :D

Our office is having a bit of a facelift, so yesterday I was asked to move from my desk for a few minutes so the workmen could paint. What a perfect opportunity for some tangling! So I grabbed my notepad and Uni-Ball Eye Micro in pink, and got cracking:

Bunzo and Bales

When I came home after a stressful day I took a look through some of the other Bunzo offerings, and decided to work on a proper tile with Bunzo.

I started out with TanglePatterns String 011, shared by Yamit Fridman, and by the time I'd finished I had this!

Bunzo
with Crescent Moon, Hypnotic, and Up & Across

 A few close-ups:

There may be some more before the end of the week!!!

Happy Bunzo-ing...
Claire

FMS Photo-A-Day Challenge - October Week 4

Welcome to my weekly round up of my Fat Mum Slim photo-a-day Instagram pics.

This week's photo prompts were:
Day 22: In your town
Day 23: The view from here
Day 24: Weather
Day 25: People
Day 26: Listening to...
Day 27: Morning
Day 28: Looking back

This week I took fewer photos for the challenge:

Top: In my town... It's Navrati festival!;
The view from here... the festival set-up in my compound.
Bottom: The view from here... looking outside,
sat in the lobby waiting for the lift;
Weather... The forecast and the reality!

I've done lots of compilations this week:

Top: People, Listening to... Jango
Bottom: Morning...there's not a lot left of it,
Looking back... at the garden over the last few months

And took a few more random shots! I think I'm being inspired :D

Top: MoH; A jar of hot chocolate whilst I blog!
Bottom: Flower in the garden; Coco Poco Loco <3

Fat Mum Slim has posted November's challenge list:

Can't wait! Come and join in.
Happy snapping...
Claire

Zendala Dare 29

A big shout out to Erin who managed to get the dare up even though she's feeling under the weather... Hope you feel better soon!

The template this week is a really nice one:

Dare 29

I got stuck a little along the way... thinking too much!
I chose to use Florz again, like in my tile for the weekly Diva challenge, inspired by this Zentangle post from Maria earlier in the week.

So here she is - unshaded:

Tangles: Betweed, Florz, Sparkool, Scallops, Paradox 

 Shaded:

 Up close and personal:

I had great fun with this! How did you get on???

Happy tangling...
Claire

Initialise

Another guest challenge in the String Theory series, Initialise was set by Christina Vandervlist from stART, back in July 2011.

The challenge is to use your initials as the string - simple! And challenging...

So here is my string:

CW

And here is the final piece:

Initialise
Tangles: Reticulated, Unyun, Coaster, Fescu

I like the idea of using initials as the basis of a Zentangle... I think it's a lovely idea for Zentangle gifts.
Happy tangling...
Claire

A Little Help from my Friends

So in this challenge set back in May 2011 by Laura, the idea was to get someone to draw a string for you.

I had MoH draw this string:

MoH's String

and then I worked my magic, and this is the result:

Ta-Da!
Tangles: Nzeppel, Fescu, Crescent Moon,
Meer, Scallops, Paradox

Happy tangling...
Claire

Dex & Verdigogh

So when Laura set this challenge back in June 2011, she did so because she felt that creating a Zentangle using just these two official tangles was going to be a real challenge... and I agree!

Not tangles that I've used before, but Dex and Verdigogh seemed to be a pair that worked well together; Dex with it's regular square shapes makes an excellent background, and Verdigogh adds a more organic feel.

So I knew which tangles I had to use, but the hardest part for me is often the string. A short trip to TanglePatterns along with a random number generated by my Random Number Generator app on my Android phone left me with String 007 (the James Bond of strings, created by Mirjam Baart)

And this is the result:

Dex & Verdigogh

Hhmmmm, not too bad, even if I do say so myself!

Happy tangling...

Claire

Stripes 2

Stripes! I love it. Another challenge from the String Theory series, Laura's challenge this week is to use Stripes as our string. It's called Stripes 2 because this one has been done before, back in May 2011.

So I started by drawing a few diagonal stripes and realised again that it was symmetrical (the old Mathematician brain at work!), so I chose to fill it symmetrically too.

Stripes 2
Tangles: Shattuck (variation), Nzeppel, Knase, Florz

 I started from the centre and worked my way out and when I got to the corners, I wasn't sure what to do. Then I remembered the wonderful post I had read earlier in the day, from Maria over at the Zentangle Blog - Get Flord! - so Florz it was...


And I thought I'd show you my old version too. I drew this earlier this year, and posted it in September, as my response to the original stripes challenge. I'm slowly working my way through the challenges. The photo's not great, and you can see my tangling has come a long way too!!!

Stripes 1 - Challenge 24

An just in case you've missed some of my recent Zentangles, here's a quick round-up - three of which are old Diva challenges (I'm playing catch-up!):

Clockwise from top left: OoF; Mi2; Brayd; Letters

Happy tangling...
Claire

FMS Photo-A-Day Challenge - October Week 3

Welcome to my weekly round up of my Fat Mum Slim photo-a-day Instagram pics.

This week's photo prompts were:
Day 15: Dinnertime
Day 16: Something you wrote
Day 17: Fruit
Day 18: Made you smile today
Day 19: Letters
Day 20: 4 o'clock
Day 21: Calm

So here we go...

Top Row: Dinnertime... Aloo Gobi, Raita, Mixed Pulse Curry and Roti
Bottom Row: Something I wrote whilst listening to Earl Nightingale; Fruit

Top Left: This decoration in the rickshaw made me smile
Bottom Left: Finally being recognised for my hard work made me smile
Right: Letters Zentangle

Top: Calm - blue skies in the garden

Bottom: 4 o'clock and starting a new Zentangle; 

The calm of sunset from my building

And so on to the next week!
Happy snapping...
Claire

Zendala Dare 28

I got going on this dare pretty much as soon as Erin posted it! I really liked the shape of the template, which helped:

Zendala Dare 28

I started last night and then continued this afternoon... and continued... and continued.
I only completed one Zendala, but kept stopping along the way to share the joy on Instagram!


So here's the journey I took:

Unshaded
Tangles: StarBarz; Hurry; Stained Glass; Shattuck

With shading & Micron 05

Coloured!

I had fun trying out my colours, and I'm happy with the end result. I look forward to the next one!
Happy tangling...
Claire

Brayd

The challenge set by Laura was to use Michele Beauchamp's new tangle, Brayd.

Here is my offering, along with my own tangle, Khirkee.

Brayd
with Khirkee

I found this one really hard to draw. Practice, practice, practice!

Happy tangling...

Claire

Zendala Dare 27

Erin gave us this template for the Zendala Dare last Saturday over on her blog, The Bright Owl:

Zendala Dare 27

I didn't find this challenge easy, as there were many small spaces... but I did enjoy the process and zoning out for a few hours on a Friday evening is always welcome!

So here she is:

Before shading
(which always scares me a little because I'm worried I might screw it up!)

After shading!
Tangles: Stoic; Hypnotic; Crescent Moon, Yincut

A few more details

And here are some of my recent Zendalas:

Dare 25; Dare 26

I'm looking forward to the next one!

Happy tangling...
Claire

Letters

The photo-a-day prompt today from Fat Mum Slim was 'Letters', which made me think of a tangle I'd seen... I think it's called Vermal.

So here is my photo for 'Letters'

Letters
Tangles: Vermal; Frilee; Fescu; Warble; Tripoli;
Striping; Up & Across; Scallops

Happy tangling & snapping!
Claire