1st Annual Texas CZT Retreat – Part 1

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I was one of the lucky few to attend our first ever retreat just for Texas CZT’s in Rockport (close to Corpus Christi) October 7 – 9, 2016.  Terri Young did a fabulous job of putting it together!  Thirteen CZTs gathered from Friday afternoon until Sunday morning and tangled, laughed, ate great food, learned some new skills, and generally refreshed our artistic souls.  We have already planned our next one, but I have to say it will be hard to improve on this one.

Working on Leather Journal Covers

Working on Leather Journal Covers

Friday afternoon started with my class about tangling on leather.  We made a leather journal to hold our favorite tiles.  They were surprised at how easy it is and how much fun it is to work with the leather.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then, once it was stained, I think they were all proud of their efforts.

Group Effort

Group Effort

And some pics Before & After Staining:

Before

Before

After

After

Before

Before

After

After

And a great color of stain:

Beautiful Stain

Beautiful Stain

Thanks to the students for letting me share one of my favorite projects!  Tomorrow – what I got to learn!

Texarkana Public Library

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Last Wednesday I got to share Zentangle at the Texarkana Public Library as one of their summer programs.  Sadly, I had forgotten just how much fun it is to share with new people!  Ages ranged from youth to adult, and everyone did a fabulous job.  I hope they had as much fun as I did!

Group Mosaic

Group Mosaic

 

Thank you Texarkana!

Embracing Zendalas

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I have always loved the look of mandalas, dream catchers, anything geometrically balanced in the round.  So Zendalas are a natural fit.  Loving the balance and symmetry, I am a little intimidated by them, so I have decided to focus on them for the next few weeks to build up my confidence.  Here is one I did this past week while sitting in the heat at my son’s softball practice.  It was 102 that day, but I was in the shade and there was a light, hot  wind occasionally blowing through. I have to say my concentration on the tangling kept me from constantly thinking about hot it was even in the shade. I doubt that it made me feel any cooler, but at least I wasn’t thinking about the heat, lol. Anyway, I did manage to complete this in one evening,without overthinking it, and I am pleased with the result.

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I still need a lot more practice to feel comfortable.  For instance, the only other zendalas I have done (see below) have been on prestrung tiles so I will need to to start creating my own from scratch. And I can’t even look at the tin of black zendalas yet!

So, off to practice zendalas!

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Back to Square One

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There is a great new group on Facebook open to anyone – it is not just for CZT’s.  It is called Square One:  Purely Zentangle®.  It is dedicated to the original, purest form of Zentangle – black pen on 3 1/2″ x 3 1/2″ tiles.  It’s so easy to get caught up in the beauty of Zentangle on other sizes, adding color, and tangling on all kinds of objects.  In doing that, we sometimes forget what the original intent was:  15 minutes of mindful activity that results in something pleasing to the eye.  Okay, that’s a little over-simplified, but you get the gist.  This group celebrates that!

When you first post a pic, you are asked to tell your Zentangle story.  Reading through everyone else’s stories brings back memories of how I first found Zentangle.  Here is my post:

I heard the word zentangle and loved the sound of the word so much I looked it upon the Internet. Then when I saw it, I immediately started trying it. Angie’ s son was a classmate of my son, and we ended up chatting and I mentioned zentangle. She had just returned from her CZT training, and the rest, as they say, is history. The first tile is from my class with Angie on October 14, 2010. The second tile is the first one at CZT 5 training at Oakhurst.

wpid-20140804_195352.jpg wpid-20140804_195326.jpg

So, if you are on Facebook, search for Square One:  Purely Zentangle® , scroll to the very first post, and read about the various journeys that have led to Zentangle.  And while you’re there, ask to join, and share your journey with the rest of us.  By the way, a neat thing about Facebook groups is that you can go to your group, click on the photos tab and see all the pics posted to the group without the accompanying text.  It’s a great place for inspiration.

The creators of the group, Chris Titus and Jenny Perruzzi, had just added some more fun to the party.  Every Friday, they will post a Featured Tangle (with a link to the stepouts on how to create it).  The first one, last Friday, was Cadent.  Now, I LOVE cadent!  And I thought I was pretty good at it, until the posts started showing up.  Well, I certainly have a lot to learn.  Some of the variations just made my jaw drop!  I really want to play with cadent for a few days!

Chris and Jenny have already posted this week’s Featured Tangle – Twing.  That happens to be one of my favorite ones at the moment so I can’t wait to get started on that!

Ready, set, Tangle!

 

Bonjour, Bijou!

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bijou Bijou Tin

Welcome to Bijou,  the newest member of the Zentangle family.  Bijou has his own tiles, 2″ x 2″, and even has his very own page, story and gallery on the zentangle website.  Click here to read all about his journey from France to zentangle headquarters:  www.zentangle.com/bijou .

I love working with small, delicate details, no matter what medium it is, so this is just my size.  I started off by creating an original size tile (3.5″ x 3.5″) and then used that string and patterns to create a Bijou tile.  I really enjoyed it, and I think I will do several more of these!

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Au revoir!

Leather Zentangle Cover

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Make a cute leather cover to keep your Zentangle® art all in one place! We’ll use the Ten Seconds Studio Cattle-ist Leather products and some of our Zentangle patterns to create a one-of-a-kind art journal. You must have attended a basic Zentangle 101 class taught by a CZT in order to register for this class.
Supplies to bring:
Zentangle basics kit
craft knife
metal ruler
heat tool
cropadile
We will be working with leather stain, so you may want an apron and plastic gloves.

This class is August 16 at The Crafty Scrapper from 2:30 – 5:30.

Class fee:   $40.00

I’ve used the Strathmore 4×4 tiles in mine because I just can’t stand the thought of putting holes in my original tiles!  But the originals will fit also.  I’ve started putting my favorite patterns on those tiles as monotangles and in alpha order so I have a quick reference.

Front:    wpid-20140616_142313-1.jpg       Back:   wpid-20140616_142353-1.jpg

 

Inside:

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Call today to reserve your spot! 972-923-3151

 

Class Mosaics from 7/12 and 7/16

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This summer has been a lot busier than I had planned.  Oh well, that’s just the way it is sometimes.  I have two different class mosaics to share.  The first one is from The Crafty Scrapper on July 12.  All eight students created beautiful artwork:

wpid-20140712_123834-1.jpg   Zentangle 101 07 12 14

Zentangle 101 07  12 14

Yesterday, I got to share Zentangle with 13 youth ranging in ages from 10 – 17 at the Bedford Public Library.  They were awesome!  We were talking a lot during the class and we started to stray from our topic.  I set the timer for 2 minutes of no talking, so we could really focus on what we were doing.  The timer went off….but no one started talking.  They were all so engrossed in their artwork!  I was so very proud of every one of them!  They were really creative at taking a pattern and personalizing it.  Here is some of their artwork:

Bedford Public Library July 16, 2014

Bedford Public Library
July 16, 2014

Bedford Public Library July 16, 2014

Bedford Public Library
July 16, 2014          

Bedford Public Library July 16, 2014

Bedford Public Library
July 16, 2014

The Crafty Scrapper Classes

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I think I’ve said this before, but I love teaching at The Crafty Scrapper in Waxahachie.  The employees are so helpful to this newbie, and the students are such a joy to spend time with.

This past Saturday was the only class I had there in June, but it was a such fun.  The Z102 class explored some tangles that require more steps and more concentration.  These ladies proved that you can do anything, “One Stroke At A Time,” even with a hurt thumb!

Of course, here are pictures:

The first tile

The First Tile     06282014

The Second Tile

The Second Tile 06282014

Ruthe -if you are reading this, here is the string you drew but didn’t like that I said I would tangle:

Ruthe's String

Ruthe’s String    06282014

I’ve just schedule several more classes for July and August and I can’t wait!

 

 

June Classes at The Crafty Scrapper – Zentangle 102

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Mark your calendar for Saturday, June 28 at The Crafty Scrapper for Zentangle 102!  The morning class is from 10:30 – 12:30 and the afternoon class from 2:00 – 4:00.  Here is the description for Z102:

Zentangle 102 – Beyond the Basics

Prerequisite:  Zentangle 101 or a basics class taught by a CZT.

This class will take a closer look at strings, and learn some of the more “complicated” patterns – by that, I mean there are just more steps to them requiring a higher level of concentration.  We will also look at tangle enhancers, “tangleations,” and shading.  Again, we will create two tiles with six to eight patterns during our two hour session.  Bring your basics mini kit.

$35.00

And here is a sample of the patterns:

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It’s going to be fun – come learn a few more patterns to use on some summer projects!