February, perfect month to Zentangle

We've had some pretty crappy weather lately, and unless you want to brave the monsoons you have to find something inspiring to do indoors.  So thanks to Glady's I've renewed my interest in Zendoodles.  And no, I didn't doodle on colored paper, I just layered a colored filter over my photos with Picasa.  Is that a Zendoodle cheat?  Not sure.

I just wish I was in Hawaii right now.  :)

more tangles

Since our weather has been positively blah (it always seems to be drippy and grey) I've been stuck inside.  In order not to lose my mind entirely from zombie like TV viewing I've continued to doodle.  It's become an obsession.  I may need carpal tunnel surgery again... just kidding!

This is my current favorite.  It's kind of cutesy!

 My, what chubby little fingers I have...

I wondered what kind of zendoodles I could do with my brush pens.  This was really fun and it's no where near over!

Totally tangled in Beads for Life :)

This Christmas my niece gave her sister the most beautiful bead necklace.  We were all amazed to find that they were made of paper, hand rolled and then coated with a protective covering.  They are made by Ugandan women and sold online or at home parties through Bead For Life.  GORGEOUS!!

So there I am, thinking I've discovered a new and wonderful treat to share with Gladys, I email her a link to the website.... Wouldn't you know it, a day later when she comes over to exchange Christmas gifts (we aren't really very traditional or time oriented!) she gives me this luscious bag of beads!!!  What is this phenomenum called?  I know there's a name for it... Anyway, she got quite the chuckle out of my email.

Totally Tangled - another little goodie in my Christmas gift was this wonderful book.  Needless to say, once again I am imersed in tangles!  My hand hurts!  It really takes some practice and exercise to be able to tangle for very long periods of time. :)

So here are my first attempts at zendoodles since the carpel tunnel surgery of 2009.  I have oftern wondered if my zendoodling brought on the need for surgery....

The outline of my hand proved to be more odd than interesting but I will perservere.  I think this one needs a lot of shading and tons more detail to make it even okay, but as they say... practice practice practice! Oh what fun!

YouTube and Zendoodle

After my little foray into Christmas card world I decided I would check out online sources for Art paper tools (notice I didn’t use the term “scrapbooking” ~ I haven’t admitted to doing that yet) Specifically I was looking for a punch of some kind. While making cards I found that the end of my exacto knife just wasn’t cutting it (pun intended). So, there I was on YouTube watching a demo of Cropadile, the coolest ever hole punch, brad setter, dry paper embosser... hey, it does a lot of stuff and I do love gadgets. From there I watched a couple of demo’s on using gesso on journal pages, then I went on to see how gesso can alter photo’s.. Anyway to cut a long story short I eventually ended up viewing Milliande’s Channel, aka ArtPlay with Milliande. If you like/love/can’t help yourself but doodle...follow this link to doodle nirvana.
  http://www.youtube.com/user/Milliande#p/u/4/R_t_34mchtw

A couple of hours and many hand cramps and dead fingers later... I really must do something about that carpel tunnel syndrome ...some day...

So here are my valiant efforts at Zendoodling. I had to make myself quit after a couple of hours and go for a walk as my butt was NUMB. I know what I will be doing at work (only when there’s no work to do!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was recharging my camera battery after uploading these photo's when I saw that I had a couple of visitors in my backyard.  I quickly popped the battery back in praying that it had enough juice to capture a couple of quick shots. These two lovelies have been camping out here a lot lately. While both are very beautiful they really can be pests. Last winter the deer ate my fatsia’s down to a stub!! They had never touched them before so I guess you can’t rely on past behaviour to be an indication of what not to plant if you are trying to be deer proof.   She stood there for a long time, staring right back at me so I got my shots then I shooed her right away!  

 

This little guy is riddling the trees full of holes that the bugs just love to infest.  Over time I imagine it's not very healthy for the trees but he sure is gorgeous to look at and it looks like he is here to stay.