Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers "Z" is for Zentangle!

Hello everyone... I am super excited about our challenge today over at The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers because today it is "Z" is for Zentangle!

I have been "tangling" for a few years now (since 2012 I think) and it is one of my very favorite things to do.  To "Zentangle" means to create intricate patterns by following easily created, repetitive mark-making one purposeful stroke at a time.  This wonderful method of rythmic doodling soothes my crazy OCD brain, lowers my blood pressure and makes time stand still as I go to my happy place.  Plus there is the added bonus of having all these wonderful pieces of art to use when I am done.

But as Zentangling is a something that may take a time or two to get the hang of I thought I would share a bit of a cheater creation to encourage you to link up... 




I used a page from a Mindware coloring book, which I had colored using my Copic markers, and then cut out and mounted on a stretched canvas,

which I then proceeded to embellish mixed-media style using a few leaf stencils and some of my many different pastes... 

After which I outlined with sharpies and enhanced with Ranger Liquid Pearls...

Now isn't this a great way to get your beautifully-colored pages out of your coloring book? 

And for those of you that would like to know more about Zentangle... here are a few of my latest "true" zentangled pieces using one of my favorite teaching books. (I have two books which I absolutley love!)

 

This one is a favorite because it gives me great instruction from four different accredited, Zentangle Instructors; because there are pages right in the book for me to use and to practice on; and because it shows the main pattern and then variations on that pattern as well as what you can do with the variations in both black and white and in color...swoon!

I have also discovered that coloring your tangled pattern entirely changes the feel of the piece and covers up any little imperfections...

And I have also learned that you need to be gentle with yourself while you are learning and to stifle that "critical voice" and allow yourself to play, play, play!

You can find out more about the practice of Zentangle HERE at their official site and I can highly recommend the $49 Zentangle kit to help you easily learn and practice this wonderful art form.  (And YES, I have one and YES, I still use it!...Smile)

So a bit of a different post for my Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers challenge this week, but I wanted to show how easily you can tangle up an entry of your own, or you can do what I did, print off a pattern, color it and make it into something to share!  Because you know we always choose a Queen and Princesses of Snark for every challenge!  Remember you  have until Friday, November 25th at 11:59 pm EST to link up your Zentangled creation!

Lynne Mizera
for the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers
 






 

LifeBook 2016 - Lesson #2

Happy May 1st Everyone! This is a quick post to show you my latest lifebook lesson completed - Number 2!  I found this one was particularly empowering and yet Still FUN - Gotta Love That! 

The idea is to list the stuff you want to leave behind as you start the year and showcase the stuff you want to reach for.  Tamara created a beautiful zentangled butterfly, flying towards the sun,  a trail of stuff she was leaving behind flowing out behind the butterfly and the sun full of empowering words... I loved the concept but the butterfly - not so much, so I was kind of stumped until I decided my word was going to be GROW... well then the concept of a flower, growing towards the sun, being fertilized with all the Sheee-ite from the past, just popped fully formed into my head!

I added this figure at the final stage and as soon as I glued her down I knew the page was complete.  I am really LOVING my Lifebook journey this year.

Thanks for popping in to see my latest creation, and please do leave me a comment of you like what you are seeing!

Lynne Mizera (artist) Grin

"P" is for PROFANITY!

I am so excited to be sharing my edgy creation for this week's Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge:

"P" is for Profanity!

I created this BEAUTIFUL Zentangled page and colored it in using my Inktense pencils... I love not only the vibrant colors they give me but also the fact that since these pencils are Ink not Paint the color is waterproof once dried.

I hope you like my little 'tongue-in-cheek" fun I created for this challenge and if you want to unleash a bit of your salty side come play along with us! You have two weeks (until November 28th) to create and upload your interpretation of "P" is for Profanity at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers blog... But do pop by anyway to see what else my Snarky Sisters have created... It sure to be FUN!

Thanks for popping in today to see what I am up to, and please do leave me a comment if you like what you see!

Cheers...

Scrapbook Lynne Mizera

Note: to find out more about Zentangle go to the official website at www.zentangle.com.  I recommend purchasing THIS KIT.... I LOVE IT!

Challenge YOUrself #4 - Keep Calm and....

Can you BELIEVE it's already our fourth challenge over at Challenge YOUrself? It has gone by so fast, and I just love that I already have FOUR layouts scrapbooked this year All About MEEE! (grin) For our 4th challenge we are asking:

What drives you?  What makes you happy?    

Is it hanging with the family and friends, gardening, shopping, running, reading, working, traveling, etc... 

Challenge YOUrself #4: Keep Calm And __________

Create a layout using the quote "Keep Calm and______" (fill in the blank)

<<<  Cannot be scrapbooking related!  >>>  

AND Remember to include YOU in the photo ;)

Now if you find you need some inspiration check out all these lovely images in Google....

To be honest at first this challenge was a bit of a struggle for me until I really looked at all the photos of ME I wanted to use and then it became so OBVIOUS!.... (don't you think?)

For this layout I used ONE piece of Bo-Bunny card stock, my colored sharpie markers and a black and white gel pen.  That's IT because I hand-doodled all the rest... SO COOL!

I guess I could have also used "eat on" or "drink on" but the common theme for me is laughter...

And if you have ever met me you will know this to be TRUE, TRUE, TRUE!

So please pop on over to the CHALLENGE YOURSELF Blog to see what my teammates created... and why not add one of your own layouts to our challenge this month?  You have until April 5th to link up and there is a lovely little prize pack of embellishments from Glitz for our top pick!

Thanks for stopping by today to see what I am up too, and leave me some "blog love" in the form of a comment if you like what you see!

Cheers Scrapbook Lynne Mizera

Create, Inspire and LOVE...

Hello Everyone!!! (smile) In just one more day it will be the beginning of another new year and this REALLY excites me. "Why?" you ask, since we do get a new year every year... Well, the answer is the older I get the more I appreciate the gift of Time...  to me every single new year is a gift of more time to do things I haven't tried yet and to continue doing all the things I already love to do - which is what I did today, something I LOVE for my Susan K. Weckesser design team post.  I am so very excited to be able to share with you a brand new canvas I created using three of Susan K. Weckesser's Unity stamp sets, some heavy-body acrylic paint and incorporating some of my newest art passion - my Zentangle patterns.

Susan's house stamp from her Little Haven set is so easy to fill with "tangles" that I just couldn't stop... the hardest part of the entire process was trying to decide whether or not to color in my pattern-filled house or to keep it black and white.  As you can see they both have their charms...

 In the end I decided to use color... because that's just how I roll! (smile)

To create this wonderful zentangled house I stamped my image on 140lbs watercolor paper with Archival ink and used my Sakura micron pens to create the patterns inside the house.  I used watered down colored india inks to wash in some color and because all the products I used were waterproof there was no transfer of color or ugly black smears when I added the color or when I glued everything onto my canvas.

 

I added patterns to all the elements I stamped and after I had all my elements in place and nicely glued down I "painted" the canvas with my tiny bottles of stickles, liquid pearls and liquid glass to add light and lightness to the finished canvas.

This lovely piece of happiness with its uplifting message is going to hang on my studio wall for all of 2014 to remind me of that wonderful saying by Picasso -

"Inspiration exists, but it has to find us Working"

Thanks for stopping by to share with me today... and don't forget to leave a comment if you liked what you see!

Cheers!

Scrapbook Lynne Mizera

Products used on this project:
Susan K. Weckesser/Unity Stamps - Little Haven 
Susan K. Weckesser/Unity Stamps - Painted Sentiments
Susan K. Weckesser/Unity Stamps - Fly Away
Golden heavy body acrylic paints
Golden matte multi-medium
Ranger stickles & liquid pearls
Sakura Pigma Micron pens
Maria & Rick's Zentangle Kit

Do You "Do The Zentangle"?

Pheeewww... December 28th and another Christmas under my belt... this year was particularly sweet as it was the first Christmas Dean and I have ever spent alone - Together (smile) EVER... but surprisingly I really, really enjoyed it and I hope you also had a wonderful holiday spent with the people (or animals) you love the best!

Well, I went from a blog post every day in November to very few posts in December as I recovered from a wonderful two-week holiday in Mexico and then Christmas, so it's CATCH UP time and today I want to share the "Arting" I made while on holidays. Yup ... I was still creating even on  vacation because I cannot go from creating something every single day for 30 days and then do nothing! So I packed my wee watercolor palette, a tiny art journal, all my gel pens and my five Sakura Micron pens (sizes 01-08) thinking I would finally have the time without interruption to learn this thing called "ZENTANGLE" that I heard about over a year ago.  So here is a photo montage (with written commentary of course!) of my wonderful holiday in Manzanillo, Mexico and the ARTING that I made while I was there.... ENJOY!

This small deck (with our own pool) is where I did most of my morning Arting

But I would move to the shade cover of this larger deck next to the tree tops in the afternoons

My tools (plus some sparkly gel pens)

My first ever attempt at using watercolor to paint what I was seeing....  I used gel pens to enhance the watercolor and add sparkle!

Here is the sunrise I kept trying to capture

as always my first attempt is my favorite!

This one is waiting for me to finish

but I think I captured the colors of that sky, don't you?

Learning Zentangle patterns

I used eyeshadow to add that faint hint of color (grin)

adding color with gel pens...

and playing...

And Playing...

And Playing...

And Playing... at the airport

I created these two zentangles on the plane on the way home...

between the very crowded plane, small seats and a sick baby that cried for five hours and NO entertainment systems (not even a group movie) they saved my mind! a TRUE Zen experience... smile

Well, I hope you enjoyed my Arting montage... don't forget to leave me a comment if you liked what you see - AND if you want to know more about Maria and Robert's Zentangle check out the official website HERE and I can highly recommend their Zentagle boxed kit which includes a HOW TO CD (which I purchased) HERE

Cheers (and Happy Arting)

Scrapbook Lynne Mizera