So what do tangling, moebius and Valentines Day have in common?
First I started at I am the Diva's blog to check out her weekly tangling challenges. I'm new to her blog and just came across Weekly Challenge #55. which uses moebius as the central theme. Then I followed a few of the links and found this blog post here at Xplore&Xpress That showed me how to make the hearts below and more about the moebius. So I spent about an hour on Wednesday night making and cutting moebius strips then Thursday took the time to make my Valentine something geek worthy. This is my practice run.
You really must try this at home. All you need is some paper, pens, scissors, something to make things stick (I used double sided tape) and a bit of curiosity to explore how the heck it works! I'd tell you all how to do it here but I don't need to because all you need to know is in the 3rd link above.
Then you can make one for the geek in you life. Or you could do it together.
On facebook Marilyn Monroe has been hailed as an example of beauty that counters the love of the thin model.. I do think she rocks but this blog post here suggests we need something even better to counter society's shackles. Do we want anyone telling us what is beautiful. Do we want to compare ourselves to each other? Read the blog post she has some good points.
I think Dar William sings it up in her song Cool as I am
Winter ESB Ale was smooth, lighter than I expected and fruity. Not bitter at all even though ESB stands for extra special bitter Apparently ESB beers aren't supposed to be bitter despite having bitter in the name. Stephen was meh on it but I liked it.
It was nice with my chicken quesadilla for lunch. Yum.
85% local dinner, sometime in 2010 that is! I planned to post it but never did. Maybe it can inspire you if you are in a food rut. Might have to make changes because tomatoes and tomatillos aren't sadly not in season. Bummer. Cabbage is still easy to find and maybe some really good jarred salsa would do in a pinch.
Steak Taco's
12 plus ounces of Kansas Grass Fed Angus Flank Steak Cut with the grain. Marinated in lime juice, garlic, and cumin. Then cooked.
Tomatillo Salsa
Local Roasted tomatillos, one ear
local sweet corn, small onion, local purple pepper, salt. This was so good it didn't last for dinner. So I made some Pica Da Gillo to make up for it. 2 Local tomatoes, 2-3 gloves crushed garlic, one ear local sweet corn, one small onion, one local anaheim pepper, salt.
Marinated Red Onions: vinegar, sugar and red pepper flakes or jalapeno for spice. Cabbage slaw: cabbage of course, grated carrots, vinegar, salt.
Over the holidays I took a long break from knitting, spinning and more. One, I was sick, Bah! Two, I was having fun with my family. Three, I got distracted with Pinterest where I came across more online information about Zentangles. I first heard about Zentagles through my local fiber guild. I wasn't able to go to the meeting where everyone learned about it. I tried to find out more online but my internet and google fu was lacking at the time. I was going to get a starter kit and share it with a friend but we got busy and didn't pursue it. I even looked on amazon and swear nothing came up when I typed in zentangle.
So while I was recuperating and pinned things on Pinterest I zentangled. Some of my favorites patterns are: betweed, mooka, cubine, tuscon, and paradox. I watched these video here from the creators of Zentagles.
On Flickr you can find a lovely gallery of Zentangles. I have Zentangle inspirational and patterns collected on my Pinterest Board.
An official Zentangle is on a nice piece of drawing paper. Cut to 3.5 inches square and drawn with a fine ink pen. Sakuara .25mm pigma pens are recommended and I love them too. Since falling in love with tangling I got myself some pens, a nice journal to explore patterns and some lovely white paper to cut to size.
Here's some of the first tangling I did before I understood the standard process or size.
My tangling journal where I explore new patterns:
Some how I came across the basic steps. This is how I understand it.
Draw four points in the corners of the card with a pencil. Then connect those points. Don't fret about the lines they don't have to be straight wibbly-wobbly is good! If you want the design to go to the edges of the card you don't have to do this.
Also with your pencil draw what's called a string inside the box you made. Not sure on the rules on this. I see ones that are done all curvy and some that are several lines all straight too.
Then with your fine ink pen fill in section with patterns that please you. Most of all have fun and don't fret about it. Your string is a guidde but not meant to restrict you. You can tangle outside of the lines.
Then last you can add some shading or not. It can really make it all pop.
Here are a few of my official tangle squares:
You can see the string lines I created and how I used them and didn't use them.
This was done using a diamond grid and combining lines and the paradox tangle.
This one I followed the string a bit more.
What I most like about Zentangles are the "rules" that help you get started but not so much a "rule" that it blocks your creativity. Last I leave you with a link to a free pdf download. You will need to join the website to get it but I'd say it's worth it. Just go here
Tangle! You know you want to. It's like doodling in highschool but better and you don't have to do it to stay awake during a boring lecture. You an do it because it's fun!
Edited to spell Tuesday correctly and remove my draft notes :P
