Zentangle ATCs using Stencils

I love making ATCs and now I love my new found art thingy called Zentangle.  While it can be overwhelming searching through all of the books and sites that have Zentangle patterns; it is non-the-less a fun and rewarding journey.  I have all three of the Zentangle books by Suzanne McNeill and Sandy Steen Bartholomew and have them 3-hole punched in a binder.  Along with the three books I also have tons of printed out sheets of paper with the patterns I have been collecting from other wonderful and inspiring Zentangle artists.

You can find all of the books with a Search of Amazon.com for zentangle!  Here is the Zentangle Basics book with a link to get started.














Here are 2 of the stencil Zentangles I did this weekend:

Black & White Zentangle Swap

I finally found a swap that i could do my new found love "Zentangle".  I made four cards, this includes one for the hostess, and I had a blast doing it.  There is so much to learn about Zentangle and there are tons of websites out there.  People are creating their own Zentangle patterns and I have a couple, but nothing like them.

Zentangle is defined as "an easy to learn method of creating beautiful images from repetitive patterns." I find it relaxing as I can take my mind off of whatever is there and just concentrate on doing a pattern.  Zentangle is also supposed to help with concentration, which at this point in my life I need all the help I can get!

You can find out more about Zentangle at the official Zentangle website by Rick & Maria!  If you already do Zentangle and want to be a part of an artist trading card swap using it, then hop on over to ATCs For All and join the fun.

Here are the four Zentangle cards that I created:

I'm Dream of a White Christmas! Really?

Moving to Oklahoma turned out to be not such a hot idea, but what are you going to do?  The husband now has a job that pays well for this area and so far he likes it.  We also, finally, got medical insurance.

My point is this; Oklahoma is a humid place and I mean humid.  So, the winters are not just cold but they are wet and bone-chilling-cold.  I miss Colorado winter snow and I miss Colorado.  I joined this swap over at ATCs for All titled "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" and these are the cards I came up with:

The last won is done using Zentangle, but I was kind of sad that I blended in the "w" with the girl.  My favorite is the snow man in the field next to the tree!