~Doodles and Tangles~

I've long been a doodler.  There's never been a piece of paper safe around me, and I blame it all on my grandmother who was left with the chore of keeping my quiet and entertained when I was little.  ;)  (Who I'm positive taught me every craft out there in attempts to keep me out of her hair during Days of Our Lives)

One of my first "tangles"

So when my friends started posting about Zentangle I had to check it out.  Now the official Zentangle is all about finding your zen while doodling.  There's official tools, official methods,official classes, and official "doodles".  It's also officially expensive, and officially copyrighted.  ;)  So I won't be going much into the how-to's or the what about's here.  Although my good friend Karen has a great list of how to get started over on her blog, Karen Lynn Sandoval, she's been doing this a lot longer than me, and has some great advice!  (and links to get you started too!  I started with just a simple kit from Michael's)

"tangle" #1

And honestly I'm not much on rules, guidelines, or the whole theory of "zen".  I draw because I love it.  I check out the books, and put my pen to paper, just going with my own flow.  And I'm pretty positive the ocd in me when it comes to sketching headlocks any zen feeling one is supposed to get. Despite that it still is relaxing, if you can get the kids to stop bumping the table, lol.

You'll have to decide for yourself if you need the books.  Most of them aren't cheap, but I have an addiction to good old, paper in my hands, books.  I'll try to review some later for you!  But like I said, there's TONS of online resources that you can check out for free.  (speaking of books, my 7 year old asked for one for Christmas, I'll let you know his review of the kids' book!)

My main goal with practicing these is to re-develop my own skills with pen and paper, and maybe one day branch out into some hand drawn cards, for those days when my imagination is used up, and my fingers are callused from knitting.  That's if I stop running out of pens.  ;)

Do you doodle or tangle?  Feel free to share your ink inspired links!  I'd love to see them!

~Emily