Step-Outs to Eternity

  I deconstructed this tangle quite a while ago, but only got around to making step-outs to it recently. I named it "Eternity" in honour of my relationship with my significant other. I hope that when you draw this tangle, you would think about your love to people who matter in your life. :)

  Eternity can be used as a string, and as a border tangle. If you closed both of its tail-ends, you could also make it a stand-alone tangle. Hopefully you'll enjoy drawing it just as much as I do.

  The other tangle featured is my version of Diva Dance Rock and Roll. It is a simplified version, and you can find step-outs to it via this link.

late night conversations

  Good afternoon, lovelies. The holiday season is upon us. Can you believe it's almost December already? Time flies by so quickly. I've been busy making holiday gifts for my family and friends. I think I'm making the largest amount of presents this year than I have in the past years. I think it's a blessing. It means that there are more people that I treasure in my life now than I've ever had.

Here's my pile of things. Some tiles are already wrapped... Some will be mailed to friends and family living overseas. Some will be given in person. :) There's so much love and joy that I want to spread.

  Here are two of the tiles that I've completed. The Zendala is meant to be a Christmas tree ornament and has the birthday gemstones of the person I'm gifting the tile to (they're sardonyx gems). The other is for a child. I've left the top left area empty because I'm going to be teaching her how to draw my version of Diva Dance- Rock and Roll. It's the simplified version. And if you've not watched my video tutorial on how to draw it, you can watch it via this link. I promise it'd be worth your time. ;)

  Here's my entry for this week's Diva Challenge. It's fragments of Ving. I really like Ving and how versatile it is. The curved version of it reminded me of paper aeroplanes, so I turned them into one. :) The other tile was for an It's A String Thing, featuring Sea Wave. But I haven't finished shading it. I swear, I've been taking part in weekly challenges. It's just that I never get around to completing them.... They're all either half-done, or not shaded. Urgh.

  Lastly, here's a page from my new typography sketchbook. I'm already on my third one. The flip-through video of my second typography sketchbook should be up soon. And I also am going to edit the video for my old sketchbook.

  Thank you so much for dropping by to see what I've been up to in the past week. I hope you have a safe and lovely holiday this season. And until next week... Keep tangling!

Step-outs to Diva Dance Simplified

    I teach the Zentangle method to a lot of children, and earlier during June this year, I tried teaching Diva Dance- Rock and Roll in my classes. Most kids got it, some didn't; and I don't really like it when students don't "get" certain patterns that I teach as I think of it in the sense that there has to be a better/easier way for me to teach the pattern. ... And I found a way! I'm so excited to teach you how to draw my version of Diva Dance- Rock and Roll. I'm sure it'd be a great substitute if you're teaching it as a first tangle to someone who has never tried Zentangle art before, or to children and other non-children (or children at hearts. haha) who struggle with the original tangle.

  The difficulty that the children I taught had with the pattern was deciding where and when they should add the "bumps". Some added too few and then it didn't look like the example that I had demonstrated for them. This made them frustrated. Others were so focused on the bumps that their aura didn't keep close to the bumps and they ended drawing something that resembled Printemps. I hope this video will also help.

  And here's a page in my sketchbook where I drew it as a border. I'm going to be drawing a Zendala next to it, leaving a white border between the two parts.

Step-Outs to Lovelites

  I had taught "Footlites" to a class previously. On a following class, I built upon that tangle but drew it in a different way and used it as a border. My goal for that was to teach my students that tangles can inspire you to draw new patterns, and that tangles could be used in different ways. My students loved the tangle I taught and asked for its name. I hadn't thought to name it anything...

 "It's inspired by Footlites," I told them. "So we just say it's a variation of Footlites."

  One student suggested, "Maybe we could call it Lovelites".

  And I really liked the name. So I present to you, Lovelites:

  And here's a suggestion on how to shade it.

  Thank you Stephie for gifting this tangle a name. :)  I hope many others use the tangle.

the incy wincy spider... drew an nzeppel

  I'm trying to re-adjust my sleep schedule so I woke up early today but then I have a class to teach tonight so it's going to be a long day for me.. hahaha

  On the bright side, though, I got a lot more things done this morning than I normally would. Here's my submissions for Joey's challenge (featuring Fracus), and Diva's challenge (Flux and N'zeppel). I really like how Laura made her Flux into little ghosts, so I kept with the Halloween theme and created spiderwebs. Fracus also resembles a spiderweb too, so that was nice.

  Little spider hanging from the Nzeppel web. Also, I imagined dewdrops on the web. :)

  Speaking of Halloween; Teacher Joni and I are currently having fun teaching some Halloween-themed Zentangle workshops. Here's one tile that we taught, completed by a participant:

So pretty, isn't it?

  Onto other workshop-y things... We also taught the Zentangle method to some kids at Tampines North Community Centre. It was a two hour class, based on the theme "Singapore". So we included Singapore's national flower, the Vanda Miss Joaquim, as the star of the tile.

The kids were between ages four to thirteen years old.

Here I am at the front of the class with a flower wreath on my head. haha

  Lastly, we've begun teaching Zentangle-inspired craft classes. Our most recent one was a tote bag class. One of the students, Ingrid, who attended the class drew this for her sister. Did I mention Ingrid is only seven years old? She has been learning how to tangle from us for a while now and we couldn't be more proud of her progress. Her mum even told us that she's now more focused when she does other activities too. :)

  Andddd~ Here's a page from my sketchbook. I'm quite happy with it. :)

  I hope your week is going well. I'm a little sleepy but sleep can wait. Hopefully by next week, I'd have adjusted to my new (more healthier) sleep schedule and I will be more productive. Until then, keep tangling~

a heart full of tangles

  I've started so many pages in my new sketchbook, nut have not completed them yet. Oops. I also should finish my old sketchbook so that I can do a flip-through video of it. Oh, and, I've almost completed a second typography sketchbook. You know... Like the Canson one I did a while back? I should be completing that soon as well. But wish me luck. It's the end of the year and we're busy as can be.

  Here's a tile I completed for the Travelling Tangles Project. Sabrina started it. The heart in the centre is thread that's sewn onto the tile. How cool is that? I added Naida (one of my own tangles), and Diva Dance.

  And here's my submission for Diva's challenge: Gourdeous, and Joey's challenge: ripped tile.

  I also just posted a new video on my YouTube channel.

  I also completed all the blank template pages of the Tanglelendar for 2017. Woohoo. Again, you can download copies of the pages via this link, and also join the Tanglelendar Facebook group here.

  Thanks for dropping by. See you next week!

catching dreams

  Here's my submission for Diva's and Joey's challenge this week. Featuring Dreamcatcher and Relly-Telly-One.

  Here are some recent tiles I completed for the Travelling Tangles. The first two ones were from Sue Zanker.

  And this one was from Anne Marks.

  Here's my completed Tanglelendar for September.

  And some details...

  I used Finetec paints for the shimmery-ness.

  You can download your own template for October, November, and December via this link. I am currently working on getting next year's pages done. :)

  Thanks for dropping by. Have a great weekend.

colours speak all languages

  I'm the admin of the Travelling Tangles Project on Facebook where lots of artists swap their beautiful works with one another. And for this week of Diva's challenge, I thought I might start a tile to swap with someone who comes visit my blog. If you'd like, I can send it to you and you can complete it. You'll send me a half-completed tile and I'll complete it, too. If you're interested in that, let me know in the comments section below!

  If you'd like to see what other artists have created for the Travelling Tangles Project, visit this link.

Featuring Paradox in a Tripoli grid.

  I recently started doing these little art works. They were done as a little fun side-project. The colours were added with Peerless watercolours. Some tangles were too small and my waterbrush was too big, so I'm going to need to "save the whites" with my Uni-ball Signo white pen. hahaha

  Here's my Tanglelendar for September so far:  (I'm a little behind schedule... Time flies by so quickly, doesn't it?!

  Want to start your very own Tanglelendar too? Here's where you can download the blank templates for FREE: linky link right here. You're welcome. ^-^   I really need to start creating pages for 2017 soon, though....

  I also recently posted a video tutorial on how to draw Meer as a border.

  I've been planning on what I'm going to teach next month for my Zentangle classes... It's exams period so Joni and I think there's going to be a drop in how many students we have. :(  But then the school holidays period will arrive and we will be drowned in so much work it'd be hard to catch a breath. That's life, isn't it? Either you're bored out of your mind, or you're so busy you can't breathe. hahaha. I take it to stride.

And lastly, here are some ATCs I made to sell when we hold workshops. The purple one is completed. I've titled it "Memories". The second one still needs shading, and the last one needs its background filled in. The colours were added with Peerless watercolours.

  Thank you so much for dropping by. I hope you leave a little more inspired than when you first arrived. See you next week!

life is tough, darling, but so are you

  I'm playing catch-up on the weekly challenges. This one was done for It's a String Thing and Joey's challenge, last week. The colours were added with Peerless watercolours. I'm trying out this new thing where I'm adding tangles on what would be the edge of the tile. And I'm still continuing that thing I've done where I try to make the tangles of the different tiles merge together.

  This one was done for last last week's of Joey's challenge. Hahaha 

  Some new tangles- Dreamdex (by a Zentangle teacher-friend of mine, Debbie New). It's such a beautiful and versatile tangle. Then there's Dreamcatcher and Nymph. I haven't added shading to this page, yet.

  This week's Diva challenge; Tripoli. I tried to make mine unique. It's a free-floating pattern on one of my sketchbook page and I'm not showing the rest of the page because it's not completed yet.

  Here's a picture of me and my new bag that I drew on. I recently cut off about 5 inches of my hair.

  Everything Is Art also recently opened its craft store. Here is a sample of the things that we have available for sale. :)

  They're all hand-drawn with love. And if you're interested in seeing all the items available and how much each item costs, you can visit our webstore.

  And lastly, here's a tile I did inspired by this week's Joey's challenge. Tipple on all four corners of the tile. Echos across the tile. And Dreamdex, looking like a pinwheel. The background was done with Winsor & Newton watercolours.

  Thank you for dropping by. I hope I've inspired you. Until next week... Keep tangling!

I see your true colours...

  I've been working on my tiles for various weekly Zentangle challenges. They're all being done in my sketchbook. But I've been so busy for the past week that I've not gotten around to completing them. I'm so sorry I haven't been posting here, either... 

  Here are some tiles from the Travelling Tangles Project that I've been working on...

  Sandy Kelley-Jones did the start to this wonderful tile. The obvious choice would be to have complete the Huggins, but I refused to take the easy route. Instead, I added a curvy version of Floatfest, plus Cadent and then went super crazy with Striping it. (That's why it took a while for me to complete the tile....) The original Huggins then became a sort of river. This was fun!

  Here's another one from Kat van Rooyen.

  I secretly hate working on black Zentangle® tiles because of how much they absorb the ink from my white pen.... And so it takes a while to get my lines to look as opaque as I want them to be. But I still had fun with it. I added some gems, and then made everything look like a bracelet.

Pretty tassels.

  Also notice how I'm toying with the idea of changing my initial? It's a triangle with a dot in the middle in the last two tiles... But I'm still reverting back to my cursive "s" initial, so I'm not sure yet... Here's a tile from Sabrina Kirjavainen.

  And here's my finish. I'm teaching that fan-shaped looking pattern in my classes this month. ^-^

  And one last one. This one is from the Diva herself, Laura Harms.

  And here's what I did with it.

  If you didn't know yet, I also cut my hair!

  And here's just one last tile that I did for fun. I've sent it off to one of my best friends who currently lives in London. It's the same tile; the one on the left side is just the line art, the one on the right is after I added colours with Peerless watercolours, and shading with a grey Fabrico marker.

Shading with markers is tough, but I think I did a good job.

  I hope you enjoyed seeing what pretty things I've created in the past week. I've been working on other things, too. It's just that they're not completed yet so I didn't want to show you yet. Until next week.... Keep tangling!

the best birthday

  Last week was a great week. Just yesterday, I had the best birthday that I've had in quite a while. My friends have made me feel very loved by gifting me nice art supplies that I wanted... I had a wonderful lunch with someone who I hope will turn into a sort of mentor in the future... I bought some nice mooncakes in lieu of a chocolate cake because I had a craving for mooncakes. hehehe. And today, I spent some time at the Night Festival with a new friend, and it was wonderful. And of course, I've been busy with artsy things as well.

  Let's start things off with a simple Bijou tile, featuring Cadent.

I'm teaching Cadent to my students at the moment. And before this, I had completely forgotten how much I love Cadent. So many possibilities with it! This tile was real fun to do.

  My sketchbook page for Diva's ("Ing") and Joey's ("Finish My Tile #2) challenges.

There's Meer wrapped around the border of the top tile; Aquafleur is featured in the Bijou; Cadent is featured in the lower tile; and there is a couple of Springkles on the lower left of the page. I hope that helps if you'd like to find any step-outs to the tangles I've drawn.

Some Travelling Tangles tiles...

  Don't forget that you can join the fun over at the Travelling Tangles Project's Facebook page.

  And here are two tiles completed by my mum, Joni Toh. Send her some love. :)

Featuring "Singapore Sling", one of my own patterns.
You can find step-outs to it via this link.