Warm Vanilla Cream

I'm not a big fan of chocolate, but vanilla? Ahhhhhh, I confess it is my weakness. I've always been envious of the pleasure I see on the faces of chocolate lovers as they sip cups of hot cocoa each winter. Imagine my delight when I discovered that the Starbucks menu included a tasty concoction called Warm Vanilla Cream. Sadly, the item was dropped from the menu. Undeterred, I have experimented and developed my own version, which I dare to say is even better than the Starbucks version. Top it off with a few mini-marshmallows for a tasty winter treat. I think a jar of the mix would make a great gift to the vanilla lover in your life.

Beth’s Warm Vanilla Cream Mix 2 cups nonfat dry milk powder 1 1/2 cups Splenda 1 cup non-fat dairy coffee creamer 1 1/2 cup non-fat French Vanilla coffee creamer 1 (lg pkg that makes 6.5 cups) package instant vanilla pudding (sugar-free and fat-free) Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. If a finer consistency is desired, you can run the mix through a blender or food processor. Store mix in an airtight container. Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup (depending on your consistency preference) of the mix to an 8 ounce mug of boiling water.

Time for the Soul

Sunday mornings are a special, sacred time to me. Over the past few weeks I've developed the habit of watching Super Soul Sunday on the new OWN network. This morning as I watched, I experimented with the new tangelation "Bridgen" that was recently developed by Carole Ohl's better half Daved. It wasn't just the process of Bridgen that intrigued me, but also the quote and thoughts that Carole shares in the blog entry: [Carole] called to mind something Rick Roberts had said during the recent CZT seminar: "To pay attention to what is NOT there: the open space." Very often it is the stillness and not doing, that brings us to see the next step to take. Being present in the midst of that stillness, now that is where and how we connect with our soul and discover the next step to take on our life journey.

Letter Lab

This week I've been working in the lab...The Letter Lab that is. This workshop created by Lori Vliegen of Elvie Studio is a great way to polish your cursive writing skills and learn a few techniques to enhance lettering in art journals and other creative projects. This is a recent bit of practice that combines Zenspiration with cursive lettering.

Pinterest

I've been collecting gobs of doodles on one of my Pinterest Boards. Stop by and check out the collection. Some of them are Zentangle related, many others are not. I hope you find some inspiration in this ever-growing collection.

Check this out

MyOats is a new web site that raises the art of doodling to an entirely new level. MyOats is a community where people create designs using an online drawing application. These designs can be rated, downloaded, and archived. Check out my first design:

What do you think? This is primitive...just wait until you see some of the amazing art that others on the site have created. Enjoy!

Profound

I just ran across this quote over at Gypsy's Girls Guide: “How” is not the Question. How is just logistics… it’s really a matter of getting ready to say “Yes!” to the Universe. Isn't that awesome? I'm going to have to sit with this one a while. My nature has always been to take a leap of faith and plunge into new opportunities as they open to me. As I get older I am finding that I am not leaping nearly as often or as far. This quote is reminding me not to question the opportunity and that I do not need to figure out all of the logistics.

Pixie Dust Paperie

Don't miss your chance to win the October giveaway at Pixie Dust Paperie.

Way cool!

I ran across this AWESOME art journal page that seems to incorporate Zentangling in a way that I have never seen. It is quite beautiful as are most of the art journal pages found at http://artjournaling.tumblr.com This particular one is by Ingrid Dijkers.. I've now added Ingrid's blog to the list of places where I find creative inspiration. Enjoy!

Check-in

Why do I have such a struggle with routine? I was adding a few new resources to the list on the right when I realized how long it had been since I actually posted anything to this blog. Believe it or not, I do stop by very often--almost daily--and use the links to visit other blogs for inspiration. I'm still doing Zentangles. mostly in my art journal. My latest kick is mixed-media. There just are not enough hours in the day to do everything I want to do--doodle, journal, collages, paint, blog, read other blogs, experiment with ideas I learn from others....oh yea, and work to earn a living that funds all of these projects that I get myself into. Life is good!

It's WILD!

I found a new toy today. Crayola has a new product called "Wild Notes" it is basically a spiral notebook that comes with a special pen. When you write/doodle on the paper with the pen the lines are multi-colored (green, red, blue, purple, pink, orange). The colors are really intense when you shade in sections of your doodle.

The pen does not work on regular paper and using a regular pen or pencil in the notebook does not produce color--you have to use the Wild Notes pen and paper together to get the effect.

Here is a link to product information on the Crayola site:
http://www.crayola.com/products/splash/wild-notes/

WOW! I wish this had been available when I was in school--but then again, I probably would have doodle in class even more than I did.

Recent ZIA

Here are a couple of my recent tangled pieces.

Simple tangles

Here are three simple tangle patterns. In fact, they are so simple that I imagine someone else has likely used/named them already. If so, let me know and I will give proper credit where it is due. I used them as filler in a ZIA with a lot of flower and leaf patterns.

There really aren't any steps for these simple patterns. For Rayne draw a series of dotted or tiny dashes and end with the drop. The rainfall can come in from any direction. Splash is just the droplets sort of bouncing back up as they hit the ground and Puddle is a series of concentric curved lines that progressively get longer as you work out from the center. These tangles work nicely with the floral and leafy tangles.

Doodle Camp--Day 1

Doodle Camp officially begins today. There isn't anything to do yet...just unpack, get settled in our cabins and begin to get to know our fellow campers. I have that same excited/nervous feeling that I get whenever I begin something new. I know this will be a lot of fun and I will learn a lot from our camp counselor, Dawn DeVries Sokol as well as from the other campers. As usual, I am just anxious to get started and DO something. I want to prep a few of my sketchbook journal pages by painting them. I think I can at least do that tonight.

More later!

I'm off to camp

I'm not sure why I do it...I have a history of diving into a project full-force then abandoning it when I get, distracted, overwhelmed. bored, busy...???...I'm not exactly sure why. With Zentangle and this blog I want to change that behavior. I haven't stopped Zen-doodling, I've just stopped posting my work.

I've just signed on to two new projects that will dovetail nicely with Zentangle and hopefully get me back on track here.

The first, I plan to attend Doodle Camp hosted by Dawn DeVries Sokol. This summer camp for doodlers, beginning July 2, will be three weeks of doodle tips and techniques, chances to win cool prizes (you know I love contests), and lots of fun.

The second is the 2012 Sketchbook Project. I really debated with myself about this one, but decided to take the plunge because the sketchbook isn't due until January. Besides, I can begin to fill it with my summer camp doodles.

For now, I am going to kickback, relax and tangle.

It is what it is.

I may already be a winner....

So far this month I've won 3 (count em, 1, 2, 3!) different contests (See comments with previous post). I am so excited! By nature I tend to be a joyful person. Recently some typical life circumstances were beginning to weigh me down. Over the past few weeks I've been more purposeful in trying to project positivity. Now it looks like that positive energy is attracting positive results in my life...at least as far as these blog contests are concerned. [GRIN].

For some reason the phrase on those thick Publishers Clearing House envelopes just popped in my head. You know, the one that had your name blazoned across the front of the envelope. I entered another blog give away earlier today, who knows...I may already be a winner!