Have you heard of Zentangles?

These are my first zentangles. I think these are so cool! I heard about these maybe a year ago, but didn't investigate them at the time. This weekend I was checking out another paper crafter's blog, and she had just tried zentangles herself. She linked a website that had a video showing you how to create one particular pattern. I watched the video, tried out the pattern they were describing, and I was kind of hooked. I zentangled until late into the night. And I did more the next day. And the next. Very fun, and addictive. I like the way they look - just simple black and white art. I will see if I can incorporate them into cards.

I'll try to describe zentangles here, but you should go to http://www.zentangles.com/ for more info. They are little pieces of artwork made up of doodles. I don't think they're supposed to be called "structured" doodles, but there can be some structure to them. You draw repetitive patterns within a defined space. You use white paper and a Sakura Micron 01 black pen. (I tried it with a black gelly roll pen, and that was too gloppy.) If you really want to know more about them, check out the zentangles website. You can get an overview, you can see lots of samples, you can see some easy to follow instructions on how to create various "named" patterns. Give it a try!