This week we used four heart inspired patterns and a string line that brought to mind a yin yang symbol. The combination turned out to be fertile ground for tangling fun. Grab a cup of tea, get cozy, and be prepared to be amazed ~ The first tile arrived from India and Dr. Neha Sanwalka who wrote ~ Thanks for the challenge. I call this piece "falling hearts". The thought behind doing this was to shower love on one and all who see this and thus, falling hearts. :) [on her blog] Tangled Tidbits - *contrasting light and dense areas *Heartrope without the darkened spaces makes it very light and airy Lily Moon said wrote, "...Lovely patterns, I like all of them :)" Tangled Tidbits - * Heartrope shaded along the dark crescents *ever so pretty shadows of Luv-a *extra curls on Heartvine From Lucy Banta, CZT ~ ...I loved the tangles you selected, and the love/heart theme. We have a lot to love in this amazing world of Zentangle and tanglers. Thank you for everything you offer this fine group! Here's the link to my blog: Aren't we all so happy to be sharing the love for all things tangled?! Tangled Tidbits - *auras with Luv-a lines *large and lavish Heartstrings Cat Trask wrote ~ What a fun challenge... all hearts and luv! These tangles were all new to me, and I know that at least a couple of them will be go-to favorites for me. I really enjoy Luv-a by CZT Sharon Coforio!!! I know I will be using that one often! [also on] my personal blog Tangled Tidbits - *Heartrope's sloping aura *connecting vines of Heartvine *lovely Luv-a Christina Luis wrote ~ Thank you for such a great challenge, I have never used these tangles before and found them very fun and interesting. I will definitely be using them more. Here is my entry for this week. Thank you, Christina [on her blog] Tangled Tidbits - *sparkled Heartstrings with darkly striped aura *Heartrope shade in the overlaps affording it wonderful depth *a fabulous field of Luv-a Sandra said ~ thank you very much for that lovely challenge :-) Three of the pattern where new to me and I had lots of fun when I tried all the four heart inspired tangles! In germany we say "my heart rised up", but I don't know if you say so in english too... It means that my heart was full of joy when I tangled the tile for this challenge :-) I posted my tile in my blog too: The feeling would surely translate no matter what language it was expressed in and it is good to know this brought such joy~ Tangled Tidbits - *Heartvine along the string line *little black hearts of Luv-a *aura and shading of Heartrope make it appear raised Carmela wrote ~ Lovely and lovely and lovely. I love this string with the round lines and I love hearts. Thanks for this lovely challenge, i made it with love and joy. [on my]My blog: Tangled Tidbits - *a wonderful flow of tangles *shading in the 'valleys' of Heartrope *wispy lines of Luv-a A very warm welcome to Emily Shelton of Kentucky ~ Tangled Tidbits - *Heartrope aura-ed twice and tangled along the string circle *a pretty curve of Heartstrings *just a pop of red Henrike Bratz wrote ~ And here’s my tile for this week’s challenge. I also posted it here: I signed it as soon as I had finished the tile in the positiopn I had drawn it. Only afterwards I turned it around and liked it in all four positions. Tangled Tidbits - *Heartstrings on the beaded lines of Luv-a *gorgeous details added to Heartrope *a circle of delicate Heartvine Suzy Mosh I like the Cruffle-like string this week and it was wonderful working with all the hearts and all the red and pink I could find. My drawing is attached. [on] My blog That is an excellent observation about the string! Tangled Tidbits - *the shades of pink and red give Heartrope a new look *background shading accents the tangles so well Michele Wynne wrote ~ What a fun challenge! All of these patterns were new to me. I had Heartstrings and Luv-a in my pattern journal but never explored them. This inspired an idea to spend the next two weeks creating "Valentines". Not necessarily heart-centric but enhanced with red. I plan to give them out at work and perhaps leave a few Raz's around town. I posted this on my blog entry today and explored the idea. I also asked the question: What do you do with your tiles? Tangled Tidbits - *fabulous shading and highlight on the string circle *bold black edges of Heartrope *deep shading of Luv-a Claudia aka Beewatch from Switzerland said, "Thank you very much for this lovely challenge. I enjoyed it so [on]My blog " Tangled Tidbits - *the shaded and red aura of Heartvine *little bits of Luv-a circling the zendala *swirls of Heartrope and Heartstrings A very warm welcome to Lydia R. Powell. She wrote, "... This is my first contribution and my first time attempting shading. I just started tangling in December and love it! I loved playing with these hearts." Welcome and congratulations on pushing through and shading - it looks wonderful. Tangled Tidbits - *lovely Luv-a against a field of Heartstrings *a delicate line of Heartvine Susan Theron said, "This is not a show piece, but it is mine." Because it is yours, it is a show piece :) Tangled Tidbits - *intertwining Heartrope and Heartstrings *red pops of Heartvine A very warm welcome to Juliane Lopes who wrote ~ So, although I have done many of your challenges, attached is my first actual submission. I'm so excited!! I was more or less familiar with all these tangle patterns, but have never used this string before. After a few minutes of thought, it all came together pretty quickly for me. I don't often use color in my work, but I felt it needed something else to add weight or interest. I am happy with the way it turned out. This is exciting, especially because I got to meet Juliane at one of my classes last month. Welcome! Tangled Tidbits - *corners of Luv-a *Heartstrings - shaded, aura-ed, and sparkled *a lovely center vine of Heartvine And the party keeps growing as we extend a very warm welcome to Cindy Straight. Cindy said the challenge was "awesome." She included the link to her blog. Tangled Tidbits - *awesome aura *varying line width - notice what that adds to Luv-a and Heartvine Cathy Cusson wrote ~ I love these tangles and it was nice to have a chance to use them. I wish I could get heartrope a bit more "perfect", but hey, it was fun. I debated on color - all those hearts were just begging for some pink or red, but alas, tonight is planning night for school so my time was not my own. Maybe I will get to another this weekend. Tangled Tidbits - *Heartvine springing from Heartrope *wonderful shading Beverly wrote, "I zentangle between shoveling snow, Happy Valentine's Day." There must be even more snow by now and hopefully more tangles :) Tangled Tidbits - *delicate tangles *great balance of white space Kirsten Bish wrote ~ Enclosed please find my newest Tangle "Life's Desire". I use to hate Valentine's Day. However, since I met my husband I tend to get all soft and gooey around stuff like that. This is one of my first Zendalas. HEART STRINGS really spoke to me. However, I could do pages of LUV-A! Hearts are one of my go-to doodles anyway. Really loved this challenge, thank you Oh, how I do love a good love story! Tangled Tidbits - *multiple directions and layers of Heartstrings *a deep dark background for Luv-a Ilse Lukken said, "Here's my contribution to your lovely challenge :-) I put it on my blog as well." Tangled Tidbits - *single Heartstrings in each corner *Heartstrings tangled with one dark side and one lined side Donna Flynn said, "All of the recent snow days here in Maine have been a boon to tangling. #77 was born in the blizzard! And a great heart opener." Snow is conducive weather, I see! Tangled Tidbits - *pearlz along the circular string line *a cascade of red red Luv-a tucked under one Heartstring *great shading Heidi said ~ I really enjoyed working with this string. It became really dimensional by making each "paisley-like" shape grow from the point to the curve. I had so much fun that it became a little busy as I kept adding more and more details. Still working on knowing when enough is enough! Thanks again for hosting this challenge every week. I look forward to seeing what everyone has done and also to working on a new tangle myself! Tangled Tidbits - *Heartrope extraordinaire - twists and turns of beautiful detail *elongated aura of Heartstrings *sparkled Heartvine Another very warm welcome to Neena who wrote ~ This is my first time participating your string thing challenge :) and i love it. My name is Neena and although i have not uploaded the tile on my site yet, my site name is favoritepasstime.comI love to draw and learn new things about the same. Few years back i came to know about this Zentangle method and as you can predict, i got hooked to it. Tangled Tidbits - *shaded background of Heartstrings *a swath of red Heartrope Lori Byerly wrote ~ Well, this challenge is quite the celebration of Valentine's Day. I had no idea there were so many heart patterns. :) My tile may be seen here. Tangled Tidbits - *curved lines of Heartrope give the tangle so much movement *tiny bits of Heartvine around the border and a few pops of it in Luv-a *sensational shading Ann Kobberholm wrote ~ What a lovely string, it's great to work with. All the tangles we're new to me and I like all of them. And they go so well together... I love when I can get lots of swirly lines... And you gotta love hearts! This time I've used color. Hearts calls for some red! I'm feeling the love for this weeks tile! I also posted it on my blog:b Tangled Tidbits - *black, brown, and red tangles *a lovely center of Luv-a Magdalene Lee included the link to her blog post ~ Tangled Tidbits - *waves of overlapping Heartstrings *Luv-a poking through Heartrope *delicately shaded Heartvine From Ingrid Coventon wrote from the snowy Netherlands "with much love" said,"It was so much fun to draw all these little hearts. I only used luv-a and heartvine. They seemed most suitable in this string for me." Tangled Tidbits - *lovely layers of Luv-a in alternating directions with one ruby red heart poking through *beaded lines of Heartvine Joya wrote, "I added some color (Stabilo fineliner) and some water with a thin brush, so I got a watercolor-effect. I like the way it came out, I think I will try it again :o)" The colors are beautiful ~ Tangled Tidbits - *alternating shaded and white background spaces of Heartstrings *gorgeous Luv-a Juul kidded, "Did I use enough hearts??? haha" Yes, even the corners are bedecked with hearts ~ Tangled Tidbits - *stark black and white spaces with delicate details in between *darker lines of Heartstrings through the middle curve of the string Annie Taylor said ~ Lovely heartfelt challenge this week. A couple of new tangles for me. I didn't know Luv-a and once I started I couldn't stop! And it was also the first time I'd used Heartrope too. Apologies for the poor quality. I had to send from my phone or miss taking part yet again. What she describes as "poor quality" in the photograph makes the tangles appear golden and very pretty ~ Tangled Tidbits - *a beautiful bunch of Luv-a *Heartrope along the string line, shaded in the inner aura and around the tangle CST Kath Gregitis said, "Though I do not like sappy heart themes, I did enjoy these tangle patterns!" Tangled Tidbits - *red, black, and checkered Luv-a *a central, colorful Heartvine Jane Glotzer writes ~ I'm happy to be contributing a "love"-ly piece for this week's challenge--:) With the yin yang string and hearts abounding, it is a simple, sweet one. I started with Luv-a on the left and decided to leave out the little lines, just adding a hint of shading for a stark B/W look...second was Heartstrings on the right and by then there wasn't much room left, since I had filled each space entirely with those patterns...a tiny bit of Heartvines here and there, and that finished it off! No room for the fabulous Heartrope... Tangled Tidbits - *wonderful light and dark contrasts *delicate Heartvine A very warm welcome to Charlene Mitchell~ This is my first time entering your challenge. I really don’t like how this turned out but I did want to jump in and enter. It doesn’t flow the way I envisioned but here it is none-the-less! I loved working with these tangles. I did add a bit of Fescu and kind-of Tipple (I’m not sure if this is ok – please advise if it isn’t). I used a black Micron and Gray Copic Thanks so much. I sure enjoy seeing others’ entries Yes, it is just fine and it is good to have you join in ~ Tangled Tidbits - *a wonderful mix of Heartstrings and Luv-a beaded lines for the border *gray Luv-a against the darker tangles From Audrie Weisenfelder ~ As for this week's challenge, I think I managed to come up with a presentable tile; actually 4 tiles. But I'm only sending you 2: one black and white; and one in color. They are also on my blog Tangled Tidbits - *Luv-a pouring from Heartstrings *Heartvine lines coming from Heartrope Natasja Rijsbergen wrote from the Netherlands ~ This time I used the colors gold and sepia for a change. The gold really sparkles in the light but I can't get the same effect on the photo... Tangled Tidbits - *a plush border of Heartstrings *wonderful aura on Heartvine *dramatic center line of Heartrope Portia Hyde wrote, "Settling in for a winter storm. Looking forward to more hearts next week." Brrr! Tangled Tidbits - *wonderful use of white spaces *detail on Heartrope *great shading Sue Agnew wrote ~ I really really wanted to master Heartrope ... didn't feel like I 100% love it but I did enjoy practicing. I hadn't tried Luv-a before and really enjoyed it ... what can I say, I like drawing heart shapes. So instead of using her little beaded squiggle lines, I used Heartvine lines. In retrospect, I probably would have shaded with pencil instead of grey felt pen, so it could be more subtle ...b ut anyway, it was fun! Tangled Tidbits - *sparkled Heartrope *curls of Heartvine * a light and lovely feel Janice L Johnson said, "This was a fun challenge. I really like all of those tangles, even though I kind of did Heartrope a little wrong." A little different, certainly not "wrong". This is Zentangle after all - no mistakes ;) Tangled Tidbits - *layers of Luv-a *dark outline of Heartrope Kathryn White sent this beautiful tile and also posted it here on her blog ~ Tangled Tidbits - *variation in line weight *dark centers of Heartrope and aura to only one side *blue and pink compliment the black and gray Annemarie said ~ What a great challenge did you give us this week! I like the string the moment I saw it and, however I'm not a 'heart' kind of person, I liked the tangles too. Making this tile was a relaxed 'exercise' and I loved every minute of it. (on her blog) Tangled Tidbits - *delicate tangles *pretty pink accents Peggy Kohrmann wrote ~ I enjoyed learning four new tangles and thought things were ok until the left was so much lighter in weight than the right side. By darkening, shading and adding Luv-a to that left side I'm happy. Fun times and a great combination. I will look forward to next week and additional heart tangles. Tangled Tidbits - *three lines of Heartrope - and they end in a curl *shading to define the string's circle *lovely Luv-a Felicity wrote~ Another hectic week completed! Sorry I’m a little behind. When I managed a time slot to tangle, I thought It’s a String Thing 77 looks fascinating. I’ve used Heartrope, Heartvine and Heartstring before, but Luv-a was completely new. On doing some practice and research, all the information became quiet overwhelming. Choices: Which one? Which way? What this? Finally where’s my Muse gone?! :( These questions rattled around in my brain, as I went about ticking off tasks throughout the busy week. Finally there was a flash, inspiration returned, Better late than never. I made the brutal cut left out “Heartrope” and came up with my tile 77!! My Heartstring curved and swerved, Heartvine circled and took over one half, a splash of colour shoulder here in and finally I Luv-a my result. That was 'Luv-ly' commentary, Felicity! Tangled Tidbits - *sparkled Heartstrings *so many pretty detail lines *pleasing contrast of shaded and white spaces, dense and lighter tangles Gillie Rhodes said ~ Hope you are warm and cozy in the snowy US...we have cold wet and mud here, not nearly so romantic! Although I suspect, looking at the extreme snowfall over there romantic is not the word you would use... This weeks patterns were lovely..I really enjoyed learning them but I wish I had not done the bottom section of Heartvine upside down..oh well Thank you for the warm wishes. I know many in the northern states need some relief from the cold and snow... Tangled Tidbits - *wispy Luv-a circling the bolder but still dainty Heartvine *dark outlines of Heartstrings Christiane Plate said that she loved to tangle this ~ Tangled Tidbits - *bold black sections of Heartstrings *wonderful dimension in Heartrope with shading *dainty Luv-a Traci said ~ What fun!! I have used these tangles in the past but never together. Now I have a Valentine! I decided to go bold with the dark lines on Heartstrings to contrast the white of Luv-a and I thought Heartvine fit nicely through the center. She followed up with another after adding Heartrope ~ Tangled Tidbits - *bold beautiful stripes of Heartstrings *black pearlz *varying sizes of tangles add to a wonderful sense of depth And now, the tile for honors this week was sent in by Sharyn Penna from a snowy northeastern United States ~ Sharyn wrote ~ All those hearts were a pleasant diversion from all the weather woes of the week with thoughts of two more weather events coming soon. I'm calling this tile My Achy Break since I tangled in between shoveling sessions. Looking forward to the next String Thing to help forget the weather for a time! Maybe we can usher in some warmer weather with all of this love we are spreading this week :) Tangled Tidbits - *Luv-a lined Heartrope *the Mooka-like curls Sharyn is known for :) *puffs of Heartstrings Love makes the world go 'round. Congratulations, Sharyn. I have a little something coming in the mail for you. Thank you to all of the talented tanglers for sending in your works of art this week and for sharing the LOVE! Many thanks to TanglePatterns for String 077 by Barbara Finwall and for these creative minds behind the tangles used this week ~ Heartrope by Bunny Wright Heartstrings by Helen Williams Heartvine by Lori Howe Luv-a by CZT Sharon Coforio Stop back Tuesday afternoon for "It's a String Thing" #78!