How to get Crafty with your Mandalas

As Spring arrived I was feeling very creative and decided to spend an afternoon absorbed in the wonderfully creative art of Zentangle. 

I did have an ulterior motive and this involved my meditation classes.  I love using a variety of tools to show my class how easy it is to fit meditation in every day life, and mandalas are one of my favourite tools.  Creating my own mandalas using Zentangle designs is a perfect way to meditate.

I wrote an entire blog post about Zentangle during my year of challenges, you can take a look at the post here.  It shows you how to go about creating your own tangles and introduces you to my lovely friend and Zentangle tutor, Alison from Old Hall Crafts.

First of all let's take a quick look at what a Mandala is:-

Thrifty Gift Ideas for Christmas

Christmas is an expensive time of year, so this week's post should relieve some of the pressure on your purse strings.

My December challenge is all about making things for Christmas.  Last week I had a go at producing my own cards using Lavinia Stamps - messy but lots of fun!

This week I have been making sweet gifts for my friends, crystal packs for my clients and 'friendship bags' for my children.  Don't panic I have ventured out and purchased the latest PS3 games - heaven forbid I don't adhere to the 'lists' - but I also wanted to create something personal for them.

Art Attack - Resolutions Get Crafty with Zentangle

My resolution for March was to 'Do Something Creative'.  I have gone back to college and joined a Creative Writing Course; I've been writing short stories for competitions and had a couple of  letters published in Writers' Forum Magazine.  My blog was also featured in my local newspaper.  I have created vision boards to help with story ideas and last week we looked at creative ways to fund raise for your chosen charity.

To finish off my creative month I am going to have a 'doodle fest', using the American Zentangle method.  This is a creative art form where all you need is paper, pencil and a pen.

Don't panic if you can't draw or paint, if you've never used acrylics or pastels or if you think a canvas is something you sleep under - which of course it is but that's for another blog post!

A couple of years ago I discovered this creative art form which is not only simple to do, even for a