Exactly one week from today – and yes, I’m actually counting down! – I will be embarking on an epic blogging adventure: the Blogging From A To Z Challenge, held annually in April and embraced each year by an ever-growing number of participants.
And I am surprisingly excited about the whole thing!
I think what I’m most thrilled about is the theme I chose for the month – “Tangling from A to Z” (in case you missed it, you can read all about it in this post, and find out more about Zentangle®1 in this one).
ZIA 2 by Laurel Regan, July 8, 2013
See, my time over the past few months has been taken up with other things and my beloved tangling has unfortunately fallen by the wayside… so choosing this particular theme was rather inspired (if I do say so myself!). I’m so looking forward to rediscovering the joy of tangling, and all the resulting creativity and learning that this month will bring.
ZIA 4 by Laurel Regan, July 14, 2013
It’s not without a whole bunch of pre-challenge work, however – THAT’S for sure! Even though April is still a week away, I’ve already been busily preparing myself and my blog for the upcoming frenzy. Taking the example of many of my fellow A to Z-ers, I’m trying to get as much of the background stuff done ahead of time so that come April I can really focus on the task at hand – learning new tangles, putting them into practice, and then blogging about the process and results. So any “housekeeping” stuff that I can do now will make fulfilling the challenge that much easier.
ZIA 5 by Laurel Regan, July 14, 2013
As of today, I’ve:
- Gone through the A to Z Checklist to make sure my blog is ready for the challenge.
- Set up drafts and scheduled blog posts for the entire month of April.
- Chosen each of the three new tangles (following the letters of the alphabet, of course!) I’ll be learning each day.
- Started setting up my tangle samples sketchbook with instructions and examples of each tangle (so far I’m up to the letter F).
- Warmed up after my long break by learning a few new tangles (different from the ones I’ll be including in the challenge posts).
So I’m getting there, and once the rest of the preparation of my tangle samples sketchbook has been done, I should be ready to go.
And I can’t wait!
ZIA 7 by Laurel Regan, July 20, 2013
I hope you’ll drop by Alphabet Salad throughout the month of April for lots more tangly goodness… it’s going to be a fun month!
Are you participating in the A-Z Challenge?
(It’s still not too late to sign up!)
Please share!
1 The Zentangle® Method was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas and is copyrighted. Zentangle® is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.
{ 18 comments… add one }
Twitter: MyPsychicHeart
March 25, 2014
You are an example of passion for a subject and where it can take you! I had never even heard of tangling, I had to look it up lol…
I hope april is a month where your challenge helps you feed your creativity and nourishes your love for tangling and art
Twitter: alphabetsalad
March 25, 2014
Thank you so much, Crysa – I appreciate the encouragement!
Laurel Regan recently posted… 100 Words: A Recipe for Morning
This is by far one of the most beautiful pieces of work I have ever seen. I have never heard of tangling? How exactly is this done and are your pieces for sale?
Twitter: alphabetsalad
March 25, 2014
Thank you so much for your kind words, Dayana! It’s not difficult to learn to tangle – it just takes practice. I haven’t put anything up for sale at this point, but you never know!
Laurel Regan recently posted… 100 Words: A Recipe for Morning
I have never heard of tangling either! It’s really beautiful. I think my daughter would be really good at it.
Jenn recently posted… The Church’s Greatest Failure
Twitter: alphabetsalad
March 25, 2014
Thank you – it’s a lot of fun!
Laurel Regan recently posted… 100 Words: A Recipe for Morning
Twitter: Krystol1
March 25, 2014
I can’t wait until we start! I’m going to write out the first week of blogs because I’m also doing Camp Nano for the month too! Yes, busy, busy!
Krystol Diggs recently posted… Writing Prompt: What is your writing goal?
Twitter: alphabetsalad
March 26, 2014
All these challenges definitely keep us on our toes! Good luck!
Laurel Regan recently posted… 100 Words: A Recipe for Morning
Hi Laurel
I read your post about tangling a few days and was immediately smitten. Most of us doodle and this is taking that to a artistic/creative level and I love it. Your work is beautiful and I cannot imagine the time that has gone into creating these pieces. I also can’t imagine how you’re going to produce one of these art pieces for each day of April but believe me I’ll be hanging out to see your creations, they are magical.
Linda recently posted… Two Heads are Better than One?
Twitter: alphabetsalad
March 26, 2014
Thank you so much, Linda! The pieces I included in this post are definitely much more complicated and time-consuming than the ones I’ll be doing for the April challenge – for the challenge I’ll stick with 3.5″ x 3.5″ tiles, and mostly just use the three tangles I learned that particular day. I think they’ll still be pretty, just a lot simpler!
Laurel Regan recently posted… 100 Words: A Recipe for Morning
Twitter: claudoo
March 26, 2014
Wow, those tangles are beautiful. I’m not familiar with them, where did this artform originate? I see others on line doing them, and they are so interesting but I’m not very artistic….is it some type of APP, or do you need to do them freehand? Love yours shown above!
Claudia Schmidt recently posted… All For the Love Of Baseball
Twitter: alphabetsalad
March 26, 2014
They’re all done freehand, Claudia, in pen. There are no mistakes in tangling, though – if something doesn’t turn out quite the way you’d planned, you just turn it into something else and make it work! I believe tangling is something anyone can learn, even if they don’t consider themselves to be artistic. If you’d like some more info on the background and/or how to get started, check out this site: http://www.zentangle.com/
Laurel Regan recently posted… 100 Words: A Recipe for Morning
These are so gorgeous. You are very talented. I can’t imagine ever being able to do anything like this. You amaze me–how do you find the time to blog every day, take photos every day, do something like this, all while working and having time for yourself and your husband? I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what you do in April.
Twitter: alphabetsalad
March 26, 2014
Thank you so much, Elaine! It helps that (at this point, at least) I work part time – less money, of course, but more hours in the day to do the fun stuff!
Laurel Regan recently posted… 100 Words: A Recipe for Morning
I have never heard of tangling but your work is absolutely gorgeous. You are very talented.
I am not participating in the A-Z Challenge but know of 1 other person who is also participating. I look forward your posts in April
Twitter: alphabetsalad
March 27, 2014
Thank you so much, Kathy!
Laurel Regan recently posted… 100 Words: Not there yet
Twitter: soniawrite
March 30, 2014
So just read your post on tangling and I have it say, it looks hard.
Twitter: alphabetsalad
March 30, 2014
Oh, it is honestly not that hard! It takes time to learn, but the steps are broken down line by line, so with practice I think anyone can learn it. It’s only when the separate tangles are all put together that it starts to look complicated!
Laurel Regan recently posted… Today’s Gratitude List – Linkup No. 23
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