to the click of my heart

  Here's my tile for the fourth day of #InktoberTangles. Featuring Diva Dance Waltz and Aquafleur. I saw a tile done by a CZT where she drew Aquafleur in this way and I knew I absolutely had to draw it this way, too. I used Tombow markers for the colours.

  And here's my tile for this week of Joey's challenge, featuring Poke Leaf:


  The lower left corner of the tile was actually an oopsie... I tried something that didn't work out so I just drew over the entire area with black ink and added Printemps in silver Uni-ball pen.

  And here's the nine tiles that I've drew for her challenges over the past nine weeks:


  I'm completely thrilled with how it turned out! I tried to have each tile have its own personality but work together as a whole drawing, too.

  And here's my tile for Diva's challenge, featuring Striping. The little secret is that this was done in a page in my sketchbook. And what happened was that I messed up.... I was drawing a beautiful Waybop and having a good time, and then I made a bad decision that I really REALLY didn't like. So I just... I just decided to glue a white tile over the oops. haha

  But it fixed it, though. I absolutely love the colours that I picked. It's just two Tombow markers 725 bright pink and 676 purple. If you live in Singapore and you'd like to purchase Tombow markers (singles or in sets) visit this link. They're having a promotion right now all the way till' the end of this year!

  If you were wondering the process of how I created this drawing... I drew a string in pencil, then added the stripes in pencil too. Then I added the colours... Let them dry. Erased the pencil lines, and then outlined the outside of the tile and the loops that were sticking out of the tile with a black 0.8 Micron pen.

  Lastly, I wanted to tell you a little story... 

  Tuesday earlier this week was a tough day for me... It didn't go so great. And I was set to have a class that night. I'm a strong believer of leaving your baggage at the door of the classroom. People pay me good money to learn the Zentangle method from me, to learn new creative skills from me, and to have a good time in my classes. So when I step into a classroom, I make sure I'm 100% present in the moment. So all that hubbub that happened earlier that day... that all melted away when I stepped into the classroom.

  And I was genuinely happy to see my students. I am so blessed to have wonderful students who bring such great energy, creativity, and joy to every class. Then one of my students, her name is Diana, took out a small click eraser. "It's a gift for you," she said. And a huge smile spread across my face.

  See, last week, I saw that another student had a similar eraser in her pencil case. I loved it. I'm overly excitable and get happy over small things. I mentioned that I had only seen large click erasers- never small skinny ones. And I gushed over how cute the small click eraser was.

  So Diana had heard the conversation and gone out to get me a small click eraser. It was wonderful. I'm still smiling now as I recount the story to you. :) That small gift brightened up my crappy day so much. I love teaching tangling to others, and it's small moments like these that I hold close to my heart.

where flowers bloom, so does hope

  I've been really crazy about my Tombow markers lately.   If you live in Singapore, I supply Tombow markers! Find out more via this link: http://stephaniejennifer.com/tombow

  Here's an ATC tile I did for the Travelling Tangles Project with Michele Wynne.

String Rose with Flux around it, Yin-Cut in the background, and some Diva Dance Rock and Roll Simplified.

  And another ATC! This one was just done for fun. I tried to copy the colour scheme that Michele uses. Featuring "My Swing".

  And here's my entry for this week's Diva and Joey challenge. Featuring "Aquafleur" and "Zonked". Here's the initial background that I did with Tombow markers:

  And here's the finished tile with shading (still done with the Tombow markers) and highlight (done with a Uni-ball Signo Broad pen).

  If you haven't heard yet, I'm part of an eight teacher team of artists that will be teaching an online course titled "The Black & White Journal: A Minimal Approach to Artful Journaling". There will be some live lessons (with replays of those lessons), and some pre-recorded lessons. All the teachers will be a part of a Facebook group that will be created specifically for this course. In the Facebook group, you will be able to connect with other students, ask questions, and get feedback on the things you draw and create. :) It'd be so much fun, I'm sure you'll learn something new.

  It's also your last chance to get an early-bird special. It ends on the last day of this month. Find out more about the other teachers that will be teaching the course via this link: http://bit.ly/stephaniejournal (And sign up if you'd like to be a part of it!)

  In my part of the course, I will be teaching you how to merge tangles in your sketchbook to create more complex and interesting pages. Here's the final product that you'll get from my class:

  Tangling AND shading will be taught. Other things that the other teachers will be teaching in the course include learning how to make your own journal, gesture sketching, stamp making, and other tangling fun. I hope you'll join us.​

  And until next time, keep tangling~

the best birthday

  Last week was a great week. Just yesterday, I had the best birthday that I've had in quite a while. My friends have made me feel very loved by gifting me nice art supplies that I wanted... I had a wonderful lunch with someone who I hope will turn into a sort of mentor in the future... I bought some nice mooncakes in lieu of a chocolate cake because I had a craving for mooncakes. hehehe. And today, I spent some time at the Night Festival with a new friend, and it was wonderful. And of course, I've been busy with artsy things as well.

  Let's start things off with a simple Bijou tile, featuring Cadent.

I'm teaching Cadent to my students at the moment. And before this, I had completely forgotten how much I love Cadent. So many possibilities with it! This tile was real fun to do.

  My sketchbook page for Diva's ("Ing") and Joey's ("Finish My Tile #2) challenges.

There's Meer wrapped around the border of the top tile; Aquafleur is featured in the Bijou; Cadent is featured in the lower tile; and there is a couple of Springkles on the lower left of the page. I hope that helps if you'd like to find any step-outs to the tangles I've drawn.

Some Travelling Tangles tiles...

  Don't forget that you can join the fun over at the Travelling Tangles Project's Facebook page.

  And here are two tiles completed by my mum, Joni Toh. Send her some love. :)

Featuring "Singapore Sling", one of my own patterns.
You can find step-outs to it via this link.

Don't be afraid to sparkle a little brighter.

  My Zumba teacher is heavily pregnant now. So she's cutting back on classes. I used to go for her classes every Tuesdays and Saturdays, but now we only have the classes on Saturdays. I didn't want to cut back on my exercise... So I decided that I had to take up another activity. And that activity happened to be indoor rock climbing.

  Singapore has a couple of indoor rock climbing areas, which is a shocker to me, considering how small our country actually is. I chose to go to Kallang Mall, right next to the Stadium. Walkable distance from the MRT (our train system)... Accessible... Convenient... Not far from home...

  The last time I went there, we had this gorgeous sunset, and I took a few panorama pictures. Here's one:



  Onwards to artsy-fartsy things, though..

I finally got around to shading this tile.
Bales, Yew Dee, and Fassett.

Here's something I did in one of our classes: an Aquafleur flower with Sand Swirl as a background.

  Diva's challenge this week was perfect because I'm actually working on some shimmery Zendalas. They're original Zentangle® tiles, with Daler-Rowney shimmery acrylic paints laid over them. It's frustrating to take pictures of shiny or shimmery things because the camera never quite captures their magic. But "why are the tiles so empty?" you ask... Well, that's because they're up for swaps for the Travelling Tangles project.

If you've not heard about the Travelling Tangles project, though....
  Travelling Tangles is a collaborative project that aims to show how the Zentangle® method can bring people from around the world closer to one another. The idea is that you will draw on an original Zentangle tile but only finish the drawing half-way. Then you will send it off to another person for him/her to complete it. In exchange, they too will half finish a tile and send it to you for you to complete. Both you and the other person will then each have a tile to keep. You can find its Facebook group by clicking here.

So if you'd like one of these tiles, let me know in the comments section below!

  Finally, here's my tanglelendar for February. My theme for that month was circles. I'm very pleased with how it turned out. If you'd like your very own tanglelendar template that you can fill in yourself, you can find them via this link.

  Thanks for dropping by for a look. Keep tangling~