When I got this assignment I have to admit…I started out a little bit nervous and spent more time than necessary just thinking about what I should do. I may be other things, but I’m not a “pen” artist…I leave all that drawing business to my husband and boys who are pros. I’m a stick figure and basic map kind of girl, and that’s about it, so this was going to be so hard! Nope, totally wrong. Just getting the pen to the paper was really the difficult part, because once I began I was really surprised to see how easily the design flowed.

I made two gift tags for a few upcoming baby shower gifts using Chipboard pieces, both of them are colored with Tombow Dual Brush Pens first and then allowed them plenty of time to dry well. After they were dry, I went about creating my Zentangle-inspired creation on top of the color with the Tombow Mono Gel White Pen. I’ll punch holes in them and then string organza ribbon through both before I attach them to their bags. The first is an “H”, I wanted to have a doily effect. The second is a tiny round tag, and I was a little more abstract with this one.  I like the look of the white over the color, make sure and give that a try! And now that I conquered my silly fear…I’ll be using this technic a lot more now!

P.S. While I was working on these, both my older boys came over and watched and decided they needed to make Zentangles too. I was really impressed with what they came up with…Show your children the basic concept, give them a small paper and a pen, and you’ll be amazed at their creativity!