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New Year, who’s this?

Wow. We made it.

A whole year has gone by – some days it felt like it would never end and other days it felt like it was just whooshing by without a care in the world!

I don’t know about you, but it’s made me re-evaluate some things in my life. I’m not setting any resolutions for this year, though I have decided to eat some vegetables and take the stairs more often. Basically, this was me all 2020:

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I did make some decisions about what to do about my artwork and my classes. And I’m really excited about them!

All of my classes are currently available on Etsy for instant access (unless it’s a pre-order) and my favorite prints are available there too! I’m hoping to stock the inventory with other fun things like stickers and t-shirts too. So long as 2021 behaves and let’s me do my thing!

I’m also really excited to revitalize my private Facebook Group for current and former students. I want to make it a fun and safe space to post pictures of tangles and ask for advice.

And, I’m bringing back to life a Zentangle® and mindfulness curriculum program that I developed about 5-6 years ago. It’s a yearlong program that will help folks use the Zentangle method and some other techniques to practice mindfulness and gain more control over themselves emotionally and mentally. Stay tuned for more information on that! I hope to have everything finalized by the end of the year!

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If you haven’t watched Schitt’s Creek yet – I highly recommend it. Of course, I’m a big Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara fan, so I may be biased. But, it got me through some days this year!

So, first thing up this year is – it’s my 10 year Zentangle birthday on January 8th! 10 years since I was first introduced to this thing that has had such a positive impact on my life.

To celebrate I’ve created a fun little freebie for all my email subscribers, if you’re already subscribed you don’t have to do anything! If you’re not – easy peasy! I’ve included a form for you to complete so you can join!

I created this freebie because I really want to help people increase their confidence in their Zentangle practice, and by doing so I truly think their personal confidence will grow too! I’ve also included a little extra special offer that you’ll just have to wait to find out about!

Aside from that I’m kicking the year off by joining the 7F5R Fragment of your Imagination Challenge – a super fun challenge that will keep the creative juices flowing!

I’m also digging into the Zentangle® Zenthology issued to Certified Zentangle Teachers™ to see what tangles I can unearth. I’m basically acting as the Indiana Jones of Zentangle archaeology 🙂

There are a ton of patterns in there that hardly anyone uses. So, I’m exploring those and sharing videos of them with my Instagram followers. It’s super fun to dig around in the ancient archives of patterns and dust off some neglected tangles!

So my year is off to a regular start, not going to jinx it with anything too exciting or too many plans. We’re going with the flow over here! 🙂

What have you done to mildly celebrate the new year? I’d love to hear!

Cheers!

Sarah, Zen & Zin

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Hello 2020!

It’s hard to believe we’re in a new year and a new decade! Time flies by faster every day it seems.

I’m not super into Resolutions, but I usually like to take the first few weeks of the new year to reflect on the things I want to continue doing in the new year, or things I want to improve on. However, this year I am kind of hitting the ground running so I don’t have as much leisure to take my time!

I have multiple classes coming up here in the Madison, WI area. The first is at Revel DIY Craft Bar, which I am super excited about! These ladies have been killing it and are really doing something successfully that I had thought about doing a few years ago – creating a place that people can go to do a little crafting in a chill environment. Their projects are totally accessible and not terribly expensive. I’ll be teaching an introductory level class there in mid-January…and hopefully it’ll be successful enough that we can add more workshops in the future! If you’d like to sign up click here

I am also going to be teaching at Madison Area Technical College in February! We’re starting off with a 3-week series of Discover Zentangle®. We’ll go through all the foundational areas of Zentangle and create a really nice base understanding and hopefully create some new Zentangle enthusiasts! You can sign up here

But, back to resolutions, or the lack thereof. Because I don’t have a lot of time to reflect and plan this January, I’m starting to feel just a touch overwhelmed. I have a lot going on between preparing for classes, normal work responsibilities, and chores and whatnot that need to be done at home. Not to mention having fun and creating art for the sake of creating and having fun!

A zendala I did with my mom over the Christmas break. We followed along the Zentangle 12 Days series on YouTube

What I’ve found that works for me, and maybe it will work for you too, is to focus on one or two things that I can actually control. They can be small things, or big things, but make sure they’re manageable. Last year, I started to focus on what I was eating and making sure to get out and go for a little walk every day. That turned into some amazing changes for me! I started feeling better, getting more active, and my confidence went up – all super helpful things when I also decided to get back into my degree field and find a new job.

This year, there are so many things in the air! With the loss of my Skillshare platform I am really starting to feel the anxiety from that, but I am also really excited about teaching the aforementioned “brick-and-mortar” classes. I’ll also be taking on new responsibilities at work. AND, I have my Patreon now which is a lot of work especially in the beginning stages where I need to plan AND produce content fairly quickly! I feel like my mind looks a lot like the Zendala up there!

A couple of commission pieces I did for a friend. A little out of my comfort zone, but fun to create and I am really happy with them!

So, what are some things that I can focus on to maintain a little control when life is crazy? I’m not sure yet! I know one thing I want to do is to do more meal prep. Eating healthy is great and mostly easy to do, except it’s a lot of work when you have a million other things to do. So once or twice a month I will do a big meal prep session so I can focus on other things the rest of the time.

I also want to do one creative focus this year. I think I will start participating in one or two challenges per month so that I am not too overwhelmed, but also making sure that I am keeping up my own art practice!

The great thing about my un-resolutions is that I can adjust them! If they’re not working or they’re not meeting my needs in any way, I can change! There’s no failure here, no mistakes, just a redirection. A tangleation, you might say 🙂

So you’ve made it this far and I appreciate you reading all my ramblings. I hope you’ll try out so un-resolutions. If you need a creative outlet, please consider my Zentangle classes – if you’re not in Madison I have my Patreon that will be a great resource!

So, here’s to 2020 and letting small changes have big impacts…. or something motivational like that 🙂 And if all else fails, just put your pen to paper and get your tangle on!

Cheers!

Sarah