WOYWW: Happy Birthday, USA! and Tangles, Too

On Monday, we celebrated our Independence Day by watching our local 4th of July parade:

{Bayla and I}

The parade features mostly vintage cars, loud fire trucks, a few local politicians, and a couple of churches advertising Vacation Bible School. The highlight for me is the live elephant advertising the Republican Party (though this year he seemed kind of small and tired). There is an awesome string band and some bagpipers, too.

{Katy took her job of waving to parade participants very seriously!}

I asked my three-year-old afterwards what her favorite part was, and she said, “The drums!” A girl after my own heart—I have always loved the rhythmic boom of drums during parades and half-time shows.

{Bayla and Michael}

The parade ends at our Veterans' Memorial Park, where there is a band, pony rides, playground equipment, and free ice cream. It was a great way to begin teaching the girls about “America’s birthday”!

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It is WOYWW, of course, so here’s a view of what’s been going on:

You know what I love about drawing Zentangles? The simplicity of the supplies! Everything else I do requires paper, glue stick, scissors, paint, gel medium, rubber stamps, ink pads, embossing powder…and it goes on and on. To draw a Zentangle, I just need my paper and my Sharpie!

I’ve always done them in black, but this time I threw an orange butterfly into the mix.

I recently bought Zentangle 4, and have gotten lots of inspiration from it. I was not particularly impressed with Zentangle 2, not really liking any of the tangle designs presented. The 4th in the series has tangles that appeal to me, and emphasizes tangling in shapes, like butterflies and handprints and letters, all of which appeal to me greatly!

If you want to see what other folks are up to this week in the world of art, crafting, and creativity, check out the WOYWW participants’ list over at Julia’s Stamping Ground!

Happy WOYWW!