Zentangle Challenge - Zendala

I have always loved mandalas. They remind me of kaliedescopes in a way and I have always been fascinated by the ever-changing designs of those magical devices. I had seen the tangled mandalas or "Zendalas" on flickr and other sites but had yet to try one. So this challenge seemed like just the time to try my hand at one and the bonus was I didn't even have to come up with my own zendala string. Yea!
I am posting two versions - one the traditional black and white and another in color. I actually did the color version first, the zendala just seemed to lend itself to color especially well. Back to that love of kaliediscopes I imagine. The tricky thing for me was to not just keep repeating the same things over and over as I moved around the circle. I tried to mix it up a bit as I moved away from the center. I found if I broke the spaces up smaller and smaller then things were more interesting.
Another thing I did not do this challenge is view any other zendalas before I tackled my own. Often I am so excited by a new challenge and the fact that many other tangler's out there post so quickly that I jump right in and look at the "early bird" posts. I resisted this time so that I would be working on my own Zendalas with no outside influence or ideas. So after posting tonight I am off to the Diva's blog to see all the wonderful work by so many other talented tanglers!
Here is the link to the mandala template from Genevieve Crabe, who was the guest tangle challenger this week at the Diva's blog. It was easy to download and I printed it out directly to cardstock which I then drew on right away. I would love to do more of the Zendala's and am open to any suggestions on ways to make the "string." One good idea I have seen is to use an apple corer as a template maker. This kitchen tool has possiblities! Any other good ideas out there?