Getting Cricky Blog Hop - "Celebrate This"

Welcome to the "Celebrate This" Getting Cricky Blog Hop!! 

     Yahoo! Yahoo! Celebrate good times come on ! - Let's celebrate

     We're so happy you could join us for this month's Getting Cricky Design Team Blog Hop!! We'd like to invite you to visit each of our DT Sisters' Blogs and our very special Guest Designer, Lynn from My Cards N Stuff !!

     There's a party going on right here a celebration to last troughout the years. So bring your good times and your laughter too - we're gonna celebrate your party with you ! Who doesn't think of Kool & the Gang when it comes to celebrations?! :) We are very excited to show off our celebration material to you! We have come up with some great ways to celebrate all sorts of events! Birthday, Holidays, Just because days... loads of fun to be had throughout the hop! We hope you'll enjoy each and every project along the way!! Sooooo, let's get hopping...

      If you've hopped along from Kristal  then you are in the right place!! If you are just joining me from your dashboard, or reading this via email, please be sure to CLICK HERE  to start at the beginning with Kristal's blog (you'll want to catch up on all the FUN!!)... Each of Kristal's stamp sets benefit charity. At least $1 per stamp set goes to benefit the charity noted on the stamp set package. Kristal is donating to the following charities: Cancer Angels, Storefront Shelter for Homeless Children, Intrepid & Fallen Heroes, E. Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Doorways Shelter for Women & Children (Domestic Violence), Wayside House for Women, Camp Good Days & Special Times, Adopt a Classroom, and Autism Research Institute. Kristal will donate $1 for every stamp set sold, retail or wholesale to the charity noted; and over time believes this will add up to some wonderful miracles for these special people. So you can feel good that each time you purchase a K Andrew Designs art stamp set, someone around the country is receiving some good help!

     K Andrew's stamps are all made and assembled here in the USA, which is very important to Kristal. This ensures all product materials are safe and that jobs are being provided and maintained here in America. You can learn even more about Kristal's stamps (and pick some up for yourself) by visiting her online store: K Andrew Designs:

     Kristal's stamp sets are perfect for cards, layouts, and so much more... For my project, I'm featuring the "Of Mice and Lil Men" set.... For more details or to make this set YOURS, please click on the preview!!

My project for the hop is another Disney card (I've been on a Disney kick) for a birthday celebration.  July is a big birthday mont in my family, not the least of which is my son's.  He is having a big on this year- 21! You wouldn't necessarily know that by the card, but I let him choose which Cricut cut he wanted, and this was his choice. He is a native central Floridian, and I think that kind of puts Disney in the blood. (Both of my kids grew up going to Disney theme parks for school field trips...spoiled, I know.)

   

    Genie is cut at 5" from the Disney Dreams Come True cartridge. Any of you who have used these cartridges know the cuts need to be fairly large to be able to deal with all of the little pieces.  I went for a Moroccan(ish) theme in the background of this 5.5" x 5.5" card in browns and reddish tones (brown is his favorite color).  Most of the background paper is DCWV, the rest is from my stash. Back to front there is a layer of glitter paper, then some shimmer paper, and finally a piece that was dry embossed with a Cuttlebug folder and inked with bronze and copper metallic ink.

     Originally the Genie and the lamp were one piece, but I wanted to put him on an Action Wobble and the lamp kept bending, so I snipped them apart and attached them separately. The sentiment is from the sentiment set shown above. Did I mention I really love K Andrew Designs stamps!!

    Don't forget to check out one of Kristal's newer sets Sweet July! It has lots of wonderful 4th of July Holiday fun but it is not just for the 4th it is great all year round with the "you're invited" stamp and so much more! Just what you need to make the perfect invitations!!! The Genie is on an Action Wobble to put a little extra fun in the card.

     Now for some Blog Candy! Since this is my first blog hop I figured I should celebrate with a little something. I have a small set of K Andrew Designs "Sympathetic Sayings" that I will be giving to one lucky crafter. I will draw the winner Sunday 7/22. Please leave a comment with an email address so I can contact you if you are the winner.

 Now you can hop on over to your next stop: Lisa

Guest Designer at Getting Cricky - Positively Zentangled

I am beyond thrilled (and more than a little nervous) to be guest designing at Getting Cricky. Kristal is wonderful and I absolutely adore her stamps! I was invited to do this tutorial based on a card I posted on Facebook which incorporated a Zentangle and a K Andrew Designs stamp.

If you are not familiar with Zentangle you can find more information and inspiration here. It is a very relaxing, meditative process, and the best thing is...there are NO mistakes in Zentangle! You will see what I mean as you read on.

Blank square

A Zentangle is traditionally started on a 3.5" x 3.5" square of Bristol paper with a vellum finish. I used a square of white cardstock for this project to show that you can use other types of paper. The real secret to a successful project is the pen. A Sakura micron pen is the preferred pen, and there is good reason. The pen tips are very fine and the ink flows very smoothly. If you are going to invest in anything special to do Zentangle, the pen is the thing to buy. You can also use a #2 or 2B pencil to draw the string (if you use one) and shade your work.

Outer string

Inner string

The next step in the process is to draw a string. It forms a foundation for you piece and gives you open spaces in which
to place different Tangles.

This is the beginning of a Tangle called the Auraknot. I decided it wasn't enough of a focal point on the card so, although I will use it on something later, I chose to make a new piece with a larger image in the center.

 This is the new beginning. Notice there is a place that looks like a mistake on the base figure. Remember the part about "no mistakes", well it turned into the inspiration for another part of the image.

 This is the finished Auraknot. For a detailed video on how to complete this Tangle go to the Zentangle blog here. They show several variations of the basic version I used.

 I chose several different Tangles and began to fill in the outside of the image. Each image will lead you where it wants to go, and will all turn out unique. This piece has an earth, sky, sea feel to it because of the outer elements.

 Here is the finished Zentangle. There are six different tangles in this picture. The one in the center is called Puf, and it's almost magical. You'd never guess is was going to turn out the way it does when you start. If you want to find more tangles check out tanglepatterns.com.

 When I finished I cut the image out with a Spellbinders Labels one die. I decided I liked the paper I was using to take the pictures on so I used it for the background of my card. I cut it slightly smaller than my 4" x 5.5" base and rounded the corners to mimic the corners of the image.

 I cut a square of black cardstock at 3.75" x 3.75", rounded the corners using my corner chomper, and glued the image to it with my ATG gun. The whole piece was attached to the card base with two strips of foam tape.

 The card was finished with a sentiment from the K Andrew Designs Positive Thoughts stamp set. That is really one of my go to sets. It's so versatile, and we all need a little positive energy now and then! It was stamped on white cardstock and backed with a scrap of the same black I used for the image. The final touches are some vintage seam binding from Wild Orchid Crafts and a couple of self-adhesive bling from my stash.  (Remember the mistake? If you look close you can see it, but barely, in the upper left quadrant of the Zentagle used as a branch.)

Here's another example of something you can do with Zentagle. This image was stamped with the Coffee Time image set, and the Coffee & Tea for you & me sentiment set, both from K Andrew Designs. I stamped the cup and started tangling. There are four tangles in the cup. It's a very plain tag (great stamps, no embellishment), the tangles just dress it up.