House Mouse Happy Birthday

Birthday card

House Mouse is probably one of my favorite stamp companies and I love this stamp with the daisies. This was a Birthday Card that I created for my boss Dedra for her 50th birthday. She loves flowers and this stamp just looked like her.
The card stock is Die Cuts With a View Birthday MatStack and Bazzill Basics and Bazzill Bling. I colored the image with prismacolor pencils and used Gamsol to blend in the colors. I used a Stampin' Up punch to create the border edge and a TimHoltz Texture Fades folder to create the embossed mat. The brads are Queen & Co.
Thank you for looking!

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The Process

There's been a great deal of talk about the process lately from my co-bloggers in the Diva's Weekly Zentangle Challenge. Afterall, the key ingredient in the tangle is the process it takes to get there. The process helps with the Zen of it all.

a few ingredients for an upcoming tag project

For me, all of my creations are a process. I gather about me my favorite tools and beautiful papers and inks and embellishments. I have background music playing if I'm in the mood but often times I'm in a quiet environment with the background noise being the kids or the silly cat. I've sketched or developed an idea in my head that I've almost completed--although the creation hardly ever resembles how it looks in my head! HA!
Then I sit and begin to play until I like the results. There's no divine intervention, no super big ideas, just trial and error. Sometimes while playing I discover new techniques that are fun and intriguing and garner awesome results...sometimes it's just a mess...but the process, the journey I take to get there provides the same kind of zen that I get with tangling.

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Weekly Challenge #4 | Starry Eyed Surprise!

This week I am the Diva challenged us to be inspired by stars! Anyone who knows me knows I L O V E stars! I have a James Avery Star charm that I wear dangling from a silver box chain around my neck every day. I have stars on my front porch, I have star dies for my diecut machine, I have star punches for crafting, I buy star paper, I have stars on my tree...I love stars. So naturally a star challenge would find me drawing...circles.
Yes, I said C I R C L E S! I don't know what to tell you. The star challenge was a challenge for me, the star lover. After much distress over why my mind wanted circles and nothing but circles, I decided to stand back and wait. As the news unfolded this week about the continued shift of the Earth's axis resulting in the introduction of a new astrological sign, it became clear to me what my fixation on circles was about. No, nothing so deep as discovering astrological bodies, but, the biggest star I know is well, a sphere.

SUN (sŭn) n.

1. often Sun A star that is the basis of the solar system and that sustains life on Earth, being the source of heat and light. It has a mean distance from Earth of about 150 million kilometers (93 million miles) a diameter of approximately 1,390,000 kilometers (864,000 miles) and a mass about 330,000 times that of Earth.
2. A star that is the center of a planetary system.
3. The radiant energy, especially heat and visible light, emitted by the sun; sunshine.



The "star" I was needing to draw was the sun! Once I wrapped my brain around that and embraced it, I could tangle! So, co-tanglers, I give you my Celestial Bodies! Thank you for looking!




Celestial Bodies 1

 

rotated Celestial Bodies 1





Celestial Bodies 2

 

rotated Celestial Bodies 2

side note: AFA Accredited Astrologer Maria Kay Simms discusses the viral news in a chat archived here.



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Weekly Challenge #3 Eyes Wide Shut. [revisited]



Eyes Wide Shut #2 as drawn

Monday I am the Diva announced the new Weekly Challenge for Zentangle on her blog and I immediately tangled my challenge. I enjoyed my process and was happy with my results. I enjoyed looking at all of the other offerings from the many tangle artists joining the weekly challenge now--beautiful work and inspiration. And then the week just got boring. I was done with my tangle. I had personal tangling I could do...I had other paper crafty projects to work on, but my mind longed to re-tangle the challenge more than anything!

to the left...


So Friday night I found myself retangling the challenge! My original string appears above and was tangled as such. I stopped hoping not to fill in all of my white space as I'm still practicing leaving more white. I kept exploring why I felt this tangle was not "finished." Then I began turning it...a trick I learned in design class nearly 24 years ago. Sometimes seeing things at a different angle can change your perception.



to the left...



I like how different the tangle looks from each direction and am intrigued how different the white space looks from each direction. The organic tangles go from looking like fern fronds to tentacles in on an ocean creature to roots reaching deep into the earth. The center goes from looking like an eye with delicate eyelashes to the opening of a conch shell.

I liked all of the turning attempts but my tangle still just seemed a little on edge, like it was needing *something*. And then finally I made one last turn to the left.  YES! That's it! 

Weekly Challenge #3--revisited.

Thank you for looking! Have a peaceful day!

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Blinged-Out Birthday!

It's one of my bosses birthday today and she is a very sparkly type of girl! I created this Blinged-Out Birthday card for her using ultrafine glitters, Basic Grey Bling and an amazing stamp from Outlines Rubber Stamp Co.

I love Outlines Rubber Stamp Co. stamps because of their similarity to Zentangle designs. That is what attracted me to them in the first place! This stamp has SO many possibilities, but I thought for my dazzling friend it would look best in GLITTER!!!

To get the amazing detail with the ultrafine Martha Stewart glitters I used the Sakura Quickie Glue Pen [available through http://www.cutnpastememories.com/]. It allows ink-pen precision when placing glue.

I layered Die Cuts with a View Birthday Mat Stack paper with Pink Stampin' Up Cardstock and Bazzill Craft. I stamped the image with Marvey Black ink and quickly dusted it with clear detail embossing powder from Ranger. After heat setting the embossing powder I began glittering with my Quickie Pen.

For final touches, I used Basic Grey Bling, created a little acryllic tag with a Tim Holtz Fragments Charm and the DCWV paper. Simply use Crystal Lacquer to adhere the Fragment to the paper and the Queen & Co. Crown charm to the Fragment. I added a wired Ofray purple bow to the top left corner with a 3D Glue Dot from Zots! All adhesives available through CutNPaste Memories.

I hope you enjoy my Blinged-Out Birthday Card! I know my friend will! :)

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Weekly Challenge #3 Eyes Wide Shut

Certified Zentangle Teacher [CZT], Laura Harms of I Am the Diva blog, has begun a weekly zentangle challenge to inspire weekly tangling. This weeks challenge is to draw the beginning string with my eyes closed as described here.

So this week, I moved out of my "thinking pad"--a notebook I carry around with me to jot down the many ideas I carry around in my head--to a smallish drawing pad. I traced a 4×4" coaster to make my "tile" [actual Zentangle tiles are 3½" square by design]. Eventhough I approached this tangle thinking I was going to leave more white space--I REALLY like the filled in look--I still filled in my whole "tile."

Nonetheless, despite initial intentions, I am pleased with my tangle. I like the new-to-me patterns I attempted. AND...for the record...I didn't fill EVERY empty-ish space with dotties...therefore in the end I gues it could be argued that I did leave more white space! :)

I hope you enjoy my tangle for Weekly Challenge #3. Thank you for looking!

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Warm Wishes!

As we get some chilly weather here in Texas, it reminds me of a cute snowman tag I did back in December for my papercrafty pal Kinder Stampo's Tag Swap the theme was "Wishing you a pink winter wonderland."

This 3½" wide tag is acryllic embossed with Stampin' Up's Northern Flury Textured Impressions Embossing folder on the Sizzix Big Shot Express. The cardstock is Bazzill Bling, and white with some Die Cuts With a View Embedded Glitter Paper. The brads were also Bazzill. The nameplate diecut was a Sizzix Die. The punches were various Marvy and EK Success Punches in my collection. The fibers and ribbon were miscellaneous finds at local discount and craft stores. The beads were from Fire Mountain Gems and Crazy Crow. The Turquoise ink--Bic. Adhesive was Xyron 250 and Zip Dry! Both are great for adhering paper to acryllic. Thank you for looking!

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