It's a Jungle out there

Hello again

***If you are looking for my Festive Friday's card, please scroll down***

I know, I've been absent the last couple of days and here I am with 2 posts in one day....geesh.  LOL  

My very good friend Amy over at Love to Crop asked me to be a guest designer for this week's challenge on her blog.  I was thrilled that she asked me because she is such a wonderfully talented person.  Have you seen some of her stuff?  Amy and I have been blogging buddies for quite some time now and when she joined the Getting Cricky DT we became even better friends.  She is such an inspiration so you better hurry on over there and check things out.  When she told me the theme was going to be "It's a Jungle out there" I was even more thrilled.  As most of you know my favorite animal is the Elephant; I have such a collection of them from the tiniest stone carving to the biggest wood carving.  I love them so much that I even have a tattoo of one.  I know, a bit obsessive...But the one thing I didn't have was a wall hanging...so this is what I came up with.

Isn't this cool?

 The base is made from foam core, covered 
with some elephant print paper.  I cut the elephant
head with my E-Craft and the file I got here.

 I cut the head out in 3 layers each shadowed a bit larger

 I inked the base layer and the top layer for dimension

 and then popdotted them on top of each other

I also used an svg tag, but I'm not sure where I got

it from and stamped the sentiment with the Amazing You

stamp set from Getting Cricky and inked around the edges also.

Now make sure you head on over to Amy's blog and link up your "jungle themed" project and you just might be a winner.

• You may enter as many NEW projects as you would like as long as they fit in the challenge theme.
• Please include a link to www.lovetocrop.com so that others may play along.

I also have a winner to announce from a previous blog hop, but that will have to wait until tomorrow...sorry for the delay, but life has gotten in the way of things this week. 

Love Link Up Party at Getting Cricky 8/16 - 8-23

Good day crafters,


Today is the Love Link up Party over at Getting Cricky.  I love these parties because it gives me a chance to check out some new ideas and maybe find a new blog or two.  


Here are the rules:
*Link Up Party runs from Tuesday 8/16 to Tuesday 8/23. Winners announced 8/29
*Grab my blinkie and post on your blog's sidebar
*Be a follower of this blog
*Create a new blog post that is titled Link Up Love Party with K Andrew. In your post, you must mention that the link up love party is a way to get to know each other and find new blog inspiration, mention my blog, with a link back to my blog .
*Post your favorite project that you've done in your blog post WITH ONE thing you are grateful for!
*Copy and paste the link up code into your blog post so the Inlinkz will show up on your blog
*Spread the word so everyone can join in!
*You must visit, follow, and comment on the 5 people before you AND the 5 people after you in the Inlinkz. It would be fantastic if you would visit as many as you can--maybe everyone? If you are one of the first 5 then you will need to blog the ones before you and a few more after--as long as it's a minimum of 10 near you in the link up tool/gadget)
If you do not do the above your link will be deleted, because it's just not fair to those who work so hard linking up and showing love to the ones on the list. I have two moderators who will be checking this out to keep it awesome and fun!


Here is one of my favorite cards I made within the last few month.

I had never made a twisted easel card before but one of my DT Sisters recently did and she inspired me to make this and so I was pretty excited to see if I could.  I used the "cross" cut from the Wedding Cart.  I love using my gypsy to create my projects at work and then as soon as I get home all I need to do is place my paper on my mat and within minutes my card is created.  I then layered it on a different tab, hid the outside lines of the cross and penned the inside swirlies on white cardstock.  This was so much fun and these pens are awesome to use.  I used the pink glitter pen and did "cut" it twice to give it a bit more dimension but really I don't think I had needed to do that.   
Then I cut the cross out in shadow style in pink cardstock, again, usually using most of my stash paper so I have no idea who made it.  I recently purchased some "velvet" style paper at my local vinyl store.  It was on sale and well, how can I pass up a "sale"?  I've seen different things done with velvet paper and I wanted to give it a try.  
I then used my stamp from Getting Cricky "Amazing You" set.  The sentiments are so interchangeable and super easy to use.  I love this set because it so in your face...I used "You are" "a blessing".  I was a bit worried on stamping onto the velvet, but it worked perfectly.  I used a white ink and it left a great impression.

Then I used my punch to create a border for the bottom of the card and left the middle open so I can write my message there.  I also added some pink inset into silver pearls for dimension and a place to hold the top fold.  This was definitely a great card to create.  I hope you like looking at it as much as I liked making it.  

You can find the original post here.
I am so thankful for my family and friends, and for the new friends I've made since jumping into blog land.  You all have been so kind and the inspirations are overwhelming.  Hugs to you all!!!
Now be sure to head on over to Getting Cricky and link up, but don't forget to comment on the 5 ahead of you and the 5 after you.

Here is the code for the link up party

get the InLinkz code

You are Loved (Shaker)

Good morning ... are you ready to shake again?


Today I am showing you one more card I made with the inspiration from Erika (a Getting Cricky DT-Sister) over at Crafty Sprouts.  If you missed the card I made the other day you can go here and view it.  I am also entering this card in her challenge.

Of course I used the Getting Cricky Food for Thought and Amazing You stamp sets.  I love how I can mix and match these sets.  Also, remember, for every stamp set you purchase, Kristal donates $1 to a charity.  That's another thing I love about these stamps.  I know my money is going to a worthy cause...

The SVG file is from Scrapping Table and her Love's Shaping collection.  It was a doily pattern and I just added the middle and made a Heart cut out for the shaker.  Pretty cool, huh?  I didn't have enough of these red beads, so I also added some white sequins and I think it turned out pretty decent.  The paper is from the The Paper Studio the So-So Sweet with glitter pack.  I love this paper and have used it for a lot of my cards.  The paper for the doily was a bit distressed and I really distressed the edges more with a nail file, added a ribbon out of my stash and there it is.  I hope you enjoy and head on over to Crafty Sprouts and enter her Shaker challenge.

One more day until vacation starts.  Right now we should be in MN somewhere and getting ready to hit the road for our family canoe trip.

Simply Sundays "Penned"

Good afternoon friends and Sisters,
Today is another day over at Getting Cricky for Simply Sundays challenge.  Today we are using our pens, for me, that is Amy Chomas' Pen set for Cricut.  Have you tried them?  No, well you better head on over there after you see what you can do with them and place your order.  If you have, then hurry up and use them to create something for the challenge.  The challenge is: Penned! Using pens somehow in your project (gel pens, journaling pens, pens used in your diecut machines, etc) and this is what I did:I've never made a twisted easel card before but one of my DT Sisters recently did and she inspired me to make this and so I was pretty excited to see if I could.  I used the "cross" cut from the Wedding Cart.  I love using my gypsy to create my projects at work and then as soon as I get home all I need to do is place my paper on my mat and within minutes my card is created.  I then layered it on a different tab, hid the outside lines of the cross and penned the inside swirlies on white cardstock.  This was so much fun and these pens are awesome to use.  I used the pink glitter pen and did "cut" it twice to give it a bit more dimension but really I don't think I had needed to do that.   
Then I cut the cross out in shadow style in pink cardstock, again, usually using most of my stash paper so I have no idea who made it.  I recently purchased some "velvet" style paper at my local vinyl store.  It was on sale and well, how can I pass up a "sale"?  I've seen different things done with velvet paper and I wanted to give it a try.  
I then used my stamp from Getting Cricky "Amazing You" set.  The sentiments are so interchangeable and super easy to use.  I love this set because it so in your face...I used "You are" "a blessing".  I was a bit worried on stamping onto the velvet, but it worked perfectly.  I used a white ink and it left a great impression.

Then I used my punch to create a border for the bottom of the card and left the middle open so I can write my message there.  I also added some pink inset into silver pearls for dimension and a place to hold the top fold.  This was definitely a great card to create.  I hope you like looking at it as much as I liked making it.  

Now it's your turn to get those pens a working and link up at Getting Cricky for the Simply Sunday challenge...remember, anything goes...it's totally up to your interpretation.  There is only one important rule to follow and that is to "HAVE FUN"!!!