"It's a String Thing" #156 Very Happy Birthday Tiles

"It's a Sting Thing" #156 marks our third birthday together. (applause, applause!).

 To celebrate we used a three candle string and some very fun tangles that began with the letter O.

The congratulatory notes have left me filled to the brim with warmth and love.  I am indebted to each and every one of you for your kindnesses.

For this celebratory occasion, in lieu of my usual Tangled Tidbits, I am looking forward to spending the next few days responding to each email.

As with every challenge the tangle combinations and the display of talent are simply astounding.
Let's take a look ~


The first tile arrived from Cheryl Stocks (Arizona) ~

Dear Adele, it is with joy and happiness in celebration of your milestone reached that I send this work to you and to share with the Tangle Nation.
Anniversaries to me mean bubbles, as in Champagne, or more correctly, sparkling wine as I like California bubbly, and this just speaks to me, saying, "Pop that cork!"

From Trudi (Woodview, Ontario, Canada) ~

I enjoyed the new Tangles, thank you so much.

From Christie King (Topeka, Kansas) ~

From sra (India) ~

A very happy birthday to IAST and wish you many many more! I'm so glad I discovered it. It's so different from other challenges I've seen on the Net because Adele takes the time to look at all the tiles and make individual comments on them. That makes it doubly worth the effort.
I loved all the tangles. When I saw the string, I knew what I would do given my constraints of time this week. This is how I unwound after a long day at work, staying up till 2 a m. I could probably have done better had I had more time. Even as I write, I am itching to improve on this tile but really cannot afford to.
I hope you like what I've done with the O! And I'm curious to see how many other tanglers have ideas similar to mine. I've noticed that the string prompts such wonderful coincidences!

From Joan Delony, CZT (Florida) ~

Happy Birthday and congratulations on 3 years.

From Susan (United Kingdom) ~

Here are some fireworks for your celebrations. Many thanks for all you do and especially the comments on each tile. Here’s to many more! Thanks too for creating the lovely Grateful Heart.

A very warm welcome to Jeanne Paglio ~

Here's my tangle for this week.
Onomato Chain, O, and Orbs-la-Dee

From Renee (Tennessee) ~

From Talia (London, United Kingdom) ~

Happy birthday to It's a String Thing!
Congratulations Adele on making it to 3 years of this wonderful challenge. You have inspired us all and you put in such a lot of hard work. Thank you very much for all you do for us.

From Joanne Faherty (Bedfordshire, United Kingdom) ~

Happy 3rd birthday its a string thing. I enjoyed doing this as I have been missing on zentangle world for a while. I'm hoping I get my mojo back again soon.

From Michele Wynne (California) ~

I'm so happy to participate in the celebration of IAST's 3rd birthday! I missed last week, although I started it I never finished so I wanted to make sure that didn't happen again.
Thank you so much for all you do here. This is such a special place and an invaluable source of inspiration. I wrote a little tribute on my blog. These challenges are so unlike anything else out there, mostly because of the special effort you put into curating and commenting on every submission. I always look forward to Mondays' gallery show.
Happy Birthday IAST! and kudos to you Adele for always creating so much ZenJoy every week.

From Karen (Alberta, Canada) and here on her blog ~

I am so happy I was able to play along this week and join everyone in wishing IAST a VERY Happy 3rd Birthday. Because it’s such a special occasion I wanted to use one of my coloured tiles. :-) Loved the string - especially that it could be done as a single stroke, and the tangles too. All of them were new to me. I did take some liberty with Onomato, inserting Orbs la Dee inside it’s outer auras … sort of a combination of the two. Then I added C02 (C OH 2 :-) for celebratory sprinkles.
Thanks for all you do.

From Katrina Handson (Florida) ~

I really enjoyed this challenge it gave me a chance to work in a gold paint marker I've been wanting to use on a tile( I really suggest silver and gold markers as additions to tangles they're beautiful .. especially in the light!) :) Happy 3rd birthday for its a string thing !

From Jutta Gladnigg (Germany) ~

Congratulation to 3 years of "It's a String Thing🌹🌹🌹! Let's raise our glasses🍾 and thank you for all your love❤️ and wonderful work that you put into this! It's a great, great pleasure to be a member of your community😃! May all the candlelights 🕯🕯🕯🕯🕯in this week's "Happy 3rd Birthday string" shine for you! Sending love💖! Jutta

From Ragged Ray (United Kingdom) ~

Well, well. Here we are - on your String Thing's 3rd birthday. I can't believe I'm filling a string made of 3 candles. I had a warm moment looking back over the ones I drew for the first and second birthday too!
Congratulations, and well done on the commitment of running this wonderful and welcoming challenge every week. You are truly appreciated and I look forward to the new challenge and the results every week.
Here's to the year ahead!

A very warm welcome to Pat Kenn (Florida) ~

My first post!

From Sarah (Michigan) ~

Congratulations on yet another year and including us in an amazing weekly challenge each week. I followed the string in a round about way. Kind of did a duotangle too. Thanks Ms. Bruno!

From Simone (Germany) and here on her blog ~

Happy third anniversary!!
What a beautiful choice of tangles you chose for this very special IAST challenge! In combination with the three candles string I had a lot of fun with tangling (During the last week of my holidays!).
My thoughts were with you when I tangeled and so this is my personal present for you..
I would like to thank you, Adele, for this wonderful challenge, for your lovely blog, the powerful "Wednesday Words of Wisdom" and all your efforts to comment each single tile which you receive by E-mail every week.
I am glad to be a part of this Zentangle family- I really feel home with you all!

From Val Steele (Johannesburg, South Africa) ~

Happy 3rd birthday. Here's to many more fun challenges.
When I first did Opus in March 2015 I struggled with it. But this time I enjoyed using it at the "flame" of the candles.

From Hilary Merola (Chicago, Illinois) ~

Good morning, Adele!
Congratulations on such an important milestone. It really represents not just so much hard work and perseverance, but also so much creativity. You've really created something special here!
Talk about special—Wednesday's Words of Wisdom this week was just amazing. I can't even begin to think how you managed that!
Once again, thanks for all your hard work. Have a great celebration!

From Denise (New Hampshire) ~

Happy birthday to It's a String Thing! This week's challenge was certainly a challenge for me....especially the string! I enjoyed your new pattern O. It was very therapeutic and I will be using it again. The other three "O" tangles were also new to me, which added to the challenge. Thanks!
Enjoy the birthday!
Instagram: string.then.tangle

A very warm welcome to Jody Genovese, CZT (New York) ~

This is my first time doing your challenge. I have attached a photo of my tile. It was fun!

From Lin H (Florida) ~

Happy 3rd Birthday to It's A String Thing! Thanks for all you do to keep the challenges going, Adele. It's been a lot of fun to participate and a great learning experience.

 (And pictured on a Tickled to Tangle frame!)


From Sabine (Germany) ~

Congratulation to the third anniversary! Thank you so much for
- this wonderful challenge
- your comment to each single tile every week
- your Pattern Tutorial
- sharing your own lovely tangles with us
- great Wednesday's Word of Wisdom.

I'm very proud to be a part of this challenge. Here is my present to third birthday.
With many greetings from Germany

From Felicity Strohfeldt (South Africa) and here on her blog ~

Happy 3rd Anniversary of It’s a String Thing Challenge! You are to be commended for your constant enthusiasm and creativity keeping the weekly challenges coming. Thank you for your positive and inspiring comments, advice and tips aimed at us the participants each week. I’ve been taking part for two and a half years and I’ve enjoyed each zen moment. You and zentangle definitely know how to keep our “creative juices” flowing. Thank you for that. Also a happy anniversary to all the tangler family, who take part each week. I can hardly wait each week to see what you’ve all come up with. Keep ‘em coming.
Now Celebratory tile 156! Great familiar String by who? Adele! I couldn’t resist using her O with a twist or two for my version of the flames. Onamato and Opus by Maria Thomas and Rick Roberts. I love Onamato so two candles became embossed with it. Opus in my version is a delicate first for me. Now Orbs-la-Dee, here a thing! My turned out a tad unconventional, sorry, but I think it’s cute...
Looking forward to all the tiles from all the other tanglers. Good luck to you and all of us for year four.
Best wishes Adele.

From Ingrid (The Netherlands) ~

Congratulations on a Happy THIRD Birthday!!!!!!
It can not be said too often, but thank you, Adele, so much for your positive energy and inspiration week after week for the last three years in your IAST community. Cheers to another three or more years!!
A familiar string, but this time with three candles. Very nice to do, but I left Orbs-la-Dee out. I saw no possibility to fit this tangle in. And of course I had to give your newest tangle O a try, which was very relaxing to do. I love how this tile turned out.
Like every week I'm curious to see what others did with the challenge.

From Kate (United Kingdom) ~

Congratulations and Happy 'It's A String Thing' Birthday wishes!
A big 'Thank you' to you for your hard work, advice and encouragement
and to all the talented contributors to your page - their work is such
an inspiration!

From Anita A Westin (Sweden) and here on her blog ~

Happy birthday! My celebration tile I made in the backseat of our car, so the lines are wobbling but I liked it! It is in my sketchbook.
Best wishes and thank´s for great challenges!

From Anja (East Frisia, Germany) and here on her blog ~

Congratulations for the 3rd anniversary!
I wish you and us many years to come with the great Challenge!
Many greetings from Germany!

From Lucy Banta, CZT (New Jersey) and here on her blog ~

Your very happy birthday challenge inspired me to get my pens and tiles back out and get tangling after a way too long hiatus! Thank you! Your hard work and dedication to growing the community of Zentanglers continues to amaze me.
Thank you for all you do and continue to do!

From Henrike Bratz (Germany) - kindness of Christiane ~

Dear adele, I've asked Christiane to send you my tile this week as I've been walking the Wye Valley Walk in England and Wales for two weeks now. I haven't got access to a computer and cannot send you an email myself. Thank you for three years of your weekly challenge. I'm looking forward to another one.

From Beth Gaughan (North Carolina) ~

Congratulations on the start of another year of IAST!!

From Jami (Ohio) ~

Happy birthday, It's a string thing. I look forward to it every week. Thank you, Adele, for all of your hard work of keeping a great thing going!!!

From Linda (United Kingdom) ~

Congratulations on reaching 3 years of weekly tangles
Happy to say I managed to have a go with this week's tangles in time to submit again. I haven't come across Opus before and to be truthful it's probably not a tangle I would choose to use. Loved using the other three tangles but I certainly need to spend some more time trying Opus out in different ways before I feel happy with it.
Looking forward to Year 4

From Hilary Gibbons (Spain) ~

Happy anniversary and wishing you many more!
Here is my entry for IAST #156

From Jane Glotzer (Boulder, Colorado) ~

Happy Birthday It's A String Thing!
What an accomplishment, Adele...I know I speak for many when I say we are so very appreciative of the opportunity you provide each week for our individual artistic experimentation and growth and for the even greater connection with the larger Zentangle community throughout the world!
Here's my #156...first of all, friendly warnings to all not to tangle at night in a dark room--:) I realized when I went to finish my piece today that I had accidentally used some brown in my middle candle's Opus, and for the background in the left side Onomato and for various places I inked in backgrounds...oh well, I added a few brown lines, colored over what I wanted black and just moved on...no mistakes, and all of that, but not my intention--:)
Used a variety of Onomato, Opus, and Orbs-la-Dee for the candles and flames (can't believe I got them all in!) and finished with your fun O in the background for some celebratory effect.
Enjoy looking through everyone's submission...hope you get lots and lots of birthday wishes--:)

From Sharyn Penna (Massachusetts) ~

Your new tangle, O, is so much fun to play with. It makes wonderful stars inside, outside, or a combination of both ... perfect for a candle flame!
Cheers for a very calming prompt!

(another tile photographed on a TTT frame :)


From Sue Agnew (Arizona) ~

Congratulations on 3 years of String Thing challenges! You have brought so much pleasure to so many people ... I'm sure it's a lot of work ... but please don't quit anytime soon!...
When I first started experimenting with O for Oswald, I was drawing it without pencil guidelines (starting out sort of like doing Aaaah with a big center area). I almost think that made it easier to keep the sense of drawing the lines all the way to the center because when I was drawing it with the pencil outline I'd find myself drawing almost parallel lines, especially when I was trying to sparkle (of course you knew I had to try sparkling it).
Onomato was one of my earliest favorite tangles until my sister told me to quit drawing pearls all the time. It was fun to play with it. I morphed it with Orbs-la-Dee because when I did them separately it seemed like again "too many pearls."
Then when practicing Opus and decorating the negative space all the ways Maria suggested, I found it to be too busy next to Onomato/Orbs-la-Dee. I've been practicing lettering using a "cheating" technique where you write the word and then go back and thicken some of the lines, so I tried doing that on Opus and left it "less is more."
Thank you!

From Julie (Washington State) and here on her blog ~

Happy Third Birthday to the IAST community! Many thanks and congratulations you, Adele, for all you do to keep this community inspired!

From Jenny Hopkins (Australia) ~

OOoo, what a wonderful celebration! Three years of incredible dedication by you; hosting these challenges, sharing your insight, wisdom, experiences and tangles and providing such a positive and supportive forum. The success of what you do is evidenced by the hundreds of tanglers who participate in the challenges and the many more (I'm sure) who follow each week without necessarily sending in their creations. We are all indebted to you - you change the lives of people you have never met.

I thought that you might like to see the week as I do.

The IAST week
Our IAST week starts on a Tuesday,
The day that Adele aptly calls our ‘good news’ day.
The following day is a ‘review the clues’ day
And then we enjoy a ‘play and amuse’ day.
It sometimes gets rocky on ‘excuse and refuse’ day
Before coming together on ‘engage the muse’ day.
We have a day off and a bit of a ‘snooze’ day
And look forward to sharing our gifts on ‘reviews’ day.

I loved the tangles this week and their beautiful roundness. I especially liked O - it is much more versatile than I thought at first.

Congratulations again and I am looking forward to joining in year 4.

 From Jessie Plouffe (Connecticut) ~

Here is my tile for this week. I decided to add brown pen, and do
'backwards' Opus in the candles.
Thank you!

From Aloyna Pakhomova (Toronto, Ontario) ~

Happy Birthday and thank you for this wonderful challenge!

From Audrie Weisenfelder (Tucson, Arizona) and here on her blog ~

Happy 3rd Birthday!
Here's my Birthday tile:

As you can see, I didn't use Opus in this one; so I added it to another one;

but I really don't much care for it; it's a bit sloppy. I'm including it any way.

Here's to many more Birthdays, and many more challenges. thanks for doing them; they keep us on our toes.

From Gesine (Germany) ~

To all participating tanglers a happy third anniversary! I hope we will go on for another three years!

From Susan Theron (Velddrif, South Africa) and here on her blog ~

Happy, happy 3rd anniversary! Thanks for the challenges and the comments and the inspiration.

From Marla Mendenhall (California) ~

What a privilege and blessing it is to help celebrate TTT's IAST Third Anniversary. I'm thrilled to participate, and equally thrilled that Adele continues to support this wonderful craft in this delightful way for all of us to enjoy.

Tile #1 is my favorite for many reasons, chief among them is that it manifest in almost a mystical way. After wracking my brain for two days, and wrecking several tiles, once I released the notion that I could "make" it happen, it just did. (I tend to over-think things; could you guess?) The Zen-ness of the process wins out, when I let it.

Tiles Two and Three were experiments in how the different patterns would look placed into the different string elements. I "tacked" Tile Three on the wall papered with an alternating Opus pattern, and that Adele's "O"s turned into glows in Tile #2 seemed fitting for the occasion.
My first submission was for Challenge #97 a few months after I learned to tangle, so this is my second anniversary offering, and I look forward to many more. Thank you, thank you, thank you Adele.

From Annie Taylor (Spain) ~

Really enjoyed this one but had to rush.... not the best attitude for a Zentangle, I know, but it was important to me to take part in this auspicious occasion.
Many thanks and congratulations for keeping this lovely and inspirational blog going. I really appreciate your weekly input.
Here's to the next year.

From Donna (Pennsylvania) ~

We traveled over 6 states to arrive home in Pennsylvania just in time for me to participate in your anniversary challenge!! Thank
You for being such a positive encouraging force within our Zentangle community.

From Lori Bylerly (Washington State) and here on her blog ~

Congratulations, Adele, on three years of great Zentangle challenges. You rock!

From Amy Barnickel (Orlando, Florida) ~

Here is my Happy Birthday tangle. :o)

From Allison Durno (Richmond Hill, Ontario) ~

Happy, happy Anniversary!!! Thanks so much for what you do to inspire this community and what you do each week to fire up my creativity ad imagination. I always look forward to your challenges and the fun of seeing everyone else's artwork compared to my ideas and your feedback each week. As for your anniversary tangle, I wanted to make the flames on the candles shine and the fireworks look really festive, so I chose to use metallic pens on a black tile for your anniversary string. Opus worked wonderfully as flickering flames and like others "O" immediately reminded me of fireworks. Onomato and Orbs-la-Dee worked well for tall, straight candles! Yay! Happy 3rd!

A very warm welcome to Ulrike Brenn (Berlin, Germany) ~

...my best wishes to your 3th anniversary. I read in your blog often and find many inspiration there. I wish you many power and joy for hopefully a long time.

Yes, I am truly filled to the brim.  Your love and kindnesses and compliments and encouragement will carry me through to our fourth birthday celebration!

Thank you to the creative minds behind the tangles used with my O and my string ~

(I mentioned in last Tuesday's post that it would be "a personal treat" to see how others used my pattern, O.   Once again, I am awe struck and inspired by your work.)

Onomato and

Opus by Maria Thomas and Rick Roberts, Zentangle founders

Orbs-la-Dee by Anneke van Dam

Special thanks and good wishes to Judy and Juul for your sweet notes and to tanglers everywhere who look forward to our Monday galleries.

HAPPIEST OF BIRTHDAYS EVERYONE!

Be sure to check back Tuesday afternoon as we begin Year 4 with 

"It's a String Thing" #157!