Hello friends & followers. Have you ever made a card that you weren't thrilled with? It always bothers me when I do this because I hate wasting precious crafting supplies and money doesn't grow on trees in the present day and age; that is how I felt about the first two cards today. I looked at them and just knew they were not my best work, did not come out how I envisioned them, considered not even posting them... Then I felt like the cards were sad, as if they were saying "Mom? Am I not good enough to put on your blog?" and I felt bad (yes, I do realize I am ridiculous and personify things waaaay too much). So I gave them a little makeover courtesy of Photoshop and here they are. If you like them - great! If you don't, that's fine too (no need to be nasty of course), they are my babies and I am still going to give them a little love. Besides, this way when I am a world re-known card designer on the design team of every major stamping company in existence and everyone is intimidated by me, you can all find comfort in the fact that I came from humble beginnings and find confidence that you too can become the card designer of your dreams (just humor me here okay? laugh as much as you want, I can't hear you anyway). They are both for Stamp TV's Free-for-Friday Challenge which was a sketch by Suzanne Dean with the twist of having to incorporate at least 4 shades of the rainbow.
This next card I created for the extended VSN hurricane deadline on VSN - the challenge was to create a coffee themed card. I used Andrea Ewen's sketch for Viva la Verve! - Week 2 and created this card using Verve's new set 'Better with You':
(Please click on any of the photos for clearer resolution). I created background DP using the cute to-go cup from this set paired with the steam image and a saying that is perfect for my friend Barbie, who loves her coffee. Don't you just love that Offray ribbon with this? Doesn't it look like steam curls? I will be so sad when I run out of this ribbon. I crimped the brown strip of cardstock under the ribbon to resemble those coffee cozies the fancy coffee places give you so you won't burn your hands on the cups. Lots of sponging around the edges on this one.
That is all I have for you now. It is early in the day so I may have some more cards for your later if you wish to check back. Thank you all for your warmth and your loyalty. I hope you have a Happy Wednesday!
~Crafty Math Chick
Hello Friends & Followers! I am happy to report we weathered the storm just fine - we did lose power briefly but not long enough for the sump pump in the basement to shut down (thank heavens!) - so thank you all for your thoughts & prayers and I hope you were as lucky as well.
Today I continue with more 'made in 45 minutes or less' VSN cards. The first was for a challenge that required us to use wood, woodgrain, images of objects made of wood, etc. I knew it was the perfect challenge to break in my new stamps from The Craft's Meow by Jenny Suchins called 'Owl Be Thinking of You' so I decide to use The Craft's Meow's August Sketch for the challenge as well:
(please click on the photo for clearer resolution). I used Martha Stewart punches to create the grass and the 'sun' which has a bright yellow button twined with Twinery twine at it's center and background stamp from PTI to create the woodgrain looking DP in the background. The tree and cutie pie owls are colored with Copic markers.
My second card was for a VSN challenge that required us to use (1) something with a bandana print, and (2) paper piecing. I borrowed this week's Sketch Saturday Sketch 170 to create this card:
(Please click on photo for clearer resolution). I obviously used bandana print ribbon and paper pieced some denim patterned paper onto the overalls of the cute little boy from My Favorite Things' 'Dog-Gone Cute' and attached little silver domes as the snaps after coloring him and his canine companion with Copic markers. For a little balance I stamped the images and sentiment at 2:00 and 8:00 from MFT's 'You Had Me at Woof!". This card also fulfills the following additional challenges:
It feel so good to be creating again, thank you all so much for stopping by to see my creations. I just might have a second post for you later today... if not, there should be one on Monday since Monday night is the upload deadline for VSN on SCS. Happy Sunday Everyone!
~Crafty Math Chick
Happy Saturday friends & followers! As I wait for the rain & winds of Hurricane Irene to descend upon us I decided to play in a few more VSN challenges. This first one for a VSN challenge requiring us to use kraft cardstock and our 'brand' - something that we continually reach for over and over as a stamper - I went with a combination of dog images (after all, my blog is entitled 'Canines & Card Designs' right?) and holiday cards, since I LOVE to make holiday cards all year long (up to 36 so far this year). I borrowed this week'd Sketch 90 from Skipping Stones Design:
and created this card:
(please click on the photo for better resolution). The cute lab is from SSD's 'Dogs Vol. 1' set and I created some background patterned paper using the snowflake images from SSD's "Sassy Snow' set; I used white EP on the kraft cardstock sections and Crumb Cake ink on the white sections. I substituted a snowflake punch with a button and twine center for the big circle in the sketch at 8:00, and designed the pom pom at the top of his Santa hat (a sticker from Michael's) as another and figured the snowflakes took the place of the other dots in the sketch. In addition to these two challenges, this card also fulfills the requirements of the following challenges:
- Color Create Challenge 78 - kraft, red and white/cream,
- Paper Sundaes Challenge 83 - Sundae toppings bar (use at least two): twine (check), buttons (check), the color green (nope), and banners (nope).
- Stamptacular Sunday - A-Apricot (the lab is apricot colored), B-Bling (there is a rhinestone on his Santa hat), and C-Critter (woof!),
- Shopping Our Stash Challenge 14 - red (check) or ribbon (does twine count ?) or roses,
- Paper Pretties Wednesday Challenge 168 - create your own background using stamps, and
- Stampin' for the Weekend Challenge 15 - holidays.
The next card was created for a VSN challenge hosted by 'Ravengirl' Toni, to use the Texas flag for inspiration:
I decided to use the colors involved and make a patriotic 'Any Hero' card which are delivered to servicemen and women who do not receive a lot of mail from their families through Operation Write Home. Here is the card I came up with:
(please click on the image for clearer resolution). I used Martha Stewart's Holiday Stars edger punch and layered the strips and used my horizontal slot punch on either side of the sentiment (from Stampin' Up!'s retired 'Greetings4U' set) and tied some bows of patriotic ribbon through the holes. In addition to once again satisfying Shopping Our Stash Challenge 14 - red (check) or ribbon (check) or roses, this card also fulfills the requirements of Karen's Doodles' 'Punch it Out' Challenge.
Thanks again for stopping by to see my creations, and for your prayers that we and my fellow East Coasters survive Hurricane Irene relatively unscathed. Off to upload to SCS and make more VSN cards... I will be back!
~Crafty Math Chick
Good evening friends & followers! I am so excited because it is VSN (Virtual Stamp Night) Weekend at Splitcoaststampers - where you have 45 minutes to make a card according to the parameters of the challenge before moving onto the next one. Never played? Check it out here - you have until Monday to upload so there is plenty of time to get on board!
The first challenge was to incorporate real or faux stitching on a card. Since we only have 45 minutes and I don't know how to sew with a machine yet, I went with faux using There She Goes Clear Stamps "In Stitches" set to stamp cross-stitch squares in the background and the sentiment 'hi' using this week's TSG Inspiration Challenge:
and
this week's Card Positioning Systems Challenge 232 sketch:
So, LOL, here is the card:
(please click on the photo for clearer resolution). I used the pink, turquoise and grey color combination from the pajamas and since I don't have any hippo images that I can think of I went with this adorable little ellie from TSG's 'Polka Dot Pals' set, using polka dot ribbon and popped up polka dot ears for the ellie. This card also satisfies the following challenges:
The second card was for a 'make a gatefold card challenge. I drew inspiration from This Week's Tuesday Trigger photo at MoxieFabWorld:
I went with Cath's pink, black and gold color palette and her 'Girly & Gutsy' theme and used 'Bra's Vol. 1" by Skipping Stones Designs for the main image inside a black circle mat to mimic the mirror and was drawn to the little diamond shapes that were created by the reflection of the candlesticks on the table and embossed some gold diamonds from SSD's 'Pumpkin Seed Sentiments' set. (The inside of the card says 'thanks for your support' - HA!).
Alrightie, it is late and I still have to upload these photos to my SCS Gallery, and there are more VSN challenges to be announced tomorrow so I need to get some sleep and re-energize. Thanks so much for stopping by to view my creations! Sweet dreams! Hope those of you affected by Hurricane Irene stay safe from her wrath.
~Crafty Math Chick
Hello Friends & Followers! I have two cards for your viewing pleasure this evening. I was inspired by the color combination of the last (hopefully just for a while) Off the Wall Craftiness Challenge 58;
Kim, the owner of Wilson Designs and hostess of the OWTC Challenge Blog needs a little 'Kim time', so I wish her well and keep my fingers crossed that things settle down and she is back to it soon. ;) So naturally I had to use her 'Nauticool' set by Wilson Designs to create this CAS card:
(Please click on the photos for clearer resolution). I was having so much fun with this color combination (and I have officially used Cameo Coral more this week than I have perhaps in my entire life put together) that I went on to create this card using 'Dance' by There She Goes Clear Stamps (who is having sneak peeks and a release party Saturday night BTW...) that I was having fun with the other day:
Well, that is about it for the evening. I am getting all excited for Virtual Stamp Night on Splitcoaststampers - if you haven't played before it is wicked fun and I highly recommend it! It is a great way to jump start your mojo and add a ton of cards to your stash in a short period of time and meet a lot of nice stampers too, I myself have made many a friend via VSN at SCS. Note to self - clear a space in the spare bedroom to set up the photo cube for the weekend... charge camera battery... clean scrubber... but you don't need to listen to me think aloud. ;)
Have a great night!!
~Crafty Math Chick
Good evening my friends & followers! I hope you had a good weekend! I could not let this week's TSG Challenge - the colors baby pink, coral & black slip away without participating, so I borrowed this sketch from Pals Paper Arts' Challenge 107:
and created this card using 'Dance' (a stamps for a cause set created by Jessica in loving memory of her friend Linda who passed away from Amyloidosis) and 'In Stitches' both by There She Goes Clear Stamps:
(Please click on the photo for clearer resolution). I dressed up the edges using Martha Stewart's Cornice edger punch and punched the blooms out off center so they looked like they were dancing themselves and added coral colored pearls to their centers. The 'hi' sentiment from TSG's 'In Stitches' was the perfect greeting for an any occasion card and it fulfilled Fab n Funky's 'Stitch in Time' Challenge 68 (to use real or faux stitching on a card).
I hope you all like this sweet & simple beauty. Thanks for stopping by! Have a good week!
~Crafty Math Chick
Surprise! Second post from me today! I knew when I saw Sketch 68 from Sunday Sketch & Stamp:
that I wanted to flip it and use There She Goes Clear Stamps' 'Out of this World' set and turn the big pink circle into a Saturn using a big yellow circle, and two wide oval Nestabilities dies placed off center from one another. This was the final result:
(Please click on the photo for a clearer image) I had so much fun coloring this cute little guy with Copic markers - the moon is more vibrant too, but it is muted a bit by the vellum (had to think of something to use for that part of the sketch). Some of the stars are images from the set, others are holographic sequins. In addition to Sunday Sketch & Stamp, this card also fulfills the requirements of the following challenges:
Psst! How would you like to win The Ultimate Twine Bundle - full spools of all 14 colors of the yummy Twinery twine? Check out the Twinery's Anniversary Day 5 Celebration for the details HERE!!!
Thanks for stopping by my blog again and seeing my creations! I hope you have a FABULOUS weekend!
~Crafty Math Chick
Hello Friends & Followers! Happy Friday! I have a ton of ideas I hope to effectuate later, but for now I will start off showing you a card I created for this week's Free-for-Friday Challenge at Stamp TV which was to CASE DT member Cathy Tidwell, changing at least 2 things about her card; an intimidating task, her gallery is impressive! So I poked around a bit and found this card in Cathy's gallery and knew it would be the one I would be CASEing. I have the idea of 'embossing' in my head today anyway because it was not only the Free for All Friday Challenge at SCS (to make an embossed image take center stage) but it was also the focus of this week's CAS-ual Friday Challenge 16 as well. So I decided one of the things I would change about Cathy's card was the colors and borrowed the blueberry, bubble gum and pea pod color palette from Play Date Cafe Challenge 95 :
and created this card:
The chairs and sentiment are from 'Fine Furnishings' and 'Fine Furnishings Additions' by Gina K. Designs and they were cut out and embossed using Cuttlebug's Textile EF. Sweet and simple right?
So this little card fulfilled the requirements of four challenges:
Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a FABULOUS weekend!
~Crafty Math Chick
Hello Friends & Followers! I hope you are all having a happy Thursday! I have two creations for your viewing pleasure today. The first is a birthday card using a set called 'Pond Pals' by Sweet & Sassy Stamps, a color palette of orange, yellow and green from Sweet n' Sassy Stamps' Digi Challenge 13 (since the froggie is also available in digi format), and a sketch from their first release party over in their new company forum on Splitcoaststampers.
Ever envision a creation in your mind and you try and try and try to effectuate it and one thing after another goes wrong? Well, that is what happened to me with my next creation. My dear friend Lee was hostessing the Friday Free-for-All Challenge at Stamp TV, which was to make a bookmark. I pictures using Gina K. Designs' cell phone image from her 'Text Messages' set to make a bookmark with a sandwich design - a layer of pink metallic paper (since Lee's favorite color is pink) with the screen and all the number buttons cut out, a layer of neon green behind it, and in-between some fibers to act as a tail for the bookmark. Take 1 (snap!): I discover the metallic paper (which is by Best Occasions, got it on clearance from WalMart when they were nuking their scrapbooking section) is not very porous and the ink just kind of sat there on the top of the paper. Take 2 (snap!): I re-stamp the phone image on the pink metallic paper and hit it with the embossing gun to dry the ink and go to use this special knife by Fiskars that glides that you are supposed to glide over things and they will cut it out... yeah, ink smudged AND the phone image was too small and there was no way to hold the knife and the image... it was a mess. Take 3 (snap!) - re-stamp the phone image a third time on pink metallic paper, heat dry it, and go to cut the number buttons out with a craft knife and proceed to slice the thing up - not to toot my own horn, but usually I have a very steady hand with the craft knife and get the results I seek, no so today however, can I blame the paper? LOL! Found some threads from an old Stampin' Up! fibers palette and sandwiched them between the green and metallic cardstock with dimensionals. And here you have the sorriest little bookmark ever:
Hello friends and followers! Today I have two cards for your viewing pleasure, the first is based on Sketch Challenge 88 from Skipping Stones Design (they are having free shipping this week BTW):
Kinda tricky right? I turned those slivers of circles into puppy paws to create the following card using SSD's 'Dogs Vol. 1' set that I LOOOOVE:
(Man I can't wait until I have enough space cleared to set my photo cube up!) The 'paws' were created from sections of oval punches with tiny 1/4" punches circles for the toes; the paper is from DCVW's 'Pet Stack' mat stack. Since I used a dog in this card it also fulfills the requirements of Shopping Our Stash's Weekly Challenge 13 - to use a dog or a digi or denim, I of course went with dog.
My second card was based on Sketch TESC143 by Taylored Expressions:
I used "Frightful Night' stamp set from Taylored Expressions and the ingredients from a past card kit to create this card based on the sketch:
All the supplies, including the brads, patterned paper and ribbon, were included with the kit - pretty convenient huh? ;) This there are polke dots on the patterned paper and on the ribbon as well this card satisfies the Stampin' for the Weekend Challenge 14.
Thank you for stopping by and viewing my creations, I hope you like them and I hope you have a fabulous day!
~Crafty Math Chick
Hel-LO my friends & followers - thank you so SO MUCH for not deserting me while I relocated. I would love to say my new craft room is all set up and organized and set to go but this is not the case; it is about 60% done and, since I am going through stamping withdrawal, I figured 60% was good enough to make a card, so I did! WOO HOO! It was for this week's sketch challenge at Skipping Stones Design:
Something about that design reminded me of those hooks at the back of a bra, probably because one of the first sets I ever purchased from SSD was their 'Bra's Volume 1' set, so I went with that theme and this is what I came up with to thank all of my loyal friends & followers for their 'support' while I was moving and unable to be crafty:
