HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESSICA!

WOO HOO!  Today is a special one my friends & followers because today is the birthday of one of my FAVORITE people in the world - Jessica Knutsen, owner of There She Goes Clear Stamps.  Not only is Jessica wicked talented and uber creative, but she also is a loving, caring wife, mother and friend and has a heart of gold.  To celebrate and let her know how special she is to us, and how much we appreciate her, we have organized this hop - a buffet of birthday cards made with TSG stamps!  
     Indecisive little me took a long time to decide on which set to use (there are SOOOOOO many I LOOOOOVE).  I finally decided to take a classic approach and heat embossed this fun cake image from 'A Little Treat' onto Blushing Bride cardstock and added LOTS of pearls in three different sizes:

I thought the swiss dots cuttlebug embossing folder would be a nice compliment to all those pearls, and added some pretty satiny & sheer ribbon.  I hope Jessica will like it when she sees it.
     Make sure you check the list at the bottom of this post below my signature for a complete roll call of ALL the Trendsetters, past & present, and TSG Fans that are celebrating Jessica in this hop.  Thanks for joining us!
~ Crafty Math Chick

Thanks for helping us celebrate Jessica's birthday! Have fun hopping, and on the way, the last hop will be Jessica's blog, so be sure to say hi to her and wish her a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

1.	Monica-La Papera Gialla	14.	Tracy Valure	27.	Christine Okken
2.	Heather Pulvirenti	15.	Sandra MacLean	28.	Danni Bindel
3.	Crafty Math Chick	16.	Mary Johnson	29.	Stephanie Muzzulin
4.	Karen Giron	17.	Silke Ledlow	30.	Tracy MacDonald
5.	Jenny Peterson	18.	Tara Cardwell(Craftilicious)	31.	Karin Åkesdotter
6.	Vera Yates	19.	Tangii Crain	32.	Joy Stagg
7.	Wendy Bond	20.	Michele L	33.	Lesley Croghan
8.	Angela Thomas	21.	Kelly Collins	34.	Piali
9.	Danielle Lounds	22.	Debby Hughes	35.	Alina Igna
10.	Lisa Henke	23.	Cassie Trask	36.	Wendy Leake Ramlakhan
11.	Torico	24.	Anita Autore	37.	Jessie Rone
12.	Jodi Collins	25.	Wendy Price	38.	Jessica Knutsen
13.	Kim O'Connell	26.	Cammy Wall	39.	Stephanie Serrano

(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)

Dogs Days of Summer VSN

Hello Friends & Followers!  This evening I am hostessing a virtual stamp night (VSN) challenge over at Splitcoaststampers.com.  The theme of this VSN was "The Dog Days of Summer" - so you KNOW being the HUGE dog lover than I am I had to hostess right?  My challenge was to create a card with a canine on it that also incorporates heat embossing in the 45 minute time limit.  I had SO much trouble deciding which of my dog sets to use, but finally decided on the cute doxie from SOme Odd Girl's 'Preppy Pups':

I heat embossed the pup in black, colored him with my Copic markers and then fussy cut him out (note - when cutting along the edge of embossing it can flake off - be prepared to perform 'damage control' with a black marker if necessary).  I used Papertake Weekly's Sketch #26 as a jumping off point:

and created the 'sun' background using a Spellbinders Nestabilities pinking circles die and 'grounded' my doxie using a piece of Garden Green cardstock edged with Martha Stewart's grass border punch.  The bone was stamped with Memento Tuxedo black and fussy cut as well, and the WOOF! patterned paper is part of the 'Spoiled Rotten' stack from The Paper Studio (LOVE that stack!!).  I wanted to add some puffy clouds or something to the upper left portion of the card for some balance, but I have NO cloud punches or dies... have to remedy that soon!!
     In addition to my VSN challenge, this card fulfills the requirements of the following additional challenges:

• Papertake Weekly Challenge - Sketchie Free-for-All - use ANY Papertake Weekly Sketch (I used # 26),
• Stamp and Create Challenge - use at least one die,
• Stampin' for the Weekend - use at least one die or punch,
• Creative Craft Challenges 2 - all about animals, and 
• http://scrap-creations1.blogspot.com/2013/04/going-grey-with-scrap-creations.html.

Thanks so much for stopping by crafty friends!  Hope you have a wonderful weekend - tomorrow is National Scrapbooking Day (psst - keep an eye open for sales!)
~ Crafty Math Chick