Ellies and Tigers and Cards, Oh My!

     Welcome back friends & followers!  Two posts from me today, impressive no?  I have two more cards to show you today.  The first was made for a Stamp TV Challenge to CASE DT Member Lee Murphy, a daunting task if you have seen her uber impressive gallery.  I selected to CASE this card: 'Wild Elephant' using Theresa Momber's new 'Wild About You' set which I LOOOOVE because I really love elephants.  In fact, when I saw this card by Lee I was SOLD!  So, here is my card based on this one:

You are supposed to change at least 2 things about the card for this challenge, so I swapped out the background patterned paper (mine is by DCWV - it has orange glitter on it, not sure that shows up in the photo), changing the ribbon to this pretty, gold, glittery, netted ribbon that I picked up at Michaels in the holiday section (Lee likes glitter) and I didn't have room for the sentiment so instead I attached some pretty bronze bling (Lee also likes bling) in a favorite 'Lee arrangement' in the corner.    My section with the silhouette elephants is a little smaller as well.  The adorable ellie was stamped on the orange oval die cut and then again on Gina K. Luxury cardstock and colored with Copic markers (C00, C1 & C3) and cut out and paper pieced onto the orange oval.  I like how the cute ear sticks out a little bit this way.  I hope I did Lee proud.  This card also fulfills the requirements of the following additional challenges:

• Sundays with Crissy Challenge 27 - Animals,
• Stamp & Create March Month Challenge - Paper Piecing,
• Challenge Up Your Life 65 - Zoo Animals,
• CMC Copic Challenge Group Challenge 39 - Anything Goes w/Copic Markers,
• Inky Impressions Challenge 50 - You're My Pot of Gold (use gold (ribbon) & bling (lower left corner)),
• Card Crafter's Circle Challenge 14 - Gold, and
• Heidi's Hobbystugu Challenge - make a card where an animal is the focus.  

     My second card was created using My Time Made Easy Pretty Patterns Sketch 50 and the cute 'Cubbin' Around' image from Meljen's Designs:

(aren't they cuuuuuute?!!)  I used Prismacolor pencils and OMS to color in the tiger cubs and Copic Markers (C00, C1, C00) to shade around them (wanted to see what it looked like - do you like that effect?  I am still deciding).  The wild B&W striped background paper is from a new Recollections stack by Michaels and then I embossed a few Only Orange strips with my Animal Prints EF and tied a narrow, black stain ribbon around it to complete the sketch.  This card also fulfills the requirements of the following additional challenges:

• Kaboodles Doodles Challenge 111 - How Cute Is That? (I think the tigers cubs are wicked cute),
• Desert Island Crafters Challenge 27 - They listed 10 items of which you had to incorporate at least 3 - my card has (1) orange, (2) grass, and (3) colored pencil coloring,
• Sundays with Crissy Challenge 27 - Animals, 
• CMC Copic Challenge Group Challenge 39 - Anything Goes w/Copic Markers, and
• Heidi's Hobbystugu Challenge - make a card where an animal is the focus.   

     Well, that's all I have for you today my friends.  Thanks so much for stopping by to see my creations and read my ramblings.  Be sure to stay tuned, blog candy will be forthcoming in the near future!  ;)
~Crafty Math Chick

Happy Gina K. Day!

Well, technically, Gina K. Day!  This is a holiday created by GKD & Stamp TV fan Sean to honor and celebrate all the wonderful inspiration and tutorials Gina has created to help us grow and improve as crafters (not to mention all the wonderful crafty products Gina & her illustrators have made to help us create with ).  For this special Gina K. Day Challenge at Stamp TV we were to pick a video that had the most meaning to us and re-create the card in the video as a tribute to Gina.  Well, I had hoped to get off my duff by now and watch Gina's videos on how to the Janome Sew Mini sewing machine, but since that has not happened yet, the next tutorial of which I am most fond is Coloring with Colored Pencils & Odorless Mineral Spirits.  I don't have the stamp set that Gina used in the video, so instead I used one of my first GKD sets that I ever purchased, Owl Always Love you and created this card:

I borrowed Card Positioning Systems' 5th Anniversary Day 3 Sketch:

along with the Big Scalloped Square Nestabilities dies and colored this sweet owl image with Prismacolor Colored Pencils and OMS.  I figured the sentiment is perfect for a close friend who will be moving sometime this summer.  This card also fulfills the requirements of Inky Impressions Challenge to use punches or dies, and Paperplay's Week 7 Challenge to make a card with critters on it.

     Thanks so much for stopping by!  I will have more for you to see soon!

~Crafty Math Chick

Two More

Hello again, I am back with two more cards for your viewing pleasure.  The first was created using this week's Spotlight Sketch at Stamp TV and the colors from The Play Date Cafe's Color Challenge 77, green, brown and white:

Here is my card:

I am really loving this little owl from Gina K. Designs' 'Owl Always Love You' set and coloring it in with OMS.  This is my first circle card ever!  Fellow splitcoaststamper Ravengirl (a.k.a. Toni) told me I could make a circle card by cutting out two Nestability circles, scoring 1/2" from the top of one of them and attaching it to the other circle by this bent piece from the inside - genius!  I wanted to use the largest circle I could since the size of the owl panel was rather large itself, so I went with a scalloped circle shape instead.  Since this little guy certainly qualifies as a 'cute critter' I am also entering him in Lawnscaping's Challenge 8, Calling All Critters:

The second card was created using Skipping Stones Designs' Sketch 72 designed by Laurie Schmidlin, some pretty patterned papers by Echo Park and SSD's "Bra's Volume 1" set.

The fancy bra was embossed with black EP onto Pink Pirouette cardstock.  I colored in the bow in the middle and added a tiny rhinestone accent, can you see it?  Since this card has lots and lots of layers it satisfies the requirements of Cupcake Craft Challenge 138, "Lots of Layers'.

Thank again for stopping by my little blog to view my creations.   I hope you like them and have a great day!! :)
~Crafty Math Chick

Fancy Tag Frustration

Hello my friends and followers, Friday is almost here, hang in there.  This morning I have three cards to show you.  This first one I created by rotating Card Positioning Systems' Sketch 213. 90 degrees to the right:

Since the challenge was sponsored by My Favorite Things (MFT) Stamps, I wanted to thank them by using one of their images in the card.  Everyone knows that MFT has tons of adorable little girl and 'Who's that Girl?' images, so I wanted to throw a little love in the guy's direction using Who's That Geek Guy:

That yummy patterned paper is from DCWV's Generation Tech Stack that I LOVE (can you tell that the red aliens are foiled?!!).  The chair, tee shirt and laptop were paper pieced with Going Grey, Real Red, and Brushed Silver cardstock respectively, and I added a hint of shading to the skin, background and table using Prismacolor pencils.  I LOVED this set when it came out because a lot of male relatives of mine are HUGE computer jocks and have fond childhood memories of gaming on their computers and Atari systems.  this card also fulfills the following challenges:

• Crafty Creations Challenge 114 - to use paper piecing on your card,
• SCS' Ways to use it Challenge 318 - Hey people! (to use a person on your card), and lastly
• Paper Sundaes Challenge 64 - Childhood Memories. 

My second card was created for this week's sketch spotlight challenge at Stamp TV.  I rotated the sketch 90 degrees to the right, used the colors from Crazy for Challenges' Challenge 82 - to use the colors green, brown and cream and created this card using Gina K. Designs' "Owl Always Love You" set, which I think is the first GKD set I added to my collection:

That corner was kind of tricky for me, being a lover symmetry, but I added the 'Owl' in the corner and the rest of the sentiment (always love you) inside the card.  :)  I used Gina's tutorial on coloring with Odorless Mineral Spirits to color in the image (I am really enjoying this technique and showing my Prismacolor pencils some love, the poor things have been a little neglected since I purchased some copic markers, it is nice to mix up coloring techniques every now and then) and sponged a little Creamy Caramel ink around the edge while the Nestabilities' die was still in place to create an extra layer.  The DP (designer paper for any new readers) was from a Christmas stack from the Paper Studio and I embossed the brown strip of cardstock using Cuttlebug's Forest Branches folder, which is also a favorite of mine.  Since this card has an owl on it is also fulfills the requirements of this week's Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge 129, dedicated to 'our feathered friends'.

Okay, this last card is the reason for this post's title. I have seen SO MANY LOVELY cards created using the Fancy Tag dies by Nestabilities, but I have to tell you - I was ready to throw this particular set across the room yesterday.  I tried to create the card below, made form this week's color spotlight challenge on Stamp TV, red hot, sweet corn and sweet mango, using Gina K.'s touching set 'You Are Not Alone' and one of the fancy tags for the sentiment and the die would NOT cut all the way through the cardstock.  Yes, I tried running it through twice.  Yes, I tried running it through twice in both directions.  Yes, I tried using a shim, destroying perfectly good cardstock in the process which angers me because I detest waste of all kinds.  Yes, I attempted to pick the die cut out from the die with a stylus and craft knife and after several tries I just could not justify the strain on my back (which still hurts, good job CMC!) or sacrificing any more cardstock and simply cut the mangled ends off the lable and tried to hide them behind some big rhinestones with this card:

This card was supposed to be for one of my closest friends on the planet and now I totally feel it is not good enough for her!  Hmph!!  Maybe the 'you are not alone' sentiment was trying to tell me I am not the only one who has had problems with this set?  I tried to distract from the the carnage by adding petite red rhinestones to various flourishes created by the 'Birds & Swirls' Cuttlebug embossing folder, thus meeting the requirements of this week's Tuesday Throwdown Challenge 44, to use sparkle and bling, and used the thumping technique on the pretty flower image as well.

Thank you for letting me vent.  Any other suggestions or tips you have regarding this set are greatly appreciated, I really like the shapes of the dies of the set and would love to be able to use them.  I have never had this issue with any other spellbinders set before, and the company I ordered it from will not take it back or send me a replacement because I ordered it too long ago.  Maybe I can try it with my old original Sizzix?  Don't know that sandwich though...   You may see more from me later this afternoon if I am able to let this go already, it is blocking my mojo...
~Crafty Math Chick