Inky Paws Challenge 59

Hello everyone!  I know it has been a while since I posted, I am still making cards, crocheting and knitting a whole lot, I just haven't been taking photos of all of my creations and posting them here for you.  One reason is my laptop that has Photoshop elements loaded on it (as well as Vista if you can believe it) isn't working anymore, and I don't want to spend another $100 for a new version that mostly likely will be obsolete again in a few months.  

I was making a birthday card for my dear friend Barbie who LOOOVES dogs and coffee, and when I was finished I realized I had used the colors in the current Inky Paws color challenge: 

Here is my card:

I used one of my favorite NND sets, Fetching Friendship, along with Newton Loves Coffee and a Tim Holtz embossing folder, fussy cut them by hand and colored them with Copic markers.  I sure hope she likes it.  Am I the only one who finds it most difficult making cards for your husbands and closest friends?  Nothing seems 'good enough' you know?

Thanks so much for stopping by - I will try to find a free online photo editing program (PicMonkey has started charging a monthly fee that is more expensive that buying PE) so I can post more often.  I have a lot of crocheted, sewn and knitted projects to share with you too!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving American friends!

~ Crafty Math Chick

Happy 4th Anniversary Newton's Nook Designs!!

Hello everyone!  Newton's Nook Designs is celebrating their 4th YEAR ANNIVERSARY (WOO HOO!) and Jen was kind enough to ask me to play along with the current Design Team members.  I was so honored and humbled.  

Earlier this week Jen debuted the new Winston's Lake House stamp set and its coordinating die:

Well the current Design Team members really knocked it out of the park showing off this new set with their beautiful creations.  When I first saw this stamp set I was really drawn to the loon bird (did Jen hit it out of the park with this illustration or what?!!  She even got the petite white stripes on the bird's neck!  Way to go Jen!)  and the goofy romantic sentiment 'I'm still looney for you' - it is just the kind of thing my hubby would love to get from me for our anniversary, Valentine's Day, or as a little love note (probably because he thinks I am a little looney, LOL!) so I made a card I thought would appeal to him on the masculine side:

I thought the black & white polka dot paper complemented the white dots on the loon's back nicely and created a little eyebrow for expression simply by not coloring that part of the head in black.  I added a little pop of color with the red flag and red rhinestone hearts.  

Jen also introduced a brand new line to the Newton's Nook Designs family this anniversary as well - FOUR new stencil designs!!  That's right - not one, FOUR!  Here is a graphic depicting all four of them:

I think they are all really terrific and the NND DT did such a terrific job showing them all off earlier this week, didn't they?!!  Since I love making dog-themed and cat-themed cards so much I decided to make a birthday card using NND's Pug Hugs stamp set and the brand new Paw Prints stencil :

I just secured the stencil in place with a piece of blue painter's tape and sponged the plum perfect ink over the open paw prints and VOILA!  Pretty neat huh?  My first time working with a stencil too!!  I also tried it with my new Crayola Airbrush kit I got back in December - worked nicely with that too!  And both times, all I had to do to clean the stencil off was run it under the faucet and the ink and marker just washed right off, good as new again - can't get much easier than that!  :)

Would you like to try NND's new stencils for yourself?  Well as part of Newton's Nook's 4th anniversary celebration, you can receive the Paw Prints stencil FREE with a $75 purchase from Newton's Nook Designs!  Cool no?  But the promotion only runs for one week so don't wait too long!

Celebrate with us and enter to win!

To celebrate 4 years Newton's Nook Designs is giving away a $25 store credit to spend in their online shop to 4 lucky winners! 

Here's how to win: 

Comment on the NND Design Team and Special Guest blogs (see list below)! The winner will be chosen at random from the collective blog hop posts. Make sure to check out each of their blogs and comment for your chance to win. You will not know which blog has been chosen so the more you comment on the better your chances are of winning! You have until Sunday, July 16th at 9pm CDT to comment. Winners will be announced on NND blog post on Monday, July 17th and will need to contact us to claim their prize so make sure you check back to see if you've won!

Special Guests:

Taheerah Atchia
Crafty Math-Chick (<-- you are here)
Danielle Pandeline
Stephanie Muzulin
Nina-Marie Trapani
Kimberly Rendino

Newton's Nook Design Team:

Newton's Nook Designs
Amanda Bodine
Holly Endress
Ellen Haxelmans
Larissa Heskett
Samantha Mann
Juliana Michaels
Naki Rager
Jennifer Timko
Tatiana Trafimovich

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog and seeing my creations.  Danielle Pandeline is next on the hop, I am sure she has created something spectacular for you to see.  Enjoy!  And have a wonderful weekend!

~ Crafty Math Chick

Cactus' Cactus

Hello everybody!  Certainly has been a while since I posted - sorry about that - I was sick from before Christmas until after Valentine's Day and have been making cards, I just haven't been up to photographing them, Photoshopping those photos, then uploading them here.

I also have really gotten into crocheting and knitting more lately, so some of the time I used to spend making cards is now devoted to playing with yarn, which I can do from the comfort of the sofa in the family room rather than at my craft table.

My favorite type of things to make are blankets and toys for animals in the local animal shelters.  Those of you who know me are aware of my passion for helping animals, and since I can't adopt them all, I want to do what I can to keep them happy, healthy and comfortable while they are waiting for their forever homes.  Having a soft blanket to snuggle with can help a scared pet feel calm, which can increase its chances of being adopted sooner - good things!  I have seen videos of dogs rescued from puppy mills who have only lived in wire cages being placed on soft blankets and pet beds for the first time - their reactions are heart-warming & heart-breaking at the same time.  If you are interested in donating towels (shelters ALWAYS need towels!), blankets, etc. to animal shelters in your area The Snuggles Project has a worldwide directory HERE.

I saw a video of this little pup named 'Cactus' after she had beaten parvo (WOO HOO!) and just fell in love with her!  I have wanted to adopt a sibling for Ty for some time, but after his second spine surgery, his neurosurgeon said his spine is just too fragile to risk him getting accidentally hurt playing with another dog, and he really needs to be 'an only dog'.  Since I would do ANYTHING for Ty, that means I can't adopt Cactus, which breaks my heart a little but I am SO overwhelmed with gratitude to have Ty in my life.  So instead I pray for her and the kind family who is fostering her every day, and purchased a cactus pattern I found from Flo and Dot on etsy and made Cactus a cactus toy to play with and keep her company while she waits for her forever home.

I used Lily Sugar & Cream cotton yarn in Hot Green.  I worked really hard to get my stitches TIGHT since you can see the stuffing through the previous amigurumi items I had made - I yarn under'd for the first part of the sc and then YO'd to complete the stitch - boy, what a difference that made!  Since this is a puppy toy I could not use buttons or safety eyes (don't want to risk them falling off, being swallowed and causing choking or an obstruction) so I crocheted the eyes with 6 sc into a magic ring and added some white highlights using Hobby Lobby's I Love This Yarn in black and white.  

I created a card using Lawn Fawn's 'Stuck On You' set for her foster parents to read and mailed it off this morning along with some puppy treats I purchased from smile.amazon.com so the Fredericksburg SPCA gets a little donation from my purchase courtesy of Amazon  - have you heard of Amazon Smile?  SUCH an awesome way for a charity of your choice to receive a portion of your purchases at no additional cost to you!  

Be well little Cactus!  Hope you like your goodies and find your forever home soon!  

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day!

~ Crafty Math Chick

Newton's Nook Designs Farewell Post from Crafty Math Chick

Well my friends, they say all good things must come to an end, I am afraid my time as a Design Team member for Newton's Nook Designs has reached that end, at least for now.  Jen has been an AMAZING boss, always supportive and encouraging, and I will always be grateful to her for taking a chance on me.  And I could not have asked for sweeter, more talented Teamies every single term I was blessed to represent NND.  

Unfortunately, I have been faced with some new health concerns, which are also the primary reason I am not returning, and they prevented me from creating something new using Jen's adorable and beautiful designs today I am afraid.  SO I figured instead I would get nostalgic and take you an a trip down memory lane revisiting some of my favorite creations with Newton's Nook Designs stamps and dies.

The first time I ever saw little Newton kitty he drew me into his heart and I made this card for the very first Inky Paw Challenges before I was even a member of the Design Team using one of the first two sets I purchased, Newton's Antics:

And then this one for the same sketch challenge using the other set in my first NND order, Just Say Cheese:

I had so much fun creating my first waterfall card when Jen released NND's Love a la Carte:

I had so much fun creating this little three-dimensional birdhouse using NND's Tweet Talk:

I had fun using Just Say Cheese again to make this fun cheese-slice-shaped card:

I had fun playing with color when Jen released NND's Simply Sentimental with this CAS card ('I'm happy 'around you' - get it?):

did love how this card came out using NND's Spooky Street and lots of fun punches by Martha Stewart and EK Success, doesn't the background just glow?

I really like the elegant appearance of simplicity in Jen's quite ornate designs in NND's Beautiful Blizzard and loved this soft color combination:

I was SO excited when Jen illustrated Flaky Family and included a SNOW PUPPY and a SNOW KITTY in it - THANK YOU JEN!!

Canine Christmas continues to be one of my most favorite holiday sets (hel-LO - Jen included SO many breeds of cute DOGS - and you all know how much I LOVE dogs by now):

As does Newton's Holiday Mischief (my neighbors absolutely LOVED this card - I colored the kitty to look like theirs and had fun designed the front door):

NND's Sweet Summer set still continues to be my 'go-to' set for punny thank you cards like this one:

Fetching Friendship graduation card for our neighbor - I have found that the labrador could easily be turned into a beagle using the right Copic markers:

I have fun thinking out-of-the-box, sometimes my mind goes in unpredictable ways, as it did in this fun card I made when Jen introduced Mermaid Crossing (maybe because I am kind of thinking about Christmas ll year long, even though I am Jewish, LOL!).  The tree was created using a coral image from Tranquil Tides and the crab and fish were from SEAsonal Greetings:

There was just something about this CAS card made with NND's Fox Hollow set that I have always loved (maybe it was because it took me SO many tries to manually cut out the green continents so they looked authentic:

I was PSYCHED when Jen came out with NND's Splendid Stag dies - talk about awesome for masculine cards, which I actually enjoy making, like this rustic one of my favorites (the '#1 Dad' sentiment is from Winston's BBQ):

AS my little furbaby Ty is the sun of my solar system you KNOW I am going to LOVE any supplies that allow me to show him off, like this card using NND's Garden Starter Stamp Set and Garden Window die set (I SO wanted to order a ton of photos of Ty using Shutterfly and use holiday patterned papers and make THIS my holiday card this year!  Maybe next year, if I am lucky.  

Even my husband admits that this card using Newton's Boo-tiful Night was one of his favorites (and he is a tough critic of my work!)  It worked with the DP so perfectly:

A recent favorite used the newly released Serene Silhouettes Stamp and die sets - I love birch trees and all the ADORABLE woodland critters you can incorporate, and the fact that it coordinates with Whispering Pines is a bonus!)

Most recently, I created my birdseed bell ornament tag using NND's Holiday Tweets - this ranks with my most recent favorite as I just love our feathered friends and this beautiful set:

(Okay, so I had planned on sharing my top ten favorites... oops... guess I love Newton's Nook Designs WAAAAY too much to only stop at ten...  sorry for the lengthy post!  But I want Jen to know how much I have thoroughly enjoyed being a part of NND, what an honor and pleasure it was to represent NND, to thank ALL Of my Teamies over the terms for all of their inspiration & friendship, and to thank you ALL for all of your kind comments.  I enjoyed reading every single one!  I would LOVE to know which of my cards (here or others I have posted in the past) were YOUR favorites!  It would really warm my heart this holiday season.  :)  PS - it irks me that none of the doxie sets that I love deeply were represented here, sniff sniff!!  

I wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and a very happy & healthy 2017 with lots of crafty goodness to enjoy!  

Warmest Wishes,

Crafty Math Chick

Deck the Halls with Inky Paws 2016 Blog Hop

Welcome to the 2016 'Deck the Halls with Inky Paws' Blog Hop by Newton's Nook Designs!  This is when all of us on the Newton's Nook Designs Team, along with a few special guests, have some fun getting our paws inky and show off how much we LOVE NND and inspire you with some holiday themed creations.

Anyone who knows me is aware it is no secret how much I love dogs, so you know I had to feature one in my hop creation:

I used three different sets by Newton's Nook Designs to create this card for one of my doxie-loving friends.  The snow loving doxie, colored with my Copic markers (E07, E08 & E09) and accompanying sentiment are from NND's Holiday Hounds set.  The grateful-to-have-been-undetected bunnies, as well as the playful red birds, are from NND's new Serene Silhouettes set AND purr-fectly coordinating die set.  The snowy trees in the back are from NND's Whispering Pines set; I really love how the images from these two silhouette sets can be used interchangeably to create wintery scenes of all sorts with all the cute critters in Serene Silhouettes as well as the cute kitty & puppy (thanks Jeff!) silhouette images from Whispering Pines. (NOTE - if NND is out of a set  you are looking for - check Simon Says Stamp - they carry NND too!)

Deck the Halls with Inky Paws Sale! 

Newton's Nook Designs is also having a sale starting today! Spend $25 and get a mini tree tag stamp for free along with FREE shipping on US orders ($3.50 off international) Use code TREETAG to redeem this special! Free/Discounted Shipping is valid through Friday, December 16th. Free stamp is also valid through Friday, December 16th or while supplies last. 

Enter to Win! Deck the Halls with Inky Paws Hop Prizes! 

We will be choosing two lucky winners to win a $20 store credit for Newton's Nook Designs online shop! To enter, just leave comments on the Design Team Member and Guest blogs (see list below)! Two winners will be chosen at random from the collective blogs in the blog hop. Make sure to check out each of their blogs and comment for your chance to win. You will not know which blog has been chosen so the more you comment on the better your chances are of winning! You have until Sunday, December 11th at 9 pm CST to comment  -- winners will be announced on the NND blog on Monday, December 12th.

Newton's Nook Designs
Melody Rupple
Lynn Put
Ruby Naz
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Lydia Evans
Jess Gerstner
Larissa Heskett
Samantha Mann
Crafty Math-Chick  (<-- you are here!!)
Stephanie Muzzulin
Danielle Pandeline
Naki Rager
Kimberly Rendino
Yukari Yoshioka
Gladys Marcelino
Anika Lerche

I hope you have enjoyed my card and it inspired you.  Stephanie Muzzulin is the next stop on the Deck the Halls with Inky Paws Blog Hop, I am sure she has created something spectacular for you to see!

~ Crafty Math Chick

Newton's Nook Designs November Release ~ Fireside Friends & Sweater Weather

Welcome back for the second day of Newton's Nook Designs' November Release!  Today Jen has TWO fun sets to delight you!  I just adore the first set because it incorporates a PUP as well as two cute kittens all cuddling together in front of a cozy fire, which to me embodies the spirit of peace on Earth and good will towards mankind this time of year, though it is versatile and can be used year round, especially in states & countries up north where the winters begin a little earlier and last a little longer.  Introducing 'Fireside Friends':

It was SUPER fun to color too!

I wanted to give my card a more rustic feel, so I used a kraft cardstock base for this one layer card, and colored the adorable image with my trusty Copic markers and framed the sentiment with an EK Success punch and enhanced the country feel using NND's Pines & Holly die set.  It might not show up well in this photo, but I adhered some of Martha Stewart's rectangular shaped glitter in gold and copper to parts of the flames of the fire so it would really sparkle IRL.  

Our next set features several of Jen's signature critters modeling some of their most adorable sweaters and matching accessories (which I think provides a purr-fect opportunity to combine this set with NND's Tag Sampler set if you knit or crochet gifts for family or friends or sell them at craft fairs).  Feast your eyes upon NND's new 'Sweater Weather' and purr-fectly coordinating dies:

When I saw the mitten image I was instantly reminded of some Recollections patterned paper I had that matched so closely - so I used it and tried to match the color combination in my card:

The design that most closely resembled Jen's mittens image was pink & red so I used the kitty image, even though they are ALL adorable.  Since the kitty was wearing pink I gave her little eyelashes and have her holding her mittens (remember that nursery rhyme about 'the kittens who lost their mittens?'  LOL  Not this kitty!) with a piece of twine.  I had fun creating the background paper using the mitten & snowflake images as well.  Do you like creating your own background papers with smaller images in sets?  I do!  

Would you like to win the “Sweater Weather” or the "Fireside Friends” Stamp Set?
Today we will pick two lucky winners, one to win each set!

Here's how to win: 

Comment on the NND blog and Design Team blogs (please see the list below)! The winner will be chosen at random from the collective blog release posts. Make sure to check out each of their blogs and comment for your chance to win. You will not know which blog has been chosen so the more you comment on the better your chances are of winning! You have until Wednesday, November 23rd at 9pm CST to comment  -- winners will be announced on the blog post on Thursday, November 24th. 

Check out all the awesome Design Team Blogs below to enter:

Newton's Nook Designs
Lydia Evans
Jess Gerstner
Larissa Heskett
Samantha Mann
Crafty Math-Chick
Stephanie Muzzulin
Danielle Pandeline
Naki Rager
Kimberly Rendino
Yukari Yoshioka

Stephanie Muzzulin is the next stop on the hop, I am sure she has created something special just for you!   Thanks so much for stopping by, I hope you liked my cards!

~ Crafty Math Chick

25 Tags of Christmas 2016 ~ Newton's Nook Designs

Welcome!  Today is the third day of the '25 Days of Christmas Tags Blog Hop' organized by Tracey McNeeley.  There are a lot of amazing sponsors who generously stepped up to sponsor this fun event to inspire you to get a head start on your holiday tags before the holiday chaos has set in (see below) but today Newton's Nook Designs' is the proud sponsor - WOO HOO!  Let's hear it for Jen & Jeff!

And here are the other amazingly kind sponsors too!

Impressive no?  For more information, stop by Tracey's blog.

I decided to make some tags to accompany the blankets and curly cat toys I crochet (and knit, but mostly crochet) for the dogs & cats at the local animal shelter so they will have something soft and warm under their paws to snuggle up to which often can help calm them or make them happy and increase their chances of being adopted!  (If any of you happen to be knitters or crocheters and are interested in some patterns or organizations you can get involved with, let me know!  I am always happy to share.)  So, without further ado here they are:

The tags, which were all created using NND's Tags Sampler stamp set and Tags Times Two die sets, are leaning against the doggie blankets and the red, white & green curly things on the sides are the curly cat toys - I found out about them from the nice lady who runs the 'Mats for Cats' group on Facebook - they are wicked easy to crochet and take only about 20 minutes each (when you aren't on pain meds anyway).  If you were hoping for close ups on the individual tags, you are in luck!

First, here is the puppy:

He is from NND's Flaky Family set.  I still remember how ecstatic I was when Jen revealed a snow puppy and snow kitty were included with this set!  I outlined him with loose glitter using a Quickie glue pen and added a few glittery embellies.  The 'Happy Howl-i-days' sentiment, the I LOOOOVE was stamped using Memento markers from NND's Canine Christmas set.  

For the middle tag I really just focused on using the elements in the Tags Sampler set because I was OVER THE MOON when Jen said she was including not only knitting in the set but crochet as well (THANK YOU JEN!  YOU ROCK!) The little die cut candy cane is from the recently released Ornamental Newton stamp and die set and the paw print shaped rhinestones were by The Paper Studio from Hobby Lobby.

And lastly everyone's favorite kitty, in snowman form, also from Flaky Friends.  His sentiment is from Newton's Holiday Mischief stamp set.

I just LOVE how SO MANY of Newton's Nook Designs' stamp and die set coordinate with one another!  Don't you?  

Thanks so much for stopping by, I always appreciate your time, attention and kind comments.  Have a great day!

~ Crafty Math Chick

Newton's Nook Designs ~ Black Lab Birthday with Fetching Friendship

Hello everyone!  I am so excited because it is my turn to be featured on Newton's Nook Designs' blog today!  WOOT!  

It isn't a secret that I am a HUGE dog lover, so it probably won't surprise you that Jen's dog sets are among my favorites, especially this adorable set called Fetching Friendship: 

The lab can easily be converted to a beagle if necessary too!  I use it all the time for cards for my neighbors who own a beagle mix.  I used it to make a birthday card for one of my favorite people in the world who owns a black lab who she adores:

I used yellow as an accent color because it is such a happy, cheerful color, it coordinates so well with black & white, and it is the traditional color of tennis balls.  My EK Success paw print edge punch creatd the paw print border.  I hope she likes it.  I hope you like it too!

As a side note, by the time this posts, I will be in the hospital, having undergone spinal surgery the previous day, so if you have any prayers or positive thoughts for a smooth and speedy recovery that you could send my way, I would certainly appreciate it!

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog, I hope you have a really great day!

~ Crafty Math Chick

Newton's Nook Designs' September Release ~ Dress Up Doxies

Welcome everyone to the first day of the September Release for Newton's Nook Designs!  Being the HUGE dog lover and doxie Momma that I am, I was overjoyed when I first saw the set Jen is releasing today!  Introducing 'Dress Up Doxies':

Besides the obvious applications for Halloween cards and gift tags, I think this set is versatile and also can be used for birthdays, congratulations, and way to go! cards as well.  I started out making a birthday card for my nephew with the adorable masked doxie, but then it somehow turned into a 'Thank a Hero!' card for Operation Write Home:

I created a little city scene using some patriotic paper from Doodlebug (I LOVE their patterned papers!  It is So hard not to hoard them all!) and a city skyline die cut with brushed silver cardstock and thought a star shape punch out was the perfect shape for the sentiment on this card.

Would you like to win a 'Dress-Up Doxies' stamp set?
This set will be given away to ONE lucky winner!

Here's how to win:

Comment on the NND blog and the Designs Team and Guest blogs (see list below)!  The winner will be chosen at random from the collective blogs' release posts.  Make sure you check out each of the blogs and comment for your chance to win.  You will not know which blog has been chosen so the more you comment on the better your chances are of winning!  You have until Thursday, September 15th at 9 pm CDT to comment -- the winner will be announced on the blog post on Friday, September 16th.  

Check out all these awesome Design Team & Guest Blogs below to enter:

Newton's Nook Designs
Lydia Evans
Jess Gerstner
Larissa Heskett
Samantha Mann
Crafty Math-Chick
Stephanie Muzzulin
Danielle Pandeline
Naki Rager
Kimberly Rendino
Yukari Yoshioka

Jess Gerstner is next on the hop, I am sure she has created something spectacular for you to see, she always does!  Enjoy!  Thanks for stopping by and see you back here tomorrow for more NND sneaky peek goodness!

~ Crafty Math Chick