Vet Thank You

Hello friends & followers!  Those of you who are blessed with fur children know how invaluable a good vet is, and we are blessed to have a vet that is beyond good, she's terrific.  How terrific you ask?  When she saw how anxious I was (I know, me?  anxious?  LOL!) about Ty having his first teeth cleaning, she gave me a complete tour of the facilities and explained the entire procedure to me, step by step, and called me after it was finished with a status report to help give me piece of me.  More recently, when Ty somehow managed to get a tiny grass seed embedded in his paw which required surgery to get it out, even though she was schedule to leave for vacation, she scrubbed and snapped on a pair of gloves to retrieve the seed herself and allow our baby to heal.  She is phenomenal and we feel so blessed to have her as our vet.  I wanted to thank her and let her know how much we truly appreciate her, so I made a batch of brownies for her and her staff and this card to accompany them:

I always see so many cute cards by Paper Smooches and Lawn Fawn that have tons of animals in them and was inspired to make this one, since Dr. Cameron treats all kinds of furbabies.  A lotta masking went into this card I tell ya, but I like the end result.  Let's see if I can remember all the sets I used...  From Paper Smooches (speaking of Paper Smooches - they are having their July blog hop right now where they sneak peek new products - hop along for a chance to win!!): Woofers & Tweeters, Nine Lives, Squeaky Clean, Nauticool and Santa Paws (for the inside of the card for those two), and from Lawn Fawn: A Birdie Told Me (speech bubble, on the inside of the card) and Happy Everything (sentiment).  Here is the inside of the card:

I entered this card for Yvonne Yam's Masking challenge over on her blog (thanks Savannah!) due to the plethora of masking involved on the cover. I am also entering it in Songbird's 'Favorite Things' Challenge (any of you who have visited my site know how much I LOVE dogs and animals in general), Creatilicious Challenge - I love my pet, and Southern Girls' Challenge 'Animal Antics' as well.  
     This is my creation for the day.  Thank you for taking the time to stop by my blog and read my ramblings, and thank you to all who have been kind enough to offer up prayers in the past on behalf of our furbaby when he needed them.  Have a wonderful evening!
~ Crafty Math Chick

BDay Card for BIL-2

Hello!  Back again with a birthday card for my other BIL.  This time I was inspired by the colors of this week's Color Throwdown Challenge (they are celebrating their FIFTH anniversary - WOO HOO!)

Pretty, aren't they?  I was even inspired by the flip flops to use Papertrey Ink's 'Flipping Out' stamp set and dies:

I really wanted to play up the pink more and add some fun rhinestones or flowers or hearts on the flip flops, but I refrained from doing so since this card was, after all, for a man.  I am hoping he won't mind the splash of pink.  
     I am also entering this card in the Anything Goes Seize the Birthday Celebration, and 

Moxie Fab World's Birthday Card Challenge.
  Thanks again for stopping by!  Have a wonderful evening!
~ Crafty Math Chick

BDay Card for BIL-1

Hello Friends & Followers (nothing from me in a month and then two days in a row, right?)  Two of my BIL's have birthdays coming up and when I saw this week's color story from the Play Date Cafe Challenge:

I was inspired to make this card using 'Numbered Days' by There She Goes Clear Stamps:

(please click on the photo for clearer resolution).  I just love the puffy numbers and happy little accents included with this set, like the smiley face, bow tie and candle melting on top of the number three.  Even the font is cute!  The paper is one of the My Mind's Eye collection (sorry, can't remember which one off the top of my head - will come back and add that in).  I used this week's Sketch Saturday sketch:

Since this is a birthday card I am also entering this card into Moxie Fab World's Birthday Card Challenge (not sure I am quite Moxie-Fab-World-worthy yet, but no harm in trying right?) and Seize the Birthday's 'Anything Goes Birthday' Challenge as well.
     Thanks so much for stopping by to see my creations.  I have another BIL with an upcoming birthday I need to make another card for as well, so don't be surprised if you see a second birthday card post soon!  I hope you have a wonderful evening!
~ Crafty Math Chick

(I KNOW!) I FINALLY stamped!

Hello friends & followers!  I am sorry for my long hiatus, had some health issues I have been dealing with.  They aren't completely worked out (won't burden you with the specifics) but I was missing making cards SO much, I couldn't stay away any longer.
     Here is a baby card I made to welcome my newest little nephew who graced us with his presence about a month ahead of schedule:

(Please click on the photo for clearer resolution).  I used Lawn Fawn's 'Plus One' set and ended up stamping the cute little stork twice, once to create the feet, and once on white cardstock to shade with Copics, then stamped the little bundle again on some bashful blue cardstock with white dots on it.  I selected some contrasting white cardstock with light blue dots on it and cut out some clouds freehand (I really need a cloud punch or some cloud dies!) and sponged some bashful blue ink on the ends to make them stand out against the white background.  The sun is an embossed Spellbinders Nestabilities die.   Played around with the arrangement a bit and - VOILA!  Card complete.  
     This card was inspired by the following challenges:

• Lawnscaping Challenge 62: Paper Piecing (the bundle was paper pieced onto the stork's body and that that was paper pieced onto the stamped image on the card base to create hit feet),  

• CAS-ual Friday's Challenge 109: Polka Dots on a CAS card, and

• Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps' Release Party Challenge #1 over at Splitcoaststampers.com: to use a sun or yellow in a creation. 

Thanks so much for stopping by and for not giving up on me during my little break from stamping as I tried to heal and get well.  Cheers!
~ Crafty Math Chick

Sigh, bye bye Google Reader

Good evening friends & followers!  Thank you all SO much for your loyal friendship and support of my creations and issues in my personal life from time to time.  All your comments have brought me such joy, and I am grateful for ALL of them.  I do hope to get back to creating more regularly again SOON!

I have heard that Google Reader will be disappearing July 1st.  I was not sure which new service to use, but for now I am trying BlogLovin' because I liked that it could import all of my loyal Google Reader followers with the click of a button.  If you are interested, you too can try it here:

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

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

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