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

10 Minute Craft Dash 15... In Four Tries...

Hel-LO friends and followers!  Sorry for the long hiatus there, I have been battling with some health issues, and while they unfortunately are not all resolved (won't burden you with the details, the NEED to craft was finally strong enough to win out over my symptoms - YAAY!  
     I have wanted to play along with the 10 minute craft dash ever since I saw my friend Suzanne play along with her friends Jen, Jen and Jessica.  And when I saw this week's color combination, I KNEW I HAD to play along too:

This color combination made me instantly think 'winter' - so I knew I wanted to use some combination of the mittens from WPlus9 Design's Winter Wishes and the snowflakes from their Folk Art Flurries set.  I thought, how hard could it really be to create a card in 10 minutes?...
     ...Well, more challenging than I thought, at least at first.  My first attempt, I didn't even get the mitten fussy cut when the timer went off.  I thought maybe I spent too much time closing all my inks and putting all the stamps back in their packages during the time allotted (I'm a little OCD that way), so I tried again, not even close.  Then I thought maybe the fussy cutting was taking too long, but I REALLY wanted to cut out the mittens and pop them up on dimensionals, I really didn't want to forgo that element of the card.  So, I decided I had to forgo the sentiment flag and stamp the sentiment right on the card front in a contrasting ink instead, yeah, that should do it... almost, but not quite - in the third attempt, without the brad to 'hang' the mittens on, I was rushing in the final seconds to get the card attached and Buh-BAM - just when I thought "I did it!!' I noticed that I had put the card front on the base upside down...  grrr...  Okay, one last attempt and... TA DA!!!!

(please click on the photo for clearer resolution).  I think it came out pretty good, no?  Practice makes perfect right?  LOL!  Then I went back and finished up the three cards that weren't completed under the buzzer (hey, I work on holiday cards all year so I have one less thing to do once November hits anyway).  Here they are:

The one out in front with the matted banner and twine-tied button in the center of the punched & Stardust Stickled snowflake (I think this is my favorite color of Stickles, SO pretty!) was what I had originally envisioned my completed card would look like; perhaps it was a little too ambitious for only 10 minutes, live and learn.  In case you are curious of the other supplies I used to create these set of cards, I used Stampin' Up!'s Pool Party, Island Indigo and Primrose Petals cardstocks & inks, some pretty pink sorbet twine from the Twinery, a 'just because' gift from my close friend Barbie (I love you Girl!), a silver brad, a scissor for fussy cutting and some dimensionals to pop up the mittens a bit.  If anyone is curious, the Island Indigo and Pool Party inks I used for the snowflakes are the 'old' style of stamp pad, and the primrose petals I used for the sentiments are the new 'firm foam' pads - in case you wanted a side-by-side comparison; you can click on the photos for larger pictures of the cards in higher resolution too.  I am also entering these cards in Winter Wonderland's 'No red or green should be seen' Christmas card challenge.  
     Thanks so much for stopping by to see my creations and read my ramblings!  There is still time to play along with the 10 minute craft dash - why not give it a try?!!  It's fun and come on, surely you have ten minutes...  ;)  Have a great weekend!
~ Crafty Math Chick