Happy Summer Picnic Card

I started off with the picnic basket.  It's from the Hero Arts set Sunny Smiles.  I stamped it on watercolor paper and then used some ink and a blender pen to color it in.  I added a couple small brads to the place where the handles meet the basket base.

The fruit was all stamped from a set by Clear Dollar Stamps called Fruity Fun.  To put them inside the basket I actually used an exacto knife to cut a line in the basket to put them through.  Then I just taped them down on the back.

The basket and fruit are popped up.

The cute little ants and the sentiment are from Lawn Fawn's Happy Summer set.  I did pop up the sentiment, and the shape it's on was cut with my Nestabilities.

The patterned paper is from Echo Park's Summer Days 6 by 6 pad.

The stitching lines and dots on various parts of the card were done with Stampin' Up markers.

I know it's a bit early to make a summer themed card, but I was inspired to make it and thought I'd finish it now instead of waiting :)

Hope you enjoy this pop of color in your day!

Amber

Have a Sunny Day Breakfast Card

I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut these shapes.

The plate, bacon, and eggs were from cut file #16353  I did make the plate 2 layers by altering the size and cutting 2 instead of 1.

The coffee cup was from set #33995  It comes with 3 different cups, which I love for the variety.

I dressed up all my cuts with plenty of inking in different colors (which of course barely shows in the photo.)  I used the Peachy Keen set Dolly Dumplins for the adorable faces.

The sentiment is from Pink By Design's set Country Living.

The patterned paper is from the Echo Park 6 by 6 pad Summer Days.

The ribbon is by Offray.

I drew the stitching lines and dots with a Stampin' Up marker.

I think this will be a fun just because card to make someone smile :)

Have a very crafty day friends!

Amber

Miss You Friend

For the patterned paper I used the Basic Grey Kioshi 6 by 6 pad.

The oval and scalloped oval were cut with some Nestabilities.  The gray oval was sponged using some Weathered Wood Distress Ink.  It's my first Distress Ink ever and I'm really loving it.

The lanterns are from Lawn Fawn's Lunar Lights.  I colored them with Copics and then added Stickles for some shine.

The adorable dolls are from Hero Arts.  The set is called Three Japanese Dolls.  I stamped them in Memento Tuxedo black and then colored them with my Copics.  I fussy cut them out and then used some foam tape to adhere them.  I wanted them to pop up a little, but not as much as a pop dot would provide.

Along the bottom I have a black strip of cardstock with a gray layer over top. The gray layer was sponged with the Weathered Wood as well.  The sentiment is from My Pink Stamper's Friend-tastic set.

I just LOVE combining different stamp sets to get exactly the look I'm going for :) There are so many amazing stamp sets out there with elements that go together but when you mix and match it really expands the possibilities and makes your creations even more unique.

Thanks for visiting today!

Amber

Triple Treat Flower Embossing

I started off with a simple black card base.

I used a single stamp from Stampin' Up called Triple Treat Flower.  For the smaller image I used a stamp from Stampin' Up's Always set.  I stamped in Versamark and then embossed using Stampin' Up's embossing powder in silver.

After all the embossing was done I sprayed some Deep Plum Glimmer Mist all over the card.  I just love the look of it against black.  Right after misting I used a baby wipe to clean off all my embossed areas to keep them nice and shiny.

I rounded 2 of the corners on a 1/2 inch setting with my Corner Chomper.

For a finishing touch I tied a bow using some Celebrate It ribbon from Michael's.

I'm thinking I will use this for a thank you card

Fun Birthday Card

This card just screams "fun" to me.

I was just dying to use a set I just got from Close to My Heart called Polka Dot Alphabet.  It's been on my wishlist for a long time and I decided it needed to come live with me :)

All of the inks I used are from Stampin' Up.  Rose Red, Only Orange, Summer Sun, Glorious Green, Ballet Blue, and Elegant Eggplant.  

I started everything with the sentiment.  I actually stamped the word "birthday" first.  It's from the Close to My Heart set It's Your Day.  After "birthday" was in place I started working on "happy."  I started with the letter "y" and worked inward to help with placement.  The letters stamped beautifully.

Next I moved on to the balloons.  They are from a Stampin' Up set called Party This Way.  I started with the blue one and then masked it off to stamp the other 2.  After they were all stamped I went around with one of my Copic Multiliners to create a black outline for them.  Then I used another Copic Multiliner that is very thin to hand draw the little strings.

For a finishing touch I decided to add a whole bunch of little rhinestones.  They are all from Irock.

Have a crafty day!

Amber

Thank You Card With An Inked Background

I wish this had photographed better!  In person you can clearly see the white embossing.

I wanted to try out a cool technique for using an ink pad direct to the paper.  I used a white piece of cardstock cut to 4 by 5 and 1/4 inches.  I used Stampin' Up inks Tempting Turquoise and Green Galore.  I did most of the real swiping and designing with the Tempting Turquoise and then just lightly swiped with broad strokes to fill in the rest with touches of the Green Galore. 

After creating my background I stamped a pretty dandelion image in Versamark and embossed it in white.  It's from the Close to My Heart set Treasures.  The sentiment is from the same set stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black.  I added a couple of Irock gems.

I used some pretty silver ribbon from Offray wrapped around the card 3 times and then tied in a bow right on the dandelion stem.

For my final step I layered my white inked piece on black cardstock the size of an A2 card.

This actually worked up very quickly and I'm really thrilled with the inking.  It's pretty neat in person.  I have some other ideas for how I could use this technique :)

Thanks for visiting!

Amber

Super Simple Masculine Birthday Cards

I needed some masculine birthday cards to add to my stash.  I have concluded that most men really do not appreciate any additional hard work that goes into making a handmade card.  So I've decided not to bother with stamping or die cutting and let some fun patterned paper do the majority of the work for me.

I just grabbed a Simple Stories Happy Day 6 by 6 paper pad and got to work.  

The card on the left has all 4 corners rounded.  I did some faux stitching with a Stampin' Up marker around the edges.  Other than that it's just 5 pieces of patterned paper.  I started off with the main balloon piece, then added the strip with text and a little border punch look to the left hand side.  I layered a stripe and a polka dot pattern in a strip to run across the card.  Then I finished off with a little design cut out and up on pop dots.

For the card on the right only the top 2 corners are rounded.  I did round all the corners on the "It's Your Day" piece, it's up on pop dots.  The words and letters are just 3 little pieces I cut out and arranged on a dark brown piece of cardstock.

So quick, but still fun since I played for a bit with what pieces to use and how to cut and arrange them.  I think these are great masculine colors and I'm glad to have these ready and waiting in my stash :)

Thanks for visiting!

Amber

5 Birthday Card

First I need to tell you that this card is a pretty close copy of a card done by the very talented Jessica Witty!  Please see this post on her blog for her gorgeous creation that I used as a guideline for my card today.

To do the stitching I used my sewing machine with no thread to make the evenly spaced holes and then used 3 strands of embroidery floss and hand stitched it in.

I used my Silhouette to die cut out the 5.  I layered some My Mind's Eye Lime Twist Happy Go Lucky paper behind it.  I also did some faux stitching with a white gel pen.  My card does not have the 5 inside when the card is opened like the inspiration card, it's just a layer behind the kraft.

For the banner I used SP & Company's Happy Banners.  I stamped the solid banner in a soft blue and then cut it out with a small white border.

The little heart is from Close to My Heart's set Treasures. 

For the sentiment I used My Pink Stamper's Everyday Occasions.  Originally it said Happy Happy Birthday and I just cut it into 3 separate stamps which made placement on this banner very easy.

There you have it.  Usually I try not to copy the original work of others, but sometimes I just love something so very much I can't help myself and this was one of those occasions.  I figure as long as I give proper credit the occasional scraplift is permissible :)

Amber

Rows of Hearts Card

Here's another stamped card.  I just can't help myself.  I'm obsessed with stamping these days.  I swear I still love die cutting and such, but I just can't stop playing with ink.  :)

For this one I used a stamp from Close to My Heart's Key to My Heart Set.  I decided I wanted to use 3 colors and have them go from light to dark.  So I chose purple, blue, and green and found colors in my stash that worked.

To get my stamping straight I drew horizontal lines lightly with a pencil.   I had to eyeball the space with the hearts next to each other on the top.  To line up the hearts below I looked at the center bottom of the heart and tried to place the indent in the center heart I was about to stamp directly below it.  I think the key is to move slowly and not rush it.  I think they lined up pretty well.

After everything was stamped I cut my paper to fit.  The white layer ended up being 4 and 3/4 by 4 and 10/16th's.  I would have preferred a perfect square, but this was close enough.

I used Diamond Stickles to outline the hearts and go over the swirly designs. 

For the card base I used a light gray.  When the card is folded it measures 5 and 1/4 5 and 1/8.  After attaching the white layer I made 2 rows of faux stitching with a white gel pen. 

All done :)

Happy Birthday It's Party Time Card

I did a lot of stamping for this one!  Just for giggles I counted, and I stamped 41 times to create this card.  So, there are a few mistakes. When you stamp (at least when I stamp) that many times it's bound to happen once or twice.

All the stamps are from SP & Company. 

The sentiment above the banner was spelled out using their Fashionista Alphabet set. 

The banner was created using the Tiny Build a Banner set.  That's also where the little heart in the sentiment came from.  I used Stampin' Up's Rich Razzleberry and Taken With Teal as well as Close to My Heart's Smoothie.  I added some Liquid Pearls to the little hearts on the banner.

The sentiment along the bottom is from Happy Banners.  I just stamped it 3 times to cover the bottom of the card.

Normally I just eyeball my faux stitching when I do it close to the edge of the cardstock.  This time I actually used the edge of a piece of cardstock since I worked farther away from a paper edge than usual.  It really helped in this case.

Thanks for visiting!

I am slowly starting to feel better.  Today marks 2 weeks and I'm still struggling with an awful illness.  Bleh.  It felt great to create something!  Sorry I went MIA.  I was SO proud to be catching up and had all this stuff lined up and then POOF, life happened and the best laid plans went bye bye :) 

Amber

You Are Turtle-y Cute

Here's a very clean and simple card.

I used SP & Company's Turtle-y Awesome set for the image and sentiment.

The paper is from BasicGrey's 6 by 6 pad Kioshi.

I stamped the turtle on green first.  The eye has a little white gel pen and some Glossy Accents.  The toes were colored with a Copic marker and then accented with some Stickles.

I stamped on purple for the scallops and a black polka dot paper for the shell.  After cutting them I adhered them with pop dots and then added some Stickles.

The ovals were cut with my Nestabilities.

Faux stitching done with a Stampin' Up marker.

I actually made this card last week but got very sick Wednesday evening and have felt too crappy to even come down to my craft room and post the photo.  Bleh.  Sort of funny the day I post a get well card I get super sick!  *LOL*  I'm slowly recovering and felt just well enough to come down and post quickly.

Wishing you all an awesome day!