A Simple Butterfly Card

This card went together very quickly and I love that I could use it for a variety of occasions since there's no sentiment on the front.

The base is a standard white A2 card.  The layer is a 3 and 3/4 by 5 inch piece up on Pop Dot's.

The swirl was stamped with the Hero Arts set Brush Strokes using Stampin' Up's Certainly Celery Ink.

I stamped the butterfly directly on top of the swirl.  It's from Maya Road's Ornate Vintage Butterflies and stamped in Stampin' Up's Orchid Opulence ink.

I cut out this entire piece and adhered it to my card layer.  Then I added a mini clothespin at the top.

I tore 3 stripes of washi tape and hand them get longer toward the bottom, aligning all of them with the same edge.

Finally I used a piece of silver glitter tape along the side of the layer.  It was pretty thick to start with so I cut it into a more narrow piece.

Normally I don't make such quick cards, but I'm very pleased with the results here.

Have a wonderful and very crafty day!

Amber

Smile Brush Strokes Card

This card was HEAVILY inspired by a card from Papercrafts Magazine's Stamp It! Techniques, Volume 2.  You can see this card in a post here.

For the stamped images I used Hero Arts Brush Strokes and Stampin' Up ink colors So Saffron, Gable Green, Pink Passion, and Tempting Turquoise.

Instead of masking (like the original) I made this a separate panel up on pop dots.  This gave me cleaner edges than the masking technique.  I also changed the sequins to just a few in black for a more dramatic effect.  Another thing I did differently was paint on some splashes of Creatology brand glitter using a small paint brush.

I also decided to add faux stitching lines all around the card to give it a different edge.  I just used a Stampin' Up marker in black to do this.

My sentiment comes from a stamp set by Hampton Art and KI Memories called Click Click.

So, although the card is certainly a copy of sorts I put my own spin on it.  I just couldn't resist making this one as I'm excited to have recently acquired this fun stamp set and LOVED the bright colors used in this design.

Thanks for visiting!

Amber

I Love You More Than Cupcakes

I think this card would be great for a young girl.  Yes, it's honestly a little "much" and perhaps even a bit tacky - but I like that sometimes :)  It's FUN!

The cool die cut card front comes from my Silhouette and it's design ID #38523.

I used the BasicGrey RSVP 6 by 6 papers.  I also used the same paper stack in yesterday's card for a VERY different look.  It has lots of versatility.

The cupcakes all come from the Hero Arts set Cupcakes.  I stamped them all using Rich Razzleberry Ink from Stampin' Up.  I stamped 3 times on each pattern I wanted to use and then fussy cut them all out.  After I attached all the layers I used some Stickles.  From top to bottom the colors are Fruit Punch, Cotton Candy, and Icicle.  I like that the Cotton Candy color doesn't really have the sparkle so it helps tone it down just a tad and reminds me more of frosting.

Here's the inside.

Very simple, but I think it's fun.  I loved this cupcake paper and originally wanted to use it on the outside of the card instead of the stamps, but it just wasn't working the way I wanted so I stuck a bit on the inside and am happy with the results.

Thanks for visiting me today!  Life is super crazy and to be honest I'm completely stressed, but I'm really trying to make my blogging and crafting a priority again.

Amber

Balloons Card

For this card I used the standard A2 size, but I had it fold from the top the long way.

I rounded the top 2 corners on a 1/2 inch setting using my Corner Chomper.

The faux stitching was done with a Gelly Roll pen.

To create the balloons I started by making my own "patterned paper" of sorts.  I stamped Hero Arts Magical Background in Versamark and embossed it with some clear embossing powder.  The one I use is Recollections Detail Embossing Powder.  After I heat set it and let it cool I began to sponge on color.

 I used Stampin' Up ink colors Pink Passion, Ballet Blue (although there was green on my sponge so it came out a different color) and Perfect Plum.  I softly sponged these colors all over the paper.  When I was done I realized I wanted a much softer effect, so to soften the colors and give them a more faded appearance I went over the whole thing with Colorbox Chalk Ink in Popcorn (it's white.)  I actually applied the pad directly to the colored paper to get a good thick coat.

Now that my custom paper was done being created I went ahead and die cut the balloons from it using my Silhouette.  I used Design ID #30178.

I taped some twine to the back of the balloons, and also used a dab of Crystal Effects right at the bottom to keep the twine from shifting.  Then I used pop dots and adhered the balloons to the card base.  The twine was custom dyed in a swap so it doesn't have an official company color name.

I cut the ends of the twine.  Then I added a mini glue dot to hold them together where I wanted to add the bow.  I tied the bow separately, and then adhered it with another mini glue dot.

The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Mega Mixed Messages.  I used the same Versamark and clear embossing powder.  The bling was from  the Michaels bargain bin area.

Hope you love it!

Big hugs to everyone :)

Amber

Gingerbread Card

This adorable gingerbread was stamped from SP & Company's Cutest Gingerbread man set.  I colored her with Copics.  Her cheeks have some Stickles and I used Liquid Pearls on her mouth and frosting.  I used real buttons to cover her stamped ones.

The sentiment came from the Hero Arts set called Sending Holiday Cheer.

To make the card more fun I added a couple of little rolling pins I'd gotten in a pack of holiday shaped buttons.  Then I finished off with a whole bunch of sequins

This is the very last holiday card I have to share!  So, now I can move on to more current projects :)

Thanks as always for visiting me :)

Amber

Winter Trees Card

Here's a super simple card I made.

The image is from Hero Arts and it's called Winter Trees.  I stamped it and then did a little sponging on the lower hill for a bit more dimension.

I cut a window in the card front and mounted my image behind it.

I framed the image with some Diamond Stickles.

The sentiment came from Stampin' Up's Polar Party.

As quick and simple as this was, I still think it has a stunning effect.

Amber

A House Themed Christmas Card

Here's another one of the holiday cards I sent out this year.

I used a really great set from Hero Arts called Sending Holiday Cheer.  A lot of the time I mix and match stamp sets to get exactly what I want.  In this case I just loved the way the set worked together and didn't use any other sets.

I did all of my coloring with my Copics.  Honestly I wish I had played a bit more with the shading, but I do love the fun colors I used.

I'll be sharing the other cards I made after Christmas!

Have a wonderful holiday for those that are celebrating tomorrow :)

Amber

Simple Chalkboard Card

I found the perfect font for making chalkboard cards!  I'm really excited because I love the Chalkboard trend, but want to be able to spell what I'd like.  It's the Hero Arts set called Sketchbook Letters.  I picked it up at my local Archiver's and I'm in love.  I used the ColorBox chalk ink in Popcorn to do all the stamping.  Then I used that same ink with a sponge and made some soft white marks all around to make it look like a well used board.

For the background I used Hero Arts Woodgrain background stamp on some Kraft Cardstock.

I used my Corner Chomper on the 1/4 inch setting on all the corners for this card.

This was simple and quick to put together!  I can't wait to try this font  in black on some white cardstock for the more sketchy effect too :)

Amber

Gorjuss Card With a Rabbit

I just love this image.  We have 2 adorable rabbits of our own so it was a must have.  It's from Gorjuss and it's called I Love You Little Rabbit.  I used copics to color it.  For blacks and grays I used: 100, N6, N4, and N2.  For the bunny I used E35 an E33 - the little tail is very fluffy because I used some white Liquid Applique.  Totally cute in person :)  For skin tones I used E00 and E21 with RV42 on the cheeks.  For the purples I used V09 and V17.  For the green I just used YG07.

Her dress features Star Dust Stickles on the dots.

The sentiment is from Hero Arts Mi Casa.

The gems are all Irock.

Then I finished off with some strips of washi tape and some faux stitching done with a Copic Multiliner.

This was a fun one.  I am really, really learning to love making easy to mail cards.  Another bonus is that they fit in my card organizer SO much more easily.

Have a great Friday and a fabulous weekend!

Amber

Seize the Cupcake

This is about as clean and simple as I get!  *LOL*

The faux stitching was done with a Copic Multiliner.

The stamp set used was Hero Arts Cupcakes.

I colored the cupcakes with my Copics and didn't bother with any shading at all.  I just left them plain and simple.  Although I did add a subtle bit of glitter and shine with some glitter glue - it didn't photograph well.

The washi tape is from My Mind's Eye and it's their Adorbs collection.

That's it!  Other than a little time spent on simple coloring this was so quick I could see doing it for mass production.

Glad you came to visit :)

Amber

The Sky's the Limit Grungy Card

Here's a grungy card I whipped up.  Not my usual style, but I like it.

The background is the Tweed Pattern Stamp from Hero Arts.  I just used some white pigment ink over grey cardstock and it came out beautifully.

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

The little bird is a brad I purchased from Oriental Trading.

The sentiment and large arrow are rub ons from 3 birds I purchased a long time ago and am trying to use up.

The green button is from the $1 section at Michael's.  The blue button is from Stampin' Up and was free during the last Sale-a-bration.  Both of them are threaded with some embroidery floss.

I used some chevron washi along the bottom of the kraft layer.

The little clothespin meant I needed to put the kraft layer up on pop dots, but I like the look of pop dots anyhow so that was no big deal.

I used some mirrored and regular sprarkly gems from Irock.

I used a large white brad from my stash.

I used the Papertrey ink set Grunge me to create some splatter effects on the kraft layer.

I used some Bisque colored liquid pearls as well.

There's so much going on here so I hope I listed anything you may have wondered about.

My daughter went crazy for this, my husband was polite - but I could tell he hated it!  *LOL*  Personally I really like it.  I'm not sure if I'm any good at this type of style or not, but I sure had fun trying.  The worst thing that can happen is a little paper in the trash - so don't be afraid to experiment, you just may like what you come up with :)

Thanks for visiting me :)

Amber

Elegant Thank You Card

Here's a simple but striking card I whipped up in almost no time at all.

I used the Hero Arts Classic Fabric Design stamp with Versamark and then embossed with Midnight Black embossing powder from Stampendous.

The ribbon is from Stampin' Up and I got it free during the last Sale-a-bration.

The words are die cut using my Silhouette.  Design ID 36753

I added a few Irock gems below it and wah-lah.

I love it when a card that was SO simple to put together comes out looking nice.  Embossing is a great way to add so much interest without a lot of extra work.

Thanks for visiting :)

Amber

Colorful Birthday Card

The standard A2 card base is a grey from Papertrey Ink.

For the colorful layer I started with a plain white piece of cardstock cut to 4 by 5 and 1/4.  I sponged sections of color using the Stampin' Up inks Pixie Pink, Lavender Lace, and Tempting Turquoise.  After all the colors were applied I used the Tweed Pattern stamp from Hero Arts and some Memento Tuxedo black ink to finish the effect.  

I used the Spellbinders Labels 1 set to cut a shape to rest my cupcake on.  The shape is on one layer of thin foam tape, and the cupcake is on another layer.  The cupcake is from the Hero Arts set Cupcakes.  I colored it with Copics and added some Cotton Candy Stickles to the frosting.  That color of Stickles isn't super sparkly like most of the colors are,  it kind of reminds me of a dusting of sugar - very cool for food :)

I hand cut a little banner for the sentiment.  The sentiment is also from the Hero Arts Cupcake set.  I stamped it in Versa Mark and embossed it with some Zing powder in Grapefruit.  The button was from Papertrey ink and the twine was black and white, but hand died to have purple mixed with the black (friends and I made various colors for a swap.)  The banner is on a layer of pop dots.

I think this card would be great for a teenage girl, or even a younger girl may enjoy the bright colors.

Thanks for visiting friends!

Amber

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

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

Hello Easel Card

This is just a simple easel card in a standard 4 and 1/4 by 5 and 1/2 size card front.

The adorable image is from The Greeting Farm and she's from the Cheeky Cherry Collection.  Her name is Cheeky Chat, isn't she cute?!  I colored her using my Copics and then added some Stickles to her hair barettes, shoes, eyeshadow, and the heart on the phone.  Then I added Glossy Accents to the phone.

I took this other shot of the card to try to show off the Glossy Accents details a little bit more.

The super cute papers are from the My Mind's Eye Lime Twist Happy Go Lucky 6 by 6 pad.  I have been hoarding this paper with the hello chat bubbles and I knew this was the perfect card to use it for.

For the sentiment I used a chat bubble from SP & Company's Turtle-y Awesome set.  The sentiment is from the Hero Art's Mi Casa set and is stamped in SU's Rich Razzleberry.

I made it for the challenge over at The Greeting Farm Blog.  This is for their Farm Fresh Friday Easel Card Challenge.

I am also linking up over at Docerela Stamps for their Pastel Colors Challenge.

Thanks for looking!

Cupcake Acetate Card

This card's top layer is acetate, and the background you see is the inside of the card.  You can see it a little better from the side view below.

I'll start off by explaining the inside of the card.  I used a background stamp from Hero Arts and BasicGrey called Carbonated Background.  I stamped it in Versamark and then used black embossing powder.  This left me with some beautiful, shiny black dots.  Then I took 5 different Copics and filled all the dots in with color.

For the acetate layer I used the Hero Arts set Cupcakes.  I stamped a cupcake on white cardstock in Memento Tuxedo Black ink, then colored it with my Copics.  I cut it out, and then added some Dazzling Diamonds Glitter from Stampin' Up.  I didn't like the back showing because of the bleed through of the Copics, so I cut another cupcake from plain cardstock and adhered it on the other side of the acetate.  This way you see a clean, white cupcake shape instead.

The sentiment was stamped from the same set.  I just used some foam tape to adhere it with a little pop and some dollar bling in the corners to visually anchor it a bit.

I thought about adding a place to write inside, but unless the card was clamped fully shut it would show and ruin the effect.  The back of the card has a clean white base that I can write a nice long message and sign and I think that will be perfect instead.

I am entering this over at A Blog Named Hero for their Challenge # 22: Free Style.

Thanks for visiting all my crafty peeps!

Amber

Some Bunny Is Thinking of You

I thought this would be a good any occasion card.

The clouds are from Hero Arts.

The bunnies are from Lawn Fawn's Happy Easter.  Although it's hard to photograph they have Stickles on their tails and faces and a tiny bit of subtle shading in a pale blue. 

The sentiment "Some Bunny is Thinking of You" is from Pink by Design's Hoppy Easter.

The adorable papers are from the Doodlebug Hello Spring 6 by 6 pad.  The carrot papers were too much contrast with the green so I generously sponged them with some green ink to soften them up and make them work as part of my rolling hill scene.  I just cut all the hills by hand.

Stitching done with a white gel pen.

Thanks for visiting friends!