Vintage Birthday card for Dad, AKA- Pops

This is the card I came up with for my Dad's birthday this year.  I love the way it turned out.  I know that some people have a plan when they start out to create something like a card or a layout, but not me.  I usually start a project with a product that I want to use and I just build on it.  I have no idea what the finished product will look like when I begin so when it's finished its as much of a surprise to me how it looks as it is to anyone. lol. I am really happy with this card.  I just love the way it looks.  I started out with a card shape from the Sentimental cricut cartridge.  I cut it out then I used one of the vintage bags that my friend, Robin sent to me for the background layer.  I just put it into the cricut as well and cut the card shape out again and then cut it in two.  I put the front layer on the card base then I used some heavy fabric for the next layer.  I frayed the edges by pulling the strings till it looked the way I liked. The sentiment is a Close to my heart stamp and heat embossed with gold embossing powder, the shape is a cricut cut from the Home Accents cart.  I used some ribbon and some lace from my stash and the clock face and spinner is from Tim Holtz.  Finally, I used the little flowers that I've been making,  Two mini rosettes in black and the red one that has been glimmer misted in candy apple red and the leaves are a Martha Stewart punch.  That's all for the card. 

This is the envelope front for that card.  I use a lot of the Tim Holtz stamps from the Life's Possibilities set from Stampers Anonymous.  I used chalk ink from Clear snap in dark brown and and warm red and the ruler is a photocopy of a vintage paper ruler I had.  I also used distress inks in various colors for the background.  That's about it I think,  I sure hope you enjoy this card.  I am just venturing into the world of shabby chic design and I am really loving it.  I made clean and cute cards for so long that sometimes its a challenge to just be messy and go with the flow but I am really loving the results.  I hope it inspires you too.  Thanks for stopping by and checking out my card.=> Have a great day!!!

Birthday card for Chris 2010

This card was made for Brian's cousin, Chris.  I don't get to make very many masculine cards so I am a little out of practice.  I wanted this one to look grunged up and tough.  I got the effect by using my Tim Holtz distress inks by Ranger and I used stamps that were by Tim Holtz as well.  I used a bit of chalk ink by Clear snap to stamp and embossing is done with versa mark ink and embossing powders by Stampendous in pearlustere sapphire.  the ribbon is from an unknown source and the pin is another Tim Holtz product. It was done on water color paper using a technique with water to blend the inks on the background. I hope you enjoy! tfsb, hugs amy k

A birthday card for Mel

I wanted this card to be simple elegance.  I made it for my wonderful sis in law, Melissa,  AKA Mel.  She's a sweet heart and we have all loved her dearly from day one. She and Brother were married last June and we all just couldn't have been happier; that was until Christmas and they announced that they were having a baby and wanted Brian and I to be God parents.  Oh, how happy we were then lol.  I'm just trying to say how much I love this girl.  She's awesome and funny and easy going.  Maybe I love her so much be cause she's so much like me, lol, or maybe its because I know she's good to and good for my Brother.  I think that she makes him happy and nothing could make me happier.  Mel is a feminine girl with out being a girlie girl.  She doesn't care much for too much frill or things that are just over the top.  She's always just going to be a tomboy at heart. lol.  So in making a birthday card for her I tired to tie the card into the idea of what I think that her personality is.  I wanted to create a card that would suit her to a tee.  I hope this card is it.  It suits her perfectly in my eye, but like I said "its an idea of her personality" that I am imagining.  In this card I see a lot of feminine with out all the frill.  Hope she likes it.   The construction of the card was simple.  I just took a 6x6 piece of Life's portrait paper from Webster's pages paper line and cut it to 6x5.  Then I used the Lacy labels Lite cartridge for the cricut and cut out the label.  You can't tell it really but it is in three layers.  I just used plain old Ga. pacific white and black paper for the cuts.  I then took my Tim Holtz distress ink in Old Paper and used it to change the color of the white to more match the Webster's pages.   I layered all the pieces together and used a stamp from Hot off the Press for the sentiment and some dark brown chalk ink from Color box.  Then I added a few of the tiny Prima flowers and a little bling to the centers and used some pop dots to attach it to the front.  Simple, elegance; or at least I hope. :) Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy it. 

More Photos of Mother's Day Mini

These are more photo's of the Mother's Day mini album I made for my Mother this year.  It includes some of the handmade flowers that I made and showed you in an earlier blog, some of the new Tim Holtz stamps, glimmer mist, patterned paper by Basic Grey (the porcelain collection), and a few die cuts from the Sentimentals cartridge for the Cricut machine.  One of my favorite techniques was to print the photo of me and mom directly onto a piece of white fabric.  I thought the effect was great.  The pink lollipop flower on that page is also one of my own creations.  I learned the technique from one of the lovely ladies over on you tube.  That one is my first attempt so you may be seeing more of these flowers from me in the future.  One thing that I am really enjoying right now is making my own embellishments. Things like all the different flowers that you have seen me making lately and the embellished buttons and  I am even working on some embellished stick pins right now.  I also have really been working on my stamping and getting much much better at it.  I remember when I used to use stamps on a project almost as an after thought.  It was something that I could do with or without.  Now I am spending my money on stamps every time I go shopping for supplies, that and Inks, of course.  I finally am understanding the different effects that you can get from the different inks on the market.  No more of the cheapest inks on the store shelves.  No, I learned my lesson from making that mistake.  I never can get good coverage from the cheaper inks.  I am really loving the chalk inks from Clear snap right now.  I think that they are more forgiving inks for a beginning stamper.  Hope you enjoyed this post. Feel free to leave me a comment and let me know what you think.  I love hearing from you guys and knowing that someone is out there enjoying what I do.  Let me know if you would like to see me do something, if you have an occasion coming up that you need to make a project for and need an inspiration boost, I would be more than happy to help, or if you would like to see a technique demonstrated; please, just let me know and I will be more than happy to help.  Till next time, enjoy!!!