Welcome to Cards by Amy K.

I am SO GLAD you stopped by to check out my blog!!! Here I will be posting my current projects for you to see. PLEASE feel free to leave me a comment. I would LOVE to hear what you think about what I'm working on. I have been a scrapbooker/paper crafter since I first caught wind of this wonderful hobby in 2006. I am lucky enough to get to spend my days doing something I love so much and which brings so much joy into my life. I first started scrapbooking as a way to pass the time as I found myself at home alone all day suddenly, now I can't imagine life without it. Too bad I don't get paid for it, then I really would have it all!!!







Sunday, October 6, 2013

Happy Birthday card for an old friend

I made this birthday card for my long time friend, Sara.  She lives in another town and seems like she is always on the move so needless to say, we don't get to see one another very much, but we do talk on the phone and text pretty regularly.  
To make this card I first used one of the 5.5 x 5.5 inch corrugated card bases by Recollections.  I used the 6x6 pad of the Gabrielle collection by BoBunny for the designer paper.  I cut the paper down to fit the card base, then used some flourish stamps by Autumn Leaves and some Color Box chalk ink and stamped the flourishes around the page.  The chipboard piece at the top is by Close to my Heart and the sentiment stamped there is made by them as well to fit their chipboard shapes. I used the same chalk ink to stamp that. I also used that same chalk ink to highlight the white flowers(Prima).  I added a stick pin made by me behind a Spare Parts flower. The sentiment in the middle of the card was stamped on a piece of the paper collections journaling pages. I believe that stamp is also from Close to my Heart.  I distressed the edges of the designer paper with Gathered Twigs distress ink by Tim Holtz for Ranger.  I then added the mixed color lace to the bottom of the card and you can just see a bit of the washi tape I used peaking out from underneath.


This is a shot of the inside of the card.  I've just layered a couple of the designer papers and another journaling page along with another strip of that same pink washi tape from the front of the card.

That's it for this post, I hope you liked it and I'm choosing to go ahead and post it eventho I know Sara hasn't seen the card yet in person.  She's having issues with her mail.  (I told you she moves alot lol).  I hope she enjoys it too. I'll be back soon with another post as I am still behind on my post, so if you haven't seen your card here or on google+ or on face book, just know it's because I'm running behind and I will get it up as soon as possible.. Thank you for being patient with me. Much love to you all. Hope you have a wonderful Sunday. AmyK

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

A Handmade birthday card for our Nannie (Mrs.. Kinsey)

This is the card that I made for Nannie Kinsey.  She's actually my hubby's grandmother but she is so warm and welcomes all extended members of the family with open arms, so I honestly feel like she's my adopted grandmother.  I love her so much and I believe she turned 88 this year.  Such an amazing woman.  I love that she's still around for all the up and coming young ladies to learn from her.  She could definitely teach the younger generation (and I'm not speaking about members of her own family, they are great smart and beautiful young ladies) a thing or two about how to be a lady.  I've spend many a night with her in the past playing games into the night just talking and enjoying each others company.  I do love her so.

On to the card, for this card I tried something new, I got these digital papers from a lady I met thru You Tube, I can't remember her first name right at the moment but her shop is called Kittylicious11.blogspot.com..  Here's the link http://kittylicious11.blogspot.com/p/printable-kits.html. You are going to love her store, It's called Kittys scrap post.  She has some beautiful kits and I've recently bought at least four kits from her and a couple of single cut apart sheets of ephemera.  You are also going to love her prices.  She makes the files, usually, in two different sizes, one in a size just right for a mini album and the other may be either 8x8 or 81/2 x11 but you get your downloads just as soon as you place your order and pay thru pay pal. So there's no waiting for the mail to bring you anything, you have every thing you need right there in that one download.  I believe I paid $12 for this kit and it includes like 20 something printable sheets plus about 3 sheets, (I've not counted them) of just cutout ephemera and envelopes and tags. Everything that I've used here on this card was from that one digital kit that I got from her.  I did do a little additional  stamping on the front sheet but you can do that.  It's just like the store bought paper pads only you get to choose which pages you want to print and you can even open the image in a Word document and change the size there. and you can print it as many times as you need, so if there is just one page you really love you don't have to hoard it any longer cause you can print more. I really love the site and check it regularly to see what's new.  I think you should head over there once you get thru with this post and just see for yourself what she has to offer. You may find yourself happily surprised.

So I used two pieces of the designer paper to layer on the front of this card. I did some flourish stamping with my Colorbox chalk inks on the front of the pink layer.  The focal image in white was cut from the ephemera page along with all the butterflies. The image of the little girl is also from one of the ephemera pages and  I shrunk it down by telling my printer to print in 4x6 and to fit to page. I also used one of her tags from the set and it came with the butterfly on it already. But I fussy cut out the larger butterfly from an ephemera sheet. I then colored some seam binding with one of my shimmer sprays and tied it onto the top of the tag, other than that I just added some crochet trim from Recollections .   I also did a little distressing with distress ink from Tim Holtz.
For the inside I cut a darker blue piece of designer paper and layered the white on top to give a place to sign the card.  I added the sentiment with my computer and printer and fussy cut out that butterfly too. and added some washi tape to the bottom corner.  I also want to mention that the kit I used was called "Spring Collection" if you want to look for it in her shop. Hope you all enjoyed today's card, and I do hope you will check out Kitty's scrap post.  It's a wonderful way to get beautiful papers at a great price and her images are always right on trend and she gives great customer service. See you all tomorrow with another card. Till then, I hope you all have a wonderful day. Lots of hugs, amy k

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Masculine handmade birthday card for Chris A.



 I know, I'm a little behind on my blog post.  This card was made for Christopher back in August. lol.  Sooo far behind.  Anyway, Chris is my hubby, Brian's first cousin, he's also engaged to my BFF, Wendy and we all like to hang out so he's more like my cousin too, you know?  So to make this card I started with designer paper from Recollections.  The hexagons are a Spellbinders die cut and the piece of designer paper at the bottom that looks like arrows is cut from the same collection.  I used my Lacy Labels cartridge for the Cricut to cut the label shape and all its layers. I then stamped the sentiment with Versa Fine ink and heat embossed it with white embossing powder.  The only other thing I did was a little distressing using my distress inks from Tim Holtz, and layered it onto a kraft card base.

That's it for this card, hope you liked it. I'm keeping this post short and sweet:).  I'll be back soon with another card as I have many to post to catch up.  Hope you all are doing well and hope everyone is looking forward to Saturday, World card making day.  Hope to see some of your projects.  Talk to you all soon. Hugs and lots of Love, AmyK.
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Friday, September 20, 2013

Thinking of You Card


Hello again, I'm back today with another card to share with you.  I made this card instead of a get well card when my dear great Aunt was diagnosed with several cancers in her body recently.  I didn't want to make a get well card thinking it would be maybe somehow insensitive to her situation.  We have sense learned that she luckily has only one cancer that's in her prostate.  She now stands a much better chance of recovering and I may yet make her another card this time a get well card.   We are all praying that she pulls thru this. 

Above you see the flower cluster with a pink Prima flower and a button from Tim Holtz, The music note flower was made using a Martha Stewart punch and the leaf punch is one of hers too.  The rose buds are from Wild Orchid Crafts. I layered it all on a piece of black lace.  I just cut it apart and used it like an applique.  I added a page pebble from the floral department and then I added a punched circle of patterned paper with glossy accents.  The tiny cameo is a button that I've removed the back from so it will lay flat.  I larger cameo with the rose in it is from Recollections.

 
 Here you can see the whole card.  I've used Prima's "Lyric" paper pad, I added the two vintage boots are also buttons with the backs removed.  The "Thinking Of  You" sentiment is from Hero Arts on a label die cut from the Cricut.  The lacy die cut at the top is also a Cricut cut from the Art Philosophy cartridge.  I also added a wood veneer bird that I copic colored and added to the bottom of the card.

 Here is a shot of the inside of the card.  I also used the cricut to cut out the label shape from the patterned paper and I distressed it with black soot distress ink.  I also die cut the small label shape from a Tim Holtz label die from Sizzix.  I distressed it with worn lipstick distress ink.  The sentiment is from the same Hero Arts stamp set.  I added a small flower bundle from Wild Orchid Crafts tied in the center with seam binding and a couple of punched flowers from Martha Stewart and a black bling center.
This is the envelope. The stamp at the top is from Autumn Leaves, the sentiment is from the same Hero  Arts stamp set and the dress form is a wood mount stamp from Stampabillities.  That's all for this card.  I hope you all enjoyed it.  I really had fun making this card.  It was a pure delight.  I'll be back tomorrow with another card.  The next one will be a masculine card so stay tuned for that.  I hope you all have a great weekend. Talk to you soon, Hugs, AmyK

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Happy Birthday for my 3 year old Niece and God child


I made this little card for my beautiful little 3 year old niece and she's also my God baby.  She's such a delight. Both her and her big brother Dylan are.  We get so much joy out of spending time with them.  They really are great kids.  

So I wanted to make her a card this year that was more toward the big girl side because she's not so much a baby any more no matter how much we may want her to be. lol.   She's as cute as a button and such a little girly girl, always has been.  So I used pinks in her card and pink stickles (glitter glue) and purple.  I used the hexagons because they are so trendy right now and the sentiment shape comes from the Cricut, not sure which cartridge tho.  It's been sense August that I made this card. So I forget. lol. The paper is from Making Memories and its an older line called Cheeky Embellishment paper in the 8x8 pad.  I used the hexagon dies from Spellbinders to cut out the patterned paper.  The sentiment stamp is heat embossed in white and the stamp set is called Whimsical Words & Doodles from Hot off the Press.  The butterfly and bird and all the epoxy stickers are from Sticko by ek success.  I'm not sure where I got the make a wish stickers but they were some I had in my stash. I distressed the edges of all the patterned paper with Gathered twigs distress ink from Tim Holtz to tie in the brown from the Sentiment die cut.  I think she really liked it. It's so cute because some times she runs around with the card in her hand instead of the gift we give her.  lol.  Like I said, Cute as a button. 

That's all for now, I'll be back soon with another card to share with you soon, Till then keep crafting. Ttys, Hugs, amyk

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Sara's Graduation card


When my long time bestie, Sara graduated from her online collage classes.  I am SO proud of her for getting a degree and this program will stay with her and help her find a job and I love that Idea.  I want so much for Sara to be able to work at a job she loves and one that will pay her what she's worth.

This is the front of the card that I made for her.  I've told you before that I don't really like to make traditional graduation cards full of cap and gown images.  So I made a card that I thought was pretty and added the "Great Job" sentiment and then went over it with Stickles glitter glue from Ranger.
For the designer paper, I used the Blush pad from My Minds Eye, For the sentiment I used a stamp set from Close to My Heart called "Casual Expressions" and it corresponds with a cricut cut for the Artiste cartridge. I used Hero Arts shadow inks in tide pool.  I distressed all the edges of the patterned paper with "Berrylicious" chalk ink from Clear Snap.  I used my Martha Stewart boarder punch for the scallops at the bottom of the card.  I used some blingy trim and then three layers of the antique lace that Wendy gave me that she got from her grandmother.

For the inside of the card I used a stamp set from TPC Studio called "Valedictorian".  I stamped the sentiment with black onyx Versa fine ink and the rest of the various stamps were stamped with various Hero Arts Shadow inks.

Well, that's all I got for now, I've got to run and try and get some house cleaning done.  Congratulations Sara, I'm so proud of you! I love you girl.  I hope the rest of you guys have a great weekend and I'll be back soon with another post soon. ttys Hugs. amy k

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Birthday card for my Sis In Law, Mel

I am lucky enough to have two wonderful sisters in law  and Mel is one of them, I love them just like they are my real sisters and I consider Mel and Jennifer to also be good friends of mine.  Of course they both have children now and don't have so much time to hang out but we keep in touch regularly, I love both these women truly and love having them in my life,
Now on to the card, it's got a lot going on. The paper line is from Authentique, called "Essentials Collection".  I layered the designer papers onto a yellow back ground sheet of card stock.  I glimmer misted a doily and then used the heat gun to dry it. It gave great color and shine. In the upper left hand corner, I have the heart and wings, they are grunge board from Tim Holtz and I painted the wings with the pearl paint dauber also from Ranger, I believe I used a copic marker to color the heart red then topped it off with glossy accents, also by Ranger. It's layered on a fancy bracket and oval that's a McGill punch.  I punched them from the paper line. I believe the oval was punched from white card stock and then colored using vintage Photo Distress ink by Tim Holtz and Ranger. The Wish Big sentiment was stamped on manila card stock using Papertry Ink's "Big and Bold Wishes" stamp set and stamped with Versa Color ink in Raspberry. I also sprayed that piece with some glimmer spray in gold, To the left of that you see a mini Library pocket that was punched from the designer paper with a McGill punch and then I made a tiny tag to add inside using the cricut and using distress ink to color it. I used spun sugar to color the tag then worn lipstick to distress the edges and to stamp a birthday wish to her inside. The stamp on the outside of the pocket says, "so Fairy pretty" and that's a Prima stamp.The flowers were fussy cut from the designer paper and adhered with foam dots.  I added a piece of vintage lace to trim out the middle where the two paper lines meet. then added some vintage buttons that are threaded with some brown yarn.  I went around the edges of all the base layers of designer paper with gathered twigs distress ink from Ranger. whew! that was a lot! I hope I didn't leave anything out. If you see anything that you would like to know about that I didn't cover here then please feel free to leave me a comment and ask any question you would like. Make sure to leave an email addy so that I can respond to your question.  For the rest of you Please feel free to just leave me a comment and let me know what you think about today's card. I love to get feed back from you. till next time, Hugs, amyk

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Graduation card for Judy Owens to give to Cody Hughes

 I 've known Cody just about as long as I've know Brian.  I watched him grow into a fine young man, not to mention that I went to school with his mom so It was a real honor when Judy said she needed a graduation card for him and if I would be interested in doing it.  Of course I was, why wouldn't I be.  I jumped at the chance to make the card for him.  I just hope he liked it, I tried to make it something that a young man would like but who knows what they like now days lol.  I knew he was graduation from Armuchee High and their school colors were blue and silver or white or maybe both.  I knew it was something like that.  I started off layering the background with a music sheet of designer paper and I edged it in brown distress ink and then added the white graph piece and edged it with blue distress ink.  The Polaroid frame was one I made on my gypsy handheld design device.  I added the arrow cut out and then backed it with black and white washi tape.  I used blue ink to stamp the "way to go" and the stars and then stamped the diploma scroll and cap and tassel and then fussy cut those stamps out and added them to the Polaroid frame. To finish it off i added a piece of navy Chinese braid across the bottom.


I added these stamps across the bottom of the envelope for a little added interest.  I'm enjoying decoration the envelopes more these days.  I think it just gives a hint of what's to come inside. I hope you enjoyed my card and envelope today and hope you will join me back here maybe later today or definitely tomorrow for more cards, as I am trying to catch them all up. lots of hugs, and love to you all have a wonderful day. hugs, amyk

Monday, September 9, 2013

A Baby Shower for my SIL Jennifer Kittle and her boyfriend, Andrew Parker

So My Mother in Law, Judy, who is also Jennifer's mother, she and I decided we were going to be giving the shower for the happy couple and Judy totally did all the food and I did the decorations.  The shower was June 22.2013 and yes I am Just Now getting around to getting these photos up, please forgive me.  I have been going thru some trials of my own for like the past 6 weeks or so and so the blog had to be put on hold but I think I'm back in full swing now and hope to have it caught up soon.  So without further adgue, here's the pictures of the invitations that I made first then I will show you pictures from the decorations around the fellowship hall at Fishers Chapel, all that I made and sent home with them to decorate the babies room with.

So here are some of the baby shower invitations:

On the invitations I basically used just K & Co. paper all from the same line even tho it's been out for a while.  It was really cute for a baby girl and some of it even had glitter. The your invited and welcome little one stamps are from a Close to my Heart set. I think I cut that label shape out with the cricut. Each card had ribbon and some of them were different as I didn't buy enough of just one style to do all the cards.  Each card also had a baby themed chipboard piece.  The Hey diddle diddle... stamp was from inkadinkado. I believe. oh, and each invitation also had either a white or a yellow bow on the ribbon. These are just two examples. I also used my butterfly punch from Recollections and added that to the top of the invited sentiment, The Hey diddle diddle... sentiment was punched out with my ek success punch.


this last picture is of a little stamp that I stamped on the outside of each envelope, all of which I had to hand make because the invitations were such an odd size. I just thought the baby girl in her little diaper was too cute not to include on the envelopes.  I just stamped the whole thing in pink ink to make it easier.


Now for some pictures of the shower decorations, sorry but I really didn't get good pictures of them till they were hung up for the shower, so some of them may look tiny on the large walls of that fellowship hall.

 These guys on the mini diaper cakes, I made on the cricut mostly using the create a critter cartridges. I used the mirrored image feature and made them to go on the back then run the dowel rod up between the two die cuts.  My cousin, Nicole, she rolled up the diaper cakes and Mama Judy had given me a couple of bunches of silk flowers so I bought the chevron, pink with white stripes ribbon and cut out a circle of white card stock to have something other than the diapers to glue to and then glued the ribbon and the flower arrangement on to that white circle.
 For allot of the die cuts I used a ton of glitter. both front and back.





I also made her a baby banner too but I usually give that at the shower with the babies name on it and they had not decided on the name at the time of the shower so I had to make it a little later and give to them at the hospital the the day of the birth.I was able to come up with some of the pictures of the banner and they look different because they were taken under different lighting and with my phone camera instead of my DSLR camera but I think you will get the pictures and be able to put it all together from the pictures. Its just a big picture of  the entire banner and then a close up of the first letter "P"  and a shot of the dangle that hangs from the first and last banner.
 This is the shot of the whole banner/ it says Phoebe.  I used the  new criut cartridge called "Pretty Pennants" I did the back ground in light lavender and the lat ice overlay in dark purple or plum and then I used a different kind of lace across the tops of each pennant . Then I used my dizzy dollies dies from MTF and memory box to create the layers for the alpha.   f0r each letter I used an ivory white layer from the larger die..And then did a smaller layer in green that matched back to the bedding that Judy and Frank had gotten them That's what I was trying to match the banner to, the bedding so that It would match the baby's room.. And the vintage lace that goes all the round the outside of each pennant was inherited from Wendy's grandmother Finster who has sense pasted and is no longer with us. I have to believe she's looking down from heaven on all the beautiful crafts we are making with her supplies and smiling down on us if she is pleased with our use of her supplies.  The whole banner is strung on a piece of purple silk ribbon and had tule tied bows on each end of the pennants.
I added these beaded and dangle chain bobbles to the first and last and one in the middle, I believe, and some smaller beaded dangles on all the other pennants. I thought they added just that girlie little flair that the banner needed.  I think Jennifer and Andrew seemed to like it and I hope baby Phoebe will too...
Remember that you can click on each picture to enlarge it so you can better see the details.  I hope you enjoyed my projects for today and maybe they will help you next time you have to throw a baby shower and need a few ideas. Lots of Hugs, amy k

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Happy Anniversary card for my Brother and his wife, Mel

To make this card I started with a 51/2x51/2 square corrugated card base from Recollections.  I used designer paper pad in 6x6 from Prima called Nature Garden. I also used the Tim Holtz for Sizzix die, Hanging sign.  I don't own this die but I have a dear friend, Robin, who does and she so generously cut me out several of this die in chipboard along with a few other dies that I don't own.  She's so sweet to do that for me. I painted the hanging sign all over with white pearl paint from Ranger and once it was dry I used an Autumn Leaves stamp and some versa mark ink to stamp the image onto the sign and then I used Pearluster in Sapphire by stampendous to heat emboss it. I distressed the edges of my designer paper with a paper distresser and then I went along the edges with one of the purple distress inks.  To assemble the card I just layered my patterned papers and then glued down the hanging sign after I had added some jump rings to make it actually look like it was hanging. 


I added a flower cluster using different flowers from several different manufacturers including some from Micheal's and some from Hobby Lobby and even some from Wild Orchid Crafts.  The little bird brad on the sign is from Recollections and the metal hearts, I believe are from Making Memories. I forget because I've had them for so long and I don't keep them in the original packaging. lol. 

Well, That's it for this post, I hope you enjoyed my card share. I'll be back soon with some baby shower invitations and decorations. ttys, hugs, Amy k