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!!!







Friday, May 31, 2013

Happy Anniversary to Judy and Frank


I made this card for my Mother in law, Judy and her husband Frank for their 7th wedding anniversary.  I truely believe those two were meant for each other.  They are so good together.  I love them both dearly and that's why I wanted to make them this card,. I wanted it to be extra special to them.

I used designer paper from Die cuts With A View, it's an older line but I still like it and they didn't seem to mind. lol..I die cut the heart shape on the cricut mini machine using GCD'S Paris Nights paper line. I like that paper because it's flocked. I die cut the flourish from black card stock using a Cherry Lynn Design's die and the sentiment die cut is from Sizzix and I colored it with some color shine and stamped it with a sentiment from Autumn Leave. The vellum piece is from the paper line and I addheared it by using my sewing machine to a piece of red that is also from the paper line. I had to glue the bling on one by one but it wasn't too much work and I think it paid off in the end.  The card base is a 5.5 x 5.5'' corrugated card base from Recollections.  Well, that's all from me for today, I've got to get busy working on some things for a wedding and then I will have to get busy working on a baby shower for my SIL. Lots to do, I love it! I'll keep you posted.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Birthday card for a very special young man


I made this card last month for my Nephew who just turned 9 this year.  His name is Dylan and he's quite a cool little dude.  I thought a card with the Robots cartridge for the cricut would be suiting for him.  I just loved this little robot character for the front of this card.  To be honest, I must admit that I've had the Robots cartridge for quite a while and this was my first time breaking it out to use on a project. teehee. I do that sometimes.  I find a product on sale or at a good deal and I already have projects in mind for that product so I go ahead and buy it because I already know that I'm going to use it even tho it might not be right away.  I bought that cartridge with Dylan in particular in mind. It will also be good to use for my cousin's baby boy when he gets a little older.

To make this card I broke into the hoard vault and broke out my metallic/ mirror card stock. I used a piece of green metallic for the card base and then the designer paper comes from Basic Grey, it's an older line but I still use it alot for little boys especially.  It's called Lime Rickey. I also used a piece of green designer paper for the robot and some silver metallic card for his hands and feet. I added some gears to the card front and the sentiment shape is an ek success punch. I used a rub on for the "Make a Wish", from American Traditional Designs.  I distressed the edges of it with one of the red distress inks from Ranger.  I used the letter stickers that comes with the designer paper pack to spell out Dylan's name.

 This is the inside of the card. I used another sheet of that metallic/ mirror card stock, this time in light blue.  I used a Martha Stewart boarder punch to punch out each side.  I cut the label shape in the middle with the cricut, not sure which cartridge tho.  Most likely the Artiste cartridge. I colored it that red with the distress inks and stamped the "Happy Birthday" with versa mark ink and heat embossed with a metallic blue embossing powder. Added a gear cluster and that was that. I decided to go ahead and show you the inside even tho I had already signed it. Hope you all don't mind. lol

That's all I've got for now, I'll be back shortly with another anniversary card. Thanks for stopping by, Hugs

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Anniversary card for good friend Robin and Denny

 This is the card I made for Robin and Denny's anniversary this year. I'm not sure how long they have been married but I know it's well over 20 years and that's something to be proud of.  What a great way to spend your life, living it out with someone you love. I'm so happy for them and look forward to spending that many years with my own dear hubby.

To make this card I used paper from GCD studios Paris Nights designer line. I layered the background piece on top of a sheet of black card stock then cut the label and it's layer out on the cricut. I believe I used Lacy Labels for that shape. The flowers are by Recollections and the flourish is a Sizzix die cut from Tim Holtz called Elagant Flourishes.  The sentiment die cut is also from Tim Holtz, it's called Styled Labels. I stamped it with a beautiful stamp set from Close To My Heart called Jardin Flair. I stamped it in Versa color ink in Raspberry. I also used that color to soften the edges of the die cut and add a little distress to it. I stamped the Jetime in versa fine black. I used the cricut once again for the little label and it's layer. I believe its from Fabulous Finds. The sentiment stamp is from Hero arts and I heat embossed it in black.



This is a shot of the inside of the card.  As you can see, I used more of the designer paper here and the label is from Spellbinders. I used second generation stamping for the butterfly image which also came from that wonderful CTMH stamp set. I also used the raspberry ink for that image and the distressing around the edges. 

Well, that's it for now, Look for several more blog post to come in the next few days. I've gotten a little behind in posting and some of the cards are waiting to be delivered before I post them so some of my post may be a little out of order.  Talk to you all again soon, have a wonderful Memorial Day Holiday!

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

My Mother's Day cards with video

This first card was made for my Mother-in law. I used the same corrugated card bases by Recollections for Micheal's stores and the same basic layout for both cards. I started with a sheet from the Divine designer paper by Prima for each card, then I used my Heidi Swap glimmer shines along with some Tattered Angels Glimmer mist to color a white sheet of card stock and then used my gypsy design tool to size up the label for the background of each card and cut it out on my cricut electronic die cutting machine. I cut these two labels out of the card stock that I had colored with the glimmer sprays.  I also used the gypsy to size two more of those labels for the insides of the cards and cut them out with the cricut. I used several more die cuts for this first card. I used the notebook paper die (not sure what they call it) by Papertry Ink and stamped it with an American Art Stamp in a vintage label image. I then die cut the doily piece and that's from Memory box dies and I believe it's called dizzy doily and lastly, I cut out the flourish in black card stock with a MFT (My Favorite Things) die and I'm not sure of the name they give that flourish die cut.  For the sentiment in the center on this first card I went back to my glimmer mist and color shines and colored this little rectangle of white card then distressed it with my Prima distressing tool and edged it Victorian velvet distress ink from Ranger. I stamped the sentiment with an Hero arts stamp in versa fine black ink. I used this sentiment stamp for both cards.  I then tied a double bow with my bow easy with black seam binding and then gathered up the ends to make them curl like that.


This is the inside of the first card. I just cut a piece of the designer paper just a little bit smaller than my card base so the kraft color would show and then layered the label I told you I made for the inside with another die cut from the cricut. I edged the outside of this die cut with broken china distress ink.  That little acrylic piece you see there at the left top is a Fragment from Tim Holtz and I used glossy accents to glue a piece of the designer paper to the back of it. It probably seems strange to glue the paper to the back of the acrylic block but it actually gives a great look and adds lots of depth.  Its an easy technique with a big payoff. 

This second card is the one that I made for my Mother. I used alot of the same or similar materials and die cuts for both cards. I used a different sheet of the designer paper from that Divine stack from Prima for the background and then layered one of the labels that I had colored with my spray mist. The banner was fussy cut from another sheet from that stack and I added little paper flowers between each banner shape then tied little tiny bows from yellow twine from We R Memory Keepers. I used alot of the embellishments that went along with the Divine stack. I used the journaling tag with the dancing lady under the Mom sentiment, I got those wood letter squares from the children's craft dept. of Wal Mart and just colored them with my Copic markers then added glossy accents to the top to finish them off. The flowers were also from the Divine collection. The pearl flourishes were gifted to me at Christmas time from a swap partner. I wet then crumpled up the sentiment piece then flattened it back out somewhat and dried it with my heat gun. I stamped it with that same Hero Arts stamp with versa fine black ink and edged it with broken china distress ink from Ranger.


This is a shot of the inside of that second card. It's not much different from the first one. I used different papers but still the same die cuts and spray mist and distress ink. I added another one of those fragment acrylic squares to the top of the label die cut with a different image from the design paper on it.  Sorry for the poor lighting in the picture but I like to take my pictures outside in the natural light but the sun was going down on this day thus the dark picture lol.


I've added the video here that shows the cards in more detail and there is another card in the video too so if you don't want to watch it you can just stop the video after you've seen all you want to see. I do hope you stay till the end.:) 







That's it for my post today, hope it wasn't too long for you :) I hope you enjoyed the cards and the video. I'm trying to get into making more videos but it takes up a good chunk of time to film and edit and post a video plus I don't make alot of extra projects just to have some thing to film. Maybe one day I can do that but for now I don't have the space to store all those extra projects.:) I'll be back in a day or so with another anniversary card for my friend, Robin and her husband, Denny.


Monday, May 13, 2013

A Birthday card for my Good friend, Robin

In general, you will hardly ever find me scrap-lifting and idea be it for scrapbooking or card making, but every once in a while I will come across a project that I absolutely love. Love so much that I feel I must recreate something at least similar to it. I get a lot of inspiration from magazines and pintrest and all the crafty gals on You Tube but I usually like to use my own original ideas when it comes to my creations. That's part of the fun of it to me, to come up with an idea in your head and watch it transform to reality on whatever your canvas might be.  In the instance of this card, I proudly say I scrap-lifted the idea of the card.  A couple weeks ago I was watching a video by Kristen Warner on you tube and she did a card similar to this and I just want to make sure to give her the credit that she deserves here on my blog as I would never intentionally take credit for another's ideas.  I used different stamps and different papers but the idea of the dark brown ink on kraft and colored with the white gel pen and the flowers. That was all her.   I knew I wanted to recreate this card the second I saw her video and I almost never get that inspired by a video.  Not to the point that I run to immediately recreate what I saw. Don't get me wrong; I get plenty of inspiration from videos. No doubting that.

I made this card for my Good friend Robin's birthday. I used Authentic paper layered with kraft on top of a cardboard card base from Micheals. I used some of Rangers paint daubers in Pearl to go around the edges of the kraft card. The stamps I used are all from one set by Tim Holtz. I stamped in dark brown chalk ink from clearsnap and then used my white gel pen to color inside the flowers.  I stamped the butterfly onto a sheet of patterned paper and fussy cut  it out then just added a line of glue down the center of the butterfly to keep the wings popped up. It was a very quick card. I guess it went together in something like 5 min. but I love it. I love the way it turned out and I was so happy to get to send it off to Robin.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you have a great rest of your day. I'll be back tomorrow with another crafty creation. Hugs, amyk

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Altered box for BFF, Wendy's birthday


This is the box that I altered for my best friend, Wendy's birthday. Yeah, I know that her birthday isn't until Aug. but I had the box and well, you know how it is once the creative juices start flowing, you just gotta let them out. lol. I used patterned paper form K & Co. for the inside and out and layered it all with card stock by Bazzill. The frame came from the $1 spot at Micheals and the flowers are a combination of ones that I hand made and some that I made with Prima flowers and then the rest are Wild Orchid Crafts flowers. The stamped image inside the frame is from a Hot off the Press stamp set. I used white and black doilys on the top. and the butterfly die cut is from Cherry Lynn Designs. Love that die! it's so beautiful and cuts like a dream. I used a label pull from Tim Holtz and the feet were his as well.  I used some cream colored flat backed pearls around the top of the lace that runs around the bottom of the box.



 Here you can see that butterfly die cut better. I also used some feathers in various colors in with the flowers.
 Both these dies, the layered flowers and the flourish are from Cherry Lynn Designs
 Here you can see the inside of the box and the outside from the front.





Here's the video for you to watch that shows the box better and I explain what all I've done to it. Hope you enjoy the video! Thanks for stopping by. Hugs, amy k