I was featured!

So a while back I got this email with the subject line:
May we feature Amber’s Antics in our Best of the Web?

Of course my first thought was, it’s spam as I didn’t recognize the name of the sender but that didn’t stop me from opening the email just to see if maybe, just maybe it was legit. And it was!

Be@Home, which features anything from interior design tips to room trends, and from time to time,  crafting-related content, was interested in featuring me on their Best of the Web, their weekly series recognizing the most interesting websites on the web! How cool is that? Check out the above link to see my feature.

So of course I had to check out the rest of their blog and found this post on Crafting solutions. It is a cool idea about using a portable closet to organize your crafting materials and still keep your house spic-and-span. You just have to check out the article to see it for yourself.

        Thanks for stopping by!

                         Amber

Christmas in April?

I decided to take a look at the Featured Stamper over SCS to get my juices flowing some more. Abbysmom had this cute Christmas card that I thought I would case.

I used Merry Wishes by Our Craft Lounge.  I also used their Crafty Sparkles, chunky red, on the squares. (side note, it is probably not a good idea to use the sparkles right before going to bed! I think my sheets are now glitterfied!) Black lace trim is from May Arts.

The card is growing on me. Don’t think I am cut out to make Christmas cards in April! lol Still a little too early for me! (even though I was wishing we got snow like some of the other states did just last week!)

         Thanks for stopping by!

                      Amber

Paper Pretties Release Blog Hop

Welcome to the Paper Pretties Blog Hop release! Hope you just came from Lisa Silver’s blog. If not you might want to start at the very beginning of the hop at the Paper Pretties blog.

I’m showing Bookworm Polly today. I colored her with copics and prismacolor pencils blended with odorless mineral spirits. Cut her out of the box some and pulled out the sewing machine to do some sewing on the card. Stamped the sentiment right onto the paper.

Now hop on over to Kristine Reynolds to see what she has in store for us. I’m sure it will be something fabulous.

My card is also for this week’s Featured Stamper over at SCS. You can see her card here that I cased but changed the images and colors.


            Thanks for stopping by!

                            Amber

May you have a day that’s perfect

Another Paper Pretties birthday hop! Jackie Rakoski is our birthday girl today so enjoy the hop and don’t forget to stop by her blog and say Happy Birthday! Hopefully you just came from Frances Byrne blog.

For my card I used Birthday Sentiments. Pulled out some design paper and Spellbinders and away I went. Added lots of paper piercing to the card and border punched the strip.
This card is also for FS236 and I cased this card.

Now head on over to Heather Lee-Reppen blog and leave some loving.

          Thanks for stopping by!

                      Amber

Weekend cards

My mojo has be playing hide and seek with me this past week so I decided to take a little “time off” from DT work and just make a few cards just for fun.  

I pulled out Dino Mite by Our Craft Lounge and Basic Grey Archaic paper and went to work. Embossed the saying in the corner and put image on dimensions.



For my second card I decided to do the FS over at SCS yesterday. Kept the layout the same but changed the colors and images. I used Star’s Slumber Party also by Our Craft Lounge. Found the blue piece already cuttlebug’d and cut it out with Spellbinders.

After ‘playing’ I am now in the mood to make more cards but of course this week is getting ready for our County Fair which starts this coming weekend! When will life settle down so I can just create, create, create?

On another note…. COMING SOON….some awesome BLOG CANDY!!! (and if you are my friend on Facebook, you should know what I’m talking about as I have mentioned it in my statuses the last few days!!)  I can’t wait!!


       Thanks for stopping by,

                Amber

You are TEA-RRIFIC!

The Friday challenge over at The Lounge this week is a color challenge. Aren’t these colors awesome?!

I paired it up with the Featured Stamper 217 from today. I cased this card of hers. Changing the colors, stamp set used and added a border punch to my stripe instead of distressing.

I used Tea Time from Our Craft Lounge. Stacked the cup by masking it. And stamped the three little flowers in random on the stripe. Used copics BG 10 & 15 and E30, 33, 35 & 37.



It is also for the following challenges:

Fairy Knoll – Whatever
Pals Paper Arts – Punches
Tuesday Throwdown – Flowers
Amber’s Crafts and stuff – Flowers
Delightful Challenges – Flowers
Allsorts – Bloomin’ Blossoms
Shelly’s Image Blog – Punches
Simply Create – Do it Yourself
Whimsie Doodles – Punches

        Thanks for stopping  by!

                    Amber

OCL challenge day–Clean & Simple

It’s Friday! That means it’s time for a new Our Craft Lounge challenge. Clean & Simple with embossing!  Check out The Lounge for all the details.



I combined a couple of challenges for my OCL card today. Color Challenge 314 which was Soft Suede, Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake and Neutral. Free for All 56 which was “How does YOUR garden grow? What makes you thing of a garden and happy springtime??”

Clear embossed Whispy Patterns onto the background. Clear embossed flower from Whispy Blooms and colored with copics. Added Chunky Crystal crafty sparkles to the middle of the flowers. Sentiment is embossed in clear too.


Layout is from Tuesday Morning Sketch #85. And the card is also in the following challenges:

Scrap-Creations - Anything Goes
Pink Elephant - Spring Time
PaperPlay - Embossing
MyGrafico - Anything Goes
Amber's Crafts and Stuff - Anything Goes

I also have a second card for you using OCL images. I made this during the week for the Featured Stamper 214 but never got around to posting it. It is also clean and simple but no embossing. I cased this card of Bridget’s. Changing images but keeping layout the same. I used Bees Knees and colored with copics. Images are attached with Glue Dots. Curved the sentiment more to fit in the space.



Also entered in the following challenges:

PaperCrafting Journey - Up in the Air
MyGrafico - Anything Goes
Amber's Crafts and Stuff - Anything Goes
Scrap-Creations - Anything Goes
Pink Elephant - Spring Time

     
        Thanks for stopping by!

 
                   Amber

Baking Bethany

Such a blah, cold, wet day here that I don’t feel like doing anything. I  did color yesterday so decided to make a card with one of the colored images. I played along with the Featured Stamper211 and used a newly released digi Bethany Baking from Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps.

I cased this card of StampGroover. Changed image, color and added border punch to the sides.  Colored my image with copics, printed the tree twice and cut it out and attached it with Helmar Liquid Scrap Dots to give it some dimension. Misc designer paper used and border punch used on the gray.

Supplies: digi Bethany Baking from Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps, copics, Helmar Liquid Scrap Dots, border punch, misc. design paper, ribbon, Spellbinder Square nesties, white cardstock


         Thanks for stopping by!

                       Amber

Valentine’s Day Blog Hop!

Welcome to a BIG Valentine’s Day Blog Hop! What started out as one person’s idea to share a little love with a few friends.. grew to be 40+ participants and 19 sponsors giving away a total of 21 prizes!

Hopefully you just came from Cyndi Bundy’s blog, if not you can start at the very beginning which is Taylor Usry, I’ll wait for you.

So I loved the Featured Stamper210 gallery that I had to case this card of hers.  I used Just Bugz by Our Craft Lounge. I stamped the bee and colored with Copics: Y18, Y15, Y13, Y11. Used Y11 on the wings with the blender pen. Went over the bee’s body with copic Black. I used Chatter Box rub-ons for the sentiment. Added some sheer blossoms with some bling for the middles over top of the ribbon.

So what is Valentine’s Day without something sweet? So for your viewing pleasure…. I have for you… Sweetheart Valentine Cupcakes! 



I was asked to make cupcakes for a Couples Valentine party last Friday night that I was also attending. I made 24 chocolate and 24 vanilla cupcakes iced with Pink extra special buttercream icing.(it’s called extra special because it has a cup of whipping cream in with the buttercream!) I filled them with a chocolate mousse. It was a nice little surprise for everyone when they ate them. Believe it or not there were actually cupcakes leftover!

So I printed out MyGrafico’s Cupcake Wrapper on plain cardstock to use as my template. I downloaded Love Bug Clipart and printed out the digi paper that is included in the set. Taped on the cupcake template on the back and cut it out. You get 2 cupcake holders per sheet of paper. And the best thing about the cupcake wrapper and love bug clipart… they are FREEBIES at MyGrafico! Look how cute these are!

Hope you have enjoyed my projects. Don’t forget to leave me some love as  I may just be one of  the chosen blogs to give away some candy and believe me, you don’t want to miss out on this blog candy!

Now hop on over to Angelique Nederpel to see what love she has to share with you.  Don’t forget to leave your love (comments) as you hop along because the more love you leave, the more chances you have to win and we don’t know which blogs will be handing out the candy so you’ll want to leave love at every stop! Comments will close on Thursday 6:00 pm EST.

 

      Happy Valentine’s Day!

                     Amber

You are treasured

Whew! What a week I had last week. So busy baking cookies and cupcakes for Valentine parties that I wasn’t sure if I’d get to play in Sweet ‘n Sassy’s Love is in the Air Blog Hop!   But today’s  Featured Stamper210 inspired me to create a card this afternoon for the blog hop!   

I cased this card of Willow01. I used Bethany Sends Her Love, a new digi just released by Sweet ‘n Sassy. Used copics to color and nestibilaties to cut out the two layers plus a Martha Stewart border punch on the strip.  The sentiment comes from Birds & Roses also by Sweet ‘n Sassy.  Image panel is on 1/4” dimensions.


supplies: digi Bethany Sends Her Love, Birds & Roses both by Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps, white/black cardstock, copics, ribbon, Martha Stewart border punch, Nesties, dimensions

            Thanks for stopping by!

                       Amber

Happy Birthday, Jessica!

It’s birthday time for one of our Paper Pretties Design Team Members. Today Jessica Fick is a year older, Happy Birthday Jessica!!! Hope you have a great day and eat a piece of cake for me!

Of course what better way to celebrate than a Birthday Blog Hop Prettie Girl style! As we can't get together to celebrate in person the next best thing is a virtual birthday party!

The hop starts at the Paper Pretties Blog but you should have just come from Jackie Rakoski, if you didn’t come from there hop back now so you don’t miss out on any of the celebrations!

I used Giving Thanks Sophia and paper pieced her dress using Memory Box Beach paper. Used copics to color the rest of her and if you look closely (might be hard to see) I added some shimmer to her hair bow and flower. I cut her out completely and attached her using Helmar Liquid Scrap Dots. The scallop oval is on Helmar Zapdots. Cuttlebugged the background and used a sentiment from Make a Wish Sophia. Bow was made using the Bow Easy.

Supplies: Giving Thanks Sophia, Make a Wish Sophia, Memory Box Beach design paper, white/blue cardstock, Oval and Scallop Oval nesties, ribbon, bow easy, Helmar liquid scrap dots & Helmar zapdots, cuttlebug

Now hop on over to Chris Veneruso blog to continue this birthday blog hop. Don’t forget to wish Jessica a Happy Birthday when you reach her blog.

       
          Thanks for stopping by!

                      Amber

XOXOXOXOXO

So I made this card yesterday for the TLC 304 – Sewing (faux or real), IC263 & FS202. And darn it it fits today’s CC (black/red/white with option of hearts) but since you aren’t suppose to use an old card for a challenge, I’m going to have to make a new one for the CC but am thinking I’m going to combine it with the SC tomorrow so you’ll have to wait till then to see it.

I colored in the heart with copics and prismacolor pencils and blended with odorless mineral spirits. Added some black brads to it. The “XOXO” is only that long but I stamped it multiple times to get my squiggly line. Added some faux stitching around it and the ribbon. I also added another layer of cardstock. Here is the card I cased and Don Cherry’s jacket I used for inspiration.



Stamps are from Our Craft Lounge called Notes of Love.

Supplies: Notes of Love, copics, prismacolor pencils, odorless mineral spirits, brads, fine point marker, ribbon, white/black cardstock


          Thanks for stopping by

                  and

            Merry Christmas!!

                  
                   Amber

Deck your cards ….

with Sponging! Fala la la laaaaa   I am the guest hostess over at SCS for the Try New Technique 303 challenge. It was a surprise that sponging has never been visited (at least not that we could find) as a technique. I love to sponge so thought it would be the perfect technique to challenge everyone to do. It’s also something EVERYONE can do as you don’t need any special tools to do it.

I used For the Love of Birds by Our Craft Lounge. Stamping the heart a few times on the strip and coloring with copics. Sponged it with distress vintage photo ink and then just lightly with distress walnut stain ink.  I then stamped the image LOVE and masked it to fit the birds in the nest. After coloring it with copics, I cut it out with Nestabilities Label 8, leaving the nestabilities on the image, I sponged it with distress vintage photo ink, going around the edge very carefully with distress walnut stain ink before taking off the nestabilitie.

This is also for the Featured Stamper201. I cased this card but changed colors and stamp set and left off the ribbon.

            Thanks for stopping by

                        and

                Happy Holidays!

                       
                               Amber

I’m a Guest Designer…

When Taylor asked if I’d like to be a guest designer for Instyle Stamps, I couldn’t say no.

I decided to play along with the Featured Stamper 196 yesterday but didn’t have a chance to post my card. I cased this card of jazzytobi. I changed image, colors and didn’t emboss my background.

I used Puppy Love and colored it with copics and highlighted with prismacolor pencils. Added stickles to the hearts. Cut the image out completely and layered on brown circle and then on so saffron scallop spellbinder circle.  Design paper is DCWV The Pets Stack.

          Thanks for Stopping By!

                     Amber

Happy 4th July!

I’ve got a darn nasty summer cold so this card took me a little longer today then usual. It’s for the Featured Stamper178 and for the Free for All 19 (using stars and gold).  I cased this card of cookiebaker. Changed colors, added star eyelets, kept image a girl (and her name is Lilly too!) and changed flower to a star ‘flower’ instead.

The image I used is a Digi image from Mygrafico and is called Patriotic Lilly Stamp 2.  I used copics to color her and mini scallop scissors to cut out the layers behind her.  Used Spellbinders Fleur De Lis Border (my Joann’s find yesterday on clearance for $7.97!) behind the layered image. My gold stars are actually silver but I colored them with my gold leafing pen!

 
Supplies used:

Digi Stamp: Patriotic Lilly stamp 2

Paper: red, blue, design paper

Acces: eyelets, leafing pen, star punch, ribbon, scallop scissors, spellbinders

Ink: black, copics

Don’t forget the sale going on at Mygrafico TODAY ONLY:

        Thanks for stopping by!

                  Amber

Birthday cards

I had a couple of birthdays that I needed cards for this past few weeks.

I had to do the Featured Stamper this week as it is fellow OCL gal, Pam Hooten! I cased her Patriotic Parade card as I needed a quick simple layout.  I changed the images but still kept them OCL images, changed colors but distressed with vintage ink and I had to add a big ribbon to it with a bow made by the bow easy, I also turned the layout.

This card went to a dear old friend of mine that has known me ever since I was born. She is like my grandma. The shoe in the background was her birthday present, it is a planter for a garden.

Stamps: Say it with Flowers

Paper: Pink, My Mind's Eye dsp, vanilla

Ink: distress inks: tattered rose, vintage photo

Accessories: ribbon, spellbinders, Martha Stewart border punch

For my second card, I used the sketch challenge286 as once again I need a simple quick layout. I used Whale of a Tale by Our Craft Lounge. Paper pieced the whale, gave him some googly eyes and popped him up on the card with Helmar liquid scrap dots.



This card went to a little boy turning 8 yrs old. Here is the birthday boy (l) and my son, Benjamin (r), playing at Chuck E Cheese for his birthday.

  
Before Chuck E Cheese, Benjamin got to go with the birthday boy to his Martial Arts class as it was Buddy week.

Here is Benjamin doing some Martial Arts off to the side with one of the Instructors:

Stamps: Whale of a Tale

Paper: white, design paper

Ink: black

Accessories: helmar liquid scrap dots, googly eyes

        Thank you for stopping by!
                   
                    Amber

Easter cards galore!

This is my second post for today so please scroll down if you are looking for SMC blog hop.

I’ve been working on Easter cards all week long. 1. to fill an order, 2. for teachers. I used all Our Craft Lounge images. So enjoy!

These first two are for this week’s Sketch over at The Lounge. There is just a subtle difference in the way I did the sentiments and colored the crosses. These cards went to the female teachers my kids have.
Supplies used: In His Name, Provo Craft Slab III design paper, Spellbinders, ribbon, brads, rhinestones, Helmar ZapDots, notched punch

Last week sketch from The Lounge. Also for part of an Easter card order I had.

Supplies used: In His Name, ribbon, brads, scallop punch, prismacolor pencils, odorless mineral spirits, DCWV Latte Matstack, cuttlebug, brad, Helmar Zapdots, border punches 

For Sketch Challenge 274 and Try New Technique 266 (Inside/Out). My 4yr old gave this to her storytime Librarian.


Inside of card:  Supplies: In His Name, vanilla, brown, trick or treat & the spider web design paper, distress inks, prismacolor pencils, baby oil, pearls, spellbinders, MS border punch

I want to let you know that In His Name does have other sentiments. It isn’t just for Easter. I kind of got in a rut using it all for Easter!

Also for the Try New Technique 266 where you had to decorate the inside of your card too. This card was part of the Easter card order and is going to a 7 yr old girl. Also for Our Creative Corner’s sketch.

Bunny is a pop up. You can find directions here on how to do this.
 
Supplies: Pea-Nut Bunny, DCWV Nana’s Nursery boy paper, prismacolor pencils, odorless mineral spirits, stickles, sparklyfluff, spellbinders, ribbon

Last card in the Easter card order. This one is for the Featured Stamper 164.

Supplies used: Hippity Hoppity, google eyes, Best Buddies design paper - My Mind's Eye, spellbinders, diamond glaze, Crafty Sparkle Fluff, prismacolor pencils, odorless mineral spirits

There you have it…. Easter cards Galore. Hope you enjoyed them.

Have a Happy Easter!

             Thanks for stopping by!

                           Amber

I miss Ewe

For today’s Try a New Technique 264, we were to create our own designer paper. I wasn’t going to stamp today, wasn’t going to do the challenge but then darn it! I read it and thought of all the Sparkly Fluff I have that was just begging to be used for this challenge!! So I pulled out 3 different Our Craft Lounge sets and went to work. My layout came from the Featured Stamper’s card.

My design paper is 3 images from Fancy Fringe with Eyeliner Black Sparkly Fluff attached here and there with a glue pen. The sheep is from The Barnyard, and i used Sugar Sparkly Fluff on it's body with Helmar Premium Craft Glue and attached it with pop dots. Attached button with Helmar Gemstone Glue. Sentiment is from Barnyard Banter and is on pop dots.

supplies used: The Barnyard, Barnyard Banter, Fancy Fringe, black/white cardstock, black ink, eyeliner black sparkly fluff, sugar sparkly fluff, glue pen, helmars premium craft glue, helmars gemstone glue, ribbon, button, spellbinders, notched punch


Thanks for stopping by!
Amber