A Steampunk Father's Day

It's been a crazy, busy week, and I don't have time to go into detail on this card, but it's for my hubby for Father's Day.  I'm super happy with how it came out, but it took DAYS to finish it! 

I'm entering it into these two challenge contests:

 June CARDS Blog Challenge                              Lawnscaping Challenge

So, here it is!

For the background panel, I used the emboss resist technique with clear embossing powder, distress inks, and Tattered Angels spray.

 

 You can see a little bit of the shine from the glimmer mists here.

 The focal image is a digi-stamp from Make It Crafty, and I colored it with Copic Markers.

The little gears are from Tim Holtz.

And I created the sentiment myself in a word processing program.  That awesome font is called Carmencita and came from DaFont.com.

That's all I have time for today! 

Sunny Side Up

Here is a card that I created tonight for a friend who is having a rough time of things right now.  I wanted to make something bright and cheerful to let her know I'm thinking of her.  I'm also submitting this card into the Lawn Fawn Lawnscaping Challenge: Clean & Simple,

 and the Lil' Inker Designs Sunny Days Challenge.

I was inspired by the beautiful images of the sky in this photo, and the bright, cheery yellow color pops.  :)  With that said, here's the card I created:

I just bought this new paper pack called FEELIN' groovy from We R Memory Keepers, and I thought the bright cheery papers were perfect for this project.  I die cut and stamped my balloons with the Up, Up & Away dies & stamps from Papertrey Ink and paper pieced them using kraft cardstock for the baskets.

For the background paper, I used Glimmer Mists in Sea Glass and Rip Tide to create my sky by spritzing them onto watercolor paper. I really wish that the sparkle of the Glimmer Mist was visible in my pictures; I haven't figured out how to photograph it.

My clouds and sun are die cut using the Lil' Inker Designs Sunshine and Clouds dies.  What I love best about these dies is how they die cut the stitched line into the paper; I think it just adds so much more character to the project!  I think the sun looks awesome with that paper from the FEELIN' groovy pack!

The sentiment is from the LID Sun Sentiments stamp set, and is stamped with VersaMark and then embossed with Ranger Super Fine Detail embossing powder.  I think this is the first time that I used that embossing powder, and I'm really pleased with it.  The sentiment came out just as crisp and clear as it does with ink alone!

I also used two different thicknesses of pop dots to create some depth of field for the focal images, which you can hopefully see here:

And last, but not least, I created a coordinating envelope to mail it in:

I used the rock-&-roll technique to get a two toned look to my balloon using PTI inks in Orange Zest and Summer Sunrise; just to add some more sunshine and cheer to the project.  :)

Overall, I'm thrilled with the turnout of this card!  It was one of those projects that turned out exactly as I had envisioned it in my mind.

I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I do!

Clean & Simple

I made this card for my husband for our 6th anniversary.  The picture I used is from our engagement photos.  I scrap-lifted the idea from this blog post. 

I loved the idea of printing the photo on canvas, and I knew I just HAD to try it!  I LOVE how this card turned out!  And the best part is how quickly and easily it came together.  :) 

[I just noticed that even though I turned the card for this picture, it still looks like we are looking right at you!  Weird!]

I'm submitting this card to the Lawn Fawn Lawnscaping Challenge #58.  The theme is Clean & Simple. 

View the Challenge Blog here

Thanks for reading!

Today I am playing along with the May Blog Hop Challenge over at Papertrey Ink. 

The challenge is to create a project using floral stamps and one of the Bouquet Builder color schemes.  I chose this color scheme for my card, but I chose to add a little bit of Aqua Mist as well.

I'm using the PTI anniversary stamps set, Birds and Blooms, for this project.  I ADORE this stamp set!  I think it is definitely my new favorite set!  It is so much fun to play with! 

 I also have the matching dies, which I used to cut out the bird and the nest.  I scrap-lifted the design from here.  I also created a matching envelope. 

All of my paper and stamps are from PTI, and I used mostly PTI Ink [but also some Memento brown].

I hope you enjoyed this post!  Thanks for reading!

Just a Note

Just a quick post today:

I recently bought the PTI Happiness in Bloom stamp set and had a chance to play with it a couple of weeks ago, but didn't have time to blog about it. 

I really enjoyed playing with this stamp set!  Each layer of the flowers is a separate stamp piece, so you can just stamp right over the top of the previous layer.  I can see me reaching for this set again and again!

Here is the card I created:

I pretty much scrap-lifted the whole card from here.

I also decided to make a matching envelope to mail it in.

I'm really happy with how it turned out.  I look forward to using this set again!

All of the paper came from https://www.papertreyink.com/.  The floral stamps are from PTI and the sentiment is from this set from My Thoughts Exactly.  I used mostly PTI ink but also some Memento Dew Drops, too.

Thanks for stopping by!

Flower Show with Waltzingmouse: Part 2

I'm sharing another card I made for the  Flower Show CASEing contest from Waltzingmouse Stamps.

I CASEd this card from JJ Bolton at Ribbon Girls:

Isn't it gorgeous?

I needed to make a sympathy card for a friend who lost a loved one a few days back, and I thought the black and gold color scheme was perfect for such an occasion.

Here is the card I created....

I don't have time to go into too much detail, but I stamped all my images with VersaMark on black card stock and embossed them with Ranger Gold Detail embossing powder.  The stamps I used were from Flourishes [Calla Lilies] and Hero Arts [Lattice Background].  I'm not sure where I got the little studs that I added at the bottom.

Here is another angle that shows off the shine a little better:

That's it for today!  Thanks for stopping by!

~Amber

Flower Show with Waltzingmouse: Part 1

Today I am playing along with Waltzingmouse Stamps for the Flower Show CASEing contest.

I hopped through all the inspiration blogs, and I have decided to CASE this gorgeous card....

 ...that was created by Debbie Olson on the Thinking Inking blog.  I was inspired by the layout that Debbie came up with, and love how her background paper reminds me of water coloring!

So here is my creation!

I started by stamping my Koi fish on watercolor paper with Archival black ink.  Then I stamped my water ripples with Broken China Distress Ink.  I used a water brush to paint my paper with Broken China Distress Stain and Tumbled Glass re-inker, but I just wasn't satisfied with how it was looking.  So I spritzed my paper with turquoise and sea glass Glimmer Mists from this kit.  It doesn't show in the picture very well, but it has a nice shimmer to it.

Next, I painted my Koi using Perfect Pearls [Copper and Gold] mixed with water and applied with a water brush.  When the Perfect Pearls dried it was slightly opaque and covered up some of the stamped image, so I stamped my fish again with Archival ink, right over the top of the original.  The Perfect Pearls adds even more shine!

The waterlilies were stamped on X-Press It Blending Card with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  Then I colored them with Copic Markers [V000, V12, V15, V17].  I painted the center of the big flower with more Perfect Pearls, and I added the white dots with an Opaque White Glaze pen. 

The center of the small waterlily is colored with a Copic Marker [Y15].  I stamped the lily pad with Archival ink on a scrap of patterned card stock.  The tag was cut from PTI Vintage Cream card stock using a Spellbinders die.  I stamped the sentiment with VersaMark and embossed with Zing! purple metallic embossing powder.

To finish things off, I mounted my water colored panel on some Plum Pudding card stock from PTI and added some Winter Wisteria ribbon.  I popped up the sentiment panel and flowers using pop dots from Stampin' Up and attached the whole thing on a Vintage Cream card base.

I don't have any Waltzingmouse Stamps yet, so I used two sets from Flourishes [Waterlilies and Life Lines].

So that's it for this CASE!  Stay tuned for another CASE card tomorrow!

A Word of Thanks...

I want to thank all of you for your encouraging comments on my blog posts so far!  I didn't even realize anyone had sent me comments; I guess I need to update my notification settings.....ooops!  I really appreciate the feed back, and it's exciting to know that someone out there has taken the time to visit my blog.

Thanks again!

~Amber

The Daily Marker Blog

I'm attempting to win the prize from this post at The Daily Marker.  Love this blog! 

Here is a look at the prize:

 





I adore the cards she made for the Simon Says Stamp blog!

Wish me luck!

Rainbows & Unicorns

I have one more card for the Lawnscaping Challenge #52.

I made this card for my adorable little niece, Izzy, who is turning 4 next month.  I can't believe how fast time flies!!

 

I started by stamping my Lawn Fawn images from Critters Ever After onto white stamping paper, then colored and fussy cut them out.  I stamped the Bannerific image onto PTI Berry Sorbet cardstock and fussy cut it as well.  I also stamped a sentiment from THIS stamp set by Lil' Inker Designs.

The cloud and rainbow dies come from the same set as the sentiment, and I cut my clouds from some textured white cardstock.  For a little bit of sparkle, I outlined just the bottom half of my clouds with some Stickles and added a couple of rhinestones to my banner.  The rainbow is also cut from textured cardstock, and I chose a pretty patterned paper for the background because it reminds me of the sky.  

Oh!  I also used Orange Peel Stickles on the unicorn's horn, but it doesn't show in the pictures.  

This image shows the glitter on the clouds really well, and a close up of the unicorn....

She is popped up on a Wobble Spring which you can see here....

I had to trim the top sticky surface of the wobble spring a little so it wouldn't stick out around the sides of my unicorn.  I didn't bother trimming the bottom piece that adheres to the card front; it only shows a teeeeny little bit.  Since it is clear, it isn't even noticeable.  

And here is one last image that gives a nice view of the sentiment and unicorn. 

Well, I hope you enjoyed this card!  I tried to take some better photos this time to show a bit more of the detail.  I had fun with this one!  These Lawn Fawn stamps are really fun to play with.

Thanks for reading!

P.S. I've been trying to figure out how some bloggers put thumb nail images of their products at the end of their posts, but mine aren't lining up and the links aren't working.  If anyone has any tips on how to do this please let me know.  :)  Thanks!

Special Guest Designers

I have a special post to share today featuring guess designers, Tarren and Alysen Smith.

A week or so ago, I stamped out some adorable little stamp critters from some of my favorite stamp companies to create coloring sheets for the daughters of my friend, Tamara.  And to my delight, the girls created the cards I'm sharing with you today using some of the images from the coloring pages!

So here is the card that Alysen created, which includes several adorable little critters from Lawn Fawn stamp sets....

 

And on the inside has more cute critters and a beautiful hand-drawn snowman scene!  

Don't you think Alysen did an excellent job?  I certainly do!


And here is Tarren's card, which features cute critters from Lawn Fawn and The Craft's Meow....

 

And on the inside is gorgeous, hand-drawn butterfly!  

Don't you love her original sentiment of "Whoo makes the best cards..."?  Very clever!

I was absolutely delighted to get these cards, and I couldn't wait to share them!  Thanks so much, Tarren and Alysen, for your hard work!  You did a beautiful job!

That's all for now.  Thanks for visiting!

Snow Day

Here is another card for Lawnscaping Challenge #52.  

 

I work in an elementary school.  Last week, the kids were all hyped up for a snow day because it was predicted on the weather that we would get a big blizzard with 5 to 8 inches of snow and ice.  Well, we only got about 3 inches of snow and no snow day, but it did inspire me to make this card.

I started with a kraft card base and spritzed it with Mister Huey Opaque White to create the feel of falling snow.  I wrapped the card panel in some fibers that I've had for years; leftovers from a card making class I took ages ago.  

The image panel is cut from Stamper's Select White cardstock using a Spellbinders die.  I stamped my snow men with Ranger Archival Ink.  Then I masked off my snow men and stamped the snowy wind using Perfect Medium and dusted it with Perfect Pearls powder to make subtle shimmer.  I used Memento Rich Cocoa to stamp the arms of my snow men and Rhubarb Stalk to stamp the heart on the little one.  Their accessories were stamped on patterned papers and fussy cut.  I attached them to my card with a Quickie Glue Pen.  And for the final touch, I used ordinary markers to color my bird and the carrot noses.

I hope you have enjoyed this post!  Bye for now!

The Birth of a Blog

Hello, blog world!

This is my first ever blog post!  I am also on Pinterest, but have never written a blog before.  Hopefully, someone out there in the crafting world will find my blog and gain some enjoyment from it.

I have been a scrapbooker for the past 10 years or so, but I only recently have begun to make cards as well.  A few months ago, I started following some [okay, lots] of crafty blogs out there to find inspiration for myself.  I often have trouble deciding where to begin on a project so I go web diving for ideas.

I have also attempted to enter some card making contests via the web and blogging world, and I have decided that it would be much easier to do if I had my own blog.  Which has led me to this......Hippymom Creations!

So here is my first ever blog posted card.....

I am submitting this card for the Lawnscaping Challenge #52:

So I created a cute little scene using my Lawn Fawn Critters in the Forest stamps.  I love all of Lawn Fawns little critters!  They are so adorable, and they make me happy.  :)  I used a Spellbinders Scalloped Circles die to cut my stamping paper, and I inked the sky and "grass" with Tim Holtz Distress Ink.  Since I was using regular water based markers to color my critters, I used Ranger Archival Ink to stamp all the images and sentiment.  The sentiment, rainbow and sun are from Lil' Inker Designs Sunshine Dies & Sun Sentiment Stamp Set.  I used a variety of paper scraps from different brands to create this card.  Oh!  I almost forgot...the twine is from Doodlebug's Baby Boy Doodle Twine.

Obviously, I am new to blogging and I'm still learning how to add images and links to my blog.  Hopefully, everything will look okay once I click Publish.  If anyone has any input for me feel free to leave a comment.

I will attempt to take better pictures of my work in the future.  :)  I was in a hurry and didn't have time to set up my hubby's photo booth.  Maybe I'll do a post some time to share the photo booth with my readers.  {That's optimism for you....assuming that I'll have some readers.  LOL}

Well, if you have read this post, let me say "Thank you!"  And I hope you'll stop back by for future posts!

Bye!