Tag Archives: card front

Celebrate Spring! FREE Easter Gift Tags

Vintage tulip, elegant design FREE for your own personal use!

Some of us have heard rumors that it’s Spring, others are deeply enjoying the warmth of the sun and the most welcomed harbinger of spring – Tulips and other bulbs.  To celebrate spring I’ve created a FREE tag set that you can pick up on my Facebook page

You can also click on the picture to go to my Facebook page, you’ll go to a “Welcome” page first, where you’ll have an opportunity to sign up for my newsletter that I’ll be producing soon on a somewhat monthly basis 🙂  You’ll also have a chance to “like” my page which will give you access to special coupon codes listed on a separate page under “For Fans Only”

FREE Shaped Gift Tags for Easter or other uses!

There are several digital clip art kits available in this design in my Etsy store.  The complete art kit runs $7.95 and has 27 pieces in the kit. 3, 12″ square papers, 2, shaped tags, 14 art pieces, 1 word art, 2 intricate borders, 4 frames and 1 card front. Created from vintage botanical illustrations and highly designed, layered and textured, then mixed with original watercolor art by Audrey Jeanne.

Vintage Red and Yellow tulips, swirls and butterflies

You can click on the picture to go to the kit at Etsy or use this link: ANTIQUE TULIPS ART KIT There will be several more kits coming over the next few weeks, including jewelry making collages, compact mirrors, coasters and more.

Beautiful for card making, scrapbooking and other craft uses

After having a foot of snow two weeks ago we finally had a marvelous weekend – just in time for the outdoor wedding of a very special young couple that are dear friends from our church.  It was a magnificent day for them and we were so excited to be a part of their lives and to be a part of helping them as a married couple in the years ahead.  Congratulations Andrew and Monica!

“This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it!”  One of my favorite verses and one I try to meditate on frequently – whether the day is beautiful like today, or stormy, it’s a day that God has given me to rejoice and delight in.  When I greet the storms with rejoicing in the Lord they pass more easily and disturb me less.  When I greet the beautiful days with gratitude in my heart they are all the more enhanced!  Everything goes better in my life when I rejoice in my Lord!  Have a great Spring day.

A Vintage Peacock Favor Gift Tag Freebie!

Vintage Peacock Wedding Favor Gift Tags, Free download

Just for fun today, I created this Vintage Peacock punchable gift tag.  He’s a free download.  All you have to do to claim him is go to my facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/audrey.jeannes.expressions (or click on the image and it will take you there).  You may have to scroll through posts to find him or you can go to my albums and look for “Freebie” as the title.

Inexpensive yet Elegant Table Card Numbers, any Color Background

While you’re there would you please consider “liking” my page?  We’re working toward reaching 500 “likes” and then there will be a link to a $4.95 digital clip art Easter kit for FREE!  If you have a friend that would enjoy the freebie too, would you consider letting them know about it for me as well.  It’s all about connecting!

Elegant "Vintage Peacock" Save the Dates available at Zazzle

To use these as Favor tags for a wedding reception or bridal shower, you can either hand write on them after printing, or typeset your names on them before printing.  This requires some graphic program or Microsoft Word knowledge.  Make sure you use as heavy a card stock as your printer can manage, it makes a difference in the finished product.  To create the tags, simply either cut them out on a paper trimmer, or use a square or round punch.  I left lots of background to give you more options.   Punch a hole in the top and use a lovely ribbon to affix them to your favors and you have a beautifully elegant touch for your wedding reception tables, bridal shower decor or other party event.

Antique Vintage Peacock Wedding Invitation, Monogrammed Custom Color

There are invitations, RSVPs and other stationery goods in a wide variety of background colors, that have been designed to match this collection.  I’ve linked just a couple here in this post, but you can find a wide selection of peacock designs – from vintage to contemporary and in many different colorways in my store.

New “Vintage Roses ‘n Butterflies” Collection of Digital Art

I am really enjoying playing with classic vintage art mixed with my own art.  There are quite a few sizes offered in this collection all of which will be found at my Etsy store Here are a few of the images of what is available.  Because of the way that Etsy works with a single listing for a product, I’ll link to the entire store, not the item in question.  They often sell in a day and that makes the link inoperable.

Shown are three different kits.  Each is allowable for small commercial crafting use.  This means that one person, crafting all their own items with home tools (no mass production equipment) can create physical crafts (not digital) to sell at craft shows, craft booths in malls and in online stores like Ebay and Etsy.

The first kit is one 4 inch by 6 inch postcard or card front with 4, 3 inch squares for greeting card making, magnets, gift tags or other uses.

The second kit is a 1″ circle set for bottle caps, inchies, soldered glass pendants, pebble magnets and other uses.  The circles are available from 2 1/2″ on down to 7/8″ size.

The third kit is a 2 1/2″ square set that is also available all the way down to 7/8″ size for a wide variety of uses.

There is also a design collection at Zazzle for Wedding, Bridal Shower and other invitations.  This design received a “Today’s Best Award” from the Zazzle Design Staff.  There is a complete Wedding Ensemble coming including Table Seating Charts, Table Cards and Place Cards.

TODAY’S WINNER FOR THE BLOG CONTEST DRAWING IS:

Cheryl!  She won her choice of any of the $4.95 kits at Etsy.

Thanks to each that wrote a comment, please keep it up.  I read and enjoy every one of them.  It makes me want to come blog more when I hear back 🙂

Amanda Curtin, Product Demonstrator and Crafter Extraordinaire

Last month, when my card crafting products debuted at Create ‘n Craft TV in the United Kingdom, I got to “meet” an amazing bundle of energy and personality – Amanda Curtin.

She’s a demonstrator for my Scrapbooking, Paper Crafting Licensee “DOCraft” also known as Design Objectives.  We got to chat via telephone on air and after the show, I asked her a series of questions about herself for this article.

INTERVIEW:

1. When did you start cardmaking and crafting?
My parents bought me craft kits for every birthday and Christmas, right from when I was very little, and I loved trying out all the new things. My first crafting as an adult was making novelty cakes for friends and family about 15 years ago. The obvious limitation with cakes is that they have to be hand delivered! As my work responsibilities and hours increased, almost all my hobbies fell by the wayside though, and I didn’t start making cards until 5 or 6 years ago, when I took a lifestyle decision to step off the career ladder and work part time with my husband instead. I went to a couple of Do Crafts demos and became well and truly hooked!

2. Are you an artist yourself?
Definitely not! My Dad paints beautifully, as did my Grandad, but unfortunately I didn’t inherit their talent! I’m fine if I have a picture to copy, and I love painting stamped images, and creating backgrounds for decoupage, but I don’t think I could claim that my efforts were art 🙂
That’s one of the things I love about crafting, that you can create lovely images without huge artistic technique or talent.

3. How did you get involved with demonstrating and what is your favorite thing to do?
I found demos so helpful when I started papercrafting and, as my experience grew, I thought it would be great to be able to help people the same way. I generally craft alone, so demonstrating gives me a different way to explore my hobby, and I love to see what crafting means to other people. As for my favorite type of crafting, it has to be rubber stamping. There are so many stamping techniques, and I love to make projects from scratch, so that the finished masterpiece is made up of just paper and work. In the summer I do a lot of jewelery making and cross stitching too,as I can do these in the garden without everything blowing away!

4. What kinds of demos do you do and where?
Most of my demos focus on cardmaking, but I also do scrapbooking, jewelery making, and other papercraft projects. Until recently all my demos were in craft stores, but I’ve recently started appearing as a guest on the Create & Craft shopping channel too. It’s a very different way to demo, and very exciting as it’s all broadcast live!

5. What is your job at Do Crafts? (Am I right in believing you’re on staff there?)
My role is to show people how Do Crafts products work, and to give them ideas for how to use them. This is normally through demonstrating either in person in shops, or on TV, but I sometimes design projects for the Do Crafts website and “Creativity!” magazine too. I’m freelance, but Do Crafts keeps me busy enough that, apart from a few demos at local craft clubs, I don’t work for anyone else.

6. Do you have a website for your services that we can post? Any way for someone who would like a demo to contact you?
I don’t have a website, but I do have a blog: http://quackersaboutcraft.blogspot.com/
I’m a rather erratic blogger, but am trying to update it more frequently!

I hope you enjoyed getting to know Amanda as much as I have.  Thanks for sharing with us and I look forward to seeing more of your work.

NEW! Puppy Love Digital Clip Art Kit

It’s been a little bit since I released a brand new art, digital clip art kit.  Today I released “Puppy Love 1” at www.aimeeasher.com.  It is priced at $5.98 for 26 pieces and if you are a crafter, you are allowed to use it to create products to sell at craft shows.  See the Angel Policy terms for the limits on usage.  Here is the link: LINK TO PUPPY LOVE KIT or simply click on the image to go to the store.

In the kit is 4 card fronts of various sizes, the puppy dog icons in borders and separated, 7 papers, 4 borders and a circular border that would be perfect to use on a paint can for a new puppy gift or packaging for a “Puppy Love” gift basket/can.

Now, my question to you… What products would you like to see made out of this kit for my Zazzle store?  Do you have some ideas for me to work on?  Here are my thoughts.  They’re perfect for purses and tote bags, magnets, greeting cards, note cards, T-shirts and maybe even some really fun shoes!  I used to own a Dalmatian and would have gotten a kick out of having a pair of shoes or shirt with a Dalmatian puppy on it.  Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!!!

Digital Clip Art Link Now Available

We have now disabled our own store and linked this site up to our complete storefront at Aimee Asher Elite.  If you look to the right you’ll see “Browse Digital products”  When you click on that link it will open my store in AAE here in my blog.  Be patient, it may take a few seconds, but you’ll be able to scroll through all 15 pages of digital clip art that is currently available, with more coming weekly.

In addition, on the left side column under the “Zazzle Store” products, you’ll see “New Products” previews.

To purchase any of the clip art, you will need to become a member at Aimee Asher and log in.  There are lots of other wonderful artists there, so go take a peek and enjoy!

A Freebie Kit for the Fourth of July

A quick post this morning to let you know that I have a FREE patriotic card making kit available in my store at Aimee Asher.  It is a 3 card, 2 envelope kit that I designed to make writing to a serviceman or woman very easy.  If you have a group that writes to these people, feel free to make and send as many cards as you wish.

There’s also a blank card that can be made into a 4th of July party invitation or ?  Have fun with it and have fun with your summer!

You do have to log into Aimee Asher in order to download there, but there will be no charge.  While there take a little time to look around and see the other fun kits that are available.  If you like to make your own cards, one of my very favorite card making duos is “Kizzy Dizzy.”  They are my dear friends from the United Kingdom.  Their kits are amazingly detailed and creative.  They have made quite a few cards from my art kits as you can see here their “Hazy Hydrangeas” is from my Blue Hydrangeas clip art kits.  Here’s a link to their store:  KIZZY DIZZY CARDMAKING KITS AT AAE

LINK TO FREEBIE KIT AT AIMEE ASHER STORE

Happy Crafting!

On Create & Craft TV in Europe, New Paper Crafting Kit debuts

New from Design Objectives, digital scrapbooking collection "Jade Treasures"

One of 80 papers in the collectionOn May 4th, 2010, the European Create & Craft TV show will be featuring a brand new collection of art for paper crafting called, “Jade Treasures.”  It will be their “Pick of the Day” set.  You can view the show May 4th, 2010 on this link: http://www.createandcraft.tv/

I will be trying to find out information as to whether this product can ship to the US and how much if it can.  I’ve been told there shouldn’t be any reason that it can’t ship here, but do not know what the costs might be.

This is a HUGE paper crafting product set.  There are wonderful papers in two different sizes, frames, icons, tags and literally anything you can think of that will make card making and scrap booking fun and easy.  I have yet to see exactly what is in the kit, but will let you know as soon as I do!  There will eventually be a 2 disk digital scrapbooking set released as well.

Design Objectives is the largest manufacturer of scrapbooking and card making products in the United Kingdom.  The new products are not yet up on their website:  www.designobjectives.com but will be soon.

I used this artwork to scrapbook my daughter’s wedding in September.  You can also see a range of Wedding Invitation products created from this art collection for those of you in the US.  LINK TO WEDDING INVITATION and LINK to AQUA/BLUE WEDDING INVITATION SELECTIONS (the “Fleur di Lys Damask” items shown on these pages are not from the “Jade Treasures” collection).

The partnership with Design Objectives is a growing one.  They are a FABULOUSLY creative company with amazing resources and ideas.  They are great fun to work with.  We have a Christmas collection of products releasing soon and look for more as they are developed.  I’ll keep you posted.

If there are any stores that carry their products on line and will carry my line, please let me know and I’ll be happy to make referrals to you!

Thanks, Lucy! New Instant Scrap Book Pages in the Store Today

LINK TO ANTIQUED VICTORIAN PANSIES QUICK PAGES KIT IN STORE, $4.98

CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE.

My friend, Lucy Hampton brought an image that I had placed in my blog to my attention today.  I created it some time ago promising a kit to come shortly, well….  I had forgotten about the kit altogether and it was “lost” on my hard drive!

I had created six, 12 inch premade scrapbook pages and they were just sitting there waiting to be uploaded to the store.  It’s a little scary when your hard drive(s) are so big you can lose your work and not even remember you were working on it.

Ah well!  These are perfect for spring, so the timing is great.  If you scrapbook, you know how much time it can take just to find your pictures and develop your theme.  With quick pages all you have to do is drop your photos in behind the layer, size them and then print out your page.  If you don’t have a printer that can print 12″ pages, you can take them to office supply stores and have them printed onto photo paper very economically.  In fact some of my friends that scrap, feel it’s better quality at a lesser price than it costs to print at home!  You can also reduce them to 8″ size and print them on letter-sized paper to use either in an 8″ album or even place and 8″ page on top of a piece of 12″ store purchased paper and add a little bit more to complete your own unique page.

If you don’t scrapbook, consider the other uses for quickpages.  You can reduce the size, add a photo and some text and create your own announcements, invitations or greeting cards.  You can even send an image like these with your photos to your favorite photo lab via email and print out beautiful Wedding Invitations, Bridal Shower Invitations, Tea Party Invitations or create your own greeting cards.  I especially love receiving photo greeting cards, my refrigerator is covered with them.

Thanks so much for the reminder, Lucy!

Devotional, “Times of Refreshing”, and Peony Cottage Blue 2 Digital Clip Art Kit

CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO PEONY COTTAGE BLUE 2 ART KIT IN STORE HERE, $4.98

I have the second art kit in the “Peony Cottage, Blue” series ready and in the store today.  This is a BRAND NEW art kit that I have hand water colored.  A beautiful a pink English Rose, and a floral cluster with tulips, peonies and roses are the foundation of this collection.  There is an 8″ x 8″ image suitable for a card front included and an elegant painting that is suitable for framing, along with 5, 12″ papers, 3 borders, 2 frames, 5 fun embellishments (two custom buttons, a tag, title banner and photo corners),  two small square art icons and an elegant rectangular floral swag complete the 18 piece collection.

This wonderful cottage-feeling collection will make you feel the warm, gentle winds of spring and the scent of roses on the air!

This artwork is extremely detailed and life-like.  It can be used to create your own cards, craft with or for scrapbooking.  The files in this kit are 300 dpi jpeg and png files.  Art copyright Audrey Jeanne Roberts, 2009  Special thanks to Atomic Cupcake.

SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY: 1 John 2:15-17  Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For everything in the world-the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does-comes not from the Father but from the world.  The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.  NIV

DEVOTIONAL: Continuing our discussion about the ways that we grow dry and spiritually empty, I’m sharing today about how we get too wrapped up in “the world” and all of it’s cares.  How does scripture delineate the difference between the natural world that we live in and “the world” which is considered sinful and a wrong place to dwell?  First, we need to recognize that God made us to live in this world.  We need to eat and drink and sleep and earn a living — that’s part of the life he wants us to live.  But if or when the pursuit of any of those things goes to the extreme, we begin to live in “the world,” not the kingdom of God.

If as we work to pay our bills, we walk with Christ in prayer and meditation and we seek to be used by Him in the course of our day — we’re in a great place.  Whether we run the board room as a CEO or we sweep the floors as a janitor, God wants us to dedicate the entirety of ourselves to HIm and His purposes.  But, If we make climbing that ladder of success our goal, we will find that we just may climb the ladder and discover it has been placed against a wrong building!  Achievement for the sake of achievement, honor or money will not last.  It will not satisfy.  In fact it will leave you more empty than when you started.  That can be ANY achievement, even “good” ones — if the achievement becomes more important than the one who created you to achieve.

If you have a home that is a place for your family to gather in love and delight in each other and the Lord, it’s a precious gift from God, but if you are consumed by the caring for that home so much that it crowds out your devotion for God and love of your family — it can be a curse.  The world is less a list of things and much more an attitude of our heart towards those things.

Of course the bible also identifies the world as sins we participate in.  We lust after possessions.  We crave pleasures.  We look at someone else’s husband or wife and covet them.  We yearn for bigger, better, more expensive cars, homes or other things — certain that they will bring joy to our heart.  Perhaps we yearn for financial security in banks, stocks, homes, gold or other physical riches.  Any and all of these can be “the world,” and rob us of a closer relationship with God.

Take time to monitor your thoughts a little.  Are you worrying?  What are you worrying about?  What consumes your thoughts?  Where does God fit into your routine, daily thought life?  Do you ever think about things farther away than next week or next month?  By this I mean, do you ponder the eternal value of each task in your life?  Do you think about how God might want to use you today?  Or do you only think about God almost as another commitment you need to check off your to do list to keep on track?

Spend time today asking God to help you see your “world” through His eyes.  It might be a very interesting and profitable exercise!

PRAYER:  Lord, help me to look at my world through your eyes.  What in it is in the right place and is balanced and what isn’t?  Help me to discern anything in my life that is drawing me away from growing closer to you and anything that I am putting my effort into that will not matter in the light of eternity.  Show me anything that is creating a dry and dead place in my heart and help me to remove it.  Show me how I can add things to my day that will be like springs of living water springing up to water my very soul.

Help me to see how I can make the most of mundane of chores or responsibilities.  Show me ways that routine tasks can build the kingdom of God and how I can experience a refreshing from you as I do the ordinary tasks of life “as unto the Lord.”  Lord, renew a right spirit within me, for I am dry and weary and in need of your refreshing.

Peony Cottage Blue Kit for Spring

LINK TO PEONY COTTAGE, BLUE 1 DIGITAL CLIP ART KIT IN STORE

New in the store, this kit was hand water colored from a beautiful Peony that grows in my yard.  Being a warm weather girl all of my life (San Diego born and raised) one of my very favorite things about living in the mountains is that I get to raise peonies, tulips and clematis — all plants that would not grow in San Diego because our winters did not get cold enough!

I have paired the peony painting with pink roses in two varieties — wild roses and cottage roses.  There are also some beautiful small yellow wildflowers thrown in for a little bit of spring sunshine.  I painted four coordinating paintings that will each anchor their own art kit, the peony, a pink English rose, a coral tulip and a pink iris.

I must run!  I’m dashing out the door to meet my hubby and drive to San Diego for the weekend and see our grandson.  The funny thing is I’m leaving BEAUTIFUL, clear blue skies and 70 degrees to head into San Diego’s cloudy and 60 degree forecast, LOL!  Don’t tell anyone how really wonderful the weather is here in my mountains or they would want to move here 🙂

Spring Fever?! Sick of Winter?

LINK TO GARDENER’S BENCH CLIP ART KIT IN STORE  $4.98

Are you ready to head out into your garden (or wishing that you could?!)   Aren’t we all?  Well, this morning I put together this “Gardener’s Bench” Digital Clip Art kit that will bring a little sunshine indoors for you.

This is a BRAND NEW art kit that is hand water colored.  A beautiful painting of a gardener’s bench was the start of the collection.  There is a 4″ x 10″ painting image suitable for a card front or other uses as well as a smaller, rectangular composition from the same painting.

It was my desire that this kit would help bring a little sunshine indoors for you. There are 18 pieces in this kit, 2 card fronts, 4 borders, 1 tag, 7 art pieces and 4 coordinating papers.  The artwork is extremely detailed and life-like.  It can be used to create your own cards, craft with or for scrapbooking.

SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY:  1 John 1:5-10  This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.  If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.  If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.   NIV

DEVOTIONAL:  Continuing our theme of overcoming spiritual dryness and feeling far from God, I’m going to address the issue of sin.  Sin is considered by many to be an “old fashioned” kind of a word, something our culture has “grown past” and “evolved beyond.”  But guess what?  We all sin.  EVERYBODY sins, and everybody can be forgiven of those sins, but they have to humble themselves before God in order to have those sins forgiven.

Sin keeps us separated from God.  It builds a wall that cannot be breached, it must be removed and there is only one way to do that and that is by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.  Again, and “old fashioned” concept, but one that has never lost its power to change lives!

The word sin, means among other things to “miss the mark” as in an archer shooting at the target.  I miss the mark every day.  I start each day with the desire to live it perfectly before the Lord, but guess what?  I miss the mark — over and over and over again.  Some days I barely miss and other days I miss it by a mile — whether by little or by much it is still sin.  I strive to live according to his instructions but lack the power on my own to accomplish this goal.  Here’s where I can begin to feel dry and pull away from Him.

If I’m going to “sin” (and I will) how do I keep that wall from building between the Lord and I?  I need to walk towards Him and his light each and every day.  I need to seek Him out, starting by confessing my sin and seeking His power to overcome that sin.  I constantly ask the Lord to show me where I am sinning.  I need Him to show me where I am “missing the mark,” as I’ve discovered that I am pretty blind to my biggest flaws.  I need His help to show them to me so that I can ask Him to help me change and grow.

Sometimes it is great sins that separate us from God — like King David who sinned with Baathsheba and had her husband killed.  Great sins can sometimes begin with a small disobedience where we have walked away from something God required us to do and headed in the wrong direction.  When we do this we walk straight into darkness and our heart begins to harden against the Lord.

Sometimes small series of repetitive sins begin to build the wall between us.  It can be as simple as being too busy to seek His will before making decisions, or telling little lies, or gossiping about someone you know or …  A great wall can be built up of very small stones.  We need to treat all sin equally and be quick to confess those sins and seek God’s forgiveness.  A clean heart is a heart that is free to come to our Heavenly Father with joy and abandon.

PRAYER:  Lord, I think that I have allowed sin to begin building a wall between you and I.  I want to live in your light and I ask you to show me any darkness that is lurking in my heart.  Help me to see sin like you do.  Show me my sins and show me why it is that you hate sin.  You hate the consequences of those sins in my life and the damage that I do to others and you hate sins because they separate me from you.

Thank you that you have promised in advance that if I confess my sins you will forgive them and PURIFY me from them!  Purify me Lord, make my heart clean and give me the power to live a pure life.  Help me to draw more closely to you each day.  AMEN