If you're not used to lifting weights, your body might need some time to adjust to it. When my mom started on NROLFW with just bodyweight on most exercises, she was sore the next few days, too. Also, be sure to check your form; you want to hurt from working hard, not from doing something that's causing harm.
With any crunch, I come up as far as I can and still only use my abs. I concentrate really hard on just my abs. I don't think I come up very far, either. Try holding a dumbbell back behind your head, with your arms extended. That gives you a longer lever to move and makes your abs work more. You could also try the Inverse or Reverse Inverse Crunch and see if those are harder.
As for the Swiss Ball making things harder, well, I can fall off stable objects, and the Swiss Ball isn't entirely stable, so I know I'm doing more work to keep myself up there :P I also try to keep just my lower back and a little higher in contact with the ball, so that I'm having to support the rest of my torso and don't rest it on the ball.
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