Saturday, April 19, 2014

Cards made from Picture My Life Inserts!

I thought it would be fun to make cards with the Picture My Life card inserts.

Ever heard of Picture My Life? (It's like Project Life.) It's a kit with 10 page protectors, one 12x12 pre-printed B&T paper and bunches of pre-printed cards! (44 4"x6" cards and 78 3"x4" cards, to be exact). The entire kit is just $24.95. You can see them on pages 68-69 in the Spring/Summer 2014 Idea Book/Catalog. Here's some of the Skylark insert cards:



What's cool about the Picture My Life kits is that it comes with all those cards and page protectors that have corresponding 4"x6" and 3"x4" sized slots in them. You can just slip the cards and your pictures into the slots. No adhesive needed! and you can journal or not journal, as you like! There's lots of pretty paper packs to choose from:

Avonlea
Babycakes
Laughing Lola
Later Sk8r
Surf's Up
Skylark
Balloon Ride
Chantilly

And because the cards are matchy-matchy with our other papers, you can mix them in with your existing 12"x12" pages. COOL!

I made a few cards using the super cute Skylark Picture My Life kit, because I could. The toughest part was deciding which card insert to use.



I stamped "Thinking of You" in Saddle in the blank square. I also stamped (in Saddle) balloons from Give A Lift (D1581, $17.95) on the Saddle card stock as a background. 

The flowers are from the Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge, I creased each petal, so it would look more natural, and used a Sponge Dauber and Lagoon ink for the flower.





This is the larger sized card. I had to trim a tiny bit off the top and bottom to make it fit my standard card base (4"x 5 1/2"). Honestly, if I didn't use the flower, it would be the easiest card in the world. Just stick it on a card base.



This one is similar to the first one, but I tied the metal "feathers" from the "Dreamer" Base & Bling Charms (Z1955, $3.95) with Natural Hemp. 

Hope this inspired you to make a card (or scrapbook) today!

Lisa


Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Sorry I've been away for so long! :(

I've been busy crafting over here, but also doing a bunch of other stuff. Sorry about not posting much. :( 

I hope you are enjoying the spring weather. I LOVE sunshine and flowers! Oh boy, time for lots of flower cards!!!!!

This month we are doing a card that was inspired by my downline Michele.  And no stamping is required - just cutting and some Cricut shapes.


I liked that I didn't have to stamp anything. But that's not the fun part. The fun part is on the INSIDE!


And here's a close up of the flower I did on the inside. A little sponge dauber and Lagoon Ink, and a little bling.  LOVE bling!


To make the squares, you just cut parallel lines in the fold of the card to make the 'boxes'. Then push the 'box' into the card instead of out. My squares were 1 1/2".  Neat, yeah?

Want to make this card for yourself? Live in the Seattle area? Come to card class at my home in Newcastle! Tomorrow, Thursday, March 27 at 10am or Friday, March 28 at 6:30pm. Email me if you want to come. I will post a tutorial in the next few days.

I'm planning on posting again soon...and MORE often!  Thanks for being patient with me.

Lisa
lisa@lisasargent.net







Saturday, February 22, 2014

Japanese Blossom Card

The Close To My Heart Spring/Summer catalog is always my favorite.  I love the flowers, bugs, and springy colors.  This year is no exception.  

One easy way to make a bunch of cards is to use one of the "Quick Cards" stamp sets (there are 3 currently available).  One of the new ones is called Quick Cards - Japanese Blossom.  It's a single square image with a beautiful flower, some Japanese (Chinese) characters and a sentiment in English.  (I know the character on the lower left is LOVE.  Haven't gotten a translation yet on the words on the right.)


I tried inking the entire stamp with Saddle, and that looked ok, but I wanted to try making the outline of the  flower orange.  So I inked the entire stamp in Sunset Ink, then carefully "rolled" the edges of the stamp in Saddle Ink.  I had to make sure to "hit" all four corners, the Japanese characters, the postmark and the English sentiment at the bottom with Saddle, so it would be darker than the flower.  I like that look better than the single color.

Alternatively, you could ink the entire stamp in Sunset, and use a sponge dauber with Saddle on it to go around the edges.  Better control of the ink, I think.

I then used craft chalk (CTMH used to carry them ages ago) to color in the flower and the leaves.  It gives the image a wonderful, soft look.  I love using chalks...plus they are very forgiving; you can be pretty imprecise with them (unlike markers).

I also sponged around the edges of the stamped image (with Saddle).
And a little Almond Glitz Glitter Gel (retired) in the center of the flower.  (I know, Glitter and Japanese-calm really don't go together, but I figured it was just a tiny bit of glitter...)

I used paper from the new Balloon Ride Paper Pack on the left and Sorbet card stock on the right.  The mat under the flower is Desert Sand (but Kraft works great, as well).

The ribbon is 3/8" Colonial White Grosgrain Ribbon (retired), which I inked with the Saddle Ink and a Sponge Dauber (love 'em!).  I used Miracle Tape from Viva Las Vegas Stamps (http://www.vlvstamps.com/) which is like Terrifically Tacky Tape or 'redliner tape' (but cheaper) -- to stick the ribbon to the card.  Plus, Miracle Tape comes in a huge assortment of widths!

I hope you are inspired to try "rolling" your stamp today!

Lisa



Sunday, February 16, 2014

Fun Cards with Faux Pinwheels

I made these cards for my friends at church with papers from my friends at Rubber Soul  (http://www.rubbersoul.com/).  Love that place!  It's where my stamping journey began...A friend and I just wandered into their store by accident (12 years ago).  (They used to have a store in Redmond.  Now they're everywhere...on the Internet!)  I started taking classes there and fell in love with stamping.  The rest is history...well, my history...  


You can make pinwheels with squares (like when we were kids)...just cut from the corner in towards (but not all the way) to the center of the square.  I glued the pieces down.  These pinwheels don't spin.  Rhinestone sparkles are embellishing the centers.  The sticks are wooden coffee stirrers (nice and flat).

These papers are from Rubber Soul's collections...Meadow's Edge, Hoop-La and Shake It Up.

Oops, a little crooked!

I really like how the colors go together in their paper sets.  There's a bunch of different patterns in a pack. I stamped the little flowers and leaves on the white strip (above) using Close To My Heart stamps and inks (Pear and Honey).  They match perfectly!!

I think the sentiment is from Papertrey Ink (http://papertreyink.com/).  (I know, I know, I'm being unfaithful to Close To My Heart by posting all this stuff!!!)  But good is good, right?  No matter where you get it!  :)

Happy stamping!

Lisa

Saturday, February 1, 2014

February Stamp of the Month

Have you seen the cute February stamp of the month?  it's called Wild About Love.



You can only get it during February.  It's $17.95 if you just buy it, but the best part is, you can get it for just $5 when you place a $50 order!  woooooooo!  This is the cutest Stamp of the Month in this catalog.

Here's a very simple card made with the set.  What was kind of cool about it was that I stamped the fox on the right with Cocoa ink and the fox on the left with Slate ink.  I didn't even need to cut the stamp apart...just inked separately, and stamped quickly.

I used the NEW paper pack, Lollydoodle (X7183B, $9.95).




I made the conversation bubble (Cricut Artiste) at 1 3/4".  The beauty of it is, that if the conversation bubble is one way, the girl fox is saying something.  If you flip it over, the boy fox is saying something

You can easily change the sentiment -- Happy Birthday, Get Well Soon, etc.  It doesn't have to be a Valentine's card.  I love that!  It would be fun to color the fox's tails, ears and muzzle, too.  I think it would be fun if the girl fox was pink ...

If you want to come to a card class - let me know!  We are meeting:

Friday, February 21 & 28 at 6:30pm
Saturday, February 22 at 10am
Thursday, February 27 at 10am

I'd love to see you!

Supplies Used:
Cricute Artiste (X1790, $99)
Wild About Love (S1402, $17.95)
Lollydoodle (X7183B, $9.95)
Inks:  Cocoa, Slate, Pear, Cotton Candy
Card Stock:  Slate, Cotton Candy, Pear
Black & Grey Sparkles (Z1754, $2.95)
Other:  Sponge Dauber (for conversation bubble), Pink Glitz Glitter Gel (retired) - on bow and bow tie, Piercing Tool (to pick up Sparkles off of transfer sheet), foam mounting tape (under conversation bubble)

There's a fun blog hop going on...if you want to check out some other creations.  Check out Gina's blog.  and go around in a big circle.  Happy Valentine's Day!

Lisa

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Laughing Lola Card Workshop Kit Card - You can never have too much Happy


I wasn't so sure about the Laughing Lola paper pack at first.  I really don't like paisley, but I LOOOOOOVE purple!  The Laughing Lola card kit workshop makes these super cute cards:


I love the stamp set that comes in the kit -- 


The kit includes: The stamp set (above), 2 sheets of the paisley (front side) and purple (back side) paper, 5 sheets of coordinating card stock, 15 White Daisy cards and envelopes, 10 yards of grey and black Baker's twine, 108 purple (rhinestone) gems, instructions (yay!).  You can make 5 each of the cards above. All for just $24.95!  

Don't wait too long, it's retiring on 1/31/14!!

6 months ago, we made the "Cheer Up" card (above) in class, which is really cute.  You can change the sentiment so that it works for you (which is what I love about stamping).

This month in card class, we used this same workshop on the go stamp set to make this card:

You know this sentiment is true!

I LOVE flowers (as you know); I cut these out with the Cricut (Art Philosophy - 3 sizes:  3/4", 1", 1 1/4") and layered them up with puffy tape.  I bent the petals up (gently) so they would be curved up.  The purple rhinestone you see (lower right flower) comes in the Laughing Lola workshop.  To make the other two flower centers, I used a 1/4" single hole punch (like you use in school) and punched a little circle out of the zip strip at the top of the Laughing Lola (paisley) paper.  After attaching it to the flower, I used a blob of Liquid Glass and made it hard and shiny.  SO COOL!  Most people in class didn't even recognize it as just the paper in the kit with a little Liquid Glass.  Love using old stuff for a new look!!

Also, banners are hot right now, so I cut a glittery banner (1" wide) to accentuate the gold in the paper.  I like it!  (The paisley piece is 3" wide.)

TIP:  To make your banners symmetrical at the bottom  -  you COULD fold the paper to make a little crease at the bottom (I don't like doing this, because then there is a little crease in my paper.  Also, it doesn't work with stiff paper like glitter paper.)  My favorite way to get evenly cut banners is to:

          1. At the bottom of your strip find the approximate center, cut about 3/4" up with your scissors (or 1" or more, if you want a deeper "V" at the bottom.
          2. Now cut from the corner of the strip to the top of your center cut.
          3. Repeat with the other side.
          4. Your banner should be even!  (HOORAY!)  Sometimes after I make the center cut (#1), I turn the paper over (because I can't see where I cut).  This is especially true with the busy paisley pattern.

Good luck - have fun!  And keep stamping!!

Supplies Used:
Laughing Lola Workshop on the Go (G1064, $24.95)
Card Stocks Used: Lagoon, Black, White Daisy, Glitter (I used the Gold sheet in the Brown & Tan pack: Z1830 $5.95 for 3 sheets: Bronze, Gold, Brown)
Ink Color:  Saddle (who knew this would be such a great match for the gold tones in this paper pack??)
Cricut Art Philosophy (Z1686, $99)
Liquid Glass (Z679, $6.95)
Other:  1/4" single hole punch, foam mounting tape, MicroTip scissors, Lisa's blog to make awesome, symmetrical banners (haha)

Want anything to add to your collection?  Click here to shop now!  :)

Happy stamping!

Lisa




Monday, January 27, 2014

I'm SOOOOOOOOO excited, my new Spring Catalog is here!!

I'm SO excited about the new Close To My Heart Spring/Summer Catalog!  The night they arrived, I fell asleep looking through it.  (Nice bedtime reading.)

Here's a sneak peek at the cover:





I know, I know, you can't judge a book by its cover...but really, this one has lots of fun great stuff in it!  There's seven new paper packs, over 65 new stamp sets, Cuttlebug embossing folders, new accessories, new OWL stamp sets (yippee!), a Picture My Life Scrapbooking Program (like Project Life - easy, easy memory keeping with no adhesive required), Crush Books (like Smash Books - fun little binders with cute papers and designs), and LOTS MORE!


Picture My Life - Avonlea



It's nice that they've coordinated the papers with existing papers, so you can add your own papers to your scrapbook, if you want.

Picture My Life - Babycakes - I love set this better than the actual paper pack!
Want to get your own copy of the catalog?  Schedule your own get together with some friends!  Want to get it early?  Schedule your gathering for February!  (The new catalog starts February 1.)

Just want to check it out?  Come to one of my card classes.  The next classes are 

Friday, February 21 (6:30pm)
Saturday, February 22 (10am) 
Thursday, February 27 (10am)
Friday, February 28 (6:30pm).  

We'd love to see you!!  We'll be making some FUN cards with the new goodies! 

Let me know if you are in the Seattle area and want to join us!

Lisa