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

Friday, January 17, 2014

Wheeeeee! Spinning Monkey Card!

I love interactive cards - they are so much fun!!  This one was inspired by my team member, Michele, who taught a similar card at a recent team meeting.



If you pull on the string hanging down, the monkey spins around...click on the video below.  It's SOOOOOOOOO fun!!



Supplies Needed:
Card Base (I made mine 4" x 5 1/2")
Chocolate Card Stock - 4" x 5 1/2"
Babycakes' Polkadot B&T (Patterned Paper) 3 3/4" x 5 1/4"
Chocolate sunburst (3 1/2") - Art Philosophy
Sunset sun shape (3") - Art Philosophy
Colonial White sun shape (2 1/2") - Art Philosphy
Buttercup B&T (patterned paper) 1/2" x 2"
Sunset Card Stock - 1/2" x 2 1/4" (for pull tab)
Chocolate Stamp Pad
Sweet Leaf Stamp Pad (for edge distressing the Buttercup B&T)
12" Baker's Twine - Natural Assortment - Z1701, $4.95.  The Sunset color in the Paradise Assortment (Z1702) works great, too!
Wild Wonders Stamp Set - C1558, $13.95
Holiday Tags - D1560, $17.95
Glue Dots

It's not hard to make the spinning mechanism, but it's a little counter-intuitive...
In addition to the items listed above, you will also need these supplies:

1- Brad with long prongs in the back.  Doesn't matter what the top looks like, it will be covered.
2 - 1" circular pieces of clear plastic (like the backing sheets that the sparkles come on)  - They don't have to be perfect circles, 2 1" squares with the corners rounded will work fine, too.
2 - 1/2" or similar pieces of foam mounting tape (you can round these corners, too)
Piercing Tool

So the whole thing spins on the brad.  Here's what you do to make the spinning "sandwich":

Take the Piercing tool, and poking a hole in the center of each item, put the items on in the following order
(so that the #1 item is closest to the wood handle of the Piercing Tool):
1.  Sunset sun shape
2.  Puffy Tape (remove both pieces of protective backing so the tape sticks to the Sunset paper (above) and Item #3, below)
3.  Puffy Tape (remove both pieces of protective backing so the tape sticks to the other piece of Puffy Tape (Item #2, above) and the acetate circle (Item #4, below)
4.  Clear acetate circle
5.  Clear acetate circle (this one don't stick to anything, it just rotates freely)
6.  Chocolate sunburst shape

Keeping everything on the Piercing Tool, poke a hole in the Polkadot B&T (Patterned Paper) so that it is centered horizontally on the paper.

Keeping everything in the same order, remove your "sandwich" from the Piercing Tool and stick the "sandwich" on the brad.  The Sunset sun shape will be closest to the 'head' of the brad.

Attach the 'loaded' brad to the polkadot paper, through the hole you made.  Open the prongs in back to keep it in place.

Now you can put everything else together - the Chocolate card stock to the card base, the polkadot paper (with attached "sandwich") to the Chocolate card stock.  Stamp the monkey on the Colonial White sun shape, and attach that to the top of the spinning mechanism.

Put a Glue Dot on one end of the twine. Carefully stick it on the two pieces of puffy tape in the center of your spinning thing.  At the loose end of the twine, tie a knot.  Fold the small Sunset piece of card stock in half, and secure it to the twine with a Glue Dot.  Write "PULL" on your Sunset tab.  Cut a "V" out of the bottom of the tab, so it looks like a flag.

Wind your twine around your spinning thing.

You are done!  The first time it spins, it makes you laugh!!!  (maybe the 2nd and 3rd time, too!)  Have fun with it. SO worth all the effort!

Lisa

PS - I know this was long, but if you like this kind of post with actual instructions, let me know by leaving a comment.  Thank you!!


Thursday, January 9, 2014

Dressing up your leftovers...

My sister-in-law turned 50 last week.  I made her a set of cards for a birthday present.  I used some of the extra Laughing Lola paper I had.  I LOVE being able to make things out of paper that I have hanging around.  (It makes me feel like I'm being productive and frugal by shopping my stash!)  Um, I think that might be why SCRAPbooking and card making appeal to me.  Waste not, want not, right!!??

This card layout is one of the simplest and the best way to use up paper!

The purple is the back side of the crazy bold paisley pattern.

I really like the NEW Teal Shimmer Trim (glittery tape), which is coming out February 1.  SOOOO sparkly!  (and it's much easier to get the protective backing off on this one.)  I also used a piece of the black tulle that we used to carry, behind the monogram.  (Did you know all the monogram stamps are retiring at the end of this month????  Get them while you can!!  See the retiring items section of my website to see all the fun stuff that's going away on 1/31/14.  The monograms are going away, too, but they are shown HERE.

The scallop punch I used was one I had hanging around. 

Yes, I know, it's not fancy, but hey, I got something done!  I think that's what I'm here for -- to show you how to get something done.  I could make some super elaborate card, but you might never get around to making it, because it's too complicated.  Simple is good.  AND it makes the person you're giving it to think that they might be able to do that, too!  Share the love, ladies.  :)

You could always make a dressier card by cutting a Cricut card with a swooshy edge.

I hope my sister-in-law liked the cards.  She likes bold designs.  It doesn't get much bolder than Laughing Lola!

Supplies Used:
Laughing Lola Paper Pack
Monogram "L"
Teal Shimmer Trim (coming 2/1/14)
Whisper c/s
Black stamp pad
Baker's Twine (to tie the tulle in the middle)
Black Tulle
1 1/2" scallop punch
Hot glue gun (to stick the monogram, tulle and card together)

Friday, January 3, 2014

Cloud Nine - Winter Special! January 1-31


Hello!  Happy January!  Did you know that it's National Papercrafting Month?  It is, and Close To My Heart is celebrating with the Cloud Nine winter special.  It's only available during the month of January with your qualifying order (spend $35 and get the kit for just $15!)

You can also get the kit for FREE when you sign up to become a Close To My Heart consultant in January and you submit $300 in orders before June 30.



If you've arrived here from {Sheila's Blog} - you are in the right spot!

If you've gotten lost and need the complete list of hoppers with links, click here

Here's the goodies that come in the kit.  On the far left (that you can barely see) is a pack of cards and envelopes.  It also comes with instructions on how to put the cards together.  The white sheet has a bunch of cutouts (already punched).  After you've made these original cards up, you can cut more shapes out with your Cricut cartridge.  (yippee!)



Included in the Kit:
Cutting guide and instructions
Exclusive to this kit, Swirly Sunset B&T paper
Sunset Card Stock
Lagoon Card Stock
Cutouts for the projects
Stamp set (see below)
(NEW!) Gold Polka-Dot Washi Tape (also sold separately - Z1920, $7.95 for 15 yards)
(NEW!) Teal shimmer trim (also sold separately - Z1918, $4.95 for 5 yards)
(NEW!) Triangle Studs Durables (also sold separately - Z1928, $3.95 for 48 studs in 2 sizes and 2 colors)!
White Daisy Cards & Envelopes (10)

Close up of the stamp set:





Not a big fan of mustaches, but the other stamps I like ok. 
Here's the 5 "official" cards that you can make in the pack:
(I stamped everything in Lagoon...)


Oops, I rotated the card before I put the mustache on.  I kind of like it...it's a faceless face.


 Love the clouds...and the Star Trek-like triangles...


I cut a tiny glitter heart out of the Shimmer Trim by hand.


This card (above) is my favorite out of the kit. 




Still dealing with my Washi Tape Phobia...but I may be getting the hang of it...

Here's a couple more that I made with some leftover pieces...


I adhered the Teal Glitter Tape to a piece of paper that was 3/4" wide, trimmed the bottom and made it another flag.  The dots on the corners are from the Aqua Dots embellishments (Z1853, $3.95 for 108 dots in 4 different sizes and 3 different colors)


I used one of the larger hearts in the kit and made like a heart with an arrow through it.  The reason the stamped image is fuzzy, is I twisted it after my original stamp.  It blurs the stamped image.  I like it, even though it's a little weird looking.  Also, I used some Paradise Assortment Baker's Twine (Z1702, $4.95 for 10 yards each of 4 different colors).  The twine is one of my favorite accessories!

If you want to shop away and qualify for this special - shop here!

If you want to hop on over to {Karen's Blog} , click on the link.

I hope your year is filled with blessings, smiles and good health,  Like the beauty pageant contestant says - I wish for WORLD PEACE.  (With all the people wishing for it, why is it that we are still searching for it??)

Lisa