Please check out my Etsy Shop for all my new cards!

Card of the Month Clubs

In my etsy shop (and I take orders and requests outside of etsy! Just email me!) I offer two Card Clubs – a Card Kit and Card Club. I make and design the same card for both clubs, but if you sign up for the Kit you get to put the whole thing together yourself! Today I decided to lower the price for my clubs from $48 to $40!

Here is the description for my Card Clubs:

L7Designs Card of the Month Club includes 12 cards (a full year) as well as 2 FREE cards for signing up! Your card will be mailed around the 15th of each month.

Each month features a different card genre (birthday, thank you, thinking of you, etc) using different design layouts, paper and embellishments so you are sure to get something new, different and unique each month! Every once in a while I will throw in a surprise bonus card or gift tag for fun!

If you would like a specific genre or special request please send me an email at least one week before to give me time to make your card (by the 8th) – there will be no extra charge for special requests.

Price includes shipping for all 12 months of your Card of the Month Subscription. The $40 is all you will pay for the entire year with your Card of the Month Club subscription – a total of 14 cards!

Feel free to send me a message, email (carrie@L7-Designs.com) or comment with any questions!

Below is a sample of some of the cards I have made for my clubs the past year …

Thanks for creating with me!

Take advantage of my Birthday and Blank card sale this weekend too! In celebration of my father’s birthday, all my birthday and blank cards are on sale, 50% off! Sale prices are as marked. Go to www.L7Designs.etsy.com!

Inspiration Alley – Card Making Classroom

This week on Inspiration Alley, I want to introduce you to the Card Making Classroom – a weekly email card tutorial by an amazing designer, Jen Gormly. Each week, Jen puts together a beautiful card using different layouts, designs, materials and tools. Her cards are always so cute and creative! Jen is a seasoned scrapbooker who not only runs the Card Making Classroom, but also has a few scrapbooking and card making books published, as well as the creative brains behind StickersnFun.com a great inspirational site (more on stickersnfun.com next week!).

The Card Making Classroom is a fantastic FREE way to get great card inspiration ideas right to your inbox! To read more and sign up, go to http://cardmakingclassroom.com/freeclasses/ today!

Thanks for creating with us!

The sale will continue from Thursday, July 2 through Sunday July 5. Go to www.L7Designs.etsy.com! Enjoy your weekend!

Happy Birthday Dad.

Thanks for celebrating with me!

Scrap Addict Etsy Spotlight

Meet my friend Anne, the creator and talent behind the Scrap Addict etsy shop. Anne, along with her husband and three children, bases her brilliant shop out of their dairy farm in Minnesota. Anne displays her incredible creativity throughout her shop with page layouts, 6×6 albums, cards, scrapbooks, and page kits (amongst other products!). Scrapbookers everywhere would be doing themselves a favor by shopping at Scrap Addict’s etsy shop. I get inspired just by looking at her creations!

Scrap Addict posts pictures of her various projects on Flickr and is also a Twitter user (and posts some great comments and tid bits! User name: ScrapAddict). Also, show your support and become a Fan of her shop on Facebook (click on the link to view her Facebook page, or search for ScrapAddict)!Check her projects out and prepare to be amazed! She ships all of her products priority mail, carefully packed so your items arrive without tweaks! She prides herself in producing beautiful creations and aims to keep them perfect for you when you receive them – what a great way to preserve your memories! Visit her etsy shop at ScrapAddict.etsy.com!

Scrapbooking

Pooh Bear 12x12 Scrapbook Page - ScrapAddict

True to her name, Scrap Addict’s shop is packed with scrapbooking layouts and designs including 1 and 2-page layouts, 6×6 scrapbooks and 6×6 scrapbook kits. I love her designs – so many creative ideas, layouts, use of colors and embelllishments! She embraces her gift of creativity to the fullest and it is really evident that she loves her craft! As a true scrapbooker, she uses only acid-free, photo-safe adhesives, and all of her page layouts come enclosed in a page protector.

Purrrrrrrfect Cat and Kitten 6x6 Scrapbook - ScrapAddict

She has a wide variety of themes, patterns and occasions represented in her shop. The photo pictured above features a 6×6 scrapbook with a cat theme (Click on the picture to view the listing in her shop) – perfect for those of us with furry feline pets at home! She has a number of 6×6 albums – all of her 6×6 albums are pre-made and designed, so all you need to do is insert your pictures! They include a chipboard cover, with 5 pages and are tied together with multiple pieces of coordinating ribbon around binder rings. The 5 pages of these albums leave you room to put 10 pictures in (more if you crop your pictures well!).

Happy Halloween Scrapbook Kit - ScrapAddict

Along with pre-made pages and albums, ScrapAddict also has a variety of scrapbook kits – great for those who love to be crafty, but either don’t have time to do all the shopping for everything involved or aren’t sure what coordinates together! The picture above shows her Happy Halloween kit. Her kits include 10 6×6 patterned sheets of paper (2 sheets of each pattern), coordinating tags, brads, buttons and ribbon. Everything featured in her pictures is what you will receive in your kit! Along with her Happy Halloween kit, she also has a Dog kit!

Cards

True Friends Leave Footprints On Your Heart Greeting Card - ScrapAddict

Along with her various scrapbooking creations, Scrap Addict also designs a wide variety of greeting cards. Her handmade cards and notecards are beautifully designed, like her scrapbook creations. She uses an arsenal of techniques, tools, designs, patterns and colors to ensure your card is beautiful and original. She has cards for almost every occasion, including birthday, friendship, thank you and a wide variety of generic cards good for any occasion! Her designs are beautiful and timeless and perfect for anyone at any time – a great addition to any card collection!

Brown OWL Notecards Set of 4 - ScrapAddict

Along with greeting cards, ScrapAddict has a variety of mini card sets and notecard sets – including this beautiful Owl notecard set (includes 4 notecards) that features a die-cut owl. Her mini cards are perfect if you love to send out lots of notes. She has a great set of Midnight Blue Thank You cards that would be great for wedding thank you notes (she also advertises them for etsy sellers’ thank you notes!)!

Tags, Flowers and Die Cuts

Golden Yellow Tags With Flowers and Red Ribbon - ScrapAddict

ScrapAddict also sells a variety of scrapbooking and card making materials including die cut shapes, paper flowers, and handmade tags. Her tags are great for gift tags, or as embellishments in scrapbook albums. Click on the links to explore ScrapAddict’s etsy shop!

Also, a very big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Scrap Addict! She celebrated her birthday on Wednesday, the 24th this week! Best wishes Anne!

Thanks for creating with us!

Tomorrow, I will be posting a special post on distressing. A comment was left on one of my tutorial posts the other day asking about distressing – the techniques and tools used. I did a brief overview of distress in my newsletter, Squared Up, a couple months ago, but I want to go into more detail and I will do so tomorrow! So check back to learn more about the how and why of distressing!

Stamped Flower Card

Materials

• Purple textured cardstock
• Olive green woven cardstock from bazzill basics
• Glossy white cardstock
• Delightful Doodles rubber stamp set from Stampin Up
• Bamboo Leaves fade-resistant dye ink from Memento
• Rhubarb Stalk fade resistant dye ink from Memento
• Desert Sand fade resistant dye ink from Memento
• Cotton White Staz-On opaque ink
• Jumbo Java ink from Versa Magic
• OPTIONAL: Clear, yellow and green medium-sized “bling” (or rhinestones, crystal stickers, etc)
• Adhesive, mini and large foam pop dots
• OPTIONAL: Chestnut Roan chalk ink from Color Box

Instructions

1. Score a piece of 8 1/2 x 5 1/2″ purple cardstock and fold in half to make a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2″ card. The card will have a landscape orientation. Distress the edges with brown ink.
2. Stamp the stem with two leaves three times on the green woven cardstock. Because the cardstock has a woven texture, the stamped image won’t be 100% clear, but that’s ok. Cut each stem out to 1 1/2″ x 1 1/2″. Distress the edges with brown ink then adhere at different angles along the bottom edge of the card. Adhere the middle stem with a mini pop dot.
3. Cut out three pieces of the white glossy cardstock measuring 1 1/2″ x 1 1/2″ (stamp on the glossy side). Stamp the flower three times onto each square with white opaque staz on ink. Let dry about a minute (don’t let it sit too long, though!)
4. Place a piece of scratch paper underneath the stamped pieces of glossy cardstock. Apply Desert Sand memento fade-resistant dye ink to one of the stamped squares. I was told to apply the ink in a circular motion (place the ink pad flat on the piece of cardstock and applying the ink in circles, to the edges, making sure there is an even coverage.), however, I had a lot of trouble keeping the piece of paper still, so I use strokes from one corner to all sides of whatever piece I am dying. Just remember to dye the corner you hold on to!
5. Repeat the process for the remaining two squares using bamboo and rhubarb dyes.
6. Distress the edges of all three dyed/stamped squares with chestnut roan ink then adhere the squares at opposite angles above the stamped stems using mini pop dots. Use a large pop dot with the center flower.
7. In the centers of the three flowers, place a medium-sized “bling”.
8. Distress the edges of the inside of the card with chestnut roan ink.
9. Cut a piece of 4 x 5 1/4 green woven cardstock. Distress the edges with chestnut roan ink, then center and adhere to the inside of the card.
10. Using white staz on opaque ink, stamp a single flower in the bottom left corner of the card.

Thanks for creating with me! Pepper me with questions if you have them!

Happy Birthday Glimmer Card

The design and makeup of this card is pretty simple, but the Glimmer Mist takes a while to set and dry. It is a spray-on dye with a metallic shimmer and must be dry before you work with it or you will get the dye everywhere and will not be able to adhere anything (trust me I know from experience!).

Materials

• 2 sheets of 8 1/2 x 11″ felt weave cardstock
• Bronze metallic shimmer cardstock from The Paper Company
• Copper, Sea Glass, Gold and Blue Skies Glimmer Mist from Tattered Angels
• Tag cutout with birthday balloon from We R Memory Keepers Embossible Designs
• Chestnut Roan chalk ink
• Adhesive and large pop dots
• One large silver brad
• “Happy Birthday” acrylic stamp from Imaginesce
• Black Staz On ink
• Black string (will end up being about an inch or two in length, but start out with more so you can tie a knot easily!)

Instructions

1. Cut a piece of 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 of white felt weave cardstock. Score and fold to make a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2″ card. (The card will have a portfolio orientation) Unfold the card and in a cardboard box spritz Blue Skies Glimmer Mist over the card (front and back but not the inside of the card). The spray will spit out darker bits of dye (nature of the spray) – it actually looks really cool to let it dry like this so it has a mottled effect. Set out to dry on a piece of paper towel.
2. Cut a piece of 3 1/2 x 4 1/2″ bronze metallic shimmer cardstock. Set aside.
3. Cut a piece of 4 x 3″ of the remaining felt weave cardstock. In a cardboard box spritz Gold Glimmer Mist over the entire piece. Set out to dry on a piece of paper towel.
4. Cut out the embossed tag with orange balloon on it. Cut out the balloon and the blue part of the tag. In a cardboard box spritz Sea Glass Glimmer Mist over the blue tag and (separately) Copper Glimmer Mist over the orange balloon. Set out to dry on a piece of paper towel.
5. Of the remaining piece of felt weave cardstock cut one piece measuring 2 1/4 x 1 1/2″ and one measuring 2 x 1 1/4″. Spritz the larger piece with Blue Skies Glimmer Mist and the smaller with Gold Glimmer Mist. Set aside to dry.
6. Cut a piece of 5 1/4 x 4″ of the second piece of felt weave cardstock. Spritz with Copper Glimmer Mist. Set aside to dry.
7. When everything has dried, distress the edges of all pieces with chesnut roan chalk ink.
8. On the front of the card center and adhere the Bronze metallic shimmer paper. Then center and adhere the piece of gold glimmer paper on top.
9. Attach the silver brad to the top of the blue tag cut out. At an angle, center the blue tag cut out and adhere to the gold glimmer paper.
10. Tie black string in a double knot around the end of the orange balloon leaving about an inch to two inches of length at the end. Adhere the orange balloon to the center of the tag cutout with a large pop dot.
11. Inside the card, center and adhere the copper glimmer paper.
12. Stamp “Happy Birthday” in black ink on the small gold glimmer piece of cardstock. Adhere to the Blue Skies glimmer piece. Center and adhere the entire piece to the inside of the card (just remember the card is in a portfolio orientation!)

Thanks for creating with me! Subscribe to my Card of the Month Club to receive great cards like this every month!

Be sure to take advantage of my Yart Sale going on now in my Shop! ALL cards are on sale for $3 including FREE shipping on all orders! The sale will continue through Tuesday, June 16th. View Saturday’s post “New Cards and Sale!” for more details on the sale and to view some new cards I posted this weekend. Throughout the week I will be posting more cards, so check my Shop frequently for updates!

Happy Birthday Card

I love this birthday patterned paper from KI Memories. They started out using a shimmer finish on this line, then changed to using a flat paper. At first I liked the shimmer finish better, but after working with it yesterday, I think I do prefer the normal finish. Shimmer paper is a lot of fun to look at and gives the design an extra shine making it more special, but it’s a bit of a pain to adhere, especially if you’re adhering it to other paper with a shimmer finish. It also doesn’t photograph too well – everything bounces off the shimmer! But I digress – it’s more about the person receiving the card than the awkwardness of making it!

Materials

• Surprise Party paper with a shimmer finish from KI Memories
• Surprise Multi Stripe paper with a shimmer finish from KI Memories
• Ruby Jewel & Kiwi metallic shimmer paper from The Paper Company
• Yellow cardstock
• “Happy Birthday” acrylic stamp from Imaginisce
• Black Staz On ink
• Adhesive, mini pop dots
• Optional: Black chalk ink for distressing

Instructions

1. Cut a piece of 8 1/2 x 11″ Ruby metallic cardstock in half (8 1/2 x 5 1/2″). Score and fold in half to make a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2″ card. The card will have a landscape orientation. OPTIONAL: Distress the edges with black charcoal ink.
2. Cut a piece of 4 x 5 1/4″ Kiwi metallic cardstock. Center and adhere to the Ruby metallic cardstock card base. OPTIONAL: Distress the edges with black chalk ink before adhering.
3. Cut a piece of 3 3/4 x 5″ Surprise Party paper. Center and adhere to the Kiwi metallic cardstock. OPTIONAL: Distress the edges with black chalk ink. **On this paper there are multiple party-type images printed on the paper (present, party hat, stars, cupcake). On my card I used a swatch with a present on the left side. Be sure to orient your patterned paper so there is one of these images on the left side – you will cut out another of these images in the next step.
4. Cut out another image similar to whatever you have showing on your card (I have a present on mine). For my present, I cut out around the square image leaving a slight border (also cutting off the bow at the top). Then I cut out the bow and adhered both slightly offset on top of my card using 2 mini pop dots for the bow. (Refer to the picture above for details!) OPTIONAL: Distress the edges with black.
5. Cut a piece of 1 1/2 x 4″ from the multi strip paper. Use whatever stripe you want – I used the strip printed with different birthday words. Adhere to the left of the card vertically, about 3/8″ from the right edge of the party patterned paper. OPTIONAL: Distress the edges with black ink.
6. Stamp “Happy Birthday” sentiment in black ink on Kiwi metallic cardstock. Trim around the stamped sentiment leaving a 1/8″ border. OPTIONAL: Distress the edges with black ink.
7. Adhere stamped cardstock onto yellow cardstock. Trim around the green leaving a 1/8″ border. OPTIONAL: Distress the edges with black ink. Adhere to the front of the card overlapping the vertical stripe about 1/8″ from the top and right edges.

Thanks for creating with me! I realize some of the directions for this card might be a tad confusing, so leave a comment or email me with any questions!

In addition to this great sale, I have 4 new cards up in my Shop! Three of the cards are summer-themed perfect for any occasion and the fourth is made from recycled paper and is a “Hello” greeting card. It’s really cute and I really like how it came out! Pictured below are the new cards I posted to my shop – Click on the picture to go to the etsy listing!

Thanks for creating with me!

Happy Father’s Day Card Tutorial

Like I mentioned above, my inspiration for this card came from one of the card ideas I found in the Wishes card confidence program idea book from Close To My Heart. I combined some of the ideas in the template in the book with my own ideas and inspiration I got from the paper I used from SEI.

Materials

• Oasis woven cardstock from SEI’s Oasis line
• Foulard patterned paper from SEI’s Silk Road patterned papers from Oasis
• Rabari patterned cardstock from SEI’s Silk Road patterned papers from Oasis
• Brocade patterned cardstock from SEI’s Silk Road patterned papers from Oasis
• Varanasi patterned cardstock from SEI’s Oasis line
• Ribbon from SEI’s Oasis line
• Chipboard embellishment from SEI’s Oasis line
• Pewter brad from Close To My Heart (page 94 of the Summer 2009 Idea Book)
• Adhesives – paper adhesive and glue dots
• Chocolate Milk puff alphabet stickers from SEI
• Optional: Chestnut roan (or brown) ink for distressing.

Instructions

1. Cut a 12″ x 6″ piece of green Oasis cardstock. Score and fold in half to make a 6″x6″ card. Fold is on the left side.
2. Cut a 5 1/2″ x 2 3/4″ piece of patterned cardstock and adhere to the left side of the card approximately 1/4″ from the top and left edges. Optional: Distress the edges before adhering to the card for a nice weathered look.
3. Cut a 2 1/2″ x 2 1/2″ piece of patterned cardstock. Distress the edges (optional) and adhere to a piece of 2 3/4″ x 2 3/4″ cardstock. Adhere to the card roughly half way down the 1st piece of patterned cardstock.
4. Cut a 1/2″ x 11 3/4″ piece of patterned cardstock. Distress the edges (optional) and adhere to a a strip of 1 1/2″ x 11 3/4″ patterned cardstock. Adhere so the smaller piece is about 1/4″ from the top of the other. Make sure the side edges are flush together.
5. Cut a piece of 2″ x 11 3/4″ piece of patterned cardstock. Distress the edges (optional) and adhere the first two strips of 11 3/4″ cardstock on top making sure the side edges are flush. Score and fold the three cardstocks and wrap around the card. Before you crease your fold, experiment with centering the edges. The original template suggested centering them on the middle square, whereas I centered them in the middle of the entire card.
6. Wrap a piece of ribbon around the folded strips and tie a knot in the center where the edges meet.
7. Embellish to your heart’s desire! I used puffy letters to spell out “happy fathers day!” and used a simple brown chipboard embellishment with a pewter brad in the center.
8. The inside of my card is blank, but experiment with different sentiments or more embellishments and paper!

Thanks for creating with me! New cards in my shop coming soon! Be sure to check L7Designs.etsy.com to buy my cards!

Card Tutorial: Aloha! Card

The inspiration for this card came from some beautiful island paper I bought for a project I am doing for a good friend that just had her first baby. She and her husband are planning on moving to Hawaii when their baby girl is able to travel, so I’m making her an alphabet/picture book in an island/surfing/beach theme. I liked the paper so much that I got inspired to make a card out of it!

Materials

• Tan Cardstock
• Aloha Hula Girl paper from Rusty Pickle (from the Island Summer line) – you will use both sides of this paper
• Surfboard patterned paper from Rusty Pickle (from the Island Summer line)
• Making Waves patterned paper from Flair Designs Inc
• “just wanted to say hi …” rubber stamp from Penny Black (or similar sentiment stamp)
• One medium and one small paper flower – choose island coordinating colors (I have a bright blue and pink flower)
• Large white brad
• Adhesives – paper adhesive, glue dots and mini pop dots
• Java ink from Versa Magic (or other brown ink)

Instructions

1. Cut a piece of 8 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ of tan cardstock. Score and fold in half to make a 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ card. The card will have a portfolio orientation.
2. Cut a strip of surfboard pattern measuring 5 1/2″ across. The surfboard patterned paper has a white border on top and a brown and orange border on the bottom. Cut the strip of surfboard pattern below the white boarder and above the brown and orange board. Cut out the orange border as well – you will use it, too.
3. Adhere the surfboard paper to the bottom edge of the card. Adhere the orange border to the top edge of the card.
4. Cut out a hula girl patterned square including the white border. Adhere onto wave patterned paper and trim around the edges leaving a 1/8″ border. Adhere to the center of the card using mini pop dots.
5. Attach two flowers together with a large white brad. Adhere to the bottom left corner of the hula girl image using glue dots.
6. On the inside of the card adhere a piece of 1 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ wave patterned paper to the bottom edge.
7. Stamp “just wanted to say hi …” on the green side of the hula girl patterned paper in brown ink. Trim around the stamped image leaving a 1/8″ border. Adhere to the center of the wave patterned paper using mini pop dots.

Thanks for creating with me!