Here are a few of the projects I’ve been working on – some of them are for our house and some I am giving away to family and friends. (and as always I’ll do custom work!) It’s difficult to see in some of these pictures, but the edges of all the wood pieces are painted with a coordinating acrylic paint. On my facebook fan page are additional pictures as well as pictures of a recent chipboard accordion album I made!

I apologize in advance for the quality of some of these pictures! Our apartment doesn’t have good lighting at all!

Thanks for creating with me!

I want your ideas!

As I have said before, I aim to please. I want to offer products, programs and services that my readers and customers. I would rather not presume to know what you, as my valued reader, want, so I want to hear your ideas

What do you want?

• Do you want to see new or different products than what I have in my shop?
• Are there products or cards you do NOT want to see again?
• Are there types of cards or occasions you would like me to provide?
• Would you prefer I lower or raise my prices?
• Would you like to see more assorted card sets?
• Would you like different services offered, like a personalized mailing service (e.g. buy a birthday card for someone, let me know the message you would like included as well as their name and address and I’ll send it for you)?

I want to know!

Please leave a comment at the end of this blog or send me an email with your ideas and suggestions for programs and services you think I ought to offer my customers and readers! I will email you for your address to send you your free card!

Thanks for creating with me!

I don’t think I have ever mentioned this on my blog before … or anywhere else either for that matter, but L7Designs has a facebook page! Become a fan and receive lots of updates on my shop, notification of any sales I have, updates on my blog and lots more! Go to L7Designs to become a fan (or search for L7Designs)!

The past few weeks I have been really busy putting together a couple baby books for some friends about to have their first baby! I finally finished the first of these books – a full 12×12 album full of pages for her to write about their baby and display lots of pictures! I will be taking pictures of this album this weekend and will put them in my Portfolio soon! These books have been so much fun to make (though it does make me a little sad that my hubby and I aren’t having kids yet!). This first book is designed using baby boy paper from Die Cuts With A View; the Nana’s Nursery Boy line. The second book I have not finished yet, is being designed using Debbie Mumm’s Nursery Rhyme patterned cardstocks. It has been a lot of fun experimenting with these different lines of paper and making these books!

In my Shop this week I have also added a handful of new cards; a set of blank cards, as well as some birthday, thank you and thinking of you cards! I have been having a lot of fun experimenting with new ideas, tools and materials including some great new paper from SEI I just got and acetate! I woke up one morning with a great idea for a card using acetate and my new SEI paper and flowers and am now inspired to create more with acetate! I never liked using it in classes, but now that I have started playing with it and using my own ideas I’ve discovered it is a great material to use! Just takes a little thinking outside the box! Check out my new cards at L7Designs.etsy.com! (and be sure to become a fan of L7Designs on facebook and see even more of my card designs!)

Thanks for creating with me!

Live Good Be Happy Card

Thank You Card

Blank Summer Card

Square Birthday Card

This fun birthday card is inspired by a card I found in the Scrapbook to Cards book by PaperCrafts. If you don’t already have it, I would highly recommend it – the link will take you to Amazon.com’s listing for the book. The book is a few years old, so I’m not sure if you would be able to find it in craft and scrapbooking stores anymore, but it is a great book to have for any scrapbooker and card maker!

Materials

• Chocolate brown cardstock
• Glitter Sweet Cupcake Pink patterned paper from the Glitter Sweet collection from Die Cuts With A View
• Glitter Lollipop Shop patterned cardstock from the Glitter Sweet Collection from Die Cuts With A View
• Glitter Chocolate Frosting patterned cardstock from the Glitter Sweet Collection from Die Cuts With A View (*Please note, this is not the paper I used in my card, which does not come in separate sheets – for the paper I used in my card, buy a 4.5 x 6.5 Glitter Sweet Matstack)
• Tissue paper (I used white, feel free to use any color or pattern you prefer)
• Ribbon
• White glittery letters
• Mini pop dots

Instructions

1. Score and fold a piece of 5 x 10 brown cardstock in half to make a 5×5 card. Orient the card so the fold is at the top
2. Center and adhere a piece of 5 x 4 1/2 pink cupcake patterned cardstock to the front of the card
3. Cut out a strip of the Lollipop Shop patterned cardstock (this patterned cardstock is patterned with a variety of different stripes) – the strip I used was one that says different words like “sweet, yummy, delicious, cake” etc with a pink loop above. Adhere on top of the cupcake patterned paper lining the bottom edge of the strip with the bottom edge of the cupcake paper
4. Cut a piece of 1 1/2 x 2 of the chocolate patterned cardstock. Adhere with pop dots to the left side of the card (above the strip you just adhered in the previous step). This piece is the body of the gift bag on the card
5. Cut a small square of tissue paper and sort of accordion-fold it, then adhere just the bottom of the tissue paper underneath the gift bag (you might have to adhere the gift bag on top of the tissue paper) – then fan out the tissue paper above the edge of the gift bag
6. Tie a piece of ribbon into a bow and adhere to the top of the gift bag
7. On a Word or Works document, type “Happy Birthday” using whatever font you want, then print out using a 9-10 point font size. Cut out and adhere under the ribbon so it sticks out like a tag
8. On a piece of chocolate brown cardstock adhere the letters “to you” using white glittery letters. Adhere to the right side of the card

Thanks for creating with me!

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!

A few weeks ago L7Designs shop and blog were featured as a spotlight post! Lemon Drop Studio (aka Shauna) featured my shop last week in her blog. It’s such a sweet post! Check out lemondropstudio.blogspot.com for her other great posts and her shop at lemondropstudio.etsy.com for her fantastic products! Read the post on L7Designs HERE.

Last but not least, a very large THANK YOU to everyone who took advantage of my Yart Sale on etsy! I truly appreciate your business and I hope you will come back for more! I am on a creating spree and will be updating my shop frequently with brand new cards using new techniques and materials!

Crafty Mama Creations

Crafty Mama Creations is operated and inspired by funky crafty mama Kelci from California’s central coast. Kelci is a stay-at-home-mom (though I believe she recently started working part-time on evenings and weekends) to two adorable little girls. She somehow finds the time to create one-of-a-kind purses and totes – she is a mom to two young girls so most of her purses and totes also double as diaper bags. She has started making some really cute clothes for young girls as well as some beautiful jewelery and a gorgeous baby quilt!

Kelci is continually inspired with great ideas and crafty creations that she loves to share on her blog: CraftyMamaCreations.blogspot.com. Read about personal and etsy projects she works on, great fabric she finds and lots of other creative tid bits!

Crafty Mama’s Creations

Quilted Birdie Cage Book Bag & Market Tote - Crafty Mama Creations

When I first saw Crafty Mama Creations’ etsy site, she was selling only purses and totes. As a mother of two young children, her purses and totes tend to be on the bigger side; her purses doubling as totes and her totes as diaper bags. I have one of her smaller purses and a tote and they work fantastic for traveling in particular. I can fit any books or magazines as well as my Nintendo DS and medications in her tote that I carry on the plane with me. She uses adorable fabrics with a wide range of colors and patterns – she loves to use Amy Butler fabrics! Lately she has branched out her designs and is now making really cool market totes/book bags as well as an adorable gathered hobo bag. In the couple years I have kept up with her creations and products, her designs have really matured and grown in detail!

Amy Butler Baby Girl Quilt - Crafty Mama Creations

This year, Crafty Mama started creating beaded jewelery pieces – earrings and necklaces. I generally don’t wear earrings that dangle – I prefer simple studs, but her earrings are really pretty. The picture below is of her Golden Brown Beaded Owl Earrings I think are so cute. Her other earring and necklace sets are just as adorable. They are perfect gift ideas!

Golden Brown Beaded Owl Earrings - Crafty Mama Creations

Browse through Crafty Mama’s shop at CraftyMamaCreations.etsy.com for more of her fantastic products!

Thanks for creating with us!

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!