Stampin' and Scrappin' With Kristin

Bloomin' Beautiful

The final card in my Watercolor Series is this one!  I was so proud of my husband when he first saw this card.  He recognized the image from our wedding invitations!  I had almost forgotten about this set after using it a lot back in January.

I also love this color combo - Really Rust, Old Olive, and Baja Breeze!  I'll be using this one again!  This card was made using Blender Pens and ink from our ink pads.  It's a technique I use over and over again.  I prefer using Shimmery White Card Stock for this technique as it holds up a little better than Whisper White or Very Vanilla.

Thoughts of Father - Father's Day Card

As promised, here's yet another watercolor card we made.  This one was made using Watercolor Pencils and Blender Pens.   The Watercolor Pencils are a nice, affordable way to get lots of colors.  My only complaint is that they're not SU-exclusive colors.  Maybe someday!  But, I still love them just the same.  As a customer, my Watercolor Pencils were one of my first purchases!

Since Father's Day is right around the corner, I thought this card would be appropriate.  It took everything in me NOT to use ribbon on this masculine card.  But, I had to add some sort of embellishment, right?  The Baja Breeze Corduroy Buttons were perfect!  Somehow I found four packs of these buttons - I always forget what I order!  So, I'll be trying to use these up in the next month and a half!

Fifth Avenue Floral

This card uses a hot, new technique that is all over the stamping world!  So, naturally I had to incorporate it into my Watercolor Wonder Class.  It uses Classic Reinkers, Aqua Painters, LOTS of water, some heat embossing, and Shimmery White Card Stock....and some time to dry.  But, I love the outcome! 

I stamped the rose image from Fifth Avenue Floral with Versamark then heat embossed using White Embossing Powder on Shimmery White Card Stock.  Next, I sprayed a "healthy" amount of water all over the image until there were literally puddles of water on my image.  I then "loaded" my Aqua Painter with Classic Ink Reinker and dropped droplets into the puddles.  At times I tilted my paper to blend the shades of pink.  Finally, the hard part, I had to sit and wait for 30-45 minutes for the card stock to dry!  No two flowers are alike.  I love it.

Scene in a Garden

Here's another card we made at my Watercolor Wonder Class.  I keep thinking that this card needs something...but I don't know what. 

This card, like yesterday's, uses a stamp set from the Occasions Mini Catalog - Scene in a Garden.  I've sold lots of these stamp sets.  I LOVE the pumpkins in this set (granted, they're not on this card).  We used Watercolor Wonder Crayons and Aqua Painters on Watercolor Paper for this technique.  This was probably the most popular technique out of the five we learned in the class.

Watercolor Week!

Oh gosh, it's been so long since I've posted!  I have been SO busy in my non-stamping life that I haven't had a chance to post....let alone stamp!  Did you know that I'm also an independent HRIS consultant 32 hours per week?  My client had me traveling for the past two weeks.  But, last Friday and Saturday I sat down and designed several cards for my upcoming Watercolor Wonder class.  The first session was yesterday - no worries - there's another on May 28th if you want to join the fun - only 5 spots remain.  Everyone loved trying several watercolor techniques.  It was fun to hear which they loved most.  And, I think I created some new fans of watercoloring!

Today's card is one of those - it's my favorite.  It was inspired by a card I stamped at our Quarterly Philly Inkers Brunch and Shoebox Swap.  My upline, Claire Lawrence, was the original designer.  I added another layer of chocolate chip card stock and changed the ribbon.  I also stamped a few more flowers.  I honestly don't remember exactly which watercolor technique we used to make hers, but this one was created using Stampin' Write Markers and Aqua Painters on watercolor paper.  The stamped images are from Soft Summer in the Mini Catalog - order yours today because this stamp set may be gone at the end of June!!!

Fun and Fast Notes

What card did I design for the Shoebox Swap last weekend?  Here it is!  It's a quick and simple card that uses one of our most flexible stamp sets - Fun and Fast Notes.  It's got images for every occasion and cute sentiments as well.  I chose to cut the sentiments away from the images and mounted them on the sides of the blocks.  That way they are even more flexible!

I stamped the image in Black Stazon then used my blender pens to color in Rose Red, Pink Pirouette, Kiwi Kiss, and So Saffron.  I layered Rose Red, Pink Pirouette, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White, and Walk in the Park DSP.  I embellished my card with a little bit of Rose Red Ribbon.

Philly Inkers Quarterly Brunch and Shoebox Swap

This past Saturday was one of my favorite days of the year.  The Philly Inkers all came over and enjoyed brunch at my house.  I love sharing a meal with some of my favorite stamping friends.  Appropriately, I served the meal in my classroom - mostly because it's the largest table in the house!  I was excited to use a lot of the wedding gifts I received to make and serve the meal.  I always have high hopes of making favors, but this year I only had enough time to make coordinating napkin rings.

The napkin rings were made from a large silved-edged tag.  I punched a 1-3/4 inch circle out of Walk in the Park DSP using our punches.  I then layered some Barely Banana and Whisper White circles stamped with the "Friendship" sentiment in Old Olive with a Bashful Blue flower in the center.  I thought the colors coordinated perfectly with the napkins.  I then tied some Bashful Blue double-stitched ribbon around the napkins and adhered the tag with dimensionals.  Not exactly the most permanent adhesive, but it held the tags in place long enough for breakfast to begin!

The Philly Inkers show above are only a small portion of Claire's downline.  We actually have between 30-40 demonstrators in her downline in at least eight states in three time zones!!!  It's such a great group.  I'm so lucky to be a part of it.  Picture above, from left to right are, Lynn, Megan, Heather, Gina, Claire, Tara, Alison, ME, Heather, and Melissa.  Did you recognize me???  I got all of my hair cut off!!!

Several of the gals brought baked goods, fruit, and juice.  I made an Baked Apple Upside-Down French Toast which was served right-side up.  I didn't have a dish large enough to flip it!!!  It was FABULOUS.  I'd never made it before, but I will be making it again.  Want the recipe?  Click Here.

I also made Southwest Brunch Eggs (in honor of the upcoming Cinco De Mayo).  They were good, but maybe not my favorite.  They were easy to make.  They cooked in a slow cooker for 4 hours - so I had to get up early.  Want the recipe?  Click Here.

After we cleaned off the brunch dishes, it was time to stamp!  We always have a shoebox swap after our brunches.  Every demonstrator designed a card and brought enough supplies for everyone else to make their card.  When we were done, we had 9 different cards in very different styles!  It's so much fun!!

Here are a few more pictures of the gang during the shoebox swap:

 

Spring Workshop Card

I had a workshop last Friday where my hostess requested a "Spring" card.  I wanted something quick and simple.  The other card I designed for the workshop will be posted tomorrow.  It includes some coloring - which can be a bit time-consuming.

With Jaron's Color Challenge card still stuck in my head and the color scheme from Rainbow Sherbet fresh in my mind (and scraps on my table), I changed it up.  Look at me!  I'm using bold brights!!!  And, yes, as Claire commented last Thursday - I'm on a teal kick!  What's up with that???

So, I used the Garden Greetings stamp set and stamped various flower images in Tempting Turquoise, Apricot Appeal, and Green Galore - three colors I NEVER use! In fact, when I reached for the Green Galore, I realized that I only had 2 sheets in my magazine holder - I believe they were two of the sheets I got with my starter kit back in November 2006!!!  The same might be true for the Apricot Appeal! I stamped a small sentiment from Short & Sweet and voila, cute card!

I always show my cards to my husband.  He's a good judge of what's good or not.  I love his comments.  He had no idea my hostess had requested a spring card.  His response to this one?   "Springy"  So, I guess I nailed it!  It's so NOT me.  But, I like getting out of my comfort zone for a bit.

Big Shot Flower Pot Box

Wow!  Isn't this flower pot so stinkin' cute?  Stampin' Up! demonstrator, BJ Peters, showed us a bunch of cute boxes in Hawaii.  She has one for every month.  She also shared all of the instructions with us.  How cool was that?  So, each month my Die Cut Divas will get to make a box appropriate for the season.

So, you may have heard the saying "April Flowers Bring May Flowers".  It seemed appropriate to make a flower pot as we left the month of April and headed into May.

The base of the box is made using the Box #2 Die.  If you don't own this die, you need it.  I use it over and over and over again.  And, who knew there were so many uses for the Top Note Die?  I've seen it turned into a snowman, a flower pot, a mummy, a pumpkin, and countless other shapes.  It's great on Scrapbook Pages and cards.  If you don't own this die, you need it too!!!

Happy National Scrapbooking Month!

Did you know that May is National Scrapbooking Month?  Well, you do now!!!  Of course we are celebrating!!!  I have several scrapbooking classes to offer you this month - check out my links over there on the left.

There are several promotions being offered this month to help you with all of your scrapbooking projects.

Buy-One-Get-One

When you purchase any three packs of Designer Series Paper or Textured Card Stock, you will get a fourth pack free!  Stock up now and save!

New Catalog Sneak Peek

During the month of May, you can purchase the Jumble Alphabet Stamp Set for 20% off.  This stamp set will appear in the 2009/2010 Idea Book & Catalog.

$75 Starter Kit

During the month of May, you can become a demonstrator for as little as $75 with a limited time scrapbooking starter kit!  The kit includes over $80 in stamping and scrapbooking supplies plus all of the business tools you need to start your demonstratorship!  Contact me today for more details.  Your kit will include:

• Schoolbook Serif Alphabet Stamp Set (or any stamp set of $43.95 and below)
• Simply Scrappin' Petal Party Kit (or any Simply Scrappin' Kit)
• Earth Elements 12x12 Textured Card Stock (or any pack of Textured Card Stock)
• Whisper White Craft Ink Pad (or any Craft Ink Pad)