I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth or left my family to fend for themselves while I follow Joe Mauer from city to city. I just cannot believe how fast the summer is going!!! I thought I would get a post in quick before I left out of town for a Girls Scrappin’ Weekend!!! Woo hoo!!! We are leaving bright and early tomorrow morning and I haven’t packed yet! That’s what I’ll be spending “nap time” doing today.

Here are a few more cards from my techniques classes:

This card was done using the Brayered Sky Technique using the tutorial on SCS. Thanks to Lori J. for the suggestion to use glossy card stock. Works MUCH better!!!

Stamps: Lovely As A Tree
Ink: Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, So Saffron, More Mustard
Paper: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Always Artichoke

And here is one using the Emerging Color technique, tutorial also found on SCS:

Stamps: Fabulous Flowers
Ink: Groovy Guava, Ruby Red, Rose Red, So Saffron, Versamark
Paper: Whisper White, Rose Red, So Saffron
Accessories/Tools: brayer, clear embossing powder

After I return from my retreat, I will have some scrapbook pages to share and hopefully some pictures of projects with the NEW SU! In Colors! They are *gorgeous*!

The new catalog release may seem like it’s so far away, but in reality it will be here before we know it! I am in the process of forming new hostess clubs beginning in August! Here are the details:

* Each club will run for 6 months

* You commit to spending $25 (before s/h and tax) each month from August through January 2009 out of the Fall/Winter Idea Book, any of the mini catalogs, or the BRAND NEW Decor Elements line brochures.

In return, you will receive the following hostess benefits:

* a FREE Fall/Winter 2008 Idea Book and Catalog and all mini catalogs released

* a MINIMUM of one LEVEL ONE exclusive hostess set

* A MINIMUM of $15 in FREE catalog merchandise

You are welcome to collect outside orders during your hostess month, but it is NOT required! Doing so will help increase your hostess benefits, however!

*** I am also offering a Refer-A-Friend bonus! If you refer someone to my club and they sign a six month contract, I will give you your choice of any of the new Simply Scrappin’ Kits OR any stamp set valued at $19.95 or less!***

You can email me at dkersteter@visi.com with any questions you may have or to sign up! Don’t wait!

Here is another one of the techniques we covered in class. This one is easy and I love the quilted look it gives your cards! I cased the card from Beate’s tutorial on SCS.

Stamps: Baroque Motifs, Live Your Dream (sentiment)
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Soft Sky, Whisper White
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Soft Sky
Accessories: 1 1/4 Circle Punch, 1 3/8th Circle Punch, Scallop Punch, Mat Pack, paper piercer, Poly-Twill ribbon in Chocolate Chip, White Signo Gel Pen

And here is the (if I may say so myself) cute card I made for my cousin Amanda’s son Jackson’s first birthday. They had a cowboy theme, so I had to plead with the members of SCS for someone to trade some images with me. I don’t own Cowboy Kid, but knew it would be perfect for this occasion. This was also my very first time coloring an image with Prismacolor Pencils and gamsol. Worked beautifully!

Stamps: Cowboy Kid, Canvas BG
Paper: Night of Navy, Whisper White, Real Red
Ink: Night of Navy, Real Red
Accessories: Round Tab punch, prismacolor pencils, gamsol, blending stumps

Summer vacation is in full swing now and I’m going to try to keep my almost 6 year old quite busy, so he doesn’t drive me absolutely bonkers!!!!

Whew! We combined the second and third classes to cover six techniques in two hours. All of the instructions/tutorials I used are available on Splitcoaststampers. Here’s the card we made using the Magic Snowflake Technique. Since it is almost summer, I chose not to do an actual snowflake image.

Stamps: Doodle This
Ink: Barely Banana, Pretty In Pink, Apricot Appeal, and Regal Rose reinkers, Whisper White Craft Ink
Paper: Whisper White, Barely Banana, Regal Rose
Accessories: Regal Rose 5/8 inch grosgrain ribbon, white embossing powder, embossing buddy
Misc: 91% volume rubbing alcohol, cotton balls, heat gun

This technique is so easy and it really is like magic! Make sure that you rub the embossing buddy on the cardstock before stamping. It really makes a big difference, so if you don’t have one, you may want to get one. That is tool is *so* worth the $5 you’ll spend on it! I also really love this color combination for this technique, as well as the Doodle This set. I haven’t pulled that one out for quite a while, so it was nice to give it some love.

Here is another technique we did in class. It is called Emerging Color.

Ink: So Saffron, Groovy Guava, Rose Red, Ruby Red, Versamark
Paper: Rose Red, Whisper White, So Saffron
Accessories: Clear embossing powder
Misc: Brayer

This is another technique that is like magic. It was so fun to break out my brayer and actually get some ink on it! If you haven’t inked yours up lately (or ever), I challenge you to do so! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your creations so that I can check them out.

I made this scrapbook page for my sister for Mother’s Day. I had been promising to make a new one for her for a while and finally took a really cute picture of my nieces that I knew *had* to be scrapped! She has a page I made for her previously framed in her house, so this one will replace that. I think she really liked it and it was fun to do. I used a retired Simply Scrappin’ Kit from Stampin’ Up! (of course). It was called Just Delightful and I really liked the colors of the paper in it.

My sister and I also took my mom out to dinner and to see the show “Mom’s the Word” at the Lowry Theater in St. Paul for her Mother’s Day gift from us. It was absolutely hysterical and soooo true! If you are in the area and are looking for some laughs, you might want to check it out. It is running until July, I believe. The three of us had a great time. I’m very fortunate that I have a very close relationship with my mom and that my sister and I get along, too.

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother’s Day! Lord knows my kids drive me crazy, but I love them more than anything in the entire world and know how truly lucky and blessed I am to be their mother.

Here are the other two cards we made at Mary’s Stamp-A-Stack:

Wedding:

Stamps: Baroque Motifs, To Have and To Hold
Ink: White StazOn, Chocolate Chip
Paper: Groovy Guava, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Accessories: white organdy ribbon, Ticket Corner punch

Graduation:

Stamps: Great Grads
Ink: Basic Black, Basic Gray
Paper: Basic Black, Basic Gray, Whisper White
Accessories: Scallop punch, 1 3/8 inch Circle punch

Here are two of the cards we made at Mary’s Stamp-A-Stack. Mary is the ultimate hostess and has a really wonderful group of friends and family who get together to make cards. The themes she chose this time were wedding, graduation, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day. Here are the Mother’s Day and Father’s Day designs:

Mother’s Day:

Stamps: Wonderful Favorites, Lovely as a Tree, Weathered
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Paper: Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Accessories: sponge

Yes, this is the same design you saw in the techniques post with a slight change in colors.

Father’s Day:

Here are the other two cards we made at my techniques class last Thursday night. I showed you the chalkboard technique in the previous post, so here are the others:

Faux Silk:

Stamps: En Francais, Bloomin’ Beautiful
Ink: Always Artichoke, Black StazOn
Paper: Always Artichoke, Whisper White, Night of Navy
Accessories: Brocade Blue and Bordering Blue Stampin’ Write Markers, 5/8 inch Brocade Blue grosgrain ribbon, glue stick, tissue paper

Faux Silk is super easy to do and looks like it takes longer than it does. Give it a try!

Scratch & Sniff:

This card was cased from a card made by one of my sidelines, Sandy Janowiec.

Stamps: Tart & Tangy
Ink: Pumpkin Pie Craft
Paper: Bashful Blue, Summer Picnic DSP, Whisper White
Accessories: Clear embossing powder, Orange Kool-Aid, heat gun

I am in love with this technique. It is is so simple, but works so well! I used orange Kool-Aid and it smells so good! I am a child of the 70’s and 80’s, so Scratch & Sniff stickers were huge. I had the big three ring binder filled with all of my stickers. They would get scratched so often, they’d start turning white I guess this is a way to relive that part of my childhood without having to hunt down those stickers.

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