Flowerbug's Inkspot

Summer Smooches

Nope; I am not talking about kissing....!  It's our new Promotion for April. Stampin' Up! has released a bundle of products from the upcoming catalog coming out in June. 

Check out this flyer for details and ordering information. 

These products are available during April and then most of them will return in the new 2012-2013 Catalog in June.  Just wait until you see the new Petite Purses die!  

Here's a card I made for a swap using some of these products.

I used a few pieces of the very cute Smooches designer series paper here.  The 'flower pot' is made using our Curly Label punch.  I just trimmed off one end and added more of a curve on the sides with my paper snips. 

I inked the Bright Blossoms flower stamps with Rich Razzleberry, Lucky Limeade and Island Indigo markers before stamping.  I also added a bit of paper piercing and mini silver brads at the end.

Notice the tiny white scallop trim on the Razzleberry designer series paper?  That is from the Pennant Builder punch - I punched white card stock using the scalloped side of the pennant and adhered it behind the strip of dsp for that finishing touch.   

Sprinkled Expressions

I had to share this Sale a Bration swap card I made for one of my online swap groups.

I used the Sale a Bration stamp set called Sprinkled Expressions. The images are embossing using Black embossing powder onto the Calypso Coral card stock.  I love how the black makes everything pop here!  And don't you love the sentiment?!

Peaking out behind the Calypso Coral pennant piece is the ruffled Pool Party ribbon.  I like all of the little details on this card.  There are lots of scallops, texture and flowers going on. 

Supplies:

• Stamps - Sprinkled Expressions
• Ink - Versamark
• Card stock - Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Black, Vanilla, Everyday Enchantment designer series paper,
• Accessories - embossing buddy, Black embossing powder, heat gun, Pool Party ruffled ribbon, Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack, Dotted Scallop Ribbon border punch, Scallop Edge border punch, Everyday Enchantment brads, Big Shot, Elegant Bouquet embossing folder on black circle, 3" circle die
  

 

Shelly's Valentine

I have a gorgeous and very special Valentine to share with you. 

This is the swap card I received from Shelly Gardener (Co-founder and CEO of SU) at Founder's Circle last September.  There are sooo many pretty details on the card. 

Here's a close-up of it.

She used clear embossing on the background and on the bird.  I cannot tell you which stamp sets she used to make this card but I have a feeling it is from a retired mini catalog.  But I think the layout and design of it is very pretty and something to remember for a later card. 

More Occasions Swap Cards

Here are a few more of the swap cards my downline and I made:

Jane made this one using the Mixed Bunch stamp set, the Blossom punch and the Baja Pleated ribbon. Very pretty colors - Baja Breeze with Basic Gray and White.   

Mary made this beauty using the Bordering on Romance stamp set and Apothecary Art.  The Designer Paper on the bottom is the new Twitterpated.  It's just gorgeous!  And did you spot the new die-cuts?  She used the Labels Framelits below the flowers and the Adorning Accents Edgelits die to get the curved label on the base of her white card stock.

And this is mine.  I wanted to do a soft, almost one color card using the Apothecary stamp set.  I chose Riding Hood Red with Sahara Sand here.  

Steps to make this card - wow; there are a lot more than I thought!!

• Stamp the Netting background stamp on the large Sahara Sand rectangle using Sahara Sand ink.  Sponge the edges with more Sahara Sand ink and add a spritz of Blushing Bride Smooch Spritz. Adhere to the main card.
• Ink the floral Apothecary image in Riding Hood Red ink and stamp onto a piece of Sahara Sand card stock.  
• Die-cut this piece using the Labels Framelits die.
• Die-cut one more piece in Riding Hood Red card stock using the next size up of Framelits.  Adhere these two together and to the main card. 
• Ink the ribbon label stamp from 'Take it to Heart' in Riding Hood Red ink and stamp onto a piece of Sahara Sand card stock.  
• Ink my greeting in Riding Hood Red ink and stamp onto the ribbon label.  Now cut out the label.  Add a bit of Blushing Bride Smooch Spritz 
• Add mini glue dots behind the stamped ribbon label and press over a bit of Riding Hood Red Pleated ribbon. Trim off excess.  Add dimensionals and adhere to the main card.  
• Finish off with a few pearls.   

Occasions & Sale-a-Bration Swaps

Last Saturday I held a downline/team meet and swap.  These are a few of the card swaps my gals made:

Annette makes a calendar card each year in January for her friends.  She used the new set Mixed Bunch here along with the Adorning Accents embossing folder seen on the bottom.  She adds a magnet in back of the card for those who want to hang it up.  ***I know many of you will want to know where to get these tear off calendars - I believe Impress rubber stamps is where she orders hers from.

Becky made this valenine using our new Hearts Framelits and the Take it to Heart stamp set.

Carolyn made this beauty using  Take It to Heart & a Sale-a-Bration set called Fresh Vintage.  You can also see a piece of the Sale a Bration paper Everyday Enchantment on the top.  The beautiful curved label is from our new Labels Framelits die-cuts..  

 

My Freak's Swap

I thought I'd share with you the swap I made for the Control Freak's Occasions mini card swap last month. I just received the 30 swaps from the Freak's and they are just amazing!  I am so blessed to be part of these fantastic swappers.   

 

I used the new stamp set called Tea Shoppe.  It has adorable 'tea time' images. I inked up each tea cup separately and used the masking technique.  I first stamped the bottom cup in Soft Suede. Then I placed a post-it note on top of that stamped cup to mask it and inked & stamped the middle cup with a So Saffron ink spot.  And again with Calypso Coral for the top tea cup.  

Do you see all of the details on the left edge of the card?  I first used our newest Edgelits dies on the side of the So Saffron card stock. This set has two dies - one with a curved bracket edge and the other scalloped. Next I wrapped the whole edge with three strands of the Calypso Coral bakers twine and secured the ends in the back.  To finish it off I spiraled our new 1/8" Calypso Coral taffeta ribbon around the twine and secured the ends with mini glue dots.

**** Ignore the extra halo of recessed dots beside my Perfect Polka dots texture above.  This was the sample card I worked on and accidentally ran the card stock through the wrong way the first time so I embossed twice here.   

Thanks for stopping by today.  I have tons of new samples to share with you in the next few weeks.  The Occasions Mini and the Sale-a-Bration catalog are jam packed with great new stuff!  

 

More Christmas Card swaps

Here's a quick post to show you the rest of my downline's Christmas Card swaps from our meeting a few weeks ago.  

Kari's Dasher card:

 Marguerite's Snow Much Fun card (cased from one of my Godiva swappers but I cannot find the original to give credit right now.)

Natalie's 'Sounding Joy' card.  She embossed the Vellum Card stock in the Snow Burst embossing folder.  

And mine is cased from one I received from the talented Yvette Sanchez.

I changed it up just a little bit.  Isn't it gorgeous?  

The Black velvet embossed paper is from our Mocha Morning specialty designer paper.  And the ornament is a die-cut from our Silver Glimmer card stock using our Holiday Accents die in the Holiday mini.  I cut the black scallop card stock using our Scallop Squares duo die.  The faint scored frame is done using our fabulous Simply Scored and of course the Merry Christmas is from Hand-Penned Holidays; one of my favorite stamp sets this year.  

Christmas Card swaps!

My Flowerbugs team met locally for a swap a few weeks ago and I know you will want to see these.  Here's a quick rundown: 

Annette's Stitched Stockings card:

Becky's Tags 'til Christmas card

Candy's Stockings card, also using the Bright Hopes and Hand-Penned Holidays stamp sets.  

Mary's Sounding Joy card

I'll show you the rest in a few days!  

Founder's Circle swap card

Here is the pile of cards I brought with me to Founder's Circle.  We get to swap tonight in our pajamas!  More pics of that to follow........

Here are 124 of my cards.........packaged and labeled.

The main card is made from our Shimmer White card stock.  I should have taken the photo with something besides a white background. 

Anyway, here are the details:

Steps:

1. I used the Designer Oval embossing frame with my Big Shot on the main card front first.  Hint: Do not use any tabs on your multi-purpose platform when running the folder thru your Big Shot.  This puts less pressure on the card stock so the lines of the folder edges do not show.  Then I punched the window out using the largest oval punch.
2. Next, stamp the 'Congrats' on the punched out oval piece and sponge the edge with Pink ink.  Adhere inside the folded card using the punched window as a guide. 
3. Use a pink marker on the dotted frame to high-light it. 
4. Ink the outline tall flowers in Black ink and stamp three times on the front and once inside the card.
5. Ink the two-step flower image in Pretty in Pink ink and stamp over the Black flowers.
6.  Adhere a strip of ribbon around the stamped layer and add a bow with a mini glue dot.  Add to the main folded card.
7. Add Dazzling Details glitter glue to the flowers and the greeting.

Here is the inside of the card. 

Here is a close-up of the sparkle you get when using the new Dazzling Details glitter glue.

Supplies:

• Stamps - Tagtastic and Simply Soft hostess sets
• Ink - Black and Pretty in Pink
• Card stock - Shimmer white, Black
• Accessories - Black taffeta ribbon, pink marker, sponge, Dazzling Details, Designer Embossing frame, Big Shot
  

 

Give Thanks

I am off to St. George, Utah for my Founder's Circle trip Wednesday am!  I cannot wait to see everyone and spend time relaxing and visiting with my friends.  I'll be sure to share some of the highlights here, hopefully every day if there's time.

Next is the second card we did at a recent workshop.  Melissa really loved a very similar swap card I received from Lisa Martz (in my Control Freaks swap group).  Thanks Lisa!  I changed just a few little things from hers for our workshop card. 

We used these new products from the Summer Mini catalog. 

• Gently Falling stamp set
• Spice Cake designer series paper
• Hand Penned Holidays stamp set

The beautiful leather look to the More Mustard card stock layer is done using the Direct to Paper technique.  Just brush your More Mustard ink pad directly over the More Mustard card stock.  Be sure to use a washing motion and not a tap or press. 

We stamped the solid type leaves in More Mustard and Pool Party ink and then overstamped with the outline stamp in Soft Suede ink.  Then hand cut them out.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Gently Falling

Here is the card I made for the Control Freaks Holiday Mini swap and my down-line swap in August.

I like to guess what others will use and do the opposite.  I love the Gently Falling stamp set so I used that and a color combination that isn't the 'norm'.  I chose Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler and Night of Navy. 

I inked the solid leaf stamp from the Gently Falling set in Crumb Cake and stamped off once before stamping onto the Vanilla card stock.   Then I used my embossing buddy before inking the outline leaf in Versamark.  I stamped and then embossed using our newest embossing powder - Pewter!  It's just gorgeous.  It's not really silver or gold - just a muted, pretty color. 

I inked and stamped my 'Woodgrain' background stamp with Versamark ink to add texture to my three strips of Cherry Cobbler and Night of Navy.  I just wanted a subtle look as I wanted the main focus to be on the pretty leaf.

And then the card needed ribbon (almost always for me!) so I adhered some Sticky Strip to the base of the Vanilla layer and pleated my Crumb Cake taffeta ribbon onto it.  A Vanilla button finished it off. 

 

More Holiday Mini swaps

And here are the rest of my Downline swaps from our last meet and swap.

It's a Shadow Box card!  Neat huh? 

I believe she first stamped the Haunted Forest using White Craft ink and then spritzed the Black card stock with Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz.  Her pumpkin punch art is made with the large oval punch and the Two-step Bird punch leaves.  Here's a side view of this fun fold.

I checked her measurments and she cut the Eggplant and Black card stock at 4 1/4 X 5 1/2" in size.  Then score it at 1/2" and 1" from each end. 

This is Kerry's very pretty Christmas card.  She used the new Holly Berry Bouquet designer series paper and the gorgeous Christmas Lodge stamp set along with the Snow Burst embossing folder.

And here is Marguerite's Howl-O-Ween card using the stamp set Howl-o-ween Creeps.  Don't you just love the little rhinestones on the Frankenstein!!  She stamped him twice; once on the White card stock and again on Pear Pizzazz card stock to get his green face.  

And last is Mary's adorable Christmas card.  She used the large Scallop Square die and the Festive & Fun stamp set.  And the Snow Burst embossing folder and the new Holly Berry Bouquet designer series paper. 

Thanks so much gals - can't wait for our next swap! 

Holiday Mini swaps

My downline and I met last Saturday for our Holiday mini meet and swap. This fantastic mini catalog may be one of our best yet!  And it starts in just a few days.

I had to share these fantastic swaps. 

Annette made this beauty using the new set called 'The Sounding Joy'.  Notice these brand new items: the Cherry Cobbler quilted ribbon, Cherry Cobbler embossing powder and the texture folder called 'Snow Burst'.

Now this unique card is Becky's.  She created this amazing background using her brayer on glossy cardstock.  Just gorgeous technique!  The stamp is the single A la Carte 'Haunted Forest'.

Candy made this pretty Christmas card using the new set called 'Bright Hopes'.  Cherry Cobbler, Baja Breeze and Crumb Cake is her color combination.  She also scored a frame around the main image using her new Simply Scored.

Jennifer made this adorable card that features three new products:  the stamp set 'Gift Givers', the paper from the Simply Scrappin' kit called Christmas Lane and the Vanilla Velvet stitched ribbon. 

Kari made this one using the new 'Stitched Stockings' stamp set and the matching punch called 'Stocking Builder Punch'.  It punches out the matching cuff, toes and heel of the stocking. 

They all created wonderful cards, didn't they?  I'll share the other half of our swaps later this week. 

100 card Wow Swap

My friend and new roommate are on our way to Convention Tuesday!  I am very excited to go and to see my friends.  We have lots of meet-ups planned!  

What I have not shared is that I was asked to be a Booth Presenter for the opening party on Wednesday night!  I was so thrilled to be asked! 

I did worry about getting it done when we evacuated and lost our home in the flood.  It seemed like one more thing to think about and I was feeling quite overwhelmed. They told me I could bow out if I needed to.  But it's very hard for me not to keep my committments and besides that I really wanted to do it!  It was probably good for me to have this to work on. 

I cannot tell you what I am presenting yet.  But it suits me to a T.  The day after Convention is when I can start showing you......  

If you are attending Convention be sure to say Hi to me at my booth.  I'll be there from 6 - 8 pm Wednesday night at the party.

Here's one thing that has kept me busy for months! 

I made 100 of these for a WOW swap at Convention.  I started them back in May.  I loved the original card so much I converted it to this one:

Now you know where I got all of those black Top Note frames I used for general swaps! 

The main card is 4 1/2" X 4 1/4" square.  So the Top Note die-cut sticks up behind the fold. 

I watercolored the Fabulous Florets flower using an aquapainter.  The 'Imagine' saying is embossed on Vellum Card stock. 

Hope they like them!  

Update and The Open Sea

Update on the Flood situation:

We're still watching the water levels very closely.  They are about 1 - 1 1/2 feet from when we evacuated - so very close!  Depending on how much rain we get in the next week or so will make the difference in how our dikes hold up.  The main city of Minot has been protected so far but some of the surrounding areas have lost their homes.  It is a very small percentage of the area but to those people you can only imagine the devastation. 

We have torn up much of our finished basement because we already are getting mold!  It's not black mold, but because of the water still pouring into our basement from the floor in each room there is so much moisture.  The lack of circulation may have contributed so now we have fans going.  Most of the drywall and baseboard has been removed along with the doors and trim.  Now it's just a matter of getting the water towards the one sump pump to drain it out.  Luckily for me, my husband if very handy and able to do most of this work himself.  He is getting quite weary both physically and mentally though.  It will be at least a month before we can even hope for a dry basement.  But we do have the upper/main floor to live in and that does include my studio!  Basically everything we 'need' is on the main floor of our home.  So we are still very lucky!

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Here is a card my Club members fell in love with and asked me to post so they can case.  I received it in a swap from Adele Heffern. 

Isn't it just gorgeous?

I just love the stunning layout and colors.  The diagonal stripe with designer paper and texture on each side is so eye catching.  And the simple way she accented the main image with the Cherry bakers twine!

Thanks for sending such a beautiful swap Adele! 

You can see this stamp set in the current Summer Mini catalog along with the Baker's Twine and Nautical Expedition designer series paper. 

The colors are Not Quite Navy and Cherry Cobbler.