Flowerbug's Inkspot

Punch Art Wednesday - Candy Corn!

I got this idea from a punch art swap I was in at last year's SU convention.  Make your own candy corn - for a card!

It's quite simple to do. 

Punch out three circles in candy corn colors.  If you're doing quite a few like on my card, use different colors of card stock in different sizes of circles so you can layer them colorfully.

If you're using SU card stock you may not want to adhere them together before punching. 

****The photo only shows how to get the shape - I would recommend punching each tip separately, since three layers of thick card stock is really too much to expect a punch to do! 

After punching them out, snip off the wide tips slightly to round them.  You could use a corner rounder, but a scissors works just fine. 

NEW!! SU Clearance Rack!

Stampin' Up! has opened up a Clearance Rack Online! 

This is a permanent & consistent sale of retired & discontinued items up to 80% off!!  These items are only available while supplies last & need to be ordered via my SU website/online store. 

Check it out often as the items available will be posted & removed based on inventory levels.  I'll be adding a permanent link to the sidebar on my blog so it'll be quick & easy for you to check frequently.  

Here's the link

This is a great way to get some of those items you may wish you had more of, or that you missed the first time around!  Right now, there are ribbons, DSP, rub ons, felt snowflakes, love notes, metal tins & chipboard. 

 

Christmas Tags Box Tutorial

Here is the promised tutorial for this fun little box!  If you're looking at this in Reader, you may want to click on the title - Reader skews the photos & instructions quite a bit! 

You'll need an 8 X 8" square of card stock.  I used Soft Suede.

Score it at 1", 2", 6" & 7".  Turn one quarter & repeat.  Do this on all 4 sides.

Cut off the  corners on each side as shown.  Cut into the small square flap as indicated. 

Fold well on all creases inwards.

 

Cut a sliver off the small square inside flap at an angle so it folds together well without binding at the corners. Add adhesive to the outside flaps & fold in to secure.

  

Cut one piece of 3" x 3-15/16" card stock and score at 1/2", 1-1/2", and 2-1/2" lengthwise.  Fold like shown here.  

This is the view with it flipped over from the above view.  Add adhesive to the inside valley fold to close the fold.

 

Cut two 1-7/8" x 5-7/8" pieces of card stock & place at top fence of your scoring tool.  On the 1/16th mark (midway between the 0 and 1/8") at the left side, and score at 2", 3", and 4".

Repeat with second piece of card stock.

Add adhesive to the valley fold of each piece to close the fold like the bottom one showing. The bottom one is glued.

 

Now add adhesive to the long flat edges of the long piece & adhere the two narrow pieces to it to form the box as shown below.  The left side already has one piece attached.

For the transparent lid, cut a piece of acetate or transparency measuring  4 1/16" x 11".

Score on the long side at 2-1/2", 3-1/2", 7-1/2", and 8-1/2".  Fold & adhere using double sided tape, sticky strip or mini glue dots.

Here's how I decorated mine.  I used the wide stitched Red ribbon along with the Soft Suede polka dot ribbon. 

The top bow is a separate piece from the wrap on the lid.

Thanks for stopping by!

Catty Cruise Sails Again!

Welcome board the Catty Cruise!  We've got 11 amazing ports of call with incredible treasures from the new Holiday Mini catalog for you to oogle!

You may have just arrived from Linda's blog where she shared her fabulous scrapbook pages & video! using the new My Digital Studio which will be available on October 1st.  Or maybe you're just starting the cruise.  There's no beginning or end - just come on board & sail away on our Holiday cruise!

I'm featuring the stamp set Delightful Decorations along with the coordinating punch & even more!

This 12 X 12 scrapbook page was easily created with the Delightful Decorations stamp set & punch.  Click on the photo to see it in more detail.  I placed it into a 12" shadow box frame - what a great way to showcase your scrapbook pages!  These are my three children a few years ago - one of my favorite photos of them.

I used the Christmas Cocoa Specialty & a little bit of Holiday Lounge Designer Series paper too. 

The black Peace & Joy is an SU decorative strip die cut, the large snowflake is our new snowflake punch.  There are also a few snowflake rub-ons from the Icicle rub-ons in the Holiday Mini catalog. I used the SU Punch Windows die to layer the Modern Window punch for the Merry Christmas tags.

And check out the box of Christmas tags using the same set - Delightful Decorations along with Sweet Season from the current catalog. 

****I will post a tutorial for this box on Monday, the 28th, so come on back!

Aren't the colors great together? The new In Color, Soft Suede, White & Real Red.  This would make an awesome gift!

I used markers, gold thread, ribbons & a few punches to create these. 

These are really fun & easy to make - no thinking, just coloring & punching!  And it didn't take that long either.  Now I'll be ready to wrap & decorate those gifts come December. 

And last is an elegant Christmas card made with the Delightful Decorations stamp set again. 

I inked the ornament stamp in Versamark ink & stamped onto Rich Razzleberry card stock & embossed with Silver embossing powder.  Punched it out with the coordinating punch & then layered it onto a piece of Long board chipboard cut out with the ornament Mover's & Shapers die.  I sponged the edge with the Platinum Shimmer paint to match the front.  This piece could easily be removed so the ornament can be used as a gift too!

I also doodled with the Platinum Shimmer paint with a fine paint brush on the edge of the black card stock square. The circles on the bottom are punched from our Groom specialty paper & layered onto the Night & Day specialty paper from the Holiday Mini.   

I clear embossed the French Filigree background stamp on the Rich Razzleberry card base.  

Now be sure to keep cruisin' & join Brooke with her amazing fall projects featuring the Pumpkin Patch set & the beautiful Autumn Splendor stamp set.  Enjoy!   

Punch Art Scarecrow

Is he sweet or what??

This week's punch art has a fall theme.

The 'Trick or Treat' stamp is from the Level 1 hostess set 'Holiday Best'. 

You'll need these punches:

Scallop square, 1 1/4" circle, 3/4" square, word window, slot punch, small tag, flower punch

I used Really Rust, More Mustard, Brocade Blue, Always Artichoke & Whisper White card stock.  Linen thread was used for the straw on his hair & wrists.

White gel pen for stitching & a Ruby Red brad on the flower.  Black marker was used to draw his face. 

The scallop square hat was cut in half on the angle & the 'brim' was folded up. 

I cased this idea from Amanda Coughlin.

*****Be sure to come back on Friday when our Catty Cruise sails again!  We'll have tons of fabulous ideas from the Catty Crew using products from the new Holiday Mini catalog! 

Pillow Gifts

Each night at Founder's Circle a 'pillow gift' is waiting on your bed when you return to your room.  My laptop was acting funny & internet was sketchy at times, so I did not post those in order like I wanted to. 

 There is a stamp set peeking at you from under the file folders & ribbon.  I wasn't sure we could share it yet when I took the photo, but they later said we could, so .....

It's called Tiny Tags & can you see the long outline & solid image in this set?  We're getting a tiny tag punch to go with it!  Most of these words will fit on it too. 

A copy of My Secret Garden from Shelli - with a note inside from her too! 

I haven't read it yet, so I'm really looking forward to that.

Garden Boots!  Cottage Wall style! 

Can you believe it?  Won't they be fun to play with - lots of ideas for decorating with these. 
I am not a 'boot wearer' so these will be strictly for show! 

We received this Journal at our Swap & Share night so we could take notes on the business ideas some demo's shared.  Each gift had a butterfly with a letter on it - eventually spelling 'Bloom'.  The whole theme of Founder's Circle was to Bloom & Grow, or to Nurture. 

Last was a handmade matchbox with a set of butterfly charms inside.

What a wonderful set of gifts we received!!!! 

And in addition to all of these, we also got a few others (products & one other stamp set) - some on the bus to Kanab, others just for being there.

The stamp set below is another set coming in the Occasions Mini catalog in January - Garden from the heart.

The best part of the trip - besides all the gifts & pampering - were all of the friendly demonstrators.  This was my first time there & I can honestly say I made many new friends & felt welcomed by everyone!  It is easy to see why these are the top demo's in the company - they truly love what they do & are so very friendly! 

Our PJ party & swap

Last night we had the pajama party & swap.  Oh, just wait til you see some of these swaps!  Amazing  work by these top demonstrators!  Great techniques & innovative ideas!!!  I can't wait to show you some of them.  I will most likely post some each week for awhile, so keep watch for them!

This is after the swap - lounging around visiting, snacking & drinking.

Is that someone you may know in the pink pj's named Dawn..... G??  Yup!

They had pineapple, strawberry & orange slushes for us to drink.

And here are 'the twins' - Kay & Jane - I believe these two were the only ones with matching pj's. 

 

They also had butterfly cupcakes for us to munch on, in addition to all the wonderful candy & chocolate here & there throughout the room.  

 

Here is a close-up of the handmade butterflies.

Kanab

We took a bus to the Kanab manufacturing facility today.  This is where we saw them actually make the rubber stamps! 

My first impression is that Stampin' Up! does everything first class & smart.

This is a newer building that is amazingly clean, beautiful & well planned.  The employees are so happy to work there & a very high percentage of them have been employed there for an average of 10 years or so.  Incredible!  

Shelly has an apartment upstairs that is so beautifully decorated - I'll show photos of her rooms later.  Prepare to be amazed!

  After our tour, they took us to a playground that Shelli & her husband have built for the local town of Kanab. Our lunch was served in a metal bucket with a linen napkin on top - we get to keep it of course!

 Dessert?  Creme Brulee of course!  Shelli's favorite & now mine - absolutely heavenly!!  

  Here are some demo's on the rubber playground - we had more fun playing with the rubber here!

Susie, Karen & Heather Summers playing in the rubber at their feet.  We could see some of the images in the shredded rubber so we played a guessing game of 'what stamp set is this?''

The excess rubber from errors or from trimming sets is shredded to donate to playgrounds & other needy organizations. 

Here is a close-up of it. 

More pics from Founder's Circle

Our second day was filled with fun things to do. 

To start with we could sleep in as long as we want & waiting for us when we felt like getting up was a fabulous breakfast buffet. 

Then we did our make & takes using a new stamp set from the Occasions mini catalog coming up next year & using a new punch & a new embossing folder!!  I am not sure I can share them with you yet so ......

In the photo below are from left to right - Susie Wood, Karen Duke, Jane Wike & myself. 

   

In the gathering room there were lots of handmade quilts for us to wrap up in if we wanted to.   These were all made by Jill Olsen - do you recognize the pennant die??

Most of these were made by cutting out fabrics with our Sizzix dies & quilting them!  Just amazing!!!!

  

  Here's a closer photo of me with the flower quilt.  Beautiful, beautiful work!

   Karen Duke is holding the one made with our Scallop Circle dies.  

  Then we did just a little shopping - more on that tomorrow or Saturday. 

 

 

Then 72 of us gathered in a big room at the Olive Garden that Robin Merriman organized.  It was so fun & LOUD!!

 

Here are Robin & Tiffany Bauer - it was so great to meet you both!

 

Then many of us chose to go to a local outdoor amphitheatre called the Tuacahn - to see an amazing production of Elton John & Tim Rice's AIDA.  It was one of the most incredible performances I've ever seen! 

If you have a chance to come to the Tuacahn here in St. George, you just have to come & see it!

Yes, those abs are real - one brave (& a little desperate) demo checked them out - right Lisa??

  The play started at 8 pm; but here is the stage before it was dark. 

It was beyond words to be watching this level of theater in this most incredible & scenic area.  

 Tomorrow it's off the Kanab to see how they make our stamps!