Flowerbug's Inkspot

New Catalog Open House

I held my Annual New Catalog Open House yesterday.  Thank you to everyone who came!  I forgot my camera of course so I don't have photos of it all.  But I was so pleased with the turnout where I was able to give over 50 beautiful new catalogs out!  If you missed it you are welcome to stop by to pick up yours.  Just give me a call or e-mail to be sure I am home. 

Besides the displays, food, prizes and catalogs I also offered a free Make & Take.  Here's what they made:

Very pretty isn't it?  It features two of our newest In Colors - Gumball Green and Primrose Petals along with a brand new stamp set called Papaya Collage. 

Two other new products on this card are our new In Color Satin Stitched ribbon and the Fancy Fan embossing folder. 

When making this card you'd be surprized to know that you only need to ink both of these images once.  For example, ink the leaves stamp in Gumball Green and stamp once, then move over a bit and stamp again (without re-inking) and again one last time to achieve three different colors of ink and a beautiful and soft feel.  The butterfly was inked once and stamped four times without re-inking, offsetting the stamp a bit to give the apprearance of butterfly movement.

I had fun baking for this event too.  I used to do tons of cooking and baking when I was catering, but lately not so much.  So it was a pleasure for me to try some new recipes for this event.  The treats I made were a big hit and I promised I'd share the recipes for them. All of these recipes were found on Pinterest.

I made Donut Muffins (taste just like the mini donuts at the fair), Mini Fruit Pizzas (yum!), and Peanut Butter Brownie Bites that are amazing and easy.

Donut Muffins

• 1/2 c. white sugar
• 1/4 c. melted butter
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 c. flour

Mix sugar & butter together, add milk.  Stir in the baking powder with the flour until just combines.  Fill in greased mini muffin pans 1/2 full. Bake at 350 for about 13 -15 minutes. Have the following ready for when they come out of the oven. 

Melt 1/4 cup butter in one bowl and stir together 1/2 cup sugar with 1 tsp. cinnamon in another bowl.  Dip the tops of the still warm muffins in the butter and roll in sugar.  Let cool (not too long!) and enjoy. 

 

Mini Fruit Pizzas

• 1 roll of refrigerated cookie dough
• 1 8 oz pkg of cream cheese, softened
• 1 large container Cool Whip
• 4 cups fruit, diced

Roll pieces of cookie dough into 3/4" balls and place in mini muffin pans.  Bake at 350 for 6-7 minutes.  Cool and remove from pan.  Place on cookie sheet. 

Mix cool whip with softened cream cheese and place in a piping bag or a large baggie.  Cut off a corner of the baggie and pipe onto the little cookies.  Top with fruit and chill before serving.  These are sooo good!

Peanut Butter Brownie Bites

• 1 box brownie mix (any will work)
• 1/2 cup peanut butter/chocolate swirled chips ( or half & half of peanut butter with chocolate chips)
• 3/4 cup peanut butter

Prepare brownie batter as directed on package.  Spoon into a greased mini muffin pan filling with 1 heaping teaspoon each.  Bake at 350 for 13 minutes.  If the centers do not fall while cooling, press them in with a spoon.  Remove from pan now.

Microwave the peanut butter to soften 40 seconds. Stir and spoon into the center depressions of the brownies.  Top with a few chips. Cool.  

These are so good and taste like a famous candy bar yet they aren't as sweet and you get that burst of real peanut butter in the center.

 

The other recipe people requested was the Cheddar Bacon dip. No photo of that, but it was very tasty!

Cheddar Bacon Dip

• 16 oz sour cream
• 1 pkg. dry Ranch dressing mix
•  3 oz Bacon Bits (in the bag, not jar)
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Mix together and chill 24 hours. Serve with crackers, chips or veggies. 

 

If you have been waiting for me to share this month's Technique Class, I am sorry but there isn't one.  My schedule just didn't leave room for it this month.  I will have one in June however and I hope to share it with you soon. 

I have many more new items to share with you since I have been working on lots of display items for the Open House.  Keep posted so you don't miss any of it! 

 

Father's Day Masculine Card

This is another card we made at my Card Clubs in May. 

Love this technique of first stamping and then adding texture with an embossing folder.  We also sponged over the texture lightly on the edges and here and there on the main card front. 

Supplies:

• Stamps - Tool Shed, It's Your Birthday, Delightful Dozen
• Card stock - Cajun Craze, Crumb Cake, Not Quite Navy, Well Worn dsp
• Ink - Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Not Quite Navy
• Other - 2 1/2" circle punch, Early Espresso 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, sponges, Neutral brads, dimensionals, Square Lattice embossing folder, Big Shot

 

There are just 4 days left of the current catalog! 

So if you have any needs/wants you should get them now.  Look over this list carefully so you do not miss something you want!  Shop here.

Retired accessories last chance list

Retired Stamp sets

 

One More Upsy Daisy

I had to use it one more time before it's retired!

We made this Upsy Daisy card at a workshop last weekend.  So easy and yet certainly beautiful too.

We inked the stamp in Rose Red first and stamped in the center of the card.  Then without reinking we stamped again off to the right and a bit lower.  Love this two-toned look you can get so effortlessly!

Supplies:

• Stamps - Thank you Kindly, Upsy Daisy - both retiring!
  
• Ink - Rose Red, Black
• Card stock - Shimmer White, Mocha Morning specialty dsp (retiring!)
  
• Other - Rose Red seam binding, Filigre brads (retiring), Paper piercing tool, mat pack

Fun Pop-Up Birthday Card Tutorial

Here is the fun card we made at this month's card clubs:

Isn't it cute!?  I just love these bright, happy colors for kids birthday cards.  I used the retiring 'Big Top Birthday designer paper.'  Who wouldn't love getting a card that has a birthday present popping up when they open it up?  (Think about this card fold for weddings.....!)

The inside White piece measures 5 ¼” X 8 1/4” scored at 4 1/8”.  Fold this in half first.  Then use the directions below to add your lines as shown.

Measure first from top to bottom making small marks along the fold.  Then draw the horizontal lines with a ruler starting at the first marks and across as shown by the 7/8", 1 1/2" and 2" horizontal lines.

Now cut on those horizontal lines drawn onto the folded edge of your large White card stock, cutting through both layers.  Next you should fold each of the cut lines back as shown on the photo below.  Do this both ways using a bone folder to reinforce the folds.

 
Now you will open this piece up and push the ‘presents’ into the inside of the card so they pop out as shown below. You do not have to adhere the white layer to the card on this step until later or until you adhere the patterned papers. 

Fold your patterned paper pieces in half (see measurements above) and adhere to your pop-out areas.  I wrapped the short ribbon pieces to the inside of the bottom present and adhered the small bow with a mini glue dot to the top smallest gift.

Supplies:

• Stamps – Patterned Party, Party This Way, Bring on the Cake
• Card stock – Real Red, Turquoise, Daffodil Delight, White, Big Top Birthday
• Ink – Turquoise
• Accessories – markers, Scallop edge and trim border punches, 1” circle punch, Brights brads, Turquoise and Red grosgrain ribbon, Daffodil Delight 1/8” taffeta ribbon, mini glue dots, paper piercing tool, Mat Pack, Perfect Polka dots embossing folder, Big Shot

 Measurements – Turquoise full card 5 ½ X 8 ½”, White inside 5 ¼” X 8 1/2” scored at 5 ½” (see below for remaining cuts and fold measurements), Real Red and White front layer – 2 3/4 X 3 7/8”

****Remember that this Big Top Birthday designer series paper and all of our 1/4" grosgrain ribbons are retiring in a week.  And also the 'Party this Way' stamp set too.

Thanks for stopping by today! 

Lace Ribbon Border punch

I cannot believe this great punch is retiring!  And it's even on sale - marked down 25% from $19.95 to $14.96. Check out what's retiring here.  Some things are already out of stock and gone......

I punched a strip of Shimmer White card stock using the soon to be gone Lace Ribbon Border punch.  Then I punched 1" circles from Peach Parfait and Poppy Parade card stock and placed them behind the strip.  I added black brads too.

Using my Simply Scored, I scored three lines 1/8" apart on the bottom front of the card leaving 1 1/2" between them for the greeting from 'Thank you Kindly' stamp set.

Next I cut a narrow strip of Black card stock and placed it behind the circles.  Added dimensional pop-ups and adhered it to the Shimmer White folded card.  I finished it off with a little bow from our 1/8" narrow Black taffeta ribbon (not retiring!).

Remember to double check that retiring list to get some of these items before they're gone!

Thanks for stopping by for some punch tricks.

Flooded House update

I am sorry I haven't posted an update on our flood and house situation.  It's difficult to share in some ways as I never know if it's of interest to many of you.  Especially since I tend to keep most of my personal life off of my blog.

For those who may not know we had a major flood last year in June 2011 here in Minot, ND.  The flood waters rose and stayed for about 3 weeks.  Our valley became a bowl of river water and debris.  Here is a photo of the roof of our home last June:

The roof on the far left is our home.  Needless to say most of it was ruined while sitting in water for almost a month.  We were very lucky to live with amazing friends for the next 5 months before we found a house we could live with.  Housing is priced crazy here due to the oil boom and now the flood.  Many people lived in FEMA trailers during the winter while repairing their homes.  That wasn't an option for us since my husband and I both work out of our home.  

After this devastating flood where 12,000 people had to evacuate and cost us over 4000 homes, the city decided it need to make a flood plan for any future floods.  We live directly across from the river and most people thought we would get 'bought out' with a new flood plan.  So we gutted our house somewhat and waited all winter for their 'plan' to be decided on.  At the end of February the plan was announced.  We would not be bought out and could keep our home.  So then we had a decision to make - fix it up or tear it down.  After crunching some numbers we decided it was to our advantage to fix it up.  So we have been gutting the rest of it since and finally finished a few weeks ago.  Now we can clean and sanitize it, but have to wait for warm weather so it will dry. 

We are extremely lucky to be on the 'help list' of our local churches.  They have put together a program called Hope Village that is organizing and housing 100's of volunteers that arrive in our city each week to help us all rebuild.  It is so amazing and humbling to us that so many people from other states are coming to help us get back in our homes. We feel very blessed to put it mildly!!  **If you are so inclined you are welcome to make a donation to this worthy cause. 

We are excited about moving back to our family home and hope to be back in by the end of this year. 

Sneak Peak! World Treasures card

Here is the card I made for my downline meeting and swap last weekend:

We received this stamp set 'World Treasures' on our Disney trip. It has four unique images in the set. And we also received the International Bazaar designer series paper too!  It's just gorgeous and will be one of my favorites this year.

I inked the stamp using markers and sponge daubers - Pacific Point, Rich Razzleberry & Tangerine Tango.

This new die is called Apothecary Accents Framelits.  It comes in a pack of 4 different shapes & sizes.  It looks like I cut another one from Pacific Point card stock behind the White one.  But I just cut one more with that same die and cut it in half lengthwise and positioned the two pieces slightly above and below the White stamped one. 

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Are you ready!?  You can order from the new catalog on June 1st!  It's just fabulous and is getting rave reviews from us demonstrators.  I have a HUGE wish list myself!  

For you local stampers, be sure to come to my New Catalog Open House on Wedn, May 30th from 4-7 at the Brentmoor Living Community center.  That is the day you can pick up your own new catalog!

If you've been to one of my Open Houses you know it's well worth your time!  There will be lots of specials, free cards and card fronts, door prizes, food, stamping, fun and of course new product displays too. 

Photo Wallet Tutorial

I promised you a Tutorial for the Photo Wallet I made for the Control Freaks blog tour yesterday so here we go.

I used two retiring sets for these projects.  Flower Fest and Baroque Motifs.  I will truly miss both of these stamp sets. 

Most likely they will end up in our annual Stamping Rummage Sale on Saturday, June 16th.  If you're local don't miss it cause it's absolutely the best place to stock up if you're a paper crafter! We usually have over 30 sellers!

• Flower Fest - Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink and Elegant Eggplant card stock, Butterfly & Blossom punches, Subtles brads, corner rounder punch and sponges.
• Baroque Motifs - Cherry Cobbler, Black, So Saffron card stock, Designer Label punch, corner rounder, Itty Bitty shapes pack, Regals brads.

You can see how it looks without the flaps opened above.

Measurements:

• Cherry Cobbler piece - 4 1/4" X 11".  Score at 1 3/4", 2", 5" and 8".
  
• Cut three coordinating pieces that will fold out at 2 3/4" X 8".  Score at 4"
• Belly Band - 1 1/4" X 7 3/4".

First stamp the main long piece with your stamp of choice.  I used tone on tone - Cherry Cobbler ink on Cherry Cobbler card stock.

Adhere the three flap pieces to the main piece so they flip out alternately. I printed out the 'My Bragbook' on our Vellum card stock.  You can use mine to get 9 on a page.    My Bragbook  Cut them out at 2 1/4" X 3 1/4" in size. 

The scalloped corners are made by first punching a scallop square and then cutting it into quarters. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today. 

Control Freaks 'Almost Gone' Blog Hop

It's that time again for a Control Freaks Blog Hop.  And this month we are featuring our favorite Retiring items.  We hope to give you great ideas for products you may already own and of course tease you a bit to get some items we love and will sorely miss when they retire in a few weeks on May 31st.

You may have just arrived from Debra's blog where you saw her beautiful, clean & simple talent.  Just keep clicking on the icon at the bottom of each post and you'll see all 12 of our chosen favorites.

***I have highlighted all of the retiring items in Rose Red so you'll catch them. 

First up I have a card using one of my go-to stamp sets, Upsy Daisy.

So what do you think of this bright, eye-catching card?  Too much for some of you?  I have a few friends that do not like yellow or orange - yes, can you believe it?  I have always loved it.  I even had my room decorated in these colors as a teen.

Details:  I inked the Upsy Daisy stamp in Daffodil Delight ink and then sponged on a bit of Pumpkin Pie ink over the tops of most of the daisies.  Huff and stamp.  Then I ran the bottom portion of the Black card stock through my Big Shot with the soon to be retired Finial Press embossing folder. After putting these together I wrapped the beautiful 5/8" Pumpkin Satin ribbon around them.  I made a loop out of another piece of ribbon and secured the ends together with a mini glue dot, then pinched that together so the prongs of the flower brad went around it.  Instant bow!

Notice the greeting has a few two-toned daisies on it too?  I just huffed that stamp one more time (without re-inking) and stamped it over my white punched greeting. 

Next up is a Photo Wallet that we made for a Relay for Life fundraiser event last weekend.

 

It uses the retiring sets Flower Fest and Baroque Motifs.  It's the perfect thing for those who want to share photos of their grandchildren or a recent vacation.  Here's what it looks like when you open it up completely:

The colors are Cherry Cobbler, Black and So Saffron.  I will be posting a complete free tutorial on Monday so stop back then!  

I made this quick card for my friend's workshop last night.  I found this idea on my friend Kay Kalthoff's blog. She's so clever!  You can make this card easily by just running a 4" X 5 1/4" piece of card stock through your Big Shot using the retiring Stars #2 die.  Yes in one cut you have an instant card front! 

I ran this piece through my Big Shot again using the Houndstooth embossing folder. Add some black brads and dimensionals along with a strip of ribbon and greeting (Tagtastic hostess set) and you're all set for those grad cards you may need. And it's easy to change the color to suit your graduate too.  Thanks for the great idea Kay!

And now you're off to see what my friend Barb Mullikin has to show you.  Check it out!