Flowerbug's Inkspot

Birthday Blossoms with a Note Tag Punch Window Trick

Here is a card I made for an 80 card swap at Convention last week.  I have lots to show you but haven't had time to upload my photos yet.  Next week I'll share a bunch with you. 

This card showcases the beautiful Birthday Blossoms stamp set, the Timeless Elegance designer paper and the pretty window you can make with the Note Tag Punch.  

To make this unique window shape you start with a piece of paper measuring 3 1/4" square.  Insert your paper all the way into the Note Tag punch, centering it and punch once.  Turn the paper 180 degrees and punch again.  Now punch again on the other two sides so you've punched once on each edge of the paper.  You'll have a pretty shaped window now!  It's so easy. 

If you're seeing the unique corner detail on the large Vanilla piece I used the Decorative Label punch to get that look.  I decided not to do it on all of my swaps as it only showed up on the left side where the Black strip is.  

Check out the products I used by clicking on any of the photos below.  

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July Control Freaks Tour!

The Freaks met at Convention for a fabulous swap, which is one of my favorite swaps of the year! These gals are so very talented and creative; I love to see and receive their awesome cards.  Many of us are sharing our swap cards on this tour so be prepared to be amazed!

You may have arrived from Mary's blog where you saw her eye catching projects using one of my favorite stamp sets also!  Just click on the icon at the beginning or end of each post to see all of the Freak's posts.

First I'll share one of the cards I made for our swap.  I used one of my new favorite sets; 'No Bones about It'.  It's grrreat!

I used vellum and a silver mini brad to create a swivel to reveal the bones behind the body. 

I've created a video on how to make this card which I'll post later this week. Stop back in to see it! 

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Next is a card I made for a recent class.  It's so easy to use our Timeless Elegance designer series paper in so many beautiful ways!  

I cut a few 4 X 4" pieces of the designer paper for the class and we sponged Blushing Bride and Mint Macaron ink over the flowers using sponge daubers.  We added a pretty tag using the Butterfly Wishes stamp set and the new Tags & Labels Framelits; my absolute favorite new set of dies!!  

Then we finished it off with some Black 3/8" Stitched Satin ribbon and a bit of Mint Macaron lace trim peaking out from the side.  You could also add a bit of glitter to the flower centers if desired.  So many possibilities with this gorgeous paper!

And now you're off to see what Judy has to share with you.  I am sure you'll love it! 

Flowering Flourishes Faux Tiling Technique

Tami made this striking card for our latest Flowerbug's Team swap.  The theme was to do a technique.  

She first stamped the main flourish image using Elegant Eggplant ink.  The then used our Simply Scored & Diagonal plate to score on the diagonal across the Whisper White card stock.  Now that she had her score lines she used a few post it notes to mark off the corners so she could add a light sponging of ink in each corner.  The greeting is from the Butterfly Basics stamp set.

Very cool technique!  I did a card very similar to this awhile back for technique class too. She cased the idea from Patsy Collins on Pinterest.  

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Sheltering Tree Reflection Technique

Candy made this pretty card for our latest Team Techniques swap:

She used the reflection technique here.  Do you know how to do this?  Here are some tips:

She first stamped the tree image on the upper part of the card.  Then she added her 'hills' and flowers.  She used a sponge and Soft Sky ink to get the water look.

Next she inked the tree image again and stamped on a window sheet. The ink does not sink into the window sheet but remains on the surface.  This lets you flip over this window sheet and press it onto the card stock.  You can see through it to place it exactly where you want it.  

Thank you Candy; it's a fabulous card!  I am lucky to spend this week in Salt Lake City with Candy this week.  So glad to see her again since she moved from Minot a few years ago.  

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Cherry On Top & Iris Folding!

Have you done this technique before?  It's called Iris Folding. 

She cut a balloon die-cut shape from her Whisper White card stock first.  Then turned it over and started adding strips of the Cherry on Top designer paper all around the edge of the balloon.  Keep adding adhesive and strips of paper until you fill the whole thing in.  Cool huh?!

The greeting is stamped with Versamark ink and heat embossed using our White embossing powder.  Such a bright and happy Birthday card!  Thanks Mary for reminding us of this fun technique.  

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Vintage Leaves & the Baby Wipe Technique

Jane made this gorgeous card for our latest Flowerbug's Team technique swap.  She used the new Vintage Leaves bundle. 

Isn't it amazing?!  She used the baby wipe technique with Delightful Dijon and Rich Razzleberry.  

If you have never done this technique before it's super simple!  You just need a baby wipe and some ink refills.  You'll fold up the baby wipe to form a sort of ink pad.  Then drop a few drops of each color all over the surface of the wipe.  I like to drop the color in multiple drops in one place.  This way I get concentrated color instead of a muddy look.  Then you can ink your stamp right in the wet, colorful wipe.  I tap my stamp in the baby wipe multiple times trying to ink it in the same place (for the most part) each time. 

She then die-cut them using the new Leaflets Framelits  and added some gold glitter to the leaves.  

Look at the detail on these leaves and embellishments!

She added some burlap ribbon, our new gold metallic thread, gold metallic buttons and linen thread.  Whew!  Beautiful job Jane; we all love it!  

 

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Garden in Bloom & Little Letters Layered Technique

Look at this cool technique card Brandy made for our latest Team swap!  

Do you see the die-cut letters?  She cut out 6 layers of EACH letter to make this card! Then she glued each letter on top of each other to make it about 1/8" raised.  

Isn't that so cool?!  Would you have the patience to do this?  

To start over on just how she did this...... she first stamped the main Whisper White layer (3 7/8" X 5 1/8") with the beautiful Garden in Bloom stamp set.  Her colors here are Blushing Bride, Soft Sky, Old Olive and Black. 

Then she used the Little Letters dies to die cut the word 'THANKS' from the stamped card stock.  Next she die-cut the word 'THANKS' again from Old Olive card stock six times for each letter!  And adhered them one on top the other so the word was thick and raised. She finished by adding the colored stamped die-cut from the card front.  

It's so unique and eye-catching.  I love it!  I am in Salt Lake City right now at our 2015 SU Convention with Brandy. So happy to spend some days with her as she lives out of state from me.  

There are still a few FREE grab  bags left to claim this week!  Get one for yourself!  Read about it here.  t http://flowerbug.typepad.com/my_weblog/2015/07/dont-miss-my-convention-special-offer-.html 

The Open Sea Reflection Technique

Jessica made this beautiful reflection card for our latest Flowerbug's Team swap:

She used sponges to get this pretty colorful background sponging across the card stock.  She used Tempting Turquoise, Pacific Point & Soft Sky for the blues and Pumpkin Pie for the sun.  

To do this technique you first stamp your ship image using Memento Tuxedo Black on your White or Vanilla card stock.  Then you stamp it again onto a window sheet.  The ink will not absorb into the window sheet so you can then turn it over and press the window sheet onto your card stock exactly in place to show a reflection.  Super easy! Then heat set the ink and sponge your color on as you like.  

Thank you for sharing your beautiful card with us Jessica!

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Pretty Vintage Leaves

At our July Team swap the theme was techniques.  Two people chose to use the pretty Vintage Leaves stamp set and dies bundle for their swap.  

The first one I'll share is by Annette.

Isn't that gorgeous?!  I love the simple beauty of the leaf and how this clean look makes the leaf and greeting really stand out.

She used Very Vanilla with Cherry Cobbler.  Her technique is to use our Iridescent Ice embossing powder.  She likely pressed her leaf onto the Versamark ink pad and them sprinkled it with the embossing powder before heat embossing.  It's very sparkly in real life!  
 

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog