Power Poppy's September Power & Spark Challenge

Hello there and a very happy Friday to you!  How have you been?  It has been just plain hot and muggy here....I am SO ready for some cooler autumn temperatures!  Oh well, enough about that....I'll bet you popped in to see what Power Poppy goodness we have to share with you today, right?  Well, let me just tell you...I have been about to bust for September's Power & Spark Challenge to get here.  I have the honor of hosting this month's event and I thought it might be fun to highlight the sweet nature of paper crafters everywhere......

This month’s Power & Spark challenge is all about giving.  We all know the paper crafting community has some of the biggest, giving hearts around so let’s celebrate that with “Gifts from the Heart”.  Show us your creative ways of gift presentations or a hand crafted gift….or both!  Try stamping  your own wrapping paper, decorate your own gift bag or tag, craft a gift set of note cards....you choose how to show your art and heart for a special someone.  Even though the holidays are just around the corner, any time is a great time for gift giving so this challenge is open for any occasion.  We can’t wait to see what you create!  

For my project, I could not decide on one idea, so I did three....:)!  I love giving little munchies as gifts....either for holidays or even for a "just thinking of you" kind of gift so two of my projects are munchie holders.  The third is a little glassine bag that I decked out....you could certainly use this for some sort of small food item but in this case I wrapped a gift card in it.  Here's a little group photo.....as you can see I went all out Christmas but remember, any occasion will be great for this challenge!  :)

Let's start with my jar project.  Who doesn't love cookies, am I right?  So how about some cookies in a jar!  If I had planned ahead, I could have baked something for the jar, but it just didn't work out that way so when in a pinch.....store bought works just fine and these pretty chocolate hazelnut Piroulines were just the thing for this quart size wide mouth Ball jar.  A little fabric, bow, and a tag finish this off and the whole thing came together super quick!  I stamped one of the images from the Joyful Arrangements set onto some patterned paper and colored it up with Copics.  I die cut it using a tag die from Papertrey Ink and layered it with a card stock layer to give it a little more weight.  I added a bit of patterned paper, some ball fringe, and a silver bell tied with string then applied Ranger's Glossy Accents to the berries and a couple of the words to give it a little shine and that was it....instant gift!  

Here is a little close up of the tag..... 

Next up is my little glassine bag.  Now, you may have already known this but I just discovered this summer that you can directly stamp on glassine bags.  I used Staz On ink to make sure there would not be any ink smearing and it worked great.  The poinsettia image on the bag is from the Poinsettia stamp set.  To mimic that image, I used the little poinsettia image from the Merry Littles set for my tag.  The sentiment is from the Bottlebrush Holiday set.  The tag is wrapped around with ribbon to make a little belly band so you can get in the bag without tearing everything up.  :)  My sentiment circle is a layered using Spellbinders Classic Circles Large set and Papertrey Ink's Limitless Layers  1 3/4" Circle die collection.  I sponged on some ink in Ranger's Iced Spruce Distress ink after stamping my sentiment then used my Krylon Silver leafing pen around the circle.  Next, I stamped, fussy cut and colored with Copics the little poinsettia and then added a dash of Wink of Stella clear brush pen for some shine.  I die cut a silver flourish using a My Favorite Things die and then die cut and sanded the pink houndstooth paper using Spellbinder's Labels Twenty Eight.  I adhered the whole tag assembly together using Scor tape and foam dimensionals then punched holes in either end for my ribbon.  To finish it all off, I tied a sweet little silver charm from Stampin' Up! to the tag and added some jewels to the sentiment circle.

Here is a different angle so you can see some of the layers.  The gift card is wrapped in silver tissue paper and the darling little white dots that were on the glassine bag really stand out more with that as a background.  I know you shouldn't have favorites, but this may be my favorite of the three.  Shhhhh....don't tell the others....;)

For my third project, I had a little Wilton treat box complete with a window that was just begging to be used.  I made a belly band for it with some trimmed strips of decorative paper then added a die cut from Spellbinders Belly Band One set and layered it with some Papertrey Ink Scarlet Jewel card stock and stitched it up.  I die cut the window using the Labels Twenty Eight die and just lookie what's in this box.....Lindor Truffles!  I thought the bottlebrush tree and ornaments would look so cute in the corner of the window so I stamped it out, colored it up with Copics and fussy cut it out.  I added plenty of sparkle with my Wink of Stella clear brush pen and then gave the ornaments a good coating of Ranger Glossy Accents.  I cut a couple of slits in the die cut with a craft knife and threaded PTI's Scarlet Jewel grosgrain ribbon to wrap around my box.  I added my fussy cut image last with some foam dimensionals and that was that!

Did you know that Lindor now has a Salted Caramel truffle?  Well I didn't  until the other day....and the wrapping color was a perfect match for the box!  Sounds like a totally legitimate reason to buy these, don't you think?  ;)  Here is a little close up of my treat box.....

So there you have it.....three gift projects for the holidays.  You could easily change the theme and use them for whatever occasion you wish.  I hope that these give you a little inspiration, but please make sure you check out what my incredibly talented Bloom Brigade sisters created for you.....I know you will love them!  Make sure you leave a little blog love while you visit and then why don't you join us and share your own gift giving creation?  All you have to do is link up your photo to the Power Poppy blog and you'll be in the running to win a prize!  How about that.....make a gift and then possibly win a gift....now that's a win-win situation for sure!  :)  I am so glad you were able to stop by today.  I so enjoyed hosting this challenge and I can't wait to see what you all create!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and until next time.....take care!

Christine Okken 

Cindy Lawrence    
Julie Koerber  
Katie Sims <------You are here
Leslie Miller 
Stacy Morgan 
Tosha Leyendekker

~Katie

Supplies not listed above:  Paper-  Pink houndstooth paper and patterned paper for tag from My Mind's Eye's "Blush" 6x6 paper pad, Classic White card stock from Flourishes, Silver foil paper from Stampin' Up!, treat box green patterned paper from Fancy Pants; Ink- Tuxedo Black ink from Memento, Staz On Jet Black ink, Chamomile ink from PTI; Ribbon-  Fine Linen grosgrain ribbon from PTI, white sheer ribbon from Michael's; Other-  Glassine bags from Stampin' Up!, silver bell charm from Michael's, and these Copic colors-  R00, R81, R83, R85, R89, BG70, BG72, BG75, BG78, C0, C2, C4, C7, E40, E41, E42, E44, E47, E51, E53, E55, E57, Y18, Y23, Y32, YG61, YG63, YG67.