Sending Love on Power Poppy Friday!

Hi there and welcome!  I hope you have had a wonderful week!  Do you have any special plans for the weekend?  Maybe a little crafty time?  :)  I found myself with a little time to play with Marcella's newest addition to her digital image collection, Follow Your Heart.  How sweet this image is....and just in time for your Valentine crafting!  :)  Let me show you what I created for today's Power Poppy post...

Yep, I am still crushing on this darling sentiment from the Dynamic Duos: Glads and Gerberas stamp set...and I think it is perfect for this little Valentine!  I started by printing my image on Papertrey Ink's Rustic White card stock and colored it up with a few Copics.  This image is a breeze to color...there is so much detail packed in that sweet little heart, just a few shades of coral red did the trick.  I added some shimmer with my Wink of Stella Clear brush pen then added some Ranger Glossy Accents to the arrow.  For my card shape and layers, I used Spellbinders Marvelous Squares and Labels Twenty Two die sets.  I did also use my paper trimmer to cut out a square of patterned paper that I stitched to my card base. 

 For my sentiment shape, I used Spellbinders die sets in Classic Heart and Classic Scalloped Heart.  I stamped my sentiment with Memento's Tuxedo Black ink, sponged on some Papertrey Ink's Sweet Blush ink and added some shimmer to the letters with my Atyou Spica Clear glitter pen.  Before I adhered all of my layers together, I added some gold detail to a few of the edges with Krylon's 18 KT Gold Leafing pen.  After the gold leafing dried, and took a fine grit sander and distressed it a bit...when you do that, it takes off some of the bright gold and leaves you with more of an aged look.  I decided the sentiment heart needed a little extra something, so I punched a hole in it and added some ribbon and string. Did I mention the bit of stitching?  No?  Well, I did add some zig zag stitching to the border just 'cause I love stitching on cards.  :)

This image reminds me so much of vintage valentines....and grade school Valentine parties complete with paper sacks to be filled with Valentines from all of your classmates....and all things lovey dovey....and cupcakes...ok, I think about cupcakes a lot anyway, but you get the idea, right? :)

So that is all for my card today, but several of my Bloomie sisters have created quite a display of gorgeousness for your creative inspiration....so make sure you check them out and leave a little hello while you are there.  I am so happy you could stop by for a visit today and I hope you have a wonderful and relaxing weekend!  Until next time, take care.

Allison Cope 

Christine Okken 

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

~Katie

Supplies not listed above:  Patterned papers from Carta Bella's "Merry & Bright" 6x6 paper pad; Chamomile distress ink from Papertrey Ink and these Copic colors- R20, R30, R32, R35, R37, Y13, Y15, YR24, Yand R27.

Wishing you a Rosy Friday!

Hello there and Happy Friday to you!  Did you happen to catch Marcella's newest digital image release earlier this week on the Power Poppy blog?  Mercy, those roses are incredible!  The Instant Gardeners had many beautiful cards to share and today, the Bloom Brigade gets to play with this beauty!  So. let's take a peek at Everything's Rosy, shall we?

I just have to say...this image was so.much.fun to color!  I decided to try and color up some of the roses like ones in my mama's yard.  She has one variety that has the most incredible yellow blooms with red-orange tinged edges.  I wish I knew what the name of that variety is!  This rose bush has gotten quite large and every year we find a bird's nest in its branches.  It blooms like crazy all summer and the blooms are so vivid in color.  I think I got pretty close to the colors for it here...the other blooms I colored are in a coral red hue.  The image was printed on Rustic White card stock from Papertrey Ink.  My Copics got quite a workout with this image....I will post the long list of markers I used below.  (My only defense is when I have an image of this magnitude, I get giddy and it brings out the little girl in me....you know, the one that wants to color with every crayon in the box.....lol!  Can you relate?) The mug on the left reminded me of an old metal mug, so I colored it up like that.  I consulted the a-mazing Jennifer Dove's Color of the Day color schemes and found one for aged tin that I thought would fit well here. I did add a couple of additional colors to give it a little extra age. :)

 Once I colored my image, I die cut it out using a Spellbinders Grand Squares die (the smallest one in the set).  Next I stamped the sentiment from the Poppies stamp set with Memento's Tuxedo Black ink.  I added some gold leaf edging to my image panel with a Krylon 18KT Gold Leafing pen and some sparkle to the blooms with a Wink of Stella Clear Brush pen.  The rest of the card is made using some layers cut with a trimmer to frame out the image panel.  The patterned paper is from  Teresa Collins' "Fabrications" 6x6 paper pad and the red card stock is Pure Poppy from Papertrey Ink.  The finished card is just shy of 5" square.

That Marcella really pulled out all of the stops for this stunning image...one bloom simply would not do!  No, she created five beauties complete with this darling cup and saucer, another charming mug, several rose buds and a few stray petals.....sigh......a bloom lover's dream image if there ever was one!  :)  I can practically smell the sweet, spicy scent of these lovelies, can't you?

So, that is all for my card today, but several of my Bloomie sisters have created cards a-plenty for your creative inspiration.  Make sure you leave them a little blog love while you visit, then if you haven't made this gorgeous digital image your own yet.....what are you waiting for?  It's available now.....just think, you could be printing and coloring this image up in a matter of minutes!  :)  I am so happy you were able to stop by for a visit and I hope you'll pop in again soon!  Until then, take care.

Christine Okken 

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

~Katie

Copic colors used:  R30, R32, R35, R37, R39, B63, YR23, YR30, YR31, Y15, Y19, E40, E41, E43, E44, E47, E51, E55, E57, E59, YG61, YG63, YG67, YG91, BG70, BG72, BG75, BG78, G20, G28, C0, C3, C5, C7, W00, W0, W3, and W5.

It's Power Poppy's January Power & Spark Challenge!

Hi there friends and welcome!  I hope you had a wonderful holiday season.  We certainly did!  It feels like it has been ages since my last post.  It was nice spending time with family and friends, but I was sure itching to get back to my craft room and play!  :) Today's project features Power Poppy's new Power & Spark challenge for January being hosted by the incredibly talented, super sweet card diva Tosha Leyendekker!  This one's a goodie.....let's take a peek, shall we?

Yep, it's a two 'fer!  For January, Tosha is asking us to "stretch" ourselves with this challenge...make a tall card and incorporate a new (for you) technique or new product!  If this doesn't get you to stretch your crafty muscles, I don't know what will!  So, for my card I patterned the design after another tall card I had made a couple of months ago and for my new technique, I decided to make my own patterned glitter paper.  

These gerberas from the Dynamic Duos: Glads and Gerberas stamp set always make me smile....they are so cheery and bright-eyed!  I colored the trio up with Copics and fussy cut them out.  I added some shimmer with my Atyou Spica glitter pens in clear and gold then added Ranger's Glossy Accents to the centers for more shine.  While that dried, I went to work on my background glitter panel.  I started by embossing some polka dots on white card stock.  Next, I die cut my rectangle, then lightly tapped my glue pad on the embossed panel.  Next, I added my glitter and shook off the excess.  Surprisingly, it worked pretty well.  I was kind of thinking I might end up with quite a mess, and I did have glitter everywhere (I think that is pretty normal when one is working with glitter though, right?)  but overall, I think it turned out ok.  I actually wanted to use a Versamark pad and heat and stick powder to adhere the glitter, but alas, my Versamark pad was dry!  Sooo, in came the glue pad.  I think you can see the glitter shimmer in the photos.  The rest of the card came together quickly with a couple of patterned papers, some stitching and then my card base.  The sentiment is from the same stamp set.  The finished card size is 3 3/4" x 6 7/8".  **Little tip here....If you want to make a card base that is larger than an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of card stock will accomodate, try this.....instead of cutting then scoring your paper to make your card base from a single piece, cut two equal panels from your paper, on one of the panels score a horizontal line about 1/2" from the top and then adhere the two panels together at the top...instant card base!  You won't have a fold, but instead you will have your two panels adhered across the top....the score line you made will act as a hinge.  This does decrease the inside dimensions of your card, but not enough to really make a difference.  Then I just adhere my assembled stitched and colored card panel onto my card base....this keeps any stitching from showing on the inside of the card and makes everything all neat and tidy!  :)

Can you ever have too many polka dots?  Nah.... :)  These gerberas look positively prissy, don't you think?  Well, that is all for my card today, but as always, my Bloomie sisters have created some mighty spectacular cards for your Power & Spark inspiration....so make sure you take a peek and say hi while you're there.  Then, why don't you get crafting on your own masterpiece and come play along with us...the challenge runs all month and you could win a prize!  Yay!  We always love seeing what you create, so c'mon!  Thanks so much for popping in and I hope you'll stop by again soon...until then, take care!

Allison Cope 

Christine Okken 

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

~Katie

Supplies: Image and sentiment- Power Poppy's Dynamic Duos: Glads and Gerberas stamp set;  Paper-Rustic White Cardstock from Papertrey Ink, Red polka dot paper from Recollections,and blue print from My Mind's Eye; Ink- Memento's Tuxedo Black; Dies- Spellbinders' Long Classic Rectangles Large; Other- White Stampin' Chalk marker and Baja Breeze seam binding ribbon from Stampin' Up!, Atyou Spica glitter pens in Clear and Gold, Ranger Glossy Accents, Tsukineko's Essential Glue Pad, Martha Stewart's Glitter in Crystal Fine, Lifestyle Crafts "Spotted" embossing folder, and these Copic colors- BG70, BG72, BG75, BG90, BG93, BG96, BG99, R20, R22, R24, R29, R32, E02, E50, YG21, YG25, Y13, Y18, and Y26.