Happy Power Poppy Friday with a NEW Power & Spark Challenge!

Hi there and welcome!  I am so glad you could pop in for a visit!  Today I get to share a new Power Poppy Power & Spark Challenge with you!  I just so happen to be hosting May's challenge and I couldn't help but remember the adage, "April showers bring May flowers" so this challenge is to highlight a Marcella floral.  Hmmmmm, that will be a toughie, huh?  LOL.  The real challenge here is you have to declare a favorite...yep, choose your very favorite Power Poppy floral image to highlight on your card or project.  Choose a favorite....can it really be done?  Well, we are about to find out!  ;)

For my card, I used the Azalea stamp set for my image and the Best Day Ever set for my sentiment.  I have to say that I l-o-v-e every single one of Marcella's images but this one absolutely holds a very special place in my heart.  Living in Georgia, you can imagine that azaleas are a cornerstone to any landscape.  Matt and I particularly love them so we pretty much dedicated our front yard to the many different varieties of azaleas....at last count we had 74.  They have different bloom times so we end up seeing some sort of azalea blooming from around March until November!  Throw the camellias in the mix and we have something blooming pretty much all the time.  My daddy used to love red azaleas so that is how I chose to color this one up today....

I stamped my image and sentiment using Memento's Espresso Truffle ink onto Papertrey Ink's Rustic Cream card stock that was die cut with a die from Spellbinders' A2 Matting Basics A set.  Next, I colored my image with Copics, adding a little sponging with Ranger's Distress Ink in Iced Spruce.  I added some gold leafing with my Krylon 18KT gold leafing pen and then sanded the edges to distress the gold a bit. Next, I added a few strokes of my Wink of Stella clear brush pen to give those azalea petals some shimmer.  Then, I layered a Stitched Mini Scalloped rectangle die cut from My Favorite Things.  After that, I pieced together the next layer using papers from an old Basicgrey "Picadilly" 6x6 paper pad that I cut into random width strips.  I adhered them to more of the PTI card stock and then added some stitching to give it a quilty feel.  I feel pretty sure that quilty is not a true word, but it should be....don't you think?  :)  I wrapped some ribbon in "Fine Linen" from PTI around the layer and added a button and twine. Before I adhered my assembled image panel, I used a small Stampin' Up! circle punch to notch out a spot so I could nestle the panel up to my bow.  Lastly, I adhered it all to my 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" card base.

Is that not the most beautifully drawn azalea image of all time?  Marcella, I cannot thank you enough for bringing this bloom to life in a stamp.  Since I am highlighting azaleas today, I thought I would share a couple of pictures of azaleas from my yard this Spring....you probably noticed a couple of  the blooms in my card pictures....

This is a mix of two azalea varieties and a camellia that I managed to sneak in here.  :)  The white blooms are Gumpo White....a satsuki variety of azalea.  The pink bloom is a Wakaebisu, another satsuki variety.  Both of these are considered late bloomers here...both of these are just starting to bloom here.  The red bloom is actually a lone camellia bloom.  The camellias have been spent for a while but lo and behold, I saw this single blossom when I was gathering some azaleas for this photo so I just had to add her!  I just love the form of this bloom.....the tight cluster of center petals slightly resembles a carnation.  The name of this camellia variety is a japonica (large leaf variety that blooms around January here) and this particular japonica is called "Professor Sargent".  The deep red is truly stunning.  We have two of these espaliered next to our house at the front walk and when it is in full bloom it looks like a wall of red roses from a distance.  

Here is a photo of part of our front yard from this past early April when our Indica azaleas are in bloom.   The white blooms are called "Mrs. G.G. Gerbing" and the purple blooms are called "Formosa".  These azaleas are about five years old now and they will get quite large.  You can see a few dark pink blooms...those are from our Encore Azaleas "Autumn Rouge"....they bloom three times a year for us here and are a deep pink.  You have probably spied a few weeds here and there that made their way to the surface....I am a little mortified about them being in the photo, but let's just pretend those aren't there!  ;)  I fell behind in my gardening duties....lol.  On the far left is one of our Japanese Maples "Crimson Queen"...the leaves start out dark red to burgundy but in the summer heat they turn green then in the fall they darken back up before shedding them for winter.  You might also see a few dogwood blooms on one of our trees....they were just starting to bloom at this time.

So, that was a little more than you bargained for, I'm sure.  Thank you for indulging me with these photos....like I mentioned earlier, we are big azalea fans around here.  Well, that is all for my card today but some of my incredibly talented Bloomie sisters are playing along today so make sure you check out their lovely creations and leave a little blog love for them while you are there.....then, why don't you play along with us too?   You have all month to ponder on what your favorite Power Poppy floral is and create a project using that image.  Make sure you link up your project on the Power Poppy blog for a chance to win a stamp set of your choice!  :)  I can't wait to see what you create!  Thank you again for stopping by....I love your visits!  Until next time, take care!  

Allison Cope 

Christine Okken 

Cindy Lawrence    
Julie Koerber  
Katie Sims <------You are here 
Stacy Morgan 

~Katie

Copic colors used:  R11, R12, R14, R17, E70, E74, E79, YG21, YG61, YG63, YG67, YG91, G29, B000, B0000, and BG10.