A Little Friday Power & Sparklette!

Hi there and a very Happy Friday to you!  This month over on the Power Poppy blog, Marcella has been throwing challenges around right and left to get our creative energy a'flowin'...instead of one big Power & Spark Challenge that little genius came up with a few mini "Sparklette" challenges....how cute is that?!  I just love that girl!  :) I thought I would play along with this latest one..."Color Outside the Lines".  If you have not had a chance to check these out, you really should....good stuff for sure!

 Now, I have to warn you....this was a true challenge for me because I have really never been a color outside the lines kinda girl.  That beautiful free form sort of coloring style has always escaped me...hence my strained relationship with water colors.  I love the effect it gives but it has just not been a  technique that I have achieved.  Sooo, after I made a couple of attempts that ended up looking pretty much like a bad kindergarten project I decided to try a different view point....literally!  I took off my glasses which totally blurred the borders of the image and colored away.  A girl has gotta do what a girl's gotta do!  I was going for a loosely colored, almost watercolor effect, to my image....I don't think I quite got there but I did go back with a W1 Copic and added some outside the lines shading around my image.

To go along with my new found carefree coloring vibe, I did not keep up with the copic marker colors I used so I will not be able to note that below this post as I usually do...sorry about that! I was living in the moment....hee! I can share that the card is a simple image layer die cut with Spellbinders A2 Matting  Basics A set, a green background layer and my card base, which measures 3 1/2" x 4 5/8".  I stamped my image from the Olive and Oak Expanded stamp set with Memento's Rich Cocoa ink and the sentiment from this same set in Papertrey Ink's Cocoa Bean ink.  I used Ranger Distress Inks in Peeled Paint and Antique Linen to sponge some ink around my  image and then I used a Stampin' Up! spritzer tool and markers in Early Espresso and Old Olive to add some spatter marks.  To finish off the card, I added some shine with my clear Wink of Stella brush pen and then added some Ranger Glossy Accents to a few of the acorns and olives for some subtle dimension.

I think that sentiment is so adorable with the mixed fonts and Marcella's dreamy oak and olive image is just the thing to put you in a fall frame of being, don't you think?  :)

So that is all for my little card today, but I am sure that my Bloomie sisters have some incredibly beautiful cards to share with you today so go see....and leave them a little blog love while you are there!  And hey, why don't you give this great Power Poppy challenge, or any of the others this month, a try and play along with us?  There is going to be a prize awarded so what are you waiting for?  :)  Thank so much for stopping by today and I hope to see you again soon....until then, take care! 

Christine Okken 

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

~Katie

Hello Sunshine!

Hello there and a very Happy Friday to you!  I hope this day finds you well.  Have you got big plans for the weekend?  I do!!  This weekend is the opening weekend for college football and you know Matt and I will be cheering on our beloved Georgia Bulldogs!  Go DAWGS!!! :)  This will be a football weekend extravaganza, for sure!  I'm sure I'll be getting a little crafty time in too.  Speaking of, how about I share a little card I made for today's Power Poppy Friday?  I used the large sunflower image and one of the sentiments from the new In Praise of Sunflowers set.  I also used a partial sentiment from the Good Thinking: Love Notes stamp set.

I started by die cutting my image panel using a Spellbinders Matting Basics A die and stamping my image with Memento's Tuxedo Black ink.  I colored up my image with Copics then stamped part of a sentiment with Papertrey Ink's Smokey Shadow ink on to a strip of patterned paper from Teresa Collins' "Vintage Finds" 6x6 paper pad and secured it to my image panel with a bit of adhesive.  Next, I used my newest craft room acquisition, a MISTI, to stamp the other sentiment with more Smokey Shadow ink below my paper strip.  Then  I went ahead and stitched the sentiment strip in place.  Yep, the days of crooked sentiment stamping are over!  Well, if I remember to use the MISTI they will be over....if I convince myself that I can stamp straight without  it, then....you get the picture.  :) .  For my main card panel, I trimmed it to 3 3/4" x 5 3/8".  Then I added some green gingham patterned paper from Graphic 45's "Time to Flourish" 6x6 pad and stitched it in place.  I used a 1/4" corner rounder on the top corners and some Chai and Chamomile inks from PTI around some of the edges.  I trimmed, scored, and used the corner rounder on a card base the same dimensions as my largest panel and assembled everything.  To finish things off I used a Wink of Stella Clear brush pen on the sunflowers and an Atyou Spica pen in gold on the "Hello" to add some shimmer.

I would say that Marcella has really given these sunflowers their due praise, wouldn't you?  All of that lovely detail make this such fun to color!  

Well, that is all for my card today, but several of my incredibly gifted Bloomie sisters have some beautiful creations to share with you for your Friday card inspiration.  Make sure you leave them a little blog love when you visit.  I thank you so much for stopping by today and I hope that you have a wonderful weekend!  I hope you'll stop by again soon....until then, take care!  :)

Christine Okken 

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

~Katie

Supplies not listed above:  Rustic Cream card stock from Papertrey Ink and these Copic colors: Y17, Y18, Y21, YR23, YR24, YG61, YG63, YG67, YG91, G29, E21, E25, E27, E29, E39, and E49.