Friday, February 20, 2015

A Power Poppy Friday with Lilacs!













Hello there everybody!  I hope you all have been doing well and staying warm wherever you are!  It has been right chilly here and I must say, we are not used to single digits!  My poor Camellias....they were about to bloom and now all of the leaves are curled up and the buds are frozen.  I hope once this cold snap passes some of the blooms will recover, but I don't know.....we'll just have to see.  Have you been keeping up with all of the fabulousness going on over at Power Poppy?  Those amazing Power Poppy Instant Gardeners have been at it again and heralded in one of the most beautiful digis evah....French Lilac.  I could not wait to get this one printed up and colored!




Now I ask you, have you ever seen a prettier lilac image?  Me either.  ;)  That Marcella definitely knows her blooms, doesn't she?   Lilacs come in a variety of colors so you could use this image again and again with several different color schemes!    Let me show you what I did using this amazing image.....



I chose to go with the more traditional lilac colors and stayed mostly in the violet family of Copics.  When I think of lilacs, I think of an abundance of blooms and that heavenly scent everywhere.  I wanted my card to be chock full of blooms so I added  just a few extra to anchor my image.  One might be surprised exactly how many of these little blooms it takes to fill the bottom left corner of an A2-ish sized card but I think it was totally worth it to make it feel like a huge bouquet of lilacs.  I crumpled my papers before I used my Martha Stewart 3 in 1 Hydrangea punch and then used a stylus on them to really rough them up.  Next, I sponged on a little PTI Fresh Snow ink and I think was able to pass these off as lilac blooms.....don't you?  ;)  After I colored my image, I sponged on some Ranger Distress Ink in Weathered Wood and spritzed some ink from markers around the blooms.  Then, I got ready to stamp my sentiment from Power Poppy's Farmer's Market set.  

Now here is where it gets interesting and it turns out I have a little survival tip for you.  I have tried to make it a practice to stamp my sentiment before I color my image because...well, bad things can happen if you don't (ask me how I know this).  I must not have been in my right mind, because I went ahead and colored up my image and then realized I hadn't put the sentiment on there....drat.  Sooo, I practiced stamping the sentiment more times than I care to admit here to make sure all would go well and on every one of the practice images it went beautifully.  So, I felt pretty confident going in that all would be ok.....and then......yep, it happened.  I stamped that sentiment, pulled up the stamp and from "Sweet" all the way to "Brighten" there was a stray black line, in what later was to be determined as a Miniature Longhaired Dachshund hair on my stamp (again, ask me how I know this...)  I was mortified.  I was just about to ditch the image and color up another one when I spied my Stampin' Up!  Stampin White Chalk Marker.  I thought, what the heck....so I dabbed it on the stray black Versafine ink line and O.M.Gosh.....it worked!  The photo below has not been touched up....this is how well that marker covered up my ooops.  Pretty cool, eh?  Tragic situation averted.....





I used my Krylon Silver Leafing pen for this image and popped it up on foam dimensionals so my gazillion punched lilac blooms could spill out around it.  The card itself is some very simple layers of patterned papers, card stock, and a bit of stitching....but I think that this card would still count as reasonably flat for mailing!  :)  Oh, I did use some Tsukineko Shimmer Mist on the punched lilac blooms and then my Atyou Spica clear glitter pen for the centers of the colored blooms.  So there you have it, a fabulous French Lilac digital image, a semi flat card for mailing, a new anecdote for your card emergency tool box, and one very relieved card maker since every thing worked out ok....lol.  I sure have enjoyed your visit here today and I hope you will be able to pay all of my sweet and uber talented Bloom Brigade sisters a visit.....they have lots of lilac goodness just waiting for you to see!  Make sure you leave them a little love, while you're there, k?  I hope you have a wonderful rest of the week and weekend and until next time....take care!  :)


Christine Okken 
Cindy Lawrence  
Dawn Burnworth  
Julie Koerber 
Kathy Jones 
Katie Sims <------You are here
Leslie Miller 
Stacy Morgan 
Tosha Leyendekker

~Katie

Supplies not listed above:  Paper:  Naturals White, colored card stocks, and striped patterned paper from Stampin' Up!. Classic White card stock from Flourishes, Music patterned paper from The Paper Studio; Dies:  Spellbinders' A2 Matting Basics sets A & B, Grand Scalloped Rectangles, Papertrey Ink's linen impression plate; Ink:  Tsukineko's Versafine ink in Onyx Black, Stampin' Up! markers in Sahara Sand, Basic Gray and Concord Crush and these Copic colors:  G40, G82, G85, G99, YG91, V0000, V01, V04, V05, V09, V12, V15, V17, BV01, BV02, and C5.

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Power Poppy's February Blog Hop!












Well, hi there and welcome back for Power Poppy's February Blog Hop!  I hope you have enjoyed all of the festivities this week with the new release which are available today in the Power Poppy store!  Yay!  I know we have had a blast sharing all of Marcella's beautiful work with you!  Today is also the day where we all get together for one last look at all of the new sets this month.  So why don't we just get to it, and go a-hoppin', shall we?




So, I decided to use the absolutely adorable new set, Potted Primroses.  I have never tried to grow these, but I can tell you that I am itching to get some after I surfed around the 'net looking at all of the gorgeous color varieties!  Mercy....have you ever seen such glorious color?  I was going through screen after screen of photos thinking how there were just a rainbow of color choices when it hit me.....why not try a rainbow?  Sooo, I did!  In thinking back, I am not sure I saw a green primrose, but in Katie's garden today, there is one.  ;)  Just work with me here.....lol.  I needed an inspiring, uplifting card for a friend and I thought this might work.  After all, even through the worst of storms we have the promise of a rainbow.  So, with that in my heart and mind, I used the sentiment "You Got This!" from another new set this month, Orchids Rock.




And wouldn't you know, the green primrose is front and center?!  I was hoping I could tuck it in to a corner, you know?  Kind of a nothing to see here, let's just keep moving along...but with the color order of a rainbow it is smack dab in the middle...just waving at you, right?  Oh well.  I stamped the single bloom from the set several times with Memento's Tuxedo Black ink, colored them in a rainbow of colors, and fussy cut them out.  For my flower centers I really wanted them to pop so I colored some Stampin' Up! gems with a YG25 Copic marker but before I adhered them to the centers I used some Tulip Slick fabric paint to put some white dots around the centers.  This paint is great for white detailing and the bottle has a fine point applicator on it so it worked like a charm! I also added some sparkle with my Atyou Spica clear glitter pen.  The card is some fairly simple, die cut, sanded, and stitched layers.  The papers are from two 6x6 pads...one from Echo Park called "Fine and Dandy" and the other from Carta Bella "Words of Love".  I die cut some cream felt with two Papertrey Ink cloud dies, and stitched them and a couple of buttons on to the card by hand.  ***I did have to perform a little surgery on the larger cloud die cuts and trim them down a bit to fit, but I think it worked out ok.





I think Marcella captured the sweetness of Primrose blooms perfectly.  The rest of the set comes with some other adorable images that beg to be colored...and mine will be, very soon!  ;)  

So, that is all for my card today.  I hope that you found a little inspiration here, but please...you simply must check out what my amazing Bloom Brigade team mates have created for you today....I just know they are gonna blow your socks off!  Make sure you leave them a little love while you are there. Once you are finished a-hoppin', remember....you can go a-shoppin' at the Power Poppy store for these new sets!  ;)   I am so glad you were able to pop in not only today, but all of this week, and share in the fun of this new release with us.  It's so much more fun with all of you!  I hope you have a wonderful day and until the next visit, take care!  ;)

Christine Okken 
Cindy Lawrence  
Dawn Burnworth  
Julie Koerber  
Katie Sims <------You are here
Leslie Miller 
Stacy Morgan 
Tosha Leyendekker
and .....
Marcella Hawley


~Katie

Supplies not listed above:  Ink-Papertrey Ink's Smokey Shadow, Chamomile and Fresh Snow;  Paper-Stampin' Up!'s Natural White and Basic Gray card stocks, Flourishes Classic White card stock;  Other-Spellbinders die set A2 Matting Basics A; Papertrey Ink's cream felt and buttons, and these Copic colors:  R11, R14, R17, R27, Y15, Y19, Y26, Y38, YG17, YG21, YG23, YG25, BV08, BV11, BV13, BV17, V12, V15, V17, V99, B221, B23, B24, B28, YR15, and YR18.