Wishing you a Merry Christmas with a Power Poppy favorite!

Hello there and happy Friday to you!  Can you believe that we are just a few short days away from Christmas??!!  Where did this year go?  Do you feel like we must've missed a couple of months along the way too?  How in the world are we already so close to the end of another year?  To wrap up the crafty year at Power Poppy, our darling Julie Koerber thought it would be fun to highlight a favorite past Christmas project.    I can think of oodles of Christmas favorites that I have seen my incredible Bloomie sisters create....I mean, seriously....these ladies constantly amaze and inspire me!  Not to mention our dear Bloom Whisperer herself, Marcella, from whom all swoon-worthy, amazingly detailed, and  gorgeous botanical images flow.  Where it becomes a little more difficult for me is when it comes to picking out a favorite project of my own!  Hmmmm, do you find that you too are way more critical of your own work?  What is up with that?  

So, for my favorite, I actually decided to choose a card that I really stepped out of my comfort zone on in terms of color choices.  What made me think of a black background for a Christmas card, I really can't say.  I can tell you that while I was coloring this card up, I must've asked myself a dozen times if I had lost my mind....I can also say that a couple of times when said background was looking quite scary, I came very close to filing it in the circular file....you know the file, right?  ;)  In the end, I am glad that I saw it through.  I will definitely try a dark, dramatic background again....and maybe next time, it wont be quite so scary. :)  In any event, the true star here is Marcella's incredibly gorgeous and truly dreamy image from her Winter Wonderland stamp set.  An inspiration from her own wedding bouquet, this Christmas bouquet is definitely a show stopper!  If you don't have this set yet, you really should add it to your "short" list!  :)    You can find all of the card details from this earlier post here.

Here is one last little lookie and this glorious image that Marcella has created just for us....

I am so happy you stopped by here today for a visit.  Please know that I am wishing you the Merriest Christmas ever.  I hope that you have an abundance of time spent with family and friends and also time to just relax and enjoy the true reason for this season.  Your visits here, as well as your encouraging comments and emails have meant more to me than you can imagine.  I am certainly feeling blessed for all of your kindnesses.  Enjoy this beautiful holiday and I look forward to your next visit soon....until then, take care.  :)

Allison Cope 

Christine Okken 

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

~Katie

Happy Power Poppy Friday~December 15th

Hello there and a very happy Friday to you!  I hope you have been doing well.  It has been hectic around here with all of the hustle and bustle of getting ready for the holidays...but I am betting it is that way for you too, right?  :)  Well in the midst of our craziness around here, I got to spend a little time in my craft room getting this card ready for today's post.  It features an image from one of Power Poppy's newest holiday stamps, Under Glass: Christmas Traditions and a sentiment with a few snowflake images from one of last season's holiday sets, Action Santa.  Marcella's darling Santa feeding a reindeer image stole my heart at first sight!  

Now I ask you, is that not the most precious little Santa?  AND the reindeer too!  I started by stamping my image and sentiment on a trimmed card stock panel.  Next, I colored my image up with Copics, then stamped some snowflakes around, and finally added some distress ink to the edges and shimmer with my Wink of Stella clear brush pen.  I couldn't resist the urge to spritz a few inks around with a spritzing tool and round the bottom corners to add a little more interest.

After all of the coloring details were done, I stitched some patterned papers that I trimmed and pinked with shears to the top and added a bright red ribbon and a bit of string with buttons knotted on the tails.  Not a single die was used for this card!  :) Lastly, I adhered the finished panel to a card base.  This card measures 3 3/8" x 4 7/8".

He's feeding the reindeer apples!  How precious is that?!  I really am constantly amazed at what Marcella creates....where on earth does she come up with all of these sweet details?  I sure am glad she does though!  :)

So that is all for my card today but some of my Bloomie sisters have whipped up a few little show stoppers for you to see....so make sure you check out all of their crafty goodness and leave a little blog love while you are there.  Oh, and hey...if you didn't catch all of the Twelve Days of Christmas festivities on the Power Popy blog, you really should do that!  It is chock full of incredible Christmas crafty inspiration over twelve days and you can play along! Did I mention there is a prize?  :) Make sure you check out all of the details here.  Marcella has created a spot on the blog where you can see all twelve projects here.  I am so happy that you could stop by today and I hope that I'll be seeing you around here again real soon....until then, take care!  :)

Allison Cope 

Christine Okken 

Katie Sims <------You are here 
Stacy Morgan 

~Katie

Supplies used not listed above:  Ink-Memento's Tuxedo Black, Papertrey Ink's Chai and Chamomile, Stampin' Up's Baja Breeze; Paper-Rustic White card stock from PTI, patterned scraps from my stash; Other- Buttons and ribbon from PTI, corner rounder from We R Memory Keepers, SU! markers in Basic Gray and Tempting Turquoise, and these Copic colors-  E00, E11, E42, E50, E55, E57, E59, R20, R22, R24, R27, R9, B0000, B00, B02, B05, BG0000, BG000, BG10, BG72, BG75, Y21, Y26, YG21, YG23, YG25, YG61, YG67, N1, N3, N5, N9, C0, C1, C3, and W3.

Power Poppy's The Twelve Days of Christmas Challenge!

Hello there, and welcome to today's post kicking off  Power Poppy's December Power & Spark Challenge with our Twelve Days of Christmas twist!  Have you seen the goings on over at Bloom Central today?  This month's Power & Spark Challenge has been amped up times twelve!  Just take a lookie at this...

Here is what our fearless leaders, Marcella and Julie have to say about this fun challenge:

As visions of sugar plums dance in your heads, is the paper still flying in your crafting spaces? If you love to put a colorful and personal spin on your holiday creations, we love to hear it and we’re here to help! For the next week and a half, get ready for Power Poppy’s festive and fun take on the 12 Days of Christmas – a time to get inspiration to deliver that homespun charm not only to your loved ones but around your home as well. Each day starting today, our designers will be sharing ideas on all kinds of projects from home décor to accents for your holiday dinner table to ideas on how to package up those holiday goodies with style! 

And guess what? If you play along with us during any one of the 12 days and try our project at hand, link up your creation HERE (include master link to December 1st post) and you’ll be in the running for our Power & Spark 12 Days of Christmas Challenge. That’s right – you’ll have 12 ways to enter. Play along once or try all 12 days for more chances to win a $50 shopping spree to the Power Poppy Shop! 

Now doesn't that sound like f-u-n?!  And it just so happens that I am the lucky girl that gets to kick things off today so let's get to it! :) I chose tags for my theme so I picked a stamp set I have been itching to get inky, Tweet Tidings, and whipped up three tags.  I did borrow a sentiment from another stamp set, Heaven and Nature Sing, for one of my tags.  So let me show you what I created using Marcella's darling images...

Only one of these tags is die cut from a tag die....the others are from different die cut shapes!  Don't limit yourself to a dedicated "tag" die because you can create a tag from any shape you choose....simply punch a hole in it and add a ribbon!  Ta DA!

For my first tag, I used a dedicated tag die for my base panel, then layered a trimmed patterned paper layer, and finally my image layer.  I stamped my images and sentiment using Versamark ink and heat embossed with white embossing powder to resemble a chalk board.  A little sponged white ink and some shimmer with a Wink of Stella pen finishes the image off....all that is left is to add a bright blue bow!

For my second tag, I used a combination of a trimmed card 
stock panel and a die cut panel and stitched them together to form a tag that opens like a top fold card.  The top border of my tag was cut with pinking shears.  My image was stamped and colored up with Copics then layered on the tag top layer with a bit of patterned paper, some pom pom trim, and stitching.  The bottom layer is stamped with my sentiment and some of those sweet musical notes.  The bottom edges were rounded with a Corner Chomper and the tag was softened up by sponging some white ink around the edges.  Once again, a little shimmer from a Wink of Stella pen to make the image really shine and to finish it off...a ribbon with a couple of berries and a boxwood twig.  

For my third tag, I stamped my image and sentiment then colored it up with Copics.  Next, I die cut my image with a stitched oval die, sponged a little ink around the edges, spritzed a little ink around, then followed it with some gold leafing.  I used a very fine grit sander to remove a little of the gold leafing....did you know that when you do that, you get the neatest aged look to the gold leafing?!  Seriously! :) I finished the tag by layering with a couple of die cut patterned papers, punching a hole in the top and adding a ribbon and twine.  

So that is all for my tags today but I hope that you will be inspired to look at your dies in a new way....as fun tag shapes!  I also hope that you will play along with us.....not only today but for the next twelve days!  Make sure you link up your gorgeous creations on the Power Poppy blog 'cause we want to see your beautiful work and you wouldn't want to miss out on a chance to win a prize!  Thanks so much for stopping by today and make sure you pop over to the Power Poppy blog  tomorrow for Day 2 of our Twelve Days of Christmas extravaganza hosted by the always charming and incredibly talented Stacy Morgan! Until then....take care! :)

~Katie


Supplies used not listed above:  Paper-Kraft card stock, Rustic White card stock, Basic Black card stock from Papertrey Ink, patterned papers from scraps; Ink-Memento's Tuxedo Black ink, PTI's Chai, Chamomile, and Fresh Snow inks, Tsukineko's Versamark  and Versafine  (Onyx Black) inks, Stampin' Up!'s Baja Breeze ink and Crumb Cake, Sahara Sands markers with Spritzing tool; Dies- PTI's Tag Sale Quilted Die, Mat Stack 5 dies, Half & Half dies and My Favorite Things Stitched Square die and Cross Stitch oval die; and these Copic colors:  B0000, B00, B01, B02, B05, BG0000, BG000, BG10, BG32, BG72, E40, E41, E43, E44, E50, E71, E74, E79, YG61, YG63, YG67, G29, R21, R32, R35, R59, C1, W1, W7, N3, N5, and N7.