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

Power Poppy's August Stamp Release~Day One!

Hi there and welcome!  I hope this day finds you well.  Today marks the start of Power Poppy's August Stamp Release- the Nature and Nurture Collection.   So how about a little Prairie Cheer to kick things off today?

I chose to go with the wheat image in the set for my card today...

I started by stamping the wheat image a few times with Memento's Rich Cocoa ink on some Papertrey Ink Rustic Cream card stock.  I colored the image with Copics and then ran it through my Spellbinders Grand Calibur with a PTI wood grain impression plate.  Next, I die cut a circle out using Spellbinders Classic Circle Large set.  I used some PTI Chai and Chamomile inks to give an aged look to the panel, added some shimmer with a Wink of Stella Clear brush pen, then added some gold leafing to the interior of the circle cut out with a Krylon 18KT gold leafing pen.  Next, I stamped a sentiment from the Olive and Oak Expanded stamp set with Stampin' Up!'s Cajun Craze ink onto some more cream card stock and adhered it to my image panel.  After that, I stitched some patterned paper from Authentique's "Thankful" 6x6 paper pad and then adhered everything to a card base of PTI's Dark Chocolate card stock.  To finish it off, I added some gold thread and buttons.

You can't tell in the picture, but that shimmer from the Wink of Stella pen really makes the wheat pop.  Don't you just love all of the detail in this beautiful image?  I don't know how Marcella does it!  The finished card size is 3 3/4" x 4 5/8".   And here is a little view of the inside of the card.  The sentiment is another from the Olive and Oak Expanded set and the wheat was stamped in PTI's Classic Kraft ink...

So that is all for my card today, but my Bloomie sisters have once again created  quite a display of lovely cards for your inspiration.  Make sure you check them all out and leave a little blog love while you are there.  Then, please come back tomorrow for Day 2 of Power Poppy's Release...I think you will be very happy to see this familiar image!  :)  Make sure you also check out all of the festivities on the Power Poppy blog!  Until tomorrow, take care....

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

~Katie

Copic colors used:  Y18, Y21, Y26, E87, E89

It's the Power Poppy October Blog Hop!

Hello there!  I'm so glad you could stop by today!  Power Poppy's October Blog Hop is today and you know what that means....all of the gorgeous stamps you have been seeing this week are now available for purchase in the Power Poppy Store!  Yay!  But before you jet outta here, let me show you what I made using the incredibly detailed Olive and Oak Expanded stamp set...k?

This glorious set is an expansion of the wildly popular Olive and Oak digital image.  We have all seen some amazingly colored samples from not only the Bloom Brigade but also our sister team the Instant Gardeners.....man did they ever show this image off to perfection!  Soooo, I thought that I might do something a little different here.  I took a page out of the incredibly talented and super sweet  Cheryl Scrivens' design book and kept this image fairly simple.  She had designed a card with this set and left it completely uncolored and it was fabulous!  Here is the link to that beauty!  For mine, after stamping my image in Memento's Tuxedo Black ink, I just colored the acorns and olives.  I did a fair amount of sponging with Papertrey Ink's Chai and Chamomile inks and also a little Ranger Distress Ink in Frayed Burlap.  My sentiment was stamped with Stampin' Up!'s Cajun Craze ink.  I spritzed some ink from SU!'s Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake, and Pumpkin Pie markers around the leaves for a hint of color.  To finish this card off I rounded the top right corner , stitched a strip of patterned paper from Papertrey Ink and added some PTI ribbon in Terracotta Tile.  Oh...I also added sparkle around the image with my Wink of Stella Clear glitter pen.

Talk about a quickie card here.....it came together in a snap!  You could very easily mass produce this for your Fall card making.

I don't think I was able to get a shot so you could see the sparkle, but it is there...I promise! :)  

That is all for my card today but make sure you check out what all of my Bloomie teammates created for you using all of the new additions to the Happiest Holiday Collection.  You are in for a real treat...and then after that, you can make some of these amazing sets your very own...like, today!  I am so glad you were able to stop by today for a visit.  I hope you have enjoyed seeing this new release as much as we have enjoyed creating projects for you!  Until next time, take care..... :)

Allison Cope 

Christine Okken 

Cindy Lawrence    
Julie Koerber 
Kathy Jones 
Katie Sims <------You are here
Leslie Miller 
Stacy Morgan 
Tosha Leyendekker
and Marcella Hawley

~Katie

Supplies not listed above:  Paper-Rustic White card stock from Papertrey Ink; Other-We R Memory Keepers 1/2" Corner Chompers and these Copic colors-E23, E27, E30, E33, E37, E70, E77, and E79.