Power Poppy's September Power & Spark Challenge~Let's Hit the Books!

Hello there and happy September to all of you!  Can you believe that we are already in to September?  Where did the summer go?   Although, I will miss those lazy summer days, I have to admit that I love Fall and all the wonderful things that come with the season!  Cooler temperatures, shorter days, falling leaves, football games, and the giddy feeling I get with the back to school rush.  Call me sentimental, but even after more years than I care to admit since I’ve been in school, I still feel the need to go shopping for pencils, pens, paper pads, books, and all of the fun little things that you do to prepare for a new school year!  It's also time for a new Power Poppy Power & Spark Challenge....and I get to be the hostess!  So how about a challenge that will inspire you to “Hit the Books”?  

You can use an image containing books, or how about a neat book print designer paper, or even create a book mark or book cover?  Whatever you decide, just make sure your inspiration is book related!  

So, for my project I decided to make a book cover and book mark.  Did you ever have to make book covers for your school books?  I used to look forward to covering and decorating my books each year!  I started by covering my little book with some craft wrapping paper and then made a belly band with a couple of patterned papers and some machine stitching for my book front.  Next, I printed an image and sentiment from Power Poppy's digital stamp set Apples in Season on to white card stock and colored it with Copics.  After die cutting my image, I layered it with some green card stock and adhered it to my book cover.

For my book mark, I die cut kraft and white card stock and stamped an apple image from the Farmer's Market stamp set and a sentiment from the Lilac Time stamp set.  After coloring the image with Copics, I assembled my book mark, added a bit of patterned paper and green card stock, and finished it with some ribbon.

Don't you just love those beautifully drawn apples and lovely sentiment?  The detail Marcella added to those apples is amazing!

I can't wait to curl up with my little book and "enjoy the moment"!  :)  That is all for my project today, but some of my Bloomie sisters have some lovelies to share with you so make sure you check them out and leave a little blog love while you are there.  I thank you so much for stopping by today and I hope that you will play along with us in our September Power & Spark Challenge this month.  Just link up your project on the Power Poppy blog for your chance to win a $50 gift code!  I can't wait to see what you create.  I hope you have a great weekend and I hope you will stop by again soon...until then, take care.  :)

Allison Cope 

Christine Okken  

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


~Katie


Copic markers used for book cover:  R30, R32, R35, R37, R39, BV02, BV13, RV23, RV29, E40, E42, YG0000, YG21, YG61, YG63, YG67, YG91, G29, C00, C2, C4

Copic markers used for book mark:  R30, R32, R35, R37, R39, BV02, RV23, RV29, YG0000, YG21, YG61, YG63, YG67, G29, BG0000, BG000, B00, E40, E42, E44, E51, E55, E57, E59, 

Happy Power Poppy Friday~February 9th!

Hello there and happy Friday!  I have a quick little post to share with you today featuring Power Poppy's new digital stamp set, Va Va Valentines!  This digital set has six adorable images with accompanying sentiments and four additional sentiments for the inside of your card..... all for the limited time price of $6!  If you haven't already, you really need to grab this set up!  I chose to use the precious sock couple image with sentiment for a special valentine for Mr. Sims!  ;)

I started by sizing the image and printing it twice...once for my card panel and the other to fussy cut the socks.  I colored the socks with Copics and fussy cut them.  Once I die cut my image panel, I colored the sentiment, sponged some ink around, stitched on some patterned paper, and adhered the fussy cut socks.  I added some shimmer and shine to the socks with a Wink of Stella clear brush pen and a Sakura Glaze pen so I could play along with Power Poppy's newest Power & Spark challenge hosted by the incredibly talented and super sweet Kathy Jones!  You can see all of the details about the challenge here.   All that was left was to adhere the assembled panel to my die cut card base.

Yes, indeed.....I am SO happy I found him and so happy to have the perfect image for his valentine.  That Marcella is definitely a romantic at heart.....the entire set is darling!  

So that is all for my little card today, but several of my Bloomie sisters have some beautiful cards to share for your Friday inspiration.  Make sure you leave a little blog love while you are there.  Thank you so much for stopping by today and I hope to see you around again really soon.  Until then, take care!  :)

Allison Cope 

Christine Okken 

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

~Katie

Happy Power Poppy Friday with Sweet Peas!

Hello there and a Happy Friday to you!  I hope all is well with you.  Today I have a card to share using Power Poppy's new digital stamp set, Sweet Pea Show.    

For my card, I started by printing my image and coloring it with Copics.  After that, I die cut my image panel.  I stamped my sentiment from the Farmer's Market stamp set and then sponged some Ranger Distress ink in Frayed Burlap around the panel.  Then, I trimmed some patterned papers with a paper trimmer and die cut my card base.  I thought it might be fun to wrap a patterned paper around the folded edge to mimic book binding.  I distressed a lot of the paper edges with Papertrey Ink's Chamomile and Chai inks, then added a little stitching and assembled my layers.  I added a ribbon and some shimmer to the blooms with a Wink of Stella clear pen.  This is an A2 sized card.

Those have got to be the most darling sweet pea blooms ever!  And just look at those wee little tendrils reaching up to the sun....my goodness, it just doesn't get any sweeter than that!  Do you suppose that is how they got their name?  One has to wonder.....:)

I cannot get over all of the intricate details Marcella managed to pack into this image....and as always, it was a dream to color up!

So that is all for my card today but several of my Bloomie sisters have created some pretty spectacular cards for your creative inspiration.  Make sure you check them out and leave a little (or a lot) of blog love while you are there.  :)  I am so glad you were able to stop by today and I look forward to our next visit.  Until then, take care!

Allison Cope 

Christine Okken 

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

~Katie

Supplies not listed above:  Paper- Rustic White card stock from Papertrey Ink, patterned floral paper from BasicGrey's "Sweet Threads" 6x6 paper pad, dotted patterned paper from My Mind's Eye's Lost & Found "Blush" 6x6 paper pad; Ink-Memento's Tuxedo Black ink, PTI's Smokey Shadow ink for the sentiment; Other- PTI's Noted: Scalloped A2 Vertical die set and ribbon, and these Copic colors: G000, YG21, YG23, YG25, YG67, YG91, RV10, RV21, RV23, RV25, RV29, RV52, RV55, RV63, RV66, RV69, RV99, V91, V93, V95, and V99.

Happy Power Poppy Friday with New Digi sets AND a Sale!

Happy Friday to you and welcome!  I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.  Today I have a gift tag to share with you featuring one image in a set from one of the newest additions to the digi family, Whimsical Wreaths-Boxwood and Cranberry.  There are actually four, yes... four, botanical frames digital sets being released each with their own sentiments that you can mix and match between the different sets to create tags, cards, or whatever else your little heart desires.  Purchase all four sets and the possibilities are truly endless! 

With a sale like this, how can you not grab all four sets for your holiday crafting? ;) I chose to use the boxwood with cranberries image set to use as a gift tag for a little something for my sweet hubby.

My gift bag is a simple paper bag with the top fan folded.  I printed my digi with sentiment and colored it with Copics and then die cut it using a Spellbinders Classic Square Large die.  Next, I added some sponging around the outside edge of the boxwood trim with Ranger's Distress Ink in Peeled Paint while it was still in the die.   A little shimmer on the berries with a Wink of Stella clear brush pen and some gold leafing around the edge with a Krylon 18KT Gold Leafing pen finish off the image panel.  I used a Papertrey Ink die, Tag Sale: Quilted die, for the tag base.  My image panel is layered with some green card stock and then popped up with foam dimensionals on the tag base.  I used some cream burlap ribbon to act like a belly band to hold the bag closed and tied my tag to it with some red gingham ribbon and button accent.  You can easily slip the whole ribbon assembly off and get to the contents of the bag. :)

Don't you just love this sweet little boxwood frame?!  You can easily mass produce plenty of tags with this darling digi set....and just wait til you see the other images!  All are just as adorable as can be!  Marcella really put so much detail in to all of the images....and since they are digis, you can make them any size you need!  Pretty amazing, right?!

Well, that is all for my post today, but please make sure you check out all of the digi goodness from my Bloomie AND Instant Gardner sisters today.....I know they have lots of pretties to share for your creative inspiration.  Make sure you leave them a little blog love while you are there...then, check out the Power Poppy site for the amazing sale for Black Friday!  

I am so glad you were able to stop by today.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend and until next time, take care!  :)

Jennifer Dove

Broni Holcombe

Cheryl Scrivens

Debbie Olson

Nancy Sheads 

Christine Okken 
Cindy Lawrence
Katie Sims <------You are here
Stacy Morgan 
Tosha Leyendekker

  ~Katie

Copic colors used:  G40, G43, G46, YG21, R20, R21, R27, R29, and RV55.

Happy Power Poppy Friday!

Hi there and Happy Good Friday to you!  I can hardly believe that this weekend is Easter!  Spring is definitely making its presence known around here.....the dogwoods and azaleas in our yard are in full bud..it won't be long now!  For my project this week, I pulled out one of Marcella's new digital images Spring Meadow.....this beauty is the poster image of Spring time, don't you think?  :)  I decided to enlarge the image so I could make some really pretty tags.  I had recently purchased a gift and the store wrapped it in the prettiest gift bag and raffia....all it needed was the perfect tag, and what is more perfect that a Marcella floral?  I'll let you be the judge....

Yes, the bag is pretty....but just take a look at Marcella's lovely handiwork as a tag....I think it really makes it!  I went ahead and did a set of three because tags are so much fun and this image was even more fun to color!  :)

I colored all three tags with Copic markers and added shimmer with my Wink of Stella Clear Brush pen.  I also added a dash of Copic opaque white to get back a few of my highlights after I sponged the tags with Ranger's Distress Ink in Stormy Sky.

I used sentiments from Power Poppy's Bloomin' Wonderful, Planning for Magnolias, and Springtime Love stamp sets.  The ribbons and tag die are from Papertrey Ink.  The buttons are from Stampin' Up!  So that is all for my post today, but make sure you check out what my amazingly talented Bloomie sisters have created for your inspiration and leave a little blog love while your there!  I am so glad you were able to stop by for a visit today.  I hope you have a wonderful Easter and until next time, take care!  

Allison Cope 

Cindy Lawrence     
Katie Sims <------You are here
Leslie Miller  
Tosha Leyendekker

~Katie

Copic colors used:  RV21, RV25, RV29, RV52, RV55, RV66, G28, G40, G43, G46, YG11, YG13, YG17, Y08, Y17, E39, B91, B95, B97, V20, V22, V25, V28, BV17, C1, C2, and C4.

Wishing you a Rosy Friday!

Hello there and Happy Friday to you!  Did you happen to catch Marcella's newest digital image release earlier this week on the Power Poppy blog?  Mercy, those roses are incredible!  The Instant Gardeners had many beautiful cards to share and today, the Bloom Brigade gets to play with this beauty!  So. let's take a peek at Everything's Rosy, shall we?

I just have to say...this image was so.much.fun to color!  I decided to try and color up some of the roses like ones in my mama's yard.  She has one variety that has the most incredible yellow blooms with red-orange tinged edges.  I wish I knew what the name of that variety is!  This rose bush has gotten quite large and every year we find a bird's nest in its branches.  It blooms like crazy all summer and the blooms are so vivid in color.  I think I got pretty close to the colors for it here...the other blooms I colored are in a coral red hue.  The image was printed on Rustic White card stock from Papertrey Ink.  My Copics got quite a workout with this image....I will post the long list of markers I used below.  (My only defense is when I have an image of this magnitude, I get giddy and it brings out the little girl in me....you know, the one that wants to color with every crayon in the box.....lol!  Can you relate?) The mug on the left reminded me of an old metal mug, so I colored it up like that.  I consulted the a-mazing Jennifer Dove's Color of the Day color schemes and found one for aged tin that I thought would fit well here. I did add a couple of additional colors to give it a little extra age. :)

 Once I colored my image, I die cut it out using a Spellbinders Grand Squares die (the smallest one in the set).  Next I stamped the sentiment from the Poppies stamp set with Memento's Tuxedo Black ink.  I added some gold leaf edging to my image panel with a Krylon 18KT Gold Leafing pen and some sparkle to the blooms with a Wink of Stella Clear Brush pen.  The rest of the card is made using some layers cut with a trimmer to frame out the image panel.  The patterned paper is from  Teresa Collins' "Fabrications" 6x6 paper pad and the red card stock is Pure Poppy from Papertrey Ink.  The finished card is just shy of 5" square.

That Marcella really pulled out all of the stops for this stunning image...one bloom simply would not do!  No, she created five beauties complete with this darling cup and saucer, another charming mug, several rose buds and a few stray petals.....sigh......a bloom lover's dream image if there ever was one!  :)  I can practically smell the sweet, spicy scent of these lovelies, can't you?

So, that is all for my card today, but several of my Bloomie sisters have created cards a-plenty for your creative inspiration.  Make sure you leave them a little blog love while you visit, then if you haven't made this gorgeous digital image your own yet.....what are you waiting for?  It's available now.....just think, you could be printing and coloring this image up in a matter of minutes!  :)  I am so happy you were able to stop by for a visit and I hope you'll pop in again soon!  Until then, take care.

Christine Okken 

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

~Katie

Copic colors used:  R30, R32, R35, R37, R39, B63, YR23, YR30, YR31, Y15, Y19, E40, E41, E43, E44, E47, E51, E55, E57, E59, YG61, YG63, YG67, YG91, BG70, BG72, BG75, BG78, G20, G28, C0, C3, C5, C7, W00, W0, W3, and W5.

It's a Power Poppy Friday with a New Digital Image!

Hi there friend and a very happy Friday to you!  Hope you have had a wonderful week.  Today is another Power Poppy Friday and it just so happens to also be a "Digis on the 5's" day!  I chose to create a card using today's sweet digi image.  This one will certainly have you humming a Christmas carol or two.....say hello to Glittering Glass Santa!

Is that not the sweetest little Santa ever?  He was such fun to color too!  This little digi set comes with the darling Santa image you see here and also a pretty sentiment complete with berry sprig.  I started by printing my image on to white card stock and coloring him up with copics.  Next I die cut him using a Spellbinders Classic Oval Large die, used a Krylon Silver leafing pen around the edges and put it aside.  I die cut my card front using Spellbinder's Matting Basics B set and then laid a Marianne die resembling a pine bough on there and dry embossed it randomly on the card front.  After that, I stitched a bit of green patterned paper and stamped my sentiment from the Poinsettia stamp set.  I went over the embossed pine boughs with my Wink of Stella clear brush pen to give a subtle sparkle.  To mat my image oval I die cut two green card stock ovals using Spellbinders' Floral Ovals and  Deckled Edge Classic Oval Large sets.  I used a little Papertrey Ink Fresh Snow ink to sponge around the deckled edge of one of the ovals.  To finish my image off, I watered down a little Viva Cream Pearl Pen and lightly brushed it over the ornament, then added Ranger Glossy Accents over if for extra shine.  I was trying to give it that pearlized sheen that you see on so many of those vintage glass ornaments.  I think it worked pretty well. I actually patterned this card layout after another card I did not long ago...you can see that post here.

I had a hard time capturing the sparkle from the embossed pine boughs but hopefully you can catch a glimpse of it in one of the photos.  

I really am quite smitten with this sweet image...and I know you will be too!  That's all for my card today but make sure you see what some of my Bloom Brigade sisters have created for your Friday inspiration and leave a little blog love while you're there.  Thanks so much for stopping by today and until next time, take care!  :)

Allison Cope

Cheryl Scrivens 

Christine Okken 

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

~Katie

Copics used:  W0, W1, W4, C00, C3, BG70, BG72, BG75, BG90, BG93, B0000, R30, R32, R35, R37, R39, E000, E11, YG61, YG63, YG67, YG93

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!  :)

Allison Cope 

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.

Power Poppy's December Release- Day 2

Hello there to you and welcome back for Day 2 of December's all digital release at Power Poppy!  Didn't you just love that sweet Winter Pick-Me-Up bouquet from yesterday?  Well hold on to your hats because that Marcella has got another beauty just waiting for her debut...Camellias.

Have I ever told you about my love affair with Camellias?  No?  It's almost as bad as my azalea obsession, almost.  I have five of these beauties in different varieties in my yard right now and have plans to add a few more in the coming seasons.  Several months ago we were asked to share a photo for the Bloom Brigade debut and the photo needed to depict us doing something dear to us....well, here was my photo and yep.....that is one of my big ol' Camellias that I am pruning!  (I am also wearing my Georgia Bulldogs shirt but after yesterday's game, that is a subject still way too painful to discuss).

So you can imagine my excitement when Marcella showed us this image.  I am really itching to get a variegated Camellia....I think those are so striking, so when I saw this image I knew immediately I wanted to color one of the two varieties in this image as a variegated bloom.  

And here she is in all her glory....Marcella made me one happy girl, for sure!!  Just look at all of that gorgeous detail...again, a true dream to color up because of all of the shading cues in the image.  I used many Copics to color this image and then I used a die cut for my main panel.  Next, I printed the sentiment and used a couple more die cuts to layer it.  For my card base, I kept it to a few very simple layers and some stitching....no ribbon on this one because I did not want to cover up one tiny bit of those beautiful blooms.  I did pull out my Krylon 18KT gold leafing pen.....I mean, if Camellias don't deserve a little gold leafing, then I don't know what does!  ;)  And if gold leafing wasn't enough, I added some shimmer to the blooms with a Atyou Spica clear glitter pen.  Remember, these are Camellias!  :)

How about that sweet sentiment?  Life certainly is better with friends!  I know I am blessed to have several dear friends in my life.  Speaking of friends, don't forget to check out what my incredibly talented Bloom Brigade sisters have created for you....I can't wait to see for myself!  I know it will be swoon-worthy, for sure!  I am so glad you could stop by today and remember, tomorrow is the Power Poppy Blog Hop, so you will have another look at what the Bloom Brigade has been up to for your inspiration.  Hope to see you back here soon, and until then...take care! :)

Allison Cope 

Christine Okken   
Dina Kowal  
Julie Koerber 
Kathy Jones 
Katie Sims <------You are here
Leslie Miller 
Stacy Morgan 
Tosha Leyendekker
and .....
Marcella Hawley

~Katie

Supplies:  Image and sentiment from Power Poppy's new digital set, Camellias; Paper-Classic White card stock from Flourishes, Naturals White card stock from Stampin' Up!, pink paper from my stash, and patterned papers from My Mind's Eye's Miss Caroline "Dolled Up" 6x6 paper pad; Ink- HP printer, Ranger Distress inks in Antique Linen and Tumbled Glass; Dies-Spellbinders' Labels Twenty Two, Grand Squares, Grand Scalloped Squares, Classic Oval Large, and Deckled Edge Classic Oval Large; Other- Krylon 18KT Gold Leafing pen, Stampin' Up!'s Dotted Scallop Ribbon border punch, and these Copic colors- R000, R20, R22, R24, R27, R30, R32, R35, R37, R39, RV69, W00, W2, W5, C1, B0000, E43, E55, E59, Y08, Y17, YG61, YG63, YG67, YG91, G20, G21, G24, and G28.