The Blossom Challenge: Eat Your Fruit and Veggies

Hello Power Poppy friends!  It’s Christine with you here today and we’re headed into harvest season this month with The Blossom Challenge and our theme “Eat Your Fruit and Veggies”.  Today I am showing off our “vegan” concept with two cards celebrating both gratitude and yummy fruit and veggies.

My first design showcases Power Poppy’s Cabbage Patch set.  Each of these cabbages or kale are coloured with Copic Markers and trimmed out.  I have more photos of this design on my blog, as well as a short tutorial on how I created the coordinating cabbage and kale background.  The mini-slimline size is perfect size for this design to make it feel long and lean, and with lots of room for the images, sentiment banner and background.  

The sentiment is from the polymer version of this set, which is embossed in white and inked in black below. I love all the rich green colour!  It’s the colour I love best!

Next up is a card with one of my favourite fall sets from Power Poppy called:  Pumpkins and Pears.

Marcy always does little vignettes so charmingly and they are such a delight to colour.  I started with Copics for this design and then finished off the colouring with Prismacolor Pencils to add in the fine details.  

The background is a Kraft panel that was masked off with tape and then Distress Oxide Ink was added (Crackling Campfire, Abandoned Coral, Fossilized Amber and Seedless Preserves).  After splattering with water and some white ink and it was dry,  I ran the panel through with a pierced die.  I love the look it gives. It’s finished off with some patterned paper, inked die cut leaves and enamel dots.  

Have you been eating your Fruits and Veggies?  How about creating a card with them?! 

Join us this month with a design using some form of Fruit or Vegetable in the card and at least one Power Poppy stamp.  The Challenge is open for a month and you could win a $20 gift card to the Power Poppy Store!  

To top it off, Marcy has a SALE on some of my favourite Fruit and Veggie themed digi stamps in the store if you’d like to add to your collection and play along!   

You have until October 16th to submit your link below.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Want to know the WINNER from our Sentimental Challenge last month?   Congratulations goes out to..... Maggie S ! Maggie, contact Marcy at bloom@powerpoppy.com to get your prize code!  We look forward to see what you create!  

Enjoy and be inspired with more Fruit and Veggie goodness from the Bloom Brigade playing along today.  

Gloria

Essie

Inspire Me Monday: Experimenting with a Copic Airbrush & Blender Solution

Happy Monday everyone!  I’m Allison Cope your hostess for today’s Inspire Me Monday!

Today I thought I’d do a little experimenting with you with some Copic related tools.  So I pulled out my Copic Airbrush System and some Copic Blender solution and had a go at it!  I also grabbed the fabulous “Cabbage and Kale” clear stamp set (Which is a STEAL right now in the Power Poppy Shop!!).

Come and join me at my desk as I use these tools to create a unique card front panel…

 Click here to view in HD.

Here’s a look at the final card…

I used the “Burst of Kindness” stamp set for my "Thank You" sentiment.

Thanks for joining me today!  I’d love to what you can make using these ideas today! 

Happy creating!

~ Ally ~


stamps: Power Poppy (Cabbage and Kale, Burst of Kindness)
cardstock: Recollections (110# White & 65# Black)
inks: Memento (Pistachio), Kraftin’ Kimmie Stamps (Wicked Black), Copic Markers, Copic Blender Solution, Polychromos Pencils
dots: Kraftin’ Kimmie Stamps (Party Time Dots)
tools: Copic Airbrush System

Inspire Me Monday: Pretty in Plaid!

Howdy all!  Happy Monday and welcome to another Inspire Me Monday!  I’m your hostess today, Allison Cope.

I do have to first apologize for my post being late.  Today is Thanksgiving Day here in Canada and I’ve had family here visiting all week so my crafty time was limited and I left my creative time until last minute.

Today we’re going to take about adding PLAID to all your creations! I don't’ know about you, but I LOVE plaid!  I could use it on my cards everyday!  I can be seasonally coloured, it can be bright and bold and subtle and soft.

For my first use of plaid, I have used my Copic Markers and have coloured in my rubber boot from the “Feeling Fall” stamp set using different shades of red, green and yellow.  Marcy’s image already indicates that these cute little fall wellies are covered with a plaid pattern so I went with it!  The grand sentiment on this card is from the “Chrysanthemum XL” stamp set.

Secondly, for your card creations try adding a fun plaid patterned paper.  Since my Mom, Mary, was visiting I persuaded her to accompany me in colouring and creating a card with me.  She chose the Autumn rubber boots image so I used the same stamp in my card too (above). She chose a sentiment from the “Under Glass” stamp set for her card.

And lastly, I wanted to create my very own plaid so I chose to work with the “Snuggle Down” stamp set which has 4 plaid making stamp images in it!  Brilliant right?!?!

I used a 1” wide masking tape and taped off stripes and inked them with Distress Oxide Inks first and then I added some of the striped stamped images over top to create that final plaid detail!  So cool!  I used the “Cabbage and Kale” stamp set to finish off my card.

So the next time you need some inspiration for your cards, think about using some PLAID!

Now go forth and create!  Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadians!

~ Ally ~

Inspire Me Monday: Coloring with ZIGs

Welcome to Inspire Me Monday!  I’m Allison Cope. Today I’ve gathered a variety of floral and other images stamps and were going to make a simple square card.  We’re going to be coloring in our images with ZIG Clean Color Real Brush Markers.

Come and join me at my desk and join along in the fun!

Click here for HD.

The gorgeous stamp sets that I used today included “Abundant Petals” (Maidenhair fern), “O Hoppy Day” (Wheat), “Succulent Singles” (2 Succulents), “Peony Muse” (Peony bloom & bud) and the “Cabbage and Kale” stamp set.

And here's a close up of all the different layers...

Thanks for joining me today!  I hope you enjoyed my card making process.  I'd love to hear what you think in the comment section below.

Happy crafting!

~ Ally ~


stamps: Power Poppy (Abundant Petals, O Hoppy Day, Succulent Singles, Peony Muse, Cabbage and Kale)

dies: Power Poppy (Abundant Petals Dies, Succulent Singles Dies,  Peony Muse Dies, Cabbage & Kale Dies), Catherine Pooler (Circle Dies) 
inks: Kraftin’ Kimmie Stamps (Wicked Black), Catherine Pooler (Flirty Fuchsia, Sweet Sixteen), ZIG Clean Color Real Brush Markers 
sequins: Pretty Pink Posh (Sparkling Clear)
cardstock: Recollections (110# White)
other: Stickles (Star Dust)

Inspire Me Monday: Playing with Oxides & Vellum

Howdy Power Poppy fans!  I’m Allison Cope and today on Inspire Me Monday I’m going to be making a couple of cards featuring Distress Oxides inks and vellum paper.

Today I’m featuring the new stamp set “Cabbage and Kale” that I know you’ll all fall in love with if you haven’t already seen it.

Now, grab a fun drink and meet me in my scraproom for a quick video tutorial…

Click to play in HD.

Now, let’s take a second look at those cards I made…

And here’s the second card I made using almost the exact same supplies.  I did add an additional Distress Oxide in “Dusty Concord” and some stitching to hold on my vellum brassicas.

Thanks for joining me today.   I hope I’ve inspired you to pull out some fun inks and some vellum for your next card.  And last but not least, Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadians today!  Have a great day everyone!

~ Ally ~


stamps: Power Poppy (Cabbage and Kale, Natural Beauties)
cardstock: Recollections (110# White), Catherine Pooler Designs (Smoke & Mirrors), Vellum (MFT)
inks: Versamark, Distress Oxides (Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves, Wilted Violet, Dusty Concord)
embossing powder: Stampendous! (Detail Copper)
dies:  My Favorite Things (Stitched Rectangles)
other: thread

Release Day AND Storewide Sale

Hello, everybody! We made it to our exciting release day for the Natural Wonders Collection of clear stamps. I sure have enjoyed showing off the Bloomies’ cards and reading your wonderful comments!! Thank you, thank you for each special word that was shared — if you left a comment on one of the Bloomies’ blogs, you’re in the running to win a stamp set — I'll announce the winners at 5pm central today. It’s not too late to comment! :) 

And oooOOOooo, here’s our big sale!

Use code WONDER15 at checkout to save 15% off your entire order — even sale items.

Now I’d like to share the inspiration for today’s reveal...

You can call it a fascination, obsession whatever you want, but I have a huge crush on ornamental cabbage and kale. In fact, the more research I’ve done and photos I’ve looked at, I’m convinced that they might be the coolest foliage plants in the world. Now that’s saying something! Usually in the fall, I’ll tuck a few in with the pumpkins on the stairs out front, but after researching for this stamp set, I feel like planting the entire front yard with purple and pink kale!

Introducing Cabbage and Kale

This stamp set is probably one of my favorite things I’ve ever drawn, my friends!! And surely it’s one of the most unique. I’ve already colored up a whole bunch of these things and started playing with them myself... 

Cabbage and Kale has four images of varying sizes — and I’m offering coordinating dies too! Whether you design a little garden straight out of a Beatrix Potter story, or layer them up in fun ways,  or make little round gift tags, these illustrations are just a blast to color and bring to life. I can't wait for you to see the Bloom Brigade’s cards — they are TOTAL SHOWSTOPPERS.

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Now let’s get to the BIG REVEAL of the full stamp sets in Natural Wonders — EVERYTHING is available for purchase in at powerpoppy.com

Chrysanthemum XL

O Hoppy Day

Fortunes of Fall

Cabbage and Kale

Yahoo! I know that this collection of images will help you make incredibly creative cards, and I can’t wait to see them! Be sure to use code WONDER15 at checkout to get 15% off your entire order.

Allison Cope

Christine Okken

Cindy Lawrence

Julie Koerber

Kathy Jones

Stacy Morgan

Tosha Leyendekker

The Bloomies have TOTALLY AMAZED ME this week — can’t tell you how many times I sat there slack-jawed, staring at the intricate awesomeness they create!! We are so lucky to have them, thank you, Bloomies, you ladies are the absolute BEST!

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Comment on the Bloom Brigade’s blog posts during ANY of this week’s Natural Wonders release (including the Power Poppy blog). We will select FOUR blog commenters to win the stamp of their choice.
Winners will be announced by 5pm central time on September 15 (today!) on the Power Poppy blog. The more comments you leave, the better chance you have to win. Hop to it, loves!

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I will be back later today to announce the winners of the stamp sets —AND to share our newest digital download, just added to the Instant Garden! See you soon...

xoxoxo,

Creative Confetti: Designing in the Dark!

Okay, who's afraid of the dark? No, I don't mean literally! I mean, who is afraid to take a beautiful image, stamp it on a darker paper and then color with reckless abandon? Do you step back and worry about the results? Do you wonder if your colors really show? Well, this week we are going to conquer our fears with our latest Creative Confetti Challenge! 

HOW TO PLAY: To play along with us this week, all you need to do is use a darker base for stamping. Really, anything darker than white or ivory! Let's smash ourselves out of that box of ONLY creating on white or ivory! I also have a little trick that I am going to share to help you keep the detail on your image after you color. So, let's get to it!

For my sample today, I am doing a little sneaky peek of a BRAND NEW stamp set that will be unveiled this week with Power Poppy's Natural Wonder clear set release! Get ready because the Bloomies are banding together and will start sneaking these amazing images on Wednesday!

Moving on... get a glimpse of Cabbage and Kale!

This set is absolutely beautiful and perfect for fall with ornamental cabbage and kale at the heart of this set! I will say that there are four different images with that fun sentiment that can be mixed and matched. So, stay tuned for our new release starting WEDNESDAY --- tomorrow! 

So, you can see for my card, I chose a deep lime green. I knew that it would be fun to add darker colors and lighter colors to it to almost color my cabbage for me....

What do I mean by "color my cabbage for me?" Well, if you look at the image below, you can see that I literally scribbled the color over my cabbage image. I knew I wanted a hint of ivory, green and yellow to bring out the veining and add a little pizazz. But, when you color, Oh my, you loose all the detail in the veining! Never fear! If you have a MISTI you can bring all that detail right back into play! 

To start, I put all my stamps exactly where I wanted them on my MISTI, closed the door, and stamped using Bamboo Leaves Memento Ink. I colored up my image like you see below.... 

After I was done coloring all of the cabbage, because all the stamps were still stuck in my MISTI, I grabbed a darker shade of Memento Ink -- Olive Grove -- inked up my stamps and stamped over top.

Look at that detail! And, my coloring no longer looks like scribbles!

From there, I masked those images and using Pear Tart Memento Ink, took all four images in the set and stamped over top just to add a little extra texture and interest!

And here's another look at the completed card...

What I love about ornamental cabbage is the color range! You should Google it. So many beautiful options.  Now... for the official rules for Creative Confetti!

HOW TO PLAY:

• Create a card or project with a dark backdrop! 
• Use Power Poppy stamps if you have them, if not, you might win some if you're randomly chosen. Each month, we'll round up all those that play in any of the month’s Creative Confetti challenges, and draw a name from the entries to win a $25 GIFT CARD for the Power Poppy Shop!
• To enter, link up your creation below, sharing the direct link to your card from your blog, Instagram, or card gallery. 
• Our link will be open all month for you to play along with us! Try one Creative Confetti Challenge or partake in them all for extra chances to win!

So, are you ready to Design in the Dark and pick out a darker paper to stamp and color on? Are you bold enough to try black? There are so many mediums you could use to bring out this look -- shimmer paints, colored pencil, chalk, heat embossing! So many options -- and we can't wait to see which one YOU try! Once you create, don't forget to link your project below so that we can all see. You'll also be in the running for a $25 gift code to the Power Poppy Shop, and that, my friends, is a fun prize!

Until next time!

~Julie 

a.k.a The Creative Confetti Thrower

An InLinkz Link-up