Creative Confetti: All Boxed Up!

Hello all and Happy Tuesday! How's life in your neck of the woods? Beautiful, I hope! I have a fun challenge that is open to interpretation, which means I hope we have some creative sparks flying and can see this little challenge go in so many different directions! Check it out!

HOW TO PLAY: Use a box element on your card or creation. Think graphically! Or, think literally by actually creating a box! That's okay too! So, my sweet stamping friends, that's all it takes this week to add an entry to our monthly drawing for $25 off in the Power Poppy Shop!

On to my creation!

I have to say that I was really inspired by Jessie Banks quick watercolor creation that she unveiled yesterday in her Inspire Me Monday post. I love those little cherry blossoms and so, I knew that I wanted to have a few spring blossoms take center stage in my creation. They are just so fresh and full of spring! Only, mine aren't cherry blossoms at all ... but apple blossoms! 

I'll start by saying that I used the Power Poppy digital stamp called Apples in Season and then, I went and nipped and tucked and created this grid in Photoshop Elements. Let me show you what I did!

I started by creating a 4" by 5.25" canvas. I created a square using the Marquee tool, clicked on the tab at the top that says "Layer", clicked on "New Fill Layer" and then when it asked what color, I used the little color dropper tool to choose the same white as my background. From there, I added a "stroke" around my box. You can see when you look at the screen capture above that the stroke I used is highlighted with a box.

From there, you right-click on that box and click on "Duplicate Layer" until you get three duplicates. Then, when you look at your canvas through a grid (it's a tool you can click on under "View" ), you can line up all your boxes perfectly so you have a four-square design!

From there, I opened up the Apples in Season stamp set and used bits and pieces. TIP: If you click on "Layer" and then click on "Merge Visible" all four boxes will stay where they are. From there, you can use the magic eraser tool to erase the background on each box so that you can allow pieces of your image to show through the box. That's what I did here! I also wanted some of the image to hang over the box - which meant making a duplicate of the image, letting pieces of it hang over the edge and erasing the other areas that I wanted to stay behind the grid frame. I got a little tricky with my image but you don't need to. The whole idea was to frame up pieces of my image for a visual pop!

Here's a close up below!

Quick details on my card! I used Copic Markers and used R0000, R81 and R83 for the petals, G20 and G24 for the leaves and then G0000 and BG11 to highlight my image in each box. I added a little glitter glue to the centers and then added the sentiment in the plain box from the clear set called Always Here.   From there, I just matted it on a decorative paper card, added some pop thanks to a Stampin' Up Embossing Folder, and then added some silver cording and a fun pearlescent button. Tada! Quick - pretty - inspired - and fun!

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Before we bid you adieu, we do have to draw the winner from our May challenges! Can you believe it is actually June already!?!?

So, after we threw all the virtual names into a hat, random.org drew this number!

That means the winner is.....

* * * * JULIE GEARINGER!! * * * * 

Julie joined us for Barb's challenge to use the "Rule of Thirds!" She created this sweet creation below using Power Poppy's Sunshine of My Life digital stamp set (Psst! This one is on sale right now for $2.99!) and dolled it up using a die-cut to create her thirds and added color with some watercolor pencils! I love the result with the dreamy background she created and the bold color!

Julie, to claim your code to the Power Poppy Shop, all you have to do is email us at bloom@powerpoppy.com! Just that simple!

Okay sweet stamping friends, now it's your turn! Let's see how you take this challenge and think "out of the box!" or, in the box, or just as a box! ;-) If you have Power Poppy stamps, please use them! If not, remember each entry will be one more chance at winning a $25 gift code to the Power Poppy Shop!  (That means you might be able to WIN some!)

Just a note! Because the 30th of June is a Tuesday, this month's challenge will end on  June 29th so we can draw for the winner that night! So, let's get those fingers inky to get your cards on the linky! ;-)

Until next time, happy stamping!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Inspire Me Monday - Keep it SImple

Happy Monday everyone! Jessie here today keeping things simple (which is different for me) using Blossoming Cherries digi stamp!

I started things off by printing the image using my HP CP1025NW color printer onto 140lbs hotpress Arches watercolor paper, and taping it down to my hardboard to paint!

I kept things with  one coat of colour, except for on the blossoms where I added 2 layers of the pink just for some depth. I used my StoneGround Watercolour and played with 5 colours, Merigold Orangs, Scarlet, Cerulean, Raw Sienna Warm shade, and Burnt Umber. 

Marcella's lovely line work does most of the work in this one, it adds the details to the branches as well as the leaves which made this one super fast to paint up. I love how the light washes of colour really bring this dreamy branch to life!

I have no idea what I am going to do with the finished piece here, I may cut it down and make a slimline card out of it, I am also thinking of putting it in a white frame and tucking it in among my houseplants.

Thanks for stopping by,
Hugz
Jessie

Creative Confetti: Share your Fave!

Hello all and Happy Tuesday! This past week was such a blur that I thought it would be a good one to share some of our favorite cards or colored images and hopefully spark some creativity out in the world wide web! How? Well, since the weather is getting nicer and many of you might not be creating as much, why not look through all your Power Poppy creations, pick your absolute favorite, write a blog or social post about it and share a link! If we see your best creations, we might be inspired! So, my friends, that's what this week's challenge is all about!

HOW TO PLAY: Just as I mentioned above, simply show off one of your favorite Power Poppy creations, share why it's your favorite - image, color, layout? - and then share the link using our linky below! That's all it takes this week to add an entry to our monthly drawing for $25 off in the Power Poppy Shop!

On to my creation!

I absolutely love this stamp set -- Poppies -- the whistful way those flowers just sway make my heart happy. They look so beautiful and carefree! I remember making this card and coloring the image up one night while I was sitting on the couch watching TV. I remember getting lost in the process and honestly, I kept coloring and coloring and coloring until I knew I had to stop adding depth or shadows. I love the richness of color and I like how the layout, while not intense, just seems to compliment the image. The paper colors really seem to match my colored up image as well. So, my friends, that's why this little number was my favorite! It was a time when I felt it all just "worked!"

If you'd like to read a little bit more about the Copic markers I used, just click HERE to read all about it! 

Here's a little closeup for you! 

And, I do have a confession! I actually have two favorite cards using this image! If you click HERE you'll see the runner up, using almost the same layout! The set I used was a clear set (pssst! It's on sale too!) but Power Poppy has a digital version - called Perfect Poppies - that uses bits and pieces of the clear set in a way you can arrange and create your own orientation, which is super cool!

Okay, now it's your turn! Let's see you show off your favorite Power Poppy creation! Please don't combine this challenge with another challenge. To be in the running, you just need to cue up an older creation, share a little bit about it and then link it up below!  It's just that simple! And, when you do, link up your creation using the linky below! Every single entry will be one more chance at winning a $25 gift code to the Power Poppy Shop!

Until next time, happy stamping!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Inspire Me Monday - Happy Accidents

GOOD MORNING POWER POPPY FANS! This is Nancy Sheads and I’m back today with another coloring video for Inspire Me Monday. This time I’m featuring the Go Wild Stamp Set by Power Poppy. The set includes the three vignettes as shown as well as a variety of birthday related sentiments.

When I first started coloring I watched a lot of videos and to be honest I was pretty frustrated by them. The videos were sped up so much that it was hard to follow anything technique wise. Or they were so heavily edited that you didn’t see any mistakes. Learning to color is a process and as a student it sometimes helps to see the stops and starts, do overs, and decisions made along the way to the end result.

So today I’m showing you a first attempt at coloring this image so that you the process warts and all. The video is slightly sped up, but not so fast that you can't follow what's happening. You’ll also see that I used a lot of markers as I kept experimenting to get the colors, depth, and saturation that I wanted. 

If I were teaching this stamp set in a class, I would have colored it several times so my students would see the pared down marker list rather than all of the experimentation. Out of consideration for my students, I try to limit the number of markers required for class so I end up repeating the same color combinations from class to class so that my students don't have to buy so many markers to participate.

But when left to my own devices, I'll use several BV markers to help add depth or layer multiple light BG, B, BV and even RV markers in backgrounds to help pop areas forward and push others back. I'm comfortable with my markers thanks to hours of practice. But I also remind my students that I'm not teaching paint by number. I want them to learn to how to adjust and refine their coloring rather than blindly following the teacher.

So here's this week's video, warts and all. Sometimes I get a little carried away with flicking, causing the camera to shake. Sometimes I realize that I missed an area and have to go back and add color. Sometimes I have re-evaluate something I already colored and make adjustments. And sometimes I just have to pause and think about where I'm going and how I'm going to get there.

Creativity is a process. But like Bob Ross said, "There are no mistakes. Just happy accidents."

Here's this week's happy accident.

Thanks for joining me today! Be sure you check out my Power Poppy coloring videos on YouTube.

See you again soon and stay safe!

** Nancy **

Creative Confetti: A Walk in the Garden

Hello all and Happy Tuesday! Today, I thought we'd take a trip outside to be inspired by the beauty around us! How many times, when you plant flowers in your yard, reach for the same flowers? The same colors? How do they make you feel? Well, this week's challenge is all about being inspired by those flowers and colors!

HOW TO PLAY: Take a look at your favorite flower or flowers and be inspired! Use your favorite flower in your creation or take the hues of their petals and leaves and use those colors as your creative palette!

On to my creation!

When I decided upon this challenge, I had several flats of flowers on my back patio, just waiting to be planted! So, this one was easy for me. In fact, the picture behind the graphic above is actually of a few of those flowers! One staple that I always use in my patio pots is geraniums. They are hardy, bold in color and bloom with tons of buds waiting in the wings. I love the promise of new color waiting to sprout!

For my creation, since I was being influenced by Geraniums, my choice for inspiration was super easy --  Power Poppy's stamp set Geraniums Take Two! This card is super straight forward. I stamped my image using Memento Espresso Truffle ink. Then, I colored it up with Copic markers, limiting myself to just a few. I used my "scribble" technique, brushing petals willy nilly, using the darker shades in the centers of the petals and working my way out as I go. I used R35, R32, R30 and R0000 for the petals. YG03, YG06, YG61 and YG63 for the leaves and then added a pop of blue using BG0000, BG10 and BG11 in the background for a little more color.

Here's a little closeup for you! 

From there, I matted it all up using a decorative paper with a little graphic punch and a sentiment stamped on black and heat embossed using white detail powder. The sentiment is from the Power Poppy stamp set called Cheerful Columbine, which sadly looks to be sold out at the moment.

By the way, have you checked out the Power Poppy sale that is still going on? There are so many clear sets that are deeply discounted and digital stamp sets that are on sale too! So many fun images that you can get for less!

So, now it's your turn! Take a look at the flowers that inspire you and use those feelings that they evoke... to create! It's just that simple! And, when you do, link up your creation using the linky below! Every single entry will be one more chance at winning a $25 gift code to the Power Poppy Shop!

Until next time, happy stamping!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Artist’s Notebook: It Doesn’t Take a Lot of Color to Create a Rainbow (Hellebores)

You love color.

I love color.

Marcella loves color.

We’re all here following the Power Poppy blog because we love to color gorgeous stamps with beautiful Copic Markers, colored pencils, watercolor, or other creative media.

It’s all about the color. The more color the better!

But I’m always a little sad when I see tutorials or classes that use a mile long list of supplies. And I’m even sadder when I read online posts from people who sincerely want to start coloring but they’ve talked themselves out of it, because they don’t have enough colors yet.

Folks, you don’t need to own the whole rainbow.

In fact, it’s better if you don’t.

Hello, my name is Amy Shulke and I’m the illustrator and art instructor over at VanillaArts.com. Today I’d like to talk to you about cutting back on the number of colors you use in your projects.

Color minimalism actually maximizes your results.

And hey, if you want to read my previous Artist’s Notebook articles on color, you can read about color palettes here and your amazing bounty of art supplies here.

But today, I’d like to focus on how to use a small number of colors for professional results.

Because until you and I win the lottery, we’re never going to have all the colors we want.

More is less!

It’s been an unusually long winter here in Michigan. It’s May and it’s still snowing. My Spring Rain project was born from my desperate need to have a bit of the gorgeous color I see in Marcella’s garden photographs. I’m soooo jealous!

But to get this Copic effect on Power Poppy's Hellebores digital stamp? I didn’t use every color in the rainbow.

I used blue and green with tiny touches of pink and violet.

You can get amazing results by keeping your color palette small. 

I know it’s very tempting to look at a bouquet stamp and think “Oh, I’ll color this blossom red and this flower purple and this one yellow…” In your head it sounds so pretty.

But in reality? Too many colors in an image makes it look unorganized and juvenile.

I have a couple of extensive articles on how to create and use professional looking color palettes back at my home website here. But if you want the quick summary, I typically use only three hues per color palette— that includes the background AND the green leaves.

If I can get away with a two hue color palette, that’s what I prefer.

Minimal color palettes provide maximum wow.

What is the focal point?

Okay, let’s talk about ingredients for a moment.

Copic Marker fans use blending combinations, usually trios (light, medium, dark) for every item in the project. This blending combination theory has spread to colored pencils now too— even though traditionally, pencil artists have never used pencils this way.

There’s also a weird assumption that if you’re more advanced, you should add more colors to the combo. In advanced coloring, I’ve seen people use five or even six markers in a blending combination.

So by that formula, my challenge level Spring Rain project should use at least twenty markers?

Nope. I used eight… and two of them are completely optional.

I have one major rule for all my coloring: Celebrate the focal point.

The focal point is the shining star of the image. In Power Poppy stamps, the focal point is always the biggest, most beautiful blossom.  I want people to look at the focal point first and then even if their eye wanders to the minor elements, I want them drawn back to the celebrity bloom before they’re done.

To insure that my focal point remains the main attraction, I don’t waste time coloring all of the lesser elements with the same time and attention.

The leaves are bit players so I use fewer markers on them. The background is supposed to be in the background; it gets less detail and fewer markers.

I even apply this hierarchy to the blossoms, spending more time, more ink, and a lot more attention to detail on the big blooms than I do on small flowers or buds.

Your viewers can tell which areas you’ve nursed to perfection.

Keep their eyes on the focal point.

Let one color dominate

In Spring Rain, the pink pops.

That’s because it’s surrounded by a ton of blue.

80% of this image has some form of blue. Even the shadow and leaves are blended and shaded with layers of blue.  If I had given the pink half of the area it would have set up a visual competition between blue and pink. 50/50 means nobody wins.

When colors fight, it distracts the viewer and detracts from the beauty of your coloring.

By letting the blue totally dominate the image, the pink now seems more special.

Repeat the same colors across the whole image

Blue, violet, pink, and green… Every item in the entire Spring Rain image has blue, violet, pink, and green on it.

And if you look closely, you’ll see this same kind of color borrowing most of my projects. This is what we call color cohesiveness and it does amazing things for the overall impression and quality of your coloring.

It’s a professional level detail to repeat the same colors throughout a project.

The leaves here belong with these hellebore petals. They don't look like they were borrowed from some random sunflower or rose. These leaves could only come from the same plant that grew these petals. They belong together. They match.

This color harmony costs you nothing; you’re already using the markers or pencils on the petals, so why not kiss your leaves or even the background with hints of the same colors?

We’re adding a rainbow without adding anything new.

So here’s my Artist’s Notebook challenge for you this month...

Give more time to the thinking process before you start to color. By narrowing down the color palette ahead of time, the look of your projects will improve, even if your skill remains the same.

Start paring down your massive supply lists. Do you really need five greens to color a leaf?

Be wise about how you divide color. Don’t detract from a focal point super-star blossom but do share bits of color between the flower and its leaves.

And for those of you making cards, your decorative papers count as color too. They’re part of the final composition so make sure that you’re not accidentally setting up a color imbalance during the card assembly phase.

Want to color Power Poppy’s Hellebores with me? 

My Spring Rain class is part of the Vanilla Livestream series for intermediate to advanced Copic colorers. This lesson covers how to use color pouring and negative painting techniques (borrowed from watercolor classes) to create bold, dynamic, and loose marker paintings.

You can find out more about Vanilla Livestream classes here.

And I’ll see you back here next month for another glance into my Artist’s Notebook!

Previous Artist's Notebook articles:

The Secret to Eye Popping Color Palettes

Blessed with Color!

What is Artistic Coloring?
Add Realistic Texture
Don't Be Afraid of Large Projects!
Are You Stamp Blind?

A Flowering Presence

Didn’t intend to have Friday Fun Day on a Saturday again... but here we are! I’m thrilled to share with you this week’s beautiful creations by the Powerhouse — and guess what, I’m FINALLY drawing some new artwork, and it’s gonna be SWEET. Stay tuned, my lovelies!

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Broadcasting live from THE POWERHOUSE: This week’s flower-filled creations to lift all of our spirits and inspire your creations as you head into the weekend...

Lisa Johansen | Spring Border One digital

Christine Okken | Magnolia Sunshine digital

Broni Holcombe | Spring Border One digital

Stacy Morgan | Wash Your Hands digital

AND: Did you see Barbara Campbell’s Rule of Thirds challenge this week? What a quirky and fun idea! Give it a try yourself this weekend, and upload your card to win...

Allison Cope’s Inspire Me Monday is as cute and simple as they come — make mini cards with a colored stamp as the focal point. I’m in love with these cloche-topped images she colored from Under Glass stamp set — each available as digis (and on sale).

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Hope you’ve enjoyed today’s garden tour AND round up of these incredibly special cards. 

Be sure to consider signing up for Amy Shulke’s latest online class featuring Power Poppy, Spring Rain! Coming May 30. Until the class starts, here are some WONDERFUL tips from Amy about coloring with a loose style.

Have a fabulous weekend, everybody! xoxo