The Blossom Challenge: Glassy-Eyed!

Welcome to our second The Blossom Challenge from Power Poppy!  We had such a great time perusing your beautiful challenge entries from last month’s The Blossom Challenge of April Showers Bring May Flowers.  Last month’s winner will be at the end of the post!  

I’m your host Christine and this month we’ve got a fun theme called Glassy-Eyed!  We invite you to use an image that is in glass or under glass on your design.  So dig into your Copics, Pencils or watercolour, and any Power Poppy image with glass.  You could even be totally artsy and use a Power Poppy image and draw your own glass vase, snowglobe or cloche!  

Today I’m using the NEW image from Power Poppy called Accentuate the Positive.  What a gorgeous array of flowers and fruit around this pretty mason jar! I printed the image quite lightly for colouring and then used Copics and Prismacolour Pencils to brighten up the blooms.  One of my favourite varieties of Zinnia is Queen Red Lime, they have such a nice fade between lime and rosy red, so I tried to give the flower on the lower right that treatment in my colouring.  

I have a short tutorial on my blog on what I think are important features of colouring glass HERE.  

Things I like to consider when colouring something in or under glass.  

• Where the light is reflecting on the glass
• The width of the glass for colouring, and the bottom edges (if in a vase)
• Will the glass be coloured or clear
• Will there be a water level be and will you define it
• How stems refract and colour fades in water

Marcy has graciously given a special 25% OFF price on some of her best glassy images again during this challenge, all of these beauties on sale are linked here:  

Accentuate the Positive
Cuppa Cupcake
Cuppa Buttercups
Hellebores
Hyacinth Bulb in Glass
Nest is Best
Seaside Sweetness
Single Orchid
Snowglobe Greetings
Sweet & Sugary Snowglobe
Tabletop Tree
Tiny Treasures
Volumes of Beauty
Well Hello Dahlia
Wildflower Mini

Zinnia Parade 

Challenge Details:  We hope you can join us for the challenge this month and create something in or under glass with Power Poppy images! You could win a $20 Gift Code to the Power Poppy store!  Link up your creation BELOW!   

Remember: You MUST use a Power Poppy image somewhere on your design to be included in the Glassy-Eyed challenge.  Entries close on July 16th at NOON.  

Last month’s The Blossom Challenge May Flowers RANDOMLY DRAWN WINNER IS.....Liz Williams with her beautiful Pure Prairie Bouquet!  Congratulations Liz.  Contact Marcy at bloom@powerpoppy.com for your prize code!  

Here’s some gorgeous Glassy inspiration from The Bloom Brigade:  

Essie

Gloria

Barbara

Lisa

Nancy

and Christine

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Inspire Me Monday - Happy Birthday

Hello, Power Poppy Fans! It is my turn again to bring you the Inspire Me Monday project. I have to confess to this not being a brand new project, but it is the first time it has been seen here on the Power Poppy Blog! I have been struggling with some health issues again, and am a little behind in my coloring projects! I do hope that bringing this out of the vault will be excused!

Now for the project!

Since my birthday is in February, I decided to make a fun birthday card to showcase several Power Poppy images! The only thing missing from this scene is a new book...but perhaps there is a book in one of those pretty packages! This is my ideal birthday...cake, a warm drink, and a pile of gifts! Plus...chocolate AND strawberries...yes, please!

For this project I have combined three digital images: the cake and tea from the Tea Cake with Strawberries digital set (also available in a clear set called Tea in the Garden), the gifts from the Party Essentials digital set (also available as a clear set called Party Time), and the sentiment from the Layer Cake digital set. 

If you want more information on how to put a digital scene together, please see my Power Poppy post HERE. 

To get started with a scene, you first need to print your images to the size which fits your card front. (Or, stamp them if you are using clear stamps instead of digital images.) My finished card is 6" x 8", so I printed the image as slightly smaller at approximately 5" x 6".

A color tip: When you are coloring a busy scene like this one, try to plan out your colors ahead of time so that you don't end up with a hot mess of every color in your marker collection! I call it "avoiding the clown party"!

I started out with the red, because...strawberries are red! I chose to "spread the red" around my picture to give the whole scene a balanced look. I then colored the leaves green, but did NOT add more green to the image. I did not want this to stat to look like Christmas!

I knew I needed to color the slice of lemon in the tea cup yellow. That became my second color, which I sprinkled about the scene. I felt that aqua blue would look nice with both the red and the the yellow. To tone it all down, I used brown. Making the cake frosting and the cake stand brown, rests the eye. Creating three white items (the cake doily, the napkin, and the largest box), also helps give your eyes a bit of rest. 

I think the picture is bright, but not clownish. I admit to being a bit sorry about the large ribbon bows, but...once they were glued down, I decided to keep them! Plus, every birthday needs a few big bows!

Here is the list of Copic markers I used. I did NOT use any colored pencil this time.

Background, napkin, cake: E0000, E000, E00, E21, colorless blender
Doily, box: C3, C1, C00
Ribbon, boxes, lemon slice: Y08, Y06, Y02, Y11
Cake, cake stand: E79, E29, E27, E25, E23, E35, E33, E57, R83, R81
Leaves, stems: YG03, G43, G99, YG21, YG05, Y11, YG01
Cup, boxes: B04, B01, B000
Strawberries, boxes, cup, cake stand: R14, R27, R29, R89, YG21 (strawberries only)

I selected some matching paper from my vast stash of printed paper to create a finished card. I will use a padded mailer to mail this card to a special someone....or I will keep it on my desk to enjoy for the month of February!

Thanks for stopping by!