Showing posts with label Cup of Columbine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cup of Columbine. Show all posts

Tuesday

Earthy & Delish Hues!

Hello sweet color craving stampin' friends! Today's little hues have a tasty flavor attached to them and show off a recipe crafted over HOURS in our own Power Poppy Peep in Chief's kitchen. Check it out, will you? (And try not to let your mouth water!) 


This, my friends, is Boeuf en Daube in progress in Ms. Marcella's cooking space. What I found even more delish than the meal's looks was the fact that she made this feast in her Grandma Dorothy's 1960's era Wagner Ware tureen. Apparently, creating this recipe takes hours upon hours of simmering! I think those are the absolute best kinds of meals -- you get to savor the smells all day long!

HOW TO PLAY: Playing along with this week's Hues to Use is sweet and simple! Just look at the color cues above -- plum, pumpkin and straw and use them in your card or creation. After you're done getting those fingers inky, link up your creation on the link below so we can all see! YIPPPEEEE!

Are you ready for another little fun surprise today? We have another guest on tap today! This lovely lady loves all things crafty and lives in a gorgeous part of the country. She's about as talented as she is sweet so put your hands together for.....


"Hi all, I'm Sue! I'm from a small city, North Tonawanda, NY between Buffalo and Niagara Falls, New York. I have been married to my high school sweetheart for 52 years. We have one daughter, a great son-in-law and two grandchildren -- Megan, who just turned 20 and is in college studying art, and Michael, who will graduate high school this June and attend college in the fall. I worked as an accountant and tax preparer for 28 years. I have been retired since 2008 and don't miss giving up my life from January to April 15th each year for tax season!"

I have crafted all of my life beginning at a young age with a box of 64 Crayola Crayons. To my late mother's delight, I learned to sew all on my own while I was a stay at home mom. I made Cabbage Patch dolls and their clothes when they were all the rage, and have sewn American Girl doll outfits by the dozens. I took decorative painting classes and did that for many years. I learned calligraphy and did invitations and place setting cards for friends. Then, I bought a couple of rubber stamps in 1995, became hooked and now have a large collection of stamps, digis, paper and dies. I took classes from Kevin at Stampscapes and became obsessed with scene stamping for a while. I have taught rubber stamp classes at my local stamp store too.


When it comes to stamping, Copic markers are my go-to choice for coloring right now, replacing the Crayola crayons. All these years later, I still LOVE to color.


SUE'S CREATION


For my card, I chose the digi, Cup of Columbine. (Did you know this image also comes in a clear version? It's called Cheerful Columbine) I knew I wanted to make a shaped card, so I chose a Spellbinders Grand Die Label 4. I cut an eggplant colored mat for the Copic colored image. I attached them to a white card cut from the same die set and embossed the purple mat and the front of the card with a Creative Expressions embossing folder, called Braided Vines. It's an 8-1/2" by 11" embossing folder.

Next, I stamped and embossed the word Enjoy, from Jillibean, and cut it out with the matching die in the set. I then cut two more of the word Joy from white cardstock and glued them to the back of the orange embossed original to give it some dimension. The word Everyday was stamped on
white cardstock and embossed with the same orange embossing powder and die cut with the flag die from the same set. A few purple sequins were finishing touches to the card.

Here's a close up for you! 



I am thrilled to have been asked to design a card for the Hues to Use, and I would like to thank Julie for the opportunity!"


Thank YOU Sue, the pleasure is all ours! I love the combo of purple and orange and I think you really did a beautiful job of marrying these two bold and happy hues! We should mention that if you want to see what crafty endeavors Sue is up to, you can check out her blog Sue's Rubber Stamping Adventures by just clicking the link! Thanks again Sue!

Before we get to the linky and bid you a farewell for the week, I did want to tell you happy Hues to Use lovers to stay tuned! Why? Well, we think you are all pretty awesome and Marcella and I chatted about how we can up the ante and give you coloristas a little extra incentive to play along with us from week to week. So, like I said, stay tuned! Some exciting news will be unveiled SOON!

Until next week!
~Julie 



Hues for YOUs!


Hello color lovers! It's Tuesday which means we have a new crop of colors for you to pick up next time you have that burning desire to create -- which, honestly, should be every day, right?

Today, we traipse into the kitchen for inspiration. I am sure this photo below features fresh picked herbs and maybe even handmade pasta with a splash of spice, pistachios and cream. Since I was somewhat hungry when I was scrolling through photos, I gravitated to this little photo on Marcy's feed and then, I craved pasta for some reason! ;-) Try not to let your mouth water as you take a gander at Ms. Marce's lemon fettuccine! YUM!


HOW TO PLAY: Three colors. Use them, then, link your creation. Just that simple my cardmaking peeps!

Since we love to share how this week's colors can be used to create beautiful things, we turned to the cardmaking prowess of this fine guest below! She's known as Simply Monica, but her cards are anything but! Let's meet this hostess with the mostess and see her take on this week's hues!


"Hello everybody, I'm Monica, a single mom of two older children. I have been crafting since the birth of my son. I love all things crafty and one girl's scrap is definitely my treasure. Hence, my original blog name "scraps2treasure", but my daughter thought it was corny. So I am now known as "Simply Monica." I hope to inspire everyone to be crafty through my work.

HUES TO USE CREATION


I printed this digital stamp -- Cup of Columbine -- on my Epson WF-3640 printer using Langton watercolor paper which works beautifully with digital images and has no smearing. I then colored my image using Zig Clean Color pens along with Kuretake Gansai watercolors. Once done, I used a Creative Expressions die by Sue Wilson to die cut the image. I matted the image against some gold shimmer paper I picked up from Hobby Lobby and popped a sticker sentiment that I thought went beautifully with the image.


Beautiful job Monica! I love the clean and classy design and your coloring is to die for! I am so glad too that you mentioned what watercolor paper and printer you used. So many of us have troubles finding just the right printer/paper that works to watercolor digital stamps! So, thank you! We are so glad you joined us to guest hostess this week and share your gorgeous design. We know it will inspire!

One quick note, Monica used the digital version of this stamp but did you know, thanks to last week's release, this image now also comes in a clear stamp? Yes! Yes, it does! It's called Cheerful Columbine and comes not only with the main image but four beautifully scripted sentiments as well!

Okay folks, now it is your turn to pick up these hues and put them to use! Don't forget to link up your creation so that we can all see your take. We LOVE seeing you put these color combos into play!

Thanks for stopping by! We'll see you again next week!
~Julie



Monday

Make A Big Impact with a Small Change


Hello  ... Hello!  How are you today? My name is Kathy from The Daily Marker and I am happy when I get to guest on the Power Poppy blog. I also LOVE to color and my belief is that if you make a small change in your coloring you can really enhance what you have colored. 


This might be one of my all time favorite Power Poppy images and I just swoon every time I look at this illustration from Marcella. The Cup of Columbine is available now as a digital print and  the end of April a rubber stamp!  

Check out my video to see how I enhanced my watercoloring by "filling in the nooks and crannies"



Full disclosure ... even tho flowers are my favorite thing to color my flower knowledge isn't that good.  When you look at the way I colored these Columbines  you might understand why I interpreted the Columbines a different way with a lot of green leaves instead of petals I wanted to go with the flo of my coloring and restrained from looking up the Columbine to see what was petal vs leaf.


This is how my image was progressing. I happened to be in the Bahamas when I watercolored this using Tombow watercolor markers. Each day I colored a portion of the image and adding layers of color with the markers. 


This is when I finished the watercoloring part and before I "enhanced" this by filling in those teeny tiny little areas.


Does this help having it super zoomed in? This are what I call the "nooks & crannies". Basically it's where the lines intersect. I also like to add a nick in the leaves and I love to add a few thorns on some of the stems. 


The berries were so small that I didn't bother with them but, looking up close I think I will add a line of white gel pen. 




Ninety percent of the time fill in these tiny areas after I color but, I thought maybe seeing it this way would help. 

I am convinced that filling in "nooks & crannies" you can really make your coloring pop and I hope after today's post that you just might agree. Thanks for your visit today and have a good start to your week. Hugs, Kathy

Friday

Good Vibes Just In Time!


Hello folks! We are so sorry to keep your good vibes waiting for the weekend but... we are in the business of showering you with them... even if it's late! ;-) Hope you are ready for the weekend and hope you are ready to catch these beautiful sources of inspiration to get you on your fun-filled way!

Okay, show of hands, who's ready to dance in the spring rain, gather up posies and just give a good cheer to the start of this life-filled season? Yep, I thought so! If you're lucky enough to live in a southern climate, a beautiful tuft of spring flowers just might be sitting outside your front or back door (like it is at Marcy's abode!). Breathe it in people and know -- if spring hasn't sprung in your neck of the woods -- it has to come soon! Right???


This good vibe comes with a bit of an enabler alert! DIES ARE BACK IN STOCK! Yes, sorry, I screamed a bit there but, hey, who's not excited that you can now have a partner in creative crime with these savvy little tools?? Remember, the sets Loving Tulips, Sassy Succulents (as shown above!), Peony Muse, and Natural Beauties all have coordinating dies. And... guess what? Lean in a bit since this is a secret! I hear, now don't tell anyone, that more dies are on the way!!! Yep, we are a wee bit excited about that fact! Stay tuned for more on that little secret!


This little dose of happy comes thanks to Vanilla Arts and the oh-so-fabulous Amy Shulke. Have you been one of the lucky ones to take one of her online classes? Um, well, if you answered "No", you are MISSING OUT my friends! Tomorrow she has a live class using Power Poppy's digital stamp set Cup of Columbine. Look at that sweet peeps!! Aren't the results gorgeous??? Tomorrow's class will showcase how to successfully color with calm and natural colors! Just click HERE for more deets on that and sign up -- promise you will love her style!


Who on earth is this sweet face above? Well, I happen to know it's Katie Sims -- a woman as sweet as she is talented and man, you and I both know SHE IS TALENTED! If you are in the Atlanta area. Ms. Katie will be at Impressive Ideas from Noon to 4 PM and she'll have Power Poppy goodness with her -- stamp sets, coloring tips galore, make and takes, and giveaways! I might just have to hop on a plane to join her for all that fun!


What do you get when you mix rainbow Deco Foil and an amazing stamp set? An even more amazing note card set! Take a gander at this beauty above crafted by Elizabeth Zaffarano using Power Poppy's digital stamp set Daffodil Bouquet. Wowza... that's some WOW FACTOR if I ever did see! You'll have to check out Elizabeth's Instagram HERE to see more photos showcasing this super fun project!

And, as a little added bonus... don't forget about this peeps!


At last check, we had close to three dozen entries for our Vitamin Me Contest -- where YOU tell US how you seize the day and soak up some ME time. Have you shared your thoughts yet? If not, we'd love for you to click on over HERE and tell us a little bit about what you do to feed your soul! You could end up winning a $50 Power Poppy Shopping Spree if you are our lucky winner!


I happen to know two Bloomies have fun things to share with you today! So, why not keep those good vibes rolling and pay these amazing ladies below a visit, will you?



Thanks for stopping by! Ally Cope will be in the house on Monday for another edition of Inspire Me Monday and, I know it's going to rock the house because, well, that's what Ally always does! ;-) Until then, my friends, enjoy your weekend!

~Julie 

Take me away... with some Good Vibes!

Hello my sweet stamping friends! Can you believe it's Friday already and here we are back at it again -- set off an explosion of feel-good things to help brighten your weekend? Well, we are! It's time for....



So first off we have a virtual feast for the eyes! Marcy is getting ready for Kathy Racoosin's 'The Coloring Challenge Road Trip' TOMORROW and she just thought things would be so much better with some hand-painted art surrounding the guests. She's so thoughtful like that! Check out this free-flowing work below showing one of our Chief Peep's favorite flowers. Sigh.... isn't it grand? If you want to see her other work click HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE to see the amazing things she's whipped up over the last few days with her paintbrush and some acrylic paints! 


One customer we are really digging on right now is @grandmabonnie2Check out her gorgeous work using Power Poppy's digital stamp set Tulips in Hobnail Pitcher! The bold color! The striations of detail! The fun and festive die-cuts and decorative papers! Yes, a good vibe indeed! 


One designer card we are loving is this one below using Cup of Columbine by the oh-so-fabulous Jennifer Dove! The coloring on her birdie is to die for and the rest of the image is just downright yummy as well! Breathe in this dose of spring folks, breathe it in! 


For this next good vibe we truly need to channel our inner Christopher Cross. I can hear him crooning now....  "Sailing, takes me away to where I've always heard it could be. Just a dream and the wind to carry me, and soon I will be free...." Ahh..... this gorgeous image below is one taken on Bloomie Christine Okken's journey -- sailing in the British Columbia sunset. I sure wish she would have let me jump in her suitcase on this little trip!


Have you played along in this month's Inspired By Fabric Power & Spark Challenge? Man, what a fun one Ally Cope ushered in with this one! You'll have to click HERE and read all about the challenge and how YOU can play along! Check out the marvelous creation by Irene Rhodes below and then click HERE to see the fabric that inspired it using Power Poppy's digital stamp set Flowering Branches! Brilliant Irene -- BRILLIANT! 



If you aren't already on inspiration overload with all these good vibes coming your way, guess what? We have a few more! 


Be sure to stop by to see what some of our Bloomies have been up to! I know you won't regret making a stop to their places on the web!



Thanks for stopping by and spending a wee bit of your day with us! It's yet another GOOD VIBE! Seize the weekend and hopefully, the sunshine is shining in your neck of the woods! Jessie Banks will be in on Monday to share another one of her fabulous Inspire Me Monday tutorials so.... be sure to swing back by to see what awesomeness she has in store!

Until then!
~Julie 

Tuesday

Hues to Use -- Budding with Spring Beauty!

Hello all and happiest of Tuesdays to you! Are you ready for a spring-infused color combo that's just dying to be used next time you create? Well, ready or not, here it comes! It's Hues to Use day! And this next inspiration photo is about as pretty and sweet as they come! 


This image was freshly picked from Marcella's Instagram. When I saw it, I gasped -- there's so much beauty in a little snapshot! So much! Look at those freshly picked hellebores, some of her mom's treasured transferware, and did you see the "find" that Marcy encountered when she reached high to get one of those little cups down? OH MY GOSH -- YEEESSSS! Tiny little eggshells, just looking as beautiful as can be!

HOW TO PLAY: Playing along with us for Hues to Use is easy as 1-2-3 -- use all three colors in your card or creation and then make sure to share a direct link to your creation so we can all see! I know you won't be able to help yourself. You're going to HAVE to join us this week! ;-)

When I reached for a digital image to color up, I just had to print off the newest member of the Instant Garden -- Cup of Columbine. It had the flowers, the teacup AND the little egg! It was made for this color combo!


So, I started with the no-line version of this image and did a little "digital surgery" to the image. If you want to see exactly how I did it, all you need to do is visit THIS post for step by step instructions!

Then, I grabbed my Copic markers -- a whole fistful, literally -- and went to town coloring. These were the ones I used!


After I was done coloring up the individual portions, I did go back and add some depth with an Indigo Blue, Dahlia Purple and Chartreuse Prismacolor pencil -- just to get into those little nooks and crannies that are hard for that brush-tip of the Copic marker to reach. I also accented the centers of the flowers with a little white gel pen.

And here's a closeup for y'all!


Now that you see my closeup -- can you spot my MAJOR boo-boo? Well, as I was coloring, I accidentally colored petals from the columbine in front as leaves. UGH! I was so far in the process of coloring that I just decided to "own it" and roll with it! LOL! So, it's not natually accurate but... oh well! Life happens, right?

And that, my friends, is it! I loved coloring up this image and now have one to set aside for any kind of occasion that comes my way, since I left the inside blank for now.

So, are you going to get those fingers inky and play along with me? I sure hope so! When you do, just link up your creation below! Like we always share, our guest designers are all chosen from our weekly link list, so we would REALLY love to see what you've got up your creative sleeve! It could have you playing with some digital stamp set freebies followed by some time in the Power Poppy Spotlight! Can't wait to see who our next designer will be! We will have a new round of guests coming up in the next few weeks so, stay tuned!

Thanks for popping in and we'll be back with more inspiration.... SOON!

~Julie 




Monday

Nipping & Tucking Digital Stamps!

Hello Peeps!  Julie here, standing in for the fabulous Kathy Racoosin who is busy getting ready for the latest leg of her ab-fab 'The Coloring Challenge Road Trip!' Did you know she's heading straight to the Power Poppy headquarters next and tag teaming some fun with Ms. Marcella herself? Check it out, will you?




You can click HERE to read all about it! You can click HERE to register if you are one of the super doooooper lucky ones to actually be in the area. Sigh. I am not! But, I know these sweet ladies will have so much fun and there will be Power Poppy Polymer for sale at the event, what fun!



Moving on! I have a really quick little digital demo for you on this Inspire Me Monday. It's so quick, you could literally do this whole process in less than 60 seconds. It was, however, something I thought would be useful! So, I share!

Recently, Ms. Marce released the latest digital stamp set called Cup of Columbine with not only two different illustrations but no-line versions as well! Gotta love how Marcella digs in a bit deeper to make sure all of her little coloristas are taken care of with the proper light grey to print with for those beautiful no line looks! Here's a peek at both illustrations...


While I loved the little birdie and egg, I didn't really have time to color up the whole ensemble. I loved that egg though and I DID want to color that up! What's a girl to do??? Well, how about a little digital surgery! No, trust me. Not scary surgery! I'm talking about a digital modification with the simple erasing tool on your photo editing software!

I started by opening up the image without the egg in Photoshop Elements, which is my desired editing software. This technique will work with any photo editing software that allows you to layer files and erase elements.

Here's a peek at the first layer...


Next, I open the second image with the bird, reducing the opacity so that I can see both images and perfectly layer the bird image over top...


Next, I click on the eraser tool, which is over on the toolbar to the left and looks like this....


Then, I simply clicked on my second layer, and took care to erase that little birdie out of the scene!  You can see that my opacity is still off, however, so I went to the area right above my layers and bumped it back up to 100% on that layer.


From there, I click on "Layer" at the top of my screen and then scroll down to click on "Merge Visible" to make those two layers into one.


And now, all I need to do is print! I have an image that molds two images together, creating a third fun look out of one digital stamp set!

And, after I grabbed my Copic markers, here's how that fun little image turned out!


I still need to do some shading and create this little number into a card. But... guess what? If you play along with Power Poppy's Hues to Use on Tuesday --- you'll see how this one turned out. So swing back by and get ready to give a new color combo a try!

See you then!
~Julie 

Thursday

March Instant Garden: Cup of Columbine


Happy day to you! Are you ready for a new digi?

It’s always exciting to reveal a brand new illustration and share the Instant Gardeners’ creations with you all, I get such a thrill. Today’s new digital stamp set is an image that’s is a long time coming. Can I tell you how many people have requested Columbine through the years? 


And it’s no wonder — Columbine have the most interesting habit — arching and stretching and bobbing their beautiful heads. They come in zillions of colors and varieties — from massive flouncy blooms with loooooooong tendrils (called spurs) jutting out from the back, to very compact doubles loaded with bubbly petals.


Aren’t they precious??


Another thing I love about Columbine is their propensity to self-seed and cross with other varieties. You can go from a regular purple one, like these Aquilegia vulgaris in my garden above, a single variety in rich deep purple, to something totally unique:


I photographed these wine-colored double flowers in my garden a few years ago — the purple singles had crossed with a pink double that hadn't shown its face in the garden for years — but resurrected in a magical cross-pollination. I DO SO LOVE THE NATURE!!


And as much as I love, adore, and worship this incredible plant, the Aquilegia genus and all of her various species, I had yet to draw them!! What on earth? Something had to be done.

Introducing: Cup of Columbine


Yayyyyyy!! Columbine has come at last!

And here’s something really fun ... even though everything I’ve shared up there involves purple — these flowers come in nearly every hue imaginable, from white and pale yellow through the deepest reds and blues. You can take this thing and RUN WITH IT!


A Susie Cooper teacup is filled to overflowing with Columbine — and I tucked a few Hosta leaves in there to give you some ripply goodness to color. You get two designs — one with the flowers and teacup only, and a second, more challenging composition with a baby robin snapping up a few of the Columbine seeds. Both images have a lighter “no line” version included.

Come check out the incredible beauty created by the Instant Gardeners for today — and folks, I gave them about 2 days notice that this was coming out, so each of these creations is like a Columbine Release Day Miracle!


Jessie Banks -- This is actually a video!


Look for more cards featuring these images tomorrow for Bloomie Friday — and keep those eyes peeled for even MORE cards as the designers actually have a chance to work with this set. (Last-minute Marcella strikes again.)

P.S. I HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN YOU, 
MY CLEAR STAMP LOVERS!

This stamp WILL be available in clear... quite soon, actually. Stay tuned and have an AWESOME day.