Inspire Me Monday: Box of Thanks

Hello everybody! It’s Marcella here, and today we’re going to do things a little bit differently, rather than a full-on tutorial, we have an inspiring show-and-tell post. You all know Elizabeth Zaffarano, the newest member of the Instant Gardener design team, and a guest host on Inspire Me Monday. Well, I spied something on Elizabeth’s Instagram feed the other day that is so nifty, I had to ask her if we could share it here with all of you. That wonderfully kind lady said “Yes!”

What exactly has Elizabeth been up to? Well, in addition to gilded Christmas cards galore, check out this beautiful gift box of coordinating thank-you cards...

You can follow along with Elizabeth’s process here on her blog, Saffron Kingfisher. Elizabeth stamped the large Flowering Santa image from our Happiest Holiday clear collection onto the lid. How did she do it? Using a Gift Box die set from Lawn Fawn (and following along with their easy-to-use video), this beautiful box came together in a snap.

Notice all of the texture and eye-catching detail, including a glittering embossed Merry sentiment. What a treasure! She was careful to stick to the same color scheme for the box lid and the gift cards inside. A lovely combo of turquoise, cherry red, pink, and chartreuse. Look at what is inside:

Three coordinating thank-you cards that will come in so handy at this time of year! Elizabeth used our Under Glass: Christmas Traditions clear stamp set for the images. Each card has a pretty matching envelope. I believe you can fit up to 6 cards inside this gift box. What a great idea for a gift, as we could all use more thank-you cards, couldn’t we?

Thank you so much to Elizabeth for letting me share her beautiful card box project here on the Power Poppy blog. I just love every bit of this clever idea and its execution!

We’ll be taking a break from Inspire Me Monday until after the Holidays. I hope you’ll turn to our 12 Days of Christmas posts for LOADS of inventive holiday papercrafting ideas.

Merry Merry Christmas and Happy Happy Hanukkah to you!

xoxoxo!

Inspire Me Monday: Cut down your coloring time

Hello Friends! How are you all? My name is Kathy Racoosin from The Daily Marker and I LOVE To color but, often I run short on time or I need a quick card. 

Have you ever seen a detailed stamp that you are in love with but, didn't have the time to color it? Hopefully after today you might be able to think twice about coloring that detailed stamp. 

This Santa stamp called, "Flowering Santa" is so magical and brings the magic of the season to a card. It's beautiful and spectacular but, it can take a little time coloring it.... that is if your want to fully color it. :)

Note: Pick up Flowering Santa for only $14.99 — save over $3 for a limited time!

Cut your coloring time in half by coloring over parts of a stamp and adding highlights with pencils or like my friends from the UK and Canada say, "Pencil Crayons" lol. 

Blue Memento ink was sitting on my desk so I decided to stamp this awesome image with it but, any color would work. 

Cutting off part of this beautiful Santa pains me but, it's essential when you want to cut the coloring time in half. Adding a layer of color with some alcohol markers saves time too. 

Filling in part of the beard with a solid color will save me time in the long run. With that said I can't wait to color ALL of this Santa with all it's personality and glory when a quick card isn't a must. 

Adding lines of color with a colored pencil.... a sharp colored pencil.  I have been traveling a lot with the Chameleon pencils and really enjoy using them.  

Following the lines in the illustration ... like I did on the hair just needs some highlights and that's it. 

Adding more cheek color on top of that first layer of copic markers. If you compare the two images you see more warmth in the face and those cheeks that the pencils add easily. 

Love this sentiment and I stamped it with Vera Mark black ink. 

Using a 0.03 Copic super fine tip marker to add small lines to highlight and accent certain areas especially the eyes & lashes. A white gel pen added some interest in the parts that I didn't color to save time. 

Glossy accents were added to the specs. 

I hope you find a little time to color a beautifully detailed stamp like this one without a big time investment.  

Thanks for your visit today and I hope you find the magic of the season in your daily grind. 

Hugs, Kathy

Holiday Day 4: Flowering Santa

Today marks the HALFWAY point of our Happiest Holiday sneak previews — can you believe we have four more sets to share? And we still have so much creativity to explore.

It always strikes me as funny to work on Christmas designs in the middle of summer. Sometimes my mind wanders a bit while I’m sketching and scheming. One minute I’m thinking about Santa... but in the midst of gardening, dreaming about plant combinations, or dare I say, designing my wedding flowers, Santa’s curly beard morphs into a blooming bouquet.

Notice how closely Santa’s beard resembles a cascade of flowers...

To my mind, it’s a no-brainer — Santa’s beard was meant to bloom! I loved the image above from an old Neiman-Marcus Christmas catalog, a very clever quilled paper construction, where the beard swirls into beautiful snowflakes. But then look at those winter bouquets, spilling over with flowers and leaves. Why, some of the bouquets are the classic shape of Santa’s beard! Hmmm...

I let my mind wander, and Santa Claus and I took a merry skip through a fantastical winter garden to create our new stamp set, Flowering Santa.

In my interpretation, Santa’s curly strands have twirled their way into a bouquet of poinsettia and holly, starry-shaped daisies, and plump berries. Whether you color this large-scale image in full flowery splendor, or you keep it more monochromatic and even metallic, you’ll come away with a card that totally dazzles and delights the recipient! Flowering Santa is going to be the image I use on my cards this year!

I’ve included three sentiments in sweepy script for a myriad of holiday uses — but this Santa says so much all on his own, with his sweet smirking eyes and rounded spectacles. Don’t you just want to give him a hug?

To help your Christmas cards come into full bloom with Flowering Santa — just look at what the Bloom Brigade made:

Allison Cope

Christine Okken

Julie Koerber

Stacy Morgan

Tosha Leyendekker

What vision those Bloomies bring to everything their talented hands touch!! And I KNOW that YOU TOO can bring out the sparkling awesomeness within to create cards that are special and unique in every way. This image would be fun embossed, watercolored, and glittered, and could be completed en masse! Ohhhh I can already see the assembly line I’m going to mount on our dining room table... come here, children, Mama needs you... 

Psssst! Fans of one of our recent holiday digis (one that MIGHT have featured a whole lot of berries!!) will want to tune in to see what’s coming up tomorrow...