The Grow Everyday Collection is Here!

After five days of fun-filled sneaks with explosions of color and ingenuity, the Bloom Brigade is sparking a Power Poppy Hop, helping us to roll out five new sets that will keep you coloring and creating your heart out! Welcome to the official release day of The Grow Everyday Collection!

Have  you checked out the Bloomies’ creations this week? If not, I strongly encourage you to traipse back through this week's posts to play a little bit of catch up. Those gals were on creative overdrive and I know you won’t be disappointed that you took the time! With all of that inspiration out there in the blogosphere, now it's your turn to get those fingers inky with these brand new sets! Each set comes with a style all its own and--- guess what? They are all available now in the Power Poppy Shop!

My English Rose

Bloomin’ Wonderful

Small But Mighty Affirmations

Folk Heart

Planning For Magnolias

And, in the spirit of this special day, the Bloomies have yet another card to share for a full-fledged, color infused Power Poppy Pop in honor of this new release! Woot Woot! Way to take this one into overtime ladies! 

Allison Cope
Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
Julie Koerber
Kathy Jones
Katie Sims
Leslie Miller
Stacy Morgan
Tosha Leyendekker

Thanks for stopping by and spending a wee bit of your day with us! I have to say that I hope you had a chance to play along in our February Power & Spark Challenge. Last call is coming your way, just 8 days from now! The good news is leap year does give us one extra day in February to let your creative mojo flow! Take advantage of it my stampin’ peeps! 

Until then, why not hop over to the Power Poppy Shop to stock up on a fresh crop of clear stamp sets? All the best to you and yours on this fine Sunday! 

~Julie

It’s Bloomin’ Wonderful to have a set this versatile...

Today we’re gonna jump right in. Not going to spin a yarn about my childhood or how I discovered that affirmations can change your life. I’m not going to yank stuff out of my inspiration files or show snapshots of my desk, or scroll through the photos on my iPhone to find that sweet shot of snowdrops or ...

... well, maybe just one sweet snowdrop shot.

I took this yesterday during a little jaunt/escape. I think you know where... my home away from home, the Missouri Botanical Garden. I need to ask them if they will adopt me.

We are previewing a new set today with two large images, which I love to offer you, because I put in so many details that I want the stamps to be large enough to color each and every bit! You may recognize one of the images — think snowdrops! — as it was a very popular digital stamp we introduced last winter called Winter Pick-Me-Up. Remember that one? I have gotten many requests for this one in clear, and well, how can I say no? You’re going to find that this is a versatile set, a lilting, gentle stamp set. It is a sort of sentimental buffer from Winter to early Spring, with so many sentiments designed in a vintage-inspired typeface, you might think it’s pretty bloomin’ wonderful.

Without further chitchat or fussery, may I introduce Bloomin’ Wonderful.

We’ve been showing off new sets all week long, and today is the day we showcase the springy flings the Bloom Brigade have designed. Then tomorrow, well, it’s a HUGE BLOG HOP and all the sets will be available to buy. How’s that for a wild weekend?

  Cindy Lawrence
Tosha Leyendekker
Christine Okken

Leslie Miller

Allison Cope

Kathy Jones

See y’all back here tomorrow? Is it a date? Ok, it’s a date. Looking forward to hoppin’ with you guys!

 

You Get to Choose!

I learned this affirmation from Louise L. Hay, and created a card to share with my Mom as she was going through her treatments. (p.s. at the very top is Orchids Rock, which I stamped and watercolored.)

I was enlightened several years ago. It happened as my husband and I were going through a separation. Man, that stuff is a rollercoaster. I was trying to figure out how to keep my wits about me and stay focused on my work, be there for my kids, to find time for myself, and to do all the paperwork and negotiations that go along with divorce. Some days I was like, “I got this!” Other days I was a big blob of blah. Confused, resentful, sad, etc, etc... all the emotions you might expect.

My Mom shared with me (have I told you lately how awesome she was?) that I might find peace and inspiration reading the writings or listening to PBS specials by the spiritual leader Dr. Wayne Dyer. Well, that pretty much changed the direction of my life. Because on top of all the 9 million things I feel that I have since learned from Wayne Dyer, the main takeaway for me was: YOU GET TO CHOOSE HOW YOU RESPOND IN LIFE.

You get to choose.

You do not get to choose your emotions or your feelings. Most of the those will just rise up in us because we are human. But the funny thing is that when you realize that you CAN choose your response and your reaction to those feelings, and you choose a calm, peaceful, even joyful response, it changes the whole dynamic. It changes YOU. Dr. Wayne (as I affectionately refer to him, and sadly he passed away last year — we’ve really lost some of the greats in 2015-16) has another mantra that I loooooove: When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.

I can tell that I am about to go into a rabbit hole of musing about all the wonderful things that Wayne Dyer taught me about behavior, spirituality, and being. Gotta stick to the point here! And we have a stamp set to preview today, and lots of inspiring creations to share!

During that rollercoastery time I was going through, I started a practice of writing down the marvelous thoughts and perspectives I learned from Dr. Wayne. I put them on Post-It notes as soon as I would hear one in a talk he was giving, or in an audio book I’d downloaded. Soon, my entire computer monitor was edged in a border of colorful, inspiring sticky notes! I would sit down and see a big note saying, “YOU CAN CHOOSE PEACE!” (as opposed to whatever you are feeling right now, stress, sadness, irritation.) What a liberating thought. I started to make more sticky notes for other areas of the house. I adapted the affirmations of Louise L. Hay — she is an awesome conversation for another day, whew is she inspiring, and added “All is Well.” to my list of things to remind myself. Because really, all is well. No matter what manufactured drama you think you have going on in life, most of the time, you can remind yourself that God has got this. There is a plan, and we may not understand what it is, but All is Well, and you just need to chill.

Note the tiny “Circumstances do not make the man, they reveal him.” - that one’s from the philosopher Epictetus.

I posted this graphic with my very first blog post, see my lil Post-Its? That was just the tiniest smattering I shared in that shot! I’ve got ’em all over the place!

I’ve created a set of stamps that feature some of my favorite positive affirmations. They are written in the first person. We call that “I am” statements. (as in, I am peaceful. I am a child of God, a divine creation and a piece of His work. I can do any task I set my mind to with ease and comfort.) These statements really truly help to ease your mind, and to encourage you to shift your thoughts to a positive, can-do spirit. Here are a few of them, stamped onto 2" x 2" sticky notes. I could decorate my whole house in these things!

I know that these guys aren’t your typical stamp set. But maybe they should be! Why can’t we create sets of these positive words and do a little bit to help encourage ourselves, and one another, to be a little bit better. DARE TO BE GREAT! :) Because you know what, you can choose to be great. And you gotta start somewhere.

This new set is called Small But Mighty Affirmations... part of our Grow Everyday collection of clear stamps.

This is a set PACKED with stamps — there are 15 in all. I see using them not just for ourselves (though that part is key) but maybe creating a set of affirmations to give to a friend who is going through a hard time. What about stamping “I CAN DO HARD THINGS” a whole bunch of times, in a rainbow of colors, for an encouraging poster for your kid on the day of the big test? Or a simple “Go Rock this Day!” on your husband’s brown paper lunch bag? (I seriously could stamp that on my hand and look at it throughout the day, and it would keep me motivated!)

The Bloom Brigade has gone above the call to come up with some really cool projects using these little nuggets of positive thought. Let’s go see!!

Allison Cope
Cindy Lawrence
Julie Koerber
Leslie Miller
Stacy Morgan
Tosha Leyendekker

Thank you so much for sharing all this goodness with me today. We will all be back tomorrow for one more stamp set in our new collection, and it’s gonna have flowers in it. That’s all I’m going to say...

Grow Everyday: Introducing My English Rose

Let’s cut to the chase here, everyone loves a rose! They are basically irresistible to most folks, and are so layered with meaning, you can find a color of rose to symbolize any occasion.

I myself don’t grow roses, due to lack of sunshiney space in my garden. WAIT — I take that back, Uncle Bob gave me a beautiful yellow rose for Mother’s Day several years ago, and I set it, still in its pot, near my potted herb garden in the sun. I thought surely in the next month or so I would get around to clearing out a place in the garden for it to be planted.

If not that month, then surely the next month.

Or the next month? Definitely the next month.

Well, we’re heading in to that rose’s fifth season still in its pot, as its roots must’ve shot through the bottom of the plastic tub and found their earthy connection between the bricks. It’s healthy and happy! Last year, the rose sent out canes hither and yon, extending all along the fence with our sweet neighbors, and and it had about 200 blooms. Turns out the cultivar reverted from yellow to red, but it was such a wonderful show. Thank you, Uncle Bob!

The photos of inspiration I’m sharing here today are from the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Rose Garden. I had gone to the garden to do some walking and reflection, and couldn’t help but stop and photograph these beauties. I know this is crazy, but I didn't write down which varieties these all are! You all know how I like to keep track of things like that. Well, we’ll just have to bask in their glow and be content not to know. (Unless anyone can eyeball ID them, and if yes, please message me!)

Our newest clear stamp set coming down the line sprouted from a digital offering I brought out last year called La Vie en Rose. (Which basically translates to ‘life through rose-colored glasses’ — which, you know, I might be accused of doing, but hey .... )

I want to share a few cards made with that set, because you can see here that La Vie en Rose is a set that has a little “tag” attached to the rose. Then folks could stamp a message inside the tag, like our wonderful Allison Cope did here (paired with Hello stamp from Big Scripts):

And here’s a very sweet one by Julie Koerber, using the ‘I Love You’ I handlettered for the digital version of the La Vie En Rose set:

After this rose digi set had been out for a bit, I noticed that several of our designers had started using the rose without the tag (we can say ‘sans tag’ since we are speaking French) — they had done a little Photoshop pruning! By the way, I endorse this practice, as I love to see people stretch their creativity and take things beyond my original vision. With this new clear rose set, I have done the pruning for you. Now you get one superfrilly rose with the tag, complete with buds and leaves going every which way, and THEN you get a larger single rose without so much fluffery.

Sometimes you want fluffery, sometimes ya don’t, know what I’m sayin’? Introducing, My English Rose:

We’ve got several NEW sentiments that fit into the tag that is attached to the fluffy rose cluster, and then we’ve got several more sentiments that are more general. Most of them have a loving feel to them, because we are such an amorous type, aren’t we?

One more quick tidbit... I named this set after a very lovely song by The Jam, a British band headed by Paul Weller, who is just basically the coolest dude ever. This is his ode to his homeland of England, and when Doug and I first started dating, he put My English Rose on a mix-tape (CD) for me. Here’s a link if you care to hear the tune...

With that beautiful soundtrack playing, let’s go see what the Bloomies have made with My English Rose today!

Allison Cope
Christine Okken
Kathy Jones
Leslie Miller
Stacy Morgan

I hope to see you all back here tomorrow... we’ve got a set that is unlike anything I’ve shared with you before. It’s superfun, and we’re going to have some fun with it! Have a great day,

What goes in to an illustration? Find out, and peek at my new Folk Heart stamps

When you start breaking down what really inspires one to create a certain work, it can be difficult to pinpoint. When somebody says, “I ‘CASE’d so-and-so’s card for my design,” do they just copy down to the last sequin and marker stroke what the other person created? No way, man, they bring their own spin to it. They bring their surroundings to it. They bring whatever music they may have been listening to at the time. They might bring in the colors of the sweater they happen to be wearing that day that perhaps inspired the color scheme or the decision to add fibers or texture. They bring a lifetime of acquired memories and visual references, from childhood coloring books, a first visit to an Art Museum to see Monet’s Waterlilies, a torn-out magazine page with that darling fabric that would really be perfect for the living room curtains. All of this random stuff can have an impact. Isn’t that cool?

We all bring so much to every work that we do. We just don’t stop to think that we’re storing all that info up there, just waiting to use it in a creative way! Thank you, Brain, for allowing me to stuff you so full with visual inspiration and information, that when I’m ready to go to town creating new things, I can draw from your vast archives!

Why am I going in to all of this? Well, when I started culling the images I wanted to share with you today about how I got from point A to point B with my newest stamp set, Folk Heart, I realized that my sets might be primarily influenced by one thing or another... but many of them are the culmination of years of looking, years of gathering, years of appreciating beauty. Then that trusty brain churns it all around and allows me to put pencil to paper, and bring the images and words to life.

So, it all might have started with seeing images like this:

Scandanavian designer Josef Frank’s “Aralia” linen fabric, designed in 1928

Josef Frank “Vegetable Tree” fabric, designed mid-1940s

“La Plata” by Josef Frank screenprinted on linen, designed mid-1940s

Vintage Mexican Milagros. Source, Susanne Duda

Vintage Advertising. Source, sheaff-ephemera.com

Jacobean Crewel Embroidery by Elsa Williams, 1974. Source, www.austintatiousofferings.com

Crewel Embroidery found on Pinterest ... I'm so sorry I cannot place the source! Will update when I do.

Modern Crewel Embroidery by Bucilla / Bernhard Ulman. Source, www.austintatiousofferings.com

My OH My, that is a lot of stuff to look at!! Are you still with me?? These shapes and sinewy lines and vines got me going in all kinds of directions. And while what I came up with for my final sets (which I split into TWO sets - one is the new digital offering, Flowers, Always and one is the new clear set, Folk Heart... also, I shared some of the inspiration from wool hooked rugs in my post about Flowers, Always, and you can see that HERE) was a bit more folksy and cute than some of my influences, I couldn’t help but bring it back to my own design style, which puts my Marcella stamp on it! :)

I got to sketching out my potted plants, because even though you can look at visual references all the live long day, you are going to have an idea of what it is you want to draw. Y’all know I cannot resist a potted plant!

And that drawing turned into this, the Flowers, Always digital stamp, shown here expertly colored and made into a card by Cheryl Scrivens!

Isn’t that fantastic? I hope you will run around to be sure you see all the cards created with that set by the Instant Gardeners, they are ALL so different!!! I love those ladies.

I drew so many various images, I couldn’t fit them all into the clear set version. So this one really is packed with a LOT of cute stuff to use, inspired by all of the above Scandinavian fabrics, milagros, primitive folk art and rug hooking, crewel embroidery, and my overall love of curious-looking plants. Let’s take a look at Folk Heart! It will be available for purchase in the Power Poppy Shop on Sunday as part of the Grow Everyday collection.

Oh wait, did I forget to show you photos of all the little birdies that I have admired? Do you think I aim to keep you here all day? Maybe we’ll save birdies for next time, eh? Because right now I really think you should go see what the Bloom Brigade has created to share with you today.

Get ready for some exuberant color and fun... go Bloomies!

Julie Koerber
 Tosha Leyendekker

 Allison Cope
Katie Sims
Christine Okken
Stacy Morgan

Cindy Lawrence

Thank you so much for sticking with me through this long post! Too much to share, and posted a little bit late due to inability to stop talking. I come by it honestly. Love to all and see you back here tomorrow!! We have MORE new sets to come...

Five days of February clear stamp previews - starting.... NOW!

Hello there! I hope you’ve been following along lately to see that we have a whole WEEK of excitement to throw at you. (Don’t duck, it’s actually fun stuff that you won’t want to miss!) Whether it was our folk-artsy new digital stamp, Flowers, Always, which we introduced yesterday showcasing gorgeous cards by the Instant Gardeners, or an outstanding coloring tutorial by Kathy of the Daily Marker for Inspire Me Monday, we’ve started this week with some real flower power.

And now, I have a new clear stamp collection for you. This February release is called Grow Everyday, and features a range of springy botanicals (I know y’all love those), some all-occasion stamps that are easy to stamp-and-go without a big to-do about coloring and shading, and finally, something I’ve been wanting to bring to you since we first started Power Poppy, a set of positive affirmations. Five lively sets in all — you might recognize a few of the images from our digital collection, as I pluck out my faves and pop them into polymer when the time is right — and I hope you’ll see something that catapults you into creativity! Our Bloom Brigade has been working hard behind the scenes to develop beautiful and inspiring cards to share with you each day. On Sunday, February 21, we’ll have a bouncing blog hop with the entire team, and the week of February 22nd, our Grow Everyday collection will be in stock and ready to ship!

Let’s start peeking...

We’re going to start rolling with a set I’ve been dreaming about doing for years. Showcasing the flowers and branches and emerging buds of this flowering tree was so much fun, it took all my willpower not to create about six different sets, each featuring a different variety!! I actually did a watercolor featuring lots of Magnolias in 1996 (holy smokes, that was 20 years ago already), featured in the Klehm Nursery mail-order catalog, which I designed and illustrated:

But sometimes I have to reel myself in (not often, but sometimes), and here I’ve culled a few favorites. Want to see some of my inspiration? Many of these photographs were taken in my parents’ garden, which they nicknamed Magnolia Folly, owing to Mom’s love for Magnolias. Others were snapped at the Missouri Botanical Garden, where I seem to go so often in the spring, the gardeners there might think I’m an employee! (Maybe I should bite the bullet and apply to work there?)

Let’s start it off with a bang! Yellow magnolias make my life that much better, there, I said it. This one is Magnolia x ‘Butterflies’ in the front yard of my folks’ Magnolia Folly.

Photographed in the bulb garden last spring at Missouri Botanical Garden. Not sure of the cultivar. Let’s just refer to it as Magnolia ‘Awesomeness Maximus’.

Mom’s absolute favorite, the rare coral-color and double-flower make this one a total standout. It’s called Magnolia Coral Lake.

Again with the Coral Lake. Look at these radiant jewels! This is in the side garden at Magnolia Folly. :)

Magnolia stellata, or Star Magnolia. Check out the skinny petals of pink sweetness! This cultivar is one of the first to open at my parents’, and if it doesn’t get bitten by frost, produces gobs and gobs of starry blooms. Cultivar is M. ‘Leonard Messel’.

A branch of Magnolia stellata ‘Leonard Messel’ that Steve cut for me and I arranged in my dining room last spring, along with a myriad of Hellebores and tiny Daffodils displayed in test tube vases.

I cannot claim to know the name of this white Magnolia. Can anyone help me? I photographed its bubbly blooms a few years ago at Missouri Botanical Garden and forgot to write down the cultivar. Arrgh!

What a sultry center. The stamens look almost like a sea urchin... or teeny tiny french fries.

Lastly, here’s my lil red Yamaha parked next to Magnolia ‘Elizabeth’, at Magnolia Folly. This tree is over 2 stories tall and LOADED with flowers. Kind of a neighborhood showpiece!  I had ridden over to my folks’ house on a balmy spring day, and the only downside to riding is that you can’t bring home a bouquet...

I want to add that most of the Magnolias shown here, and MANY MANY MORE are available by mailorder from my favorite nursery of all time, Klehm’s Song Sparrow. Here is a link directly to the Magnolia offerings on their website. Go here for inspiration — and maybe pick out a tree or two!

Ok, that’s it for the show and tell. Now let’s get to the stamp set inspired by all this beauty! Presenting, Planning for Magnolias.

I’ve clipped a branch straight off the tree, and whether you color it in pink, purple, yellow, white, coral, or any combination thereof, I think you’ll find this stamp a pretty addition to your stamping garden! There isn’t a ton of complicated shading on these plants, so this set works well when you don’t want to invest too much time, but still want a showy card or creation. Other images in this Planning for Magnolias have a more casual take... and one features a fun “planner” scene inspired by the kinds of tabletop set-ups we have all over our house... open books, calendars, journals with lots of cute stuff spilling out all over the place. Only this one has a Magnolia stellata along for the ride.

Oh, hey look!! The Bloom Brigade is breezing in to show us some of the many ideas you can try with this set of flowering Magnolias and friendly sentiments.

TAKE IT AWAY, BLOOMIES!

Stacy Morgan
Tosha Leyendekker
Cindy Lawrence
Leslie Miller
Kathy Jones
Allison Cope
Katie Sims
Christine Okken
Julie Koerber

Thank you so much for stopping by today! I hope you’ll make a note to come on back tomorrow, for something a bit folksy, fun, and just a little bit “crewel.”

A Special Note: 
 It is with the heaviest heart that I must share with you this news. My beloved mother, Susan H. Smith, passed away on February 6th. You can read my special post about Mom’s life here. We cannot thank you enough for the prayers and good thoughts everyone has been sending.

With love and beauty to all of you... my sweet friends.