You Can Make This Glittery Village Slider Card!

Ho, ho, ho and Merry Christmas! This is Catherine Anderson, one of your new Instant Gardeners.

Are you all stocked up on Power Poppy stamps after our fabulous Christmas Remix? Wow, what a flurry of artistic designs that was! Sales, giveaways and surprises galore highlighted the release of spectacular new images, holiday favorites in digital format, and a glorious clear stamp set!

But there is one thing that is even more thrilling for colorers than buying new stamps...we love using them! So grab your Copic markers, colored pencils and Distress Inks. Today I am going to show you how to make your very own version of my Glittery Village slider card!

You will need:

• Glittery Village digital stamp (printed at 165%)
• Christmas Corgi digital stamp (printed at 100%)
• Grandma's Snowflakes clear stamp set (for the sentiment and embroidery motif)

Hint, hint! These stamps are so adorable that you've probably already bought them, but if not, here's a little secret...Marcella currently has 20% off all holiday designs.

WOOHOO!

Two of the images for this card are digital, so if you shop fast, you can be merrily coloring within the next five minutes!

My finished card is 7 1/4" x 8 1/2"...a bit larger than A7, but with so much detail, you will be very glad to have a little extra room to move.

I used Cryogen Curious Metallic 89# cardstock in white. It is perfect for multimedia projects and has a subtle sparkle that makes holiday cards extra special! 

With a 1 5/8" circle die, cut a moon shape from "X-Press It Mask It" or some other masking film. Then mask the entire village area before applying regular Distress Ink in "Stormy Sky" and "Weathered Wood." Lightly spritz the background with water and pat dry after 20 seconds.

Before removing the mask, spatter the sky with thinned white and metallic gold acrylic paint for a shimmery mix of stars and snow!

Remove the masks.

Would you like to take your artistic coloring to new heights? Combine Copic markers with colored pencils! I learned this from Amy Shulke at Vanilla Arts and it is a match made in Heaven!

Compare the difference for yourself...the first photo is marker only:

     

 The second photo shows the village enhanced with Prismacolor pencils: 

         

Ah-hh! See the depth and richness that this extra step makes? Totally worth the effort!

What good is a canine delivery service without dog treats? Draw some simple 3/8" bone shapes on scrap cardstock, color and cut out. Seven was too many; five is enough.

Draw a couple of bones on the ground of the village. Color.

Print another copy of the Christmas Corgi the same size on inexpensive cardstock. Cut inside the line so that the image is slightly smaller than your colored version.

Cut three strips of clear cardstock (1/8" x 2 1/2") to act as invisible supports for the dog treats. Arrange them at various lengths, shortening strips as necessary. Once satisfied with their positioning, glue these strips to the back of your colored corgi.

Give your dog image extra stability by gluing the slightly smaller cardstock template to the back. This is especially important for those delicate antlers!

Cut the Glittery Village image down to 6" x 8 1/2" so it will fit through your die cutting machine.

A clear quilting ruler is your new best friend for getting metal dies lined up perfectly! Attach the die with low-tack washi or painter's tape.

TIP: Always stick the tape on your jeans or sweater a few times to make it less tacky. The last thing you want is for the tape to accidentally tear your beautiful coloring!

Now, this is the scary part! Run your project through the die cutting machine. Ouch! It hurts to cut something that you've just spent so much time on! Keep the end goal in mind...

Putz houses, the inspiration for Power Poppy's Glittery Village stamp, were little cardboard buildings purchased in dime stores during the 1940s. They were covered in glitter, so to keep mine authentic, I added a coat of clear "Wink of Stella."

This is a large card and will need to be very sturdy to support the slider mechanism. I wanted to add a decorative cardstock border to the top and bottom anyway, so cut my pieces large enough to glue the excess behind the image for stability.

By the way, this border cardstock is Cryogen Curious Metallic in "Lustre." Isn't it GORGEOUS? All the colors in that line are off the charts for beauty.

Measurements for the top and bottom borders:

Top: 1 1/4" x 8 1/2"

Bottom: 4 1/2" x 8 1/2"

Glue these to the back of the card front, making sure that you leave 3/4" of the border cardstock showing above the front of the image at the top, and 1" showing below the bottom. 

NOTE: Leave space around the die-cut area in order for the slider to move effortlessly. 

Measurement for the back cover of card and front cover liner:

Cut three pieces of Neenah Solar White cardstock (#110): 7 1/4" x 8 1/2"

Glue two pieces together as the card front is heavy and will bow the back cover if not reinforced.

The third piece of Neenah cardstock will be a liner for the front cover. Place the Glittery Village cover on top of this liner, then trace the opening for the slider. Mark where the moon will be.

Quickly add some Distress Ink for the sky and the same colors you used for the moon. Don't fuss...this is simply to prevent white paper from peeping through the slider hole.

(Front Cover Liner)

Then, glue the strip leftover from die-cutting your village scene to the traced lines on the liner. 

Edge the backside of the cover with THREE layers of 3M foam tape. Make a separate 5" strip of three layers and cut down the length to create three skinny strips. These are what you will use to line the outside of the slider hole.

Glue a 3-layered strip to the back of a penny.

NOTE: Leave enough room for the penny to be able to pass through this slider area without getting stuck.

You could use more foam tape as filler for where you see the black areas below, but it was cheaper to just glue together layers of fun foam instead. That foam may be a different height than three layers of the 3M tape. Make the heights as similar as possible. I used two layers of fun foam glued onto two layers of 110# cardstock.

Remove backing from the foam tape strips and add glue to the fun foam. Carefully line up the bottom of the card with the cover liner. Press the two together. Make sure that the penny stays in place. 

Note: I didn't add extra glue to the foam strips in this step, but doing so would have given me some wiggle room in case I had gotten the cardstock liner a little skewed. Tape alone will grip immediately and then tear the liner if you try to shift it.

Score two lines down the length of the top piece of Lustre cardstock at 1/4" and at 1/2". This card is extra thick because of the foam tape, so this "hinge" will allow it to fold perfectly. Glue your doubled piece of white Neenah cardstock to the back part of the hinge, as shown below.

Trace a mat from turquoise glitter paper that is slightly larger than the sentiment. Then add a piece of fun foam between the two layers to give your greeting extra POP!

Glue the corgi onto the penny. The foam strips already have an adhesive backing, but since this area will take the most stress, an extra dab of glue is a wise precaution. 

Glue small patches of white Prills and iridescent glitter onto the ground. Don't glue any Prills to the snow on the rooftop as this will prevent the slider from moving smoothly.

I added four pom-poms to the front of my card. They add such a cheery candy store vibe to the little Putz village, so I couldn't resist. However, pom-poms make mailing the card a wee bit more problematic. 

If you must send your card by post, be sure to secure the corgi. Move him to one end of the slider, then place a 1" x 16" paper band beneath his paws and tape it together on the back of the card . This will prevent damage from your little dog sliding unnecessarily during transit.

Without Pom-Poms

Ta-da! The finished card!

With Pom-Poms

Thank you so much for joining me on this creative adventure! If you'd like to see more of my artwork, please visit my Carde Diem Studio blog or Instagram.

In the meantime, keep a watchful eye on the sky this Christmas Eve. I heard rumors that Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer has been reassigned to candy cane production and Marcella's corgi, Tibbs is taking over delivering treats. So listen carefully! If you hear, "Meowy Christmas and Yappy New Year" just smile and know that it's Tibbs.

May the Lord bless and keep you!

Catherine

Supplies For This Project:

Copic markers in the above colors.

Prismacolor Pencils: 

PC901 Indigo                                       PC1008 Parma Violet                 PC1026 Grayed Lavender
PC1076 90% French Gray                   PC928 Blush Pink                      PC912 Apple Green
PC1088 Muted Turquoise                    PC936 Slate Gray                       PC938 White
PC1011 Deco Yellow                           PC905 Aquamarine                    PC995 Mulberry
PC1072 50% French Gray                   PC931 Dark Purple                     PC122 Permanent Red


Staedtler Triplus Fineliner Pens:

Dark Emerald Green (for stippling bottle brush trees)
Light Pink (for stippling bottle brush trees)
Black (outline for stained glass windows on church)


Distress Inks (regular, not Oxide):

Stormy Sky
Weathered Wood


Acrylic Paints (I used Golden Fluid Acrylics):

Titanium White
Iridescent Bright Gold (Fine)


Cardstock and Masking Film:

Cryogen Curious Metallic 89# cover in White
Cryogen Curious Metallic 92# cover in Lustre
Neenah Classic Crest cover 110# in Solar White (doubled and used as a card base for strength)
X-Press It Mask It...low tack, matte masking film
Clear Cardstock from Heartfelt Creations (invisible braces to hold the dog treats)


Other Miscellaneous Supplies:

"Wink of Stella" brush pen in clear
"Prills" in "Mini Pearl"
Iridescent glitter (I used "Jones Tones Lazer Gems" in "Crystal Ice")
Clear drying glue
Scotch 3M 1/2" foam mounting tape (2 packages)
Sheet of Fun Foam
Craft Knife and Scissors
"Life Changing Blending Brushes" by Picket Fence
1 5/8" circle die (moon shape for mask)
Die cutting machine
4 Pom-poms in colors of choice (mine were approximately 1/2" and 5/8")
A penny
"Slide-On-Over Semi-Circles" die by Lawn Fawn
White water-based paint pen, extra fine point (I used Sharpie, but Posco is a good substitute)

Inspire Me Monday - Change Up Your Holiday Color Palette!

Hello Power Poppy Fans! I'm Nancy Sheads from the Bloom Brigade here with this week's edition of Inspire Me Monday.

 

For today's project, I have a holiday card featuring Power Poppy's Bough Wow Wow clear stamp set.  If digital images are your thing, Power Poppy has you covered! This image is also available in digital format as Mittens and Merriment. 

What's your favorite holiday color combination? I like non-traditional color schemes for holiday cards, although the combination of teal blue with red and/or pink has become so popular that it's become a common holiday palette as well. But the color combination is one of my favorites and I've been using it a lot for this season's holiday cards.

I started by stamping the image with Amalgam Ink in Obsidian by Gina K. Designs on Hammermill Color Copy Digital Cover. Although this ink is Copic compatible, make sure that it is completely dry before you start coloring so that it doesn't smear on your page or rub off on your marker nib.

This image is really easy to color and the finish results pack a lot of punch. I've added a coloring video to show just how simple it can be. The markers I used are listed at the bottom of the page.

After coloring the image, I rummaged through my stash of dies to come up with a pair of oval dies that would layer together. I always have a hard time mixing and matching different colors and patterns of design paper, but it happened that I found a doubled sided design paper in my stash where both sides worked together to give me the final result that I wanted.

COPICS USED:

G24, G46 (leaves)

G20, G21 (pom poms)

R24, R37, R59 (heart)

BG11, BG32, BG72, BG75 (ribbon)

BV000, BV00, R37 (snowflake mitten)

BV000, BV00, BG11, BG32, BG72, BG75 (striped mitten)

Thanks for joining me today! See you back here soon!

~ Nancy 

Inspire Me Monday ~ Holiday Advent Calendar

Happy Monday everyone!  Today is Remembrance Day here in Canada so I want to send a heartfelt thank you to all the men and women who have served our country in the past, in the present and the future!  Thank you for defending our freedom.

I’m Allison Cope and today I’m going to share how I made a cute little holiday advent calendar with you.

I have used our adorable, and very handy stamp set, the “Merry Littles” stamp collection!

Join me at my crafty desk today with a warm cuppa your favorite beverage…

Click here to see in HD.

Here’s another quick look at all the boxes for my calendar…

Thanks for joining me today!  I hope I’ve inspired you to create something fun!

Happy stamping!

~ Ally ~

Creative Confetti: Make it Spooktacular!!!

Hello Power Poppy Fans! If you are anything like me, you are counting down the days to Halloween! I absolutely love this holiday -- not because we get dressed up and have an excuse to eat mondo amounts of candy (although that rocks) but because I absolutely LOVE handing out candy and seeing all the kiddos get so excited about their costumes. It's the best ever!! So, because I am in Halloween mode, I thought why not make some SPOOKTACULAR creations? And that, my friends, is taking center stage in this week's Creative Confetti Challenge!  

HOW TO PLAY: This one is sweet and simple! Just make a Halloween creation! Make it cute! Make it spooky! Make it one that gives us all a chuckle! Anything goes as long as the theme... is HALLOWEEN! Use Power Poppy stamps if you have them but, if not, this might be your chance to win some! Linky closes at the end of the month, letting you play along each week for... extra chances!

Let's get on to my creation! 

If you missed yesterday's Inspire Me Monday, you should click HERE for a step-by-step tutorial on how to make this little treat bag! Its perfect for fun-sized candy bars and oh-so-fun to create! And, on top of it, I linked up to a video tutorial by the fabulous Nancy Sheads where she shows us step-by-step how to color up this darling image that you can get in a clear stamp with Feeling Fall or a digital stamp in Power Poppy's new digi set called Boo Cat and Pumpkins! 

So, that's all there is to it this week! Let's get ready for the Night of Fright by whipping up a creation with a spooktacular design! ;-) Power Poppy has a few images if you'd like to pop on over to the shop and see not only the illustrations but the gallery of cards on that page!

Feeling Fall

Boo Cat & Pumpkins

Painting Pumpkins

So, why don't you whip up something with a Halloween flair and join me this week? Remember, each and every link up with our linky below is one more chance at a $25 gift certificate to the Power Poppy Shop! So, let's see what you've got!

Until next time!
~Julie

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Inspire Me Monday: Treats Not Tricks!

Hi all! Julie here with another edition of Inspire Me Monday! I figured with the 'Night of Fright' upon us, I would bring you a SUPER EASY, SUPER CUTE project that you can literally whip up in a jiffy! The folding portion of this project takes less than a minute -- no joke -- allowing you to just take your time and enjoy dolling up this little treat bag for the little ghosts and goblins in your life! 

Here's a peek at the finished project before I 

take you though the step by step! 

Now that you know where we are headed, let's get right to creating! I started with an 8" by 8" square piece of paper and folded it from corner to corner. It really helps to have a bone folder handy to make sure that you fold and crease cleanly. 

From there, you take the corner on the right side of the triangle and fold it so that it creates a straight line across when you fold it and the tip of the paper lines up with the edge of the other side of the paper... like so!

Fold the other side in the same manner so that both of your tips of the triangle criss-cross each other. See?

Once you have your folds all lined up, you can glue each flap in place. From here, you'll take the top of the triangle and fold it down, creating a flap over the area you just folded. This creates your treat pocket. You'll flip over the paper and fold down the second flap on the other side.

This creates the perfect little pocket for fun-sized candy bars!

It's just the right size! 

Because I didn't really like the white flaps, I chose to take an orange decorative paper and create a mat for each flap to add a little extra pop of color! This is where a two-sided paper would work perfectly! I just didn't have any in a color that worked for Halloween..... 

I wanted to show you just how big or small you could go with this treat bag! I started with a 6" by 6" piece of paper and honestly, this is small enough for a few Hershey's kisses, a Ghiradelli square, or one fun-size candy bar. Maybe this one would be best for dollar bills? ;-) As you go up in size, the more you can fit! I actually started with a 12" by 12" piece of paper but when I was done, I thought, wow -- that's pretty big! That might actually make a nice little gift bag in a jiffy for smaller gifts? So easy! 

After seeing Instant Gardener Nancy Sheads color up this cute kitty from Power Poppy's Feeling Fall stamp set, I knew I wanted to give her video coloring tutorial a try - so I stamped with Memento Ink Tuxedo Black and cued up the video and colored away following all her cues! If you missed this tutorial, you need to check it out HERE. It was so fun to follow along! Just a little note, if you want instant gratification, Power Poppy just released this cat image in a Halloween digital stamp set called Boo Cat and Pumpkins.  So many fun images in this digital set!

So, when I was done, this is what my treat bag looked like! I ended up sponging Stormy Sky Distress Ink around my image and then, to get a little extra dimension, I sprinkled on some water to get those drops around my image. I was hoping it might look like storm clouds or stars. Not sure if I achieved my goal but I still like the effect! :-) I also added a punched bat with some orange rhinestones for eyes and some fun Halloween ribbon to serve as my treat bag handles. Oh, I almost forgot, on my die cut mat for my main image, I did sponge some white ink around the edges to help it to pop a bit on my darker paper.

And, here's a look at the back of the project. You can see that all I did to secure the treat bag handle was knot the ribbon a few times. 

And, when all is done, you can stuff it with candy -- I chose mini Ghiradelli squares -- and even hang this little treat on a doorknob as a sweet surprise!

Thanks so much for stopping by this Monday! I hope you like this little tutorial and I hope you give it a try yourself! It can be used for so many different occasions --- Christmas (maybe you use these instead of an Advent calendar?), Easter, Valentine's Day, May Day! So many opportunities!

As always, if you give this tutorial a try, I would love to see YOUR take on it! Just leave me a link in the comments! ;-)

Enjoy your week and I will see you back here real soon for our weekly Creative Confetti Challenge!

~Julie