Inspire Me Monday - Limiting your colour palette

Hey everyone! Jessie here to share a little fall inspiration with you all today!

Fall is my favorite season, even if it is snowing where I am in the world. I love the oranges and green and purples and reds and all the fall colours! Truthfully I love all the colours always!

This sweet image of Pumpkins and Pears is a brand new digital download! I loved painting this up. I played with just some oranges and greens adding in a light pop of purple for the flowers, just for some contrast. 

I love working with limited colour palettes in watercolour, picking out 3-5 colours and mixing and working with them for an entire painting. It is amazing how cohesive, and different a painting can be even with just a few different colours. It also make you work a little harder to get the difference in colours, and depths of colours with that limited palette, It really does help you understand your tools. 

Try it! Pull out a few colours and paint an entire card front with it. It may sound scary not to be able to reach for every colour you own. But it will be great!

Thanks for stopping by,
Hugz

Inspire Me Monday - Paint for fun!

Hey everyone! Jessie here with you today! For this Monday, I decided just to play. No pressure, no real project. Just me, some of my favorite paints and stamps, and some new paper!
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If you came to see the amazing Kathy Racoosin, she will be back next week!

I did record a complete process of this one! Using the In Praise of Sunflowers stamp set! 

Thanks so much for stopping by,
Hugs
Jessie

Inspire Me Monday - You Don't Always Have to Finish It!

Hey all! Jessie here today, with a sneak peek of the new Clear Stamp release coming later this week. Also some of my ramblings.

I started off by stamping out the soon to be released, Big Sexy Blooms stamp set, on some Arches 140lbs hotpress watercolour paper. If you think this set is great, wait till you see what else is coming when peeks start on Wednesday!

I painting in the negative space, so the space where there are no flowers with a light blue colour. That kills off the white space that will not be filled with colour at the end, by using a light blue it will still read as light space between the florals.

It is hard to see here, but I put a super light wash of colour over all the petals in the floral to, again, get rid of the white space and make it easier to build up the layers of colour.

 Those of you that play along in Kathy Racoosin's Daily Colouring Challenge, will understand this one. This card is not complete. You do not have to finish everything in one sitting. This weekend was cray busy. My son had a baseball tournament on Saturday, then we went golfing on Sunday. But I spent about half an hour colouring. And this is what I accomplished1 It is okay that this will take me till Thursday to complete!

You can see how as I add the darker paint near the center of the floral you start seeing the depth of colour. 

After I got all the initial layers of red layered on, I pulled out Moon Glow (Daniel Smith) and put that over top of everything. This will grey out all the colours and mute out the start of the flowers. Then I get to come back in with the reds and bring that colour back.

Layering colours is one of the most import things to achieve the depth of colours I like to have in my floral cards. those initial layers, and the moon glow will shine through the bright reds that are being layered on top.

So this is as far as I got on Sunday. But I hope you enjoyed the little bit of info. And always remember it doesn't have to be finished in one sitting!

Make sure you come back on Wednesday to see what everyone has made for the New Release coming very soon!

Hugs
Jessie

Inspire Me Monday - Save The Crafty Youtuber Video Hop

Hey everyone, Jessie here today sharing some watercolour on a blown up digital image. 

This is also my project for the save the crafty youtuber hop. Justine Hovey organizes this once or twice a year to help all us cardmaking youtubers reach the goals we need to keep our monetization.

Marcella was super sweet to sponsor me in this event, so I have a 25$ giftcard to give away, make sure you COMMENT ON THE VIDEO ON YOUTUBE FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN.

As always I love blowing up the digital images, this time I used Hellebores, and then I painted it with my watercolours. It really is my go-to when it comes to florals. But this time I did two tone blooms, I have spent the last couple weeks wandering through green houses, as planting season has just begun here in Saskatchewan. So tons of inspiration has been around.

Thanks for stopping by,
Hugz
Jessie

Inspire Me Monday - Keep it Simple

Hey everyone! It is Monday, and Jessie is here to share some super Clean and Simple Inspiration. 

I know I usually have some fun watercolour to share with you all. But this week, I went with something clean and simple. A 10 minute card!

A little Distress Oxide Ink Blending and some embossing can make a lovely little card!

Of course, I have a process video for you all!

Thanks for stopping by!
Jess

Inspire Me Monday - Using colours you don't always reach for

Hey all, Jessie here with you today! I love Mondays, because on some of them I get to share a tid bit of my creative journey with you all! This week I decided it was time to break out of what I know best and pull out some colours I never reach for. It was challenging and fun to mix them in with the Perfect Poppies digital image. 

Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Red Medium, Serpentine Genuine, Green Appatite Genuine, Undersea Green and Lunar Black. Are the colours that I used to create this pretty little flower, they are not on my typical pallet or something I reach for often. It was fun to go outside of my comfort zone and use colours I don't often reach for. I actually don't think I have ever painted with Alizarin Crimson, but it was so worth it. This one came out ever so pretty. Finishing it off with a Hematite Burnt Scarlet spack in the background to give it all a vintage feel. 

I do have a fun process video to share with you all of this sweet little card.

Thanks for stopping by,
hugs,
Jessie

Inspire Me Monday - Slow Down, Enjoy the Process

Hey everyone, welcome back to another Inspire Me Monday! Today I have some photos of my process painting up the new Clover and Pansies Digital Stamps!

I love Marcella's Digital images, they are always so detailed large and over the top, As most of you know I like to blow them up and crop them a little bit then paint them up with my watercolours. 

My biggest tip with this images is to take it slow, break it apart into smaller pieces, I did the darker leaves first. Then I went in and worked on the clovers. Enjoy the process of colouring these images up, not only is that good advice for getting these images to turn out the way you want. It is great for the mind to slow down and get lost in the painting process!

I was slowly working on different sections, allowing the layers to dry before adding more. Watercolours are great for making me take it slow, they thrive when you leave them alone and allow them to dry naturally. Layer up those pinks on the pansies, let the purple dry and dab in the yellow on those little flowers and watch it flow out into the white as it dries. Remember, as long as that watercolor paper is cool, it is wet, and as long as it is wet, the watercolor is still moving in the paper. 

Once the previous layer is dry, we go in with more colours, slowly adding and building it up. Like I said keep saying, take it slow, enjoy the process!

It all starts to come together and begins to work. breaking it down into smaller sections keeps it all from looking and feeling so overwhelming!

And once you get near the end you get to see all those parts together, and not looking like a million black lines of scariness! It is always so amazing to see it all come together, and look like one pretty little piece!

Thank you so much for stopping by and seeing what I created this week!

Hugz,
Jessie

Inspire Me Monday - Liquid Watercolors

Hey everyone! Jessie here today sharing some liquid watercolor painting with you all! I have blown up and printed the Orchid Cascade digital stamp on some hotpress watercolour paper. 

For everyone wondering, I use an HP CP1025NW Color Laserjet printer. 

I love how vivid the liquid watercolours are! They are so fun to paint with!

Of course I have a process video to share with you all!

Thanks for stopping by this lovely Monday!
Hugz
Jessie

Inspire Me Monday - Emboss Resist

Hey everyone! Long time no see! I am back with you all today, and to ease back into floral videos for you all, I decided to keep things pretty simple with a little emboss resist technique using Poppy XL.

I of course have a video of this soft watercoloured card for you all as well!

I had a ton of fun playing with this stamp set and the handmade watercolours. The soft splashy look of this card really makes me happy I love watching colours move around!

Thanks for stopping by,

Hugz,
Jessie

Inspire Me Monday - Azaleas are Awesome!

Hey all! Jessie here today, a little late but I am here with this weeks Inspire Me Monday!

Marcella has recently added 12 images that were only available in clear stamps into digi form!! And I am over the moon excited for it!

I am so in love with this set!! It is one I have wanted in digital for FOREVER!!

Of course I have a video for this to share with you all!

Thanks for stopping by,
Hugz,
Jessie

Inspire Me Monday - Ruffled Up

Hey everyone, Jessie here today with another Inspire Me Monday for you all! Today I am painting up the Wild Ruffled Orchids!

I had a blast with this image, playing with a new watercolour brush that I got for Mother's Day, this was the first real image that I got to paint with it. But I love this brush!

As per usual, I have a process video to share with you all!
Happy colouring
Hugz
Jessie

Inspire Me Monday - Get your Mojo Back

Hey everyone, Jessie here today, sharing some inspiration with you all. Life has been crazy busy, and I have been exhausted and with all of that -- so much so -- that my card-making mojo has seemed to have taken a holiday. So I printed off one of my favorite digital images Everything's Rosy, grabbed some of my watercolours and sat down and filmed this video for you all. 

This helped me feel like getting back into the swing of things! Just remember, when things get exhausting and you feel overwhelmed, you really need to find a few moments to take a breath and do something that you love, no matter what it is. Speaking of which, did you see the Power & Spark Challenge this month about getting enough Vitamin Me? Check it out here! 

On a positive note, I think spring has finally found Saskatchewan. The snow is melting fast, the sun is hot and the world is starting to come to life again. 

Thanks for stopping by,

hugz,

Jessie

Inspire Me Monday: Blow Up Your Digis

Hey everyone, welcome to another Inspire Me Monday! Jessie here with you all again today, hoping to pop some cropping and watercolour inspiration into your Monday!

I enlarged and cropped the Heart Abloom Digital Image to fit the front of an A2 size card, then printed it out on Fabriano Artistico 140lb extra white hotpress watercolour paper. I then pulled out some of my Daniel Smith watercolor paints and had a blast painting up all these gorgeous florals!

Edit: We’ve gotten a lot of questions and comments about what method Jessie uses to resize her images. In a newsletter, I suggested enlarging the image in the print dialog box (that’s what I do) but Jessie has just created a REALLY HELPFUL tutorial video for showing how she enlarges, rotates, and crops images for cards using Microsoft Word. Take a look! ~marcella

Thanks for stopping by,
Hugz,
Jessie

Inspire Me Monday - Magnolia Sunshine with Jessie Banks

Hey everyone! I am finally back on my floral game! I have truly missed painting up flowers. So for today's card I cropped and printed off Power Poppy's Magnolia Sunshine Digital image on some Fabriano Artistico 140lbs hotpress watercolor paper.

I bought these Jane Davenport watercolours, because the tins were so cute and got around to finally trying the paint! You don't need to have the worlds priciest paint to create beautiful bright vivid floral cards! Just look at how those colours work together, I was, overall, impressed with these paints.

I didn't think I was going to have time to get a video of this one together for you all, but I stayed up a little late and got it done, I love filming watercolour and getting to see it all come together again as I edit the video! I hope you enjoy.

Thanks for stopping by, Hugz, Jessie

Day 10: Wooden Ornaments

Hello Everyone! Jessie here today with Day 10 of our 12 Days of Christmas extravaganza! If you are just joining us, you have some catching up to do! There are nine other inspiring projects made by the talented Bloom Brigade that you won't want to miss! Keep in mind, if you play along with us during any one of the 12 days and try our project at hand, link up your creation HERE and you’ll be in the running for our Power & Spark 12 Days of Christmas Challenge. You read that right: you’ll have 12 ways to enter. Play along once or try all 12 days for more chances to win a $50 shopping spree to the Power Poppy Shop! 

For the 10th Day of Christmas.... I have always wanted to make some of those little wooden round ornaments! I figured what better time then for this project! I pulled out my Heaven and Nature Sing and Glistening Paperwhites stamp sets! I stamped the images and sentiments on the discs using Versafine Black Onyx. 

I coloured them up with my Polychromos coloured pencils, best part is that on the wood I didn't do a ton of layering, just one layer blending a few colours together. These all came together rather quickly!

Once I finished all my colouring, I took the black pencil and retraced my stamp lines.

All that is left to do is add a bit of string and hang them on a tree. These were super fun to make I may have to cut myself some more discs next year and do some more!

And, it's just that simple! Want to join in on the fun and give any one of the 12 days of projects a try? Just get creating and link your creation up HERE! Whether you make wooden ornaments or any one of the other amazing projects that the Bloomies have created over the last nine days you can play along and are in with a chance to WIN!

I hope you've enjoyed these super easy and very quick Christmas projects and don't forget to pop back in tomorrow! Ally Cope is in the house with a fun way to add a little stamped love to your gift giving this holiday season!

Thanks for stopping by,
Hugz,
Jessie

Inspire Me Monday - No need to be traditional

Hey everyone, Jessie Banks here today, hopefully to kick your mojo into high gear and remind you that no flowers have to follow traditional colours!

I have coloured the Sunflower Power Digital stamp, every colour under the sun! And this Tiger Lily XL is quickly becoming the same thing. I love that about florals, just because something "should be orange or pink... doesn't mean I cannot colour it teal!!

Seriously I love this flower, the size is amazing! And if you have seen any of my work with the digital stamps here at Power Poppy, I tend to blow them up and crop this, and this stamp gives me that same effect just in clear form! P.S. keep your eyes peeled for a new release, I have it on pretty good authority that another XL stamp is going to have to come live with me!

Oh yeah, of course I have a process video of colouring this lovely image up!

Thanks for stopping by,
hugz,
Jessie

Inspire Me Monday - Soft Watercolours

Hey everyone! Jessie here today, hopefully to help inspire your creative week!

I am all about floral cards, in ever medium ever!! Today I have a video with some super soft watercolour on the Bubbles and Fizz digital stamp!

I really love this image, I chose to print the lightened version of the stamp and use some light washy watercolours. I really love the way this card came out. In my usual style I blew up the image to fit the front of a card and added the sentiment that comes along with it! 

I hope you enjoy my video!

I have always loved how washy watercolours work so well with florals, you don't have to worry about picking every little detail to come out with a super lovely card front! 

Colours used: (these are all Daniel Smith Colours, but you can use any watercolours you have on hand!)
Cobalt Teal Blue
Quinacridone Pink
Rose of Ultramarine
Moonglow

Sap Green
Serpentine Genuine
Green Apatite Genuine
Perylene Green

Thanks for stopping by,
Hugz,
Jessie