Inspire Me Monday - Happy Birthday

Hello, Power Poppy Fans! It is my turn again to bring you the Inspire Me Monday project. I have to confess to this not being a brand new project, but it is the first time it has been seen here on the Power Poppy Blog! I have been struggling with some health issues again, and am a little behind in my coloring projects! I do hope that bringing this out of the vault will be excused!

Now for the project!

Since my birthday is in February, I decided to make a fun birthday card to showcase several Power Poppy images! The only thing missing from this scene is a new book...but perhaps there is a book in one of those pretty packages! This is my ideal birthday...cake, a warm drink, and a pile of gifts! Plus...chocolate AND strawberries...yes, please!

For this project I have combined three digital images: the cake and tea from the Tea Cake with Strawberries digital set (also available in a clear set called Tea in the Garden), the gifts from the Party Essentials digital set (also available as a clear set called Party Time), and the sentiment from the Layer Cake digital set. 

If you want more information on how to put a digital scene together, please see my Power Poppy post HERE. 

To get started with a scene, you first need to print your images to the size which fits your card front. (Or, stamp them if you are using clear stamps instead of digital images.) My finished card is 6" x 8", so I printed the image as slightly smaller at approximately 5" x 6".

A color tip: When you are coloring a busy scene like this one, try to plan out your colors ahead of time so that you don't end up with a hot mess of every color in your marker collection! I call it "avoiding the clown party"!

I started out with the red, because...strawberries are red! I chose to "spread the red" around my picture to give the whole scene a balanced look. I then colored the leaves green, but did NOT add more green to the image. I did not want this to stat to look like Christmas!

I knew I needed to color the slice of lemon in the tea cup yellow. That became my second color, which I sprinkled about the scene. I felt that aqua blue would look nice with both the red and the the yellow. To tone it all down, I used brown. Making the cake frosting and the cake stand brown, rests the eye. Creating three white items (the cake doily, the napkin, and the largest box), also helps give your eyes a bit of rest. 

I think the picture is bright, but not clownish. I admit to being a bit sorry about the large ribbon bows, but...once they were glued down, I decided to keep them! Plus, every birthday needs a few big bows!

Here is the list of Copic markers I used. I did NOT use any colored pencil this time.

Background, napkin, cake: E0000, E000, E00, E21, colorless blender
Doily, box: C3, C1, C00
Ribbon, boxes, lemon slice: Y08, Y06, Y02, Y11
Cake, cake stand: E79, E29, E27, E25, E23, E35, E33, E57, R83, R81
Leaves, stems: YG03, G43, G99, YG21, YG05, Y11, YG01
Cup, boxes: B04, B01, B000
Strawberries, boxes, cup, cake stand: R14, R27, R29, R89, YG21 (strawberries only)

I selected some matching paper from my vast stash of printed paper to create a finished card. I will use a padded mailer to mail this card to a special someone....or I will keep it on my desk to enjoy for the month of February!

Thanks for stopping by!

Inspire Me Monday ~ Free Standing Pop-Up Card

Happy Monday!  Allison Cope here for Inspire Me Monday.  Today we’re going to make a fun Free Standing Pop-Up birthday card using a whole bunch of fun stamps!

Here’s your supply list for today’s card:

• 4 1/4” x 11” card base cardstock
• 2 3/4” x 5 1/4” tag matting cardstock
• 2 1/2” x 5” tag patterned paper (You may want 2 pieces)
• paper trimmer, craft knife, stamps, ink, double sided tape, dies (optional)
• SCORING LINES: 1”, 2 3/4”, 3 3/4”, 5 1/2”, 7 1/4”, 8 1/4”, 10”

Join me in at my crafty desk today and let’s make this fun card!  Grab your favorite beverage and away we go…

Click to view in HD.

For our card today I used the cups & cupcake image from the Under Glass stamp set.  Our birthday sentiment on the back of the tag came from the Floribunda stamp set.

To decorate the card base we used the cake on a plate from the Party Time stamp set, the forget-me-not flowers and the butterfly from the Soothing Sympathy stamp set, the potted Primroses and the single Primrose bloom from the Potted Primroses, the tea cup and saucer and the little daisy and the strawberry from the Tea in the Garden set and finally the champagne glasses from the Dream Wedding stamp collection.

Here’s a photo of the front of the card…

This is the back of the card again…

This is the card from the side showing how it stands up…

And finally, this is the card folded flat to fit inside an envelope!  Hooray!

Thanks for joining me!  See you again soon!  Happy stamping!

~ Ally ~


stamps: Power Poppy (Under Glass, Floribunda, Party Time, Soothing Sympathy, Potted Primroses, Tea in the Garden, Dream Wedding)
cardstock: Recollections (Teal Collection 110#, 65# White)
patterned paper: Catherine Pooler Designs (Prickly 6x6)
dies: Spellbinders (Long Classic Scalloped Rectangles, Long Classic Rectangles), Catherine Pooler Designs (Circles Dies)
ink: Memento (Tuxedo Black), Catherine Pooler Designs (Fiesta Blue), Copic Markers 

Go Ahead.... Inspire Me!

Happy July Power Poppy Peeps! Boy, do we have a super fun challenge for you this month. Okay, I am a bit biased though. I decided on this challenge and I can't wait to see how you take this Power & Spark to the next explosive level! ;-)

Are you ready? Let's see what's in store!

HOW TO PLAY: Every Monday here on the Power Poppy blog we invite the best of the best creative minds to share a little bit of their creative process. The hope is that they will "inspire" and spark a crafty revolution! Each Inspire Me Monday feature offers either a coloring lesson, a technique or maybe even a fun little digital "how to!" You can find all of our Inspire Me Monday features HERE on this link. Once you scroll through all these fun and informative posts, to take on this challenge, all you need to do is pick one as your source of inspiration and give that coloring lesson, technique or tutorial a try! Just that simple!

On to my creation! Goodness, this was a tough one. I literally went through every Inspire Me Monday. Did you know we've had this feature on the blog since April of 2014? WOW! That's a lot of inspiration waiting in the wings! So, after going through and revisiting a ton of fun posts, I chose THIS post by Ally Cope -- Fun With Masks! I had just bought some masking sheets and wanted an "excuse" to rip them out of the package and give them a try! 

First up, here's a peek at one of Ally's cards so you get the gist of what I did when I followed in her creative footsteps! 

And here's a look at my version using Power Poppy's Abundant Petals stamp set along with the coordinating die set! After I lifted the masks, added a stitched scallop frame die and the sentiment that I embossed in white from the M-Powering Words stamp set.   

All in all, this was a super easy card to create and a fun technique that I am pretty sure I'll give a try again soon! If you want to know more about the particulars of this creation -- just click HERE or on my name in the link list down further in this post.  Now it's YOUR TURN to take one of these Inspire Me Mondays for a spin! When you do, don't forget to link up your creation below! 

THE OFFICIAL RULES:

Use Power Poppy stamps if you have them. If not, it is a great way to win some!

Link your creation below using our Linky (please use the exact URL from your post instead of a generic blog address.)

Please mention Power Poppy in YOUR blog or gallery post with a link back to THIS challenge

The winner will receive a $50 SHOPPING SPREE TO THE POWER POPPY SHOP

Enter as many cards as you’d like, as long as they fit the theme of the challenge

Deadline to enter is June 30 @ 8:00 PM EST. At that point, we’ll draw the winner randomly and make the announcement right here on the first Friday in August! 

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With the new challenge, we are super excited to share the lucky card maker randomly chosen for June's Round and Round Power & Spark Challenge hosted by Stacy Morgan! (Be sure to click the link to see all the amazing entries this past month!) So, after we threw all the names in the virtual hat, here's the number that random.org drew...

The lucky number is 8, which means the winner is....

***CAT ARENZANA *** 

Congrats Cat! You've won a $50 Shopping Spree to the Power Poppy Shop! Contact us at bloom@powerpoppy.com and we will send your shopping code.

We do have to take a minute to share Cat's card, which is just a true breath of summer! 💗

Cat used Power Poppy's stamp set Tea in the Garden and I just adore the peppy color scheme she chose for her card layout -- just too happy, don't you think? The end result is just sweet and delish looking! Thanks Cat for sharing your talents with us this month! We can't wait to see what you nab with that shopping spree so you can come back and inspire us all in future Power & Spark Challenges! ;-) 

Before you go, you can't leave without hitting up these links below and seeing what some of our fabulous members of the Bloom Brigade have to share! Get ready, as always, to be WOWED! 

Christine Okken
Julie Koerber
Stacy Morgan
Tosha Leyendekker

Speaking of being wowed, Ally Cope will be in the house for the next Inspire Me Monday and I personally cannot wait to see what fabulousness she cooks up! Until then, enjoy your weekend my sweet stamping friends! 

~Julie

An InLinkz Link-up

Bursting for SPRING!

Hi all! Welcome to another color-coded blog post, designed to speak to your creative and crafty hearts! Today, since so many of us are ready for winter to bid us farewell, I thought it might be fun to cue up a trio of colors that had a springy edge! So, without further ado, this week's.....

THIS little number above was snapped in March of last year as branch after branch of Marcella's folks’ 'Butterflies' and 'Susan' Magnolias came into full bloom. Ahhh... just take a moment to envision these lovelies in real life. The time will soon be here when these beauties bud and open again-- bringing joy to the neighborhood! 

With that gorgeous color combo in front of us, we have another special treat! Check out this week's guest designer and let's learn a little bit more about her! 

Hello everyone! I'm Barbara Campbell and while I live in Wisconsin, I am happy to say that we are able to spend the winters in Naples Florida. Last winter, we bought our own home there. That means that I have two craft rooms! I am still trying to fill up my sunny Florida one. I am a retired Emergency Room nurse, and although I have been crafting for a long time, I really only was able to develop my craft after my retirement. I started a blog just to do the challenges that found fun and that is how I found Power Poppy. I have been Marcella's follower since her early days. Her designs are beautiful and so easy to color.

I have a very encouraging husband and we have 5 grown children and 7 grandchildren. We try to see them often as we can. They live all in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Connecticut and Cairo, Egypt. That gives us reason to travel. My husband and I have been to many exotic places including Bangkok, Morocco, Sicily, and river cruises on the Danube and the Rhine. Life is very good, and I am grateful.

I have been a designer for several challenges, doing the Mod Squad for this last year and representing Power Poppy there. Being asked to be a guest designer for Hues to Use has to be on the top of my accomplishments. I was thrilled when I saw Julie Koerber's name pop up in my emails recently.

MY CREATION

TO MAKE MY CARD I: 

1. Cut a piece of watercolor cardstock 8 1/2 X 6 1/2" and scored at 4-1/4 ( to accommodate the die)

2. I cut two of the dies from Sue Wilson's Australian collection Background die. The outside border
and the swirl in white cardstock applied strips of green cardstock to the back. That was added to the base.

3. Stamped the image from Power Poppy, Tea in the Garden in Archival ink

4. Colored it with Distress Markers: Shabby Shutters, Bundled Sage, Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry,
Scattered Straw. and Tea Dye. Shadows are Milled Lavender.

5. Die cut the finished image with Lil'inker Tag die.

6. I used my EK Tool 0.5 black pen to outline some of the images.

7. Added some Wink of Stella to the strawberries and the frosting.

8. Stamped the sentiment from Power Poppy Sassy Succulents in Black Versafine ink and added clear embossing powder and heat set on to vellum strip.

9. I applied the sentiment strip at an angle and used multi-medium glue to attach it.

Here's a close up for you! Thanks for letting me share with all of you. I hope you decide to join me and play along with this week's Hues to Use!

Thank you so much Barbara! If you'd like to check up on some of her other designs, all you need to do is click on over to her blog HERE! I really hope you give this little color combo a try! If you do, just remember to link up your creation below! Remember, each week, when we make the rounds to check out your creations -- we are wowed! Some of you are even invited to be the guest designer for the week and earn a digital stamp set of your choice! We love when you share your mad skills!

Until next week!
~Julie

An InLinkz Link-up