May I have this dance... with your Daffodils?

Happy Sunday and I’m thrilled to share with you a new Instant Garden digital release!

I’ve given you little peeks and hints in the newsletter of what this month’s digi would be, and I guess it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that it features a flower that’s near and dear to my heart, and especially to my sweet mom, Susan’s heart: Daffodils.

Visiting with Grandmama Susan to pick bouquets of her marvelous show-quality daffodils has got to be one of the grandest highlights of Spring. It’s enough that daffs start to pop all over town, brightening up street corners and the bases of treetrunks, but to be able to pick and bring home armfuls of ones that are so unique and special that they are hardly even seen in the greater population? Well, that’s just a gift for which I am extremely grateful. I treasure them, and I treasure their grower and caretaker so very much. Thank you, Mom!!!

I won’t keep you another moment from the set itself, now that you’ve gotten this blast of yellows, orange, peach and apricot, white and cream, chartreuse and lime... Introducing: Dancing with Daffodils!

In my newest digital stamp, daffodil (Narcissus) flowers and foliage unfurl in a twirly-swirly  dance with flowering periwinkle vines. My mom has this combination planted on the side of her home, and the daffodil hues look so pretty contrasting with the blues/purples of the periwinkle (also called Vinca minor).

I can see you using this image on all kinds of springtime cards — I’ve included a curlique “Just Because” sentiment you can keep in your back pocket for those anytime uses — but paired with a sweet Easter or Mother’s Day sentiment, these flowers would really light up anyone’s day!

Speaking of lighting up your day, let’s bask in the inspirational cards created with this set by our all-star Instant Gardeners design team. Let’s dash over to their blogs and enjoy their take on Dancing with Daffodils!

Broni Holcombe

Cheryl Scrivens

Danielle Kennedy

Debbie Olson 

Jennifer Dove
Rhea Weigand

Dancing with Daffodils is available at Power Poppy right now to purchase and start coloring. I hope you like this newest offering from our Instant Garden collection. Click here to see all of the flowers we’ve introduced.

Enjoy this gorgeous day!

Have you got the POWER?

Happy Friday y’all! Hope you have fun plans for the weekend ahead and hope you can take some time to share that creative spirit of yours! Since it’s Friday, that means the Bloom Brigade is ready to show off some of their latest creations. Get ready to be wowed!

We’d also like to remind you of our newest challenge, just announced last week:

HOW TO PLAY: All you need to do is take up Tosha Leyendekker on her POWER & SPARK challenge and GO FOR THE GOLD! How? Well, use a bit of gold someplace on your card — paper, embellishments, embossing, you name it! If it’s got a splash of gold, it works! Just click HERE to check out all the official deets, create something and then link up your project using the linky below!

Goodness gracious, if you missed the artful display from some of our Bloom Brigade last week, can I just take a second to give you some gilded eye candy?

Check out this polka-dot covered, sequin-adorned bit of gorgeousness from Christine Okken! I love the gold-embossed peonies from Power Poppy’s Dynamic Duos: Peonies and Tulips. It’s a beautiful bit of inspiration for this month's challenge!

Before we get to the BE-YOU-TEE-FUL creations from our talented “Bloomies”, we have a VERY SPECIAL REMINDER! The 15th of the month is nearly here and do you know what that means? The next BIG addition to our Instant Garden (digital stamp set collection) is about to be unveiled by our super duper, extra talented group of card makers that we affectionately call our Instant Gardeners! They will be RIGHT HERE on Sunday to show off the latest botanical beauty! Can you even stand it?

Okay, deep breaths! It’s that time! Time to check out the creative wonders crafted by our Bloomies! Hop on over and see......

Christine Okken 

Dawn Burnworth

Katie Sims

Stacy Morgan

Thanks for stopping by this fabulous and fanciful Friday! And REMEMBER, mark your calendar for THIS Sunday to get a glimpse of our newest digital stamp set in our Instant Garden Collection! Trust me, you won't want to miss this fresh breath of spring!

~Julie

An InLinkz Link-up

Inspire Me: Bring on Spring!

Howdy everyone!  And Happy Monday!  I'm Allison Cope and I'm here to share with you for Inspire Me Monday!

I have a sweet couple, Brenda and Keith, that live next to me here on the lake in Alberta.  It was Brenda's 75th birthday on Saturday so I wanted to make a birthday card to send along to her to wish her a happiest of birthdays.  So I was wracking my brain as to some inspiration for her card so I thought I would pay a visit to Pinterest.  Why not right?  Since Spring is only a few weeks away I thought I would search for a Spring piece of inspiration.  This is the photo that caught my eye...

Click the image for the source.

I just loved the gorgeous bouquet and the colors that had been pulled out of it!  It said "Spring" right away to me.

I love interactive cards!  They always make for the most interesting cards to give special people in your life so I chose to make a fun shaker card for Brenda's birthday card.  And here's how I made it...

Step One:
I created a very simple card base with some patterned papers and stitching. 

Then I die cut an oval with an oval die cut from the inside too to create a frame.  Next I die cut a piece of acetate (the tissue is still on it!) that was wider than the frame's hole and less than the diameter of the outside of the oval frame.

For my focal image, I die cut a piece of watercolor paper and then gold heat embossed the stunning (and rather Springy looking!) bouquet from the Countryside Bouquet Deluxe clear stamp set.  I used some watercolor pencils to add color and then used a waterbrush to soften and spread the color throughout the image.

Step Two:
I flipped the frame to the back side and added ring of strong adhesive to the back.  Then I removed the adhesive backing and laid the acetate over top of the hole in the frame.

Step Three:
Next I added an endless ring of foam adhesive to the back of the frame.  You need an endless barrier to prevent any of the contents of your shaker from falling out.  I gathered some sequins and gold microbeads to place inside my shaker.

I cut the foam only part of the way across to allow it to bend around the oval and remain one solid surface on the inside of the oval..

Step Four:
Then I carefully added all of the contents of the shaker inside the foam barrier.

Step Five:
I carefully placed the colored image face down over top of the exposed foam adhesive; matching the ovals up and pressing firmly.  Voila... you now have a simple shaker element to add to a card! 

Here is the completed card which includes a birthday sentiment from the new "Short Stacks" clear stamp set.

The greeting matches the gold embossing of the bouquet...

So the next time you are in search of some inspiration for a creation, don't forget about Pinterest!

Thanks for joining me today!  I hope you are inspired by my card today and try this simple and easy shaker element for your next gift.

Happy creating!

 ~ Ally ~


Supplies:
Stamps:  Power Poppy (Countryside Bouquet Deluxe, Short Stacks)
Patterned Papers:  My Mind's Eye (Market Street)
Dies:  My Favorite Things (Stitched Ovals), Avery Elle (Gift Tags Set)
Cardstock:  Recollections Cream Cardstock, Stampin' Up! (Baked Brown Sugar)
Sequins:  Pretty Pink Posh (Sparkling Clear),  CraftMedley
Ink: Versamark, Kimberly Watercolor Pencils
Embossing Powder:  PKGlitz (Gold) 
Microbeads:  Recollections
 Misc.: twine, thread.

March Challenge: Give it a little shimmer with GOLD!

Hello all! It’s a fun-filled day here on the Power Poppy blog! Why, you ask? Well, it’s the first Friday of the month and that means it's time to unveil our second ever Power & Spark Challenge! Can you feel the raw excitement? I can dear stamping friends! I CAN!

Today’s challenge is brought to you by one of the sweetest ladies on the planet, and the master of giving her creations that a luxe spin on shabby chic, Tosha Leyendekker. For the month of March, Tosh is challenging us to....

HOW TO PLAY:
Here’s what Tosh has to say about the GO FOR THE GOLD challenge:

“March 17th just happens to be my husband’s birthday. So, even though he’s not Irish, I can’t help but think of St. Patrick’s Day. However, I don’t want to focus on shamrocks, Leprechauns, or rainbows because, face it...it’s really the gold everyone is after, right? And I struck gold when I married this man 25+ years ago. So, make a card that has gold incorporated into it: embossing, papers, embellishments, whatever!”

A peek at Tosha’s card — go check out her blog!

There you have it folks! Use a little gold on your card, link up your creation using the linky below and you’ll be entered in the March challenge.

Just in case you missed it last month -- our Power & Spark Challenge is a brand new monthly challenge ushered in by the members of our design team, the Bloom Brigade! Each monthly theme is completely unique because each one is dreamed up by the designers themselves! Have a question or a comment? Feel free to ask by leaving a comment below. Submit your card, chat it up, and most importantly: HAVE FUN! Each entry is one more way to get a shot at winning a Power Poppy stamp set of your choice!

OFFICIAL RULES:

• Use Power Poppy stamps if you have them, but if you don’t, this is a great way to WIN them!
• Link your creation below using our Linky
• Please mention Power Poppy in YOUR blog or gallery post with a link back to our challenge
• The winner will receive a free clear or digital stamp set of your choice from the Power Poppy Shop
• Deadline to enter is March 31st at 8:00pm EST. The winner will be randomly picked and announced here the first Friday of April.

.  .  .  .  .  .  .   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .   .  .  .

Before we get to this week’s GOLD-INSPIRED creations from the Bloom Brigade, we do have to share the winner of last month’s challenge, THE SKY’S THE LIMIT! Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who played along with us, we were floored by the beauty!!

Random.org drew the number from our wonderful, colorful, exuberant entries...

Which means the winner is...

IRENE SHERMAN!

Congratulation Irene, email us at bloom@powerpoppy.com with the stamp set you would like to receive and your snail mail addy and we’ll get your stamp set on its way, or let us know if you’d prefer a digital set. It’s up to you!

Let’s see a show of hands:  Who wants to see the Bloom Brigade’s spin on this sparkly, 24 karat challenge? I know I do! 

Tosha Leyendekker

Allison Cope

Christine Okken

Cindy Lawrence

Julie Koerber

Katie Sims

Leslie Miller

Stacy Morgan

Get those fingers inky and Go for the Gold! We can’t wait to see how your creations shimmer and sparkle with that Midas Touch! ;-) Happy Friday and have a fabulously creative weekend! 

~Julie

An InLinkz Link-up

What’s in your windowsill?

We talk a lot about how inspiration for creative projects can be found anywhere. Yeah, anywhere! Really, pretty much everywhere. Today I was inspired by crocuses in the windowsill. Cheerful, sunny, fresh, and mixed in with my everyday stuff (gotta have salve!), I like to keep my environment fun and varied while I suds-up the dishes, just to enjoy the moment just that much more.

There isn’t always a lovely selection of fresh-picked flowers in the windowsill (one sill in the sunroom holds a sand dollar, 1970s Darth Vader action figure, a stack of pennies, and dust bunnies). I gotta say, I find them a fantastic place to stash finds from my, and the kids’, excursions. Stones, seashells, and seedpods intermingle with tiny vases holding whatever’s growing in the garden, or whatever was growing last season and has turned into a preserved specimen during the winter: a tuft of coxcomb, a nearly petrified clematis bloom with a curlique tendril, interesting twigs.

At the top of the stairs, there’s a sweet little mess in the windowsill that gives me a smile almost every time I walk past it. I also think, “I need to water that poor Geranium.”

Many if not most of the other windowsills are devoid of *S*T*U*F*F*, but these scenes are part of what makes our house be our home. They are pieces of our lives, our personalities, our interests. And they provide creative inspiration to my eyeballs with the ever-changing array of objects.

So tell me, what do you keep in your windowsills? Anything fascinating? Anything funny? I can’t be the only one who tucks things onto these tiny ledges.... can I?

Can I Get a Woot - Woot!?!?

Oh my goodness!!! If you are a Splitcoaststampers Weekly Inkling subscriber, then you are probably still picking up your jaw off the floor after seeing Dina Kowal's brand new tutorial on the SCS Resource Page using Power Poppy's very own La Vie En Rose Digital Stamp! Woot! Woot!

If you missed it, here's a little sneaky peek!

Goodness Gracious sakes alive! It's a paper tole tutorial with.... ONE LAYER! No more cutting and trimming and trimming and cutting and gluing and then trimming and cutting again! She makes it look so easy and there's even a video tutorial you can watch to see step-by-step how she created this masterpiece!

Want to see more? Just click HERE my dear friends and then try this beautiful technique in your own stamping spaces!

See you back here soon!
~Julie

Inspire Me Monday: Primroses put on a SHOW!

Hello all and welcome to another Inspire Me Monday with your hostess, Julie Koerber! Today, I am going to work a little masking magic to show you how you can take a darling trio of primroses and make your very own “auricula theatre.” What, pray tell, is an auricula theater? Well, it’s a piece of garden decor that lets the small but mighty, bold-colored primrose put on a BIG show! This method of display started in 17th century Europe and has been a lovely expression ever since. Since primroses are delicate and sensitive to too much light, these hutches were created to protect, yet show off these beauties too! See?

Source: tpholland

Or, how about this sweet structure with all of those moss-covered terra cotta pots? LOVE!

Source: spitalfieldslife.com

So Ms. Marcella and I were talking not too long ago and she said, “We really....ReAlLy.... REALLY have to show folks how to make their own auricula theatre with our Potted Primroses set! At the time, I had NO idea what an auricula theatre was. Auracula what? Afterall, I am a brown thumb. Marcella is the epitome of a green thumb! I digress. I wish you could “hear” Marcella when she gets excited. She talks, oh, about a thousand words a minute and has mini screams mixed in for good measure. How could I say no when she asked me to give you all a “how to?”

So, here goes — a peek at how YOU can make your own auricula theatre thanks to a little ink, a stamp set and a few Post-It Notes! Let's get started!

WHAT YOU NEED:

• Potted Primroses stamp set
• Ink color of choice (I used Memento Tuxedo Black)
• Post-It Notes
• detail scissors
• Copic markers or coloring medium of choice

LET’S START... by stamping our trio of pots image onto our card stock and then make a mask using a Post-It Note.

CONTINUE... by cutting out your mask and laying it over top your stamped image!

WITH THE MASK IN PLACE... Take the single stamp from the Potted Primrose set and stamp it off to the left of your main trio.

NOW... You need to make a mask of the single primrose. You’ll notice I didn’t trim around it completely because I planned to build my theatre from the bottom up. So really, the most important part of the mask is the top three flowers. 

WITH YOUR BOTTOM LAYER MASKED... stamp the primrose trio again at the top. You can see that I stamped it so that the little note “Primula Auricula” sign would be masked in the second image. I didn’t want multiple signs in my final theatre if that makes any sense! ;-) From here, you’ll just keep moving your two masks and adding primroses — either the trio or the single pot — until you have the configuration that you like! 

There will be times when you set your mask down, and stamp over top only to have a piece of your image missing, like you see below....

DON'T WORRY! This happens! And, here’s how you fix it!

WITH THE HELP... of a Copic Multi-liner pen (.01mm) you can fill in the gap with ease!

And, after mixing it up and masking along the way, here’s a peek at my auricula theatre in the making! One additional tip — as I masked, I made sure that the flower I was laying down would hide the end of the shelf from the primrose trio. This way the shelf looks continuous — the way it should! 

Aren’t those little pots darling? I couldn’t wait to color them up. And.... so I did! I used Copic markers and after I was done, I knew that my “theatre” needed a little bit of pop in order to look like the real deal. 

TO CREATE.... the auricula theatre, start with a 5-3/4" by 5-1/2" piece of kraft paper. On the 5-3/4" side, score at the 1/2" and 3/4" lines and then flip the paper 180 degrees to get the other side at the 1/2" and 3/4" lines. Afterward, I took the Spellbinders Labels Seventeen and centered it in between the two most inner score lines and cut that center portion out.

FROM THERE.... I stamped the two corners using the large round primrose stamp from the Potted Primroses set and Memento Toffee Crunch ink. Then, I folded along the score lines so that once folded, it would, in essence, create a little box. The cool thing is that if you are mailing this, you just need to collapse the box to one side or another to make it flat! Since there’s no top on the box, it does this easily! 

ABOVE IS A PEEK AT THE INSIDE.... of the card! I used another sentiment from the Farmers Market stamp set and then, again using Memento Toffee Crunch, I stamped the large primrose on the inside corner as well.  

AND HERE’S A LOOK AT MY FINISHED CREATION!  I added a few pennants (notched strips of decorative paper from the Carta Bella Yesterday paper collection), a rhinestone adorned paper flower and the sentiment is also from the Potted Primrose set. It really says “A Cheery Hello,” but when I stamped it on a 1/2" pennant strip, the “a” was cut off and, well, I thought it still worked! ;-)

So with a few Post-It Notes, a fun and cheery stamp set and some markers, you too can make your own auricula theatre. This one doesn’t even need a green thumb to care for it but it’s bound to deliver sunshine to one lucky receiver! 

Thanks for joining me today! Have a fabulously creative week! 

~Julie