Can we just brag for a minute or two?

STOP THE PRESSES!! It’s a Power Poppy first! Listen up sweet stamping friends! If you happen to live Down Under, this dynamic duo has been capturing headlines and stealing the pages of some of that land’s most popular and colorful card making magazines for quite a while. We couldn’t be more proud to admit that one of these fine ladies is not only on “our team,” but has hooked her oh-so-talented mother into being a Power Poppy lover as well. Lucky for us, I say!! 

Don’t know who we’re talking about? Well, check this out!

For the first time ever, Power Poppy is featured in both major Australian cardmaking magazines! ONE IS EVEN ON THE COVER! Australian Simply Cards offers a 6-page spread, yes, you heard me right — SIX PAGES — featuring the gorgeous work of the Bloom Brigade’s Kathy Jones. Australian Cardmaking, Stamping & Papercraft features the just-as-amazing creations of her mum, Helen Airton. Two cover girls featuring Power Poppy and they are a mother-daughter duo? We can’t make up this kind of goodness folks!

KUDOS TO THE DYNAMICALLY TALENTED KATHY JONES

Check out the soft and springy hues of blush and lavender that Kathy used on this cover creation! This beautiful take on Power Poppy's Dynamic Duos: Peonies and Tulips is what I like to call “swoon worthy,” wouldn’t you agree?

And here’s just a peek at the inside pages as well! All of these creations using Power Poppy’s Springtime Love, Geraniums Take Two, and Dynamic Duos: Peonies and Tulips are just ripe for spring! The color combos and embellished layouts are simply divine. Poppy Love Indeed!

AND NOW... MEGA APPLAUSE FOR THE COLORISTA HELEN AIRTON!

In the spring issue of  Australian Cardmaking, Stamping & Papercraft, Helen has a field day with our beloved set Azalea in a three-page spread!

What a rich and feminine look Helen created in this spread, don’t you think? 

We realize that you can’t fully enjoy these magazines right here on the blog (You need to read them and soak it all in!) and we have GREAT news! You don't have to travel to Australia to pick up a copy if you want to use these ideas in your own craft rooms! You can pick up your copy of Australian Simply Cards Issue 78, right HERE! And, you can pick up a copy of Australian Cardmaking, Stamping & Papercraft, Volume 21, Issue 7 right right HERE! So please, join me in giving these two a standing ovation for not only sharing the beauty of Power Poppy in print but doing such a spectacular job of it! We love being able to brag on some of the sweet ladies we know and love here in paper crafting land! ;-)

~Julie

Foxy Little Foxglove!

It’s the 15th of the month, which means, sweet stamping friends, it’s time to plant a new botanical in the Power Poppy Instant Garden Collection. This one is spiky and dramatic and offers trumpet-like blossoms that just beckon you to color them up! Presenting: Bees in Foxglove!

With shades of creamy white, apricots and yellows; from light pinks to deep magenta and luscious shades of light purple, Bees in Foxglove is really a sight to behold! Our latest addition to the Instant Garden Collection happens to be one that’s a towering beauty that’s heavy on the drama and LOADED with charm! THIS SET IS AVAILABLE TODAY!

Check out the lush stalks of foxglove (Digitalis) with three plump bumblebees buzzing around doing their bumblebee thing! You’ll have to click on over to the store to see the fanciful sentiment that we paired with this set. Can you say cheery and good for any and all occasions?

Since the bees are all abuzz with this beauty, you can bet your bottom dollar that our teams of Instant Gardeners and Bloom Brigade is too! YES — both design teams are presenting this beauty for you today. You’ll have to fly on over to their special places on the web to see what they have in store for you all... and not to spoil it, but these cards are pretty incredible:

Jennifer Dove

Broni Holcombe

Cheryl Scrivens

Danielle Kennedy

Debbie Olson

Allison Cope

Cindy Lawrence

Julie Koerber

Kathy Jones

Katie Sims

Leslie Miller

Stacy Morgan

Tosha Leyendekker

Before we go... Whatever you do, don’t forget about this month’s Power & Spark Challenge! It’s all about cutting, snipping, nipping, and scissoring your way to creativity with our Cut It Out! Challenge hosted by the ever-so-talented Stacy Morgan. Just click HERE to see what this fun-filled challenge is all about. You have until the end of the month to enter and you could win a stamp set of YOUR choice, just by playing along with us gals!

~ Who won the FREE DIGIS? ~

FROM MARCELLA ... We have THREE WINNERS in our Mother’s Day digital set giveaway of our Bees in Foxglove digi! The entries for this post were so heartwarming to read, sometimes funny, sometimes right to the point, sometimes very touching... let me just tell you that a few tears were shed over here! What a lovely group of women we are surrounded with, I feel so lucky to get to walk among you (even if only virtually).

The winners, selected randomly, are:

DottyA, Janine, and Joyce - please send an email to bloom@powerpoppy.com so we can have the email address to which you’d like your new Bees in Foxgloves digital set sent to... and they will be on their way to you! CONGRATULATIONS!!

One last quick note... to everyone who ordered stamps during our Mother’s Day promo — they will be shipped out ASAP. We had such a huge response, Miss Marcella and her minions (Lulu and Finn) have been scrambling to get them out the door - expect your orders to arrive next week (domestic folks). Thank you so much for your support!!! Love you gals!! ~m

See you back here soon!

~Julie

Inspire Me Monday: Read All about It!

Hi everyone!  It's Allison here for Inspire Me Monday!  I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday and were blessed with lovely gifts from your children.

Today I'm going to share with you a quick and easy project using your stamps.  This project would be a great project to do with your kids... maybe as a gift for that book lover in your family!

All you're going to need is:

• some fun stamps!
• ink
• neutral colored cardstock
• something to color with
• some patterned papers
• thin magnets (like fridge magnets)
• optional: rectangle dies

Let's get started!!!

Step One:
First we are going to make our bookmark base.  I took a piece of cardstock and folding it in half.  I'm using a scalloped rectangle die to cut a little bit more of a fancy edged bookmark but you can just use your folded piece of paper without the die cuts if you don't have a die like mine.

I positioned the die so that the top edge of the die was hanging beyond the folded part of the paper.  I secured it with some washi tape and then ran it through my die cutting machine.

Step Two:
Next I took some Memento "Tuxedo Black" ink and inked up the stacked book, cake plate and blooms image from the "Short Stacks" stamp set and positioned it towards the top of the bookmark.  I chose this image because the that sweet little book on the bottom... awwww! Then I stamped the simple sentiment form the "Good Thinking: Renewal" stamp set underneath.

Step Three:
Then I pulled out my Copic Markers and colored in my image and sentiment...

Here's a peek at the colors I used:

Step Four:
Then I die cut 3 pieces of patterned paper.  Two for the inside of my bookmark and one for the back side.  You could skip this step if you wanted too but I thought adding some fun paper might be cute!

Step Five:
Before adhering my patterned paper pieces to my bookmark I wanted to apply my magnets.  This way the magnets can't be seen and are hidden under the paper.

I used an adhesive backed thin magnet product from BasicGrey specifically designed for card making and paper projects.

A) I peeled off the magnet's paper backing off the negative side of the magnet and stuck it down to one end of the bookmark.  TIP:  Try using some old thin fridge magnets or magnetic photo paper in place of the thin magnetic discs.

B) Then I allowed the positive side of the magnet to stick itself to the negative side.

C) I peeled the paper backing off the positive side of the magnet pair and then closed the flap of the bookmark.   This ensures that the magnets are exactly opposite to one another underneath the papers.

D) I adhered all 3 of the paper panels to the inside and back of the bookmark.

And VOILA.... a bookmark is born!

This would make a great project as part of a teacher's gift!!  And... a fun bookmark is an easy gift to slip into a normal sized card along with maybe a gift card for your local book store!

I hope you've enjoyed this very simple tutorial today.  I hope it will inspire you to create and use your stamps in other ways.

Make sure to subscribe to our newsletter!  Marcella sends out the most amazing email blasts featuring not only our Bloom Brigade and Instant Gardner projects but she also shares customer works of art and much, much more!  Over the weekend she even send out information about a special sale!!!!   Click here for more information.

Happy creating everyone!

~ Allison Cope ~

You are an amazing mother.

On a Mother’s Day hike at Granny Jean’s country house. A gorgeous day with my mom Susan and my little walking-stick-wielders, who are now pretty grown-up looking compared to this 2010 pic!

Hey there — I just wanted to tell you something.
You are an amazing mother.

Happy Mother’s Day to YOU. May you get to revel in your awesomeness ALL WEEKEND LONG. If there isn’t someone clamoring all over the place to tell you how awesome you are, please let me be the one. Because you are. You are awesome and I think you deserve a day to really do what you want, if not more than a day... Toast yourself with a glass of Champagne. Take an embarrassingly long nap. Organize your craft room or office or closet with the radio blasting. Read a trashy tabloid magazine cover to cover in the bathtub. Go running or swimming or walking or hiking. Buy yourself a cute bra and matching undies just because it’s fun to know you’re wearing them even if no one else does. Take yourself to the fanciest place in town for the most decadent dessert, and don’t even share it! Plant flowers or a tree that remind you of your own mother.

Go do your thing, girl! It’s YOUR DAY.

If you’d like, leave a comment here telling me what you would really like to do for Mother’s Day, or what you’re going to be doing for Mother’s Day, and I’ll pick THREE people to win our May Digital Stamp Set, which will be revealed on Friday, May 15th! Comments will be accepted until Thursday, May 14 at 11pm CDT. Yes, even after Mother’s Day, you can still tell me what you wish you would have gotten to do on Mother’s Day - or the marvelous things you got to do. Tee-hee!

You don’t have to be a mother of children to enter, because we all know that we are all earth mothers, mothers to pets, mothers to our officemates, mothers to our friends who need to be kept in line ... you get the picture.

So, what do you want to do on Mother’s Day?

** Addendum ** I want to tuck in here that I can’t wait to share the day with my Lulu + Finn, and my beloved mom. We’ll also get to watch Lulu kick out the jams on the soccer field and there will be much love and gratitude in the air! I reread my post and I sure don’t mean to come off as a meanie who doesn’t cherish being a mom, or having awesome ladies in my life. :) xoxoxo ~m

P.S. Wishing a wonderful day, month, and year to my angel mother. I love you always and forever, Mama Susan!

Friday Fun with our Cut it Out Challenge!

Hey there peeps, how’s your week winding up? On a highly creative note, we hope! We’ve got another dose of creative inspiration for you this Friday. It’s one that shares a little Bloomie eye candy, AND puts a customer creation in the spotlight to show off a splash of design power and dash of creative spark! 

SO, MY STAMPING FRIENDS, 

LET’S GET TO ALL THE ACTION! 

If you haven’t yet heard about our Power & Spark Challenge for May, listen up!  STACY MORGAN wants us all “Cut It Out!” Yep, simply make sure that your main image is fussy cut or cut out in some way to add that extra bit of “oomph!” After you make your lovely creation, all you need to do is link it up on THIS POST. We've got a free stamp set on the line folks! Show us what you've got! ;-)

Well, already we have quite a few entries that are GOR-GEE-OUS if I don’t say so myself. When I set sights on one of the challenge creations, I just had to smile. Emily Keaton not only is a friend in the blog-o-sphere, but she’s one very talented crafter who hadn’t posted on her blog for quite a while. Power Poppy’s was her first challenge of 2015 and her first post too!!! How fun is that? Welcome back Emily! Check out her sweet as can be card using Power Poppy's Dynamic Duos: Peonies and Tulips.

Emily, we’re so glad to see that your creativity and talent still shines bright! Speaking of shining bright, I couldn’t think of a better time to check in with out beloved Bloom Brigade to see what kind of fabulously inspiring creative bits they have to show off! Without further ado......

Christine Okken

Ally Cope

Leslie Miller

Kathy Jones

Stacy Morgan

 

Thanks so much for stopping by and spending part of your day with us! Be sure to swing back on Monday for another episode of Inspire Me Monday! Ally Cope will be in “the house” sharing something that will surely start your creative week off right!

 See you then!

~Julie

An InLinkz Link-up

Inspire Me Monday with Faux Linen!

Hi all and Happy Monday to you! I am here on this Inspire Me Monday with a short and sweet, easy-as-can-be background technique that adds a splash of texture in a jiffy! In fact, what I am showing you today is really a refresher. It’s a technique I learned when I first started to stamp -- 15 YEARS AGO! Yep, 15 years! I often feel that as we grow and change and move through a craft, it’s a wonderful thing to go back to those things you learned when you started, revisit them, and possibly tweak them to change with the times! 

So, that’s what I’m doing with all of you today! Let’s take a trip back in time to learn or re-learn the Faux Linen Background...

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED

• Glossy cardstock
• Pigment or Solvent-based Ink
• Sandpaper
• Sponge
• Orchids Rock Stamp Set
• Lilac Time Stamp Set
• Decorative papers and embellishments of choice

STEP 1: Taking a glossy piece of card stock, use your sandpaper and sand in one direction, moving horizontally, and then turning your paper and sanding in a vertical line just like the arrows below show. 

STEP 2: Using your ink of choice, sponge ink over top. I used Shabby Shutters Distress Ink for a really nice and soft look. After I was done, I went over top of the ink with Brilliance Gold because I wanted a fun, metallic sheen. You’ll see that more in the finished photos!

STEP 4: While I loved the linen look that I so easily achieved, I wanted to add another layer of dimension with a little background stamp. 

STEP 5: I stamped the sentiment using Versafine Black Onyx in the lower right corner. I chose this ink because it is one that is a super vivid black and it also dries on glossy surfaces. Even though you sanded a lot of the shine off the paper, it isn’t super porous. You can also see that when I turn the paper toward the light, the gold accents do shimmer a wee bit! ;-) It is truly a fun and elegant look in real life!

FINAL STEP: From here, you can use your faux linen background however you like! I chose this technique because orchids have a Far East feel for me and with the linen background, I thought it would bring on the mood of a Shoji Screen -- textured, light, and airy! 

And here’s one last look with a close up so that you can see not only the sheen but the texture this technique creates as well! 

Thanks so much for stopping by on this Inspire Me Monday! I hope you like my step-by-step look at one easy way to add interest and texture to your cards! Like I said, It’s one that I learned more than a decade ago and it’s one I am glad I dug out of my bag of tricks to share with all of YOU!

Have a fabulous week and we’ll see you back here soon! 

~Julie

Ready for a SNIP of Power & Spark?

Hello Peeps! Boy, do we have a fun-filled frenzy for you this Friday! We’ve got new challenges! We’ve got winnings to share! And, of course, we have the Bloomie’s latest creations to link up to! 

ARE YOU READY TO GET STARTED?  

First up, the start of a brand new month means we’ve got another designer-led challenge to get that mojo-a-flowin’ — just for YOU! This month’s hostess with the mostess is STACY MORGAN! Can we get a Woot-Woot? Without further ado...

HOW TO PLAY: In the words of Stacy...

Cut it out girlfriend! No really, cut it out. To play in this month’s Power & Spark “Cut It Out” Challenge, all you need to do is cut around your blooms (or main image) to add that extra “ooomph!” to impress the recipient with your mad cutting skills.

Want to see one way Stacy Cut It Out? Here’s a peek at the card that inspired this scissorific challenge! Look at those lush Camellias all colored up in fussy cut glory!

THE 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 THIS challenge
• The winner will receive a free clear or digital stamp set of your choice from 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 May 31 at 8:00pm EST. At that point, we'll draw the winner randomly and make the announcement right here on the first Friday of  June.

GOOD LUCK HAPPY STAMPERS! Get those scissors ready to do a bit of fussy cutting and nip, tuck, snip and slice your way to artistic greatness you card-making phenoms, you!

Moving on...

It’s time — drum roll please — to reveal the name of the lucky winner of a stamp set of their choice for entering our oh-so-popular POP of PASTEL Challenge for April! We had over 50 softly-shaded entries and Random.org drew the number 26, which means the lucky lady is...

.~* ANGELICA SCHMIDT *~.

Not only was Angelica lucky, she was rather brilliant too with her entry! Look very closely at her card, as she used just a portion of Power Poppy’s Arranging Roses Digital Stamp and she blew up the rose and scissors portion to take center stage. That is some seriously cool stuff. Creative and lovely all at the same time! We love seeing folks think outside the box:

Congratulations Angelica!!! Email us at bloom@powerpoppy.com with the stamp set you would like to receive along with your snail mail addy and we’ll get your winnings on their way—or let us know if you’d prefer a digital set. You choose!

Well, that was a whirlwind of fun so far, eh? And... it’s not over!!! Now we can share the link list for our beloved Bloomies so that you can hop, skip and jump on over to their blogs to see what they whipped up on this fine Friday for all to see!

Christine Okken

Julie Koerber

Katie Sims

Leslie Miller

Stacy Morgan

Thanks so much for stopping by and spending part of your day with us. It makes our hearts happy! Enjoy all the day holds and we’ll see you back here soon, like hopefully on Monday, when we’ll showcase a fresh episode of Inspire Me Monday! Yours truly will be hosting and I have a quick and easy background technique that adds a touch of texture. See you then!

~Julie

An InLinkz Link-up