Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Here Come the Hellebores!

The snipped branches of Holly on my mantel are practically petrified, the Christmas tree is starting to droop... I think you might agree, it’s high time we got some FRESH FLOWERS up in this joint! And no better flower to usher in a new month of digital stamps than the mighty, mighty Hellebore.

Once established in the garden, I do believe Hellebores are indestructible. Their scissor-edged leaves are tough like leather, they bloom when there is SNOW on the ground, and then their mysterious and seemingly delicate blossoms last for months and months and mon.... they are one of my favorite plants, hands down.

Here are some hot-n-heavy Hellebores in bloom in my mom and stepdad’s garden last spring, just to give you an idea of their fierce beauty, and a peek at some of the colors. If you do a Google search, you’ll see that the range is huge, and many times the colors are combined in the same plant. From pure white to ivory, from the palest lemon to intense chartreuse, through every intensity of pink, into deep purple, blue... and even black.

This one’s a double, with twice the petals for maximum speckled awesomeness.
I am not above lying on the ground to get a good shot... and to become one with the earthy goodness that gives birth to these beautiful plants. Look at the subtle shades of yellow and peach and chartreuse... heralding life and cheerfulness to the garden.
Delicate or indestructible? You be the judge!
Hellebores: They’re just cool.

Today I have a digital stamp set for you featuring my remixed illustration and an inspiring sentiment to match that features this queen of the winter garden. I call it Hellebores. You know sometimes I will try to come up with a snappy name for these sets, but with this one, why even try? My inclination was to call it, “Oh, hell ya! Hellebores Rule!” but I don’t know how well that one would go over. So let’s just keep it simple. Introducing: Hellebores!

http://powerpoppy.com/products/hellebores

Wouldn’t you like to see what a few of our inspired artists, our Instant Gardeners and Bloom Brigade design teams, have done with my Hellebores? After you take a trip ’round to their blogs, I hope you’ll come back and give Hellebores a try in your crafty garden.


Take care and thank you so much for coming to check in with us! Enjoy yourself in whatever adventures you pursue today.

Monday, January 4, 2016

Inspire Me Monday: A little “Winter Pick-Me-Up” with How-to Video


Welcome once again to Power Poppy’s Inspire Me Monday with Rhea Weigand. Today I am sharing Winter Pick-Me-Up with an instructional video on how I do the backgrounds of florals.


I printed the digital image at 150% of its original size, and at 30% opacity. It is framed in a 5x7 very old frame passed down through the family. I chose it because it really helped pop the fluffy willow twigs from the project.

Enjoy the video. My voice is a little low so you may want to turn up the volume. Beware to turn the volume DOWN when the music starts...lol. It may startle you.   


Here are the colors used to create this piece.


Thanks for visiting today!

Friday, January 1, 2016

CHEERS TO 2016!!!

Hello all and Happy Friday! We hope your days have been nothing short of Merry & Bright! On this first day of 2016, let us be one of the first to say.....

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU! 

With the holidays winding down and most of us falling into winter nesting mode, let's not forget that we are only on the 8th day of Christmas! Remember? There are 12! So, given that, don't miss out on the final days of Power Poppy's Holiday Stamp Sale! Simply enter the code HOLIDAY10 at the time of checkout to cash in on your savings!



With the close of 2015, came the close of our final Power & Spark Challenge for the year -- one where we let you hop scotch all through our past challenges to pick your favorite from the last 12 months! We called it the Power & Spark Rewind Challenge! And guess what? It's time to announce the lucky stamper who will get her pick of a Power Power Stamp Set! 

Random.org threw all the names in their computerized hat and drew the number.....



... meaning our winner is.....

MELANIE ANN MACKENZIE!

Melanie chose Cindy Lawrence's Shabby & Chic challenge and the results were stunning! I love the antique cream feel she's got going on with the distresed and sponged edges! Just delightful! I also love that she colored up the blooms from Power Poppy's Simply Camellias stamp set with just a bit of Ranger Distress Ink -- phenominal! 



Congrats Melanie! All you need to do is email us at bloom@powerpoppy.com and share which set you'd like us to send your way! Don't forget your address and we'll pop those goodies in the mail to you right quick!

That's it from us here today! The Bloomies will be back next week after their holiday respite to showcase brand new creations and help kick off a brand new Power & Spark Challenge! Be sure to tune in on Monday when Rhea Weigand brings us the first Inspire Me Monday of the new year with a video tutorial that will KNOCK YOUR SOCKS OFF! 

See you then sweet stamping friends!
~Julie





Friday, December 18, 2015

Time to Show Off Some Creative FUN!

Hello all and welcome to another Friday when we  hand out a little love by showcasing a customer creation, share a little news about our most recent challenge, and of course, give you all the links to a whole lot of eye candy courtesy of the Power Poppy Bloom Brigade! So, you ask, what am I waiting for? Well, YOU, of course! ;-)



First things first, the entries are REALLY rolling in for our Power & Spark Rewind challenge! I guess folks love the fact that you can pick and choose one of your favorites from over the past year! If you haven't played along yet, check out all the official deets HERE!  If you have played along already, guess what? You can enter as many times as you like! So, let's see what else you got! ;-) After all, the winner gets to choose any stamp set they want for their prize! It's like an extra Christmas present!

Want to see just a couple of the entries that have popped up on the linky so far? Both of these fine stamping ladies decided to follow along with Katie Sims' challenge called Gifts From the Heart.

Donna Phelan made an adorable hanging tag for a wine bottle to give as a gift. I just love the design and how she used Power Poppy's Short Stacks stamp set to deck this one out! The sentiment "Enjoy Life, Sip by Sip," is pretty much PERFECT! It's a festive and fun design from top to bottom!


Next up is Heidi, who made this adorable little gift tag below --- also using Power Poppy's Short Stacks stamp set -- combined not only Katie's Gifts from the Heart Challenge, but Tosha's Go for the Gold Challenge as well! Way to combine 'em Heidi! I love the soft watercolor feel of this tag and the fun texture she addded by combining different kinds of ribbon and yarn -- too fun! 


And that, my stamping friends, shows two different twists on our Power & Spark Rewind Challenge! There's plenty of time to get in on the fun -- you have until December 31st at 8PM EST to enter.

Before we bid you adieu, let's go on our weekly Bloom Brigade Parade, when the Bloomies show off some of their latest (and I'm sure greatest) creations to wow and inspire!




AND A FEW FINAL NOTES! If you still need to add a few holiday stamps to your cache, anything from the Power Poppy Happiest of Holidays Collection is still on sale! They are 10% off when you use the code HOLIDAY10 at check out!

Also, don't be surprised if things get a little quiet here on the ole Power Poppy blog! Inspire Me Monday is taking a break until after the first of the year. We'll also be taking next Friday off here on the 'ole blog to honor the Christmas holiday. We'll be back the following Friday to share some last minute fun as we bid a fond farewell to 2015 and welcome in the New Year! See you all then!

Have a fabulous week!
~Julie

Monday, December 14, 2015

Inspire Me Monday: Gingerbread, Greetings & Giggles!

Howdy all!  Welcome to Inspire Me Monday!

I'm your hostess Allison Cope and today not only am I going to teach you how not to make a fun interactive card using the fabulous "Frosted Gingerbread" stamp set but I promise to make you laugh too!  Honest!  Boo-boos happen to the best of us... even people who have been making cards for years and so I thought I'd show you my "oopsy-daisy video " today!

So grab a cup of coffee and join me in my scraproom.  You won't regret it!  LOL!

Here is my final card for you. As you can see I did stamp the remainder of the greeting and attached it onto the bottom of the focal panel.

Here's the card closed...

And here is it with the the slider pulled-up...


Thanks for joining me!  I hope I made you giggle... heck, I made myself giggle!

Happy Holidays everyone!

~ Ally ~

Supplies:
stamps:  Power Poppy (Frosted Gingerbread)
ink:  Memento (Flannel Grey), Copic Markers
patterned paper:  Fancy Pants Designs (Timbergrove)
cardstock:  Neenah Solar White, Bazzill (Light Kraft), Stamping Up! (Cherry Cobbler)

diesMy Favorite Things (Cross Stitched Rectangles STAX, Stitched Ovals)
other:  thread

Friday, December 11, 2015

Sharing the Joy!

Hello Sweet Stamping Friends, I hope you are feeling the joy of the season and cherishing all the beauty that it has to offer! I have heard from some of those in the stamping world that cardmaking has been cranked up a notch and that you are using your talents in this arena to deck out boxes and tags and bags! We'd love to see! If you have anything you've blogged about or put on Facebook or shared in a gallery, share a link in the comments section here! Sharing is what this craft is all about, isn't it?

And, speaking of sharing, we are trying to share a little design power to give you that creative spark in Power Poppy's latest Power & Spark Challenge! Check it out!  

http://powerpoppy.blogspot.com/2015/12/time-to-rewind.html

HOW TO PLAY: Call this challenge Power & Spark Rewind! Why? Because to play along, all you need to do is play along with one of your favorite Power & Spark Challenges of 2015, rewind, and give it another go! Just that simple! You can read up on all the official rules in THIS challenge post as well as check out the links to past challenges! 

This challenge kicked off last Friday and already the entries are starting to pile up! Yippeeeee! So much eye candy! Like I love to do, I had to pick an artist to feature here on the ole Friday blog! 

So, let’s get to it!

I have to say that I absolutely adored these two creations from Barbara Walker of The Buzz! They are clean, colorful, crisp and downright lovely. Gold embossing is the perfect accent on a card being sent to usher in Christmas Greetings! Barbara used Power Poppy’s clear stamp set Botanical Tree and she truly brought out the best in this image in multiple cards she shared.

Here’s Barbara’s first version...


And then the second version in shades of red. I love the little star sequins she sprinkled on too! And, check out the homemade envelope. Well done Ms. Barbara!!


Be sure to stop by Barbara’s blog and read about all the details and her vision behind these card designs. 

And that, my friends is almost it for us this week. As you know, it wouldn't be a Friday without sharing some of the cards and creations from our talented design team The Bloom Brigade! And, like I always say, hop on over, say “hi” and ’'m sure you'll be wowed with what they came up with this week! 

Thanks for spending a bit of your day with us! Ally will be back with another Inspire Me Monday coming up in a few days. She didn't tell me about her project but did give me a hint that there's some hijinx involved that might give you a case of the giggles! Can't wait! We could all use a laugh on a Monday, right? See you then!

~Julie

Monday, December 7, 2015

On The First Day Of Christmas


Hello, Rhea here today to share a little something special.  Partridge in a Pear Tree is a digital stamp available at Power Poppy.


I colored this up at 150% which made it 5.5" x 6.5".  Then placed it inside a wooden cigar box.  I removed the lid and the hinges.  I airbrushed the edges to match the picture and to age the box.
To add more interest large ribbon was added with flowers and buttons to match the image.
If you don't have a cigar box...try a frame and mat it with matching colors and decorate the frame.
It would be a nice little gift for a friend and something that could sit out each holiday season!

Here are the colors I used to color the image...


Thanks for visiting today!