In 3-2-1!!!!

Is your weekend about to blast off? Do you have any creative pursuits you plan to enjoy and conquer over the next few days? I hope the answer is yes and YES! Since it is the 22nd of the month and we’re getting closer and closer to the end of April, here’s your friendly little cheer to grab three markers and get in on our Power & Spark challenge that is sure to stretch your mind without dictating a huge color palette!

That’s right, all you need to do is pick three markers — ANY KIND of markers — and color up an image, set it nicely on a card and BAM, you’re in the running! You can click HERE for more on the official details and linky for your finished creation. I will tell you, the contest closes on the 30th and if you play along and WIN, you get your pick of a Power Poppy stamp set! Woot Woot! 

Man, oh man, have the entries for this challenge been BEE-YOU-TEEEE-FULL! I might get a little carried away here, so watch out. I just had my afternoon cuppa joe writing this so, I am “under the influence!” :-) 

This first creation from Melody Rupple, is in a word, WOW! She nailed the challenge and made this digital stamp set Everything’s Rosy come alive in soft shades of pink, blue and green! Don’t you love the stitched border, sequin sparkle and fancy die-cut edge? It’s a keeper my friends! It’s a keeper!

This next card I love because of the incredible variation of color that delivered stunning results. Cristina Muñiz across the pond in Spain is the artiste! She handpicked her three colors and I think she dressed these Hellebores up in a way that’s FULL of design power and creative spark! What wonderful brushstrokes, and the way she brought the blue from the water cup into the petals and the flower centers, what ingenuity.

This last card that I am sharing today is by Gail Meinen and you really have to look to guess which three colors she picked up. I see the yellow and orange but.. hot pink? Yes, sweet stamping friends, she did it with smashing success using Power Poppy's Sunflower Power digital stamp set!

So, join in the fun and good luck to you! Now it's time to turn things over to a duo of Bloomies who whipped up some colorful fun for you all this week! Stop by and say "hey" to these lovelies!

Christine Okken

Julie Koerber

Thanks for stopping by and spending a wee bit of your day with us! We hope nothing but sunshine is headed your way! Be sure to tune back RIGHT HERE on Monday on the Power Poppy Blog for a BIG & JUICY reveal. We have not one, but TWO digital stamp sets to tickle your creative taste buds! One is just about as sweet as they come, another stretches us to live and love sharing beauty on the canvas of life!

See you back here then!

~Julie

Inspire Me Monday: A Twisty Little Tutorial!

Hello all and happy Monday to you! I'm here to help you kick off your creative week and share a fun spin on the average, every day card. How often do we create and then our masterpiece is set on an A2-sized piece of folded card stock? For me, all too often! I very rarely step outside of that comfort zone or challenge myself to think of new ways to "present" my colored up images. So, I bring you.....

For this edition of Inspire Me Monday, I challenged myself a bit. I decided to hunt around, looking for inspiration for some fun card mechanics that maybe YOU can use for your creations. Keep in mind, these are not entirely my ideas. They are adaptations from cards that I saw on the blogosphere. They do have my "spin" on them though! So, let's get to it, shall we?

For this creation, it's simple, almost too simple! I cut a panel of double-sided decorative paper, and then, using my cutter, cut a 2" slit somewhere in the middle. I didn't measure a thing, just eyeballed it and then, folded back both sides of the slit. That's it! I adhered this piece to a piece of yellow decorative paper and then, stamped my sentiment in the void, embellishing it with a few faux brads for a little pop of color. See?

I knew that this wasn't where I wanted this card to end. I mean, for easy peasy cards, you could let the paper be the focus, but I wanted, needed, had to have a FLOWER! ;-) So, I stamped the main floral image from Power Poppy's Potted Primrose stamp set in Vivid! Taupe ink, fussy cut it, colored it up and attached it to my card front with foam tape to accent this twisty design. Here's a look at the finished card! 

      

This second creation is one that needs a bit more explaining. I wanted to create a card that had a bit of a surprise "void" if you will --- one where the sentiment could peek through and reveal more after the reciever of the card opened it up. I started with an embossed strip on an A2 size card. After I added that to the top and put a punchy bit of decorative paper on the inside, I trimmed the top to reveal just a flap. See?

Be sure to save the strip that you cut off the front bottom. You'll need it! I trimmed off a bit from that strip and added a piece of embossed decorative paper. This gives you a hint of where we are going to go with this card....

While you have the pieces set like above, take a pencil and lightly trace lines to give you a guide for your soon to be sentiment window, just like so!

Are you starting to see the pieces of the puzzle come together? This will be the area that you want to stamp your sentiment. I decided to even make my sentiment a bit of a surprise and used a couple of the sentiments from Power Poppy's set Bloomin' Wonderful. I will showcase how this comes to play in a second, but first, I needed something to connect the top and the bottom sections of my card front. So, enter this little flag die cut featuring Power Poppy's digital stamp set Asters Abuzz! 

From there, I added a couple pencil marks on my flag so I would know where to add the foam tape to attach it to the bottom portion of my card front. You can see the tiny pencil marks on the die cut above. And, behind you can see the foam tape...

Then, peel back the tape and add the little bit for the bottom!

And here's the full sentiment that's revealed when you open up the card! Make sure you heat set the ink that you used for your sentiment to make sure it is really dry before trying to erase your pencil marks. 

And then, a look at the finished card.....

This last card started in one place and ended up in another place entirely! I had this image in my head that I wanted to have a fold where the front of the card featured a spotlight of my main image and the inside revealed the full black and white picture with a bit of a surprise sentiment. I thought I'd attach the spotlight piece with the help of a flap, so I started there using some die cut borders and decorative paper accents. See? This is my base....

From there, I took a printed out copy of Power Poppy's digital stamp Bees in Foxglove and cut it out using a stitched rectangle die. From there, I added it to the inside of my card. 

From there, I took another Bees in Foxglove printed snippet and using a smaller stitched rectangle die, eyeballed a piece of the image and cut out that section so that, when cut, it could be layered on top for a spotlight effect, see?

To add to the element of surprise, I wanted to reveal a sentiment when the recipient opened the card. 

So, I added a bit of pink decorative paper and lined it up so that the pink mat would look like it was the mat to my spotlight image. See?

And, sweet stamping friends, here's a peek at the finished card from the outside....

And, from the inside.....

Well, there you have it -- twisty little takes on your average, everday, A2 card! I hope you've enjoyed watching the process "unfold!" :-) As I love to say, if you try one of these versions, link up your creation below. I would love to see your take on them!

Thanks for stopping by everyone! Have a fabulous week!

~Julie

Full O' Color FRIDAY!

It’s Friday — Power Poppy Peeps — a Friday full of color and pizazz with a little bit of wow factor mixed in! We haven’t been sharing our little show and tell lately because we’ve had digis to release and honor to pay to Bloomies and.... well... life has gotten in the way of us sending a shout out to some of our talented customers like YOU!

ARE YOU READY FOR A POWER POPPY PEEP 

FILLED PARADE?

I AM! So, let’s get to it! First up, this card didn't only catch my eye over on SCS, it grabbed me, shook me and said, OH MY GOSH, CHECK ME OUT! I was so impressed that I just had to throw up here on the blog for all to admire. I have been a long-time fan of Sallie A.K.A. Hobby Du Jour on splitcoaststampers.com. Her work always has such a dreamy quality about it and when I saw what she did with Power Poppy’s Hellebores Digital Stamp Set, I could not help but gasp! Honestly people! This creation below is pretty enough to frame! Look at the depth of color, will you?

Just to wow you even more, not too terribly long ago, Dina Kowal, one of our favorite artists in the whole wide world did a tutorial showcasing a new printer that allows you to use all kinds of paper -- even watercolor paper -- with beautiful archival results! She used Power Poppy's Everything’s Rosy Digital Stamp Set to create a handful of cards using various watercolor techniques and man, it was hard to pick a favorite! I chose the one below, but you'll have to check out THIS ONE, THIS ONE and THIS ONE too!  What that girl does with a splash of color never ceases to amaze me -- EVAH! You can check out her product focus over on SCS HERE too!

SPRING HAS SPRUNG and with it, we can all love on the fact that our cards can be inspired by what we see all around us, right? That's why this card by Jan Tink (Janine Tinklenberg) made me smile and want to bask it its sunshiney glow! It's not often that you see tulips colored in shades of golden yellow but I am so glad that is the road Jan took when creating this card featuring Power Poppy’s Digital Stamp set, Tulips in Hobnail Pitcher. Those flouncy blossoms couldn’t have turned out prettier in my humble opinon! Oh how lucky some birthday girl will be to get a beauty like this one!

And, please, just one more!!! Linda, A.K.A. Holstein over on Splitcoaststampers fashioned this fun one below using Power Poppy's sweet and celebratory brand new digital stamp aptly called Layer Cake! Get this -- Linda mentioned that she was in a funk and had recently lost her mojo. Well, Ms. Linda, I am going to argue with you on that point because this is a watercolor washed wonder that will make the recipient SMILE fo sho!

Okay, so that was quite a bit of eye candy this week, huh? And, sweet stamping friends, I have a bit more for you! Don't forget to check out the entries coming in to this.....

You can see what everyone is doing for this You Pick 3 Power & Spark Challenge along with the official rules and linky for YOUR creations by clicking HERE! This little challenge hosted by Christine is sure getting a lot of us to stretch those creative muscles just a wee bit more! So, get stretched and play along! YOU could be this month's lucky winner of a stamp set of choice! 

Okay folks, drum roll please, time to turn things over to a few of our fabulous and fancy-free members of the Bloom Brigade as they show off how creative they got this week with Power Poppy stamps and digis! You’ll have to stop by their blogs below to see their handiwork! 

Cindy Lawrence

Katie Sims

Tosha Leyendekker

Be sure to tune back in on Monday when YOURS TRULY hosts the next edition of Inspire Me Monday. The paper has been flying in my stamp room and I am digging back in my cardmaking past to pull out a new twist on the creative process! So, come on back now, y’hear?

~Julie

Inspire Me Monday: 3 Marker Challenge

Howdy all! Happy Monday to each and everyone of you!  I'm Allison Cope and I'm your hostess for today's Inspire Me Monday!

So if you haven't joined us before, then you'll definitely need to know all about this month's Power & Spark Challenge.  Our hostess, Christine Okken, has challenged us to color an image using only 3 markers... I know!!!!... are you like "how in the world can I color an entire image using only 3 markers or colors!?!?"  For further challenge details, click HERE.  Play along to WIN some Power Poppy stamps of your own!

Well today... I'm going to show ya just how it's done!  And I promise... I had my eyes closed when I chose my markers!!!

I grabbed my gorgeous "Bloomin' Wonderful" stamp set and my Copics and away I went.  Come join me at my desk today...

Direct link - Watch in HD!

And here's another quick look at my very simple card, colored with ONLY 3 MARKERS!

Thanks for joining me today!  I sure hope you join the Bloom Brigade and I for this month's super fun challenge!

~ Ally ~


Supplies:
stamps:  Power Poppy (Bloomin' Wonderful)
patterned papers:  BasicGrey (Barista 6x6)
cardstock:  Neenah (Solar White)
inks:  Memento (Tuxedo Black), Versafine (Black Onyx), Copic Markers (V12, Y08, YG23)
dies:  My Favorite Things (Stitched Ovals, Stitched Basic Edges), Pretty Pink Posh (Mini Tags)
tools:  We R Memory Keepers (Envelope Punch Border)
sequins:  Pretty Pink Posh (Sparkling Clear) 

ribbon:  Micheal's

A Friday Farewell

It’s Friday, which means the Bloomies are on tap to showcase some of their gorgeousness for all of YOU but with it, comes a farewell of sorts! We don’t like farewells here. Okay, can I just say I hate goodbyes?

Not too terribly long ago, our beloved Bloom Brigade design team member Leslie Miller left her job working as a technician in a lab only to set sail on a new adventure called retirement. She couldn't wait to have more time to create! And, we welcomed that. Why wouldn’t we? More Leslie? Come on! Who wouldn’t want that? ;-) Well, since retirement, Leslie’s realized that she needs to be “all in” when it comes to that footloose and fancy-free feeling with her hubby Rich and two goldens, Wally and Lulu. So, we bid her adieu from the Bloom Brigade (sniffle, sniffle, waahhhhhh!) but, she’s assured us that goodbye isn’t goodbye at all and that she will still pick up those Power Poppy stamps at will and share lots of cards with us. We wish her all the best and with that, we thought we’d showcase our: Leslie Miller Hall of Faves!

Dear Leslie Miller with Wally and Lulu

This first one, to me, just shows Leslie's talent in living color. This embossed and softly-colored creation just brings on an air of beauty with Power Poppy’s Happy Crabapple stamp set!

There is something peaceful and serene about this card below using the Lilac Time stamp set. I love the mix of colors and the feeling of texture with the faulous mix of decorative paper and die cuts! Take time to check out Leslie's coloring on this one too -- amazing, simply amazing!!! Just look at the detail she colored on each and every lilac petal!

With this next treasure, Leslie just goes to show that it's not all about cards! It can be about that handmade touch, that snippet of yourself that you can add to a handmade gift. I gasped the first time I saw this label. I mean, those berries (from the digital stamp set Berry It) look good enough to eat! Don't you think?

If you are a Leslie Miller fan, well, that’s silly, who isn’t? Anyway, you know that she loves to mix stamping and die cut accents. This card below using Power Poppy’s O Holy Night stamp set is a PERFECT mix of these two! What’s more charming than a humble little church nestled in the woods? This creation not only shares Leslie’s creativity but her ability to use these two card making treats together to create one beautiful card!

You could say that I saved the best for last with this one using Power Poppy’s Orchids Rock stamp set. Look. At. The. Detail. Here. People! Don’t those orchids just look so sweet and dainty? The coloring on this card is phenomenal and the layout is just as perfect. All that stitching! The die cut edge! The embossed segments! The fussy cutting??? This is a look at card making royalty folks. No question about it!

There you have it folks, a look into the art of a master! We will miss you so much Leslie but I trust you when you say you won't be a stranger! Having you from the very beginning of this fun-filled, artsy and loving Power Poppy team has been such a treat for all of us. You are truly one of a kind lady. Your friendship is even more valued than all of your incredible card-making talent! All the best to you (and then some)! MWAH from all of us!!

Just a quick announcement! Have you seen our brand new You Pick 3 Power & Spark Challenge for this month? If this is all new to you, all you have to do is click HERE for the official rules, deets on how to link up your creation AND see the entries that are already starting to come in! Here’s a hint: you can ONLY use three colors of markers for your creation! You will most indeedy want to check out this challenge for your shot to win a Power Poppy stamp set of your choice!

We've arrived at the time when we put our premier designers on the big screen to share their talents for the week! So, hop on over and see these fine ladies below!

Christine Okken
Julie Koerber
Stacy Morgan
Tosha Leyendekker


Then, next Monday, swing on back for our Inspire Me Monday feature when Ally Cope inspires us all as we kick off our creative week! Can’t wait!

Have a fabulous weekend everyone!
~Julie

For the love of Tulips!

Welcome to Inspire Me Monday on Power Poppy! This is Rhea, and today, and I am sharing Tulips in Hobnail Pitcher.

This is a digital image which has been enlarged to 200%.  It is now framed in black with a black and white matting and proudly hanging on my wall of framed Power Poppy florals.

What I wanted to share with you today is the foliage.  If you look at the depth of the foliage, it was created using many different shades of greens. To make something look like it is in the distance, it needs to be a little darker with more of a gray tone to it. If you are using Copic Markers. this means you want to move more to the center of the Copic Color Wheel.  

I like to start with the shadows first, or in this case, what is in the background. I started with YG61, 63 and 67 and colored the leaves that were behind the front leaves. Next, in the deepest shadow areas I added G94 and 99 as these have more gray tones to them. Now, I moved to the leaves that were in the front.  I used YG25, 17 with the highlight yellowish color being YG21. With these colors being more vibrant and lighter, it helped bring them forward.

Now for the Tulips!  There are several colors used here — ones you can’t imagine using together: V52, 63, 66, 69, 12, 15, 17, and Y00.... Say what!?!?! Yup, that's right. It’s all done in layers in the order listed with Y00 being the last added where I left white starting at the end and flicking into the violets and purples. These colors blend so well together and I actually had no idea what the plan was as I was just playing.  I figured I could always start over!

Now back to G99, I added this color to add drop shadows under the leaves and flowers and blended a little with G94.

For the pitcher....Mackenzie Childs Pottery is one of my loves, so I added the signature checkerboard pattern and just went for it. Although it isn’t perfect, I just don’t care because it is art! I used a multiline .08 in black to outline the black squares, and a Copic Spica marker (glitter marker) to add dots of texture to the cream squares. The final touches were to add a touch of color around the flowers and using V20 to ground the pitcher.

That’s how you take a flat image and add depth. :)

Birthday Sale • April Power & Spark • March Winner!

Hello everybody! It's the start of a new month and actually, the start of a new year for Power Poppy! Yes, TODAY marks the 2nd birthday of this fine, fun, FANTASTIC company. Thanks to all of YOU who have joined us in the journey to create a little art, share a lot of joy and.... Live in FULL Bloom!

To help us mark this momentous occasion, Marcella has a few gifts up her sleeve! Isn’t that just like her? It’s her company’s birthday and she wants to give YOU the gifts! ;-) So, stay tuned for the deets on that at the end of this post...

With the mark of a new month, we have a brand-spankin’-new Power & Spark Challenge and this one will have you stretching the bounds of your coloring creativity! I was a wee bit nervous to take this one on but I am so glad I did because it did indeed challenge me to think out of the box! So, without further ado...

Ms. Christine Okken is the hostess for this colorific quest to create something wonderful with — just THREE markers! Did I hear you gasp? You can’t fathom picking just three? Yes, I know, it sounds like a true (and FUN) challenge! Here’s how Christine explains it:

Have you heard about the 3 Marker Challenge? Google it to find tons of videos on YouTube that show artists creating with only 3 markers. The real rules say you have to choose 3 markers at random (close your eyes and just pick) and whatever you pull out, you colour with! There’s some pretty creative things out there and really gifted artists. For this month with Power Poppy, I’m going to go a little easier on you. I’m asking you to choose one of three options: 

1.  Pick three markers from the same colour family to create a monochromatic design

2.  Pick three markers from complementary colour families  - (this will be easier to blend, for example red, yellow, orange or blue, green, purple)

3.  Or, for the courageous or expert: Pick three random markers and colour away!

Remember only 3 markers! They can be alcohol-based or water-based, your choice. Use only 3 markers to colour!

And just to prove how masterfully she aced this challenge, check out her creation using Power Poppy’s Tulips in Hobnail Pitcher. It’s a brand new digital stamp set over at the Power Poppy Shop!

Did you notice that she shaded her aqua pitcher with... the green? Oh my! Now that, my friends, is showing us how it’s done! :-) 

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 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 free clear or digital stamp set of 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 April 30th @ 8:00pm EST.  At that point, we’ll draw the winner randomly and make the announcement right here on the first Friday of May! 

So, let’s see you pick (blindfolded or not) three markers and marvel at your ability to take this challenge on! After you whip up your 3-Color Wonder, be sure to link up your creation below!

Being that it is the first Friday of April, it also means we get to share one lucky card-maker who won March’s Power & Spark Challenge thanks to Random.org! So, after all the entries were thrown into that computerized and magical winner picker, the number chosen was.....

That means the winner is.......

DONNA GOURLEY!!

And, just because we love to share, check out Donna’s take on the Peek-A-Book Sketch Challenge. I absolutely adore how she has just elements of the Springtime Love, Bloomin' Wonderful, and Simply Camellias stamp sets. She fussy cut them to adorn the cut outs in the sketch. So springy! So colorful! Such a clean & classy take on this sketch! 

Congrats Donna! To claim your prize, all you need to do is email us at bloom@powerpoppy.com and let us know which stamp set you’d love to add to your collection.

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

Before we get to the Bloomies and their wonderful weekly creations, we interrupt this special blog post to bring you a birthday announcement from the Chief Peep — Marcella Hawley herself!

Power Poppy is turning 2. WOOHOO! We want to THANK YOU, our sweet and encouraging peeps around the world, for helping us spread the botanical abundance and zest for life. Your creativity, love, and generosity of spirit is SO STRONG! We are thrilled to kick off another year of flowering and empowering together.

From Friday through Monday, we're offering 20% OFF all Stamps, Digital & Clear. Use discount code: MARCELLA at checkout to receive the special savings. PLUS, for four days only we have a special birthday digi for only TWO BUCKS! Visit Power Poppy to learn more. xo, ~marcella

Thanks Marce! What a fun way to celebrate two fabulous years of Power Poppy GOODNESS! Speaking of Power Poppy goodness, time to pass the baton to our wonderful Bloomies. Be sure to check out these fine ladies below and see what they whipped up for your viewing pleasure! I should point out that the Bloom Brigade were asked to be the Guest Designers for the April edition of CardMaps over at Pagemaps.com -- what an honor!!! So, dear friends, you have even more inspiration HERE!

Allison Cope
Christine Okken

Cindy Lawrence

Julie Koerber

Katie Sims
Kathy Jones

Leslie Miller

Stacy Morgan

Tosha Leyendekker

Cheryl Scrivens

Thanks for stopping by and spending a little piece of your day with us! Be sure to stop by Monday as we kick off the creative week with another edition of Inspire Me Monday! Trust me, you aren't going to want to miss this one! ;-)

Have a great weekend!
~Julie

An InLinkz Link-up