Your Friday Splash of Inspiration!

Hello folks and Happy Friday! I will be honest, this little blog post is going to be a quick splash of inspiration to get your weekend GOING! Why? Well, in a matter of hours yours truly and the Chief Creative Peep of Power Poppy, Marcella Hawley herself, will be on a plane bound for Creativation 2017, formerly known as CHA.

WHAT?
Yes, I know. It is almost too much to bear. Why? You might ask? Because in the nearly 10 years Marcy and I have "worked" together, we have never met in person. Never. Not. Even. Once. We have a LOT of catching up to do, don't you think?

So, in addition to floating the trade show floor and soaking in all the new design ideas and trends, we will be POPPING with ideas to make Power Poppy  even bigger and even better so that you can vicariously, through Marcy's design prowess 'Live Life in Full Bloom!'

CAN I GET AN AMEN??? 

Wonderful! Moving on! We'll share some of the fabulous finds we discovered on our weekly hop around the blog-o-sphere! They are beauties, I tell ya!

First up, Lori Craig knocked our socks off with this sparkly, embossed and beautifully colored up bevy of roses using a blown up version of our digital stamp set, Arranging Roses! 

Heidi over at "My Little Stamping Blog" made us smile with this sweetly colored budgie from Power Poppy's set Short Stacks! We loved the vibrant colors and the contrast with that peaceful, easy pastel background. And, who doesn't love a bit of bedazzling! 

Elizabeth Zaffarano showed us just how lovely Power Poppy's digital stamp set Flowers, Always can be... gilded in foil!

And, Jenny Colacicco made me swoon at her interpretation of Power Poppy's newest digital stamp set Sweet Pea Show in a delicate wash of watercolor!

Like I said folks, short and sweet! Now it's time to 1. remind you to play along in our Power & Spark Winter Blooms Challenge! You can read all about it HERE. And, 2. share the linky so that you can "Oooo" and "Ahhh" over the Bloom Brigade's latest Power Poppy Creations!

Allison Cope

Christine Okken

Cindy Lawrence

Julie Koerber

Katie Sims

Stacy Morgan

Tosha Leyendekker 

Thanks for stopping by and as the kids used to say.... "See Ya on the Flip Side!"

~Julie

Inspire Me Monday: Sentiments in the Spotlight!

Hello all! Julie here with another “episode” of Inspire Me Monday!

How many times have you made a card, and then had to cross everything you had in the hopes that your card arrived at its destination in one piece? Well, today I am not only going to show you a few cards that are very mail-friendly, they use a different kind of thought process that puts your sentiments in the spotlight!

Here's a peek at what we are making! The decking out will come later -- so you'll have to stick with me to see how this all turns out! ;-)

Every single one of those above is a single layer. Fun right? So, let me share some of what I did to create these looks!

ONE BIG HELLO! 

For the first card, I started by stamping the word "hello" from the Big Scripts stamp set. Then, I took a clear ruler and a fine tip black marker to make the lines above and below my sentiment. I will say that I did run the marker over the ruler a couple times, just to make sure the line was solid and not broken in any way.

Afterward, I added some dimension thanks to a paper piercer and template. I think it just helped make this area stand out a bit!

Now the fun begins! I used a Post-It note to mask my sentiment section...

Then, I took the Ranunculus from the Dynamic Duos: Foxglove and Ranunculus stamp set and stamped it above the black line using blank ink and then moved the Post-It to cover the other direction and then I stamped the lower portion of the ranunculus bunch to make it look like the bunch was shooting out from underneath my sentiment section. See?

And, after it was all colored up with Copic markers, I layered it on some distressed looking pink decorative paper and added some minor accents with glitter glue and rounded corners.

LOVE & THANKS

For the next card, I wanted to use some of my dies as stencils. This rectangle die is a super simple shape but just think of the shapes you could use as word windows! Any shape and every shape!! All it would take is a steady hand with your fine-tipped marker!

I started by stamping my sentiment, then secured the die using bits of washi tape. I traced the inner part of the die using the same fine-tipped black marker. 

Ta da!

From there, I made a mask of that box simply by tracing the inner part of the die onto a Post-It Note and cutting it out....

After that, I stamped the branch from Power Poppy's Happy Crabapple clear stamp set several times over top until I covered the entire front of the 4" by 5.25" piece! I colored with Copic markers, matted it up and here's a peek at the finished card! As you can see, I accented the inner portion of the box with some ivory Copic Markers and some paper piercing, just to make that pop a little bit more. I also -- which you can't see really well -- accented my flower centers with a wee bit of glitter glue to make it sparkle. While I have three layers, this one is still extremely "mail friendly!" 

SENDING LOVE

This last card I whipped up by creating a little sentiment window with a punch! I started by stamping the sentiment from the Dynamic Duos: Glads and Gerberas. Then, I matched it up with just the right circle punch and created a mask by punching a circle out of the top sticky part of a Post-It Note, covering the sentie! You can see, I set this up in my Misti Stamping Tool and there's a reason for that! 

I am going to start by stamping the Gerbera Daisies from the set over top in black...

 Now, the fun part! Because I used my Misti, I am going to remove that mask, clean off my stamp and ink it up using a faint pink ink (Memento Angel Pink) and stamp right over the top! 

You can barely see the pink, but in real life it just gives it that extra bit of dimension! From there, I punched the circle out of a heavier card stock and let my fine-tipped pen do some work again as you can see in my finished card!

While I added some glittery enamel dots, those little guys are still pretty flat making this another card I can pop in the mail without a worry! So there you have it -- three ways to make your sentiments stand out -- with Post-It Notes, Punches and Dies! 

Thanks for popping in and joining me for another Inspire Me Monday! I hope you dig through your supplies and see what you might be able to use to put your sentiments in the spotlight!!!

Have a fabulously creative week!

~Julie

January's Instant Garden Digi: Sweet Pea Show

Why, hello there! It’s been a short spell since we’ve hung out, my dears, and I am very excited to be back in the swing of all the things! I hope you’re excited, too, because we have a special offering to share today to kick off the 2017 collection of Instant Garden digital stamps. If you aren’t familiar with our digital stamps, well, they aren’t really “stamps” at all. They are actually illustrations drawn by yours truly with a fine-tipped ink pen, scanned into the computer, and made available to you to download and print out at home.

You can make the images big or small, flip them or rotate them, lighten the color, and do all manner of things to them — then print out and color the day away. It’s really quite fun! That’s why we offer new digital images three times a month, because once you start playing with “digis” it can be quite addictive! We will have another introduction on the 25th of January, and another on February 5th. (Sign up for our newsletter to get word of new arrivals, plus other fun tidbits about art, life, gardening, and creative curiosity!)

Anyhooooo.... it’s time for a new drawing to be revealed, and as you can see from the banner image above, it’s a swirly whirly one to be sure. If you love curlicues and swirly bits as much as I do, the this illustration is going to be one you’ll want to grab for your coloring stash! Inspiration was provided by a dear friend and neighbor of my parents, who, while my mom was going through her cancer treatments, brought vase after vase of Sweet Peas from her garden to my folks’ house. They were so beautiful and abundant, Mom set up a little still life in the green house and sent me photos!

Do ya wonder where I got my love of all this dainty stuff from? My mom literally grabbed a quilt and  a selection of transferware cups and saucers that echoed the colors in the Sweet Peas just to take photos of them for her own pleasure. After snapping these photos (this was in spring 2015), she then had me drive over and get a vaseful, as she had been given so many. That woman!! She was like no other.

Sighhhhhh. So, friends, it’s time for another showing of the Sweet Peas. Only this time, I’ve drawn them, and am sharing them with YOU to add the color! Presenting, Sweet Pea Show.

Get a load of those lil tendrils! Until you get your hands on some this spring and summer, this illustration may have to do. And I think it will do pretty well, based on what I’ve seen come from the craft rooms of the Instant Gardeners, our incredibly awesome design team! These ladies are charged with ushering in my brand new Instant Garden digital offerings, and they do such an amazing job inspiring us! If you don’t believe me, come and SEE what they’ve done with Sweet Pea Show.

Take it away, ladies!

Jennifer Dove

Broni Holcombe

Cheryl Scrivens

Debbie Olson

Barb Walker

Jessie Banks

I hope you enjoy our new Power Poppy illustration, Sweet Pea Show — and you’ll find that it comes with three sentiments, a few of which have a Valentine’s Day theme, you know, for those very special Sweet Peas in your life! Enjoy your day and see you back here on Monday for a wonderfully inspiring post by our very own superhero, Julie Koerber. Can’t wait!

Flowers & Fizz!

Happy Friday Peeps! If you wondered what our post title is all about, it's about YOU and the tour we took around the World Wide Web, searching for inspiration! There were lots of you who chose to let your presence blossom, others shared their talents with the clink of a glass! So, as we do every Friday, let's take a gander at just some of the oh-so-fabulous creative inspiration we found along the way! 

CHEERS TO YOU!

This first creation is one we spotted on Instagram over @SiNeiaDesigns, which is actually a sister duo -- Sofia & Andreia -- who create and post together! We absolutely love the gilded bits on this card made using Power Poppy's Dream Wedding stamp set. It's definitely one worth celebrating!

SUNNY DAYS

Normally, I like to feature cards that I've spotted over the last week, but this beauty below captured my attention in such a way that I thought I'd share this "new to me" card that Rita Wright posted a few months back using Power Poppy's Sunshine of My Life digital stamp set! I love the depth of color and the sweet and simple design!

LOVE-LY!!!

Patti Willey is always good for a head-turner of a card and this one is no exception! Goodness, look at that coloring session she had using Power Poppy's My English Rose stamp set! Those lovely layers! The depth in shading! Well, I tell you, I admire all of it!

WATERCOLOR WONDER

Now, to one of my all-time favorite stampers in the whole entire universe. This lady knows her way around a stamp room and this happy little daffodil just shows her watercolor prowess! Leslie Miller said she experimented printing this digital stamp -- Dancing with Daffodils -- on watercolor paper. Well, this doesn't look like a test run, it's a masterpiece! 

We found Leslie's creation above in the linky list for this little challenge that was ushered in last Friday! 

You can check out all the details on this month's Winter Blooms Power & Spark Challenge by clicking HERE! Read up on the rules, click through our list of possible flowers to give color and life to and then... play along with us!

DO YOU LOVE SURPRISES?

I DO! And, here’s one little surprise to share -- just in case you missed it on Power Poppy's brand spankin’ new Facebook page! 

Squeeeee! I can't wait, can you? I mean, who doesn't LOVE a little sprinkling of Sweet Peas drawn up by the whimsical hand of Ms. Marcella? Tune back in on January 15th -- Sunday -- to see what the Instant Gardeners created with it before you run over to the Power Poppy Shop to snag this digital stamp set for yourself!

Now it’s time to turn things over to our beloved Bloomies to see how they washed their world with color this week!

Allison Cope

Christine Okken

Cindy Lawrence

Julie Koerber

Stacy Morgan

Thanks for stopping by and spending a bit of your day with us! Be sure to tune back in when we'll share another fabulous Inspire Me Monday to kick off your creative week!

~Julie

Inspire Me Monday: Inspiration is Everywhere!

Happy Monday everyone!  I’m Allison Cope, your hostess for Inspire Me Monday this week!

This week I’m going to share some pieces of inspiration with you and how I turned them into creative and fun card ideas.

If you are like most crafters, you browse the web, other crafters blogs and especially investigate Pinterest for things to give us a creative awakening.  Not only do I look at other crafters cards on Pinterest but I look at design, fashion, food and all kinds of different areas looking for images to spark that creative endeavour.

So I went through my Pinterest board entitled “Inspiration” and I came up with 3 very different pins to get inspiration from, to begin the card making process.

Teal Floral Cake

Source

One of the first images I came across was this stunning teal coloured cake with bright yellow, white and soft grey blooms.  I just couldn’t resist drawing inspiration from not only the teal colour but also from the motion of the blooms laid out across the layers of cake.

So I began my card by stamping the larger cluster of Hens & Chicks from the “Sassy Succulents” stamp set.  I added in a few single succulents too. I tried to mimic the movement created by the blooms on the cake.

I created a bold teal back ground of Copic Marker for my succulents but decided to only highlight a single, large hen & chick.  I pulled some yellow from the inspirational cake florals but decided to add some hues of purples, pink and even some lime greens into the plant using Prismacolor Pencils.

I just love the flow and movement created by the succulents on this card!

Floral & Striped Lap Top Bag

Source

Next I found an image of this vivid handmade lap top bag.  The orange striped fabric just drew me in and I love the little simple yet colourful blooms on the white back ground of the top fabric.

To begin this card, I knew I wanted to use the basic design of the bag; stripes on the bottom and little blooms on the top.  So I found a fun striped paper and then pulled the teal from the strip into the colour of the blooms.

Instead of using a vertical strip like the bag, I chose to add some more whimsy to the card and put my stripes on an angle and then also make my blooms from the “Folk Heart” stamp set work the same angle.

To finish it off, I added a bold embossed sentiment from the “Big Scripts” stamp set at the bottom.

I just love how those lines of amusing little blooms just sprout from the stripes at the bottom!

Floral Skirt

Source

Fashion is another way to be inspired to create!  I found this fun skirt pinned in my board and knew that the front panels would make a cool design for the front of a card.

I began by cutting two identical rectangular panels of water colour paper and stamping the single rose from the “My English Rose” stamp set randomly all over both panels. I chose to pull 4 different colours of ink from the skirt; a lighter dusty blue, a darker sky blue, a fuchsia purple and rich, dark purple.  I used all 4 colours randomly when stamping and filled them in with the same watered down inks.

I trimmed my panels to create 2 overlapping pieces with peek-a-boo points sort of like the skirt, added them to a purple card base and added a simple bow to finish it off.

Fashion inspiration has a great way of sneaking itself into our crafting lives too!

So I hope I’ve inspired you to think outside the box today and view not only the net but the sources around you.  The oddest things may spark your creative mind; a bill board, a magazine ad, a logo or even a painting hanging on a shop's wall!  Inspiration is everywhere!  Keep those eyes open!

Happy stamping & creating everyone!

~ Allison Cope ~


Supplies:

You’re Special Succulents 
Stamps: Power Poppy (Sassy Succulents)
Cardstock: Recollections (110lb White), MFT (Ripe Raspberry)
Inks: Memento (Tuxedo Black), Copic Markers, Copic Blending Solution, Prismacolor Pencils, Versamark
Embossing Powder: Stampendous! (White Detail)
Patterned Paper: MFT (Tranquil Textures 6x6)
Copics: BG32, BG13 
Prismacolors: Canary Yellow, Chartreuse, Grass Green, Carmine Red, Parma Violet, Mulberry

Sunflower Hello
Stamps: Power Poppy (Folk Heart, Big Scripts)
Cardstock: Recollections (110lb White)
Patterned Paper: MFT (Painted Prints Smitten 6x6)
Inks: Memento (Tuxedo Black), Copic Markers, Versamark
Embossing Powder: Stampendous! (White Detail)
Dies: Pretty Pink Posh (Scallop Frames)
Twine: Darice
Copics: BG10, BG09, Y15, Y17, YG01, YG17

Lavender Roses
Stamps: Power Poppy (My English Rose)
Cardstock: Arches (140lb Cold Pressed Water Color Paper), Bazzill (Sour Grape)
Inks: Simon Says Stamp (Surf Blue, Steel Blue, Wisteria, Hot Mama)
Tool: Tim Holtz (Piercing Tool)
Ribbon: Offray

Blossoms to Warm Up Your Winter

Howdy peeps and welcome to our very first Power Poppy Power & Spark Challenge to set your 2017 off right! This one is near and dear to my heart because when you live in colder parts of the country, you long for those bright splashes of flowery color to warm your heart... and your winter! 

So, let me introduce you to the Winter Blooms January Challenge:

HOW TO PLAY: This challenge comes with a 100% smile guarantee because our hostess with the mostess Stacy Morgan wants to see your creations in full bloom! Here's what she had to say about this month's quest for colorful creativity!

“When winter comes, many of us long to say goodbye to the chill and say hello to those cheerful and fresh spring flowers! Did you know there are lots of blooms that sprout at the end of winter? How about Camellias, Crocus, Paperwhites, Holly, Snowdrops, or Poinsettias? Let’s see how you can bring these pretty little petals and glorious greens to life and enjoy this last bit of winter as well!”

Thanks Stacy! Now, if you are a little stumped on what qualifies as a winter bloom — we’ve taken the guesswork out of it for you and created a link to all the stamps in our store that would work beautifully (we include winter AND early spring blooms, plus what you might find in a hothouse this time of year - think Orchids and Succulents)! Just CLICK ON OVER HERE to see all the beauty that awaits! On top of that, Stacy provided us some extra inspiration with this clean and classy card using Power Poppy’s Simply Camellias stamp set! Not only is it perfectly colored but the embossed backdrop and little pink pearls add that extra splash of visual interest! 

You can click on over to Stacy's blog listed on our Bloomie link list at the end of this post to read up on all the "deets" of Stacy's card!


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
• Winner will receive a free clear or three digital stamp sets of their 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 January 31 @ 8:00pm EST. At that point, we’ll draw the winner randomly and make the announcement right here on the first Friday of  February!

And now... drum roll please... it is that exciting time when we look at all the entries from last month's Power and Spark challenge, dip our hand into the random.org machine and see who is our lucky winner! So, without further ado.... the winner was:

ESSIE!

You could say Essie created such a creative spark that she was “on fire!” She had not one, not two, but THREE entries in our Power & Spark Challenge for December and all of her creations were equally as wonderful! For this cute duo of holiday tags, she used one of the wreath digital stamp sets that Power Poppy recently released named Wreath: Birch and Evergreens.

Essie, to claim your prize, just email us at bloom@powerpoppy.com, and let us know what clear stamp or three digital stamps you'd like. Thanks everyone for playing -- the creativity that you share abounds and inspires! 

Speaking of inspiration, I mentioned that there are some of our fabulous Bloomies on standby to share their latest creations with Power Poppy stamps. Why not pay them a visit?

Christine Okken

Cindy Lawrence

Julie Koerber

Kathy Jones

Katie Sims

Stacy Morgan

Tosha Leyendekker

Thanks for stopping by and sharing a bit of your day with us!  We love our little visits! Be sure to swing back for another edition of Inspire Me Monday when the fabulous Ally Cope takes center stage and shares her latest tips and card making tricks!

Have a great weekend!

~Julie 

An InLinkz Link-up

We'll Be Back!

We’re busy planning exciting projects and tutorials, new designs, and collaborative creativity to spread good vibes in 2017. Please visit us later this week or check out the tutorial archive of Inspire Me Monday!