Creative Confetti: Hop Into My Sketchbook!

Hello folks and Happy Tuesday to you all! Are you a sucker for a great card sketch? Do you doodle future layout ideas in notebooks just for times when you suffer a severe mojo drain? If you answered "yes"... then you and I have a little something in common! It's why I am so excited to throw up this week's Creative Confetti! Check it out sweet peeps! 

HOW TO PLAY: It's just as simple as this. Take a peek at the sketch below, use it to create, have fun and then, when your done with your card, link it up using our linky below! Couldn't get much easier than that!

Before we get to my card, I just had to show you the stack of sketchy doodles I keep in my craft room. Some of these are literally years old. I figure they never really "expire" and sometimes, I get a wild hair to pull them out and see if one fits. It's funny, in today's design world, the card layouts aren't as "fancy" or detailed as they used to be, so, sometimes I take off an element or just make it a little more on the simple side. Kind of like the sketch above! 

On to my card! On the heels of yesterday's Instant Garden Release - Painting Pumpkins, I just had to use this image. I love those little pumpkins -- they just make my heart smile!

Oh my... don't you love that little trio of happy faces? I do! After I printed it all off, I colored this scene using Copic markers and actually used so many that listing them all might take the entire post! I will say that I did add the shading with BV0000 and BV00 and above using G0000. I love the purple glow that the BV markers gave this image. I also added a little white gel pen to add some accents to the pumpkins eyes and give them a little more expression. Not that they needed it -- I just have a love relationship with my white gel pen! ;-)

And, here's a closeup for you!

The sentiment on the little sentiment tag is from Power Poppy's clear stamp set Feeling Fall. I thought it was perfect for this because of its size!  I added some BV00 accents and, of course, some white gel pen there too!

And, here's a peek at the inside. I just added the sentiment from the set and made the "Happy" like my son's favorite candy -- candy corn! This will probably be stuffed into a college card package to him. He doesn't really appreciate my handmade cards fully but I stick a little extra love inside to make up for it! ;-)

So there you have it! Now it's your turn! Let's see you take this super simple sketch for a test drive. Keep in mind, you can add more to it, flip it, and make it your own. All you need are the basic elements that I have above! So, get to it and link up your creation. I can't wait to see what you come up with!


Happy Tuesday & Happy Creating! 

~Julie
Creative Confetti Thrower

An InLinkz Link-up

Instant Garden Release: Painting Pumpkins

Do you mind if I muse on a topic for a sec? There is a wonderful aspect of this time of year, and that aspect is called PUMPKINS. Pumpkins epitomize fall vibes. They last for months if you don’t carve them. But do you really want to stare at orange blobs for months? (I mean, I do, I love orange. But do you?). How about PAINTING the pumpkins to match your décor? Or decorating them with little motifs such as vines and Halloween faces? I mean, pumpkins in their natural colors are gorgeous, but one can always find a way to make a bigger deal out of what was naturally beautiful. I love making things complicated! 

This new digital stamp set is easy, because this is an illustration to download, print, and color.

Introducing: Painting Pumpkins

Our hot-off-the-drawing-board digital stamp set, Painting Pumpkins, allows you to “paint” your own pumpkins. You get THREE versions of the focal image (plus no-line versions): One with a blank canvas, one with decorative motifs, and one with jack-o-lantern faces. There’s no end to what you can do with this charming fall set, which can last you from earliest fall through Thanksgiving. Four sentiments ensure that!

Just to get you thinking about how you may want to decorate your pumpkins, here are a few of the cute images that got me thinking about painting pumpkins...

Source: Purely Katie

Source: Handmade Charlotte

I just love the accents on this card by Allison Cope featuring our new clear set: Fortunes of Fall

Do you see where we’re going with all of this? It’s totally fun and interesting to paint pumpkins. 

Do you know who ELSE is fun and interesting? We have an announcement! A brand new member of our Instant Gardener Design Team... who is not brand new to Power Poppy. This awesome lady, whose talent may only be eclipsed by her kindness and beautiful spirit, was one of the founding members of the Bloom Brigade. She’s back to grace us with her gorgeous creations, and we couldn’t be more excited to welcome LESLIE MILLER.

Be sure to pop by Leslie’s blog to share a happy hello — and see her new creation made with the Painting Pumpkins digital set.

Leslie Miller

Nancy Sheads

Rhea Weigand

Cheryl Scrivens

Broni Holcombe

What an awesome group — feeling so blessed to be working with each and every one of these women! Hope you enjoy today’s digital download introduction — you can pick one up RIGHT HERE and be painting your pumpkins in minutes. Cheerio!

Sparkle in the Shade

Hello folks! Have we got some fun for you on this Tuesday! I love challenges that are so easy, you really don't even need to think them through -- you just create! Well, today's bit of Creative Confetti that we are throwing up is just as sweet and simple as it comes! Are you ready?

HOW TO PLAY: This one couldn't get much simpler! Create with just one color in many different "shades" - then, add a little sparkle to the final creation!

On to my creation! 

If you visited my blog for World Card Making Day... you've already seen a little snippet of this creation. Click HERE if you want to know where this design started! If you click on over, you'll see how I created that raised and watercolored background. It was also many of YOU that helped me to finalize the design, so thank you!

The fussy cut magnolia image is from the Planning for Magnolias stamp set. This image is one of my all time favorites. Not too long ago, I used it HERE and this time, I loved coloring up this one in shades of blue! After stamping in Memento Tuxedo Black and fussy cutting, I reached for a mix of B and BG Copic Markers. I used B000 and BG11 for the petals, BV20 and BV23 for the center and branches and then BG70 and BG72 for the leaves. 

I should mention the sentiment I used is from Power Poppy's Tweet Tidings stamp set. Yes, it's part of a holiday set but you can use these words all year long in my book! 

And here's a closeup of the sparkle! After I was all done coloring, I added a little shimmer thanks to a Wink of Stella Clear Glitter pen! See?

And that, my friends, is it!

HOW TO PLAY:

• Create using a monochromatic color scheme... then add sparkle! 
• Use Power Poppy stamps if you have them, if not, you might win some if you're randomly chosen. Each month, we'll round up all those that play in any of the month’s Creative Confetti challenges, and draw a name from the entries to win a $25 GIFT CODE for the Power Poppy Shop!
• To enter, link up your creation below, sharing the direct link to your card from your blog, Instagram, or card gallery.
• Our link will be open all month for you to play along with us! Try one Creative Confetti Challenge or partake in them all for extra chances to win!

So, now it's your turn! When you're done, make sure to link up your creation below so that we can all see! Keep in mind, one lucky stamper will win a $25 gift code to the Power Poppy Shop! The more you play along with us during the month, the better odds you have of being our lucky winner!

Thanks everyone for stopping by and checking out what we've got in store this week! We can't wait to see your "Sparkle in the Shade" creation!


Until next time!

~Julie 

a.k.a The Creative Confetti Thrower

An InLinkz Link-up

Winner... Winner... Chicken Dinner!

Hello folks! Hope you had an amazing World Card Making Day! Maybe you got a jump start on your holiday cards? Maybe you created a few random acts of kindness that you later hope to stuff in an envelope to send some smiles across the miles? Whatever the case may be -- I just love having an excuse to create. Not like we need one but when we say, "Hey, I am making cards because it's World Card Making Day...." Who can argue? ;-)

So, we asked you folks to comment on our beloved Bloomies' posts on Saturday and if you did, you have a chance at winning a Power Poppy Goody Bag! So, we threw all the names/comments in a virutal hat and the random winner is.....

This lovely commenter came from Cindy Lawrence's blog! Debbie, in order to claim your winnings, email us at bloom@powerpoppy.com and Ms. Marcella will be sending some fun things your way!

Thanks everyone for joining us this weekend! We'll see you back here real soon!

~Julie 

Inspire Me Monday: Playing with Oxides & Vellum

Howdy Power Poppy fans!  I’m Allison Cope and today on Inspire Me Monday I’m going to be making a couple of cards featuring Distress Oxides inks and vellum paper.

Today I’m featuring the new stamp set “Cabbage and Kale” that I know you’ll all fall in love with if you haven’t already seen it.

Now, grab a fun drink and meet me in my scraproom for a quick video tutorial…

Click to play in HD.

Now, let’s take a second look at those cards I made…

And here’s the second card I made using almost the exact same supplies.  I did add an additional Distress Oxide in “Dusty Concord” and some stitching to hold on my vellum brassicas.

Thanks for joining me today.   I hope I’ve inspired you to pull out some fun inks and some vellum for your next card.  And last but not least, Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadians today!  Have a great day everyone!

~ Ally ~


stamps: Power Poppy (Cabbage and Kale, Natural Beauties)
cardstock: Recollections (110# White), Catherine Pooler Designs (Smoke & Mirrors), Vellum (MFT)
inks: Versamark, Distress Oxides (Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves, Wilted Violet, Dusty Concord)
embossing powder: Stampendous! (Detail Copper)
dies:  My Favorite Things (Stitched Rectangles)
other: thread

Happy World Card Making Day, Peeps!

Well hello there! Happy Saturday to you! Granted, this isn't just ANY Saturday... it's a day just for US! Yep, it's for those of us who love to grab our scissors to watch the paper fly, for those of us who love playing around with color and most importantly, those of us who love to create and share our little projects from the heart! It's....

Every first Saturday in October since 2006, Card Makers have been uniting to not only get a head-start on holiday card-making but to celebrate all the ways we love to share this craft. Power Poppy is getting in on the action on this World Card Making Day to help us all celebrate the beautiful community that is at the heart of this super-fun hobby.

So to honor this special day, we asked the Bloomies to share their favorite kind of card to make -- be it anniversary, birthday, thinking of you, just because, new baby, wedding -- you name it! Here's the fun part. All you need to do is follow this link list below, hop on over to all the Bloomies' blogs and...

On Monday, we'll take all the comments from all the blogs, throw them into a hat and we'll draw one lucky winner for a.... POWER POPPY GOODY BAG! 

Why is this so fun you ask? Well, the lucky winner will get some of Marcella's hand-picked goodies and it will be a beautiful surprise! I know how giddy she gets with surprises so trust me, you will not want to miss out! A winner will be drawn and announced sometime on Monday, October 9th! Just stay tuned! 

But wait, there's more! To help enable some of your crafty pursuits, Power Poppy is hosting a one-day only, 24 hour flash sale starting... NOW! (Sale ends Sunday, Oct. 7 at 7am CST)

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

So, what are you waiting for? Let's celebrate World Card Making Day in grand style -- getting ideas from some of the most talented cardmakers world-wide! And then, grabbing some savings to stock up on things for future crafty endeavors!

Stop by and say "hi" to these lovely ladies -- remember to leave a comment because each comment is an entry into our World Card Making Day Giveaway!

Allison Cope

Christine Okken

Cindy Lawrence

Julie Koerber

Kathy Jones

Stacy Morgan

Happy World Card Making Day Peeps! We hope you find some time to create and enjoy every minute of it on this special day! 

Until Next Time!

~Julie 

Digis on the 5s: Fall Wellies

Hello friends! We have a wonderful new image to share with you today — and the Instant Gardeners have created inspiring cards to help show off the possibilities ...

Our newest digital download has been a fan favorite in clear — there are just so many ways to color it up! Introducing Fall Wellies.

Fall Wellies is my illustration of a plaid “welly” boot, laden with falling Japanese Maple leaves. You’ll get two extra leaves to place wherever you want to bring a bit of colorful zing. Includes one sentiment, too!

This image is available right now in the Power Poppy shop HERE.

Come see what our wonderful designers have concocted with this new stamp set!

Barbara Walker

Broni Holcombe

Nancy Sheads

Stacy Morgan 

So happy we could spend a quite bit of time together this morning!! Be sure to scroll down for even more wonderful cards and news. PLUS: Join us for a surprise on World Cardmaking Day on October 6. Oh boy, that’s tomorrow!