Inspire Me Monday: Easy Breeze Coneflowers!

 

GOOD MORNING EVERYONE! Well spring has finally arrived, at least according to the calendar. We spent last weekend at our local garden supply store to get ideas for our backyard. My husband is the gardener, but I get to pick out the flowers. It's a division of labor that I enjoy! 

It's too early to plant anything here - our garden relies on a combination of containers and raised beds. We have a small water feature which my husband wants to redesign so we've been busy rearranging our equally small backyard to accommodate all the changes. But it feels good to be outside again and planning for what we hope will be a more normal future.

I plan on adding coneflowers into our backyard this year but it will be a few weeks before they are available in our garden store. In the meantime, I have to be content with coloring them so today's post features the Easy Breezy Coneflowers Digital Stamp Set in anticipation of my summer garden. 

Often, I'll enlarge a digital image so that it takes up most of the card front, but I decided to downsize the image and color it on a smaller scale. But the smaller image didn't take up much real estate on the card front so I struggled awhile with the card design. I changed the card orientation from portrait to landscape and that change helped me view the layout in a different way. I've always loved the critters that Marcella adds to some of her drawings so I cropped out one of the bees in the Asters Abuzz Digital Stamp Set to add to the background and used one of the sentiments from that set. I added a honeycomb stenciled background inked in pale pink and suddenly the card came together.

Since the image is small, I didn't worry about adding a lot of detail into the petals. Instead, I stuck to a simple dark to light blend with my Copic markers. 

That's all for me today! Be sure you get out and enjoy the sunshine!

Nancy

SUPPLIES

• Easy Breezy Coneflowers Digital Stamp Set
• Asters Abuzz Digital Stamp Set

Garden Dirt: Flowering Clover, a Swatch for Underpainting with Copic Marker

 

Need a quick bit o' luck?

Saint Patrick's Day is almost upon us.

Uh oh... so soon? Already? Wait, what month is it anyway?

If you're anything like me, you've totally lost track of days and months. Luckily, I've got a quick coloring project for you today, just in case you need to pop a card into the mail, pronto!

Hello, my name is Amy Shulke and I'm the illustrator and art instructor over at VanillaArts.com. Welcome to another edition of my color swatch series here at Power Poppy-- The Garden Dirt.

Are you wondering why I'd name a collection of beautiful color combinations after dirty ol' dirt? It's because in realistic coloring, we take pretty colors and cover them with other pretty colors to make muddy colors. The real color of shade and shadow is always a little yucky, a little muddy, and a little dirty.

You can read more from my Garden Dirt series here.

Sometimes I color for realism. Other times, I color for fun.

If you're a fan of Marcella's stamps and digis, you're pretty darned used to coloring leaves.

So even though shamrocks and clover are cute as the dickens, they're still... ho hum... sigh... just another green leaf using the same old green Copic Markers and colored pencils.

Unless we have a little fun with the underpaint.

Check out the shady spots on my green clover leaves here. See that funky shade color? What is that weird color?

Would you believe it's the same color as the clover blossom?

Pink under Green makes a shady green

I know it sounds weird but weird color is what we're after.

Last month I shared with you about layering green under pink. This month we're reversing the combo because this magic trick works both ways. Green and magenta sit opposite of each other on the color wheel and when opposites cross paths, the color get a little wild and funky. 

To color the Shamrock n' Roll digital stamp, I started with RV55 and layered two leafy green markers over the top. I have no idea what to call this new color. Gink? Preen? I don't know but it sure is fun to make.

And guess what?

This same marker combination can be used on several of Marcella's clover-ish shamrocky floral images. Try it on Clover and Pansies, Wish You Luck, Asters Abuzz, or the magnificent Lumious Bouquet with its oversized Japanese Peony blossom and clover.

Green, pink, gink, or preen, it comes out a little different every time. I color with gink and preen a lot. When I'm working with a pink blossom, it's really hard to resist the ginky temptation.

Try it, you might be a ginky kind a person too.

Let's color Flowering Clover together!

I've got a special treat for you today. 

Head on over to my site at VanillaArts.com to download the FREE Flowering Clover recipe guide. I've included a few photos of the process plus a couple of tips to help you make the most of this odd blending combination.

Download the FREE Flowering Clover recipe guide here.

And if you're looking for an online class to really explore pink and green, you're in luck!

My Verdant Spring class uses a similar color palette on Power Poppy's Bowl of Beauty digital stamp. We layer green under pink and then green over pink with beautiful results.

All Vanilla Workshop classes are immediate access. Work at your own pace, color it as many times as you want with no expiration date. 

Have fun playing with gink and preen! 

And I'll meet you back here next month with another colorful swatch of Garden Dirt.

Inspire Me Monday - Thinking of Spring!

 

Hello, Power Poppy Fans! It is my turn again to bring you the Inspire Me Monday project. I continue to be plagued with migraines, exhaustion, and joint pain. I appreciate everyone who has prayed for me over the past months! It is so frustrating and debilitating! I have been trying to do EVERYTHING on my good days, which is not that...well that good for me! 

Now, what an uninspiring opening! However, I know that many of you are also battling "stuff" right now, and you can relate. I also know, like me, you are probably looking for that light at the end of the tunnel. For me that light is spring and Easter. I live where the weather is pretty fine all year round, but for those who live in snowy climates, you must be ready for SPRING!

To get that spring feeling, I pulled out a bunch of spring images and printed them in a large, coloring book page size. If you go to the Power Poppy Store, and do a search on "spring" you will see many amazing stamps pop up!

I pulled out some colored pencils and started to color and experiment. I tried this pencil brand on that paper. I tried this color combo of green, and then that other one. I played and flitted around like a butterfly! I spent a lot of time planning, which is my normal mode of operation. 

However, I really needed to just get to it! I knew that I may only have one good day out of three, and here I was fiddle-faddling around! Mercy sakes!

In the end, I settled on printing this image (Lilac and Lemons) onto kraft cardstock to color with colored pencils. This is as far as I got because, I continued to be bothered by the fact that this brand of pencils does not have color names! They each have a unique number, but no names! Because my brain cannot let go of something once I latch onto it, I decided to give each and every one of the 168 pencils in this set a name! Yes, I did! (If you are interested in such things, visit my personal blog on March 11th to see the end product.)

I had a few happy days researching colors and thinking up descriptive color names, and just having a creative party for myself! Which did not translate into a finished project in time for today's post, but it did give me a fun boost of creativity!

At this point in time, I have been allowing my creativity to go off on adventures. If I don't I am simply unable to create at all. But, although I did not actually MAKE anything I still wanted you to have something to look at. Here are a few of my past spring inspiration pieces!

I colored this project last month, over a few weeks time. The image is the Volumes of Beauty digital stamp. I colored this with only Crayola colored pencils! I was proving a point about coloring with inexpensive materials. I love how this turned out, even with budget products!

This is the Shimmering Flight digital stamp colored with Copics and glitter gel pen. I love the different textures on this project!

This bright "pop in the eye" project was also colored with Copics. The image is the Luminous Bouquet digital stamp. This panel is one of  a series that I colored a few years ago. I place these panels on my desk each month for a spot of color and inspiration! I highly recommend surrounding yourself with your own creative efforts! 

I hope that you get inspired to grab some spring images, some spring colors, and have a day of colorful play! Don't feel like you must have a finished project at the end of it. Just explore your creative spirit and see what happens! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Inspire Me Monday - Party Essentials

 

HELLO POWER POPPY FANS! I'm back today with another Inspire Me Monday post. Hope you are keeping safe and warm during this blast of cold winter weather. Please keep our friends in Texas and the surrounding area in your prayers as they recover from the record storm that swept the state. 

Let's take a look at today's project! With the cold weather, I was tempted to pull out my holiday stamps and get a head start on my end of year cards, but opted instead to take a look at some of the digital stamps appropriate for any time of the year. So today's project features the Party Essentials Digital Stamp Set, which includes three images and four celebratory sentiments. 

So here's my take on the pile of packages! I intended this as a birthday card, but with a change of colors the image also work for weddings, anniversaries or even Christmas!

If I had paid more attention, I would have remembered that Gloria also recently colored this image as part of her fabulous Inspire Me Monday post a few weeks ago. Be sure that you take a look at what she did! 

Want to know how I colored the image? Get comfy because I've got a coloring video for you! 

And here are the Copic markers that I used.

Thanks for joining me today! Full supply list for my card can be found on my blog. Be sure you check out my Power Poppy coloring videos on YouTube.

Stay safe and warm and keep on crafting!

Nancy

SUPPLIES

• Party Essentials Digital Stamp Set

Garden Dirt: Bleeding Hearts, a Swatch for Underpainting with Copic Marker

 

Let's color one more heart project!

I know Valentine's Day is technically over but honestly, I'd color heart shapes all year if students would let me.

Last month, I shared with you the Vital Rose digital stamp, colored with red Copic Markers and die-cut into a heart shape. This month, let's tackle hot pink and one of the sweetest species of flowers I've ever seen.

Hello, my name is Amy Shulke and I'm the illustrator and art instructor over at VanillaArts.com. Welcome to another article in my color swatch blending combination series here at Power Poppy-- The Garden Dirt.

Why dirt? I know it's not the most attractive name but that's what we do in realistic coloring. We take beautiful colors of Copic Marker and colored pencil and blend them together to make yucky, dirty colors. You can't grow flowers without a bit of dirt and you can't color realistic flowers without dirty color.

I've got a whole series of artistic coloring articles here at the Power Poppy blog. Here's a link to read more.

Bleeding Hearts are one of my favorite flowers!

Actually, at my house, we call them weeds.

My yard is tree covered and almost full shade everywhere; I can barely grow grass. For years, we had nothing but Hosta, random ferns, and scattered Lily of the Valley but then a little pinkish-greenish scrawny looking weed popped up, out of nowhere. 

If something's brave enough to try living in my near-night conditions, I'm certainly not going to tell it no, so I let the weird little guy grow a while. Eventually the stalk bent over and sprouted the cutest little heart shapes. 

BEST WEED EVER!!!!

When I found myself looking for something to color for this month's Dirt article, I thought of my beautiful little weeds and wondered if Marcella had ever drawn them.

I'm a digital stamp girl, so I isolated the Bleeding Hearts from the Spring Meadow Bouquet to share with you today. 

She also has a few Bleeding Hearts tucked into the Springtime Love Roundel stamp here. 

Today's swatch will work with either version.

Green under Red Violet makes a shady pink

Remember, realistic shady colors are not usually beauty contest winners.

Go ahead, look around you right now. Find something pretty on your desk or in the room beyond and really look at the color of the shady side. Surprised? The color of real shade is always a bit ugly. In art, we call shady colors "neutralized" or "desaturated". They're not the vibrant, gorgeous colors you see in traditional Copic Marker blending combinations.

Green sits opposite of magenta on the color wheel which makes the G marker family a natural choice to underpaint RV markers. I was shocked at how little green I needed to add murkiness to RV29. 

G02 was a bit strong, so I ended up using G00 but I really wish Copic made a G01.

In the Bleeding Hearts here, I added G00 where one heart overlaps another heart, where the stem inserts at the top, and down at the bottom where the heart cinches inward. Then I layered RV29, R35, and RV25 over the top of the green to complete the blend.

I printed my hearts large, the smallest heart is almost 1 inch wide. If you color a smaller version, you can skip the R35 in the blend.

Green under magenta sounds weird but it's what makes my Bleeding Hearts look rounded, layered, and pretty darned cute.

Let's color flowers together

I love coloring Power Poppy bouquets! Today's Bleeding Hearts project uses the same techniques I demonstrate in this class using Marcella's Bowl of Beauty stamp and in this class using Marcella's Daffodil Bouquet stamp. 

We use different blending combinations and colors in each class but we always underpaint for depth and dimension.

All Vanilla Workshop classes are immediate access. Work at your own pace, color it as many times as you want, with no expiration date. The techniques are great for any Power Poppy digital stamp.

Have fun experimenting with green under magenta and I'll meet you back here next month with another colorful bit of Garden Dirt.

Inspire Me Monday - Happy Birthday

Hello, Power Poppy Fans! It is my turn again to bring you the Inspire Me Monday project. I have to confess to this not being a brand new project, but it is the first time it has been seen here on the Power Poppy Blog! I have been struggling with some health issues again, and am a little behind in my coloring projects! I do hope that bringing this out of the vault will be excused!

Now for the project!

Since my birthday is in February, I decided to make a fun birthday card to showcase several Power Poppy images! The only thing missing from this scene is a new book...but perhaps there is a book in one of those pretty packages! This is my ideal birthday...cake, a warm drink, and a pile of gifts! Plus...chocolate AND strawberries...yes, please!

For this project I have combined three digital images: the cake and tea from the Tea Cake with Strawberries digital set (also available in a clear set called Tea in the Garden), the gifts from the Party Essentials digital set (also available as a clear set called Party Time), and the sentiment from the Layer Cake digital set. 

If you want more information on how to put a digital scene together, please see my Power Poppy post HERE. 

To get started with a scene, you first need to print your images to the size which fits your card front. (Or, stamp them if you are using clear stamps instead of digital images.) My finished card is 6" x 8", so I printed the image as slightly smaller at approximately 5" x 6".

A color tip: When you are coloring a busy scene like this one, try to plan out your colors ahead of time so that you don't end up with a hot mess of every color in your marker collection! I call it "avoiding the clown party"!

I started out with the red, because...strawberries are red! I chose to "spread the red" around my picture to give the whole scene a balanced look. I then colored the leaves green, but did NOT add more green to the image. I did not want this to stat to look like Christmas!

I knew I needed to color the slice of lemon in the tea cup yellow. That became my second color, which I sprinkled about the scene. I felt that aqua blue would look nice with both the red and the the yellow. To tone it all down, I used brown. Making the cake frosting and the cake stand brown, rests the eye. Creating three white items (the cake doily, the napkin, and the largest box), also helps give your eyes a bit of rest. 

I think the picture is bright, but not clownish. I admit to being a bit sorry about the large ribbon bows, but...once they were glued down, I decided to keep them! Plus, every birthday needs a few big bows!

Here is the list of Copic markers I used. I did NOT use any colored pencil this time.

Background, napkin, cake: E0000, E000, E00, E21, colorless blender
Doily, box: C3, C1, C00
Ribbon, boxes, lemon slice: Y08, Y06, Y02, Y11
Cake, cake stand: E79, E29, E27, E25, E23, E35, E33, E57, R83, R81
Leaves, stems: YG03, G43, G99, YG21, YG05, Y11, YG01
Cup, boxes: B04, B01, B000
Strawberries, boxes, cup, cake stand: R14, R27, R29, R89, YG21 (strawberries only)

I selected some matching paper from my vast stash of printed paper to create a finished card. I will use a padded mailer to mail this card to a special someone....or I will keep it on my desk to enjoy for the month of February!

Thanks for stopping by!

Inspire Me Monday: Your Biggest Fan!

 

GOOD MORNING POWER POPPY FANS! I'm back today with another Inspire Me Monday blog post. It's hard to believe that it's already the last week of January and we're coming up on yet another holiday. I don't usually send out Valentine's Day cards, but I do send out friendship cards. So I wanted to make something that gave a nod to the holiday, but was versatile enough to be used at other times of the year.

So let's take a look at today's project! I decided to feature one of the images from the Va-Va-Valentines Digital Stamp set. The set includes six illustrations and four sentiments so you're bound to find something to fit the occasion.

For my project I used the "biggest fan" illustration. I colored the image with Copic markers (see list below) and kept the card design relatively simple. 

Speaking of which -- I have a habit of coloring first and then looking for design paper to coordinate with my image. Why? For me, the fun is in the coloring so I always want to jump right in. But that also means that I spend a lot of time trying to coordinate paper after the fact. This time, I actually decided on the layout and the papers BEFORE coloring the image. And of course, it was much easier to pull the card together. Duh!

New to digital images? We've got you covered! Check out this DIGITAL TUTORIAL by Julie Koerber with creative tips for working with our digital images as well as this step-by-step tutorial by the Bloom Brigade’s Allison Cope for working with digital images using GIMP, a free downloadable photo-editing program. And I have a YouTube video showing show I use Microsoft Word to print out digital images. 

If you missed any of the previous Inspire Me Monday posts, just click HERE to scroll through all the fabulous projects and.... get ready to be inspired! Thanks for stopping by!

Nancy

SUPPLIES

• Va-Va-Valentines Digital Stamp set
• COPICS: R14, R24, R46 (fan blades & letters); BG01, BG05, BG07 (fan base); R20, R22 (hearts)