Inspire Me Monday: Experimenting with Color!

Hello Friends, My name is Kathy Racoosin from The Daily Marker. I am in the middle of a 30-day coloring challenge and for me it's Day 18! If you are curious what the 30 Day coloring challenge is or if you have been watching from the sidelines, now is a good time to jump in and get your feet wet. You can read about The 30 Day Coloring Challenge HERE.

For me the challenge is time to experiment with my coloring and not only try different mediums but, to go out of my comfort zone. One of the great things about the challenge is to bring back the love of coloring and not have that pressure to finish a card. Many times during the course of the challenge, I might color a partial image. My mantra is to find some you time for 10 minutes a day.

With that said, I really went out of my comfort zone for today's post and thought I would share my process with your today.

These are the different phases of this painting! I completed the first one all the way on the left and then my twin sissy came over. I was going to coach her how to make bone broth and my spicy chicken vegetable soup. (I will have a photo recipe at the end)

So while I was instructing her, I started on the second clip in the photo. When I was "finished," she would have this weird expression lol so I would keep on adding color.

I began by stamping this beautiful illustration from Marcella in the Amaryllis Bliss Stamp Set.

After a little masking and another little bit of stamping, I was ready for paint.

Usually, I like to paint a blue background but I wanted to try something different. So, grey was my choice. I used a super thin multi-liner to darken the nooks and crannies. I also outlined the stamen so I wouldn't lose them once I started painting since the ink color is fairly light. 

I thought it would be fun to add some shading before I started adding the color.

Leaving white areas was an effort and purposeful on my part.

This is where the problems began. I should have used different colors on the flowers. Since I got the nose snub from my sissy, I kept on adding color. LOL!

I added an overlay of blue and purple and softened some of the white areas. Should I have stopped sooner? 

Something was still missing for me. Once the added black on top of the grey in the background, the colors popped more and I liked it better. My sister didn't like the background and my husband said maybe it's to much color haha!

The moral of the story is, I did enjoy the process until I added the 4th layer of color. By that time, I was in deep and invested a lot of time but, all in all, it was a great learning experience.

My favorite bloom is the one on the far right with the turquoise and the brown showing through. I would love to hear your honest opinion. Should I have stopped after the second layer? Would you ever consider adding grey or black to the background?

Thanks for letting me share and I hope you enjoy what you are coloring! Now, as promised, my recipe for Chicken Vegetable Soup! Enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you join me in the final stretch of the 30 Day Coloring Challenge!

Hugs, 
Kathy 

Weekend Stamp Steal + Bloom Brigade

Well hello there Power Poppy fans, feel like you need a little spring zing in your life these days? Well, get this. We have a splash of spring that is not only beautiful to share... IT'S ON SALE! It's time to take a trip to the Power Poppy Shop for another Weekend Stamp Steal. Check it out sweet peeps...

Shop now through Monday at midnight central, you can nab a few of the blossoms that seem to sprout through winter’s thaw.

Weekend Stamp Steal — going on now

Bloomin’ Wonderful clear stamp set

A light and lively springtime stamp set featuring soft Pussy Willow and snowdrops, Crocus flowers and Forsythia branches. With plenty of sentiments designed with a vintage postcard style to serve all of your early spring celebrations, or help say thanks for being so bloomin’ wonderful! (or for being so very kind, OR for simply being awesome.) A wreath with a mossy cradle holding a nest of birds’ eggs is large enough to fit the sentiments. 

If it’s a digi you prefer, we have a versatile bouquet that you can dig into — and download in an instant.

Winter Pick-Me-Up digital download

Imagine poking around a chilly pasture, gathering plump stems of snowdrops, crocuses with their grasslike foliage, all intertwined with the puffy catkins of pussy willow branches. If the thought of this alone isn’t a “pick-me-up” in the middle of winter, I don't know what is! Well, maybe I do ... coloring in this image and giving the card to a friend.

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For inspiration, here are a few of our Bloom Brigade favorites using these images for beautiful, soothing cards...

Shop the WEEKEND STAMP STEAL now and save up to $5 on these classic images.

Since it's Friday, that means that some of the Bloomies are on hand to share some of what they've been working on this week. There are some MIND-BLOWERS in this list! Put on your seat belt...

Allison Cope

Christine Okken

Cindy Lawrence

Stacy Morgan

Tosha Leyendekker

Loved seeing you here today for our Stamp Steal and Bloomie round-up. Be sure to come back and see us soon.

~Julie 

Creative Confetti: Just Take 10!

Hello Sweet Peeps! Do you ever just crave that time to create but realize there's just one problem? Yes, you don't have the time! Believe me, I can relate! So, this week for our Creative Confetti Challenge, I decided to keep the challenge on the simple side by focusing on.... simple creations! Check it out!

HOW TO PLAY: Take 10! That's right, try to create a card in ten minutes! Now, if it takes a little longer, no worries, no one is going to re-create your card and time the process. The goal is to choose a clean and classy design that takes a fraction of the time that you would normally spend creating. It's a great way to get that quick card making fix!

For our inspiration today, I chose a few cards that the oh-so-talented Tosha Leyendekker created recently. I was so taken by both cards because even though they are on the simple side, they are ANYTHING but boring. I love how balanced both are and how Tosh added little fun accents to give this otherwise simple creation some texture and pop!

This first creation uses a sentiment from Power Poppy's stamp set Good Thinking: Love Notes. I love how Tosh used two different inks to make that sentiment a focal point. Add in some stitched dies and an embossed background and this is one fun masculine card that isn't heavy on the time commitment.

I absolutely adore this creation above which uses some fun dies and a splash of sequins to make this creation sing! And, once again, Tosh made the sentiment the centerpiece of this beauty! The sentiment is from Grandma's Snowflakes. What's fun is the fact that Tosh inked up only a portion of the sentiment to make a holiday sentiment work for Valentine's Day. Brilliant! 

A special thanks to Tosh for creating such beautiful pieces of inspiration! So, will you set the timer and take us up on this little Take 10 Challenge? I sincerely hope so because we could all use some inspiration for those beautiful, quick and classy creations! Once you're done creating, don't forget to link up your card using the linky below so that we can see your handiwork and, at that point, you'll also be in the running for a $25 gift code to the Power Poppy Shop too! So, as I love to say, get inspired then get those fingers inky!

Until next time!

~Julie 
Creative Confetti Thrower

An InLinkz Link-up

Inspire Me Monday: Faux Stained Glass & Starry Bloom

Howdy all!  Happy Monday and welcome to another fun edition of Inspire Me Monday!  I’m Allison Cope your hostess for today!

Today I’m going to be sharing how I created a fun faux stained glass card.  Some of the supplies you’re going to need for this project include:

• heavier weight cardstock
• acetate or “clear paper”
• anti-static powder tool
• embossing powder
• a window/frame type die
• no-line ink color
• and some fun coloring mediums!

Today I decided to create with our fabulous “Poppy XL” stamp set.  This stamp set includes 4 large Poppy parts to build a bouquet of your liking.  It also includes 3 special sentiments.

So grab a cuppa of something warm and join me in my craftroom!

Click to view in HD.

Here’s a quick look at all the cool aspects of the card…

Here’s the inside panel with the starry bloom.

And finally a close up of the starry bloom one more time…

For those who love to know what colors I used, here's a chart for you...

Thanks for joining me today!  I hope I’ve inspired you to create today! Have a great week everyone!

~ Ally ~


stamps: Power Poppy (Poppy XL)
cardstock:  Recollections (White & Black 110#), My Favorite Things (Vellum), Staples (Acetate), Tim Holtz Ideology (Metallics 2)
dies: Catherine Pooler Designs (Lattice Frame), Honey Bee Stamps (Hugs Honey Cut)
inks: Ink on 3 (Fade Out), Copic Markers, Polychromos Pencils
stencil: Catherine Pooler Designs (Twisted Sunburst)
embossing powder: Stampendous! (Detail Copper)
paint: DecoArt (White Acrylic)
tool: Copic Air Brush System

New Digital Download: Vital Rose

And sometimes.... the 10th. I guess as long as the date is divisible by 5, we’re okay. Regardless, here comes a beautiful rose illustration, rejuvenated, full of life, and vital to your collection of florals. It’s a digital download, so you can grab it whenever you’re ready to get coloring...

This rose is a beaut. It’s lush and open, with lots of room for your brush or marker tips. In the image I colored above, I started with generous washes of Daniel Smith watercolor. After that dried, I went in with Prismacolor Premier colored pencils, and then followed up with more watercolor and touches of opaque Winsor & Newton gouache.

Vital Rose includes a second version with the hand-lettered snippet of a poem. Here’s a peek at Instant Gardener Nancy Sheads’ beautiful Copic creation with the alternate version of Vital Rose...

Isn’t that fun? Go see the full image right here on Nancy’s blog, HERE, and check out the cheeky quote (written in 1815, but still made me laugh.)

Vital Rose is perfect for Valentine’s Day, but just like live roses, it holds up the rest of the year, too. That’s one of the reasons I named this set Vital Rose — it’s vital to have a really great rose in your collection, and a great image to practice on.

This morning while readying the card I made for a little photo shoot, I had the most wonderful production assistant. Tibbs thinks Vital Rose is indeed, vital. That Corgi is always in my corner.

Psssssst... a very special class is coming up on Friday, February 15 with Amy at Vanilla Arts. As a matter of fact, she is the one who inspired Vital Rose. If you take her coloring class, you will get a discount on this image, how about that? 

Learn more about Amy’s newest class right HERE.

We’ll see you on Monday with a brand new Inspire Me Monday with Allison Cope. Be prepared to go into a full and complete swoon, folks.

Good Vibe Friday with the Bloom Brigade

Hello, my dear Peeps. 

I have been so preoccupied drawing, editing, and getting organized this week, I got a bit behind on collecting my Good Vibes to share for the week. Instead I want to share what else has been on mind, or shall I say, who else has been on my mind. Wednesday was the 3-year anniversary of my sweet and amazing mama passing away. I posted about this on Instagram and on my personal Facebook account, but wanted to share it here, as well. She is, after all, a major force behind why I felt that I could launch Power Poppy in the first place, with a mission of sharing beautiful, whimsical images, but also offering nourishment for our souls with uplifting messages to our creative crafting community. 

Mom’s cancer returned the year after I started Power Poppy, and she died the following year. I have often reflected on the irony of starting this business. I thought Power Poppy would allow me to inspire others — but what ended up happening was that I have been surrounded by, enveloped in, and inspired by the love and support and prayers of others. Did God want me to start this business because he knew that I would need this great community of people to help me through, to give me inspiration to move forward in gratitude and grace, and to prevent me from rolling up into a ball of grief? I think maybe so.

Marcella, baby Lulu, and my mom, Susan, in 2003

Though to me it still seems like yesterday, it has been three years since my mom eased on down the road, into eternity, one with the universe. Now she’s sprinkling her love and wisdom and laughter and passion and quirky brilliance over us all. Try to catch some of it if you can. She lived life on her own terms, unapologetically, joyfully.

I hope she is in a state of pure bliss, surrounded by a Motown horn section dancing like an Ike-ette in her Laboutins. Or maybe she’s sipping a Pimm’s Cup, pouring over celestial daffodil catalogs featuring otherworldly cultivars. She surely is sporting a knowing grin at the current wallpaper decorating craze, as we hardly had a room without wallpaper in my lifetime and she could have been the international spokesperson for Brunschwig et Fils. Gosh, I miss her.

Nobody was like Susan Heard Smith.

Gonna keep trying to tune in to her sprinklings. I know her spirit is near me and I desperately need her decorating advice, and a really big hug.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

So, my friends, let’s keep moving and grooving, in the spirit of my best friend, confidante, supportive superstar, and mother-in-chief, and celebrate the gifts of a new day. Let’s color, let’s make cards, let’s send cards, and let’s lift up one another.  

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

I’m thrilled, awed, and humbled to get to share the work of these incredibly talented and wonderful women, our Bloom Brigade. These cards are going to knock your socks off, and get you in the mood to make!

Allison Cope
Christine Okken
Katie Sims
Cindy Lawrence
Tosha Leyendekker
Stacy Morgan

Happiest weekend to everyone — and please come back by on Sunday, February 10th, I am releasing a new digital design that is simple and easy to color — I know, I know, that is hard to believe. But miracles do happen!

All my love, 

Creative Confetti: All You Need Is LOVE!

Hello Sweet Peeps! Today, as we throw up the Creative Confetti to inspire a new batch of artsy endeavors, we are honing in on an upcoming holiday that's designed to share the love! That's what we do as card makers, right? So, this little challenge should be a piece of cake! Or, maybe a box of truffles....  ;-)

With Valentine's Day just 9 days away, do you need a little nudge to dig deep into your stamp stash to pull out those love-inspired images? Or, do you need to be enabled to hit up the Power Poppy Shop for some "love"-ly illustrations? Check out all the LOVE stamps HERE! Some are digis, which means that you get some instant gratification with that purchase! And if you want to narrow it down to Valentine's Day, just click HERE! 

On to my creation! 

If this little number looks familiar, it's because this project took center stage yesterday for Inspire Me Monday! You can click HERE to see the full tutorial on how to make this little Valentine's Day Box. It is a super easy project and you can whip it up in no time. It's the perfect size for a few pieces of chocolate -- just enough to let those you love know that you are "sweet"on them! ;-) I used the Va-Va-Valentines Digital Stamp Set, which just so happens to be on sale right now. Six images and four sentiments for just $7.99! I love this set because you can create a half dozen different little Valentines in one fell swoop! I plan to make two more of these little boxes so that I can give one to my hubby, my son and my daughter too! 💗

Because we have a new month, we have a new linky below AND, we have a chance to pull a winner from the virtual hat for a $25 gift code to the Power Poppy Shop! So, let's get right to it! Random.org says the winner is......

which means our lucky stamper is....

***AMY MARSHALL***

Amy, feel free to contact us at bloom@powerpoppy.com and we will get your winning code sent your way! 

Before we go, want to see the cute creation Amy whipped up for one of our Creative Confetti Challenges? Check it out!

Amy played along with our sketch challenge HERE last week and I absolutely adore her card, which uses Power Poppy's Cozy Cupfuls stamp set!  I just love the distressed feel of this little cheerful card and you know I love the splash of sparkle that she added! Well done, Amy! Well done! 

So, what will you make for our "All You Need Is LOVE" Challenge this week? I can't wait to see... and be inspired! Once you're done creating, don't forget to link up your card using the linky below so that we can see your handiwork and, at that point, you'll also be in the running for a $25 gift code to the Power Poppy Shop too! So, as I love to say, get inspired then get those fingers inky!

Until next time!

~Julie 
Creative Confetti Thrower

An InLinkz Link-up