Inspired by LOVE!

In honor of the holiday that celebrates romance, I decided to dig into Marcella's photo reel to pick an image that honors that special kind of love as well! Wait until you see the icy and sweet....

Here's a little bit of the back story on this little piece of color inspiration. If you remember back to the fall, Marcella married the love of her life, Doug. What an event it was! Marce created a whimsical woodland wedding that just paid homage to their different loves as a couple. Can you imagine beautiful greenery (Marcy's love) intermixed with Doug's love of all things motorcycles! This photo showcases the sparkle-daubed bridal headpiece handmade by one of Marcella's friends who is a milliner. It has clusters of bling and vintage leaves with a splash of silvery sage! Here's a peek at your color cues for this week! (HERE'S a darling picture of Marcy actually wearing this beauty!)

Aren't those colors just delish together? I love not only the photo with that glint of mettalic (which you can use instead of the light grey), but the super vintage colors like that dusty rose and sage!

HOW TO PLAY ALONG WITH US: To play along with us is simple -- use these three colors to spark a bit of creativity in your crafting space and then, when you're done, link up your creation using our linky below! It's just that easy peeps! 

Want to see how I put these colors for a test drive?

When I picked this color combo, the image that first popped into my head was the digital stamp set Hellebores.  I knew these delicate flowers come in shades of pink and I have always loved the flouncy look of this illustration. So, off I went, printing, coloring and matting it up! I should mention that the sentiment is from the set Nice Things to Say! I ended up stamping it with Versamark and then embossing with a detail silver embossing powder. After printing off my image. I grabbed my Copic markers and used these to color the image from top to bottom...

Here's a closeup for you! 

And that, my friends, is it! Now it's your turn to take these colors and put our own spin on them! After you're done, don't forget to link up your creation below and let us all see your take on this color combo challenge!

And remember.... if you would like to be a guest hostess and share the weekly Hues, all you need to do is play along with us. We grab all of our guests right from the weekly link lists! So get those fingers inky and let’s see how you put these Hues to good use! Until next week!

~Julie

An InLinkz Link-up

Backgrounds and Borders ~ Using Power Poppy images in unexpected ways

Hello Power Poppy friends!! Tosh here today to inspire you to use Power Poppy images in unexpected ways.  I have 4 projects to share with you, so make yourself comfortable and follow along.

My first includes a stamp from the Play Ball set that really got me thinking.  When I saw the baseball stitches stamp, I thought...why can't I just use one side of the stamp and make it look like a blanket stitch?  I was explaining to my dear friend Katie (who just happens to be a Power Poppy Bloomie) that I wanted to use the flowers in the heart vase from the Folk Heart set with the blanket stitch, and that I wanted it to look like a quilt panel.  She asked if I'd ever seen Redwork quilts.  Well, I hadn't, so I checked out Pinterest, and found some fabulous examples.  And yes...that was exactly the look I was going for.  Here are a couple of links to some beautiful Redwork quilts that I used for inspiration:  Rosalie Quinlan Designs, Rosalie Quinlan Designs 2

I started by diecutting a square and stamping only half of the "baseball stitches" onto the edges using Love Letter Memento Ink.  Doesn't that look just like a blanket stitch?  I got giddy after seeing how it turned out.

I then decided I wanted a scalloped border.  So I traced the square die onto cardstock, and stamped the small heart, from Power Poppy's Good Thinking Love Notes set, around the entire square, just leaving to two top "bumps" from the heart showing.

Don't they look awesome together?  I was so happy with how it turned out.  I added a few extras to really give it the "quilt panel" feel too:  I scored and burnished the Folk Heart image to make it pop.  I also burnished the whole back side of the panel to give it texture like it was fabric.

I then embossed the background to give the feel of quilt stitching, and actually sewed around some of the edges and panels.

Next up is my tulip card.  I had some fun creating a "shabby elegant" border using the tire treads from the Power Poppy Move The Soul set.  I started by stamping the tulips from the Dynamic Duos: Peonies and Tulips set with Tuxedo Black Memento ink onto X-Press It cardstock and coloring it with Copics.  I then embossed an oval shape around them using an oval die and a diecutting machine.  Then I took the tire treads and stamped them randomly around the oval using Versamark ink.  Lastly, I rubbed the Versamark pad over the edges to give a frame to the whole image and embossed it all with gold embossing powder.  I really love the "shabby elegance" that the tire treads gave the frame.

Now, you've probably seen many variations of this next card.  I just took 3 different sentiments from the Power Poppy Nice Things to Say stamp set, and stamped them onto a precut rectangle that I taped off the edges of, so I could maintain the border.  

After stamping the sentiments, I photocopied it onto black cardstock so I could Minc it with gold foil.  (For some background information on how I use the Minc Machine, click HERE.)  I love how clean and crisp it turned out.  To finish it off, I added a "So Happy For You" sentiment from the Dream Wedding set, as well as a couple of gold cardsock punched flowers.

Below is a look at how I taped off and stamped the panel before Stamping it.

And finally, my last card.  This one was just plain fun!!  I took the "smoke" image from the Power Poppy Move the Soul set and randomly stamped it with three different Ranger Distress Ink colors:  Peacock Feathers, Twisted Citron and Squeezed Lemonade.  After I had my background, I splattered some diluted black acrylic paint over it and stamped the "hello" sentiment from Power Poppy's Big Scripts set.  Aren't those "splotches" fun?!?!?

Whew...right!?!?!  That is finally it.  I had some fun using these stamps in unique ways, and I hope I've inspired you to look at some of your images in different ways!

Thanks for sticking with this long post!

   Happy Stamping!!

Inspire Me Monday: One Panel, Six Cards!

Howdy all! Welcome to Inspire Me Monday here at Power Poppy! I’m Allison Cope and I’m your hostess this week.

This week I’m going to talk a little bit about making multiple cards using one panel of creative awesomeness. PLUS — Power Poppy is offering a special offer on all of the stamp sets I’ve used today. Read through to the end for details...

Typically I am the type of card maker that makes one card at time.  Each one is individual and different and traditionally has not connection to the next card I make.  Today I challenged myself to create one single panel and then create multiple cards using that panel.

So here it goes…

To begin, I first chose some single blossoms and foliage from the the Simply Camellias and Glistening Paperwhites stamp sets. Who says you can't use Christmas stamps in February?!?!  I knew I wanted to create a watercolored back ground piece so I grabbed some Arches 140lb Cold Press Water Color paper and some fun ZIG Real Brush Clean Color Markers to use.

First I embossed the blossoms and branches all over the water color paper (4 1/2” x 11”) using Versamark ink, white detail embossing powder and my heat tool. I used my anti-static powder to wipe the entire panel down before I began this process as to inhibit any stray pieces of embossing powder from sticking where I didn’t want them.

Once all the heat embossing was done, I used my pink and purple shades of my ZIG Clean Color Markers and coloured the entire surface of the water color paper.  I used my water brush to blend and push the color around the surface.

ZIG Markers: English Lavender, Lilac, Light Violet, Violet, Light Pink, Pink

Next I took some Picked Raspberry, Dusty Concord, Seedless Preserves and Black Soot Distress inks and blended them at random over top of the entire panel leaving some open areas of color showing through.

Once the panel was dry, I mixed up a small amount of white acrylic paint and water and I used an old toothbrush and added some mini splatters all over the panel.  Too get really small splatters, I ran my thumb nail through the toothbrush right over top of the paper.

Next I chose some fun colours of cardstock that would coordinate with the colours of my water color panel.  I chose some fun Razzle Berry, Grapesicle and Grape Jelly cardstock from MFT.

Then I cut my long panel down into 3 main pieces;
Two panels of 4 1/2” x 4 1/4” and the remaining panel measured 2 1/2” x 4 1/4”.

I cut one large panel with a circle die cut from the middle.
The second large panel I cut using a V-shaped scalloped edge die about two-thirds down from the top.
And the small panel, I die cut a partial heart shape from.

And here what I did with all 6 pieces…
With the large, almost square panel, I added some stitching, a hot pink mat and lots of fun scalloped vellum circles plus a popped up white greeting from the “Nice Things to Say” stamp set.  I even have a little bit of fun hot pink string peeking out!

Next I took the scalloped panel, wrapped it with pink string, popped it up on a white card base and added a pink sentiment.

Then I took the bottom of the scalloped panel, adhered to the bottom of a card base and created a white panel using the same die cut for the top with a simple greeting.

Then I took the heart negative panel, matted it with purple cardstock and die cut a white heart to fit the space with an added simple sentiment.  I added the whole thing on an embossed card base for some added texture.

With the heart die cut water color piece, I created a whimsical word panel with grey, black and hot pink inks.  I added a few pink hearts and sequins and added it to a white card base.

And finally, I die cut a light purple cardstock panel and die cut and inlaid multiple sizes of stitched circles, popping the water colored circle into the center with a simple greeting at the bottom.

Voila… six simple cards using one panel and minimal supplies! 

I hope you get a chance to give this technique a try.  Try a rainbow of different colors for your panel and have a ball seeing how many cards you can create using just one piece of inspiration!

• • • SPECIAL STAMP DEAL • • • 

Pick up any of the clear stamp sets used in today’s tutorial for 20% off! Offer lasts through Friday at midnight central time. 

Click here to shop the offer!

Happy creating everyone!!

~ Allison Cope ~


All the cards created used the same supplies:
stamps:  Power Poppy (Simply Camellias, Glistening Paperwhites, Nice Things to Say)
cardstock:  Arches (140lb Cold Press Watercolor Paper), Recollections (110lb White, Black), My Favorite Things (Razzle Berry, Grapesicle, Grape Jelly, Vellum)
inks: Versamark (Tsukineko), Memento (London Fog), Versafine (Black Onyx), Ranger Distress (Picked Raspberry, Dusty Concord, Seedless Preserves, Black Soot), Catherine Pooler Designs (Party Dress), ZIG (Clean Color Real Brush Markers)
dies: My Favorite Things (Stitched Circles, Stitched Scalloped Basic Edges), Spellbinders (Scalloped Circles), Simon Says Stamp (Small Heart Doily)
embossing folder: Provo Craft (Cuttlebug – Hugs & Kisses)
embossing powder: Stampendous! (White Detail)
sequins: Multi-Craft Imports (Princess, Rouge)
corner rounder: EK Success
paint: Delta (White Acrylic) 
other: pink thread.

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

Inspire Me Monday: Creating Fun Backgrounds

Howdy all!  Happy Monday!  Welcome to Inspire Me Monday!  I'm Allison Cope your hostess this week.

This week I was inspired by a re-occurring dream I've been having about a linear repeating pattern.  Yes... I dream about creating!  Do you??? So I decided to use my dream as inspiration to create some fun backgrounds on my cards today.

So here are my finished cards using our lined pattern and our gorgeous new stamp set, "Soothing Sympathy" stamp set...

So in the end, I didn't like how small the original stamped greeting was so I cut it off in a funky matter and created a shaker card using the remaining part of the circle.  I stamped my new greeting from the "Nice Things To Say" stamp collection inside the shaker aspect instead. I added all kinds of sequins and fun silver microbeads to match the colour scheme of the card inside.

As I had indicated in the video, I cut the larger panel I had created using Ranger Distress Inks down to a piece that I was happy with.  I didn't want to take away too much from the funky panel so I only added a simple gold embossed, yet large greeting form the "Big Scripts" stamp set to the front plus a few turquoise sequins.

For my final card, I kept it extremely simple.  I die cut some cute little hearts from the light purple cardstock background, added some violet sequins and added my focal panel with dimensional adhesive.  Voila!

I hope I've inspired you today go and create some fun background pieces.  Grab some fun, bright colours and a thin pen and have a ball!  Thanks for stopping by!

~ Allison Cope ~


Supplies:

Enjoy Your Big Day
stamps:  Power Poppy (Soothing Sympathy, Nice Things To Say)
cardstock:  Copic (XPress-It), Recollections (110# White), Vellum
inks:  Memento (Tuxedo Black), Copic Markers (B01, T3, V000, YG11), Copic Multi-Liner 0.25
dies:  Spellbinders (Classic Circles, Scalloped Circles)
sequins: Pretty Pink Posh (Share Kindness Mix), Little Things from Lucy's Cards (Bright White), CraftMedley  
microbeads:  Recollections

Thanks
stamps:  Power Poppy (Soothing Sympathy, Big Scripts)
cardstock:  Strathmore (Watercolor Paper), Recollections (110# White)
inks:  Versafine (Black Onyx), Versamark Ink, Ranger Distress (Lucky Clover, Peacock Feathers, Bundled Sage, Milled Lavender, Tattered Rose)


sequins: CraftMedley
other:  gold detail embossing powder 

Warm Hugs
stamps:  Power Poppy (Soothing Sympathy, Nice Things To Say)
cardstock:  Strathmore (Watercolor Paper), Recollections (110# White), Flourishes 
inks:  Versafine (Black Onyx), Brusho (Crimson, Violet), Copic Multi-Liner 0.25
dies:  Pretty Pink Posh (Scallop Frames), My Favorite Things (Vertical Hearts)
sequins: CraftMedley 

Inspire Me Monday: Inspired by Rainbows!

Howdy Power Poppy lovers!  It's Allison Cope here today for Inspire Me Monday!

Today I'm going to share some simple and fun cards, all inspired by RAINBOWS! As you probably already know, rainbows are super trending in the crafty world right now so I thought I would make a few to share with you this fun trend!

Come and join me at my crafting desk today for some bold & colorful fun...

Watch in HD here.

Here's another close up of all four of my rainbow inspired cards... more simple to more detailed...

Featuring Big Scripts and Small But Mighty Affirmations.   

Featuring Party Time and Nice Things to Say.  

Featuring Wish You Luck (digital) and Nice Things to Say. 

Featuring Simply Camellias.

A complete list of supplies for each card can be found on my blog.

I hope I've inspired you today to grab some of your favorite coloring mediums and have a ball using LOTS of cool colors!  Happy creating everyone!

~ Allison Cope ~