Saturday, December 31, 2016

2016 Favourites

Happy New Year Friends! 

As a fun memory of my favourite designs of 2016 I put together this little tour through my creative efforts this past year... each post is linked below if you’re interested in taking a closer look.  
























































Thanks for all your support over the last year in this creative journey!  Looking forward to new ventures in the year ahead!  


Friday, December 30, 2016

A Crate of Apples



One of my favourite shared pastimes with my Dad is enjoying the fruit that grows in each of our yards.  We were just talking about how good our apples were this year, so for my Dad’s Birthday today, I thought I’d create this card with this awesome set from Power Poppy called Farmer’s Market.  I think the crate of apples looks SO wonderful and homey!  

I stamped the image with Desert Sand Memento Ink and did some no-line colouring with Copic markers, and then a really basic layering of designer paper.  Not too much fuss or muss, because my Dad won’t notice it anyway!  I did distress the edges of the stitched circle die, so that the white would be a bit warmer to go with the designer paper, but in the photo it just looks a little dirty :)  haha!  Not the intent!



The sentiment is from another Power Poppy set, Short Stacks.  I did find a cute little wood veneer apple button and some twine to finish it off.  

Tonight we’re headed for supper together as a family to a place called “Meat”.  It’s all about Southern BBQ and it’s great food!  

Hope you’re enjoying these last few days of 2016.  

Be sure to pop by the rest of the Bloom Brigade playing along today...

SaveSave
Allison Cope
Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence

Julie Koerber

Next week we’ll have a brand new Power and Spark Challenge to kick off 2017!  

Friday, December 23, 2016

Hollyberry



Hello and Happy Christmas friends!  It’s been a while since I’ve been able to get to my creative side,  this is a really busy time of the year for us in ministry, but I didn’t want the season to pass without at least one more Christmas design and my blessings to each of you!

Today the Bloom Brigade has a little bit more inspiration for your Friday to show off.  

I put together a design that’s a combination of digital and stamping showcasing Power Poppy’s Hollyberry digi set and the polymer set Holly Go Lightly.  The nice thing about this hybrid type of design is it gives you lots of versatility.  

I’ll be honest and say, I’m not sure if I stamped the larger holly image or printed it digitally because I did up a bunch of images to take along on a trip a few weeks ago to the mountains.  After I got home and it was already coloured, I couldn’t tell if it was ink or printed!  I used Copics for the showcased holly and then trimmed it out with a little border.  

Next on the background layer I used the digital image of the holly, resized it quite a bit smaller and placed a bunch of them together to create some background paper.  I really wanted to print it in green ink, but my printer must be running out of ink and it really printed quite gray....so I grabbed my inktense pencils and did some really loose watercolouring of the holly so it would look quite faded, and almost vintage.  

Once it was dry, I took a stencil and some embossing paste and added it to the background, so it combined with the pattern and added texture.  



I popped a little “ornament” into the holly stamped and embossed with the Holly Go Lightly set, tucking it in the greenery.   A little twine and an enamel dot finish it off.  

Have any spare minutes for some last minute creating and gifting?  Be sure to add your Sweet Treat creation to the link up and you could be in the running for a Power Poppy set of your choice!  



Blessings to each of you this most special season!  

Here’s the Power Poppy crew playing along today....


Allison Cope
Christine Okken

Julie Koerber
Katie Sims
Stacy Morgan


Sunday, December 11, 2016

Persian Congratulations



Popping in today with a pretty design that’s definitely not in the Christmas theme.  A friend asked if I would create a congratulations card for a friend who was retiring at her workplace.  She requested flowers and blue.  I pulled out this gorgeous set from Altenew, Persian Motifs that has been sitting in my stamps-to-use pile for forever.  I’ve seen so many beautiful cards with this set, that I really wanted to try it out myself.  

I stamped the flowers in a soft gray ink and coloured the design up with Copics.  

A soft panel of vellum, some pretty sparkle over some Scor Tape and some square gems accent the design.  



The lovely “sending” word die is from The Cat’s Pajamas.  I die cut out one layer in blue and then a second layer in Crafter’s Foam to pop it up a little.  I really love this product because it works great for intricate designs.  One side of the foam is adhesive so you can die cut it out and place it perfectly behind your intricate die.  



Here’s the Copics I used.  

Hope you’re doing well out there....we’re in the midst of a 10 day freezing cold snap so we’re bundled up out here and grateful for a warm house!



Friday, December 2, 2016

Sweet Treats: Santa Jar



December is here!  And that means a new challenge at Power Poppy.  This month I get to be your hostess, and I wanted to give you a challenge that will make your gift giving easier.  I called it Sweet Treats.  As you think about those little gifts you give over the month, whether its a hostess gift,  Christmas baking, a teacher gift, or those fun work gift exchanges, you want to give a sweet treat from the heart.  That’s what this challenge is about.  Create something that’s a sweet treat for someone you love, whether its a decorated bag, a tag, a gift card holder....it’s all up to you!  

On Monday I did a whole post on the Power Poppy Blog for Inspire Me Monday with some other gift packaging ideas that might inspire you as well.  



Today I put together a fun little jar of red m & m’s in a mason jar.  There are so many ideas of what you can fill a mason jar with and I thought this one was pretty cute.  It just means getting some red and green m & m’s, separate out the green ones, and then fill a jar with them.  You could even use the green m & m’s for an elf themed jar.  All I did was get a silver ribbon buckle, some black satin ribbon and glued it in to make the jar look like Santa’s belly.  Perfect for your favourite chocolate lover.  

I added a santa themed tag done with the adorable Power Poppy Action Santa set.  



I thought I’d give you a better picture of the jar.  I added a felt circle to the top of the jar, some sparkly white ribbon around the jar lid and then adhered a sparkly styrafoam ball for his pom pom.  If I would have had some white yarn at home, I would have made a pom pom, but I just went with what I had on hand.  



Here a couple of views of the tag.  I used some embossing paste and a heart stencil to add some texture to the kraft card stock and then used a snowflake border (The Cat’s Pajamas) to the bottom of the tag.  A little felt bow finishes it off.  



A closer picture of the colouring on the tag.  I stamped the image in Memento Gray Flannel ink so it would have a bit of a softer look to it.  I added some glitter pen to the pom pom, Santa’s furry coat, the star and the snow.  

So, now I’ll hand you over to the Bloom Brigade with some more inspiration, and then it’s your turn. Join us in the Sweet Treat challenge and you could win a Power Poppy set of your choice!  


Allison Cope
Christine Okken (you are here
)
Cindy Lawrence
Julie Koerber
Kathy Jones
Stacy Morgan



Monday, November 28, 2016

Easy Creative Packaging





Hello Friends!  Today I’m showing off a few creative and easy packaging ideas for you over at the Power Poppy Blog, hope you can stop by and check them out!  

Friday, November 25, 2016

Seasonal Succulents




It’s officially one month from Christmas, and today is also my beloved’s birthday!  We’re celebrating at Power Poppy today as well, with a very exciting sale in the store, and introducing some brand new images that are so perfect for this season of celebration!  Marcy is introducing four new digital Christmas images with several variations in each image, so they are perfect for cards, tags and other Christmas and holiday projects.  You’re going to be wowed!  

I chose to work with this gorgeous succulent image, called Succulents and Baubles, formed into a lovely wreath, complete with a gorgeous bow, ribbon, and Christmas ornaments.  I printed the image in a soft teal ink, and then coloured it all up with Copics.  


I kept the card design quite simple, some pretty plaid paper, some scalloped edging, a pretty felt bow and then a few facted rhinestones to match.  Such a lovely elegance to this wreath!  




Here’s a quick peek at the new Holiday Digis that are being released today and news on the rest of the store that’s on sale!  You can choose one set for $5 (and get three different images of it), or get the whole she-bang....4 sets of 3 images each for $12.99 + get 30% off!  Code is BIGSALE.  

Both the Bloom Brigade and Instant Gardeners are joining in today with lots of fun inspiration....

Jennifer Dove 
Broni Holcombe 
Cheryl Scrivens 
Debbie Olson 
Nancy Sheads

Christine Okken  (you are here)
Cindy Lawrence 
Katie Sims 
Stacy Morgan 
Tosha Leyendekker

and Marcy at the Power Poppy Blog


Save

Monday, November 21, 2016

Dashing Through The Snow




Any dashing through the snow in your place in the world?  We’ve had a dusting this past week, which  makes it feel so much more wintery.  The farmer’s almanac says we’re in for a lot of snow this year, so we’ll have to see how that turns out!  But it’s in perfect timing for the challenge these next two weeks at The Cat’s Pajamas, Snow!  



I pulled out this fun Santa sleigh from our new set Penguin Joy, stamped it onto XPress it Blending cardstock and then coloured it up with Copic Markers.  I think our favourite little penguins look pretty cute flying in the sky to Santa’s next destination.  I trimmed them out, placed them on one of our Double Snowflakes CutUp and placed it all on a kraft layer stamped up with white snowflakes in white craft ink.  

I found some pretty red paper from Echo Park’s I Love Christmas pack and layerd that in the backgroudn along with some red grossgrain ribbon, twine a wood button and a layer of snowflake border with TCP’s Holiday Toppers CutUps dies.  



Here’s the Copics I used for colouring.  Aren’t these little guys fun?  



So, now you have a chance to create something with the snow theme in the next 2 weeks and enter at The Cat’s Pajamas .  You could win Cat’s Cash to spend in the TCP store!  






Sunday, November 20, 2016

Elephant Babies



Popping in with a sweet card for a new baby!  This was at the request of a friend who needed a baby congratulations card.  Just this morning we were talking about 3 new babies due or overdue in the coming week at Church.  Our nursery is bursting!  It is such fun to celebrate new little lives with people you care about!  

Our little elephant from MFT’s set Adorable Elephants, is stamped in a cool gray ink, and coloured up with Copic markers in a no-line look.  I added the 3 balloons in gones that matched this fun paper from Echo Park - It’s a Boy collection.  A touch of baker’s twine holds that little stack of ballons together.  



After sewing the layers together I added the stitched clouds from TCP, which add to the sweet floating in the sky theme.  



Here’s the inside with an old sentiment I had in my stash which worked perfectly!  



And here are the Copics I used.  

That’s it from me today!  I’ll be back tomorrow with something sweet and ‘seasonal’- especially in our northern climate!  



Friday, November 18, 2016

Jewel Toned Poinsettias



Bringing you some Christmas cheer again today with this gorgeous set from Power Poppy called Poinsettia.  I rarely used jewel tones together, but since we’re doing a Think Pink Challenge, I thought it would be fun to pull some pretty pink, purple, teal and green colours together.  

I stamped the image several times with a cool grey ink, and then coloured it all up with Inktense pencils and my water brush.  I used a thicker cardstock instead of watercolour paper, because for some reason I feel like it keeps more of its pigment on cardstock.  If you don’t use too much water, it still works great.  

After the layers were coloured I cut it out and layered it together using foam dots in-between.  



Here’s a closer look at the dimension between the layers.  I added some sparkly pieces in the pennants, some teal sequins, and teal piece of cardstock embossed with a pine embossing folder.  

So, now I’ll hand it off to the rest of the Bloom Brigade playing along today...

Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence

Julie Koerber
Stacy Morgan
Tosha Leyendekker



Come on and join us in the Think Pink Challenge and you could win a Power Poppy set of your choice!


Sunday, November 13, 2016

Yeti Spaghetti



First, a bit of a tangent.  Did your kids, or little people you knew ever watch the show The Backyardigans?  When my kids were little they did.  In the show colourful animated creatures would go on adventures, singing all the way through.  One of their adventures was to find a “Yeti”, and they kept rhyming yeti with other words, like spaghetti, if my memory serves me right.  When I was making this card the kids happened to be home and were reminded of that Yeti hunt, a sweet little memory!  

Alright...back to card making.  I purchased this sweet little set from MFT called Beast Friends, illustrated by Birdie Brown.  She is still one of my favourite illustrators for her sweet whimsical style.  I thought these adorable little creatures would work for a cute birthday card I made for one of my younger son’s friends birthday this last week.  

Stamped on XPress It Blending cardstock in a softer warm grey ink (Memento Gray Flannel), then coloured up with Copics and trimmed out.  



He’s just so cute!  I placed him in a little snow scene cut with a new TCP die, Hill and Dale CutUps, adding on the coloured trees.  I created the snow in the sky with white dots and on the trees with flicks of a white sharpie, and also gave his teeth some white polish with the white sharpie too.  Layered together with some stitched dies, a little fishtale pennant flag and some ribbon and twine and he’s complete!  The sentiment seemed fun for a 14 year old, while still remaining cute. 



Inside includes some of his footprints because those yetis are so hard to find!  



Here’s the Copics I used.  He was really fun and honestly really easy to colour.  

Thanks for dropping over today.  See you soon, and I hope you have a great week ahead.