Friday, February 24, 2017

Denim Birthday



Hi Friends, I’ve been in bed all week with the respiratory flu....so I’m going to keep this really short and sweet.  I’ve got one more card for our Power & Spark Challenge this month, Say Yes to No Lines. I’ve used the very sweet set Short Stacks, stamping it with a light Desert Sand Memento Ink, then colouring it up with Copics in the no-line style.  



To give the image a little more definition, I added some white sharpie to the polka dots on the tea pot and then the stitches on the ribbon, and the sentiment on the package tag.  Because you’re doing a no-line style it gives just the right touch of pop.   I added the sentiment from Nice Things to Say overtop with some nice navy ink on the kraft and then then white dots to connect the sentiments and frame it up.  A couple of wood veneer hearts and some baker’s twine finish it off.  

Sorry....I didn’t photograph the Copics gang....B91 - B97’s  for the navy, R20 - 29’s for the red and E31  - 35’s for the kraft packaging I believe.  

Here’s the rest of the Bloom Brigade playing along today....


Allison Cope
Christine Okken (you are here)
Cindy Lawrence

Katie Sims
Stacy Morgan
Tosha Leyendekker


You have a few more days to join us in the No-Line Challenge and you could win a Power Poppy set of your choice!


Monday, February 20, 2017

Hello Floral Garden



We’re starting a new challenge this week at The Cat’s Pajamas called Word Up!  It’s a chance to make words the center piece of your design.  TCP’s got some great word dies that will work and it makes for fun, and easy graphic cards.  



I started with TCP’s set, Sketchy Flowers and some pretty spring colours, inking up the flowers in a random pattern on the cardstock.  On a separate piece of cardstock I also stamped some of the flowers and then cut the word die Hello There, from that cardstock.  I also cut another of the word combinations from some foam so that it would have some thickness and dimension.   Then it was just easy peasy putting it all together. 



To make the top of the design a little more interesting I added a wavy border and then some stitched ribbon, and some sequins.  

You have two weeks to join us in the Word Up Challenge and you could win Cat’s Cash to use the the TCP Store!

Here’s the rest of The Cat Pack playing along today...

Brenda Nakandakari
Christine Okken (you are here)
Deborah Anton
Wendy McGaffey
and Alma at the TCP Blog!

Friday, February 17, 2017

Tomato Primroses




A few weeks ago I was cleaning out a corner where I had stamping supplies and found some old editions of CardMaker Magazine.  CardMaker has been really good to me and has published a lot of my designs over the years, but I only wanted to keep some selected copies, so as I perused through them I ended up finding a really fun layout and colour combination from a card created in 2011.  That card used printed die-cut images and patterned paper to design a card very much like what I was inspired to create today.  I wanted to see if I could re-create it with stamping and colouring, so it was a fun challenge to pull together. 

I pulled out Power Poppy’s beauty of a set, Potted Primroses because it’s so perfect for the spring season on it’s way! I’ve already seen little pots of primroses in the grocery store.  I love them because they come in such a variety of colours.  Today’s colours reminded me of tomatoes somehow!  

Done in the no-line style to go with our Power and Spark Challenge this month, coloured up with Copics.  


I stamped elements from the set on all the background layers and added a little scalloped eyelet punched border, some twine, faux stitching with my piercer and a white sharpie, and used the white sharpie to highlight the sentiment too.  


Here’s the Power Poppy Bloom Brigade playing along today....

Christine Okken (you are here)
Cindy Lawrence
Julie Koerber
Stacy Morgan



Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Scripture Series IV


Back for another pair of cards with Bible verses as the centerpiece.



This design uses Verve’s set Scripture Medley 2, and I think it its a verse of encouragment and challenge all rolled into one.  Faith has substance and is a future hope, and yet we don’t see it yet....so that’s the challenge!

I combined some lovely damask and dotted papers as well as accenting with MFT’s Stitched Mini Scallop Rectangle dies, Zig Zag Stitched Rectangles, and then the pretty bow is from The Cat’s Pajamas Easy Stitched Bow CutUps die.  



A few pretty pearls finish it off.  



Who doesn’t have days where fear creeps in and bullies us around?  This verse is such a good encouraging reminder of what to do.  

This next design uses a couple of sets, the verse is from Our Daily Bread Designs’ set, Scripture Series 1 and the background and accent flowers are stamped with Verve’s Dream Big (which I have on sale right now on my SALE PAGE if you’re interested).  I thougth the blossoms in the Verve set went well with these papers from Stampin’ Up from many years ago.  Including that stitched ribbon and the buttons too.  

A couple of the dies are from MFT,  Stitched Square Scalloped Frames, and Stitched Mini Scallop Circle,  and I believe the regular stitched circle die is from Simon Says Stamps


That’s it for today, thanks for stopping by and I’ll see you tomorrow with something HOT from Power Poppy!  




Monday, February 13, 2017

Love Mail



Happy Valentine’s Day!  Tonight I thought I’d drop in with a cute little love card to celebrate anyone who needs a little love in the mail, and to sneak in another card for TCP Tuesday’s Happy Mail Challenge.  



Here we’ve got some love mail in the box from TCP’s set Just Let it Happen.  I believe this little guy is named Yappy and he’s very excited for his Valentine cards.  He’s stamped on Copic XPress it Blending card stock, then trimmed out carefully, and popped up on a double circle made with TCP’s Framed Up 2 CutUps Die.  



To make it even more lovey-dovey I’ve added a heart border with TCP’s Heart Border CutUps die. Completed with a sentiment from the set, and a bit of twine to accent.  


Have you seen the TCP Sale News?  Alma is taking a romantic holiday and giving you 10% off!  





Come on and create with us at TCP, you have one more week to be entered into the Happy Mail Challenge!


Friday, February 10, 2017

Birthday Tulips


First off a bit of a commercial :)


I’ve just listed NEW stamp sets for sale on my SALE Page;  new sets listed are primarily Flourishes, There She Goes, Gina K, PaperTrey, MFT, The Cat’s Pajamas, Lawn Fawn, Verve.  I’ve also lowered prices on sets that I’ve had on sale for a while.  

PLUS I’ve added an assortment of embossing folders and Spellbinders dies. 

It’s a LONG list!  

All prices are in Canadian Dollars - which if you live in the US is to your benefit as $1 CDN is about 76 cents US, so your dollar will go further  :) 

Now for today’s creativity....



After a week of really cold temperatures, I’m ready for a little taste of spring today!  I pulled out the beautiful set from Power Poppy called Dynamic Duos:  Peonies and Tulips.  In keeping with our Power & Spark Challenge this month to do some no-line colouring, I stamped it in Toffee Crunch Memento Ink and coloured it up with lots of vibrant purple and green Copics.  

I’ve added simple touches to accent, buttons, a bit of ribbon, scallops and the pretty damask and polka-dotted patterned paper to set off the pretty purple colour of the tulips.  



A little close-up and the sentiment stamped in purple from the set as well. 




Jump on in for the No-Line colouring challenge!  You could win a Power Poppy set of your choice and it’s a great way to practise a new skill.  


Here’s the rest of the Bloom Brigade playing along today...

Save

Christine Okken (
you are here)
Cindy Lawrence

Julie Koerber
Stacy Morgan


Monday, February 6, 2017

Happy Mail




Welcome to another round of fun at The Cat’s Pajamas, with a Challenge called “Happy Mail”, perfect for a lot of TCP sets and Valentine’s coming up!  



I just love this sweet set from TCP called Sending You.  The images are so cute in it, and I thought this mail toting bunny would work perfectly for the challenge.  Stamped on XPress It Blending cardstock, then coloured up with Copics, then trimmed out.  

I stamped the circular stamp in the background of the red layer using white craft ink, then added some other postal themed elements including the TCP die, Square Stamp CutUps Die to frame up our favourite bunny, and some fun baker’s twine.    





So, please join us in the Happy Mail Challenge!  Here’s the details....


  1. Every other Tuesday a new challenge will be posted on The Cat’s Pajamas blog and our Facebook page.
  2. If you want to play along you just upload your design to The Cat’s Pajamas blog page using the InLinkz button by the Monday, 11:55 EDT before the next challenge.
  3. You are not required to use a Cat’s Pajamas stamp or die but if you have them we would love to see them.
  4. On the following TCP Tuesday, the winner will be chosen from the previous challenge and will receive a Cat Cash Voucher for $10 or $15 if a TCP product is used.

Here’s the rest of The Cat Pack playing along with inspiration today....

Brenda Nakandakari
Christine Okken (you are here)
Deborah Anton
Julie Elak
Wendy McGaffey
and Alma at the TCP Blog!

Friday, February 3, 2017

Red Roses



Today I am delighted to show off some elegant roses for our newest challenge at Power Poppy, called Say Yes to No Lines.  Cindy has given us a No-Line Colouring Challenge!  With Valentine’s Day coming soon, I thought I’d create a love-themed card, showcasing some beautiful no-line roses.


  

I stamped the roses from My English Rose set onto Copic XPress it Blending Cardstock using Toffee Crunch ink, so that once I started colouring, those lines would disappear due to the ink being much lighter in colour.  It takes patience, and a bit of a slower hand to get the accuracy with no-line colouring, but the results are so lovely and unique.  It ends up looking more like a straight illustration than a stamped image.  

I stamped both of the roses in the set to colour, one of which is attached to a “note”.  When I cut the roses out, I just elimated the note.  By doing that it looks more like a rose bush with smaller and larger roses, including some pretty buds.  

On the white background layer I used my Scor Bug and Scor Buddy to create the raised dotted lines to give you the feeling of a trellis for the roses to climb on.  




I embossed the word “love”in black onto the patterned paper, added a pretty leafy die cut from the same patterned paper as the strip and then some black sequins.  

Here’s the Copics I used below.  


Pop on over to be inspired by the rest of the Bloom Brigade playing along today...


Allison Cope
Christine Okken 
(you are here)
Cindy Lawrence

Katie Sims
Stacy Morgan


And then come join us in the month long challenge colouring without the lines!  You could win a Power Poppy set of your choice!