Monday, February 20, 2023

The Blossom Challenge: Inspired by the Sea and Magical Powders


Welcome cardmaking friends!  Today I’m kicking off a brand new theme for The Blossom Challenge at Power Poppy!  

This month it is an Inspiration Challenge based on a photo from my recent trip to Northern California for work.  At a local friend’s recommendation we took a day off to head to the coast, through the Sonoma Valley wine country to a spot called Bodega Beach.  Its a sweet little coastal town with miles of beaches along the coastline.  It was such a stunning surprise with the cliffs, bluffs and pounding surf, you’d think for sure you’re in Cornwall, England rather than the Cali coast.  There was one spot called Bodega Head where you are high on the bluffs looking down at the rugged coast where I took this picture above.  In the foreground you can see the vegetation with the pop of pink.  These plants are succulents called Sea Fig, and the flowers bloom lots of different colours.  Its invasive in California, so they’re trying to control it, but it sure made for a beautiful picture!  

I’ve created two cards with this inspiration:  First up, a design inspired by the colours and plants in the photo.  


It’s a mini-slimline design using Power Poppy’s Gerbera Daisies Stamp set to mimic the flowers of the Sea Fig, colouring them in vivid pinks with my Copic Markers.  They are fussy cut and placed on a layered background with a die cut that I think imitates the sea fig vegetation.  A very FUN new find for me is the Lindy’s Magical Powders that I picked up which bring all the colour to that die cut!  These powders are dye based and activated in water, and result in gorgeous vibrant saturated colour and shimmer.  I think they really give the feel of the succulent vegetation and the colours of the sea.  


Here’s a view that helps you see how shimmery and shiny they are, and what awesome colour you are left with.  I’m going to be using them a lot in my future!  I’m using watercolour paper because it holds the moisture you need to activate the powders.  


The pretty little sentiment is from Power Poppy’s sentiment set, Nice Things to Say (in stock in polymer).  


Now I have a card that is very ocean forward.  


For this design I really took inspiration from the layout and colours in the picture.  I started with the background and used the same Lindy’s Magical Powders on watercolour paper to create sky, sea and ground with different powder colours, activited them with water and let them dry fully.  then I ran the background through an embossing folder I have that has the feel of the vegetation.  Next I brayered watered down white acrylic paint over the embossing to give the feeling of foamy waves and bring some highlight to the dimension of the embossing.  


For this beautiful sentiment I used one of my favourite Power Poppy sentiments M-Powering Words , embossed it with a metallic embossing powder in teal, trimmed it out and placed it on teal glitter paper and a layer of vellum.  Then, I accented the card with pretty dies from The Greetery Curio Summer Findings

I hope this inspiration has taken you on a lovely journey to the sea!  Join us in The Blossom Challenge this month!  You could win a Gift Code for the Power Poppy store!

 

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