You’re Zesty!

Hello!  I’ve got a cutie for today!  When I saw the inspiration prompt from Color Throwdown, I couldn’t get the citrus idea out of my head!  So, I pulled out my new products from Concord & 9th Citrus Bundle to create this cutie!  

I started with the background using the Turnaround Stamp with the color challenge selections, and layered some vellum overtop to soften the effect of the background.  

 

Next I stamped the sentiment in the three colours in an ombre style, softening the transitions with coloured pencil.  This color combo packs a great punch!  Then I made use of the smaller fruit dies in the set to create little oranges, lemons and grapefruit to accent the sentiment.  A bit of white gel pen gives some definition to the rind of the fruit, and the tiny segments of the fruit.  

Accents are just simple enamel dots on the fruit blossoms and a bit of twine to tie it all together.  So adorable!  

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You’re Zesty!

Apples for the Teacher with Power Poppy

Hello!  Today I’m bringing you a sweet apple for the teacher.  Another one of the Retirement cards I created for a friend who has colleagues retiring at her school.  And you can never go wrong bringing your teacher an apple right?  This design from Power Poppy is a digital image called Apples in Season.  And while you won’t likely find blossoms and full fruit in any season, it sure makes a gorgeous design for a card!  

My colouring is done with Copics, with a little touch of white gel pen on the stamens of the blossoms.  

 

The beautiful focal die is called Rounded and Braided Essentials from Pink Fresh Studios, and the wonderfully textured background is created with Concord & 9th’s Basket Weave Card Front Die.  It’s been so long since I’ve used this set, it was a delight to colour it up and bring it to life!   

Thanks for stopping by!  

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Apples for the Teacher with Power Poppy

Zesty Cards for TCP May!

Oh I’m just overflowing with joy to bring you the new cards for TCP’s May Release!  Seriously, there are SO many fun new digital sets that are so fun and full of delight, I’m going to have a hard time limiting myself this month!  Today, I have two fun designs for you that are both colourful and punny!  

We’ll kick it off with these wonderful lemons called Cute Citrus or Not.  What I love about this one is that it has cute kawaii style images with cute little faces - or you can go the route I went and use the fruit without the faces.  So, the lemon branch with blossoms is what I chose to work with.  I LOVE fruit images!  It has lots of vibrant lemony Copic colouring with some added pointillims dots to give you the texture of the fruit.  

After colouring, I trimmed the image out and placed it on a watercolour panel that I painted a pretty teal and green watercolour background.  it really makes the lemons pop!  

Then its a few enamel dots and a punny sentiment from another new set called Citrusly that is HILARIOUS in it’s punny sentiments.  

Next it’s a little more earthy...with these cuties called So Mushroom! 

For this mini-slimline design I printed the mushrooms stacked behind each other in a row so that I could  colour them with Copics and trim the out.  I placed the trio on a gold foiled woodgrain background to capture that cozy forest floor feeling.   

I added a retired TCP die grass border to anchor the image and really give you the feeling of dimension between the mushrooms.  The sentiment is a cute one for a husband, son or guy friend, and a woodgrain arrow accent accents it just right.  

 

Thanks for popping by, and I hope you had as much fun as I did checking out these new stamps!  Here’s a peek at the new sets below. 

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Zesty Cards for TCP May!

Cherry Happy Day!

 Whenever I see something with Cherries I’m transported to Summer and all the cherries that grow on our tree.  That red and green combo is such a fresh one for summer, so these adorable So Cherry stencils from Paper Trey Ink stole my heart!  They are so affordable too, always a bonus.  The stencil has two pieces, one with larger cherries, and this one with smaller cherries.  I ink blended the background in pops of traditional red and greens.  

The sweet sentiment comes from Concord & 9th’s A Bit of Paradise Bundle, I embossed the sentiment, then used the dies to frame it up over vellum, and a bit of red and white checkered patterned paper.  

Clean simple and so sweet!  

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Cherry Happy Day!

Cherry Blossoms from PTI

I think because we have a cherry tree in our backyard, I have such an affinity for all things cherry.  Those blossoms are always just gorgeous in the spring.  So, this new die set from PaperTrey Ink really spoke to me.  It’s called Into the Blooms:  Cherry Blossoms.  It’s so elegant and classy, and you can colour it up, cut it from cardstock, or add variation in colour using ink blending.  

For this design I paired it with the Psalm Reflections:  March Mini stamp set, stamping this beautiful verse from Psalms in Seedless Preserves Distress Oxide Ink, and the coordinating Joy die.  

Each of the blossoms is given colour with ink blending, and layered for a gorgeous multi-dimensional look.  The background is run through a quilted die, and I added a ombre background with Distress Inks as well.  

Spring is SO SLOW in coming to our part of the world.  I can’t wait to see these blossoms in real life!  Thanks for joining me today.  

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Cherry Blossoms from PTI

Cherry Whimsy with PTI

Hello and happy Monday!  I love starting a bright and shiny new week with something pretty and uplifting.  Today I’ve got a pretty one with new products from PaperTrey Ink.  When I saw these So Cherry Sweet Stencils, I knew I NEEDED them!  They have just the right touch of sweetness and whimsy, and they were fun to stencil in peachy shades.  After stenciling I ran the layer with a stitched coverplate die and then starting layring with pretty shades of peach and vellum.  

This beautiful Psalm sentiment is from PTI and its called Psalm Reflections March Mini, at just $4.50 US its a great buy!  I stamped the verse using Distress Oxide ink on the vellum and clear embossed it.  The shine and raised embossing looks really classy.  I also stencilled the peach layer behind the vellum for just a hint of the cherries.  

To accent I added some Spellbinders paper accent pieces and a couple of enamel dots.  Doesn’t it just feel full of delight!  A great card of encouragement.  Thanks for joining me today!  

 

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Cherry Whimsy with PTI

The Blossom Challenge: Eat Your Fruit and Veggies

Hello!  I’m kicking of this month’s The Blossom Challenge at Power Poppy called “Eat Your Fruit and Veggies”, with two cards celebrating both gratitude and yummy fruit and veggie designs, something that Power Poppy does SO well!    

My first design showcases Power Poppy’s Cabbage Patch set.  Each of these cabbages or kale are coloured with Copic Markers and trimmed out.  

They are arranged on a mini-slimline background you’ll see more of in a sec, and I added some assorted green and blue-green sequins to accent. 

The sentiment is from the polymer version of this set, which is embossed in white and inked in black below.

You can see peek at the coordinated background I created for the card above, and how I did it pictured below.  After I sponged on lots of Distress Oxide ink (Mowed Lawn and Evergreen Bough) onto the heavy cardstock panel, I used my polymer stamps of this set and a paper towel soaked with water as my ink pad.  I used my Misti to “lift” off the ink with the water, because water reacts with Disress Oxide ink.  It’s a soft subtle effect and you’re left with a faded-sueded pattern.  By doing it in the Misti, I could stamp each cabbage several times with water to get  a more defined lift of colour.  Then, I dried it with my heat tool to complete the reaction.  

Next up is a card with one of my favourite fall sets from Power Poppy called:  Pumpkins and Pears.

Marcy always does little vignettes so well, and they are really delightful to colour.  

The background is a Kraft panel that was masked off with tape and then Distress Oxide Ink was added (Crackling Campfire, Abandoned Coral, Fossilized Amber and Seedless Preserves).  After splattering with water and some white ink and it was dry,  I ran the panel through with a pierced die.  I love the look it gives. It’s finished off with some patterned paper, inked die cut leaves and enamel dots.  

Have you been eating your Fruits and Veggies?  How about creating with them?! Come on in and join us at Power Poppy with a design using some form of Fruit or Vegetable in the card and Power Poppy stamps.  The Challenge is open for a month and you could win a gift card to the Power Poppy Store!   And to top it off, Marcy has discounted some of my favourite Fruit and Veggie themed stamps in the store if you want to play along!  

Here’s more Fruit and Veggie goodness from the Bloom Brigade playing along today.  Thanks so much for stopping by!  

Gloria

Essie

and link your entry at the Power Poppy Blog!

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The Blossom Challenge: Eat Your Fruit and Veggies

The Blossom Challenge: Citrus Christmas in July

Well friends, I’m coming to you today dragging myself a bit.  The darn coronavirus done chased us down and beat us up :(  3/5 of us in our family have down with it, and we’ve had all the crummy symptoms, but seem to be on the road to recovery.  So it’s a good thing I had these images from Power Poppy ready for our next The Blossom Challenge with our new theme: Christmas in July!  

Today I’ve used a couple of Christmas sets from Marcy to create a mini-slimline card and coordinating tag.  The mini-slimline uses Garden of Gratitude: Trellis Digial Stamp to showcase this pretty trellis Christmas tree made of oranges.  It’s so charming! 

The colouring is done with Copics, with patterned paper really helping to achieve that citrus feel I was going for.  A bit of paper ric rack accents the top.  

  

These sweet sentiment stamps are something we could use a little more of don’t you think?  I’ve added some enamel stars to highlight the sentiments and to tie back to the star on the tree.  

The gift tag is created with Power Poppy’s Handmade with Love Tags placed on some Kraft paper that has a slit in it for tucking in.  After I took the first picture in this series, I realized the tag looked a bit bare where the slit is, so I added a little circle punch to the tag which will also help with stability.  

Now, I hope you’ll join us!   Your Challenge this month is to create anything Christmas or Holiday using at least one stamp from Power Poppy.  You can make a card, tag, gift packaging, or frameable art.  Show us what you’ve got!  You could win a $20 Gift Code to the Power Poppy Store, just for playing along.  Entries close on August 15.  Be sure to add your link on the Power Poppy Blog!  

Marcy has also given us a great sale! ALL of our Christmas Digi’s in the Happiest Holiday Category for you if you want to pick up something new to create with.  If you know Marcy, you know they’re all beauties! 

For more inspiration here’s some more beauty from The Bloom Brigade you’ll want to check out:

Gloria

Lisa

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The Blossom Challenge: Citrus Christmas in July

The Blossom Challenge: Glassy-Eyed

Welcome to our second The Blossom Challenge from Power Poppy!  This month we’ve got a fun theme called Glassy Eyed!  We’re going to be using sets from Power Poppy that show an image in glass or under glass, and showcase different ways to colour translucent glass.  So dig into your Copics, Pencils or watercolour...and any Poppy image that uses something in OR under glass, you could even be totally artsy and use a Power Poppy image and draw your own glass in!  

Today I’m using the NEW image from Power Poppy called Accentuate the Positive.  What a gorgeous array of flowers and fruit around this pretty mason jar.  I printed the image quite lightly for colouring and then used Copics and Prismacolour Pencils to brighten up the blooms.  One of my favourite varieties of zinnia is Queen Red Lime, they have such a nice fade between lime and rosy red, so I tried to give the flower on the lower right that treatment in my colouring.  

I’ll give you a short tutorial on what I think are important features of colouring glass.  These were all taken on my iPhone while I was colouring, but should give you an idea of features I use when colouring glass.  

Things I like to consider when colouring something in or under glass.  

• Where the light is reflecting on the glass
• The width of the glass for colouring, and the bottom edges (if in a vase)
• Will the glass be coloured or clear
• Will there be a water level be and will you define it
• How stems refract and colour fades in water

Here is my image without colouring the glass.  It’s a mason jar, so I’ve decided its going to be one with a blue tint to it.  

Glass always has reflection points where the light bounces off and refracts.  It is usually white or clear.  Marcy has illustrated a highlight point already in this design and I’ve given the light space some colourful edges so you can define it.  You can add your own reflections to images as well.  

Colour “pools" in glass in certain areas, the neck of where the mason lid would fit, the letters spelling MASON and the outline of the bottom of the vase.  I added a BG10 to those areas to define them.  You can also see I didn’t colour right to the edge of the glass.  It has thickness to it where you don’t typically see colour.  So, I add colour inside of where I imagine that glass thickness to be.  This gives it more realism.  

Water is clear, but would like be slighly blue in a blue jar, so I’ve added a very light BG0000 to the water line front, and just a hint of th eback of the waterline.  Again, not extending to the edge of the glass.  

Stems in glass usually are muted or lighter in colour or because the water and glass have a refracted, mis-matched look from the stem above water.  I usually add a bluer tone to the stems and lighten them up.  

Here’s a peek at the close up finished vase.  I tightened up the outlines with a light blue/green prismacolour pencil to give it better definition.  

So that’s a simple but helpful way to up your glassy-eyed game!  I hope you can join us for the challenge this month and create something in or under glass with Power Poppy!  Link up your creation HERE.  

Remember: You must use a Power Poppy image somewhere on your design and this month Marcy has a number of images using glass on sale!  

Enjoy more gorgeous inspiration from The Bloom Brigade

Essie

Barbara

Gloria

Lisa

Nancy

and Me!  

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The Blossom Challenge: Glassy-Eyed

Quotable Apples

Popping in this Friday to share a design created with Power Poppy’s set Folklore Floral Apples . It showcases a beautiful arrangement of apples on branches and a quote from Thoreau.  

Apples are always fun to colour with their polished red skin, and I added some striations of colour with my Copics and Prismacolor Pencils to mimic more of the colour of the apples we have on our tree at home.    

To tie in the soft blue background I added to the colouring, I sponged in some Distress Oxide Ink in Tumbled Glass to the background as well.  

It’s always gravity defying to me when you see a tree heavily laden with apples like this.  Such a bountiful sight!  Hope you enjoyed this nod to summer in our winter chill here in North America!  

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Quotable Apples

Sweet and Sugary Christmas from Power Poppy

 

Sending Christmas Greetings to each of you!  Today I’m bringing you something new from Power Poppy!  It’s part of two new images from Marcy, and this one is called Sweet and Sugary Snowglobe and it’s a WOW illustration for sure!   

I’m off work for a couple of weeks, so I spent a few hours cozied up with this amazing image and my Copic Markers and Prismacolour Pencils.  So nice to have a few hours in a row to colour.  This image is really fun because it has so many textures....fruit, leaves, foliage, ribbon, glass, candy....lots to play with!   I printed the digi image to be 5 x 7 inches so I could display it for Christmas, but you could certainly make a card that size too.  

I picked a fun colour palette of red, bright green, and pops of turquoise and yellow.  I’ve added some white accents on the candy to give it cellophane wrapper reflection, but everything else is Copics with Prismacolour pencils for depths.  

Here’s what it looks like framed and on the picture shelf by our front door!  A great design to celebrate the season!  

I hope you’ll pop on over to see this image and the second one from Marcy called Cozy Candlelit Sips. 

And pop on over to Stacy’s blog to see her creation with these images!  

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Sweet and Sugary Christmas from Power Poppy