Spread Your Wings

Happy Friday friends!  A few months ago Marcy illustrated a beautiful design for her son’s school graduation called Monarchs and Milkweed.  It’s a gorgeous picture of the stages of a monarch butterfly as well as the milkweed they lay their eggs on.  I printed it up a few weeks ago intending on creating something special with it, but I wasn’t sure which direction I would go with it.  I printed it quite large and just couldn’t bring myself to cut it down at all, or after all the work of colouring to make it into a card that I’d have to give away :).  So, instead it turned into a larger piece, about 7 inches x 7 inches, that I could put on a small easel to display.  

Our printer was acting up on me, so, instead of the grey ink I wanted it to print in, it came out a more rust shade, but it seemed to work well with this neutral palette.  

I think the different stages of the monarchs and milkweed are so striking.  I coloured the image up with Copics, but came in and added some details and the background with Prismacolor Pencils.  

When it came to the black parts of the caterpillars and the butterflies I used a black glittery Spica pen to add in the details.  Not only does the black pop against the other neutral outlines, but it also adds a touch of sparkle.  I’m hopeless at capturing sparkle when photograping my creations, but you get the idea.  

Such a beautiful image that reminds me that transformation still happens, all the time, and that it takes some work to spread your wings and fly.  I hope that thought is a good encouragement to you today.  

Now...we’ve got a fabulous challenge going at Power Poppy in case you missed it called Mini and Mighty that you’ll want to check out HERE.  Enter and you could win a $50 Power Poppy Shopping Spree!

Also...hold onto your hats....NEXT WEEK starts our Happiest Holiday 2017 Release at Power Poppy and it’s going to WOW you.  Marcy’s in rare creative form and we’re really looking forward to sharing it all with you.  Sneak Peeks start October 15!  

Christine Okken
Stacy Morgan
Tosha Leyendekker

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Spread Your Wings

Mini & Mighty!

October has swept in with all its beautiful colours and coziness and we have a new challenge to jump into at Power Poppy!  This month my lovely friend Stacy has challenged us to create some Mini Greetings, something that’s a mini note or card.  It’s all about packing a punch in creating a "sweet little something" smaller than 4 inches. 

For my “sweet little somethings”, I pulled together a number of fall themed images from Marcy’s collection using our Feeling Fall stamp set for the scene with the little cup on the left, Fall Haul digi stamp for the scene in the middle,  and Farmers Market for the little scene on the right.  I love the fall harvest theme of each of them.  All of the cards are about 3 x 3.  Marcy’s so good at drawing little vignettes, so there are many sets in her collection that will work in mini designs.  

To keep the designs cohesive, I used the same colour palette and background paper as well as burlap, wood veneer hearts and twine on each of them.  

Here’s a closer peek.  

For this little scene I actually “borrowed” one of the little pumpkins from the Feeling Fall set to add to the front of the veggie basket.  Isn’t that little chalkboard sign cute in the cauliflower?  I stamped it in white after I coloured it with Copics, and then just did a wee bit of outlining the letters with a Copic Multiliner so they’d stand out a little more.  

A cute little cup of cider or coffee make this one so sweet.  The wood veneer primitive hearts and twine add a bit of a rustic touch when combined with the burlap.  

And finally, a whole wheelbarrow full of beautiful autumn produce complete this mini card.  Sentiments are from the Feeling Fall set.  Makes me cozy just looking at them. 

So now you have the month of October to create something Mini and Mighty!  Enter to win at the Power Poppy Blog and if you’re chosen it means a $50 gift certifcate for you to the Power Poppy store!  With a new Fall and Christmas release coming up shortly....it’s a great time to enter!

Here’s who’s playing along today...

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Allison Cope
Christine Okken
Julie Koerber
Kathy Jones
Katie Sims
Stacy Morgan
Tosha Leyendekker

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Mini & Mighty!

Enjoy Life, Sip by Sip

Back with a new week of creativity and a fun new Hues to Use colour inspiration from Power Poppy. This week’s theme is a pretty trio of yellow, blue and green.   I pulled out Power Poppy’s cutie patootie set, Short Stacks, with the adorable little budgie on it.  This image seems made for these colours.  

It’s all coloured up with Copics, with some pretty papers to accent the design.  

  

For fun I added some stitching, some baker’s twine, and a cute little wood veneer arrow to anchor the sentiment.  Here’s the Inspiration Photo from Marcy’s place.  She has sweet little vingnettes and corners like this all through the house.  

Now you’re invited to play along with these pretty Hues to Use.  Link up your entry at the Power Poppy Blog and you might grab our attention so much that we ask you to take center stage here as the guest hostess with the mostess! So get those fingers inky and join us in the fun!

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Enjoy Life, Sip by Sip

Mums the Word

Hello friends and happy Friday to you.  Autumn is creating some beautiful scenery in my corner of the world so I thought this new digital image from Marcy’s Instant Garden Autumn’s Opulence would be fun to colour.  It’s a beautiful remixed collection of chrysanthemums, oak leaves, asters, daisies and berries all rolled into one show-stopper design!  

My printer wasn’t cooperating with me, so I actually intended to print this one in a lighter black, and instead it printed out in rust.  But, with the fall colour palette, the outline colouring worked just fine.  

I haven’t used my Spellbinder dies in ages, so I pulled some of them out to frame up the bouquet, pairing it up with some autumn papers for a rich cozy feel.  

Just a button and twine to accent and the sentiment from Power Poppy’s polymer set Olive and Oak Expanded.  

Here’s a peek at a recent autumn walk we took.  I love this season.  

I used a whole rainbow of Copics to colour my design up shown below.  

Here’s the rest of my Bloom Brigade Bloomie friends in action today.

Allison Cope
Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
Julie Koerber
Kathy Jones
and the Good Vibe Five at the Power Poppy Blog

Thanks for your visit!  

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Mums the Word

Marcy’s Tying the Knot Hop!

The Power Poppy Bloom Brigade and Instant Gardener gang is gathering together to celebrate a special occasion!  Marcy and Doug are getting married tomorrow!  These crazy kids are so full of love and life that we wanted to celebrate them with our own Tying the Knot Hop.  

My card takes its cues from Marcy and Doug’s wedding invitation which she illustrated for the big day (you can see in the graphic above). I love their woodland greenery theme, so I went through all of Marcy’s Power Poppy sets to find some of the beautiful leaves that would bring that woodland greenery to the card.  I pulled out several different sets, Peony Muse, Succulent Singles, Dahlia XL, and Tiger Lily XL for the leaves, adding Big Scripts and Dream Wedding for the sentiments inside and out.  

Each of the leaves is stamped on Copic XPress It Blending card stock, coloured with Copics, then trimmed out and arranged on an open circle so that I could inset the sentiments inside.  

I added some pretty clear and silver sequins so that it gave it some sparkle, and mimicked the Doug gears and sprockets from the wedding invite.  Mr & Mrs are silver embossed to match the sparkly silver paper it’s mounted on.  

Inside the card I created a masked border for the inked up leaves and then a silver embossed sentiment too.  

One of the things that doesn’t show up well in the earlier photos, is the sparkle I added to the outer layer using some sparkly spritz, so this photo above shows it a little better.  

To celebrate, all of us are writing or videoing our messages of love for Doug and Marcy, so here’s  my video wishes for Doug and Marcy below.  Ignore the distant siren in the background...and my untamed hair....and any other imperfections :)  it’s just a message from the heart.  

 My video wedding message for you both!  

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Now we invite you to pop on by to see the rest of the Tying the Knot Hop!

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

Jennifer Dove
Broni Holcombe
Cheryl Scrivens
Barb Walker
Nancy Sheads
Jessie Banks
Elizabeth Zaffarano 

You’re also invited to stop on by the Power Poppy Blog and leave your happy wishes for Doug and Marcy!  

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Marcy’s Tying the Knot Hop!

The Crunch of Leaves

Last week I was telling you how very warm it was here, and today I can tell you that it’s much more seasonable....almost cool outside.  Our leaves are beginning to turn colour and soon I’ll be able to crunch them as I walk - which is one of my favourite things about autumn.  I’m pulling out the warmer layers and enjoying the beauty.  

To celebrate this lovely season I’ve pulled out Power Poppy’s set, Feeling Fall and stamped it onto Kraft cardstock to go with our Power & Spark Challenge this month, Cozy Krafty Colouring.  

I pulled out some rich Copic colours for these whimsical boots so it has that cozy warm feel.  

I’ve been saving some paper just for a card like this.  You probably remember that in the spring the Bloom Brigade gathered for a fun weekend in St. Louis to meet up with our fearless leader Marcy and enjoy some girlfriend time.  Tosh was so sweet and brought all of us some chocolates wrapped in this gorgeous handmade paper.  I saved the paper because the metallic and autumn tones were so beautiful and I’ve just been waiting for a fall card to use it on. 

I’ve also added a little burlap, some twine and a button to accent it all.  It really speaks autumn to me.  

So, come on over and create with us in the Power & Spark Challenge this month, you’ve got 1/2 the month left to join in for your chance to win a $50 Shopping Spree in the Power Poppy store!  

Here’s some more inspiration from the Bloom Brigade

Allison Cope
Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
Julie Koerber
Katie Sims
Stacy Morgan
Tosha Leyendekker

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The Crunch of Leaves