The Blossom Challenge- Sponge Bath

Christine's challenge for this month is a "Sponge Challenge"

She is being witty and calls it "Sponge Bath". 

I think this will be fun. Most of you have sponged your backgrounds, 

so please join us in the fun. 

I would love to see your creations. 

 

I printed out the Hellebore digital stamp set as I was thinking of spring flowers 

that will soon be blooming. If you have been watching Marcella's Facebook posts lately, you can see what I mean. Her front yard or as she calls it, The Slope of Possibilities. 

After printing out my image on smooth white cardstock, I changed the black coloring lines to gray as I wanted a no-line look. Then I used my Copic markers to color up the flowers and leaves. 

These are the colors that I used. B63, B66, and B69 for the hellebores and G43, and G82 for the leaves. 

For the SPONGE part of my card, I created a mask. I simply printed the same image on copy paper and cut it out. This was the mask that I used to cover the colored flowers. That made it possible to color the background and give this card a Sponge Bath of a soft blue background. I am sure that you all have done this in the past, if not you should give it a try. 

I used Distress inks in Tumbled Glass. 

For help in using and printing out digital images, use the tutorial by Nancy Scheeds. 

It is the one that I use and it is very helpful, 

The crystals that I added were colored from the bottom with the B69 and then adhered.  Usually, I leave them clear, but in this case, they look better colored. 

Come and join Christine in this fun Challenge for this month. 

There is a prize and you can win if you enter. 

You can find the Blossom Challenge Here

Thanks for stopping by and I always appreciate your comments! 

                                                                

Power Poppy Blossom Challenge Gold, Silver or Glimmer

How the weeks go by and now it is time for another Blossom Challenge

 brought to you by Christine and Power Poppy. 

We are moving on to more of a  Christmas theme.  

No surprise, as the new Christmas release will be out. 

This challenge will be to use Gold, Silver or Glimmer

I printed off one of the new Holiday Blitz 2022 Christmas images.

Mighty Pine

All of the new Christmas Holiday Blitz digitals can be purchased at Power Poppy. 

Here is the finished card that I colored up for this challenge.

I have been coloring up Marcella's beautiful images for a long time. 

Here is how I did this card. 

I used my laser printer as I had an idea to hot foil the sentiment. 

There are a lot of new foiling techniques out there, but I just used the 

Mini Minc for this one. 

This is where the glimmer will come in. 

The beauty of digital stamps is that you can print them any size.

 I choose to print this one for a 7 X 6.

It will be much easier to color those small spaces.  

If you are wondering how to print and resize images, just go to Power Poppy on the right sidebar where it says I bought a new digi stamp...Now what! 

After printing, I used my Mini Minc machine to hot foil the sentiment in Gold.

You will be able to see that better at the end of this post. 

      I printed the same image on copy paper to make a mask. 

I wanted to work on the background before I started any coloring. 

            With the mask in place, I place a stencil from Memory Box called Winter Scattered Flakes 

using a piece of tape as a hinge. 

And inked up the stencil with Mama Elephant Ink called Winter. 

Now I have snowflakes in the background of the Mighty Pine. 

I did some additional inking around the edges before I was happy with it. 

Next the fun part of the coloring. I like to complete one thing before going on to the next. 

For a little more gold glimmer I used a layer of gold glimmer paper that I made by using 

Versamark on the edge and gold glitter embossing powder. 

I apologize for the pretty bad video. 

Supplies:

Mighty Pine digital stamp

Memory Box Stencil Winter Scattered Flakes

Mama Elephant ink Winter

Copic Markers 

Y21,Y28, Y26, YR23 Bells

YG95, YG97 pine needles

R14, R27, R39 ribbon

E27, E39, E59 pinecone

I hope that you color up something Gold, Silver or Glimmery and add it to this challenge. There is a $25 gift card for the winner.  It does not need to be new or Christmas. 

Looking forward to seeing what you do! 

There is more inspiration from the Bloomies. 

Power Poppy Blog

Gloria Stengel

Essie Cards

Thanks for stopping by and I always appreciate your comments! 

                                                                 

Power Poppy August Challenge - Sentimental

It is time for a new monthly challenge at Power Poppy. 

The Blossom Challenge for this month is

                                                                     SENTIMENTAL! 

Focus on the sentiment and frame with elements and let the sentiment 

be the focal point. 

Here is the digit I chose for this challenge. 

7

This is one digi from Power Poppy and has everything that you need for this challenge.  You can find it in a digital stamp package called Folklore FloraI colored it with my Copic markers and added it to base card. 

You can see other uses for the wonderful digital package.  Here I made smaller note cards with these images. 

I am excited to have a monthly challenge back again and I would love to see what you can do. Remember a random winner will receive a $25 gift card for Power Poppy. 

Be sure to see the digital images that will be on sale too. 

More inspiration from the rest of the team. 

Power Poppy the Blog

Gloria Stengel

Ester Swartz

Lisa Johansen

Christine Okken

Thanks for stopping by and I always appreciate your comments! 

                                                                   

Power Poppy - The Blossom Challenge

Yes, you got it right! This is the second blossom challenge since breathing 

life back into Power Poppy.

Isn't it exciting to see all of the Inspire Mondays with new and creative

 ideas for you to try? 

Well it is time for another Blossom challenge this month Christine is calling it 

The Glassy Eyed Challenge

This is an opportunity for you to try coloring glass.  

 Power Poppy has many stamps that are in or under clear glass, even the new 

Accentuate the Positive set. There will be a list of those for you on 
Christine's post for Monday. 

I downloaded this image called Zinnia Parade and colored it up for an A2 size card with my Copic markers. They are my go-to for coloring. After completing the coloring I did use some Prismacolor pencils to sharpen up the image. 

Our WINNER will receive a $20 gift card to use at the Power Poppy Store!! The challenge is open until noon on July 15th! Link up your project to the Power Poppy Blog for a chance to win!

Remember that you can print in any size when using digital images and you may be more comfortable with a larger size.  It does not have to be a card. Just try coloring. 

Here are some of the cards that I have done in the past showing you different glass images. 

Sometimes I use the artist's lines to guide me. As I did here.  And here!

You can look at a picture of a jar. 

Try it out and I would love to see what you do. 

More inspiration from the Bloom Brigade

Christine Okken View the winner of last month's challenge here. 

Ester Swartz (Essie)

Me -  you are here

Gloria Stengel

Nancy Sheads

Lisa Johansen

Thanks for stopping by and I always appreciate your comments! 

                                                                 

Double D Challenge - Easter

Diane is our host for this spring and holiday title challenge. 

So many things on this board remind me of spring and the Easter blessings. 

It has been a very long time since I have actually colored an image and I thought it was time. 

I was inspired by the tulips and one of my favorite images from 

Power Poppy called Tulips in a hobnail pitcher. 

Here is the card for your inspiration

The prize for a random winner

Please visit the blog to see the great jobs for more inspiration from the design team. 

Thanks for stopping by and I always appreciate your comments! 

                                                                         

Double D - Blue and White winter

Welcome crafty friends to another fun challenge with a prize at Double D.  Darlene is our host and just look at this inspiration board she has made. 

I was drawn to the upper right and that gorgeous blue jay. 

I knew exactly what I would do for this one. 

Here is the card that I made

This is a digital image from Power Poppy, called Season of Serenity. I was inspired by the upper right square.  I printed this out and used my Copic markers to color him up. Then I splattered with white gouache and perfect pearls powder. A few sparkly gems from my stash. I wanted to use this die from Altenew called Diamond Frame cover die.  I originally wanted to use it behind the Blue Jay, but I love this different look.  What do you think? 

    

A close-up of the Blue Jay peeking at you. 

The Prize for a random winner. 

Now head over to Double D to see what the team is up to. 

Thanks for stopping by and I always appreciate your comments! 

                                                                

Power Poppy - Folklore Flora

I think that we can all say that this past 18 months or so has been life changing.  A time of reflection and feeling of gratitude that comes with family and friends. For me, I used my artwork to get through and I know that is the same for many of you. Thank goodness for the crafting world that I have become a part of and have loved every minute of. Making new friends and finding support were my rewards. 

I have a surprise for those that love to color and find that creating is rewarding.  All of you know Marcella Hawley from Power Poppy.  If not, you should as she is the artist behind the scenes. She has been faced with some of the same feelings that we all have had these past months.  Since sending her daughter off to college, she has been sending cards with motivational thoughts to encourage her. She has created four drawings and motivational sayings for you print and color. 

This release is a soft one, not the usual, but an easy one. Marcella has drawn four images of Folklore Flora. Each one has a deeper meaning. You can color them up, or print a  full color artwork image, available for the first time.   

Here is a look at the images. 

Fig : Enlightenment
Gourd : Plenty
Apple : Knowledge
Buckeye: Luck

I only had time to color up one card for you and I chose the Buckeye.  It is said that if you keep a buckeye in your pocket, it brings good luck. 

 

Doing a little research on the buckeye, they reminded me of the chestnuts that were a part of my childhood at Christmas time. Here are some pictures of the Ohio Buckeye. These are not edible. 

                                      

Using the pictures, I had fun coloring these up for my card 

I also did some cleaning of my craft room recently and found these cute gift cards/ note cards that had ready-made envelopes. That is the fun of digital images.  I printed all of the images in a much smaller size to fit the cards that I already had. Lightly colored in parts of them and made this set to give as a gift. It was quick and easy. They could be used for this next holiday gift-giving season. 

Some of the design team will be showing you more ideas on how to use these motivating and encouraging images and sentiments. 

Take a peek at Power Poppy to see more. 

Christine Okken 

Julie Koerber

More will be available in the upcoming week. Keep an eye out for them. 

Thanks for stopping by and I always appreciate your comments! 

                                                               

Seize the Birthday Challenge #224 - Cakes

Our "Topping" option this time is...

If you are not into using the toppings, just make sure it is a birthday card. 

Shirley is our hostess for this challenge, and it is so appropriate for a birthday card. 

Here is what I did. 

This is a stamp from Power Poppy that I have colored many times and this time I used watercolors. The stamp is called Tea in the Garden, but it looks like a delicious birthday cark to me. I used the sentiment from a set called Party Time.  Since the stamp is polymer, I could curve it like I wanted. 

This is a mini slimline card and I used my Kat Scrappiness mini slimline dies to make it. 

I also had fun making the envelope to fit it. That also used up some of the scrapbook papers that I have. 

**********

We have a new Surprise Party Guest for the next couple of months.

She is Jenny Martin and you can find her creations HERE

Make sure that you stop by the blog too. 

http://seizethebirthday.blogspot.com/

Thanks for stopping by and I always appreciate your comments! 

                                                               

Double D Challenge Flowers of the month - July to December

Darlene is the host for this challenge. We are continuing with the flowers of the month Challenge. Here are some pictures of July to December flowers. Lots to pick from.  My favorite flower is the poppy, but I chose a different one for this challenge. 

Here is the card that I did for your inspiration.

This is a digital stamp from  Power Poppy called Hellebores.  I printed it out on Curious Metallic Cryogen White paper.  The paper is thin and works well for this technique.  
I did this for a class that I took from Vanilla Arts and Amy Shulke.  It was fun and I think it made a unique card. 

   

This is a closer look at the card.  You just color the image with your Copic markers and then on the back side, color splotches of color with your markers. On the front side, drip Copic Colorless Blender and you get this effect.  It is really scary to do and I have not been successful sometimes.  I made this into a 5 X 5 card and I think I will keep it a while and not send it out. 

I wish that I had pictures to show you this technique that Amy discovered.  It was quite by accident that she found it.  She spilled the colorless blender on a finished project. I love the dreamy look that you get. 

This is another image that I did for the class.  It is too big to make a card, but you can get a better idea of the technique. 

Of course, there is a prize for a random winner. 

Please take a look at the blog to see the rest of the team's inspiration HERE

Thanks for stopping by and I always appreciate your comments!