Monday, December 28, 2020

Rejoice in the Quiet

I'm running late with my post but I have a good reason....my youngest son is up here for Christmas with his girlfriend. It's his first time back home since moving to Oregon 2 yrs ago and our first time meeting his girlfriend. Needless to say I am soaking up every little bit of time with them that I can before they leave on Jan.2!

The new Sunday Stamps challenge is a color challenge and I just love these colors, which are my absolute favs, blue and greens. I'm a nature themed person and most of the walls in my house are either painted blue or green, with a few browns thrown in here and there LOL

For my card I used the new Power Poppy set Cuddle in the Cabin. I adore the images in this set and the colors of the challenge inspired me to pull them out and create what a see when I drive up to Denali National Park, which is 3 hours north of me. There is a large section of the drive where you are surrounded by mountains on both sides of the road and spruce trees are scattered across the landscape. I've also seen moose and caribou on my drives back and forth, so this is what my card captures. 

Make sure you head on over to the Sunday Stamps blog to see what the rest of the DT created and then play along with us, we'd love to see how you interpret the colors!






Sunday, December 13, 2020

May Your Holidays Bloom

It's time for a new challenge over at the Sunday Stamps blog and this week we have a fun sketch from Mellissa!

For my card I used an image from a brand new Power Poppy set called Garden of Gratitude. I just love this unique image of oranges growing on a trellis. You can even change them from oranges into any color ornament you desire!

I kept my card simple, coloring my image on a separate piece of paper and then using my Scan N Cut to cut it out. I popped it up with dimensionals and then stamped my sentiment in orange below it. I got out my paper piercing tool and pierced a border around the card base.

Head on over to the Sunday Stamps blog to see what the rest of the DT came up with and then play along with us, we'd love to see how you interpret the sketch!






Sunday, December 6, 2020

Merry Christmoose

It's been a while since I've been able to play along with a challenge so since I was crabby and needed some creative time earlier today I decided to lock myself in my craft room for a bit and play along with the current Freshly Made Sketches challenge.

For my card I used the newly released Forest Fellas set from Power Poppy. I just adore this moose! I grabbed some plaid paper for the back square and mounted it all on some green patterned paper with a brown card base. The sentiment was stamped in red on a white banner and the moose head popped up with dimensionals. Quick and easy but enough to make me feel better and ready to join the household again :)






Monday, November 16, 2020

Power Poppy Part 2- Day 5

Welcome to the fifth and final day of the Power Poppy Quiet Christmas release! I hope you've enjoyed seeing all the various sets and the endless possibilities with each one. All 10 sets from the release can be found in the Power Poppy store in both clear stamp and digital form so there is something for everyone!


The last set for this release is called the Joy to the World Bouquet. Look at all the details and variety of flowers...a poinsettia, hellebores, ivy, cranberries, pomegranate and pine needles. Such a lovely feast for the eyes!


For my card I cut out the image with my Scan N Cut and then colored it with copics. I really wanted to try some black hellebores, I though the contrast would be great against the poinsettia, pomegranate and cranberries but in the end I chickened out. Maybe I'll try it on a scrap and see how it comes out. I stamped the sentiment in the bottom right corner in a poppy red and then embossed the white panel with a wood plank design. I then popped up the bouquet across the white panel.

Make sure you stop by the Bloom Brigade blogs to see all of their amazing creations and then head on over to the Power Poppy store to grab your favorite sets!






Sunday, November 15, 2020

Power Poppy Part 2- Day 4

Welcome to the 4th day of the Quiet Christmas release, part 2! Today's set is called Cuddle in the Cabin and I have to say, I keep going between this one and Forest Fellas as my favorite set. Both speak to my soul of things I absolutely adore!

I just love the images in this set....the snowy cabin scene, deer, a lovely pine tree and mountains to create your own backdrop. I don't live in a cabin but everything else about the set sure speaks to life in Alaska, especially since winter is my favorite season! When I was working nights I would come home at 2:30am and just sit on my front porch enjoying the way the moonlight caused the snow to sparkle, and to listen to the absolute stillness of the neighborhood.


For my card I went with a night scene where the moon is shining nice and bright. Those are my favorite nights, where the moon is so bright that it reflects off the snow and the sky is this gorgeous dark blue color and even in the middle of an Alaskan winter you can see for miles and miles because the snow covered landscape is all lit up. It's even better when the aurora decides to join the party and dances across the sky, a partner to the moon. I used a silver gel pen to add some shine to the edges of the roof, porch, trees and fence.

Are you ready to see what the rest of the Bloom Brigade did with this fabulous set? Let's go check it out!





Peace and Joy

It's time for a new challenge over at the Sunday Stamps blog and this week we have a fun sketch from Amy!

For my card I used a set from My Favorite Things that has been in my collection for a while but yet has never seen ink. Sadly I have way too many sets like that and I really need to break them out and play with them, no matter how old they are.

I stamped the large sentiment in blue and then cut out some MFT snowflakes to go along 2 of the edges. I also stamped little snowflakes around the sentiment in 2 different shades of blue. The paper is from one of the hot buy pads from Michaels.

Head on over to the Sunday Stamps blog to see what the rest of the team came up with and then play along with us, we'd love to see how you interpret the sketch!






Saturday, November 14, 2020

Power Poppy Part 2- Day 3

Welcome back! It's Day 3 of Power Poppy's  Quiet Christmas Release Part 2. Today's release is a great set called Season's Greenings!


For my card I decided to use the fun Santa gnome carrying a Christmas tree and shovel. One of my best friends loves gnomes so I think this card will be perfect for her! After coloring my image with copics I used my Scan N Cut to cut it out and then I picked out some background paper and just did one wide strip across a plain white card base. I then stamped the sentiment "Here comes Planta Claus" in green ink under the strip. I normally don't do embellishments but I thought the sequins worked well here. (my layout was inspired by this card I saw on Pinterest)


Shall we go see what the rest of the Bloom Brigade did with this fun set? Let's go hopping!





Friday, November 13, 2020

Power Poppy Part 2- Day 2

It's day 2 of the second part of Power Poppy's Quiet Christmas elease and the set today, Enchanted Branches: Woodland, is SO much fun to play with! I love all the fun elements in this set, including my favorite mushroom Armanita Muscaria aka Fly Agaric. This stamp set is definitely a must have for nature enthusiasts! 


For my card I stamped the branch and then grabbed the elements I wanted to hang from the branch: the fly agaric mushroom, a pinecone and an acorn. I then stamped the sentiment to the right of the branch. After coloring in the image I still felt it needed something so I did some dry embossing to make it look like snow falling.


Let's get hopping to see what the Bloom Brigade did with this fun new set!


Thursday, November 12, 2020

Power Poppy Quiet Christmas-Part 2

Hi friends! I'm so excited to be back to showcase the 2nd half of the Power Poppy Quiet Christmas release! Today is Day 1 and we are starting with an amazing set called Forest Fellas. I can't even begin to say how much I absolutely adore this set!


Forest Fellas is a bit of a departure from Marcella's usual images yet it is still perfectly inline with all of her amazing nature drawings. The set features a moose, bear, fox, owl and some amazing sentiments that are good for Christmas, winter and year-round. If you've been to my blog before it shouldn't surprise you that I decided to use the moose image for my card. I have secretly hoped that Marcella would do a stamp set with a moose someday so I seriously squealed with joy when I saw this set. 

A lot of folks don't realize that moose have a lot of red tones to their fur so when I color my moose images I tend to pull out my copics that have more of a golden tone. The colors on the antlers can differ depending on the time of year but I like to keep mine more of a lighter tone. I wanted to keep my background simple so I pulled out some plaid paper from my stash and paired that with a banner dry embossed with an argyle pattern. I stamped the sentiment in red and then popped up the moose along the side of the banner. I think I'm going to mass produce some of these to send out to friends for Christmas this year!


Are you ready to see what the rest of the Bloom Brigade came up with? Trust me, you won't be disappointed! After hopping through all the amazing blogs head on over to the Power Poppy store!

Tuesday, October 27, 2020

Power Poppy Quiet Christmas-Day 5!

Welcome to Day 5 of the Quiet Christmas release! I hope you've been as excited about this release as I have been! Marcella has truly outdone herself with these amazing sets. The best news? It's not over yet....we'll be back on Nov.12 to showcase round 2 of new sets and let me tell you, 2 of my absolutely favorite sets of this release are in Collection 2 and I cannot wait to show them off!!


Today's set is called Heavenly Peace Dove and it is such a beautiful image. The lovely dove on an olive branch is so eye catching and I just love the sentiments that are in this set!


For my card I colored the dove with some of my T copics and then used YG's for the olive branches. I mixed some dark olives with some green ones on the branches for some contrast. I adhered my image panel to some patterned paper with silver on it and adhered that to a green card base. I thought the card needed something else to finish it off so I took a sheer ribbon and tied that across the bottom of the card. I know it's hard to see in the picture but it's there :)


It's time to visit the rest of the Bloom Brigade to see their amazing creations!




Monday, October 26, 2020

Power Poppy Quiet Christmas-Day 4!

Happy Monday and welcome to day 4 of the Power Poppy Quiet Christmas blog hop! We're highlighting another brand new set today called Let It Glow.

How fabulous is this set? I love Christmas lights and I'm always wanting good sentiments to put inside my Christmas cards and this set offers both of those! Look at all the fun elements in the set, there is just so much you can do with these images and sentiment!


For my card I decided to create a Christmas tree made of lights, with the Let It Glow sentiment as the tree topper. I created lines of lights, decreasing them in size as I went up the page until I hit the height I wanted. Then I added the sentiment and turned it until I was happy with the way it was positioned above the lights. I then used my copics to color the lights and sentiment and I also went around all the lights to make it look like there was a bit of a glow coming from them. It's a nice and simple card but I really like how the lights and sentiment take center stage.


Let's go hop and see what the other Bloom Brigade members did with this great set!

Sunday, October 25, 2020

Power Poppy Quiet Christmas- Day 3!

I hope everyone is enjoying the Power Poppy Quiet Christmas blog hop so far. My mojo has been gone for a while but all of these wonderful new sets have my imagination spinning, it's good to be excited about creating again!


Today's set is called Garden of Gratitude and is one of my absolute favorites! I love the boots with the Christmas flowers in it and that trellis with the vine and fruit? Perfection! Marcella's images are so unique, that's one of the reasons I fell in love with Power Poppy when I discovered  them!


For my card I decided to use the fabulous trellis image. One of my very best friends lives in Florida and I thought of her and her family as soon as I saw this image. Since I colored the fruit as oranges I tried to keep the colors of the presents more toned down and garden feeling with the colors while still staying traditional. I printed the sentiment out and changed the font color to green to go along with the green in the image. I went with a simple kraft background on a green card base.


Now it's time to see what the fabulous Bloom Brigade did with this fun set...READY...SET....GO!!






Saturday, October 24, 2020

Power Poppy Quiet Christmas- Day 2!

Welcome to Day 2 of the Power Poppy Quiet Christmas blog hop! I hope you took the time yesterday to go and see all of the fabulous inspiration from the Bloom Brigade. I honestly had my jaw on the ground looking at their amazing creations!
Today's release is titled Enchanted Branches-Nativity and has so many beautiful, peaceful images. I decided to go with the image of Baby Jesus as it reminds me of the nativity my grandma would put under her Christmas tree.

I really wanted to keep this card as simple as possible. I colored the image with copics, tossing in some gold and a rust color for the blanket. I originally just had the white image against the green background but didn't like it much so I decided to add the patterned paper behind it. The gold from the image carries through to the paper and the red from the berries balances nicely against the patterned paper. I took the pine branch from the set and cut and colored out 3 of them. I laid 2 of the branches flat on the card along the top of the image panel and then I placed the 3rd one across the middle of the other 2 branches and popped it up for some dimension. The green paper in the background is embossed with a wooden plank design to keep the outdoor feel going.

Time to see the gorgeous creations from the Bloom Brigade! Click on each name to see their designs and then finish up at the Power Poppy blog :)






Friday, October 23, 2020

Power Poppy Quiet Christmas Release-Day 1!

I am SO excited! It's time for a brand new Christmas release from Power Poppy ((squeal)). It's been 2 years since the last holiday collection and wow, you will NOT be disappointed with what Marcella has designed for this new Christmas collection. Finally, something good to come out of 2020 LOL


Today we are highlighting a new set called Mossy Pots with Paperwhites. I decided to use the image of the paperwhites in a bowl with ornaments leaning up against the bottom of it. Because paperwhites are a very pure looking flower I wanted to keep the background very soft and quiet. I mixed and matched 3 different patterned papers that use the same colors and then I popped up my image over the papers. For a little pop of color I added some red with the ribbon through the flowers and then red stickles for a few of the ornaments. I used silver stickles for the other ornaments. I colored the flowers with my C copics and also used a hint of YG. I wanted my bowl to have an outdoorsy/nature feel to it so I carried the brown from the flower bulbs into the sides of the bowl. This image was so fun to color!





Are you ready to see what the rest of the Bloom Brigade did with the new set Mossy Pots with Paperwhites? Click on the names below to visit the blogs and see the amazing talent!


Sunday, October 18, 2020

Merry Kiss-Moose

Happy Sunday! I hope everyone is having a good weekend so far. Here in my neck of the woods we are getting our first snow of the season. It won't last long because we're going to head into the upper 30's by the end of the day but I'm still enjoying every single snowflake that falls!

Not only is it the season for snow in Alaska but it's also time for the moose to start moving around more in search of food. My daughter has had a moose in her backyard for a few days now feeding on the crabapple trees. Her roommate is not happy about the moose snacking on the trees but my daughter thinks it's great LOL With moose in mind I took one look at our Sunday Stamps sketch from Annette and knew what stamps I wanted to use. I took a tad bit of liberty with the circle elements of the sketch but you can still see the sketch when looking at the card so it's all good :)

The moose are from the Gerda Steiner Designs set Moose Love. I love this set because it has a bull (male) and a (cow) moose. I am SO picky about moose stamps, I cannot stand it when companies use a moose image with antlers and then throw some pink elements on it to make it a female moose. That's not how it works....if it has antlers it's a boy!

I had the images colored and set aside on my desk so all I had to do was pick out some patterned paper for the background, cut out the brown square and white banner with dies and then place my moose images how I wanted them. I also cut out and colored the mistletoe image from the set and popped that up above the bull moose.

Make sure you head on over to the Sunday Stamps blog to see what the rest of the DT created and then play along with us, we'd love to see how you interpret the sketch!