To the Core

I'm late, I'm late! I might as well stamp that on my forehead because it seems like I'm never on time with my crafting anymore! All I can say is that it's going to get worse before it gets better LOL

We're in the middle of a brand new color challenge over at Sunday Stamps and the colors are gorgeous fall ones! As soon as I saw this palette I knew I wanted to use it with the new MFT Pure Innocence stamp Apple of My Eye.

I used the current sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches for my layout, pulling the colors I used to color my image for my papers. I went with green and yellow for the rectangle panels, a white card base and then a white sentiment strip with orange ink for the text. I popped up both the image and the sentiment strip for added dimension.

Head on over to the Sunday Stamps blog to see what the rest of the DT created and then play along with us, you have until Fri. Sept.16th at 6pm EST to join us. There is also still time to play along with Freshly Made Sketches, their link closes at noon PST Monday the 12th!

You Can and You Will

Happy Monday! Can you believe we're halfway through August? I don't know where this year has gone....school starts back up tomorrow and fall is quickly approaching here in southcentral Alaska!

One good thing about being halfway through the month? It's time for a new Blossom Challenge over at the Power Poppy blog! This month the theme is Sentimental and we're focusing on framing sentiments. Power Poppy has some great sentiments and we want to see them take center stage.

For my card I chose a sentiment from the retired clear stamp set M-Powering Words. The world is a challenging place, especially post-covid, and sometimes an encouraging word is all someone needs.

I stamped the sentiment on white card stock in yellow and then created a frame with gray card stock. For a little more "ooomph" I decided to make a shaker card so I went through my stash of sequins and went with a yellow/clear mix to go with my gray and yellow color scheme. Super quick and easy!

Check out what other members of the Bloom Brigade came up with and then play along for your chance to win a $20 GC to the Power Poppy shop!

Gloria

Essie

Barbara C.

Christine

Love and Warmth

It's time for a new Sunday Stamps challenge and this week we have a great color challenge. I especially love the graphic, it features my very favorite mushroom, the Fly Agaric. I have a ton of them in my yard right now!

Fly Agarics in various stages in my yard

For my card I used a new set from SU called Ringed With Nature. I'm a sucker for anything woodsy and this set can be used year round. I used Crumb Cake, Poppy Parade and Crushed Curry DSP for my papers and for the wood I used Early Espresso and Crumb Cake. The little mushrooms were made with Poppy Parade and Crumb Cake and I added the dots with a white gel pen.

My layout is from the current sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches. It was just what I needed for what I had in mind for this set.

Make sure you 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! There is also still time to play along with Freshly Made Sketches and their challenge!

Christmas Greetings

Happy Sunday! It's time for a brand new challenge over at the Sunday Stamps blog and this week Heather has such a fun sketch for us to play with!

The SU July-Dec Mini Catalog is out and I feel in love with a set called Trees For Sale. Growing up getting the perfect tree was a big thing for my dad and he made it so fun. Seeing this set brought back all the memories of Christmas with my dad and grandparents (who also always had the most amazing tree). Because it is also Sale-A-Bration time you can get dies that go with this set if you spend $100. I definitely took advantage of that.

The dies that go with this set include a fun retro camper and some fabulous trees. I decided to do my camper in brown and red and then added a green curtain and a fun wreath on the door. The trees and camper were the perfect elements for the circle shape on the sketch. From the stamp set I used the 'Christmas Greetings' sentiment and the DSP is from the lights aglow pack.

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!

Christmas in July

Happy Monday! It's time for a new Blossom Challenge over at the Power Poppy blog and this month it's all about Christmas in July. Anybody who knows me knows how much I love Christmas so I am thrilled with this theme!

For my card I went with one of my very favorite sets, Season's Greenings. I just love the little Santa in this set and so that is the image I went with for my card.

My card layout came from the current sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches. As soon as I saw it I knew I wanted to use it for this card!

Don't forget, by entering the challenge with a Power Poppy image you are in the running to win a $20 gift code to the Power Poppy store. How awesome is that? Marcy has also discounted all of the Christmas digi's in the Happiest Holiday Category. If you like the image I used on my card you can find it HERE in the store!

Head over to these fellow Bloomie Blogs to see what they created for Christmas in July!

Christine

Gloria

My Parachute

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

For my card I grabbed a set from MFT that I recently bought, I just thought these little bunnies were so cute! Once again I went with my favorite summer color combo, blue and yellow with a touch of gray. Nice and simple!

Make sure to head over to the Sunday Stamps blog to see what the rest of the DT came up with (and give some extra love to our two new design team members Deb and Erin!) and then play along with us, we'd love to see how you interpret the sketch!

Christmas Joy for Power Poppy

Happy Monday! It's time for a new Blossom Challenge over at the Power Poppy blog and this month Christine is challenging us with a theme of Glassy-Eyed. She wants us to use an image that is in glass or under glass, or if you're really creative create a glass vase, snowglobe or cloche over any Power Poppy image!

For my card I used the digital stamp from Tabletop Tree.  This image features a bottlebrush tree under a glass cloche and it reminds me of some of the Christmas decorations my grandparents had on their Christmas tree. When color the ornaments I tried to stick with colors that felt "old timey" to me.

Coloring glass is definitely not something I'm an expert at! I tried to picture this decoration on a table with a wall behind it, so I used copic T markers along with a C00 and the blender pen to create lines and shadows in the glass. Is it perfect? Definitely not but for coloring I rarely do I think it will work :)

Make sure you head on over to the Power Poppy blog to check out the challenge, check out the list of glassy images that are being discounted for this month's challenge and then play along! Playing along with a Power Poppy image puts you in the running to win a $20.00 gift certificate to the Power Poppy store!

Check out what the rest of the DT has created:

Essie

Gloria

Barbara

Nancy 

Christine

Share the Spotlight for Power Poppy

It's Monday and that means it's time for Inspire Me Monday over at the Power Poppy blog and I happen to be the host this week!

Most days I feel like I barely have time to breathe, let alone craft, so today I decided to highlight the Spotlight Technique. This is a super fun and easy way to highlight a certain part of your image and get creative in a short amount of time!

I created 2 cards for this technique, here is the first one.....

Because today is Memorial Day in the United States I decided to use the digital set Perfect Poppies with a red, white and blue theme. I knew I wanted a sentiment so on the copy on the left I placed the sentiment where I wanted it and changed the color to blue.

Next, on the 2nd copy of the image, decide what part of the flower is going to be your focal point and cut it out.

Once you have the part of your image you plan on spotlighting cut out it out and color it.

Now take your first image, adhere it to your card base and then add your spotlighted portion. I used pop up adhesive on the back of mine to get extra dimension. 

Card #2

For my second card I followed the exact same steps, except this time I used the digital set Garden Fireworks.

This time I decided to go with a square shape for my image panels, using the smaller square to die cut my spotlight piece.

Now just put your card together and get your spotlighted image in place.

By using this technique it took me less than 15 mins per card to get everything done! That left me plenty of time to go finish watching the new season of Stranger Things with my family :)

If you've never tried this technique (or even if you have!) I hope you give it a chance and if you do, stop by and share a link to your creation in the comments section! 

Sunshiney Day

It's time for a new challenge over at Sunday Stamps and this week its' a fun sketch challenge from Heidi!

For my card I decided to use some new MFT goodies I recently got. I love the Pure Innocence line that they carry so I pulled out one of the new stamps, Sunny Smiles. How cute is this little girl? I decided to go with one of my favorite summer color schemes, blue and yellow.

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!

Happy Wishes for Power Poppy

Hello friends! Do you love Power Poppy images? If so then I have great news,  the Power Poppy blog is full of creation and wonder once again. One of our amazing Bloom Brigade team members, Christine, has started up the monthly challenge again and it is now called The Blossom Challenge. Can you hear me squealing with delight? Marcy's image make me so happy and I am just thrilled to see her work brought to life by everyone!

The theme for the challenge this month is "spring flowers" and I actually have 2 cards for the challenge.....for the first one I'm using a brand new image called Sketches of Spring Vol. 1. Isn't this such a lovely bouquet? 

For my 2nd card I used the digital set Tulips in Hobnail Pitcher. I adore these tulips and went with yellow and pink for my flowers.

Not sure where to start with this challenge? Head on over to the Power Poppy store and browse through the spring digital stamp sets that are 25% off just for this challenge! No matter what your taste is in flowers you will definitely find a set that makes you go "wow"! Use a Power Poppy stamp on your entry and you will be in the running for a $20 Power Poppy gift card, generously donated by Ms. Power Poppy herself, Marcella.

Make sure you check out what the other Bloomies did for this challenge and then play along with us!

Barbara C.

Gloria

Essie

and our host Christine!

Pink Dragon

Happy Sunday! It's time for a brand new challenge over at the Sunday Stamps blog and this week we have a fun color challenge!

I was a bit stumped on what to do with my card, I didn't want to do flowers or berries so after thinking about it for a while I decided to pull out the Magical Friends set from MFT. A good friend of mine has granddaughters that love dragons so they were my inspiration when coloring up with pink dragon.

My inspiration for the layout came from the current sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches.

Make sure and head on over to the Sunday Stamps blog to see what the rest of the DT created and then play along with us! There is also still time to play along with Freshly Made Sketches, they close their link on Monday at noon PST!

Peace

Hello friends, if there are any left out there :) I know it's been a loooongggg time since I posted but this is for a good cause so I made time between studying and working to get a card made.

The lovely Marcella of Power Poppy has 2 wonderful offers in her store to help and support the people of Ukraine.....she is offering four of her sunflower digital stamps for FREE. Use them to create cards, posters, flyers, etc., anything you want to show your support for Ukraine.

The second offer is a lovely digital stamp set called Peace Offering that she is offering for $5.00. ALL proceeds from the sale of this stamp set will go to the organization Sunflower of Peace.  This set features a coloring page and digital download, perfect for any coloring skill level!

For my card I used an image from the Peace Offering set, using various shades of yellow and blue to color the image. I love these colors together and I hope the people of Ukraine know how many people across the world stand behind them and wish peace for them.

My layout is courtesy of the latest sketch over at the Freshly Made Sketches blog. This sketch was perfect for the image!

Head on over to these fellow Bloom Brigade members to see their creations!

Barbara C.

Julie

Sathya

Christine