Running With Scissors...

Joy in a Wreath plus a New Challenge and Sale Info!

 

 

Hello, friends!  We’re kicking off another month-long Power & Spark Challenge today on the Power Poppy Blog and this one has something for everyone!  We’re calling it Power & Spark Rewind.  Take your pick from among them all!

 

 

Here’s a list for you:

• The Sky's the Limit (Use sky colors – sunsets, blue sky, gray sky, any color found in the sky.)
• Go for the Gold (Use gold in any way – color, embellishments, embossing.)
• Pop of Pastel (Use soft pastel colors.)
• Cut it Out (Fussy cut all or part of your image.)
• Pencil Me In (Color with pencils, including watercolor pencils.)
• Hang Some Paper (Use at least three different patterns or colors of designer paper.)
• Shabby & Chic (Soft, feminine, romantic, the appearance of age and wear.)
• Gifts from the Heart (Gifts or gift packaging, tags, etc.)
• Bits & Pieces (Use just a portion of an image.  Stamp off the edge or cut it out, etc.)
• Embellish This (Use embellishments)

I had another one of these pretty Wreaths Plain and Fancy colored up, so I turned it into a card and embellished with die cuts, which just happens to be our most recent challenge – Embellish This.

 

 

I stamped in light green ink and colored with Copic markers for a no-line look.  The simple die cut corner treatment keeps this easy to mail, but square cards always require extra postage, darn it.  Sometimes you just have to go square, though.  Know what I mean? 

 

 

The wreath matches up with the winterberries in the designer paper, and the die cut leaves match the wreath.  You can see the leaves echoed in the designer paper, too.  Love when all those little details go together.

 

Copic markers used for the wreath:

• Foliage:  E81, YG91, YG95,YG99
• Ribbon:  E21, E23, E25
• Berries:  RV63, RV66
• Dotty shading around the wreath:  E53, E81

 

psssssst. . .  HOLIDAY SALE!  Power Poppy has 10% off all holiday sets (clear and digital) when you enter HOLIDAY10 in the discount code box at checkout.

 

Who among my Bloom Brigade sisters are sharing their Power Poppy goodness today?  Let’s have a look:

• Julie
• Stacy
• Allison
• Christine
• Katie
• Kathy

Just for fun please see a penguin hitchin’ a ride on a polar bear here.  I’m so happy you could drop in during this busy time.  Catch you later!

 

 

Stamps:  Wreaths Plain and Fancy  Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, CTMH Wild Flower, SU River Rock, Memory Box Winterberry designer paper (old and probably retired like me)  Ink:  River Rock, Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers as listed above  Accessories:  Golden Rod Stickles, Spellbinders Marvelous Squares, Dee’s Distinctively Sm Pair of Leaves, Poppystamps Small Blooming Poinsettia, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Hitchin’ a Ride

 

How about something fun and cute with glitter?  That’s our QKR Stampede challenge this week – Add Some Glitter.  I don’t need much encouragement to use glitter on my holiday cards, or any card, really, but I go all out for the holidays.  Today I’ve got ice and snow and snowflakes, and it’s all covered in glitter!

 

 

I used a favorite fun digi image called Enjoying the Ride.  Colored up with some light blue and cool gray Copic markers and designed with polar-appropriate papers.  Did you know there are no penguins in the North Pole?  So we’ll say this is way down south in Antarctica.  Brrrrrr!

 

 

Hope you can share your sparkled up card in our QKR Stampede Add Some Glitter Challenge this week!  Stay cozy and I’ll see you back here later!

 

 

Stamps:  QKR digi Enjoying the Ride,  Retired SU! Glad Tidings sentiment  Paper:  X-Press It Blending Card (image), other white for card base, Cool Caribbean, Memory Box Yuletide designer paper (polar bears), Simple Stories Snap Color Vibe designer paper (flags)  Ink:  Printer, Cool Caribbean, Copic markers  Accessories:  Stickles glitter, circle punch, Spellbinders Create-a-Flake Five snowflake dies, Sue Wilson Pierced Flags dies

Glitter All the Way

 

Well, now we enter one of the busiest times of the year.  How about we keep it joyous and fun and not worry too much about the small stuff?  With that in mind I’ve made a batch of simple, but ultra-sparkly Christmas cards.  It seems almost pointless to photograph such splendiferous sparkle because the camera and I can never capture the full spectacle, but I know you’ve seen glitter in real life so I’ll ask you to simply imagine a fantastic twinkling light show.

 

I’ve used one die and a snowflake embossing folder for each card.  On the first I used a lilac-pink glitter paper on shimmery white cardstock.  Slapped the die cut onto one sticky side of a Scor-tape sheet and sprinkled with clear ultra-fine glitter.  Cut to size, peeled off the back and adhered to cardstock.  The ultra-fine glitter is decidedly softer in appearance than other glitters, but still very sparkly.

 

 

The one die I used is Taylored Expressions Jingle All The Way.  There are countless dies that can be used in this manner.  In fact, while window shopping at Dies R Us I spotted quite a few I hope to make mine in the future.  Some will do the entire card front.  How easy is that when you need a lot of cards quickly?  For the cards below I cut in white and used Art Institute glitter.

 

 

 

 

At the Dies R Us Inspiration Blog you have the opportunity to see many dies in use, get an idea of their size and how they work together.  Something different every weekday.  If you’d like a chance at winning a DRU gift voucher come play along in our twice a month challenge on the Dies R Us Challenge Blog.  We’d love to have you.  Wishing you a beautiful day!

 

Chillin’

 

Hello and happy Black Friday, friends!  It’s going to be crazy out there today, so be careful if you’re out and about.  Don’t get trampled!

 

It seems I’m coloring quite a few snowmen this year for Christmas cards and today I’ve got another to share with you.  This cool dude is a digi stamp set from Power Poppy called Let’s Chill.  He comes with a snowflake background and a “Let’s Chill” sentiment.  I did not use the sentiment today, but I did use the snowflake background.  I did one click on the snow dude with the magic eraser in Photoshop Elements to remove his outer white space, then layered him onto the snowflake background.  Changed the color to light blue and printed.  All these little tricks are thoroughly covered in Julie’s easy to understand tutorial here.

 

 

The light blue outline enabled no-line coloring, which I did with Copic markers.  I made his scarf set look a little natty by dotting all over.  There is some glitter on his snow, which I’m sure will show up better if you click for a closer view.  Framed him up with a cross stitch layer inside a scalloped border, added a glittered up snowflake, popped up the panel, and done!  The sentiment is from Power Poppy’s Cozy Cupfuls clear stamp set.  I thought it went well with my frosty guy.

 

The Let’s Chill digi set is greatly reduced today through Monday – only $1!  And that’s not all. . . check out the fabulous sale at Power Poppy this weekend:

 

 

Please visit the Power Poppy Blog today for more info and for a link list to everyone sharing cards with this adorable snowman.  Each card is unique.  So many looks for the same image and snow much fun!

 

Thanks bunches for dropping by today.  Have a happy weekend!

 

 

Stamps:  Let’s Chill digi snowman, Cozy Cupfuls sentiment (clear stamp set)  Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, blue Bazzill  Ink:  Printer, Versafine Onyx Black (sentiment), Copic markers for coloring  Accessories:  Stickles glitter (Stardust, Silver, Frosted Lace, and Holiday Red), Spellbinders Create-A-Flake Five, Memory Box Cross Stitched Frame Borders, Impression Obsession Rectangle 6-in-1 Frames

Wreath Framed

 

Hello, there, and happy Monday, friends!  Look how close we are to Christmas!  Do you believe it?  I need to start mailing Christmas cards soon.  Heck, I need to make quite a few more, too.  Not to panic, though.  There’s always the option to buy a box of cards, if necessary, but I’d rather not.

 

Today’s card was not too time consuming.  I used a pretty wreath and sentiment from Power Poppy’s Wreaths Plain and Fancy set.  I stamped the wreath in a soft green ink so I could do no-line coloring.  The outline completely disappeared and it looks as though I painted the wreath, myself.  Shhhh, don’t tell!

 

 

This is my post for the Dies R Us Inspiration Blog, which I do every Monday but, really, I’m just having fun stamping and crafting.  It’s not like work or anything, tee hee!  I’m seriously having fun with dies lately.  Today I’ve used:

• Impression Obsession All-in-One-Frames-Squares
• Dee’s Distinctively Deer 2
• Memory Box Frosted Spruce Tree

Yes, I’ve enjoyed my IO Rectangle 6-in-1 Frames so much that I picked up a set of square frames.  Love the shape of these little cuties.  They’ve got “stitching”, too.  Everyone’s loving that these days.  Here the three largest frames are held together with foam mounting tape on the back.  I considered coloring the frame, but opted instead to leave it white for a nice, clean look.

 

The deer and the tree are perfectly sized for card accents, especially when you have a stamped image for a focal point.  I must say of all the deer dies I perused at Dies R Us, this is the one that spoke to me.  As for the tree, I cut it in white, colored part with a YG95 Copic, and applied Frosted Lace Stickles glitter to the snowy parts.

 

 

Copic markers used for the wreath:

• Foliage:  E81, YG91, YG95,YG99
• Ribbon:  E21, E23, E25
• Berries:  RV63, RV66

Designer paper is Echo Park The Story of Christmas.

 

Jump in anytime between now and the 28th with our Thankful Challenge and maybe you’ll be a winner.  Use a die, a thankful theme, and link it up.  Couldn’t be easier!  That about wraps it up, I think.  Thanks so much for coming to visit today!

 

Vintage Partridge in a Pear Tree

 

 

Hello!  Perhaps by now you’ve seen the latest digital stamp set from Power Poppy.  The Instant Gardeners shared their interpretations on the 15th of this month and they were gorgeous.  You can read what Marcella has to say about it here, and find a link list to all the Instant Gardeners’ creations, as well.  Fanciful, whimsical, and beautifully illustrated, I was smitten from the start with this Partridge in a Pear Tree set.  Marcella has provided the pear tree image with and without the script on the teapot.  I love it all so I worked everything into my card front.  This card with its well known, classic verse need not be reserved for my one “true love”.

 

I wanted to do this up all colorful and vintage looking, so I made red pears and a blue peacock, neither of which is entirely far fetched, but my bird may be a compilation of a couple different partridges.  Coloring was done with Copics, which are pictured below.

 

To suggest the appearance of age I did a cracked glass technique on both the image panel and the sentiment tag  – pressed my Versamark pad all over, then embossed with ultra-thick embossing powder.  I always do two or three coats, but I ran out of ultra-thick and had to resort to umpteen coats of ultra-fine embossing powder.  Hey, it worked.  Put it in the freezer for a bit, then bent it until it cracked.  I cracked it up good so it would look nice and old.  The final step was to rub the cracked pieces with saffron ink, then wipe off excess with a tissue.  The ink stays in the cracks.  Very cool.  I’m not technique oriented, but I’ve always loved doing cracked glass.

 

If you Google images of “partridge in a pear tree” you’ll find them all very whimsical, indeed, so I say have fun with it.  Any colors, any style.  Such freedom is a heady experience.  Now, for the Copics:

Pears.  I used E15 to tone down the red.
Leaves and branches
Bird
Baubles and teapot
Grounding
Background shading

 

The cracked glass technique does alter colors ever so slightly, just as it should, but I’ve never been disappointed with the outcome.  I should add that I used the Colorless Blender to lighten colors/add highlights in some areas.

 

Okay. . . seems like I’ve been bending your ear forever.  Let’s see what some of my Bloom Brigade sisters are sharing today:

• Julie
• Cindy
• Tosha
• Christine

By the way, I do have another post today prior to this one – a no-line Copic colored snowman.  Thanks so much for your time.  I’ll wrap this up with a full list of ingredients in the recipe below my signature.  Have a fabulous weekend!

 

 

Stamps:  Partridge in a Pear Tree digital stamp set  Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, Bazzill green card base, Kiwi Kiss (swirlies around sentiment tag), More Mustard (poinsettia), Webster’s Pages designer paper (old, probably retired)  Ink:  Printer (grayscale), So Saffron (rubbed into “cracked glass”), Versamark, Copic markers as pictured above  Accessories:  Copper brads, Stickles Golden Rod glitter glue, clear embossing powder, Spellbinders circle die, Poppystamps Small Blooming Poinsettia, Dee’s Distinctively Sm Pair of Leaves

Snowman Greeting

 

Happy Friday, friends!  My QKR Stampede card today is snowy and simple.  All white with a little stitching and some no-line coloring.  I printed him in blue, which inadvertently turned out a blue-green, so I used various Copics in shades of blue-green for coloring.  Added a little sparkle and stitched him up – a cutie patootie snowman for the Christmas card pile!

 

 

He’s a digital stamp – 8715 Merry Christmas – and comes complete with the sentiment built right in.  There’s not much more to explain about this one so I’ll leave you with a reminder of our QKR Challenge this week:  Snowmen.  Easy, right?  I can’t wait to see all the darling cards for this one!  Have a happy day!

 

Embellish This!

 

Happy Friday, friends!  Today begins a new challenge for the month of November at Power Poppy and I think you’ll like it.  Our gal Kathy has challenged everyone to pull out those fun ribbons, flowers, gems, sequins, buttons, whatever and pretty up your cards.  Don’t we all love the sound of that?  Play along and you might win a Power Poppy stamp set.  See more details on the Power Poppy Blog here.

 

 

I’ve been making a real effort lately to keep most of my cards easy to mail with one postage stamp, especially the Christmas cards, but there’s no reason I can’t embellish.  Today I’ve used the new Cozy Cupfuls set and embellished with die cut poinsettias and a single band of ribbon.

 

 

The tag and glitter and the snowflake embossed panel also help add dimension and texture, even though we wouldn’t technically call those embellishments.

 

 

A tree in a tea cup is pretty darn cute, isn’t it?  Those must be some tiny ornaments.  I colored with Copic markers on Neenah Classic Crest Solar White.

 

I’m eager to see all the embellished beauties my Bloom Brigade teamies are sharing today.  Let’s have a look:

• Kathy
• Julie
• Tosha
• Stacy
• Christine
• Cindy

Enjoy!  Oh, and please see my other post today, too.  It’s cute and you might get a smile.  Thanks so much!

 

 

Stamps:  Cozy Cupfuls  Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, Echo Park The Story of Christmas designer paper  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers  Accessories:  Golden Rod and Stardust Stickles glitter glue, tag punch, Cuttlebug Snowflakes embossing folder, Poppy Stamps Small Blooming Poinsettia, Spellbinders Labels Eleven

Be Joyful!

 

Well, here we are in a brand new week, a brand new month, edging ever closer to Christmas, and all stampers of Christmas cards have probably made at least a few by now.  I counted mine up the other day and then promptly forgot the total.  Close to 20, I think.  Not too bad.  Here’s one more for the pile and also for my post today on the Dies R Us Inspiration Blog:

 

 

It was easy and quick with no coloring involved.  I designed it in my head while I was doing housework so once I set about the actual crafting it was a piece of cake.  Dies used are:

• Poppy Stamps Sparkling Snowflake Corner
• Cheery Lynn Peace Dove
• Memory Box Stitched Scalloped Circles
• Spellbinders Small and Large Standard Circles
• Spellbinders Create-A-Flake Five

The frame was cut with a plain circle die inside the scalloped circle die.  I popped up the frame and glued the glitter paper circle in the center to highlight the dove.  Silver-embossed the sentiment and finished off with one little snowflake in the lower corner.

 

A new challenge is up on the Dies R Us Challenge Blog:  Fall.  There are some beautiful samples by the team as well as by the folks participating.  Always fun to check them out.  Why not try your hand at winning a $10 gift voucher from the Dies R Us store?  Use a die cut and make a fall themed card.  Check the Challenge Blog for details.  See you again soon!

 

A Cute Little Kitchen Dress

 

Welcome to Monday, friends!  I found the cutest die set at Dies R Us recently and I wasted no time sitting down and making a card set with it.  These little dresses with their aprons are full A2 size cards and so darn adorable!  I’ve got one for Christmas and one for fall or Thanksgiving:

 

 

The next two are with a spring or summer theme.  I don’t know how long this Frantic Stamper Kitchen Dress A2 Card Maker has been around, but it’s new to me and I just love it.

 

 

Bake up a batch of Valentine or Christmas cookies, or a pumpkin pie and deliver it with one of these cards.  Maybe make it as a tag rather than a card.  Or send as a thank you, as a Christmas card or a Thanksgiving card.  Dress it up as a little girl’s party dress.    I didn’t even use all the parts.  There’s a “blue ribbon”, a star, and more.  Very fun!

 

There’s daily inspiration on the Dies R Us Inspiration Blog, and two challenges per month on the Challenge Blog.  Currently we’ve got a Halloween challenge going on.  Use any dies and a Halloween theme and maybe win a Dies R Us gift voucher.  Good stuff!  See you again soon!