Running With Scissors...

Very Retro Rubber

 

Recently I happened upon a challenge called Retro Rubber.  Have you heard of it?  The idea is to use a stamp that’s a year or more old.  Well, I have lots of those and I love to use them so, even though I’ve been diligently working on the not yet used stuff, I decided to play along today.  My retro stamp is Kerr Jar and Berries by Embossing Arts, dated 1999.  It was long about that time I ordered it from an Embossing Arts catalog.

 

 

I watercolored with a few Stampin’ Up! inks on 140 lb hot press watercolor paper.  The current Retro Rubber Challenge #37 calls for this sketch:

 

 

I’m also playing along in the Just Us Girls Challenge at Cards In Envy.  Cards must be flat enough to fit in an envelope and the current challenge calls for girly or feminine cards.  I removed the center from my flower and replaced it with a linen thread bow so it would be non-lumpy and very easy to mail.

 

That’s it for me!  Have a happy day!

 

Stamps:  Embossing Arts Kerr Jar and Berries, Stampin’ Up! Bloomin’ Marvelous (sentiment)  Paper:  Arches 140 lb hot press watercolor, Pink Pirouette, kraft, Prima Annalee designer paper  Ink:  Ranger Archival Watering Can, Palette Noir (sentiment), SU inks for watercoloring  Accessories:  Flower, linen thread, ribbon

Hello, Goodbye, A New Challenge, and Happy Birthday, Power Poppy!

 

Wow!  I have lots to share today so stay with me till the end, okay?

 

News item #1:  Welcome to Power Poppy Friday!  This is, in fact, my final Power Poppy Friday with the Bloom Brigade.  I know!  It’s rather a shock to me, too, but I think the right thing to do at this time.  I’m taking off my DT hats and free wheeling indefinitely.  Just stamping willy nilly.  I hope you’ll still come visit me.  These last two years have been the best – always something new and exciting coming down the pike with Power Poppy, and a huge privilege to have been in on the launch of such an outstanding line of stamps.  I can’t say enough about Marcella and the team and the beauty and quality of the stamps.  The best testimonial I can give will be the frequency with which I use my PP stamps in the future.  And I will.  Use them.  A lot!  So I just want to take a moment to say “thank you, Marcy, for having me”.  It’s been such a joy, and will continue to be a joy every time I sit down to create with my Power Poppy stamps.

 

News item #2:  The Bloom Brigade gals have made samples for the new Card Maps sketches this month.  For a lot of great sketches all in one place Becky Fleck’s Card Maps is the place to go.  Really.  Check them out.  I had a fun sketch to work with (which I’ll show further down) and it immediately inspired me to get out my Play Ball set.  I’d almost forgotten what a kick it is to work with.  Lots of different stamps and sentiments to play with.  I paper pieced the pennants – stamped on designer paper and cut out just the triangle part – then stamped each edge on white, colored with Copics, cut out and glued over the pennant.  I added red glitter to the sentiment on the one pennant.

 

 

These are the Copics I used:

 

 

I had nearly as much fun with the inside as I did with the front:

 

 

Pictured below is the sketch.  You can see how I adapted, but how I was inspired, as well.

 

 

News item #3:  A new Power & Spark Challenge starts today, too.  The card I’m sharing today was made long before I knew what the challenge theme would be, so it doesn’t fit, but I think the challenge sounds like bunches of fun:

 

 

Intrigued?  I’ll send you to the Power Poppy Blog to find out more info about what Christine has up her very creative sleeve with this challenge.

 

News item #4:  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, POWER POPPY!

 

 

Two years old today!  Still just a baby, perhaps, but we’ve come a long way, baby.  Here’s a note verbatim from Marcy:

 

“Power Poppy is turning 2.  WOOHOO!  We want to THANK YOU, our sweet and encouraging peeps around the world, for helping us spread the botanical abundance and zest for life.  Your creativity, love, and generosity of spirit is SO STRONG!  We are thrilled to kick off another year of flowering and empowering together.

From Friday through Monday, we're offering 20% OFF all stamps, digital and clear.  Use discount code MARCELLA at checkout to receive the special savings.  PLUS, for four days only we have a special birthday digi for only TWO BUCKS!  Visit Power Poppy to learn more.”

 

Trust that I’ll have something colored up with Marcella’s never-fail-fabulous digi ASAP.

 

News item #5:  I can’t leave without providing a link list to all the Bloom Brigade sharing awesomeness with you today:

• Christine
• Julie
• Cindy
• Stacy
• Tosha
• Allison
• Katie
• Kathy
• Cheryl

Whew!  Told you I had a lot to share!   My final Power Poppy post was a biggie, wasn’t it?  You’ve probably had enough of me by now so I’ll sign off for today.  See the recipe below my signature for card ingredients.  Thanks for hanging in.  I’ll be back with you soon!

 

Stamps:  Play Ball  Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, SU! Poppy Parade and Bermuda Bay, My Mind’s Out of the Blue and Notable designer paper  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics as pictured above  Accessories:  Holiday Red Stickles glitter, Die-Namics Star Stax and Stacking Stars dies, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Peek-a-Boo Sketch

 

Well, it’s darn near the end of the month and I’m finally getting around to the peek-a-boo sketch for our Power Poppy Power & Spark Challenge.  I’ll have to admit while there were so many creative and pretty ideas evidenced by the Bloom Brigade and the challenge players for this sketch, it had me stumped.  Or something.  Anyway, I ended up using Sassy Succulents – small images, fun and easy to color.  Nothing popped up, some rick rack trim and a stitched flag.  A few enamel dots.

 

 

Here’s the sketch:

 

 

Looks easy enough, right?  Sheesh!  I’m using my illness as an excuse – pneumonia, and it had me down all month.  It’s nothing to sneeze at.  Or, wait… maybe it IS something to sneeze at… and cough.  I’m much better now, finally!

 

Have a look at more Power Poppy by my Bloomie sisters who probably have something amazing to show you:

• Cindy
• Katie
• Tosha
• Allison

Thanks for dropping in!  Simple card recipe is below my signature.  Have a good day!

 

Stamps:  Sassy Succulents  Paper:  Neenah Classic White, Crushed Curry, My Mind’s Eye Notable designer paper  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics for coloring  Accessories:  Enamel dots, rick rack, Spellbinders Standard Circle dies

Primroses and Challenges

 

 

There’s a new month-long challenge up on the Power Poppy Blog today.  I really enjoyed last month’s long/tall cards and I’m looking forward to seeing what you create for this month, as well.  Check it out:

 

 

It’s hosted by our talented-to-the-max Allison and she has this to say:  “This month I want you pull out a coloring medium that you don't use that often.  So if you tend to use Copic Markers, for instance, pull out your water color paints or your colored pencils instead!  Let's see you use up some of those not-so-used mediums this month.”

 

I’ve been switching back and forth between my Copics and my Prismacolor pencils lately and neglecting the watercoloring that I loved so well in the past, so I’ve chosen to watercolor today.  I used the clear stamp set, Potted Primroses.

 

 

I always use regular old inks and water-based markers for watercoloring because I have so many of them.  Today I used SU’s Rose Red for the flowers and Old Olive for the leaves.  Yes, just two colors!  I applied dots of yellow to the flower centers.  I do like how a very skinny brush allows some very skinny brush strokes.  It’s hard for me to get that kind of detail with Copics.  Nevertheless, all coloring mediums have their virtues and I enjoy all I’ve tried.  I stamped in Ranger Archival Watering Can (dark gray) on 140 lb hot press watercolor paper.

 

 

The Power Poppy team is participating in Kathy Racoosin’s 30 Day Coloring Challenge with today’s post.

 

 

 

What fun that is!  Kathy challenges all of us to color every day, even if only for 5 minutes.  It’s no secret I love to color, and many days I may devote only about 5 minutes to it, just squeezing it in when I can.  For me it’s a soothing and restful pastime and the magic that unfolds is awesome.  I’m thankful for such lovely stamp images to color because I can’t draw worth beans!

 

One more thing:  I’m having a shot at playing along in some challenges lately.  It looks like fun and, above all else, stamping is supposed to be about fun, right?  Today, in addition to the Power Poppy Challenge, and the 30 Day Coloring Challenge, I’m linking up to Seize the Birthday “A Sketchy Birthday”.

 

 

They’ve provided this sketch as an optional topping, which I followed with some minor adjustments:

 

 

The important thing is to keep it a birthday card, and I do need to fill up my birthday card stash.

 

Is that enough photos and graphics for one post, you think?  Sheesh!  I’ll direct you to the Power Poppy Blog for a link list to the team gals sharing cards today.  Marcella has a new digi stamp set which you’ll see all colored up.  It’s a pretty one!  I find that my current printer will not take anything as heavy as watercolor paper so I’ll get to the new digi later with Copics or Prismacolor pencils.  See you again soon!

 

Stamps:  Power Poppy Potted Primroses  Paper:  140 lb hot press watercolor, Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, apple green, Bo Bunny Prairie Chic designer paper  Ink:  Ranger Archival Watering Can (stamped image), Versafine Onyx Black (sentiment), SU! Rose Red, Old Olive, YoYo Yellow for watercoloing  Accessories:  Silk ribbon, Spellbinders Blossom Nestabilities, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Use it or Lose it: Flower Shop (#2)

 

Hello!  I'm finally getting back to my Stampin’ Up! A-Z project.  I was working with Flower Shop and decided to split it into two posts.  The first is here.  I didn’t think it would take me so long to finish up with this set.  After the first two cards I wasn’t feeling especially inspired, but I sat down today and made these.

 

The first is an anniversary card, put together with some pretty die cuts and pearls.  The sentiment is also SU! from the One in a Million set.  Die cuts are Sue Wilson Striplets – Regal, Cheery Lynn Pair of Ferns, Sue Wilson Petite Vinery and Spellbinders Hearts.  The flowers are watercolored in Rich Razzleberry.

 

 

The next card was made using SCS Sketch #566.  I saw the sketch and loved it and it was really what gave me the jump start to finish my Flower Shop cards.  These flowers are in Crushed Curry, Rich Razzleberry, and Melon Mambo.  Card base is Crushed Curry.  Both cards use retired SU! designer paper.

 

 

This is the sketch:

 

 

Now I’ve used up all my Flower Shop stamps and can move on to the next set.  I’ll be back Friday with a double post day.  Hope to see you then!

 

Tulips on Weathered Wood

 

Hello, Power Poppy Peepers!  It’s Power Poppy Peep of the Week Challenge time again.  I know it would appear I haven’t done much since last Friday’s Peep Challenge, but I’ve been busy stamping things I can’t share quite yet.  However, I got down to business and finished up my tulip card this week.  It’s very simple – no doodads at all, not even any stitching.  Shocking, I know!  BUT it’s ultra-lightweight and flat for easy mailing.  That counts for something, doesn’t it?

 

 

The Power Poppy clear stamp set I used is one of my favorites – Dynamic Duos:  Peonies and Tulips.  You can find these Tulips as a digital stamp here, as well.  Once I’d colored the flowers I needed a quick finish so I looked to the Sweet Sunday Sketch 252.

 

 

My Copic photo didn’t turn out worth a darn, so I’ll list them:

• YG11, YG13, YG17
• R30, R32, R37, R39

I sanded the edges of the designer papers and the white-core cardstock.  This, by the way, is a birthday card.  Love the “O Happy Day” because it’s something I say quite frequently.

 

 

Okay, get your peep on, folks, and join in:

 

 

Need a little inspiration?  Find some here:

• Stacy
• Allison
• Tosha
• Christine

Thanks so much for your time today!  Enjoy your weekend!  We’re expecting temps as high as 70 this weekend so I’ll be outside, for sure.  We have daffodils blooming already.  Isn’t it supposed to be winter?  Sheesh!

 

 

Stamps:  Dynamic Duos:  Peonies and Tulips  Paper:  X-Press It Blending Card, CTMH Apricot Blossom, My Mind’s Eye Howdy Doody designer paper  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers as listed above  Accessories:  Spellbinders Nested Pennants, Blossom Nestabilities, and Picot Edge Circles

Power Poppy Meets CardMaps

 

 

Hello, again!  I’m back with the Power Poppy Bloom Brigade today to share a card and a sketch and to ask if you’d like to play along in our first Peep of the Week Challenge for 2015.  As for the sketch, there’s a whole new batch of sketches up at PageMaps where you can find not only fabulous layouts for scrapbook pages, but bunches of awesome card sketches, too.   Power Poppy was asked to provide a few samples for the January CardMaps (the card sketches), and a click on that link will take you to the whole works on one page.

 

 

The sketch I used was designed for a 5x7 card, and since I usually do A2 it seemed like a whole lot of card to work with, but it gave me a great opportunity to use some pretty designer paper.  Sketches and designer paper and Power Poppy stamps – three of my favorite things!  I used the beautiful Azalea stamp set. . .

 

 

. . . and this sketch:

 

 

For the sentiment panel I stamped the large Azalea image in Blush Blossom (pale peach) ink on ivory cardstock and colored simply with Copic markers R0000 and R01.  The sentiment and the Azalea bloom sprigs were stamped in Ranger Distress Vintage Photo.  Copic markers for the bloom sprigs are R0000, R32, R35, G40, G82, and E17.

 

 

Even though this card doesn’t have a lot of hearts and love all over it, I think it would make a nice Valentine with this particular sentiment.  Hmmm. . . you could replace the circle cut out with a heart cut out. . .

 

So join us, if you will, in our Peep of the Week Challenge (see that link for challenge rules) and feel free to use one of Becky Fleck’s new CardMaps sketches just for fun.  It is NOT required to use one of the sketches, but thought I’d throw that idea out there in case it sounds like a good time to you.  I LOVE sketches!  Visit my Bloom Brigade friends for a little extra inspiration:

• Stacy
• Allison
• Dawn
• Tosha
• Cindy
• Julie
• Christine

Thank you so much for dropping in today!  Wishing you a wonderfully happy start to 2015!

 

 

Stamps:  Azalea  Paper:  Blush Blossom, Very Vanilla, My Mind’s Eye Howdy Doody designer paper  Ink:  Ranger Distress Vintage Photo, Blush Blossom, Copic markers R0000, R01, R32, R35, G40, G82, E17  Accessories:  Silk ribbon, lace, pearl, Spellbinders Standard Circles Large and Small, Scotch brand foam mounting tape to pop up one Azalea bloom

Fresh Veggies for Power Poppy’s Peep of the Week Challenge

 

Hello!  It’s Friday Peep time at Power Poppy and I’m sharing what I love today – fresh veggies from the Farmers Market set.  When you play along with the Peep of the Week Challenge you may be selected for the Power Poppy Customer Board on Pinterest, as well as being featured on the Power Poppy Blog – AND -- at the end of the month ALL the players from ALL the challenges are entered into a random drawing to win a stamp set of their choice.  Would you like a chance to win a Power Poppy set?  Again this week it’s “anything goes” as long as you use a Power Poppy image.  Remember, there are digis available here so you can have something to play with right away.  In addition to this week’s Peep of the Week Challenge, you still have time to play in the Pop Goes the World 2 Color Challenge through August 31st.  That’s actually TWO chances to win stamps!

 

 

 

 

 

I should call this “The Card I Almost Gave Up On”, considering all the set backs I had during the making of it.  You see, I thought I could put this together quickly since the image was already colored and I had a sketch picked out to work with.  Well . . .  first I somehow managed to dump my entire case of Copic markers all over my stamp room floor.  Okay. . .  then when I finished stitching the image panel I realized I’d run out of bobbin thread less than halfway through.  Want to know how many tries it took me to rewind the bobbin?  I lost count.  Thread tangled everywhere over and over again!  Deep breath.  Bobbin finally conquered, I carefully lined up the needle with the holes and finished the stitching.   Once I had everything put together I sat back and took a look and, oh, geez – I’d placed the line for my table top way too low.  It was clear down there by the large tomato, and the eggplant on the left had its bottom hanging out in midair.  I did the best I could to fix that up and avoid coloring over the stitches, and believe me, by that time I was ready to call it quits.  However, if points were given for perseverance I tallied up a lot of them because I went on to finish the inside and stamp an envelope and get the darn thing photographed.  One photograph.  No photo of the Copics.  Remember, I dumped them. . .

 

Nevertheless, it was a good day.  I plan to use this card for Thanksgiving, so I’m happy about being a little ahead of time on that.  I’m also feeling good about combining our Peep of the Week Challenge with the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #233.  I love working with sketches, and I’m hoping I can pick at least one to work with every week.  Here’s the sketch:

 

 

I’m getting this in right under the wire as it closes tonight.  Hmmm. . . perhaps I should explore some additional sketch options as well.

 

You’ll love these samples from the Bloom Brigade:

• Christine
• Allison
• Stacy
• Tosha
• Dawn
• Katie
• Cindy

In case you were wondering, we’re going to wait just a little bit longer for the next Power Poppy release.  Hey, with five stamp sets released in August I still have quite a few images to get inky, so I can stay busy while I wait for Christmas.  That’s right – Christmas!  Wait till you see what Marcella has been drawing for you!  Be excited.  Be very excited!  See you again soon!

 

Stamps:  Farmers Market  Paper:  X-Press It Blending Card, Bazzill Prismatics Papaya cardstock, Memory Box Meadow cardstock, Bo Bunny Autumn Song designer paper  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers for coloring  Accessories:  1 1/4” and 1 3/8” circle punches, heart punch, Scotch brand foam mounting tape to pop up heart

Get Sketchy–A Power Poppy Challenge

 

Friday at last!  It’s time for another Power Poppy challenge – the third this month and the third chance to win a stamp set of your choice.  This one is a sketch challenge, my favorite kind of challenge.  Please check here for all the details.

 

I came across this old designer paper when I was rummaging around in my scrap drawer.  Love it, had to use it, and that’s how I wound up with red Tulips.  I printed them rather large to fill the card front as I wanted flowers only and will add the sentiment inside later.  All of May’s Power Poppy limited edition digital stamps can be found here.  You must use one of these images for the challenge.

 

 

Next is a photo of the sketch, along with the keyword for uploading to online galleries.  A fancy die cut is not necessary.  Use your own shapes, sizes, what-not.  Flip it, embellish it – you know the drill.  Rather than a die cut in the background I used the designer paper panel, but with the layered and embossed oval in the foreground.  The ribbon serves as the horizontal strips, with the knots in place of the circular elements.

 

 

The oval is popped up and the tulips are popped up on the popped up oval.  Everything is popping.  Power Popping!

 

 

My photo of the Copic markers I used came out all blurry, so I will list them – there were very few:

• R20, R24, R29, R89
• G40, G82, G94

I hope you can join us between now and the 30th.  It’s a great sketch!  Get inspired by my friends on the Bloom Brigade:

 

• Stacy
• Christine
• Dawn
• Tosha
• Cindy
• Julie
• Katie
• Danielle
• Kathy

 

Thank you so much for visiting!  Have a great day and a fabulous weekend!

 

Stamps:  Power Poppy digital Tulips  Paper:  Bazzill Dark Sunflower, Stampin’ Up! Chocolate Chip, Riding Hood Red, and Naturals Ivory, X-Press It Blending Card (white for tulips), old Daisy D’s designer paper  Ink:  Printer, Copic markers for coloring as listed above  Accessories:  Ribbon, Candy Dots, ticket corner punch, Cuttlebug Birds and Swirls embossing folder, Spellbinders Classic Ovals Large and Grand Ovals, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Springtime Love Card and Repurposed Box

 

I’m happy when I can start my card with a sketch, especially when I know right off which stamp I’ll use.  When I saw the SC483 on Splitcoast I thought of this image from my Springtime Love set.  I accomplished a few other things on my stamping “to do” list, as well – use some old designer paper, use up some of this specialty gold paper I’ve had for years, make a point of using ribbon, and, for heaven’s sake, emboss something.  I hardly ever emboss anymore, and I certainly do have plenty of embossing powders.  I recently tossed out the most hideous dull gold embossing powder and replaced it with a new and prettier gold by Ranger, and I thought one of Marcella’s wonderfully detailed florals would be a good reason to crack the seal.

 

 

Below is the sketch.  I did veer off slightly in the placement of the two rectangles, but I think it’s okay.  I had to have someplace to put the ribbon without covering up the image.

 

 

It’s not so easy to photograph gold embossing.  It either looks dark and dull, or blindingly shiny.  It looks pretty in person, though.  I did some very simple coloring with Tombow water-based markers.  I thought about softly sponging the edges, but decided to leave it clean white instead.  The “Love” is a solid stamp in the set.  I punched it out with a 3/4” circle punch and layered several circles together to give it some substance.  Had to fancy it up a bit more, too, with Spellbinders Floral Flourishes die cuts from the specialty gold paper.  Oh, and, by the way, this card was made for a spring wedding which is coming up shortly.

 

 

The box was not made to match the card.  They’re completely unrelated, but since they’re so similar in appearance I thought I would share them together.  The box was originally a plain gold See’s Candy box, about 4 1/2” x 6” (if memory serves correctly).   It came to me packed with yummy treats from the cookie-lady-mom-of-a-coworker whose special talent is baking and spreading love and kindness.  I’m returning it to her with love and a new life, and it will, in turn, be passed along with yet more love from her to someone else.

 

 

There were a few residual sticky spots from the ooey gooey goodness inside which were easily removed with rubbing alcohol and a cotton ball.   I gave it a new liner of lightweight semi-gloss cardboard.  You can see it has a nice hinged lid.  A very cute little box which deserved a new life.

 

 

It’s all set for gift giving with the tag attached – again all stamps are from Power Poppy’s Springtime Love set, gold embossed and colored with Tombow markers.

 

 

Moving along to Easter cards next week.  I hope I can get at least two done and mailed in time.  Gosh, I’ve had a lot of stamping to do lately.  See you again soon!