Time's Running Out! ;-)

Hello folks and Happy Friday. Wait.... shhh...... hear that sound? That ticking noise? You do? Well, that is the sound of time running out on this fine and fanciful challenge below!

YES.. you only have one more day to look to the skies and let beauty inspire beauty! How do you play? Simply let the colors of the sky serve as an inspiration for your card making mojo! You can click HERE for all the official rules! And that is the place to link up your creation after you’ve gotten those fingers inky! The winner will be unveiled next Friday over on the Power Poppy blog! 

Well, I better take a wee bit of time to share my creation this week!

Well, this creation came after seeing one of these....

I have no idea why, but after a trip to the mall, I couldn't get the pink stripes with a splash of gold off the brain! I thought -- why not try to imitate the Vicky Secrets bag on a card? After stamping the word "hello" from the Big Scripts stamp set with Versamark ink, I covered it with white detail embossing powder and heat embossed! Then, the fun with paint began! I added some Vivid! Pink ink drops from a reinker to an acryllic block and then took a wide brush (about 1/2" wide), wet it a bit and then picked up the pink ink --  using the brush to "swoosh" it off the panel. I kept doing this to add the color and then watered down the ink on my acrylic block and went back over it to get the lighter pink shade. I added a gold panel, a spash of sequins, some paper piercing and a snippet of gold cording and, that's about it folks! This truly is a 10-minute creation! I thought it would be fun to have cards like this one on hand for those "need it in a jiffy" kinds of occasions! 

Here's a close up of the embossed "hello" from Power Poppy's Big Scripts stamp set! 

I simply LOVE all of the hand-painted letters in this set! If you've never seen how this set came together, you need to read THIS post from Marcella. And, if you need more inspiration, simply hop on over to the Power Poppy Pinterest Big Scripts board HERE! ;-) And that, my friends, is it! Make sure to pay a visit to some of my fellow Bloom Brigade teammates to see the creativity they cultivated this week! 

Allison Cope
Dawn Burnworth
Julie Koerber
Leslie Miller
Stacy Morgan

Thanks sweet peeps for stopping by! Have a fabulous and free spirited weekend ahead!

~Julie

~Julie

LOVELY LILACS!

Hello all and Happy Friday! Hope your creative week is ending on a high note! It's Power Poppy Friday here on the ole Out to Impress Blog and have I got a digital treat for you! In fact, let's get right to it!

Just in case you missed it, last Sunday the Power Poppy Instant Gardeners unveiled the latest addition to Power Poppy's Instant Garden a.k.a. their digital stamp set colleciton! And this one, my dear friends, is not an image that is to be missed!

Say hello to French Lilac, which Marcella Hawley drew so lush and lovely that you can almost smell the beautiful fragrance of lilacs coming out of each and every card! ;-) 

Since this is a digi, I used THIS tutorial to prep my image and I actually created a 4 by 5" canvas and draped the lilac off both corners of my front panel. From there, I colored this lovely up with Copic markers, trimmed, and the rest is matting it up with the help of a Spellbinders Fancy Tags die, some Lavender Vivid Ink sponged on top of the die cut tag (sentiment is also from the French Lilac Digital Stamp Set), and then a fun (and very old) Martha Stewart border punch accented with rhinestones! Ta da! 

Here's a peek at the Copic colors that I used.....

And, here's a close up! Don't you just love that little lady bug? I sure do!!!

And that, my friends is it! As always the fabulously talented Bloom Brigade has a eye candy parade for you using Power Poppy stamps (many, if not all used this amazingly beautiful lilac image!). So, hop on over and see........

Allison Cope
Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
Dawn Burnworth
Julie Koerber >>> you are here!
Kathy Jones
Katie Sims
Leslie Miller
Stacy Morgan
Tosha Leyendekker

And don't forget Power Poppy's The Sky Is The Limit Challenge!

Here's how to play! Be inspired by the sky, create, and link up your creation HERE for a chance to win a Power Poppy stamp set of choice!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a fun and oh-so-blessed weekend! 

~Julie

February is HERE!

Hello all and Happy Friday!!! Hope your week is ending on a high note! If you saw THIS post over on the Power Poppy Blog earlier this year, you know that all year long, I am going to be taking Power Poppy Digital Stamps and customizing a calendar. It's funny, I originally thought this little number would sit on my work desk, but I decided instead to share it with my mom! Now that we are half way through February, I thought I'd share the one I crafted for this month!

I used the same tutorial as the link above and lined up the Camellias Digital Stamp up along the left side of my calendar.

From there, it was as simple as trimming up my calendar, rounding the corners and then... COLORING! I decided to use Ranger Distress Markers for this one and picked up these colors: Worn Lipstick, Spun Sugar, Tattered Rose, Shabby Shudders, and Peeled Paint. When I was done coloring it up, I took two Copic shades -- BG0000 and BG11 and added some shading around my image. And, to add a little razzle dazzle to the centers of some of the flowers --- glitter glue! Here's a close up!

And that, my friends, is it! A FEW FUN ITEMS OF NOTE! If you love Power Poppy's Digital Stamps, mark your calendar! This Sunday - February 15th - Power Poppy will reveal the latest addition to the Power Poppy Instant Garden. And, those fabulous designers known as the Instant Gardeners will be on hand to show off this new image! So on Sunday, make sure to head on over HERE to the Power Poppy Blog!

While you're surfing, don't forget about the Power & Spark Challenge -- one way you can express your creativity AND maybe win a stamp set of choice! Check it out!

Since it's Friday, some of my fellow members of the Bloom Brigade have some wonderful creations to share, so hop on over and see.....

Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
Julie Koerber >>> you are here!
Leslie Miller
Stacy Morgan
Tosha Leyendekker

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you have the best of the best weekends and for those in the U.S. -- HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! May love & joy rule the day! :-)

~Julie

The SKY is the Limit!

Ever long for that dash of design power or splash of creative spark? Well, I sure do! Let's face it, we can’t be creative geniuses 100% of the time, can we? ;-) That’s why TODAY I am helping Power Poppy to kick off a whole new way to get that mojo a flowing for your creative pursuits!

Let me introduce you to the....

Each month, Power Poppy will usher in a new designer-led challenge and you have all month long to submit cards, chat it up with the Power Poppy designers and get YOUR chance to win a Power Poppy stamp set of your choice! Click on over HERE the first Friday of each month and you’ll see what this fun-filled journey is all about!

So, in the graphic above, you'll see a little photo that I took out my front door last week is the focus of my challenge this month!

HOW TO PLAY: Our VERY FIRST challenge is all about being inspired by the lush and radiant colors that our atomosphere offers us each and every day! The good news is, you have all February to take on this challenge, so look to the skies and snap a picture of a beautiful sunrise, a grand blue cloudless sky or a heart-stopping sunset! Then, be inspired! Please feel free to share your sky photo in your blog or gallery post -- we'd love to see! Feel free to click HERE to the Power Poppy blog for all the official rules!

On to my creation! 

You can see I took a pretty literal translation of the little photo I snapped off in the sky above my home. I loved the way it transitioned from orange to blue and while I didn't add a little spot for the moon, I decided to add some sparkle to give that effect thanks to rhinestones and sequins!

I started by stamping the Thanks so Much onto white card stock with Versamark Ink and embossing with white detail embossing powder.....

Then, I ripped some Post-It Notes to mask off the sides before I sponged on some ink to give it that uneven edge.

When it came time to sponge ink, I reached for a SUPER OLD duo of ink pads. Remember these?

That's right -- Kaleidacolor Ink Pads. Gosh, I think these were one of my first purchases when I first started stamping 14 years ago. Would you believe that these are STILL inky? Not even a bit died out. I was amazed. Anyway, I used a sponge and added a bit of color until the colors had blended just the way I wanted them. I carried the orange up into the blue a bit more to mimic my sky. And... that, my friends, is about it! I have to say, I LOVE the Big Scripts sentiment! Because these senties are so large and in charge, THEY are the focal point and I love that -- especially when you need a card in a jiffy!

I do have a confession to make about this challenge and this card. Lately, I am OBSESSED with the sky. Actually, it's because of one of my other hobbies... knitting! My local yarn shop is hosting a knit a long that is so uber cool. It's called the Sky Shawl and after grabbing up delightful yarns in colors that can be found in the sky, you journal the colors you see each day and knit two rows in the yarn that's the closest match. Yes, this is a year-long project showcasing the skies over your home town. I have a little journal and I have 7 shades of alpaca lace yarn. Isn't this yarn delish? I picked most of the blues and then the peach and russet shades from the far left. Dreamy!

Here's a peek at my friend Becky modeling one of the finished shawls, I think it is so fun to think that the sky determines your color scheme!

Like I said... Dreamy! Okay, I'll stop now. I am sure you have places to go and people to see -- like the Bloom Brigade! The Bloomies have a bit of wonderfulness to show off this Friday!

Allison Cope

Christine Okken

Cindy Lawrence

Dawn Burnworth

Julie Koerber

Stacy Morgan
Leslie Miller

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you join me in the POWER & SPARK Challenge! Look to the skies and be inspired as you create! I will love seeing the skies that sit over your little corner of the world that inspire creativity in your stamp rooms! 

See you back here soon!

~Julie

Howdy Ho There!

Hello there and Happy Monday! Just wanted to let you know that I am hosting.....

... over on the Power Poppy Blog!  This week, I am showing you how you can look at your digital stamps in a whole new way thanks to some simple photo editing software! I'm going to show you how to take this image.....La Vie En Rose... 

And alter it to create this below! 

So click HERE and see for yourself! Thanks for stopping by!

~Julie

It's Time for the Power Poppy Hop!

Hello all! And NOW... the moment we've all been waiting for! After looking at all the sneaky peeks from Power Poppy for the last five days, the RELEASE DAY has finally arrived! And, all you need to do is click HERE to see the Storm of Creativity Collection! This bevy of beautiful designs have sure inspired a ton of creativity within the Bloom Brigade! And so now, it's your turn! Grab these gorgeous images and let's see what you can create!

As with every Power Poppy Release Day, the Bloom Brigade loves to pick one of the sets from this week and share another creation as we all take part and have a full fledged Power Poppy Hop!

On to my creation!

I started my design with a little paper from the Carta Bella Yesterday 6 by 6" decorative paper pad and I decided not to color all of this big and beautiful orchid but to "spotlight" it instead! So, I stamped one of the orchids from Power Poppy's new set called Orchids Rock using Memento Rich Cocoa. From there, I stamped my image again using Memento Tuxedo Black onto white card stock. I grabbed my Copic Markers and went to town! I used G20, G21, G24, G28, R24, R00, R35, R39, Y35, Y21, E31, BG0000 and BG10. After coloring just that section, I punched out my flower using a 1/-1/4" circle punch and then matted it on a die cut shape from a retired Spellbinders Blossom die. I trimmed the main decorative paper piece, added a little paper piercing and corner rounding, added my sentiment (also from the set) and then added my main colored image thanks to a wee bit of foam tape. Throw in some burlap twine, a fun brad and... ta da! Done! 

Here's a close up! 

And that, my friends, is it! I won't keep you much longer! Make sure you stop by these fine ladies' places on the blogosphere to see what they crafted for our Power Poppy Hop! I know you won't be disappointed!

Allison Cope
Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
Dawn Burnworth
Julie Koerber>>> you are here!
Katie Sims
Leslie Miller
Stacy Morgan
Tosha Leyendekker


Thanks for stopping by and joining us all week. We sure had a blast showing off these new designs! Hope you had fun too! See you back here soon!

~Julie