Friday, March 2, 2018

Two fun challenges just for YOU!

Hello friends! If you were over on the Power Poppy blog earlier this week, you might have spotted this post. For those who weren't -- you're in luck! I have some fresh creative eye candy to share and it's something YOU can have fun with as well if you play along with me for this week's......


If you didn't know it, every Tuesday, yours truly helps host a color-fueled challenge that's a super fun way to stretch your creativity AND get some free stamps too if you're chosen as one of Power Poppy's guest hostesses! It's called HUES TO USE and all you need to do is use this little trio of colors in your next card or project. Yep, just that easy! 

MOVING ON TO THE LATEST COMBO! When Marcella spotted this amazing swirl of color above, she was at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in our nation's capital. This, my friends, is Tight Malachite and as Marcy said when she first set her sights on it, "Dare you not to swoon!" Well, I did indeed swoon and then I decided this would be a wonderfully fun color combo for.. HUES TO USE! I'll admit, it's a bit tricky at times to pull off monochromatic color combos. But, you know what? I know you can do it! And, I can't wait to see how you pull it off! Want to play along? Just click HERE for all the deets! 

Want to see how I took these colors for a whirl?


For starters, I picked up Power Poppy's Succulent Singles and Prairie Cheer stamp sets (for the sentiment). I stamped two of the smaller leaves directly on my decorative paper and then, stamped a bunch onto white cardstock to cut out later. Actually, I could have used the Succulent Singles Die Set that goes with this stamp set but I had a lapse in judgment and forgot to do that! EEK!

Now, here's the fun part. I decided that instead of letting ink play a prominent role in my creation, I would heat emboss. I dug deep into my drawer of embossing powders. Deep! I have so many embossing powders and many of them are more than 15 years old -- so underused! Take a look at the three powders I picked. They are from a company called BMuse. The company is still around but no longer makes these amazing colors of embossing powder. I have Copper, Aged Copper and Bronze. Here's a peek at what they look like, pre-emboss.


And, because you really shouldn't use Copic Markers with embossing powder (I hear that it damages the tip of your marker), I decided to reach for my Distress Markers and picked up these colors below. I never color directly onto my image when using Distress Markers. I scribble them onto a plastic palette or even a large acrylic block and then pick up the marker with either a blender pen or water brush. This time I used my Dove Blender pen. I love how this allows you to add color gradually and almost with a watercolor effect.

And here's a close up of how those embossing powders turned out! It's so hard to photograph the metallic sheen but they are really quite fun in real life. The Aged Copper has that bit of navy in it, which picks up on the navy in the base portion of my card. I love that blue tint, the distressed bronze and the copper. LOVE!


And here's a little better shot of the coloring! I love the almost dreamy wash on each petal. And, to be honest with you? I just scribbled on the color -- didn't really spend a ton of time on it! Isn't that the best?

And that, my friends, is it! Now it's your turn to take these colors and put our own spin on them! After you're done, don't forget to link up your creation below and let us all see your take on this color combo challenge!

But, guess what? This isn't the only active challenge right now over at Power Poppy! Today, Ms. Ally unveiled a brand new Power & Spark Challenge and it's a super fun one! Check it out! 

 
That's right, all you need to do is be inspired by a piece of fabric, a fabric look, and then, create using a bit of that inspiration! You can read Ally's details HERE! 


I happen to know some of the "Bloomies" are on standby, just waiting to share a bit of their creativity with YOU! So, stop on by to these lovelies if you will! 



Thanks for spending a bit of your day with me! I love your visits! :-)
~Julie 

1 comment:

ChristineCreations said...

These hues are beautiful together Julie! All that coppery accent is so lovely too! Perfect background paper as wellIt feel like it came right from the inspiration!