My Favorite Pair!

Hello there folks! I am SO glad it's Friday, how about you? We were hit with a mini blizzard and it will honestly be nice to huddle inside and stay cozy at home instead of brave the streets right now! We have plans to watch my DD play basketball but other than that, the calendar is wide open. Love that!

Moving on! This past weekend, Power Poppy released a brand new digital stamp set -- My Favorite Pair  and it is a beauty! It's the second in Marcella's Cafe Au Lait series and I honestly couldn't wait to color it up! Here's what it looked like after I took Copic Markers and Prismacolored Pencils to it!

I used the no-line version of the digital stamp set and truly got lost in coloring it all up! I was going to list all the Copic Markers that I used but honestly, I have about 40 on my desk as we speak and they just weren't going to fit in one photo together! After I colored up my image, I did add further definition to the leaves using a dark green Prismacolor colored pencil. I love how it brings out the veins of the leaves and delivers just the right amount of visual punch.

And here's a peek at the finished card!

After I colored up the image, I got word that one of my co-worker's moms passed away after an extended battle with cancer. While I wouldn't normally send a flowery pear as a sympathy card, when I added the sentiment inside (from the Soothing Sympathy stamp set), it really worked. 

This co-worker is one of those soft-hearted angels on earth who just lights up the room. It's so terribly sad when we need a card like this but I also hope it brings comfort knowing we took a little of ourselves to create something just for them. I added the sentiment "Sending love and peace" on the front of the card using a vellum strip. That sentiment is from the Power Poppy Tree of Life stamp set.

I will say that this image fits with the Creative Confetti Tutti Fruiti Challenge this week! All you have to do, as the title suggests, use a fruity image as a centerpiece of your card or creation. You should bee-bop over to the Power Poppy blog HERE to read all about the challenge! If you play along, you could win a $25 gift card to the Power Poppy Shop!

I happen to know that a few of my fellow Bloomies are on standby, ready to show off some of their creations for the week! So, won't you please pay these fine ladies a visit?

Kathy Jones

Stacy Morgan

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you have the best weekend ever and..... I'll see you back here real soon!

~Julie 

A little Half & Half!

Well hello there!  Happy Friday to y'all! I don't know if you caught this little creation on the Power Poppy blog earlier this week HERE but I thought I'd share on my personal space since it uses a concept that can be kind of interesting in card making! Have you ever split the canvas of your image so that it shows up in two different colors? Not sure what I mean? Well, let me show you!

On to my card!

See how my giant and lush peony is stamped on both the white and then the dark pink creating a full image on two different backgrounds? That's the challenge!

I have to tell you, I had no idea where I was going when I started this card and, honestly, I am still not sure I got there! ;-) Do you ever have card making sessions like that? Man, anymore these days, that's all I have!

To start, I grabbed my MISTI, and lined up the paper to know where that large, lush, and beautiful flower from Power Poppy's set Abundant Petals might fall. Instead of making both halves in black ink, I decided to make the bottom half more soft and subtle so I stamped using Memento Rosebud ink. The top is Memento Tuxedo Black. After I was done stamping, I stenciled a bit of Baby Pink Memento on top using a Tim Holtz die -- Dot Fade and then I used the stencil and Worn Lipstick Distress ink on the bottom.

Here's a closeup for you!

You can see I added a little sparkle to the lines of the Thank You sentiment with a bit of glitter pen. Gotta have just a smidge of sparkle -- no matter what! I should say that I colored up the flower using Copic markers and reached for R32, R35, R43 and RVOOOO. I highlighted around the flower using BG0000, BG10 and BG11. Add a few little doo-dads with the help of a white embossed sentiment strip (all sentiments are from the same Abundant Petals set) and some pennant flag stickers and... done!

If you need a little more inspiration using this effect... Ally Cope crafted an Inspire Me Monday which kind of touches on this concept. She called it "Yin and Yang!" She divided her card into more than just two halves. You could too if you like and be inspired by her tutorial HERE!  It's a fun one so click the link, grab a cup of your favorite beverage and enjoy!

So, play along with me this week! All you need to do is click HERE to find out all the deets! Remember, if you play along and link up your creation, you're in the running for a $25 gift code to the Power Poppy Shop! 

Yes! Some of the Bloomies are on standby to please and wow you! Just hop on over to see the fine things they crafted this week -- just for YOU!

Cindy Lawrence

Katie Sims

Stacy Morgan

Thanks for stopping by and saying "hi!" Have an amazing and creative weekend!

See you back here soon!

~Julie