Spread a little kindness!

Hello Power Poppy Fans! Hope you've had a wonderful week! Being that it is Bloomie Friday, I thought I would share a creation I posted earlier this week over on the Power Poppy blog. It's for our Creative Confetti challenge and there are still a few days left to get in on the fun! 

In honor of this wonderful thing we call card making, Power Poppy thought it would be nice, every now and then, to focus on why this community of creators is so special! Instead of focusing on color, shape or layout or being inspired by a photo or season, let's be inspired simply by the art of making something and sharing it! So, that was this week's challenge! You can read all about it HERE. 

I love that old Aesop quote which reads, "No act of kindness, however small is ever wasted." So, with that beautiful thought in mind, I dug through my stamp sets and got to creating with the pure intent of spreading some kindness.

I ended up using the Well Hello Dahlia digital stamp set and pairing it with the sentiment from the Potted Primroses stamp set.  Orange is my favorite color and so, when I think happy, I think orange. In fact, if you look at color theory -- orange and purple emote the happiest feelings when we see them! So, if you really want to send some kindness and "happy thoughts," think orange and purple! I need to restock my purple stash of decorative paper -- I didn't have the right shade, so I reached instead for a cool, easy blue! 

After printing off my image, I got to work coloring with Copics and used nearly every yellow and orange I own! For the flowers, I picked up:YR68, YR04, YR07, Y02, R14 for the large flower; Y15, Y35, and Y38 for the yellow flower off to the right; BG01, BG04 for the right vase; BG000 and BG10 for the left vase; R01, RV00, and R32 for the left flower; G20, G21, and YG67 for the greenery and B00, B91, B93 and B95 for the center vase. The bottoms of the vases were shaded with BV0000 and BV01. The highlight around my image was done with G0000. Whew! That's a lot of markers! I did have fun though.... 

And here's a peek at the sentiment that I stamped on a dark blue with Versamark ink and then embossed with white detail embossing powder. Mat it all up on some fun blue and orange decorative papers, add a little twine and a button and... ta da!  

So, who will you shower with a little kindness? What will YOU create? I hope you play along with me! After you're done creating, don't forget to link up your creation over on the Power Poppy blog HERE so we can ALL see! Remember, every entry is one more chance at a $25 gift code to the Power Poppy Shop! So, spread some kindness, and maybe, just maybe, have kindness returned when you win! ;-)

Speaking of good things, Power Poppy is offering a little splash of spring as a part of its Weekend Stamp Steal! Check it out!

For inspiration on how to put these sets in bloom in your own crafting spaces, be sure to stop by these fine ladies to see what they've created!

Allison Cope

Christine Okken

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you have a beautifully creative weekend!

~Julie 

On the Grid!

Hello peeps! Earlier this week over on the Power Poppy Blog,  I ushered in a different kind of Creative Confetti Challenge. I hope you check it out and play along with moi! ;-) It was based on a tutorial the talented Ms. Dina Kowal did more than a few years back. Want to see? Click here!  She took us through -- step by step -- on how to create what she called a "9-block card." It was designed to mimic the effects of a quilted square and that, my friends, was the inspiration! You can check out all the details on the challenge HERE but I thought I'd share the process of creating my card here on my blog too! 

So, I wanted to give you a reference point so that you could "see" where I was going through my little step by step tutorial below. I am giving you a tutorial because I did my grid creation just a wee bit differently than Dina. She had a grid die. I wasn't so lucky but in the process of making this card, I remembered a little trick a fellow stamper taught me once. So, I reached into the cobwebbed recesses of my mind and dug that little trick out! 

I started by printing off the brand new digital stamp by Power Poppy called Bowl of Beauty. Man, is it a beauty or what? I did only print off a portion of the image and I did blow it up a bit so that you could "see it" when I cut it up and re-assembled! Here's what it looked like after I finished coloring it with my Copic Markers! I have to admit I had a hard time taking my paper cutter to this one. I actually said to my husband, "I can't do it!" And you know what he said? "Don't complain, you knew you were going to do it when you started. Just do it!" HA! A little tough stamping love for me! ;-)

Now here's the little trick! I cut a few slivers of card stock to measure 1/8" wide. This would serve as my guide for layering all my little 1" squares! I started at the top and side....  

And then kept moving my slivers of paper as I went!

You can see just how easy this made it!

And here's a look again at the final "puzzle" all put back together!

Here's a closeup. Don't look too hard! You can see that I am just a wee bit off on my top three boxes. The paper must have shifted as I was making my little squares. It's okay though. Most people won't notice that hopefully!

And here's the cheery little sentiment that I added onto a punched circle and put on my card thanks to some silver cording! The sentiment is from the Power Poppy set Potted Primroses. Love that set!

So, now it's your turn to color up something, cut it up and piece it all artistically back together! While it was a bit tough cutting up this image, I do love the effect and was glad I cued up Dina's tutorial for inspiration! You should give it a try!

Time to take a little trip to see what these lovely ladies whipped up for us all this week!

Christine Okken
Julie Koerber >>> you are here! 
Katie Sims
Stacy Morgan

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have an amazing and creative weekend and I'll see y'all back here soon! 💗

~Julie