It's a wrap!

Hello folks! Yesterday, I was one leg on the 30 Day Coloring Challenge hop with the gals over at Power Poppy! If you click back to THIS post, you'll see that while I set aside an hour to color up a gorgeous image -- Power Poppy's Springtime Love Roundel digital stamp -- I didn't quite finish! One of the things I heard was... "Show us the finished product!" So, here goes! With a little Saturday downtime, a cup of coffee and some jazzy tunes to fuel my spirit, my colored up roundel is done!

I love the soft look that I was able to achieve with the no-line coloring and I love that Marcella is now offering no-line digis, which certainly takes the guesswork out of printing at the right grayscale!

Also, as I was coloring up this bouquet, I really struggled with trying to choose the right colors that would meld well together. As I was hopping through the link list, guess what Christine Okken was talking about? Using the right colors in a multi-flower bouquet! No joke! So, if you are like me and struggle, click HERE to check out her post and video on the topic!

And.... afterward, be sure to join so many crafters from far and wide for this!

Just click HERE to learn more about  thedailymarker.com's 30 Day Coloring Challenge! It's a fun way to disconnect for a while and if you link up your creations, there are some super fun prizes on the line!

And.... today is the last day for this little Power Poppy Special!

*** SPECIAL SALE ***

Burst of Kindness clear - $12.99 - save $5

 Spring Meadow Bouquet digital - $2.99 - save $3

Sale price ends Saturday, June 9.

And if you do get those fingers inky and color up some beauty -- don't forget to post your images on Instagram (use hashtag #thedailymarker30day in your post)!

Have a great weekend everyone!

~Julie 

Time Lapse Coloring

Hello my happy stamping friends! If you hit up the Power Poppy Blog, then you know there's a 30 Day Coloring Challenge Fest going on with the Power Poppy crew! We decided to use this day to show you all how we decided to take the coloring challenge! While I have only played along with this challenge behind the scenes and not very well, I promised myself that I would give it a go at least a handful of times during the 30 days. You might say -- well you color several times a month, don't you? Yes. But it will be those times that I said, let's take a little coloring diversion today -- the times that I didn't intend to -- that I will count! ;-)

If you need a little help getting off the ground with this challenge, just click HERE to learn more about  thedailymarker.com's 30 Day Coloring Challenge! It's a fun way to disconnect for a while and if you link up your creations, there are some super fun prizes on the line!

For my creation, I decided to extend my time to one hour and see what happened. I printed off  Power Poppy's Springtime Love Roundel digital stamp (using the no-line version) and just started grabbing Copic markers left and right! And here's what my little image looked like throughout the hour!

As I was coloring, I was going for a super soft look that was light and airy and I *think* that is what I've got so far! The reason why I stopped was the fact that I was honestly stumped as to what color the rest of the flowers might be. I didn't want anything too bold. I didn't want to repeat a color but I wanted these last flowers to compliment what I already had. So... the dilemma! I'll figure it out!

Now, you might say, "You didn't finish!" That's right! And, that's the beauty of the 30 Day Coloring Challenge! You use what time you have. It might only be ten minutes a day. So, over the next day, I'll finish up this little springtime joy and maybe, just maybe, it will be made into a card someday. :-)

Before I move on, I wanted to share another little bunch of fun! Did you see this little promo Marcy is running to try to help kick off some colorful creativity? Check it out sweet peeps!

*** SPECIAL SALE ***

Burst of Kindness clear - $12.99 - save $5

 Spring Meadow Bouquet digital - $2.99 - save $3

Sale price ends Saturday, June 9.

And if you do get those fingers inky and color up some beauty -- don't forget to post your images on Instagram (use hashtag #thedailymarker30day in your post) or share a link with us here in the comments. We would love to see what you all create!

The Bloomies .... and some members of the Instant Garden .... are getting in on today's fun! So, be sure to hop on over and see what colorific creations these fine ladies have created... just for you!

Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
Julie Koerber
Kathy Jones
Katie Sims
Tosha Leyendekker
Barb Walker
Nancy Sheads
Elizabeth Zaffarano


And don't forget to check out Kathy Racoosin's thedailymarker.com. Every day, Ms. Kathy is sharing some color-infused fun, designed to spark inspiration and help you cultivate that creative side of yours!

Thanks for stopping by and spending a little bit of your day with me! Happy stamping! ;-)

~Julie 

Look Mom .... No Lines!

Goodness people, it feels like a ba-zillion years since I've posted here! Life has been a bit crazy in my world and my time to create has been nill! That's why I am so happy to be with you today! YAY! And, I have a first on my blog here. Never before in my history of card making have I tried the 'No Line Coloring' technique. 

This is why I gave it a try....

I did so because Ms. Cindy Lawrence made this fabulously artsy technique the focus for her Power Poppy Power & Spark Challenge this month! You can read up on the challenge and read up on some tips she offered on how to be a success at this style by clicking HERE!

I have to admit, I was nervous! I went in knowing, however (as Cindy pointed out) that there would be an ugly duckling phase of my coloring. Thank goodness she shared that this fact because there were a few times that I nearly ripped up my colored creation and threw it in the 'circular file'! But, I stuck with it and this was the result below! I did use quite a few Copic markers to color up this little bouquet from the Winter Pick-Me-Up digital stamp set by Power Poppy! Here goes! Background: BG0000, BG000, BG11; Greenery: YG00, YG21, YG03, YG17; Woody Stems: E31, E33, E57; Pussy Willows: W00, E41, E84; Crocus: B60, B63, B66, Y35 and Y38 (with white gel pen for highlights on stamens); Snowdrops: C00, YG00, YG13.

I should point out that before I even started coloring, I did have to open this file in Photoshop Elements and make the lines of the image super light. I changed it to a super light celery green. I should have take a photo to show you all, but forgot! If you ever need help on changing the color of the lines of a digital stamp, Power Poppy has a tutorial just for you! Just click HERE to read all about it! 

After I was done coloring, I did die cut my image with a double stitched rectangle die and while the die was still on my image, I colored using BG0000 around the outside to create a kind of shaded edge and then blended with colorless blender. The sentiment was added thanks to Versamark and detail gold embossing powder (sentiment is from the set Nice Things to Say).The rest is just matting it up! I used some scraps, added some paper piercing and a gold button threaded with twine and... ta da! Done! 

Here's a close-up! (Don't look too close -- I still have a LOT to learn about this technique!!)

And that, my sweet stamping friends, is it! I hope you give this technique a whirl! I do think that if you did it regularly, it would really give you that extra edge when it comes to realistically shading images to bring out the best in your stamped art. So, for that, I am grateful that Cindy put us all up to this challenge!

Now it's time to turn things over to my stamping sisters -- the Bloomies -- to see what they've created for your viewing pleasure this week!


Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
Julie Koerber >>> you are here!
Stacy Morgan

Thanks for stopping by and spending a bit of your day with me! Hope to see you all back here soon! :-)

~Julie