Thursday, August 18, 2016

Feeling Fall


Here’s Day 3 of the Nature + Nurture Collection at Power Poppy, and we’re bringing you the very sweet seasonal set Feeling Fall.  It has three autumnul vignettes to get you in the mood for crunching leaves, warm beverages and cooler rainy weather.  

As soon as I saw this adorable plaid wellington boot I knew I had to colour it up first.  


I was so taken by that sweet plaid theme, I decided to make some plaid background paper with my Copics to match the boot.  All I did was swipe the chisel tip of my Copic marker over a section of XPress It Blending cardstock in vertical and horizontal planes, and then added a bit of a Copic multi-liner to give the plaid some definition.  It makes a great background to tie the pattern in.  




Here’s a closer view of the colouring.  I found a few cute maple leaf buttons in my stash, cut off the back and added them as accent.  



Here’s the inside of the design with another touch of plaid and some die cut maple leaves.  



Here’s the Copics I used

I know you’ll enjoy a trip to see what the Bloom Brigade has in store....

Allison Cope
Christine Okken
 (you are here)
Cindy Lawrence
Julie Koerber
Kathy Jones
Katie Sims
Stacy Morgan
Tosha Leyendekker



Wednesday, August 17, 2016

In Praise of Sunflowers




We’re back for Day Two of the amazing Nature + Nurture August Release from Power Poppy!  And for all of you who’ve been anxiously waiting....here’s In Praise of Sunflowers.

This set is one I really love because it puts these beautiful sunflowers that Marcy has previously released in digi form, now in polymer with awesome sentiments.


This beauty was fun to colour up with my Copics.  To contrast the warm yellows of the flower, I added a soft bluey-green background and found some great chevron paper for the background to pair it with. I think the contrast from soft blue to bright warm yellow really makes that sunflower shine.  

Behind the main panel, I added a vertical strip of white paper that I had used some embossing paste with a burlap stencil on.  I like the bit of texture for the background, and it mimics a bit of the sunflower center.  



A close-up of the flowers, with a smattering of enamel dots to accent and a tiny bit of grossgrain ribbon on the corner.  



Here’s the Copics I used to colour.  

Here’s the Bloom Brigade bringing you sunshiney sunflower inspiration today. 


Allison Cope
Christine Okken (you are here)
Cindy Lawrence
Katie Sims
Stacy Morgan
Tosha Leyendekker




Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Prairie Cheer




Today is the start of a beautiful week of 3 new release sets at Power Poppy, called Nature + Nurture.  I think you’ll love the hallmark Marcella Hawley whimsy in store.    To kick it all off today we’re showing off Prairie Cheer.  It’s all designed to bring you a smile while showing off the beautiful parts of the prairie flora.  




As a prairie girl, I am always touched by the beautiful sight of fields and fields of crops, like this beautiful wheat ripening and ready for harvest.  

On watercolour paper, I stamped the wheat stalks with white Craft ink and embossed with white embossing powder.  Then I took some Soft Suede reinker and watercoloured the background, in a way that almost looks like a sepia cloudy sky.  The sentiment is stamped and lightly washed as well.   That really is the same tone as the Soft Suede cardstock, but when you watercolour it, it seems to take on more of a rust tone.   



I stamped some more of the stalks in the background and added a simple strand of twine to the bottom and a couple of brads to accent.  I kept it very clean and simple, and masculine with the warm rich tones.  




A peek at the simple stamping on the inside.  

The Bloom Brigade will have so much more lovely Prairie Cheer to show off to you today....

Allison Cope
Christine Okken (
you are here)
Cindy Lawrence
Julie Koerber
Kathy Jones
Katie Sims
Stacy Morgan
Tosha Leyendekker



Monday, August 1, 2016

Underwater Birthday



Happy Tuesday stamping friends!  Today I’m back with a new challenge I issued at The Cat’s Pajamas, and I’ve called it Water.  There are so many fun ways you can go with this theme....and TCP has lots of great stamps with water themes, or ice themes, snow themes....or you can go with a watercolouring theme too.  



I decided to do an under-water/ocean theme with this great set from TCP called Seas the Birthday.  I stamped the fun little octopus onto watercolour paper and used my Inktense pencils to give him some purple and bluey-green, with a yellow candle.  

For the background I took some re-inkers (Wild Wasabi, Pacific Point, Bermuda Bay) and washed in an oceany background with a waterbrush on a 4 1/8 x 5 1/4 inch piece of watercolour paper.  Then I took a stitched die, cut a frame from the panel and then flipped the outer frame 180 degrees.  The inside of the frame is sunk in and the outer frame popped up.    



For some seaweed accent I used the TCP CutUps die, Leaf Scroll, tucking it into the frame, then adding a couple of enamel dots and baker’s twine for accent.  

Here are the details about the challenge:


  1. Every other Tuesday a new challenge will be posted on The Cat’s Pajamas blog and our Facebook page.
  1. If you want to play along you just upload your design to The Cat’s Pajamas blog page using the InLinkz button by the Monday, 11:55 EDT before the next challenge.
  1. You are not required to use a Cat’s Pajamas stamp or die but if you have them we would love to see them.
  1. On the following TCP Tuesday, the winner will be chosen from the previous challenge and will receive a Cat Cash Voucher for $10 or $15 if a TCP product is used.
Pop on by The Cat’s Pajamas Blog to see who’s playing along to day with our water theme!