We've Got a Surprise!

Hello sweet peeps! It's Tuesday, which means we are about to release a burst of Creative Confetti to help inspire your crafty week ahead but there's more! I am handing over the Creative Confetti Thrower title to another fabulous card maker this week! Are you ready to be "wowed" by this week's guest designer? I am so excited!!!

Welcome Creative Confetti fans, I am thrilled to be a guest designer on the Power Poppy blog today! My name is Lisa J and I live in beautiful Alaska with my husband, our 4 dogs and 1 cat. We became empty nesters in Sept when our youngest moved down to Oregon so we're trying to get used to a new routine and way of life. It's definitely quiet with all 4 kids gone! I've been stamping since my oldest was born in 1994, so thankfully, I have my crafting to help keep me busy during the day! Are you ready to see what we have in store for you this week?

HOW TO PLAY: Simply use the graphic below to create your Tic Tac Toe move, using the elements either in a line from side to side, diagonally or up and down. Just that simple! With it being such a busy time of year I love to have extra help with my card making and a Tic-Tac-Toe challenge is a great way to get a project jump started!

For my card, I decided to use the diagonal row of Red, Die Cut and Green.

I was inspired by a tutorial the talented Julie Koerber did for Inspire Me Monday back in April 2018 and so I created the text "Merry" in Photoshop and then used the Power Poppy digital set Hollyberries and positioned the images around the text until I was happy with how it looked. After printing the image out I used my Copic markers to color in the images....the red from the challenge was brought in on the berries (R35, R37, R39) and the card base, the green on the leaves (YG03, YG63, YG67) and the die cut is the wonky stitch panel from Avery Elle.

Here's a closeup for you...

I like to keep things clean and simple but wanted some sparkle on my card so I used a silver Gelly Roll to color in the text and finish the card off! So, which line of items will you choose? 

Thank you again to Julie and Power Poppy for having me as a guest this week!

Thank YOU Lisa for heading up this week's challenge! Your card is elegant and a perfect expression of creativity to get us in the holiday spirit! So, like Lisa asked, which tic, tac, toe move will you be inspired by? We can't wait to see! Once you're done, be sure to link up your creation below so we can all see AND so you can be in the running for a $25 gift code to the Power Poppy Shop! There are a handful of new digis in the store that would be perfect to snatch up with your winnings! 

Thanks for stopping by and thanks again to Lisa for sharing her beautiful creation and throwing up a new handful of Creative Confetti for all of us!

Until next time!

~ Julie (& Lisa)

Creative Confetti Throwers 

An InLinkz Link-up

Inspire Me Monday: Digital Sentiment Manipulation

Hello folks — If you are looking for our Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge + Giveaway post, please CLICK HERE.

Be sure to come back and read this OUTSTANDING tutorial on digital image and sentiment manipulation by the Bloom Brigade’s Tosha Leyendekker.... FILLED with information and step-by-step screen shots! xoxox, ~marcella

Hello creative peeps!!  Welcome to this week's Power Poppy Inspire Me Monday!!!  Tosh here, and I'm going to share with you how I manipulate digital sentiments, using Photoshop, to fit with the layouts I design with Power Poppy's incredible digital images.  For my first card, I used the new digital set Cherries and Berries.  

This is a long post, so I hope you bear with me.  I have a second card to share at the end too, in which I used a VERY NEW digital image called Merriest of Berries, along with the sentiment from Power Poppy's Hollyberries Digital set.

So, lets get right to it.  I Loved Marcella's new cherry clusters and thought it would be fun to combine both sentiments that come with the digital set Cherries and Berries.  So here's how I got started:

First, open all the images you want to use for your project.  I chose the cherries, and the two sentiments.  I then click on the middle yellow dot at the top left of the image, to bring them to the bottom of my screen and get them out of the way, leaving only the cherries on the board.

See that little pink eraser on the left?  Right click on the image and then click on the Magic Eraser Tool at the bottom of the pop-up screen.  Now, lets have some fun erasing!!  Just click on all the white space around your cherries that you want to be erased.  You'll need to click on the small areas too.  That way the only part that shows up when you create your design is the image itself.  No background noise.  Do this with each of your sentiments also.

Now, you're going to want to create the base for your image.  Start by clicking on File at the top, then "New", then "Blank File".

I want my card front to be a vertical rectangle so I'm making my base rectangular.  I chose 5" for my width, and 7" for my height.  My next card is square, so I just made the dimensions 5"x 5".  It's easier when getting ready to print it out.

I brought my image into the my blank base by clicking on the cherries at the bottom of the screen and dragging them into the frame.  Now, you can rotate, enlarge or shrink them by first clicking on the square arrows on the upper left hand side.  I've darkened the area by clicking on it and you can see a solid arrow pointing to it.

See the boxes around the image?  By hovering over one of them with your mouse, you can rotate it any direction.  You can also shrink or enlarge it.  I like to only use the corner boxes to shrink or enlarge because it doesn't distort the image.  Just hover over it until the arrows show, click and drag larger or smaller until you get the size you want.  I kept the cherries in their original size and just rotated and each time I wanted to add a cluster, I clicked on the cherries at the bottom of my screen and drug them up into the frame, and, once again, rotated them until I got the look I wanted.

There are times when you may want one image in front of the other, and it may automatically go behind.  That's easy to fix.  Just right-click on the image you want to manipulate and click "bring forward" or "send back".

Here's a look at my final cherry arrangement.  Once I was happy with how they were arranged, I moved on to the sentiments.  Now we're finally getting to what this tutorial is really about.  

I started by bringing up the first sentiment to the main screen by "double-clicking" the one I want.  I then made 4 duplicates by clicking on File at the top left, and then duplicate.  You're going to need 4 duplicates because you are going to be doing a lot of erasing.

Back to our eraser.  Right-Click on it and click on "eraser tool" at the top of the "drop-down" menu.  Next you will want to decide the size of your eraser.  We want to cover fairly large areas at a time, so I would suggest making the eraser a bit larger.  But small enough to fit in the tight areas.  If you are uncomfortable using a larger eraser in the smaller areas, you can always resize your eraser at any time.  Look at the top left of the screen.  See the brush stroke? Just go to the right of that and choose the size of the stroke you want.  Mine was set at 99 because I was erasing the entire bottom portion of the image, leaving only the word "You".

Then, using the highlighted crop tool on the left, crop your sentiment as close to the edge as possible.  It just makes it easier to lay out.

Do this with each panel of your sentiment.  Leaving only one section, or word, on each one.  I separated "You", "really are the", "sweetest" and "thing" so I needed 4 duplicates.  I then went on to do the same to the other sentiment.

It looks like this before you crop them.  Once again, I click on all the yellow dots, and take them off of my main screen so I just have my cherry base up.  Click and drag up each part of your sentiment one at a time. 

Now I can play around with each section of sentiment...enlarging, shrinking, rotating...whatever you want to do to fit your layout.  (use the square arrows, at the top left of the vertical strip, again) I enlarged the word "you", and shrunk some others.  I also rotated the word "with".  Just have some fun.

Once I get my sentiment layout the way I want it, I save it and insert it into a new Word document.  I can resize the entire panel there the way I want it.

That's finally it for the tutorial portion.  Here is a look at the final result once again.  I loved the look of the black/white with the bold red cherries standing out on their own, so I decided not to color the leaves or any of the sentiment.  Marcy does such an incredible job with her designs, that they are gorgeous even without coloring!

And here's a look at a card I made with the sentiment overlaid over the entire image.

I did everything the same as above, only I lightened the image first.

Click on "Enhance" at the top, scroll down to"Adjust Color", then to "Color Variations".  I made sure the "Midtone" button was highlighted on the left, and just clicked "lighter" about 6 times.  I then created a New Blank File, and drug the image up into it.  You can then lighten or darken it even more by clicking on "Adjust Color", then "Adjust Hue/Saturation.  Slide the "lightness" bar according to how saturated you want the image.

Erase the sentiment the same way you did before, and just lay it over the image any way you feel fits.

Here's a close-up:

Whew, that's it.  I hope I've explained it all clear enough, and that you get an opportunity to try manipulating some digital sentiments of your own.  Thanks for sticking with me!

  Happy Stamping!

August Challenge: Mix and Match!

Hello folks!  It's a new month, which means, there's a brand new challenge on tap designed to unleash a little creativity and share in this wonderful word of card making! If you missed out on the fun for our Copy A Bloomie Power & Spark Challenge for July, don't miss out on checking out the amazing entries that poured in HERE! The colors, the layouts, the inspiration from our beloved Bloomies was off the charts wonderful!

On to this month! The fabulous Tosha Leyendekker is the challenge hostess and she wants all of us to.....

How do you play? Well, I will let the hostess with the mostess explain! Take it away, Ms. Tosh!

“Let’s mix things up a bit this month. I’m calling this month’s Power and Spark Challenge “Mix and Match”. Let’s combine ANY KIND of Power Poppy stamp sets: Clear with Clear, Digital with Digital, or if you’re really feeling adventurous...Clear with Digital. You must have at least two different stamp sets included in your project. If you don’t have two sets, use the one you have and combine it with an image you’ve found from another brand.”

Well, isn't that a fun and unique challenge? We sure hope you flip through your Power Poppy sets and dream up some creative ways to Mix and Match! Just to help get that mojo a-flowin’, Tosh is sharing her card where she mixed and matched two very festive digital stamps -- Power Poppy’s Wreath: Felt Leaves & Fruit and the background was created using the Hollyberries digital stamp.

Don't you love the antique feel Tosh created? The synergy of traditional Christmas hues with that pop of black stitched grosgrain ribbon? I know I do! So, follow Tosh's lead and mix and match your favorite Power Poppy images with reckless abandon! We can't wait to see what you whip up and... remember... if you play along and you happen to be the lucky winner in our monthly random drawing, you could win a....

$50 SHOPPING SPREE AT THE POWER POPPY SHOP! 

THE OFFICIAL RULES:

• Use Power Poppy stamps if you have them. If not, it is a great way to win some! 
• Link your creation below using our Linky (please use the exact URL from your post instead of a generic blog address.)
• Please mention Power Poppy in YOUR blog or gallery post with a link back to THIS challenge!
• The winner will receive a $50 SHOPPING SPREE TO THE POWER POPPY SHOP! 
• Enter as many cards as you’d like, as long as they fit the theme of the challenge!
• Deadline to enter is August 31 @ 8:00 PM EST. At that point, we’ll draw the winner randomly and make the announcement right here on the first Friday in September.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Moving on, we have a winning name to draw from our July Power & Spark Challenge! After random.org put all of the names in the virtual hat, the number drawn was...

                                                 
Which means the winner is.....

 ••••• Rosali! •••••

Rosali ripped a page out of Ally Cope's creative book and used THIS card for her inspiration! The results are clean and classy with a bold pop of color! Love it! She used Power Poppy's Succulent Singles to pull off this look! Don't you adore that vibrant pop of primary colors? So crisp, vibrant and FUN! 

CONGRATS ROSALI! You've won a $50 Shopping Spree — contact us at bloom@powerpoppy.com and we'll send you your shopping code!

With all of that color bursting forth today, time now to turn things over to some of the most talented card designers in all of blog land!

Stop by, say “hi” and see what these fine ladies have been up to this week!

Cindy Lawrence

Christine Okken

Stacy Morgan

Tosha Leyendekker

And, be sure to stop back by on Monday when the sparkling colorista Mindy Baxter will take center stage for our next Inspire Me Monday! You will not want to miss this one because Mindy is sharing some tips and tricks to get maximum color with minimum Copic markers in hand!

AND: Today we have TWO new posts on the Power Poppy Blog — don’t miss soaking up the fun of Marcella’s Good Vibe 5 — CLICK HERE.

Until then!

Julie

An InLinkz Link-up

Inspire Me Monday: Quick & Easy Gift Idea

Howdy everyone!  Welcome to Inspire Me Monday!  I’m Allison Cope, your hostess this week and today we’re talking a little bit about that last minute gift idea.

I’m always on the look out for a few items that I can tuck away somewhere in the house so that I know I have as a last minute gift to grab.  I especially love edibles in fun and funky tins or cool containers.

For today, I’m featuring some festive digital stamps we offer here at Power Poppy.  I’m using Hollyberries, Wreath: Felt Leaves & Fruit and Wreath: Succulents & Baubles.  You can see both of these wreath stamp sets plus TWO more in our fun Wreath Multipack Collection.  Psst... it's on sale right now!!!

So join me today while I jazz up a simple candy tin for a quick and easy gift using these fabulously festive digital stamps…

See it in HD.

After all my videoing was complete, I broke down and coloured up my foiled creations for my tins.  So I used my Copic Markers to quickly colour up my holly and parts of my pretty wreath.  I used some bold yellows and soft greens to complete it.

Copics Markers: Y15, YR23, E47, YG00, G43

I think my little tin topper turned out cute and was so quick to make!

So the next time you’re looking to jazz up a gift and make it your own, think digital stamps and fancy foil!

Don't forget to play along with our Power & Spark Challenge this month.  For more details, please visit HERE.

Thanks for joining me today!  Have a great time decorating and personalizing your holiday gifts this month.  Happy Holidays all!

~ Ally ~

stamps: Power Poppy (Hollyberries, Wreath: Felt Leaves & Fruit, Wreath: Succulents & Baubles)
paper: XPress It (Copic), Green Foil Cardstock (DCWV)
dies: Stitched Circles (MFT), Scalloped Circles (Spellbinders)
foil: Green (iCraft Deco Foil), Gold, Teal (Heidi Swapp)
ink: Copic Markers

Inspire Me Monday: Christmas Goodies!

Hello folks and Happy Christmas in JULY! It's Julie here with you today! Did you see the brand new digital stamp set that Power Poppy launched over the weekend? Oh my! If not, you need to check out Hollyberries! What a gorgeous image with two fanciful sentiments to match! What a fun way to get a head start on your Christmas Creations! I know, it's a bit early. But, some of you folks are so savvy that you create all year long so as not to be overwhelmed when the holiday of all holidays for card making season gets closer!

THIS LITTLE TUTORIAL IS JUST FOR YOU! 

For the rest, bookmark it and revisit in November when you're looking for a handmade gift idea for one of your BFFs! ;-)

I decided for this cardmaking set that I would literally work backwards. I wouldn't color up my images and then design the cards. I would design the cards and make the digital images fit and work in the spaces available. When I was done designing, I set them all up just like so (below) to "audition" them! I like! Keep in mind, none of the images are glued down in the photo below. I wanted to keep those separate just in case of a coloring mishap. Yes! These things happen folks!

Now, with my cards designed, I wanted to create a holder of sorts so that when I wanted to gift this to someone, it would all be packaged up and ready to go! 

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• 12" by 12" piece of card stock
• ScorPal or any kind of scoring board/tool
• Strong double stick tape or glue dots

HERE'S A PEEK AT WHAT WE'LL BE MAKING:
It's an accordian style card holder that has one slot for your cards (I made four) and one slot for your envelopes! 

LET'S GET STARTED!

1. Start by scoring your piece of 12" by 12" piece of paper on the 1" and 11" score marks on the right side of your paper.

2. Turn and using double stick tape, run a line of tape above the score line and then fold over toward the wrong side of the paper.  

3. Flip paper so that folded edge is along the top of your scoring device. Score along the 2.5", 3.5", 8.5" and 9.5" score marks. 

4. Flip paper over and score at the 3" and 9" marks. 

5. You will now fold your paper so that the 3" and 9" fold marks are mountain folds on the wrong side of the paper as shown below. The other score lines will be folded in the opposite direction. Do this on both sides of the paper.

6. Now, you'll notice that you've essentially formed a tube. To hold this together, tape both sides together with single sided tape. I used packing tape because, sadly, that was all I had on hand! 

7. Making sure the longest side of your project is along the top of your scoring device, score at the 4" and 6" marks. Flip your paper over (still having the long side at the top) and score at the 5" mark. Yes, this will be hard because you will be scoring through 2 and some times 4 layers of paper.Press hard and just make sure you can see your score lines. 

8. Fold as shown above. As you can see, the 4" and 6" scored lines become valley folds and the 5" score line becomes a mountain fold. At this point, you'll want to use really strong glue dots or tape to secure the front and back portions of your card holder together. If you don't have strong tape, you can use a brad or tie a ribbon around both sections. You could even make a belly band to fit over the entire project to keep it together! It's up to you! Get creative!

As you can see above, the back portion will house enveopes! And, looking below, you can see I kept the design rather simple -- just a band of hollyberries with a sentiment tied up quite literally with gold cording and a bow!

Here's a peek at how my finished cards fit in the front accordian pocket. It's a perfect fit!

NOW TO THE FUN STUFF! THE CARDS!

I really wanted the hollyberries to stand out on each creation, but I also wanted each card to look different. I didn't want a border on each card, I wanted it to look as though I had a handful of stamps to use for my creation. Truth is, all I had was one digital stamp set that I molded and fashioned to really expand my creative horizons!

Before I get too far ahead of myself, I will say that these are the Copic marker colors that I reached for when coloring up my hollyberries!

CARD #1

For my image above, this is the digi that I started with....

From there, I used the eraser tool to just isolate one of the three hollyberry segments. And below is the finished leaf segment all ready to print and color!

That's just a basic tutorial. If you want MORE on how to really use your digital images, click on over to a tutorial I did last summer HERE, for a whole host of ideas! I also used the single holly image for the card below!

CARD #2

CARD#3

For this creation, I used the holly border just as it was but layered it twice so that it would carry along the full height of the card. And, see that "decorative paper?" Yep, created that too! Again, check out the tutorial that I did earlier to learn how to make your own backgrounds using digital stamps. It's too fun for words! I just kept layering the main holly image, merged them all into one 4" by 6" canvas and then altered the color to red before printing on a piece of decorative paper. The sentiment for card #2 and card #3 are both from the Power Poppy clear set called Poinsettia. 

CARD #4

For this creation below, I used the holly segment and lined it up to create a frame of sorts. I did have to erase sections to help it fit into a 3" by 3" square, but you could make it larger and form it to fit a larger square card. Up to you! The sentiment is one of two included in the Hollyberries Digital Stamp Set!

And when all the cards were done, they fit perfectly into my card holder. While I didn't add ribbon for a handle, you most certainly could! I love the way this project stands up on its own. Not to mention, I made this a holiday creation, but you could certainly use this idea for card sets of ALL kinds! It truly would make a lovely little birthday gift for that special friend!

AND ONE MORE LOOK AT THE FINISHED PROJECT!

Thanks so much for joining me this Monday! I hope you enjoy this project so much that you'll try it in your own stamping space! If you do, take a photo and link up your creation in the comment section below. I’d LOVE to see!

Happy Monday!
~Julie