Friday, October 31, 2014

Heaven & Nature Sing


Oh what a fabulous set we have to show off to you today in Day Four of Power Poppy November Releases....I think it’s my favourite this month, and given what you’ve seen already that’s saying something!  Introducing Heaven and Nature Sing.  

It showcases two beautiful stand alone images of Lenten Rose (Hellebore) and Holly, and two beautiful birdies perched in said greenery, as well as other smaller accents and beautiful sentiments.  I love it!  



Here is my first take on the set with the Lenten Roses and Holly.  I began by stamping onto XPress It Blending Cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black, colouring with Copics and then sponging in some warmth while my Oval Spellbinders die was still in place.  I added a tiny frilly frame around the oval and then paired it all with this beautiful paper (this season’s MME Joyous), an embossed panel, lace, ribbon, and rhinestones.  


Here’s a closer look at the colouring and the beautiful detail on this stamp.  



Above is how I decorated the inside of the card - just with ink.  Isn’t just the simple stamping beautiful?  That’s one of the things I love best about Marcy’s stamps.  And finally, here’s the Copics I used below.  





Now head on over to see our wonderful line-up of fabulous Bloomies and see their lovelies today!   And please come back tomorrow when all these gorgeous sets are released and we show off one more round of inspiration in our Blog Hop!   

Allison Cope
Christine Okken
 (you are here)
Cindy Lawrence
Dawn Burnworth
Dina Kowal
Julie Koerber
Kathy Jones
Leslie Miller
Stacy Morgan
Tosha Leyendekker

and Marcy!

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Merry Littles


Day Three of Power Poppy November Releases brings a sweet set that will charm you, Merry Littles.  As soon as you see it you’ll know that every little element will be put to good use on your Christmas designs, tags, envelopes and anything else you can get a stamp on.  It’s so cute!  

Here’s the set in Marcy’s words....

These little guys are so much fun to work with... they are sized to be tiny focal points, or used together to create borders. They also work well as accents and sentiments on my other stamps. This look really goes back to my favorite style of drawing... happy and whimsical! 


I combined a few of the stamps in this set to create a cozy little winter tree scene.  I stamped on Kraft cardstock using the two different evergreen stamps (I know they wouldn’t go together in real life - but they work for the card :).  I added some neutral colours in deep greens and browns with my Copics and then added some white “snow” with a Prismacolor Pencil.  After cutting out with a Eyelet Circles die I sponged it up with some Ranger Tea Dye ink to warm it up and then pulled it all together with KaiserCraft December 25th paper, cream crochet lace, sewing, twine, Candi and a sweet littel sentiment tag.  



Here’s a closer look at the colouring with the little touches of fallen snow on the pine.  Totally sweet don’t you think?  This set is so powerpacked in mini form, I will be reaching for it all Christmas season!  



Here’s the Bloom Brigade showing off a “Little” fun for you. 

Allison Cope
Christine Okken
 (you are here)
Kathy Jones
Katie Sims
Leslie Miller
Stacy Morgan
Tosha Leyendekker

and our lovely Marcy!

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

O Holy Night



What a stunning set we have to show off today in our second day of Happiest Holiday Round Two sets at Power Poppy.  Marcy really showcased the peace and beauty of a Christmas Eve service on a winter night with such skill in O Holy Night.  It will be a wonderful and meaningful addition to your Christmas stamp collection.  

Heres Marcys notes on this set...

This classic snow-covered church on Christmas Eve in this set is intended for creating make-and-go cards. The very detailed image stamps up beautifully and would be just as pretty in one color as in full color! But when given a fancier treatment, I believe it will shine, too. It includes five simple and reverent sentiments.



For us Christmas celebrations are all about Christmas Eve and going to our service at Church.  It is a beautiful celebration for us of Christ’s birth and we joyfully light the Church up for the last Christmas carol candle to candle until the whole sanctuary glows.  This moonlit Church is totally reminiscent of the peace of Christmas.  

I decided I wanted to do something a little different from the card I created for Monday’s tutorial HERE, and have a cleaner design showcasing a shaker card.  

First I stamped the Church in Memento Teal Zeal ink onto Neenah Brilliant White cardstock, then washing in a little ink with my waterbrush in the same colour to give the night and the shadows some depth.  It’s a really great quick application of colour.  

Then I formed a frame out of Spellbinders Circle dies and an acetate window adding all the little shaker elements underneath on the scene (sequins and beads), popping the frame up with foam tape.   


I kept the rest of the design quite simple with embossed snowflake pennants, curly sparkly ribbon and a teal bow.  



Here’s the creative line-up today, I know their creations will be so inspiring to you!

Allison Cope
Christine Okken
 (you are here)
Cindy Lawrence
Danielle Kennedy
Dawn Burnworth
Julie Koerber
Katie Sims
Stacy Morgan

and our fearless soon to be Mrs. Marcy

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Bough Wow Wow!


Oh you guys....welcome to one fantastic week of New Releases from Power Poppy.  If you thought last month’s edition of the Happiest Holiday Collection was great, you’re going to be even more impressed with what’s coming your way this week in round two!

Today we’re here with Bough Wow Wow...such a fun play on words for this cozy warm set.  Here’s what Marcy had to say about this new set:  

"Let's put some Wow into these Christmas Boughs!!! This set features two splashy, greenery-stuffed swags, and each one is large enough to take center stage on a card. One is loaded with holly leaves and berries, plus vintage glass ornaments.   The second bough is boxwood with woolen mittens, ribbon, and fuzzy pom poms! A tiny pom-pom trio, a knit snowflake, and a handmade heart are accents for this set. 

Take a look....


Yeah...gorgeous right?  This beautiful bough of mittens, pom poms, ribbon and heart are SO lovely!  They make such a beautiful statement on a card that doesn’t just have to be for Christmas.  I pulled out some older papers I had in my stash - Echo Park Keep Cozy and gave it a pretty blue/green icy palette, with the exception of that red red heart, front and center.  Stamped on XPress it Blending card stock with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, and then die cut with Labels Eighteen Spellbinders.  




The paper does a lot of the extra work with some pretty stitching, cotton lace, enamel dots, a button and twine finishing it off.  

Here is the inside of the design - which I just LOVE....look at that little nordic snowflake sweater themed stamp!!  


I stamped it in the various colours I had used on the outside of the design and I love how it looks!  


Here’s the Copics I used above. 





Take a little trip down inspiration lane visiting the rest of the Bloom Brigade and their creativity with this set...

Allison Cope
Christine Okken (you are here)
Danielle Kennedy
Dawn Burnworth
Julie Koerber
Leslie Miller
Stacy Morgan

Tosha Leyendekker
and you will not want to miss Marcy’s special story today as well!

Monday, October 27, 2014

Away We Go!



Happy Tuesday everyone!  I’m here with the TCPTuesday Challenge!  This week it’s a Sketch Challenge hosted by Wendy!  It’s a fun one and it was delightful to put it together with this adorable set Away We Go!  I love to colour it with Copics and bring that up and away theme to life!  

I stamped Bun Bun onto Neenah Brilliant White cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, trimming him out after I was done colouring.  What’s fun about our Sketch Challenges is that Alma often puts together a PDF or Cut File that you can download (for FREE!) and use for the sketches.  So That’s how that pretty tag was cut out.  Go HERE for a list of all the free Cutables Alma has provided.   Here’s the sketch below.  




For fun I sponged up the tag with SU Pool Party and Cool Caribbean ink and then added the clouds from the TCP Clouds Border die, trimming them out to be individual clouds tucked behind the balloon.  Then it’s just seam binding and twine to finish it off.    Below are the Copics I used.  





So please jump on in and play with this sketch!  


Check out the details on the challenge on the TCP Blog and inspiration from the rest of the Cat Pack....it’s your chance to win Cat’s Cash to spend in the store....and with a new release coming soon....it’s always great to have Cat’s Cash!  

Power Poppy Super Sneak Peek!



Hello friends! I’m excited to be bringing you an Inspire Me Monday tutorial on the Power Poppy Blog today...that also includes a SUPER Sneak Peek of one of our sets releasing on November 1st!

In it you’ll find a tutorial on colouring a snowy night scene with this beautiful set O Holy Night.  



Each of the set previews start tomorrow!  Can’t wait to show you!  

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Beauty Captured - Forty-Four

Hello everyone!  I thought I’d pop in and show you a few photos of life here this week since I haven’t done that for a while.  Hope you enjoy...


We’ve had the most beautiful autumn this year.  There have been beautiful temperatures with really warm days and cool nights, and a lovely long lasting change of the leaves.  The colours have been amazing.  And though I should have probably taken many more pictures, I snapped this one in the backyard this week as the sun was beginning to go down.  That gold against the blue sky is so wonderful.


Our daughter turned 18 this week.  :)  While she’s full time in University this fall taking Elementary Education, she also volunteers each week at her old elementary school with two first grade classes.  This week her volunteering happened to fall on her birthday, so to surprise her I brought cupcakes for both first grade classes to celebrate with her.  It was so sweet to see those kids sing to her.  These are her two mentor teachers that we love a lot!  



Here’s our three kiddos celebrating her BD that night.  I am blown away by how much they’ve grown in the past year.  We are so blessed that they’re ours!  



For her party with the extended family I made this fantastic new recipe for Key Lime Cake.  It was yummy.  I’m a big lime fan.  And though it didn’t turn out as pretty as in the original picture (you can see how mine is leaning!), I know what I’d do differently next time - and even still,  it sure tasted good.  Here’s the recipe if any of you are interested.  

Alright!  Great week ahead on the blog with the Power Poppy November Release (so much gorgeousness ahead) and a new The Cat’s Pajamas on Tuesday that you’ll love too!  

Friday, October 24, 2014

Sparkling Trees


Hello friends and greetings on this lovely Friday!  I have another pretty Christmas design to show off to you that’s a snap to create.  I started with the lovely Bottlebrush Holiday from Power Poppy.  I stamped it in white craft ink and embossed it in white embossing powder.  Then I took some ink and lightly watercolored the trees keeping that mono-chromatic feel to them.  Then I took my cues from the baubles on the trees and added sparkly rhinestones in the spots that Marcy drew them.  Isn’t the font for the sentiment great?  So vintage feeling.  

The papers are Bo Bunny Candy Cane Lane.  I love the bokeh effect of the background paper.  Did you know that it’s actually said “bo-kay”?  I learned that in my photography class this fall.  I mistakenly thought it was bo-kuh but I was wrong.  There’s your interesting tidbit for the day.  


For accent I wanted something really streamlined so I cut a paper bow with my Silhouette Cameo and added that to the front of the design as well as some pretty teal velvet ribbon.  



Here’s the inside with a little tree and the sentiments.  

Now some of the other fabulous girls from the Bloom Brigade are going to show off their creativity to you.  And then please jump on in and play along with us in our Power Poppy Peep of the week challenge!  




Allison Cope
Christine Okken 
(you are here)
Danielle Kennedy
Dawn Burnworth
Julie Koerber
Tosha Leyendekker




Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Autumn Stamp Set Sale - Flourishes Stamps



Hello Everyone!  I’ve paired down my collection of stamps and have only kept my very favourites.  So, all of these beauties are for sale!  I am also listing other stamps including PaperTrey Ink, Our Daily Bread Designs, There She Goes, Taylored Expressions, Verve, Hanna Stamps, Stampin’ Up! and MFT in this post HERE.       

HERE are the Details:  
  • This sale is a first come first served basis.  I will go through my emails in the order I have received them. 
  • All stamps are as is.  
  • All stamps are in excellent condition, prices and names are listed under each set picture.  These prices DO NOT include Shipping and Handling, which will be calculated after you’ve completed your list.  Approximate costs shipping to the US are about $12 for 6 regular sized Flourishes sets so that gives you an benchmark to go by.  
  • I am shipping from Canada, all fees are in Canadian Dollars, and payment is only accepted through PayPal.  
  • Shipping will occur 24 - 48 hours after confirmation of payment is received (I do have a job, but I will try to be very prompt with this).  
  • Send your requests AND FULL ADDRESS to christineokken @ gmail . com and I will let you know your totals and where to send the payment.  


Let is Snow (sm set) $3



Thank You $8



Under the Big Top $8



Under the Mistletoe $8



Seasonal Wreaths $8



Rejoice (sm set) $3





Petals and Peace $8



Words of Wisdom $8




Bees and Blossoms $8



Berry Sweet Frames $8




Birthday Pennants $8



Doves and Holly $8



Happiness is Homemade $8



Lots of Thoughts $8




Garden Dreams $8



Princess for a Day $8



Wild for Watermelon $8



Happy Thoughts $8



Garden Fairies $8




Lampost Greetings $8




Cottage Home $8



Pretty Package Set - $5



Around the Arbour $8




Love and Lace $8



Easter Basket $8


Antique Lace Background $5



Passionflower $8




Medallion Motif $8



Country Charm Borders $5



Country Charm Labels $8



Simply Charming $8



From the Heart $8



From the Garden $8


Sweet Violets $8



Think Pink $8



Vintage Postcard $8



Vintage Wallpaper $5



Star of Bethlehem $8



Sweets of the Season $8



Strips and Stripes $5



DIY Topiary $8



Fanciful Flourishes $8



Flowers and Friends $8



Holiday Topiaries $8