Saturday, January 31, 2015

Introducing Potted Primroses!


 Welcome back friends to our 5th amazing set in the Power Poppy February Release!  All these lovelies will be available tomorrow for you!  I think we’ve saved the best for last.  Today’s set called Potted Primroses is just so creative and beautiful!  I can’t wait to show it off to you!

Primroses are SO beautiful.  Last spring we went to Vancouver Island and it was prime-time for all the beautiful flowers blooming.  I was so taken by the little flower boxes full of primroses at the little shops and cafes.  When I knew Marcy was illustrating these primroses, I sent her a picture of some of the ones I had seen and so this part of the stamp set feels extra-special to me.  I just had to use that part of the set first :)



Aren’t they just so pretty and vibrant!  I gave them lots of rich colour with my Copics and then pulled it all together with some pretty papers I had in my stash.  I thought the background flowers looked a little like primroses.  



Here’s the picture I sent to Marcy and you can see I used those white-edged, yellow-centered primroses for this design.  They’re just so lush and vibrant!  



Here’s a close-up of the design,  the soft bluey-green background really helps the flowers pop.  You can see I’ve added some BV00 and BV02 in the shadows of some of the flowers to create that sense of shade in the colouring.  Here’s the Copics I used below.  








And now, here’s the fabulous Bloom Brigade,  ready to show off how much more lovely this set is (sigh, can it get any better?  Yes it can!) ...there’s so much creativity packed into this stamp set!  Just wait till you see the Auricula Theatres and hear the story behind them!  


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

and Marcy!

See you back here tomorrow for our Blog Hop and the Release of all these sets in the Storm of Creativity!  


Friday, January 30, 2015

Love Bunny

Welcome back friends!  If you’re looking for my Power Poppy New Release post - just scroll down thanks!  :)


I’m back with a sweet little cutie pie set to show off from A Day for Daisies February Club Kit.   It’s called Bringing You Love.  

Today’s challenge from A Day for Daisies is a Valentine’s theme, so here you go!


Isn’t this little bunny the sweetest?  Oh so squishable looking in all of his fluffy little cuteness. :)   I printed him on XPress It Blending cardstock and then gave hims some warm grey Copic colour (T2, T4, T6).  Then I dabbed an old washcloth with Copic Blending solution and lifted off some of the colour to give the bunny that sweet fluffy look.  Then I added the pink to the hearts on the image (RV 21, RV23, RV00) and a sentiment from an old SU set, Noteworthy.   This is last week’s Deconstructing Jen sketch.  



To finish it off I zig zag stitched the edges, added a pretty paper bow cut with my Silhouette, some sweet paper hearts, a button and twine.  

I hope you can play along in the challenge at A Day for Daisies!




Christine (you are here)


Introducing Big Scripts!



Oh friends,  we’ve got a fun one for you today!  Marcy is not only incredibly talented at drawing intricate and beautiful botanicals with such feminine flair that it makes us all swoon - shes also got that bit of wild and unencumbered to her (think motorcycles and skateboards :)  ).  We love all those things about her!  It’s so fun to see her more rough-and-tumble style in this set that’s all about big bold word statements.  I just love it, especially because it’s hand-painted by her!  Big Scripts is all about big fun!  




I paired the “hello” from this set with another of our Power Poppy sets, Azaleas, to make a great combination of intricate and, elegant, bold and splashy.  The sentiment is done on XPress it Blending cardstock in a nice acid green.  After I trimmed out the letters I added in some deeper colour with my YG23 to give it that ombre-painted feel.  

I stamped the smaller of the azalea images from the set onto XPress it Blending cardstock and then coloured them up with Copics as well.  Then I added a vellum banner, washi tape and some fough swipes of embossing paste through a hexagon stencil (Tim Holtz).  



Rhinestones add a little bit of sparkly to this cheery card to finish it off.  





The girls have big splashy stuff to show off to you today.....

Christine Okken (you are here)
Dawn Burnworth
Julie Koerber
Katie Sims
Stacy Morgan
Tosha Leyendekker

and Marcy!

Come back tomorrow for my FAVOURITE set of the release!  It makes my little flowery heart sing!


Thursday, January 29, 2015

Introducing Short Stacks!





I hope you’ve enjoyed our first two days of Power Poppy Sneak Peeks.  There’s just so much more fun in store, especially in today’s set, aptly called Short Stacks.  Think of all the pretty ecclectic little things you put together in a stack and throw in sweetness and you’ve got this adorable set!  Marcy is so good and creative at putting together little scenes of fun that make you smile.


Here is my little birthday stack of fun :)  It has a bit of an ephemera feel, when I saw the bracket theme in the designer paper I thought it would be fun to pull that into the card to make a statement.  Colouring is done with Copics in warm greys and reds.  To me a tulip can be any colour - but red really makes a happy statement, especially when paired with a red bow on a present.  



The bracket was cut on my Silhouette, and a little button and twine finish it off.  





The girls have lots of fun little collections to show off to you...be sure to drop by and visit!

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

and Marcy!

Tomorrow’s set is big, bold and definitely makes a statement you’ll love!  

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Good Thinking: Love Notes


We’re back with some Power Poppy lovin’ going on!  Today’s set is full of lovey-dovey words to tell that someone special how much you care.  It’s called Good Thinking: Love Notes .  



I thought it might be fun to create some “love tickets” for this card.  So I die cut out the ticket shapes  (The Cat’s Pajamas), gave the light aqua ticket some definition with a marker, and then added the fun setiments in teal.   

I purchased a new paper kit from Echo Park - Lucky in Love which has all of these great papers I used, as well as the fun sticker elements.  It makes creating a card easy-peasy!



A little twine bow and some faceted hearts that I coloured with a BG13 Copic round it all off.  Simple and yet really sweet.  

There’s so many fun graphic elements to this sweet set that it will be a great staple in your collection.  I know you’ll want to see some more great ideas from the Bloom Brigade!  




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

and Marcy!

We’ll be back tomorrow with a set that’s “stacked” with creative options!

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Orchids Rock


We’re kicking off a fabulous week of new releases from Power Poppy!  I’m so delighted to show you all the beautiful polymer stamps that Marcy has designed for us because they are amazing!  Today we’re beginning with the gorgeous Orchids Rock set.  I showed a super sneak peek yesterday on the Power Poppy blog and today I’m showing you the other orchid image in this set.    One of the things I really love about this set are the really fun and encouraging sentiments.  The kind of words you’d want to say to a friend to spur her (or him!) on.  



Orchids come in so many stunning rich shades of colour, but I seem to be stuck on this rich purpley shade, it’s one of my favourites because it’s a cross between purple and burgundy.  The perfect mix!  

The images are stamped on XPress It Blending card stock and then coloured up with Copics.  I really wanted this one to have a fresh feel, so there is a lot of white space and angled panels with the pops of acid green.  


I did a little ombre colouring on the sentiment, added a organdy bow and some little ribbon tabs on the design, and otherwise kept it really clean.  



Here’s the Copics I used for colouring.  




And here’s the beautiful Bloom Brigade line-up showing off their Rockin’ Orchids!  Enjoy!  


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


Tomorrow we’ll be back with more!

Monday, January 26, 2015

Power Poppy Super Sneak Peek!


Happy Monday people out there!  

Today I have a super sneak peek tutorial on the Power Poppy Blog.  I’m showing off this gorgeous set called Orchids Rock, coming out from Power Poppy THIS WEEK!  

Here’s a quick look at part of what you’ll find....hope you can check it out!  


Friday, January 23, 2015

Wee Blossom Girl

Hello again Gang!  If you’re looking for my Power Poppy post - please scroll down :)  

There’s a brand new set of images being released from A Day for Daisies today!  They are SO pretty.  Full of spring, love and good things.  

Today I played with this pretty - Fairy Flower Waiting.  Wouldn’t it be great for a little girl card, or even for an expecting mom because of the pretty dress?  With the warm weather we’ve been having, I must have been craving spring, so I pulled out some new papers from Echo Park - Fine and Dandy and played with spring in mind.  We’ve probably got two months left of winter or more...but a girl can dream :)  



I printed her onto XPress It Blending card stock and gave her lots of vibrant Copic colour to go with these sweet whimsical papers.  Because she’s a long and narrow image I thought that some assorted fishtale banners would look great.  I sewed a few passes with my sewing machine to hold the banners on and left the tails of the sewing loose for a free-spirited feel.  


Then it’s just a little bit of twine and a button and it’s finished!  

Here’s the Copics I used below.  



Take a look at the rest of the new images with the beauty the team has to show you.  And, we hope you can still jump in to play in our Ombre Challenge, still open a wee bit longer!  



Christine (you are here)



With Love

Happy Friday morning friends :)  Who doesn’t love to hear that they are loved?  Knowing that nobody’s hands are raised, it’s clear that everyone of us needs to hear it and know it.  So, this card is for you!  I’m sending my love!  
I pulled out the very lovely Geraniums Take Two from Power Poppy and gave them some Copic love in colouring to match up these new papers from Carta Bella, Words of Love, a really lovely pack of paper!   I even tried to really tone down the greens to give them almost a grey colour tone so that the reds would really pop. Then I framed them out with a Spellbinders A2 Border on the right side and some beautiful ric rack velvet ribbon and some gems. 

The little heart is a die by The Cat’s Pajamas, and here are the Copics I used below.  



The Bloom Brigade has pretties ahead!  Here’s who’s playing along...





Allison Cope
Christine Okken 
(you are here)
Leslie Miller
Stacy Morgan
Tosha Leyendekker


And be sure to jump in on the Power Poppy Peep of the Week Challenge, we love to see your creativity.  Stay tuned....and amzing new Polymer Stamp release starts next week!  We’re so excited!  

Monday, January 19, 2015

Got Teeth?


Welcome to another The Cat’s Pajamas Challenge for the month of January!  It’s a great sketch brought to you by Wendy M, and it’s a fun one.  I was thinking about how my little-buddy-nephew is turning 4 in just a week and how much he loves to play “hockey” downstairs with my boys.  He’s such a character with a tooth already missing from a little mishap because of his very busy, rambunctious self....so this idea for a Birthday card was perfect.  


I pulled out The Puck Stops Here to play with (I love my TCP bunnies!) and stamped it on Neenah White card stock with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  I coloured him up with Copics (see below for markers) and then trimmed him out with a little border.  One cute about my little nephew, if you ask him what his favourite NHL team is he’ll say “The Canadiens!” just like his Dad (my brother).  So, I picked the jersey colours for Montreal and added a little stripe with my Copic Multi-liner, along the bottom and sleeves to get the white stripe in like their uniforms.  

To keep it simple, I added coloured sequins, washi tape and cardstock as accents.  






Here’s my silly little guy front and center making a funny face.  He’s such a goofball, always keeps us laughing and he especially adores his big cousins, (well they adore him too).  He’s such a lovey kid, and I love that as well, because it means hugs and kisses from him.  He’s pretty special.    



Here’s the Copics I used.  


Here’s the gang showing off their fabulous take on this sketch.  We invite you to play along too!  You have two weeks to play and it could mean that you win Cat’s Cash to spend in the TCP store, or, even better, you are chosen as the Swanky Stamper of the Month and you get to play along with all the goodies in a future release!  


 Christine (you are here)



Friday, January 16, 2015

Ocean Prayers

Hello again friends!  I’m back with A Day for Daisies post for another challenge you’ll want to jump in on!  If you’re looking for my Power Poppy post just scroll down.  



Tammy has created some gorgeous images for the January Kit at A Day for Daisies.  This particular one is called Fairy Prayer.  It’s a beautiful soulful image that is very touching to me.  She looks very at peace in prayer.  

This week’s challenge is to Add Some Ombre (a great theme don’t you think?).  And since this image is called Fairy Prayer, and I also wanted to add Ombre, I tried to give it that under the ocean feel in the mixed-media of the design.  There’s a worship song I love by Hillsong United called “Oceans”, that I was thinking of the whole time I was creating the card.  

I began by colouring the image with my Copics, trimming it out and then adding some black glittery lines throughout her hair to really give that shimmery effect, as well as clear glittery pen dots on her dress.  

For the main card I first used embossing paste and a Tim Holtz stencil to create the bubbles and then after it was completely dry I sponged ink over top, starting with a light pale blue-green to a deeper teal on the bottom of the card.  Then I spritzed some Mr. Huey’s mists in Watercooler and Shine overtop, giving it all that shimmery Ombre effect of light to dark.  


Finally I finished it off with an old Flourishes sentiment,  and clear rhinestones that I coloured with my markers in darker shades going down the design, and then a single narrow velvet ribbon along the top.    



Here are the Copics I used above.  


Here’s some of the lyrics to this beautiful song.  

You call me out upon the waters
The great unknown where feet may fail
And there I find You in the mystery
In oceans deep
My faith will stand

And I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine

Your grace abounds in deepest waters
Your sovereign hand
Will be my guide
Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me
You've never failed and You won't start now

So I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Savior



Alright now you can take a visit on over to see what the rest of the A Day for Daisies Team has for you with the Add Ombre Challenge!  Please join us!  



Christine (you are here)


I Heart You



Did you SEE the fabulous news from the Power Poppy blog on Thursday?  Oh my word, wow!  There’s fabulous stuff in store with the brand new Instant Garden Team.  :)  I’m so excited about such an amazing group of new designers showing off the digital release on the 15th of each month.  Yesterday they kicked off the show with this set that we’re also showing off today, LaVie en Rose.   Marcy did such a great job giving so many options and ways this digi can be used, with 2 sentiments or with a different sentiment of your choice.  I chose to combine it with a sentiment from our Springtime Love set because I thought it went so well together.  


What I also love about this digi is that you can use it in a horizontal direction or in a vertical direction as I’ve used it here.   I coloured up the rose and buds in a lovely deep pink colour, and then added the note in a pretty soft tealy-blue, pairing it with these papers from MME Kate and Co.  



Finishing touches include clear sequins and a pretty seam binding bow.  Such a beautiful rose isn’t it?  Marcy really gives us so many amazing images to work with!  Such a delight!  


Here’s the Copics I used above.  




Take a look at what the Bloom Brigade girls have to show off again today with this set!  



Allison Cope
Christine Okken
 (you are here)
Cindy Lawrence
Dawn Burnworth
Julie Koerber
Kathy Jones

Katie Sims
Leslie Miller
Stacy Morgan
Tosha Leyendekker