June Dirty Dozen Christmas Challenge

The Dirty Dozen June Christmas challenge is up and it is all about Peace. I took a few hints off the challenge from the word Peace, soothing colors and the doves this month. My designer paper is pierced after I layered it onto toffee cardstock. Wrapped some lace trim and blue ribbon around the middle, then some bakers twine to tie off the button. 

This is an old retired stamp called Dove and Holly that is stamped on white cardstock and colored with various Copic markers. Pierced around the image panel to match the base panel. A few enamel dots and sparkle to finish it off, Voila! I hope you get a chance to play along this month! Have a great day! 

Red, White and Blue Avery

Good morning! This is a new digi to me called Avery and her Patriotic Hat from Sassy Cheryl's, isn't she cute? I had fun coloring her in patriotic colors and theme. Very simple design as I scored about the image border and layered onto the designer paper and base cardstock. 

A few button accents and twine wrapped through each one. The star has a brad center and a little bit of sparkle added to the hem of her dress and the stars. Voila! Hope you have a wonderful day! 

Berry sweet thank you

Happy Friday! My mojo seems to have left my body... ugh! This did not turn out like I pictured in my head. My card is using Tea in the Garden. These strawberries always look so good to eat.  ;-)  Using the smaller stamps in the set I created a little background design for the panel above the gingham. 

After I colored the images and layered it onto the gingham I pierced a border around to match the die cut square I used for the main image. A few enamel dots and some sparkle on the berries. 

Marcy has another fabulous Good Vibe 5 post for you over on the Power Poppy Blog so be sure to check it out.
In the mean time feast your eyes on the Bloom Brigades creations today:
Allison Cope
  Christine Okken
  Cindy Lawrence
  Katie Sims
 Tosha Leyendekker

Feel free to share your creations on social media, and as always, we would love for you to tag Power Poppy!

• Instagram: @powerpoppy and #powerpoppy allows others to find your post
• Facebook: @powerpoppyrocks and #powerpoppy allows others to find your post
• Pinterest: @powerpoppyrocks and #powerpoppy allows others to find your post

And look at our weekend stamp steal! Woot woot!!!  Here is a sample from the past using Dynamic Duos Glads and Gerberas. I hope you have a weekend of fun and stamping. Have a wonderful day!

Popping in to say hello

Hello. I dived into my stamps and grabbed Poppies to start with today. I have three sets sitting on the desk to play with since I have more free time now. I have no one to drive around to practice. :-(  It is only day three I know..... stamping will brighten me up, right?!? 

My card is a lot more cheerful and bright compared to my mental state I have to say. ha!  These poppies are so fun to color and I thought a simple design would be best to show them off. They are stamped on white cardstock and colored with various Copic markers.
A scrap piece of designer paper with a scalloped edge. Wrapped ribbon around the base and a few enamel dots and sparkles to finish this off. Voila! I hope you are having a wonderful day! 

Birthday fun

Today is a little bit of joy and sadness for me as mom. My handsome young men are officially 16 now. Sniff... sniff... Oh they are excited as all get out and had a wonderful birthday celebration this weekend. Mom and dad are still trying to digest that they are able to drive off without us. GASP! Mind you they did drive off just up to Dairy Queen and back but it was driving off without us. ha ha  A new addition to the timeline of their adulthood and for me as mom. Another part of the apron strings was cut and this one kinda hurt..... Others have assured me I will survive and come to enjoy this stage but I am not so sure. I have no little ones to take up this free time I will have. Guess that means more stamping time.  :-)  That is what the boys told me when I started to cry.  Aren't they sweet... hee hee  Anyways... a few photo's to share with you and family that couldn't be here. 

This is a photo of them and their car the day we bought it. Hyundai Genesis Turbo 2011. This car was such a blessing for the price and timing. We have been praying and looking for a year now with the boys. They saved a lot of their lawn money for this car and they were blessed with the managing of their money. The guy didn't want to sell it but his pregnant new wife said uhhh... no car seat will fit in the back honey.  ;-)  Rather ironic as my husband had to sell his mustang right before we had the twins since car seats wouldn't fit in the back of it either. Oh how the world goes around sometimes. The guy had detailed records for maintenance, oil, gas, filters etc. He gave the boys a long ole story/lecture of how to take car of his baby. It was super cute and the boys being "car guys" that they are were in complete agreement with him and told him they would treat it just as good if not better. I think he felt good about it... and the guy took one last selfie with it before they drove off. It was so funny. Anyways... their new car! 

This is a group of the young men they pal around with at school. A wonderful young group of men that are sure to make a difference in the world when they graduate. I am proud to have them at my home with my boys! 

And what young teen age boy doesn't need but a pair of sub-woofers for their new car! OH MY GOODNESS!!!! You are probably thinking what nuts. ha ha  However they have rules on the volume they can have in the neighborhood. I have to say that when you play Toby Mac in the car it sounds GOOD!!! :-)  Needless to say they were so excited.

A very tiring weekend of activities, but a wonderful time with family and friends to celebrate these awesome young men. Happy Birthday guys! We love you! Thanks for sharing in our joy and have a great day! 

Yellow Magnolia

Happy Friday and Good Vibe 5 to you. Did you see the new "vibe" that Power Poppy announced on the blog last week? If you missed it, check out this post HERE for all the details. In the meantime I have a very simple card design today using Planning for Magnolias. 

Simply stamped the magnolia onto white cardstock and colored with various Copic markers. I then die cut using an oval and scallop oval from Spellbinders. Added some textures to the background piece and layered onto chocolate cardstock and then the caramel base. Some sparkles for the petals and a few sequins. Voila!

Before you head on over to the Bloom Brigades creations check out the PP Blog as Marcy has a Weekend Stamp Steal: Geraniums for $2.99 and Geraniums Take Two for $11.99!  Above is one that I created awhile back using Geraniums Take Two. I think I need to pull this set back out myself and color up another one.  ;-)  Now off to the girls blogs...

  Allison Cope
  Christine Okken
  Cindy Lawrence
Julie Koerber

16 and counting

Good morning. Time to get the boys birthday cards done as the big day is coming up. They will be 16! Oh my goodness... How the time has flown by. They will have their license shortly and the wheels to get going. Sniff... sniff... Did I mention that they are going to share a car and we got a cool car for them? I will share picture of them with the car later, it really is a cool little car for them.  My cards didn't turn out quite like I pictured in my head but they will work. ha! 

I did get to use my new ODBD large numbers die which I totally bought for the occasion. My border is pierced to match the piercing of the dies but my stars were not the pierced ones. So I went ahead and pierced around the edges of those, yet it shard to see in the photo. I do plan to buy some pierced stars since this was a pain to do. ha ha
The background stamps are from a few different sets Move the Soul, Marcella's Mixed Tape and Party Time. Just randomly stamped around and then sparkle or suduko gel pen added for a little touch. Couldn't go without a few sequins too. Voila! Hope you have a wonderful Monday. 

The new Friday's Good Vibe 5

Did you see the Power Poppy news? We are shaking the creativity up with our new Friday's Good Vibe 5. You can check out all the fun stuff coming over on the Power Poppy Blog. Before you go check out our Mother's Day Sale! A treat for you this Mothers day.  ;-)

Hope you all have a wonderful Mother's day weekend remembering memories or creating new ones. Have a great weekend! 

Framed Lilac's

Happy Friday! An update on how the playoff games this week went.... we lost the first one.  :-(  So hard to lose when you work so hard and then the outcome is a loss. 4-5 was the end score and we were ahead for 3 innings. The good news is they were excited to be in the play off's in this new division and the seniors got to be in another play off series. Good sportsmanship all around and a great season. We are down to one sport with basketball for the next three weeks, then we start with summer football and basketball.  If I could insert a crazy face here I would. It is always hoppin in my house I tell you what. ha ha!

So what did I manage to get going for the Frame it Up challenge over at Power Poppy? A simple design using Lilac Time. Be sure to link your creations over on the PP blog HERE and your change to win $50 in the store. Woot woot! Marcy has some EXCITED news to share about the Power Poppy blog so be sure to stop on over and check out the news! 

With the games this week stamping was limited so a quick one for the challenge. A simple frame using stitched rectangles for the frame in lavendar. I popped the panel up on dimensionals before I added the stamped image to the inside panels. Colored with various Copic markers. The sentiment is from the set Dream Wedding and I added the little heart sprigs to look like a designed element uner the sentiment.  :-)  Added my favorite sequins and some sparkle to finish it off. Voila!

Be sure to check out the Bloom Brigades creations: 
Allison Cope
Julie Koerber
  Katie Sims
Tosha Leyendekker

Card in a box tutorial

Good morning! We are in the baseball play off's boys and girls, woot woot! Saturday was a beautiful day on the field and we had a great team we played for the double header. Gracious hosts especially since it was a two hour drive to their school. EEK!  Great time with the kids on the road trip up and beautiful landscape along the way. This week is game one and two if we win out we continue otherwise it is winner goes home. Let's hope we can win out and continue to the championship. Now for my creation...

 Mother's day is just a few days away so I figured I better get going on my cards. This is my first Card in a box along with new dies from Power Poppy. This is the final project with the tutorial just under for you to create your own. So let's get started.

 Supplies: Peony Muse stamp set, Peony Muse dies, Surprise box die, cardstock, adhesive, embellishments desired.

Step 1: Die cut box base and designer paper tabs if desired. Also one insert for the center of the box.

Step 2: Adhere designer paper tabs to the box if using designer paper. Pre-fold your edges and the tabs. Add adhesive to the tiny edge to secure to edge. Note, when you fold the box the decorative edges will want to be facing out. Pref-old before to get the idea of the shape.

Step 3: Fold into box shape and secure edge as shown.

 Step 4: To the left is what the box will look like when laying flat. To the right is what it looks like when opened up at a stand.

Step 5: Add adhesive to the edges of the insert piece and secure to the inside of the box. This is looking at the box from the top view.  Stamp the flowers, stems and leaves onto cardstock. Color as desired and then die cut with the matching dies. (picture not shown, I forgot that one. Sorry)

Step 6: I found that laying the box flat on top of the envelope helped me to position the pieces without going over the edge. This helps as it will slide right into the envelope and nothing gets torn.  :-)  Position the first bloom along the back with some leaves peeking out the edge. I didn't actually adhere the bloom at first until I knew how it would look.

Step 7: After I adhered the flower I folded up the box to see what it would look like.

Step 8: Start to layer as desired the remaining blooms. Notice (below) that my first one is moved a little. I found that you were not able to see it as well so I just removed it carefully and moved it up a tad.

Step 9: Added more leaves and a smaller bloom. Here is the card standing up. Now you can finish decorating as desired.

The final card in a box using Peony Muse. My sentiment is from Sweet memories stamp set die cut using a few dies. Added another peony bud to the edge, some sparkle to the petals and some sparkling enamel dots. I have another mom's card to create, in the meantime hope you get a chance to create your own. Have a wonderful day. 

Thank you Tree Peony

Good morning and happy Friday.  It is a new month and that means a new Power and Spark challenge. This months challenge is brought to us by Kathy and the challenge is Frame it Up! That's right and her samples are fantastic. Check out the PP Blog here for links and details!

I have yet to get mine done for this month, so in the meantime I did play with the Tree Peony digi. Oh did you see the newest digi released today? It is called Plant Kindness and Marcy has some info and where to find it at the PP blog found HERE. 

My card is using the awesome Tree Peony. My bloom is a little larger for the card front yet not over taking the entire card. However, I really really want to just enlarge this bad boy and go to town. When I have some time to color I will have to do just that.  ;-)

  The petals and leaves are colored with various Copic markers. Then delicately cut around the edges and added dimensionals to the back to pop it up off the card front. Some designer paper from the pile was added to the red base and dry embossed some swiss dots to the kraft panel. A strip of red added and my sentiment to the top right. A few red brads and some sparkle to the petals. Voila! 

Check out the Bloom Brigades creations:
  Allison Cope
Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
Julie Koerber
Kathy Jones
Tosha Leyendekker

You are gonna want to play along in this months challenge. You know why? Because.... Marcy is offering up a $50 shopping spree to the Power Poppy store! WHOHOHOO!!!  So get those blooms, frames and markers and play along! Have a wonderful day! 

May Tulip Calendar

It is time for the May calendar page and this month I used Dynamic Duos: Peonies and Tulips. If you don't have this set, you can always use the digital version of Tulips or the Peonies. 

I really do like these calendar pages and the fact that I had to keep them simple. That makes for some easy coloring and just a little bit of embellishments. I added some blue highlights around the blooms on this one. Then some enamel dots for accent. Voila! See... easy peasy. Hope you have a wonderful day! 

Christmas Tree shopping

Welcome to the May Dirty Dozen Christmas challenge. Yep, May.... can you believe it? This months challenge is all about the Tree. Most of us that is the centerpiece of Christmas or at least Christmas morning. Create anything from the tree itself, to greenry, the star on the top to the lights. Have fun with it. 

Last year I really wanted to go up into the mountains and chop down a tree for the first time. Time did not allow for us to do that but this year I plan to try again. My card didn't quite turn out how I pictured it but you get the idea. I wanted that first dusting of snow look and feel so I have sponged white ink on the die cut trees. Then the image (retired) is stamped on kraft cardstock and colored with Prisma colored pencils. I added hints of white to look like fresh dusting with a tiny tiny touch of sparkle.  Some faux stitching and voila!  Hope you can play along this month. Have a great day.