The Good Old Summertime

I’m back tonight with another card for The Cat’s Pajamas Inspiration Challenge....and the TCP Summer Blog Hop too.  It’s the first full week of summer vacation here and the kids have been enjoying the freedom of lazy days and sleeping in (it’s actually happening for the first time in my parental life!).  Amazing!

So to celebrate all that’s summmer, I pulled out the very fun Vintage Summer set from The Cat’s Pajamas.  I really love this bike ride silhouette.  Riding is something we have fun doing as a family in the summer.   I stamped the main image on navy cardstock and embossed in white, cutting it out with the Framed Up dies that go with this set and accenting with some enamel dots.  On the Kraft cardstock I stamped all the various sentiments from this set several times along the side accenting with an MME paper strip and some stapled ribbons to match the inspiration photo on the right.  

Inside the little berry basket that I cut with my Silhouette I have some chocolate chip cookies that my daughter baked.  Makes a cute little presentation I think :)

Here’s some closer pics of the card and berry basket. 

Jump in on the challenge!  You still have one week left AND if you use any products from this latest summer release you could win in our...

We liked playing with our Summer Stamps, CutUps Dies and Cutables so much we thought we'd like to see what you did with them. 

So from now until July 24 we are having a Summer Blog Hop. Just use at least one stamp, or die, or Cutable from our Summer collection and add it to the Inlinkz on the right column of this blog and you could win a $50 Gift Certificate!  It's that easy!  Seriously - who wouldn’t want $50 to spend in the TCP store!  

C'mon, pull out your new TCP Stamps and dies and download those Cutable files and get inky with us! 

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The Good Old Summertime

A Countryside Bouquet

Good Monday to all of you!  It’s a beautiful day to wake up to a gorgeous bouquet of country flowers from Power Poppy!  Today we’re showing you an amazing combination of California Poppies, Cosmos and Hummingbird Sage in this set called Countryside Bouquet.  And I just have to say, it was delightful to colour!   The beautiful part is that you can pick yours up today and colour it right up too!  

When we lived in the US in our first home I planted Cosmos from seed and they completely took off in the garden, by summer’s end they were 5 feet tall and gorgeous...the ones I planted were a pretty deep pink colour so I had to make that the colour I gave to these cosmos on paper.  For the first time I used XPress It Cardstock for my Copic Colouring and I was pretty impressed with the vibrancy it holds in the colour.  It is a bit lighter weight cardstock than I usually colour with but I’m happy with the results.  

I went with a square sketch, some embossing, and some vibrant yellow and pink dp and ribbons.  

Here’s the Copics I used for the vibrant colours in the bouquet :)

Now you can head on over to see what’s in store from the Bloom Brigade!  

Christine Okken (you are here)
Cindy Lawrence
Danielle Kennedy
Dawn Burnworth
Dina Kowal
Julie Koerber
Kathy Jones
Katie Sims
Leslie Miller
Stacy Morgan
Tosha Leyendekker

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A Countryside Bouquet

Vintage Geraniums

If there’s one annual flower I plant every year it’s geraniums.  They’re perfect for pots, they add rich pops of colour and are pretty easy to care for, they keep blooming and blooming if you remember to dead-head them.  I love the variety of colours they come in, their beautiful deep green ruffled leaves, and I’m delighted to see these Geraniums I can enjoy all year long illustrated by Marcy!  They’re SO gorgeous!  

I decided I wanted to go a little vintage with these geraniums and shabby them up a little.  I began by softening the digi, printing it in a bit of a grey rather than in deep black.   Then, I began colouring the blooms with both Copics and finishing up with Prismacolor Pencils.  That combination of colouring mediums gives some really great depth that I enjoy.  After colouring,  I weathered up the edges of the paper with my fingernail and then sponged a lot of Ranger Distress inks into the cardstock.  

On the background layers of Kraft Cardstock I embossed and did some rich sponging too.  

For accents I added a string of various colours of sequins inspired by Nancy Thomas.  I coloured up the seambinding with Copic Reinkers in a plastic bag to match the colour of the geraniums, then finished with some linen thread.  

Here’s the Copics and Prismacolors I used.

  

And here’s the beautiful Bloom Brigade playing with today’s amazing set!  

Allison Cope
Christine Okken (you are here)
Cindy Lawrence
Danielle Kennedy
Dawn Burnworth
Julie Koerber
Katie Sims
Leslie Miller
Tosha Leyendekker

And be sure to see what Marcy has to say about these beauties!

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Vintage Geraniums

Arranging Roses

It is our first day to show off what’s new for Power Poppy in July!  I think you’ll be quite delighted by the beauty that will come your way in the next 3 days!  This month it’s an all digi-release for that instant ability to create to your hearts delight this summer!  No shipping - no waiting!  You will see some gorgeous summer flowers from the Bloom Brigade that I know you’ll want to add to your collection.  

Today we get to play with Arranging Roses!  A gorgeous pitcher full of luscious roses just picked from the garden paired with the whimsy of strawberries.  Just take a look!  

I really wanted this design to speak of summer, so I chose really warm tones of orange and warm reds for the design.  I trimmed the roses “out-of-the-box-style” on the edge of the rounded die and then added another Spellbinders fancy border behind the image with some lace.  I always think there’s something old fashioned and romantic about roses.  

A little closer look at the colouring, some enamel dots, seam biding, and twine.  Swoon!  Marcy did such a lovely job illustrating this set.  I chose to leave the sentiment off, at least on the outside and then put one inside when I know what occasion I want it for.  

I did use a lot of Copics for this one - so here they are pictured above.  

Now here’s the full line-up of the beautiful Bloom Brigade playing today....and be sure to stop by and see what Marcy has to say about this gorgeous set!  

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

Glad to have “seen” you today!  Have a happy Saturday!

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Arranging Roses

Playing Soon...

Look what’s starting tomorrow!!!! New Power Poppy Sneak Peeks!  Yay!  Can’t wait for you to see them!

And don’t forget, you have a few more days to play along in this week's Power Poppy Anything Goes Challenge!  It’s your chance to be chosen as a Power Poppy Peep....and win goodies from the store!  

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Playing Soon...

Wedding Cake Posies

How have your first days of summer (in the Northern Hemisphere) been?  We’ve delighted in some really wonderful warm days, a Graduation Open House for our daughter and sunlight till 11 pm.  Sigh....I wish it could stay longer!

Today I’m excited to jump into my first “official” challenge as a member of The Cat Pack at The Cat’s Pajamas!  Today we have an inspiration photo for you to play along with....doesn’t it just speak summer?  Love and celebrations?

I took one of the inspirations quite literally as you’ll see.

It was so fun to play with the new Step Out Card Cutables File that Alma designed for the release.  I hadn’t had a chance to break it out during the release....but it was perfect for today.  I wanted to give the design the feeling of a layered cake with all those beautiful blue blossoms running over it.  

I created the flowers with the new Petal Posies CutUps Die doubling some of them up in layers to get that really full blossom look, embellishing them with some rhinestones.  I had debossed the matted inner layer from the file to give it a little elegance and balance, then added a little lace.  

Here’a a side view of my “cake” and the pretty sentiment from the new Vintage Summer Set.  

And there you have it!  Pop on over to The Cat’s Pajamas Blog and see which Kitties are playing along and then enter the challenge!  You have two weeks to play, and you could win Cat’s Cash to spend in the store....or even be chosen to be the next Swanky Stamper and play along in a future The Cat’s Pajamas Release!  It’s so fun!  

AND....

 

We liked playing with our Summer Stamps, CutUps Dies and Cutables so much we thought we'd like to see what you did with them, from now until July 24 we are having a Summer Blog Hop. Just use at least one stamp, or die, or Cutable from our Summer collection and add it to the Inlinkz on the right column of the TCP Blog and you could win a $50 Gift Certificate! It's that easy!

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Wedding Cake Posies

Mastering Masculine Tutorial

I hope you can pop by the Power Poppy Blog today where I have a post with tips on what it takes to master masculine designs.  

Here’s a sneak peek of what you’ll see there!

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Mastering Masculine Tutorial

Be Yourself

We’re back this week with another installment of our fun challenge at Power Poppy!  All of June we’ll be looking for Power Poppy Peeps!  It’s an “anything goes” challenge with Power Poppy sets (digi or polymer) and we pick our favourites of the week, then at the end of the month those names go in a hat and we’ll have winner’s who can then select from the Power Poppy Store!  

This week I pulled out our Sassy Succulents set for some colouring fun.  

I love the smaller potted succulents that Marcy incorporated in this set.  You can use them individually or as I have here, masked and placed together in an arrangement.  I wanted a bluey-green look to the design to pair with these papers (Fancy Pants - Down by the Shore).  They’re all stamped in Memento Olive Grove to tone down the colour a little and blend in with the bluey/green feel.   the tiniest little succulent is popped up.  

A pretty Spellbinder’s Die, some seam binding, a wee bit of washi tape, some Candi accents and it’s done.  I used this week’s Mojo Monday Sketch.  

Below are the Copics I used.  I think I forgot to put in my BG11, and BG0000 for the photo but I know I used them as well.  

Now you can pop on over to see what the Bloom Brigade playing today has up their creative sleeves, and then be sure to jump in on this week’s Power Poppy Peeps Anything Goes Challenge!  Be sure to check out the post for the official rules.

Allison Cope
Christine Okken (you are here)
Cindy Lawrence
Dawn Burnworth
Julie Koerber
Leslie Miller
Tosha Leyendekker

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Be Yourself

Psst....A Little Secret!

I have a little secret I’ve been sitting on for a while that I’m dying to share...

This cute blinkie means I’m a new part of The Cat Pack at The Cat’s Pajamas!  When Alma approached me recently and asked me to join then, it was an easy decision for me.  I really love the whimsy and fun of TCP stamps, they are so well illustrated, smart, a little sassy and adorable too!  I’m so delighted to be joining this great team!  And I hope to inspire you with lots of TCP fun in the future.  

Go check out this link HERE.  :)

For a trip down memory lane, I thought I’d pull out some of my favourite’s I’ve designed with TCP stamps in the past couple of years.   You can see why I’m so taken with them.  And....if you haven’t checked them out I know you’ll want to!  

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Psst....A Little Secret!

TCP - Good Morning Sunshine!

Yay!  It’s Blog Hop Time!  This whole week has been a blast creating with the Summer Release at The Cat’s Pajamas.  The Cat Pack brought you some FAB inspiration and today it’s one more “kick at the cat” (ah!) so to speak :)  All the sets, CutUps and now available in the store!  

You should have come from Nancy’s creative place where I know she showed you FABulousness.  

I have one more card to show off with one of the adorable sets, Nature’s Hello.  

So darling!  And so much sunshine!  Orange is so trendy right now.  It’s perfect for all that summer happiness.  :)  

I cut PJ out with the Silhouette file available with this set (proceeds going to the Masse Adoption) and then stamped him in Memento Tuxedo Black giving him lots of deep colour with my Copics, and popping up his sweet grin.  

Then I took some DP, embossing some clear hexagons inside so that it would have a shiny window effect to it, popping PJ up on top of that layer surrounding him with a window.  Isn’t it fun that even the petals are in the silhouette file?  And the inside pattern of the clear sequins matches the hexagons inside the window too.  

Here’s the set in all it’s cuteness.

Now head on over to the next stop on the Hop...wonderful Wendy!  

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TCP - Good Morning Sunshine!

TCP Ice Cream!

I have another adorable set to show off today from The Cat’s Pajamas, it’s our last Sneaky Peek before the party tonight and the Blog Hop tomorrow when all this great stuff is available for you!  

Today’s set might be my favourite of the release....it’s hard to pick when there’s so many great ones, but I do have a soft spot for the bunny :)

How cute is he in this ice cream bowl?  And a cherry on top!  Too sweet!  Doesn’t that just speak summer to you?  I was thinking along the lines actually of the fun colours of sorbet and pairing that with some vibrant paper too, so that’s where this design went.  

After cutting the shape out with the Silhouette Cut file for this set, stamping him and the bowl onto white cardstock and colouring with Copics,  I also stamped the bowl onto Acetate with Stazon ink and added it over top to give it that clear shine just like a glass ice cream bowl.  I made sure to add a little extra blue/green (BG10) to the bowl part of the ice cream so it took on the tint of the glass.  He’s placed on a Framed Up 2 Die.  

Then its just fun circles sewn onto the design, even with some acetate circles added, all to mimic the circular scoops of ice cream.  

Here’s one more pic that shows more of the shine of the bowl. 

And of course I just had to pop up that cherry on his head!

Enjoy more sneak peeks of this set from The Cat Pack at the TCP Blog. It’s been so much fun being the Swanky Stamper this month!  Hope to see you tonight at the party!  

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TCP Ice Cream!