Sympathetic Magnolias

Happy last Friday of 2016!  Wow… this year has flown by!  Join me today along some of the Bloom Brigaders from Power Poppy as we share some final cards for 2016.

This past week a friend of mine lost her husband of many, many years.  So I needed to create a sympathy card to send her.

I chose to showcase the stunning Planning for Magnolias stamp set plus some fitting sentiments from the Daffodils stamp set.  I was in the mood to watercolour so I grabbed some Arches Cold Press paper and my ZIG Clean Color Markers.

I even managed to stamp a little somethin’ on the inside…

Now, go and check out what my fellow Bloomies have created to share today…

Christine Okken

Cindy Lawrence
Julie Koerber
Stacy Morgan

Power Poppy Blog

Thanks for joining me throughout 2016!  Let’s make 2017 your best year ever!!!

Happy New Year everyone!

~ Ally ~


Supplies:
stamps: Power Poppy (Planning for Magnolias, Daffodils)
cardstock:  Recollections (110# Black), Watercolor Paper (Arches 140# Cold Press)
inks: Versafine (Black Onyx), Memento (Lady Bug), Simon Says Stamp (Smoke), ZIG Clean Color Markers (Lemon Yellow, Sugared Almond Pink, Pink, English Lavender, Blue, Cobalt Blue, Pale Green, Light Green, Green, Light Grey, Brown)

Mmmm! Cake!

Happy Friday before Christmas!  Today I’m not even going to share something Christmasey!  I know??!?!  I have a lot of birthdays that happen in December in my family so I thought I’d share the card I sent my Mom.

I used the Tea in the Garden stamp set by Power Poppy for the delicious cake – I mean who doesn’t love chocolate cake on their birthday – plus I used the sentiment from the fun Party Time collection to finish it off.

And here’s the inside… super simple!

 

Join the rest of the Bloom Brigade and have an little hop around to see what they’re all up to today…
Allison Cope
Christine Okken
Julie Koerber
Katie Sims
Stacy Morgan

One last announcement for everyone... if you happened to have stopped by after Thanksgiving, we had a fun little “hunt” for a mystery digital download that you could nab for $1. We’re bringing it back for the next several days — go grab Candy Cane Classic for a dollar to use on those last-minute gift tags!

Thanks for stopping in!  Have a great weekend celebrating with your families!

Merry Christmas and a Happy 2017 everyone!

~ Ally ~

Late Night Card Creating

Hey gang!  Happy Thursday!

I’m up in the middle of the night pounding out 4 cards to hand to my son’s three teachers and his bus driver.  Typically his elementary school asks families to donate pairs of pajamas and slippers for the local women’s shelter in our town in lieu of teachers gifts.  I asked him last minute this evening if he wanted to get his teachers anything and he replied 'yes'.  So he picked out 4 different colours of Amaryllis’ to give to each one.

So I’m up making cards to go with the gifts.  Nothing like last minute right?!?! 

(I think the above card is my favourite!)

So I grabbed my new My Favorite Things “Polar Bears Pals” stamp set and went to work.
The sentiment is from the MFT “Jingle All the Way” stamp set.

All the snowflake stamps are from the “For Everything” stamp set included in the Foundations Box by Catherine Pooler Designs.

All the colouring was done with Copic Markers. I kept my coloured pretty simple to make the process faster.

The insides all contain the exact same sentiments.  The top sentiment is from Power Poppy’s “Nice things to Say” and the bottom two are from the “Poinsettia” stamp collection.  I’d rather stamp a sentiment then actually write something – looks so much better! 

Now my son just has to sign the insides and they're done! Which one is your favourite?

I’m off to bed!  Happy creating all!

~ Ally ~


Supplies:
stamps: My Favorite Things (Polar Bear Pals, Jingle All the Way), Power Poppy (Nice Things to Say, Poinsettia), Catherine Pooler Designs (For Everything - Foundations Box)
cardstock: Neenah (Solar White), Recollections (110# White), Stampin’ Up! (Pool Party)
patterned papers:  Lawn Fawn (Perfectly Plaid Christmas 6x6), Simple Stories (December Documented 6x6), Doodlebug Designs (Frosty Friends 6x6)
inks: Memento (Tuxedo Black, Pear Tart),Simon Says Stamp (Blue Jay, Spring Rain), Copic Markers
die: Lawn Fawn (stitched Rectangles)

'Tis the Season!

Hey everyone!  Christmas is only a few days away and I’m still making Christmas cards.  I always receive a few unexpected holiday cards delivered here so I make extra cards to send back just in case.

Today I’m sharing a card for the Holiday Card 2016 Contest over at Paper-Garden.ca .  This amazing Canadian store (Hooray!) carries “everything paper”!  They have a great assortment of cardstocks, envelopes, ribbon and they even do invitations! I was lucky enough to receive some beautiful cardstocks to use and showcase.

For my challenge card, I used some gorgeous “Esse Pearlized 105lb White Cover Weight Cardstock”, “Stardream Lagoon 105lb Cover Cardstock”, “Stardream Juniper 105lb Cover Weight Cardstock” and also the “Basis Green - Matte Text Weight Paper”.

Copic Markers: T0, T2, T4, RV000, R37, G28, BG10, BG11, GB32, BG0000, 0

I have to say I love the Pearlized White paper – it was a DREAM to die cut and it’s pearlized on BOTH sides of the paper so matter which side you use, it sparkles!  All of their pearlized papers shimmer on both sides.

I used the cute little seal, “Snow Cap”, “Iceberg” and a sentiment from the “Snowflake Grove Sentiment Set”  from Purple Onion Designs.  Here’s a close up…

I hope you too will come and participate along with me in the Holiday Cards Contest.  You only have until December 23rd to submit your entries.  For more information on how you can participate, visit here.

If you'd like to check out all the card entries, visit here!

I big thank you to Tiffany at Paper-Graden.ca for the lovely sample cardstocks - their amazing!!

Good luck and happy holiday creating!

~ Ally ~


Supplies:
stamps:  Purple Onion Designs (Snow Cap, Iceberg, Snowflake Grove Sentiment Set)
cardstock:  Paper-Garden (Esse Pearlized, Stardream Lagoon, Stardream Juniper, Basis Green – Matte), Neenah (Solar White)
dies:  SugarPea Designs (Harlequin Cover Plate), My Favorite Things (Stitched Circles), Spelbinders (Create a Flake 5)
inks: Memento (Black Tuxedo), Versamark (Tsukineko), Copic Markers
embossing powder:  Stampendous! (White Detail)

The Dream Team is Growing!

Over at StampNation the design Team is called the Dream Team and today we officially announce that our Dream Team is growing…

Give these 5 ladies a warm welcome!! If you’d like to get to know them better, you can visit their blogs here:

• Lydia Evans
• Melissa Miller
• Deepti Stephens
• Taheerah Atchia
• Chrissie Tobas

We are so excited to add these amazing designers to our team!  You will see their creations throughout our product releases (Stamp of Approval, mini releases and (eh-HEM!), Ink releases!!!) as well as our challenges and in The Classroom at StampNation.

There's lots of fun stuff coming up in the StampNation forums.  Make sure you come and check us out!

Welcome to the team ladies!
 
~ Ally ~

Door Hangers & Special Gift Bags

Hey gang!  I got all caught up in my Christmas shopping yesterday so I didn’t get to posting a fun new project as originally planned.  You all know how this time of year can be super chaotic!

So today I’m sharing two final projects featuring Catherine Pooler’s newest stamp and die release called the Holiday Wrap Up Bundle.  This collection of savings features 3 stamp sets, Holiday Mittens, Still Smiling and Sending Blessings.  Plus the bundle includes the accompanying die set called Holiday Mittens Dies as well.

First off I made this cute little door hanger gift to put maybe some fun holiday cookies or some sweet tasting chocolates in.  I thought it might be neat just to leave on a neighbours door with a pretty Christmas card.

And secondly, I used a beautiful purple bag from a local chocolate shop we have here and repurposed it with a simple label for use for holiday gift giving.  Super duper simple!  Not only did I include the stamps and dies for the Holiday Mittens but I used the fun label dies from Merry Labels Dies from our most recent Stamp of Approval collection.

 

Don’t forget that Catherine has a few more gift ideas for the paper crafter in your life…

Foundations Box

Friendship Bracelets

Gift Certificates

Holiday Wrap Up Bundle

and so much more!   

Shop here!

If you are in the US and order by December 19th, your order should arrive in time for holiday gift giving!

For more inspiration, you can check out my Instagram!

Thanks for joining me!  I sure hope I gave you all some fun and fast ideas for gift giving this season!  Stay warm and safe!

~ Ally ~


Joyful Tidings Door Hanger
Stamps: Holiday Mittens (Catherine Pooler Designs)
Inks: Grass Skirt, Fiesta Blue, Midnight (Catherine Pooler Designs)
Paper: Star Mist (Bazzill), White (Copic Xpress-It), White Tissue Paper
Accessories: Holiday Mittens Dies (Catherine Pooler Designs), Ribbon (Micheals), Silhouette File (3D Door Handle Box #48104) 

Purple Holiday Bag
Stamps: Holiday Mittens (Catherine Pooler Designs)
Inks: Midnight (Catherine Pooler Designs), Radiant Neon – Electric Purple (Tskineko), Baked Brown Sugar (Stampin’ Up!), White Gel Pen (Sakura)
Paper: Metallic Copper Cardstock (DCWV), White (Copic Xpress-It), Sawdust (Bazzill)
Accessories: Holiday Mittens Dies, Merry Labels Dies (Catherine Pooler Designs)

Jar of Holiday Happiness

Today is Day Three of the Gift Givers Guide for Paper Crafters!  Catherine Pooler is sharing some fun gifts to give the talented crafters in your circles.  She has a few ideas for you…

I too have a fun gift idea too for this holiday season.  I went to my local dollar store and picked up a simple lidded glass jar, filled it with chocolate candies and proceeded to add a little spirit of the season using the extra fun Holiday Mittens stamp and die set from Catherine Pooler Designs.

Catherine has this most adorable (and economical!) die and stamp bundle already to gift called the Holiday Wrap Up Bundle.

The bundle includes 3 brand new stamp sets and one coordinating die set for the craft lover in your world.

My little jar also features the tag from our already released Stamp of Approval collection called Lovely Flowers & Banners Dies, also from Catherine Pooler Designs.  All the inks I've used today are featuring in the new Foundations Box.

I also created a simple card to go along with this very simple and easy gift.  I figured this would make a great gift for a neighbour or teacher this year.

Here are a few more fun gift ideas for the crafter in your life:
Foundations Box – a box featuring 5 brand new Premium ink pads, an acrylic block, 3 gorgeous stamp sets and 30 pre-scored premium card bases to create all kinds of fun cards throughout the year.
Friendship Bracelets – made of beautiful handmade paper beads this gift is not only beautiful but supports third world women and their families.  See here for more details.

Thanks for stopping by today!  I’ll have another fun project post again fro you tomorrow!  Happy gift giving!

~ Ally ~

Goodie Jar & Card
Stamps: Holiday Mittens (Catherine Pooler Designs)
Inks: Rockin’ Red, Grass Skirt, Midnight (Catherine Pooler Designs),
Paper: Sawdust (Bazzill)
Accessories: Holiday Mittens Dies, Lovely Flowers & Banners Dies (Catherine Pooler Designs), Snowflake Charm (Tim Holtz), Twine

Day 2 of the Gift Givers Guide for Paper Crafters

Hey there!  It’s Day 2 of the Gift Givers Guide for Paper Crafters and I’m here to share with you another fun project featuring Catherine Pooler’s newest product, the Holiday Wrap Up Bundle!
This bundle includes 3 brand new stamp sets and a coordinating die especially made for this time of year!

Today I’m sharing a fun and easy gift idea for maybe a teacher, a bus driver, a crossing guard and just simply for a fun friend.  I found these fun bottles of mini chocolate bars at my local Walmart and thought that a simple bottle topper would do the trick.  Fun, easy and no actually wrapping talent needed!!!

This festive bottle features the Holiday Mittens stamp set and it’s coordinating die, Holiday Mittens Die; two of the products in the Holiday Wrap Up Bundle.  Also included in the design is the fun "Funky Flakes Fri-Dies" and the cute tag dies, "Tag Buddies Fri-Dies" from by CAS-ual Fridays Stamps.

For more gift giving inspiration, please visit Catherine’s blog HERE as she shares all kinds of cool projects made by the Catherine Pooler Designs Team.

Thanks for stopping in!  I’ll see ya tomorrow with another fun gift idea!

~ Ally ~


Bottle Topper Tag
Stamps: Holiday Mittens (Catherine Pooler Designs)
Inks: Rockin’ Red (Catherine Pooler Designs), Delicata Golden Glitz (Tsukineko)
Paper: Real Red (Stampin’ Up!), White (Copic Xpress-It)
Accessories: Holiday Mittens Dies (Catherine Pooler Designs), Tag Buddies Fri-Dies, Funky Flakes Fri-Dies (CAS-ual Fridays Stamps), Ribbon (Micheals), Jingle Bell Brad (Tim Holtz), Corner Rounder (EK Success)

Holiday Gift Giving Made Easy!

Catherine Pooler has been busy designing more stamping and card making goodies for us all!  Come and check out the Catherine Pooler Shop to get your hands on all the fun Gifts for the Paper Crafter in your life!

Catherine has released a fabulous new stamp and die bundle perfect for that crafter’s stocking called the Holiday Wrap Up Bundle!  It features 3 new stamps sets and one coordinating die.  These stamps are dies are perfect for making all kinds of cards and projects.

Today I’m featuring the wonderful Holiday Mittens and it’s accompanying die set, the Holiday Mittens Dies. For my first project, I wanted to use some fun Autumn colours… because, you know, sometimes those mittens appear somewhat earlier than we want!!!

Today’s card also features the “And Sentiments” and the “Hello World” stamp sets also designed by Catherine Pooler Designs.

Another great gift for that crafter in your family, the Foundations Box. This pretty little box contains 5 delicious brand new ink pads, 3 new amazingly designed stamp sets, a high quality acrylic block and 30 pre-scored premium cardstock card bases.  Perfect for that beginning stamper!!! The Foundations Box will be back in stock VERY soon so if you wish to purchase it, get one now and they get shipped sometime mid next week.

Don’t forget, Catherine also sells Gift Certificates for the Shop in $10, $25, $50 and $100 denominations!  An easy gift plus it comes with a pretty little printable gift card image from your special someone.

I’ll be sharing a few more projects this week featuring this fun Holiday Wrap Up Bundle so stay tuned to my blog this week.

Thanks for stopping by today!

~ Ally ~

Stamps: Holiday Mittens, Hello World, And Sentiments (Catherine Pooler Designs)
Inks: Orange Twist, Rockin’ Red, Midnight (Catherine Pooler Designs), Simply Chartreuse (Papertrey Ink), Willow (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper: White (Copic Xpress-It), Black (Recollections)

Happy Birthday Rhea!

Surprise Rhea!  

Happy 50th birthday darling!  

I hope you have an amazing day today!  

Big hugs!

Come along and join both the Bloom Brigade and the Instant Gardners today and wish our very own Rhea Weigand a very Happy Birthday!  Marcella has personalized a beautiful digital orchid image called Orchid Dreams just for her today!

Come and join some of the Power Poppy girls and celebrate with Rhea today!

Nancy Sheads

Jessie Banks

Julie Koerber

Cindy Lawrence

Allison Cope – that’s me!

Barbara Walker

and Marcella on the Power Poppy Blog!

Take a moment a leave Rhea a fun birthday message on her blog today!  Click here to proceed to her blog to wish her a happy year!

~ Ally ~

Power Poppy: Oh Sweet Treats!

Howdy all!  Happy Friday!  Today begins a brand new Power & Spark Challenge over on the Power Poppy blog!

This month’s challenge is simply perfect for this month.  A month full of gift giving and fabulous treats.  Our lovely hostess Christine Okken explains…

The idea this month is to create something that will be a sweet treat for someone else (so think card, tag, hostess gift, etc.) designed to help with those quick Christmas gifts. 

For me, I like to make gifts of my favourite yummy cookies to give my neighbours each year at Christmas time.  I'm always looking for fun containers to give these goodies in.  I finally found these fun red (and I found green ones too!) plastic containers with lids at the dollar store… perfect for all my baked goodies!  Their lids are simple red plastic with nothing on them so I thought I’d jazz them up to give out this year.

I used this sweet candy cane digi that Marcella gave out for free not too long ago. (Oh Marcy! Can we get this one put back in the store for all our fabulous Power Poppy friends?!?)  

 Copics: G03, G05, YG01, YG0000, R17, R29, Y15, Y23, E47, T1

Plus I also included a sentiment from the Holly Golightly clear stamp set. Those sweet little snowflakes all around the outer edge of the circle are from the Action Santa set.  So dainty and delicate they are!  Awwww!

Now come check out what the rest of the Bloom Brigade has created to share with you today…

Allison Cope – you are here!

Christine Okken

Cindy Lawrence
Julie Koerber
Kathy Jones 

Stacy Morgan

Power Poppy Blog

So put on your thinking cap and join us for the Power & Spark Challenge this month!

~ Ally ~

 
supplies:
stamps: Power Poppy (Holly Golightly, Action Santa)
cardstock:  Neenah (80# White), Bazzill (Lime Crush)
inks: Memento (Lady Bug), Copic Markers, Sakura (Glaze Pen), Wink of Stella (clear)
ribbon: Celebrate It Christmas (Michaels)
dies: Pretty Pink Posh (Mini Tags)
container: Dollarama

Cyber Monday with Power Poppy

Happy shopping today at Power Poppy!

~ Ally ~

Sale! Sale! Sale at Power Poppy!

Need some simple images for some CAS Christmas cards or some fun tags for all those holiday gifts?  Check out these amazing Whimsical Wreaths from Power Poppy!

Check this SALE out....

Don't forget your $1 Mystery Holiday Digi!!!

Happy shopping everyone!!!

~ Ally ~

Paper Piecing with Digital Stamps

Happy Monday everyone!  Today I’m over on the Power Poppy Blog today to share a fun tutorial on paper piecing with digital stamps.  Yup… digital stamps!

I hope you’ll hop on over and check it out! Click HERE to proceed directly to the tutorial.

Here’s a little sneak peek of my card that I’m sharing today…

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Ally ~

Power Poppy: Think Pink!

Howdy Power Poppy fans!  It’s Friday!  I hope you have some wonderful plans this weekend.
It’s a new month so we have a brand new Power & Spark Challenge for you over on the Power Poppy Blog. This month, our uber talented Tosha Leyendekker is our hostesses and her challenge this month is…

Tosh says…

"I love vintage, so I often think of white and pink for Christmas decor. 

 I thought it would be fun to feature pink on a Christmas Card.  So, for this month's challenge, 

let's THINK PINK and make it a Pink Christmas." 

For further challenge details, please visit the Power Poppy blog HERE.

I just love nontraditional coloured holiday cards!  For my card  today I chose to work with the little solid holly stamp from the “Holly Golightly” stamp set to create my back ground first.  Then I used some watercolour paper and one of the stockings from the “Fully Stocked” stamp set as my focal point.  And finally, for my sentiment I used the “Peace & Joy” from the “Simple Joys” stamp collection.

Here’s a little close up of all the dimension…

Now, take a gander at the rest of the Bloom Brigaders today..

Christine Okken

Cindy Lawrence
Katie Sims

Stacy Morgan

Tosha Leyendekker

Power Poppy Blog

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great weekend!

~ Ally ~
 
 
Supplies:
stamps: Power Poppy (Fully Stocked, Holly Golightly, Simple Joys)
cardstock: Stampin’ Up!U (Kraft, Very Vanilla), Watercolour Paper (Strathmore), MFT (Vellum)
dies: Spellbinders (Labels 8, Decorative Labels 8), MFT (Dimensional Banners)
inks: Simon Says Stamp (Hollyhock), VersaMagic (Cloud White)
punch: Martha Stewart (Branch), EK Success (Corner Rounder)
ribbon: Stampin’ Up!

Winter's Chalkboard

Happy Friday all!  I hope your day has begun being a good one.  My hubby’s on his way home from work today so I’m excited.  Let’s get started for today…

If you weren’t aware, Power Poppy revealed FIVE brand new holiday themed stamp sets in the last week, a collection called "Happiest Holiday 2016" and the Bloom Brigaders have been hard at work creating and sharing.  So today I thought I’d combine a few new sets and share them with you today.

My card today wasn’t quite what I had in my mind when I first began creating but it’s slowly grown on me.  What do you think…

I layered a few white embossed sprays on vellum from the “Glistening Paperwhites” stamp set over laid by some chalkboard style inking in the back ground.  I used the cute little bough & jingle bell and mistletoe images from the “Fully Stocked” collection plus a few small snowflakes from the “Action Santa” stamp set too!

I added some Morning Dew Nuvo Crystal Drops to all the berries in the spray…

I hope I’ve inspired you today.  I know the rest of the Bloom Brigade has some fabulous inspiration for you too!  Check them out…

Cindy Lawrence
Julie Koerber
Stacy Morgan

Tosha Leyendekker

Power Poppy Blog

Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you have a creative weekend.

~ Ally ~


Supplies:
stamps: Power Poppy (Glistening Paperwhites, Fully Stocked, Action Santa)
patterned paper: My Favorite Things (Dots & Stripes Neutrals 6x6)
inks: Colorbox (Frost White), Tsukineko (Versamark)
cardstock: Recollections (110 lb Black), MFT (Vellum)
embossing powder: Stampendous! (Detail White)
other: Nuvo Crystal Drops (Morning Dew)
dies: Spellbinders (Floral Ovals)

Sending a Flurry of Festive Tidings & A Winner!

Happy Wednesday everyone!  Today I actually got off my butt and made a card for my own Splitcoaststampers card sketch for this week.  Here’s a quick peek at the sketch… it’s a simple one!

And here’s my take on my own sketch.  I actually rotated it upside down and used it that way.

Copics: Santa: R24, R27, R59  Reindeer: E30, E33, E34, E35, E37,  

Chimney: E99, E08, E37  Snow: T0, T2, BG0000  Other: G07, Y18, T7

I used Distress Inks to create my sky and Copics to colour in my images.

I’m also going to share a sneak peek for this week’s challenge over at StampNation this week.  What do you think is our theme this week?

And last but not least, let’s announce a winner of my Power Poppy giveaway.  The winner is…

Congrats Barbara!  Please contact me with the clear stamp set of your choice and your full name and address for shipping.

Thanks to all of you whom left me such wonderful comments.

Have a great week everyone!

~ Ally ~


stamps: Power Poppy (Action Santa), WPlus9 (Santa’s Reindeer)
cardstock: Strathmore (Water Colour Paper)
inks: Memento (Black Tuxedo), Ranger Distress (Picked Raspberries, Wilted Violet, Dusty Concord, Blueprint Sketch, Hickory Smoke), Colorbox (Frost White), Versamark, Copic Markers
shimmer spray: Tsukineko (Gold Sheer Shimmer)
embossing powder: Stampendous! (Detail White)
paint: Delta (white acrylic)