Merry Christmas Finn by Vija Anton

Hello Blue Fern fans.  Today we post the final layout from our December Blue Fern Fan of the Month, Vija Anton.  We have fallen in love with each of her unique projects this month, and can't wait for you to see this one.  Vija, it has been such a joy to have you create with us this month.  You have given us and our readers some awesome inspiration, and we were able to give you some mojo to begin creating again!

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This is my last layout as Blue Fern's Fan of the month. Thank you Blue Fern Studios for giving me this opportunity to work with your beautiful products. This layout features a facebook friend's dog, Finn. I will be sending her this layout so I hope she likes it! 

For the background I used the Magical paper and used the Wonderland and Homegrown papers for some fussy cutting. I love how these two collections compliment each other so well. 

 I have created dimension on my page by layering the elements. A double layer of foam tape under the cut out frame helps it sit nice and flat on top of the chipboard and that gorgeous lace.

I added touches of glitter here and there to give my layout a real Christmasy feel. 

For me Christmas = glitter and sparkle!!!! 

Blue Fern products used were:

Vintage Christmas papers: Magical and Wonderland

Homespun papers: Homegrown

Vintage Christmas printed chipboard

Chipboard: Holiday Vine and Folkart Frame 

Glitter: Vintage gold and Christmas pear

Embossing Powder: Sea mist and pearl

Seedlings: Wintergreen

Lace: 9c

Stamp: Jingle bells

Christmas blooms

December Inspirations and VIDEO tutorial by Catherine Giguère

Hello BFS fans! It's been a year since I had the chance to be part of the Blue Fern Studios Creative Team. I had a blast. But now, it's time for me to say goodbye and thank you to Valerie and Leslie for this incredible opportunity. I have two last layouts and a video tutorial to share with you, I hope you will like it!

'Joy'

VIDEO TUTORIAL

I cut my paper Vintage Christmas Auld Lang Syne in two pieces and then I glued them on a 12 x12 chipboard. Then, I did a textured background with a stencil and modeling paste. I add brown ink and I stamped many details with brown ink again.

I embossed the Frame Collage and the Blooming Flourishes chipboards with Ginger embossing powder. I embossed my title with Forest powder.

Then, I add flowers and texture with Burgendy and Twig Seedlings.

Blue Fern Studios products used:

Papers

Vintage Christmas Auld Lang Syne

Vintage Christmas Greeting Cards

Chipboards

Frame Collage

Blooming Flourishes

Winter Titles

Vintage Christmas Printed Chipboards

Embossing Powder

Ginger

Forest

Seedlings

Burgendy

Twig

Stamps

Tattered Newsprint

Serendipity Medley

Flowers

Late Winter Lilies

Homespuns Blossoms

Lace

Lace 3

'Adorable'

For this layout, I used the gorgeous Remnants collection. I did my layout on the Mayfair paper. I put a thin coat of white Gesso with a spatula on the half right side of my paper. I put purple inks on it. Then, I add details with stamps and black ink and texture with a stencil and black modeling paste. 

I painted with black Gesso all my chipboards. I cut in pieces the Damask Panel and put these under my flowers and my picture.

I add a lot of flowers and texture with Seedlings. I put a thin layer of white gesso on my flowers to give them a vintage look.

Blue Fern Studios products used:

Papers

Remnants Mayfair

Remnants Callaway

Chipboards

Damask Panel

Splattered Circles

French Words

Stamps

Making Plans

Departure

Grungy Grid

Flowers

Remnants Blooms

I hope you have found some inspiration. I wish you a nice crafty day!

Catherine Giguère 

Sparkle by Vija

Okay blog readers, I hope you are ready for this.  Vija Anton, our Blue Fern Fan of the Month, has created a layout that is sweet, adorable, cuddly, cute, and any other charming words that you can think of.  No matter how frazzled you may be as you prepare for the holidays, this layout is sure to warm your heart just a little and bring a smile to your face.  She even decorated the little Christmas tree!

Here it is her layout and what Vija has to say about it:

I love doing layouts using pictures of dogs, mine or friends, and prefer to use regular collections rather than dog specific papers as I feel it gives me more scope to incorporate some mixed media techniques. This layout features a cute little Bichon Frise named Jewel, who belongs to my best friend on Instagram. 

For the background, I used the Homespun paper as a frame and cut around the flower corner to slip the Vintage Christmas paper and die cuts in behind it. I also did a little bit of stencil work on this one to emphasise the lacy pattern on the patterned paper. 

I used texture paste on the Snowflake frame and sprinkled it with seedlings and glitter and the title was finished with more glitter using Silver Bells embossing powder. The gorgeous lace helps soften the layout and adds some further texture. I also 'decorated' the Christmas tree with seedlings. This layout is all about 'SPARKLE'!!

The Blue Fern Products used were:

Paper:

Vintage Christmas Wonderland paper

Homespun Homestead paper

Printed Chipboard:

Vintage Christmas printed chipboard

Chipboard: 

Snowflake frame 

Winter titles

Flowers:

Christmas Blooms

Lace: 

9A, 4

Seedlings: 

Sterling silver

Embossing Powder: 

Silver bells

December inspiration by Pascale B.

Hello Sweeties,

Today it's this time of the year where you have to give your farewell. I was really honored when Leslie and Valerie asked me again to be part of the Blue Fern Studios adventure. But today will be my last post here. So thank you, Leslie and Valerie.
But I have three last projects to share with you. I chose a photo of my maternal grandmother. The photo is blurry, but I like it. I chose to work with the Chesterville collection.

As always, I primed the background with clear gesso. Next, I made my own paste with a 3D gloss gel and two inks to obtain the right color. I used this paste with a stencil to add a design. 

Next, I embossed Krystal's Frame with the Amethyst powder. I just inked the Chelsea Vine.

I colored the Rose Leaves with a mica powder and added two embossing powders to add some texture.

The background dry, I added some colors with different inks.

I cut a few papers to add under the photo and glued all the embellishments with a 3D gel.

To finish the layout, I added some glitters and glass seedlings.

Blue Fern Studios products:

Chesterville - Holmes

Chesterville - Chester

Spring Peony and Berries

Happy Blooms

Krystal's Frame small

Rose Leaves

Chelsea Vines

Amethyst

Stormy skies

Sea Mist

Glass

Eggplant

Grape

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Here is my second monthly project for Blue Fern Studios. As Christmas is coming fast I was thinking about decoration. So I decided to make a table center with the beautiful Vintage Christmas collections. Nothing really complicated, but something simple and elegant, I hope you will agree.

You will need one band of cardstock 12" x 6" and one square 6" x 6". Fold the band in two, open, and fold again the top corners to the middle in order to form a triangle. Fold the square in a triangle too. You can glue the square as the model.

Next, you can glue the papers. With a crop-a-dile, I made some holes: if you want to put a  small light under the table center, the light will be visible.

I embossed the chipboards with different gold powders.

I die cut some leaves in a watercolor paper and inked them. I embossed the mistletoes with the Icicle powder.

To create the berry, I added hot glue and I dipped it immediately in the glitter.

Blue Fern Studios products:

Vintage Christmas Auld Lang Syne	Vintage Christmas Magical	Vintage Christmas 2 Twas the Night	Vintage Christmas 2 Let it snow
Winter Flakes	Antique Gold	Phoenix	Homespun Blossoms
Classic Ornament	14 Karat	Icicle	Happy Roses
Tree Toys	Ginger		Christmas Blooms

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And here is my third and last project. I chose to make a mini album with both Vintage Christmas collections.

First I made the box with cardboard. I painted all the edges with a gold acrylic paint before covering both sides of the box with papers.

... I just add a few pockets with tags,...

The inside is an accordion. As there is no space to add any embellishments,...

... as well as folders.

Blue Fern Studios products:

Vintage Christmas Full collection

Vintage Christmas 2 Full collection

Vintage Christmas Printed Chipboard