Glittery Christmas Cards with Yana Smakula

Hello everyone! While folks around here are barely seeing the first signs of Fall I've entered the phase of holiday card making. I try to prepare myself and my home for Christmas ahead of time and this means making lots of holiday cards in the preceding month of October and November. 

Today I'd like to share some of my first holiday cards this year. For some reason, I'm all about using glitter in my projects and today's cards are no exception.

I don't yet have any of the new Blue Fern Studios fabulous holiday chipboard so I decided to challenge myself to use what I had on hand - regular non holiday shapes and incorporate them into festive holiday cards. To achieve the look on my cards below I simply covered all of the chipboard pieces with embossing powder with a mixture of glitter. I used regular embossing powder with silver glitter and chunky white with a bit of gold embossing powder and some glitter. Both powders are from Stampendous and work great for project like this.

Believe in the miracle:

Chipboard used:

Petite Boutique Frames

Blooming Foliage

Merry Christmas:

Chipboard used:

All Natural Set

Fancy Birdcage

Wishing You Holiday Cheer:

Chipboard used:

Petite Boutique Frames

Icons Set Three

Thanks for stopping by! 

October projects by Yvonne Yam

Hello there! This is Yvonne here to share with you my October projects using Blue Fern Studios chipboard. :) The first is a double page spread.

I generally love my layouts flat so adding little bits of Blue Fern Studios chipboard give it a little texture and interest.

Using the same chipboard piece across the two pages help to achieve a cohesive look even though the base patterns are different.

I used Bits of Honey.

And Enjoy the Journey.

My next project is an 8x8 canvas. The base gold paint covered by lace. The chipboard pieces were painted with gesso and good paint.

I used Craftsman Frame.

And Ornate Medallions.

My last project is a tag. I coloured the chipboard with silver paint and paper-pieced the cushion. I also added some lace to the chair back.

I used Second Hand Furnishings.

Hope you've enjoyed my projects for October. Till the next time!

September Sketch Challenge WINNER & Features!

Today we announce the randomly drawn prize recipient for the September Sketch Challenge, as well as our Top 3 Features!

Let's begin by reminding you of what was up for grabs last month:

We had 15 amazing entries and we used Random.org to determine our winner....

Congratulations to: Sheryl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU are the lucky winner of our chipboard prize pack! 

Please email me at: erin@bluefernstudios.com within 7 days to claim your prize!!

Next, we have our Top 3 Features :)

We are always blown away by the talented entries every month, and this month was especially difficult to narrow it down to just three. So many great styles and interpretations- we appreciate you all, TRULY. Thanks for sharing your talent with us!

#1

Lisa Griffith

Lisa's entry is simply breathtaking! We LOVED how she mimicked the honeycomb shape repeatedly throughout her layout- from the background paper to the stamp to the pearls to our very own Bits of Honey chipboard pieces- innovative, thoughtful, artistic- simply put: awesome.

#2

Debby Lewis

Debby's style is like a breath of fresh air! We love how she has found new and unique ways to use our pieces and truly make them the star of her layout- without taking away from her darling photo. THANK-YOU Debby for sharing your work with us!!

#3

Jackie Clark

Jackie really shows us how you can make your chipboard a living part of your project! She's blended in the pieces so well it's as if they're just mean to to be there- and we love how they've lent to her rustic, textured project. Just gorgeous!!

Thank-you again to ALL who participated in our sketch challenge last month! We hope you get a chance to play along this month as well :)

Autumn is in the Air...Winter is coming...

Hello Autumn... Lisa here, bringing you 2 projects today. I will start out with a card (I'm learning how to create them!!) that reflects the colors of the season. Autumn is in the air in some parts of the world. I used a small piece of the the Chain Link chipboard panel as it reminded me of lattice. I base coated it with gesso and sprayed it using a golden /green shimmery spray.

Here is a close up of the Chain Link chipboard. I just cut it randomly not worrying about cutting a straight line.

I base coated the You Shine words  with white gesso, sprayed it with a color spray and topped it with some clear crackle paint to give it a textured sheen .

                                                            
                                                               The Optimist Word Set

                                                                        Chain Link

My next project is a layout  using a winter photo, but I kept the colors on the layout in a warm tone, fading Autumn out until the cold sets in...

  I base coated the Sign Post and Pretty Weeds chipboard with white gesso and sprayed it with colored spray while the gesso was still wet. It created a pretty speckled look when you dry it with a heat tool.

Just a closeup of the post. I added a small acrylic covered sticker inside the Sign Post.

                                                                    Natural Sprigs Set

                                                                    Village Sign Post 2

                                                                        Pretty Weeds

Thank you for joining me today for my October Blue Fern Studios Post. Keep checking back as all of the Designers will be back to inspire you for days to come.

October Sketch Challenge!

Welcome to our October Sketch Challenge! We had a record number of entries last month~ thanks to all who participated! As always, we will be announcing our winner and features on the 5th of the month :)

The talented Michele Singh has designed another great sketch for you to play along with- and we think you are going to LOVE this one!

Fun, isn't it?!

This sketch- as always- could easily be rotated or mirrored. We would love to see your take on it! 

Here are a few samples from the design team:

Kristine

Lisa

Kelly 

So many different ways to do this one- and don't you worry if you don't have the chipboard pieces featured in the sketch- feel free to interpret it as you like with whatever you have :)

As always, we've got a great grab bag of chipboard for one randomly chosen participant:

In addition to our prize winner, we will also select a Top 3 to feature in our winner post!

We have just a few simple rules to follow if you would like to participate in our sketch challenge:

1.) Feel free to interpret the sketch as you please by means of taking it as-is or flipping/turning/mirroring it to suit your needs! **Please note that you can do whatever type of project you please- a layout, card, tag, canvas, altered item- whatever suits your mood and style! We would love to see the different ways our sketch can be used.**

2.) You must use at least one piece of Blue Fern Studios chipboard- but you do not need to use the pieces featured in the sketch! You can find the store nearest you HERE. {Do not use any other brand of chipboard on your project please!}

** We had a couple entries last month who did not use chipboard, so please note this step as you will be disqualified from the prize drawing and features**

3.) Upload your project using the Inlinkz tool below by midnight EST on October 31st, 2013.

We look forward to your entries!