January Sketch Challenge WINNER & Top 3 Features!!

Good morning :)

Today is always an exciting day because we get to make someone a lucky WINNER, and three others our esteemed FEATURES of the previous month's sketch challenge!

We were so pleased with the beautiful entries we received and cannot thank you enough for sharing your artistry with us. We hope you have a chance to play along this month too!

Let's start with our lucky randomly drawn winner of the January Sketch Challenge prize package:

CONGRATS to Teresa A.!!!!!!!!!!!

We're so excited for you, Teresa! Thanks for playing along!

Please email me {erin@bluefernstudios.com} within 7 days to claim your prize.

A reminder of the chipboard prize pack we offered up in January:

And now, let's take a moment to admire our Top 3 Features!

Krystle Thomas

We LOVE the way Krystle used our January sketch to create this awesome 2-page layout! What an excellent use of our Page Chains- the clean, crisp design of this double pager makes its a stunner!

Marina Gridasova

We loved Marina's soft, neutral color palette and masked details. And it's always inspiring to see how certain elements from our sketches are re-created in different ways, and the hanging baubles that Marina has incorporated here were pure perfection!

Beatrice Lawson

Just in time for Valentine's Day, Beatrice has created a bold, classy layout using red and black. There are so many great details to admire here!!

Congrats again to our lucky prize winner, and to our fabulous features :)

Play along with us this month! We have another GREAT prize to be won and, as always, an inspiring sketch to work with. See you there!

A Blue Fern Garden layout, Tiny Mini, and a journaling entry.

Hi, Lisa here today, and I will be sharing with you 3 different projects. A 12x12 layout, a tiny mini and a journaling entry to my journal book. The Blue Fern garden paper line is just my style. I love the colors, the patterns and the images of the vintage roses are my favorite!!
Here is my 12x12 layout.

 I used  the Tattered Diamond Bits scattered over the layout. and to frame the photo, used the Beaded Strings to frame the photo. Both were painted with white acrylic paint then sprayed with Radiant Rains Mist while the paint was still wet. I added some pearls to the little circles on the frame. 

I did the same paint and mist treatment on the Memory Frames. When the acrylic is still wet, and it is sprayed, it leaves a gorgeous weathered look on the chipboard.

The next project I would like to share with you is my tiny mini. I adapted the pattern from a couple of Post It Notes Covers that I did a couple of years ago. The difference is I created pages for the inside using the beautiful Blue Fern Garden paper rather than using Post It Notes.

I used Viva Color Crackle paint on the Iron Works Accents. Once the the paint dried and crackles, I painted Silks Acrylic Glaze in Olive Vine over it. I wrapped the piece of chipboard over around the book binding before painting to prevent cracking.

Here is the detailed chipboard wrapped around the book binding. I created a small charm to hang from the eyelet I punched on top of the mini before I place the inside pages in.

 Here is peek inside the book. I fussy cut some of the paper to get the images centered perfectly. Then cut out all of the words in back of the paper and used them on each of the pages in the mini.

I used a corner punch on some of the pages in the mini.

Here is a close up of the mini with the seam binding ribbon closure. I used Silks acrylic paint to color the seam binding.

And finally I created another journal entry for my mixed media journal I am working on. I used the February sketch and took some of the elements in the design and applied it to the pages.

 This is the left side of the journal entry.

 This is the right side of the journal entry.

I painted the Berry Stems with Silks acrylic paint and after it dries, I dotted the tiny circles with glue and sprinkled microbeads of the glue. Once it dried, I sprayed a clear acrylic sealer over the entire chipboard in place to secure the beads.

Here are 2 of the smaller Berry Stems in the set.

The Always and Forever chipboard quote is treated the same way I did the Iron Work Accents in the mini.

For the 2 hearts from the Heart Set, I painted it with white acrylic paint and then sprayed them with Radiant Rains Shimmering Mist in Grapefruit Pink while the acrylic paint is still wet.

 

Thank you for stopping by to see my projects this month. The Blue Fern Garden paper collection is my all time favorite right now!!! I adore each and every piece and design!!

February Sketch Challenge!

Welcome to a new {and short!} month :). 

We have yet another beautiful sketch for you to work with:

And, as always, LOTS of inspiration to jumpstart your creativity!

Marie Josee-Hamel

Camilla Ekman

Yuko Tanaka

Maja Stokk

Kelly Foster

Jackie Clark

Jelissa Mei

Evgenia Petzer

Keren Tamir

And we have a brand NEW batch of goodies for you too- including some of our NEWEST designs, hot off the press! Take a look at what one lucky randomly drawn winning participant will win from this month's sketch challenge:

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!}

3.) Upload your project using the Inlinkz tool below by midnight EST on February 28th, 2014.

We look forward to your entries!

{New Papers} with Patter

It's Patter here again with you. I am excited to share a card and the new Blue Fern Studios papers with you. I used the papers for two layouts. Both of the layouts are 8 1/2 x 11 and feature photos of our friend's baby that was born on Christmas Day. Let's start by looking at the gorgeous papers and fun chipboard pieces.

Adorable
Here is our friend's precious baby when he was 3 days old. I layered the In Bloom, Parlour, and Calling Cards papers for this 8 1/2 x 11 layout. I was able to use two of the words from the Calling Cards paper as tags on the layout.

The chipboard I used was a heart from the Eclectic Hearts set. I colored the heart with Prima Chalk Ink shabby tote and Distress crackle paint. The title is from the Good Vibes set. I painted it with a mix of modeling paste, Glimmer Mist artic blue, and Lindy's Stamp Gang bachelor button blue.

Blue Fern Products used:

Blue Fern Garden In Bloom

Blue Fern Garden Parlour

Blue Fern Garden Calling Cards

Eclectic Hearts

Good Vibes

Love Always
And here is little baby at 6 days old. Here I used the Blue Fern Garden Parlour and Calling Cards papers. Again I used more tags from the Calling Cards paper and did lots of layering.

For the title, I used the Love Always chipboard piece. I painted it with layers of Tim Holtz Distress Paint tarnished brass, Viva crackle paint, and Inka Gold old silver. The layering of those three products gave the title a great look.

Blue Fern Products used:

Blue Fern Garden Parlour

Blue Fern Garden Calling Cards

Love Always

And Finally a Card
On this card I used the Circle Motif. I did not use a sentiment because I wanted the circle to be the focus.

I pulled up the layers of chipboard to create dimensional leaves on the Circle Motif. I then painted with Shimmerz Texturez gold mine.

Blue Fern Products used:

Circle Motif

Thanks for joining me today, and feel free to join me here on my blog. And finally, a huge thanks to Leslie and Valerie for having me for another year. It is a blessing to work with these amazing products! Have a great week!

Some "Blue Fern Garden" Collection Inspiration w/Erin Blegen

Good morning!

Erin Blegen here to share with you my projects for January, including a couple of layouts using the NEW Blue Fern Garden Collection~!!

You will absolutely LOVE these papers :). They are incredibly detailed with crystal clear images printed on a nice heavyweight paper. I was impressed...and I'm confident that you will be too :)

"Magical"

First up, I have a girly girl layout to really show off the truly feminine side of this collection. Lots of pinks with just a hint of blues, paired with a few of my most favorite of the new chipboard designs...

This piece is one of the "Jeweled Page Baubles". I've dressed it up with glitter and various colors of microbeads.

The "Jeweled Trinkets" like this one are just as beautiful :)

I tore a section of the "Number Grid- Small" to create a textured photo mat. I used a sandy colored chalk ink and just a hint of mist/embossing powder to give it a little bit of color.

Blue Fern Studios Products Used:

Blue Fern Garden Collection Papers

Number Grid- Small

Jeweled Trinkets

Jeweled Page Baubles

Next up I have another layout for you using the Blue Fern Garden Collection:

"Live Your Story"

I've taken the opportunity to show the masculine side of this collection with this layout. There are plenty of blues, greens, and browns in these papers which I've put to use here :)

I've added stamping and watercolors to bring the "Beaded Strings" piece to life.

Adding a darker pigment to the outside of the circles while dabbing away the middles helps add some dimension.

Blue Fern Studios Products Used:

Blue Fern Garden Collection Papers

Beaded Strings

Finally, I have a sweet and simple card to share:

"Dream"

I've used one of the sweet little "Petite Windows" pieces to give view to the pretty fairy beyond.

I first dabbed the edges of the window with a pale blue chalk ink and then used Glossy Accents and some white glittery embossing powder to create a frosted look over the rest of the window.

Blue Fern Studios Products Used:

Petite Windows

I'm so glad you stopped in today :)

I hope you've enjoyed this first look at the Blue Fern Garden Collection in action!

And in case you haven't yet, I invite you to join us for our monthly sketch challenge. There are still a few days remaining and we'd LOVE to have you join us :)

Take care!