New at Blue Fern!

We not only have new products to reveal, but we have also added a new member to our Creative Team.  We are pleased to announce that the very talented Marta Lapkowska, has joined the Blue Fern team as a video educator!  You will love her artsy style.  Marta has already been busy creating with our "Love Story" collection.  Be sure to check back later this month for her first video!

 We have added ten new chipboard designs this week with several architectural pieces/sets, a couple of frames, beautiful vines, a set of sweet crowns, and even two worldly pieces.

Lisa's Window

Columns

Royal Gate

Jackie's Window

Butterfly Frame Square

Chelsea Frame

Chelsea Vines

Rotating World

Globe

Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a great weekend!

 

January Sketch Challenge Winner and Featured Layouts

We are thrilled with the response to the January sketch.  It was our best month ever, so thanks to each of you who played along with us in January.  But don't stop there, the February sketch has already been posted.  You can find a link to it in our right sidebar.

As always, let's start with the winner.  Based on a random draw, the winner this month is ...........#4, which happens to belong to Laura Gilhuly of Canada!!

Congratulations Laura!  You have won a prize package of Blue Fern Chipboard!  

Please send me an e-mail, within the next 7 days, 

at {valerie(at)bluefernstudios(dot)com} to claim your prize.

Here is Laura's layout created using paper from our Sanctuary Collection and chipboard pieces (both the positive and negative) from our Turkish Bits.  We love how she colored the chipboard using mist, paint, and a little gesso.

Sometimes we just don't know when to stop.  So this month, we have even more layouts to feature, which isn't a bad thing!  You guys are just awesome.  Here we go.........

"Twinkle in Your Eyes" by Wendy Scholten

 This layout, with such an adorable photo, immediately caught our eye.  Wendy has used several papers from our beautiful Montage collection, one as the background and some fussy cutting from other papers.  She also used several pieces of Blue Fern Chipboard - the Checker Bits, Bohemian Flowers, Nested Circles, and the word Twinkle from our Winter Titles set.

"Fabulous"by Miki of Japan

Miki also chose paper from our Montage collection for her entry in the January Sketch Challenge.  The title is from one of our very popular sets, the Arrow Words.  We love how this all came together to create a beautifully designed layout.

"Happy" by Marina Timofeeva

Everything about this layout is "Happy".   Marina has used this happy paper with polka-dots from our Sanctuary collection.  The title is from The Optimist Word Set, and the other chipboard is from the Turkish Bits Set. 

"Left-Handed" by Sara K. 

On her blog, Sara says she really wasn't happy with this layout at first, but we love it!  What an adorable photo  - such concentration on that little face.  The Blue Fern chipboard stars, from our Seeing Stars set are the perfect touch. 

"Cherish"by Alena Grinchuk

Layouts don't always go as planned, which was the case with this one.  Alena had something else in mind when she began, but didn't like the photo she had chosen, so she switched to this black and white photo, instead.  The outcome is stunning!  The background paper and fussy cut flowers are from paper in our Montage Collection.

"Sweet Bundle of Joy" by Paulien van den Bosch

Our final choice for the month is this precious layout created using this dark navy paper from the Sanctuary collection.  Love how this came together, Paulien. Your grandson is so super cute!

 Congratulations to our winner and to the creators of our six featured layouts.  

We hope to see all of you again in February!

An Altered Paint Palette and A Layout by Kim Price

Hi everyone, it's Kim here today with a few of my latest creations for Blue Fern Studios. I've really been feeling the love lately and with Valentine's Day just around the corner I've been creating a lot of love themed projects.

My first project is an altered piece which is sized just right to mount onto a 12"x12" page if you wish. I've used a traditional style wooden artists palette, altering it with some gorgeous Montage patterned papers and Valentine's Day themed chipboard.

Here I've taken one of the pieces from the Valentine Cupids Set and painted it up to look like a traditional vintage style cherub using acrylic paints, colored pencils and a fine Sharpie. I'm just loving how this little babe turned out and it looks so gorgeous against the stunningly romantic Montage Invitation patterned paper - perfect for Valentines Day.

In a similar way I've added color to my chipboard title using the word "love" from "Adore, Love, Cherish", coloring it with watered down acrylic paint to resemble watercolor and adding definition with a fine black Sharpie to really make it pop.

Here's a last photograph taken from the side to highlight the dimensional look to the piece.

Blue Fern Studios patterned papers: Montage Invitation

Blue Fern Studios chipboard: Adore Love Cherish, Invitation, Valentine Cupids

My second project today is a layout created using patterned papers from the beautiful Blue Fern Studios Sanctuary collection.

I've created this piece using one of the stunning dark papers from the collection - Bountiful

I then began to add some fussy cut layers using the floral images found on Garden Plaza patterned paper as well as the butterfly images and some leaves. To these layers I've included my "Natural Beauty" title from the All Natural set, coloring it with a coordinating shade of watercolor.

I've also gone ahead and added a few floral chipboard pieces from both the All Natural Set as well as the Layering Stems Set, again adding watercolor for an instant hit of color and texture. The results are stunning.

Blue Fern Studios patterned paper: Sanctuary Bountiful and Garden Plaza
Blue Fern Studios chipboard: All Natural Set and Layering Stems


Thanks for dropping by today, I hope you've enjoyed my projects for this month featuring Blue Fern patterned papers and chipboard.

Another Layout using Love Story!

A quick post today, but we just had to show you this layout.  Creative Team Member Zaneta Glowa created this soft and dreamy layout using the back side of "The Grand Ball" paper from our Love Story Collection.  This paper is perfect with her photo!

Blue Fern Chipboard used:

One frame from the Lace Rounds Set of 2

Several pieces from the Blossom Branches set

A section from the Dot Grid Panel

Dreaming with You & Me

Hello friends!

We are now into the second month of 2015 and it's my turn on the Blue Fern Studios blog today to share my creations with their fabulous products. For today's post, I'm going back to my favourite collection Ombre Dreams.

Here is the layout I made of my two boys (who else?):

As usual, layering different BFS chipboard pieces and papers from the Ombre Dreams collection. As you watch the video, you would also have noticed that I changed the order of my workflow. Instead of working on the background first, I am now starting with the chipboards then my layers, so that I can use that bit for working out the best way to create the background. 

Some close-ups:

And here is my start-to-finish video:

Blue Fern Studios products used:

Ombre Dreams papers - Joyce's Dream, Charlotte's Dream, Dream Cards, Shannon's Dream

Chipboards - Graduated Squares, Printer's Bits

That's all I have for today, thanks for dropping by!

love,

February Sketch Challenge

Welcome to February and a brand new sketch created by our sketch designer, Michele Singh.  Since this is known as the month of LOVE, Michele has created a romantic sketch for you to work with, complete with a heart.  Of course your project doesn't need to be love-themed --- you can interpret our sketch any way you'd like. 

Let's see how our Creative Team interpreted our February sketch.

Zaneta Glowa using Ombré Dreams Collection and Blue Fern chipboard

Marie-Josée Hamel using Ombré Dreams Collection and Blue Fern chipboard

Karita Vaino using Sanctuary Collection and Blue Fern chipboard

Ulrika Blomfelt using Ombré Dreams Collection and Blue Fern chipboard

Keren Tamir using Sanctuary Collection and Blue Fern Chipboard

Kim Price using  Montage Collection and Blue Fern chipboard

Melinda Thompson using Ombré Dreams and Blue Fern chipboard

What's next?

One lucky winner, selected by a random draw, will receive a prize package of Blue Fern Studios chipboard!

In addition, we will also select 3 (or more) layouts to feature.

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! 

2). Please note that you can do whatever type of project you please - a layout, card, 

  canvas, altered item- whatever suits your mood and style! 

We would love to see the different ways our sketch can be used.

3.) You must use at least one piece of Blue Fern Studios chipboard OR use Blue Fern Studios paper on your project. Please note that you do not need to use the pieces featured in the sketch

- use whatever suits your fancy! You can find the store nearest you HERE.
 {Do not use any other brand of chipboard on your project please!}

4.) Upload your project using the Inlinkz tool below by midnight EST on February 28, 2015

We look forward to seeing how you use our sketch and Blue Fern products!

An InLinkz Link-up

Off the Page Projects from our Creative Team

We thought the last day of January would be a good day to share some Off the Page projects from our Creative Team.  Of course our beautiful paper, chipboard designs, and our new stamps are used a lot for layouts, but it's also perfect for other projects, as well.   Let's take a peek at what our Creative Team has been up to:

A Mini Canvas by Galina Savonova
created to remind her of summer.  She has used Blue Fern chipboard on the canvas.

Artist's Trading Cards (ATC) by Patter  Cross using various chipboard pieces.

Kim Price added this ships wheel chipboard piece as the final touch on the journal cover.

Here's a look at a project Jelissa Mei created for a friend - a canvas and an album, both embellished with Blue Fern chipboard.

Einat Kessler used chipboard and paper from our Sanctuary Collection to create this mixed media perpetual birthday calendar.  What a great idea!

The Blue Fern Beaded Flourish chipboard frame is stunning on Angelica Franssen's canvas.

Karita Vaino chose our Shabby Brick Bits to place behind the framed image on this canvas piece.

And lastly, Marie-Josée Hamel used the Chain Link panel to create gorgeous texture on this simple, but elegant canvas.

We sure hope you found these projects inspiring!