A Winner and Featured Layouts

It's that happy time of the month.  The time when we get to announce the winner of last month's sketch challenge, and to show you our featured layouts.

Let's get to the winner, first.  Based on a random draw, the winner of our March Sketch Challenge is:

Entry #20, which belongs to Paivi, of Sweden.  Congratulations Paivi!  As the winner, you will receive a package of Blue Fern Studios chipboard.  Please send an e-mail, within the next 7 days, to {valerie(at)bluefernstudios(dot)com} to claim your prize.

Here is the "Fabulous" layout Paivi created using an amazing photo and paper from the Ombre Dreams collection.

Each month we also like to feature some of our favorite layouts from those entered in our sketch challenge.  This month we have five layouts we would like to share with you.  These layouts represent a variety of styles ranging from layered, to artistic, to clean lines.  All are lovely and show the many ways Blue Fern paper and chipboard can be used.  Thanks to these creative women for showcasing Blue Fern products so beautifully!

Mona Eidhammer 

Bev Code

Dashiki

Rachael Pancoast

Kavitha

Thanks to everyone who entered our sketch challenge.  

If you haven't yet entered one of our monthly sketch challenges, we would love to have you join us! 

You can find a link to the April challenge at the top-right of our blog.  

For those of you who are regulars, we love you and hope to see you again this month!

Three April Projects Using Three Different Paper Lines By: Renea Harrison

Hello, and welcome to my April Design Team Reveal!! This month I have 3 different projects that I created using 3 of the newest Blue Fern Studios Paper Lines; Courtship Lane, Timeless and Serendipity. I love creating in different styles and I hope that you are inspired to try out one of the new paper collections and make it your own!!

I love creating beautiful pieces with hints of grunge and shabbiness and the new Blue Fern Courtship Lane Collection along with the April Sketch was perfect for pulling this look off

for this first layout:

I started with a layer of Courtship Lane Royal Street Paper and then added a 2nd layer of Courtship Lane Royal Street Paper that I heavily distressed and inked. 

I added a layer of Timeless Lace for softness, 

 then took a Ruth's Doily Chipboard piece, painted it with gesso and script stamped it with clear embossing ink, coated it with Imagine Ink Ebony Embossing Powder tapped off the excess and heat set it to get a gorgeous raised script to match my book theme.

For the floral layer, I added a large fabric flower, and then layered in some of the new Blue Fern Courtship Lane Roses, some mulberry paper leaves, feathers and a resin swirl.

I then did some tearing at the top of my layout and took a Blue Fern Chipboard Peek A Boo, gave it the same technique treatment as the Doily, tucked it behind the tear and then sewed up the tear with some embroidery thread and tied a bow.

I added drips and splatters of gesso and glitter glass randomly to my layout for lots of visual interest.

I added some more of the Courtship Lane Roses, leaves and feathers to the top corner of the photo,

and added a Silver Pocket Watch that I filled with different beads and Glitter Glass for some really YUMMY Texture.

To finish up my layout, I took a Blue Fern Serendipity 1 Word-Contemplation and heat embossed it with the Ebony Embossing Powder, and then added on a set of my handcrafted Sweet Dreams Lavender Butterflies.

Blue Fern Studios Supply List:

Paper:
Courtship Lane-Plaza

Courtship Lane-Royal Street

Chipboard:
Ruth's Doily
Peek A Boo

Serendipity Words 1 (Contemplation)

Flowers:
Courtship Roses

Imagine Ink:

Ebony

I just love the new Blue Fern Studios Serendipity Collection!! The papers are perfect for my "edgy" meets beautiful style, and provided the perfect venue for me to create this natural, grungy pocket journal:

I started with a pocket journal base that I sew together using upcycled manilla folders. I then layered on a piece of the Blue Fern Serendipity Glee Paper that I cut to fit my design

I cut a strip of canvas and 2 tone spray stained it and then threaded a metal safety pin into the top of it, added a little bird cabochon to match my theme and adhered the piece down the side of the journal.

I took some Blue Fern Chicken Wire Panel Chipboard pieces that I cut out from the panel, and gave them a "rusty" look by heat embossing them with Imagine Ink Nutmeg Embossing Powder, and tucked them into my design.

Next, came a piece of torn, 2 tone spray stained, corrugated board, topped with spray stained cheesecloth, and different flowers and little bird's nest.

I then took a Blue Fern Frill Heart Chipboard Piece, and I heat embossed the edges with Imagine Ink Peacock Embossing Powder. For the center I coated it with Shard Glitter Glass and then shot it with some of the spray stain that I used on the other pieces. I then created a little, multiple layer heart with leftover Serendipity Paper Pieces, and added a little flower.

I added another spray stained piece of canvas and cut out the word "Beauty" from the Serendipity Calling Cards Paper, and added it to it. The Chasing Butterflies are some of my handcrafted Butterflies that I love to add to my projects for added dimension.

The pockets of the Journal Base contain tags and pieces that I created from the Blue Fern Serendipity Glee, Imagination, and Calling Cards Papers. They include:

2 Oversized Tags topped with hand dyed seam binding bows and cabochons
2-Large tags topped with spray stained canvas pieces

2 - Calling Card Pieces that open up book style
and 

this large piece that I created by taking a Blue Fern Swan Gate Chipboard Piece, and lining it with Serendipity Paper to create a tag. I added a Dream Metal Key and hand dyed seam binding hanger. 

To get the rusted look on the gate, I first heat embossed it with Imagine Ink Peacock Embossing Powder, and then randomly dabbed it with clear embossing ink and sprinkled those spots with Imagine Ink Nutmeg Embossing Powder to get that YUMMY, aged look.

Here is the back side of the jounal that was finished out in Serendipity Imagination Paper.

Blue Fern Studios Supply List:

Paper:
Serendipity-Imagination

Serendipity-Glee

Serendipity-Calling Cards

Chipboard:
Chicken Wire Panel
Frilly Hearts
Swan Gate

Imagine Ink:
Embossing Powder-Peacock

Embossing Powder Nutmeg

And for my 3rd and final project, the Blue Fern Studios Timeless Collection with it's grungy, darker more Vintage look papers inspired me to create the following masculine layout of my son, Draven. I just used the papers in a way that omitted or covered up the more feminine floral designs to leave me with designs that worked perfectly for that no flower, all edginess of masculinity.

I started with a a layer of Timeless Main Street Paper, and then tore and layered in corrugated board pieces that I two tone misted and Timeless Papillons and Artistique Papers.

I did some edge curling on some of the paper and then inked them to match the corrugated board colors.

Next, I added in Blue Fern Roman Clock Chipboard (small).

I then took some Blue Fern Cogs And Gears Chipboard pieces, and heat embossed them with Imagine Ink Honey and Ebony Embossing Powders, and layered them onto the clock pieces.

I also used Blue Fern Frolic Mesh Chipboard that I cut into pieces and colored with a distress marker and tucked into random places throughout the layout. I added various metal pieces to round out the finishing touches for the layout. 

Here you can see all the dimension and textures that the layers of papers and chipboard created.

I know a lot of you tell me that masculine work is a real challenge for you, but the Blue Fern papers and quality chipboard really do make it easy to pull a gorgeous masculine piece off!! Thank you so much for checking out my April work, and I hope you have fun creating!! Hugs~Renea

Blue Fern Studios Supply List:
Paper:
Timeless-Papillons

Timeless-Main Street
Timeless-Artistique

Chipboard:

Roman Clocks Small

Cogs & Gears
Frolic Mesh

Imagine Ink:
Embossing Powder-Honey
Embossing Powder-Ebony

April Inspirations with Jelissa

Hello friends!

How quickly time passes and we're into the month of April! Today I'm up on the Blue Fern blog with two creations made from the Serendipity and Courtship Lane collection.

My first share is this layout using Courtship Lane papers. I chose pink (yes!) because it matches the boys' T-shirt in the photo and also, every time I see them, my heart is just filled with love for them. Keeping my background work simple so that the papers can shine.

Some close-ups:

My title chipboard - I made a paste from iridescent medium and mixed it with some pink metallic paint. I was able to get some body and texture out of the mix and make my title more interesting. 

The Sweetheart frame which I painted with metallic pink frame and some shimmery pink watercolors.

New flowers from Blue Fern Studios! {Heart} these! 

My all time favourite Layering Stems - which I had layered 3 Imagine Ink embossing powders - Clover, Verdant and Grassy Knoll.

Blue Fern Studios products used:

paper: Courtship Lane collection - Town Gossip, Concert Hall, Bourbon Ave, Calling Cards

chipboard: Layering Stems, Sweetheart Frame, Hugs & Kisses

Embossing Powder: Clover, Verdant, Grassy Knoll

Flowers: Courtship Blooms and Courtship Roses

My next layout is created with the Serendipity collection and I love just how much creative space these papers give me. What got my attention was how the colors blended into each other and I wanted to create that in the chipboards as well. With so many lovely quotes in Calling Cards, I ended up using one of them as a title for my eldest boy who has a vivid imagination.

Details in the close-ups:

Cutting up the quote and scattering them all over the page, using them to create a sense of motion.

Snipping up Chelsea Vine chipboard and tucking it in everywhere. I've also used Blue Fern Studios flowers in my cluster. You can also see how I have layered the embossing powders in my background.

My Bird in Flight treated the most fun way - with tissue paper. 

More Blue Fern blooms.

Lots of goodies in the background.

The gorgeous duo-tone blue-gold on Swirly Circle chipboard.

And here is the start-to-finish video:

Blue Fern Studios products used:

paper: Serendipity collection - Chronicle, Calling Cards, Fascination, Imagination, Contemplation

chipboard: Chelsea Vine, Swirly Circle, Birds in Flight

embossing powder: Breeze, Sky Blue, Seven Seas, Oatmeal, Snow, Clover, Verdant, Grassy Knoll, Sage

flowers: Courtship Roses

That's all I have for today. Thank you for dropping by!

Jelissa

April Sketch Challenge

Welcome to April!  Each new month brings us a reason to provide you with a new sketch.  Here's our April sketch, designed by Michele Singh.  Don't you just love this design?  There are so many possibilities with this sketch!

Our amazing Creative Team went crazy with the sketch this month, so we have LOTS of awesome inspiration for you, as each designer put their own spin on the sketch.

Debbie Burns

Renea Harrison

Bec Genet

Elena Volchkova

Maja Nowak

Yuko Tanaka

Keren Tamir

Pascale Bernard

  

Cathi O'Neill

Maiko Kosugi

 Now it is your turn!   We would love for you to use the April Sketch as inspiration for your project.   We will have a prize for one lucky winner (from a random draw), and will feature a few projects from YOU at the end of the month!

We ask that you follow these guidelines:

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, but please make sure your layout resembles the sketch.

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 April 30, 2016.

An InLinkz Link-up