January Inspiration by Maja Nowak

Hello there, Blue Fern Studios Fans :) I'm so excited to be sharing my first post as a DT member!

 

My name is Maja Nowak (Oliwiaen in the Internet), I live in Poland with my university-sweetheart husband and our two sons. I started scrapbooking in 2008 and, although I have always been crafting (drawing, painting, cross-stiching and decoupage), scrapbooking seems to have taken my whole heart (and time!). 

My style is mostly romantic and shabby chic. But being a mom of two growing up boys who are almost always present in my layouts, I sometimes create something more modern too :-) You can see my work on my blog (where you will find links to my Scrapbook.com and Pinterest galleries too).

I love Blue Fern Studios products: thick papers with beautiful designs, varied chipboard pieces and most gorgeous vintage stamp images! I'm really happy to be working with such quality products. So let me show you what I used them for in my first projects :)

I have created three layouts for January. You might have noticed the first one, as it was presented among fantastic samples by my DT friends with our January sketch challenge reveal :) I went for my favourite teal tones combined with golden and white accents to scrapbook a photo of my darling elder son:

I like to follow a sketch as closely as possible, and so I did for our challenge too. For the background I layered papers from the Paisley&Vine collection and added some elements I cut out from the Frolic collection:

Among other embellishments I used this cute chipboard arrow that I covered with 14 Karat embossing powder - I'm simply in love with this one, the best golden metallic/glittery golden ep I've ever used! Forgive me if I use it in every project of mine ;)

In my title piece I first covered the chipboard with Oatmeal ep and then sprinkled some 14 Karat here and there to get this effect:

I hope you'd join in the fun and share your interpretations of the sketch too :)

Dream Big:
Papers: Paisley & Vine: Nature, Deja Vu: Atelier, Frolic: Dans Le Jardin, Calling Cards
Chipboard: The Optimist Word Set, Directions
Embossing powder: Karat, Oatmeal


My second project is a layout that was inspired by... the piece of chipboard I used for my title: We're All Mad Here ;) I reminded me of the Alice in Wonderland style and I immediately thought the Blush collection and of those crazy photos of my sons and their cousins :) Together they resulted in a funny whimsical page that I had a true fun making!

For the background I used the Charmed paper, then I cut out the flowery frame from the Fondness sheet and layered it on top.

 I also cut the key image from the Key To My Heart paper and added it below my photos:

And then I used scraps of those papers to mat my photos and to stamp some images onto :) I stamped two balloon images, decorated them with liquid pearls, glitter and flowers and mounted on 3D dots:

As for the title piece, I decorated it with embossing powders and did that in stages: I first covered each word separately with embossing ink reinker (of course, you can use an embossing pen that I don't have ;)) and heat-embossed it with a different colour ep before going on to the next word:

We're All Mad Here:
Papers: Blush: Fondness, Charmed, Key to My Heart, Reminisce
Chipboard: We're All Made Here, Directions
Embossing powder: Buttercup, Karat, Petal, Fern
Stamps: Flight & Flair, Journey, Photography, Deja Vu


And finally the third layout I made using the beautiful Timeless collection: you should have seen me choosing the papers! I couldn't decide for ages, they're all so beautiful :) In the end I decided on gray tones and here's the result, with my shiny boys in the photo ;)

I distressed the edges of the Artistique and Papillons papers and layered them together. Then I added some stamping in the background:

I cut out some tags from the Keepsakes sheet and matted my photo.

I covered the title chipboard piece with the 14 Karat ep (told you, I love it!)...

...while for the "industrial" pieces from the Cogs&Gears and Working Parts sets I used a custom mixture of the Poinsettia, Cerulean, Icicle and Ebony powders. I took a pinch of each (a really tiny amount, together they gave me enough to emboss all the parts and still more than a half was left for future use. If you wish to mix several powders, I'd recommend taking small amounts and as you add more colours, emboss on some spare scrap of paper to check the result.) I mixed the powders well on a scrap of paper and after embossing my pieces I got this really natural rusty-patined but still metallic shiny look of old metal pieces.

I also added a real vintage watchface and a key charm to my page. Then I tucked in a couple of mini roses here and there - I think they go well with all those "masculine" elements ;)

You Shine:
Papers: Timeless: Artistique, Papillons, Keepsakes
Chipboard: Working Parts, The Optimist Word Set, Cogs & Gears
Embossing powder: 14 Karat, Poinsettia, Cerulean, Icicle, Ebony.
Stamps: Deja Vu, Essential Textures.

Thank you so much for visiting the Blue Fern Studios blog today - see you later!

Maja