~ Designer Favorites 2016 ~

Have you ever created a project that instantly became a fave? Maybe your photo spoke to memories past, or your new art supplies really got the creative juices flowing or even the mood you were in  as you created.  But somehow, it became a fave. 

Well, we decided to ask our Creative Team to show us THEIR favorite Blue Fern Studios project for 2016! 

They all agreed it was very hard to choose! 

But here is what they finally settled on  … 

Nicole Doiron - Canada

Here's what Nicole said about her choice:

"I chose this layout as my favorite Blue Fern Studios DT creation because frankly, it is one of my all-time favorite any DT creations! But of course, Blue Fern Studios is the reason why it is so special. I am in love with woodgrain pattern and this one from the Tranquility collection with its teal blue tint is just gorgeous. I love the softness and serene feeling that this layout evokes with a very simple photo and a very inspiring quote. Every time I take a look at the chipboard focal piece, La Plume, I get a sense of peace and hope."

Keren Tamir - Canada

Designer Keren Tamir is a master at doing beach themed projects! Give her some blue and green and she's happy! Here, she took one of our Seaside Cottage papers and created this amazing calm and peaceful scene! Her chipboard choices are exquisite and replicates the ripples of the ocean! Ah, so relaxing! 

  Marilyn Rivera - United States- Video Educator

Marilyn Rivera also found it hard to choose just one project! Her background in fashion design is almost always incorporated in her layouts, most notably her fabulous pleating of her paper. Here, it seems the bride is pulling aside a curtain. Marilyn likes to frame her photos with embellishments, flowers, stenciling, ink and pearls. This is also a favorite photo of hers. 

Renea Harrison - United States

Just one peek at this beauty and you can see Renae Harrison's love for mixing unexpected textures together.  The feminine photo, flowers, pearls and lace work beautifully against her rolled paper pieces, twine and wood sprigs. The chipboard was left almost natural to blend with her theme. 

Pascale Bernard - France

Pascale is a master at making her photos the focus of her layouts. Here she has taken a vintage photo and clustered it with chipboard and flowers while still allowing the paper to shine! We adore the unique circular design. We will miss her amazing sneak peeks of her chipboard alterations. 

Debbie Burns - United States

Here's what Debbie had to say about her fave:

"Here is my favorite from the Seaside Cottage Collection. I wanted to use the picture of my friend's daughter walking on the beach. Everything on this layout came together perfectly. Love the soft colors of the papers, flowers and embossing powders on the chipboard."

Cathi O’Neill - Ireland

Cathi O'Neill is a fan of our older Ombre Dreams collection and it worked perfectly for this beach photo of her daughters! Her cluster of chipboard, flowers and shells are perfect accents. We love that she's including some stamping to create more dimension. Great choice! 

Karine Gagnon - Canada

Here is what Karine told us about her "second favorite" project:

(Her actual favorite was recently used in her December post, so she chose another.) 

"I love this layout because it has everything I love about scrapbooking: memories, texture, chipboards, flowers and beautiful colors."

Marie-Eve Bernard - Canada

Marie-Eve had this to say about this layout of her sweet baby:

"It is My favorite because of the Mémoires collection That i just love!  It also included some texture chipboard , my favorite ones. Finally, It is a picture of my precious baby boy."

Elena Volchkova- Ukraine 

Elena also had a hard time choosing but finally settled on this one. Her style is always soft in texture but she often includes a few bright pops of color as she does here. You might notice this paper is that same one that Cathi chose. 

Sandi Clarkson - United States

Sandi said:

"I finally settled on this layout as my favorite because I loved the grunge-y photo of my youngest daughter and took my inspiration from it. I had so much fun altering the chipboard pieces to complement the photo and the Serendipity paper. Also, because I usually do more shabby, romantic pages, this was an artistic departure for me." 

Maja Nowak - Poland

From Maja:

"I loved making each and every one of my projects for Blue Fern Studion during my term on the team, putting my heart into every creation. So if I have to pick just one most favourite, my choice is based on the amount of fun I had while creating, measured by the amount of BFS products used for it. :) And thus my pick is the mini I made for my June post, Crazy Cousins. It marks my absolute record with 21 chipboard pieced from 14 various sets, 13 embossing powders and 23 motives from 13 stamp sets. Plus fun photos I was working with." :) 

Karolina Czajkowska - Poland

Karolina said this about her favorite:
We agree this is an amazing piece! 

"It was so hard to choose only one, so I needed more time. Here is my favorite. I picked this one because I love a marine style and colors and all details of this layout."

Yuko Tanaka - Japan

How could one ever decide on a favorite of Yuko Tanaka? She is known for  her great use of multiple photos and unique fussy cutting placement. Here she has used one of her wedding photos as well as a more recent one taken at the same chapel.  Her white chipboard just shines against her Timeless papers.   Such a soft, feminine page! 

Jelissa Mei - Singapore - Video Educator

Video Educator Jelissa Mei always wows with her unique backgrounds and great chipboard techniques. We thought this sweet photo of her baby girl with her daddy needed to be highlighted today. Jelissa makes great use of white space (Blush) around the photo cluster to really draw the eye towards it. We will miss Jelissa's great video tutorials but encourage you to visit our You Tube channel (link on the right sidebar)  in case you missed one. 

We have had a great year here at Blue Fern Studios! 

Lots of new products have been released and thoroughly enjoyed. 

We want to thank each and every designer who has been a part of this year for all your inspiration and dedication to the Creative Team.  

Here's to a great 2017! 

SaveSave

February Inspiration with Sandi Clarkson!

"On the Road"

Hello, Blue Fern fans! Sandi here with you today sharing my February projects with 3 different collections. 

For this project, I've chosen the Serendipity range which works nicely with this particular photo of my daughter. As have several others, I've chosen Contemplation as my background layer. It seems to be quite popular! I really went to town on the mixed media with this one  .. it is hard to even see my stamping. 

The Swan Gate is a gorgeous piece of chipboard! I've used it here as a photo layer along with some random pieces of Calling Cards and Chronicle.  The gate was heat embossed with Ginger Embossing Powder with various intensity of heat so that some of the powder is not totally embossed. Then I went over the gate with Gold and Patina metallic rub medium.

Titles are hard for me, so I love that Blue Fern carries so many title pieces. This one was perfect! After I gessoed it to give it some tooth, I just did my favorite thing which is to ink them up! When I was completing my page, I added some copper glitter randomly over the page but made sure to give this title  some chunky love. 

Once again, I've merely gessoed and inked my chipboard piece, even making the little bird the same color as the branch. Then a fussy cut butterfly (Merriment) was added for more dimension and color. Right beneath this branch you can see some of my stamping. 

The B Side of the Chronicle paper is a beautiful damask look, while the A side provided fussy cut flowers. The little bird is from the Glee papers. A Calling Card makes a great title mat. 

A few more butterflies cut from the Merriment sheet finish things off. I've also tucked in an older flower from my stash that matched perfectly and provided some femininity to juxtaposition against the more grungy papers and textures. 

Just one more close-up of that gorgeous Swan Gate.

 A final splatter of white paint and this one was done! 

Blue Fern Studios Products used:

Paper:

Serendipity Glee,  Contemplation, Chronicle, Calling Cards and Merriment

Chipboard:

Swan Gate, Mystic Branch,  On the Road

Stamps:

Christmas Collage

Embossing Powder:

Ginger

***

"You are Unforgettable"

This project was a true labor of love. This 12x12 Butterfly Grid is a lot of chipboard! There are so many directions you could do with this one but I decided to add color. It didn't turn out quite like I imagined it but it was fun nonetheless. And I'm anxious to use this piece again. 

I've used the Timeless Main Street as my background and added Calling Cards for my photo layers. 

The Majestic Frame was embossed with a powder from my stash but the title piece was done with Blue Fern Ebony Embossing Powder. After that, I got to work on the butterflies using paints and then Mystic Plum and Iris Embossing Powders. 

Everything got a little white to paint to help with blending.

Gold and violet flowers were added, although the gold are looking a little orange-ish here,

You can see here that parts of the grid were cut away in the corners so that the paper floral design would show.  Also, some of the butterflies were cut to allow me to lift their wings.

A final side view.

Blue Fern Studios Products used:

Paper:

Timeless Main Street, Calling Cards

Chipboard:

Butterfly grid, You Are Unforgettable, Majestic frame

Embossing Powders:

Mystic Plum, Iris and Ebony

Mist:

Jingle Bells

***

"Dreams Come True"

You probably have already seen this project if you made it here for the February Sketch Challenge Post. This one was created with the Blush Collection which I have found so easy to scrap … my fave colors. The background was embossed with the Brocade Texture stamp and 14K Embossing Powder. I also did some other light stamping with the Forever stamp. Then lots and lots of layers from mostly torn paper but also plenty of fussy cut layers as well. 

I totally love the medley and ironworks type pieces. Here I've embossed the  Ironworks Medley piece with Copper Embossing Powder and then randomly smudged it with an antique gold and a patina wax metallic finish. I adore the look of patina on my chipboard pieces! You can also see the fussy cut florals I've tucked in as a layer. 

The Dreams come True title piece was embossed with the Fern color Embossing Powder and then I rubbed more of the antique gold metallic finish on it as well Dabbed it with white paint for a good shabby look! 

A few more fussy cut pieces from Cupid's Folly, a heart, florals and a wee butterfly. 

The embossed background looks so cool! I plan to do this again soon! The 14K just shimmers and the brocade stamp is the bomb!

A final shot to just show you some of the dimension on the page. 

Blue Fern Studios Products Used:
Paper:
Blush Celebration, Reminisce, Fondness, Cupid's Folly and Valentine Calling Cards

Chipboard:
Dreams Come True, Ironworks Medley

Embossing Powder:
Fern, 14 Karat and Copper

Stamps:
Brocade Texture, Forever

That wraps up my February projects. I am already working away on March.
Thank you so much for coming by the Blog today.

Remember that we are now on Instagram at @bluefernstudios and on Twitter @BlueFernStudios.
There are links on the side bar to all of our Social Media accounts.
See you next time!
Sandi

What's New - Part 2

We are back today with more new Blue Fern Studios products that you are sure to fall in love with! 

First up is a sneak peek at our upcoming paper collection, Serendipity. 
  Be sure to check back later  when we will show you the individual pages up-close. 
The detail is stunning!

We have also added these new chipboard pieces:

Garden Celebration

Persian Ornament

Stencil Tag 1

And how about some new titles!

To add some sparkle and bling to your chipboard pieces, we also have some new colors of glitter!

We're excited about our new products, and hope you are, too!
We would love to hear what you think.