Our April Sketch Challenge Winner & Featured Layouts

It's always a good day at Blue Fern Studios when we get the opportunity to give away a prize, and to feature some of your layouts.  We would like to start by announcing the winner of our April Sketch Challenge.  

From a random draw, entry #7 is our winner this month.

Entry #7 was submitted by Dria (5finns) from an online gallery.  

Congratulations Dria!  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 layout Dria created for the sketch challenge.  Isn't this an amazing photo?  We love how she combine some peach accents along with several shades of blue to compliment the photo so well. 

This layout was created using paper from the Courtship Lane collection.

A huge thank you to all who participated in the April Sketch Challenge.  We have selected three very different styles of layouts to feature this month.  Our congratulations to these amazing women.

 

 

First we have this artistic layout created by AnastasiaElena, who flipped the sketch.  The layers of lace, fabric, ribbon, and buttons add some wonderful texture.  She has used paper from our very first collection - Blue Fern Garden.  It's so nice to see this paper from the past! 

Next we chose this gorgeous layout by Alesanalovesky, who used paper from the Frolic Collection.  The soft colors and embellishments let the photo be the star of this layout.  Did you notice the Blue Fern "Birds on a Wire" chipboard piece?

Our third feature is this month is from Daria Burmistrova and just couldn't be sweeter.  The layering and fussy cutting are stunning and give this layout such an elegant look.  Daria has used paper from our Blush Collection.

This wraps up our April Sketch Challenge.  Thanks so much for stopping by.  

Our May sketch has been posted.  You will find a link in the top right side-bar.  

We hope you will join us this month!

Three Projects~Three Different Looks Using The Blue Fern Studios Tranquility Collection By: Renea Harrison

For my first Project, I teamed up the Blue Fern Studios May Sketch with the newest Paper Release Tranquility. I love this paper collection!! The natural, slightly grungy paper designs allowed me to capture one of my FAV looks, Country Chic!!
The following is this month's sketch, and you can join in on the sketch challenge here:
http://bluefernstudios.blogspot.com/2016/05/may-sketch-challenge.html

And here is my take on the sketch:

I started with 2 layers of the Blue Fern Tranquility Papers that I distressed heavily and did some random punching on.

Here you can see where I did some peek a boos of with lace.

I created another layer with distressed and inked paper to matt out my photo, and added a metal lock to make it look like the photo was latched to the papers. 

I then took a Blue Fern Wallflower Stamp, and stamped the pattern randomly onto my background paper. I love doing this kind of stamping, it adds the illusion of even more depth and allows you to bring in coordinating colors into your design.

Next, I took some Blue Fern Leafy Page Accents Chipboard and 1st heat embossed the pieces with Imagine Ink Oatmeal Embossing Powder, and then took an embossing dabber and inked just the edges and dipped them in Imagine Ink Peacock Embossing Ink, and heat set it.
I then added a Blue Fern Roses and Lillies Flower, and a couple of stash flowers. creating a floral piece at the top corner of my photo.

I added strips of the papers that I distressed and inked, and then over layered them with a piece of Blue Fern Scalloped Border Chipboard that was heat embossed with Imagine Ink Mushroom Embossing Powder, and cut it into two pieces so that I could layer a piece here, and 

a piece at the bottom of my photo. I added more flowers and lace and some of my hand crafted Peacock Feather Dragonflies and more lace. 

For the large floral piece at the bottom left hand corner of my photo, I used a Blue Fern Leafy Bough Chipboard, and did the same 2 tone embossing that I did on the page accents. I then added on a Blue Fern Roses and Lillies Flower, and a couple of stash flowers.

Blue Fern Studios Supply List:

Paper:

Tranquility-Calm

Tranquility-Serenity

Tranquility-Jubilation

Chipboard:

Scalloped Border
Leafy Bough
Leafy Page Accents

Stamp:
Wallflower

Flowers:

Tranquility Roses & Lillies

Imagine Ink:

Oatmeal Embossing Powder
Mushroom Embossing Powder
Peacock Embossing Powder

I love working with natural fibers, colors and subject matter, and the new Blue Fern Tranquility Collection has the perfect colors for layering in with those natural accents!! This second project is a layout that I created that expresses my love for nature, and creates a Hushed Tranquility: 

The background layer is Blue Fern Tranquility Blissful Paper, and the 2nd layer is the Blue Fern Jubilation Paper that has been distressed heavily along the edges.

I used some Burlap Fabric that I cut down and frayed the edges on for a photo matte, added my photo and then topped it with a Blue Fern Treasured Floral Frame

 that I first inked then dabbed with embossing ink and heat embossed with Imagine Ink Oatmeal Embossing Ink, adding on some mulberry paper flowers for accents.

Here you can see all the detail on the frame.

I just love the wood grain feel of this paper!

At the top corner of my layout, I added a large Blue Fern Tranquility Roses and Lillies Flower , a Blue Fern Courtships Flower,  feathers, some stash mulberry paper flowers, and then took some of the pieces that I frayed off the burlap fabric tied them together and tucked them in.
My hand crafted Secret Garden Butterflies contained the perfect colors to accent with!

For the bricks that you see throughout this layout, I used the Blue Fern Shabby Brick Bits that I cut into pieces embossed with Imagine Ink Nutmeg Embossing Powder, and then dabbed embossing ink randomly onto them, sprinkled them with Imagine Ink Oatmeal Embossing Powder, and heat set that. I then took some of the centers and painted them with some sand texture paste and put them back into the skeletons. 

I added some of the texture painted bricks to the peek a boo at the bottom as well.

For the large flower layer, I added more feathers, more burlap strings, some more of the Blue Fern Tranquil and Courtship Flowers, a sweet bird nest, a burlap daisy and more mulberry paper flowers.

For the title work, I used another chipboard piece from the Leafy Page Accents, and a Blue Fern Hushed from the Serenity, Calm, Hushed Word Chipboard Set.

I first heat embossed the pieces with Imagine Ink Oatmeal Embossing Powder, and then did some random embossing on the Hushed piece with Imagine Ink Breeze Embossing Powder, and added flower accents.

Here you can see all the dimension and textures that I achieved using all of the Blue Fern Studios Products.

Blue Fern Studios Supply List:

Paper:
Tranquility-Blissful

Tranquility-Jubilation

Chipboard:

Treasured Floral Frame

Shabby Brick Bits

Leafy Page Accents

Serenity, Calm, Hushed, Set (I used Hushed)

Flowers:

Tranquil Blooms

Courtship Blooms

Imagine Ink:

Oatmeal Embossing Powder
Nutmeg Embossing Powder
Breeze Embossing Powder

For my last Blue Fern Studios Project this month, I have a Vintage look pocket journal to share with you. I used the new Tranquility Paper Collection and lots of YUMMY Blue Fern goodies to put this one together with. 

For the base of the folder I took a piece of the Blue Fern Tranquility-Blissful Paper,  folded it in half to get a Width of 6 Inches, and cut it down to a 9 Inch Length, and then cut out an angle so that I could glue the edges and form my pocket for all my tuck ins.
I added lace down the side, 

and then took a Blue Fern Parisian Ornament, and first coated it with Imagine Ink Pearl Embossing Powder, and then top coated it with Imagine Ink Snow Embossing Powder. Both layers were heat seat and the double layer gave me the look of aged white, Wrought Iron-love it!!!

I added on a Blue Fern Calling Card from the Tranquility paper that I distressed the edges on.
Next came some Blue Fern Tranquil & Courtship Blooms, along with some mulberry paper flowers and leaves. I added a sweet metal, handmade tag and one of my hand crafted Tiny Treasures Emmie's Dream Butterflies. 

At the fop corner of my pocket, I added a Baroque Metal Frame and filled it with more flowers. Added a Vintage look metal clip that I took some of the paper with the word "stillness" on it and mounted it under the glass cabochon.

Here you can see all the tuck ins that I created using the Blue Fern Tranquility Calling Cards. They include:
2 Large Double Sided Pull Outs
1-Folded Piece
2-Smaller Note Cards

Thank you so much for the visit!! I hope that you have enjoyed all of my May projects, and that you get a chance to grab some of those amazing Blue Fern Products and create something beautiful for yourself!! Until next time, 
Hugs ~Renea

Blue Fern Studios Supply List:

Paper:

Tranquility-Stillness

Tranquility-Hushed

Tranquility-Calling Cards

Chipboard:

Persian Ornament

Flowers:
Tranquility Blooms

Courtship Blooms

Imagine Ink:

Snow Embossing Powder

Pearl Embossing Powder

Tranquility in May

Hello Blue Fern friends!

I'm up on the blog today to share with you my creations for May. I had other projects planned for this post but this collection was too beautiful for me to put down. As usual, I like to play with light and dark background papers and this post is no different.

For my first project, I based it on the May sketch challenge although it didn't make it in time for the sketch reveal a few days ago. Below is the sketch again:

I just had to make a big deal of the blues here because of the boys' t-shirts. It also matches the color scheme of the paper perfectly. Lots of subtle details in the background as I wanted it to merge with the paper itself.

Some details in the close-ups:

Tranquillity flowers. I'm so glad BFS has released coordinating flower packs! No more hunting high and low for blooms that match. 

Altering one of the roses a bit with some watercolor paint to create an ombre effect.

A chippie which I altered by first painting with green watercolor, followed by layering the embossing powders Lilac, Amethyst and with a sprinkle of glitter in Sunshine. 

For my title piece "Blissful", I layered the embossing powders In The Navy, Seven Seas, Cerulean and Breeze.

Blue Fern Studios products used:

paper: Tranquility collection - Calm, Calling Cards, Jubilation, Peaceful

chipboard: "Blissful, Jubilation, Patience", "Tranquil Foliage"

embossing powder: In The Navy, Seven Seas, Cerulean, Breeze, Lilac, Amethyst

Glitter: SunshineFlowers: Tranquil Blooms, Tranquil Roses and Lilies 

My second share is a video tutorial, of a layout of the boys at Rockingham Beach. Granted it was close to winter and chilly, we were hoping to make a day trip to Penguin Island just across the shore and check out the wildlife. Unfortunately the ferry trips were all canceled but we had a lot of fun picking up shells and watching the sea birds play in the distance. 

I love how the whole project turned out, although there were a few bits which I thought I could have added more details - some of you may know what I'm talking about when I say I wanted to do something this minute and the next minute I've clean forgotten it! Nevertheless, I'm a sucker for woodgrain patterns and this sheet of Calm (I've used the reverse side for the first layout, that's how much I like it) really got my groove going. 

Some details in the close-ups:

A cute little anchor amidst the waves. Matched with Tranquility flowers. 

More altered blooms, shells and seaweed chippies.

Love how the glitter sparkles in the sunlight, much like seaspray on a summer day.

Lapping waves and foam

The title piece - Fascination. Love the duo-toned effect in the sun!

And here is the start to finish video tutorial. I have noted the feedback from the previous video and slowed things down here so that you don't miss out on the action. Sit back and have fun!

Blue Fern Studios products used:

paper: Tranquility collection - Calm, Jubilation, Peaceful

chipboard: By the Sea, Nautical Set, Seaside Seashells, Seaweed, Serendipity - Fascination
embossing powder: In The Navy, Seven Seas, Cerulean, Bonny Blue, Ebony, Mushroom, Clover, Fern, Verdant
Glitter: Blue Diamond, Carribean, Autumn
Flowers: Tranquil Blooms, Tranquil Roses and Lilies 

May Sketch Challenge

Hello friends.  We hope you stopped by to read all about the May sketch challenge we have for you.    

Each month our sketch designer, Michele Singh, creates a beautiful sketch for us.  We post it on our blog, 

and invite all our readers to use the sketch to create a project.  You have the entire month of May

 to enter your project.  Here's this month's sketch:

Each month several members of our Creative Team use the sketch to give you some ideas and inspiration to get you started.  Here's how 8 of our designers used this month's sketch:

Debbie Burns

Renea Harrison

Nicole Doiron

Wilma Voermans

Pascale Bernard

Maja Nowak

Yuko Tanaka

Marilyn Rivera

Now it is your turn!   Whether you are new to our Sketch Challenge or have participated in the past, we would love for you to grab some Blue Fern products and use the sketch as inspiration for a 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). You can create any 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 chipboard pieces or paper featured in the sketch. 

  You can find a list of stores that carry Blue Fern products  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 May 31, 2016.

An InLinkz Link-up