Monday, January 4, 2016

Welcoming In The New Year With Blue Fern Studios~


Welcome to to the New Year and welcome to my very first Blue Fern Studios Post!!!
To kick things off, I would like to tell you a little bit about myself. 

My name is Renea Harrison aka Reneabouquets in the virtual world, a Southern Girl, born and raised in Tennessee. I have been married to my husband, David for over 25 years, and we have one son, Draven, who went off to college last year. I am the bookkeeper for our local business and owner of the Reneabouquets.com Store and Reneabouquets Etsy.
 I don't just love scrapbooking, I am passionate about it. I love every aspect of this amazing multi-media art. I love the art of the creation itself, from taking the design in my head and getting it out onto paper, to the social aspect of it. I love sharing what I know, and learning what others share. 
As a scrapbook artist, I don't really have any one set style. I tend to scrap whatever mood I happen to be in which can range, from Shabby Chic, Girly Girl, Vintage and Girlie Grunge to Masculine, Grunge, and Mixed Media. 
As an artist, I think that one of my greatest hopes is that I can inspire you to create and can teach you something new that you can take and use in your own work, so let's get started!!

Boots, Beauty & Blue Fern:
I love sliding into a comfortable pair of boots, and for this Design Team layout, I couldn't help, but get inspired by the Swirly Circle Chipboard Frame to create something rustic meets beautiful!!


I started with a layer of Blue Fern Studios Autumn Anthology-Newsworthy Paper, I then took another piece of the same paper and used the backside, tearing and inking the edges to fit my design. Next, I added a layer of corrugated board that I heavily inked and added my photo to.



I took the Blue Fern Swirly Circle Chipboard Frame, inked it up and then randomly heat embossed it with some Imagine Ink Oatmeal Embossing Powder to get a wonderful, rustic look, and layered it over my photo.



I added some lace to add a feminine touch, and then took some branches with moss, made a little stack and wrapped and tied it with twine, added some mini pine cones and popped some of my handcrafted butterflies.


I added some cheesecloth, burlap leaf picks, a large chiffon flower and some more flowers to round out my feminine meets rustic look. 



I then crackle painted some areas around the frame, and inked them, then took a Blue Fern Essential Textures Stamp and did some stamping. Stamping can add a lot of texture and dimension on your layouts and the Essential Textures Stamps are so perfect for adding background noise. 


Here is some more detail of the Yumminess of the stamping. 




In the top corner of my layout, I inked a "Natural Beauty" chipboard piece from the Blue Fern, All Natural Set. I inked in a way that let some of the natural kraft color of the chipboard show through to get a variegated color effect. I then added some more twigs wrapped with twine and pine cones. I took some of the paper pieces left over from the tearing I did and rolled and inked them, then tied more twine around them. I fussy cut out a little bird from the paper and glitter painted him up and then popped him on with foam tape for dimension.


And here you can see all the dimension and texture that you can create using  Blue Fern Products.

Blue Fern Studio Supply List:
Paper:
Autumn Anthology~Newsworthy
Chipboard:
All Natural Set (Natural Beauty)
Swirly Circle
Stamp:
Essential Textures
Imagine Ink Embossing Powder:
Oatmeal

Getting Winterlicious With The Blue Fern Sketch:

Each month Blue Fern Studios has a sketch challenge that you can take part in. Here is this month's January Sketch:


And here is my Design Team take on the sketch:


I decided to work with some papers from the Blue Fern Deja Vu line to get a Winterlicious, frosty look!! I started with a piece of Lustre Paper and then used another piece of the same paper, this time using the backside. I distressed the edges heavily and did some grunge punching. I used a stencil and texture paste to create the snowflakes on the background paper, and  I then added in 2 more layers of Tresors paper, adding sand paste and Glitter Glass to create a Snowy~frosty look.


Next, I took a Blue Fern Chipboard French Ironwork, painted it with crackle paint and then clear emboss inked randomly and heat embossed using the Imagine Ink Mystic Plum Embossing Powder, and added a crystal for a little bling.


The snowflakes were created by taking Blue Fern Chipboard Winter Flakes,  painting them with white gesso, and then heat embossing them with Imagine Ink Icicle Embossing Powder.


To add a little more texture and bling, I then added Silver Microbeads to the tips of the flakes and overlaid them with Snowflake Buttons. 


I created a flower layer at the bottom corner of my photo.


I also popped on some of my handcrafted butterflies for some extra sparkle!!


I love that Blue Fern papers are so high quality and thick that they can handle all of my mediums, textures and layering! Just look at all the dimension that they allow you to achieve.

Blue Fern Studio Supply List:
Paper:
Deja Vu-Lustre
Deja Vu-Tresors

Chipboard:
French Ironwork
Winter Flakes

Imagine Ink Embossing Powder:
Mystic Plum
Icicle

I love creating off the page projects, and one of my FAV things is mini albums. I love creating pages that have little tuck ins for storing memories, and all kinds of unexpected treasures!!



 For this mini album, I used the Blue Fern Frolic Paper Collection,  starting with a layer of Friendship as the base layer and then adding a layer of  Petits Moments


I then added a layer of corrugated board that I added some beads, Imagine Ink Embossing Powder In Cerulean and cheesecloth to grunge it up a bit. I took some pieces of  the Blue Fern Shabby Brick Pieces Chipboard, textured them and added them to my cover design.



Next, I fussy cut out one of the birds from the Friendship Paper and glitter painted him up, then cut out the rest of the bird design and added it to a Blue Fern Majestic Chipboard Frame.



I painted the frame with a coat of gesso and then heat embossed it with the Cerulean Embossing Powder.





Here is a look at all the layering.



Here I created pocket pages with tags using the following Blue Fern Papers:
Frolic Petits Moments
Frolic Veranda





For these pages, I used:
Frolic Friendship and Frolic Petits Moments Papers
there is a pocket that I created using a cut out of the birds design and then created,



a sweet, little sewn booklet from the Calling Cards Paper, 



and a tag that tucks in at the top from the Dans Le Jardin paper.


These pocket pages were created with the Frolic Adorn Paper.



And all the tuck in and tags were created with the Frolic Calling Card Paper.



The last set of pages were created with the Frolic Dans Le Jardin Papers and feature a pocket,



With Frolic Calling Card tags as well as a large tag, tuck in created with Frolic Friendship Paper.


The back side was created using Frolic Friendship Paper.

Thank you so much for joining me for my first Blue Fern Studios Reveal! I hope that you have enjoyed getting to know a little bit about me and also that you have enjoyed my projects. Here is to a New Year full of Creativity, Inspiration and Fun!! Hugs ~Renea

Blue Fern Studio Supply List:
Paper:
Frolic Friendship
Frolic Calling Cards
Frolic Dans Le Jardin
Frolic Petits Moments

Frolic Veranda
Frolic Adorn

Chipboard:
Majestic Frame
Shabby Brick Pieces

Imagine Ink Embossing Powder:
Cerulean



Sunday, January 3, 2016

A New Year and a New Collection with Jelissa

Hello friends, and a very happy New Year to you and your loved ones!

I'm excited about what this year has in store for me and with all the possibilities of great things happening. But most importantly, I'm more than happy to be back on this amazing team with the most gorgeous products, so let me share my first creations for Blue Fern Studios for 2016.

My first share is a layout of my three babies. It's almost impossible to get them into one photo, let alone make them smile all at the same time so everyone here is looking in different directions. I've used Papillon as my background paper and instead of the usual white gesso and modeling paste combination, I went for a totally different look with a darker palette to match the mood of these papers.



For the background, I spread black gesso over a flower stencil to match the nature motifs in this collection. For contrast, I used white gesso for my script and stem stamps. I also used a lot of Imagine Ink embossing powders - Mystic Plum with Halftone stamps, Cotton Candy with Textured Circle stamp. For the latter, I sprinkled Sage embossing powder while the first pink layer was still melted to obtain a double embossed effect.

Some close-ups:



For Framington Medley chipboard, I used Garnet embossing powder, followed by a second layer with Mystic Plum, and then a third layer with Pearl. Each layer of embossing powder is heated and wet before adding the next layer. For the Willow Flower chipboard, I painted with gelato followed by some dimensional paint in a similar purple shade.



Some of the background details and the papers from the collection I used for layering.



My title from "Calling Cards". It is a perfect moment indeed to get all three of them willing for a photo. I'm still waiting for a "More Perfect" moment when all three are smiling at the camera.


More background details.

Blue Fern products used:

paper: Timeless (Papillon, Calling Cards, Abode)
chipboard: Framington Medley, Willow Flower
embossing powder: Mystic Plum, Garnet, Cotton Candy, Sage
Stamps: Half-tone, Textured Circles


My second share is this "Timeless" winter page. Again, you see how versatile this collection is and I can use it flawlessly for a seasonal layout. I had chosen a photo of a beautiful winter landscape and selected the papers to match the neutral tones. The photo itself conveyed a sense of all time stopping as the snow blankets everything, making it Timeless.



More closeups:



Part of the Snowflake Medley and Mystic Branch, along with a lot of other details.



Flowers layered upon a die cut snowflake.



A very inconspicuous title taken from the info strip, so as not to disrupt the mood the whole page creates.



Some more background details.



Layering the amazing papers from the collection.

And here is the start-to-finish video of how I put this page together.



Blue Fern products used:

papers: Timeless (Couture, Main Street, Song)
chipboards: Snowflake Medley, Mystic Branch
Imagine Ink: Oatmeal ep, Jingle Bells mist
stamp: Textured Circles

That's all I have for today. Have a great week ahead!

Jelissa

Saturday, January 2, 2016

January Sketch Challenge

Welcome to 2016!  

We're here today with our very first sketch challenge of the new year.  Our sketch has been created by the very talented Michele Singh, who also creates many of our paper collections.  Here's what we have for you this month:


Now we would like to show you some examples using this month's sketch.  This is your first chance to see layouts from some of our new design team members, and some from the fabulous designers who are returning this year.  

Keren Tamir - Canada



Renea Harrison - United States

 

 

Pascale Bernard - France

 

 

Karine Gagnon - Canada 

 

 

Maja Nowak - Poland

 

 

Cathi O’Neill - Ireland

 

 

Debbie Burns - United States

 

 

Nicole Doiron - Canada


Now that you've seen inspiration from our design team, it's your turn to show us how you will use this month's sketch.

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, 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 January 31, 2016

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

Enter Here:

 

 


Friday, January 1, 2016


As we ring in the new year, we think of new beginnings and fresh starts.  

In 2016 we look forward to bringing you even more new products each month! 

Our new design team is eager to get started and has already been creating beautiful, inspiring projects using Blue Fern products.  This year will be filled with lots ideas to fuel your creativity!

Our 2016 Design Team


Bec Genet - Australia

Cathi O’Neill - Ireland

Debbie Burns - United States

Elena Volchkova- Ukraine 

Jelissa Mei - Singapore - Video Educator

Karine Gagnon - Canada

Karolina Czajkowska - Poland

Keren Tamir - Canada

Maiko  Kosugi - Japan

Maja Nowak - Poland

Marie-Eve Bernard - Canada

  Marie Josee Hamel - Canada

Marilyn Rivera - United States- Video Educator

Nicole Doiron - Canada

Pascale Bernard - France

Renea Harrison - United States

Sandi Clarkson - United States

Wilma Voermans  - Switzerland

Yuko Tanaka - Japan


Wishing you all a new year filled with happiness!