Altered Fun with Made With Love

Hello Friends! and welcome to 2017!

The year is off to a quiet start for me as we prepared for eldest's first year of formal education and it has been quite fun so far. Always nice to have a break and finally spend some time creating stuff in my art room. Today, I'm on the blog for Made With Love and I have a cute altered pouch that took me just under 2 hrs to make.

We had a combined church service on the first Sunday of the year and the kids had various stations they could go to for activities instead of the usual Sunday school program. Eldest brought back this fabric pouch that had only his name stamped on it - he didn't know what else to do with it, so it was up to mummy to have some fun with it.

I had covered the fabric pouch with gesso before using some modeling paste over a floral stencil. Once that is all dried, I had me a bit of fun with the Distress Spray in Antique Linen. Using this color, I ended up with a soft, vintage look with which I could slowly build up on.

More details in the close-ups:

To create a soft palette, I gently brushed Distress Stains in Bundled Sage and Tattered Rose over my original layer of Antique Linen Spray. The resulting effect was a sweet pastel-like background without looking at all patchy and forced. On top of that, I did some stamping with some botanical themed stamps. I also added some fine details with Liquid Pearls for a feminine touch.

I saw some Grit Paste from Ranger's at the store and I knew I had to use them somewhere. So on to this huge piece of vine chipboard from Blue Fern Studios it went, which I had colored with Bundled Sage Distress Stain.

Lots of fussy cutting from the Kaisercraft Cherry Tree Lane collection. Just love the bouquets and colors of this collection! I had also mixed in some die cut pieces from the Be-you-tiful collection.

More bits and pieces to layer up.

Supplies used (available from Made With Love at 313 Somerset):

paper, die cuts: Kaisercraft
spray, stains, grit paste: Ranger's Distress spray, Distress Stain, Liquid pearls

flowers, stencil, chipboard stickers: Prima Marketing Inc
chipboard vine: Blue Fern Studios

Seaside Memories with Blue Fern Studios

Hello friends, how are you?

September is now upon us, and the weather here is becoming a little cooler with more rain. But I'm still very much in a summer mood because of the Seaside Cottages collection. Today I'm here to share two more creations with you. 

This has to be one of the simplest layout I have made in a long time with just splashes of paint in the background because the paper is too pretty to cover up. The photo is one of my boys on the day we landed in Okinawa after a really long flight. We had made our way to a sea salt factory and the view out is just amazing, with the sun starting to set.

Some details:

The Seaside Charms chipboard, which I had painted with gold acrylic paint and covered with a layer of crackle paint. 

My title piece which I had embossed with Breeze and Sky Blue embossing powders.

The top half of the Seaside Charms chipboard which I had snipped off.

My second share is another layout of my second boy when he was a baby. I love how the colors of the photo matched the background paper Embark so perfectly that I built the whole layout around this.

Details here:

Altered seashell and anchors matched with the seaside lilies.

My title piece

Fussy cut details

Mesh bits chipboard tucked behind my photo

More chipboard goodies!

And here is the start to finish video of how I put this layout together:

Thanks for dropping by! 

July Inspiration with Blue Fern Studios

Hello friends,

how have you been? Half the year has been gone and summer is now upon us! It has been such a great and fulfilling year so far and I'm really thankful for all the people that have come into my life.

For my blog post today on Blue Fern Studios, I have two projects to share with you using some of my favourite past collections.

First is a shadow box display which I intend as a gift to a dear friend. I've done something different this time in that, I went without my usual mixed media background but instead, focused on the Blue Fern papers and chipboards. I've been meaning to do this but couldn't find the right project to start off. The shadow box I found in my LSS was just perfect!

Here is the piece, created using Autumn Anthology papers:

I'm particularly drawn to this collection because of the beautiful shade of cobalt blue mixed with coral Michele used in the papers. If you know me by now, blue is one of my favourite colors and I can't use enough of it. It's a good thing I have two boys that I can use the color for! There are also plenty of images that I can fussy cut out from this collection and you can see that I wasted no time in doing just that.

Some details in the close-ups:

 

Love this hot air balloon! A little tea cup basket does remind me of the spinning tea cup ride at amusement parks in my childhood. I've dabbed some Sticklers on for a nice glittery effect.

Chained Bits and Berry Stems chipboard which I had altered with Imagine Ink embossing powders.
For Berry Stems, I first painted with some shimmery watercolors before using Grassy Knoll EP randomly. For Chained Bits, I first used Auburn EP, followed by Mushroom and Buttercup EP before topping it off with Copper Glitter.

Using the Marseille Frame here, which fit the display perfectly. I first covered it with copper metallic paint before brushing on clear crackle paint for extra texture.

A Flutter Page Dangle which I had snipped up. I first colored it with Gelato, then stamped and embossed with Cotton Candy and Watermelon EPs.

A flower which I altered with glitter in Sunshine and Dusty Pink.

Blue Fern Studios products used:

paper: Autumn Anthology - Le Ballon, Balcony, Calling Cards

chipboard: Marseille Frame, Berry Stems, Chained Bits, Flutter Page Dangle
Imagine Ink: embossing powders - Grassy Knoll, Auburn, Mushroom, Buttercup, Cotton Candy, Watermelon
glitter - Copper, Sunshine, Dusty Pink

My second project is a layout using the Frolic collection. It matches the theme of my eldest playing in the grass field. The bits of yellow and blue really brings out the mood of feeling the sun on my face on a cloudless day. 

Details in the close-ups:

A subtitle from Calling Cards. 

Whimsy Flourish which I had altered.

My title piece, altered with embossing powders and glitter.

Fussy cutting here

Looped Frames which I had altered with embossing powders and glitter.

And here is the start to finish video:

Blue Fern Studios products used:

paper: Frolic - Veranda, Calling Cards, Dans le Jardin

chipboard: Looped Frames, Whimsy Flourish, Glee

flowers: Tranquility Blooms

Imagine Ink: embossing powder - Seven Seas, In the Navy, Cerulean, Bonny Blue, Buttercup, Snow

glitter - Sunshine, Gulf Coast

There are also two new happenings on the blog this month!

Firstly, we have a new activity for all you wonderful people to take part in. Instead of our monthly challenge, we are starting a new giveaway where YOU tell us what you would like to see in our new designs. They can be word phrases or one single word. The winning entry will have a pack of Blue Fern goodies delivered to their door step! More details here.

Secondly, BFS is releasing a new paper collection and I'm super, super excited about this one because it's my first love - the sea!

Check out Seaside Cottages:

I'm going giddy just thinking of all the photos I'm going to scrap, the mini-albums, the canvases.... This has to be my new favourite!

For the full reveal, as well as co-ordinating flowers, chipboards and mediums, visit our blog!

Life is Wonderful with Made With Love

Hello friends, how are you?

The June holidays are in full swing and I hope the kiddos are having fun enjoying their break from school. For mummies and daddies, this means no more waking up early to send the kids to school, and vacay, vacay, vacay! Looking at all the vacation photos on my Facebook newsfeed, I can't wait for our family holiday to quickly come. But first, today's share for my LSS!

This one had me dumbfounded for awhile because I don't want to create a layout, and I didn't have enough time for a mini-album. I had run out of small canvases and I was just standing like a fool in my scrap-room pulling out drawers and hoping to find inspiration in there. And lo and behold, I spied these wooden resin holders from Prima which I had kept aside until I had found a purpose for them. And they came to my rescue!

This is a home display piece I created from one such wood resin holder. I might have mentioned before I love wood grain texture so this was a pleasure to work with. I first primed the whole piece with gesso so that the acrylic paint would not soak into the wood and become un-usable. I had gone for the Tiffany Blue look with the Art Alchemy Light Patina Metallic Acrylic paint. The metallic sheen is quite subtle here, but under the light it's just gorgeous.

More details in the close-ups:

Mixing and matching different Blue Fern Studios paper collections, something I havn't actually done before despite having so much of their papers at home! Here's a butterfly fussy-cut out from the Tranquility collection. I had dabbed some Sticklers on it for a shimmer.

A Dangle chipboard from Blue Fern Studios. I had first painted it with Steampunk Copper acrylic paint and sealed it with Rock Candy distress crackle paint for a really vintage look.

Lots of fussy-cut elements from Courtship Lane and Attic Charm papers, both from Blue Fern Studios. The title piece is from Kaisercraft's ephemera pack.

So I managed to get myself a woodgrain stencil (yes!) and although there wasn't a lot of space here to see it clearly, it's right there on the side of the wooden box.

A piece of Blue Fern chipboard (Layering Stem) peeking out from the side. I had painted it green with Tattered Angels Fairway and covered it with a layer of Iridescent Gold.

And that's all I have for you today. The supplies are all available from the Made With Love store at 313 Somerset B2, and here's the list below:

Mediums:

Prima Art Alchemy Acrylic Paint (Light Patina, Steampunk Copper)
Tattered Angels Mists (Fairway, Iridescent Gold)

Chipboards:

Blue Fern Studios (Deja Vu chippies, Layering Stems)

Patterned paper:

Blue Fern Studios (Attic Charm, Tranquility)

Flowers:

Prima Marketing Inc

Attic Charm with Blue Fern Studios

Hello friends!

Today I'm popping in to share my June creations for Blue Fern Studios, featuring another beautiful collection from Michelle Singh - Attic Charm! The papers are decked in so many gorgeous subtle details and pretty colors, not to mention reminders of the good ole days that I went to dig out old photos of my parents for the two projects I've made.

First is a layout of a photo of my folks when they were dating back in '73.

When I saw the b/w photo, I had tried to imagine what it would have looked like in color and all that came to mind was the blue sky. So I had built most of the layout around the color and chose the paper "Haberdashery" as my background paper.

More details in the close-ups:

Some bits of the Looped Frame chipboard here. I had stamped with Romantic Accents stamp and heat embossed with Imagine Ink Ebony EP before painting over with duo-toned acrylic paint.

Fussy cut flowers for layering, and subtitles from Calling Cards.

A heat-embossed image with Ebony EP using one of the Bourbon Street stamps. Love the details here!

Another view of the floral cluster.

My title piece "Always and Forever" which I had painted with Perfect Pearls.

Blue Fern Studios products used:

paper: Attic Charm - Haberdashery, Calling Cards, Generation, Mercantile, Sachet

chipboard: Looped Frames, Always and Forever

stamps: Bourbon Street, Romantic Accents

Embossing powder: Ebony

My second project is a video tutorial and I've repurposed an IKEA photo frame for the project. My parents don't have a lot of their photos on display so I hope they will find a good place to put this up.

The Dangles Border chipboard was a fun piece to use because it resembles lace. I had also die cut out a clock from the "Sachet" paper. One fabulous thing about Blue Fern's papers (and my students keep reminding me too) is that they are thicker than most other brands of patterned paper out there. This means that if you have delicate die cut designs, the paper is very unlikely to tear and can take the weight of any other mediums you might want to add.

Other details in the close-ups:

Attic Charm daisies are the perfect addition.

Layering Stems - one of my favourites! Seen together with Attic Charm daisies and glitter roses.

The die cut clock with lots of details in the background.

Altered Dangles Border with a bit of sparkle.

Lots of fussy cut details again.

And here is the start to finish video for this project. Sit back and enjoy!

Blue Fern Studios products used:

paper: Attic Charm - Generation, Sachet, Calling Cards, Attire

chipboard: Dangles Border, Layering Stems

Stamps: Romantic Accents set

Embossing powder: 14 Karat, Clover, Verdant

Tranquility with Blue Fern Studios

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.

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!

love,

Jelissa