Simply Wonderful with Made With Love

Hello friends!

I'm so glad to be back on the Made With Love team for another year and today I'll be sharing a very simple layout created with lots of goodies you can find at the Made With Love store at 313 Somerset. This page was a really quick one because it was easy to see from the papers in my DT kit, just how I wanted it to be.

I had the gorgeous floral papers from Kaisercraft's Mademoiselle collection, as well as a lovely piece from Prima's Maestro collection that I had used for my background. This was looking like a very light and bright piece dominated by the fussy cut flowers that I had to go easy on the background work. Sometimes people ask me how do I know how I want my mixed media background to look like and what kind of papers to go along with? Most times, it's looking at what you have on hand, deciding on which are the elements that you want to bring out, what products you want to highlight and put the emphasis on those when you create.  The papers I had here were earthy tones with many beautiful details, so it would be a waste to cover them up with too much paint and mediums. In this case, the background really serves as a background - to complement the fussy-cut roses and the chipboards that I wanted to showcase some altering techniques with.

Some details in the close-ups:

Lovely flowers from Prima Marketing that I had altered by first painting with Kaisercraft's acrylic paint in Burgundy and Pink, then dusting some glitter on the stamens. You can also see bits of stenciled details with butterflies in the background - this is done with TCW's butterfly grid stencil. The sentiment was cut out from the info strip from one of the patterned papers.

Postage stamp chipboards from Blue Fern Studios, which I had heat embossed with Tarnished Gold EP, distressed the edges with Walnut Stain and then brushed on a coat of High Impact White Metallic paint from Tattered Angels. This photo doesn't do the shine much justice, but it looks just fabulous IRL!

More of the background details and strips of torn paper I had used to layer up the page.

Title piece made up of a word from Heidi Swapp and a bit from Kaisercraft's be-YOU-ti-ful collection.

That's all I have for today, thanks for dropping by!

Supplies used (available from Made With Love):

Distress Ink: Rangers (Walnut Stain)

Paint: Tattered Angels (High Impact Metallics), Kaisercraft acrylic paint (Burgundy, Pink)
Embossing powder: Rangers (Tarnished Gold)
Papers: Kaisercraft (Mademoiselle), Prima Marketing (Maestro)

Flowers: Prima Marketing
Stencil: The Crafters Workshop
Wooden word title: Heidi Swapp

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