I am (the Girl Who Found Herself) by Anupama

Hi there! Anupama here with a new page for this month's challenge at Berry71Bleu - "Anything Goes"!!!

Yup, we mean it! You have a free hand to create whatever YOU want to in July!

How cool is that!

This month Berry71Bleu is also sponsoring CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration!   Our Design Team is  joining CSI as Guest Detectives for the entire month of July.  We'll be sharing our layouts here after they go live on the CSI site each week. Join us for any one of the weekly CSI Challenges for a chance to win a $35 Gift Certificate to the Zeus and Zoe Etsy Shop!

How's that for a double bonanza :)

My page is based on Casefile #80 at CSI. I have used the colors from The Scene -

Canteloupe Orange, Chartreuse, Pale Pink, White & Taupe.

I turned Emma Stafrace's fabulous sketch once to the right.

From The Evidence, I chose flowers, texture paint and Woodgrain (pps layered under the photos)

My Testimony is inspired by Easy Street Prompts.

I picked prompt #1132 : The Girl Who Found Herself and wrote about how I found myself with Motherhood & Art (journaling behind page).

All the die-cut chipboard pieces used on this layout are from our generous sponsor, Scrapiniec!

Our July Sponsors

Heartfelt Creations is the main sponsor for this month!

Heartfelt Creations
Blog: http://www.heartfeltcreations.us/blog.php

Heartfelt Creations® is a leading Rubber Stamp & Scrapbook manufacturer for the craft industry. Heartfelt Creations was established in 1997 as Golden Rule Supply manufacturing Rubber Stamps. In January 2006 Golden Rule Supply became Heartfelt Creations.

Heartfelt Creations provides a unique line of artistic stamps, detailed dies and designer papers. Many of our stamps coordinate with our exclusive Spellbinders™ dies. The innovation of our stamps paired with matching dies offers a whole new dimension of possibilities and quickly adds eye-popping 3D depth to any project. Our designer papers are designed to coordinate with our product collections adding the perfect complement to any Heartfelt Creations stamp or die. 

The Inspiration

Linda the founder and CEO of Heartfelt Creations describes it as the 'AHH HA' moment when she picked up her first stamp to show her kids how to use it. At that moment she realized that she had discovered something amazing. With that a dream was born to offer the same creative delight to people around the world that she felt when she picked up a stamp for the first time. 

Main Prize:

Random Prize:

A one-of-a-kind Berry71Bleu Handmade Tag by Marivic Clifton

A special thanks to Scrapiniec Die-Cut Chipboard for sponsoring the Berry71Bleu Design Team, who will be sharing projects with their chipboard for the next several months.

Scrapiniec Die-Cut Chipboard

Blog: http://scrapiniec-inspiracje.blogspot.com/

Scrapiniec is the first Polish manufacturer of laser die-cut chipboard products for use in scrapbooking. They satisfy even the most unusual individual orders and are characterized by reliability, high quality and friendly customer service. 

You have till the end of the month to join in on this month's ANYTHING GOES challenge!
Can't wait to see what you will come up with!

Guest Designer, Julie Tucker-Wolek

Today we'd like to welcome a special guest designer and former member of Berry71bleu,
Julie Tucker-Wolek.

 

My name is Julie Tucker-Wolek and I have been scrapping since my son was born 16 
years ago, but really got into it as a major passion about 6 years ago when my 
daughter was born.  I create everything!  Cards, layouts and altered projects! 

You can visit Julie's blog here, http://thetuckerwolekclan.blogspot.com/ 

Julie has created this colorful layout using chipboard from our DT sponsor, Scrapiniec.

Here are a few closeups:

Thanks for joining us this month Julie and sharing your layout!

In Remembrance Layout by Norma Gomez

Hello, Hello Berry71Bleu peeps!!  Norma here with you today with my very first project as a Berry71Bleu team member (yay!).  This month's challenge is "Anything Goes" so the sky's the limit!!  Breakout your favorite crafty materials and put something spectacular together.  Then link your project up for your chance to win some fabulous prizes.

But wait, there's more!!!!

This month Berry71Bleu is also sponsoring CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration!  How exciting is that right?!  We will be joining CSI as Guest Detectives for the entire month of July.  So we'll be sharing our layouts here after they go live on the CSI site each week. Join us for any one of the weekly CSI Challenges for a chance to win a $35 Gift Certificate to the Zeus and Zoe Etsy Shop!

I was inspired by the patriotic colors of Case File No. 79 and quickly began gathering my evidence.  My investigation revealed traces of ribbon, metal, flourishes and stripes!  Suddenly before my very eyes, the scene of my son and his Cub Scout troop honoring our nations heroes appeared.

To create the stripes, I layered strips of crepe paper and ribbon then stitched down the center of each stripe.  I used a large Scrapiniec die-cut to frame the tomb of a fallen soldier and smaller die-cuts through out the layout as accents.

I randomly stamped a Heartfelt Creations Perfect Medley stamp with gesso and inked the edges of the cardstock with my finger.

For my metal element, I used a sheet of aluminum foil.  I folded the foil to give me four layers before running it through my embossing machine.  (Since a single layer of foil is very thin, it's necessary to fold it to add strength; otherwise the foil may not hold the embossed image.)  After embossing, I applied a thin layer of  gesso to white wash the foil.

With a little more stitching here and there, some blingy stars and meaningful words, I solved CSI Case No. 79.

Our July Sponsors

Heartfelt Creations is the main sponsor for this month!

Heartfelt Creations
Blog: http://www.heartfeltcreations.us/blog.php

Heartfelt Creations® is a leading Rubber Stamp & Scrapbook manufacturer for the craft industry. Heartfelt Creations was established in 1997 as Golden Rule Supply manufacturing Rubber Stamps. In January 2006 Golden Rule Supply became Heartfelt Creations.

Heartfelt Creations provides a unique line of artistic stamps, detailed dies and designer papers. Many of our stamps coordinate with our exclusive Spellbinders™ dies. The innovation of our stamps paired with matching dies offers a whole new dimension of possibilities and quickly adds eye-popping 3D depth to any project. Our designer papers are designed to coordinate with our product collections adding the perfect complement to any Heartfelt Creations stamp or die. 

The Inspiration

Linda the founder and CEO of Heartfelt Creations describes it as the 'AHH HA' moment when she picked up her first stamp to show her kids how to use it. At that moment she realized that she had discovered something amazing. With that a dream was born to offer the same creative delight to people around the world that she felt when she picked up a stamp for the first time. 

Main Prize:

Random Prize:

A one-of-a-kind Berry71Bleu Handmade Tag by Marivic Clifton

A special thanks to Scrapiniec Die-Cut Chipboard for sponsoring the Berry71Bleu Design Team, who will be sharing projects with their chipboard for the next several months.

Scrapiniec Die-Cut Chipboard

Blog: http://scrapiniec-inspiracje.blogspot.com/

Scrapiniec is the first Polish manufacturer of laser die-cut chipboard products for use in scrapbooking. They satisfy even the most unusual individual orders and are characterized by reliability, high quality and friendly customer service. 

You have til the end of the month to join in on this month's ANYTHING GOES challenge!
THANKS for joining me, have a great week!!!

July Challenge - Anything Goes!

Hi Berry71Bleu fans! Dana here today sharing the July Challenge with you. I'm thrilled to be joining the Berry71Bleu Design Team and to be hosting the July Challenge! The theme this month is "Anything Goes," which means we want to see what YOU feel like creating. Get creative and link up your project here before the end of the month for your chance to win!

Also, Berry71Bleu is sponsoring CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration this month! The Berry71Bleu Team will be Guest Detectives for CSI for the month of July. We'll be sharing our layouts here after they go live on the CSI site each week. Join us for any one of the weekly CSI Challenges for a chance to win a $35 Gift Certificate to the Zeus and Zoe Etsy Shop!

I used CSI Case File #79 as the inspiration for my patriotic page. I had a lot of fun gathering evidence for this case! I included many of the items on a tag, which I used as an embellishment on my layout. The evidence I have gathered is flowers, leaves, pinwheels, flourishes, stripes, gingham, polka dots, ribbon and a transparent bracket. I chose to document my July 4th celebration from last year. My girls loved the sparklers and the small amateur fireworks show that we put on in the backyard! 

I used the gorgeous Decorative Chateau Gate Die Set and the matching Grand Portal Stamps from Heartfelt Creations to create the frame around the image on my tag. Instead of using the die-cuts as windows I trimmed and pieced them together to create an ornate frame. I added some Scrapiniec Die-Cut Chipboard along the bottom of my tag.

Heartfelt Creations is the main sponsor for this month!

Heartfelt Creations
Blog: http://www.heartfeltcreations.us/blog.php

Heartfelt Creations® is a leading Rubber Stamp & Scrapbook manufacturer for the craft industry. Heartfelt Creations was established in 1997 as Golden Rule Supply manufacturing Rubber Stamps. In January 2006 Golden Rule Supply became Heartfelt Creations.

Heartfelt Creations provides a unique line of artistic stamps, detailed dies and designer papers. Many of our stamps coordinate with our exclusive Spellbinders™ dies. The innovation of our stamps paired with matching dies offers a whole new dimension of possibilities and quickly adds eye-popping 3D depth to any project. Our designer papers are designed to coordinate with our product collections adding the perfect complement to any Heartfelt Creations stamp or die.

The Inspiration
Linda the founder and CEO of Heartfelt Creations describes it as the 'AHH HA' moment when she picked up her first stamp to show her kids how to use it. At that moment she realized that she had discovered something amazing. With that a dream was born to offer the same creative delight to people around the world that she felt when she picked up a stamp for the first time. 

Main Prize:

Random Prize:

A one-of-a-kind Berry71Bleu Handmade Tag by Marivic Clifton

A special thanks to Scrapiniec Die-Cut Chipboard for sponsoring the Berry71Bleu Design Team, who will be sharing projects with their chipboard for the next several months.

Scrapiniec Die-Cut Chipboard

Blog: http://scrapiniec-inspiracje.blogspot.com/

Scrapiniec is the first Polish manufacturer of laser die-cut chipboard products for use in scrapbooking. They satisfy even the most unusual individual orders and are characterized by reliability, high quality and friendly customer service. 

We're looking forward to seeing what you create for this challenge! 

Please read the Challenge Rules before linking up your projects.

June Winners and Features!

Hi everyone, Debbie here with you today!

 It's hard to believe that it is already July.
June came and went too quickly, and we now find ourselves in the middle of summer. 
 Today we are announcing the winners and features

of our June Summer Challenge.
We received so many creative projects and want to
 thank all of you that joined in on our challenge.

We want to thank our sponsors for the month of June:
Jacquard
 

and Authentique.

Our Design Team voted and 1st place goes to

Kasha. 
An amazing layout Kasha!  Love the colors and textures!

Congrats Kasha!
You've won the Pearl Ex Powdered Pigment Set by Jacquard.

Please email Debbie our DT Coordinator at mdjsburns@aol.com
with your mailing information so we can get your prize sent out. Please make sure you put Berry71bleu June winner in your subject line.

Kasha you are also invited to Guest Design  for our new July Challenge
which will be revealed on Friday, July 5th.

Please email Debbie at mdjsburns@aol.com to accept your invitation and receive the details.
 Please grab this badge to display on your blog.

In second place we have
March with the colorful  layout.  Love the background techniques!

Congrats March!  You have won the Lumiere 3D Adhesive Paint.
 Please email Debbie (mdjsburns@aol.com) with your mailing address.
 Please put Berry71bleu Winner in your subject line.

In third place and winner of the Authentique Card Kit is
Beatrice
There is always something special when capturing childhood moments like this.

Congrats Beatrice! 
Please email Debbie at mdjsburns@aol.com with your mailing address.  Please put Berry71bleu Winner in your subject line.

There were some creative layouts that we would like to feature:
Elizabeth


Song Li

Lydia

 Tina

Ladies, please grab this badge to display on your blog:

 

Our July Challenge, hosted by our new DT member Dana will be revealed on Friday, July 5th. 

Happy Creating!
. . . Debbie

Happy Summer and 2 New DT members

Hi everyone....This is Marivic. First of all, I would like to thank you for joining our challenges and of course, biggest thank you to our amazing sponsors...They keep our blog going.

This summer, you won't see much of me. I want to spend more time with my kids but our DT members  are always here to inspire you with their beautiful work.

Speaking of designers, we've added 2 new DT members to our group. Both of them are talented artists and we're so happy to have them joining our DT family.


Welcome to Dana Tatar and Norma Gomez:

Dana

Hi! My name is Dana Tatar and I am a stay-at-home mom currently living in Florida with my husband and two young daughters. I started scrapbooking to preserve memories after the birth of my first daughter and now I enjoy the creative outlet. I love to mix products from different collections on my projects and I frequently find inspiration in music, poetry and pop culture. I'm an active blogger and I like to share my tips and ideas. I create a little of everything, including layouts, cards, tags, artist trading cards, arches and small gift and home decor items.

Dana will also help us with our Social Media. She will be our new PR Coordinator. 

Norma

My name is Norma Gomez and I live in the beautiful state of Texas.  I'm married to my very best friend and we have three boys along with two beautiful grand babies.  I'm a mixed media artist and I sell my artwork both locally and online. I've been in love with art for as long as I can remember.  I started out sketching when I was just a little girl then moved onto crafting as an adult.  I love playing with different types of art mediums and my style has changed many times over the years. Right now I'm really loving mixed media and art journaling.  I enjoy the freedom of expression that they both offer.  If I had to describe my crafting style, I would say I'm a little grungy/vintage loaded with lots of color.  I strive to create pieces that inspire and bring joy to others.  I want to make people smile when they look at my artwork and maybe even take away a little something that they needed to hear that day. I'm extremely honored to be joining this group of amazing designers and look forward to sharing my love of art with you.


Thanks for your continued loyal support of our blog and challenges.

Our challenge will be a few days late this month as our DT be will be guest designing for CSI for the month of July.

June Guest Designer Sue Smith

Today we would like to welcome the winner of our May Challenge 

and our guest designer for June, Sue Smith.

I am thrilled to be a Guest Designer this month! Thank you for inviting me!

I am a complete scrapaholic! Scrapbooking is my absolute, Number 2, passion!  Number one is, of course, my family. My husband fortunately, loves gardening and he tends our one and half acres, which gives me time to scrap. We live in a northern area of New Zealand where there are lots of beautiful beaches and wineries. We have 3 grown children, a wee grand-daughter and a grandson due in a few weeks.  Between weddings and babies, there is no end of inspiration and a backlog of photos to work with.

My style changes according to the photos or papers that I want to use. I tend to do more shabby chic style, but, lately, am enjoying working with some brighter colours and some mixed media.

I hope you enjoy this summer layout (done while snuggled up in front of the fire, because we are in the middle of winter!)

Cheers J

You can visit Sue's blog here:  http://patriciasue.blogspot.co.nz/

Here is what Sue has created for Marilyn's Challenge:

 Love the bright colors and details!  Such a fun layout!

Thanks for joining us this month Sue!

June Guest Designer - Norma Gomez

Hello Berry71Bleu Fans!!  I'm Norma Gomez and I'm so happy to be here with you all today!  I'm the mom of three boys and grandma to two beautiful grand babies.   I started scrapbooking after my mother passed away because I inherited a lot of her old photos.  As we went through them, we realized that we had no idea who the people were or why she had saved them.  So I wanted to make sure that I preserved all of our stories behind the photos for my family.  Besides scrapbooking, I love creating mixed media artwork and art journaling.  I really love the freedom of being able to use all different types of mediums with everything from textiles to found objects.  I'm currently a designer for Zeus and Zoe, Marivic's other business.  To get to know me and my work a little better, visit my blog: Little Honey Bee Studios.   

Today I'll like to share my spin on Marilyn's Summer Challenge featuring beautiful 7 Dots Studio papers and Jacquard products.

This month's challenge is all about sharing what you like to do best during summer.  During the summer months we like to travel as much as possible but it's usually really hard for my husband to get away.  So last we year we went on several smaller road trips and this place was my son's very favorite place.  We rode those boardwalk rides night after night til we left.

For this layout, I started out with a plain white sheet of cardstock.  I doodled around both the top and bottom edges with Jacquard Clear 3-D Lumiere.  Then I added a little Vintage Photo Distress ink to help bring out the doodles.  

To add texture I started my layers off with cream colored burlap.  After that, I inserted gorgeous 7 Dots Studios Hopefully paper dusted with Micropearl Pearl Ex pigment powder.  I used white Dylusions ink to bind the Pearl Ex pigment powder.  The micropearl pigment works to soften the paper's color and add an elegant shimmer.

I matted the photo with vintage papers and a script tag from my Zeus and Zoe kit.  For my title, I simply wrote out "Ride" with India Ink on white cardstock and cut it out.  The rest of my title is written directly on the vintage papers.

To finish off my layout I added various flowers from my stash, a little bling and tiny butterflies for an added touch of whimsy. 

Thank you so much for joining me today!  I hope I've inspired to join in on this month's challenge and I'd like to invite over to Zeus and Zoe.  We have a fun June Challenge: My Favorite Things going on as we speak.   So come on over and join the fun!!  

Have a Beautiful Day!