The Walking Dead Tag Berry71Bleu September Challenge

The September challenge for Berry71Bleu gave me a fantastic opportunity to not only create a tag (something I haven't done for a while) but to also pay a small homage to one of my fave TV shows 'The Walking Dead'.

I'm one of those rare individuals that love all sorts of scary, spooky & paranormal movies, shows & books.  Which is why Stephen King is one of my all time fave authors.  Along with scary & paranormal come all the monsters & creatures associated with this.  So vampires, werewolves, demons/poltergeists & of course good ol' fashioned zombies!

So when 'The Walking Dead' came out it just automatically became one of my all time favorite shows.  In addition to the fact that the characters themselves are all likable & make for good story telling.

So when I saw that this month's challenge over at Berry71Bleu was to include a 'Forest' theme into your project--this show was the first thing that popped into my head.

I'd say that about 95% of the show takes place in the forest/woods.  The woods are both a haven & a place of insecurity for the show's characters.  At times the woods represents peace, serenity & a sense of safety--then suddenly the woods turn into one scary place to be!  In addition to the whole theme of the show--nobody is truly safe!  Any of the shows main characters can be killed off at any moment.  The uncertainty of this show is one of the many things that make it an interesting show to watch--at least in my book!

So in keeping with the forest theme--I chose papers from 7 Dots Studio 'Nature Walk' collection which is a collection full of earth tones & woodsy images.

A rolled up burlap flower, a mini pine cone & some dried moss makes up my embellishment cluster.

For the background of the tag--I did an old but still very useful technique introduced by Tim Holtz many years ago.  I combined 3 of the new distress pads (Fossilized Amber, Hickory Smoke & Ground Espresso) by smearing them onto my non-stick craft sheet & then spritzing water on them.  Finally I dipped my tag into the inks & spread the inks randomly around the tag in order to create that distressed watercolor effect.

To give the chipboard tree that peeks out from behind the photo it's texture--I painted the chipboard with black acrylic paint.  Once dry I heat embossed it with transparent black sparkle embossing powder by Stampendous.

This publicity photo from the show is one of my faves--I believe it was used to promote Season 4 of 'The Walking Dead'.  It shows a few of the main characters wandering through the woods.

Head on over to Berry71Bleu blog in order to play along with this month's challenge & have the chance to win some cool prizes!

Supplies: Paper - 7 Dots Studio, Chipboard - Dusty Attic, Flowers - Recollections, Prima, Ink: Ranger Distress Inks, Mists - Heidi Swapp, Embossing Powder - Stampendous, Other - Black Tulle, Dried Moss, Black Acrylic Paint

Enjoy the rest of the week!

Fun In The Sun Layout Berry71Bleu August Challenge

Hello fellow crafters!  Today's post is my interpretation of the Berry71Bleu August challenge.  This layout does two things--it satisfies the criteria for the challenge & it's also my 'farewell to summer' page.  I'm obviously behind in posting this since we're already in September--but Berry71Bleu has monthly challenges.  So you can always check out the blog to see what the current challenge is & play along for the chance to win some cool prizes.

The challenge for August was: Yellow...basically to use the color yellow into your work.  For me, whenever I'm given yellow to work with I automatically think of Summer.  Bright sunshine, warm weather, ocean, sand between your toes, bright beach umbrellas, seashells etc...so with this in mind, I created this Summer themed page.

My son recently had a Summer photo shoot done--I thought these pictures were perfect for this layout.  The bright colors of the photo went just right with the overall bright theme of my page.

The design of my page is based on a fabulous sketch by The Nifty Pixel.

The circle chipboard is by Blue Fern Studios.  The chipboard is actually a frame that I've cut apart to accommodate the design of my layout.  Blue Fern was one of our August sponsors for Berry71Bleu.

To give the chipboard that glitter effect, I first painted the chippie with white gesso.  Once dry I applied some red/orange acrylic paint.  Finally I heat embossed it with Star Dust transparent embossing powder.  This technique always gives my chippie a fabulous shimmery effect!

I've tucked a bit of dried moss underneath my flower clusters.  I think the moss gives it more of a 'beachy' feeling.  :-)

All papers used for this page are by Authentique.  I've used papers from their 'Sunkissed' collection which was full of bright colored papers & cut outs.

Supplies: Paper - Authentique, Chipboard - Blue Fern Studios, Flowers - The Kreative Korner, The Felt Shoppe, Other - Dried Moss, Seashells

Thanks for stopping by...enjoy the rest of the week!