February 2017 Challenge - Love is all you need

Good morning,

So.. things have changed slightly, you may have noticed a date change for the challenge, we are now launching on the 1st of the month, with our reminder post coming out on the 21st.  So technically, February is the first IndigoBlu challenge this year.  Our theme had to be valentine related of course, so we'd like to see you interpret 'Love is all you need'.  

To be in with a chance of winning a prize, you MUST include IndigoBlu stamps in your entry.  And it's one entry per person.  Other than that, you have free reign, and we'd love to see your makes, whether it's a card, or ATC, mixed media or clean and simple. 

First we have the important task of announcing the winner of Decembers challenge, Snow Snow Snow. 

Our winner each month gets the choice of stamps from IndigoBlu as follows:

3 options to choose from:

1: 2 Large stamp plates (A5)

or

2: 4 Small stamp plates (A6)

or

3: 1 Large and 2 small plates

There’s also the Winner’s Badge, and one for the Top 3, to display proudly on your blog, and the WINNER of the challenge will also be invited to do a GUEST SPOT on a future Challenge Launch post. That’s right, your work will be on the Challenge Blog alongside the Design Team!

Also the Top Three each month (chosen by our lovely DT) will all be invited to do an inspiration piece to be included on the reminder post that goes live mid challenge. So, if you’d like a chance to be featured on the IndigoBlu Challenge Blog get those stamps out and get creating!

Our random winner is:

Congratulations Tracey, we will be in touch shortly to arrange your prize.

And our Top 3 as chosen by the DT are:

1.  No 5, Inky Bliss Creations2.  No 10, Ana Sa3.  No 9, Craft Away

Congratulations all, we will contact you shortly to discuss a Guest spot!

So our winner of December's challenge, Sarah,  has waited very patiently to be our Guest Designer today, here is her piece and what she had to say:

 I used what is fast becoming my favourite IB stamp the 'Script!' Used horizontally on the background and then vertically on the mdf heart! It really is a good multi-tasking  stamp.

I feel rather nervous as although I've been crafting for years I am new to showing my work off, so hope it comes over ok! My other other half has treated me to one of those pop up light box studio's which has made a  fantastic difference to the quality of my photo skills, so fingers crossed!

I'm sure you'll agree Sarah has done a fantastic job for us, please pop to her blog and leave her some love too. 

Now it's our fab DT's turn, all returning for another year on the Challenge team, we really couldn't do this without them!

Rachel

Claire

Julie

Maxine

Sue


Lydia

Wenda

A stunning job by all our DT I'm sure you'll agree.  You can see HOW they created their pieces over on their individual blogs.

All that's left is to wish you a Happy Valentine's day, or Happy February, and hope you can join in the challenge this month.

Warmest Wishes,

IndigoBlu Challenge DT

& IndigoBlu Guest Designer.

An InLinkz Link-up

December Challenge Reminder - Snow Snow Snow

Morning everyone,

Today is challenge reminder day, and we'd love to show you our Inspirational DT's work once more, I hope it inspires you to join in!  

I love this fab piece by Rachel, it just shows that snow doesn't have to mean white!  

Rachel

A beautiful snow scene by Wanda: 

Wenda

Absolutely love this Stag by Lydia too!: 

Lydia

A perfect wintery scene from Claire: 

Claire

And a gorgeous Robin hanger by Sue: 

Sue

You can hop across to the team's blog to check out how they made their pieces, but don't forget to come back and enter yourself!  

We have fab prizes each month, Indigoblu stamps of your choice as follows:

3 options to choose from:

1: 2 Large stamp plates (A5)

or

2: 4 Small stamp plates (A6)

or

3: 1 Large and 2 small plates

There’s also the Winner’s Badge, and one for the Top 3, to display proudly on your blog, and the WINNER of the challenge will also be invited to do a GUEST SPOT on a future Challenge Launch post. That’s right, your work will be on the Challenge Blog alongside the Design Team!

Also the Top Three each month (chosen by our lovely DT) will all be invited to do an inspiration piece to be included on the reminder post that goes live mid challenge. So, if you’d like a chance to be featured on the IndigoBlu Challenge Blog get those stamps out and get creating!

You’ll find all the information on how to enter the challenge, the rules (don’t worry, there’s not that many) and get to meet theDesign Team in the tabs on the sidebar.

So all that's left is to say Happy New Year from the Challenge DT and thank you to all our Guest Designers through 2016, we look forward to meeting more of you in 2017. 


Best Wishes,
IndigoBlu Challenge DT.

An InLinkz Link-up

August Challenge Reminder - All things Bright & Beautiful

Good morning,

It's reminder time for the IndigoBlu Challenge, and today we have inspiration from our Top 3 from last month, and some of our fab DT.

First up it's Debbie:

Debbie had this to say: I was over the moon to be picked for the Top 3.Thank you. I've been crafting since 2008. I love anything to do with stamping and getting inky. You can check out Debbie's make on her blog here.

Next up it's Kelly:

Kelly said: I was delighted to be picked in the Top 3 for the IndigoBlu Blog challenge ‘Summer Florals’. I love everything IndigoBlu and have done since I started crafting last year. I have loved sunflowers since growing them as a child and thought they were the perfect flower for this challenge. Details of the canvas are on my blog. Hope you all like this as much as I loved creating it. Check out Kelly's make here.

And next we have Kim:

Kim said: It was wonderful to come back from holiday to see my card had been chosen in the top 3 of the Summer Florals challenge and especially to be asked to make a piece for the Bright & Beautiful challenge. You can see Kim's make in full here.

And our lovely DT members Rachel & Sue joined in and created these for us too:

Rachel

Sue

The girls have done us proud; it's been brilliant having the Top 3 as our Guest Reminder posts this month. Hope you like their makes as much as we did.

You can enter the challenge HERE, and check out the Challenge Blog post HERE.
Why not join in, there are some fab stamps up for grabs and you could Guest DT with us too!

Best Regards,

IndigoBlu Challenge DT
& Top 3 Winners.
xx

August Challenge - All things Bright & Beautiful

Good morning everyone,

Well the July challenge was just fab! We had some gorgeous entries. I'm hoping you can stun us this month with your makes too. First let's congratulate our Random winner!

Sheila it's you! Congratulations, we will be in touch shortly to arrange your prize.

And our top 3 for July as chosen by the DT are:

1. No. 6 - Furry Log & Badger
2. No. 1 - Kimbo's Cards & Cats
3. No. 14 - DebsCraftytime

Congratulations all, we will be in touch to see if you would like to do a Guest Design piece for us. It's always amazing seeing the art that we get from you guys, and I know it inspires so many others.

You too could win - Our prizes are Indigoblu stamps of your choice as follows:

3 options to choose from:

1: 2 Large stamp plates (A5)

or

2: 4 Small stamp plates (A6)

or

3: 1 Large and 2 small plates

There’s also the Winner’s Badge, and one for the Top 3, to display proudly on your blog, and the WINNER of the challenge will also be invited to do a GUEST SPOT on a future Challenge Launch post. That’s right, your work will be on the Challenge Blog alongside the Design Team!

Also the Top Three each month (chosen by our lovely DT) will all be invited to do an inspiration piece to be included on the reminder post that goes live mid challenge. So, if you’d like a chance to be featured on the IndigoBlu Challenge Blog get those stamps out and get creating!

You’ll find all the information on how to enter the challenge, the rules (don’t worry, there’s not that many) and get to meet the Design Team in the tabs on the sidebar.

Our winner from the last challenge, Mariette is our Guest Designer this month, and has made this beautiful card for us on this month's challenge theme ' All things Bright & Beautiful'.

Mariette had this to say:

I have used distress inks for the bright part and for the beautiful part of this challenge I used all of the IndigoBlu stamps I chose for my winning prize. You can see more over on my blog.

Next it's our brilliant DT's inspiration for the new challenge, you can't fail to be inspired by this bunch :) They also happen to be some of the nicest people too, and we are very proud to have them as a team. Hop across to their blogs and leave them some love if you have time.

Rachel

Wenda

Sue

Julie

Maxine

Lydia

Giovanna

Wow! I think you will agree these are all stunning, and what inspiration! Don't forget you can hop over to our team's blog's to see how they made these too, just click on their names above the pictures.

So all that's left is for you to join us - and show us your Summer Florals! If you have any questions about entering, or don't have a blog, please leave us a comment and we will come back to you, we can help you enter, all you need is Indigoblu stamps in your project.

Happy creating!

Best Wishes,
Indigoblu Challenge Design Team

Enter the Challenge Here:

July Challenge Reminder - Summer Florals

Hi everyone,

It's the Indigoblu Challenge reminder time, our challenge this month is Summer Florals. We have some inspiration from a few of our Design team, and the Top 3 from last month's challenge, who agreed to be Guest Designer's for today! I hope you can stop by their blogs and see how they made their pieces.
As always, we have fab prizes on offer, of Indigoblu stamps of your choice as follows:

3 options to choose from:

1: 2 Large stamp plates (A5)

or

2: 4 Small stamp plates (A6)

or

3: 1 Large and 2 small plates

There’s also the Winner’s Badge, and one for the Top 3, to display proudly on your blog, and the WINNER of the challenge will also be invited to do a GUEST SPOT on a future Challenge Launch post. That’s right, your work will be on the Challenge Blog alongside the Design Team!

Also the Top Three each month (chosen by our lovely DT) will all be invited to do an inspiration piece to be included on the reminder post that goes live mid challenge. So, if you’d like a chance to be featured on the IndigoBlu Challenge Blog get those stamps out and get creating!

You’ll find all the information on how to enter the challenge, the rules (don’t worry, there’s not that many) and get to meet the Design Team in the tabs on the sidebar.

So first up it's our winners from the Top 3 sharing their inspiration:

Here we have Ivy:

Ivy had this to say:

I would like to say that I was delighted to be picked as a top 3 winner and asked to do an inspiration piece on Summer Florals.

Ivy doesn't have a blog, but I'm sure you will agree this is a beautiful piece, please leave some love for her here on the IB blog if you have time, we will make sure she gets all comments relayed to her.

Next up it's Carole:

Carole had this to say:

I was delighted to have been chosen as one of the top three in the last challenge and have enjoyed doing this piece for Summer Florals.

And third we have the lovely Jane:

Jane said:

I love the summer and wanted to create a really bright project for the summer florals theme so the cottage paints were ideal!  It was great fun creating the mixed media background and the Floral Fantasy stamp set was perfect for the main features.

You can see how Jane made this over on her blog here. 

And now our lovely DT member's inspiration:

Claire

Sue

I think you'll agree they have all done a fantastic job!  I hope this has inspired you to join in, you can enter the Challenge HERE, or check out the main post, we'd love to see your work!

Best Wishes,

The Indigoblu Challenge DT

& Top 3

April Challenge Reminder - Spring is in the Air

Hi all,

It's reminder time for our April Challenge, and we have our fab Top 3 from March's challenge to bring you some inspiration today.  You can see full details and instructions on their personal blogs by clicking on the names on their photo's.

First up it's Sue:

Sue had this to say:

Hello there, I have been really excited to be picked by the Design team again to share with you an inspiration piece for the New Blog Challenge "Spring is in the air".

I have had so much fun making this piece especially using some of the new paints. 

Please pop over to my blog to take a look at how I created this. I hope it inspires you!

Happy Crafting Sue xx

And next we have Mac Mable:

Mac Mable told us: 

I am thrilled and excited to be asked to do an Inspiration piece for the reminder post for the ‘Spring is in The Air’ Challenge.

My project started as a card and ended up being a wall hanging!

The initial inspiration came from using the ‘Tulips Stencil Border’.

Thank you so much for inviting me to do the inspiration piece, I had fun creating the wall hanging and learnt lots along the way.

And third it's Jane:

Jane told us:
I was really thrilled to be in the top 3 and able to create this project for you today.  I love Spring and this piece was inspired by the beautiful butterfly and flower stamps that IndigoBlu do so well, as well as the fantastic new bright paints that have recently been released!  I chose to use a clock as it is a symbol of the passing of time with the changing seasons, hopefully a sign of warmer weather to come! :) Jane X

And then we have our lovely Cheremane from the Challenge Design team who made a beautiful reminder piece for us too:

 Cheremane

You can win Indigoblu stamps of your choice, and a Guest DT spot as either our Random winner or Top 3 as chosen by the Design Team.  For all the details see the challenge post HERE.

I think you'll agree these are beautiful, well done to our Top 3 and Cheremane. 

Don't forget to join us in the Challenge, we'd love to see your makes! You can enter HERE or on the main post. 

Best Wishes,

Indigoblu Challenge Design Team 

& Top 3 Winners.

Watercolour Card and Embossing

Hi wonderful crafty people!!

Georgie here with you today and I thought I'd share another watercolour style card.

I'm quite heavily into mixed media so it is nice to shake up the routine a little.

 For this card, I heat embossed with black. This helps to contain the colour, really useful if you are new to this technique and worry about running over the lines with colour.

The stamps used for this is from Floral Fantasy, including the sentiment. I took it from part of one of the sayings. 

You need about four colours,  in varying amount of strengths, but apply roughly, only considering slightly the areas of shadow as a whole. But don't get bogged down with detail.

Don't be afraid to go 'sketchy' with the paint brush to create shade variation, like the leaves here.

And I just love enamel dots on projects like these, they add a sense of fun!

Have a lovely day,

Georgie

xx

Bright fun textures with Beck BT

Hi Everyone, it's Beck Beattie here today to share with you a scrapbook page I created full of colour and fun using so many of the fun IndigoBlu textures!

The process:

• I created the page by first selecting the different textures I wanted to use.

• I then chose a different colour ink pad for each texture.  

• I layered each of the colours trying to achieve a little balance from one side to the other

• After all my stamping was complete I matted my photo with black card stock

• I then set about to finish off the page with a contrasting title and embellishments and colour splatter in colours to match the various stamped coloured textures.  

The products:

These are the yummy texture stamps I chose to use for my page;

So you can get up close and personal with all that yummy texture here are some more pictures!

I hope you enjoyed my share today and I've inspired you to do some home decorating of your own.

Happy Creating!

xxxBeck BT

 

Lost in Thought - Layout

Hi Folks, Georgie here today and I have a layout to share. Firstly, check out the picture... isn't she beautiful? IndigoBlu are releasing some vintage/olde-worlde style mixed media pictures called Lost Family. Perfect for scrapbookers!! The thing with old style photos/pictures is that they are so versatile and allows the user to take on any colour combination or style of layout that they wish. They work with everything!!!

So many new releases for stamps plus other bits coming up from IndigoBlu - seriously you won't want to miss them... Here is what I used in this layout and what you can look out for:

• 'Colour This Peony' stamp
• 'Teeny Backgrounds' stamp set
• 'Textures' Stencil (available now!)
• 'Lost Family' focal pictures

Here's a close up of the gorgeous picture;

Hmmm... where do I start here :) ... Stencils, that's a good place!! The squares were made using the new 'Textures' stencil and IndigoBlu Texture Paste. Such a great little stencil with so much to choose from on it. The paint is Cinderella, a shimmery, metallic fuchsia pink, but watered down and spritzed to create a watercolour bleed effect - pretty darn good for an acrylic posing as a watercolour. 

Just a little close up of some of the items used it the layout. You can, seriously, use anything near enough, to do a mixed media layout. I'm not talking bricks, but brick dust, perhaps? Okay should have gone with another example, but you can, buttons, twine, thread, nuts and bolts, cutlery, old packaging boxes. The trick with these kind of layouts is using your stamps to act as an extension of your layout, to soften the focus between the 'bits' and the paper behind. So... fancy giving something like this a go??? Any questions do ask and I will always be happy to help.

Hugs
Georgie
xx