Bella Blvd Studio Blog

BRING 'EM ON! (This post will stay on top for a while)

Yeah, that’s right! We want to expand our Bella Artista family! We’d like to invite you to submit your work for consideration. We are excited to announce that Bella is looking for 10 brand new guest designers to be named Bella Artistas for the months of August - December (2009) and January (2010).

The Bella Artista call for submissions is officially open! Submissions will be closed on Wednesday, June 24 at midnight. Once the newly chosen Artistas have accepted our invitations, they will be announced by the second week of July. Winners will be contacted via email and must respond within 72 hours to accept or another winner will be chosen.

What Are We Looking For?

We are looking for passionate scrapbook and paper craft designers that can display unique style, writing, photography, design-sense, communication skills, cooperation, and excitement for Bella Blvd. International designers are welcome to apply! The more the merrier.

What Is A Bella Artista?

Different than a design team member, a Bella Artista is an independent monthly guest designer.

What Are The Perks?

Free product! Who doesn't love free stuff, especially when it’s brand spankin’ new! During 2009 Bella will be releasing several new product collections in which you will be able to play with! Plus, after completing your assignments anything left over is yours to keep! In addition, your portrait, your story and your work with be part of this Studio Blog.

 Submission Details

1. Send in 2 recent layouts and 1 greeting card that best demonstrate your talent and style. (A layout can be a single page or double page, any size of your choice.) You get extra kudos if you include Bella products ;) wink wink!
2. Be sure each file does not exceed 500px by 500px or 500KB. Only one photo per layout please. Close ups are not necessary.
3. Twitter-style essay. Using ONLY 140 characters be creative as possible and tell us why we should pick you!
4. In Addition to your Twitter-style essay also include your first and last name, address, email address, link(s) to your blog and/or galleries. Please include links.
5. Optional: Submit a scrapbook resume including design teams of past and present, how long you’ve been there, links and your title (ie. Design Team Member, Coordinator, etc.). Be sure to include a list of any and all publications within the past two years only.
6. Email all the above to Art at Bella Blvd dot net subject line: I WANNA BE A BELLA ARTISTA! Before midnight on June 24^th.

If you have any additional questions regarding the Bella Blvd submissions, please write to Art at Bella Blvd dot net.

We can’t wait to see what you've got in store for us!

Good luck! 

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In the meantime Jenna and I are off to Brazil! If you'd like to follow the trip I will try to post on my blog while we're there. Otherwise, as soon as we return you an read all about it right here!

Heads Up! You want to design for Bella?

More information coming soon. We will be opening up a call for submissions for guest designers very soon. Start collecting your Bella products and be prepared for a great opportunity.

What is a Bella Artista?

A Bella Artista is a guest designer featured on a blog for up to 2 weeks of time. Your photo, story, creative projects and scrapbooking space will all be featured on this blog. You will receive assignments from the Bella Blvd team and free product to complete them.

Who are we looking for?

You! Your friends! Any creative little soul with a passion for Bella Blvd. All applicants will be welcomed from all around the world. Email communication is a must and lots of online support and love too.

Tell your friends...(or don't if you thier your competition!)....more information is to follow soon.

Designer Spaces: Debbie Gaydos

My space is part of our large, open basement. The only downside of my space is that there is really no natural light, but a great table lamp that shines directly down on my work surfacesolves that issue.

This is a view of my table, looking down towards one end of the room. I keep my most-used tools and supplies within arms’ reach on the table, and love my carousel organizer.  You’ll notice off in the background is our fireplace – there’s nothing like scrapping in front of a fire with a Pittsburgh Steelers’ game on the TV on a cold winter day! Not visible in the photo but about 10 feet away from my table is our computer/office area, which is often an extension of my scrap space.

This might not look pretty, but it’s one of the best parts of my scrap space! This is in a large storage room that is through a door just behind my scrap table. My husband built the shelving himself, and as you can see, it is sturdy enough to hold a baby elephant! I have laid claim to these 2 sections of the shelving (which continues down both sides of the room) for storage of scrapbooking supplies.

I added the “Party Hearty” paper from Sweet Celebration – the perfect complement to Swing into Spring for these sweet pictures of my little guy! I hand-cut the folksy hearts, to match the ones on the paper, from the "Candy Buttons "paper. I varied the font color on certain words in the journaling to match the colors on the page.

Designer Challenge: Use Small Photos

I knew that I wanted to include several pictures from our Easter egg hunt last year on this page, so it was a perfect topic for the “small photos” challenge and the Swing Into Spring product line. I used a variety of photo sizes, with the focal point photo a bit larger and the other pictures each 2.5” or 3” high. I really liked the color and the pretty pattern on “April Showers”, but since my page doesn’t have anything to do with rain, I turned the paper upside down. I also used a circle punch to punch circles from Candy Buttons for the scalloped border at the bottom.

Love the scallop edging Debbie! And such great Easter egg hunt photos! Can't wait to see your scrapbooking space on Friday!

Designer Spotlight

Hello, Bella Blvd fans! I am Debbie, and so am so thrilled to be a Guest Bella Artista. I was born and raised in Ohio but now I find myself transplanted to a suburb of Pittsburgh, PA. My husband Mark and I recently celebrated our 10th anniversary! I am also the lucky mommy of Ryan, 8 and Tyler, 5. After several years as a SAHM, I went back to work in the fall of 2006 as an adjunct instructor of mathematics at a local branch campus of Penn State University. I usually teach two classes per semester, and have a great, flexible schedule that allows me to work when the boys are in school – and leaves me a decent amount of time for scrapping endeavors!

I have been scrapping for about 7 years. I love this hobby and try to do something scrap-related everyday. I have even been known to work scrapbooking-themed problems into my math exams, so my students know I am obsessed! Some would say that I am addicted, but I prefer to think of it as “intensely dedicated”.

My oldest son and I recently went with friends to see the musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in downtown Pittsburgh, and the colors in Pack Your Bags were perfect to go with the photos.  Even the ticket stubs matched!

Catching Up

Gosh, this week has been crazy! Good crazy that is! ;) Catching up after being gone in Atlanta is keeping me and my peeps very busy! I have been able to download some more photos from the Scrap Etc. event last weekend to share with you.

This is Lucy. The queen bee at Scrap Etc. She put on the event with her wonderful team. She's one of the sweetest people I've met in this industry, and I am *forever* thankful for the opportunity she gave us last weekend.

And then there is Gail and I enjoying some creative workshops. Gosh, such serious faces! As an onlooker you cannot tell how much fun we are having. I guess we were diligently trying to get our projects finished in time.

One of the coolest things from the weekend was the Scrap Etc. silent auction held during the nightly crops. The silent auction turned out to be an extra loud bidding war for Margie's (my self-proclaimed new best friend!) hand made apron.

All the money from the auction was donated to Breast Cancer Research. It was so super humbling to see such a wonderful group of women give and give and give... Scrap Etc. raised nearly $4,000 during the event. Wow! It was awesome! The energy was so contagious that Bella decided to auction off a custom made 8x8" mini album to the highest bidder. 

"Sold, for $150 to the lady in the back!"

Thank you Lotti Bosko! We can't wait to create your daughter's first birthday mini album!

It was great and I hope we will be invited to return for next years event!

Next week brings much more business! I am insane inspired and working on the newest product collections for Bella! I can't wait to show them to you! 

Have a fabulous Mother's Day weekend! Ciao ciao for now...

Big News!

So, A while back I mentioned some exciting things going on behind the scenes at Bella. Today I want to share with you the first of many. 

I have been invited to teach classes in Brazil at AC Album & Scrap! Here's a peek into some of the class projects I've been working on.

Jenna will be traveling with me (remember her from CHA photos!) and helping me teach the classes. We **CANNOT** wait! What an exciting opportunity for this small fast-growing company! We'll be traveling at the end of this month!

3 PRIZES = 3 WINNERS!!!

Prize #1: A big bunch of Bella Blvd scrapbooking products + a fabulous Bella t-shirt + a completed make-n-take mini book that we taught this weekend in Georgia WINNER: is Kelly Ann (that posted from Two Peas - thank you Kelly Ann for referring so many friends to our giveaway!)

Prize #2: A customer  made 8x8" mini album made by me, designer of all our fabulous pretty products!

WINNER: Karrie Cook from Columbus, Ohio

Prize #3: Another big bunch of scrapbooking products + a guest Bella Artista spot on this blog!

WINNER: Teagan from Laporte, Indiana

Thank you everyone for entering to win! If you are one of the winners be sure to email me asap at stephanie at bellablvd dot net subject line: NSD WINNER!