Christine & I met a couple years ago now at one of the CHA trade shows after I founded Bella Blvd. I've always admired her work and have found so much inspiration in her words over at Retrospection, her daily blog. I was thrilled when she accepted my invitation to host here at Bella, knowing that she was going to blow you away with her attention to detail and creativity! She will be taking over the blog for the rest of the week (that's right people, we get Christine for 3 full days!) What a blessing and honor it is to have someone so talented and admirable to inspire us. I promise you this, the projects she has prepared will NOT disappoint! {Plus we have a fun giveaway for you tomorrow too!} Please welcome Christine Middlecamp, scrapbooker extraordinaire, and my dear friend & colleague!
I’m a professed, detail-aholic scrapbooker from the amply populated Twin Cities area of the Midwestern State, Minnesota. Nearly five years ago, I ran into this hobby by accident after a stint of numerous crafty endeavors and since the moment of it’s discovery, I’ve not looked back. After the loss of my belated husband in January of 2008, I decided to dive head first into the scrapbook industry hoping that it would provide me a place of safety and renewal. With much luck and full disclosure of my scrapbook passion, I found a home amongst the scrapbook community. I currently serve as design team coordinator for Crate Paper and manage a team of seventeen talented designers. Outside Crate, I occasionally contribute artwork to the publication arena, author online tutorials at my blog and participate in guest design work. Previous design team gigs include Studio Calico, Sassafras and Prima.
What an amazing honor it is to be here with Bella Blvd and those of you visiting Bella today and the next couple of days. I’ve been invited as a guest artist and with me, I’ve brought three fresh, never-before-seen Bella Blvd projects! Each one is uniquely different and demonstrates the eye-opening flexibility of Bella’s contemporary, lively collections – I’m going to show you how to mix ‘em up and also, how to take’em apart {literally} to insightfully create nitty-gritty designs that’ll have you thinking outside the box of everyday traditional scrapbooking!
With me today I’ve brought four furry creatures that have been a part of our family since the five years devoted as a veterinary technician at a local feline clinic in my early twenties. It appears I was never really able to say “no” to adopting homeless, adorable cats, so during my reign as a tech, I savored rehabilitated felines until we finally ran out of room and my belated husband would have no more. Laugh. Today, there are four kitties roaming the premises and I love each of them equally.
When Bella’s Tail Waggers & Cat Naps arrived at my home, I knew instantly that I had to create an animal lovers tutorial!
If you’re a pet lover like myself, then you’re going to truly be delighted with this first tutorial I have prepared for you! How about a portable means of showing off your cute pet(s)? It’s Bella & your pet’(s) on the go!! :)
I came up with the idea of accommodating Paper Source’s {a national retail venue} pre-cut, business card sized cardstock papers as a carry-along, pet portrait mini album. It’s an actual album that you can tuck into your purse and share with other’s when the time calls. Think of how often we discuss our pets these days with other folks out there – our pets have become an extension of our daily lives! This is a quick, convenient means of connecting a face to a name for those that might not have ever had the opportunity to meet your furry friends in person. The album itself, while in production, finishes fast as there’s little space that requires covering. It’s all about the photos, really!
The album page prep work is fairly instantaneous. The first task at hand is to get your supplies in order. Here’s what the project calls for…
Bella Products: Tail Waggers & Cat Naps Collection, Assortment of Ciao Chip Essentials (Sophisticates Collection), Assortment of Quattrofina Alphabet Stickers (Sophisticates Collection)
Cardstock: Gold, Warm Grey, Vanilla, Kraft, & Dark Brown
Misc: Spellbinders Nestabilities Large Pinking Circles, Vintage Book Paper, Brads, Twine, Ribbon, Pearls, Glitter, Small Flowers, Circle Punches, non-specific accent embellishments, hole puncher, binding ring, optional: White Gel Pen.
I tend to prefer non-traditional frames if using them on a small album of this kind. Circle style frames immediately came to mind for this project, so I’ll have you begin by printing 2” x 2” photos. Set them aside and die-cut enough pinking circles for the framing process using Spellbinder’s Pinking Circle Dies.
To remove the center from the pinking circles with a scissors for photo positioning, access the help of an architect’s multi-circle template {office supply store}. Select the appropriate sized circle from the template to lay on top the pinking circle and then trace around the inside of the circle opening. Trim the tracing from the pinking circle so that the circle now appears as a frame with an open center. Layer it on top your photo – do this for all the pinking circles/photos.
Finally, layer framed photos with Vanilla cardstock.
Make an adequate number of album pages {as shown} to showcase your photo set-up. Keep the bottom portion of the page neutral so as to not distract from the embellishments and pet name.
Adhere framed photos to each page as shown.
If you’re lucky to have a vintage book page on hand, then this next step will be a breeze for you! If not, then consider using a text style patterned paper instead (Bella Blvd has a great one from the Estate Sale Collection named Linens, it's cream-based too so it matches the Tail Waggers products perfectly!)
Trim a small border strip from text paper using a pinking scissors {fiskars} and staple one into position beneath each image. I used the mini stapler from Ranger.
We’re now officially ready to move on to the cover and inner album pages. The cover is self-explanatory for the most part. It follows the same methods shown for the rest of the pages, but the embellishment set-up is slightly different. *Reference the cover from the main image of this post to recreate it for your own album. Feel free to change the title to better suite your pet type {Either Cat or Dog}
I’m cutting some things short here so that I’m able to share the entire album in just “one post”. Forgive me if parts of the album are further finished without verbal explanation.
Establish and layer all sorts of various embellishments as I’ve done on this page. The only item not Bella here is the polka-dot epoxy circle {Making Memories}. Everything else is trimmed accordingly and haphazardly positioned. Forgo perfection!
The common thread that holds the album together is the pets’ names. The first is of a simple capital letter and there after, Bella’s small rectangle letters are used. Make sure the alphas are of the same color family from Bella’s Quattrofina Alphabet Stickers (show below).
Overlap text paper with a long rectangle Bella Ciao Chipboard piece. Preferably, tilt it!
Carefully apply a dimensional clear adhesive to the light green areas of the chipboard tree and dust on a coat of light green glitter {Doodlebug}. Allow it to dry before adding it to the page.
Apply a alpha stamped, kraft cardstock strip just over the chipboard rectangle. Layer on top of it the dried tree, Bella’s Ciao Apricot Flower (From the Sophisticates Chipboard Essentials) and additional pieces as shown. Attach the ribbon just behind the flower with glue dots. *Fill in the outline of the Paw Print Chipboard Circle with white gel pen ink, if you so wish.
Finally, add the pet’s name as previously done on the first page.
Bella’s Apricot & Banana Ciao Chipboard (Sophisticates collection) matches really well with this collection, so I’ve used it quite often in my album. Add the “Date, Time, Place” chipboard piece on top the text paper as shown. Trim the a small striped section from the Borders N’ Blocks patterned paper and adhere it to the chipboard piece. Seek out the “Sweet” chipboard from Bella’s Ciao Chipboard Essentials and add it.
I’m all about the rings right now! Create the ring from Vanilla cardstock with the help of a 1 ¼” Circle Punch and 1” Circle Punch. Punch with the 1” Circle first and follow it up with the 1 ¼” Circle Punch. The photos shown fully illustrate this process.
Trim a small section from the ring so that the “Sweet” chipboard piece fits inside it. Adhere it into position.
Lastly, add a cute, small grey flower {Prima} in conjunction with a fabric brad and also, the Pet’s name.
Use a 5/8” Circle Punch to trim these cute paws from the Borders N’ Blocks patterned paper. Punch a total of four paws.
Use a ¾” Circle Punch and punch four circles from Treats patterned paper. Layer and adhere the circles together as shown.
Trim the “Pet” tab from the Just Write Journaling Stickers and layer it just beneath the top edge of a Ciao Essentials chipboard rectangle. Directly over the chipboard rectangle, adhere a small section of Doggy Sweater patterned paper.
On the left side of the page, adhere a thinly trimmed tag {Martha Stewart} and Ciao Essential chipboard page tab. Glue Dot a turquoise button onto the tab and next to it, add “furball” sticker.
It can get a little tricky here, but the key is to figure out which paws require a pop dot and which ones don’t. After you’ve managed that puzzle, you’ll be nearly done with the album. Add the paws as shown {from first step}. Note, they should resemble an animal’s paws in motion. And as usual, add the pet’s name.
Punch an insertion hole in the left top corner of each page and position the pages on a small binder ring {Seven Gypsies}. Embellish the ring with a wide matching ribbon. 
This has been so much fun to share this miniature sized “Pet Lover” mini album with you and even though it was a tad bit extensive, you’ll at least feel as though you walked away with a new idea or two.
That being said, I’ll be rejoining you two more times {tomorrow & Friday too}! Tomorrow's layout- tutorial based on an eclectic patchwork of Bella Blvd. And on Friday another mini album keeping in mind Dad because Father's day is just around the corner! See you tomorrow!
