Bella Blvd Studio Blog

Friday With Stephanie

Ciao ciao peeps! How are you? I’m excited to begin my new Friday Features today! Because the wonderful Laura Vegas is now Bella’s daily blog host, I’m looking forward to organizing some fun content for you every Friday, direct from the Bella Blvd Studio! Because I’m going through some blogging withdrawals, I have so much to say and tell you, so I hope you’ll bare with me! ;)

 

Just a couple more photos to share from CHA in Chicago. What a world win! One would think the CHA Trade show would be longer after enduring all the preparation, planning and hard work. My team did a wonderful job. A big thank-you to Robin, Angela and Therese for their passion and dedication!

 

Got to meet Elle of Elle’s Studio at the show. She’s such a sweetheart and we are already in cahoots to plan another DT swap and feature week!

 

Must share a quick little story from CHA with you. Each day our make-n-takes began right when the show opened, and waiting there for us was this sweet man! E.V.E.R.Y.D.A.Y. he would return to create the new make-n-take!

 

His name is Mark Kilma and he’s the husband of Sharon, the darling lady that owns Buffalo Stamps & Stuff in Buffalo, NY. We had to take his photo because we will always remember his funny jokes and how great he was at using all the scrapbooking tools. Thanks Mark!!

 

Now that CHA is over, the Bella team is already busy looking ahead. There are some exciting new things in the future that I can’t wait to tell you more about, and here’s a sneak!

 

We are not making the “official” announcement quite yet ... but for all you quilters and needlepointers out there ... you’re going to LOVE THIS!

 

Emily, Bella’s summer Design Intern, has been busy plugging away, giving our e-newsletter, The Bella Buzz, a face lift! I’m excited to announce that the Bella Buzz will be re-released and returning soon, with it's very first 2011 issue, on August 15^th!

 

Don’t forget to be sure you get a copy for FREE by signing up by visiting our HOME PAGE, and inserting your name and email address in the “free newsletter” feature! You won’t want to miss out on the fresh new look inspiration and even a giveaway too!

On a sadder note, this week I drove to Cedarburg (about 25 minutes from the Bella studio) for a farewell lunch with Colleen and her staff at Legacy Scrapbooks.

 

Colleen has decided to close her store, and it’s with a heavy heart that I said goodbye this week. Cedarburg was one of the first stores to carry Bella Blvd and hosted events at which I taught at, helping get the word out about my new company back in 2008.

 

Her sweet and creative employees will be missed, but I know great things are ahead for Colleen! Thank you for your loyalty and friendship to Bella Blvd! I know we will continue to stay in touch-and hopefully scrapbook soon!!

 

Speaking of scrapbooking, I created a gift book for Artista Gail Hoecker recently.

I can’t wait to show you the whole thing next week Friday, when I’ll be back right here chattin’ with you! Until then, happy scrappin’!

 

Thursday Project Shares

Happy Thursday everyone! We have lots more projects from our CHA designers to share with you today. I love that we can get a little bit of sports, a little bit of Fall, a little bit of Halloween, and a little bit of Christmas. All in one post. Let's get right to it.

 

"Play Hard Boys", by Michelle Clement.

 

 

 

 

"Thank You Coach" card, by Allyson Meinholz.

 

(inside of card)

 

"#1 Coach" card, by Katherine McElvain.

 

"Welcome Home" card, by Morgan Bandkowski.

 

(inside of card)

 

"Welcome To The Neighborhood" card, by Wendy Lee Wagner.

 

 

(inside of card)

 

"Carving Memories", by Allyson Meinholz.

 

 

 

"My Supers", by Janis Medina.

 

 

 

"Christmas Tree Check List", by Katherine McElvain.

 

 

 

"Christmas Present", by Janis Medina.

 

 

 

"My Favorite Time Of Year", by Kerryn Fry.

 

 

"Ho Ho" card, by Allyson Meinholz.

 

Christmas Tree card, by Gretchen McElveen.

Stephanie is getting back to her Friday posts here on the blog, tomorrow. So make sure and come back by, to see what she has to share with us!

Product Spotlight: Simply Simona Ciao Chips Numbers

Another new item that we added to the Bella Blvd collections, at Summer CHA, are the Simply Simona Ciao Chip Numbers. These are such a great addition to our Ciao Chip alphabets. They are available in red, white, and black.

They are perfect for sports, when you want to add the score of a game, stats for the season, or your child jersey number. They are great for everyday use, for adding the date or year to your projects. And thinking ahead a few months, they will be perfect for making your December Daily album this year!

 

 

 

Here are a few of our CHA designers projects, that feature the Simply Simona Ciao Chip numbers.

 

"Team", by Janis Medina.

 

 

 

 

"Play Hard", by Kerryn Fry.

 

 

"Soccer Champ", by Tanisha Long.

 

 

 

 

"Love To See You Smile", by Gretchen McElveen.

 

"Frightfully Adorable", by Kerryn Fry.

 

 

 

We will be back with some more project shares tomorrow!

Bella CHA Buzz

We wanted to share some of the great feedback we've been hearing about our releases at Summer CHA 2011.

 

We just got the news this afternoon, from Christine at ScrapTime. After a few days of voting in the finalist round, Doodlebug had 27 votes, Canvas Corp had 23 votes, and Bella Blvd had 75 votes!

The winner of the Best Booth at CHA Summer 2011, voted on by Scrap Time viewers, is BELLA BLVD!!!

We want to thank everyone for their support of Bella, and for taking the time to vote. It means a lot to the Bella team to know that their hard work on the booth paid off, and that everyone really enjoyed the look and design they came up with! 

 

 

One of the layouts from our Bella Blvd booth was chosen, as one of the Best Scrapbook page ideas of CHA Summer 2011, by About.com Scrapbooking. "Play Hard" is by our own Stephanie Hunt, the owner, designer, founder, and everything else that IS Bella. You can see her layout, along with the other chosen 9 layouts, and see what they loved about her layout RIGHT HERE.

 

Scrapbook Update did a great review of our Bella Blvd booth at CHA, along with Jillibean Soup, and Doodlebug. Lots of photos, and a nice overview of our entire release. You can read that HERE.

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And now, for some comments that caught our eye on Facebook and the boards this past week:

"I have to say that I am absolutely in love with every single line being released by Bella Blvd this time around!!! No other company has ever pleased my scrappy senses like this!!! Cant wait to get my hands on it all!!!"
by scrpnmomof4 (Misty), on Two Peas In A Bucket.

"I really like the Fall line and the Christmas line. It's perfect for me, because I like my papers to coordinate with my kids' Christmas jammies. My daughter's usually have some kind of pink or pastel. Those lovely papers should work well!"
by jmgesi (Jan), on Two Peas In A Bucket.

"I've already got layout ideas for each of the collections. Can't wait till they hit the shelves! Awesome job Stephanie!"
by Ana Roat, on Facebook.

"I have to say, with my oldest now doing summer ball, it's SO nice to see a cute sports line come out!! I cringe at most of the sports lines out there."
by mommy2tate (Brook), on Two Peas In A Bucket.

"We enjoyed seeing the new stuff at CHA! Keep up the good work!"
by Scrapbook.com, on Facebook.

"Oh jeez! My wallet just cried!"
by kkrewtea, on Two Peas In A Bucket.

 

"This is how I spent the day after CHA :) Awesome releases...can't wait to get them at Beach Scrapbooks!"
by Jennifer Goodwin, on Facebook.

I'm guessing after the last few hectic and crazy months, the Bella Blvd team would love to have grabbed their cute pink water bottles, and been right there with you Jennifer ;)

New Miniatures Inspiration

One of the new items that you'll find in the collections from the Summer CHA releases, are Bella's Miniatures. They are cardstock stickers, in a fun miniature size. Each sheet has lots of small tag shapes, perfect for dangling from ribbons or secured with brads. Fun little word and quote stickers, and great label shaped stickers. These are the perfect size for cards and mini albums. But they also work great on layouts as well, as these projects show.

 

 

"For The Love Of The Game", by Gretchen McElveen.

 

I love how Gretchen lined up the "PLAY" tags, and secured each one with a tiny red brad.

 

 

"Born To Stand Out", by Beth Gerlach.

 

Beth tucked the "A Wonderful Day" label sticker in between her chipboard flower and the button, which makes it look like it's being strung from the twice. Then she took the "You" tag sticker, and hung it from the button, using a piece of string.

 

 

"Girlies", by Wendy Lee Wagner.

Wendy also lined up her "FUN" tag stickers, and secured each one with a mini brad, just like Gretchen. She also used brads to "hang" her "YOU" and "& ME" tag stickers from one of her photos.

 

 

 

"Pumpkin Ball", by Katherine McElvain.

 

Katherine dangled her "Year" tag sticker from some string that she tied onto her layout, to act as the spider's web.

 

She also cut the "Pumpkin Parade" sticker, and just used the word "Pumpkin', for part of her title. The little round "yikes!" sticker fit perfectly in the center of her chipboard "b" letter.

 

"Crazy Spooky" card, by Gail Hoecker.

Gail used two of the tag stickers, "Crazy" and "Spooky", on this cute card. She also used mini brads to secure the tags.

 

 

"Christmas Memories", by Tanisha Long.

 

I love how Tanisha attached her stickers to her layout, with adorable stick pins. For the green sticker, she folded one end of the sticker around the pin, and then she added the "santa baby" sticker to it.

 

 

"JOY" card, by Alice Carmen.

 

And how cute is Alice's window card? She created a cut out in the front of her card, and strung her "JOY" tag stickers onto a piece of twine, going across the window. It creates the look of a banner.

Remember, the new collections start shipping on August 15th. So keep your eye out for these new Miniatures, to add the perfect little touches to your projects!

Monday Inspiration

Happy Monday everyone! The Bella team is back in the offices today, catching up and getting back in the swing of things. Today, and for the next three days, we will be sharing even more of the projects from CHA. On Friday, Stephanie will be starting back up, with her Friday posts.

Thank you to all of you that have voted for us in the "Cutest Booth" contest, over at Scrap Time. We found out this weekend, that Bella Blvd made the top 3, and moved onto the final round! We are up against Doodlebug and Canvas Corp, and would really appreciate all your votes, if you havn't cast one already. You have until 10:00pm CST to cast your vote, and they will announce a winner on Tuesday.

Remember, all the new collections will begin shipping on August 15th, to local and online retailers. Be sure to tell your local and online retailers to stop by Bella in the next couple of days. Send them an email, post on a message board, tell them you want them to buy some Bella!

 

"The Big Game", by Stephanie Hunt.

 

 

 

 

"You're Kind of a Big Deal" card, by Sheri Feypel.

 

 

"Counting Our Blessings" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

 

 

"Family" card, by Alice Carmen.

 

 

"Wickedly Cute", by Allyson Meinholz.

 

 

 

"I Need to Get a Bite to Drink", by Beth Gerlach.

 

 

"BOO" card, by Michelle Lanning.

 

"BOO" card, by Tanisha Long.

 

"The Magic of Christmas", by Beth Gerlach.

 

 

 

"Christmas", by Michelle Clement.

 

 

 

"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" card, by Kerryn Fry.

 

 

"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" card, by Wendy Lee Wagner.

 

We'll see you back here tomorrow!

Friday Inspiration

Happy Friday! The Bella Blvd team is on their way home from Chicago today. The show was wonderful, and from what Stephanie has mentioned, very successful! We would like to thank everyone for your wonderful comments this past week, on the new collections and all the designers projects.

We also appreciate the votes that you have cast for Bella, in a few polls and contests that came up this past week. Voting is still open for the "Cutest Booth", over at Scrap Time. Bella Blvd is up against October Afternoon, and you have until 10:00pm CST to cast your vote, if you havn't already.

Paper Crafter's Corner took a few polls this week, for favorite new collections, in the Fall, Halloween, and Christmas catagories. Bella's "Too Cute To Spook" collection, tied for 4th place, out of 12 collections. Bella's "Finally Fall" collection came in 3rd place, out of 7 collections. And Bella's "Christmas Wishes" collection came in 9th place, out of 30 different collections. You can see those results HERE and HERE. We appreciate you all taking the time to vote, and we love to see that people are responding so well to our collections.

Remember, all the new collections will begin shipping on August 15th, to local and online retailers. Be sure to tell your local and online retailers to stop by Bella in the next couple of days. Send them an email, post on a message board, tell them you want them to buy some Bella!

And now, we have more projects from the booth to share with you.

 

"Strength", by Katherine McElvain.

 

"MVP", by Janis Medina.

 

 

"It's All In Your Attitude" card, by Alice Carmen.

 

 

"Fall Is The Most Beautiful Season", by Kerryn Fry.

 

 

 

"Fall Days Are Fun" card, by Allyson Meinholz.

 

 

"Hello Fall" card, by Michelle Lanning.

 

 

"Sam", by Wendy Lee Wagner.

 

 

"Handmade Fox", by Michelle Clement.

 

 

"Join Us" invitation, by Allyson Meinholz.

 

 

 

"Did EYE Scare You?" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

 

"Merry Christmas", by Gretchen McElveen.

 

"Decorating The Tree", by Michelle Lanning.

 

 

 

"Photo Shoot", by Kerryn Fry.

 

 

 

"Holiday Greetings" card, by Kerryn Fry.

 

"Joy To You" card, by Michelle Lanning.

 

"Merry & Bright" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

We hope you all have a great weekend, and look forward to seeing you back here on Monday. We have even more booth projects from our CHA designers to share with you, and Stephanie will be getting back to her Friday posts, starting next week.

CHA: Day Three + Simply Simona Alphas Inspiration

It's day three, of the Summer CHA show. It's been a very busy few days, and we hope you've enjoyed all of the posts and shares this week. I'm going to keep this post short and sweet, and get to what you're here for. More inspiration, right ;)

Bella's Ciao Chip Simply Simona chipboard alphabets have been a huge hit, since their release at Winter CHA. We've added a few more colors for this show, to go with the new collections.

 

 

 

We wanted to share some of the projects from our CHA designers, where they have incorporated the new colors into their work.

 

"This Fall", by Michelle Clement.

 

 

 

 

"Orange", by Katherine McElvain.

 

 

"Halloween Party", by Michelle Lanning.

 

 

 

 

"Candy Eating Vampire", by Sheri Feypel.

 

"Frightfully Adorable", by Julie Johnson.

 

 

 

 

"Mummy", by Sheri Feypel.

 

 

Make sure and watch Bella Blvd's Facebook page, for updates from the show floor. We will be back tomorrow, with even more inspiration, from all of the new collections.

Stephanie: Checking in Straight From The Show

 

Ciao Ciao! Thanks for being patient with me as I'm here posting in my hotel room at CHA in Chicago! I'm sorry this is so late. It's just been nuts - in a great, fabulous, awesome way! ;) Here we go.

WOW! It's already Wednesday and I don't know what to say! I think I must start with a HUGE THANK YOU! I have to say thank you for sooo many things: for the WONDERFUL response to my new designs and Bella's new product lines, for the abundant amount of positive feedback and excitement this week. Thank you to ALL the customers that placed pre-orders. Thank you to the EVEN MORE customers that made the trip to Chicago, visited the booth and helped us sell out of all our make-n-takes. Thank you to all the retailers and Bella fans that signed up and sold-out our not one, but TWO workshops at CHA. Thank you to our online peeps for voting for Bella Blvd including cutest booth, cutest Halloween, Christmas and Fall lines!

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

You are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. I am humbled.

CHA shows are a wonderful opportunity to see Bella's customers face-to-face, nourish those relationships, touch our products and see beautiful never-seen-before layouts and inspiration. There's a lot to be said for the time spent preparing for this show. While it's a huge amount of work and energy, it's incredibly rewarding for a three-year-old company like Bella Blvd.

So thank you.

Now onto photos and more. (thank you for listening to me above, I just wish you all knew exactly how THANKFUL I am for this business, this industry, the creativity and YOU). So far, the show has been spectacular. The booth has been crazy-busy each day as we head into the last and final day three, tomorrow.

 

We display the products by collection and take our customers on a "tour" educating them about the new products, sharing stories and pointing our cute layouts and examples.

 

Too Cute to Spook is the first Halloween line I've ever designed. I was hesitant for a while (okay, for two years really!) to do Halloween. After all, Bella Blvd's tagline is, "Something beautiful for everyday." How could I create a beautiful Halloween collection?

 

So after many, many requests, I bit the bullet and did it. I'm thankful that I did because the feedback has been astounding. While it sounds like there is a lot of Halloween competition out there, it also sounds like there's a need for graphic, playful and youthful Halloween!

 

Fall is pretty much my favorite season of the year; I'm pretty sure that's why I'm so inspired every season to create a new fall collection. I can't help but show off the cute little owls with their long legs, the apples and Bella-famous trees in the new Finally Fall collection! The turquoise always gets great reviews in this color palette!

 

Making the Team. It's versatile, neutral and very graphic. The tone-on-tone sports-specific papers make for great layout backgounds and offer some versatility in the industry next to the very popular, realistic and photographic sports products!

 

 

It's great for ANY athlete in your life, any sporting event you buy tickets too and great if you think outside of the box too (ie. a family layout with a title, "We Make a Great Team.")

 

Last year I skipped designing a Christmas line and we received so many requests for it. I am excited to release Christmas Wishes in a new Christmas color palette full of greens, reds, pinks and a splash of blue and purple too! Check out the whimsical Christmas trees, darling reindeer and penguins too!

 

The lines will begin shipping in about 3 weeks. Be sure to contact your local & online scrapbooking stores to bring in the product lines! Tell them you heard the buzz online during CHA! The booth has been busy, busy busy between writing orders and creating make-n-takes, meeting with the press and so much more!

 

Our newest Unity stamps are great too, and coordinate with all the new products! We've made the ordering process easier for both you and the retailers too!

 

Thank you to all our loyal followers and customers for filling up our booth so far!

 

Another great thing about Chicago is that plenty, almost all of the local Core Artistas are able to make the trip down to see the booth in person displaying their work!

 

Seeing industry friends and fellow colleagues is wonderful too. I feel like we share and learn from each other and it's great if we can work together to make the industry, as a whole a better, more successful place.

 

We love our customers, fans and friends.

Thank you for 2 great days. We look forward to tomorrow. If you're still around be sure to stop by for a darling Christmas Wishes make-n-take-it's a Christmas Greeting Card that hold a gift card right inside! The make-n-takes have been popular so far! Check out the crowd from today!

 

Thank you for listening. Thank you for following. And THANK YOU for all your comments.

You are a blessing to me, and to Bella Blvd.

Sincerely,

 
Stephanie Hunt
Owner & Product Designer

CHA: Day Two + Tons of Inspiration

It's day two, of the summer CHA show. I didn't hear from Stephanie or the Bella Blvd team, until early this morning. That can only mean one thing. That they were extremely busy yesterday, having a wildly successful first day at the show! I can't wait to read her post later this evening, with her live update on how things are going! Here's a few quick updates, before we get to the fun projects.

 

Here's a look at our completed booth, right before the doors opened to the show. Doesn't it look amazing! All our hard work paid off, and we were so happy with how cute it turned out! So full of color and inspiration.

 

Speaking of cute and creative booths, Scrap Time is once again having their annual "Most Creative Booth" contest. For each day of the show, they will choose two of their favorite booths, and you get to vote on which one is the most creative. And guess who is one of their picks for day one ;)

That's right! BELLA BLVD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How cool is that! We are up against October Afternoon, and you can vote RIGHT HERE. They also have prizes each day, chosen from those that vote. There are two new booths up from each day to vote on, and you have until Friday, July 22nd at 10pm EST to place your votes! Then we will be have the top 3 booths from the week up against one another! We'd love it you could show your support for Bella, and go vote for us!

Remember, all the new collections will begin shipping on August 15th, to local and online retailers. Be sure to tell your local and online retailers to stop by Bella in the next couple of days. Send them an email, post on a message board, tell them you want them to buy some Bella!

We have so many more projects to share, from the talented designers. So, let's get right to it!

 

 

"Soccer Star", by Michelle Lanning.

 

 

 

"Athlete", by Stephanie Hunt.

 

 

 

"It's All In Your Attitude" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

 

"You Are One Tough Cookie" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

 

"Home", by Janis Medina.

 

 

 

"Happy Harvest" card, by Alice Carmen.

 

 

"Fall Days Are Fun Days" card, by Gail Hoecker.

 

 

 

 

"Wickedly Cute", by Katherine McElvain.

 

"Halloween Memories", by Janis Medina.

 

 

 

"Celebrate" card, by Sheri Feypel.

 

 

 

 

"You Better Not Pout", by Katherine McElvain. 

 

"Visit With Santa", by Sheri Feypel.

 

 

 

"Tree" card, by Sheri Feypel.

 

 

"Wishing You A Tree-Mendous Holiday Season" card, by Gail Hoecker.

We hope you've been enjoying all the projects that the designers have created with our new collections. We have SO much more to share with you, so keep coming back!

 

Also, make sure and follow us over on the Bella Blvd Facebook page. They will be doing a giveaway or two today, and one of them is the Making The Team make n' take project, from the show today ;)

And don't forget to stop back by later this evening. Stephanie will be posting from her hotel room, with direct updates for you, and a promise of LOTS of photos!

CHA: Day One

Today is the first day of CHA!!! Everyone at Bella Blvd has been working extremely hard, to prepare for this big day, and we're all so excited that it's finally time to show everything off. The show doors just opened a few minutes ago, and I have a feeling the Bella Blvd booth is already busy at work! Make sure to keep up with Bella Blvd's Facebook page, for updates through out the day.

All the new collections will begin shipping on August 15th, to local and online retailers. Be sure to tell your local and online retailers to stop by Bella in the next couple of days. Send them an email, post on a message board, tell them you want them to buy some Bella!

Last week we showed you our four brand new collections! We have been hearing lots of great responses and comments about our new designs, and it makes us so proud and happy when people love our products! Starting today, we are excited to be sharing with you all the great projects, that our CHA Designers created with these new collections. They all did such an awesome job on these projects, and they look fabulous hanging all around the booth!

 

 

 

"I Love Sports", by Katherine McElvain.

 

"We Did It", by Gretchen McElveen.

 

 

 

"Congrats" card, by Alice Carmen.

 

 

 

"Fall", by Michelle Lanning.

 

 

 

"Happy Fall" card, by Michelle Clement.

 

 

Fall Birdhouse, by Morgan Bandkowski.

 

 

 

 

 

"Yummy Treats", by Tanisha Long.

 

 

 

"U R Too Cute To Spook" card, by Alice Carmen.

 

 

"Trick or Treat" treat box, by Sheri Feypel.

 

 

 

 

"Visit To Father Christmas", by Kerryn Fry.

 

 

 

"Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" card, by Gail Hoecker.

 

"Merry December", by Michelle Clement.

 

We hope you'll keep checking back in on the blog. We have tons of projects to share, over the next 2 weeks. Stephanie will also be posting on the blog Wednesday evening, from the show!  You won't want to miss anything!

And I don't want to forget our winners of yesterday's giveaway. Our first winner, will receieve the "Christmas In July Mini Album" class kit.

 

And our second winner, will receieve the "Summer Times Mini Album" class kit.

 

Congratulations girls! Please email me with "CHRISTMAS IN JULY MINI ALBUM CLASS KIT WINNER", and "SUMMER TIMES MINI ALUBM CLASS KIT WINNER" in the subject line, along with your mailing addresses, to lauravegas.bellablvd@yahoo.com.

CHA Set Up: Day Two

Ciao Ciao Bella peeps!

Well, we've completed the booth set-up and are ready to get our beauty sleep after 2 very HOT HOT and HUMID set-up days. Luckily we are good company to be around with lot of giggles, fun and sarcasm!

 

The biggest task of the day was to make the booth "beautiful." Hanging the project samples is always very time consuming and strategic, but it's my favorite part.  First, we lay all the samples out on the table.

 

Emily and Angela helped hang the projects throughout the booth. 

One thing we really pride ourselves in at Bella the amount of inspiration in our booth. While it is *A LOT* to look at, it's a great FREE source of inspiration for everyone. We hope retailers will be inspired to create their own versions in their stores! 

 

The other task of the day was to complete all the product panels and put the new papers, stickers, chipboard, stamps and blooms on display.

 

 

The Simply Simona alphabets that were initially released with the Sophisticates collection were a huge hit. So much so that we have released them in 3 new colors and number too! The Simona numbers give you a full sheet of numbers in black and white (great for sports) and red too (great for your December Daily mini albums this year!)

 

Emily put together this darling shadow box featuring all the colors and new numbers.

 

The Christmas Corner in the booth debuting our new Christmas Wishes collection is full of so many cute ideas.

 

From home decor ...

 

to layouts ... to cards, paper crafts and more! Here's some more peeks into day's work!

 

 

 

 

And we have some fabulous fun neighbors too! This is our view from the Bella booth!

FINALLY, if you'll be at CHA, be sure to stop by BOOTH #1943, place an order and you'll get some free product and one of these super sweet pink Bella Blvd water bottles!

 

 

They couldn't be more perfect for these 100-degree days!

 

 

Be sure to tell your local and online retailers to stop by Bella in the next couple of days. Send them an email, post on a message board, tell them you want them to buy some Bella! It's hot hot hot! 

Tomorrow's day one ... wish us luck!

 

CHA Show Happenings + GIVEAWAY

Only one more day before CHA opens! The show opens at 10am (CST) on Tuesday morning and we can't wait! The Bella team is hard at work in Chicago, and they cannot wait to reveal the freshened up booth. It's all white this time, so it's nice and bright! They are going to be blasting everyone at the show with tons of layouts, cards, mini albums and altered project inspiration! And I (Laura) will doing the same thing here on the blog, for everyone at home.

We want to remind our retailers, to log in to your retailer accounts to access all of Bella's CHA summer product information. This includes order forms, catalogs and product images. If you have any questions at all, or want to place an order, everything can be sent to sales@bellablvd.net. Stephanie and her team are checking in each evening, after the show, and will take care of you.

Bella Blvd is hosting/teaching 2 different workshops at CHA. We want to thank everyone that signed up, and that will help to make these classes a success! Our enthusiastic teachers can't wait to see you, educate you more about Bella, and of course, give lots of freebies away too! Want a peek at our class projects?

 

Christmas In July Mini Album

Actual size: approx. 4x4" chipboard album

 

 

 

Summer Times Mini Album

Actual Size: approx. 6x6" sheer binder album

 

We want to thank our multiple sponsors, for their generous donations to help put together these classes: Beacon Adhesives, Fiskars, Helmar Adhesives, Kaiser Kraft, May Arts Ribbon, Maya Road (albums), and Therm-o-Web Adhesives.

Classes are all sold out, but we would like to giveaway two class kits today on the blog. We are going to give away one Christmas in July class kit, and one Summer Times class kit. Kits come complete with color step-by-step directions, and everything you need to create the mini albums.

To be entered in the giveaway, just leave us a comment, and tell us what you'd like to see from Bella Blvd next. Collection ideas or new products you'd love to see. I know CHA doesn't even start until tomorrrow. But Stephanie is already planning on starting the design process for the next round of collections at the end of next month! She's always open to feedback, and ideas, from her favorite customers and fans. We will randomly pick 2 winners to announce, tomorrow morning.

CHA Set-Up: Day One

Ciao Bellas! It's Stephanie here, checking in from Chicago with a recap of our first set-up day at CHA. We thought it would be fun to share some of the behind the scenes stuff with you.

 
{so much stuff to get organized}

Today went great. We arrived safely, unloaded our cars and made our way to the Bella Blvd booth. As many of you know when we arrive there is no booth. Just a small little chipboard sign that reads, "Bella Blvd 1943" and the cement floor. Our 3 crates were there waiting for us. Right away we get organized and unpack the things we know we need right away for wall/framework assembly.

 
{setting up walls}

Then we begin putting the walls together...one by one.

 
{2 more walls}

Today was very challenging in the fact that for the next week (including today) there is a heat advisory indicating a heat index surprassing 100 degrees.

 
{outside wall, facing the concessions}

While the air conditioning was on.....we are the back by the concessions-also where the loading garages are. Needless to say, there was no AC near us. 

 
{putting up molding light panels}

We were sweaty, hot, working hard, and the lighting above makes us look even worse. Just keep that in mind, as we share these photos with you, since we're not looking our prettiest ;) We promise we clean up nice, and we will look fresh and new on Tuesday morning for show opening.

 
{angela}

This show at the booth, representing Bella, you'll see Angela, our customer service representative.

 
{robin and therese}

Robin (sitting down), who i like to call our "Operations, Sales and Finance Queen".

 
{therese and angela, using teamwork}

And Therese, who is our Make N Take extraordinaire. 

 
{stephanie and angela. 100 degrees with heat index}

And of course, I'll be there too! 

 
{when we left tonight}

At first glance, these big honkin' garbage bags look like we haven't throw out our trash yet. But you'd be wrong to think that! There's actually some great PINK giveaways inside for all customers placing orders at CHA! ;)

Have you caught us on Facebook yet? Be sure to "like" Bella Blvd, so that you can follow us and see all the photos and updates (and maybe even a giveaway), live from the Craft & Hobby Show! Wish us lots of luck as we have one more day to finish it up, and make it all beautiful for everyone!

 

Two Days Until Summer CHA

Summer CHA is only 2 days away! Stephanie and her Bella Blvd team left this morning, to make the 1.5 hour drive from Wauwatosa, Wisconsin to Chicago. As soon as they arrive, they will be working like "dogs", preparing the booth for everyone to see! Stephanie will be checking in when she can, and will do her best to get us some behind-the-scenes photos from the show. She will also posting, directly from the show and sharing photos, late on wednesday evening.

They are really looking forward to seeing everyone, when the show starts on Tuesday. The trade shows are some of their favorite times of the year, since that's when they get to interact with all of Bella's awesome customers, fans, the press, and designers too.

For the retailers, they have some great incentives at the Booth, as a "Thank You" for making the trip to Chicago. You will enjoy oodles of inspiration in the freshened up booth display, FREE make n' takes, and show specials and discounts. They will also being having giveaways of adorable water bottles, for customers that place an order at the show (while supplies last).

You can find Bella Blvd at booth #1943. 

You can also find our newest catalog supplement HERE.

Bella Blvd will be offering FREE Make N' Takes at the booth (while supplies last), with a different one each day! They love doing the make n' takes, since it gives everyone attending the show the opportunity to play with some of the new collections hands-on, and take back a fun little project/inspiration with them. And hopefully, they will use that to help inspire someone else!

 

Tuesday - Making The Team, mini album.
Sponsored by Bazzill Basics Paper, Beacon Adhesives, May Arts, and SEI.

 

 

Wednesday - Too Cute To Spook treat box.
Sponsored by Aurora Products & General Box Company, Beacon Adhesives, May Arts, Therm-O-Web Adhesives.

 

 

Thursday - Christmas Wishes gift card greeting.
Sponsored by Bazzill Basics Paper, May Arts, Therm-O-Web Adhesive, Unity Stamps.

 

And for those of us that are at home, and unable to make it to Chicago, we have something for you too. If you are lovin' these projects, we have prepared a FREE project sheet just for you, with color photos and directions. You can find it HERE, and print it out to use when you get your hands on these fun collections!

If you're on Facebook, make sure and "like" Bella Blvd, so that you can keep up with Stephanie's updates. And keep coming by the blog every day, because we'll be sharing TONS of inspirational projects this week, with all the new collections! It's a HUGE week, and you won't want to miss a single part of it!