Bella Blvd Studio Blog: Tuesday Inspiration: Christmas Style

This week we are keeping with many of our usual daily features, but putting the focus on Christmas projects! Inspiration is all around us, and can be interpreted in so many different ways. We have chosen one image, and asked a handful of our designers to create a layout based on the inspiration piece. It's always fun to see what part of a piece a designers finds inspiring, and how they translate that into their designs.

{Photo credit: BHG}

“Tracking Santa Online”, by Malika Kelly.

I loved both the pine cones and the colors in this inspiration image. I immediately went to my cameo and found a pine cone shape that I liked and cut out a bunch in two different sizes. The papers that I chose for this layout matched perfectly with the colors in the image, but were not from a Christmas line. I love when patterned paper does not have to be used for only one theme and Bella Blvd does a great job at making versatile papers. The tall glass jar also inspired me to cut long strips of patterned paper to use in my background. I matted my photos on small doilies to make my layout more elegant like the pretty inspiration photo.

Supplies:
Thankful: Bountiful, Cute Cuts, Our Spot, Burlap, Chipboard Icons; Sophisticates: Family Miniatures; Sprinkles & Lace: Oyster; High Five Alpha Stickers: Black-White; Ciao Chip Everyday Elements: Borders, Chip Essentials; Designer Tape: Pickle Juice Chevron; Button Market: Checkers, Masculine Mix, Outdoors ; Flags: Just Married

“Peace & Joy”, by Sheri Reguly.

The inspiration piece inspired me in a couple of different ways. The glitter covered pine cones immediately caught my attention, and reminded me of a holiday photo that I took of my daughter several years back. In the photo, she was holding a pine cone and dressed up in her holiday best. This sweet photo became the initial starting point for my layout. I also loved the classic red, gold and greens within the inspiration image. I had full intentions of staying within that combination, until I decided to see what a little hint of pink would look like included in the mixture. I loved how it softened the look, making it perfectly fitting for a little girl’s holiday page.

"Don't Open Until Christmas" card, by Sheri Reguly.

Supplies:
Kiss Me: Mustache Love; Birthday Girl: Party Dress; Thankful: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Winter Wonder: Borders; Christmas Wishes: Candlelight, Star Stripe, Miniatures Stickers; High Five Alpha Stickers: Piggy-Punch, Pink-Red; Button Market: Stars

“It's Our Tradition”, by Jaclyn Rench.

So many elements from the inspiration image inspired me while putting together my layout. Most notably, of course, is the similarity in color scheme. I rummaged through my stash of Bella pulling items that were primarily green, brown and red, later adding in touches of sparkle and glitter. The shiny, round Christmas bulbs encouraged me to incorporate a circular design element onto the page, which in turn, provided a great spot to highlight many of the page embellishments. The Designer Tape 'fringe' I created along the right edge of the page, was my attempt at referencing the texture and dimension of the pretty pine cones. I should also note, that while the Christmas Wishes line tops my list of Bella favorites, there is not one stitch of it on this page. That just goes to show you, that you don't always have to turn to holiday themed products to create a very holiday look and feel to your page!

Supplies:
Thankful: Burlap, Bountiful; Birthday Girl, Party Dress; Sophisticates: Petite Pieces, Tall Tags; Green High Five Alphabets, Brown-Cream High Five Alphabets; Ciao Chip: Trees, Stars & Hearts; Designer Tapes: Pony Dot; Button Market: Red Flowers, Stars, Checkers, Blues; Stick Pin Flags, Home Sweet Home; Miniatures Stickers, Family

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We hope you will take some creative time for yourself, and try out our inspiration image! Whether it's a card, or a layout, we would love to see what you come up with. You can link them here in the comment section, or share them on our Facebook page.