Bella Blvd Studio Blog

Bella Blvd + Silhouette + Chipboard

 

Silhouette's May Promotion went live today, and we are excited to help them spread the news, while sharing some new project inspiration along the way. One of the newest additions to the products you can use along with your Silhouette and Cameo digital die cut machines is chipboard!

“Welcome Baby Boy” mini album, by Laurie Schmidlin.

I was so thrilled when I first saw the Silhouette Chipboard! It's perfect for creating mini albums, embellishments for cards, home decor items, and even for fun packaging! For my first project, I created a little Baby mini album! I cut out album pages using my Silhouette Cameo and some Silhouette Chipboard. I then cut some Baby Boy pages using the same cut files. Both the front and back have different patterns (all from the Bella Baby Boy collection). I decorated the front of the Album using some coordinating Baby Boy Ciao Chip pieces, Alpha+Bits Stickers, a couple of Saltwater Feathers, and a Star Button.

Supplies:
Baby Boy: Momma's Boy, Borders, Baby Boy, It's a Boy!, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Feathers: Saltwater; Button market: Stars

Blooming Thanks Gift Basket, by Laurie Schmidlin.

One of the projects that I couldn't wait to create using the Silhouette Chipboard was a gift container! The heavier weight lends itself nicely to holding heavier gifts! I started by cutting out the Fruit Basket shape using my Cameo, assembling it, and then adding some white wash paint over it. I decorated it with a strip of Bella patterned paper, Ciao Chip, and a Button Market button!

Supplies:
Birthday Girl: Miles of Smiles; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Punch, Ciao Chip Icons, Miniature Card Sentiments; Button Market: Hot Pink Flowers

“Super Great Friend” card, by Laurie Schmidlin.

I love adding both dimension and texture to my cards, so the idea of being able to create my own custom chipboard pieces really appealed to me! I used my Silhouette Cameo, Silhouette Chipboard, and various Bella patterned papers to cut out the tree and heart shapes for my card. For embellishments, I added a Miniature Card Sentiment and two Button Market buttons!

Supplies:
Birthday Girl: Miles of Smiles, Party Dress; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Ice, Sprinkles & Lace Punch, Miniatures Card Sentiments; Love And Marriage: Smokeys in Love; Button Market: Pink Flowers

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Silhouette makes some amazing products, and scrappers everywhere are addicted to these machines. If you've been thinking about purchasing either the Silhouette Portrait or the Silhouette CAMEO, now is a great time to make it happen. You can find these great chipboard promotions HERE, with prices lasting until May 15th.

Cards On Thursdays

"Thinking of You" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

Many times when I am kind of stuck in a rut, I go back and look through my albums or box of cards for a little inspiration. I usually can find something that will at least help me get started on my next project. Like this card, for example! I started this card by using the same design as I used on the "Congratulations" card above. Obviously, it evolved into something completely different! Thanks for looking!

Supplies:
Sand & Surf: Paradise, Miniatures, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Love and Marriage: Smokeys in Love; Engaged at Last: Alpha+Bits Stickers 

"Congratulations" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

I have a cousin who got married over Thanksgiving weekend. The wedding was in Rhode Island and we could not make the trip. Confession: They just celebrated their 6 month anniversary and I have not yet sent a gift. So the inside of this card says, "Happy 6 month anniversary!" and I have a gift card to include. Better late than never, right??! I tried to make the card extra cute so that hopefully she won't be too mad that I am sending it so late!

Supplies:
Engaged at Last: Borders, Engagement Chipboard Icons, Bachelor/ette Chipboard Icons, Alpha+ Bits Stickers; Love and Marriage: Turner Hall Ballroom, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sand & Surf: Paradise; Sophisticates: Miniature Card Sentiments

 

“Congratulations” card, by Sheri Feypel.

I really love the extra fun that the Feathers add to projects. They add a splash of color and texture that is exactly what some of my projects need. I designed this card around the feather and added a few of the Cute Cuts for the sentiment. Believe it or not this card came together quickly for me!

Supplies:
Love and Marriage: Smokeys in Love, Cake Testing, May Eighteenth, Turner Hall Ballroom, Cute Cuts, Miniatures Wedding Day; Feathers: Cotton Candy

“Boy” card, by Sheri Feypel.

I recently bought a mustache punch and I am obsessed with it! I want to use it on everything right now, so I created this Boy Card. I was trying to keep it simple and clean with only a few layers. I also had to work my foam adhesive in there popping each mustache off the card.

Supplies:
Baby Boy: Baby Blue, Momma's Boy, Borders; High Five Alpha Stickers: Brown/Cream

“Happy Birthday Wishes” card, by Shellye McDaniel.

It seems like squares are all the rage these days and I just had to play along! Using a 1.25" square die cut, I created a quilt of colors from the Birthday Girl Collection. After mounting them onto a piece of cardstock, I machine stitched down the center of each row. I kept the top simple by adding on a couple of chipboard stickers and a "wishes" banner under the die-cut shape.

Supplies:
Birthday Girl: Celebrate, Party Dress, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Button Market: Pink Flowers; Crochet Hearts: Gulf; High Five Alpha Stickers: Blue

“Happy 4^th Of July” card, by Shellye McDaniel.

A small piece of feather gathered and tied made the cutest plume effect to the top of the chipboard firecracker! I attached the feather to the chipboard using a Ultra-Thin Glue Dot. I built a 4th of July collage using several components from the Alpha+Bits and Just Write Journaling Stickers. So happy and festive, and I love the idea of displaying it on our Patriotic buffet table. Bring on Summer!

Supplies:
All American: United We Stand, Seeing Stars, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Button Market: Stars; Feathers: Ice

"Celebrate" card, by Wendy Wagner.

I decided to do a smaller card for this. I think it would be a fun card to share with someone hosting a party for the 4th of July or Memorial Day! I placed the Feathers to look like fireworks & added some stickles to the chip shapes. Thanks for looking!

Supplies:
All American: American Pride, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Flags: All American Icons; Feathers: Surf N Turf

National Scrapbook Day: All About Malika & Yohko

Happy National Scrapbook Day everyone! I challenged 24 of our designers to create an "All About Me" layout, giving us a peek into a little part of their lives. Each of them also answered five quick scrapbooking related questions. We will be sharing these 24 layouts throughout the day. So sit back, grab a snack, and get to know our designers just a little bit more, and hopefully their projects will inspire you the next time you go to create!

“Currently”, by Malika Kelly.

This was a really fun layout to make! I used the "Currently" cut file that I have on my cameo and then made some word flags with different fonts for my six categories. This was an easy way to jot down what was going on in my life at that exact moment and would be a great exercise to do on a monthly basis, as the things on your mind are constantly changing and it is fun to look back and see growth. I tried to include some trends that I am "currently" liking in the scrapbook world as well on this layout. I machine stitched a piece of vellum in the upper left hand corner of my layout and filled it with punched confetti. Scattering a little confetti around the outside of the pocket helped to tie together.

Supplies:
Love And Marriage: Smokeys In Love; Birthday Girl: Miles of Smiles, Borders, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Birthday Boy: Eat Cake, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Sand & Surf: Chipboard Icons; High Five Alpha Stickers: Green; Button Market: Hot Pink Flowers, Aqua Flowers, White Flowers; Crochet Hearts: Pickle Juice Hearts

And now for some scrapping Q&A's:

1. What are your top 5 supplies/products that you cannot scrap without?
Hmmm, my favorite tools and supplies. I can only choose 5? I think I would have to say: my Silhouette Cameo, designer tapes, mist for making ink drops, my sewing machine (not really a scrap tool, but definitely a tool that counts!), and buttons, sequins or some type of decorative brads (can we call that category one supply??)

2. 2. What do you listen to while you scrap? TV, music, or do you do your best working in silence?  
I like to have something going in the background….It often depends on the time of day that I am working. If it is during the day, I will usually listen to the radio or catch up on the news. In the evenings when the kids have gone to bed, I will bring my iPad to my scrapbook room and put on a show to watch. I never did watch Grey's Anatomy or Private Practice and I am really enjoying watching back to back episodes of both of these shows on Netflix!

3. What snacks and/or drinks are beside you when you're scrapping?  
While I am scrapping I usually just have my cup filled with water. I would definitely get caught up in mindless eating if I brought much else! I like to stop for my coffee mid morning and so if it is a preschool day, I will leave my scrap room, make myself a coffee and snack on a biscotti while I browse the internet for more inspiration and catch up on my blog reading.

4. When do your do your best scrapping? Are you a morning scrapper, a late night scrapper, or do you find time during the day?  
As a mother to 3 kids ages 3,7 and 9, I have learned to become a "scrap-when-I-can" kind of girl. Like I said in the previous questions, preschool mornings are a great time for me to scrap, but so are evenings after they have all gone to bed (especially if my husband is traveling). Having my own space to scrapbook really helps me concentrate on completing layouts rather than spending time getting out tools and supplies and completely cleaning up after each time I work. I can have a couple of projects going on at the same time and sneak some work in even if it is just 10 min here and there.  

5. Where do your layouts go once you're done with them? In albums, in piles, or shoved in random places? 
Ideally my layouts should be in albums… but realistically that would take some time and organizing. So I have to admit, I have a rather large pile of layouts that have accumulated over the past year and I have two nice, new EMPTY albums that are sitting on the floor right under my pile. They will get there.

"All about Me", by Yohko Takiguchi.

I love colorful layouts. I chose combination of pink, light blue, light green and orange for my layout. They make me happy!

 

Supplies:
Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Scallop; Sand & Surf: Alpha+Bits Stickers, Miniatures; Love and Marriage: Alpha+Bits Stickers; All American: American Pride; Sophisticates: Punch, Petite Pieces, Card Sentiments Miniatures; Sunshine & Happiness: Petal Power, Popsicle Kisses, Alpha+Bits Stickers , Miniatures; Crochet Hearts: Punch, Orange, Pickle Juice, Saltwater; Crochet Flowers: Dahlia; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Pickle Juice; High Five Alpha Stickers: Pink-Red, Blue, Brown-Cream, Piggy-Punch, Gulf; Designer Tapes: Hot Pink Dot, Blue Chevron, Pickle Juice Stripe, Orange Stripe; Button Market: Orange Stars

And now for some scrapping Q&A's:

1. What are your top 5 supplies/products that you cannot scrap without?
White Cardstocks, Dot liner, Rhinestone, Mini Tag, Word Sticker

2. What do you listen to while you scrap? TV, music, or do you do your best working in silence?  Japanese pop

3. What snacks and/or drinks are beside you when you're scrapping?
Chocolate!

4. When do your do your best scrapping? Are you a morning scrapper, a late night scrapper, or do you find time during the day?
I’m a late night scrapper.

5. Where do your layouts go once you're done with them? In albums, in piles, or shoved in random places?
I display my layouts in my room for one week and then put them in my album.

Cards On Thursday: Spring Themed Cards

In keeping with the spring theme of yesterday's layout shares, it's only fair that we asked a few of our card designers to create spring themed cards to share with you as well!

"Thanks For Everything" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

When I think of Spring I think pretty, colorful flowers! So I cut out several flowers from the Sand and Surf line to use on this thank you card. I used a red flower button as a fun center for one of the flowers and the sentiment is from the Miniature Sentiments stickers sheet. I even threw the red scalloped border sticker from the All American Alpha + Bits on this card! Thanks for looking!

Supplies:
Sand and Surf: Paradise, Cute Cuts; Love and Marriage: Cake Tastings; Engaged at Last: Alpha+Bits Stickers; All American: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sophisticates: Miniature Sentiments; Button Market: Red Flowers

"Wish You Were Here" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

I was really inspired by Laura Vegas's "Poolside" layout on this month's free Project Sheet. If you have not see it yet, check it out HERE. I love the big sun she created on her layout and I totally copied that idea on this card! I cut the sentiment out of the Sand and Surf Borders sheet and used a punch to add a few butterflies. I finished off the card with a couple of flags and buttons. Thanks for looking!

Supplies:
Sand & Surf: Borders, GPS; All American: Just Write Journaling Stickers; Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Banana; Button Market: Hot Pink Flowers; Flags: Sand & Surf

“Hey Sunshine” card, by Carina Lindholm.

I covered the card base in green dotted paper and hand stitched around the edges using pink embroidery floss. To decorate my card I used some cut outs from the cute cuts sheet,a flower sticker and a scallop chipboard border.

 

Supplies:
Sand & Surf: Paradise , Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Engaged At Last: Chipboard Icons; Quattrofina Alpha Stickers: Mustard & Apricot

 

”Spring Is In The Air” card, by Carina Lindholm.

This card makes me happy. I LOVE the colors and I love to work with Bellas designer tapes. I used a few different colors on this card. I cut the tape strips into banners before adhering them to the card using my sewing machine.

Supplies:
Love and Marriage: Cake Tasting, Cute Cuts; Designer Tapes: Polka Dot Combo, 12mm Combo; Buttons Market: Pink Flowers

“Bright Sunny Days” card, by Laurie Schmidlin.

For my card, I combined elements from a couple of collections. I used the borders paper from the Sunshine & Happiness collection and some Journaling Stickers and Alpha+Bits from the Easter Flings and Spring Things collection! That happy sun makes me smile every time I see it, and I hope it makes the recipient smile as well! 

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Borders; Easter Flings & Spring Things: Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits; Ciao Chip Elements: Clouds; Button Market: Blues; Designer Tape: Pickle Juice Stripe

“Birthday Wishes” card, by Laurie Schmidlin.

Birthday cards are one of my favorite kind of Bella cards to make! The fun and happy colors just lend themselves so well to celebrations! I used several elements from the Birthday Girl collection to make my card. For a fun twist on a regular card, I cut the top part of the card a bit shorter so some of the patterned paper on the inside would show from the front.

Supplies:
Birthday Girl: Party Dress, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Ciao Chip Icons; Sophisticates: Miniatures Card Sentiments; Button Market: Checkers

“Friends” card, by Wendy Wagner.

I thought it would be fun to take the Sand & Surf collection and make a bright fun friends card!  I went outside my normal creating and didn't ink or distress anything! It was a challenge for me! The Feathers are so fun to work with & I love the texture they add to any project!

 

Supplies:
Sand & Surf: Borders, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Miniatures Stickers; Crochet Hearts: Saltwater, Orange; Feathers: Punch, Pickle Juice, Ice; Button Market: Bursts

 

"Spring" card, by Wendy Wagner.

This little card maybe small but it is big with wonderful supplies from Bella! Some of the Chipboard icons are popped double. I layered the feathers behind to add some texture. I used some ink, very little for me. I first glued down the feathers, then I added the Chipboard Icons and lastly added the gems and stickles. This card is perfect for anything!

Supplies:
Love And Marriage: Esther Fleming Floral, Turner Hall Ballroom, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Engaged At Last: Chipboard Icons; Feathers: Carnation Pink, Saltwater Blue

Bella Blvd & Petaloo Team Up Week: Day One

We have big stuff planned for you this week, and we are so excited to get things going! Bella Blvd is teaming up with Petaloo for a week full of inspiration. We have a group of our Bella designers that have mixed Petaloo fun flowers, ribbons, and brads into our projects. And the Petaloo designers have been busy mixing Bella's collections and embellishments into their projects. We have loads of projects to share with you, and we are going to start the week off with projects from designers Diane Payne and Jenny Evans! 

“Friend” card, by Diane Payne.

For a quick and easy I layered the flowers onto small squares and arranged them in a grid. The bright colors of the Sunshine & Happiness collection created the perfect background for my grid.

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Popsicle Kisses, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Button Market: Hot Pink Flowers, Red Flowers, Gulf Squares, Outdoors

“Loves Me” card, by Diane Payne.

To create this card, I layered two flowers in different shades and topped them off with one of our crocheted flowers. I cut a few petals off the flower and glued them to the bottom of the card to tie in with the "loves me, loves me not" theme.

Supplies:
Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Cotton Candy; High Five Alpha Stickers: Piggy Punch; Crochet Flowers: Poppy

“My Happy Place”, by Diane Payne.

I thought it would be fun to create a banner with the flowers so I cut some in half and layered them under my patterned paper and photo. To give them a finished look I added buttons and a crocheted heart to the center. For the title, I chose a variety of letter stickers and chipboard pieces in varying colors, sizes and styles. 

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Popsicle Kisses, Petal Power, Borders, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Birthday Boy: Just a Note; Birthday Girl: Chipboard Icons; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Saltwater; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Punch, Ice; High Five Alpha Stickers: Blue, Green, Yellow; Designer Tape: Pink Flowers, Yellow Chevron, 12mm Combo; Button Market: Bursts, Blues, Hot Pink Flowers; Crochet Hearts: Bell Pepper, Punch

Canvas Floral Art, by Diane Payne.

For the floral art piece I selected the beautiful wood grain paper from the Love and Marriage collection for the background. I wanted my canvas to have a natural organic look so I transferred the wood grain pattern to the back of a piece of canvas with adhesive. To transfer the paper, lay the pattern you want to transfer onto the sticky side of the canvas and rub it with a bone folder or credit card - press hard and be sure to rub the entire surface. Next, lightly score lines into the paper and then spray with water. Begin rubbing the paper until it comes off the canvas. Continue spraying with water and rubbing the paper until all the paper is removed. Set it aside to dry.

Once my canvas was dry I hand-stitched around the edge of the canvas and inked the edges to distress it before adhering it to a sturdy board with glue. To give the flowers some dimension, I layered them in three sizes and topped off each one with a button in a coordinating color. To finish the piece off I added a banner and greeting and placed it directly below the flowers.

Supplies:
Love and Marriage: Smokeys In Love; Sunshine & Happiness: Petal Power; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Pony; Button Market: Feminine Mix, Pink Flora, Masculine Mix, Red Flowers

"Amazing Birthday" card, by Jenny Evans.

I know I am going to sound repetitive, but the Petaloo flowers match up so well with Bella! Look how gorgeous these flowers are with the Birthday Girl collection! I can't wait to give this beautiful card away!

Supplies:
Birthday Girl: Dancing Queen, Borders, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Button Market: Purple Flowers

"Happy Mother's Day" card, by Jenny Evans.

For this card, I decided to make the flowers the focal point. I added the chevron paper and then the trim and banner piece. I then added the Petaloo flowers, topped with Bella Blvd Buttons, and then the sentiment sticker. I just love the look of the flowers with the buttons in the center!

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: Egg Hunt, Borders, Miniatures; Button Market: Hot Pink Flowers

"Now and Forever" card, by Jenny Evans.

As soon as I saw these flowers, I knew I would mix them with some of the new Bella Blvd Feathers! So gorgeous together! The sentiment in the paper is subtle enough to let the beautiful feathers and flowers stand out!

Supplies:
Love and Marriage: Cute Cuts; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Oreo; Feathers: Cream Feathers

"Springtime" card, by Jenny Evans.

How cute are these little flowers?! I just love them paired with the Spring Flings and Easter Things collection. A sweet and simple card ready for Spring!

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: Mom's Bouquet, Cute Cuts

"On A Sunny Afternoon", by Jenny Evans.

These Petaloo flowers were perfect for the Sand and Surf collection! I layered them and topped them off with some Bella buttons. They were just right for my favorite photo of my niece!

Supplies:
Sand & Surf: Surf's Up, Flying High, GPS, Borders, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Miniatures; Button Market: Outdoors; Flags: Vacation

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We are also going to start off this week with our giveaway! One of our lucky readers will be receiving the Love and Marriage collection, including patterned papers, cardstock stickers, chipboard icons and alphas, and flags. Just leave a comment on today's post to be entered to win. You have until Thursday evening to enter, and we will announce a winner on Friday.

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Now, head on over to the Petaloo blog and check out what their Design Team has created using their embellishments and our fun Bella products! They will also be hosting giveaways as well, so you won't want to miss out on those. You can also follow them on the Petaloo Facebook page. Keep coming back to both blogs all week long, because we have a ton more projects to share with you. 

Easter & Spring Themed Layouts

We are continuing with our Easter and spring themed projects, and today is all about layouts. I love that our designers got creative and used a variety of collections to create their layouts, even pulling products from the Love And Marriage and Birthday Girl collections, showing how versitle our collections can be.

“Easter”, by Kim Jeffress.

This year I decided to create a little Easter display for my kitchen table, I went hunting around my house and also at the local shopping center for the perfect pieces. I wanted it to be bright and cheery so I went for crisp white with a touch of yellow and pink! When I printed off my photos and started looking through my papers the soft grey woodgrain pattern from the Love and Marriage Smokeys in love paper was a perfect subtle backdrop for my photos. I added in little touches of pink and yellow around my layout to pull it all together.

Supplies:
Love and Marriage: Smokeys in Love, May Eighteenth; Kiss Me: Love Notes, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Birthday Girl: Miles of Smiles, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Banana; Designer Tapes: Hot Pink Dot, 12mm Combo

"Spring Spectacular", by Yohko Takiguchi.

As soon as I saw March Sketch #1 I fell in love. So I decided to use this sketch for my spring layout. I used a photo of “Hanami”, the Japanese traditional custom of enjoying the beauty of cherry blossoms in April. The cherry blossom is the national flower of Japan and there are cherry trees everywhere in Japan!

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: Sunny Sunday, A Tisket A Tasket, Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Miniatures; Flags: Spring Flings and Easter Things; Birthday Girl: Sugar Rush; Ciao Chip Everyday Elements: Clouds

"Sweet Sweet Face", by Jenny Evans.

Bella Blvd's alphas are one of my favorite products! They make it easy to do long titles (currently a favorite of mine), and coordinate with ALL Bella collections.

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: Borders, Mom's Bouquet, A Tisket A Tasket, Sunny Sunday, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Miniatures Stickers; Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Banana; High Five Alpha Stickers: Gulf, Piggy-Punch, Green, Yellow; Designer Tape: Pickle Juice Stripe, Blue Chevron, Pony Dot; Button Market: Hot Pink Flowers, Gulf Squares

"The Easter Egg Hunt", by Leanne Allinson.

I've been wanting to make my layouts more interactive lately, as well as document the story behind the photo and use gorgeous patterned paper. With Easter approaching I also thought this would be the perfect time to see if my idea works!

First I created a small card with a pop-up rabbit inside. I found a free pop-up rabbit template on Pinterest and sized it to fit into the card that would be adhered to my layout. I traced the template onto cardstock and then covered it with patterned papers from Bella's Birthday Girl collection. 

The embellished template was then folded and adhered to the card. The next step was to fussy cut enough flowers from the Sand & Surf Paradise patterned paper, to embellish both the front and inside of the small card. I also mixed in some fussy cut flowers from the Birthday Girl Party Dress patterned paper, to create more depth and interest. 

When it came to designing my layout, I still wanted to retain some white space and keep the flap of the card somewhat disguised until you looked closely. The discreet paper clip holds the flap down so the focus remains on the photo. As the card opens, it reveals my journaling and the surprise 3D element of the bunny.

The front of the card then covers my photo so that the focus now changes to settle on the bunny in a field of Spring flowers.

To attach the card to my layout, I used strong double sided tape. Another option would be to machine stitch it into place. The layout was then completed with clusters of more fussy cut flowers and an Easter banner in the top corner, created from the Spring Flings and Easter Things miniatures stickers.

Supplies:
Sand & Surf: Paradise, Borders & Cute Cuts, Flying High, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Spring Flings & Easter Things: Miniatures Stickers; Birthday Girl: Party Dress, Borders, Miles of Smiles; Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Saltwater; High Five Alpha Stickers: Gulf; Flags: Sand & Surf; Ciao Chip Elements: Borders

Cards On Thursday: St Patrick's Day

St Patricks Day is this coming Sunday, so we thought we would make today's card shares all about some fun and unique St Patricks Day cards.

“Smile Friend” card, by Laurie Schmidlin.

Bella's new Crochet Hearts make such cute Shamrocks, don't you think? I used three of the Pickle Juice Crochet Hearts and cut out a little "stem" using some coordinating patterned paper. I embellished it with some Button Market buttons, a Ciao Chip Star, and a couple of sentiment stickers.

Supplies: 
Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Saltwater; Birthday Girl: Party Dress; Birthday Boy: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Super Stud: Label Additions; Ciao Chip Elements: Stars & Hearts; Button Market: Stars, Blues; Crochet Hearts: Pickle Juice Hearts

“Lucky To Know You” card, by Laurie Schmidlin.

I am so smitten with the new Freestyle Sophisticates collection! So many of the colors will work for many different holiday cards! I used the new Freestyle Pickle Juice paper to create a Shamrock shaped card. For the sentiment, I chose to use two of the Sophisticates Green High Five Alphabet stickers.

Supplies:
Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Pickle Juice; High Five Alpha Stickers: Green; Button Market: Blues

"Good Luck" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

I used a heart punch to make the 4 leaf clover on this card. I punched 4 hearts out of the same patterned paper and arranged them to look like a clover. Easy! I started to make this card entirely green but, believe it or not, it seemed a bit too green! So I threw in a little yellow and I like the contrast! Thanks for looking!

Supplies:
Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Pickle Juice; High Five Alpha Stickers: Green; Sand & Surf: Paradise, Beach Balls, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Button Market: Bursts; Flags: Floral, Sunshine & Happiness

"Don't Forget your Green" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

I wanted to use a lot of green on this St. Patty's Day card. I dug around in my Bella Blvd stash and found this green flag from the "Camping" flags, the Green High Five Alphabets, and the "Outdoors" buttons. I used the new Pickle Juice Freestyle patterned paper as the base of the card and I grabbed the green patterned paper and the Just Write Journaling Stickers from the new Sand & Surf line. All these different green items coordinated so well together! I love that! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 

Supplies:
Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Pickle Juice; High Five Alpha Stickers: Green; Sand & Surf: Paradise, Beach Balls, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Engaged at Last: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Flags: Camping; Button Market: Outdoors

“Kiss Me I’m Irish” card, by Kathy Martin.

Bella Blvd’s Pickle Juice green is a favorite color of mine! I love the shade of green and the name is adorable, don’t you think? When I was asked to make a couple of St. Patrick’s Day cards for you, I jumped at the chance to create with the beautiful Pickle Juice papers and accents! What do you think? Do you think Pickle Juice green is perfect for St. Patrick’s Day?

 

Supplies:
Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Pickle Juice; Crochet Hearts: Pickle Juice; Button Market: Pickle Squares

 

“Kiss Me” card, by Kathy Martin.

When I don’t have an occasion specific collection for a project, like this St. Patrick’s Day card, I find that keeping the design clean and simple makes it a snap to create. For this card I focused on the sentiment using these Sienna Chip alphabets. I also love buttons and thought a trio of them would make the perfect accent. The final addition was the big red lips, which add an element of fun.

 

Supplies:
Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Pickle Juice; Button Market: Neutrals Mix, Pickle Squares; Designer Tape: Pony Dot; Engaged at Last: Ciao Chip

“Good Luck” card, by Sheri Feypel.

Rather than making a normal sized card, I went with a 5x5 this time. I really needed to accommodate my hexagons, so I felt this was a good size to fit them. I arranged my hexagons and added several different pink patterns to the middles of each one. I topped it off with a shamrock, a few buttons and some twine to bring it all together. Now I think I need a Shamrock Shake!

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Sprinkles and Lace Punch; Birthday Girl: Celebrate; Birthday Boy: Eat Cake; Kiss Me: Love Notes, Flutter; Love And Marriage: Esther Flemming Floral; Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Pickle Juice, Freestyle Cotton Candy; High Five Alpha Stickers: Green

“Happy Lucky Day” card, by Sheri Feypel.

Originally my sentiment on this card was going to be "Get Lucky" but I decided it might not be appropriate? I still think it would have been cute though. Anyhow, I went with a Rainbow of colors of the Designer Tapes from Bella Blvd instead of patterned papers. I used a dark grey background to make the tape colors pop. I cut the little flag out of tape as well. I love that there are so many different uses for this tape! Happy St. Patty's Day!

Supplies:
Designer Tapes: Red Dot, Orange Stripe, Yellow Chevron, Ice Stripe and Purple Dot; High Five Alpha Stickers: Green

Card Inspiration

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you had a relaxing and fun weekend ... maybe even finding a little time to scrap. I thought we would share another full day of cards with you today, as our card designers were super busy creating so many little works of art the past month.

“I Love You” card, by Gretchen McElveen.

This card is a little combination of the Kiss Me, Sand & Surf, and Engaged at Last lines. These lines really do go well together. You might not think it, but trust me! J I did a little fussy cutting of the Paradise patterned paper in the Sand & Surf line to get all the small flowers on this card. And all the “I love you” strips came from the Kiss Me Borders & Cute Cuts sheet.

Supplies:
Kiss Me: Borders & Cute Cuts Sheet, Bouquet Kisses; Engaged at Last: Bachelorette Extras; Sand and Surf: Paradise, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits Stickers

“Spend Your Life…” card, by Gretchen McElveen.

I am digging 5”x 5” cards lately! I didn’t do this on purpose but this card has a very Spring-y feel to it to me. Everything here is from the Engaged at Last line! I pulled out my butterfly punch to add a few butterflies and put the finishing touches on this card.

Supplies:
Engaged at Last: He Proposed!, Bachelor Extras, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Button Market: Pink Flowers; Flags: Wedding Shower, Engagement

“Cheer Up” card, by Gretchen McElveen.

This card is almost entirely using the Kiss Me collection with some Sophisticates chipboard and Miniature Sentiment stickers thrown in for good measure! I wanted a soft, cheery card to send to a friend and all the pink in the Kiss Me line was perfect. And the chipboard sun helped add just enough variety too! Thanks for looking!

Supplies:
Kiss Me: Borders & Cute Cuts, Bouquet Kisses, Love Notes, Flutter; Sophisticates: Miniature Sentiments; Ciao Chip Elements: Clouds

“Happy Birthday” card, by Carina Lindholm.

When I sat down to make this card I was in the mood for making a colourful and festive card. So I dug out the “Birthday girl” collection. I really love the colors and cute patterns in this collection. I knew right away that I wanted to use these big colourful chipboard letters on my card. So I made them my focal point and then added tape, buttons and flags to decorate my card.

Supplies:
Birthday Girl: Borders, Chipboard Icons; Designer Tape: Pickle Juice; Button Market: Stars; Flags: Birthday Girl 1

 

“I Love You” card, by Carina Lindholm.

I must admit, I LOVE the chevron pattern. I hope this is a trend that never goes away. On this card I used the yellow chevron paper that you can find in the “birthday girl” collection. I also used some brown designers tape, chipboard borders and a chipboard heart to complete this card.

Supplies:
Birthday Girl: Miles Of Smiles; Ciao Chip Elements: Borders, Stars & Hearts; Designer Tape: Pony Dot

“Together 4 Ever” card, by Laurie Schmidlin.

Along with all of the fun elements included in the Kiss Me collection, I find that many of the Sophisticates embellishments and papers are great additions to the Kiss Me collection! For my card, I added a chipboard heart form the Sophisticates line, as well as a Star button and Dahlia Crochet Heart. 

Supplies:
Kiss Me: Just Write Journaling Stickers, Bouquet Kisses, Love Notes, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sophisticates: Ciao Chip Stars & Hearts; Button Market: Feminine Mix; Crochet Flowers: Dahlia

“Thanks For Everything” card, by Laurie Schmidlin.

Oh how I love the Ciao Chip Trees! I think they're perfect for all year round, not just in the Fall! For my card, I combined the chipboard tree (along with a chipboard heart from the Ciao Chip Stars & Hearts) with lots of items from the Sophisticates collection. For embellishment, I added a Crochet Flower, and two buttons.

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Short Stories, Tall Tags, Oyster, Ciao Chip Stars & Hearts, Ciao Chip Trees, Miniatures Card Sentiments; Button Market: Stars, Outdoors; Crochet Flowers: Daisies

Cards On Thursday

It's Thursday, which means we have a wide variety of amazing cards from our Card Designers to share with you!

"You Make My Days Better" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

I used the 'Love and Marriage' line here to make a general greeting card to send to a friend. I love the soft, pretty colors in this line and there are many pieces in this line that can be used beyond wedding projects!

Supplies:
Love and Marriage: Turner Hall Ballroom, Ester Fleming Floral, Cake Tasting, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Engaged at Last: Miniatures Stickers; Designer Tapes: Gray Dot; Button Market: Neutrals Mix

"Destiny" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

I did get all lovey dovey with this card! I need a card to take to a wedding shower in a couple of weeks. Thanks to the new ' 'Love and Marriage' line it's done!

Supplies: 
Love and Marriage: Cake Tasting, Borders, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Miniatures Wedding Day Stickers; Engaged at Last: Miniatures Stickers

"Congratulations" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

I did a lot of fussy cutting on this card! I cut out all those flowers and the 'congratulations' sentiment. Then I used a lot of foam adhesive to adhere the different elements to the card to give it all kinds of fun dimension. Thanks for looking!

Supplies:
Love and Marriage: Turner Hall Ballroom, Ester Fleming Floral, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers

“Classy and Fabulous” card, by Gretchen McElveen.

I got a little crazy with the flower-cutting here! They are just so fun! I adhered some of them with foam squares to add a little dimension to the card and added some bling to the centers for a little sparkle. Also I punched a bunch of circles and used them to create a scalloped border on either side of the card. Thanks for looking!

Supplies:
Engaged at Last: Bridal Shower, Bachelorette Extras; Sand and Surf: Paradise; Flags: Bachelorette

“Spend Your Life” card, by Laurie Schmidlin.  

I just adore the new Freestyle Sophisticates collection! I couldn't decide which colors to use first, so I chose five of them! After I stitched on the background pieces, I layered on some chipboard, stickers, Designer Tape, and a Pink Flower button!

Supplies:
Love and Marriage: Wedding Day Miniatures; Engaged At Last: Just Write Journaling Stickers; Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Scallop, Freestyle Saltwater, Freestyle Pickle Juice, Freestyle Banana, Freestyle Peep, Freestyle Cotton Candy; Sophisticates: Ciao Chip Stars & Hearts; Designer Tape: Gray Dot; Button Market: Pink Flowers

“Blushing Bride” card, by Laurie Schmidlin.

Wedding cards are so much fun to make! I used papers, stickers, and chipboard from the new Love and Marriage collection. For embellishment, I added some Yellow Chevron Designer Tape and a White Crochet Heart.

Supplies:
Love and Marriage: Esther Flemming Floral, Turner Hall Ballroom, Wedding Day Miniatures, Ciao Chip Wedding Icons; Designer Tape: Yellow Chevron; Crochet Hearts: White Hearts

“Amazing Birthday” card, by Laurie Schmidlin.

I love combining new collections with older ones! Here, I used Bella's Birthday Girl collection but added some new Designer Tape and a Pickle Juice Crochet Heart! I love how all of the colors go so well together!

Supplies:
Birthday Girl: Sugar Rush, Cute Cuts, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Ciao Chip Icons; Designer Tape: 12 mm Combo; Crochet Hearts: Pickle Juice Hearts

"Cupcake Card", by Laurie Schmidlin.

To me, the fun pastels combined with brighter hues is so classic Bella! This card combines all of that, plus many of my favorite Bella embellishments - Ciao Chip chipboard pieces, Flags, Buttons, and Sentiment Stickers! For a little extra fun, I added some chunky glitter around the edge of the cupcake!

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Miniatures Card Sentiment, Ciao Chip Stars & Hearts; Birthday Girl: Sugar Rush, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Cute Cuts, Flags 1; Button Market: Aqua Flowers

”Birthday Wishes” card, by Carina Lindholm.

I really like to use banners on my cards, I think they are very festive and fun. On this card I wrapped some string around my card and tied a bow at the left side. And to make my birthday banner I used both chipboard and sticker pieces. I adhered tiny pearls between all the sticker pieces to give the card some glamour.

Supplies:
Birthday Girl: Sugar Rush, Party Dress, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Birthday Boy: Chipboard Icons; Designer Tape: Piggy Pink; Button Market: Hot Pink Flowers, Stars

“Amazing Birthday” card, by Carina Lindholm.

For this card I started off by adhering strips of designers tape to my card base. I then stitch down all the strips using my sewing machine. Then I die cut a doily out of green paper, I adhered a large orange sticker flower and the sentiment label in the centre of the doily. I adhered everything with pop dots to really give this card some dimension.

Supplies:
Birthday Boy: Eat Cake, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Designer Tape: Orange Stripe; Button Market: Orange Stars

“I Only Have Eyes For You” card, by Carina Lindholm.

On this card I wanted to make this glasses cut out the focal point. I made the card in a soft color scheme to really make the hot pink glasses pop off the card. And to really draw your attention to the glasses I adhered a strip of green designers tape right under them.

Supplies:
Kiss Me: Bouquet Kisses, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Sticker; Designer Tape: Pickle Juice Chevron

“So Many Of My Smiles Begin With You” card, by Carina Lindholm.

Bella Blvd has so many great designer tapes, in lots of different colors and patterns. I like to use my tapes to make fun and unique backgrounds on my cards, like I did on this one. In the centre of the card I adhered a sentiment sticker and a scallop border sticker from the “Just write” sticker sheet. I also cut out a flower from the “Cute cuts” sheet. I adhered it to my card using pop dots to give the card more dimension.

Supplies:
Collection: Kiss me: Cute Cuts, Just Write Stickers, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Designer Tape: Piggy Pink Stripe, Gulf Dot

On-Going Guest Designers: Brook Stewart, Jodi Wilton, Juliana Michaels, Ebony van der Starre, Ann-Christin Larsen

When we were choosing our 2012-2013 Design Team back in September, we had a few additional designers that we just weren't ready to pass up. So just like last year, we decided to invite these designers to join our team this year as On-Going Guest Designers. They will be sharing projects with us every other month, and we are excited to share their work with you.

“Crazy Morning Hair”, by Brook Stewart.

I just love how my daughter’s polka dot pj's coordinated perfectly with the Kiss Me line. I knew I wanted to use the pics with the line right away! I had a lot of fun tucking bits of paper, journaling tags and stickers here and there for a layered look!

Supplies: 
Kiss Me: Mustache Love, Bouquet Kisses, Flutter, Borders & Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Stickers; High Five Alpha Stickers: Piggy-Punch, Blue; Miniatures Stickers: Card Sentiments, Sunshine & Happiness

"I Wuv You Baby Ister" by Brook Stewart.

I really just cannot get enough of the color combination in the Kiss Me line! Definitely one of my favorites of all time! I love the small hint of yellow in the Love Notes chevron paper, so I pulled out a bit more with the yellow chevron Designer Tape! The hearts on the Love Notes paper were just begging to be cut out. I used 2 different sized hole punches on some small scraps of the papers I had cut and sprinkled them on until I liked the look and glued them down!

Supplies:
Kiss Me: True Love, Love Notes, Borders & Cute Cuts; High Five Alpha Stickers: Piggy-Punch; Family Dynamics: Quadrants; Baby Girl: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Designer Tape: Yellow Chevron

“I {Heart} Winter”, by Jodi Wilton.

I couldn't resist playing with the Winter Wonder collection, after our first big snow fall in Canada! I loved the “I {HEART} Winter” card  from the Cute Cuts sheet, and decided to use that as my title. To make it stand out more, I stitched around the heart with embroidery thread. I also wanted to incorporate lots of the blue buttons, and decided to make a patter at the bottom of my main photo!

Supplies:
Winter Wonder:  Borders, Ski Slopes, Cute Cuts, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Miniatures; Button Market: Blues

“8 Months Luvable”, by Jodi Wilton.

I absolutely love the colors in the Kiss Me Collection, and thought I would play it up with a cute picture of my daughter when she was 8 months old. I used my Silhouette SD to cut up the chevron circles and backed them with a white die-cut doily. I then layered lots of fun die cut hearts as well as cute stickers from the Alpha+Bits sticker sheet.

Supplies:
Kiss Me: Flutter, Love Notes, True Love, Borders & Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Ice; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Punch; High Five Alphabet Stickers: Blue

“Party Time”, by Jodi Wilton.

I was excited to finally play with the Birthday Boy line! I once again, loved the colors in this line, and they matched perfectly for my son's 6th birthday. The chipboard Icons are super cute and provided the perfect embellishment to stick the Birthday Boy Flags. I used some Button Market Blues Buttons, but I decided to punch little cupcakes from the Eat Cake paper and fit them on top of the button!

Supplies:
Birthday Boy: About A Boy, Borders, Toadilly Cool, Eat Cake, Chipboard Icons, Birthday Boy Flags 1, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Button Market: Pickle Squares, Blues; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Blueberry; Simply Simona Chipboard Numbers: White

“Celebrating With Friends”, by Juliana Michaels.

My husband had a surprise birthday party for me and this is a group photo of our guests. I love how some of us went all out when Danny asked us to make crazy faces for the camera!  The layout came together easily using some strips of patterned paper and tape. I especially enjoyed fussy cutting the frog from the Cute Cuts paper to add as a decorative element.

Supplies:
Birthday Boy: About A Boy, Toadilly Cool, Eat Cake, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Thankful: Alpha+Bits Stickers; High Five Alpha Stickers: Gulf; Designer Tape: Orange Stripe, Pickle Juice

“Eat More Cake”, by Juliana Michaels.

No birthday party is complete without a birthday cake. For this layout, I again did some fussy cutting and used the cake image from the Cute Cuts paper as a decorative element on the layout. I created the flower elements by punching images from the All About You patterned paper and layering them with double sided foam tape for more dimension. 

Supplies:
Birthday Boy: All For You, About A Boy, Just A Note, Eat Cake, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Birthday Girl: Miles Of Smiles, Party Dress; Thankful: Perfect Day

“Sand Castles”, by Ebony van der Starre.

As it is summer here in Australia and I wanted to create a fun, bright summery layout! One of my all-time favorite Bella Blvd products are the Alpha+Bits sticker sheets. On this layout I have used a variety of these to create the majority of my layout. I often cut them up, use them as frames and journaling spots, or just great layering pieces for my layout. I love mixing up new and past collections too. 

Supplies:
Sunny Happy Skies: Alpha+Bits Stickers, Blurb Stickers; Birthday Boy: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Family Dynamix: Just Write Journaling Stickers; Hello Beautiful: Blurb Stickers; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Surf & Turf; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Saltwater, McIntosh, Oyster; High Five Alpha Stickers: Black-White; Designer Tape: Yellow Chevron, Jailbird; Button Market: Gulf Squared

“You Are My Favorite Little Lady”, by Ebony van der Starre.

I am a scrapper who loves to use whatever I can place my hands on! I love working with various scraps of patterned papers all varying in color and patterns. This layout is a collective of scraps of my favorite papers, stickers and embellishments.

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Chlorine, Sprinkles & Lace Apricot; Hello Beautiful: Borders & Blocks, Thanks A Bunch; Birthday Girl: Miles Of Smiles, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Birthday Boy: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Kiss Me: Bouquet Kisses, Mustache Love; High Five Alpha Stickers: Gulf, Pink-Red, Green; Baby Blooms A Bella: Azzini; Ciao Chip Elements: Trees; Designer Tape: Pink Stripe, Orange Stripe, Pickle Juice Dot, Yellow Chevron 

"Please Don’t Grow Up", by Ann-Christin Larsen.

I actually love wigs! I have a bunch of them, in different shapes and colors. This is my son, Ludvik, who had to try on one of my red haired wigs. We had a good laugh. I also love summer layouts and all those bright colors in the Birthday Boy collection.

Supplies: 
Birthday Boy: Streamers, Eat Cake; Sunshine & Happiness: Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Quattrofina Alpha Stickers: Milk & Oreo

"Fresh", by Ann-Christin Larsen.

In January I became an aunt for the first time! She is just devine and I love to catch the moments when she is so tiny and fresh. This is a clean and simple layout, and I think it brings out the picture in a soft way using only some small details.

Supplies: 
Sunshine & Happiness: Miniatures Stickers; Birthday Girl: Party Dress ; Ciao Chip Elements: Borders, Stars & Hearts; Quattrofina Alpha Stickers: Mustard & Apricot

"Life", by Ann-Christin Larsen.

I am a daydreamer. When I was little I was dreaming about living in the middle age, with all the dresses, queens and drama:) I still daydream, but now it’s about life and memories that I have shared with family and friends. 

Supplies:
Birthday Boy: Eat Cake, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Oyster, Calendars; Ciao Chip Elements: Trees, Stars & Hearts; Birthday Girl: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sunshine & Happiness: Miniatures Stickers