Bella Blvd Studio Blog

Fridays With Stephanie: CHA Winter 2012 Recap

I never would have thought I'd be here today ready with a post for you! I'm "live from the Phoenix airport" as I prepare this blog post. I'm on my way home from Anaheim (California) and am plugged into the wall and sitting next to a very large, unstable sign on the floor! ha.

Enough of that....onto more fun things! I know many of you have been patiently waiting for CHA updates! It's hard to believe the show is over. It always comes and goes so quickly. As a team, we went from this:

to this in only 48 hours:

The booth was beautiful. (So we were told!) Okay, but yes, it truly was. The bright white walls reflected the lighting very well this go-around and the projects and products lit-up beautifully. This is Bella's first CHA with our new 2011-12 Design Team and the girls participating did a fabulous job!

There were so many beautiful cards, altered projects, mini books and layouts. Our customers were lovin' every square inch of inspiration! I thought I'd share some eye candy from the booth today for ya'll.

I think it's safe to say that the Brand new Baby Boy & Baby Girl collections were a hit!

And the mini series, We're Expecting was very popular as well. Because of all the beautiful pregnancy photo shoots people are taking these days, this line is beautiful and feminine for those favorite belly shots!

 

And I can't tell you how excited everyone was about our embellishment release!

For three years, Bella Blvd has really been known for our patterned papers and stickers. I've already expressed how thrilled I am to be releasing a bunch of new embellishments including these darling Crochet Flowers, the stick pin Flags, The Button Market and Designer Tapes too!

I can proudly say you these new embellies will not be hard to find! Once we start shipping in the middle of March your favorite local and online scrapbooking stores will have them! They were hot hot hot!

I know this is getting long, but hopefully you had enough eye candy here to keep reading until now! A huge thank you from my team and I for making this a very successful CHA show and product release. For those of you that came by the booth, thank you for all of your excitement and for your business. 

My girls are my faves. They all worked so hard, they always do. We make a great team! 

I'm posting a couple more pictures from CHA over on my blog....be sure to stop by for more happiness ;)

Ciao Ciao for now....I'm headed to Italy this afternoon where I'll be teaching at the PACS Show!

Ciao Ciao for now! Have a great weekend....I know I will ;)

Live From CHA:i Set-Up Day 1

Ciao Ciao Bella Fans! How are you? Have you been following us on Facebook, watching our set-up updates? (PS-We're literally 11 fans away from 5,000 and would love to get there!) We're enjoying the sun (okay, well the small walks to & from the convention center and the view of the palm trees while the back garage doors are open during set-up) in California & can't wait to give you a peek of the CHA Winter 2012 Booth! Are you ready?

When we arrived Friday morning at Booth #1287 our beautius crates were waiting! And the non-existent booth is mapped out with metal poles and also with these not-so-beautius curtains!

The crates are huge! So huge that 20 peeps could probably picnic inside ;)

While a picnic in sunny California would be wonderful and relaxing, setting up this booth is definitely not a walk in the park! One by one the walls go up...

every now & then we snap a couple photos...so we can say hi :) to you!

Back to work as the details come together. Assembling the product panels is time consuming and meticulous, but is so rewarding when finished! After all, CHA is the end-all after months of organizing, planning, designing, executing and creating! 

* PS---No matter what you do you should always wear socks & tennis during set-up. After nearly 8 hours poor Therese needed to let her little piggies breathe. We confined her to the booth so that she wouldn't step on nails, screws or glass! Even though she probably walked out with a couple Glue Dots on her feet by the time we were finished with this Embellishment board. :)

The best part is left to complete on Saturday: displaying all the breathtaking and incredibly creative layouts, cards, mini albums and altered projects by the design team! Just you wait....

Well, that's all for now. We've got to get some shut-eye before Day 2 of set-up. In the meantime, be sure to enter to win our new products for free by checking out the Sneak Peeks/Reveals from the past several days. All you have to do is leave comments to have a chance to win!! For all of you scrapbookers our there watching and reading at home...we're missing you and wish you were here to see it all in real life!

Ciao Ciao for Now!

- - - S t e p h a n i e

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.

_____________________________________________________________

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 ;)

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!