Bella Blvd Studio Blog

Bella Blvd & Unity Stamp Co. Inspiration Day

We are back with another Bella Blvd & Unity Stamps Inspiration Day! I asked a few of our Card Designers to use whatever stamps they were feeling inspired by, and to come up with some clever ways to use them. Let's see what they came up with!

“Let’s Stick Together” card, by Alice Carman.

For this card I used the tree stamp and cut off the trunk of the tree. It’s not only a tree stamp, but also ice cream scoops…yay! I wonder what else I could use it for? Who’s up for the challenge?

Supplies:
Too Cute To Spook: Itsy Bitsy Spider, Spooky Night; High Five Alphabets: Black-White; Sunshine & Happiness: Miniatures; Unity Stamps: Tree Love

“A Little Birdie Told Me” card, by Alice Carman.

I like things in 3’s and today’s card is just that. For my background I used the quote stamp and then I stamped the birdie 3 times and pop dotted them across the card. I also used Bella Blvd’s Halloween line called, “Too Cute To Spook” as my pattern paper. I know it’s not Halloween, but it totally works!

Supplies:
Too Cute To Spook: Itsy Bitsy Spider; Designer Tape: Yellow Chevron; Unity Stamps: A Little Birdie Told Me, Tell Me More

“It’s a Girl” card, by Kathy Martin.

It was a lot of fun getting all inked up for today’s card projects using some adorable new Bella. Blvd. and Unity stamps! For these projects, I thought it would be fun to experiment with combining the stamped images with Copic coloring and hand stitching. Since I wanted my stamped images in a soft gray color and didn’t have a gray stamp pad, I just used black and double stamped them. To do this, ink up your stamp and press it down once on a scratch piece to remove most of the ink and then stamp it a second time on your card. You can do this with any color to get a lighter hue.

Supplies:
Baby Girl: Cute Cuts; Unity Stamps: It’s a Girl Stamp

“Welcome” card, by Kathy Martin.

Supplies:
Baby Girl: Snuggly Safari, Pretty in Pink; We’re Expecting: Bella Baby Bump, Chipboard Icons; Baby Boy: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Button Market: Pink Flowers; Unity Stamp: So Happy For You

"Shine Down On Me" card, by Gail Hoecker.

One Stamp Three Ways. When I pulled the Country Tree Itty Bitty stamp out to use this month, I thought of several ways to use it. The first, probably the easiest, was to color the leaves with colored pencils in a rather monochromatic color scheme.  

"Congrats" card, by Gail Hoecker.

The second card was a little more work. I stamped my image on the card base and then several more times on an assortment of Bella Blvd patterned papers. I then cut out the leaves and adhered them onto the stamped image on the card base, popping some up.

"Hello Beautiful" card, by Gail Hoecker.

The third card was done by stamping the image on the card base. I then used a technique I learned years ago from fellow Artista Beth Gerlach. I stamped the tree image on plain cardstock, cut out the leaves and trunk of the tree and then the fun part ... I ran them through my little Xyron right-side down so that they are sticky on the right-side up. Dip the pieces in your glitter, tap off excess and adhere to your stamped image on your card base. I do not, repeat, do not, like a glittery mess and this method keeps the glitter mess to a minimum. I almost got rid of all my glitters and I'm really glad I didn't! Yes, these cards look fairly simple, but they do take some time to assemble so you want to make sure that whoever you send them to are "card worthy!"

Supplies: 
(Card 1) Spring Flings & Easter Things: Ciao Chip; Sunshine & Happiness: Alphas+Bits; Unity Stamp: Country Tree
(Card 2) Christmas Wishes: North Pole, Candlelight; Finally Fall: Leaf Pile, Alpha+Bits; One Fall Day: Cute Cuts, Chance of Rain; Sophisticates: Sprinles & Lace Plum; Unity Stamp: Country Tree
(Card 3) Spring Flings & Easter Things: Alphas+Bits; Unity Stamp: Country Tree

Bella Blvd & The Twinery Team-Up: Day Two

Welcome to day two of our week long Team-Up with The Twinery! We have a group of our Bella designers that have mixed The Twinery's gorgeous baker's twine into our projects. And The Twinery's designers have been busy mixing Bella's products into their projects. Let's see what our designers have whipped up for us today.

"Sunshine and Happiness" by Becky Williams.

When I coming up with ideas for my Twinery projects I knew that I wanted to create something that showcased many of the twine colors. I then got the idea to make a rainbow using the crocheted flowers as the clouds and this layout idea was born! I love the different colors of twine available from The Twinery and have had so much fun with these projects!

Bella Blvd Supplies: 
Baby Boy: Cute Cuts, Miniatures, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sunshine & Happiness: Borders, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Ciao Chip Icons; Baby Girl: Pretty In Pink; Crochet Flowers: Daisies; Designer Tape: Jailbird, Pink Stripe, Pickle Juice Dot; Sophisticates: Ciao Chip Clouds; High Five Alpha Stickers: Yellow, Blue

The Twinery Supplies:
Maraschino, Mandarin, Lemondrop, Pea Pod, Denim, Caribbean, Lilac, Pink Sorbet

“Dream Big Little Girl”, by Megan Klauer.

The Peapod colored twine quickly became my favorite color so I decided to use that as the base of my color scheme. With a touch of pink & yellow it was perfect with this picture of Ella from her second birthday shoot. I looped the twine through the button and continued it off the page on both sides. I then sewed over it to help keep it in place. I'm not sure I'm in love with the look of that, but it's something different and it's always fun to try something new. Using a dimensional dot I popped up the cupcake sticker and again tied it with the Peapod twine. 

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Finally Fall: Quadrants, Bliss, Cute Cuts, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Baby Girl: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Designer Tape: Teal Stripe; Sophisticates Ciao Chip: Clouds; Sophisticates High Five Alphabets: Pink-Red, Yellow; Button Market: Pink Flora {backside}, Wood Mix, Fruit Punch, Aqua Flowers, Stars

The Twinery Supplies:
Peapod

“First Strawberry Of The Season”, by Kathy Martin.

The Twinery and Bella Blvd are the perfect colorful combination! I really enjoyed creating ways to accent my page with The Twinery’s product! Some of my accents are common uses and then some are unique! This page is like an “I spy” page. Can you find all seven places and six colors that I incorporated twine into my project?

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Petal Power, Sunny Side Up, Play Date, Juicy Good Time, Happy Clouds, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Miniature Stickers; Chipboard Icons, Flags; Button Market: Pickle Squares; Designer Tape: Yellow Chevron, Teal Stripe; Ciao Chip: Clouds, Borders; High Five Alpha Stickers: Pink-Red 

The Twinery Supplies:
Lemondrop, Shore, Marachino, Blossom

“Get Well Soon”, by Brook Stewart.

When I was looking through my Bella stash, I came upon the rainbow die cut from the Spring collection and knew exactly what I wanted to do for this card project! The beautiful colors in the rainbow coordinate perfectly with the bright assortment of twine colors from the Twinery! I just cut some small pieces and glued them down along the coordinating colors of the rainbow of the die cut. I used a paper piercer and needle to secure the ends of the thread behind the rainbow at the ends for a finished look.

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Baby Boy: Cute Cuts, Heaven Sent; Spring Flings & Easter Things: Cute Cuts; Designer Tape: Yellow Chevron

The Twinery Supplies:
Maraschino, Blossom, Pink Sorbet, Lemondrop, Honeydew, Caribbean

"Maybe A Cupcake Will Help" card, by Suzanne Sergi.

Even though the Baby Girl collection is meant to be paired with baby photos, you will find patterns that will be perfect for cards. The cupcake paper found on the Baby Cakes paper, was the inspiration for this card. I pulled out a variety of pinks to create a card that will make anyone smile. I loved using the twine as accents to embellishments. I used the pink twine to wrap around the cupcake itself, and also as the final tip of frosting at the top.

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Baby Girl: Snuggly Safari, Cute Cuts, Pretty In Pink, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Button Market: Pink Flowers; Flags: Floral

The Twinery Supplies:
Blossom

“Happy 4^th” card, by Kimberly Neddo.

One of the things I love doing with twine, is wrapping it into a circle on Glubbers (large glue dots). It's so easy to create the perfect circle! I wanted to do a 2-color circle for this fun twine embellishment I made. I used my Big Shot tool to punch a hole in the center, where I threaded the twine through and tied a bow. I am loving the new Designer Tapes that Bella Blvd recently released. It works super great for pleating, as you can tell by the little pleating I added to the border across the center. The flag embellishments were the perfect touch to complete this card and I really loved making this card.

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Baby Boy: Momma's Boy; Simply Simona Chipboard Numbers: McIntosh; High Five Alpha Sticker: Pink-Red; Sunshine & Happiness: Miniatures Stickers; Flags: Patriotic

The Twinery Supplies:
Maraschino and Denim

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Now, head on over to The Twinery blog, and check out what their Design Team has created using their gorgeous baker's twine, and our fun Bella products! Also, be sure to check out their giveaway. They are giving away 3 Original Sampler Packs ($15 retail value each) and have asked readers to leave a comment on each of The Twinery's participating designer's blogs EACH DAY. You will have until Sunday to leave comments and they will announce the winners on Monday. NOTE: This is for The Twinery's giveaway, on their blog. This is NOT a giveaway on the Bella blog. Our's will be on Friday ;)

Check back in with us tomorrow, for even more inspiration. And stay tuned for Bella's giveaways, happening on Friday ;)

 

Altered Projects

Today, we have some altered projects to share from our talented Altered Project Designers. Creating projects does NOT come easily to me. So I am always excited to see what our designers have come up with, when they send their projects to my inbox. And just a head's up ... they will be back next Tuesday, with all Easter related projects ;)

Altered Easter Cupcake Stand, by Jennifer Edwardson.

I had so much fun with this project! I make cupcakes for almost any occasion and expecially for every holiday for the kids classrooms. I've got several types of cupcake carriers but I like the cardboard ones that you can toss away after use. 

I went through my decorating stash, dug out a stand and made it my own with some help from Bella :))  I adhered paper to the stand bases as well as all (3) 'plates', sanded the edges and put it all back together.

I used a couple of my favorite Big Shot dies and created all the 'wraps' for the cupcakes and the fence around the bottom using different patterns of paper. Once I had the cupcakes and fencing in place I decorated the rest using cute cuts, stickers and precision cut pieces too.

I used a strip from the 'borders' paper and precision cut out all the little bunnies and attached them to round toothpicks along with a few stickers to make little flags for the cupcakes – I love how it all came together.

I hope this inspires you to dig out your own Spring Flings and Easter Things and create some fun easter projects for your family too. Happy Easter!

Supplies: 
Spring Flings and Easter Things: Borders, Egg Hunt, Moms Bouquet, A Tisket A Tasket, Cute Cuts, Alphas+Bits, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Brownie, Sprinkles & Lace Pickle Juice, Sprinkles & Lace Peep; Estate Sale: Hat Box

"Sunshine" altered canvas, by Suzanne Sergi.

Using a 12x12 white canvas, I created a wall hanging, using Sunshine & Happiness. I picked a recent photo of my little girl, and included it onto the canvas. I covered the canvas with the blue chevron at the top, and created fun borders along the bottom, using a scallop border die. I love creating small paper crafts such as these to brighten any room. A banner at the top, and a few punched flowers were the small details I added to this canvas.

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Petal Power, Juicy Good Time, Popsicle Kisses, Happy Clouds, Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Miniature Stickers

Altered Home Organizer, by Marie-Josée Hamel.

I always have pieces of paper in the kitchen on which I list things I need to buy and do, and I find it very annoying when my lists are misplaced or when I have to look around for a pen to write new items on my lists or scratch things that were done, so I decided to create this small home organizer. I chose the Finally Fall collection because it matches my kitchen.

To create my organizer, I bought a clipboard and a wire basket at the dollar store. For the clipboard, I kept it very simple and decided not to cover the whole surface, but just a part of it. You can cover it all if you wish, or you can paint the surface so that it matches the papers you will decide to use. You also have to cover the wire basket, which is pretty easy. All you have to do is measure all sides of it, cut your paper accordingly, and adhere it to the wire basket. I then decorated the basket with ribbon and chipboards and adhered it to the clipboard using Terrifically Tacky Tape. Use the basket to put scraps of paper for notes and pens.

I also wanted to have a special spot where I could write important things, such as appointments and birthdays. I measured the space I had left, cut a piece of chipboard and paper fitting that space, adhered them together, and put a small clip on top. I used pop dots to adhere this piece of chipboard to the clipboard. Using Word, I created a template, one sheet for each month, and cut it.

Supplies:
Finally Fall: At the Patch, Bliss, Autumn Splendor, Chipboard Icons

Challenge Week With Guest Designer Shannon Tidwell: Day Two

Hi, it's me, Shannon Tidwell, back again for another day of fun & scrapbooking! We hope you're all working on our first challenge, because we really want to see YOUR takes on the ideas. And now, we're going to dive right into our next challenge.

Tuesday Challenge: Use patterned papers from 4 or more collections on your project

I LOVE mixing up patterned papers. Sometimes I start with the papers before the picture.  I dig through my stacks and put together a mix that I like and then see what photos I have that will go with them. If mixing patterned papers from different collections or even manufacturers seems daunting I have a few tips. You could stick with the same color scheme, mix larger patterns with smaller ones to help the balance, find inspiration from fashion or home decor, and my biggest tip ... don't overthink it!

"Happy", by Shannon Tidwell.

For my layout, Happy, as I was looking through the colorful stack of Bella Blvd papers my eye was drawn to the chevron pattern. So I picked out several of the similar pattern in different colors. To help balance it I added in a couple polka dots. I started with one paper as the background and just kept adding strips of patterned paper. I added in a few chipboard accents as well as stickers to add dimension and separation between the patterns. A couple fun things about the page. I sprinkled sequins across the page and then covered them with masking tape. A fun and easy border. Second, I stacked the chipboard title. I actually couldn't decide between the two colors so I decided to use both! The border sticker across the top wasn't quite 8.5" so I snipped it on one side and left a gap, then I filled the gap with a couple sticker tags and tied them together with twine.

"Birthday Girl", by Shannon Tidwell.

For my second layout today I decided to go with a monotone color scheme. That keeps matching papers super easy, especially with pinks. I based my layout on a sheet of Kraft cardstock to mellow the layout a bit. Then I punched about six 2" circles of each paper I'd chosen. By having such an interesting background I decided to keep the rest of the page relatively simple. I balanced the photo with a kraft tag and a few stickers as well as the pin she wore at her birthday (complete with pink icing on it). I thought the top of the page needed a little something so I combined a few stickers for a fun little embellishment.

I can't wait to see what the Bella Blvd Design Team came up with for the challenge.

"Hello Cupcake", by Melissa Stinson.

Mixing Bella collections is so easy! There are so many colors that are similar across the lines (such as the entire Sophisticates palette), so if you pick a red or yellow from one line, it's pretty much guaranteed to coordinated with the same color from another. For this layout I wanted aqua, yellow, and red, so I flipped through some older (and one of the new!) Bella collections, to pull together several sheets that complimented my photos.

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Blue High Five Alphabets, Essentials Peep & McIntosh Chipboard, Simply Simona McIntosh Chipboard; Baby Blooms a Bella: Azzini, Saffron; Midterm: Blurbs; Designer Tape: Yellow Chevron; Sunny Happy Skies: Creamsicle Clouds; Family Dynamix: Quadrants; Sunshine & Happiness: Borders, Happy Clouds; Hello Beautiful: Just Because; Socialite: Tango

"Happiness", by Laura Vegas.

Collections are great, because you can pull one set of papers out and know that they will all match. But I love the challenge of mixing papers from a wide variety of collections, onto one layout. And with Bella's patterned papers, this is so easy to do. For my layout, I started with the chipboard "Happiness" title, and I pulled all of my patterned papers to match the colors in the chipboard letters. Because so many of the papers are tone-on-tone patterns, they can be used together easily. Even in choosing each color's paper, I had lots of different papers to choose from. For example, I could have pulled a great green pattern paper from 3-4 different collections. (BTW, for a little "tutorial" of sorts, on how I created the sunburst on my layout, visit my blog HERE)

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Happy Clouds, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Miniatures Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Family Dynamix: The Littlest Things, Words of Wisdom, Quadrants; Too Cute To Spook: Itsy Bitsy Spider; Socialite: Cute Cuts; Tail Waggers & Cat Naps: Blocks N Borders; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Punch; All Inclusive: Skippin Stones; Ciao Chip Elements: Clouds

"At The Beach", by Kimberly Neddo.

I love mixing product lines together. It gives such a great realm of freedom to play and inter mix the products. It takes away all limits while you create! Sometimes I like having limits, and sometimes I like to be able to mix and match to get the look I want. The photographs are always what dictate my color pallet. How can I frame them? How can I make them stand out? Playing with colors and dimensions, are always what I play with to start every project. Thanks for looking! I hope this inspires you to get creative with your products too!

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Happy Clouds, Chipboard Icons; Finally Fall: At the Patch; Spring Flings & Easter Things: Mom's Bouquet; Sophisticates: Stars & Hearts Chipboard, Green High Five Alpha Stickers; Winter Wonder: Miniatures; Baby Boy: Alpha+Bits

"Drive", by Vivian Masket.

It's so easy to combine Bella Blvd products from different collections. The colors repeat across lines, so everything works well together. On this layout, I combined products from six different lines, including patterned papers from five different lines. I created a tone-on-tone effect by handcutting or punching shapes from three of the patterned papers and layered those shapes over the same patterned paper using pop dots. By having the star, heart, and cloud hang over the edges a bit, they are easier to spot, adding interest and detail without a lot of distraction.

Supplies:
Making the Team: Quadrants, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Sophisticates: Apricot Sprinkles & Lace; Finally Fall: At the Patch, Bliss; Family Dynamix: Quadrants; Super Stud: Eclipse; Tail Waggers & Cat Naps: Just Write Journaling Stickers

"Bliss" card, by Deanna Misner.

For both my cards today, I chose to combine pieces of the Spring Flings collection with the brand new baby collections. I really love that I keep seeing these adorable sunshines popping up everywhere, so I thought I'd make one myself. I used the cloudy background to "ground" my card, then used the deeper golden colors from the Spring Flings collection to create my sun. I love how the Ciao Chipboard pieces not only provide the sentiments for the card, but they also give it depth and a more substance. They're quickly becoming my "go to" embellishment.

Supplies:
Baby Boy collection: Heaven Sent; Spring Flings collection: Sunny Sunday; Sophisticates Ciao Chipboard

"Congrats" card, by Deanna Misner.

I had a little fun playing and finding fun color combinations and I ultimately decided to go with the classic pink and purple girly girl combo. I used a tag I had leftover from a previous Baby Girl collection project, so I thought I'd pair it with the pink chevron from Spring Flings. And I most definitely couldn't resist that adorable pink frog that comes in Spring Flings as well! I topped it off with the "Congrats" flag and 2
buttons from the Button Market and called it a day.

Supplies:
Baby Girl collection: Cute Cuts, Borders; Spring Flings collection: Egg Hunt; Button Market: pink flowers

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And now, we are going to ask you to play along with our challenge! This week, we will be featuring FIVE challenges. But it's not just about showing you what we came up with. We want to see your take on our challenges too. And we have a little extra incentive to get you creating and sharing.

We will be drawing one winner, to receive a prize package of $100+ worth of Bella Blvd products!

But this is different than our regular giveaways. You will have to participate in the challenges, in order to be entered in the drawing for that prize package. If you participate in one challenge, your name will be entered in one time. If you participate in three of the challenges, your name will be entered in three times. Make sense? And how about a bonus. If you participate in all five challenges, your name will be entered in not five times, but TEN times! We really hope you'll join in on the fun with us. Just click on the button below, to link us up to your completed projects. You have until Friday, March 2nd, to get your links added on. We will then announce a winner on Saturday, March 3rd. 

Fridays With Stephanie

Happy Friday everyone! Quick question for you … is it wrong to go back to November when it’s already December 9^th?

By that I mean I recently created a Finally Fall pumpkin farm layout that I really want to share with you today, but, Laura and the DT girls have been doing such an awesome, awesome job transitioning to Christmas, gift ideas & holiday photos that I’m worried to take a couple steps backwards!

I’m hoping you won’t mind! I figure - heck, if you’re like me, you’re scrapbooking events from April, May or June even though it’s Christmas time now. Right?! (Please say yes to make me feel better!) So … just in case you’re still playing with Finally Fall, I have a fun multi-photo two-page layout share for you today!

I had a ton of photos from last year’s trip to the pumpkin farm. It was hard to narrow them down so I had to start overlapping in order to use all the photos that I wanted.

I love layering the Miniatures stickers in the chipboard alphabets like this!

The coordinating right-side layers several elements including stickers from the Just Write Journaling sheet, the Baby Blooms A Bella^tm flowers, chipboard and Cute Cuts^tm paper elements.

It’s crazy to think that here in Wisconsin fall quickly passed by and it’s near freezing and we waiting for our first official snow fall anyday.

I guess that means more Winter Wonder layouts will be coming your way soon! ;) Thanks for bearing with me today as I “took you back” (only about a month in time!) and brought you to some crisp fall page ideas.

The newest product collections are just about finished and samples will be on their way soon----it’s like early Christmas time around here when packages begin arriving. This is going to be the best product release ever from Bella Blvd. It will NOT disappoint! More to come on that soon! The anticipation builds. 

Have yourself a merry little weekend! Hugs!

Cards On Thursdays

Let's talk cards for a minute. Do you create your own handmade Christmas cards, to send out to family and friends each year? Do you send out photo cards, with a favorite family photo (my personal favorite way to do it)? How many of you are totally on top of things, and have all your Christmas cards mailed out? Or are you like me, and haven't really given it much thought yet? Hopefully, I'm not alone in getting a late start ;)

Well, today is card day here on the blog. Our designers for the day were given free reign, to create any type of card they wanted to make. It just sort of worked out, that four of our six cards are Christmas cards. They must all have Christmas on the brain. So, if you haven't started on your cards yet, you might be able to pick up an idea or two here.

"Thanks" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

What kind of cards do you need most in December?? Well Christmas cards of course! And I always need thank you cards too! So I am getting a jump on both kinds! P.S. the striped patterned paper on the "Thanks" card is the "Cute Cuts" sheet from the Christmas Wishes line. And I am pretty sure it is the most versatile piece of patterned paper on the market. I promise you it coordinates well with every line that Bella Blvd has ever made!

Supplies:
Spring Flings and Easter Things: Egg Hunt; Winter Wonder: Borders; Christmas Wishes: Cute Cuts; Family Dynamix: Mother's Day; Sophisticates: Miniatures Card Sentiments

"Looks A Lot Like Christmas" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

Supplies:
Christmas Wishes: Candlelight, Gifts Galore, Alpha Bits + Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers

"The Perfect Day" card, by Kathy Martin.

There was no question which Bella Blvd. collection to use for my cards today! Since we’re in the midst of Christmas crafting and activity I couldn’t see using any other line than Christmas Wishes! These vibrant colors and whimsical patterns and accents made these cards a breeze to create and will bring my friends and family good cheer!

Supplies:
Christmas Wishes: Star Stripe, Alpha+Bits, Miniatures

"I Love Christmas" card, by Kathy Martin.

Supplies:
Christmas Wishes: Star Stripe, Gifts Galore, Borders, Miniatures, Ciao Chip

"Peace, Love, Christmas" card, by Gail Hoecker.

My first card is for Christmas, of course, that's all I can think of right now. I combined Bella's newest Christmas and Winter lines for this card. The "peace love Christmas" sticker is from the Just Write Journaling Stickers from Christmas Wishes. I just snipped off the piece that makes it a "talk bubble" and made it into an oval sticker.

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Icy, Borders; Stickers: Alpha+Bits, Miniatures; Christmas Wishes: Star Stripe, Just Write Journaling Stickers

"Welcome To The Neighborhood" card, by Gail Hoecker.

Bella Blvd papers are always my "go to" papers. However, the Finally Fall collection is one that I just love. I also love the Bella stamps by Unity, as they are easy to use and stamp so clear!

Supplies:
Finally Fall; Leaf Pile, Borders, Cute Cuts; Stamp: Finally Fall

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I also wanted to remind you that our Bella Buzz December Newsletter is coming out, exactly one week from today. Are you all signed up, so that it gets delivered straight to your inbox? If not, head on over HERE, and sign up in the little yellow box, with the cupcake ;)

Layouts On Wednesdays

Happy Wednesday everyone! We hope you all enjoyed all the Christmas project ideas from yesterday's post. Today is a free-for-all day for some of our layout designers, where they were free to scrap about anything they wanted too. Let's see what they have for us, shall we!

"Getting Fancy With Daddy", by Becky Williams.

One thing that my girls enjoy is dressing up their Daddy to look "pretty." He's the only man in the house- we have four daughters and even the dog is a girl! Here my 4 year old was making her daddy all fancy by putting headbands and hairclips in his hair. The colors in the pictures work so well with the brightly-colored patterned papers from Bella Blvd. I played off of the stripes on my daughter's shirt to pick papers both new and old.  I really like the word strips and stickers that add so much to my projects. I also enjoy using the different sizes of alpha stickers in the Bella collections. 

Supplies:
Socialite: Tango; Sophisticates: Short Stories; Flirty: Bits A Bella; Finally Fall: Apple Holler; Spring Flings and Easter Things: Egg Hunt, Alpha+Bits; Hello Beautiful: Alpha+Bits, Blurbs; Winter Wonder: Alpha+Bits; Making the Team: Alpha+Bits; Simply Simona: Peep

"Meeting Santa Claus", by Megan Klauer.

One thing I love about the Bella products is that each collection consists of a ton of product. You can create multiple pages and projects with just one collection as I have done here with my "Meeting S.C." page. The yellow pieces in the line add a unique twist to your otherwise typical Christmas pages. And while I had my scraps out, I decided to make a quick tag while I was at it.

Supplies:
Christmas Wishes: Candlelight, Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits, Journaling Stickers, Miniatures, Icons

Christmas Tag, by Megan Klauer.

Supplies:
Christmas Wishes: Candlelight, Christmas Love, Cute Cuts, Star Stripe, Alpha+Bits, Journaling Stickers, Miniatures, Icons; Stamps: December Details 2

"We Are Family", by Janis Medina.

I have these pictures of my family, taken in a photobooth during a friend's wedding. The pictures were small and so I decided to scrap them with lots of negative space, less paper and lots of stickers and chipboards. I misted a bit on the base cardstock and doodled the border for added interest.

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Short Stories, Essentials Ice & Chlorine, Essentials Apricot & Banana; Finally Fall: You're a Hoot, Apple Holler, Leaf Pile, Cute Cuts, Bliss, Alpha+Bits, Ciao Chip Icons

Tuesday Inspiration

Welcome to our second Tuesday Inspiration day for November. Inspiration is all around us, and it's so interesting to see how a group of designers can all start with the same image, and be inspired by it in so many different ways.

image credit: pottery barn teen

Our second inspiration piece is one that can be used in so many different ways. Whether you choose to pull from the colors in the image, or the vertical bookends, the large chunky letters, or even the stacked books. I put this image out to some of our layout and card designers, and I love what they came up with.

"Thinking Of You" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

This is such a fun inspiration piece! I was inspired by the soft colors. I also like how the "text" enclosed the other items and I tried to do something similiar on my card. I even dug dug deep into my stash of Bella products to find the cool text paper from the Estate Sale line. It is such a cool piece of paper (I almost hated to use it! ha!)!

Supplies:
Spring Flings and Easter Things: Sunny Sunday, Egg Hunt, Cute Cuts, Alpha + Bits; Sophisticates: Miniatures Card Sentiments; Estate Sale: Linens

"Love" card, by Alice Carman.

Love is in the air for card making! For today’s inspiration image I pulled the colors to create my card. I love the yellow, blue and pink! What an adorable color palate and perfect for using the Lovey Dovey collection.  I also used the color placement from the image to create my design. What do you think?

Supplies:
Lovey Dovey: Alpha+Bits, Circle of Love, Cute Cuts, Love is in the Air, Border N’ Blocks; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Banana

"Sweet", by Jamie Harper.

I loved this inspiration!! Everything from the color combination to the words going vertical, so I decided to follow the inspiration pretty closley. I loved the mix of greens and pinks, they just make me happy and scream baby girl. I followed the inspiration by doing my title vertical up the side of the photo.

Supplies:
Lovey Dovey: Love is in the Air, Bear Hugs; Sophisticates: Petite Pieces, Ciao Chips; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Pickle Juice

"Live Today", by Megan Klauer.

When I first saw the inspiration piece this month I knew right away that I wanted to do a vertical title. I love to play with my title work and this was a great excuse! I continued with the vertical design by using strips of paper to mimic the books shown in the original piece. I finished it off with just a few horizontal pieces to balance it all out and to keep the eye flowing.

Supplies:
Finally Fall: Quadrants, Cute Cuts, Leaf Pile, Borders, Bliss, At the Patch, Alpha + Bits, Journaling Stickers, & Icons; Sophisticates: Chipboard Simona #s White, Chipboard Simona Salt Water

"Little Pumpkin At The Patch", by Nancy Damiano.

The first thing that really caught my eye in the inspiration photo were the bookends. I love the big huge words and how clean and simple they look. I used the Simply Simona chipboard alphabet to "bookend" my layout in the center. I like how they border the entire layout, add splashes of color, and draw the eye straight to the photos.

Supplies:
Finally Fall: At the Patch Paper, Border Paper, Ciao Chip Icons, Miniatures Stickers, Alpha+Bits; Winter Wonder: Toasty Paper; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Orange and Saltwater

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We hope you can find some inspiration by these colors as well, or even by one of the projects that our designers have shared today. We would also love it, if you shared your inspired-by projects with us. It's always fun for us to see what you're creating! Feel free to leave a comment here, with a link to your project. Or share it with everyone over on our Facebook Page.

Saturday Sketches

It's time for another round of Saturday Sketch's. Twice a month, we'll be bringing you a new sketch, and showing you a few takes on the sketch by our designers. Today, we have the second sketch for the month of November!

"Fall Fun", by Lynn Ghahary.

Fall is such a fun time of year here in New Jersey.  e always make a point to visit some of the local farms and pumpkin patches. This year we went to Sun High Orchard and you boys just could not resist posing for a picture in the wooden farm animal cut outs. What a pair of goofballs!

Supplies:
Finally Fall: Alpha & Bits 12x12 Stickers, Just Write 12x12 Stickers, Icons Chipboard Stickers, Miniatures Stickers, Borders, Leaf Pile, At the Patch, Cute Cuts

"Me And Rogue", by Janis Medina.

This is my first time to make a layout after a loooong time and I did it on the floor as my scraproom is an unusable mess!!! Using minimum tools, I based my layout on the sketch and added my layers and textures. I also used different sizes of the same photo for added interest.

Supplies:
Finally Fall Collection:  Autumn Splendor, Apple Holler, Cute Cuts, Bliss, Leaf Pile, Ciao Chip Icons, Alpha+Bits stickers, Just Write Journaling stickers; Simply Simona chipboard alphas: Oreo

"A Wonderful Day", by Vivian Masket.

When I work with a sketch, I find that the final product rarely looks exactly like the original sketch, as I tend to use sketches more as starting places than as blueprints. I started this layout by turning the sketch ninety degrees to the left, which placed the circular elements at the top right and the bottom left. After rotating the sketch, I decided I wanted more circles, so I altered the design to add those in, combining woodgrain patterned papers from three different product lines. I kept the idea of four photos, but put them in one horizontal strip rather than in a grid. After that, it was simply a matter of adding embellishments (a chipboard border and leaves punched from the same paper used for the circles), journaling strips, and a sticker for a title. While my final layout doesn't look exactly like the sketch, I would never have done a layout with large circles like this without the sketch as a starting place!

Supplies:
Finally Fall: Quadrants, Autumn Splendor, Miniatures Stickers; Christmas Wishes: Ciao Chip Icons; Mr. Boy: Quadrants; Family Dynamix: Quadrants

"Christmas", by Julie Johnson.

I love circles so I had fun working with this sketch. If your not familiar with working with sketches this would be a great one to try because it was easy to follow and made a very fast page. The best part of a sketch is that you have a foundation to work with but you can add your own touch. I added a few extra borders to the top of the page and instead of using four wallet photos I decided to use two 4 x 6 photos. I added some Icon chipboard embellishments and title, and some miniature stickers and alpha + bits stickers to make the details and finishing touches on the page. 

Supplies:
Christmas Wishes: Christmas Love, North Pole, Gifts Galore, Star Stripe, Quadrants, Cute Cuts, Icons, Miniatures, and Alpha + Bits. 

"The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From The Tree" card, by Kathy Martin.

This sketch was challenging since I needed to create a card using a scrapbook page sketch! And you know what, it was fun! I opted to use the Finally Fall collection for this project because I adore this collection, and because we’ll be knee deep in Christmas and snow projects soon enough!

Supplies:
Finally Fall: At the Patch, Leaf Pile, Borders, Alpha + Bits, Ciao Chip; One Fall Day: Just Leafy

"Thanks A Lot" card, by Deanna Misner.

When I saw this sketch I instantly thought of the circles as Mickey Mouse ears. I don't know, call me crazy, but it could be that I still had Disney on the brain since we just went in October. And since my parents went with us and helped us so much while we were there, I thought I'd use this sketch to make them a card.  I used my die-cut machine to make the Mickey cut-outs and used a hodge podge of Bella products to create my card the way I envisioned it.

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Sprinkles and Lace  MacIntosh, Miniatures stickers; Socialite: Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits; Making the Team: Chipboard Icons

We hope you will take some creative time for yourself, and try out our sketch! 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!

Happy Thanksgiving From Bella Blvd

All of us here, at Bella Blvd, are so thankful for each and every one of you. This business has grown so much in only 3 years and it's all thanks to your excitement! We can't wait to show you what's next and look forward to celebrating everything with you in the future! We wish you a happy and heathly Thanksgiving Holiday!

"Thanks Family" card, by Alice Carman.

I just adore this owl from the Finally Fall collection!  It’s simply owl-dorable … giggle. I cut out two strips using a border from Finally Fall and the back side of Apple Holler. Next, I Stitched this onto my card and added a few embellishments from Finally Fall’s Alpha+Bits. Last, I finished with Sophisticates Ciao Chip for my sentiment. 

Supplies:
Finally Fall: Alpha+Bits, Cute Cuts, Borders, Icons, Apple Holler; Sophisticates: Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas Orange

"Give Thanks" card, by Alice Carman.

Bella Blvd’s Finally Fall color’s in this collection is so beautiful. It’s the perfect color balance for a Thanksgiving card. I just love the reds, oranges, greens and browns. Using a leaf die I punched out a few leafs using Bliss, Apple Holler and Leaf Pile as my leaf patterns. Next I added a few strips from the Border sheet and embellished with Alpha+Bits stickers from Finally Fall. Simple and sweet is all you need.

Supplies:
Finally Fall, Borders, Alpha+Bits, Bliss, Apple Holler, Leaf Pile

"Give Thanks" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

Finally Fall is the perfect collection for all things family, Thanksgiving, and course autumn and fall! This collection made these two "thankful" cards come together beautifully and easily!

Supplies:
Finally Fall: Cute Cuts, Borders, Alpha Bits + Stickers

"Thanks Givings" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

Supplies:
Finally Fall: Leaf Pile, Cute Cuts, Borders, Alpha Bits + Stickers, Chipboard Icons

"Happy Thanksgiving" card, by Gail Hoecker.

The background for this card started out as a 12 x 12 scrapbook page. Yeah, didn't quite work out the way I wanted it. Soooo, I made lemonade out of lemons. I couldn't just throw it out so I saved it for a future project. I used a portion of the discarded scrapbook page for my card background. Yep, NOW I liked it!  The "Happy" and "Thanksgiving" stickers from the Finally Fall Miniatures worked great as banners on the toothpick, which I distressed with a little "Chestnut Roan" Chalk Ink (my fav!). Happy Thanksgiving!

Supplies:
Finally Fall; paper: At The Patch, Borders; stickers: Just Write Journaling Stickers, Miniatures.

Layouts On Wednesday

Happy Wednesday everyone! Are you all ready for Thanksgiving, tomorrow? Is all the food bought, and turkeys defrosted? I'm in charge of making a ham this year, which oddly enough, I have never done before. I'm usually the mashed potato master ;) Hopefully, you have all downloaded and printed out Stephanie's FREE digital printables, and assembled your mini albums, so that they are all ready for your family and friends to fill out. It will make such a memorable keepsake!

We are back to our Layouts On Wednesday's today, so let's get started.

"Be Nice", by Katherine McElvain.

At this time of year my photos are of fall days, orange pumpkins, and yellow leaves. So this is the time of year I search out fall themed and colored scrapbook supplies to compliment my photos. For this layout about my two girls giving each other "the look"  at the pumpkin farm, I knew I could count on Bella's Finally Fall collection. But surprise, surprise. In the world of Bella Blvd, spring and fall become one. On this layout I used pattern papers from both Finally Fall and Spring Things and Easter Things to complete my project.

If you know my style you know I have a hard time doing a layout with out a cloud on it. In this case I  couldn't choose between the spring and fall Bella cloud papers so I decided to used them both. I also needed a pop of color in the background and used the bright and cheery Sunny Sunday paper. So now, the spring papers from my Bella stash, combined with the Finally Fall stickers and papers, have helped me complete a colorful fall layout. A good reminder to never limit your supplies to their theme, especially when they are from Bella Blvd.

Supplies:
Finally Fall: Alpha&bits, Miniatures, Icons, You're a Hoot, Bliss; Spring Fling and Easter Things: A Tisket a Tasket, Sunny Sunday; Sophisticates: Miniatures Family stickers; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Oyster; Family Dynamics: Icons

"Month 6", by Becky Williams.

I have been trying to create a new layout for each month of my baby girl's first year and for this page came up with the idea to use one of the calendars from the Sophisticates collection. This paper was perfect and now I wish I'd done each preceding month in this same style! I filled a few of the squares with bits of patterned paper to add some fun color to the page, a few stickers here and there, some journaling and it was done.

Supply List: 
Making the Team: Quadrants; Sophisticates: Calendars; Christmas Wishes: Christmas Love, Candlelight, North Pole, Alpha + Bits; Too Cute to Spook: Just Write Journaling Stickers; Spring Flings and Easter Things: Alpha + Bits, Borders, Cute Cuts, Mom's Bouquet; Hello Beautiful: Blurbs; Lovey Dovey: Alpha + Bits; Ciao Chip: Simply Simona Saltwater 

"White Christmas", by Melissa Stinson.

I'm not a technique driven scrapper (I prefer to focus on photos, color, and pattern), but I do enjoy getting my punches out from time to time! For this layout I chose a selection of snowflake punches (I have an obsession with them and have collected a bunch!) and used both the positive and negative of the image.

I backed the negative images with pieces of patterned paper from the new Winter Wonder collection to add little pops of color to the tone-on-tone white background.

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Borders, Ski Slopes, Blizzard, Alpha + Bits

"I Got Chills", by Laura Vegas.

I fell in love with the colors and patterns in the Winter Wonder collection. While so many of the papers are versitile enough to use on everyday layouts, the stickers were definately a bit more themed towards winter. We're a born-and-raised California family, and we have pretty much ZERO experience with winter. I came across these photos of my youngest daughter, Sarah, from years ago, and knew they were the closest thing to "winter" I would find. She was cold one day, and decided to pile on layers and layers of clothes, to warm herself up. The funniest part of these photos, is that they were taken in August, so it was most likely over 100 degrees outside. She's such a goof! 

The Winter Wonder collection worked perfectly with these photos, and I love that I got to create a "winter" layout for once. On the "Baby, it's cold outside" sticker, I covered up the "outside" with alphabet stickers to have it read "inside". I sprayed just a small amount of blue spray ink on the snowflake pattern paper, and then added glitter brads to the centers of some of the larger snowflakes.

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Blizzard, Toasty, Ski Slopes, Borders, Alpha+Bits stickers, Miniatures Stickers

"Abby Rose", by Allyson Meinholz.

Here is a layout of my neice/god child, Abby Rose. She was recently a flower girl, and she looked so beautiful. I saw this photo and it was such an inspiration to me. 

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If you have a few minutes, in between your Thanksgiving celebrations, stop by the blog. We have lots of great Thanksgiving cards to share with you! 

On-Going Guest Designers: Diane Payne & Charity Hassel

Back in September, when we were choosing our new Design Team, we had a group of talented designers that we just couldn't pass up. So we added a special team of On-going Guest Designers, that will joining us here on the blog throughout the year, along with the rest of our Design Team. Each month, we will feature two of these designers, which means they'll each be joining us three times over the next year. I'm excited to introduce you to our first two fabulous designers, Diane Payne and Charity Hassel.

Hello everyone! I’m Diane Payne, and I reside in the big state of Texas with my wonderful husband of 22 years and our two teenage children. Although I love recording the details of our life, I enjoy the creative process of scrapbooking as much as the memory keeping. I like to experiment with different techniques and incorporate photos into our home décor. I scrapbook with a variety of photo styles, including current, vintage, and Hipstamatic prints. My favorite tool for journaling is my vintage 1930's Underwood typewriter which is also used as decor in the entry way of my home.

{To learn more about Diane, and see her work, check out her blog HERE}

"Apple Crisp", by Diane Payne.

When I saw the adorable apples in the Finally Fall line I knew they would be perfect for documenting one of my favorite childhood desserts that was passed down from a long time family friend.

I wrote the recipe out on the recipe card from the Cute Cuts sheet and tucked it behind the photo.

I secured the recipe card and photo together with a paper clip glued to the back of the chipboard apple from the Ciao Chip Icons.

Supply List
Finally Fall: At the Patch, Bliss, Leaf Pile, Apple Holler, Cute Cuts, Borders, Quadrants, Alpha & Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Miniature Stickers, Ciao Chip Icons

"Little Stinkers", by Diane Payne.

This photo of my kids from 2001 captures their personality at that time perfectly. To highlight the photo I enlarged it 8x12 and added cut out hearts, clouds and word stickers accents right on top of the photo. I love how the brighter colors of the Finally Fall line complement my special photo.

Supply List
Finally Fall: Bliss, Leaf Pile, You're a Hoot, Apple Holler, Cute Cuts, Borders, Quadrants, Alpha & Bits Stickers, Miniature Stickers, Ciao Chip Icons; Mr. Boy: Alpha & Bits Stickers; Simply Simona Alphas: Saltwater

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Hi everyone! My name is Charity Hassel. I am 36 years old, married to Brian for 8 years. I am the stay at home mommy of Alexander (7) and Audrey (5). I am also an RN, and work one shift a week at a local hospital. I love paper crafting and creating. It's been so fun to work on design teams, teach at my local scrapbook store and sharing this hobby with friends. I love old musicals, chocolate covered popcorn and spending time with family.

{To learn more about Charity, and see her work, check out her blog HERE}

"XOXO" card, by Charity Hassel.

I loved using the white and brown border sticker and heart sticker to embellish my mittens on this card. The xoxo tag was perfect for the title. I added faux stitching on the mittens with a brown journaling pen.

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Blizzard, Ski Slopes, Borders, Alpha+Bits stickers, Miniatures stickers.

"JOY" card, by Charity Hassel.

Wind twine thru the miniature tags to create a title. Use a small hole punch to create holes in the centers of a few of the circles in the tree.

Supplies:
Christmas Wishes: Borders, Cute Cuts, Miniature stickers

"Let it Snow" card, by Charity Hassel.

I used a free snowglobe template that I found online, to create a fun, shaped card.

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Blizzard, Toasty, Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits stickers   

"Winter Coffee" gift card holder, by Charity Hassel.

Create your own personalized cover for a gift card. I made one with coffee on it so I can place it on one side of a gift card.

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Borders, Toasty, Alpha+Bits stickers, Miniatures stickers

"Spring" card, by Charity Hassel.

Go with the chevron pattern trend and cut out those fun pink and white chevrons from the paper for your project.

Supplies:
Spring Flings and Easter Things: A Tisket A Tasket, Egg Hunt, Mom's Bouquet, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits stickers

"Merry" card, by Charity Hassel.

Change the center of a sticker by covering it with a patterned paper circle and chipboard greeting.

Supplies:
Christmas Wishes: North Pole, Candlelight, Just Write Journaling stickers, Alpha+Bits stickers, Chipboard Icons

Mini Albums: Finally Fall & Winter Wonder

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend! Have you all downloaded and printed out your FREE Digial Printables for the Thanksgiving Mini Album that Stephanie designed? I just printed out mine yesterday, and I'm so excited to have an album that I can actually finish for once, without spending a TON of time on it ;)

Speaking of mini albums, we have two albums to share with you today. The first is a gatefold mini album, featuring the Finally Fall collection, that Design Team member Jennifer Edwardson created for Summer CHA. The second is a handmade album, featuring the Winter Wonder collection, by Design Team member Suzanne Sergi.

Finally Fall Gatefold Album, by Jennifer Edwardson.

This gatefold album was one of my favorite gift albums to create. I’ve made several of these in the past, using Christmas themed paper, but I had the most fun making this one with a friends fall ‘leafy’ photos of her daughter. The patterns of the Finally Fall collection go with EVERYTHING and since there are lots of pages to this mini album, the line worked perfectly. I love all the little bits that coordinate and found that the project flowed easily because the paper was so fantastic. One of my favorite lines yet – thanks Stephanie!

ETA: Some of you have requested more info on how Jennifer created this album. She has written a full tutorial, with photos, showing you how to make an album of your own. Check it out on Jennifer's blog today!

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"Winter Love" mini album, by Suzanne Sergi.

Living in Southern California, our winters are very mild. We are very lucky to see the sun all year around! However, on occasion I miss having snowy days! Two years ago, I took my children to Big Bear for a fun day of playing in snow. This was their very first time to even see it in person. However, my kids kept calling it fake snow, and did not feel it was the real fluffy snow!  However, I seize the moment and took as many photos as I possibly could on this day! I was so excited to see the new release of Winter Wonder! It was the perfect collection to document my snow photos.

On the cover, I kept the design very simple, and use white cardstock for my background. I also embossed a white strip of cardstock using a snowflake embossing folder. I love the look of the embossed white, against the plain cardstock. I used a bold red ribbon, with a felt snowflake to tie my theme together. On the cover, I chose to create a shaker box to house my title of my mini book. I used white tinsel to fill the shaker box, and a Just Write Cardstock Sticker for my title.

Snowflakes were my theme for the book, and I used them throughout. I love the look of vellum on my projects, so I created a vellum pocket that I embellished with a large snowflake. Inside, I will tuck more photos from this day.

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Tomorrow, we will be introducing you to two of our special on-going Guest Designers, chosen from our Design Team call. Make sure and stop by, to get to know Diane and Charity.

Saturday Sketches

It's time for another round of Saturday Sketch's. Twice a month, we'll be bringing you a new sketch, and showing you a few takes on the sketch by our designers. Today, we have the first sketch for the month of November!

"Gingerbread Fun", by Becky Williams.

This Christmas collection is so much fun and I really like the pop of blue! For my take on the sketch I decided to use four smaller pictures instead of the two larger ones. I used some of the fun stickers and chipboard that go with this collection, too, cutting the "Holiday Favorites" to use as a subtitle for the page and added some red glitter for some extra sparkle on Rudolph's nose. 

Supplies:
Christmas Wishes: Gifts Galore, Candlelight, North Pole, Ciao Chip Icons, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits; Finally Fall: Alpha+Bits; Sophisticates: Simply Simona Saltwater, Essentials Asparagus and Pickle Juice; Miniatures: Family

"Winter Snow Pals", by Kimberly Neddo.

I love to add dimension to my layouts with pop dots and layering embellishments. I used a couple of stickers for the embellishment on the top left corner of this layout. I also punched a circle with red cardstock to add color pop to it as well. Working with the rule of thirds, I used the red accents to draw the viewers eye around the layout with ease. I love working with sketches, it make everything go together smoothly with out a lot of design planning of my own.

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Patterned Paper-Borders and Blizzard; Miniatures; Alpha and Bits

"Pics At The Patch: The Outtakes", by Brook Stewart.

Getting a good picture of both my boys together these days can be pretty tricky. Half the time, it doesn't happen at all. But that's okay by me. The non-perfect pictures totally show off their personalities and are my favorites by far, most of the time! My little Miles was having way too much fun at the pumpkin patch to sit still for pictures. He would run off the other way, sit backwards when he would finally sit, or show off his pumpkin stem to big brother. By the time I finally got him to sit, my oldest was tired and annoyed from sitting. So that was the picture I got. All those outtakes tell the story and I love that! Bella's Finally Fall line was the perfect compliment to my pictures and for helping me tell this story!

Supplies:
Finally Fall: Borders, Quadrants, Bliss, At the Patch, Cute Cuts, Just Write Sticker Sheet, Miniatures, Icons Chipboard Stickers; Sophisticates: Salt Water & Pacific alpha stickers

"Play", by Sue Mylde.

This layout just shows how 'boyish' layouts, can be fun too! The faux ribbon edges are cut out of the strips from various patterned papers from the 'Making The Team' and 'Mr. Boy' Lines - my absolute favorites so far, for creating layouts for Lucas. I love the Saturday Sketch this week, but I also wanted to take up a bigger challenge of transforming the layout on a 2-pager. I like how this turned out because I was able to incorporate even more photos on the page than on a 1-pager! Fab! The sentiment stickers were cut out of the big piece and placed in different places - rule of three's. I used some subtle misting here on the page and love how it turned out on the page! 

Supplies:
Making The Team: Football, Cute Cuts, Borders, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Mr. Boy: Cute Cuts, Connect The Dots, Borders

"U Animal Lover" card, by Alice Carman.

Using the layout sketch, I pulled the squares, photo corners and title from the layout sketch to create my card design. I didn’t use everything I saw from the layout sketch, but used what would work on a smaller scale. The squares act as a back drop, the photo corners gave the squares more defined shape and the title was used as my sentiment. Totally fun!

Supplies:
Tail Waggers & Cat Naps: Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits, Borders and Blocks, Quadrants, Pampered Pet; All Inclusive: Bookin on the Beach

"Together Is The Place To Be" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

We are not going to see my side of the family on Thanksgiving this year. I pulled out some Finally Fall and took advantage of this cool sketch to make a card to send home saying that we are sorry we can't be there. I think I am going to use the journaling spot on the inside of the card to write, "But we sure are looking forward to Christmas!"

Supplies:
Finally Fall: At the Patch, Bliss, Borders, Cute Cuts, Leaf Pile, Alpha + Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers

We hope you will take some creative time for yourself, and try out our sketch! 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!

Fridays With Stephanie - FREE Digital Printables

Ciao ciao Bella fans! Boy, do I have something fun & inspiring for you today ... and guess what? I’ve done all the prep work for you! So, next week I host Thanksgiving, and each year I do some “crafty” something for everyone to participate in. Last weekend I thought to myself, "self, if you don’t get going on an idea it’s never going to happen-you’ll run out of time!". So I brainstormed up a digital mini album! Why digital? Because it takes less time (for you at least!) and this way I can have the ENTIRE album done and ready as soon as Thanksgiving is over.

Here it is! All set to go for Turkey Day next week! I’m giving you the digital printables for FREE today so you can make and prep your own Thanksgiving 2011 (5x7”) Mini Album! You’re going to love it!

I’m going to walk you through the tutorial. If you’d like, you can skip to the bottom and begin downloading the FREE PRINTABLES so that you can get started.

Material List:

Pen & paper for your list/planning, Computer & printer, Cardstock or photo paper to print digital printables, 12x12 thin chipboard, sheets cut to 5x7s, paper trimmer, adhesive, brown distressing ink, ribbons, cropadile, two 1” binding rings (mine are Kaiser Kraft mustard yellow)

First you’ll need to make a sketch of your book, for planning purposes. The sketch will show your album and it’s order (assign one page per person), including the front and back covers. Here’s mine. *Notice everyone along the left of the binding will have “Left-Page Printables” and everyone on the right side of the binding will have “Right-Page Printables”. It is very important that you understand this!!!!

Ready? Here we go…

Everyone at my gathering will have a page in the mini book. Start by making a list of all the people that will participate in the mini album. In my case it’s 21 people/guests + the front cover + the back cover = 23 total pages. Then divide this number by 2 because you’ll be adhering pages back to back on chipboard. 23 / 2 = 11.5. I’m going to round up and prepare 12 pages. By creating a quick sketch you will establish a plan/an order for the book. This will help later when adhering your printables and assembling your mini album.

Now, you’ll need to click and download (also save if you’d like) the free printables (scroll down) at the end of today’s post. There are a total of 5 pdfs sized for 8.5x11 paper. You’ll need to select some cardstock or photo printing paper and print out the pages you need. There are printables for the front & back cover, there are 4 styles of “left-page” options and 4 styles of “right page” options. Depending on how many people are participating in your mini album you may have to print some duplicates.

Using a trimmer trim all your printable pages. The final book size is exactly 5” x 7”.

You’ll notice here on my pages that I’ve customized them with each person’s name. (ie. “Angela” on the bottom of the blue page above). Your version of the printables have open areas along the bottoms of each page for you to customize in your own way. I would suggest sticker alphabets.

Once you have all your printable pages trimmed stack them up nice and pretty ;) Are you excited yet?!

Next you’ll need to purchase or locate several sheets of thin chipboard. These will be the base of your mini album to help make things nice and sturdy. Trim chipboard to 5x7” pieces, cutting enough according to your Album Sketch that you made in step no. 1 (ie. I needed 12 pieces of chipboard.)

Now you have all your printables and chipboard pages. It’s time to assemble your pages. Using chipboard as the base, and referring to your ALBUM SKETCH, adhere in order starting with the front cover. Flip over and adhere the next “left-side” page. Continue through all the participants, finishing with the back cover. Be sure to follow your sketch!

Now all your pages are mounted and look like this ;) I used brown cats-eye chalk ink to distress the edges of my pages.

Again, using your Album Sketch put all pages in order.

As shown in image above if your “left-side” pages & “right-pages” are put in order correctly, the brown leaf pattern will always be in the center of your album, as your binding.

Now you’re ready to bind the album using a Cropadile.

Create two binding holes and punch through all chipboard pages.

Assemble chipboard pages in order and add two 1” key rings to secure.

Cut several strips of coordinating ribbons to embellish ring binding, then knot ribbons around rings.

Using Finally Fall chipboard Icon embellishments create a Hybrid album cover.

If you wish, embellish the binding also by creating “dangles” with some jute and the chipboard pieces.

Here’s a closer look for you:

Now, remember I mentioned your printables have a blank space at the bottom instead of a person’s name? I suggest using sticker letters (Quattrofina shown in photo above) to add each participants name to each chipboard page. That way your guests can search for their specific page on Thanksgiving and know they need to fill out the mini questionnaire.

My plan is to take the book completely apart on Thanksgiving and place the chipboard pages in a cute basket with some nice fine point brown pens and remind everyone to fill out their page.

Then, after the party’s over I’ll assemble the book and it will literally be FINISHED! That day! Done. And next year I’ll display the album again for everyone to look back on the one year ago. Another idea….if I have time I’d love to put an instax or a digital camera on the table next to a cute Thanksgiving fabric backdrop and have each person take a portrait so that I can include the photos in-between each person’s coordinating chipboard page.

I really hope you’ll tackle this project this week. The tutorial includes a lot of detail and might seem overwhelming but it’s actually really easy! I’ve done all the work for you with the printables!

And here they are! Just click the links below each images, to begin downloading.

Printable One: Covers Front and Back.

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Printable Two: Various “Left-Side” Pages A.

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Printable Three: Various “Left-Side” Pages – more options.

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Printable Four: Various “Right-Side” Pages.

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Printable Five: Various “Right-Side” Pages-more options.

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Consider this your Thanksgiving/Bella Blvd Challenge! Be sure to email us photos of you with your album to sales@bellablvd.net and you might just win something pretty ;) I can’t wait to see your minis!

Ciao Ciao for now….and happy scrappin’!