Bella Blvd Studio Blog

Friday Inspiration

We had so many great layouts from our Layout Designers these past two months, that I've had a hard time fitting them all onto the blog. So while we work our way into the month of March, I thought I would add an extra day of layouts here and give you some inspiration to start your weekend with!

“Cabin Campfire”, by Becki Adams.

It’s been SO cold and so snowy here in Idaho I wanted to escape for a little while and scrap a favorite photo from this summer. I love sitting around the campfire with my family outside my parent’s cabin. I chose to use supplies from lots of different collections to create the outdoorsy feel.

Supplies:
Kiss Me: Mustache Love; Finally Fall: Leaf Pile, Quadrants, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Winter Wonder:  Toasty; Designer Tapes: Pony Dot, Red Dot; Ciao Chip Elements: Trees; Sienna Chipboard Alphabets: Pony; High Five Alpha Stickers: Brown-Cream

“Our Family is Complete”, by Jennifer Chapin.

I created this layout to showcase a recent favorite photo of my kids - I wanted it to be bright and happy with lots of color. I used a combination of Kiss Me, Engaged at Last and Love and Marriage on this layout - as well as some of the new Freestyle Sophisticates. The great thing about Bella is that all the lines coordinate together wonderfully!

Supplies:
Engaged at Last: Bachelor Party, Bachelor Chipboard Icons; Love and Marriage: Smokeys in Love, May Eighteenth, Borders, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Freestyle Sophisticates: Banana, Saltwater; Kiss Me: True Love, Borders & Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Ciao Chip Elements: Stars & Hearts, Family Words; Button Market: Red Flowers, Stars, Neutrals Mix, Blues; Miniatures Stickers: Family; Designer Tape: Cotton Candy Chevron, Gray Dot, 12mm Combo Pack

"On Cloud 9”, by Jenny Evans.

I am a sucker for clouds, and went all in for this layout! I used a cloud punch on one of the Just Write Journaling stickers for accents, and just scattered them around the layout. For the actual design of the layout, I went through my sketch notebook, and found one that was perfect (will share on my blog). I love that you can get so many different types and styles of Wedding layouts with this collection!

Supplies:
Love and Marriage: Vows, Smokeys In Love, May Eighteenth, Esther Fleming Floral, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Wedding Day Miniatures; Designer Tape: Polka Dot Combo Pack, Chevron Combo Pack, 12mm Combo Pack

“That's My Boy”, by Diane Payne.

The Borders paper included in each collection is a great way to create quick and easy pages with a variety of patterns and colors. To add some contrast between the paper strips I added white stitching. The white stitching on white background is a subtle touch but finishes the page off perfectly.

Supplies:
Sand & Surf: Borders, Surfs Up, Flying High, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Pony; Button Market: Checkers, Masculine Mix, Wood Mix, Gulf Squares, Fruit Punch, Pink Flowers, Aqua Flowers

“Whoosh”, by Malika Kelly.

I love this picture of my sister-in-law and I and our kids wading in the water at the beach. The camera caught the wave and our reactions at the perfect moment. I felt the picture needed a loopy handwritten title to show the movement of the waves. Along both sides of my picture I compartmentalized little bits of Bella Blvd's newest beach collection: Sand & Surf, and then embellished on top of each little section.  

Supplies:
Sand & Surf: Paradise, Surfs Up, Under the Coconuts, Flying High, GPS, Beach Balls Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Miniatures Stickers; Birthday Boy: Toadilly Cool; Designer Tape: Piggy Pink Stripe; Button Market: Pink Flowers

Bella Blvd & Basically Bare Team Up Week: Leanne Allinson

Welcome to day three of our week long Team-Up with Basically Bare! We have a group of our Bella designers that have mixed Basically Bare's gorgeous mini albums and embellishments into our projects. And the Basically Bare designers have been busy mixing Bella's products into their projects. Let's see what our designers have whipped up for us today. And remember to check back in the afternoon, as we are doing TWO posts every day this week!

"Home Away From Home" mini album, by Leanne Allinson.

I decided to create a mini on some of our favorite camping spots. We like to get away as often as possible and are so very fortunate to have many beautiful places to camp at, that are also within an easy drive for us. Some of these places have actually started to feel like a "Home away from Home".

The first few pages in this mini are half the size of the album. Some of them are full page 4x4 inch Instagram photos and represent the things we always do while camping … set up the camp site, ride bikes, swim and go on bush walks. I love that this is a great introduction to the main mini album concept.

The Basically Bare mini album I used came with envelopes. I have used these pages to hold extra journaling about how we spend our time at specific camp grounds. I have also stored the contact details and other relevant information in here too.

The great thing about this project is that I can easily add more pages and envelopes to it as we travel and experience additional camping adventures with our children. And I know I can add a wish list of the places we'd like to visit at the very back of the album. This way we might actually start checking the boxes and crossing things off our list. What a nice concept!! Thanks for visiting.

Supplies: 
Thankful: Perfect Day, Borders, Burlap, Homey, Turkey Tracks, Cute Cuts, Bountiful, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Finally Fall: Quadrants, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Minatures, Alphas+Bits Stickers; Sophisticates: Tall Tags; High Five Alpha Stickers: Brown-Cream; Ciao Chip Elements: Clouds, Trees; Birthday Boy: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Mr Boy: Alpha+Bits Stickers, Ciao Chip; Making The Team: Borders; Crochet Flowers: Juniper; Designer Tape: Pony Dot, Pickle Juice Chevron, Gulf Dot; Flags: Thankful 2

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Now, head on over to the Basically Bare blog and check out what their Design Team has created using their gorgeous mini albums and embellishments, and our fun Bella products! Keep coming back to both blogs all week long, because we have a ton more projects to share with you.

Fall Altered Projects

Today is all about altered projects. Fall themed altered projects, to be exact. Our designers really came through this month, and they have all put together some really fun projects to share with us today.

Fall Wreath, by Jennifer Edwardson.

I've had this wire wreath frame hanging in my office for a few months now with a picture in my mind of it covered in paper (surprising I know). I finally decided how I wanted to cover it, and let me tell you that once I started, I was seriously contemplating my sanity!

I ended up cutting more than (200) 3" strips of patterned paper AND designer tape, snipped both ends of each one into a flag shape and got to work with my favorite quick dry glue. This is a great way to use up tiny scraps leftover from layouts or cards.

I am not going to lie and tell you this was quick. But, it was relatively easy once I got going and I'm super happy with the end result. I wrapped the largest circle first, then next and so on until all the wire had been covered.

Then I chose a couple of brown papers and created a banner for some words and embellishments. I adhered a wooden skewer to the back of the banner to keep it from folding in and secured it to the inside edges of the wreath with a strong quick dry liquid glue.

This is perfect for your front door or mantle and could be changed to fit any holiday decor just by changing the Bella Blvd collection.

Supplies:  
Thankful: Perfect Day, Homey, Burlap, Our Spot, Bountiful, Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Finally Fall: Bliss, Apple Holler; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Pony; High Five Alphabet Stickers: Brown-Cream; Ciao Chip Elements: Trees; Designer Tape: Red Dot, Pony Dot, Pickle Juice Dot, Teal Stripe

Altered Wooden House, by Jennifer Edwardson.

This wooden bird house needed some love and pretty paper and I knew I could give it the TLC it needed. So out of the clearance bin it came and ended up on my desk for a few days while I thought about how it was to become a whole new house, and NOT a bird house.

I got out my favorite papers from the Thankful collection and started cutting. First, I covered the front, sides and roof. I sanded the edges of all my papers first and adhered using a strong quick dry glue. Once I had the house 'built' like I wanted, I set to work putting the finishing touches on it.  

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE all of the Bella designer tapes and am always looking to use them in alternate ways. I folded pieces back and forth to create some shingles on the roof as well as created grass at the bottom for my house and turkey to sit in!

I love the phrase “there is no place like home” and wanted it on the front of this piece so I used the High Five Alphabets to complete this project. I love that pieces like this are super easy to add to your Fall décor anywhere in your home.

Supplies:
Thankful: Perfect Day, Burlap, Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Pony; Designer Tape: Pony Dot, Pickle Juice Dot

Altered Jumbo Clothespins, by Sheri Feypel.

I purchase a few of these jumbo clothespins a while back, mainly because they were on sale. I really didn't have a plan for them and tucked them away in my studio. I stumbled on them while I was planning what to do for my altered assignment. I decided to use them to make place card holders for Thanksgiving.

I started out by actually altering the clothespins with Bella Blvd's Thankful collection. Covered them with paper and die cut some leaves.

I layered two different sizes, added a couple of deco pins and twine. I then created my name cards, which are pretty simple. I cut the cute turkeys out of the Borders paper and attached with a few pop dots. After Thanksgiving is over, they can also be used to hold photos, bills, whatever you desire.

Supplies:
Thankful: Burlap, Homey, Turkey Tracks, Borders, Perfect Day, Alpha+Bits Stickers; High Five Alphabets: Pink/Red; Finally Fall: Miniature Stickers

Hand Made Pumpkins, by Wendy Antenucci.

I wanted to create a few pieces that I could put around my home and pumpkins seemed to be the perfect choice. 

My first pumpkin started as circle cards that I sewed together and hot glued to a twine wrapped stem. I then added a few extra touches to dress my main pumpkin.

My next two pumpkins were actually the leftovers from my original idea. I hate to throw anything away! I cut strips and attached them with brads on either end and used a piece of my twine wrapped stem (another leftover) to finish up the pumpkin.

Supplies:
Thankful: Our Spot, Bountiful; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Apricot; Leaves of Ancestry:  Family Tree; Flags: Thankful Flags 2

“Happy Thanksgiving” wall hanging, by Wendy Antenucci.

I needed more to dress up my Fall decor so I decided to use the cute cuts from the Thankful collection to design a scene to sit with my pumpkins. 

I knew I wanted to include some more pumpkins and the turkey was another must, so I cut out a few other cute cuts and began to arrange them until I felt my scene worked. I finished the piece with the addition of the flags and designer tape makes the perfect covering for edges with little work!

Supplies:
Thankful: Perfect Day, Bountiful, Cute Cuts, Borders, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Flags: Thankful 1; Designer Tape: Pony Dot

Altered Tree Trunk, by Morgan Bandkowski.

I really love these wood tree trucks that you can find at your local craft stores. I was inspired to create some fall projects for my Thanksgiving display. I started with a family photo along with the Thankful collection and the Finally Fall collection.

I cut strips and borders and started layering the pieces. I then added stickers, flowers, buttons, chipboard icons and flags. This is the perfect project to display with my Thanksgiving feast! 

Supplies:
Thankful: Turkey Tracks, Homey, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Finally Fall: Borders, Miniatures Stickers; Tail Waggers & Cat Naps: Chipboard Icons; High Five Alphabet Stickers: Blue; Blooms a Bella: Sole, Bianca; Flags: Thankful 2; Button Market: Checkers, Wood Mix

Altered Treat Bags, by Morgan Bandkowski.

I was feeling so inspired I decided to make a couple paper bag treat bags for my nieces. I cut the tops of the bags and inked them to create dimension. I layered some paper strips and cute cuts. I popped up some stickers and it is that easy. These are super quick and easy treat bags, and also inexpensive, since you can use your scraps.

Supplies:
Thankful: Turkey Tracks, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Finally Fall: At The Patch, Cute Cuts, Borders, Miniatures Stickers; Designer Tape: Pickle Juice Dot

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