Bella Blvd Studio Blog

May Guest Designer: Roree Rumph

We are so excited to introduce our May Guest Designer to you today. Roree Rumph is an extremely talented designer in the industry, and we knew she would come up with some gorgeous projects using our Kiss Me collection and our Love and Marriage collection. 

Hi, everyone! Let me just start off by saying that I am so excited to be guesting on the Bella Blvd blog this month! Here is a little bit about me:

I live in Daphne, Alabama with my husband David, our two daughters Grace and Harper, our dogs Hank and Phoenix, and our cat Ninja. I started paper crafting in 2005, when I decided to make my daughter's 5th birthday invitations instead of buying them, and my love for this hobby took off like a rocket from there.

Most people know me as a card maker, but every once and a while I do a little altering or put together a page or two. I consider my style clean & cutesy (which seems to work so well with Bella Blvd products!) I love adding lots of little details and some form of hand or machine stitching to most of my projects. (I actually learned to sew because of paper crafting!)

I have been pretty blessed with this hobby. I have worked for a handful of manufacturers and had my work featured in a number of publications. It has ultimately led to a new career with Northridge Publishing. I am the editor of Cricut Magazine^® and Cricut Magazine^® Idea Books. (So to all of you Cricut crafters—submit, submit, submit! ;) )

I received the super-cute Kiss Me and Love and Marriage collections, along with some Freestyle Sophisticates products, and got right to work!

"Love This Girl" by Roree Rumph.

Since I am not much of a scrapbooker, I tackled the layout first. I absolutely fell in love with the B side of Bouquet Kisses from the Kiss Me collection, so I used it for the background of my layout about my daughter, Harper. I then added paper strips from Borders & Cute Cuts, mixed and matched chipboard and cardstock letter stickers for my title, and added a few extra details with hand-cut flowers, cardstock stickers, some white twill ribbon, and a couple of jewels, brads, and a button. I am just crazy about the color combo of this collection!

"I Love You" by Roree Rumph.

Again, I used the Border & Cute Cuts strips from the Kiss Me collection for the background of my card, along with a strip of green Chevron Tape. I added a a cardstock label and letter stickers for the sentiment, along with a brad, jewel, and pink baker's twine to finish. The images in this collection are so fun and playful, and I absolutely love them!

"Hello Beautiful" by Roree Rumph.

For this card, I used the Love and Marriage collection. The colors in this collection are so soft and pretty. I used the B side of the Turner Hall Ballroom paper for the background and layered cardstock stickers and a strip from the Borders paper on the center of the card. I was dying to create a flower using the Crochet Hearts, so I did that and finished it by layering a flower cut from the Cute Cuts paper, a button and jewel, and some strips of ribbon for the leaves. Aren't those Crochet Hearts the cutest?!

"Bride & Groom" by Roree Rumph.

For this card, I got out my Cricut Expression^® machine and Sweethearts cartridge to create this cute little car and couple silhouette with the Love and Marriage collection. I used the B sides of the Cute Cuts and Borders papers for the car. And instead of cutting out the bumper, I used a cardstock sticker from the Alpha+Bits sheet. I took the pin off "Bride&Groom" flag to use it as the license plate on the car, and added the "Love" pennant stickers from the Alpha+Bits sheet in place of the cans. I placed it over a May Eighteenth paper panel, doubled up strips of green Chevron Tape, and a scalloped cardstock border sticker. I think this would be such a cute card for any couple getting married!

"Flower Jar Favor" by Roree Rumph.

I have been totally obsessed with jelly jars lately. So for my last project, I decided to create a cute little favor with the Love and Marriage and Freestyle Sophisticates collections. I found this cute little wide-mouth jelly jar at my local home improvement store. I used my Cricut Expression^® 2 and Sweet Treats cartridge to create a layered flower for the top of the jar. I added a cardstock sticker and button to the center and two green Crochet Hearts underneath the flower to finish. I then hand cut a tag from the Smokeys In Love paper, added initials in the heart, and tied the tag to the jar with some green ribbon. It would be perfect for a wedding favor or for any number of other special occasion (birthdays, picnics, etc.)

I hope you enjoyed the projects I shared with you today as much as I enjoyed creating them with these beautiful Bella Blvd products. Thanks so much to everyone at Bella Blvd for having me!

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

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

“Confident”, by Brook Stewart.

The Sand & Surf collection is perfect for beach or poolside photos, so I went that route here. I also added in the neutral gray chevron from the Engaged at Last line for the background and some black chevron designer tape and it kind of changed the whole feel of the color palette. I love changing things up!

Supplies:
Engaged at Last: Bachelor Party; Sand & Surf: Flying High, Surf's Up, GPS, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Miniatures; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Ice; Designer Tape: Chevron Combo

“Sweet Dreams”, by Brook Stewart.

I adore the colors in the Engaged at Last line. They are so soft and perfect for so many things. Like baby girls of course! :) The crochet hearts were the perfect touch to the photo of my littlest snoozing away! 

Supplies:
Love and Marriage: Smokeys in Love, May Eighteenth, Turner Hall Ballroom, Esther Flemming Floral, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, The Wedding Party Miniatures; Crochet Hearts: Gulf, Scallop; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Ice; High Five Alphas: Piggy-Punch

"Vacation", by Ann-Christin Larsen.

I love summer and especially those summer papers for scrapping. I think it’s so inspiring with the bright colors. The Sand & Surf collection takes my breath away. This layout is about my girl Luna on vacation. In summer, we have those long summer nights here in Norway. We get maybe one whole month with sunshine and warmth before fall sets in again, so we really appreciate it!

Supplies:
Sand & Surf: Chipboard Icons, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Love and Marriage: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Engaged At Last: Alpha+Bits Stickers

"Days Like This Are The Best", by Ann-Christin Larsen.

We had our summer holiday in Denmark last year. While there we lived right by the sea, and we got lucky with the weather! One week of sunshine and fun. My daughter Luna loved to make HUGE soap bubbles.

Supplies:
Sand & Surf: Beach Balls, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Chipboard Icons, Cute Cuts; Crochet Hearts: Bell Pepper

"Love You", by Ann-Christin Larsen.

I make my journaling behind the layout and I have written: “You are the most beautiful girl for me. You make every day worth living and you brighten up every dark corner with your smile! That’s my girl!”

Supplies:
Sand & Surf: Flying High, Cute Cuts, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Miniatures, Chipboard Icons, Paradise  

“I Love You”, by Ebony van der Starre.

This layout uses lots of various strips of papers and different stickers from the various ranges. And as you can see not a wedding photo in sight!

Supplies:
Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Cotton Candy, Freestyle Banana; Engaged At Last: Chipboard Icons; Love And Marriage: May Eighteenth, Esther Fleming Floral, Smokeys In Love, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sand & Surf: Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Miniatures Stickers; Designer Tape: Yellow Chevron, Hot Pink Dot, Ice Stripe

“Stop And Smell The Flowers”, by Ebony van der Starre.

I love to use white cardstock and then use gorgeous bright colors on top. I LOVED the gorgeous colors in the Sand & Surf collection, so that inspired the colors in my layout. I have created the background only using the awesome variety of designer tapes. I have used the pattern papers to cut different embellishments from and used the gorgeous stickers from the Miniature sticker sheets. I have created the frame using a journaling tag from the Love and Marriage Just Write Journaling Stickers.

Supplies:
Sand & Surf: Paradise, Miniature Stickers; Engaged At Last: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Love And Marriage: Just Write Journaling Stickers; High Five Alpha Stickers: Pink-Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, White, Piggy-Punch, Gulf High; Designer Tape: Ice Stripe, Red Dot, Pink Flowers, Green Chevron, Yellow Stripes, Brown Dots, Red Stripes

April Guest Designer: Kelly Goree

We are so excited to introduce our April Guest Designer to you today. Kelly Goree is an extremely talented and well-loved designer in the industry, and we knew she would come up with some amazing projects using our Sand & Surf collection as well as our Love And Marriage collection.

Hi, everyone! I’m Kelly Goree and I live in the beautiful horse country of Kentucky with my husband of 15 years and three rambunctious boys! 

When it comes to design and decor, I've always been an eclectic person. I love so many different elements from different styles and periods that I can't ever seem to choose so I don't! I have found that incorporating your favorite things along with different design styles and bold color palettes is what keeps things interesting and exciting. The same is true for my scrapbooking style. I really get into using different techniques, different ways of creating texture and depth all to keep my pages interesting, fun and fresh. 

I started scrapping in early 2000 just after my oldest was born and it quickly became a favorite hobby then all-out passion. I love looking through my older albums and seeing how both the scrapping industry and my own personal style has changed over the years. I adore this hobby since it not only allows me to document my family history but also gives me an artistic outlet. Most certainly, if I'm not out chasing my boys, you can find me scrapping! 

So you can only imagine that I was thrilled when Laura asked me if I would like to work with some of the amazing Bella products and do a little guest visit. It was a total no-brainer for me as the bright fun colors of Bella Blvd. products truly make me happy!

"Captain", by Kelly Goree.

I was sent the beautiful Love & Marriage and Sand & Surf collections plus what is quite possibly my new favorite “staples,” the Freestyle Sophisticates line. Truth be told, I immediately gravitated toward Sand & Surf with its cool blues and hot orange and yellows. I *am* the mom of boys, after all! It didn’t take me long once I sat down to do this layout -  it practically created itself. I layered way more chipboard onto it than I might usually use but all the pieces were so cute that I couldn’t help myself! I especially love how I was able to take the word “vacation” and with one minor alteration using some orange cardstock I created the word “captain” for my title. The only thing brighter than my little man’s smile here is that fun chipboard sun!

"Just Love Her", by Kelly Goree.

Next I grabbed hold of Love & Marriage. I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do with all that pink, but I fell.in.Looooove. with the beautiful polka dot paper and I knew something great was going to come out of it. Luckily I had an entire cd of photos from my niece’s recent senior session and it gave me just the right excuse to break them out. This photo captures her inner spirit while the gorgeous papers allow it to shine. I loved using the sticker sheets on this project along with some more of the awesome chipboard shapes. One of my favorite things to do with stickers or chipboard is to chance their size and/or shape like I did here – I split the scalloped piece and used it to perfectly frame the sweet photo.

"Love This", by Kelly Goree.

With one more project to do I thought for sure I was going to go back to Sand & Surf, but those sweet polka dots called to me one more time! I had just come back from a trip to Canada for one of the best Crop & Create events yet, and the colors in Love & Marriage were perfect for our color scheme and these happy photos! Again I clipped and snipped some stickers to make them work for me. I have no problem using lines in ways that they weren’t originally intended. I only find that makes them more versatile and extends their longevity and use in my scrap stash, right? This time the “love” in Love & Marriage was all about my love for what I do and the amazing ladies I get to do it with!

I hope you enjoyed these projects and I really appreciate you letting me spend a few minutes with you today sharing them. Thank you again, Laura and Stephanie, for having me!

March Guest Designer: Tamara Tripodi

We are thrilled to introduce you to our March Guest Designer, Tamara Tripodi! She has worked her creative magic with our Love And Marriage and Engaged At Last collections. 

 

Hello, everyone! Tamara here! I was born and raised in southern California.. been here all my life. I am married with three adorable children ages 9, 7, and 5. (And I still have time to craft!.. Late night crafting of course!) When I became a mom my inner crafty awesomeness came out and I have been dabbling in various crafting since then (sewing, felt, beads, making hair pretties, etc.) I started paper crafting in fall 2010 and have been non-stop since! Who knew that a random die cutting machine purchase would lead me to where I am today! I truly enjoy paper crafting and have made so many amazing friends who share my love of paper.

I am so excited to be here today sharing some fun projects with you all! I am not much of a scrapbooker so I’ve made three ‘off the page’ projects and a card. Working with all the lovely Bella Blvd product was a blast! It’s all so beautiful! Thank you so much for having me.

First up is the bachelor card I created. I made this card off a 5x7 card base. I cut out various graphic elements from the Bella Blvd. A little random touch of buttons and I was done. I just love the overall colors in this card, Perfect for a guy!

Next I have a beautiful new bride gift box complete with a custom made shirt! I made this box from an SVG Cuts file. I added a cute scalloped frame window and embellished it with stick on jewels.

The box is tied with a gray satin ribbon and embellished with stickers and chipboard. I kept this simple and pretty.

For the shirt, I cut a decal with my Silhouette and iron on vinyl. I love this stuff! Such a cheap and easy way to customize things. This makes a perfect gift for the new bride to be.. or even for the wedding party. Just switch up the text on the shirt.

Before she becomes a bride though, she gets to party it up with her girlfriends! I die cut a cute purse shaped bag perfect for a little gift for the Bachelorette party! So fun!

The little ruffle was created with Bella Blvd. washi tape. I adhere the washi tape ruffle with hot glue. The purse is embellished with a Bella Blvd. cut out and chipboard.

After the wedding the lovely couple floats away into married bliss. Which inspired this cute hot air balloon décor piece. This 3D hot air balloon was die cut with SVG Cuts files. I added some twine, and Bella Blvd. washi tape and ‘love’ chipboard letters. I kept it simple and kept the focus on the cute Bella Blvd. patterned papers.

 

That’s it! I hope you have enjoyed these cute projects. Thanks so much for stopping by and a big thank you to Bella Blvd. for having me!

On-Going Guest Designers: Jodi Wilton & Juliana Michaels

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

“Cool Shades”, by Jodi Wilton.

I fell in love with the cute pair of sunglasses on the cute cuts page, and knew I had to do a layout about my daughter's obsession with sunglasses. I love how girlie this collection can be and decided to keep pink as main color, and compliment it with the other colors in the collection.

Supplies:  
Sand & Surf: Borders, Flying High, Paradise, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Miniatures; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Hot Pink; Flags: Girl, Sand & Surf; Sienna Chipboard Alphabets: Punch; Button Market: Pink Flowers

“Buried At The Beach”, by Jodi Wilton.

After creating a very girly layout, I wanted to show the versatility of this line, and created a layout about my son on the beach (or should I say in the sand). I love all the browns, oranges, and yellows in this line! I layered some chipboard for the embellishments, and added a sticker to one of the photos to really draw your eye to the photos.

Supplies:
Sand & Surf: Under the Coconuts, GPS, Borders, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Miniatures, Chipboard Icons; Flags: Sand & Surf; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Orange

“Vacation Time”, by Jodi Wilton.

This line is perfect for using your beach photos from vacation or the summer time! I focused on using the surf's up paper, to really bring out the blue in my daughter's swimsuit!

Supplies:
Sand & Surf: Surf's Up, GPS, Paradise, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Chipboard Icons, Miniatures, Just Write Journaling Stickers 

“Let's Ride”, by Juliana Michaels.

I was inspired by the Design Teams recent Designer Tape projects so I wanted to incorporate more than one or two tapes into my layout. Each strip of tape was backed with white cardstock to make the colors more bold since the tapes tend to be slightly transparent.

Supplies:
Birthday Girl: Celebrate, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Birthday Boy: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Surf N Turf; Kiss Me: Love Notes, Flutter, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Blueberry; High Five Alpha Stickers: Blue; Designer Tape: Punch Chevron, Pickle Juice Chevron, Piggy Pink Stripe, Teal Stripe, Pickle Juice Dot; Crochet Flowers: Dahlia

Designer Tape Easter Eggs, by Juliana Michaels.

I was again inspired to create something using the Designer Tapes. These are paper mache eggs from my local craft store. I painted them with acrylic paint and allowed them to dry. Once dry I attached a strip of punched patterned paper around each egg. I applied the Designer Tape to thin white cardstock to make the colors more bold and attached the strip around the center of the punched strip. The flowers were created using my die cut machine and punches. I tied embroidery floss around each egg and then hot glued the flower to the egg. 

Supplies:
Birthday Girl: Sugar Rush; Birthday Boy: About A Boy, Eat Cake; Kiss Me: Bouquet; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Chlorine; Sunshine & Happiness: Sunny Side Up; Designer Tape: Punch Chevron, Pickle Juice Chevron, Pink Stripe, Teal Stripe, Gulf Dot, Orange Stripe

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

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

“Crazy Morning Hair”, by Brook Stewart.

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

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

"I Wuv You Baby Ister" by Brook Stewart.

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

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

“I {Heart} Winter”, by Jodi Wilton.

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

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

“8 Months Luvable”, by Jodi Wilton.

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

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

“Party Time”, by Jodi Wilton.

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

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

“Celebrating With Friends”, by Juliana Michaels.

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

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

“Eat More Cake”, by Juliana Michaels.

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

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

“Sand Castles”, by Ebony van der Starre.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Fresh", by Ann-Christin Larsen.

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

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

"Life", by Ann-Christin Larsen.

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

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

On-Going Guest Designers: Brook Stewart, Juliana Michaels, and Ebony van der Starre

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

Brook Stewart

“A Letter From Santa”, by Brook Stewart.

Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year. There's so much magic in the air when you have little kids. One of our favorite traditions is of course our Elf on the Shelf. This is his second year in our home and the boys had done really good about not touching him until this year, Two year old = lots of trouble! On our elf's 3rd day, my little guy decided to knock him down off the curtain rod with his foam sword. I heard a blood curdling scream come from the living room and I just knew someone was hurt! I ran in as fast as I could. As I rounded the corner, little Miles had a hold of Kindle (our elf) saying "If you touch him, he'll lose his magic!" as big brother was in absolute tears because he was the one holding him. I had to take a breath and thank goodness that no one was actually hurt. Needless to say, Santa had a letter waiting with Kindle the next morning that gave the kids permission to touch him without losing his magic. Their faces were priceless and everyone was happy and Kindle is WELL loved! I wanted to get this story documented and of course, the Christmas Wishes line did the trick! Amazing colors, amazing prints. I just love it!

Supplies:
Christmas Wishes: North Pole, Candlelight, Quadrants, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Miniatures Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Family Dynamics: Quadrants; Designer Tape: Pickle Juice Chevron; High Five Alphabets: Brown-Cream, Pink-Red; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Saltwater

“Little Sister Love”, by Brook Stewart.

I love love LOVE this picture of my 3 kiddos. It's one I have in a feame on a shelf. These boys just adore their little sister! I am a bit obsessed with this new Kiss Me line, as the colors are so fresh and pretty and love-able! They complimented the mood of my photo just perfectly!

Supplies:
Kiss Me: Flutter, True Love, Borders & Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers; High Five Alphabets: Gulf, Brown-Cream; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Punch; Designer Tape: Pony Dot

Juliana Michaels

“Let It Snow”, by Juliana Michaels.

For this layout, I was inspired to create my background by the snow that was falling when we took this photo. I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out snowflakes from white cardstock. I then used the negative piece for the background. I backed each snowflake with various shades and patterns of blue paper. I added the orange to give it a punch of color. Orange thread is tied in French knots along the border sticker and then used to tie the Star buttons in place.

Supplies:
Sunny Happy Skies: Pandaland; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Surf N Turf, Sprinkles & Lace Ice; Thankful: Perfect Day, Borders; Tail Waggers & Cat Naps: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Birthday Boy: About A Boy; High Five Alpha Stickers: Blue; Button Market: Stars

“Love You More”, by Juliana Michaels.

I love this photo of my husband and the look he is giving me as I took this photo. When I saw the "I Love You" word bubble sticker I knew that I wanted to scrap the daily conversation we have about which one of us loves the other one more. Of course, I always win! I used stickers, chipboard and borders to help tell the story. To create the background piece behind the photo, I punched circles from the Kiss Me True Love patterned paper. This allowed me to place the patterned circles where I wanted them and to save the rest of the paper for future projects. To create the heart punched border strips, I adhered the Punched Chevron Designer Tape to white cardstock before punching the border.

Supplies:
Kiss Me: Borders & Cute Cuts, Mustache Love, Flutter, True Love, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Stickers; High Five Alpha Stickers: Blue; Ciao Chip Elements: Stars & Hearts; Designer Tapes: Punch Chevron

Ebony van der Starre

“Love”, by Ebony van der Starre.

It’s sad but true but I rarely scrap photos of myself or of my husband and I! So when I saw the Kiss Me collection, I just knew I wanted to scrap this photo I took on my phone!

Supplies: 
Kiss Me: Bouquet Kisses, Mustache Love, True Love, Borders & Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sophisticates: Calendars, Sprinkles & Lace Chlorine; Birthday Girl: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Estate Sale: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Lovey Dovey: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Saltwater; Ciao Chip Elements: Borders; Designer Tape: Yellow Chevron

“Side By Side”, by Ebony van der Starre.

In this layout I have chosen to leave a lot of white space and use a variety of elements from various ranges. I just love these photos of my children on a holiday recently and wanted to use bright and fun colors!

Supplies:  
Hello Beautiful: Borders N’ Blocks; Birthday Girl: Miles Of Smiles, Alpha+Bits; Kiss Me: Bouquet Kisses, Borders & Cute Cuts; Tail Waggers & Cat Naps: Alpha+Bits; High Five Alpha Stickers: Yellow, Piggy Punch, Blue; Ciao Chip Elements: Stars and Hearts

December Guest Designer: Stephanie Dagan

We are thrilled to introduce you to our November Guest Designer, Stephanie Dagan! She has worked her creative magic with our Christmas Wishes collection, our Sophisticates collection, and our Birthday Boy collection. 

My name is Stephanie Dagan and I live in France in Normandy. I have three children who are my main source of inspiration. I scrap for 8 years now always with the same passion. I have a fairly graphic style that has evolved over the years to be a little more charged. I have a passion for patterned paper, I love mix them together and play with colors that's why I often feel more at ease to create mini albums rather than do single page. I also discovered photography thanks to scrapbooking, and my Canon is never far from me. 

"Christmas Memories" mini album, by Stephanie Dagan.

When I discovered the whole Christmas collection Bella Blvd, I found everything so extraordinary that I could not bring myself to make a page. So I decided to make a mini album made of pockets in which I will put the photos at that time. I especially love the stickers because there are all sizes and so they adapt perfectly to any type of project. They mix perfectly together and give dimension to the project.

"Girls", by Stephanie Dagan.

This page was built from one paper of the Sophisticates collection "Tall Tags", I found the format of these tags so fantastic that I decided to cut them in order to layered them on the bottom of my page. I then positioned my photos above and to give a little more roundness to this page, I added some circles. The colors are just perfect for the theme. This is also what I like in Bella Boulevard collections, the colors are always so bright and fresh that gives lot joy to the layout.

"Hope You Have An Amazing Birthday" card, by Stephanie Dagan.

If I had more photos of my last birthday boy, I think I also made a mini album as this collection is also fantastic! So I made two cards trying to mix all the papers that I preferred. On one of the cards, I cut strips of paper that I stitched together, this is a technique I use a lot because it is well worth the papers and very easy to do. I keep the rest of the papers not far from me for the next birthday I will not fail to do lots of pictures.

"Start Each Day Like It's Your Birthday card, by Stephanie Dagan.

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Thanks Stephanie, for joining us here on the blog today and sharing your talents with all of us!

On-Going Guest Designers: Juliana Michaels, Jodi Wilton, and Ann-Christin Larsen

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

Juliana Michaels

“Thanksgiving Thankful”, by Juliana Michaels.

I love patterned paper and finding ways to include more pieces of it on a layout always make me happy. For this layout, I used multiple patterns to create a banner background for my photos. I cut the papers at varying widths and lengths and then added rounded corners or banner cuts to the end of each piece. I then used my sewing machine to stitch around the edge of each piece before layering them and adhering them to my layout. Most of the patterns directly behind my photos are more solid to help the photos stand out better. I then added 3 strips of papers that are more mutli-colored to help keep your eye moving through the layout.

Supplies:
Thankful: Perfect Day, Homey, Burlap, Bountiful, Our Spot, Borders, Alph+Bits Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Birthday Girl: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Flags: Thankful

“What A Turkey”, by Juliana Michaels.

I was going through my Thanksgiving photos from last year and I came across these photos of my niece being a little "turkey" as she was eating her pumpkin pie! Immediately, I knew the little turkey image on the Thankful Cute Cuts would make the perfect accent piece for a layout. I cut out the image and then layered it with a piece of white cardstock to help it stand out a bit more. I continued the turkey accents by using a strip cut from the Borders paper. I created a pie chart piece to incorporate a variety of patterned papers and used this to bring your attention to the silly photo of her eating her pie.

Supplies:
Thankful: Perfect Day, Homey, Burlap, Our Spot, Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Sophisticates: Petite Pieces; High Five Alpha Stickers: Blue; Designer Tape: Pickle Juice Dot, Teal Stripe

“My Smiles Begin With You”, by Juliana Michaels.

As soon as I saw the Kiss Me Collection I remembered this photo of my niece. I took it last Easter and have been patiently waiting for that "perfect" paper. I am sure you know exactly what I mean! The colors brought back memories of her cute outfit and I knew I had finally found my "perfect" paper! I hand cut the hearts and used double sided foam tape to give them more dimension as I placed them across the bottom border piece. I also hand cut the clouds from the Borders & Cute Cuts paper and then layered them with white cardstock before I adhered them to my layout. 

Supplies: 
Kiss Me: Bouquet Kisses, True Love, Borders & Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers

Jodi Wilton

“Happy Thanksgiving”, by Jodi Wilton.

Thanksgiving in Canada has come and gone, but I couldn't wait to dive into my Thankful collection to capture the day! Today's layout features a rare photo of my family together during Thanksgiving dinner. I didn't have a huge space left to journal so I cut down the Fall Memories journaling sticker to fit perfect on my layout. I then fussy cut the heading on the journaling sticker, and used foam tape to give it dimension. This created the perfect spot to write about our Thanksgiving holiday.

Supplies:
Thankful: Burlap, Homey, Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Orange; Designer Tape: Pony Dot, Red Dot; Button Market: Stars; Flags: Thankful Flags

“Your Love is Better Than Ice Cream”, by Jodi Wilton.

I couldn't wait to dive into the new Kiss Me Collection. I absolutely love the colors in this collection, and especially loved the cute ice creams cones! I immediately thought of one of my favorite songs- Ice Cream by Sarah McLachlan; which is where my inspiration for the title came from. The photos for this layout came at a perfect time, when my daughter and one of her best buddies were playing, and he snuck in kiss. Being the mamarazzi that I am, I managed to get it all on camera! What a priceless moment! The Kiss Me Collection was the perfect choice to capture this memory.

Supplies:
Kiss Me: Flutter, True Love, Love Notes, Borders & Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Punch, Sprinkles & Lace Surf N Turf; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Blueberry; High Five Alpha Stickers: Pink-Red, Blue; Button Market: Hot Pink Flowers; Crochet Flowers: Dahlia

Ann-Christin Larsen

"Wish", by Ann-Christin Larsen.

This collection brings out all the joy and fun about being 8 years old and celebrating your birthday! My boy is someone who his friends can depend on, loyal and playful. I think he deserves a bright and funny layout, to show him how much he means to me.

Supplies:
Birthday Boy: All For You, Eat Cake, Streamers, Cute Cuts, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Pony

"What!", by Ann-Christin Larsen.

I love the bright colors of the Sunshine & Happiness collection, which is perfect for sunny summer layouts. Though it is autumn in many parts of the world, I think this collection makes us want to smile all year around. My daughter wanted these sunglasses and her father bought them for her (at last...), so we had fun out in the garden with a photo shoot.

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Popsicle Kisses; Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Sophisticates: Ciao Chip Elements: Clouds; Designer Tape: Orange Stripe, Gulf Dot; Button Market: Masculine Mix, Hot Pink Flowers; Flags: Girl

November Guest Designer: Amy Peterman

We are thrilled to introduce you to our November Guest Designer, Amy Peterman! She has worked her creative magic with Bella's Birthday Girl collection, Christmas Wishes collection, and our new Thankful collection.

Hello Bella Blvd fans! I am so happy to be here with you today as Guest Designer for November! I reside in Chicagoland, with my sweetheart Jason, daughters Hattie and Josie, and our furry kids, Millie and Remi.

When I started scrapbooking over 15 years ago, I loved the idea of creatively preserving my family’s memories, and over the years that love has become a passion. My first pages were pretty simple, but having a background in graphic design, I soon found myself putting more thought into each layout and becoming more artsy with the way I created them. Scrapbooking has truly become an art form for me— a fun way to communicate through paper, photos and little bits of this and that, the life that my family and I live. I have been blessed to be published in magazines such as, Creating Keepsakes, Memory Makers (I was a 2008 Memory Makers Master), Scrapbook Trends, and BHG Scrapbooks Etc. I also have the honor of being a Fancy Pants Designs Pocket Chick as well as the company’s Design Team Coordinator.

When I’m not scrapbooking I spend my days chasing my girls, wrangling the dogs, dating my hubby, running, biking and attending church and Bible study.  It’s a pretty great life, I think!

I received three great collections from Bella Blvd—Birthday Girl, Thankful and Christmas Wishes. I loved them all and had a blast creating with them!

"An American Girl Birthday", by Amy Peterman. 

This first layout uses Birthday Girl—the perfect, girlie, birthday collection! And my Josie is such a girlie-girl, so I knew the colors and patterns in this collection would work great with photos from her birthday spent at the American Girl Café in Chicago.

I created a sort of “fair ribbon” using some strips from the Borders paper. I simply cut the multi-colored striped border to create an accordion-folded accent. Then I cut the aqua striped border to create “ribbons”. To top it off, I layered a scalloped paper shape and one of the stickers from the Alphabits sticker sheet. Wah-la! A simple, yet dimensional embellishment!

"Preschool Feast", by Amy Peterman.

This next layout uses the Thankful collection. I absolutely had to use that cute little turkey from the Cute Cuts paper. I hand cut him out and laid him over several strips of Designer Tape. I also tucked a couple of the oh-so-cute Thankful Flags into the layers of Designer Tape.

A technique I used for this layout was to reverse-cut (using my die-cutting machine) my journaling from cardstock, using a bold san-serif font. I then layered the cardstock over the blue dot paper. Oh, and I love that “Gobble On!” word bubble sticker (from the Thankful Alphabits stickers)! Josie looks quite calm and thoroughly enjoying her feast, so I thought it was a perfect addition to the layout!

"Gingerbread Houses", by Amy Peterman.

For my last layout, I used Christmas Wishes. I wanted to play off the lattice pattern on Josie’s gingerbread house roof. So, using my die-cutting machine, I cut a lattice pattern and layered some of those great Christmas Wishes patterened papers behind. I then accented the intersecting points with Button Market Buttons and Alphabits stickers. I love the way it turned out!

I had a ton of fun creating these layouts with Bella Blvd’s awesome product! Thanks so much Laura and the Bella Blvd team for inviting me to share today!