Bella Blvd Studio Blog

On-Going Guest Designers: Sarah Klemish & Kryssi Ng

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. Today, we are welcoming back Sarah Klemish and Kryssi Ng, for another round of projects.

In the scrapbook world I am known as “Sarahak”, in the real world I am Sarah Klemish (wife, mother, daughter, sister). I still remember the first Creative Memories class I took 10 years ago – cardstock and pictures cut in funky shapes! I still treasure those layouts but since then my style has changed. I am typically what is known as a “simple” scrapper. Straight lines, white space and sewing, that sums it up. I am currently designing for Creative Memories (talk about coming full circle)! I have been published in Scrapbook Trends and was on the Better Homes and Gardens Scrapbook Etc. team for a year. I still do work for Scrapbooks Etc. and get published with them regularly. Love the hobby, love the people and love being asked to participate on fun projects! 

"Sweet Smile", by Sarah Klemish.

I love these pictures of my sister in laws niece, Gracie! Because she had this cute strawberry outfit on I decided to play off that for the layout! I started out with a neutral background, and I cut three different size pieces of paper for the banner. On the middle banner I pop dotted the strawberry chipboard shape, and I added the heart border with the orange scallop under the pictures. The title was done using a combination of Simply Simona Alphabet, and the “sweet” sticker from the Spring Fling & Easter Things Miniatures sticker sheet. 

Supplies:
Spring Fling & Easter Things: Egg Hunt, Miniatures Stickers; Sunshine & Happiness: Borders, Popsicle Kisses, Chipboard Icons; Simply Simona Alphabets and Numbers: Oyster

"Summertime Sisters", by Sarah Klemish.

I love these pictures of my good friend’s two little girls taken at the beach! The Sunshine & Happiness line was perfect for these summer pictures! I started out with a neutral background and added some black paint splatters. I added the two 2x3 pictures and then designed around that! The stripe strip across the top was cut from the Borders paper. Above the pictures I pop dotted the clouds and sun, and then added a pop dotted purple scallop border sticker below the pictures. I tucked the “Summer Time” flag behind the chipboard title. Lastly I tucked a couple banner cut tabs from the Borders paper behind the picture! 

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Borders, Alpha+Bits Sticker; Ciao Chip Elements: Clouds, Family Words; Flags: Summer

"Baby Baby", by Sarah Klemish.

The alternative school I work at has many students with babies and my favorite mom is Cali. This picture is of her and her baby, Josslyn! Love them! And love that they like me to take their picture! I used a variety of collections on this layout! I started out with a neutral background and added some black paint splatters. I then added a strip of the Baby Boy “Mama’s Boy” paper. After adding the picture I added a doily behind it and a small piece of the Red Dot Designer Tape. I then cut the “Baby Baby” title from the Baby Boy Borders paper and sewed it down, partially over the picture. I then tucked two flags behind the title, one from the Summer set and one from the Sunshine and Happiness set. I added 3 cut out hearts (two are pop dotted) from the Sunshine and Happiness “Happy Clouds” paper. Lastly I added journaling strips above the picture.

Supplies:
Baby Boy: Mama’s Boy; Baby Girl: Baby Cakes; Sunshine & Happiness: Happy Clouds; Designer Tape: Red Dot; Flags: Summer, Sunshine & Happiness

**************************************************************

 

I live in NYC with my husband and two little girls. I started doodling and drawing at a young age and pursued an education in fine arts. That lifelong passion eventually led me into the world of paper crafting and graphic designing. Most of my waking hours are dedicated to tending to my family but on the small window of free time on some days -- you can find me in my room making cards (and sometimes scrapbooking a layout) or tinkering around with Photoshop/Illustrator. Anything but cleaning!

“Let Me Count The Ways” card, by Kryssi Ng.

I knew I wanted to create a simple middle aligned layout. I had this Instax picture of my bestie sitting around that was waiting for the perfect papers to be scrapped. I used the uber trendy chevron washi tape to create my alignment and then went about adding dimensions and textures in specific spots until I was happy with the minimalist yet textural design.

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Happy Clouds, Popsicle Kisses; Designer Tape: Yellow Chevron; High Five Alphabets: Pink-Red

“Spread Your Wings and Fly” card, by Kryssi Ng.

I am drawn to the gorgeous clouds, it inspired me to created a tone on tone wall art. I used a white gel pen to outline the butterfly die cuts and to add texture. I love that there is random little pops of colors peeking out of the butterflies.

Supplies: 
Sunshine & Happiness: Happy Clouds; High Five Alphabets: Pink-Red

“Happy” card, by Kryssi Ng.

I love the happy colors in the Sunshine Happiness collection so much that I think it should be highlighted in a CAS card! I kept it super minimal with a simple layer. Used some Lifestyle dies to create the banner and finished off with the round stickers. It's so simple yet the colors pack quite a punch!

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Popsicle Kisses; High Five Alphabets: Pink-Red

May Guest Designer: Jennifer Gallacher

We are excited to introduce you to our May Guest Designer, Jennifer Gallacher! Jennifer has created some fabulous, bright, and happy projects to share with us today. And along with those projects, she has also added a few fun challenges, for those of you that would like to play along!

Hi everyone! It's Jennifer Gallacher here. I currently work with Echo Park Paper as their Marketing Coordinator/Managing Editor. In addition I serve as a Garden Girl for www.twopeasinabucket.com. You may have seen my work as an Assistant and Contributing Editor for a few of Northridge Publishing titles including Cricut Magazine, Scrapbook Trends Magazine, and the Create Idea Book Series. In my 15 year career as a designer, teacher, and editor in the industry I've had the opportunity to work for such companies as Making Memories, Little Yellow Bicycle, Li'l Davis Designs, and Karen Foster Design. I have taught and demonstrated at CHA tradeshows and local scrapbook stores and had many projects published in the leading papercrating magazines. I enjoy both traditional, hybrid, and even digital paper crafting. When I'm not designing, I enjoy reading and watching English Period Piece movies. My husband doesn't quite understand how I can watch a Jane Austen movie five times in a row, but I think it's wonderful!

I am super excited to be joining Bella Blvd as a Guest Designer this month. Bella Blvd has such playful, bright color schemes and patterns; and since I am always drawn to color, I was thrilled to be designing with several of their collections this month.

"Summer", by Jennifer Gallacher.

For my first creation, I designed a layout using the "Sunshine & Happiness" collection. We're finally starting to get warmer weather, and that makes me long for picnics at the park, trips to the pool, and just anything sunshine related. This layout is a tribute to my niece who is definitely full of sunshine and happiness. We love it when she comes to visit, and she loves to be outside in our yard.

I am a big fan of the banner trend so I cut several pieces from the "b side" of the "Sunshine & Happiness" collection. I cut each banner to a random length and width and then either cut the banner on a diagonal or notched the ends. I overlapped them with stickers and then machine stitched some of them in place. To complete the banner, I created a little scene with stickers and cut out shapes from the paper. I also printed my journaling on yellow cardstock and mounted it on the yellow chevron word bubble. Layering like this draws the eye to the larger elements on the page and balances your photos.

Challenge: Cut your favorite Bella Blvd. papers into banner shapes, overlapping them as you place them on your page. Lay them horizontally or vertically depending on your layout design. Be sure to cut them varying widths and lengths to keep them interesting.

"Friends" gift jar, by Jennifer Gallacher.

For my second creation, I wanted a little gift that I could deliver to a friend. I think I have a crush on this chevron pear shape. I covered an empty jar with patterned paper, a ribbon, and the cut out pear shape. I also layered on a sentiment "friends" sticker and a button tied with twine on the jar front. I then filled the jar with green and white bubble gum. I keep empty jars and containers on hand just for occasions such as these. I can't wait to deliver this little gift to my neighbor as I know she'll love it!

Challenge: Cover a container or empty jar with elements from any of the beautiful Bella Blvd. collections. Then select a treat that matches the colors and patterns found within the paper and embellishments. Then deliver it to a friend or neighbor. You can also create a coordinating card with leftover supplies.

"Spring" frame, by Jennifer Gallacher.

For my final project, I wanted a home decor art piece showcasing the spring season. In addition to keeping jars and containers around, I stock up on cute frames so I can alter them at will. For this frame, I filled the inside with cloud patterned paper, the rainbow shape die cut, and the chipboard sunshine sticker. I cut an additional rainbow shape from a second sheet of paper and layered the clouds on top of the first shape. I like using adhesive foam squares to create shadows and depth on my project between layers.

To create the banner, I hand cut triangle shapes from some "Sunshine & Happiness" patterned paper (don't be afraid to mix and match collections as Bella Blvd.'s collection work very well together). Then I layered the chipboard "SPRING" letters on each banner and strung them from string attached to my frame. I love how this makes me excited for all our beautiful spring weather.

Challenge: Fill a frame with a seasonal themed scene using the shapes you can cut out from the patterned paper. Mix in buttons, tape, stamps, and chipboard stickers for even more texture and interest. Place elements within the frame (removing the glass), and outside the frame to make it more exciting!

*****************************************************************
I really enjoyed working with the Bella Blvd collections. I already have even more projects in mind and can't wait to start creating. Thanks for joining me today in creating some spring and summer projects.

Ongoing Guest Designers: Carina Lindholm & Wendy Bretz

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. Today, we are welcoming back Carina Lindholm and Wendy Bretz for their second round of projects.

Hello everyone! I’m Carina Lindholm. I live in a small town in the middle of Sweden with my husband Per and our three children Marcus (8), Filip (6) & Alva (5). I’m a stay at home mom, but I sometimes work extra in a scrapbook store. I consider myself both a scrapbooker and a card maker and my style is playful and I like to use lots of color on my projects. When I’m not paper crafting I love to sew, read and spend time with my family.

“Äggmålning”, by Carina Lindholm.

I used the Spring Fling & Easter Things collection to make my projects today. And oh, how I love this collection! All the patterns and the colors makes me a very happy girl. The photos on this layout are from easter last year. My children and my little nephew is painting eggs. And I love all the cut outs that comes with every Bella blvd collection. On this layout I used three eggs and the cute little easter chick cut outs. To get the scallop borders around the eggs I simply just matted the eggs on white cardstock and cut around them using decorative scissors.

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: Sunny Sunday, Borders, Cute Cuts, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Baby Blooms-A-Bella

“Happy Mother’s Day”, by Carina Lindholm.

We celebrate mother’s day in May here in Sweden. And I know that my mother loves bright and cheerful colors, so I thought it would be perfect to make her a card by using this collection. I cut out this cute flower cut out and adhered it to the card using foam tape, so it really pops out from the card.

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: Mom’s Bouquet, Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sophisticates: Miniatures Card Sentiments

“For A Super Great Friend”, by Carina Lindholm.

For this card I die cut a few label shapes from different patterned papers and adhered them together to make an embellishment. And I let one of Bellas Blvd´s super cute pink fabric flowers to be the focal point on this card.

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: Mom’s Bouquet, Borders, A Tisket A Tasket; Sophisticates: Miniatures Card Sentiments; Baby Blooms-A-Bella

“Thank you”, by Carina Lindholm.

I used a label die to make the shapes in the pink chevron paper. I also punched out a bunch of butterflies, in different sizes and color and adhered them in the negative spaces on the card base.

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: Sunny Sunday, A Tisket A Tasket, Borders, Egg Hunt

Hi! My name is Wendy Bretz and I'm so excited to be this month guest designer here at Bella Blvd. I live in a small town in western New York and have one daughter who is my everything. I'm a simple, graphic scrapper and love to create paper and digital layouts. I've been published in Creating Keepsakes, Scrapbook Etc., Simple Scrapbooks and Scrapbook Trends magazines. I love creating memories that my daughter can look back at in the future.

"Nothing Better", by Wendy Bretz.

As soon as I saw the back of the Baby Boy, Momma's Boy Patterned Paper I knew exactly what I was going to create! I love making 2 page layouts where I have entire photo on the right and my design work on the left. These Designer Tapes are probably one of my new favorite embellishments too. You can do so much with them … use them as accents, tape photos on a layout, or even layer them and create a piece of patterned paper. On this layout I used it as a accent on my layout.

Supplies:
Baby Boy: Momma's Boy, Baby Boy: Alpha + Bits, Designer Tape: Yellow Chevron, Sophisticates: Pink-Red High Five Alphabets

"Guess What", by Wendy Bretz.

High Five Alphabets … what can't I say about them??? These sheets of stickers are the coolest and most versatile letter stickers out there in my opinion. They come is so many different colors and I love every single one of them. When I started this layout I wanted to create something simple so I decided to just use the "?" and for the brackets at the bottom I cut the number "0" in half. To finish I added my photo digitally after I scanned it.

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Petal Power, Sophisticates: Pink-Red High Five Alphabets

On-Going Guest Designers: Stacey Michaud, Diane Payne, and 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 Stacey Michaud, who is joining us for her first time on the Bella blog. And we're welcoming back Diane Payne and Charity Hassel for their second round of projects.

Hi all! My name is Stacey Michaud. I am a teacher during the day and an avid scrapbooker by night! I use the creative process to keep my sanity and record my stories. Paper serves as my muse and I love gaining inspiration from the products around me. I like to call my style clean and linear with a twist. Journaling is a must for me. I have been blessed enough to be published in Scrapbook Trends, Creating Keepsakes and Memory Makers magazine as well as several idea books!

"Winter Home", by Stacey Michaud.

I love Bella's chipboard embellishments and how they can make an impact on a project. I kept the paper usage to a minimum, focusing on some of my favorite patterns. Then I simply created a clustered grid of different chipboard and embellishments along with my photos. I am a theme-based scrapper and Bella has the perfect goodies to help me create. I hand-drew the heart to make my title standout and compliment the other hearts on the page.

Supplies: 
Spring Fling & Easter Things: Mom’s Bouquet, Sunny Sunday, Alpha & Bits Stickers; Winter Wonder: Icy, Cute Cuts, Alpha & Bits Stickers, Miniatures; Family Dynamix: Ciao Chip; Baby Blooms-A-Bella: Champagne; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Orange

"Jammies Equal Joy", by Stacey Michaud.

I must admit that the adorable penguins in the Christmas Wishes collection stole my heart. I also have a love affair with banners so I figured I would pair the two to create a part of my title work. I like to scrap the every day, smaller moments such as wearing hand me down pajamas. Adding tidbits, like the calendar heading, helps me communicate my ideas. The bold colors in the collection really pop.

Supplies: 
Christmas Wishes: Trees for Sale, Borders, Star Stripe, Candlelight, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Cute Cuts, Alpha & Bits Stickers, Miniature Stickers; Sophisticates: Oyster and Oreo Chipboard, Calendars; Winter Wonder: Alpha & Bits Stickers; One Fall Day: Alpha & Bits Stickers

*******************************************************

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.

"Play Ball!", by Diane Payne.

Stars are a shape I use frequently on my layouts and I wanted to use them to highlight the recent "family fun day" with our daughter's softball team. The Mr. Boy line had just the papers I was looking for with the star paper and color palette. To create a couple focal points, I cut a star shape out of a block of patterned paper and layered a coordinating pattern behind the cut out. I used various Quattrofina alphabet fonts and colors to make a fun title down the side of the layout!  To complete the layout I added a couple of the new Patriotic Flags behind one of the stars. I really love the bold colors and whimsical feeling of the layout ... it was just the look I was trying to achieve.

Supplies:
Mr. Boy: Connect the Dots, Hyper Stripe, Heroes, Quadrants, Alpha + Bits; Sophisticates: Quattrofina Mustard & Apricot, Quattrofina Salt Water & Pacific, Quattrofina Peep & Saffron, Miniatures Family, Miniatures Card Sentiments; Spring Flings and Easter Things: Miniatures; Button Markets: Bursts; Flags: Patriotic

"On Your Mark, Get Set, Go!", by Diane Payne.

This Easter photo of my daughter trying to hold back our son at the beginning of the Easter Egg hunt makes me laugh every time I see it. It perfectly captures her competitive nature. I used the eggs on the Cute Cuts sheet from the Spring Flings and Easter Things collection to highlight the theme of the layout. I couldn't resist sneaking in some of the new designer tapes too. I love how they are both functional and decorative. They were a great finishing touch for my small photo and journaling card.

Supplies:
Spring Flings and Easter Things: Sunny Sunday, Mom's Bouquet, Cute Cuts, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Miniatures; Sophisticates: Simply Simona Peep, Quattrofina Mustard & Apricot, Miniatures Family; Blooms-a-Bella: Rossini; Designer Tapes: Pickle Juice Dot, Yellow Chevron, Teal Stripe, Pink Flowers

***********************************************************

Hi everyone! My name is Charity. 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.

"Silly Siblings", by Charity Hassel.

A quick and easy layout. Simply layer patterned paper, border stickers and cut out the fun trees from Bella patterned paper. 

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: A Tisket A Tasket, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Winter Wonder: Toasty; Family Dynamix: Cute Cuts, Roots, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sophisticates: Family Miniatures Stickers

"Easter Blessings" card, by Charity Hassel.

I love how you can mix Bella's stickers, chipboard, and even different lines together to create a title for a project. Here, I used a chipboard with blessings and a sticker with Easter on it to create my own greeting.

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: Sunny Sunday, A Tisket A Tasket, Egg Hunt, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Brownie, Ciao Chip Essentials Apricot & Banana

Carrot Goody Box, by Charity Hassel.

I used my cricut to cut the box. Then, I cut pieces of chipboard up to decorate the front top of my carrot with scallops. I used yellow patterned paper to create stripes around the carrot box. Bella chipboard, tags and stickers were layered for flowers on the top. The green of the carrot is green raffia from a craft store.

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: Sunny Sunday, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Miniatures; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Apricot, Ciao Chip Essentials Apricot & Banana

Easter Basket, by Charity Hassel.

I used a circle punch to cut out a blue circle from Bella patterned paper to cover the inner part of the Bella chipboard circle- it had a greeting that didn't go with my project. Layer leaves cut from paper, chipboard, buttons and Bella tags for a fun flower.

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: Miniatures Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Chlorine, Ciao Chip Essentials Apricot & Banana; Winter Wonder: Ski Slopes

Layouts On Wednesdays

Are you ready for some more fabulous free-for-all layouts from our Design Team? We definately have some of those for you today! But we're going to start out todays posts, with another gorgeous layout share from our March Guest Designer, Kim Jeffress!

"Fairytales", by Kim Jeffress.
{March Guest Designer}

Hi it’s Kim Jeffress, and I am happy to be back on the Bella Blvd blog today sharing another layout and issuing another challenge to you all. Late last year my best friend’s daughter spent some time in Intensive Care in hospital, she spent several weeks there and when she came home I wanted to make my friend a layout which I later framed as a reminder of how special her daughter is. I wanted the layout to be dream like so I have used some of the A Tisket pattern paper which is covered in cute clouds from the Spring Flings and Easter things collection to really emphasise this.

My CHALLENGE today is to use a cloud element on your page be it from the paper, a punch or handmade or drawn I would love to see how creative you can be.

"So Lucky To Have U", by Brook Stewart.

It's March. A time of the year that I like to make a layout, to reflect on just how lucky I am to be a mom, a wife, and a daughter. For this layout, I focused on being a mom. This layout really came together SO fast and easy! I went through my Bella stash and found some green papers and embellishments in lots of different shades. I didn't even use my paper trimmer to cut the squares. I wanted it to be a bit whimsical and free-form. After I adhered the paper and photos, I went back through with my title, then added some of the new Designer tape and Ciao Chip stickers. This layout literally came together in about 15 minutes!

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Toasty; Spring Flings & Easter Things: A Tisket a Tasket, Mom's Bouquet; Baby Boy: On the Go; Sophisticates: Pickle Juice Paper; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Pickle Juice, Ciao Chip Stickers: Asparagus & Pickle Juice; High Five Alpha Stickers: Green; Designer Tape: Pickle Juice Dot

"Equation Egg", by Katherine McElveen.

This is one of those layouts that ended up becoming something completely different than what I had planned. My first intent was to use multiple photos, and the Spring Fling collection since the theme was egg decorating. But after playing around with the paper (for way to long) I ended up focusing on just the one photo, and I couldn’t resist the blues and oranges of the Baby Boy collection to coordinate with that orange equation egg my daughter was holding. One of my favorite Bella Blvd products are the long strips on the Alpha+Bits Sticker Sheets. They are easy to combine with the Boarders paper strips for a quick and easy layout that is filled with a variety of patterns. So after wasting so much time staring at the Spring Flings paper, I needed something easy. I layered strips form the Baby boy line on top of the Popsicle Kisses paper from Sunshine and Happiness, added some chip board and a title, and called it complete.

Supplies:
Sunshine And Happiness: Popsicle Kisses; Baby Boy: Borders, Baby Blue, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sophisticates: Short Stories; Spring Flings and Easter Things: Miniatures, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Winter Wonder: Miniatures; High Five Alphas: Yellow; Ciao Chip: Oyster Alpha, Clouds, Stars and Hearts

"All About The Uniform", by Nancy Damiano.

I love the banner pennants in the Making the Team line paper. I took the idea and expanded on it by making my own pennant. A triangle of navy cardstock, a jumble of alphabet stickers and a wooden stick make a great personalized pennant for this t-ball page. I love the different sizes and colors in the High Five Alphabet sheets. I was able to use two of them to coordinate perfectly with this line.

Supplies:
Making the Team: Wall of Fame, Borders, Borders, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits, Chipboard Icons; Finally Fall: Apple Holler; Christmas Wishes: Borders; High Five Alphabets: Blue; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Saltwater

"The Right Toys", by Vivian Masket.

I love the tone-on-tone look of the Sophisticates Sprinkles & Lace papers. Here, I used the "sprinkles" side of three different papers to create a colorful backdrop and embellishments. Because the pattern on the papers is a small-scale pattern the color and pattern don't compete for attention with my photograph and other key page elements.

Supplies:
Sophisticates: McIntosh Sprinkles & Lace, Peep Sprinkles & Lace, Oyster Sprinkles & Lace, Tall Tags, Essentials Oyster & Oreo Ciao Chip, Card Sentiments Miniatures Stickers; Making the Team: Quadrants, Miniatures Stickers; Spring Flings & Easter Things: Miniatures Stickers

March Guest Designer: Kim Jeffress

Today, we are welcoming our March Guest Designer, Kim Jeffress! In addition to the projects she is sharing with us today, Kim will also have a few additional projects to share later in the week. We are so thrilled to have her joining us!

Hi! It’s Kim Jeffress here visiting the Bella Blvd Blog this week all the way from down under Australia. I live in beautiful sunny Brisbane with my husband and two sons aged 5 and 3. They are my main source of scrapbooking inspiration. I love to scrap about the good and bad things they say and do, their milestones and achievements! I am honoured to be guest designing for Bella Blvd this week, their gorgeous bright coloured papers and embellishments suit my style of scrapping perfectly. I have been lucky to have been chosen as one of Australian Scrapbooking Memories magazine Masters for 2012 as well as designing for several international manufacturers, however with all these accolades I have never lost sight of my purpose for scrapbooking which is recording the memories and stories which can be so easily forgotten.

With this in mind I would like to share my first project this week and issue a challenge to everyone out there to RECORD THE STORY!

"Jasper", by Kim Jeffress.

My husband and I visited gorgeous Canada for our honey moon 7 years ago and Jasper was my most favourite town. You can see the Winter Wonderland collection was perfect for my Winter photos. I especially love the words and sentiments from the Alpha+ Bits sticker sheet which just add that little bit extra meaning to my layout. You can see I have journalled my memories from that time.

So my CHALLENGE to you today is to create a layout on any theme but make sure to add your journaling as well before the memory is forgotten.

"Three", by Kim Jeffress.

My second challenge today centers on the photo. In Australia we are just coming out of a gorgeous Summer, my family and I spent lots of days at the beach enjoying the hot weather. I snapped this photo of my boys- big and small as they were headed down the beach for a paddle in the waves. I loved the photo so much I decided to just use that one photo on my page to really make it the star. The bright yellows and aquas of the Spring Flings and Easter Things collection matched my theme perfectly I wanted a real fresh Summery feel and although they are Spring based the patterns and colours suited completely.

My CHALLENGE today is to create a layout using just ONE special photo on your layout. The size of the photo does not matter as long as there is only one photo on your layout.

"Snow Day" snowglobe, by Kim Jeffress.

I love how the themed collections have papers, stickers and die cuts that can be used to create fun projects as well as layouts and cards. For my last project today, I have created a Snow globe. I found this Snow globe on sale at my local camera shop. I took it home and found a photo of my husband and I on our honey moon and created a little scene using the Winter Wonderland papers and Alphas+Bits sheet. I have added some foam tape to some elements to add depth to my scene. My sons love shaking it and watching the snowflakes falling around mummy and daddy.

So my final CHALLENGE today is to use some Bella Blvd product to create a SCENE on a project. It can be a layout, card or even an OTP page. The scene can take up the whole design or be just a small element of your project.

I am looking forward to seeing all your beautiful creations that you create. I also want to thank Stephanie and Laura for this incredible opportunity to be guest designer this week, I have had an absolute ball playing with the products and can’t wait to dive back in and create some more!

Challenge Week With Guest Designer Shannon Tidwell: Day Five

Hey everyone! It's Shannon Tidwell here again, for our last challenge day. We love seeing all of the projects you've been linking up for the challenges, and hope to keep seeing more and more over the next week (deadline is a week from today). Thanks so much to Bella Blvd for having me this week! It's been so fun scrapping with Bella products and sharing with you guys!

Saturday Challenge: Use Punched Circles 

For my last Challenge this week we are grabbing our trusty circle punches. Don't have one? Run, don't walk, and get one. The size I use most often is my 2" circle punch, but they are fun to combine. Remember earlier in the week when I talked about my 'bag of tricks'? My circle punch is definitely in there, as is the border I made on my first layout.

A few other ideas for your circle punch:

• Cut the circles in half and create a scalloped border around your page or photo
• Punch circles out of patterned paper and use the negative space to fill with embellishments
• Create bubbles for your title
• Punch out your photos to get rid of a noisy background or to get a lot of photos on one page

"Baby Love", by Shannon Tidwell.

To create the border simply punch circles out of the papers you want to use. Then fold the circles in half. You can mix different sizes and patterns, or keep them all the same. Then adhere one side of the circle down so that the other half sticks up. You could also create a double sided border and place the circles back to back. On this layout I chose to first create a larger scalloped border underneath the folded circle border. There are all kinds of variations you could do. Wouldn't little tiny circles be cute?!

"You & Me", by Shannon Tidwell.

On the second layout I created my own polka dot background. I actually punched the circles from a patterned paper that already had circles on it. It was just a little too busy for the layout I had in mind. So by punching out a few of the circles and then adhering them to my background I was able to create my own look. The backside of the paper had a pattern on it, so I flipped some of the circles and opted for the pattern instead. It can take a bit of time to figure out your circle placement. My biggest tip is not to try 'too' hard. You want it to look natural. Sometimes I just drop the circles on the page and let that help me figure out a natural looking placement (this is especially useful with sequins or confetti).

Thanks again for letting me hang out with you this week!  Let's see how the Bella DT used their circle punches. Ciao!

"Always My Baby", by Kimberly Neddo.
{A Winter CHA Project}

For this layout, I really wanted to showcase how versatile everything is with each other. You can see that I used 3 different flag pack designs together. The Baby Boy collection can easily be used with non-baby themed layout designs, rather than strictly boy or baby themed projects. I LOVE the colors in the Baby Blue collection. I punched out the circles from one of the Baby Boy papers, and adhered them along the bottom of my white cardstock, alternating full circles and half circles. I think it adds a fun touch!

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Popsicle Kisses, Happy clouds; Baby Boy: Mama’s Boy, Baby Blue, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sophisticates: Black/White High Five Alpha Stickers, Yellow High Five Alpha Stickers; Flags: Text Me, Winter, Just Married

"Beautiful", by Laura Vegas.
{A Winter CHA Project}

When I saw the backside of the Pretty In Pink patterned paper, with all of the fun polka dots, I knew they needed to be punched out and used in a fun way. I started by adhering the cloud pattern paper to the center of my white cardstock background, leaving lots of room around the edges. I then tucked the punched out circles behind the cloud paper, one by one, overlapping them as I went. I love how they frame the main part of the layout.

Supplies:
Baby Girl: Pretty In Pink, Sweet Dreams, Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Chipboard Icons; We're Expecting: Chipboard Icons

"Sending You Sunshine" card, by Gretchen McElveen.
{A Winter CHA Project}

I punched circles out of Sunshine & Happiness patterned paper to add some interest to this card and to play off of the "sunshine" theme a little bit. I sanded the edges of each circle before adhering it to the card. To me, sanding the edges like that helps to set it apart from the background paper. Also I adhered the sentiment and sunshine stickers to the card with foam adhesive to give the card some extra dimension.

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Borders, Popscicle Kisses, Sunny Side Up, Alpha + Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers

Springtime Altered Canvas, by Katherine McElvain.
{A Winter CHA Project}

The idea for this canvas came from a painted art project I saw on Pinterest. I decided to create a similar piece using punched circles and buttons from Bella Blvd. The first step was to draw the vines in pencil and paint over them using black acrylic paint. 

I punched a variety of circles in three Bella Blvd colors, and placed them on top of the branches to fill the canvas. When I was satisfies with how the colors and circles were distributed I Mog Podged the circles to the canvas.

To create some variety and texture to the project I added cut out flowers to the circles, and sewed on coordinating buttons form the new Bella Button Market.

Supplies:
Sunshine and Happiness: Borders, Popsicle Kisses, Happy Clouds, Petal Power; Button Market: Bursts, Feminine Mix, Aqua Flowers, Fruit Punch

*********************************************************************

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.

Challenge Week With Guest Designer Shannon Tidwell: Day Four

Hi, this is Shannon Tidwell back again for another fun Challenge on the Bella Blvd Blog!

Thursday Challenge: Use Border Strip Papers 

Border Strip papers are right up there with the Cute Cuts in my book! You get so much on just one sheet of paper! When I see these sheets I immediately want to cut it apart, but you don't have to. You could use the whole sheet as a background. A little too busy? Tone it down with some paint or spray. Is there one strip right in the middle you want to use? Cut it out and use it!  Border Strips are also great for cards. You can get a little bit of pattern without having to cut into a full sheet.

"He'll Remember", by Shannon Tidwell.

Flag banners are all the rage right now, and these Border Strip papers are perfect for them! I cut out several of the strips I wanted ... don't forget, you could use the backside pattern, too. I mixed the strips with a few patterned paper strips as well as a few border stickers. I also layered on a few stickers to dress the banners up just a little. I chose to have my banner come from the left side and kind of 'point' at the photo, but you could turn this any direction. Let the banner lead your eye toward the focal point of your page.  

Now, let's see the awesome layouts the Bella DT created for the Challenge.

"So Tiny", by Brook Stewart.

I loved Shannon's challenge this week! The border strip papers are always one of my favorite Bella staples! One thing I really love to do is to cut them up and use them as little tags/flags/banners. The word/phrase lines add just the perfect sentiments and the patterns tie it all in really well!

Supplies:
Baby Boy: Borders, Momma’s Boy, Heaven Sent, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Sophisticates Ciao Chip Alphas: Pickle Juice, Orange; Button Market: Masculine Mix; Designer Tape: Pickle Juice Dot

"Cupcake Love", by Lynn Ghahary.

Using just the Borders papers was definitely a challenge for me since I am a patterned paper junkie at heart.  I decided to create my own pattern of sorts using various border strips cut to size in red, pink, and white patterns to coordinate with the colors in my photos.  And, yes, those cupcakes did taste as good as they look ;)

Supplies:
Lovey Dovey: Bear Hugs; Sophisticates: Tall Tags, Quattrofina Peep & Saffron Stickers; Family Dynamics: The Littlest Things, Alpha+Bits Cardstock Stickers; Spring Flings and Easter Things: Borders; Winter Wonder: Borders

"Beautiful Butterfly", by Katherine McElvain.

Bella Blvd. Borders papers are a necessity in my stash. The variety of color on one sheet is so useful when doing projects. I often add a strip on a layout here and there. For this project I did my usual and added a strip to from the Winter Wonder Borders on the bottom of my page, and a green strip form the Sunshine and Happiness Borders layered with a sticker from the same line in the middle of the layout. But I also used the Borders strips to do some paper weaving. They coordinate perfectly to with the other Bella papers to create monochromatic projects.

I created circle flowers by weaving paper strips together. I used strips from the Borders as well as other matching papers to have a variety of patterns in the weave. Then I punched out circles and adhered them to the back of my woven paper. After I trimmed off the excess paper around the circle I had a woven flower to add to my layout. The same technique can be used with any shape. So get yourself some Borders strips and start creating.

Supplies:
Sunshine and Happiness: Borders, Happy Clouds, Popsicle Kisses, Sunny Side Up, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Winter Wonder: Borders; Baby Boy: Baby Blue; Sophisticates: Oreo Ciao Chip, Blue High Five Alpha; Crochet Flowers: Juniper; Button Market: Neutrals Mix

"Will It Stick", by Julie Johnson.

For this layout I thought it would be fun to cut the border strips from the Winter Wonder collection into various sizes. I angled the ends like ribbons, and place them at different lengths around a circle. I left the ends loose to add a bit of dimension to the layout. My goofy son and nephew thought it would be fun to see if their tongues would stick to the frozen snowman so I titled the page with the question, "will it stick?". The alpha + bits letters didn't have a question mark so I got creative and changed an "R" to a question mark. The snowman is also cut from one of the border strips and backed onto a thin piece of chipboard. I added a scallop border, a few stickers from the Miniatures sticker sheet, a glittered snowflake, and a button to complete the layout.

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Borders, Toasty, Ski Slopes, Alpha + Bits, and Miniatures

"So Happy For You" card, by Alice Carman.

For this card I cut out the flowers from the pattern and adhered it in clusters alongside the Bella Blooms. The technique layering the border strips against each other using different patterns and clusters.

Supplies:
Baby Girl: Borders, Daddy’s Girl; Baby Boy: Cute Cuts; Unity Stamps: So Happy For You; Baby Blooms a Bella: Rossini, Champagne, Azzini

"Congratulations", by Alice Carman.

Today’s challenge is to use the border papers creatively and it was a task indeed. I think my take on the challenge is simple, but also something different. I used different patterns as my borders and cut the paper according to the design so it differs from a straight cut.

Supplies:
Baby Boy: Borders, Cute Cuts, On The Go; Unity Stamps: New Set Of Wheels; Sunshine & Happiness: Happy Clouds

********************************************************************

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.

 

Challenge Week With Guest Designer Shannon Tidwell: Day Three

Hi, it's me, Shannon Tidwell, back again for another day of fun & scrapbooking.

Wednesday Challenge: Use Patterned Paper as an Embellishment

For me, patterned paper is the supply of supplies. The one thing I couldn't scrap without. Not only is it the most versatile supply, it's also the least expensive. Win win!  So let's go big with some patterned paper and use it for the main embellishment on your page. It doesn't have to be something super complicated or time consuming, just interesting. Sometimes I like to challenge myself to use it in a different way, and sometimes I go to my bag of tricks. Do you have a bag of tricks? You should! They are just techniques that you've used in the past that worked! Stuck on a layout? Pull out one of your tricks to get your layout 'un-stuck' and before you know it you'll have something you love. 

A few of my favorite tricks with patterned paper:

• Grab your scissors and cut. Circles, stars, hearts. This is a great way to mix up a lot of papers on your page, too. 
• Have a paper with great elements, but it's a little busy for the page? Cut out the elements and use them on your page.
• Strips. Wide, skinny, short, long. Create a background, a border, or a base for your title.
• Make something. I love making pinwheels and rosettes ... fun and easy ways to add interest & dimension to your page. The bigger the better of course! 

"Summer Swim Team", by Shannon Tidwell.

For my first layout today, I made a little party on my page. I love creating dimensional accents with patterned paper. They don't weigh the page down a ton....or make the $ value of the page skyrocket. I let the silly string in the photos inspire the accent. Curly-Q's are so simple to make.  Just trim super skinny strips of paper and the wrap them around any round tool you've got. I left my curly-q's pretty tight, you can unroll them some to help loosen them up, or use a larger round tool to wrap them around. 

Your first question might be, what are these going to look like in your book? The answer: still fun! I'll kind of arrange them as I put the page in the page protector. Instead of seeing the top of the curly-q's you'll see the side, which will still be fun. Go ahead, have a little party on your next page!

"Baby Love", by Shannon Tidwell.

And the technique I chose for my second layout, I grabbed my trusty fringe scissors. You could do this same technique with regular scissors, but the fringe ones make it go a lot faster ... and the cuts are more uniform. I love how the fringe scissors kind of curl the paper automatically. This adds a lovely bit of texture and dimension. And if a little fringe is good, a lot is great!  (This is kind of my motto with everything in scrapbooking.)

To create the fringe border on this layout I cut several strips of patterned paper.  I usually cut them about 3" wide and then I have plenty of room to fringe and overlap them. Plain strips of paper would have been okay, but the fringe makes the paper an embellishment. 

Let's see what the Bella Blvd team has for you!

"My 2 Loves", by Nancy Damiano.

I love the eclectic look of mixing different patterns gives. I used the Silhouette to cut a little more than a dozen hearts out to adhere to the page. I chose both large and small patterns, as well as solid colored and multi-colored patterns to give the heart collage some pop.  I adhered the hearts with a mix of buttons and mini-staples, as well as pop dots for a layered look. The entire collage was built on a square of vellum to ground it to the layout.  The row of black and white photos of my husband and son through the years really stands out against the stark colors. This was such a fun and easy look to pull together. A little bit of this and a little bit of that - just how I like my pages!

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Calendar, Petite Pieces, Miniatures; Winter Wonder: Blizzard, Icy; Spring Fling & Easter Things: Moms Bouquet, Alpha+Bits; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Saltwater, McIntosh

"Pretty Tulips", by Becky Williams.

To create these flowers I simply cut narrow strips of patterned paper, added glue to the center and folded the ends to the middle. I then layered the strips and added a button with strong liquid adhesive. 

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Sprinkles and Lace Oyster, McIntosh; High Five Alphabet Stickers: Black/White; Spring Flings and Easter Things: Egg Hunt; Designer Tape: Red Dot, Pickle Juice Dot; Button Market: Snowflakes, Zebra, Bursts

"Wipeout", by Melissa Stinson.
{A Winter CHA Layout}

I'm just going to gloss over the fact that my husband and I were crazy enough to use our kayak as a sled (we hardly ever have snow here, so our existence is a sledless one) and skip straight to the techniques. I'd been wanting to try Marcy Penner's chevron tutorial for a while, and these photos of my husband falling out of the-kayak-I-shall-not-mention just begged for the jagged edges of a set of vertical chevrons. It kinds of makes the whole layout say "ouch," don't you think? And, yes, there is video of us being insane on YouTube...somewhere. ;)

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Blizzard, Toasty, Ski Slopes; Button Market: Snowflakes; Flags: Winter; Sophisticates: Blue High Five Alphabets

"Lara", by Sue Mylde.

As a teenager in Singapore, I took the bus to and from school. These buses had mini printout tickets which we teens like to 'create' something with. One of my favorite things is to create these paper origami hearts with them. And for this challenge I wanted to make these hearts for this layout too! While I used one of the hearts out by its lonesome, I've also clustered up some hearts together to create a flower and then layered it on top with another one of those cute blooms from the Bella collection! Cute, right? I love these Spring Flings & Easter Things collection - so bright and fun! It's not yet spring here in Calgary but I'm sure feeling the warmth of this page!

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: Egg Hunt, Mom's Bouquet, Sunny Sunday, Borders, Cute Cuts, Alphas +Bits; Blooms-a-Bella

"Sending You Sunshine" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

For this card I cut a bunch of clouds out of the Happy Clouds patterned paper from the Sunshine and Happiness line. Cutting images out of patterned paper is one of my favorite "techniques"!! I used the clouds to embellish around the sunshine from the Cute Cuts sheet. I adhered a couple of the clouds with foam adhesive to add some dimension to the card. I thought this was a perfect card to use the "Sending you some sunshine" sticker from the Alpha+Bits sticker sheet. Challenge complete!

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Happy Clouds, Cute Cuts, Sunny Side Up, Juicy Good Time, Alpha+ Bits Sticker Sheet; Flags: Floral

"Congrats" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

I used my circle punch to punch some patterned paper from the Baby Boy line. I also punched kraft cardstock with a slightly larger circle punch. Then I added the patterned paper on top of the kraft and created a big circle border across the card. I cut a couple of tiny hearts out of the Borders sheet from the Baby Boy line and used them as small embellishments on the card. Fun!

Supplies:
Baby Boy: Alpha + Bits stickers, It's a Boy, Momma's Boy, Cute Cuts, Borders

********************************************************************

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.

I saw a few questions come up in the comment section, and wanted to answer them here:
1. Yes ... cards count the same as layouts!
2. You don't have to have a blog to participate. You can link us to your project on Flickr, Pinterest, or in an online gallery.

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

**********************************************************

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. 

Challenge Week With Guest Designer Shannon Tidwell: Day One

We hope you're ready for a TON of inspiration this week! We thought it would be fun to have a week-long feature, revolving around challenges. Challenges having to do with pattern paper, to be exact. Paper is one product that every single scrapbooker has ... usually, in large amounts, right?!?! You can't create a layout, without using paper. We also wanted to invite a special guest designer, to help lead us in our challenges. When I think of a scrapbooker, who is super talented with pattern papers of all colors, patterns, and designs ... there is one name that immediately comes to mind. Let's get to know the talented Shannon Tidwell!

Hi, I'm Shannon! So here's the deal. I feel so silly talking about myself in third person, 'Shannon was a member of..blah blah blah'. Instead I'm going to give you the basics, honestly. I'm just a scrapbooker. I discovered 'scrapbooking' as we know it during the summer of 2000 in the check out line at Wal-Mart, thank goodness for long lines that day and a handy magazine rack. It was if the sky opened up and the angels sang. I then absorbed as much as I could, bought everything I could find, scrapped every spare moment I had. About a year later I was asked to join the Garden Girls Design Team at 2Peas. I've been lucky enough to stay on that team for the past 10+ years. I've taught several online classes at TwoPeas, complete with video tuturiols where I jabber like a goober. I got to be on the Better Homes and Gardens Scrapbooks, Etc. Creative Team in 2005. My favorite publishing accomplishment was having my son's photo on the cover, that's pretty cool. My biggest goal ... to keep enjoying and loving this HOBBY we call scrapbooking. And make a few pretty pages, to boot.

The photo I chose to share as my profile pic isn't anything fancy. It was captured with a phone camera. But it's a favorite because I remember feeling so cute that day. Don't you have days like that? Your hair is good, your clothes are good, and you're happy. Capture it, even if you feel silly posing in front of a crowd of people.

The non-scrapbooking stuff. I'm a mom, a room mom, a team mom, a wife, attempting to be a runner, and always a student of photography (and editing to fix my photography mistakes.)  You can visit my blog HERE. It's a mix of shopping, scrapping and mommy talk.  Enough talk, let's get on with the scrapbooking! Thanks so much to Stephanie, Laura, and Bella Blvd for inviting me to Guest this week!

*******************************************************

Monday Challenge: Use Cute Cuts On Your Layout

I love the Cute Cuts. Using them actually reminds me of the good ol' days when we had to cut out our lettering. I find the cutting therapeutic. The other great thing about Cute Cuts is that you get a lot of big embellishments for not much money, yay! Here are a few ideas for using Cute Cuts that I want to try:

• Create a scene, add a few pop dots to make it 3-dimensional
• Use one as a base for your title
• Add glitter or gems to dress them up a bit
• Punch partial images of the Cute Cuts for fun accents

"Attitude", by Shannon Tidwell.

And the idea I used for my layout is to create a patterned paper of sorts with the Cute Cuts.  I started with a 4x6 photo and a 4x6 of patterned paper.  I added the border below and then the title (which is also a Cute Cuts).  Then I cut several of the circle designs from the Cute Cut and arranged them onto the patterned paper to create a bolder pattern.  My biggest tip when working with circles, make sure you overlap some off the edges to keep the design balanced.  I adhered the baseball circle with a couple pop dots to make it stand out.

For the bottom portion of the layout I added my journaling but still felt like it needed something else.  But I didn't want to upset the 'top heavy' balance I was going for.  So I opted for a pen-line border as well as a few sequins stapled on. I've said before that I think the metal staples adds a little masculinity to the sequins...at least that's the story I'm sticking with.

The talented Bella Blvd Design Team is participating in the challenge too!  Here are their layouts.

"Dreams Are LIke Games", by Loredana Bucaria.

Hi everyone! Today is a Cute Cuts inspiration day and I want to share with you this page:) I have used a collection that you can imagine to use for a boy or a masculine theme and instead I used for me :) Ohh yes, because dreams are like games you have to believe in them hardly to make them came true! Don't you think? This picture was made by my iPhone and I love it. The cute cuts are sooo easy to use and they make a cool touch to my page :) I've added a lot of different embellishments and for this time I 've used one products line, is very fun to play with all kinds of materials from just one line :) Try to challenge yourself you will be so satisfied of the result!

Supplies:
Making The Team: Wall Of Fame, Cute Cuts, Borders, Alpha+Bits, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Ciao Chip; Mr Boy: Ciao Chip

"A Mild Winter", by Megan Klauer.

I am super bad about taking photos of my kids during the winter, and well this year we just haven't had much snow to play in. So, I decided that would be my focus for this page; a mild winter. I focused on how in January {in the midwest!} I was able to run outside to help reach a few goals. I used the "photo tabs" from two of the alpha+bits pages to create a simple pattern down the side of my design. I also decided to do most of my journaling on my computer as I knew it would be long. I still wanted to add some of my own handwriting, so I left a few pages to fill in a bit of information.

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Ski Slopes, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits, Just Write Stickers, Miniature Stickers

"Baby Boy", by Kim Arnold.

How cute is the elephant on the Cute cuts paper from the Baby Boy range? I just couldn’t resist cutting it out to include it on my layout. I also cut around his ear with a craft knife and popped it up with foam tape.  I thought it (and the whole super cute Baby Boy range) was perfect to include on this layout where I finally got around to scrapping the ultrasound photos of my son.

Supplies:
Baby Boy: It’s A Boy, Cute Cuts, On The Go, Baby Blue, Wild About You, Miniatures, Ciao Chip Icons; Button Market: Stars

"You Need Froggy on A Cloudy Day", by Katherine McElvain.
{A Winter CHA Layout}

Sometimes a die cut perfectly fits a theme of a layout. The Cute Cuts Bella Frog, with its bulgy eyes, looked just like my daughters favorite stuffed animal. So I had to add him to this layout of her snuggling with her froggy when she was in a gloomy mood one day. To add the umbrella in Froggy’s hand (do frogs have hands? Not sure) completed the theme.

Supplies:
Spring Flings: Cute Cuts, A Tisket A Tasket, Sunny Sunday, Borders, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Sophisticates: High Five Alphas (blue, green, yellow), Card Sentiments Miniatures, Punch, Ciao Chip Clouds; Designer Tape: Yellow Chevron; Flags: Floral

"Smile" card, by Kathy Martin.

With spring being my favorite season, I’ve really enjoyed creating with the Spring Flings & Easter Things collection. Any spring craft or celebration I can think of works with these colorful papers and accents! Both my son and I have spring birthdays and this versatile line is perfect for birthday celebrations too!

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: Egg Hunt, Sunny Sunday, Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits; Sophisticates Miniatures: Card Sentiments; High Five Alpha Stickers: Green

"It's A Boy" card, by Kathy Martin.

I’ve lost count of how many scrapbook pages and cards I’ve created with this line! I can’t help myself, it’s so darn cute and fun to play with. I’m really smitten with these images like the animals and this adorable onesie!

Supplies:
Baby Boy: On the Go, Borders, Cute Cuts

********************************************************

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.

On-Going Guest Designers: Sarah Klemish & Kryssi Ng

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 next set of fabulous designers, Sarah Klemish and Kryssi Ng.

In the scrapbook world I am known as “Sarahak”, in the real world I am Sarah Klemish (wife, mother, daughter, sister). I still remember the first Creative Memories class I took 10 years ago – cardstock and pictures cut in funky shapes! I still treasure those layouts but since then my style has changed. I am typically what is known as a “simple” scrapper. Straight lines, white space and sewing, that sums it up. I am currently designing for Creative Memories (talk about coming full circle)! I have been published in Scrapbook Trends and was on the Better Homes and Gardens Scrapbook Etc. team for a year. I still do work for Scrapbooks Etc. and get published with them regularly. Love the hobby, love the people and love being asked to participate on fun projects! Thanks Bella Blvd! 

"Max Lovely", by Sarah Klemish.

My oldest son Max was thrilled to have to put on a suit for his Aunt’s wedding (and I am not being sarcastic – he WAS excited). Of course I had to get some shots of him looking so handsome and grown up! I am totally obsessed with black cardstock these days. I love how it makes the Bella colors pop and it works great with all the lines. Here I started with the black background and then center a piece of white cardstock on that. Then I pulled out the Lovey Dovey collection and got to work.

I then covered half of the white cardstock with a piece of the Bear Hugs paper – the fun word search graph side!  After adding the picture I cut a corner out of the Love Is In The Air paper and sewed it to the corner. I added a heart sticker to the corner.  

I then ran a border of the Borders N Blocks paper across the bottom of the center papers, overlapping the picture. I pop dotted a border sticker directly under my photo. I added 3 of the Cute Cuts flowers to the left of my picture. I used pop dots to add the Cute cuts heart. I added the title using Simply Simona Chipboard Letters (Oyster).  Buttons, journaling strips…done. 

Supplies:
Lovey Dovey: Bear Hugs, Borders N Blocks, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Cute Cuts, Love Is In The Air; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Oyster

"Raindrops", by Sarah Klemish.

I really have been taking a walk down memory lane and scrapping some older pictures of my kids. In these pictures my son Max (who is now almost 14) was enjoying a late summer rain at his cousins. You know at this age (4) any reason to get out the umbrella is a good thing! The Spring Flings & Easter Things collection was perfect for this layout! I started with a neutral background and basically centered my layout on that. After adding a block of graph paper I added two 4x6 photos (cutting one down slightly and overlapping on the full size picture). I then added a thick strip of the Mom’s Bouquet paper (rounding the top left corner only), overlapping the two pictures. Up top I pop dotted a turquoise scallop sticker running the length of the graph paper. I then added a red heart (with pop dots) from the Cute Cuts paper on to the border. 

After cutting a circle from the Sunny Sunday paper and adhering it to the left side of my main picture, I added (with pop dots) the cute frog from the Cute Cuts paper. Using pop dots (can you tell I love them!) I added the “Raindrops falling on my head” sticker from the Alpha + Bits Stickers. To complete the layout I added a few journaling strips and some clear buttons!

Supplies:
Spring Flings and Easter Things: Mom’s Bouquet; Alpha+Bits Stickers; Cute Cuts; Sunny Sunday; Quattrofino Alpha Stickers: Milk and Oreo

"It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas", by Sarah Klemish.

I love this older picture of my son visiting our local Santa house with his preschool class - notice not one of the kids is looking at the camera! Typical and so funny. I love the fun whimsical feel of the Christmas Wishes line! I really wanted the focus to be on the picture so I made it extra large! Above the picture I sewed two blue strips cut from the stripe. I then added the “December 25” sticker tab with pop dots.  Under the picture I used the “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas” sticker from the Alpha + Bits Stickers (cutting the word “Christmas” from the sticker and adding pop dots). 

I used the chipboard “Christmas” letters from the Chipboard Icons to complete the title (pop dotting the chipboard heart to dot the “I”). After adding a pop dotted yellow scalloped sticker (Spring Flings and Easter Things Alpha + Bits Stickers) and red stripe sticker (Winter Wonderland Alpha + Bits Stickers) under my title I added a pop dotted chipboard Christmas tree! Super fast and easy (and I love that I was able to use 2 non-Christmas Bella lines on a Christmas layout)!

Supplies:
Christmas Wishes: Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Spring Flings and Easter Things: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Winter Wonder: Alpha+Bits Stickers

********************************************************************

I live in NYC with my husband and two little girls. I started doodling and drawing at a young age and pursued an education in fine arts. That lifelong passion eventually led me into the world of paper crafting and graphic designing. Most of my waking hours are dedicated to tending to my family but on the small window of free time on some days -- you can find me in my room making cards (and sometimes scrapbooking a layout) or tinkering around with Photoshop/Illustrator. Anything but cleaning!

"Birthday Wishes" card, Kryssi Ng.

I love pretty much all the Cute Cuts in the Bella Blvd lines. As a cardmaker primarily, it's a quick and easy solution when I'm in a rut or in a rush. The images are all ready to use, just snip and adhere onto a card base. I love the bright, happy colors against a plain white card. Simple and charming! I added a bit of twine on the handle to give it a bit of deptth of texture. 

Supplies:
Spring Flings and Easter Things: Cute Cuts; Miniatures

"Get Well Soon" card, by Kryssi Ng.

For this card, I focused on making a more masculine card. There are so many beautiful browns and blues in the Winter Wonderland line, piecing together the coordinating papers was simple enough. I just had to throw in a red twine to finish off the card! Brown, aqua and red is one of my favorite go-to color combinations!

Supplies:
Winter Wonderland: Alpha+Bits, Just Write, Miniatures, Toasty, Ski Slopes

"Happy Winter" card, by Kryssi Ng.

I'm not much of a layer-er. I like my cards clean and simple, and a little graphic. Love the graphic geometric patterns found in this collection -- works really well in backgrounds for cards! The trees were cut out and adhered. Red bling finished off this card.

Supplies:
Winter Wonderland: Cute Cuts, Miniatures, Ski Slopes

"Remember", by Kryssi Ng.

Layouts are always a challenge for me, I admit! But still, I make a huge attempt at it anyway! :) I tried to go messy, but the OCD in me ended up aligning things and making sure every splatter was perfect. In the end, I kinda like it -- and I love the bright colors that the Winter Wonderland lines added to my muted photo. 

Supplies:
Winter Wonderland: Alpha+Bits, Blizzard, Borders, Just Write, Miniatures, Ski Slopes

January Guest Designer: Summer Fullerton

Today, we want to give a very warm welcome to our January Guest Designer, Summer Fullerton.

Hi everyone! I’m Summer Fullerton, and I am a craft-a-holic. Thanks for letting me stop by the Bella blog today. I live just outside Portland, Oregon with my 2 kids (Grant and Corinne) and husband of over 17 years. I have been scrapbooking as we know it today for about 14 years. But really I started when I was in High School taping photos and memorabilia to typing paper and putting it in 3 ring binders. When I am not running my kids around or paper crafting I also love to cook, sew and the occasional round of golf.

"Snow Silly Layout", by Summer Fullerton.

I was super thrilled when Laura emailed me about guest designing this month. I have been a huge Bella fan for a several years. The papers are so easy to work with they practically scrapbook themselves. When I first opened my box I jumped on Winter Wonder. I always find my winter photos are hard to scrapbook because they tend to have white mixed with a smattering of random colors from the jackets and sleds. This line is so great because it mixes so many colors from red, to pink and even teal. This made scraping these photos so easy.

Baby Blooms-A-Bella Headband, by Summer Fullerton.

My box was full of Bella Blvd Baby Blossoms. I can remember the first time I saw these little treasures at CHA. I immediately thought they would make great little hair accessories. How could I resist making this head band for my daughter. I used a simplicity headband from Joann’s Fabrics and wrapped it with simple grosgrain ribbon then I hot glued the flowers to the headband.

"Easter 2007", by Summer Fullerton.

I admit I don’t scrapbook in chronological order. I stopped years ago and found it a liberating experience just scrapbooking what ever inspired on a given day. I pulled out some photos from 2007 to pair with Bella’s Easter line. I have actually had these photos on my flash drive to scrapbook for quite sometime I just needed to find the perfect papers. I was inspired by the look of the Becky Higgins project life albums when I designed this layout.

"Happy Birthday" card, by Summer Fullerton.

I love chipboard number sets and was thrilled to see them in my box. I really wanted to show them off in a birthday card. This is what I came up with.

Thanks for letting me play this month. I had a blast. Bella’s graphic designs and small patterns are tops in my book. Happy Crafting everyone!    ~Summer

On-Going Guest Designers: Carina Lindholm & Wendy Bretz

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 second set of fabulous designers, Carina Lindholm and Wendy Bretz.

Hello everyone! I’m Carina Lindholm. I live in a small town in the middle of Sweden with my husband Per and our three children Marcus (8), Filip (6) & Alva (5). I’m a stay at home mom, but I sometimes work extra in a scrapbook store. I consider myself both a scrapbooker and a card maker and my style is playful and I like to use lots of color on my projects. When I’m not paper crafting I love to sew, read and spend time with my family.

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

“How To Build A Snowman”, by Carina Lindholm.

When I first saw the cute snowman stickers I knew I wanted to create a layout using this photo of my youngest son. He looks so happy hugging the snowman he just helped to built.

I love all the fun stickers that go with this collection, they really gives your projects that extra something. I adhered the circle stickers using foam tape so that they would pop of the page. And these tiny word stickers are just the best. I used quite a few to really give my layout a winter feeling.

Supplies:
Winter wonder: Ski slopes, Toasty, Alpha+Bits stickers, Just write journaling stickers

“Frosty Friends” card, by Carina Lindholm.

I really love the colors on this card yellow, red & teal. These colors and the cute snowmen can bright up anyone’s day. I added some glitter to give the snowmen some extra sparkle.

Supplies:
Winter wonder: Icy, borders, Miniatures stickers

“Winter Wonder” card, by Carina Lindholm.

I cut out three trees from the Cute Cuts sheet of patterned paper. I also painted two pieces of white cardstock using snow paint. I adhered the snow cardstock pieces and the trees to the card using foam tape, to create a winter wonderland.

Supplies:
Winter wonder: Cute cuts, Toasty, Alpha+Bits stickers

“Winter” card, Carina Lindholm.

I cut out the skates from the Cute Cuts sheet of patterned paper and hung them over the green paper. I love to give my projects some dimension so I adhered the skates and the sticker photo corner to the card using foam tape.

Supplies:
Winter wonder: Ski slopes, Blizzard, Borders, Cute cuts, Alpha+Bits stickers.

*****************************************************************************

My name is Wendy Bretz and I currently live in a small town located in Western New York, along Lake Erie. I am a full-time working mother to an adorable, energetic little girl named Hannah. I started scrapbooking about 8 years ago when Hannah was born. She was a true gift from God and she has changed my life in so many ways that I can't even begin to describe. My style of scrapbooking is very clean, simple and graphic. Since I began scrapbooking I have met some incredible people who have guided, encouraged and taught me a lot throughout the past eight years. I look forward everyday to talking with friends I have met and creating new designs for layouts my daughter can one day admire.

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

"Our Tree", by Wendy Bretz.

Christmas is my absolute favorite Holiday to scrap and Bella's Winter Wonder line couldn't be any more perfect for my layouts for this time of year. Along with this line, I was able to incorporate two of their other lines in my layout to create the perfect page about our Christmas Tree for Hannah's album.  

As always, I started by printing my journaling out on a piece of white cardstock. I kept it simple and created triangle trees using patterned paper. I aligned them along each side of my journaling, added my title, a chipboard elements and photos to finish.

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Toasty; Finally Fall: Bliss; Making The Team: Alpha+Bits

"Always", by Wendy Bretz.

Simple, graphic, tiny photo and circles … four things that represent my scrapping style! For this layout I decided to stay true to my scrapping style and create a layout that draws your eyes not only into the title/message of my layout but also towards my photo.  

Using the words in the Tall Tag as my message, I added my title above and below, splitting the word in half. The red letter stickers stand out and draw you into the words in the Tall Tag. I created four small, white, open circles using a punch and adhered them across my layout. I then added a strip of words from the patterned paper across the circles and placed my photo to finish. Once again, the circles and word strip draws your eyes to my photo.

Supples:
Sophisticates: Quattrofina Peep & Saffron, Tall Tags; Family Dinamix: Words of Wisdom

December Guest Designer: Erin Terrell Clarkson

Today, I'm excited to introduce you to our December Guest Designer!

Erin Terrell Clarkson has been scrapbooking for 14 years now and works as a contributing editor for Scrapbooks etc. magazine. She has contributed to numerous idea books through Scrapbooks etc., Making Memories, and Provo Craft. She lives in San Antonio, TX, with her daughter (and subject of most of her layouts), Daisy.

Hi all! I’m Erin, and I’m excited my pal Laura asked me to participate as a guest blogger on the Bella Blvd blog today! Bella Blvd has always been one of my favorite scrapbook companies because the coordinating collections make my job as a designer soooo much easier. The designs are super-cute, too. The Christmas Wishes collection is one of my favorites, so I’m going to share a few Christmas projects here today.

"Time To Open Presents", by Erin Terrell Clarkson.

I’m a fan of lots of color on my layouts, so this one is just that – very colorful. I selected a basic turquoise cardstock background, printed my photos in B&W, and then matted them in white so they’d stand out. I added strips of colorful patterned paper along the top and bottom of the page to liven things up.

I added stickers for the title, embellishments, and for a bit of journaling. The main portion of my journaling was printed on white cardstock and cut into strips.

I used a large circle punch on the patterned paper with the polka dots, then lightly sanded the edges.

I added a pop dot behind one sticker for dimension and a button to the polka dot paper for extra texture.

*********************************************************************

"Dear Santa", by Erin Terrell Clarkson.

For this layout, I combined color photos with a B&W shot. I didn’t have too many photos from this event, but that’s ok because it left more room for embellishments and fun. 

The bottom right-hand side of the layout is very colorful (again – I love color!), but is basically just lots of patterned paper and stickers layered together. I punched the cute reindeer from patterned paper with a large circle punch and I added the dot from a lowercase red letter “i” (foam sticker) to create a 3d nose for him.

I had to add polka dots again, because they are my favorite and I seem to use them on every page I create. I trimmed them to create a whimsical frame to help ground the stickers and patterned papers.

This layout came together very quickly because I stuck to a very simple color scheme.

*********************************************************************

"I Love Santa", by Erin Terrell Clarkson.

Anyone who knows me knows I don’t do complicated cards. I like easy ones that can be mass duplicated, and this one fits the bill. I trimmed patterned paper for the main message on the card, used a large circle punch again to trim Santa as the main graphic for the card front, then added a simple border with stickers. Easy! Which is good, because I’m always short on time during the holidays…but I still like to give a card that is handmade.

Thanks Laura, for inviting me to participate, and thanks to Stephanie and the rest of the gang at Bella Blvd for creating such adorable scrapbook papers and embellishments! Merry Christmas!!