Bella Blvd Studio Blog

Layouts On Wednesday

We have another round of free-for-all layouts from our Layout Designers. Let's see what they created for us this week!

“Baseball Buddies”, by Megan Klauer.

In order to create some depth on my layout I first punched 3 large stars from the black card stock. Using a marker, I then traced the stars onto the base paper {Wall of Fame} so I knew right where to add the designer tape stripes. Add the black card stock back over top & you have a unique look for your stars. A simple technique that can be used with multiple punches and a variety of tapes or paper stripes!

Supplies:
Making the Team:  Wall of Fame, Borders, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Designer Tape: Pickle Juice Dot, Red Dot, Teal Stripe

“Field Day”, by Brook Stewart.

The grid side from the Family Dynamics Quadrants paper is one of my go-to background papers these days! I thought it fit perfectly with the Making the Team line and the photos of my guy on his school Field Day. For this layout, I decided how I wanted my photos arranged first and that paper strips and strips of the Designer Tape would work best layered behind them and it came together pretty quickly!

Supplies: 
Making the Team: Fan Club, Soccer, Wall of Fame, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Miniature Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Family Dynamics: Quadrants; Sophisticates Ciao Chip Alphas: McIntosh; Ciao Chip Elements: Borders; Designer Tape: Red Dot, Jail Bird, Yellow Chevron

“Happiness”, by Loredana Bucaria.

Summer is arriving here, even if in the last week we had a lot of rainy days! I need to use colorful embellishments and papers to feel good! For this page I have created 4 little rectangle cards where I have inserted tape and photos and embellishments. I have used the crochet flowers like some dots in a list. I love these so little and cute flowers! I have created 4 sections in four different colors as well and I think that this combination is really cute! Very simple page that catches your eyes on the photos! Have a wonderful day making art!

Supplies:
Spring Flings and Easter Things: Miniatures, Mom's Bouquet, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Sunshine & Happiness: Icons, Miniatures; Baby Girl: Miniatures, It’s A Girl; Baby boy: Baby Blue, Heaven Sent; Ciao Chip Elements: Borders; Designer Tape: Pickle Juice Dot, Yellow Chevron, Pink Stripe, Pink Flowers, Blue Gingham; Flags: Birthday; Button Market: Masculine Mix; Crochet Flowers: Daisies, Dahlia, Juniper

"At The Lake", by Melissa Stinson.
{A Winter CHA Project}

I had one thing (and only one thing!) in mind when I made this layout - layering on lots of fun, bright colors! The Sunshine & Happiness line is just filled with them, and they were the perfect way to document this sweet moment between my niece and her parents while we were hanging out at the lake one day near the end of the summer. I love how well the line pairs up with the Designer Tapes, too, and I used the Pink Stripe pattern to add even more color to the page.

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Borders, Happy Clouds, Popsicle Kisses, Sunny Side Up, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Miniatures Stickers; Designer Tape: Pink Stripe; Sophisticates Ciao Chip: Clouds

Saturday Sketches

Twice a month, we'll be bringing you a new sketch, and showing you a few takes on the sketch by our designers. Today, we have our second sketch for May, courtesy of Becky Fleck. We are thrilled that Becky has agreed to design exclusive sketches, just for Bella!

"Happiness", by Kim Arnold.

This sketch was a really different design for me and I loved it! The Sunshine & Happiness range made it so easy for me to pull this layout together. I particularly loved how you were able to incorporate so many of the different paper designs into this layout with the hexagons; plus the Designer tape made a perfect frame.

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Popsicle Kisses, Sunny Side Up, Happy Clouds, Petal Power, Play Date, Juicy Good Time, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Spring Flings and Easter Things: Chipboard Icons; Designer Tape: Teal Stripe; Ciao Chip Versatile Elements: Clouds, Trees; Flags: Summer

“Little Piggies”, by Nancy Damiano.

I loved this sketch so much, I followed it almost exactly. I think it's the perfect mix of interesting design while keeping the photo center stage. I chose most of the bright patterns from the Sunshine & Happiness collection to make this page about my niece and her cute little piggies. I love how all of the patterns look together in a hexagon shape. I'm not a big flower person, but I love the way these crochet flowers give a handmade feel to the layout. A mix of chipboard and sticker alpha completes the title and this sweet sketch.

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Petal Power, Happy Clouds; Baby Girl: Pretty in Pink, Snuggly Safari, Borders, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Crochet Flower: Poppy, Juniper; High Five Alphabet: Pink-Red; Ciao Chip Sophisticates: Peep

“Popsicle”, by Vivian Masket.

This was a fun sketch to work with! I started by rotating it ninety degrees to the left and then added hexagons (die cut from patterned paper) in roughly the pattern shown in the sketch. I knew that I wanted to end up with a clean, graphic look, so I used fewer patterns than in the sketch and stuck to tone-on-tone patterned papers. I hand cut popsicles from the Sunshine & Happiness Borders paper and used those where the flowers are on the sketch, adhering them with pop dots for added dimension. I tilted the title and journaling elements as that seemed to work better with my interpretation of the sketch. I die-cut a title from black cardstock and printed my journaling on a color of cardstock that coordinated with the patterned paper, adding an extra pop of color to the journaling strips with little bits of Designer Tape. 

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Play Date, Popsicle Kisses, Happy Clouds, Borders, Alpha + Bits Stickers; Designer Tape: Pink Stripe

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We hope you will take some creative time for yourself, and try out our sketch! Whether it's a card, or a layout, we would love to see what you come up with. You can link them here in the comment section, or share them on our Facebook page. 

Layouts On Wednesdays

We have a fun mix of free-for-all layouts to share with you today, from our Layout Designers!

"Playing Baseball", by Sheri Feypel.

I love the Making The Team line by Bella Blvd! The colors and patterns are some of my favorites! Normally I am a one photo per layout kind of scrapper, but I am trying to branch out a bit. I decided on two photos, started with white card stock and built my layout from there. I lay everything out, and make any needed adjustments before I glue anything down. Once I have my "base" down, I start adding embellishments, tape, stickers, chipboard, flags, etc. I like to call that "junking it up." Sometimes I get a little carried away, but honestly I tried to control myself on this layout!  I blame to scrapbooking companies that make all of the cute embellishments that I cannot resist!

Supplies:
Making The Team: Fan Club, Soccer, Wall Of Fame, Cute Cuts, Borders, Quadrants, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Miniatures Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Family Dynamix: Quadrants; Designer Tape: Red Dot; Flags: Sports

"Happy Sounds", by Sue Mylde.

Sometimes it's good to put in a lot of journaling. This page is all about the happy sounds that my little boy makes. He loves animals and trucks and trains too, of course, which little boy wouldn't. And he loves sounding them all out - everything from “choo choo”, to howling like a wolf. It's an adorable trait and phase that I'll be sad to see the back of. So naturally, putting it in a layout is my way of preserving this sweet memory of my boy at 19 months.

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Popsicle Kisses; It's A Boy: Baby Blue, Miniatures, Borders, Chipboard Icons, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers; High Five Alphabets: Blue, Black-White; Ciao Chip Versatile Elements: Borders

“Determined”, by Julie Johnson.

Believe it or not, I am many years behind in my scrapbooking. With having my own business I just don't find the time to scrap. I have always scrapped in chronological order because when I first started scrapping 20 years ago that is the way it was done. When I became so far behind I pretty much wanted to give up. What was the point, I had way too many photos, and it was hopeless to think I would ever catch up. Then, I scrapped with a friend one day who didn't scrap in chronological order. She picked her favorite photos, scrapped them, and then placed them into an album. It was that easy. She said, "who cares if the photos are not in order." As I looked through her books I enjoyed each page individually and it didn't bother me at all to see the photos not in order. Wow! It completely freed me to scrap what I wanted and I don't worry about it anymore. When I was looking through some of my old school photos of my son, I enjoyed thinking back to his younger years...he is now 19...and remembering the times we shared, how young he was, and how much he has changed. I actually enjoy scrapping the REALLY old photos. It brings back memories I didn't know I had.

Supplies:
Making the Team: Borders, Wall of Fame, Volleyball, Quadrants, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits Stickers; High Five Alphabets: Black-White; Flags: Sports; Button Market: Stars

"Sweet Sisters", by Allyson Meinholz.

For this layout I used mainly the Flirty and Sophisticates Collections along with a mix of embellishments. I love how everything came together so easily.  I just love how Bella all works together from new lines to old lines! I am all about matchy-matchy. These photos are from New Years day of 2006. I am a bit behind in my scrapbooks! Hard to believe how time flies, as these photos were taken when we had just two daughters. And we are now expecting our fourth little girl.

Supplies:
Flirty: Heart Throb, OMIGosh, Party Girl, Label Addition Stickers, Bits-a-Bella; Sophisticates: Short Stories, Petite Pieces, Plum Sprinkles & Lace; High Five Alphas: Blue; Ciao Chip Elements: Family Words, Stars & Hearts, Borders; Baby Blooms-A-Bella; Crochet Flowers; Designer Tape: Teal Stripe; Button Market: Pink Flowers

Product Spotlight: Crochet Flowers

Today, we are back with our new feature day, called "Product Spotlight". With the new embellishments that we introduced at Winter CHA, such as the buttons, flags, tapes, and flowers, we want to make sure to share plenty of inspiration and ideas with you for using these new products.

Today, we are focusing on our new Crochet Flowers! Aren't they adorable? They are the perfect size to embellish layouts and cards, at just about 1" in size. They come in four different colors sets, with pinks, reds, yellows, and blues. Our Crochet Flowers are the perfect little touch to add to your projects, adding texture and a little handmade goodness.

"Happy" by Becky Williams.

For this page I kept the design fairly simple by using strips of paper and just a few embellishments. One of my very favorite Bella products are the little Miniatures and Alpha+Bits stickers that always seem to find their way onto my projects. The little crocheted flowers added just the right pop of color and texture to my page.

Supplies:
Baby Boy: Momma's Boy, Borders, Alpha+Bits; We're Expecting: Bella Baby Bump; Baby Girl: Pretty in Pink, Miniatures; Sunshine & Happiness: Borders, Alpha+Bits; Sophisticates: Ciao Chip Sunshine & Happiness icons, Stars & Hearts, Borders, Simply Simona Prune; Crochet Flowers: Dahlia, Juniper, Daisies

“My Favorite Time Of The Year”, by Melissa Stinson.

I had so much fun making this layout using the new Crochet Flowers that Bella introduced at the CHA Winter show. I cut a polka dot background in a sheet of white cardstock, then layered it over a piece of Punch Sprinkles and Lace paper to add a few pops of color. On top of that, I placed Crochet Flowers in several of the background holes to create a scattered effect. While I love all the fun items on this page, after it was finished I still felt like I wanted to see more of those lovely photos, so I pulled out a 4x6 divided page protector and added several more large prints to create a two-page layout. To tie the two pages together, I adhered a small button and another Crochet Flower right on top of the page protector.

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Sprinkles and Lace Punch, High Five Alphabets Red, High Five Alphabets Black; Button Market: Wood Mix; Crochet Flowers: Poppy, Dahlia

“Happy Birthday” card, by Kathy Martin.

I have to have texture! Or I may as well go digital! Not that there’s anything wrong with digital, it’s just that I’m a hands-on type of girl who loves layers, texture and these new Bella Blvd. Crochet Flowers! Now that’s texture! And color! And they include buttons, another favorite of mine!

Supplies:
Flags: Birthday; Designer Tape: Pink Stripe; High Five Alphabets: Pink-Red, Yellow; Crochet Flowers: Poppy, Daisies, Juniper & Dahlia

"Congrats, Congrats, Congrats" card, by Deanna Misner.

This card is all about repetition. I repeated both the circles and the flowers to create a look of consistency and balance. I covered the edge with Designer Tape and folded the excess over the side just like how I'd wrap a present, and to bring a little more yellow in, I added the scalloped "I love you" border. It's an easy card that would be versatile with collection or theme.

Supplies:
Baby Boy: Borders, Baby Blue, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Designer Tape: Blue Gingham; Flag: Just Married; Crochet Flowers: Daisies, Juniper

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

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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

Bella Blvd & The Twinery Team-Up: Day Five

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

"Baby Face", by Deanna Misner.

This is quite possibly my most favorite photo of my son who was a week old at the time. I love that the photo was off center so that I had room to fit the title on top of the actual picture. I also decided to play a little with the twine and create my own argyle pattern. To me, nothing says "boy" better than some argyle pattern, so I criss-crossed gray twine to create the patterns on top of the diamond-shaped papers.

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Baby Boy: Momma's Boy, On The Go, Wild About You, Borders, Miniature Stickers, Ciao Chipboard; High Five Alpha Stickers: Blue; Button Market: Stars

The Twinery Supplies:
Stone

"May" calendar page layout, by Allyson Meinholz.

I am currently working on my pregnancy album for Alayna. Every month, I create a calendar page to document my biweekly doctor’s appointments and multiple ultrasounds. I made a pocket behind the calendar to store the ultrasound photos. I used the twine to create my “May” title, and to create the grass along the bottom of the page.

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Sunny Side Up, Popsicle Kisses, Play Date, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Miniature Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Crochet Flowers: Juniper; Button Market: Feminine Mix, Tie Dye, Aqua Flowers, Fruit Punch

The Twinery Supplies:
Peapod, Lilac, Lemondrop

"Owen", by Morgan Bandkowski.

I decided to make a layout using pictures of my friend's little boy, Owen. I wanted to make it fun so I decided to make the layout look like a big Tic-Tac-Toe board. The twine was a perfect way to make the lines and also the X's. I even used the twine to stitch on the buttons and the Ciao Chip letters. 

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Mr. Boy: Cute Cuts, Dinomite, Connect The dots; Sophisticates: Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: McIntosh; Designer Tape: Red Dot, Jail Bird; Flags: Home Sweet Home; Button Market: Bursts, Stars, Red Flowers

The Twinery Supplies:
Denim, Stone, Peapod, Maraschino

"It's All About The Frosting", by Sheri Feypel.

My son, Logan is the inspiration for this layout. He likes to "rearrange" his cupcakes to get the perfect frosting to cake ratio. I used the Bella Blvd Baby Girl line to document his cupcake eating style. I chose to keep it clean for this layout, adding dimension with foam pop dots and stitching around the scallop circle.

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Baby Girl: Pretty In Pink, Daddy's Girl, Snuggly Safari, Baby Cakes, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers; High Five Alphabets: Pink/Red  

The Twinery Supplies:
Capuccino

“It’s A Girl” card, by Kathy Martin.

For this Twinery project I wanted to use most of the twine colors and create something I haven’t seen yet. Using the same technique I did for my “Easter Egg” layout, I used a scoring board to create horizontal and vertical lines as a guide for the twine. Then I created a weaving pattern following those lines.

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Baby Girl: Chipboard Icons, Miniatures Stickers; Button Market: Feminine Mix; Sophisticates: Miniatures Card Sentiments

The Twinery Supplies:
Shore, Blossom, Honeydew, Mandarin, Stone

"Congrats" card, by Sheri Feypel.

I used Bella's Baby Boy line to create this card. I punched a star in the blue and white striped border and layered it on top of a shipping tag wrapped in twine. I removed the string from the tag and added more twine!

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Baby Boy: Wild About You, Borders, Alpha+Bits Stickers

The Twinery Supplies:
Capuccino, Buttercream, Shore

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Don't forget to head on over to The Twinery blog, and check out what their Design Team has created using their gorgeous baker's twine, and our fun Bella products! Also, there is still time to get in on their giveaway. They are giving away 3 Original Sampler Packs ($15 retail value each) and have asked readers to leave a comment on each of The Twinery's participating designer's blogs EACH DAY. You will have until Sunday to leave comments and they will announce the winners on Monday.

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"Grand Prize" is the Embellishment Bundle includes so many different Bella embellishments including the High Five alphabet stickers in a variety of colors, chipboard alphabets and numbers too, new Crochet Flowers and flags, chipboard embellishments from Too Cute to Spook, Mr Boy and Sophisticates elements, Stick Pin flags, Buttons and Button Mixes, several new Designer Tapes, and clear stamps too! This embellishment Bundle is valued over $50 and could be yours for FREE!

Runner up is the Paper and Sticker Giveaway including patterned papers, embellishment papers and cardstock stickers (12x12") from the following collections: Finally Fall seasonal collection, Estate Sale feminine vintage collection, Making the Team sports and athletics collection and We're Expecting pregnancy papers and stickers. This variety pack is valued over $30.

To be entered in our random drawings for these two giveaways, just leave us a comment on THIS post. We will be announcing the winners on Monday afternoon.

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We want to say a special thank you to The Twinery, including the all the participating designers and the plethora of product that was sent our way from The Twinery's studios. It's such a pleasure to work together in this industry to create excitement about all of our products. We hope you enjoyed this week full of inspiration, variety and giveaways!

Bella Blvd & The Twinery Team-Up: Day Four

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

“Girly Clothes”, by Brook Stewart.

I've had so much fun clothes shopping for our first little girl coming this summer! Her closet is already getting well stocked and I wanted to make sure to document it! I went with a lot of pink on this layout to reinforce the "girly" aspect of the subject. I added the beautiful pink twine colors around the outside as a border and secured them with mini staples. I also added a border of the lighter pink twine around my journaling spot to define it. I just stuck it down with some liquid glue.

Bella Blvd Supplies: 
Sunshine & Happiness: Juicy Good Time, Play Date; We're Expecting: Bella Baby Bump, Baby's First Miniatures; Baby Girl: Alpha+Bits Stickers; High Five Alphabet: Pink-Red; Baby Blooms a Bella: Rossini

The Twinery Supplies:
Pink Sorbet, Blossom

"We Love You" by Becky Williams.

For this layout I wanted to do something I'd seen on projects created by others: writing with the twine. It was a lot easier than I thought it might be. You simply draw the word with liquid glue and add the desired color of twine. You could even mix up the colors by cutting smaller segments of twine. 

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Baby Girl: It's A Girl, Ciao Chip Icons; Baby Boy: Miniatures Stickers; Sunshine & Happiness: Borders, Just Write Journaling Stickers; We're Expecting: Baby's Firsts Miniatures Stickers; Designer Tape: Pink Flowers; Sophisticates: Ciao Chip Borders; High Five Alpha Stickers: Black-White

The Twinery Supplies:
Maraschino, Pink Sorbet, Denim

“Easter Eggs”, by Kathy Martin.

I wanted the twine to really shine on this page so I created a frame with it. In order to make straight lines with the twine, I used a scoring board and then I traced those lines with a glue pen. I could have easily used the Bella Blvd. Spring Things & Easter Things for this dyed egg page, but the new Sunshine & Happiness line is equally adorable and versatile!

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Petal Power, Popsicle Kisses, Happy Clouds, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Chipboard Icons, Flags; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Punch; Button Market: Fruit Punch; Flags: Spring Flings & Easter Things; Ciao Chip: Clouds; High Five Alpha Stickers: Black-White, Blue

The Twinery Supplies:
Lemondrop, Orchid

“When I See You Smile” card, by Megan Klauer.

For the "rainbow-cloud" I took a piece of white card stock, covered the front side with adhesive & glue dots and began wrapping the twine around it. I then added a layer of dimensional pop dots to the top and added another piece of white card stock with the cloud punched out. This is such a versatile technique! Change the punch and the twine colors and you can get a whole new look! Have fun with it!

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Happy Clouds, Cute Cuts, Miniature Stickers

The Twinery Supplies:
Lilac, Caribbean, Peapod, Lemondrop, Mandarin, Pink Sorbet

Heart card, by Morgan Bandkowski.

I attend a lot of weddings so I am always trying to come up with different ideas for wedding cards. I used a die cut of a heart and wrapped twine all around it. I love using the Lace side of the Sprinkles & Lace paper because it gives the card a classy feel. 

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Sophisticates: Spinkles & Lace Oyster, Sprinkles & Lace Oreo; Christmas Wishes: Christmas Love

The Twinery Supplies:
Maraschino

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Now, head on over to The Twinery blog, and check out what their Design Team has created using their gorgeous baker's twine, and our fun Bella products! Also, be sure to check out THEIR giveaway. All the details, on how to be entered in their giveaway, are on their blog. NOTE: This is for The Twinery's giveaway on their blog. NOT our giveaway, which will happen on Friday ;)

Check back in with us tomorrow, for our last day of inspiration. And we'll reveal our big giveaways too!

Bella Blvd & The Twinery Team-Up: Day Three

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

“Hangin’ Out In A Tree”, by Kimberly Neddo.

I really love working with different shapes. For this layout, I arranged different patterned paper shapes in a large circle and wrapped several different colors of twine over the top for a fun effect to draw interest to the photograph, with the movement of the shapes and overlapping, encircled twines.

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Popsicle Kisses, Petal Power, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Ice, Blue High Five Alphabets; Hello Beautiful: Cute Cuts; Baby Boy: Momma's Boy; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Orange; Button Market: Pink Flowers, Aqua Flowers, Fruit Punch; Flags: Summer

The Twinery Supplies:
Caribbean, Pink Sorbet, Lemonade

“Getting To Know Grandpa”, by Brook Stewart.

I love these photos of my youngest little guy with my dad! I wanted to do something fairly simple so that they would be the main focus of the layout. I traced a 9" heart onto the background once I got the other paper strips stuck down where I wanted thyem. I then added a thin line of glue and attached the twine straight on the layout.

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Baby Boy: Baby Blue, Wild About You, Borders, Alpha+Bits; High Five Alphabets: Yellow, Blue

The Twinery Supplies:
Cappuccino

"Amazing", by Laura Vegas.

My first thought, when I got my package of The Twinery's baker's twine, was that I wanted to re-create a layout I did a few years ago, where I had wrapped string around blocks of patterned paper. I choose three colors of twine, and then set about finding tone-on-tone patterned papers to go with each color. By keeping the pattern paper and the twine the same color, it adds a nice subtle touch of interest to the page. I distressed the edges of my papers, which helps "hold" the twine in place, when I wrap it around each piece. I then adhered the twine wrapped pieces to the page using pop dots, for even more dimension. It's such a simple technique to do, but adds a fun touch to the page. 

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Baby Boy: Momma's Boy, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Family Dynamix: Tight-Knit, Borders N' Blocks; Lovey Dovey: Love Is In The Air, Sweetheart, Circle Of Love; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Oreo; Designer Tape: Jail Bird

The Twinery Supplies:
Blossom, Honeydew, Stone

"Green Gators", by Deanna Misner.

Making the Team was the PERFECT collection to feature my daughter's softball team pictures. And since our team is the Gators I, of course, borrowed the cute little alligator embellishments from the Baby Boy collection. Honestly, as soon as I heard our team name I started making this layout in my head. LOL. I knew I'd use those alligators. One thing that I absolutely love about using the twine is that it softens the page while making it a little more girly too. After all that chipboard, it needed some softness.

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Making The Team: Fan Club, Quadrants, Cute Cuts; Sunshine & Happiness: Alpha+Bits Stickers, Flags; Baby Boy: Ciao Chipboard, Flags; Designer Tape: Pickle Juice Dot; Button Market: Pickle Squares; High Five Alpha Stickers: Green

The Twinery Supplies:
Honeydew

"You Are My Sunshine" card, by Sheri Feypel.

I started out by piercing the shape of a sun, then adding the stitching. I wanted the sunshine to be the focal point of the card and chose a small sentiment to go along with it.

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Family Dynamix: Quadrants; Designer Tape: Yellow Chevron; Spring Flings & Easter Things: Miniatures; Sunshine & Happiness: Alpha+Bits Stickers

The Twinery Supplies: 
Lemondrop

"Sending You Sunshine" card, by Allyson Meinholz.

I used Sunshine & Happiness along with some Sophisticates chipboard and some buttons to create this card. I punched out a scallop circle and used the twine to go around & around, to make the raise of the sun. I added a chipboard accent, sticker, and a button for more dimension. Once I finished the card, I decided to add stitching to the outside edge, all around the card.

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness:

The Twinery Supplies:
Lemondrop

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Now, head on over to The Twinery blog, and check out what their Design Team has created using their gorgeous baker's twine, and our fun Bella products! Also, be sure to check out THEIR giveaway. All the details, on how to be entered in their giveaway, are on their blog. NOTE: This is for The Twinery's giveaway on their blog. NOT our giveaway, which will happen on Friday ;)

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

Bella Blvd & The Twinery Team-Up: Day Two

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

"Sunshine and Happiness" by Becky Williams.

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

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

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

“Dream Big Little Girl”, by Megan Klauer.

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

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

The Twinery Supplies:
Peapod

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

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

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

The Twinery Supplies:
Lemondrop, Shore, Marachino, Blossom

“Get Well Soon”, by Brook Stewart.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Twinery Supplies:
Blossom

“Happy 4^th” card, by Kimberly Neddo.

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

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

The Twinery Supplies:
Maraschino and Denim

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

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

 

Saturday Sketches, On Friday

Stephanie is crazy busy this week, finalizing the new products for Summer CHA, so she's not around for her usual Friday post. So I figured we would post our sketch feature a day early. Twice a month, we'll be bringing you a new sketch, and showing you a few takes on the sketch by our designers. Today, we have our first sketch for May, courtesy of Becky Fleck. We are thrilled that Becky has agreed to design exclusive sketches, just for Bella!

“Summer Beauties”, by Kimberly Neddo.

Sometimes when I'm working with a sketch, I turn the print out of the sketch around to change it up a little bit. Changing direction, can be just what I need to be inspired and get to creating. For this layout, I turned it to the side, and used the title as the circlular part of the sketch. I love how this turned out, and how it inspired me to create.

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Happy Clouds, Sunny Side Up, Alpha+Bits, Miniatures; Ciao Chip: Family Words, Clouds, Springs Flings & Easter Things Icons; Crochet Flowers: Dahlia; Flags: Spring Flings & Easter Things

“Ziplining”, by Julie Johnson.

I just love this color combination. Perfect for sunny, outdoor photos. By the look of these photos you would think it's summertime, but no, it's a beautiful sunny January day on Catalina Island just off the coast of California. If you are familiar with my design style than you know I like to ink or distress the edges of my paper. But sometimes I also like the look of the colorful crisp edges but I always think I still need something to bring all the paper pieces together. I know it's a little "old school" but I still love to doodle. I use a very fine pen, .01, so I can get the finest lines possible and I am very random with my line work. I think the trick to doodling is not to have all your lines look alike. So mine are very random; some short, some long, over lapping, and even small dots in between. Once in awhile I even like to add in a heart or flower. It adds tons of detail to your layout but doesn't over power it. Try it...it's fun!!

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Sunny Side Up, Popsicle Kisses, Happy Clouds, Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Miniatures Stickers; Flags: Summer; Ciao Chip: Stars & Hearts, Borders; High Five Alphabets: Yellow; Crochet Flowers: Juniper

"Mad About You", by Sue Mydle.

Playing with this sketch was utterly fun. Rather than the two photos, I put four photos on the page, but offset them a little to give a bit more interest. The fun pieces from the Baby Boy collection simply lend themselves to whimsy, fun and cute!

Supplies:
Baby Boy: Momma's Boy, Wild About You, On the Go, Heaven Sent, Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Flags: Girl; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Brownie, Saltwater; Designer Tape: Blue Gingham; Button: Stars

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We hope you will take some creative time for yourself, and try out our sketch! Whether it's a card, or a layout, we would love to see what you come up with. You can link them here in the comment section, or share them on our Facebook page.

 

Layouts On Wednesdays

It's another round of Free-For-All layouts today, and we have a very fun mix of layouts from our designers!

"Geeky Happiness", by Melissa Stinson.

I've been having a little too much fun with my Silhouette lately! It's a great way to quickly try out new techniques that might take much longer if pieced by hand. For instance, the sunburst pattern that I cut from the Sophisticates Sprinkles and Lace paper is a Silhouette cut file that I changed the dimensions on a bit to make it fit my layout- so much faster than measuring, cutting, and piecing by hand. Versatile tools like this are a great way to get even more from your Bella Blvd papers!

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Sprinkles and Lace Surf n Turf, High Five Alphabets Blue; Winter Wonder: Icy; Sunshine & Happiness: Popsicle Kisses, Happy Clouds, Chipboard Icons; Button Market: Masculine Mix, Stars; Decorative Tape: Teal Stripe

"Run Rabbit Run", by Kim Arnold.

I love the flexibility of the Sunshine & Happiness collection. There is a large amount of pink in this range, but it is also very easy to create a layout without any pink at all – as I have done with Run Rabbit Run. The super cute little chipboard bunny is from the new Spring Flings and Easter Things chipboard.

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Popsicle Kisses, Sunny Side Up, Happy Clouds, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Miniature Stickers; Spring Flings & Easter Things: Chipboard Icons; Button Market: Masculine Mix; Sophisticates: Green High Five Alphabets

"Bones”, by Vivian Masket.

The fish skeleton flag from the Cat flag set was the perfect embellishment for this unusual set of photos I've been hanging onto for a while. I repeated the design of the flag embellishment by die-cutting a fish skeleton from the gray chevron B side of the Momma's Boy paper and used both the positive and negative shapes on my layout. The two basic patterned papers I used here added pops of color without taking the focus off of my photos. The white High Five Alphas worked well for adding the finishing touch of a title layered over my smaller photos.  

Supplies:
Baby Boy: Momma's Boy; Flags: Cat; Christmas Wishes: Candlelight; Sophisticates: High Five Alphabets (Black-White)

"Good friends", by Gretchen McElveen.
{A Winter CHA Project}

Believe it or not, this rather "busy" layout is just 2 sheets of patterned paper, the Alpha + Bits sticker sheet, and a few of the white High Five alphabets mixed in! You sure can do a lot with the Borders patterned paper, a sheet with lots of flowers to cut out (Petal Power), and a bunch of fun stickers!

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Petal Power, Borders, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sophisticates: Black-White High Five Alphabets

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!

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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.

Layouts On Wednesdays

Are you ready for some more free-for-all layouts, by our Layout Designers? Let's see what they have for us today!

“Funny Days”, by Loredana Bucaria.

Today I want to share with you some little ideas in order to use the new embellishments! I have used the designer tapes, which are amazing, to create some little frames behind the pictures. You can use some dimension adhesive to give even more emphasis to the photos! Play with them mixing the way you insert them in your page! Play with lovely and tiny strips of papers, they are gorgeous on a white background! At the end add some little details!

Supplies:
Baby Boy: Miniatures, It's A Boy, Baby Blue, Momma's Boy; Baby Girl: Alpha+Bits, Miniatures; We're Expecting: Bella Baby Bump; Sunshine & Happiness: Miniatures; High Five Alphabets: Pink-Red; Crochet Flowers: Daisies; Button market: Wood Mix, Neutrals Mix; Designer tape: Pickle Juice Dot, Yellow Chevron, Teal Stripe, Pink Stripe; Flags: Baby Girl

“6 Flags”, by Nancy Damiano.

I love the bright happy colors of the Sunshine Happiness line! It such a versatile line and I think it looks great with these pictures of my son at a local theme park. I cut some different patterns of yellow patterned paper for my sun "rays" and added a pocket of denim to add texture and a fun spin to the page. A few of my favorite photos and some chipboard complete this springtime layout.

Supplies:
Sunshine Happiness: Happy Clouds, Sunny Side Up, Miniatures; Making the Team: Wall of Fame; Winter Wonder: Icy; Family Dynamix: Quadrants; Flags: Summer; Designer Tape: Pickle Juice Dot; Ciao Chip Versatile Elements: Clouds; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: White Numbers, Pickle Juice

“My Neighbor”, by Katherine McElvain. 

One of my favorite products of the Bella release this season is all the new chipboard icons. I wanted to highlight a few of those cuties on this layout. I stitched a couple of circles and plopped the chipboard in those spots with some other fun Bella pieces. The rest of the circles were filled with coordinating Bella prints. It was fun to search though my new and old patterns to come up with a combination of yellow orange and turquoise to create a summery background.          

Supplies:
Sunshine and Happiness: Popsicle Kisses, Sunny Side Up, Happy Clouds, Alpha & Bits Stickers; Baby Boy: Baby Blue; Baby Girl: Daddy’s Girl; Sunny Happy Skies: Creamsicle Clouds; Finally Fall: At the Beach; Ciao Chip: Clouds, Trees; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Brownie; High Five Alphabets: Yellow, Blue; Button Market: Wood Mix

Layouts On Wednesday

It's the middle of the week. Wednesday. Which means it's time for another round of Free-For-All layout shares! We have a good mix of boy and girl layouts today. Something for everyone! 

"Tattoo Tape", by Kim Arnold.

I love taking a different spin on paper ranges and using them for topics that you might not immediately think of. Making the team is a range aimed at sports, but to me a large number of the papers and embellishments are just perfect for any “boy orientated” layout. I love the graphic prints and ended up adding just a touch of the Mr Boy range to finish off this layout about the tattoo tape that my physio applied to Benson when treating his arm.

Supplies:
Making the Team: Quadrants, Wall of Fame, Volleyball, Chipboard Icons, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Mr Boy: Borders n’Blocks, Chipboard Icons, Chit Chat Chipboard; Ciao Chip Simply Simona Alphabets Oyster

“Sherrard Short Sox”, by Megan Klauer.

Create a statement with a photo; print it BIG! My photo is 8x12. It has a good amount of white space which keeps the focus on the subject & leaves plenty of space to add embellishments and interest to your design. Add a bold title & well balanced clusters and it's a page design you can use over & over again!

Supplies:
Making the Team: Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha + Bits Stickers, Chipboard Icons, Miniatures Stickers; Sophisticates: Plum; Button Market: Text

“Baby Boy”, by Loredana Buccaria.

Hi everyone! Who says that a baby line can be used only for baby boys? I have dared myself to use it for a page about my baby boy, my man and I had a lot of fun! I love these colors and this kind of embellishments, they are really amazing! The chevron paper is amazing, I love it so much! I would to insert everything on a side and add many embellishments, I would a clear and simple page to give more attention to the photo! I love this photo of my hubby, I love him so much and this collection has helped me to create a so lovely page, don't you find? Ok now is your turn!!!! Try to use a collection that you'd never use and create a page! I am curious to see what you will create!

Supplies:
Baby Boy: Borders, Ciao Chip Icons, Miniatures, Wild About You, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Momma's Boy; High Five Alphabet Stickers: Black-White; Flags: School; Buttons Market: Wood Mix

"J'Adore", by Sue Mylde.

I knew immediately what I wanted to do with these Sunshine & Happiness paper when I got them in my DT package! I love these cut outs and fussy-cutting them out for the page was a lot of fun. I pasted the washi tape frame and then did a little spray misting in different colors - blue for the sky, green for the grass and yellow for effect, layered behind the photo. I love layers and to create the layering effect for the 'grass and flowers' on this page, I cut out two layers for the grass, pasting them one behind the other. I then fussy-cut out the flowers from the 'Borders' patterned paper and layered these on. The crochet flowers give an even more fancy layered effect to the grass! Those clouds and the sun were made for cutting too! Added the buttons for a more eclectic feel and a few sentiments seals the deal. I loved every element of this Sunshine & Happiness collection. Could create with these for days!! Thanks Stephanie! So very pretty!!

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Happy Clouds, Borders, Petal Power, Cute Cuts, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Miniatures Stickers; High Five Alphabets: Yellow; Designer Tape: Teal Stripe; Buttons: Feminine Mix

"Supah Star Diva", by Kimberly Neddo.
{A Winter CHA Project}

Yes, I have a poser! Lol. I love this line of paper for these photographs. The border chipboards are great to cut up and use around the page also. The new Pink and Purple colors are so pretty and complimenting to mix and match together and with other other Bella Blvd lines.

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Plum, Sprinkles & Lace Punch; Spring Flings & Easter Things: Miniatures Stickers; Making The Team: Miniatures Stickers; High Five Alpha Stickers: Black-White; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Saltwater; Buttons: Stars; Flags: Text Me

"Miles Of Smiles", by Allyson Meinholz.

I really enjoyed making this layout once I had a photo and an idea. I sometimes feel a bit overwhelmed when I have a "Free for All", just because I have so much Bella product and I want to use it all. When looking thru my photos, I realized it has been a year since we drove down to Disney with our 3 little girlies. And it is one album I have not started yet. So, no better time than the present to do a bit of Disney using Bella Blvd. I used my Cricut to cut out the back overlay and built my page off of there. My favorite part was making the tabs of Designer Tape pop. First I ran the tape onto white cardstock so I was able to cut pieces, and then I popped it off the page using pop dots. I also loved using buttons to make the little Mickey Mouse ears!

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace McIntosh, Tall Tags, Borders, Ciao Chip Oreo; Midterm: Text Me; High Five Alpha Stickers: Pink-Red, Black-White; Designer Tapes: Red Dot, Jail Bird, Yellow Chevron; Button Market: Text, Wood Mix, Neutrals Mix, Masculine Mix; Crochet Flowers: Daisies; Baby Blooms-A-Bella: Saffron

Saturday Sketches

Today, we have another round of Saturday Sketches. Twice a month, we'll be bringing you a new sketch, and showing you a few takes on the sketch by our designers. Today, we have our second sketch for April, courtesy of Becky Fleck. We are thrilled that Becky has agreed to design exclusive sketches, just for Bella!

"Making Memories", by Becky Williams.

This was such a fun sketch to work with! Oftentimes I feel the urge to fill my pages with lots of things and don't always allow enough empty space for the eye to rest so this was a good challenge for me. I mixed the Sunshine & Happiness floral paper with bits of the Baby Boy collection and it worked surprisingly well. I love that the baby collections have papers versatile enough to use for everyday pages. 

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Petal Power, Miniatures; Baby Boy: It's a Boy, Heaven Sent, Cute Cuts, Wild About You, Baby Blue, On the Go, Alpha+Bits; Designer Tapes: Red Dot, Jailbird; Flags: Floral, Summer; Button Market: Blues, Neutral Mix

“Forever Friends”, by Kimberly Neddo.

I really loved the simplicity of this sketch. It made this layout just fall together with ease! I took this photograph while I was visiting some long time friends in Arizona. It was so great seeing them, and picking right up where we left off. Good friends like this in our lives, needs to be recorded and remembered.

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Popsicle Kisses, Sunny Side up, Miniatures; Baby Boy: Mamma's Boy, Alpha+Bits, Miniatures; Flirty: omigosh; Flags: Girl; Designer Tape: Yellow Chevron; Ciao Chip: Clouds; High Five Alpha Stickers: Black/White

"Favorite Cheeky Monkey", by Sue Mylde.

Working with a smaller picture, and a bigger title, I moved the title in the sketch to take up the space on the right side of my page. The cute mini flags were created out of the 'Heaven Sent' and 'On the Go' paper. I love using my white gel pen for the dark background to help pop the journaling. I thought the little quote from the Mr. Boy Chipboard set went really well with my little monkey's page because this sure seems to be what he's thinking when he's up to no good these days.

Supplies:
We're Expecting: Coming Soon; Baby Boy: Heaven Sent, On the Go, Cute Cuts, Miniature Stickers; Mr. Boy: Chit Chat Chipboard; High Five Alphabets: Green; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Pickle Juice

"You're Mine", by Wendy Wagner.

Another amazing line by Stephanie, and one of my favorites! A photo of my darling little daughter at the young age of 5. These colors seem to compliment her personality perfectly! And a lot of the times I look at her I am amazed that she is mine :) I rounded the corners as the sketch shows, and followed it almost exactly. It's what I usually do with sketches, which is why I love them so much! It cuts my time in half when I'm working on a layout! 

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Happy Clouds, Cute Cuts, Popsicle Kisses, Flags; Crochet Flowers: Juniper

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We hope you will take some creative time for yourself, and try out our sketch! Whether it's a card, or a layout, we would love to see what you come up with. You can link them here in the comment section, or share them on our Facebook page.