Bella Blvd Studio Blog

Cards On Thursdays

With Mother's Day coming up in a few days, I asked a few of our Card Designers to create cards that would be perfect for the occasion.

"Happy Mother's Day" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

I really love how the Bella Blvd products work so well together. On this first card I went with a fun pink, brown, and yellow color scheme using products from 4 different lines! Making stuff sure is fun and easy when all the products coordinate so well!

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Petal Power; Spring Fling and Easter Things: Miniature Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Baby Girl: Chipboard Icons; Winter Wonder: Toasty; Button Market: Wood Mix

"It's Your Day” card, by Gretchen McElveen.

On this next card I used some of the new Ciao Chip (Family Words and Clouds) with papers from the Sunshine & Happiness and Baby Girl lines. I don't know if I have ever used a pink, purple, and red color scheme like this before...but I think I like how it turned out! Happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers out there!

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Petal Power, Borders; Baby Girl: Pretty in Pink; Ciao Chip: Clouds, Family Words; Sophisticates: Pink-Red High Five Alphabets

"Best Mom" card, by Laura Vegas.

It might seem a bit odd that I turned to the Tail Waggers & Cat Naps collection when I sat down to make a few Mother's Day cards. A pet collection for Mother's Day cards? Sure, why not! I am very driven by color, when making my paper choices, and I just love the colors and patterns in this collection. The small circles patterned paper has little hearts and paw prints in some of the circles. To cover up the paw prints, I just used a regular hole punch to punch out some of the circles with hearts from a scrap piece of paper, and adhered them over the paw prints using mini pop dots.

Supplies:
Tail Waggers & Cat Naps: Treats, Borders N' Blocks; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Pink; Quattrofina Alpha Stickers: Pink-Red; Designer Tape: Teal Stripe

"Congrats To The Best Mom" card, by Laura Vegas.

I started this card with a few of the pattern papers from the Tail Waggers & Cat Naps collection as well, but mixed in a bit more red and pinks this time. I used a mix of a Ciao Chip "Mom" word, some letter stickers, and a flag, to create my sentiment. I also used a fun cloud border punch along a few strips of patterned papers, and layered them together along the bottom of the card.

Supplies:
Tail Waggers & Cat Naps: Blocks N' Borders, Cute Cuts; Winter Wonder: Blizzard; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace McIntosh; Family Dynamix: Quadrants; Ciao Chip: Family Words; Quattrofina Alpha Stickers: Pink-Red; Flag: Just Married

“Mom, You Make My Days Better” card, by Alice Carman.

Love that this week’s cards are focused on Moms. Now I have 2 cards ready to go for Mother’s Day. Yay! Using some favorite dies, I punched out some flowers and played with some borders. 

Supplies:
High Five Alphabets: Green; Baby Girl: Snuggly Safari, Miniatures; Sunshine & Happiness: Sunny Side Up, Borders

“Mom” card, by Alice Carman.

I think I went die cutting crazy on this card. Just love the different shapes you get and how it alters the look of the paper. Just love this Lovey Dovey line, don’t you?

Supplies:
Lovey Dovey: Alpha+Bits, Love is in the air, Cute Cuts, Borders, Circle of Love; Estate Sale: Hat Box; Designer Tape: Teal Stripe

"Mother's Day" card, by Wendy Wagner.

This card has a lot going on, like most of my scrapbooking! I love pattern, layers, and bling. The flags accent it perfect and are easy to attach to the pop dots under the heart. There is also some inking, glimmer mist and stickles going on. This is for sure a card I would love to get! Enjoy your upcoming Mother's Day :) 

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Popsicle Kisses, Borders, Juicy Good Time; We're Expecting: Miniatures Stickers; Baby Girl: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Flags: Floral, Spring Flings & Easter Things; Sophisticates: Stars & Hearts Ciao Chip; High Five Alpha Stickers: Blue, Green

"Happy Mother's Day" card, by Wendy Wagner.

This card was super simple but very classy. Three simple circles popped and inked, along with a matching crochet flower. I added the cute little Mothers Day banner and a cute border across the top. All on the simple white makes it a clean, easy to see simple card. Much different from the way I usually scrapbook, but sometimes it’s fun to go outside the lines! Enjoy!

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Peep, Sprinkles & Lace Banana, Sprinkles & Lace Ice, Ciao Chip Borders; Crochet Flowers: Daisies, Juniper, Dahlia; Spring Flings & Easter Things: Miniatures Stickers

Cards On Thursdays

Welcome to another round of cards on thursdays! We have a wide variety of themes from our designers today, using a ton of the different collections. It's always fun to see how well the collections mix together.

“Spring Spectacular" card, by Deanna Misner.

I love that Spring Flings and Easter Things simply screams Spring. From the pinks and greens, blues and yellows, to the florals, I really love this line. It makes me think of bouquets of all the Spring flowers I love the most. Which, of course, is why I made this card--to give with some flowers.

Supplies:
Spring Flings and Easter Things: Egg Hunt, A Tisket a Tasket, Borders, Cute Cuts, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Crochet Flowers: Daisies

"Remember I Love You" card, by Deanna Misner.

I love that the Sophisticates line comes with miniature flashcard cut-outs that include the days of the week, and I thought I'd feature them in a card. And I love that the color schemes match the current lines too. SUCH a nice little added bonus. I paired the Petite Pieces with some miniature stickers from the Winter Wonder line, and a couple of borders from Christmas Wishes and Spring Flings and Easter Things. Who knew I could use all those different holiday and themed product lines to make this card!  (Pssst...it was Stephanie, that's who. ;) )

Supplies:
Sophisticate: Petite Pieces; Winter Wonder: Miniatures Stickers; Spring Flings & Easter things: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Christmas Wishes: Ciao Chipboard

"Counting Our Blessings" card, by Gretchen McElveen.
{A Winter CHA Project}

I used the Cute Cuts sheet from the Baby Boy line to make this card. I cut the "Counting our blessings" and the blue onesie out of the Cute Cuts and the blue plaid background paper here is the "B" side of the Cute Cuts sheet! I sanded the edges of all the patterned papers on this card to help soften the edges a little bit. Also I adhered the "Counting our blessings" and onesie with foam adhesive to add some dimension to the card. Thanks for looking!

Supplies:
Baby Boy: Cute Cuts, Borders, Alpha+Bits Stickers

"It's A Boy" card, by Gretchen McElveen.
{A Winter CHA Project}

Here is another card where I used the blue onesie on the Cute Cuts sheet. It is just so cute! Between the onesie and the "It's a Boy" strip from the Borders sheet, I really did not need any other sentiment. They did the trick for me! I rounded all 4 corners and sanded the edges of all the patterned papers on this card to help soften the edges a little bit.

Supplies:
Baby Boy: Cute Cuts, Wild About You, Borders, Miniature Stickers

“Our Home” card, by Alice Carman.

I thought I mix it up a bit this week using three Bella Blvd lines. The three lines match up so nicely, you’d think they were all part of the same line from the color palate. It’s another reason why I LOVE using Bella Blvd products!

Supplies:
Finally Fall: Bliss, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Estate Sale: Linens, Hat Box; Honey I’m Home: Bits A Bella, Block Party

“Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” card, by Alice Carman.

Here’s another card using a mixture of Bella Blvd lines. Did you know Bella Blvd also carries clear stamps?  I used the Flirty clear stamp set to make this card and it matches oh so well. I love it!

Supplies:
Socialite: Cute Cuts; Lovey Dovey: Love is in the Air, Sweetheart; Clear Stamps: Flirty

"Happy Mother's Day" card, by Wendy Wagner.

Nothing like a cute fun spring card, and better yet one you can use for Mother's Day! I am in love with all the fun spring colors and how the lines cross over with each other! I stickled the rainbow, inked and added some pop dots behind the white cloud. Added a little bling and a cute crochet flower and what an adorable fun card!!  Inside there is a sweet little journaling sticker to write you message to your loved one!  I made sure that the yellow scalloped edge on the inside of the card was over the edge enough to see from the front when the card is closed! Happy Spring! :)

Supplies: 
Sunny Happy Skies: Cute Cuts; Spring Fling and Easter Things: Miniatures, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Crochet Flowers: Daisies

"Missing U" card, by Wendy Wagner.

This was a fun card to make and a fun way to use the new High Five circle alphas! I used different size pop dots, to pop out the letters higher than the solid color dots. I inked everything with chalk ink. The small solid color dots were punched from matching paper, and not inked so the wouldn't stand out like the alphas. I tied the twine around the whole card so it is visible from the inside as well. The blue letters spelled 'missing' are stickled so they stand out! I didn't use the letter 'U' on the outside because it is a missing you card. It is the only letter popped on the inside to make sure it isn't missed! Did you notice it was missing on the outside???

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Short Stories; High Five Alpha Stickers: Pink/Red, Blue, Green

Step-By-Step Project Sheets: Winter Wonder & Lovey Dovey

Looking for fresh ideas and new inspiration using Bella Blvd products? Want to learn how to mix and match Bella products and create cute layouts? Stuck on a project and need some help? Want to teach a Bella Blvd workshop at your LSS? Or, do you own a LSS and need a sample idea to hang next to our products? If you've said yes to ANY of the above--you're going to love this!

You can download our fifth project sheet, featuring Bella's Winter Wonder collection, by clicking HERE.

Bella Blvd has launched a new monthly feature to help you get inspired and keep you scrappin'. I have been designing a fresh never-featured-before project along with step-by-step directions for you to use, EVERY MONTH! Complete with a list of tools, supplies and Bella products needed, it couldn't get any easier! So dive into your stash today, or check out the online store links (on the sidebar) and pick up your supplies today! You'll get more pages completed with our help! Use us ... that's what we're here for!!!

You can download our sixth project sheet, featuring Bella's Lovey Dovey collection, by clicking HERE.

To find our previous project sheets, from other collections, you simply need to click on "Project Sheets" in the "Category" section on the left sidebar. That will bring up any post, where we have shared project sheets. Or, to make it easy for you today, just click on THIS and you'll be able to download our previous four project sheets!

Layouts On Wednesday

It feels like forever since we have had a "Layouts On Wednesdays" feature! With all of the CHA excitement and our challenge week, I'm pretty sure it's been just a week shy of two months since our last one. So, without any more chit chat, how about we get right to it? We hope you enjoy these "free-for-all" layouts, from a few of our designers!

"Joy And Happiness", by Becky Williams.

In light of recent events in my life and in the world I decided to create this layout as a message to my oldest daughter, Hailey. She is a sweet girl, so smart and talented and quite a perfectionist and as such she can sometimes get down on herself. Everyone needs to be told how wonderful they are now and then. Here I used some lyrics from a Whitney Houston song as the title of the page and used a mix of the brand new High Five Alphabets as well. 

Supplies:
Lovey Dovey: Bear Hugs, Alpha+Bits; Baby Girl: Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits; Winter Wonder: Miniatures; Spring Flings & Easter Things: Egg Hunt, Ciao Chip Icons; Sophisticates: Ciao Chip Borders, Miniatures Card Sentiments; High Five Alphabets: Blue, Green, Yellow, Pink-Red, Black-White; Flags: Girl; Designer Tape: Yellow Chevron

"Wisteria", by Melissa Stinson.

Can it be spring yet? Please? I've been craving flowers lately, so for this layout I pulled out a few photos of wisteria that I shot last summer. I also used this page to show a different side of the new Baby Girl collection. If you take a couple of the B-side prints, throw in a dash of Socialite and a pinch of Too Cute To Spook, you get a different look entirely, and not a baby in sight! I also tried a fun glitter splatter technique, found HERE.

Supplies:
Baby Girl: Daddy's Girl, Borders; Socialite: Tango; Too Cute To Spook: Cute Cuts; Sophisticates: Essentials Brown & Champagne, Simply Simona Prune Alphabet; Baby Blooms a Bella: Champagne

"Dancy Fever", by Kimberly Neddo.

For this layout I used pictures I took with my IPhone. They aren't perfectly clear because the kids were dancing so fast, but I still wanted to scrapbook them. I wanted to create a sort of film strip effect with the pictures, to correlate the action with the film strip and pictures. I kept this super simple and used a combination of AWESOME Bella Products that worked so well to create exactly what I was looking for.

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Short Stories; Family Dynamix: Quadrants; Winter Wonder: Icy; Hello Beautiful: Cute Cuts; High Five Alphabet: Black/White

"Imaginations Gives You Wings", by Allyson Meinholz.

I came across this older photo of my daughter, Amelia (I’m a little behind in my albums). In this photo she is 3yrs old, and she is now going on 8yrs old. But for sure, one of my all time favorite photos of her! I decided to do a blocking background with the pattern papers - and POP the photo as the focus. I embellished with details throughout the page. Once I decided on the title, it was a bit long for the space provided and since the lower part of the photo was wide open I decided to lay the title across the photo and onto the page. The colors of Sunshine & Happiness went along perfect with her shirt and wings. I really enjoyed doing this page - can't believe how TIME FLIES.

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Sunny Side Up, Popsicle Kisses, Happy Clouds, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Miniature Stickers, Flags; Designer Tape: Teal Stripe; Sophisticates: Sprinkle & Lace Plum; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Peep; High Five Alpha Stickers: Red/Pink; Crochet Flower: Daisies: Baby Blooms a Bella: Rossini

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Also, I wanted to remind you that you have TWO days left, to get your submissions in for our challenges from last week! We love the response we have seen so far, and are so glad that so many of you were inspired to take part in some, or all, of the challenges. Keep them coming ;)

Some Altered Project Fun

Today, we have a wide range of altered projects to share with you. We have an adorable set of altered canvases, that have been turned into wall art for a baby's room. There is a super creative little playset, made to be used with a child's favorite toys. Next up, you'll see a bright and happy framed project, to help count down the days until summer vacation. And last, but certainly not least, we have a really fun sports mini album, perfect for any young athlete. Enjoy!

Altered Baby Canvases, by Jennifer Edwardson.

I had so much fun making this sweet baby gift using one of my favorite collections, Lovey Dovey. This started out as a Valentine's project and quickly turned into wall art for a baby's room! I decided to 'scrapbook' these canvases like I would a layout, only without photos. I started by cutting a few background pieces, sanded the edges and adhered them to the 5 x 7" canvas bases.  

Then I precision cut all the Cute Cuts and added some of them to the front of the canvases, raising up a few of them using 3D foam.

I used Ciao Chip alphas for the title with a few sticker words and a Blooms a Bella flower on the elephant. I'm so happy with how they turned out!

Supplies:
Lovey Dovey: Cute Cuts, Love is in the Air, Circle of Love, Sweetheart, Bear Hugs; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Peep, Saltwater; Baby Blooms a Bella: Rossini; Spring Flings and Easter Things: Miniatures

Winter Resort, by Marie-Josée Hamel.

My 7-year-old daughter loves her Littlest Pet Shop collection and has tons of animals, so I thought it would be fun to create a winter resort for her using the beautiful Winter Wonder collection.

To create the ski lodge, I altered a tiny wood house using paint and paper.

The skate rental booth is made out of a small cardboard box that I covered with paper. The skates are cut out of the Cute Cuts paper and adhered to the booth using pop dots. I used easels that I adhered to the back of the trees. This way, they can be moved around as my daughter sees fits.

The ski rack and sled display also have an easel on the back. It was pretty easy to curl the tip of the skis and the sleds; I used a pen and rolled the paper around it.

Speaking of the ski rack, did you notice the tiny ski poles? :) I cut toothpicks in two, punch tiny circles in paper, pierced them with a needle and put the toothpick pieces through them, and then created handles by rolling paper.

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Blizzard, Toasty, Ski Slopes, Icy. Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits, Just Write

Summer Vacation Countdown, by Sheri Feypel.

To say that we look forward to our Summer vacation would be an understatement! We live for our weeks in the North Woods, swimming, boating, tubing, wake boarding, fishing and just hanging out. It is our little paradise! I created this Summer Vacation Countdown so that the boys could see how many days til we hit the road to head Up North. I started counting how many days until we leave, and once I got past 100 I decided we would start our countdown on the last day of school.

This was so fun to create and came together rather quickly. I made a flag banner with some of the patterns from Sunshine & Happiness, created a few flags from the Designer tapes and added some of the Miniature stickers. I layered them with foam pop dots for dimension and added a few paper clips so that we could change the numbers easily.

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Happy Clouds, Play Date, Cute Cuts, Sunny Side Up, Miniatures, Flags; Designer Tape: Teal Stripe, Yellow Chevron; High Five Alphabets: Yellow, Blue; Sophisticates: Ciao Chip Trees

"Game On" mini album, by Suzanne Sergi.

With a boy that loves all sports, the Making the Team collection has our bases covered. Unfortunately, my family lives in Texas, so they are unable to see my son play. I made a quick, and fun album with a few action snapshots to share with them. This paper collection has all the traditional game colors, and one of my favorite elements are the Alpha+Bits sticker sheet. A fast, and creative way to add embellishments throughout this mini. After playing with this collection for the first time, it is safe to say this is my favorite sports line ever!

Supplies:
Making The Team: Chipboard Icons, Wall Of Fame, Fan Club, Borders, Volleyball, Football, Soccer, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Simply Simona: Oreo Numbers; Mr Boy: Chit Chat; Super Stud: Label Additions

February Bella Buzz Newsletter + Valentines Inspiration: Day Three

Valentine's Day might be over, but we're not quite done sharing our Valentines/Love inspiration with you. We have another round of fabulous projects to share with you, from our Design Team. But first, it's newsletter time!!!

If you've signed up for it already, it should have arrived to your inbox this morning. If you have not signed up yet, you can do so HERE, so you can be sure to get on our subscriber list. You can also find previous issues HERE, to browse and download.

You can view and download the February 2012 issue HERE. We really hope you enjoy it, and we want to thank all of the designers who helped contribute to it!

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"The Love Letters", by Nancy Damiano.

One of my favorite things about Bella is that their designs are so versatile. In this page I was able to mix bits and pieces of a winter line (Winter Wonder) and an Easter line (Spring Flings & Easter Things) to make a Valentine page! Although the themes are vastly different, most of the prints are interchangeable for any kind of page you want to make. I just added a simple row of hearts folded in half as a border to add in my bit of "love".

Supplies:
Winter Wishes: Icy, Blizzard, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Spring Flings & Easter Things: Tisket-a-Tasket, Minatures Stickers, Alpha+Bits Stickers

"100% Love", by Loredana Bucaria.

I hope you all had a lovely Valentine's Day! I adore this day. It's sooo cute and has a magical atmosphere that surrounds us. This is a page dedicated to my dear hubby, the love of my life! Having him in my life makes me happy and strong and safe! Love you so much! This is a page for you! I had fun playing with different stickers, phrases and labels :) I adore every single element of the Lovey Dovey collection! Have a wonderful day!

Supplies:
Lovey Dovey: Borders N’ Blocks, Blurbs, Bear Hugs, Alpha+Bits; Making The Team: Ciao Chip; Sophisticates: Essentials Peep & McIntosh

"Simply Love", by Sue Mylde.

As a mom, there's nothing more beautiful than her children. My daughter has been needing a bit of layout love lately, because she's been noticing a number of layouts about her brother more than her so she wondered if there would be stories about her soon. And that's when I created this layout. To tell her how much I love her. A simple, good, strong love. That I couldn't imagine life without her and that she makes my life wonderful. Isn't it beautiful that loves comes in all shapes and sizes? Hope you all had a happy Valentine's day with your loved ones :)

Supplies:
Lovey Dovey: Love is in the Air, Sweetheart, Bear Hugs, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Family Dynamix: Quadrants; Finally Fall: Apple Holler

"Be Mine" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

I stuck with the usual pinks and reds for this Valentine's card. The new Punch Sophisticates paper and Pink-Red High Five Alphabets were the perfect pinks and reds to use! And I thought the calendar sticker from the Sunshine & Happiness Just Write Journaling Stickers would make a great background here and compliment the Sophisticates stuff well.

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Cute Cuts, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Sophisticates: Pink-Red High Five Alphabets, Punch (Hot Pink); Winter Wonder: Miniatures Stickers, Alpha+Bits

"Happy Valentine's Day" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

I went a little less traditional with this card and used a lot of green and brown to compliment the usual pink and red Valentine's colors! I think it turned out kind of fun!

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Borders; Winter Wonder: Blizzard, Toasty, Miniatures Stickers; Sophisticates: Miniatures Family, Miniatures Card Sentiments

"Love" altered canvas, by Suzanne Sergi.

I wanted to create a last minute Valentine gift for my daughter's teacher. I had this 6x6 canvas from a previous project, and thought it would be perfect for valentine decor. I used many different Bella Collections for this project, and love that they all coordinated very nicely with one another. It was quick, and Macie's teacher loved it! A perfect decor piece to display on the kitchen counter, or part of your valentine dinner table.

Supplies:
Plastino: Bermudas; Sweet Celebration: Party Hearty; Lovey Dovey: Love Is In the Air; Spring Flings & Easter Things: Miniatures; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Peep

Valentines Inspiration: Day Two

Happy Valentine's Day!!! We hope you all have a wonderful day, spent with the people you love the most. And most importantly, that there is lots of chocolate involved ;) Here's some more Valentines/Love inspiration for you, from our talented Design Team.

"Love You", by Brook Stewart.

I just love the small patterned sides of all the Bella lines! It makes it so easy to mix and match papers from so many lines! I decided that for this "love" themed layout, I really wanted to go with a grey, yellow and red color combo. I picked up the grey’s from the new Baby Boy line, the yellows from the Winter Wonder collection and the reds from the versatile Sophisticates collection along with the new Designer Tape. I love this picture of my littlest guy ... especially because it was taken by my oldest boy. He's following in his mama's photo-snappin footsteps!

Supplies:
Baby Boy: Mommas Boy, Alpha+Bits; Winter Wonder: Icy, Border, Strips; Sophisticates: McIntosh Sprinkles and Lace, McIntosh Ciao Chip Alphas, Yellow High Five Alpha Stickers, Ciao Chip Borders; Flags: Just Married; Designer Tape: Red Dot

"Family Love", by Kim Arnold.

With the theme for this layout being love I just knew that I had to feature hearts and use the Lovey Dovey range. When I looked at the large pink polka dot paper I had this instant idea to punch hearts out of a similar toned paper and then pop dot one to each heart. I particularly like the one darker colored heart just near that super cute elephant. Each polka dot is then finished with dots of puff paint around the outside.

Supplies:
Lovey Dovey: Sweetheart, Bear Hugs, Love is in the Air, Blurbs, Borders N’ Blocks, Alpha+Bits; Baby Blooms a Bella: Champagne

"Just The 2 Of Us", by Julie Johnson.

I love the versatility of the Sophisticates collection and that I can mix and match it with other Bella collections. Since I was using engagement photos, I wanted to create a layout that was sophisticated and beautiful. I liked the simple beauty of the pink paper with writing from the Lovey Dovey collection so I added a heart shape to my other papers from the Sophisticates collection. Why did I choose this color combination? Not sure. Visually I liked the way they looked when I laid them next to each other so I went with it. I'm a visual person so I like to group colors together to see what looks best and this is what caught my eye. To add detail to the background of the layout I added a splash of red paint and stitched the heart with my sewing machine. My title was created by cutting out the phrase from one of the blurb stickers. I added a calendar to signify the date, some tiny alphabets for journaling, and a few chipboard elements from the Ciao Chip. The final touch was a few rolled up felt flowers with pearl centers and a decorative stick pin. 

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Ciao Chip Essentials Peep and McIntosh, Quattrofina Peep & Saffron, Calendars, Sprinkles and Lace Chlorine, McIntosh, Asparagus, and Ice; Lovey Dovey: Blurbs, Alpha+Bits, Love is in the Air

"XO" card, by Deanna Misner.

Who knew that baby papers could be used for a Valentine’s card? I love how these collections are so versatile! For this one I featured the negative space of a heart, embellishing behind it and inside of it, to create my Valentine.

Supplies:
Baby Girl: It's a Girl, Snuggly Safari, Alpha+Bits

"Love U" card, by Deanna Misner.

Again, the versatility of the Baby Girl collection, especially the Borders paper, can be used to make yet another Valentine. And I love, love, love the font that comes with the collection. It's fun and funky, and just the right size!

Supplies:
Baby Girl: Borders, Alpha+Bits; Flirty: Heart Throb

Valentine's Day Decor, by Marie-Josée Hamel.

This is what our Valentine's Day dinner table will look like this year! I decided to use lots of gorgeous Bella Blvd papers to create name cards, napkin rings, candy boxes and other decor elements. First of all, I gathered a few scraps of paper I had handy, and using a three-heart punch and Spellbinders dies, I cut lots of shapes, which I used to decorate each and every element.

The tiny heart "plant" is made with a recycled spice container, painted toothpicks and hearts punched out of paper.

As for the candy boxes, I bought them at the store and decorated them using paper and ribbon. The small ones are cardboard boxes. 

The heart-shaped one is made out of wood and was painted in pink.

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Peep, Sprinkles & Lace McIntosh, Sprinkles & Lace Oyster; Lovey Dovey: Love is in the Air; Socialite: Countdown; Family Dynamics: Borders and Blocks

Valentines Inspiration: Day One

Do we all know what tomorrow is? It's Valentine's Day! To help celebrate all things having to do with love, I asked some of our Design Team members to create projects with a Valentines or love theme to them. They definately did NOT disappoint! We have tons of amazing projects to share with you over the next few days. So sit back, relax, and let us inspire you!

"I love You So Much", by Megan Klauer.

For this layout I wanted to incorporate different papers & elements from a variety of the new collections. I went searching through my stash for pinks & red, but when I came across all the wonderful yellows in the Sunshine & Happiness collection, I knew it would be a fun twist to the everyday "love" color scheme. I used the chipboard alphabet stickers to recreate a quote I found on Pinterest. The large letters allowed me to make the quote the focal point of my page. 

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Popsicle Kisses, Playdate, Juicy Good Time, Alpha+Bits; Baby Girl: Borders; Sophisticates: Sprinkles N Lace Punch, Chipboard Borders, Miniatures Stickers; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Mcintosh, Peep; Designer Tape: Yellow Chevron

"I Love Us", by Lynn Ghahary.

It's very rare that my husband and I have a photo of just the two of us so I was so thrilled when our photographer snapped a few pics during a recent family photo shoot this past fall. I used the Lovey Dovey collection to document these photos on a layout. I love that this love themed collection doesn't have the typical red, white, and pink color scheme that you see in so many Valentine's Day collections but rather a fun palette that includes gray, pink, purple, and turquoise. A fun twist on a long overdue layout about my one true love!

Supplies:
Lovey Dovey: Love is in the Air, Circle of Love, Sweetheart, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Blurbs Journaling Stickers

"Lots Of Love" card, by Kathy Martin.

I love the non-traditional Valentine colors of the flirty line because you can create a lot more than love and Valentine's projects. This elephant, for example, would be adorable on a baby congratulations card, don't you think? This line, like all Bella Blvd collections, has everything you need to create great looking projects ... borders, stickers, phrases, you name it!

Supplies:
Lovey Dovey: Love is in the Air , Borders N’ Blocks, Alpha+Bits; Socialite: Tango

"Sweetheart" card, by Kathy Martin.

The Flirty line has a lot of adorable patterns and phrases that make it easy to create great projects with! This collection is perfect for Valentine's Day projects as well as anniversary, friendship and more! I really like these fun and funky flowers and I can't get enough of the Miniatures stickers with phrases just right for a variety of purposes!

Supplies:
Lovey Dovey: Love is in the Air, Borders N’ Blocks, Blurbs, Alpha + Bits

"Valentines", by Vivian Masket.

I love how versatile the Sophisticates Sprinkles & Lace papers are! The Peep and McIntosh colors were perfect for this Valentine's Day layout - I punched a bunch of hearts from the papers and used both the Sprinkles side and the Lace side of the papers to vary the patterns and intensity of color in the rows of hearts. The coordinating products made adding additional embellishments and journaling a snap.

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Peep, Sprinkles & Lace McIntosh, Short Stories, Ciao Chip Essentials Peep & McIntosh, Miniatures Card Sentiments

"Sweet Little Valentine Treat", by Wendy Wagner.

Sweet Little Valentine Treat was from 2008 when my little princess was oh so tiny, 4 years & 11 months old. Grandma had made these yummy valentine cupcakes and Annalise enjoyed licking off the frosting! So much of the Bella Blvd product could have been used for this layout. I used brown paint and brown chalk ink for all the edges of my papers and pop dotted the tile of paper with the cupcakes on it and pop dotted one cupcake. Stickles of course on the letters, as I always love a little glitter :) 

Supplies:
Baby Girl: It’s A Girl, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Making The Team: Alpha+Bits; Family Dynamix: Borders N Blocks; Sophisticates: Ciao Chip Essentials Punch, Simply Simonas Chipboard Alphas McIntosh, High Five Alpha Stickers Pink/Red; Flags: Birthday; Crochet Flowers: Poppy

"LOVE" altered wooden letters, by Jennifer Edwardson.

I love love, love these wooden letters. They've been sitting on my shelf begging me to cover them. I chose the word love and it sits in my office because I LOVE to be there scrapbooking and I LOVE that my family supports my addiction to pretty paper. And I LOVE them too! I traced around the letters, sanded the edges and adhered with quick dry liquid glue then 'scrapbooked' the 'o' with bits from my favorite Bella embellishments. Now this word still sits in my office but looks much prettier I think!

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace McIntosh, Sprinles & Lace Oreo, Ciao Chip; Lovey Dovey: Cute Cuts

Layouts On Wednesdays

Today is a free-for-all day for some of our layout designers, where they were free to scrap about anything they wanted too. We're going to give you a little Winter Wonder, a little Spring Flings & Easter Things, a little Lovey Dovey, and a little Christmas Wishes, all in one post! Let's see what our designers have for us.

"You Melt My Heart", by Vivian Masket.

I had fun creating embellishments for this page by handcutting elements (the snowmen from the Borders paper and the snowflake from the Cute Cuts paper) and combining elements (the punched circle behind my journaling combined with the Miniatures stickers). I turned my photo black and white, save for the carrot nose on the snowman. This allowed me to use the fun orange-y yellow color in the Winter Wonder line, and coordinating cardstock, as a prominent color in my design.

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Borders, Icy, Blizzard, Cute Cuts, Miniatures Stickers

"First Fun Run", by Kim Arnold.

Who would have thought that a Spring/Easter collection would be the perfect collection to scrap about a fun run? Well, the fact that this fun run is held on Mother’s Day meant that it was just perfect! This collection is just so lovely and bright and was a pleasure to use.

Supplies:
Spring Flings and Easter Things: Egg Hunt, A Tisket A Tasket, Cute Cuts, Borders, Alpha & Bits, Miniatures; Sophisticates Simply Simona Alpha: Saltwater; Blooms a Bella: Bianca

"Absolute", by Sue Mylde.

The Lovey Dovey collection has always struck me as beautiful and I couldn't resist on using these beautiful papers on my daughter's recent photo close-ups. I love the ability of these papers to be layered and matched with one another. These papers offer a fun opportunity to fussy-cut flower pieces and I love creating clusters of embellishments to draw the viewer's eye to different focal points of the layout.To get a little contrast, I cut out the 'I Love You' arrow sentiment from the journaling stickers and also giving the layout a different perspective. I added some misting and paint to spice up the layout too. Getting messy is fun, isn't it?

Supplies:
Lovey Dovey: Love is in the Air, Circle of Love, Sweetheart, Bear Hugs, Lovey Dovey, Cute Cuts, Borders N Blocks, Alpha+Bits, Blurbs Journaling Stickers; Simply Simona Alphas: Saltwater

"Operation Photo Shoot", by Ebony van der Starre.
(a Summer CHA project)

Tuesday Inspiration

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

image credit: pottery barn teen

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

"Thinking Of You" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

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

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

"Love" card, by Alice Carman.

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

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

"Sweet", by Jamie Harper.

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

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

"Live Today", by Megan Klauer.

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

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

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

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

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

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