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

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

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 ;)

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

Layouts On Wednesdays

It's been almost a week now, since our new products started shipping out to stores and online retailers. We hope that you're all tracking down the new goodies, filling up your shopping carts, and having fun using them on your projects! We can't wait to see how you use all the new collections and embellishments! Which leads us to another Free-For-All layout day, where we share what our Design Team is doing with both old and new Bella products.

"Play Ball", by Lynn Ghahary.

Spring is all about baseball in my house especially now that BOTH of my boys will be playing. Lots of time will be spent at the ball field these next few months that's for sure. This photo is one that I snapped last year and I just love how the line-up of dirty cleats and bats on the bench depicts so much of what this sport is all about. Of course I used the Making the Team collection for this layout - the colors and patterns were just perfect!

Supplies:
Making the Team: Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Stickers, Borders, Cute Cuts, Football, Soccer; Family Dynamix: Alpha+Bits

"Suddenly A Boy", by Laura Vegas.

Zachary is one of my daycare kiddos, and lately, it's really hit me just how big he's gotten, in such a short amount of time. I dug out these four photos of him, all with a similiar look and pose, and thought it would be fun to show them side by side, on one layout. I pulled papers from a few different collections, to create a very "boyish" layout.

Supplies:
Baby Boy: Momma's Boy; Mr Boy: Dinomite, Follow Me, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Icon Chipboard; Midterm: Borders N' Blocks; Making the Team: Quadrants, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Simply Simona: Oreo; Flags: Boy: Button Market: Blues; Stars, Masculine Mix; Designer Tape: Red Dot, Pickle Juice Dot, Jail Bird

"Sweet Girl", by Melissa Stinson.

Sometimes it's fun just to scrap a photo for no reason other than you really like it. There's no huge story behind this layout. It's just a photo I snapped of my niece one day while she was playing in her crib. Such a cutie!

Supplies:
Spring Flings and Easter Things: Mom's Bouquet, A Tisket a Tasket, Egg Hunt, Cute Cuts; Baby Blooms a Bella: Azzini, Rossini; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Saltwater Alphabet

"My Little Jokester", by Brook Stewart.
{A Winter CHA Project}

Silly pictures … these are the kind of pictures I get these days from my 7 year old. He likes to make faces at the camera and then see them as soon as we take them. He’s my little jokester for sure! The Oyster Sprinkles and Lace paper has become on of my “go-to” papers when I want something subtle that will make everything else pop. That’s exactly what it did for these super fun new Ciao Chip Borders, which was one of my favorite things from the new releases this year!! I also mixed in several colors of the new High Five Alphas, another one of my favorites from this release!

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Oyster Sprinkles and Lace, Oreo Sprinkles and Lace, Short Stories, Chip Borders, Yellow High Five Alphas, Green High Five Alphas

"Brand New Baby You", by Becky Williams.
{A Winter CHA Project}

It was so fun to look back at these pictures from when my Lily was brand new- the Baby Girl collection papers are such a great mix of patterns perfect for baby pages.

Supplies:
Baby Girl Collection: Baby Cakes, Sweet Dreams, Snuggly Safari, Daddy's Girl, Borders, Alpha+Bits, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Miniatures, Ciao Chip; High Five Alphabets: Pink/Red, Green

"Sweet Cheeks", by Kathy Martin.
{A Winter CHA Project}

This new Baby Boy collection is my favorite boy collection to hit scrapbook stores in a long time! I love the colors, patterns and adorable animal images! It was a lot of fun and so easy to put this page together because  it's such an inspiring line! I'll be creating a lot of projects with these adorable papers since they'll work for so many different kinds of projects!

Supplies:
Baby Boy: Wild About You, On the Go, Borders, It’s a Boy, Cute Cuts, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Miniatures Stickers; Button Market: Masculine Mix

Tuesday Inspiration

Welcome to another Tuesday Inspiration day, here on the Bella blog. 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 Source HERE, Etsy Seller HERE}

“She's A Swingin”, by Kimberly Neddo.

I was so inspired by this photograph of garland and color, so I decided to mimic it with paper and design on a layout. I LOVE the colors! If you want to make a garland like this, you can make one easily too. Just punch out random circles with papers of your choice. Then feed them one at a time through your sewing machine. You can space them apart as much as you want also. A fun technique for a fun look. Thanks for looking!

Supplies:
Making the Team: Volleyball, Cute Cuts, Borders, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Tail Waggers and Cat Naps: Cute Cuts; Hello Beautiful: Cute Cuts; Midterm: Borders and Blocks; Spring Flings and Easter Things: Mom's Bouquet; Hello Beautiful: Cute Cuts; Lovey Dovey: Borders and Blocks

"Spring Spectacular", by Nancy Damiano.

I love the clean, crisp look of a white ground and especially when it's paired with a bold color pattern. To make these pictures pop, I added some texture to the background with the Silhouette postage stamp cut. Then I layered stickers, color photos and a row of black and whites. My favorite part of the layout is the garland. I love how the inspiration piece is sewn together and emphasizes the circular shape. Instead of sewing the garland, I strung them on white string and attached them to the layout with a tiny stapler. I like how they add a splash of color and pattern to the page.

Supplies: 
Spring Fling and Easter Things: Borders, Mom's Bouquet, A Tisket-a-Tasket, Alpha+Bits, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Winter Wonder: Blizzard; Making the Team: Wall of Fame

"Luv U" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

What a fun piece of inspiration! I was inspired by the colors and all the circles. I used a very neutral background and then punched circles out of a variety of green and blue scraps of patterned paper. On this first card I created a scalloped border out of the punched circles and then cut the border of hearts out of the Baby Boy Border sheet to add above the scalloped border. The alphabet stickers are from the Winter Wonder Alpha + Bits sheet!

Supplies:
Estate Sale: Fresh Linens; Baby Boy: Borders, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sophisticates: Surf N Turf; Winter Wonder: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sunshine & Happiness: Borders, Happy Clouds

"Thanks For Everything" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

On this next card I still used a neutral background and punched a bunch of circles out of green and blue patterned papers. Then I lined up the punched circles over the neutral background. I cut out the heart from the Winter Wonder Cute Cuts sheet and substituted it for one of the circles. Then I adhered the heart and the sentiment with foam adhesive to add some dimension to the card.

Supplies:
Estate Sale: Fresh Linens; Winter Wonder: Cute Cuts; Sophisticates: Surf N Turf, Miniatures Card Sentiments; Baby Boy: Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sunshine & Happiness: Happy Clouds, Petal Power

“It’s a Boy” card, by Kathy Martin.

I used the ultra adorable new Baby Boy collection for this card full of circles to match our inspiration photo. This little lion head sticker from the Alpha+Bits stickers is a favorite and looks so sweet as a focal point for my card. To create my sentiment flag, I cut a piece of the borders paper and attached it to a stick pin.

Supplies:
Bay Boy: Baby Blue, Wild About You, Borders, Alpha+Bits Stickers

“Thanks” card, by Kathy Martin.

All the paper circles of our inspiration photo inspired me to create a card with circle cut-outs and I this floral Flirty paper was perfect peaking through, don’t you think? And wherever there are flowers, there are usually bees like this adorable Ciao chip bee.

Supplies:
Flirty: He Loves Me; Spring Flings & Easter Things: Ciao Chip; Sophisticates: Miniature Card Sentiments Family

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We hope you can find some inspiration by this image 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.

Cards On Thursdays

It's Thursday, so that means another round of free-for-all cards from our Design Team. We're going to start out todays post with one last project from our March Guest Designer, Kim Jeffress! We hope you enjoyed her amazing projects this week, and maybe even tried out a few of her fun challenges. We want to thank Kim for joining us this month!

"Birthday" card, by Kim Jeffress.
{March Guest Designer}

Welcome back to the Bella Blog. I have one last challenge for you today. How about creating a card for a special occasion. Recently a friend asked me to make a card for her sister in law who lives in England. I wanted it to be bright and cheery so of course the Spring Flings and Easter Things collection was just perfect. I have mixed and matched pattern papers and also layered an element from the Just Write sheet with foam tape to add depth to the flower. I also added some bright sequins to further add to the festive feel.

For my CHALLENGE I would love to see some bright happy cards shared from you all - be they birthday, friendship, love or just because.

"Just A Little Note" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

I went all blue & purple on this card! I cut out more flowers from the Sunshine & Happiness border sheet and combined them with the large purple flower sticker from the Just Write Journaling Stickers. I used a circle punch to punch a piece of patterned paper from the Baby Boy line (I love how well the lines coordinate!) to cover up the sentiment on the purple flower sticker. Another thing I did was outline the purple scalloped border sticker with a black pen to help it stand out better against the background cardstock.

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Happy Clouds, Borders, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits; Baby Boy: Cute Cuts

"Saying Hi" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

I was feeling very monochromatic when I made my cards this week! And I absolutely love the flowers in the Sunshine & Happiness line! So I cute out some pink and red flowers and combined them with the red flower from the pack of Chipboard Icons and decorated this card. Fun stuff!

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Pink-Red High Five Alphabets; Sunshine & Happiness: Borders, Cute Cuts, Play Date, Chipboard Icons

"I'm Crazy About You" card, by Kathy Martin.

Sophisticates papers are great to keep on hand because they coordinate with almost every Bella Blvd. collection and they also work well on their own. I love the stripes and bright colors of this B side of the petite pieces paper and thought it bold enough for my dotted design.

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Petite Pieces; Spring Flings & Easter Things: Ciao Chip; Ciao Chip Essentials: Asparagus & Pickle Juice, Peep & McIntosh

"Thanks Sew Much" card, by Kathy Martin.

I have always loved quilts, especially vintage quilts with all the hand stitched pieces of fabric that was often bits and pieces of clothing that was too worn in places to wear anymore. Quilts that use white backgrounds with colorful blocks of floral fabric for their design are just gorgeous and when I see some of the Spring Fling & Easter Things patterns, it reminds me of the perfect fabric for quilting.

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: Sunny Sunday, Cute Cuts

"It's Your Day" card, by Kathy Martin.

I really enjoy taking a themed collection and creating something different with it. The collection that I used for this card is called Making the Team and with its bright pattern papers and fabulous B side designs, it works perfectly for birthday celebrations!

Supplies:
Making the Team: Borders, Cute Cuts, Wall of Fame , Soccer, Quadrants, Ciao Chip; High Five Alpha Stickers: Black/White

"Feeling Lucky", by Morgan Bandkowski.

I decided to make a St Patrick's Day card since it is one of my favorite holidays (I even have a shamrock tattoo)! Since Bella Blvd doesn't have a St Patrick's Day line I had to think outside the box. I've said it before & I will say it again. I love how versatile Bella Blvd's collections are, I used products for this card from 7 different collections!

{Inside of card}

Supplies:
Sunny Happy Skies: Magic in the Sky; Lovey Dovey: Bear Hugs; Winter Wonder: Toasty; Spring Flings & Easter Things: Alpha+Bits; Socialite: Alpha+Bits; Sweet Celebration: Sugar Cone; High Five Alphabet Stickers: Black/White; Flags: Camping; Baby Blooms A Bella: Champagne

"For Peeps Sake" card, by Morgan Bandkowski.

I decided to mix an old & new collection & created a spring/Easter card. The colors & designs from Swing into Spring & Spring Flings and Easter Things really work well together. I love to use pop dots to add some dimension.

Supplies:
Swing Into Spring: Rainbow Ribbons, May Flowers; Spring Flings & Easter Things: Sunny Sunday, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits

 

Layouts On Wednesdays

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Equation Egg", by Katherine McElveen.

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

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

"All About The Uniform", by Nancy Damiano.

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

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

"The Right Toys", by Vivian Masket.

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

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

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

Challenge Week With Guest Designer Shannon Tidwell: Day One

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

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

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

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

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Monday Challenge: Use Cute Cuts On Your Layout

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

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

"Attitude", by Shannon Tidwell.

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

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

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

"Dreams Are LIke Games", by Loredana Bucaria.

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

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

"A Mild Winter", by Megan Klauer.

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

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

"Baby Boy", by Kim Arnold.

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

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

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

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

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

"Smile" card, by Kathy Martin.

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

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

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

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

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

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And now, we are going to ask you to play along with our challenge! This week, we will be featuring FIVE challenges. But it's not just about showing you what we came up with. We want to see your take on our challenges too. And we have a little extra incentive to get you creating and sharing.

We will be drawing one winner, to receive a prize package of $100+ worth of Bella Blvd products!

But this is different than our regular giveaways. You will have to participate in the challenges, in order to be entered in the drawing for that prize package. If you participate in one challenge, your name will be entered in one time. If you participate in three of the challenges, your name will be entered in three times. Make sense? And how about a bonus. If you participate in all five challenges, your name will be entered in not five times, but TEN times! We really hope you'll join in on the fun with us. Just click on the button below, to link us up to your completed projects. You have until Friday, March 2nd, to get your links added on. We will then announce a winner on Saturday, March 3rd.

Cards On Thursdays

Are you ready for another free-for-all day? Today, it's all about cards. And this time, we even have a bonus sketch for you. Card designer Gretchen McElveen decided to create her own sketch, and then use it for all three of her cards. And she wants to share it with all of you, to use as well!

Card Sketch by Gretchen McElveen.

Whenever I need to make several cards at a time, I find myself leaning toward the same basic design to knock them out. That is exactly what I did with these 3 cards: same basic design, each card with a couple of its own unique features, equals 3 handmade cards completed in no time! And today I am sharing the sketch I used to make these 3 cards. Maybe you can use it to make a few cards of your own!

"Happy Winter" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Borders, Alpha + Bits Stickers, Miniatures

"Play Hard" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

Supplies:
Making the Team: Soccer, Wall of Fame, Cute Cuts, Borders, Quadrants, Alpha + Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers

"Happy Easter" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

Supplies:
Spring Flings and Easter Things: A Tisket a Tasket, Borders, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha + Bits Stickers; Winter Wonder: Blizzard

"New Year's Eve" card, by Kathy Martin.

It’s a new year and what better collection to get crafty with than Socialite!?!? It’s all about celebrations, New Year’s Eve and getting together with friends.

Supplies:
Socialite: Tango, RSVP, Borders ‘N Blocks, Alpha+Bits

"Happy Birthday" card, by Kathy Martin.

A new year reminds me of birthdays so I thought I created a birthday card using the Family Dynamics line!

Supplies:
Family Dynamix: Quadrants, Tight Knit, Borders N’ Blocks, Alpha+Bits; Miniatures: Card Sentiments

"Sweet Stuff" card, by Kathy Martin.

Love is in the air and Valentine’s Day is heading our way! I had fun creating this card of hearts with the colorful Flirty collection!

Supplies:
Flirty: Heart Throb, He Loves Me, Omigosh, Bits A Bella

"Love You" card, by Gail Hoecker.

I admit, it was hard to think of anything but Christmas while making these cards. I stayed with it and guess what? I now have a card ready to give to my husband on our anniversary, Valentine's or just because. I will be happy I have that in my stash since I'm usually a last minute nellie! I also had fun with all the flowers on the "hello" card. I've said it before, but I just love the way all the Bella Blvd papers coordinate with each other!

Layouts On Wednesday

It's time for another free-for-all layout day, here on the blog. This is where our designers can choose to scrap about anything they want, using any collection they want. I know that a lot of us still have Christmas on our minds, since three of our four layouts are about Christmas. It's a great time to get some inspiration for all those photos you took over the holiday weekend! Design Team member Brook mentions in her write-up, that she's not great about scrapping events, like holiday and birthdays. And I have to completely agree with her, since I'm the same way. Fun to see that we both took the challenge, and dived into those event photos.

"Sheldon The Elf", by Lynn Ghahary.

I love the idea of mixing up the size of my layouts every once in awhile. For this layout I chose to use an 8.5 x 11 landscape orientation. The grid design was the perfect way to display several pictures of our newest addition to the family - Sheldon the Elf - as well as allowing me to add lots of patterned papers to my layout without overwhelming my photos. The Miniatures and Chipboard stickers added fun details to my already colorful page.

Supplies:
Christmas Wishes: Icons Chipboard Stickers, Miniatures Stickers, Borders, Cute Cuts, Candlelight, Christmas Love, Quadrants, North Pole; Family Dynamix: Alpha+Bits Stickers

"Christmas", by Laura Vegas.

If I was being totally honest, I really don't scrap a lot of Christmas layouts. But I have been feeling inspired lately, as I see all the amazing Christmas layouts from the other design team girls. Add in the adorable Christmas Wishes collection, and I just had to create a layout with photos from one of our family get togethers from last year. I started by creating a photo collage, with 16 favorite photos, and then I built my layout around it. While the Christmas Wishes has a great brown striped tone-on-tone pattern paper in it, the brown woodgrain paper from the Tail Waggers and Cat Naps collection is still my go-to brown pattern paper. I just love that one! I love that the chipboard pieces and stickers allowed me to add little touches of accent colors, without overwhelming my page. 

Supplies:
Christmas Wishes: Quadrants, Alpha+Bits stickers, Chipboard Icons; Family Dynamix: Quadrants; Tail Waggers & Cat Naps: Borders N' Blocks

"Turning 7", by Brook Stewart.

I am so terrible about scrapping events. I know I have lots of birthday and holiday photos that I havn't even looked at for years! But my oldest just had a birthday earlier this month. Everything was football themed and the Making the Team collection just paired so well with these photos that I was actually excited about scrapping them!

Supplies:
Making the Team: Wall of Fame, Quadrants, Cute Cuts, Alpha + Bits, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Ciao Chip Icons, Miniatures; Sophisticates: Quatrofina Alpha Stickers Milk & Oreo

"Christmas Memories", by Loredana Bucaria.

Hello everyone! Christmas has just passed, but I feel in the air a very fresh air and I think that everything is possible and can happen in this period! This is a page to celebrate my Christmas Eve 2011. It's incredible to already have a page with the most wonderful Christmas products collection! Christmas wishes! I love it, every single kind of product! Christmas Eve is the most wonderful day of the year I think! I love the surprises, the wait for midnight, and the magic that you can feel in the air! And you? How did you spent your Xmas eve? I love to be with family in the warmth of the home!

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Toasty; Christmas Wishes: Cute Cuts, Borders, Alpha+Bits stickers, Ciao Chip; Sophisticates: Family; December Details: Label Additions 

Cards on Thursday

Before we get to our Cards on Thursday sharing, I wanted to give you a quick head's up about what we have planned for the next few days. Stephanie will be dropping by tomorrow, with her Fridays with Stephanie post. It's always fun to see what she's going to share each week. On Saturday, we will have the first of our two monthly sketches going up, and we have some fantastic projects that our Designers came up with, based on the sketch. On Sunday, we have two mini album shares, from two of our Altered Project Designers. And to kick off next week, we have two of our special On-Going Guest Artistas joining the blog for the first time on Monday. We're packing as much inspiration into the blog as we can for you all ;)

"Family" card, by Kathy Martin.

Today is another project day where I get to choose the Bella Blvd collection that I want to use for my cards! I love free-for-all days because there are so many cool lines to choose from! For my ‘Family’ card I thought I’d take a break from holiday crafting, and use the Sunny Happy Skies collection. These houses caught my eye … they’re so detailed, colorful and fun! Makes me want to move into that little neighborhood! I’d move into the little red house with roof-top patio and shades lined with hearts!

Supplies:
Sunny Happy Skies Collection: Cute Cuts, Borders N’ Blocks, Creamsicle Clouds, Blurbs, Alpha+Bits; Ciao Chip: Essentials Peep & McIntosh

"You're Awesome" card, by Kathy Martin. 

After Halloween, I thought it was time to stash away the Too Cute to Spook collection, but I didn’t want to! I’ve been having a good time playing with this line and decided to challenge myself to use it in a different way. So, I came up with this thank you card. Usually when I sit down to make a thank you card, I start by choosing colors and accents like bright colors, butterflies and flowers. This time, going at it from a challenge to use a particular product, I ended up with a look I would have never thought of. I don’t think I would have used black for a thank you card, but I love the results!

Supplies:
Too Cute to Spook Collection: Jacks-A-Glow, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Quadrants, Just Write; Hello Beautiful Collection: Alpha+Bits; Ciao Chip Essentials: Oyster & Oreo; Miniatures: Card Sentiments

"You Melt My Heart" card, by Deanna Misner.

I really love that one of the cute cuts with this line is a steaming hot cup of cocoa (or coffee). I thought that it went really well with the miniature sticker "You melt my heart". And since so many people do coffee dates now, either with a friend or their significant other, it just seemed like the perfect combination of paper, details, and sentiment. I couldn't NOT make a sweet little card for our next coffee date.

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Blizzard, Toasty, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits, Borders, Miniature stickers

"Winter Forecast" card, by Deanna Misner.

For this card, I wanted to try a little bit of color blocking but instead of using patterned paper, I used the cute stickers and cut outs that come with each collection. I used my "go-to" color combination of blues with a touch of red and brown, to combined the snowflake and Just Write stickers with mittens and "forecast" cut-outs. I love that Winter Wonder is so versatile, and it allowed me to create a card that I could use any time during the winter.

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Borders, Alphas+Bits, Just Write stickers, Miniature stickers; Spring Flings and Easter Things: Borders

"For A Super Great Friend" card, by Stephanie Hunt.

Since we have officially seen snow flurries for the first time here in Wisconsin, I thought "Hey. Why not at least try to get into the cold-wintery spirit & create a winter card!" The Super Stud star pattern resembles white snowflakes and a blue wintery sky so I combined it with the Winter Wonder collection for my card. 

Supplies:
Super Stud: Planetarium; Winter Wonder: Borders; Sophisticates Miniatures Stickers: Card Sentiments

"Thinking Of You" card, by Morgan Bandkowski.

I really get so much use of the Cute Cuts paper. I was able to cut out the tree and pumpkin along with the leaf on the inside of the car. Ink & pop dots are the items I use on almost any project. It is a great way to add a little dimension to any project. The tree, pumpkin & sentiment are all popped up. 

Supplies:
Finally Fall: Leaf Pile, Cute Cuts

Layouts On Wednesday

Before we get to our "Layouts on Wednesday", I want to let you in on what we have coming up on the blog this weekend. There's a lot of talk, this time of the year, about December Daily Albums. So we asked a few of our designers to create December Daily albums, featuring Bella products. I can't wait to share what our designers came up with! After years of watching others create these albums, I'm finally thinking of doing one of my own this year. So make sure and keep your eyes out for those posts, over the weekend ;)

And now, onto our layouts. I love having a fun mix of themes. This week, we've got a soccer kid with attitude, a tender moment between brother and sister, some berry picking teens, and some adorable kids in halloween costumes. 

"Got Attitude", by Nancy Damiano.

My son's little attitude is in full force these days and I was really able to capture it (and his fierce competitiveness) in these photos. I wanted to do something special with them and still keep the focus on the photos. Bella's Making the Team was the perfect combination of bold color and great patterns for my layout. To create a sense of movement on the page, I used twine to mimic a bouncing soccer ball. It runs straight across the page, weaving behind my focal point photo without being distracting. I added a bit of a "lift" to the soccer ball and journaling square with some pop dots. This page came together quickly and I think it definitely has that little extra something that makes it stand out!

Supplies:
Making the Team: Football, Soccer, Cute Cuts, Border, Ciao Chip Icons, Alpha+Bits; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: McIntosh

"If Only For A Split Second", by Megan Klauer.

The bright and fun colors of the Spring Flings & Easter Things collection are right up my alley. This is one of my favorite photos of my oldest & youngest and I knew the colors in this collection would be perfect. I love that this line can be used for so much more than just Easter. I grabbed the Chipboard Essentials from the Sophistics collection and layered them with stickers from the Alpha + bit sheet for a touch of dimension.

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: Sunny Sunday paper, Mom Bouquet paper, A Tisket A Tasket paper, Egg Hunt paper, Alpha + Bits, Just Write; Sophistics: Brownie & Cream Stickers, Chipboard Essentials

"Picking Berries", by Julie Johnson.

For me, the best part about designing is in the details. I LOVE details and I can't get enough of the cute little stickers, chipboard shapes, and alphabets. For this layout I punched out a bunch of 1 1/2 inch circles using a paper punch...it's a great way to add a lot of color to your page without using a lot of paper too. For the first row, I folded down the circles not quite half way allowing some of the underneath color to show. For the second row, I cut off the top of the circles and placed them just behind the first row. I machine stitched across the top of the circles to hold them in place and add more detail to my layout. I also ran a zig zag stitch across the bottom borders of the page. To add some texture and dimension I die cut a few flowers out of felt, added a few buttons and some bakers twine. This "fall" collection was perfect for my late "summer" photos. 

Supplies:
Finally Fall: Bliss, Leaf Pile, Autumn Splendor, At the Patch, Apple Holler, Alpha + Bits, Miniatures; Sophisticates: Quattrofina Brownie & Cream

"Halloween In The Past", by Vivian Masket.

This simple layout includes a few twists on using products. Instead of using the journaling sticker as is, I cut the “Halloween Memories” shape from the sticker and used it as an embellishment at the top of my layout. I created a digital title for my layout using two different fonts and layered text boxes in Microsoft Word; after I printed my title and journaling block I layered a chipboard embellishment over the “o” in the word “Halloween” to add texture and color to my title. The last twist is the most obvious – while border papers often include many fun patterns, don’t overlook the B sides! The only patterned paper I used on my layout is the B side from the Too Cute to Spook Borders paper.

Supplies:
Too Cute to Spook: Borders, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Miniatures Stickers, Chip Icons

Cards On Thursday

Our designers have some creative cards to share with you today! With our free-for-all layout and card days, on the blog, it's really fun to see such a wide variety of projects come in. Today, we have sports, Christmas, and Fall ... all in one post.

"Congrats on Making The Team" card, by Deanna Misner.

I thought it'd be fun to make a Congratulations card for that special someone who finally makes the team. I chose to use a variety of patterns and sports so that it could be given to either a boy or a girl. Of course the soccer and baseballs could be switched to footballs and basketballs if need be. I also had a little fun with my twine and attempted a mini pom-pom as an embellishment.

Supplies:
Making the Team: Cute Cuts, Soccer, Borders, Alpha+Bits stickers; Quattrofina Alpha Stickers: Oreos and Cream

"It's In Your Attitude" card, by Deanna Misner.

Along with a congratulations card, I thought I'd make an encouragement card. Having played sports my whole life I can testify that playing and enjoying the game really IS all about your attitude. So I thought it would make a nice sentiment. The circles and sentiment are hand-cut for fit, and I layered the chipboard pennant on top with a little extra sentiment. And as the previous card, the baseball could be substituted for any other ball or sport. That's what I love about this collection. It's a wonderful mix of fun patterns with the sport-themed papers we all know and love!

Supplies:
Making the Team: Fan Club, Quadrants, Wall of Fame, Cute Cuts, and chipboard icons

"Celebrate" card, by Kathy Martin.

Since Christmas will be here before we know it, I thought I'd get cracking on some handmade holiday cards using the Christmas Wishes collection. This colorful line makes it fun and easy to put together great looking cards.

Supplies:
Christmas Wishes: Gifts Galore, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits Stickers

"Greetings" card, by Kathy Martin.

Originally, I was going to create two cards with two Bella Blvd. collections, but these little penguins were so adorable and fun to work with I had to make another card and use both of them!

Supplies:
Christmas Wishes: Candlelight, Star Stripe, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers

"Fall Days Are Fun Days" card, by Morgan Bandkowski.

I love being able to make a bunch of cards out of my scraps with just adding a few touches, such as pop dots, ink, punches, a flower & a button. One of the things I love about Bella Blvd is that the lines are so versatile. They are also so easy to use no matter if you are a scrapbooker or a cardmaker.

Supplies:
Finally Fall: Borders

"On This Fall Day" card, by Morgan Bandkowski.

Once I scrapbook a layout, I try to use my scraps to create cards out of them right away. This way I can use all my product without wasting any paper and a bonus is I don't have scraps leftover. My desk and scrap area stay somewhat clean & neat. I was able to make this 4"x4" card with a piece of cardstock and only using one piece of paper. The Cute Cuts page has stripes on the flip side which is perfect for any project. I used pop up dot on the cloud and added a little stickles for some dimension.

Supplies:
Finally Fall: Cute cuts

Stephanie will be back tomorrow with her Friday's With Stephanie post, after taking last week off. Stop by to see what fun stuff she has to share with us!