Bella Blvd Studio Blog

Altered Projects: Christmas Style

This week we are keeping with many of our usual daily features, but putting the focus on Christmas projects! Today we have altered projects to share with you. Our designers have come up with some easy to make projects for gift giving and decor, all of which can be created in a short amount of time.

Pillow Box, by Jennifer Edwardson.

I love the look of a pillow box for all kinds of smaller gifts. Gift cards, candies and jewelry too! I used a template that I kept from a store bought pillow box and traced it onto a brown striped patterned paper. Once I had it scored and folded into place, I lightly sanded the edges to show the white core. I added some cardstock stickers, wrapped it in ribbon and tied a couple of mini jingle bells to the center with twine. Can't wait to give it at Christmas.

Supplies:
Christmas Wishes: Trees For Sale, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Borders, Miniatures; Button Market: Merlot Flowers

Gift Box, by Jennifer Edwardson.

I love cute little gift boxes and whenever I find a new one, I ALWAYS create a template so I can use it again and again. This is a little 3 x 3" cube that I made from one of my favorite patterns from the Christmas Wishes collection. The little red on red presents were perfect for this box. Once I had it all put together I slightly distressed the edges with my sanding block. I added some pretty ribbon and then created a custom bow on top. This was the perfect place for a couple of flag stickers and a bit of curly twine to finish it off.

Supplies:
Christmas Wishes: Gifts Galore, Miniatures

Gift Card Card, by Jennifer Edwardson.

Gift Card giving is so popular for all occasions, but especially Christmas so I wanted to create a fun place to give one that wasn't just a folder from the store. I used kraft cardstock and scored (5) lines in the center 1/4" apart to make a place to tuck the folder inside for the gift card.  I border punched the edges of the base and used designer tape to create a 'binding'. Then I went ahead and embellished the front as if it was a holiday card and the inside with a space to write to and from and a note too.

Supplies:
Christmas Wishes: Candlelight, Star Stripe, Christmas Love, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Miniatures Stickers, Borders; High Five Alphabets: Green

Gift Bag, by Jennifer Edwardson.

I have a serious gift bag obsession and have got quite the collection in my closet. The funny thing is that I never usually give them as they are purchased. I'm always adding paper and stickers to pretty them up a bit and for this little white one I used some patterned paper to start. I adhered a border strip folded back and forth to look like ribbon and precision cut a couple of sweet little penguins with an 'I love Christmas' sticker. My favorite part of this bag is the bow made from designer tape with a tree cut from a paper border Add the red tissue and a gift of course and its ready to give to someone special.

Supplies:
Christmas Wishes: Gifts Galore, Borders, Miniatures; Designer Tape: Red Dot

Gift Card Tag, by Jennifer Edwardson.

I decided that instead of creating a tag to add to a gift, that I would make the tag the perfect place to give the gift. I used the Bella clear stamp 'merry christmas' sentiment in (3) different ink colors to create a base on the tag before adding a few pieces of patterned paper. Then I used a border punch along the top of a journaling sticker and only adhered it on 3 sides to create a pocket for the gift card. A few stickers, chipboard shapes, a button and ribbon and twine to finish it off.

Supplies:
Christmas Wishes: North Pole, Borders, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Miniatures, Ciao Chip Icons; Button Market Bursts; Unity Stamps: December Details 2

Recycled Christmas Tree, by Wendy Antenucci.

My daughter loves to re purpose stuff much to my dismay and has items scattered everywhere in her art room. But sometimes her ideas are really good, and this is one of those times! She had taken empty air fresheners and decorated it to look like a Christmas tree. I loved her idea, but wanted to make it a little less kiddish so I chose to make rolled flowers to adorn my tree.

I used about 3 sheets of the Bella paper to cover my cone with 2" rolled flowers and hot glued them around the cone.

I finished my tree with some trim and a birds nest for the perfect elegant touch. I then draped pearls on my tree for the tinsel. Isn't it amazing what project can be made out of trash? 

Supplies:
Midterm: Physics; Thankful: Burlap

Toilet Paper Flower, by Wendy Antenucci.

I've seen many projects out on the web using toilet paper cores and paper towel cores so I had this brilliant idea to cover a toilet paper core with some elegant Bella paper. I then cut slices off my roll in even increments (mine are approximately 1/2") and painted the insides. I then hot glued the petals to a circle on the top and bottom to hold their shape. 

My flower still needed some dressing up so I took my designer tape and formed a bow which I glued to the top of the circle and then added a flower for the perfect elegant touch. With the addition of stickles and a hanger my paper flower was finished and I love it and can't wait to make more!

Supplies:
Socialite: Dance Circle; Winter Wonder: Toasty; Designer Tapes: Red Dot

Recycled Gift Box, by Wendy Antenucci.

I wanted to make some sort of gift box, but I didn't just want to use a plain box - then we had donuts for breakfast! I loved the see through window of the donut box and decided to wrap up the box in some finery so that I could put some cookies or cupcakes in it for a treat later.

I covered the box with my Bella paper and then used the designer tapes to cover the edges of the top that were still peeking out with a cute little chipboard tree and a tag my box is complete and ready to give away.

Supplies:
Christmas Wishes: Trees For Sale; Sophisticates: Petite Pieces; Birthday Girl: Party Dress, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Designer Tapes: Red Dot; Ciao Chip Everyday Elements: Trees; Button Market: Stars

August Guest Designer: Vicki Boutin

Hey there!  It’s Vicki Boutin here and I am so excited to be the August guest designer here at Bella Blvd! My family and I reside in Southern Ontario, Canada. The Boutin’s consist of me, my husband Rich, son Riley (11) and daughter Devyn (9). I started paper crafting when my son was born and love everything about this craft! I have a passion for color, patterned paper and techniques. I terrorize my family with my camera. Photography makes me happy ... but drives them crazy! Ha! 

As far as accolades go, I was a Creating Keepsakes Hall of Fame winner many moons ago and worked with Scrapbooks, Etc for a number of years, too. These days I write a column called Designer Notebook for Scrapbook & Cards Today magazine and travel lots teaching workshops. This year was a special one with the release of my first book, Creative Foundations. I am happiest when I am buried in creativity.

Bella Blvd … what isn’t there to love?! This is a product line that is just done right. With a great mix of patterns, vibrant colors and the perfect selection of embellishments they make creating fun and easy! I am excited to share a few of the projects I created with you. 

"Happiness Is", by Vicki Boutin.

We certainly don’t have a fear of color in this house. Rainbow colors make my heart sing and I like to mix lots of colors together on my pages. The trick is using tone on tone patterns in a variety of colors and then marrying them together with a stripe. I did that here on this layout of Devyn.

I have a passion for circles. I used them here on this page to create subtle interest under the title. They work to ground the chipboard letters and add appeal to the page.

Love the Sophisticates chipboard! I used one of the sun shapes here from the clouds set. 

"Riley", by Vicki Boutin.

While color makes me happy, layering pattern makes me giddy! That is yet another thing that Bella Blvd has a knack for. They know how to scale patterns! Their papers always have large, medium and small patterns. On this layout I mixed clouds, polka dots, stripes and more yet it still works. The tone on tone patterns and stripe helps to balance it all out but I love that it is cardstock free.

Here are a few close up images. Again, love the chipboard!!!

"Smile", by Vicki Boutin.

My girl celebrated her 9^th birthday this month and we did a little photo shoot with her besties. The photos I took are chock full of color! For this layout I let the photos guide me and I used lots of color but laid it out on a grey dot. The neutrality of the grey allows the color to really pop.

So here is my challenge to you: It’s time to think about mixing patterned papers and color! Try using a striped pattern paper as your color palette stepping off point. Next, pull out some tone on tone papers and mix pattern scale and size. Finally don’t be afraid to use a neutral pattern and color as the base of your design. I can’t wait to see what you come up with!!!

Man, this was fun! Thanks to Stephanie and Laura for letting me come and play on the Bella blog this month! Now go and make something that makes you HAPPY!!!

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

Bella Blvd & Unity Stamps: Inspiration & Giveaway Day

 

We are back with another Bella Blvd & Unity Stamps Inspiration Day! We choose a few of our co-branded stamps to send to card maker extraordinaire, Alice Carman, and asked her to pair them up with some of her favorite Bella products. 

 

"Hi" card, by Alice Carmen.

Today’s card is a mixture of two Bella Blvd collections, Sunny Happy Skies and Finally Fall. The use of color from Bella Blvd’s papers can be mix between lines because everything matches so well. I also used Tell Me More Bella Itty Bitty Unity stamp to use as a journaling box on my card.  Perfect to highlight a sentiment, don’t you agree?

 

Supplies:
Sunny Happy Skies: Magic in the Skies; Finally Fall: Bliss, Autumn Splendor; Sophisticates: Spinach and Asparagus; Baby Blooms-a-Bella: Rossini, Champagne

 

"Back 2 School" card, by Alice Carmen.

Here’s a quick card to make in a pinch!  I used Midterm collection to create this fun and simple card. The Tell Me More Bella Itty Bitty Unity stamp can also be used as a die cut. Just stamp your image and cut it out. I layered a few quote over my stamped image and tada … it’s a card!

 

Supplies:
Midterm: Borders and Blocks, Text Me, Cute Cuts, Alpha + Bits Stickers; Sophisticates: Mustard and Apricots, Milk & Oreo

 

"Save The Date" card, by Alice Carmen.

Since the holidays are fast approaching, I thought we could get started on our holiday greetings.  Here’s an idea using Christmas Wishes collection and a Calendar Month Bella Itty Bitty Unity stamp.  I stamped my image on a sheet of cardstock and cut it out to pop off my card.  I used the stamped image to set a memorable date on the front of my card and added numbers to set the date.

 

Supplies:
Christmas Wishes: Gifts Galore, Trees for Sale, Cute Cuts, Just Rite Journaling Stickers,   Miniature Stickers, Quadrants, Candlelight; Sophisticates: Peep & Saffron, Spinach and Asparagus; Family Dynamics: Words of Wisdom

 

"Joy 2 U" card, by Alice Carmen.

Here’s another holiday idea using the Calendar Month Bella Itty Bitty Unity stamp. I turned the stamp into a wrapped present. All you have to do is stamp your image on a few sheets of Bella Blvd’s Christmas Wishes paper, cut out the squares and adhere to stamped image.  Add some ribbon and you got yourself a wrapped box that can be used toward any gift giving holiday. 

 

Supplies:
Christmas Wishes: Candlelight, Cute Cuts, Miniature Stickers; Sophisticates: Spinach and Asparagus

And now for our giveaways!

 

Giveaway #1 - Unity/Bella Itty Bitty Tell Me More

 

Giveaway #2 - Unity/Bella Itty Bitty Calendar Month

All you need to do to be entered in our random giveaway, is leave a comment on this post. We will announce a winner on Friday morning.

 

Midterm Isn't Just For School

 

Our Back To School Week sort of spilled over into this week a little bit, didn't it? We've already seen a few of you sharing your layouts on our Facebook page, from Sheri's "First Day of School" challenge she gave you yesterday. It's always fun to see some of you playing along with us! Today, we have some more layouts to share with you, featuring the Midterm collection. Except this time, they're not layouts about school. We wanted to show you how this collection can be used for lots of different types of layouts, and not just the theme the products were created for.

 

"I Chat", by Tanisha Long.

I joined my first online scrapbooking community in 2006, 2 years after I started scrapbooking. Since then, social media has become an important of my day. I have developed wonderful relationships with people from all around the world who share the same passion as me. This layout serves to highlight my feelings about them, which is "online friends ROCK"!!

 

Since this layout is about chatting online, I chose to highlight 2 papers to help draw the point home, Steve's Keys and Text Me. The "hanging with my peeps" block from the borders and blocks paper was the perfect addition for the journaling! I ran out of chipboard Cs, so I used the negative space to complete my title. I cut the negative space "c" into a circle and sanded the edges for a more uniform look.

 

Supplies:
Midterm: Steve's Keys, Physics, Pep Rally, Text Me, Borders N Blocks, Alphabets and Bits; Simply Simona Ciao Chip Alphabets: Oyster

 

"Blog Blog", by Michelle Clement.

I was really inspired by the keyboard paper and laptop cut-out in the Midterm collection, for this page. I liked that the collection seemed like I could use it for more than just the 'school days' it was designed with, in mind. The computer-inspired patterned paper reminded me of my computer, which made me think of blogging. I ended up thinking about the last few years of blogging and how they've pushed my art and my scrapbooking to a new level, with so much positive reinforcement and inspiration out there on the web. I wanted to document that little thought, and some of the bright photos I take for my blog, now - which represent that growth, because I've learned so much about photography in the last year alone online!

 

Tip: Water down acrylic paint in a plastic container instead of using it straight from the tube - a few drops of water make it go onto the paper smoothly and dry faster.

 

Supplies:
Midterm: Borders N Blocks, Steves Keys , Cute Cuts

 

"VJ Nat", by Janis Medina.

 

 

And now we have a giveaway winner to announce. Hopefully, you all caught sight of our giveaway in the August newsletter. And hopefully, you all made you way over to Bella's Facebook page, and "liked" us, so that you could have a chance at winning.  

 

The winner of a set of SIX Chipboard Alphabets is:

Deanna Daily Misner 

Congrats Deanna! Please email me, with "AUGUST NEWSLETTER GIVEAWAY WINNER" in the subject line, at lauravegas.bellablvd@yahoo.com.

 

Guest Designer - Sheri Reguly, part 1

We couldn't resist inviting one more amazing Guest Designer to join us this month. We are excited to have Sheri Reguly here, to share some fabulous projects with you, and she's even got a challenge prepared for everyone, that coincides with our "Back To School" theme we had going on last week. 

 

Hi everyone!  I can’t even begin to tell you how thrilled and honored I am to be Bella’s guest designer for the week. I’ve been a big fan of Bella Blvd since the beginning, when they first captured my heart with their fabulous products in amazing colors, patterns, and designs. Bella’s products perfectly fit with my scrapbooking style, which I would describe as being fun and lighthearted, clean and streamlined, with a few carefully chosen embellishments mixed in. I’m also all about the tiny details, those ones that add that “little extra something” to my pages.

Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve been drawn to pretty papers, and I could never resist a cute stationary set, or a colorful pack of stickers. That, combined with my love for photography, destined me to become drawn to this wonderful hobby. I didn’t actually start scrapbooking though, as we know it today, until 2001, shortly after the birth of my son, Justin. However, I always purchased photo albums with stationary lines beside each photo pocket, which allowed me to jot down little details about each photo or event. I also feel the need to confess, that I used to decorate the pages of those albums in those glorious caption stickers that came in the corniest of phrases. If that counts as scrapbooking, then I’ve been doing it for practically as long as I can remember :)

 

"Play Ball", by Sheri Reguly.

My first layout, entitled “Play Ball” features some recent photos of my son that I’ve been very anxious to scrapbook. His team recently became the All Star District Champs, and I couldn’t be more proud of the wonderful contribution that he made during the duration of the tournament. The Making The Team collection provided me with the perfect inspiration, as well as everything I needed to help make this layout come together quick and easy.

 

I also incorporated Quattrofina letter stickers from the Sophisticates collection in Milk & Oreo. A simple star sticker placed behind the “a” in my title helps play on the sports theme.

 

"Grade 2", by Sheri Reguly.

My second layout that I’ll be sharing with you today, is entitled “Grade 2,“ and features a combination of supplies from the Midterm collection, as well as the fabulous border stickers from Making The Team, and a calendar from the Sophisticates collection. 

 

I find it so very hard to believe, but my son is actually getting ready to start grade 5 in just a few days. I therefore have to confess, that it’s taken me nearly three entire years to get around to scrapbooking this particular first day of school photo. Please tell me that I’m not the only one out there who has let a page slide for this long, especially one of such significance. The start of a new school year is such a huge milestone for a child, one definitely worthy of being properly documented.

Do you feel a challenge coming on? Do you have any back to school photos of your children that you have yet to scrapbook? If so, I challenge you stop procrastinating, and get that photo scrapped, ASAP! :) Or, if you happen to be an amazingly efficient scrapbooker, who is currently completely up to date, first let me say that I am extremely jealous. And secondly, I challenge you to create a layout reminiscent of your own school days, whether it be grade school, high school or college. Pull out your favorite Bella supplies from the Midterm, or any other collection, and create a school themed page. Be sure to link us to your pages ... we’d really love to see them!!!

I hope you will come back on Wednesday, when I share the rest of my projects with you. I still have 2 more layouts, and 2 cards, that I can't wait to show you!

 

Back To School Week: Cards

 

Today, it's all about cards on our "Back To School Week" feature. After you're done creating a few school layouts, collect all your paper scraps and put them to good use on some fun cards. Need some ideas? How about a card to give to your child, after they get a great grade on a hard test. Cards to give to your child's teachers, to let them know you appreciate all they do. Cool cards, to toss in your teen's backpack, so they find them during their 4th period class. Cute mini cards to tuck inside your child's lunchbox. You can never have enough cards in your stash, so that you're prepared to make any little moment, a special moment.

 

"Good Times" card, by Alice Carman.

I made this card using Bella's Midterm collection. Look at those adorable shoes! You can find the shoes and other great pieces by using the Midterm Cute Cuts. The music notes strip was cut from the Midterm Border and Blocks. I finished this card using a light color pattern so the vibrate cut out pieces pop off the page.

Supplies:
Midterm Collection: Text Me, Pep Rally, Cute Cuts, Border and Blocks

"Dorm Room Pizza Party" card, by Alice Carman.

Have you seen the Cute Cuts page from the Midterm Collection? This pattern paper is loaded with cute embellishments to use on cards, layouts, altered projects or whatever your creative hands make. Don’t you just love the cute little pizza slices? I cut the pizza slices out and used it across my card like a banner.

 

Supplies:
Midterm Collection: Physics, Pep Rally, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Cardstock Stickers; Sophisticates: Salt Water & Pacific Quattrofina Alphabets

 

"Friends" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

The fun Midterm collection is perfect for your back to school cards, congrats cards for graduates, good luck cards for college freshmen and other school-themed cards!

Supplies:
Midterm: Pep Rally, Physics, Borders 'N Blocks, Alphas+Bits stickers

 

"Live Out Loud" card, by Gretchen McElveen. 

The bright colors and cool patterns in this line make it versatile enough for your general greeting cards as well! And the Midterm collection has some great blues, greys, and reds for those hard-to-make masculine cards too!

Supplies:
Midterm: Text Me, Physics, Borders 'N Blocks, Alphas+Bits stickers

 

Don't forget to head over to Bella Blvd's Facebook page, and "like" us, to be eligible for our newletter giveaway. We will be announcing a winner later this week ;)

I also wanted to give you all a head's up, that we will be having a fabulous guest designer joining us here on Friday. She has some gorgeous layouts, and I can't wait to you to see them!

And last, but not least, don't forget that our first ever Bella Artista Design Team call is open and accepting submissions. The deadline is Friday, September 2nd, and you can see all the details HERE.  

 

Back To School Week: More Layouts

 

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Welcome back to our "Back To School" week feature! We all know there's the first day of school layouts, that most of us do every year. Today, we want to show you some ideas for those other school moments that happen throughout the year. We have a layout about school rewards. A layout about a special themed, sports day. And a layout about being in the high school marching band.

 

"Sweet Reward", by Katherine McElvain.

Every time we get report cards in our family we celebrate by going to Krispy Kreme Donuts, where they reward students for every A with a glazed donut. With 4 kids, we usually get about 2 dozen donuts in all. It is funny, because when we are on our way to pick up the donuts, my son reminds me that his teacher said that to exercise off one glazed donut from Krispy Kreme, you have to run 10 miles. I don't know if that is true but it is definitely a good reminder for me before I dig in. LOL!

 

I wanted to scrap our donut/report card tradition, and Bella’s Midterm collection was perfect! I liked the post it notes for journaling and added my own note to two of them, "end of 3rd quarter" and "free donuts", to go with the layout’s story. I also glimmer misted an "A" in the background (using an old chipboard letter) to bring some attention to the reward for A's. Crazy to think that with school starting back up, that in a couple of months we will be back at the donut counter. I better start running those 10 miles :) 

 

Supplies:
Midterm: Steve's Keys, Pep Rally, Text Me, Borders and Blocks, Physics, Alpha+Bits stickers; Family Dynamics: Quadrants Paper; Tail Waggers and Cat Naps: Icon Chipboard; Mr Boy: Icon Chipboard; Sophisticates: Sprinkle and Lace Chlorine, Quattrofina Cardstock Stickers Salt Water and Pacific; Simply Simona Ciao Chip Alphas: Mcintosh 

 

"School Sport's Day", by Kerryn Fry.

When Laura asked me to create a school layout without using the Midterm collection, I knew straight away what collection I was going to use. Bella's Making The Team collection is perfect for my son's school colors, and really enhanced the colorful sport's day photos. My first dilemma was trying to include lots of photos. That problem was easily solved by creating a collage of photos using Picasa. I've tried to give the page lots of dimension, using layers and foam tape. It always works well with the easily cut out bits in the Bella Blvd collections.

 

I love the alpha stickers and how well they always coordinate. I have mounted them onto kraft cardstock to add some bulkiness, and then used more foam tape to lift them off the page. It gave me the opportunity to add some doodling similar to the attitude sticker, which just finished the page off perfectly.

 

Supplies:
Making the team: Soccer, Football, Wall of fame, Volleyball, Fan Club, Borders, Cute cuts, Alpha+Bits stickers, Just Write journaling stickers

 

"MHS Band", by Laura Vegas.

My daughter, Alyssa, started High School last year. She's been playing the clarinet for 3 years now, and she was really excited to be taking high school band. One of our favorite things of the year, was seeing the band play at all the football games and marching for the half time show. I actually never got any photos at the football games last year, and that's something I am going to make sure and do this year. But I didn't  let that stop me from making a layout about the first year marching band experience. I snapped a few photos of her in her band tshirt, and with her clarinet, and paired it up with Bella's Midterm collection.

 

I hand cut three of the banner's, from the Pep Rally paper, so that I could "hang" them at the top of the page. Because I cut in so close to the edges of each flag, it gave the banner's lots of wiggle room, so that I could arrange them in a very carefree way. The top banner, "Go Team", I adhered with pop dots, to give it some extra dimension. I also added little silver accent pieces in between some of the banner flags.

 

Supplies:
Midterm: Text Me, Physics, Pep Rally, Borders N Blocks, Alphas+Bits; Simply Simona Ciao Chip Alphas: Macintosh; Simply Simona Ciao Chip Numbers:White

 

Back To School Week: Layouts

 

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I think most of us can say we are in the "back to school" mindset, in one way or another. For some, your kids are still enjoying their last days of summer break, and starting to collect their school supplies for the upcoming school year. For some, your kids are getting ready to start back this week, and are planning their first day outfits and packing their backpacks. And then there are some, like me, whose kids started back a few weeks ago, and are already deep in homework and tests.

This week, we are bringing "school" to the Bella blog, and sharing layouts and cards featuring Bella's Midterm collection. Some of these were booth projects, from CHA, that we were saving for this week. And some are brand new projects, that we asked a few designers to create, especially for the week. We have a wide range of school themes and topics being featured, from first day of school, to band and awards. We even have a few ideas for using Bella's Midterm collection to create adult-themed layouts.

 

"First Day 2011", by Gretchen McElveen.

It's August and that means it is back to school around here! Don't forget to take those first day of school pictures. If school has already started and you forgot to take them, then it is not too late to take those "beginning of the year" pictures. When I got ready to scrap these “First Day Of School” photos, for a friend of mine, I knew I wanted to mix Bella’s Midterm collection and the new Making The Team collection. The two coordinate perfectly, to work with your school pictures.

 

 

I really wanted black alphabets to go on this layout but didn't have enough of the new Simply Simona Oreo (Tiny Dot) letters left to complete my title. So instead I used the Simply Simona Oyster (Dictionary) alphas. I just peeled the printed layer off of the alphas to expose the raw chipboard underneath. Then I used a black Sharpie to change the raw chipboard to the black color I wanted. Easy! Instead of a Sharpie, you can also ink the chipboard or paint it to get your desired color!

 

Supplies:
Making the Team: Wall of Fame, Alpha+Bits stickers, Just Write Journaling stickers; Midterm: Text Me, Physics, Steve's Keys, Pep Rally, Alpha+Bits stickers; Simply Simona Ciao Chip Numbers: Oreo; Simply Simona Ciao Chip Alphas: Oyster

 

"One Sharp Kid", by Sheri Feypel.

I created this layout of my son Jordan using Bella's Midterm collection. He is at that age where cutsie just doesn't cut it anymore. So Midterm was the perfect collection to highlight his graduation from 8th grade. Just for fun and some dimension I added some No. 2 pencils. Not only did they give me the dimension I was looking for, they also added a bit of weight to the layout.

 

To reinforce the layout a little bit I glued all of the pencils to a piece of trimmed chipboard before adhereing them to the layout. It helped make the layout a little more sturdy so that it will withstand a little bit of handling, whether in an album or framed on a wall.

 

Supplies:
Midterm: Borders and Blocks, Physics, Pep Rally, Steve's Keys, Alphas+Bits stickers; Simply Simona Ciao Chip Alphas: Oyster

 

Guest Designer Sarah Klemish: Part 1

We have some amazing Guest Designer's lined up for you, over the next few months. It's always so exciting when they start sending their projects to my inbox, and I get to see what amazing things they have done with the Bella collections. And this talented designer went above and beyond. Meet Sarah Klemish!

 

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

Congratulations Bella Blvd!!

I have wanted to say that ever since I read this on your blog:
The winner of the Best Booth at CHA Summer 2011, voted on by Scrap Time viewers, is BELLA BLVD!!!

Sounds (and looks) like you guys had a great show – and of course I am not surprised! I have been in Bella heaven every since my friendly UPS man dropped the big brown box on my front porch! I might have even gone a little over board. What can I say, I was inspired!  It was easy for me to create so many layouts - the papers and embellishments really fit my “style”. I am a little intimidated by the incredible Bella Artistas and the wonderful work they have showcased here! I do know that Bella’s product really helped me showcase some of my favorite photos in just the right way! Thanks for this opportunity Stephanie and Laura, and thanks to YOU for looking at my layouts.

Can I just say I think my favorite thing to play with on my layouts were the “Cute Cuts”! I had fun adding embellishments to the cut out pieces and love that some pieces are BIG and helped me, who is not a big embellisher, fill up a page in a good way! Below are a few layouts I created using the “Cute Cuts” from a few different collections: Sunny Happy Skies, Midterm and Making The Team.

 

For this layout I used the Sunny Happy Skies Cute Cuts. I used pop dots to give dimension to the flowers and clouds. I added small embellishments to the cut out pieces for some texture. I also mixed up some of the product by adding cardstock number stickers (Simona #’s Oreo) from the Making The Team collection. The pictures are family and friends on the Fourth of July!

 

This layout is very special to me. My oldest brother John passed away in January 2008 and I miss him every day . . . and so do his wife and little girl, Shannen. These pictures were actually taken in the spring of 2006 and are two of my favorites. It is hard to believe my niece Shannen will be starting 1^st grade this fall! Her daddy would be very proud of her! I pop dotted the clouds and added pop dotted hearts to the house die cut and the letters. I love these chipboard letters – Simply Simona (Oyster).

I had fun with this layout! My son turned 13 this year and I thought the Midterm Cute cuts were perfect for showing what he is into these days – I mean really, what is there outside of pizza, texting and FaceBook? I love the Sophisticates Quattrofino Alphabets! I used the Milk and Oreo letters and the Peep and Saffron letters on this layout!

 

For this layout I used the Making the Team Cute Cuts. Again, I used pop dots on the “Team Roster” sticker and also on the football Cute Cut! This is my son Max last year at the beginning of football season.

I really had fun with the Cute Cuts and can’t wait until I get my hands on the Finally Fall and Too Cute Too Spook lines so I can play with them more! And just for fun, how about a challenge? I would like to challenge you to create a layout using at least one “Cute Cuts” paper piece! If you take the challenge, please link us to it in the comment section. I would love to see what you've done, and I bet other's would too!

I hope you'll come back and join me tomorrow, when I share the rest of my layouts with you. I have FIVE more layouts to show you!