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

On-Going Guest Designers: Sarah Klemish & Kryssi Ng

Back in September, when we were choosing our new Design Team, we had a group of talented designers that we just couldn't pass up. So we added a special team of On-going Guest Designers, that will joining us here on the blog throughout the year, along with the rest of our Design Team. Today, we are welcoming back Sarah Klemish and Kryssi Ng, for another round of projects.

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

"Sweet Smile", by Sarah Klemish.

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

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

"Summertime Sisters", by Sarah Klemish.

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

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

"Baby Baby", by Sarah Klemish.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Happy” card, by Kryssi Ng.

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

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

Bella Blvd & The Twinery Team-Up: Day Four

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

“Girly Clothes”, by Brook Stewart.

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

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

The Twinery Supplies:
Pink Sorbet, Blossom

"We Love You" by Becky Williams.

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

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

The Twinery Supplies:
Maraschino, Pink Sorbet, Denim

“Easter Eggs”, by Kathy Martin.

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

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

The Twinery Supplies:
Lemondrop, Orchid

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

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

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

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

Heart card, by Morgan Bandkowski.

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

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

The Twinery Supplies:
Maraschino

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

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

Bella Blvd & The Twinery Team-Up: Day Three

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

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

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

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

The Twinery Supplies:
Caribbean, Pink Sorbet, Lemonade

“Getting To Know Grandpa”, by Brook Stewart.

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

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

The Twinery Supplies:
Cappuccino

"Amazing", by Laura Vegas.

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

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

The Twinery Supplies:
Blossom, Honeydew, Stone

"Green Gators", by Deanna Misner.

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

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

The Twinery Supplies:
Honeydew

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

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

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

The Twinery Supplies: 
Lemondrop

"Sending You Sunshine" card, by Allyson Meinholz.

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

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness:

The Twinery Supplies:
Lemondrop

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

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

Saturday Sketches, On Friday

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

“Summer Beauties”, by Kimberly Neddo.

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

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

“Ziplining”, by Julie Johnson.

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

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

"Mad About You", by Sue Mydle.

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

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

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

 

Cards On Thursdays

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Best Mom" card, by Laura Vegas.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Mom” card, by Alice Carman.

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

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

"Mother's Day" card, by Wendy Wagner.

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

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

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

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

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

Layouts On Wednesdays

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

“Funny Days”, by Loredana Bucaria.

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

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

“6 Flags”, by Nancy Damiano.

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

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

“My Neighbor”, by Katherine McElvain. 

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

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

Layouts On Wednesday

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

"Tattoo Tape", by Kim Arnold.

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

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

“Sherrard Short Sox”, by Megan Klauer.

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

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

“Baby Boy”, by Loredana Buccaria.

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

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

"J'Adore", by Sue Mylde.

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

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

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

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

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

"Miles Of Smiles", by Allyson Meinholz.

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

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

Saturday Sketches

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

"Fair", by Melissa Stinson.

I've been using Becky Fleck's sketches for years now (almost since she started posting them), so I was thrilled when she started developing sketches just for Bella! I was even more thrilled to see that this sketch incorporates several small photos that are almost Instax sized. I don't have an Instax camera, but I printed out my photos to Instax image dimensions (you can find data sheets for various film sizes on Fuji's web site) and then mounted them on white cardstock to make little faux Instax prints. For me it's a great alternative to buying another camera, and it means that I can turn any photo from my DSLR into an Instax-like print.

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Petal Power, Sunny Side Up, Play Date, Popsicle Kisses, Happy Clouds, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Flags; Button Market: Bursts, Pickle Squares; Crochet Flowers: Daisies, Juniper; Simply Simona Saltwater Alphabet

"So Much Fun", by Loredana Bucaria.

Hi everyone! How are you? Today I am happy to share what I have created using this fabulous sketch. Before Easter I received the new stuff from Bella Boulevard and you can imagine my reaction! OMG, all the new products are amazing! At first, I was a little scared about the three collections for pregnancy, baby boy and girl, since I don't have any children. But instead, I have dared myself to use them for another theme! What do you think about this idea? I have thought that this line are perfect to be mixed:) I used them for a page about my last trip to Euro Disney in Paris with my friends! I think that these new collections gave perfectly the happiness that I would to give to the page I wanted to create! So try to use some papers that you don't think to can use, you will have a lot of fun and will discover a different part of you:) I am completely in love with new embellishments! They are awesome! I am crazy for buttons, flags and designer tape, amazing amazing amazing! Buy and try them you will have a huge smile on your face for a lot of time!

Supplies:
Baby Girl: Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits, It's A Girl, Pretty In Pink; Sophisticates: Pink-Red High Five Alphabets, Clouds Ciao Chip; Baby Boy: Alpha+Bits, Momma's Boy; Sunshine & Happiness: Miniatures, Popsicle Kisses; Stamps: Plastino; Flags: Floral; Designer Tape: Yellow Chevron; Button Market: Neutral Mix; Crochet Flower: Juniper

"Your Happy Place", by Sheri Feypel.

I have to say that Sunshine & Happiness is my current favorite Bella Blvd line, subject to change with new releases of course. All of the colors just work for me and my summer photos. I decided to use this 5x7 photo of my husband getting ready to go tubing last summer rather than three small photos. He looks so happy, all smiley with teeth showing. I started with the Baby Boy - Momma's Boy page for my background, the gray chevron pattern really helps the rest of the colors pop! As you can see I added flags and the sunshine chipboard rather than flowers shown in the sketch, and used quite a bit more space for my title, skipping the subtitle. I am really starting to like using sketches, it kind of takes a little pressure off when creating although I do tend to change it up a bit.

Supplies:
Baby Boy: Momma's Boy; Sunshine & Happiness: Happy Clouds, Sunny Side Up, Popsicle Kisses, Juicy Good Time, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Button Market: Blues, Fruit Punch, Masculine Mix; Flags: Family Tree, Summer; Ciao Chip: Clouds; High Five Alphabets: Yellow

"Pool Time", by Laura Vegas.

I love working with sketches, and I usually tend to stay pretty true to the sketch. I decided to turn the sketch counter clockwise, for this layout. I had a few horizontal photos of my daughters in the pool that I wanted to use, and knew they would work better with the page design turned. I loved the little banner in the sketch, but it wasn't going to work hanging on it's side. So I added a strip of ribbon in place of the banner, and then just moved my banner to the other side of the page. Always keep in mind that by turning the sketch, of flipping it upside down, you'll have even more options for using that same sketch on your layouts.

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Popsicle Kisses, Happy Clouds, Petal Power, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Family Dynamix: Quadrants, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Making The Team: Chipboard Icons; Christmas Wishes: Borders; Quattrofina Alpha Stickers: Green; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: McIntosh; Ciao Chip Elements: Clouds; Button Market: Red Flowers

Sunshine & Happiness Layouts

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend! Today, we have TWO posts happening here on the blog. Make sure and stop back by in a few hours, when we will share our April Project Sheet with you. But first, check out these awesome layouts by our Design Team, featuring the new Sunshine & Happiness collection!

"Happiness", by Diane Payne.
{A Winter CHA Project}

One of my favorite pieces of paper in each of the Bella Blvd collections is the Cute Cuts sheet. There are always cute images that coordinate with the papers and journaling cards too. On this layout I used the journaling cards as a mat for my photos. It was a quick and easy way to make them pop off the page.

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Happy Clouds, Popsicle Kisses, Petal Power, Cute Cuts, Borders, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Miniatures Stickers, Ciao Chip; Designer Tape: Pink Flowers; Buttons: Button Market Aqua Flowers, Button Market Feminine Mix

"Road Trip", by Katherine McElveen.
{A Winter CHA Project}

Our family ... we don’t get out much. Or I should say that we don’t get far away from home often. So if I were to do a page about a summer road trip, it would be about my kids on their bikes, pedaling their way to the corner grocery store. This is the first year that they started venturing out, away from home, on their own. So I wanted to create this page, not about a big trip far from home, but a great memory about real life here in the summer time. Because in our neighborhood, everyday is a good day for a road trip of this kind.

Supplies:
Sunshine and Happiness: Petal Power Popsicle Kisses, Borders, Sunny Side Up, Cute Cuts, Happy Clouds, Boarders, Miniatures, Alpha+Bits; Baby Girl: Daddy’s Girl, Miniatures; Flags: Spring Flings & Easter Things; Sophisticates: Ciao Chip Clouds, High Five Alphabets Yellow, Simply Simona Brownie; Button Market: Masculine Mix, Fruit Punch; Tape: Yellow Chevron

"Boys Of Summer", by Sheri Feypel.
{A Winter CHA Project}

So, I am in love with this teal chevron pattern. I knew that I had to use the whole sheet because I couldn't bear to cut it up. I started with that for the background and decided where I wanted to place my photos. I then cut strips of the other patterns to build around my photos. Then I started layering with chipboard alphas, shapes and added a little dimension with some foam adhesive behind some of the elements. I chose to leave quite a bit of white space along the left side of the layout so that the chevron pattern could "work" on it's own.

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Sunny Side Up, Juicy Good Time, Popsicle Kisses, Happy Clouds, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Miniature Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Designer Tapes: Yellow Chevron; Button Market: Masculine Mix; Simply Sonoma Alphabets and Numbers: Saltwater; High Five Alphabet Stickers: Black-White, Blue

"I {Heart} Summer", by Shannon Tidwell.

Who doesn't love summer?! I love that the Cute Cuts make it so easy to put a fun and colorful title on my page. I combined several fun chipboard shapes from the Clouds and Borders Ciao Chip Elements to create a fun summer scene to coordinate with the theme. I love how all the colors easily mix and match. A couple fun flags share in the festivities. 

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Happy Clouds, Cute Cuts, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Sophisticates: Ciao Chip Borders, Ciao Chip Clouds; Flags: Baby Boy, Sunshine & Happiness; Designer Tape: Jail Bird

"Juicy", by Shannon Tidwell.

Stickers, stickers, stickers! On this layout I adhered the photo first and then just started building outward and around with all the fabulous Bella stickers, chipboard, flowers, buttons, tape. Since I had such a fun patterned background I thought framing the photo with the product would help keep the focus where I wanted it. It definitely makes me ready for some sunshine again!

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Popsicle Kisses, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Flags; Sophisticates: Ciao Chip Clouds; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Saltwater; Button Market: Feminine Mix; Baby Blooms-A-Bella: Rossini

Spring Flings & Easter Things Layouts and Cards

With Easter tomorrow, and spring on our minds, we have even more Spring Flings & Easter Things projects from CHA to share with you today. We hope you all have a fabulous Easter tomorrow, and enjoy the day with family and friends!

"Pretty Flowers", by Becky Williams.
{A Winter CHA Project}

I really like all of the fun, happy elements in the Spring Flings collection! I used some of the Cute Cuts on this layout and added a bit of glitter glue to some for extra pizzazz.

Supplies:
Spring Flings and Easter Things: Mom's Bouquet, Cute Cuts, Borders, Sunny Sunday, Egg Hunt, Miniatures, Alpha+Bits, Ciao Chip; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Prune; Button Market: Snowflakes, Fruit Punch

“Spring Spectacular”, by Diane Payne.
{A Winter CHA Project}

There are so many great patterns included in each collection, sometimes it is hard to choose which ones to use. On this layout I didn’t choose and I used lots of different patterns and colors. To keep the multitude of patterns and colors from overwhelming my photo I punched them into small circles and then tucked them under a strip of paper to create a fun scallop border.

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: A Tisket a Tasket, Sunny Sunday, Egg Hunt, Mom's Bouquet, Borders, Cute Cuts, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Miniatures; Sophisticates: Quattrofina Peep & Saffron; Designer Tape: Yellow Chevron; Button Market: Aqua Flowers

"Father Of The Year", by Melissa Stinson.
{A Winter CHA Project}

The Spring Flings and Easter Things collection is so bright, fun, and festive that I knew it would be perfect for party photos- especially when the party is for my niece's first birthday! There were tons of bright colors in all the decorations and gift wrap that worked well with these papers.

Supplies:
Spring Flings and Easter Things: Sunny Sunday, Mom's Bouquet, Egg Hunt, Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Baby Blooms A Bella: Azzini; Button Market: Feminine Mix; Flags: Floral; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Saltwater

"Love You" card, by Becky Williams.
{A Winter CHA Project}

One of my favorite parts of each of the Bella Blvd collections is the sheet of Cute Cuts. For this card I hand cut some of those and layered them to use as embellishments. I love that such a simple thing can add so much cuteness to any project. 

Supplies: 
Spring Flings and Easter Things collection: Just Write Journaling Stickers, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits, Miniatures, A Tisket a Tasket, Egg Hunt, Borders, Mom's Bouquet

"Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" card, by Gretchen McElveen.
{A Winter CHA Project}

Happy Spring! I thought the Spring Fling and Easter Things line would be perfect for making a card to help cheer someone up. The "raindrops keep falling on my head" sentiment was actually one long sticker from the Alpha + Bits sheet that I cut into smaller pieces so that it fit better on the front of the card. I cut the rainbow and heart out of the Cute Cuts sheet and adhered them with foam adhesive. Then I added a simple sentiment on the inside of the card! It turned out very cheerful I think!

{Inside of card}

Supplies:
Spring Fling and Easter Things: Egg Hunt, Cute Cuts, Borders, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Miniatures

Layouts On Wednesdays: Easter Layouts

We are still thinking Easter here on the Bella blog! And today, it's all about Easter layouts. We've got some fabulous layouts featuring the Spring Flings & Easter Things collection, but we even have an Easter layout using the new Baby Girl collection. Hope you enjoy them!

"Easter Lips", by Kimberly Neddo.

I so love the bright cheery colors in Bella Blvd lines and embellishments! I tried out making fun flowers with the new Washi tapes and I LOVE how they turned out too. This is a fun layout expressing my youngest daughter's fun personality. Thank you for looking!

Supplies:
Baby Girl: Borders, Pretty in Pink, Alpha+Bits; Sophisticates: Black/White High Five, Ciao Chip Borders; Spring Flings & Things: Ciao Chip Icons; Designer Tape: Teal Stripe, Pickle Juice Dot, Yellow Chevron; Button Market: Tie Die, Feminine Mix

"Egg Snatcher", by Diane Payne.
{A Winter CHA Project}

One of my favorite embellishments in each collection is the sticker sheet. They include coordinating captions, journaling spots and words that are perfect for framing photos and creating titles and captions that coordinate perfectly with your photos. They were just what I needed on this layout to draw the eye into my precious photos!

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: Mom's Bouquet, Egg Hunt, Cute Cuts, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits, Miniatures; Button Market: Pink Flowers; Designer Tape: Yellow Chevron, Teal Stripe

"Ella's First Easter", by Megan Klauer.
{A Winter CHA Project}

This was one of my favorite photos of Ella at her first Easter Egg hunt. Love her tiny little hand reaching for the eggs. I remember how excited she was when she opened them and discovered they were full of Cheerios. The Spring Fling & Easter Things provides such a great assortment of embellishments. Perfect for a "cluster" effect as I've done here. Tip: Fold over a piece of the Designer Tape onto itself, trim the end, and it creates a fun & easy "banner" piece. {Shown with the Yellow Chevron - next to the journaling card.}

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: Mom's Bouquet, Egg Hunt, Borders, Cute Cuts, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits, Miniatures, Flags; High Five Alphabets: Blue; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Brownie, Saltwater; Designer Tape: Yellow Chevron

“Easter”, Julie Johnson.

I'm loving this Easter collection! Just can't get enough of it and the paper is so versatile. Actually, I ran out of my favorite yellow, Sunny Sunday. But I had no worries because Bella's papers work so wonderfully together the yellow gingham from the Socialite collection worked perfectly.  I enjoy wrinkling up my paper because it adds plenty of texture to my layouts. For this layout I cut a scallop border and gathered it up to make a ruffle. I have a little technique I like to use. I like to wet my paper just a bit with a fine mist spray bottle. Wet both sides of the paper, but don't get it too wet or your paper will rip. The paper starts to feel like leather and it becomes very flexible and easy to work with. I gathered up the border with my fingers and then shaped it to look just right. I then set it aside to dry while I am working on the rest of my layout; it usually doesn't take too long. I think one of the best things about Bella products is the embellishments.  There are so many matching embellishments you can have an awesome looking page that doesn't take tons of time because you just have to add some Ciao chip, Alpha + Bits, miniatures, one of Bella's new flags and a button and "WaLa" you have a really cute layout, right? 

Supplies:
Socialite: Cute Cuts; Spring Flings & Easter Things: Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Miniatures Stickers, Ciao Chip, Borders, A Tisket a Tasket, Egg Hunt, Mom's Bouquet, Flags; Button Market: Masculine Mix; Sophisticates: Simply Simona Peep

Layouts On Wednesday

I love Wednesday's, because it's a sign that the work/school week is halfway over. And it also means it's time for another round of free-for-all layouts from our fabulous Design Team!

"1 Inch Of Bliss", by Becky Williams.

This has been kind of a funny year for weather, one where the weather has been a bit of a roller coaster for so many of us. It is 70 degrees one day and then 30 the next. On this particular day we got a little bit of snow and my Aimee couldn't have been happier. I love the happy look on her face and wanted to pair that with lots of fun, colorful papers- it's my favorite thing about Bella Blvd. The "Bella Baby Bump" paper is intended to be for maternity scrapping but I thought it would be a cute addition to this page about the tiny bit of snow we got that day. 

Supplies:
We're Expecting: Bella Baby Bump; Making the Team: Borders; Sunny Happy Skies: Borders N Blocks; Sophisticates: Short Stories; Finally Fall: Apple Holler; Sweet Celebration: Stardust; Winter Wonder: Borders, Alpha+Bits, Miniatures, Icy; Tail Waggers & Cat Naps: Ciao Chip Icons; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphabets: Brownie, Saltwater, Pickle Juice, White Numbers

"So Huntsville", by Melissa Stinson.

Huntsville, Alabama is the home of LOTS of geeky engineers. We've got everything from NASA projects to missile defense going on at any given engineering firm in the city, so it's safe to say that many of us are geeks. And when there are geeks, we find great things to geek out over ... like a little show on the space shuttle. Huntsville actually doesn't get that much snow, so that in and of itself was a big deal, too, and a perfect excuse to use Bella's Winter Wonder collection!

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Icy, Borders, Toasty, Blizzard, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Miniatures, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Flags: Winter; Button Market: Snowflakes

"Everyday", by Loredana Bucaria.

Hello everyone! It's spring time sooo a lot of colors, bright or soft and a lot of fun playing with the colorful materials from bella Boulevard! I fall in love with colors in this period with a white background! I know that you have a lot of scrapbooking  leftovers so this layout would inspire you to use them and create a wonderful and colorful page! What do you think? Play is the key word and Bella boulevard really inspires me to play with many embellishments and paper to mix up! I love these products, just looking at them I feel happy and free :) I'd love to see what you are creating with Bella Boulevard products:)

Supplies:
Too Cute To Spook: Itsy Bitsy Spider; Winter Wonderland: Blizzard, Icy, Toasty; Spring Flings and Easter Things: Egg Hunt, Mom's Bouquet, Borders, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Peep, Essential Peep & Mcintosh; Lovely Dovey: Bear Hugs; Hello Beautiful: Cute Cuts, Thanks a Bunch; Sunshine & Happiness: Miniatures, Alpha+Bits, Borders

"Poser", by Kim Arnold.

Being a mum of one ratbag son, the Mr Boy collection is always a “go to” for me and this layout was no exception. The gorgeous blue patterned paper on the reverse side of the Cute Cuts paper was a perfect match for Benson’s vibrant blue cast so how could I not use it? I love the graph pattern on one of the journaling stickers, so I used it to punch out the clouds (great alternative use). And yes, my son is a serious poser!

Supplies:
Mr Boy: Borders n’ Blocks, Quadrants, Cute Cuts, Icons Chipboard, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Chit Chat Chipboard, Journaling Stickers; Sophisticates: Ciao Chip Simply Simona Oyster

"Love Each Other", by Sue Mylde.

I wanted to try a combination of papers from the Bella Blvd collection this time to shake things up a bit. I've taken papers and embellishments from five different collections to play around with and see how well they all go together. I've also challenged myself to add a bit of florals even in a layout with my son so here's what I came up with. Love how the blues and greens stand out in this page. Hope you'll be inspired to try something different today too!

Supplies:
Honey, I'm Home: Label Additions; Midterm: Physics; Hello Beautiful: Cute Cuts; Sunny Happy Skies: Alpha+Bits; Family Dynamix: Borders N Blocks

Saturday Sketches

First up, we have another round of Saturday Sketches. Twice a month, we'll be bringing you a new sketch, and showing you a few takes on the sketch by our designers. Today, we have our second sketch for March, courtesy of Becky Fleck.

"Baby Ella Bean", by Megan Klauer.

I always love starting with a good sketch. It's like that first step of the creative process is done for you. The next step for me is making it my own. Adding some embellishments, tweaking it, or even rotating it; that's the fun part! I have had this cute little photo of Ella for a while now & just haven't found the right papers for it. Then I tried it with the Spring Flings & Easter Things collection ... perfect!

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: Egg Hunt, Mom's Bouquet, Sunny Sunday, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits; Button Market: Wood Buttons, Pink Flora; Sophisticates: Chip Essentails; High Five Alphabet Stickers: Blue; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Pink; Designer Tape: Yellow Chevron

"It's A Girl", by Brook Stewart.

After 7.5 years worth of little boys, we recently found out that we're having a baby girl this summer. I'm nervous and excited all at the same time! This sketch worked perfectly with my new ultrasound pictures. I used the sketch mostly as is, but instead of just photos, I cut papers to fit the photo areas since my pictures were a little smaller. I added my journaling where the embellishment cluster is since I had quite a bit to say and it wouldn't fit on the tag with my title.

Supplies:
Baby Girl: It's A Girl, Snuggly Safari, Miniatures;  We're Expecting: Bella Baby Bump; Spring Flings & Easter Things: Mom's Bouquet; High Five Alphas: Red & Pink; Ciao Chip Borders; Ciao Chip Alphas: Simply Simona Peep; Ciao Chip Sophisiticates: Trees

"Spring", by Julie Johnson.

This sketch was so easy and fun to work with. It's a great sketch if you are wanting to use up some left over scraps or not wanting to use a lot of paper. All you need is a few strips for this one, but to look at it, you would never think so. I loved how the "Just Write Journaling Sticker" fit perfectly between my photos to create my title and journaling block. As for the details on the page, the bottom flower border is cut from one of the journal squares from the Cute Cuts sheet. I added some stickers from the Alpha + Bits sticker and Miniature sticker sheets, and hand punched a few butterflies. I'm loving the new Bella Flags but since I haven't got my hands on any yet (it's tough waiting, isn't it), I decided to make my own. I cut a rectangle from pattern paper, folded it in half and glued it to a toothpick and then cut the ends at an angle to look like a flag.

Supplies:
Spring Flings and Easter Things: Borders, A Tisket A Tasket, Sunny Sunday, Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits, Miniatures, Cute Cuts

"Shovel", by Vivian Masket.

I loved the simplicity of this sketch! I followed the sketch almost exactly, omitting the stitching and adding some extra embellishments at the top of the journaling block. The gorgeous colors in the Winter Wonder papers provided the inspiration for my title and snowflake elements, which were die cut from coordinating solid colored cardstock. The Winter Wonder Miniatures Stickers added the perfect finishing touches!

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Blizzard, Icy, Miniatures Stickers; Family Dynamix: Quadrants

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

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

Layouts On Wednesdays

It's 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