Bella Blvd Studio Blog

Altered Project Shares

It's been a while since we shared some altered projects, hasn't it? Well, today we have a few fun ideas to share with you. We have an altered idea binder, an altered pencil/art carrier and clipboard, and a pair of altered wooden boxes.

Altered Idea Binder, by Jennifer Edwardson.

I've always been one of those girls that would see something in a magazine and have to rip it out and tuck it away for later. Once I got married and had children, the types of things I tear out have changed to house plans and decorating ideas, etc. I've had this fun 'russel & hazel' binder for a few months now and I decided it was the perfect way to collect all my magazine pages, cut outs and layout/project ideas too!

The binding was perfectly me already; black & white, so I just needed to embellish the plain kraft cover and make a little color magic happen inside.

I used two different Bella papers on the front but left a space in between to make a word border.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Quattrofina and High Five alphas, and the smallest letters were perfect to add some of my favorite words to the cover. I added 12" border stickers horizontally and one running top to bottom along the left edge to pull it all together.

Once I had the base in place, I wrapped some twine close to the spine and added a crochet flower and a couple of flags to finish it off.

I had a few different idea sections that I wanted to use this binder for so using a few more patterned papers, I created page dividers and added Chip Essentials for the tabs.

For times when I'm on the go and just want to add bits that I've taken from magazines for later, I added envelopes to the face of the page dividers so I can keep them safe until I have time to add them to a page permanently. Of course I had to pretty these up as well so I used Designer Tape, cardstock stickers, Ciao Chip and alphas too.

Supplies:
Mr. Boy: Heros, Hyper Stripe; Family Dynamix: Quadrants, Ciao Chip; Sunshine & Happiness: Alphas+Bits, Ciao Chip; Baby Boy: Baby Blue, Alphas+Bits; Too Cute to Spook: Itsy Bitsy Spider; Making The Team: Quadrants; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Oyster; Flags: Girl, Summer; Crochet Flowers: Juniper; Ciao Chip Essentials: Asparagus & Pickle Juice, Ice & Chlorine, Oyster & Oreo; Quattrofina: Spinach & Pickle Juice, Salt Water & Pacific, Milk & Oreo; High Five Alphabets: Green, Blue, Black & White; Designer Tape: Teal Stripe, Pickle Juice Dot, Jail Bird

Altered Coloring Station, by Marie-Josée Hamel.

Summer is coming and given that I have six weeks off, I will surely work on a few scrapbooking projects. However, since the best thing about summer is the nice, warm and sunny weather, I don’t want to stay inside. So I had this idea of creating a small portable coloring station that I can bring outside, on the pool deck, while I watch my daughter. 

It is very easy to carry and holds all the supplies I need to color a few stamped images using Prismacolor pencils and taltin. All I have to do is clip the pre-stamped image on my tiny clipboard and I am ready to start coloring.

I started by painting the pen holder and the tiny clipboard with acrylic paint, and then adhered paper to all surfaces to add a bit of color. I finished both with a coat of Mod Podge. When I was done, I also added a few embellishments. I am now ready to go outside to do some coloring.

Supplies:
Spring Fling and Easter Things: A Tisket A Tasket, Cute Cuts, Sunny Sunday, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Chipboard Icons

"Baby" altered wooden box, by Laura Vegas.

One of my favorite items to alter are wooden and paper mache boxes. They are so easy to cover with whatever pattern papers you like to fit your needs, and they're even more fun to fill up with memorabilia. I altered two wooden boxes, using the Baby Boy collection. These boxes would be perfect for storing little keepsakes from baby's first year. This first box is about 8 inches square, and was purchased at a craft and fabric store.

I started off by taking off the hinges from the box, and then I painted the box with white acrylic paint. I never sand my boxes, but that's a personal preference. Then I measure out the top of the lid, and the sides of the box, and cut my patterned papers to size. I used Mod Podge, and decoupage them to the box. I added another layer of Mod Podge on top of the papers as well, to give the box a nice shiny finish.

When it came to embellishing the box, I kept it pretty simple. I didn't want anything to bulky on the top of the box, since at some point, I'm sure this would end up tucked away somewhere. I cut a few banner shaped pieces from patterned paper, and added them to the top of the box. I wanted to keep a bit of dimension, so I did not decoupage those pieces, and instead just used lots of glue dots.

For once, I got smart and I made sure the hinges were on the sides of the box. This way, the box can sit on a shelf nicely. I used lots of chipboard pieces from the Chipboard Icons to embellish the top of the box. Love how one package of embellishments added so much to the project.

Supplies:
Baby Boy: Wild About You, Heaven Sent, On The Go, Borders, Chipboard Icons, Alpha+Bits Stickers

"Baby Love" altered wooden box, by Laura Vegas.

For my second wooden box, I choose a smaller version of the first box. This box is about 5 inches square, and I thought the inset area on the top of the box added a nice touch.

I covered this box the same way I did on the first box. Painting the box with white paint, measuring and cutting my patterned papers to fit, and decoupaging them onto the box using Mod Podge. The "Baby Love" sticker from the Just Write Journaling sticker sheet was the perfect size for the inside area on the top of the box. I adhered the sticker to cardstock first, and cut around it, and then adhered it using pop dots for just a touch of dimension.

Supplies:
Baby Boy: Momma's Boy, Heaven Sent, Just Write Journaling Stickers

Bella Blvd & The Twinery Team-Up: Day One

We have big stuff planned for you this week, and we are so excited to get things going! Bella Blvd is teaming up with The Twinery, for a week full of inspiration. 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. We have loads of projects to share with you, so let's get started!

“Perfect Bliss”, by Kimberly Neddo.

I have been doing a lot of knitting and learning crocheting in my spare time, and I've really been enjoying it. I was so excited to be able to be a part of The Twinery team up with Bella Blvd, as I've been wanting to experiment with different crocheting techniques to embellish on a layout. I haven't seen this done before, with borders and different flowers. I love how this layout turned out with these unique twine embellishments I made.

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Happy Clouds, Popsicle Kisses, Miniatures Stickers; Baby Boy: Miniatures Stickers; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Saltwater; Ciao Chip: Clouds; High Five Alpha Stickers: Yellow; Button Market: Feminine Mix; Designer Tape: Pickle Juice

The Twinery Supplies:
Pink Sorbet, Caribbean, Lilac, Light Green, Lemonade

“Spring Photoshoot”, by Megan Klauer.

Twine is the perfect accessory to buttons! I took two of the little buttons from the Wood Mix & added a splash of color by simply tying twine through the holes. I also accented a journaling tag from the Cute Cuts page by tying twine around the top. 

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Chipboard Icons, Flags; Designer Tape: Yellow Chevron, Pickle Juice Dots, Pink Stripe; Button Market: Wood Mix, Fruit Punch; Flags: Floral; Sophisticates Ciao Chip: Borders

The Twinery Supplies:
Caribbean, Lemondrop

"Apple Of My Eye", by Suzanne Sergi.

Hello Beautiful may not be a new release, but it is one of my favorites. Love the bold titles found on the Borders N' Blocks Paper! The yellow twine from the Twinery matched perfectly with the yellow found on these papers. Since the title was so bold, I added the twine along the bottom to ground it to my page. A small section also helped to dress up the apple diecut from the Cute Cuts paper. 

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Hello Beautiful: Thanks A Bunch, Just because, Borders N' Blocks, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers

The Twinery Supplies:
Lemondrop

"Stick Together" card by Becky Williams.

I created the hearts on this card by first punching three hearts in my white cardstock paper. I then cut 3 small squares of paper, covered one with patterned paper and the other two with strips of twine. I adhered the pieces on the back of the white cardstock and then added the sentiment stickers to the front of the card.

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Baby Boy: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sunshine & Happiness: Petal Power, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Miniatures Stickers; Designer Tape: Red Dot, Teal Stripe

The Twinery Supplies:
Pink Sorbet, Honeydew, Stone, Buttercream

"Hello" card, by Deanna Misner.

I wanted to create a card that would brighten someone's day, and nothing's better than the Sunshine & Happiness collection. I love that it's bold, bright, and so much fun! This card was also a great way to use up some of my scraps. I notched the ends of several patterned paper scraps, then I hand-cut the flowers and popped them up with 3D foam adhesive. I lined them with twine and added a quick sentiment to make an easy card.

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Sunny Side Up, Borders, Popsicle Kisses, Playdate, Happy Clouds; High Five Alpha Stickers: Yellow

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

"We Are Family" altered monogram, by Morgan Bandkowski.

I wanted to use the twine to create an altered project. I love those paper mache letters you can find at craft stores. I decided to get the letter "F" for family. My mom has a new sunroom on her house so I thought I would make her a letter to go in the room. I used cream yarn to cover the whole thing and the took two different colors of the twine and wrapped them around to accent it. I added a flower and stitched on two buttons & a flag to give it a little more pizazz! 

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Button Market: Checkers, Pickle Squares; Flags: Home Sweet Home; Baby Blooms a Bella: Champagne

The Twinery Supplies:
Flax, Honeydew

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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! Keep coming back to both blogs all week long, because we have a ton more projects to share with you. And watch for giveaways from both of us, as well!

Layouts On Wednesdays

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

"Geeky Happiness", by Melissa Stinson.

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

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

"Run Rabbit Run", by Kim Arnold.

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

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

"Bones”, by Vivian Masket.

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

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

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

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

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

May Guest Designer: Jennifer Gallacher

We are excited to introduce you to our May Guest Designer, Jennifer Gallacher! Jennifer has created some fabulous, bright, and happy projects to share with us today. And along with those projects, she has also added a few fun challenges, for those of you that would like to play along!

Hi everyone! It's Jennifer Gallacher here. I currently work with Echo Park Paper as their Marketing Coordinator/Managing Editor. In addition I serve as a Garden Girl for www.twopeasinabucket.com. You may have seen my work as an Assistant and Contributing Editor for a few of Northridge Publishing titles including Cricut Magazine, Scrapbook Trends Magazine, and the Create Idea Book Series. In my 15 year career as a designer, teacher, and editor in the industry I've had the opportunity to work for such companies as Making Memories, Little Yellow Bicycle, Li'l Davis Designs, and Karen Foster Design. I have taught and demonstrated at CHA tradeshows and local scrapbook stores and had many projects published in the leading papercrating magazines. I enjoy both traditional, hybrid, and even digital paper crafting. When I'm not designing, I enjoy reading and watching English Period Piece movies. My husband doesn't quite understand how I can watch a Jane Austen movie five times in a row, but I think it's wonderful!

I am super excited to be joining Bella Blvd as a Guest Designer this month. Bella Blvd has such playful, bright color schemes and patterns; and since I am always drawn to color, I was thrilled to be designing with several of their collections this month.

"Summer", by Jennifer Gallacher.

For my first creation, I designed a layout using the "Sunshine & Happiness" collection. We're finally starting to get warmer weather, and that makes me long for picnics at the park, trips to the pool, and just anything sunshine related. This layout is a tribute to my niece who is definitely full of sunshine and happiness. We love it when she comes to visit, and she loves to be outside in our yard.

I am a big fan of the banner trend so I cut several pieces from the "b side" of the "Sunshine & Happiness" collection. I cut each banner to a random length and width and then either cut the banner on a diagonal or notched the ends. I overlapped them with stickers and then machine stitched some of them in place. To complete the banner, I created a little scene with stickers and cut out shapes from the paper. I also printed my journaling on yellow cardstock and mounted it on the yellow chevron word bubble. Layering like this draws the eye to the larger elements on the page and balances your photos.

Challenge: Cut your favorite Bella Blvd. papers into banner shapes, overlapping them as you place them on your page. Lay them horizontally or vertically depending on your layout design. Be sure to cut them varying widths and lengths to keep them interesting.

"Friends" gift jar, by Jennifer Gallacher.

For my second creation, I wanted a little gift that I could deliver to a friend. I think I have a crush on this chevron pear shape. I covered an empty jar with patterned paper, a ribbon, and the cut out pear shape. I also layered on a sentiment "friends" sticker and a button tied with twine on the jar front. I then filled the jar with green and white bubble gum. I keep empty jars and containers on hand just for occasions such as these. I can't wait to deliver this little gift to my neighbor as I know she'll love it!

Challenge: Cover a container or empty jar with elements from any of the beautiful Bella Blvd. collections. Then select a treat that matches the colors and patterns found within the paper and embellishments. Then deliver it to a friend or neighbor. You can also create a coordinating card with leftover supplies.

"Spring" frame, by Jennifer Gallacher.

For my final project, I wanted a home decor art piece showcasing the spring season. In addition to keeping jars and containers around, I stock up on cute frames so I can alter them at will. For this frame, I filled the inside with cloud patterned paper, the rainbow shape die cut, and the chipboard sunshine sticker. I cut an additional rainbow shape from a second sheet of paper and layered the clouds on top of the first shape. I like using adhesive foam squares to create shadows and depth on my project between layers.

To create the banner, I hand cut triangle shapes from some "Sunshine & Happiness" patterned paper (don't be afraid to mix and match collections as Bella Blvd.'s collection work very well together). Then I layered the chipboard "SPRING" letters on each banner and strung them from string attached to my frame. I love how this makes me excited for all our beautiful spring weather.

Challenge: Fill a frame with a seasonal themed scene using the shapes you can cut out from the patterned paper. Mix in buttons, tape, stamps, and chipboard stickers for even more texture and interest. Place elements within the frame (removing the glass), and outside the frame to make it more exciting!

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I really enjoyed working with the Bella Blvd collections. I already have even more projects in mind and can't wait to start creating. Thanks for joining me today in creating some spring and summer projects.

Cards On Thursdays

"Spring” card, by Alice Carman.

Hooray…it’s Spring!  I just adore the colors we get during Spring and today’s card clearly says that!  It’s a beautiful so get inspired and use some Bella Blvd product to make your next awesome card.

Supplies:
Baby Boy, Miniatures, On The Go; Sunshine & Happiness: Happy Clouds, Sunny Side Up, Alpha+Bits; Spring Flings and Easter Things: Icons Ciao Chip; Designer Tape: Pink Flowers; Button Market: Feminine Mix, Masculine Mix, Fruit Punch

“Sweet Girl” card, by Alice Carman.

I love to layer on my cards so making this window card really shows off all the Bella Blvd product I used.  Can you name all the products I used?  Well if you can’t, my supply list will have everything I used. 

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Cute Cuts, Juicy Good Time; Baby Boy: Heaven Sent; Designer Tape: Pink Flowers, Pink Stripe; Baby Girl: Miniatures; High Five Alphabets: Green, Pink-Red

"Sending You Sunshine & Happiness" card, by Deanna Misner.

I had fun with this card, maybe a bit too much. But as soon as those tapes arrived at my door, I wanted to play with them. So on this card I decided to "ruffle" them. If you can call it that. I used the same technique with the tape as I would paper to accordion fold, or ruffle, them. Then I layered chipboard clouds, a flower that I turned into a sun, and added my sentiment. Did you know that the collection label on the top of the Alpha+Bits sheet is a sticker too? It is. And I used it as a part of what I wanted to say.

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Happy Clouds, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Ciao Chipboard; Spring Flings & Easter Things: Ciao Chipboard; Ciao Chipboard: Clouds; Designer Tape: Red Dot, Pink Flowers, Yellow Chevron, Pickle Juice, Blue Gingham

"UR A Delight" card, by Deanna Misner.

I've been really inspired by Pinterest lately (who hasn't?!) and I've really loved looking at the home decor embroidery hoops hanging on walls. One in particular had a series of circles that inspired me to make this card. I used different patterns and shapes to make the card look like Sunshine & Happiness confetti had been dropped on it. A simple non-distracting sentiment was added to keep the overall design as the focus.

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Petal Power, Sunny Side Up, Play Date, Popsicle Kisses, Happy Clouds, Borders, Miniature Stickers; Quattrofina Alpha Stickers: Mustard and Apricot

"Birthday Wishes" card, by Kathy Martin.
{A Winter CHA Project}

Now that Bella Blvd has new Designer tapes, I get to play with different ways to incorporate them into my craft projects. I used a border punch to create scalloped edges with this ‘Pickle Juice’ style Designer Tape by attaching just half of it to my card stock before punching. A long time favorite accent of mine is buttons and I love these new red flowers!

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Petite Pieces, Short Stories; Miniatures Card Sentiments; Spring Flings & Easter Things: Alpha+Bits; Button Market: Red Flowers; Designer Tape: Juice Dot

"Thank You" card, by Kathy Martin.
{A Winter CHA Project}

This card includes lots of brand new Bella Blvd goodies! Can you spot them all? To start with, the sentiment is created with High Five Alphabet stickers. They’re the perfect size for greeting cards! I also used one of the new Designer tape styles, Pickle Juice and gave it a scalloped edge. How about that adorable little flag? That’s another fun new Bella Blvd accent and I love them!

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Petite Pieces, Short Stories, Black and White High Five Alphas; Designer Tape: Juice Dot; Flags: Thank You’s; Blooms-a-Bella; Spring Flings & Easter Things: Alpha+Bits

"Family Man" card, by Morgan Bandkowski.

My summers are always busy, so I thought I would get a jump on creating some cards. I decided to make my father's day card combining the Man of the House & the Estate Sale collections.

Supplies:
Estate Sale: Linens, Nana's Apron; Man Of The House: Cuff Links, Distinguished, Alpha+Bits

"Birthday Wishes" card, by Morgan Bandkowski.

Today is my mom's birthday, so I thought why not make a birthday card for my mom as my project this month. I've been making birthday cards for my mom since I was a little girl. She loves receiving a hand-made card. Try making a card for the next birthday in your life. :)

Supplies: 
Plastino: Forget-Me-Nots; Hello Beautiful: Cute Cuts; Sophisticates: Miniatures Card Sentiment Stickers; Designer Tape: Teal Stripe

Ongoing Guest Designers: Carina Lindholm & Wendy Bretz

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 Carina Lindholm and Wendy Bretz for their second round of projects.

Hello everyone! I’m Carina Lindholm. I live in a small town in the middle of Sweden with my husband Per and our three children Marcus (8), Filip (6) & Alva (5). I’m a stay at home mom, but I sometimes work extra in a scrapbook store. I consider myself both a scrapbooker and a card maker and my style is playful and I like to use lots of color on my projects. When I’m not paper crafting I love to sew, read and spend time with my family.

“Äggmålning”, by Carina Lindholm.

I used the Spring Fling & Easter Things collection to make my projects today. And oh, how I love this collection! All the patterns and the colors makes me a very happy girl. The photos on this layout are from easter last year. My children and my little nephew is painting eggs. And I love all the cut outs that comes with every Bella blvd collection. On this layout I used three eggs and the cute little easter chick cut outs. To get the scallop borders around the eggs I simply just matted the eggs on white cardstock and cut around them using decorative scissors.

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: Sunny Sunday, Borders, Cute Cuts, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Baby Blooms-A-Bella

“Happy Mother’s Day”, by Carina Lindholm.

We celebrate mother’s day in May here in Sweden. And I know that my mother loves bright and cheerful colors, so I thought it would be perfect to make her a card by using this collection. I cut out this cute flower cut out and adhered it to the card using foam tape, so it really pops out from the card.

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: Mom’s Bouquet, Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sophisticates: Miniatures Card Sentiments

“For A Super Great Friend”, by Carina Lindholm.

For this card I die cut a few label shapes from different patterned papers and adhered them together to make an embellishment. And I let one of Bellas Blvd´s super cute pink fabric flowers to be the focal point on this card.

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: Mom’s Bouquet, Borders, A Tisket A Tasket; Sophisticates: Miniatures Card Sentiments; Baby Blooms-A-Bella

“Thank you”, by Carina Lindholm.

I used a label die to make the shapes in the pink chevron paper. I also punched out a bunch of butterflies, in different sizes and color and adhered them in the negative spaces on the card base.

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: Sunny Sunday, A Tisket A Tasket, Borders, Egg Hunt

Hi! My name is Wendy Bretz and I'm so excited to be this month guest designer here at Bella Blvd. I live in a small town in western New York and have one daughter who is my everything. I'm a simple, graphic scrapper and love to create paper and digital layouts. I've been published in Creating Keepsakes, Scrapbook Etc., Simple Scrapbooks and Scrapbook Trends magazines. I love creating memories that my daughter can look back at in the future.

"Nothing Better", by Wendy Bretz.

As soon as I saw the back of the Baby Boy, Momma's Boy Patterned Paper I knew exactly what I was going to create! I love making 2 page layouts where I have entire photo on the right and my design work on the left. These Designer Tapes are probably one of my new favorite embellishments too. You can do so much with them … use them as accents, tape photos on a layout, or even layer them and create a piece of patterned paper. On this layout I used it as a accent on my layout.

Supplies:
Baby Boy: Momma's Boy, Baby Boy: Alpha + Bits, Designer Tape: Yellow Chevron, Sophisticates: Pink-Red High Five Alphabets

"Guess What", by Wendy Bretz.

High Five Alphabets … what can't I say about them??? These sheets of stickers are the coolest and most versatile letter stickers out there in my opinion. They come is so many different colors and I love every single one of them. When I started this layout I wanted to create something simple so I decided to just use the "?" and for the brackets at the bottom I cut the number "0" in half. To finish I added my photo digitally after I scanned it.

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Petal Power, Sophisticates: Pink-Red High Five Alphabets

Product Spotlight: Wood Buttons

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

First up, we are putting the spotlight on our Wood Buttons. Our packages come in great neutral wood designs, and also in fun, colorful wood designs. They're perfect for adding a fun touch to any project. We asked some of our Design Team members to work the Wood Buttons onto their projects, in creative ways. Let's see what they came up with!

"Tic Tac Toe The Logic", by Nancy Damiano.

I love using buttons to add texture and dimension to a scrapbook page. Sometimes they add just the right pop of color to a layout and other times - they're a prop. I've used buttons in place of the letter "o" in many layouts, so why not use them as "o's" on a game piece! They added a fun and personalized touch to the Tic Tac Toe embellishment. Plus, the bold, aqua washi tape in a grid was fun to make.

Supplies:
Sunshine Happiness: Sunny Side Up, Alpha+Bits; Baby Boy: Baby Blue; Finally Fall: Apple Holler; Making The Team: Wall Of Fame; High Five Alphabets: Green, Black-White; Button Market: Text; Designer Tape: Teal Stripe

"Zoo Birthday", by Katherine McElveen.

Seeing the cupcakes, animals, and fun patterns in the Bella Baby Girl line, I knew I wanted to use it for a layout about my daughter’s birthday trip to the zoo. I used buttons and Chipboard Icons to create the “zoo” title, and cut out a triangle form the dress on the Cute Cuts paper to create a party hat for the little pink chipboard giraffe.

A single page was not enough for the photos that I wanted to include in the layout so I added a divided page protector for the second page. I love how the Bella journaling tags on the Cute Cuts paper fit perfectly into the dividers. When using the divided page protectors I like to tuck some embellishments, like the journaling tags, inside the pockets, but also adhere some stickers and paper directly to the outside of the page protector. I wanted to carry the buttons and chipboard animals to the this second page, so I created an embellishment of the monkey holing button balloons, attaching them to the outside of the protector.

Supplies:
Baby Girl: It’s a Girl, Daddy’s Girl, Baby Cakes, Boarders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits, Chipboard Icons; Baby Boy: It’s a Boy, Wild About You, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits; Button Market: Aqua Flowers, Zebra, Checkers, Fruit Punch, Neutrals Mix; Sophisticates: Simply Simona Peep, High Five Alphabets: Pink-Red, Blue, Miniatures Card Sentiments

"Our Bottle Calf", by Brook Stewart.

I used a wide range of Bella papers for this layout. I wanted it to be colorful and bright, just like the pictures! I cut several papers into tags and topped them with one of my favorite new Bella embellishments … the wood buttons! They are the perfect accent to any layout or project!

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Sunny Side Up, Popsicle Kisses, Happy Clouds; Spring Flings & Easter Things: Mom's Bouquet, Borders; Making the Team: Quadrants, Borders; Mr. Boy: Alpha + Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Ciao Chip Alpha Stickers: McIntosh; High Five Alphabets: Yellow, Blue; Button Market: Checkers, Wood Mix, Masculine Mix, Neutrals Mix

"Hi" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

I love that Bella Blvd has buttons now! And these wooden ones are some of my favorites! One of my favorite ways to use buttons is as the center of a flower. A button makes for a simple and fun way to jazz up a flower!

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Plum, Black-White High Five Alphabets; Winter Wonder: Toasty; Sunshine & Happiness: Cute Cuts, Petal Power; Button Market: Checkers: We're Expecting: Baby's Firsts Miniature Stickers

"You Are My Sunshine On A Rainy Day" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

Buttons are such fun embellishments! I used them here along with flowers cut out of a sheet of patterned paper (Sunshine & Happiness Petal Power) and miniature stickers to create a fun border across this card. Thanks for looking!

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Punch (Hot Pink); Spring Fling and Easter Things: Cute Cuts, Miniature Stickers; Sunshine & Happiness: Petal Power, Miniature Stickers; Button Market: Checkers, Wood Mix

"Happily Ever After" card, by Deanna Misner.

Wedding season is just around the corner and I, for one, am in a need of several wedding and shower cards. I thought the neutral buttons in the Button Market would make a nice card that has lots of pattern, but also is simple and sophisticated.

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Oreo; Button Market: Checkers, Plaid, Zebra, Wood Mix, Masculine Mix

"Have a Wonderful Day" card, by Deanna Misner.

For this quick card punches made all the difference! I used both a circle and scalloped circle punch to created a "general use" card for use any time. I used a rainbow of colors, a couple of different collections (don't you just love how most of the collections can be used interchangeably?), and the neutral buttons were the perfect compliment to give it depth and texture. Now I have a card that I can grab on the go or use when I'm in a pinch.

Supplies:
Baby Girl: Pretty in Pink; Spring Flings & Easter Things: Sunny Sunday, Borders, Miniature stickers; Button Market: Checkers, Wood Mix; High Five Alphabets: Pink-Red

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

Cards On Thursdays: Easter Cards

Hey everyone! So far this week, we have shared lots of Easter altered projects and Easter layouts. Any guess as to what comes next? That's right ... cards! It's not too late to create some quick cards to hand out to family and friends this coming Easter weekend. Let's check out what our Design Team has created, using the Spring Flings & Easter Things collection.

"Happy Easter", by Gretchen McElveen.

Happy Easter! Well of course the Spring Flings and Easter Things line is perfect for Easter cards. But I even managed to sneak the pink side of the Blizzard sheet from the Winter Wonder line onto both of these cards! And apparently I was digging the scallops when I made these two cards: I've got scalloped circles and scalloped borders on both cards!

Supplies:
Spring Flings and Easter Things: Egg Hunt, Borders, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha + Bits Stickers; Winter Wonder: Blizzard

"Happy Easter/He has Risen" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

Supplies:
Spring Flings and Easter Things: Egg Hunt, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Winter Wonder: Blizzard

“Easter Wishes” card, by Kathy Martin.

I really enjoy creating card designs that show off a collection well. This banner card uses a little bit of everything from the Spring Flings & Easter Things line. I can’t get enough of these Miniatures Stickers with cute pennant tags. I have gone through sheet after sheet of these and I can still think of many more uses for them!

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: Cute Cuts, Mom’s Bouquet, Sunny Sunday, Egg Hunt, Miniatures Stickers

“Happy Easter” card, by Kathy Martin.

With Easter on its way, this adorable bunny from the Spring Flings & Easter Things collection is the perfect focal point for an Easter card. My favorite paper from this line is the floral print with all the colorful flowers, nothing says spring better! I love the Bella Blvd accents like this carrot, if you have a rabbit, you need a carrot, right?

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: Cute Cuts, Egg Hunt, Mom’s Bouquet, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Miniatures Stickers

"Spring Spectacular" card, by Kathy Martin.
{A Winter CHA Project}

I've probably said it a dozen or more times, that I love Sophisticates stickers! They are so versatile and fun to use!! For this card I wanted to show how a grouping of them looked together! In the past I've been known to hoard the accents and papers I really liked! I was afraid to use them up and when I did use them, I would apply them sparingly. I've finally learned to let go and really play!

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: Egg Hunt, Mom’s Bouquet, Cute Cuts, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Miniatures; Flags: Bugs

"For Peeps Sake" card, by Deanna Misner.
{A Winter CHA Project}

Isn't that just the cutest little saying! I love the little chick cut-out paired with it! But then, I'm a sucker
for holiday cards that are a little cheesy. They make me smile. And that's what a cards all about, right?
Anyway, I cut out the eggs from the Border paper and scattered them underneath the chick. The "Spring" border added a fun little touch up in the corner.

Supplies:
Spring Things: Cute Cuts, Borders, Egg Hunt, Sunny Sunday, Alpha+Bits

"Hoppy Easter" card, by Laura Vegas.
{A Winter CHA Project}

When I saw this adorable chipboard bunny, I knew I wanted to put him on a card. I used pop dots to adhere the chipboard piece to my card, and added a Miniature sticker to the end of a stick pin, for the bunny to "hold". I also added a few torn strips of Designer Tape behind my letter stickers, to make my "Hoppy Easter" sentiment stand out more.  

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: Sunny Sunday, Egg Hunt, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Chipboard Icons, Miniatures; Designer Tape: Pickle Juice Dot

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

Altered Easter Projects

Easter is almost here! If you're anything like me, and you havn't thought about any Easter treats or Easter decor yet, then you'll want to check out today's projects. I asked our Altered Project Designers to create some fun Easter projects, focusing on the Spring Flings & Easter Things collection. And we rounded out the day, with a Spring Flings & Easter Things mini album, to document all of the Easter festivities.

Altered Easter Bucket, by Suzanne Sergi.

I loved revisiting the clear paint bucket. They are wonderful to tuck in treats, and small gifts. I thought this would be a great gift for a teacher, or neighbor. I used the Spring Flings collection to add festive Easter touches. I used the blue chevron to wrap the bottom, and a simple border from the border sheet with the perfect Easter sentiment. I added glitter to the chipboard bunny, and the border sheet for extra sparkle. Then using one of my favorite new releases from Bella was the yellow chevron tape. I used it to accent the lid of the bucket, and randomly on the sides.

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: Egg Hunt, Borders, Cute Cuts, Miniatures, Chipboard Icons; Sunshine & Happiness: Sunny Side Up; Crochet Flowers: Daises; Designer Tape: Yellow Chevron

Altered Easter House, by Marie-Josée Hamel.

To create this project, I bought this tiny wooden house at a crafts store. I painted it with green paint and adhered paper to it using Mod Podge. I then cut rabbits, chicks and eggs out of the Egg Hunt paper and adhered them to the house using pop dots, to create dimension. I also used a bit of Spanish moss to create little nests for the eggs that I adhered to the house using Mod Podge.

Supplies:
Spring Flings and Easter Things: Egg Hunt, Sunny Sunday, Borders Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits, Miniatures

Easter Treat Boxes, by Jennifer Edwardson.

Most holidays you will find me up until the wee hours the evening before putting last minutes touches on projects for the kids. But not this Easter! I am so excited that I got a head start on these fun gifts for my kids. 

Emma and Alex will see these fun boxes when they sit down to Easter breakfast this weekend! I used a box template to create the base and then added bits of patterned paper from Spring Flings & Easter Things.

Once the base was complete, I added precision cut pieces, stickers and chip alphas to embellish. I finished them off with crinkle cut paper in the bottom before filling each box with chocolate treats too!!

Altered Easter Gift Tins, by Jennifer Edwardson.

I am that girl who scoops up all the super savings in the days after a holiday. I love collecting pieces that I can turn into something else and tucking them away until the following year. That is exactly what I did with these gift card tins. 

My children are at ages where they LOVE to get gift cards so these are perfect for a little something special from Mommy and Daddy on Easter morning.

I liked the silver on the bottom but really needed to re-do the lid! I wrapped a pattern strip around the edge and added another pattern on top. I sanded all the edges first and then 'scrapbooked' the top using stickers, ribbon, flags, twine and a crochet flower too!

Easter Napkin Rings, by Jennifer Edwardson.

I like to add a bit of color to the dinner table on holidays but didn't want to create place cards for a small group so I decided to whip up these fun little napkin rings instead! I used a strip of patterned paper, border punched the edge and added precision cut shapes and stickers to the top to pretty them up. A very quick, easy and super cute way to use up your leftover bits from other projects!

Supplies:
Spring Flings and Easter Things; egg hunt, mom's bouquet, borders, cute cuts, alphas & bits, miniatures and flags. Ciao Chip; Simply Simona Saltwater. Sunshine & Happiness; happy clouds. Crochet Flowers; Dahlia

"Spring Spectacular" mini album, by Suzanne Sergi.
{A Winter CHA Project}

I paired the Spring Flings and Easter Things Collection with a 6x6 chipboard binder. This mini book has a linen spine, and thought it was perfect for everything spring! I am from Texas, so most holidays are spent without my family. However, about four years ago we were able to celebrate the arrival of Easter together. There is nothing better than Easter in Texas! I captured a few photos documenting our favorite Easter traditions: Easter Baskets, Easter Eggs, the Golden Egg, and we cannot have a party without a bit of confetti thrown in! So glad to have this day to reflect, and to realize how lucky we are to have one another, no matter the distance between us.

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: Egg Hunt, A Tisket A Tasket, Mom's Bouquet, Sunny Sunday, Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Wrote Journaling Stickers, Miniatures; Baby Girl: Flags

Cards On Thursdays

It's another free-for-all card day on the blog today, and we have TONS of gorgeous cards from our Design Team to share with you. We're starting out with lots of springtime cards, a few everyday cards, and ending with a few winter cards.

“Thanks” card, by Kathy Martin.

My first card is a spring inspired design. All the Spring Flings & Easter Things papers are so colorful and cheerful, just like spring! And when I think of spring! I often imagine butterflies fluttering about during this time of year so I created a die cut butterfly for the focal point.

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: Sunny Sunday, Mom’s Bouquet, Cute Cuts, Borders

“Spring Spectacular” card, by Kathy Martin.

My inspiration for this second card is the cover of the brand new Bella Blvd. product catalog that was released at CHA. Have you seen it? It’s adorable, full of clouds made from Bella’s own colorful paper collections! For my card, most of my papers are from the Spring Flings & Easter Things line. I have spring on the brain and have been drawn to it!

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: A Tisket A Tasket, Sunny Sunday, Egg Hunt, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Baby Boy: Mama’s Boy, Borders; Sophisticates: Tall Tags

"Happy Easter" card, by Deanna Misner.

With Easter right around the corner I just had to make an Easter card with "Spring Flings and Easter Things". I love all the patterns of the paper, but also the eggs, bunnies, and Easter-y icons too. For this card, I chose to combine two of the same Cute Cute so a full bracket shape would be the foundation of the card. Then I added the eggs, the bunny, and my sentiment.

Supplies:
Spring Flings and Easter Things: Cute Cuts, Borders, Just Write sticker, Alpha + Bits

"It's Springtime” card, by Deanna Misner.

Again with the Spring theme. Can you tell I'm excited about this time of year?! lol! For this one, I thought I'd hide, tuck, and layer some of the different types of embellishments, most of which are brand new to Bella Blvd. So I hid a flower bouquet, tucked a Baby Bloom and layered a crocheted bloom on top of it. Add a flag, a butterfly, and a couple of other hand-cut pieces here and there, and you've got this card.

Supplies:
Spring Flings and Easter Things: Mom's Bouquet, A Tisket A Tasket, Egg Hunt, Cute Cuts, Borders, Sunny Sunday; Baby Blooms a Bella: Rossini; Crochet Flowers: Daisies; High Five Alphabet Stickers: Green; Winter Wonder: Miniature Stickers

"Thanks" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

I am still pretty obsessed with all the fun flowers in the Sunshine & Happiness line! And because you can never have enough extra thank you cards on hand, I cut out some flowers and used them to make a thank you card to add to my stash! The white paper on this card is actually from the Spring Flings & Easter Things Cute Cuts sheet. I thought it was fun that the "heart" flowers on the bottom coordinate sweetly with the hearts in the center of some of the flowers in the Sunshine & Happiness line.

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Borders, Cute Cuts, Petal Power; Spring Flings & Easter Things: Cute Cuts; Sophisticates: Miniature Card Sentiments

"Congrats" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

I have a friend who should be having a new baby boy any day now. So I used the new Baby Boy line to make a card for her! The alphabet stickers here are from the Winter Wonder Alpha+Bits stickers. They coordinate very well with the Baby Boy line! Those little hearts were cut out of Border sheet and I adhered them to the card with foam adhesive. Thanks for looking!

Supplies:
Baby Boy: Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers; We're Expecting: Baby Boy Bump; Winter Wonder: Alpha+Bits Stickers

"Winter Wonder" card, by Deanna Misner.
{A Winter CHA Project}

For this card I used a snowflake punch to create a falling snow effect down the card. I grounded it all with a couple of borders, and used the collection's name as my sentiment. I really like doing that since all the Bella collections have the cutest names! It's part of where I get my inspiration!

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Toasty, Blizzard, Borders, Miniature Stickers

"Winter Wishes" card, by Kathy Martin.
{A Winter CHA Project}

I couldn't be more excited about the new Bella Blvd Designer Flags! Flags have been a favorite accent of mine that I often create using toothpicks or straight pins. Now I'll have ready made Designer Flags that go with all my favorite Bella Blvd. lines like the Winter Wonder collection I used for this card! It's so easy to make great cards when a collection contains lots of stylish coordinating patterned papers along with accents that match perfectly like the Just Write journaling stickers and borders strips I used.

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Blizzard, Borders, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Flags

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

Altered Projects

Today, we have some altered projects to share from our talented Altered Project Designers. Creating projects does NOT come easily to me. So I am always excited to see what our designers have come up with, when they send their projects to my inbox. And just a head's up ... they will be back next Tuesday, with all Easter related projects ;)

Altered Easter Cupcake Stand, by Jennifer Edwardson.

I had so much fun with this project! I make cupcakes for almost any occasion and expecially for every holiday for the kids classrooms. I've got several types of cupcake carriers but I like the cardboard ones that you can toss away after use. 

I went through my decorating stash, dug out a stand and made it my own with some help from Bella :))  I adhered paper to the stand bases as well as all (3) 'plates', sanded the edges and put it all back together.

I used a couple of my favorite Big Shot dies and created all the 'wraps' for the cupcakes and the fence around the bottom using different patterns of paper. Once I had the cupcakes and fencing in place I decorated the rest using cute cuts, stickers and precision cut pieces too.

I used a strip from the 'borders' paper and precision cut out all the little bunnies and attached them to round toothpicks along with a few stickers to make little flags for the cupcakes – I love how it all came together.

I hope this inspires you to dig out your own Spring Flings and Easter Things and create some fun easter projects for your family too. Happy Easter!

Supplies: 
Spring Flings and Easter Things: Borders, Egg Hunt, Moms Bouquet, A Tisket A Tasket, Cute Cuts, Alphas+Bits, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Brownie, Sprinkles & Lace Pickle Juice, Sprinkles & Lace Peep; Estate Sale: Hat Box

"Sunshine" altered canvas, by Suzanne Sergi.

Using a 12x12 white canvas, I created a wall hanging, using Sunshine & Happiness. I picked a recent photo of my little girl, and included it onto the canvas. I covered the canvas with the blue chevron at the top, and created fun borders along the bottom, using a scallop border die. I love creating small paper crafts such as these to brighten any room. A banner at the top, and a few punched flowers were the small details I added to this canvas.

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Petal Power, Juicy Good Time, Popsicle Kisses, Happy Clouds, Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Miniature Stickers

Altered Home Organizer, by Marie-Josée Hamel.

I always have pieces of paper in the kitchen on which I list things I need to buy and do, and I find it very annoying when my lists are misplaced or when I have to look around for a pen to write new items on my lists or scratch things that were done, so I decided to create this small home organizer. I chose the Finally Fall collection because it matches my kitchen.

To create my organizer, I bought a clipboard and a wire basket at the dollar store. For the clipboard, I kept it very simple and decided not to cover the whole surface, but just a part of it. You can cover it all if you wish, or you can paint the surface so that it matches the papers you will decide to use. You also have to cover the wire basket, which is pretty easy. All you have to do is measure all sides of it, cut your paper accordingly, and adhere it to the wire basket. I then decorated the basket with ribbon and chipboards and adhered it to the clipboard using Terrifically Tacky Tape. Use the basket to put scraps of paper for notes and pens.

I also wanted to have a special spot where I could write important things, such as appointments and birthdays. I measured the space I had left, cut a piece of chipboard and paper fitting that space, adhered them together, and put a small clip on top. I used pop dots to adhere this piece of chipboard to the clipboard. Using Word, I created a template, one sheet for each month, and cut it.

Supplies:
Finally Fall: At the Patch, Bliss, Autumn Splendor, Chipboard Icons

Spring Mini Albums

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a great weekend. Today, we have two Spring themed mini albums to share with you. Both of them feature the Spring Flings & Easter Things collection.

"This Life" mini album, by Wendy Morris.

Spring is in the air to bring a new-ness to the day, to the season, reflection, change, and growth. In this mini book (made by Want2Scrap), I reflected on these bits & pieces of Spring to capture "this life", this moment in my life. A season to reflect on change, new happenings buzzing, and the blooming of a new life. So, this was my inspiration in putting together this project. Butterflies were my focal inspiration throughout the book - change, transformation of the soul, growth - so you will see them sprinkled here & there as this play on repetition and meaning throughout the book. We are all unique, in different cultures, but like a butterfly we change but are beautiful in our own unique way. Also, always remembering to enjoy life, enjoy today, have adventures, and experience love.

Be sure to check out my blog to see even more details and photos of my mini album.

I cut out the rainbow from the Cute Cuts paper (from the Hello Beautiful collection), mounted it on pop dots, and used as an accent on my tag. I added in a few clear pebbles as accents for "raindrops".

For the quote under my photo on the glitter page, I used the quote from the Alpha+Bits sticker sheet (from the Socialite collection) and cut off the top part of the sticker referring to the new year to made it work for this book in a different way. This is a neat way to stretch your product beyond the theme of the paper collection.

I used a few Ciao Chip chipboard clouds as accents on this manilla tag, along with a stamped airplane. I mounted the word "GO" on top of the clouds as a bit of added dimension.

I used the new High Five Alphabets, and addd them directly to my photo. These alphabets are the perfect size for mini projects.  

The new Designer Tapes are the perfect accent to highlight Instagram or TTV photos.

On one of the Spring Fling cards, I used the new Button Market buttons as a sweet flower to highlight the flowers in the corner of the card insert.

On the back of one manila tag, I stamped randomly with various floral stamps, including the Flirty clear stamp set. This was a neat touch for a "doodling" effect. Then, I added in an extra punch with some colorful Baby Blooms a Bella for dimension and color.

On the last page in the book, I cut out the butterfly from the Cut Cuts paper (from the Hello Beautiful collection), stamped with a large script background stamp, cut the butterfly in half, and adhered off to the side of the page.  Stamping is a neat way to jazz up a rather plain cutout. Also, on this page, I randomly played in a mix of chipboard, wood, glitter and clear acrylic butterflies for a nice medley to accent the play on butterflies throughout the book.

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: Cute Cuts, Egg Hunt, Borders, A Tisket A Tasket, Mom's Bouquet, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sunny Happy Skies: Sugar Patch; Lovey Dovey: Love Is In the Air; Mr. Boy: Connect the Dots; Hello Beautiful: Cute Cuts; Socialite: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Swing Into Spring: April Showers; Estate Sale: Belveder; Chipboard Alphabet; Baby Blooms a Bella: Rossini, Azzini; Ciao Chip Versatile Elements: Clouds; Designer Tapes: Teal Stripe; Sophisticates Chip Essentials: Apricot & Banana; High Five Alphabets: Yellow; Button Market: Fruit Punch, Pink Flowers; Stamps: Flirty

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"Spring" mini album, by Kathy Martin.
{A Winter CHA Project}

It's spring, my favorite time of the year! There's so much to love about this season and there's no better collection than Spring Flings & Easter Things from Bella Blvd. to document all things spring! The colors, designs and accents are ideal for Mother's Day and Easter to April showers and May flowers! Instead of using a pre-made album I simply cut some 8 1/2" x 11" heavy white card stock in half and added the punched holes for binder clips.

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: Egg Hunt, A Tisket A Tasket, Sunny Sunday, Borders, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Miniatures Stickers, Flags; Button Market: Red Flowers; High Five Alpha Stickers: Pink/Red, Green; We’re Expecting: Miniatures