Bella Blvd Studio Blog

Cricut Circle Feature Week: Party Planning & Paper Crafts part 3

 

Tonight, we have an adorable party favor project from Katherine McElvain to share with you. Here's what Katherine had to say about her project.

My daughter Delaney recently celebrated her 8th birthday. With mostly boys coming to the party she chose a camping theme, and dirt cups with gummy worms were on the menu for dessert. With a mixture of Bella products, wood skewers, liquid glue, and the Cricut Freshly Picked cartridge, Delaney was able to help me create a fun treat for her party.

 

We first used the Freshly Picked cartridge in combination with the wood grain pattern on the Borders 'n Blocks paper from Bella's Tail Waggers & Cat Naps collection to make cute little garden stakes. I labeled each with a variety of Quattrofina letter stickers (From the Sophisticates collection) to make a personalized dirt cup for each party-goer.

 

Then we cut out the flowers on the Bella Cute Cuts paper from the Family Dynamics collection, and made additional green foliage and some cute mushrooms using the Freshly Picked Cricut cartridge. We used liquid glue to attach our paper garden pieces, as well as some Blooms a Bella and Baby Blooms a Bella to wood skewers and planted them in our treat mixture to make a mini garden in each cup.

 

Then we placed the cups in a old flower crate and tada... we created a Bella birthday garden treat for the whole gang!

 

And a great memory for the birthday girl!

We hope you have enjoyed our week long event, featuring Cricut products. The designers had a lot of fun working on all these projects, and pairing up their Bella Blvd products, with die-cutting and embossing.

Tomorrow, you will be able to find the first sneak peeks of the of the new releases, on Bella Blvd's Facebook page. Make sure and "like" us, if you're on Facebook. I'm pretty sure that there will be a few peeks here on the blog, later in the day. I think you're really going to love them! We will also be announcing the winners of our two giveaways, from Wednesday night and Friday. If you havn't entered for your chance to win, you'll want to make sure and do that.

Cricut Circle Feature Week: Party Planning & Paper Crafts part 2

 

This afternoon, we have some adorable party decor items, all created using the Cricut Expression machine. When you have scrapbook supplies and tools on hand, it's always so easy to make your own personal decor items, to fit the theme of your party.

 

"Happy Birthday" banner, by Allyson Meinholz. Allyson was created projects, around a bumble bee themed birthday party. She used her Cricut Expression machine, to die cut all the pieces for this adorable "Happy Birthday" banner. How cute would this be hanging up at the party?

 

Allyson used pattern papers from Bella's Sophisticates collection.

 

 

Allyson also added some Bella's Baby Bloom-A-Bella flowers, to a few of her banner pieces.

 

 

 

 

"Queen Bee" layout, by Allyson Meinholz. Allyson made a layout of her birthday girl, that matches her party theme perfectly.

 

 

Bumble Bee card, by Allyson Meinholz. Allyson's bumble bee card would be perfect to hand out as "Thank You" cards.

Check back this evening, for some more partly planning ideas. We'll be sharing a fun party favor idea.

Cricut Circle Feature Week: Party Planning & Paper Crafts part 1

 

Today is our last day of our week long feature, for the Cricut Circle team-up. We have three posts for you today, so keep checking back in. Today, we're going to be sharing lots of ideas, all centered around party planning. And all of these projects were made, using the Cricut Expression machine and various cartridges.

 

Hair Accessory Organizer, by Beth Gerlach. Beth recycled some empty bottles and their cardboard holder, to create this fun hair accessory organizer. Each of the jars is just the perfect size to hold ponytail holders, headbands and clips.

 

Beth used the Forever Young cartridge for this project, along with pattern papers from Bella's Hello Beautiful collection, and the Socialite collection. 

 

 

"L is for Lady" party decor, by Beth Gerlach. Beth used Bella's Socialite collection to create this cute little hanging decor.

 

I love the little layered butterflies.

 

Birdie Card/Invite, by Wendy Wagner. Wendy used the Florals Embellished cartridge to create this colorful card, along with pattern papers from Bella's Sophisticates collection.

 

We'll see you back here in a few hours, for more party planning ideas. Don't forget, we have two fabulous giveaways going on, that you can still get in on, if you havn't already. We'll be announcing our winners on Sunday, when we will also be sharing sneak peek of the new releases.

Cricut Circle Feature Week: Layouts and a *GIVEAWAY*

 

Today, it's all about layouts on the Bella Blvd blog. Our designers all used either their Cricut Expression machines, or their Cuttlebug machines, or maybe both, to create their layouts. I'm going to keep today's post short and sweet, since i have seven layouts to share. And at the end, you'll find another HUGE giveaway.

 

"Summer Vacation" layout, by Sheri Feypel.

 

 

"My Girl Sunny" layout, by Morgan Bandkowski.

 

 

"You're 15 Today" layout, by Katherine McElvain.

 

 

"Grow" layout, by Allyson Meinholz.

 

 

"Grass Snake" layout, by Allyson Meinholz.

 

"Gimme Smore" layout, by Beth Gerlach.

 

"Bingo Song" layout, by Wendy Wagner.

 

And now our second giveaway of the week.

 

It includes some cartridges for the Cricut.

 

And a few more cartridges for the Cricut.

 

And how about an Cricut Expression, to go with those cartridges! Cricut Circle was extremely generous, and donated everything you see here for this evenings giveaway. The Cricut Expression machine itself, and seven cartridges.

Retail value is close to $600 total!!!

All you need to do to enter the drawing for the giveaway, is to leave us a comment. Tell us what types of projects you like to see ideas for the most. Layouts, cards, altered items, gift ideas, or anything else that you can think of. One comment per person, please. We will announce the winner, along with Wednesday's giveaway, on Sunday, when we will also be showing our first sneek peek at the new collections!

Cricut Circle Feature Week: Cards part 2

 

Are you all ready for more card inspiration from our fabulous designers? Let's get right to it!

 

"Join Us" card, by Allyson Meinhotz. Allyson's die cut watermelon is just the cutest thing, on this invite card. I love the little pink cheeks that she added, using Bella's Sophisticates pattern paper.

 

"Have A Blast" card, by Gail Hoecker. Gailed used the Seeing Spots embossing folder, to emboss the blue cardstock. Pattern paper and stickers from Bella's Mr Boy collection worked perfectly for this adorable little boy card.

 

Owl card, by Katherine McElvain. Katherine used the Number Collage embossing folder on the white cardstock background for her card.

 

Love the little paper pieced birdie, holding the creative balloon.

 

"You're Super Cool" card, by Sheri Feypel. Sheri created another super cute boy card, using Bella's Mr Boy collection.

 

"Sweetheart" card, by Sheri Feypel. Sheri used the Victoria embossing folder, to emboss the white cardstock. The pattern papers from Bella's Lovey Dovey collection are a great match for this sweetheart card.

 

Remember, we still have our giveaway from yesterday open, for those of you that havn't had a chance to leave your comment yet.

And make sure and visit us tomorrow. We will only be having one post, but it's a biggie. TONS of layouts. And the BIGGEST giveaway (yes, bigger than yesterday's), that you will not want to miss.

Cricut Circle Feature Week: Cards part 1

 

I think we're already reaching a record, for the number of projects shared in one week. And it's only Thursday. We have more coming, on both Friday and Saturday. The designers had so much fun using their Cricut products, that we ended up with tons and tons of projects to share with you. Today is all about cards. And each of the cards featured this morning, were created with the help of the Cuttlebug machine.

 

Flower card, by Wendy Wagner. Wendy used a fun mix of colorful flowers to create this simple card. She used three of the chipboard flowers from Bella's Sophisticates collection, and one of Bella's Baby Blooms-A-Bella flowers.

 

Wendy used the Houndstooth embossing folder, to add some interest to her card base. After embossing the front of her card, she lightly went over the raised parts with some distressing ink, and then aslo inked the edges of her card.

 

"Thank You" card, by Sheri Feypel. Sheri used the Polka Dots embossing folder for her card base. I love the look of the embossed dots on white cardstock. It's so simple and timeless.

 

Sheri also used the Rose/Carnation quilling kit to create this fabulous flower from some pink pattern paper from Bella's Sophisticates collection. Aren't all those layers just gorgeous? Her leaves for the flower, were also created with this same quilling kit.

 

"Thank You" tag, by Morgan Bandkowski. Morgan created this fun little "Thank You" tag, using the Chyrsanthemum quilling kit. Another gorgeous flower, in pink, that has lots of dimension to it. Morgan also used pattern paper and letter stickers from Bella's Sophisticates collection.

 

"Life Is Good", by Morgan Bandkowski. Morgan used the Victoria embossing folder, to emboss the kraft cardstock piece, before wrapping some thread around it. She choose a warm yellow and brown color scheme, using a yellow pattern paper from Bella's Sophisticates collection. She also took apart a Bella-A-Bloom flower, and used a few of the layers to tuck behind the kraft piece, before adding her sticker sentiment.

 

"You Did It" card, by Morgan Bandkowski. Morgan used the Fanciful Labels embossing plus plates, to create the label for her sentiment. She added interest to it, using some distressing ink after she embossed and cut it.The "Make Everyday Memorable" piece, is from Bella's Sophisticates collection, Tall Tags paper. and I really like how the folded back petals on the Bella's Baby Blooms-A-Bella flowers looks. 

 

"Life Is Wonderful", by Morgan Bandkowski. Morgan used the Iron Works Borders embossing folder, to emboss the scroll design on the sides of her card. The "Life is Wonderful" piece, is from the Bella's Sophisticates collection, Tall Tags paper.

 

Check back this afternoon, for lots more card inspiration!

Cricut Circle Feature Week: Handmade Gift Ideas part 3 and a *GIVEAWAY*

 

Hope you've been enjoying all of the handmade gifts and paper crafts we've been sharing with you today. This evening, we have a super cute project that I can't wait for you to see. And keep reading, because there's a giveaway at the end of the post.

 

Kid's Art Binder, by Katherine McElvain. How adorable is the cover to this binder? I think this is such a creative solution, to finding a place to store your child's artwork. The sketched out design on the cover, with touches of pattern paper and embellishments added in, reinforce the "crafty" idea behind this binder.

 

Katherine used her Cricut Expression machine, along with the Nate's ABC cartridge, to create the "draw" image with the pencil through it. She cut the image on some regular cardstock. After placing it where she wanted it on the album cover, she traced around it in pencil, and then over that with pen.

 

Katherine then cut the image again, with pattern papers, and pieced the pencil back together to add to the cover. She sketched out a good portion of the cover design, and then traced around it with pen, adding touches of pattern paper to the sun and the house. She also added letter stickers and chipboard alphas from Bella's Sophisticates collection, to create more words for the cover.

 

Then you can add your child's artwork to the binder. Either by punching holes and slipping them in, or even putting them in page protectors, depending on the size of your binder.

 

 

And now to the giveaway! This is a huge giveaway!

 

It will include some of the embossing folders, for the Cuttlebug.

 

It will also include the quilling kits, for the Cuttlebug.

 

Ok, enough teasing. It will include everything you see here! Cricut Circle was so extremely generous, and donated everything you see here for this evenings giveaway. The Cuttlebug machine itself, the spacer pads, the quilling kits, tons of embossing folders, and a handful of the embossing plus dies.

Retail value is close to $400 total!!!

All you need to do to enter the drawing for the giveaway, is to leave us a comment. Tell us one of the ideas you've seen on our blog so far this week, that you're dying to try out. One comment per person, please. We will announce the winner on Sunday, when we will also be showing our first sneek peek at the new collections!

Cricut Circle Feature Week: Handmade Gifts Ideas part 2

 

This afternoon, we have a handmade wedding planner and a girly picture frame to share with you.

 

Wedding Planner, by Beth Gerlach. Beth used Bella's Sophisticates collection, and chose pretty shades of grey, black, and aqua. Such a sophisticated color pallete.

 

Beth used the Cricut Expression, along with the Simple Charmed cartridge, to create the cute wedding die cut embellishments.

 

This is such a cute idea, to make a little wedding planner, that you can toss in your purse and have handy at a moment's notice. How fun to have all those tags, that you can tuck into the pockets.

 

 

Beth added little letter stickers from Bella's Sophisticates collection to the tags, along with hand written labels.

 

Girly Frame, by Morgan Bandkowski. Morgan decorated the front of a wooden picture frame, using papers and stickers from Bella's Flirty collection. She added in some die cut flowers, created with the Cricut Expression machine.

 

Check back in a few hours, for our last post for today. It will feature an adorable art binder. And there's a BIG giveaway as well, so you will want to be here to get your entered for a chance at it.

Cricut Circle Feature Week: Handmade Gift Ideas part 1

 

Today, we have three posts planned for you. And they all involve projects that revolve around handmade gifts and paper crafts. We hope you're enjoying our design team-up, showing what fun you can have mixing up Bella Blvd products and Cricut products.

 

"Sweet" treat jar, by Beth Gerlach. Beth used her Cricut Expression machine, along with the Birthday Bash cartridge to create this fun and yummy treat jar. The die cut candies look so cute on the front of the jar, and I like how she topped off the lid with a Bella's Blooms-A-Bella flower.

 

"Be Happy" memo pad holder, by Gail Hoecker. Gail used the Daisy Quilling kit, along with her Cuttlebug machine for this adorable memo pad holder. I love the colors of the Estate Sale collection.

 

How gorgeous are these flowers? Gail inked the edges of all the petals of her flowers, which adds such a nice touch.

 

Bookmark set, by Wendy Wagner. Wendy used the Embossing Plus Monogram Seals, along with her Cuttlebug machine to create this set of cute bookmarks. She used patterns papers from Bella's Sophisticates collection.

 

 

Flower set, by Wendy Wagner. Wendy used her Cricut Expression machine to create this fun flowers, using pattern papers from Bella's Sophisticates collection.

 

I love all the layers to her flowers. And the layered button centers are so adorable!

 

"Enjoy" bookmark, by Gail Hoecker. Gail used the Embossing Plus Vintage Collage, along with her Cuttlebug machine, to make this fun collaged bookmark. She choose pattern papers from Bella's All Inclusive collection, along with letter stickers from Bella's Sophisticates collection.

 

Stop back by this afternoon for a few more handmade gift ideas. And later this evening, we have a fun idea that your kids will love, along with a BIG giveaway. You won't want to miss it.

Cricut Circle Feature Week: Card Inspiration

 

Are you ready for more card inspiration? We have four adorable cards for you this evening.

 

"Old Friends are Best Friends" card, by Beth Gerlach. Grey and yellow are such trendy colors right now, and I love how Beth added in some pinks for this pretty card. She used her Cuttlebug machine, along with the Textile Texture embossing folder, to emboss her yellow cardstock, before punching a decorative edge along the top.

 

"Friends Forever" card, by Gail Hoecker. Gail used her Cuttlebug machine, along with the Script embossing folder, to add some subtle interest to the cream cardstock. She used pattern papers and stickers, from the Plastino collection, and added a few coordinating buttons.

 

"Laugh & Love" card, by Katherine McElvain. Katherine used her Cuttlebug machine, along with the Measure by Measure embossing borders, to create the dark blue border strip. Love the punched circles of yellow pattern paper, scattered around the card, with a simple gem added to each one.

 

"You're So Sweet" card, by Wendy Wagner. Wendy used the Sophisticates collection for this cute shaped card. She die cut her cupcake, using the Cricut Expression machine, and added fun rhinestones for the sprinkles.

Tomorrow is going to be full of handmade gift ideas and fun paper crafts. We'll be having three posts again, and our evening post will include a really big giveaway that you will not want to miss!

Cricut Circle Feature Week: Card Set

 

This afternoon and this evening's post are all about cards. You can never have enough cards in your stash, so that you're always prepared and ready to mail them out to friends and family. This afternoon, we have a gorgeous card set to share with you.

 

Sophisticates card set, by Beth Gerlach. I love the simple monocramatic look to Beth's cards. She choose one color, and easily coordinated her pattern paper, her letter stickers, and even her stitched thread. The interesting pop of color is added with the flower on each card.

 

Beth got to try out the Cuttlebug Quilling Kits, to create some fun and unique flowers for her cards.

 

By choosing a grey pattern paper to create her flowers, they easily matched all four of her cards. The quilled flowers add lots of texture and dimension, in such a pretty way.

Stop back by this evening, when we will be sharing more card inspiration.

Cricut Circle Feature Week: Tuesday Tutorial

 

 

Today's Tuesday Tutorial is brought to us by Katherine McElvain.

 

The assignment was to use the Embossing Plus Tags, for the Cuttlebug machine. I made a group of tags to reference my inks and mists. Today I have a tutorial on making a set of tags as a reference index for your mists and inks. 

 

All you need in order to make a set of color wheel tags is your basic scrapbook supplies, inks, mists, some coordinating Bella Blvd paper,  Bella Fiori stamps, a Cuttlebug and the Cuttlebug Tags Embossing Plates/Shapes.

 

The Cuttlebug tags plate is perfect for this project because it not only lets you cut out a variety of tags, but embosses them at the same time. The first step was to choose the tag I wanted to use. I chose one of the larger tags that allowed enough room for me to write a label describing the color of each ink or mist. Then I ran flat white cardstock through the Cuttlebug using the plate.

 

After the tag is cut I did not remove it, but instead left it pinched in between the metal plates and pealed back the top clear layer to reveal my embossed tag and the plate which is now a screen to color my tag.

 

Holding the plate in place I sprayed my tag with glimmer mist.

 

After spraying the plate I lifted it up to reveal my pretty little tag! 

 

I cut a coordinating paper for the back side of the tag (the tab folds over to the front side) and sanded it to reveal the embossed pattern. I also cut out some tiny flowers form the Bella Blvd Family Dynamics Quadrants paper.

 

I adhered all the pieces together, and wrote the name of my mist on the tag to make a fancy little sample of my glimmer mist.

 

For the inks I chose a different tag to use, and sponged the ink through the template. Because sponged ink can appear as a different color than stamped ink, I used the Bella Fiori stamps to make a stamped sample on my tag as well. I again labeled it with the ink name and backed it with a Bella paper.

 

I put all my colorized tags on a ring and hooked them to my tote bag. With all the cut Bella paper they look good dangling from the back side as well as the front!

 

And now I have a cute little color reference to go to when I need to choose a mist or ink.

Thanks, Katherine, for a fabulous tutorial! We hope you'll stop back by later this afternoon, and then again this evening, for two more posts that are full of card inspiration!

Cricut Circle Feature Week: Independence Day part 2

 

This morning, we shared some Independance Day cards and projects with you, and this afternoon, we have some Independance Day layouts to share.

 

Our Artistas all used their Cricut Expression machines and the Stand & Salute cartridges, along with their favorite Bella Blvd products, for their layouts.

 

"Stars & Stripes Honor Flight", by Katherine McElvain. The bright, primary colors of Bella's My Boy collection work perfectly for this layout. And the hand cut airplane is a nice match to the theme of her layout.

 

I loved how Katherine used a Cricut cut title, and added a subtitle using Bella's Simply Simona chipboard alphas. Such an easy way to make a unique looking title. Pop-dotting parts of the title adds a lot of dimension to the page.

 

 

Katherine hand wrote her journaling on a journaling sticker adhered to pattern paper, along with some fun embellishments, and tucked it under a photo on her page.

 

"Honor", by Wendy Wagner. Wendy created a photo collage of photos, showing her and her daughter's patriotic spirit. She die cut fun titles, using the Cricut and Bella's pattern papers.

 

"Liberty", by Allyson Meinholz. Allyson's layout is full of red, white, and blue, including the adorable photos of her family. She choose pattern papers from Bella's Sophisticates and Mr Boy collections.

 

I love the fun border piece that Allyson created with the Cricut machine. The little red gems add a nice touch and the pop-dotted stars add lots of dimension.

Join us tomorrow morning, for a technique filled Tuesday tutorial, featuring both Cricut and Bella products. We will also have an additional two posts, full of inspirational cards.

Cricut Circle Feature Week: Independence Day part 1

 

Ciao Ciao and happy 4th of July everyone! Are you ready for another week of design team-ups, full of inspiration and giveaways! Starting today and taking us through the entire week (through Saturday), we'll be teaming up with Cricut Circle, and bringing you plenty of new ideas!

The Cricut design team was given lots of Bella Blvd products, and are mixing them with their Cricut products to create fabulous projects. And the Bella Blvd Artistas were given lots of Cricut products, and are mixing them with their Bella Blvd products to create fantastic projects. We have a HUGE amount of projects to share with you this week, so let's get started.

 

Independance Day Bucket and Want set, by Sheri Feypel. This would make a great table decoration. You could make several of these to put on the tables, mixed in with your food spread. And then the kids could each have a wand at the end of the day to wave around, while watching fireworks.

 

Sheri used the Cricut Expression machine and the Paper Lace cartridge, along with some of Bella's Mr Boy pattern paper, to create the main piece of the wand. The cutest wands, involve lots of elements in varying sizes, layered together with pop-dots for lots of dimension. Long strands of ribbon, dangling down, complete the wands.

 

"Star" card, by Sheri Feypel. Sheri used her Cuttlebug machine, along with the Stars embossing folder, to create the fun blue background piece for this card. Embossing your papers adds a subtle touch to your projects.

 

Love the simple sentiment she added on the inside of the card, using the Sophisticates alpha stickers.

 

 

"USA" card, by Sheri Feypel. Sheri used her Cuttlebug machine, along with the Victoria embossing folder, on her "USA" card.

 

Check back this afternoon, in between your holiday celebrations, as we will be sharing three Independance Day themed layouts with you.

You're Going To Want To Come Back Tomorrow

 

We have tons and tons of inspiration coming your way this week, along with a few HUGE giveaways. So make sure and stop back by tomorrow, to help kick off our week long special feature!