Bella Blvd Studio Blog

Finally Fall: Thankful Mini Albums

Happy Halloween!!! Today is the day that kids all around have been waiting for. They get to dress up in cute, or maybe scary, costumes, and run around collecting the biggest assortment of candy that they can. And then tonight, is the night that parents all around have been waiting for. When the get to raid their kid's candy stash, and put together their own little collection. At least, that's how it works in my house ;)

Since today is the last day of October, we wanted to share a few mini albums that are based on the idea of "Thankfulness". As we head into November, and the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, it's the perfect time to create a mini album, or even just a layout, that documents what we are thankful for in our lives. Today's mini album projects both feature the Finally Fall collection.

"Thankful Blessings" mini album, by Wendy Morris.

I love this time of year! With the leaves changing colors, and change in temps, it's really one of the most beautiful and reflective seasons of the year. Also, I reflect on my life within the year, appreciation and thankfulness for the many blessings, and looking ahead to the changes the new year may bring.  The Finally Fall collection was just PERFECT for capturing my spirit for this mini book, "So Thankful".  I used lots of elements from the Finally Fall collection and focused on lots of details to capture my feelings.  

One of my favorite pages in this mini is where I used the caption sticker and used a vintage typewriter to type the journaling "I'm on a journey ... new explorations, a few sad stories, lots of happy times & priceless unforgettable memories. I travel with a suitcase full of amazing blessings." I've seen lots of the world in work travels but always making a diversion to explore new places, meet new friends, and enjoy life.  

I can't complain at this point, or ever (really), because "life is so good". Even in looking back at the not so good times. Yes, we all have them.

However, we should all "live for today", "simply enjoy it all" and be thankful for the "the most beautiful season...today".

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"November Daily Thanks" mini album, by Katherine McElvain.

When I think of the month of November, I think of giving thanks. I have kept a journal, off and on, where I write down daily thankfulness. I like to look at it and remember the little things in life that I thought were blessings in the past. I wanted to make a keepsake of the same kind, so I combined that thankfulness journal with a little Ali Edwards December Daily inspiration, to come up with a November daily using all the goodies in the Bella Blvd Finally Fall collection.

I constructed this book to be taught as a class at my local scrapbook store so I left spaces for participants to add photos and journaling.

I also added some envelopes and note cards to create a variety of journaling spots and places to hold photos or memorabilia that will accompany daily thanks.

By using all the Finally Fall stickers, journaling cards, and pattern paper it was so easy to create a colorful 30 page mini just waiting to be filled with loads of thankfulness. I am so excited to start my journaling tomorrow. I will do weekly posts on my blog to show the updates and finished product. So if you would like to, please stop by.

Mid-Release Inspiration: Day Five

I don't know about you, but I am SO glad that today is Friday! If this were any other Friday, you would be reading a "Friday's With Stephanie" post here on the Bella blog. But Stephanie decided to take today off from her weekly post, so that we could finish up the project shares from our Design Team members. We have more brand new projects, featuring our NEW Mid-Release collections, Spring Flings and Easter Things, and Winter Wonder.

"Daddy's Earphones", by Becky Williams.

While the Winter Wonder collection is great for scrapping winter-themed layouts and cards the papers are also versatile enough to use for everyday non-winter projects. I LOVE that about Bella Blvd. Here I've used the papers to scrap pictures of my little girl and the colors in the papers match the colors of her dress just perfectly.

And, even though the stickers are mostly theme-based I was able to incorporate one into this page by simply trimming off the last words and keeping the "there's something so magical about" to lead into my title. I also used one of the journaling spots and simply covered up the snowman with a picture of my little girl. 

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Blizzard, Icy, Toasty, Cute Cuts, Borders, Alpha + Bits, Miniatures; Baby Blooms-A-Bella: Rossini

"You Are My Sunshine", by Becky Williams.

One of my favorite things to do with patterned paper is to cut out images and the Cute Cuts are perfect for that. For this page I used the rainbow, cute frog, bee and heart and added some dimension to my page by layering them and adding foam adhesive to some.

I also added some glitter glue to some of the pieces to add some extra pop! and doodled some stitch marks on the little bee. 

Supplies:
Spring Flings and Easter Things: A Tisket a Tasket, Sunny Sunday, Cute Cuts, Borders, Egg Hunt, Alpha + Bits, Just Write Journaling Stickers

"Brrr. Baby, It's Cold Outside", by Julie Johnson.

I absolutely love all the colors in this collection and they worked perfectly with my photos since my son was in red and my daughter in pink. I don't think I would have put these colors together on my own, but little did I know they look great! I started with the brown check because I wanted to bring out the color in the trees, added the blue background, and then started adding strips of color.

I cut the trees from the cute cuts and glued them to pieces of felt. I trimmed around the trees leaving an edge of felt showing and then stitched the white detail of the branches on my sewing machine. I'm a huge fan of 3D tape and thin chipboard to pop up my embellishments and add dimension to my layouts.

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Journaling stickers, alpha + bits, miniatures, toasty, icy, blizzard, borders, and cute cuts. 

"Easter", by Julie Johnson.

I love the bright cheerful colors in this line.  Perfect for my Easter and spring photos so I will be using this paper quite a bit I think. I'm also drawn to this collection because I think it's great for both boys and girls.

I was loving that the paper went so well with all the bright colored eggs in my photos and I couldn't resist the adorable bunny. He is so stinkin' cute, isn't he!? To add detail to my page I machine stitched around some of the papers which tied together all the layers of paper. I used 3D tape to pop up some of the embellishments to add dimension and I finished off my page by adding a few Blooms a Bella...just the right touch, don't you think? Love these little flowers! 

Supplies:
Spring Flings and Easter Things: Journaling stickers, Cute Cuts, Borders, Miniatures, Alpha+Bits, Sunny Sunday, Mom's Bouquet, A Tisket A Tasket, Egg Hunt; Baby Blooms a Bella: Rossini

"Warm And Toasty", by Beth Gerlach.

I absolutely LOVE the new Bella lines!! The colors in the Winter Wonder collection are so bright and untraditional. I’ve always had a rough time finding winter collections that I like, so I was so excited when Stephanie showed me this line. The mini stickers are perfect too and I’m also loving how easy it is to layer with all the little pieces!

"I Love Winter", by Kathy Martin.

I love the way stitching can jazz up a project! For this card I thought it would be fun to stitch around the phrase letters and heart. I used an awl to pierce the holes first and then added the stitching with a regular needle and thread.

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Blizzard, Icy, Cute Cuts, Alpha & Bits

"Happy Mother's Day", by Kathy Martin.

When a collection such as Spring Flings & Easter Things has a lot of beautiful coordinating papers and colors, I like to create a design that uses several of them. I also enjoy finding ways to use products in a different ways. The yellow check paper is actually a conversation bubble sticker that I turned upside down, using it as another strip patterned paper.

Supplies:
Spring Flings and Easter Things: Egg Hunt, A Tisket A Tasket, Sunny Sunday, Miniatures, Alpha+Bits, Just Write Stickers

"Coffee Talk" card, by Wendy Wagner.

I meet my friends a lot for coffee, mocha's or hot chocolate, so I thought it would be fun to create a card to invite someone to coffee. When I saw the icon sticker and cute cuts for the coffee cup I knew I had to use it! I even decorated the cup too, just for fun! 

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Toasty, Ski Slopes, Cute Cuts, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Mcintosh; Quattrofina Letter Stickers: Peep & Saffron

We hope you've enjoyed all of the projects this week, featuring the new collections! We can't wait to see what you create with them ;)

 

Mid-Release Inspiration: Day Four

Are you ready for more new projects, featuring our NEW Mid-Release collections, Spring Flings and Easter Things, and Winter Wonder? These collections should be arriving at your LSS's and your favorite online retailers, any day now. Keep your eyes out for them! Our design team has been having lots of fun with these new collections, and we're sharing their projects ALL WEEK LONG!

"Snow Baby", by Brook Stewart.

The beautiful colors in the Winter Wonder collection really complimented these pictures of my littlest guys first snow! I started with a white cardstock base and trimmed down the Ski Slopes paper to leave a 1/8th inch white border around the edge. I started with the fun scalloped border from the Alpha + Bits sticker sheet then layered a strip of the yellow chevron paper and the heart strip from the border sheet. Then I cut a rectangle from the Blizzard paper, layered on my photos and tucked 2 of the journaling cards from the Cute Cuts paper underneath.

I punched out some snowflakes from white cardstock and added them to the layout with foam tape. I hand drew the swirls to make them look like they were falling. I hand stitched them for some amazing texture! I also added some small circle stickers from the Miniatures sticker sheet to the center of each snowflake. I then cut the "Winter Wonder" subtitle from the info strip at the bottom of the papers--love finding extra useable pieces there! I topped it off with some mini staples, word/phrase stickers and a few extra little stitches!

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Blizzard, Ski Slopes, Icy, Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha + Bits, Miniatures

"Egg Hunt", by Brook Stewart.

The Spring Flings and Easter Things paper collection is just perfect for documenting all those Easter egg hunts! I knew the exact photos I wanted to use as soon as I saw the colors. I started with a white cardstock background and the pretty green base from the Mom's Boquet paper. Then I just started cutting strips of my favorite patterns from the various papers and layered them with some sticker borders from the Alpha + Bits sheet.

I used a border punch with some kraft paper to give one of the strips a little more texture. I added the title and journaling strips then embellished with fun word stickers. I cut out 2 of the eggs from the Egg Hunt paper and added some foam tape to the one on top for a little extra dimension. I finished it off with some baker's twine and mini staples here and there!

Supplies:
Spring Flings and Easter Things: Egg Hunt, A Tisket, a Tasket, Mom's Boquet, Sunny Sunday, Borders, Alpha + Bits, Miniatures; Sophisticates Ciao Chip Alpha: Simply Simona Orange

"My Love", by Morgan Bandkowski.

I love taking my nieces to the park. We always have a great time together. I don't have any children yet and these girls are my true loves. I can't get enough of them. I love this picture because Molly is looking for the next thing she is going to play on and not even paying any attention to me. The colors and patterns of Bella Blvd's new collection Spring Flings and Easter Things works perfect with Molly's clothes and for a little girl at the park.

Supplies:
Supply List: Spring Flings & Easter Things: Egg Hunt, A Tisket A Tasket, Mom's Bouquet, Sunny Sunday, Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits & Miniatures; Sophisticates: Miniatures Card Sentiments; Baby Blooms A Bella: Azzini

"The Hunt", by Nancy Damiano.

There are two things that I love about scrapbooking - color and texture! Spring Flings and Easter Things provided the perfect bright, bold color palette that I love. I created the texture part by using fringe scissors to make my own Easter 'grass'. The two rows of grass add texture and also ground the title and photos on the layout. Decorating it with cut-out eggs and stickers was the fun part!

Supplies:
Spring Flings and Easter Things: A Tisket A Tasket, Sunny Sunday, Mom's Bouquet, Egg Hunt, Borders, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha Bits, and Miniatures.
Ciao Chip: Simply Simona Peep

"Winter Memories" mini album, by Gail Hoecker.

I recently assisted Stephanie at Inspiration U, a Teresa Collins event held every year in Las Vegas. Well, one of the mini classes Stephanie taught was a mini made out of blank cards and envelopes. So, yes peeps, I totally "scraplifted" this idea from her!

Some of the envelopes have the flap cut off and others are in tack. Some of the cards are adhered on the bottom and side so that you can slip tags or photos into them. One of my favorite ideas that I learned was making little flags with a toothpick and a sticker; you could even paint the toothpick with a stain or paint dabber!

Lastly, you will notice I don't have any pictures in my winter mini. Because this will be our first winter living in the South, I am saving this little gem to record our first winter in Georgia. Everyone here tells me it can snow here. Where I grew up and lived in the Midwest, it's not "it can" snow, it was "it will snow!". 

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Blizzard, Toasty, Ski Slopes, Icy, Borders, Cute Cutes, Alpha & Bits, Miniatures; Sophisticates: Quattrofina, Peep and Saffron

Mid-Release Inspiration: Day Three

We hope you've been enjoying all the new projects this week, featuring our NEW Mid-Release collections, Winter Wonder, and Spring Things and Easter Things. I know that Stephanie, and everyone in the office, have been super busy shipping out these new products, since I haven't heard from them all week ;) It won't be long, before you can add these must-have collections to your shopping carts!

"Snow", by Megan Klauer.

The Winter Wonder line is full of inspiration that brings me back to the days of being a kid & sipping hot cocoa with a piece of lightly buttered toast. The colors are the perfect combination of blues & reds with a fun pop of pinks & browns. I had these photos of my littlest from her first experience in the snow last year; and as you can tell, she was not all that thrilled. I often print my photos as 3.5x5 rather than the regular 4x6 size. This allows me to include all three photos to tell my story yet still balance out the design with a bit of white space. Grap the Winter Wonder line today! It's sure to bring back snowy memories of your childhood.

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Cute Cuts, Blizzard, Icy, Borders, Toasty, Journaling Stickers, Alpha & Bits, Miniatures

"That Look", by Vivian Masket.

While I used a lot of sticker embellishments on this layout, I created additional embellishments by hand-cutting designs from patterned paper. The Egg Hunt paper is such a fun pattern for hand-cutting!

I cut eggs and a bunny from and used them to create a border of embellishments above my photo and used eggs in place of the two Os in my title. The tone-on-tone print of the Sunny Sunday paper provided a perfect background for my journaling, allowing me to add another extra pop of color and pattern with my journaling strips.

Supplies:
Spring Flings and Easter Things: A Tisket A Tasket, Egg Hunt, Sunny Sunday, Alpha + Bits, Miniatures; Sophisticates Simply Simona Alphas: Prune

"Baby, It's Freezing" card, by Alice Carman.

Is there a chill in the air? It’s starting to get cold and what a wonderful time a year it will be. Today I used Winter Wonder by Bella Blvd, it’s totally NEW! Are you drooling yet over this? It’s such a super fun collection with lots of patterns that can be crossed over into any other Bella Blvd line.

I’m having fun cutting up the Cute Cuts! Don’t you just love those ice skates? I’m really liking the pink that’s in this line too, it really works well with the colors in the NEW Winter Wonder collection.   

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Blizzard, Borders, Cute Cuts, Miniatures; Tail Waggers & Cat Naps: Alpha+Bits; Sophisticates: Quattrofina Salt Water & Pacific

"Spring Chick", by Alice Carman.

I love all things Spring, especially Bella Blvd’s NEW Spring Flings and Easter Things. Isn’t this the most adorable name? I just love it!  Today’s card has tons of layers and color. I made this card with layers because I wanted the cut out of the cute baby chick to stand out. I hope it worked? What do you think? 

I started out by cutting out the baby chick and layering it on crepe paper. Next using a die I punched out different shapes to create multiple backgrounds using the NEW Spring Flings and East Things collection.  It’s starting to look feel like Spring, don’t you agree?

Supplies:
Spring Flings and Easter Things: Egg Hunt, Sunny Sunday, Mom’s Bouquet, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits

"Rainy Day Treats" treat bag, by Jennifer Edwardson.

I am forever making treat bags for the kids and their friends for something or another and when I saw the 'rain paper' and this adorable frog and umbrella I knew what I had to do. Making these bags is so super easy and fun to do, and the kids LOVE them!

Supplies:
Spring Flings and Easter Things: Borders, Cute Cuts, Alphas & Bits; Quattrofina Brownie & Cream

"Notes" altered note pad, by Jennifer Edwardson.

We are forever writing notes around our house and I knew exactly how I wanted to 'pretty up' these little dollar store note pads. Spring Flings and Easter Things was the perfect paper for the job :)

Supplies:
Spring Flings and Easter Things: Sunny Sunday, Cute Cuts, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alphas+Bits

Winter Treat pillow boxes, by Sheri Feypel.

I started with some recycled pillow boxes and altered them with Bella Blvd's Winter Wonder line. Super cute way to pass out treats (ya know, like chocolate) to classmates at school or at work.

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Blizzard, Ski Slopes, Icy

Mid-Release Inspiration: Day Two

Are you ready for more new projects, featuring our NEW Mid-Release collections? Spring Flings and Easter Things, and Winter Wonder, both started shipping out yesterday, to stores and online retailers near you. Our design team has been having lots of fun with these new collections, and we're sharing their projects ALL WEEK LONG!

"High Five", by Melissa Stinson.

I just LOVE the mix of Spring colors in patterns in Spring Flings and Easter Things! So often my adorable niece, Sophie Clare, is wearing bright outfits (as she was on the Spring day when these photos were taken), and the papers in this line were a perfect fit for both the colors in the photos and the fun subject (she had just learned how to give a "high five").

I had decided that I wanted a colored background for this page, but I didn't want the yellow in the Sunny Sunday print to completely overpower the photos. I toned it down a bit with some white spray mist (adding a few pink mist splatters for contrast) and added a white mat and a few other paper layers around the photos to help them stand out.

Supplies:
Spring Flings and Easter Things: Sunny Sunday, Mom's Bouquet, A Tisket A Tasket, Egg Hunt, Alpha+Bits, Miniatures; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Pickle Juice; Baby Blooms a Bella: Rossini

"Classroom Treats", by Jennifer Edwardson.

Each year for Halloween, Easter and Christmas I make cupcakes and goodie bags for Emma and Alexander's classroom. I am so excited to work with this great new line as I have LOTS of Easter and Spring pictures to get into our albums!

Supplies:
Spring Flings and Easter Things: Egg Hunt, Borders, Cute Cuts, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alphas & Bits

"Hello School", by Sue Mylde.

The Spring Fling and Easter Things collection is not just for spring! I love the colors, prints (chevron - yay!), and cute figures in the collection - perfect for my daughter's first day of school layout. Design elements which I love on this page include the scalloped edges - from the stickers to the scallop circles - which just adds to the sass of the page. Never underestimate the use of colors! I love how with this 'Spring Fling' Collection, you can mix pinks, greens and yellows to create a fun, striking layout which helps me tell the story that I want. I really love the Journaling panels which allow A LOT of journaling space - perfect for someone who likes to write loads on her layout - like me :)

Supplies:
Spring Fling: Mom's Bouquet, Sunny Sunday, Borders, Cute Cuts, Alphas+Bits, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Estate Sale: Nana's Apron

"Winter Memories", by Allyson Meinholtz.

This photo was taken last December while cutting down our Christmas Tree. It’s a family tradition of ours. Alivia Jo's little legs couldn't keep up so she spent most of the adventure on Daddy's shoulders.  I just love those Baby Blue Eyes  -  we hope they stay!

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Icy, Blizzard, Toasty, Borders, Alpha+Bits, Just Write Journaling stickers

"Happy Winter" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

I love Bella Blvd's Cute Cuts and I am glad Stephanie kept them in the mid-releases. The Cute Cuts (like I used on this card using the Winter Wonder line) are easy to cut out and make the perfect background for a card.

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Blizzard, Ski Slopes, Cute Cuts, Borders, Miniature Stickers

"You Are My Sunshine" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

Yay for an Easter line from Bella Blvd! It's a perfect match! As it's name suggests, Spring Flings and Easter Things provides a great combination of Easter-themed products and springy (and even summery) colors and patterns to make it an ever-so-versatile line!

Supplies:
Spring Flings and Easter Things: A Tisket A Tasket, Mom's Bouquet, Sunny Sundays, Borders, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Sophisticates Miniatures Card Sentiments

Mid-Release Inspiration: Day One

Today is the big day! The Bella office is all a buzz, with our NEW Mid-Release collections starting to ship out to your favorite LSS's and online retailors! You will want to pick these up as soon as you see them, since they are limited edition collections. Once they're gone, they're gone.

This week, we are treating you to TONS and TONS of brand new projects by our Design Team. They have all been busy playing and creating with these new collections, and have come up with gorgeous layouts, cards, and altered projects! Let's get started :) 

"Twenty Six", by Stephanie Hunt.

During a trip to Canada, fellow DT member Allyson Meinholz and I took some portraits of each other. Even though we were on the beach, it was cool. My shirt, jacket and scarf lent themselves to using the soft wintery patterns of Winter Wonder. The layout uses several lettering styles listing adjectives describing me at 26 years old.

I chose the most important (to me anyways) adjectives, "strong, happy, healthy" and made them the largest, dominating as the title of the page. To subdue them a bit in order to show off the photos, I also distressed the chipboard letters with a sanding tool. I'm sharing images and details about the layout on my blog, HERE.

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Blizzard, Toasty, Ski Slopes, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Miniatures stickers; Sophisticates Simona Chipboard Alphas: Brownie, Saltwater, McIntosh

"Easter Haven", by Kimberly Neddo.

I love to work with enlarged photographs. When I have one photograph that I really want to emphasize the story, then I will enlarge it and create movement around the layout design to draw your eye to the photograph.

For this layout, I used the rule of 3rd's with the flowers at the beginning and ending of the title, and cluster of egg's at the lower right side of the photograph. The circle outline ties everything in together for a complete design. 

Supplies:
Spring Fling- Mom's Bouquet: Egg Hunt, Sunny Sunday, Alpha+Bits, Just Write Journaling stickers; Baby Blooms-A-Bella: Rossini and Azini; Simply Simona Chipboard Alpha: Salt Water

"Little Girls", by Katherine McElvain.

I had so many photos that fit this great new Bella Collection, it was hard to choose which one to use. I decided what better to go with the great colors of this line but a picture of two sweet little girls all dressed up for Easter Sunday?  For the design of the layout I wanted to use a technique that I keep seeing posted by various designers. It’s this circle border.

And since I love to cut out all those little Bella images, I knew I could fill the circles with something cutesy. But I have to admit it took a lot of paper shuffling to finally decide to plunk those cute little pink flowers form the Spring Fling and Easter Things Boarders into the holes. I added some Sophisticates to the project (it is always wonderful how everything coordinates from the different Bella lines) and hours later (lol, sometimes scrapbooking is not a efficient hobby) my layout was complete.

Supplies:
Spring Flings and Easter Things:  Journaling Stickers, Alphas & Bits, Miniatures, A Tisket A Tasket, Mom's Bouquet, Borders; Sophisticates: Essentials Brownie and Champagne, Calendars; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Brownie

"Multi-Tasking", by Jamie Harper.

I thought it would be funny to take a self portrait and while doing so the phone rang. Without thinking about it, I picked it up and continued taking the shot. So I thought a layout about multi-tasking was so appropriate. The layout was super simple. I used a 4x6 photo and cut a 7x6 piece of paper to mat the photo with. Add a scallop and a title and you have a fast and easy layout. This was a 5 min layout, and we need those every now and then.

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Blizzard, Miniatures, Alpha+Bits

"Springtime", by Jamie Harper.

This layout is the 12x12 version of my "Multi-Tasking" layout. Same concept, I used a 5x7 photo and layered different papers and stickers to make a photo border on the top and bottom. I love the little tag that shares many reasons of Spring. I wanted a very fun and bright layout to match the photo.

Supplies:
Spring Flings and Easter Things: Borders, Egg Hunt, A Tisket A Tasket, Mom's Bouquet, Cute Cuts, Alphas+Bits stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Sophisticates: Miniatures Family, Miniatures Card Sentiments

"Hello Beautiful" card, by Deanna Misner.

I really love the large flower that comes on the Just Write sheet, and I knew I wanted to use that as the focal point of my card and I added the small circle of the bouquet of flowers on top of it for a little more color. I found a tutorial on origami leaves on Pinterest, and so I made 2 leaves out of the A Tisket A Tasket paper. I really love how they turned out because they bring such dimension to the card! Finally, to ground my flower elements I chose several borders to layer on top of a Cute Cuts journaling spot and the neutral green background.

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

"Snowflakes From Heaven" card, by Deanna Misner.

I really loved the sentiment "Snowflakes are kisses from Heaven" so I created my card with the Blizzard paper and loved the idea of the snow falling on the trees. I cut them out and used 3D foam to pop up the sentiment on top of them. I also popped up the cute little tags from the Miniature stickers. I LOVE that Stephanie included a hugs and kisses little tag in the set, because it went matched perfectly with the "kisses from Heaven" sentiment.

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Blizzard, Borders, Cute Cuts, and Miniatures stickers

Halloween Cards and Layouts

I hope you're all enjoying your weekend! And maybe even working in a little time for scrapping and crafting. We have a few more Halloween projects to share with you, using the Too Cute To Spook collection. Today, it's all about cards and layouts.

"You Are Boo-tiful" card, by Deanna Misner.

When I saw the green journaling spot on the Cute Cuts sheet, I just knew I had to make a Frankenstein. The black scalloped border was too perfect for his hair. So I used the insides and negative spaces of some of the black Oreo Sophisticates stickers to create his face and added "Frankly" above the Just Write sticker as a fun play on words. I love quirky cards like this one. It was a fun one to make!

Supplies:
Too Cute to Spook collection: Cob Webs, Borders, Cute Cuts, The Boo Crew, Just Write stickers; Sophisticates: Quattrofina Milk and Oreo alpha stickers, Quattrofina Mustard and Apricot alpha stickers

"Happy Haunting" card, by Deanna Misner.

The combination of chipboard icons with the Cute Cuts is a fun and easy way to create a scene on a card. To give the scene a background I used a Cute Cuts journaling spot, and the purple papers make such an eerie background!

Supplies:
Too Cute to Spook collection: The Boo Crew, Cute Cuts, Spooky Night, Chipboard Icons; Sophisticates: Quattrofina Milk and Oreo alpha stickers

"Boo To U" card, by Deanna Misner.

This was a really quick card, and the strip of Borders are what made it so easy to do. Just add a chipboard icon and some cardstock stickers and it's done! Easy peasy :)

Supplies:
Too Cute to Spook collection: Jacks-a-glow, Spooky Night, Borders, Chipboard Icons; Sophisticates: Quattrofina Mustard and Apricot alpha stickers

"Halloween Party", by Sue Mylde.

It was Lara's first Halloween Party and something she was looking forward to for awhile. She's in this layout, with one of her best friends. I love colors and how they work together on the layout - the greens, purples and even blues in the photo are matched with the purples, greens and blues of the chipboards and figures - cute right? Almost too cute to spook, indeed :)

I love the Halloween figurines in 'The Boo Crew' paper - so perfect for fussy-cutting and arranging on my layout, adding to the super-cute spider paper!

Supplies:
Too Cute To Spook: Full Moon, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Borders, Quadrants, The Boo Crew, Chipboard Icons, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Sophisticates Simply Simona Alphas: Oyster (Dictionary)

"I Love Halloween", by Loredana Bucaria.

Halloween is a really funny festivity! Here in Italy, it is growing up and it's exciting! For the first time in my life I lived the "trick or treat" game, the first Halloween in my new home, and it was really fun! I prepared a purple and orange table, dishes and glasses in the same colors, little candies boxes for the children and for the first time ever I cooked my first Halloween Recipe.  

"Witch's Fingers" are delicious biscuits, that have the shape of a finger and the almond is used as a nail ;) It's really spooky! I remember that when I opened my door and the children saw them they were very impressed!! LOL! I love the colors of Bella’s Too Cute To Spook collection, and they are perfect for my living room. 

I've made a lot of little circles, to create a fun sort of border on my layout. I stitched them one below the other. 

I love to play with the die cuts, and create a fun scenery! I also adore using 3D adhesive to give an accent even more of a popped up effect. The bat and the haunted houses are wonderful, don't you think? I am so happy to have created a Halloween page! My first one ever :) Hope to have a wonderful Halloween party again this year;) 

Supply list:
Too cute to spook!: Itsy Bitsy Spider, Borders, Cute Cuts, Jacks -A- Glow, Quadrants, Full Moon, Ciao Chip Icons, Just Write journaling Stickers.

Next week, we are switching gears, and moving on to ALL things Winter and Spring!

With the NEW mid-releases set to begin shipping out on Monday morning, our fabulous Design Team is also ready to start showing off all the projects they've been creating with these new collections! We will be blasting the Bella blog with TONS of new inspiration, ALL week long! You won't want to miss it!

Friday's With Stephanie

It’s Friday ... of course … (that’s why I’m here on the blog today). But do you know what that means?

IT MEANS ONLY 3 MORE DAYS UNTIL WE BEGIN SHIPPING THE NEW PRODUCTS!

I’m so thrilled that these new collections are already going to be on their way to LSS and online retailers! You’re going to LOVE them, mostly because the papers are so versatile and easy to use. Next week the Design Team will blasting the blog with a TON of projects with these two new lines!

On another cheerful note, I have been receiving a lot of fun mail at Bella lately!

Including some darling handmade Bella “thank you” cards! I love fun mail! Don’t you? Here’s a challenge for you today … Send a Card in the Mail Today.

To anyone. For anything. Even if just because.

EVERYONE loves getting fun mail that doesn’t have a “balance due” or “zero percent interest until 2014”!

Ha. But seriously!

I know how happy I was to receive this adorable card from one of our card designers, Kathy Martin last week. Look close at all that stitching.

And how well she mixed and matched Family Dynamix papers with Hello Beautiful and Sunny Happy Skies too!

And even one of the Creating Keepsakes Dream Teams girls, Piradee Talvanna, also sent me a happy mail this week!

Love this darling Finally Fall card and it’s square size too. It’s that time of year from Pumpkin carving and leaf piles!

So whether it’s handmade (which I hope it is), or store-bought, try to send some happy  mail today. It’s bound to bring a smile to the recipients face and cheer them up ;) I PROMISE.

Happy Friday!

Halloween Candy Tins, Candles, And A Fun Board Game

Today, we have some really cute Halloween projects to share with you, from two of our Altered Project Designers. Both of them used the Too Cute To Spook collection, to create some spooking-ly adorable candy tins, candles, and a very unique board game.

Halloween Candy Tins & Jar, by Marie-Josée Hamel.

I created this project in less than 30 minutes. Cut 2 pieces of paper (about 3/4" wide) to create the handles. Glue them to the cans. Then, cover the cans with paper. Add paper borders cut from the Borders paper. Decorate with the characters cut from the Cute Cuts paper and stickers from the Just Write journaling stickers sheet. Then, create a tag using more patterned paper and stickers. Punch a hole in the tag and affix it to the glass jar using a ribbon. Decorate with twine and buttons if desired. 

Supplies:
Too Cute to Spook: Itsy Bitsy Spider, Jacks-a-Glow, Cute Cuts, Borders, Just Write journaling stickers

Halloween Candy Tins, by Jennifer Edwardson.

I had the most fun creating these cute candy tins. My girlfriend owns a local flower and tea company here in Parksville and I am forever going into her shop a picking up fun pots, containers and tins to make into something completely other than for flowers or tea :)  

When I saw these adorable tea tins a few weeks back I knew exactly what I was going to do with them. (they even have 'tea making instructions' on the bottom of the tins :) The color purple was a PERFECT match with the Too Cute To Spook collection. This was my favorite line from Bella's Summer CHA releases.

These were super simple and totally fun to make. I measured the width around and cut the paper to wrap the body of the tins and then added border stickers from the Alpha+Bits sheet around the top, and paper strips at the bottom. I covered the tops of the tins with both paper and stickers and embellished the fronts of the tea tins using Cute Cuts and stickers too!

Once I had them just how I wanted, I added this beautiful organza ribbon to 'wrap' them closed!!! I can not wait to give them full of treats for Halloween.

Supplies:
Too Cut To Spook: Cute Cuts, Full Moon, The Boo Crew, Cob Webs, Minitures, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alphas & Bits

Halloween Candles, by Marie-Josée Hamel.

This project can easily be done in five minutes! Just use a few scraps of paper, and cut them to fit your candles. Then, cut a character from the Cute Cuts paper and glue it to the biggest candle. Tie a ribbon around it. Place the candles on a plate, and voilà, you have a nice Halloween decoration!

Supplies:
Too Cute to Spook: Itsy Bitsy Spider, Jacks-a-Glow, Cob Webs, Cute Cuts, Borders

Too Cute to Spook Halloween Game, by Marie-Josée Hamel.

I created this 12 x 12 board game, inspired by Snakes and Ladders, for my daughter. It's another version of the well-known game Chutes and Ladders. It can be played using a regular dice, or with the special dice that I altered.

Here are the instructions:

- Create an 8 x 8 grid on the Spooky Mights paper. Make a small pencil mark every 1½ inch along each side of the paper, and draw lines using a black permanent marker.

- Glue the paper on top of a thick 12 x 12 chipboard piece to create a sturdy board.

- Cut a few 1¼ " 1¼" paper pieces and glue them randomly on the grid to add some color.

- Start cutting each and every character on the Boo Crew paper. I hope you are very patient, because this takes a long time! :) Once you're done, you're supposed to have 5 left. You will need 62 for the grid, 6 for the dice and 4 for the markers. Once you are done, glue them to the grid. Do not place them randomly. Follow the same order. Go from left to right, then from right to left, and so on.

- Once you are done, alter the large dice. I used a small glass to draw circles that were the perfect size for my dice, cut them and glued them to the dice, then added the characters. If you can't find a large dice, number each spot of the grid and use a regular dice. I created my number in Word (Chill font) and cut them using a basic hole punch.

- Hand draw some arrows, or create them in Word (or other software). Use as many as you want.

- Create the markers. Cut strips of papers (1" x 4") in four different papers, fold them in half, then fold ½" at each end. Glue the ends together to create the markers.

Your project is ready! Don't forget to keep some candies close by for the winner!

Supplies:
Too Cute to Spook: The Boo Crew, Cob Webs, Spooky Night, Jacks-a-Glow, Cute Cuts; Other: thick 12 x 12 chipboard piece; large dice

A Too Cute To Spook Album Share

There's less than two weeks left until Halloween! With that in mind, we have lots of Halloween projects to share with you for the rest of this week. All of  these projects feature the Too Cute To Spook collection. Altered projects, layouts, cards. And today, we have this amazingly fun mini album that I think you're going to love!

"Oh Spook & Boo" mini album, by Wendy Morris.

I started off this project with a staggered chipboard album. Then, I decided on which papers from the Too Cute to Spook collection to use.

Basically, I ended up using all the papers because they are absolutely the cutest!

Next, I selected the papers, cut to size of chipboard pages, and then adhered to the chipboard pages using Glue N' Seal. Glue N' Seal is a wonderful adhesive for altered projects. 

I emphasized the eyes of some of the cute images in the papers & cutouts with wiggle eyes for a fun effect.  

Many of the photos I mounted on pop dots for a bit of dimension as well as some of the stickers & chipboard accents. 

I'm planning to give this altered album to a sweet friend who let's me borrow her cute kiddos to scrap up. So, I left lots of journaling cards from the collection and space for her to journal up the memories.  

The images in this collection are just adorable and I love the effect of "paper dolls" and made them on one page along with some fun felt and resin pumpkins. I used machine stitching on the spider.  

I typically use lots of stamps in my projects and focus on lots of details.  

Supplies:
Too Cute to Spook:  Borders, Quadrants, Cute Cuts, Jacks-a-Glow, Cob Webs, Full Moon, Ciao Chip Icons, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Stamps: Camped Out; Sophisticates Simply Simona Alphas: Oreo, Orange

Tomorrow, we have some fun halloween projects to share with you, featuring more of the Too Cute To Spook collection! We'll see you then!