Bella Blvd Studio Blog

2011-2012 Design Team Farewell

To our very first Design Team of 2011-2012,

Because of you…..

1. I am inspired
2. Bella Blvd has completed it’s very first year with a DT
3. Bella Blvd is recognized around the world
4. My life is more colorful & bright
5. I can’t wait to check each morning’s blog post
6. I continue to work harder than ever before to keep you energized
7. Bella Blvd’s family is 30 peeps larger
8. This studio blog ROCKS!
9. The Bella Buzz e-newsletter stepped up to a new level this year
10. I have made new friends in each of you

I like to think that being on Bella Blvd’s Design Team is a very coveted, unique and super inspiring experience. Thank you for the daily dose of creativity you feed not only to me, but also all the Bella fans out there. Because of you life is more colorful for scrapbookers, paper crafters and photographers too!

This year has been wonderful; As part of my very first Design Team I will ALWAYS remember my birthday card blog/hop/box surprise! The love and kindness you showed in addition to your creativity was & is so humbling to me. It’s hard not to get mushy because I truly appreciate all of your excitement and passion for what we do at Bella Blvd. If not for people like you, I wouldn’t love my job as much as I do. Thank you for the amazing Engagement Photo Booth surprise in January and for being a part of this epic first-year Design Team. I think each and every one of you are amazing in your own – and am so grateful for the sweet notes and conversations I have received throughout the year from each of you. I know this isn’t the end, or goodbye, but rather a wishful send off to even more creative adventures!

You’re the best,

Stephanie has also written a post on her personal blog, with additional thoughts and photos. She would love for you to check it out RIGHT HERE.

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To my fabulous 2011-2012 design team,

I have truely enjoyed working with each and every one of you over the past year. This was my first time being on the other side of a design team, and you made it such an enjoyable experience. I am grateful for all the hard work and dedication you put into your projects and that you were willing to work on special projects when asked. One of my favorite parts of this job was opening up your emails every day and seeing what amazing projects each of you where sending me. I spent a lot of time "ohhing" and 'ahhing" over your layouts, cards, altered projects, and mini albums ... and than patiently waiting until the day I could share them on the Bella blog, so that all of our readers and fans could "ohh" and "ahh" over them along with me. I loved working with such a talented group of designers, and was constantly inspired through your projects.

I am so glad that I got the chance to get to know each of you, both through your designs and through our personal emails back and forth with each other. You started out a year ago as my "design team members", and a year later I consider you "friends". I know this isn't good-bye. It's more of a see-you-around ... around the scrapping world, around your new creative ventures, on the pages of the magazines, on Facebook & Instagram, and I'll even see a few of you on our Words-With-Friends games ;)

Thank you for everything you've done this year. You are all amazing! 

Layouts On Saturday

This week is our 2011-2012 Design Team's last week here on the Bella blog. But before saying our final goodbye, we still have a ton of projects from these designers to share with you. Today we have a handful of layouts to share. 

"Scooter", by Kim Arnold.

The colors in the Making the Team range were made to go with these photos of my son riding his scooter. I love how versatile this range is, in that it can work perfectly for sport pages as well as bold and colorful boy pages! Don’t have enough “o”s in the letters you want to use? No problems! The circle star designs on the Volleyball patterned paper made perfect substitutes.

Supplies:
Making the Team: Cute Cuts, Volleyball, Wall of Fame, Chipboard Icons; Mr Boy: Chit Chat Chipboard, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Oyster

"Infectious Smile", by Laura Vegas.

I used a fun mix of chipboard elements on this layout. I started by picking out a combination of the chipboard alphas. I used the newer white text, the pink, and the blue. Then I added in some older lowercase green alphas, and yellow and pink alpha stickers. After choosing my alpha colors, I set out to pick my patterned papers, pulling from the Birthday Boy collection, Birthday Girl collecion, Thankful collection, and a few older collections. I used my favorite grid patterned paper for the main part of my layout. It gives the nice white background, so that everything else "pops" on the page, but still has a bit of interest with the grid lines. I also used lots of chipboard pieces from the Sophisticates collection. The sun and clouds, a trio of trees, and some border pieces.

Supplies:
Birthday Boy: Toadilly Cool; Birthday Girl: Party Dress, Celebrate; Thankful: Homey; Family Dynamix: Quadrants; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Pickle Juice; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Sienna Punch, Blueberry, Pony; High Five Alpha Stickers: Yellow, Pink-Red; Ciao Chip Elements: Trees, Clouds, Borders

"The Games Country Boys Play", by Megan Klauer.

I used the hearts & the circles from my son's target practice drawings & mimicked those in my design. The Our Spot sheet was perfect for getting multiple colored circles. I was able to make a bold statement with a large title. One of my favorite things to do!

Supplies: 
Thankful: Borders, Our Spot, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Blueberry; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Oyster, Saltwater; High Five Alpha Stickers: Black–White; Designer Tapes: Yellow Chevron, Gulf Dot

“Daddy”, by Sue Mylde.

6x12 is a fun size to create with! I have been experimenting with different styles and have been enjoying using this page size to focus on one photo, sharing a story. This is my hubby and son at a fun visit by the lakeside. I love working with different collections and combining different elements on one page. My favorite part is the sticker 'Dad' added to a fun wooden button. Also, who says you can't have hearts on a boy's page :)

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: A Tisket A Tasket; Sunshine & Happiness: Popsicle Kisses; Sunny Happy Skies: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Baby Boy: Alpha+Bits Stickers, Momma's Boy, On The Go

Fridays With Stephanie: Inspiration Unlimited Recap

Hello lovlies and happy Friday! I’m back at Bella returning to the normal swing of things after all the traveling this month. When I left for Minnesota a couple weeks ago I said to one of my friends, “by the time I blink it will be October already” and here we are only a couple day away. Fall is rolling in around here---but I was able to catch a bit of sunshine while at Teresa Collins’ Inspiration Unlimited 2012 event.

I was honored last year when Teresa & Ginger invited me to be a main teacher and couldn’t wait to return and teach a fun & meaningful workshop. Thanks to my friends at Bazzill and Basically Bare I was able to design this “mighty” mini album.

Today I’m sharing a visual recap of IU 2012 that has truly become a “sisterhood” of sorts for me over the past 3 years. I dedicated the workshop to my Brother-in-Law, Chris as he was the main inspiration & motivation behind this album & its story. 

I’m grateful that all the IU girls were willing to hear my story. I shared different amounts of it within each class, trying to hold back the tears.

It’s at events like IU that personal stories and getting to know one another becomes a treasure. Here’s the inside front cover of the album, which dedicates and cherishes those people that make big daily differences.

Here’s a peek into the reality of traveling and teaching that I thought you’d all enjoy. The truth is that months and months of planning, designing, ordering, collating, kitting and so much more go into teaching around the country. Most of you see the glamorous side (as you should) when everything comes together, the class kicks off and the products & kits are prepped.

This time around myself & Jenna traveled with more baggage than I ever have before. Our baggage out numbered our extremities, which made for fun airport maneuvering. Here’s all our pretty bags upon arrival. The ironic thing is…our clothes were mixed throughout all of them serving as some sort of “wrapping” J and fillers.

We admired our beautiful room at Green Valley Ranch.

Only for a couple of minutes….and then…..the EXPLOSION! Hence, unpacking and getting organized for the meet and greet.

The table turned out great. I gave away some Bella buttons and stickers and showed off some of my personal albums along with the class workshop project reveal for the first time to the IU girls!

This wonderful woman, Joan, remembered meeting me last year as I sat in on one of Teresa’s classes and pretty much distracted her the entire time…..the sweetheart remembered my favorite color and hand knit this scarf for me, remembering I was from bitter-cold Wisconsin!

How amazing is that?! Thank you Joan for such a wonderful and so thoughtful surprise. I’ll be snuggling up with the pink scarf in just a couple of months, but I am so incredibly humbled by your sweet gift, it made my day!

This is the only photo I got of all of us teachers in one place: Vicki, Debbie, Teresa, and Kristin. Apparently they needed a brunette to meet the quota ;)

Here’s a couple more of my favorite pages within the album workshop.

The closing ceremonies are always very bittersweet….as so quickly IU moves onto 2013 planning and preparation.

What a blessing this year has been---so many more people now know Bella Blvd because of Inspiration Unlimited, Teresa Collins & Ginger Nelson.

For those of you interested in step-by-step Directions please select the links below for my full PowerPoint Presentation:

BECAUSE OF YOU-PART 1

BECAUSE OF YOU-PART 2

BECAUSE OF YOU-PART 3

BECAUSE OF YOU-PART 4

Cards On Thursdays

This week is our 2011-2012 Design Team's last week here on the Bella blog. But before saying our final goodbye, we still have a ton of projects from these designers to share with you. Today, it's all about cards! 

"Celebrate" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

These Dahlia crochet flowers coordinate perfectly with the new Birthday Girl line! I combined the flowers with papers and stickers from the Birthday Girl line and the Sophisticates miniature card sentiments to make this card. I think it turned out pretty cute! Thanks for looking!

Supplies:
Birthday Girl: Cute Cuts, Celebrate, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Crochet Flowers: Dahlia; Sophisticates: Miniature Card Sentiments 

“Happy Day” card, by Kathy Martin.

If you love flowers, buttons and texture like I do, you’re going to love these Bella Blvd Crochet Flowers! For my ‘Happy Day’ card I thought a string of these beautiful Crochet Flowers would make the ideal accent for a happy card.

Supplies:
Birthday Girl: Dancing Queen, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Crochet Flowers: Poppy, Daisies, Juniper, Dahlia

“Birthday” card, by Kathy Martin.

These bright and colorful Designer Tapes from Bella Blvd make the perfect background for this adorable chipboard Birthday Girl cake, don’t you think? I tried to mimic party streamers by lining up the designer tapes and attaching them to my card vertically.

Supplies:
Designer Tapes: Yellow Chevron, Pickle Juice Dot, Piggy Pink Stripe, Pickle Juice Chevron, Teal Stripe; Button Market: Pink Flowers; Birthday Girl: Ciao Chip

“Happy Birthday” card, by Kathy Martin.

I’ve always been a huge fan of buttons! They are so versatile, perfect for most any project. I love the Button Market collection from Bella Blvd because of the large variety of shapes, sizes and colors. These buttons work well together and look awesome together as I have them on this card.

Supplies:
Birthday Boy: About a Boy, Eat Cake, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Button Market: Merlot Flowers, Orange Stars, Gulf Squares, Outdoors, Pink Flower, Purple Flowers, Masculine Mix; Designer Tape: Pickle Juice Chevron

"Wish Big" card, by Morgan Bandkowski.

I love using my old scraps of Bella Blvd! I used some old product to make another quick Birthday card. 

Supplies:
Flirty: Omigosh, Heart Throb, High Maintance

“Amazing Birthday” card, by Morgan Bandkowski.

I love the new birthday lines. They are perfect for any age, which makes them ideal for card makers! I enjoy using the designer tapes as borders on cards & layouts.

Supplies:
Birthday Girl: Just Write Journaling Stickers, Miles Of Smiles, Pretty As A Present; Designer Tape: Pickle Juice Dot, Teal Stripe

"I Love Summertime", by Wendy Wagner.

The Sunshine & Happiness line is perfect to pair with the Sophisticates Sprinkles & Lace. The polka dots are so fun & cheery! I used a circle punch five times to create a border along the right side. The chipboard creates dimension along with the green & white polka dot border to look like grass. 

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Popsicle Kisses, Borders, Miniatures Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Punch, Sprinkles & Lace Ice

"Everyday Moments", by Morgan Bandkowski.

I am really enjoy polka dots & pin dots & wanted to make a card combining them. I decided to cut out the sunflower from the cute cuts sheet and then layered the chipboard sunflower on top of it. It creates great dimension. 

Supplies:
Thankful: Perfect Day, Burlap, Our Spot, Cute Cuts, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Designer Tape: Pony Dot

"Turkey Time", by Morgan Bandkowski.

This card is very simple, but I just loved that Turkey and wanted to make a card where he is the focus! 

Supplies:
Thankful: Turkey Tracks, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers; High Five Alphabet Stickers: Yellow

Thankful Project Inspiration

This week is our 2011-2012 Design Team's last week here on the Bella blog. But before saying our final goodbye, we still have a ton of projects from these designers to share with you. Today we have lots and lots of projects to share with you, all focusing on the Thankful collection.

“Thankful for You" by Becky Williams.

The Cute Cuts sheets have journaling spots and other accents that are great for layouts and other projects. I decided to use the "I am Thankful for..." journaling card as the basis for my page and my title, layering part of the focal picture over the card. I cut the "Thankful" word tag from the tear strip on the patterned paper.

Supplies: 
Thankful: Perfect Day, Homey, Turkey Tracks, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Birthday Girl: Miles of Smiles; Designer Tape: Pony Dot, Teal Stripe, Piggy Pink Stripe; High Five Alpha Stickers: Yellow; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Pony

“Love You”, by Julie Johnson.

These pictures of my daughter and her boyfriend were taken only a few weeks ago at my sisters wedding. It was a gorgeous day up in the mountains and the area was perfect for taking a few snapshots. When I developed these photos I couldn't wait to use this collection. Even though "Thankful" is wonderful for showcasing your fall photos it's also very versatile, such as everyday moments from a beautiful summer day. For this layout I layered some of the pattern papers and then cut a few borders and shapes to add to the layout. I hand punched a few flowers and added the wooden buttons to the centers. I must say these are the PERFECT buttons for this collection, don't you think? 

Supplies:
Thankful: Perfect Day, Turkey Tracks, Homey, Burlap, Bountiful, Our Spot, Cute Cuts, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Button Market: Checkers

“Thankful For You”, by Sarah Klemish.

I started with the Turkey Tracks patterned paper for my background. I layered strips of patterned paper and added the scallop sticker border at bottom. After adding my pictures I added the title and journaling strips. Super-fast and simple!

Supplies:
Thankful: Perfect Day, Turkey Tracks, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers

“Blessings”, by Sarah Klemish.

I started with a brown patterned paper background. After layering pieces of patterned papers I added my photos. I added the journaling strips and flower embellishments. Last I added the date. Super simple, with the focus on the pictures.

Supplies:
Thankful: Cute Cuts, Borders, Our Spot, Burlap, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Button Market: Checkers

“Pumpkin Head”, by Kathy Martin.

There’s nothing like autumn! Cool crisp days, turning leaves, a trip to the pumpkin patch and pumpkin pie! I love the way the new Bella Blvd Thankful collection captures everything I like about the season! The pumpkins from the Borders paper, Ciao Chip and Just Write stickers are ideal for this photo of my son in his pumpkin hat.

Supplies:
Thankful: Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Perfect Day, Turkey Tracks, Borders, Ciao Chip; Button Market: Aqua Flowers, Checkers, Masculine Mix, Neutrals Mix; Flags: Text Me; Designer Tape: Orange Stripe, High Five Alpha Stickers: Blue

"Happy Turkey Day" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

Of course I had to cut that cute turkey out of the Cute Cuts sheet! What could be more perfect for a 'happy turkey day' card?! Thanks for looking! 

Supplies:
Thankful: Cute Cuts, Burlap, Turkey Tracks, Borders, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers

"Love Life" card, by Laura Vegas.

I love this "Love Life and life will love you back" card from the Cute Cuts patterned paper. I thought it was perfect for making a super quick card. I distressed the edges and adhered the piece with pop dots for extra dimension, adding a few strips of Designer Tape underneath.

Supplies:
Thankful: Turkey Tracks, Cute Cuts; Designer Tape: Pony Dot, Piggy Pink Stripe

Blessings Jar, by Morgan Bandkowski.

The Blessing Jar is made from a Mason Jar I had sitting around the house. I put some kraft crinkle paper on the bottom & then filled out little strips of paper with blessings in my life. I am going to have my family members fill out little strips of paper on Thanksgiving & add them to the jar. It will be nice to reflect on our blessings each year. 

Supplies:
Thankful: Turkey Tracks, Burlap, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers

Thankful Candles, by Morgan Bandkowski.

We always have the family over for Thanksgiving, so I thought it would be a wonderful idea to create some altered projects with the Thankful line. The pillar candles are great because the wax goes into the center and not on the outside so you don't have to worry about the paper catching on fire. Although they would be pretty even if you don't light them :) 

Supplies:
Thankful: Bountiful, Our Spot, Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Thankful Flags 2; Designer Tape: Piggy Pink Stripe, Pony Dot 

Birthday Girl Project Inspiration

This week is our 2011-2012 Design Team's last week here on the Bella blog. But before saying our final goodbye, we still have a ton of projects from these designers to share with you. Yesterday was all about the Birthday Boy collection, and today we're focusing on the Birthday Girl collection.

"Happy B-Day", by Laura Vegas.

When I was choosing a few pieces from the Chipboard Icons to use on this layout of my daughter's 10th birthday, there were a few banner pieces that I decided to use. I thought it would be fun to create an entire banner border across my page. I used a mix of chipboard pieces, stickers, and patterned paper, adding a few embellishments to either side of the banner border. Hard to believe I was so shocked at Alyssa turning 10 years old in these photos ... seeing as how she's turning the big 16 this week!

Supplies:
Birthday Girl: Miles Of Smiles, Party Dress, Dancing Queen, Sugar Rush, Celebrate, Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Punch; Designer Tape: Gulf Dot, Punch Chevron; Flags: Birthday Girl 2; Button Market: Purple Flowers, Hot Pink Flowers; Crochet Flowers: Poppy

"Birthday Wishes" card, by Laura Vegas.

If it's one type of card that I always need, it's birthday cards. The new birthday collections are great for whipping up tons of cards, so that you always have them on hand. I just picked a single chipboard piece, a couple pieces of patterned paper, some designer tape, and a few stickers, and before I knew it, I had a fun little card. 

Supplies:
Birthday Girl: Miles Of Smiles, Borders, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Designer Tape: Gulf Dot

Covered Candy Treats, by Laura Vegas.

A popular and easy favor to hand out at birthday parties is candy. But it's even more fun if you make that candy look super cute, using your scrapbook supplies. For this jar of candy treats, I actually covered packs of bubble gum (I couldn't risk shipping chocolate to CHA in the summertime).

I measured the packs of gum, and cut pieces of patterned paper to wrap around them. Then I cut thinner strips of paper to wrap around the center of each pack of gum. I added a small strip of designer tape across the top of the pack, and then finished them off with a punched circle of patterned paper, buttons, and crochet flowers.

I also created this simple marker to stick into the jar, so that everyone knew what was inside.

Supplies:
Birthday Girl: Miles Of Smiles, Party Dress, Dancing Queen, Sugar Rush, Celebrate, Borders; Designer Tape: Gulf Dot, Yellow Chevron, Punch Chevron, Pickle Juice Dot; Crochet Flowers: Poppy, Daisies; Button Market: Checkers

"Happy Birthday to You" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

Chevrons seem to be all the rage these days! And I love the yellow chevron patterned paper in the Birthday Girl line! I used it as the background paper for this fun birthday card. Then I added chipboard, buttons, flags, and the sentiment (cut from the Borders sheet) to complete the card. Fun! Thanks for looking! 

Supplies:
Birthday Girl: Sugar Rush, Cute Cuts, Miles of Smiles, Celebrate, Chipboard Icons, Borders, Flags 2; Button Market: Purple Flowers

"Birthday Girl" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

I did a little paper-cutting on this card! The presents on the left side were cut out of the Cute Cuts sheet. I adhered them with foam adhesive so that they hang off the left edge of the card. Then over on the right side to compliment those presents, I added another present but this one is chipboard from the Birthday Girl Chipboard Icons. Using the Borders sheet, I added a sentiment to the inside of the card also. Thanks for looking!

Supplies:
Birthday Girl: Borders, Cute Cuts, Celebrate, Chipboard Icons, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits Stickers

"Birthday Girl" card, by Allyson Meinholz.

For this card I used Miles of Smiles as my base and then added border strips as the background, with a popped circle, chipboard icon cake, a flag and cut out a flower with a button to add dimension.

Supplies:
Birthday Girl: Miles of Smiles, Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Icons; Flags: Birthday 2; Button Market: Hot Pink Flowers

“Birthday Girl”, by Wendy Wagner.

Enjoyed using this line with these photos of Annalise on her 4th birthday. I loved layering the papers, inking and stickles!! Between the glitz and sparkles and layering I think this layout turned out super fun!!!

Supplies:
Birthday Girl: Dancing Queen, Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Birthday Girl Flags 1; Button Market: Fruit Punch, Outdoors; High Five Alpha Stickers: Pink-Red Alphabets 

“Happy Birthday” card, by Wendy Wagner.

Fun little birthday card to hand out to someone special!! Lots of ink & glitz. I used the inside of the flat letters off the Alpha+Bitz Stickers for the 'inside' of the Ciao Chip letters!

Supplies:
Birthday Girl: Miles of Smiles, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Birthday Girl Flags 1; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Orange, Pickle Juice, Saltwater

Birthday Boy Project Inspiration

This week is our 2011-2012 Design Team's last week here on the Bella blog. But before saying our final goodbye, we still have a ton of projects from these designers to share with you. We're going to start off the week by sharing a variety of projects featuring the Birthday Boy collection.

Altered Gift Boxes, by Sheri Feypel.

This trio of paper mache boxes look so much better covered with Bella Blvd's Birthday Boy line. I covered each side of all three boxes with paper, stickers and/or designer tape. Each box is a little bit different and on the smallest one I added a "fancy" paper ribbon with a popped up sticker in the middle. I also made my own flag with a sticker and stick pin. Not only would these be super cute to pack a couple of gifts in they also make cute decor to set out for a party.

Supplies:
Birthday Boy: All For You, About A Boy, Toadilly Cool, Just A Note, Eat Cake, Streamers, Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Designer Tape: Pickle Juice Chevron

Altered Round Box, by Sheri Feypel.

Covering paper mache boxes makes any gift even better! This round box was easy to cover and looks super cute decorated with the Birthday Boy line. I will confess that I did have to use some extra adhesive though.

Supplies:
Birthday Boy: Just A Note, Toadilly Cool, About A Boy, Eat Cake, Borders, Alpha+Bit Stickers

Mini Treat Bags, by Sheri Feypel.

These little treat bags are quick and easy to make. I used a 2.5x4 piece of paper, folded it in half and stapled it to the top of the plastic bag. I added the star shape and cut each of those cute little cupcakes out from the Borders sheet. If you didn't get to see these in the CHA booth, it is because Stephanie probably at all of the candy. She does that. Lol!

Supplies:
Birthday Boy: Streamers, Just A Note, Borders, Cute Cuts, Eat Cake

“Birthday Cake”, by Sarah Klemish.

Even though these papers are called “Birthday Boy” I had fun scrapping pictures of my great niece Lia enjoying her first birthday cake! I started with the green graph background, adding paint splatters as an embellishment. I then cut several strips of patterned paper and added them horizontally on the page. I added my title in the center of the layout. I used photo corners as an “arrow” accent and added journaling strips. Finally I added my pictures, photo corner and patterned paper across the top of the layout.

Supplies:
Birthday Boy: Borders, About A Boy, Toadilly Cool, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Ciao Chips; Birthday Girl: Miles of Smiles; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Pony; Designer Tape: Gulf Dot

"Happy Birthday To You" card, by Laura Vegas.

This little chipboard frog was too cute NOT to use on a fun birthday card. What little boy wouldn't like to receive this card on his special day? I adhered him using pop dots for some extra dimension. Then I cut one of the quote stickers from the Alpha+Bits sticker sheet into smaller pieces so that it would fit on the speech bubble sticker.

Supplies:
Birthday Boy: Eat Cake, Just A Note, Borders, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Designer Tape: Orange Stripe

“Happy Birthday” card, by Sheri Feypel.

I created a large flag for the front of this card starting with a lollipop stick (unused) as the "flag pole." I made the flag with strips of paper, cut to look like small flags. I layered them onto the "flag pole" and brought them all together with some twine and a yellow star button. I also cut some scraps of paper to give the effect of confetti around the flag.

Supplies:
Birthday Boy: About A Boy, Eat Cake, Borders, Cute Cuts, Just A Note, Toadilly Cool; Button Market: Orange Stars

Bella Blvd & Unity Stamp Co. - Giveaway Winners

It's time to announce the winners from Thursday's stamp giveaways.

Giveaway #1 - Cake Wishes Stamp

Congrats Sandi! Email me at [email protected] with "BELLA & UNITY CAKE WISHES GIVEAWAY WINNER" in the subject line, and we'll get that sent out to you!

Giveaway #2 - Hip Hip Hooray

Congrats Nicole! Email me at [email protected] with "BELLA & UNITY HIP HIP HOORAY GIVEAWAY WINNER" in the subject line, and we'll get that sent out to you!

Saturday Sketches

Twice a month, we'll be bringing you a new sketch, and showing you a few takes on the sketch by our designers. Today, we have our second sketch for September, courtesy of Becky Fleck.

"Life Is Good", by Melissa Stinson.

I've already scrapped one layout with Bella's Birthday Girl collection this month, but I couldn't resist making another while all the supplies were still out on my desk! I changed the sketch up just a bit by "squishing" everything toward the middle from the top and bottom so that the larger and smaller photos were more in line. I also shrunk the size of the larger photo while I was at it, since it's a lot bigger than any of the sizes I normally use.

Supplies:
Birthday Girl: Cute Cuts, Celebrate, Miles of Smiles, Sugar Rush, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Icons; Button Market: Purple Flowers, Hot Pink Flowers; Designer Tape: Piggy Pink Stripe; High Five Alpha Stickers: Red

“Sing”, by Vivian Masket.

I love all of the different blocks of paper in this sketch! Since I only had two really good photos of my daughter with her microphone (a singing 6-year-old doesn't stay still for very long!), I adapted the sketch to work with two, instead of three, photos. Given that my daughter was looking to the right in the smaller photo, I decided to flip the sketch horizontally to accommodate the orientation of the smaller photo. From there, the layout came together quickly with the fun Birthday Girl pink and purple papers and embellishments. I added musical notes - die cut from black cardstock - to add contrast. Strips of Designer Tape, placed both vertically and horizontally, help to create flow and move the viewer's eye through the page.

Supplies:
Birthday Girl: Dancing Queen, Sugar Rush, Celebrate, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Punch; Button Market: Hot Pink Flower Buttons; Designer Tape: Punch Chevron, Pink Flowers

“Reptile Party”, by Julie Johnson.

I love sketches because it takes the guesswork out of designing a layout for me. But, I also love to add to the basic design like I did with this sketch. For this layout I wanted to add more color and some more detail so I enlarged the background piece and then added a large scallop border over the top. To add even more detail I backed my photos so they would stand out more and added the scallop sticker to the edge of the photos. Since this was my son's reptile birthday party the frog cut out from the Cute Cuts paper was the perfect accent to finish off the layout. 

Supplies:
Birthday Boy: Toadilly Cool, Eat Cake, Streamers, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Flags: Birthday Boy Flags 2; Designer Tapes: Pickle Juice Chevron

“I Got You Baby”, by Sue Mylde.

I love the cool colors of the most recent collections from Bella Blvd. Stephanie really has a great eye and I'm going to miss creating for the team next year! Having said that, this has been SUCH a blast! Thank you for the opportunity to create yet another layout for Bella Blvd! Here's "I Got You Baby". Combined the colors in Birthday Boy, Birthday Girl and Thankful to get a contrasting layout which - ta-da - matches the colors in my photos! Love the cool blues and greens, don't you? The buttons add dimension and the hearts are a lovely touch to a 'love' layout without saying it too loud. I wrapped the two photos on the right side with Designer Tape - love those - and the subtlety of them just makes this layout easy and fun to create, but bright and interesting to look at! Thanks for looking!

Supplies:
Birthday Boy: Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Birthday Girl: Party Dress; Thankful: Turkey Tracks; Designer Tape: Orange Stripe, Pickle Juice, Green Gulf Polka Dot; Buttons: Masculine Mix; High-Five Alpha Stickers: Green

"Bath", by Wendy Wagner.

This was a super fun layout to do of my little girl from when she was 5 months old. I combined the Baby Girl & Baby Boy fun zebra print paper to follow this sketch. I inked everything with chalk ink, and did some machine stitching in black. Journaling about how she loved her bath and water. I kept the title simple, but used the fun Ciao Chip alphas. Again, following sketches helps take half the work out of doing a layout! I love them! 

Supplies:
Baby Girl: Snuggly Safari, Baby Cakes, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Miniatures Stickers;Baby Boy: Borders; Ciao Chip Elements: Starts & Hearts; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Oreo

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

Fridays with Stephanie

Hey there all you Bella fans! Did you have a great week? I'm on a whirl-wind traveling adventure straight from Scrapfest and onto Inspiration Unlimited.

Last night Teresa Collins and Ginger Nelson hosted a wonderful meet & greet here at the Green Valley Ranch & Resort where I got to meet so many of the students I'll be teaching on Saturday. (For more information about the Inspiration Unlimited Event, visit my blog).

Today I wanted to share with you a Scrapfest Recap from last weekend at the Mall of America for Archiver's Annual event. I traveled this year with local Artistas Morgan & Katherine along with a scrappin' girlfriend, Elziabeth too! We had a great time with a bunch of workshops back-to-back.

The Mall of America is always bustling with people lined up for make-n-takes, shopping away, cropping right in the middle of the mall, and taking workshops too! It's pretty amazing that the Archiver's team is able to organize this huge event each year and bring so many scrapbookers and manufacturers into one place.

Here's a visual recap from our weekend including our fabulous students in the workshops, our Crop Around Town table display and croppin' night and a couple pictures to show you just how intese the event is, all located right inside the Mall's 4 huge floors!

It is always so much to teach this marathon-style quick classes because I have the opportunity to meet so many new (and also returning) Bella Blvd lovers each day! Thank you so much for signing up for Bella Blvd workshops if you were indeed there. I know there are literally hundreds of classes to choose from and I always feel incredibly blessed when the seats are sold-out!

I hope you have a great weekend....next Friday I will be able to bring you an update from IU in photo recaps as all. So far Jenna and I are having a great time and can't wait to teach the "not-so-mini, mini album" workshop!