Bella Blvd Studio Blog

Bella Blvd & Basically Bare Team Up Week: Shellye McDaniel

Welcome to day five of our week long Team-Up with Basically Bare! We have a group of our Bella designers that have mixed Basically Bare's gorgeous mini albums and embellishments into our projects. And the Basically Bare designers have been busy mixing Bella's products into their projects. Let's see what our designers have whipped up for us today.

"Merry & Bright" mini album, by Shellye McDaniel.

When deciding on the theme for my mini album, I was immediately drawn to the Gears by Basically Bare and how cute they would be dressed up as snowflakes! I began by painting the kraft side of each cog with a white acrylic paint. I then glittered the fronts with a coarse marble glitter. I found it best to use Glue Dots when attaching the desired pieces on top of the marble glitter.

Using the Basically Bare Hipster Album, I began plotting out how best to display the different 'snowflakes' on the different pages. I wanted them to create a nice backdrop or a vision of snowflakes falling from the sky. To dress up the various envelope style pages, I layered two different patterned papers from the Christmas Wish Collection. The base papers were cut to a 7.75"W x 3.75"H; the inner papers were cut to 7"W x 3"H. I then machine stitched all of the base and inner pages together with a zig-zag stitch. 

At the ends of each page I added tabs using the corner stickers from the Alpha+Bits (I had two sheets of these stickers, so I was able to line the backs of each sticker with a matching sticker. You could also use a piece of scrap paper). The pockets make the ideal storage for journaling cards, extra photos or mementos. I kept the backs of the envelope pages simple by adding different Just Write Journaling Stickers. These are JUST WRITE for this! Adding a button or pearls gives it just a little pizazz without being too bulky.

I adore house shapes, so the Happy Little Houses were a must have on one of the pages! I simply traced the shape onto a Christmas Wish paper and cut to size. I then dressed up with outside with a happy door trimmed in baker's twine and a few punched snowflakes with pearl centers.

The inner-most page of the Hipster Album is a clear acrylic sheet...so many things can be done to decorate these. For mine, I simply went with a strip of Designer Tape that I neatly wrapped around the page. Finally, I matched up two sticker borders and applied them to both sides. You could also stamp onto the acrylic sheet using a Staz-On ink.

In finishing, I tied on bright matching ribbons to the comb on the album. Viola! I loved layering the pieces from Basically Bare along with Bella Blvd's stickers, buttons, Designer Tapes and Ciao Chip...it's Merry & Bright!

Supplies:
Christmas Wishes: Gifts Galore, Christmas Love, Trees For Sale, North Pole, Borders, Miniatures Stickers, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Birthday Boy: Eat Cake; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Ice; Button Market: Pink Flowers, Masculine Mix, Fruit Punch, Snowflakes; Designer Tape: Piggy Pink Stripe, Red Dot, Gulf Dot

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

GIVEAWAY TIME

We are doing a Christmas giveaway, since the holiday is sneaking up on us all very quickly! The prize package will include products from the Christmas Wishes collection along with coordinating buttons, designer tapes, and other embellishments. Value is over $100!!! Just leave us a comment and we will announce a randomly chosen winner on Monday.

************************************************************************
Now, head on over to the Basically Bare blog and check out what their Design Team has created using their gorgeous mini albums and embellishments, and our fun Bella products! Keep coming back to both blogs all week long, because we have a ton more projects to share with you.

We want to say a special thank you to Basically Bare, including all of the participating designers and the plethora of product that was sent our way from Basically Bare’s studios. It's such a pleasure to work together in this industry to create excitement about all of our products. We hope you enjoyed this week full of inspiration, variety and giveaways!

Bella Blvd & Basically Bare Team Up Week: Jenny Evans

Welcome to day five of our week long Team-Up with Basically Bare! We have a group of our Bella designers that have mixed Basically Bare's gorgeous mini albums and embellishments into our projects. And the Basically Bare designers have been busy mixing Bella's products into their projects. Let's see what our designers have whipped up for us today. And remember to check back in the afternoon, as we have our last mini album share. And there might even be a GIVEAWAY ;)

"Patch Memories 2012" mini albums, by Jenny Evans.

This mini album is photos from our family trip to the Pumpkin Patch/Corn Maze. It was our first time going and I wanted to document it in a special way. The Thankful collection was perfect for it, with some other Bella products thrown in! The Basically Bare album is wonderful to work with! I loved the different type and styles of the pages, perfect for a fall themed mini. I added in some extra pages using the film strips and camera chipboard pieces. I love how this turned out, and so happy to have it to look back on!

Supplies:
Thankful: Perfect Days, Turkey Tracks, Homey, Bountiful, Our Spot, Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Sophisticates: Spinkles & Lace Apricot, Chipboard Essentials Apricot & Bananas, Chipboard Essentials Asparagus & Pickle Juice; Family Tree: Leaves of Ancestry; Finally Fall: Miniature Stickers; High Five Alpha Stickers: Green, Blue, Yellow, Brown-Cream; Ciao Chip Everyday Elements: Clouds, Stars & Hearts, Family Words; Designer Tape: Piggy Pink Stripe, Pickle Juice Chevron, Teal Stripe, Pickle Juice Dot, Pony Dot; Button Market: Checkers, Masculine Mix, Outdoor, Merlot Flowers; Flags: Thankful 2

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

Now, head on over to the Basically Bare blog and check out what their Design Team has created using their gorgeous mini albums and embellishments, and our fun Bella products!  

We want to say a special thank you to Basically Bare, including all of the participating designers and the plethora of product that was sent our way from Basically Bare’s studios. It's such a pleasure to work together in this industry to create excitement about all of our products. We hope you enjoyed this week full of inspiration!

Bella Blvd & Basically Bare Team Up Week: Wendy Wagner

Welcome to day four of our week long Team-Up with Basically Bare! We have a group of our Bella designers that have mixed Basically Bare's gorgeous mini albums and embellishments into our projects. And the Basically Bare designers have been busy mixing Bella's products into their projects. Let's see what our designers have whipped up for us today.

"Smiles Begin With You" mini album, by Wendy Wagner.

This was a super fun Team Up with Basically Bare. I love mini albums and I love my daughter, so it only made sense for me to create a mini album about my daughter. I tried to capture little pieces of her last 9 years in this album, and focus on the fact that she is 9 & ½. She’s a big girl, but she’s still my baby. I took some quotes from our favorite books and some from special songs, to make the album about her and me.

I distressed and inked the entire album, using the Kiss Me collection. It was perfect to reflect the love I have for my little girl. I used the basically bare spiral bound mini album, one canvas page from the Oh So Mini Ticket album, small Pennants, and Stack-a-Bellies Birds. 

I think my favorite page in this mini is the 'You are my Sunshine' page, which has been the song I sing to her in the morning when I wake her up! Thanks for taking time to enjoy my project! 

Supplies:
Kiss Me: Bouquet Kisses, Mustache Love, Love Notes, Flutter, True Love, Borders & Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers; High Five Alphabet Stickers: Piggy-Punch, Brown -Cream, Blue; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Blueberry;  Ciao Chip Elements: Clouds; Designer Tape: Piggy Pink Stripe, Teal Stripe; Button Market: Feminine Mix, Wood Mix, Pink Flowers, Blues, Tie Dye, Gulf Squares, Hot Pink Flowers; Crochet Flowers: Juniper, Dahlia; Blooms a Bella: Rosa, Sole; Baby Blooms a Bella: Rossini, Azzini

*************************************************************************
Now, head on over to the Basically Bare blog and check out what their Design Team has created using their gorgeous mini albums and embellishments, and our fun Bella products! Keep coming back to both blogs all week long, because we have a ton more projects to share with you.

Bella Blvd & Basically Bare Team Up Week: Wendy Antennucci

Welcome to day four of our week long Team-Up with Basically Bare! We have a group of our Bella designers that have mixed Basically Bare's gorgeous mini albums and embellishments into our projects. And the Basically Bare designers have been busy mixing Bella's products into their projects. Let's see what our designers have whipped up for us today. And remember to check back in the afternoon, as we are doing TWO posts every day this week!

"My Favorites" mini album, by Wendy Antenucci.

There was this cute little book in my package from Basically Bare with little pockets - I had so many ideas I wanted to try, a book about my kids (there weren't enough pages for our 5), coupon book, a book about my hubby and I. I finally settled on a book about my favorites at 35, I did a larger book at 30 and loving looking back at it. I used my favorite colors in this book which were from the Kiss Me collection. Of course I also love all Bella's designer tapes, so they also played a large part in my book. When I have a chance I plan to sit down and write my thoughts about each of my favorites on the different office tags I slipped in the pockets!

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Tall Tags, Sprinkles & Lace Oyster, Sprinkles & Lace Punch; Midterm: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Lovey Dovey: Alpha+Bits Stickers, Blurbs Journaling Stickers; Sunshine & Happiness: Just Write Journaling Stickers; Plastino: Label Additions Stickers; Kiss Me: Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Flutter, Borders, Cute Cuts, Love Notes, True Love, Bouquet Kisses; High Five Alpha Stickers: Piggy-Punch, Blue; Designer Tapes: Punch Chevron, Piggy Pink Stripe, Gulf Dot, Teal Stripe

**************************************************************************
Now, head on over to the Basically Bare blog and check out what their Design Team has created using their gorgeous mini albums and embellishments, and our fun Bella products! Keep coming back to both blogs all week long, because we have a ton more projects to share with you.

Bella Blvd & Basically Bare Team Up Week: Kim Jeffress

Welcome to day three of our week long Team-Up with Basically Bare! We have a group of our Bella designers that have mixed Basically Bare's gorgeous mini albums and embellishments into our projects. And the Basically Bare designers have been busy mixing Bella's products into their projects. Let's see what our designers have whipped up for us today. 

"SHE" mini album, by Kim Jeffress.

When I was sent the Betty's Bracket mini in my pack I knew straight away I wanted to create a grungy styled project. I loved how it combined corrugated card, chipboard, canvas and clear acrylic pages in one. I decided to go with a SHE ART styled mini album, I was drawn to the dress form and decided to use this on the front of my mini. First I created a background using blue and green acrylic paint. I then covered the dress form with Party Dress paper from the Birthday Girl collection then trimmed off the excess and covered it with a thin layer of modge podge. I added some designer tape stems for my flowers and handcut the circles for my flowers from Sugar Rush and Celebrate pattern paper. You will see on all of my pages I added doodling, stamped backgrounds and bits and pieces of rubons from my stash.

I tore away the top layer of the corrugated card to create a shabby feel then ran some brown ink over the top. I used various pieces of designer tape to make my pretty garden, hand cutting the leaves and circles for the flowers.

My next page features the bright pop of color from the Pretty as a Present paper ( Birthday Girl collection), I used this to create her dress. I added some fun stockings using the B side of the Cute Cuts pattern paper and a ruffle from Bouquet Kisses pattern paper from the Kiss Me collection.

I wanted to make a little house so I used Sugar Rush and Celebrate paper to form the basis of my house. For the flower I fussy cut a flower from the Party Dress paper. I added a felt bird from the bird pack as a fun element to my page.

I trimmed off the canvas from the mini and created a page from pattern paper ( Bouquet Kisses from Kiss Me collection). To hold the paper in place I added a strip of Gulf Dot designer tape along the edge.

The acrylic pages I wanted to keep simple so I added my quotes and embellished with a sticker from the Alpha+Bits sheet.

The second acrylic page I added letters from the High Five Alphabets sheet.

My last page I again ripped off the top layer of the corrugated card, I created a dress using the Bouquet Kisses pattern paper. The cloud was cut from the Cute Cuts pattern paper and the banner comes from the Alpha+Bits stickers. I added the chipboard key and wings from my stash to complete my mini.

Supplies:
Birthday Girl: Pretty as a Present, Party Dress, Sugar Rush, Celebrate, Alphas+Bits Stickers; KIss Me: Bouquet Kisses, Flutter, Borders and Cute Cuts, Alphas+Bits Stickers; High Five Alphas Stickers: Blue High Fives, Piggy- Punch; Designer Tape: Gulf Dot, Orange Stripe, Piggy Pink Stripe, Red Dot; Button Market; Gulf Squares, Checkers; Flags: Vacation 

*******************************************************************
Now, head on over to the Basically Bare blog and check out what their Design Team has created using their gorgeous mini albums and embellishments, and our fun Bella products! Keep coming back to both blogs all week long, because we have a ton more projects to share with you.

 

Bella Blvd & Basically Bare Team Up Week: Leanne Allinson

Welcome to day three of our week long Team-Up with Basically Bare! We have a group of our Bella designers that have mixed Basically Bare's gorgeous mini albums and embellishments into our projects. And the Basically Bare designers have been busy mixing Bella's products into their projects. Let's see what our designers have whipped up for us today. And remember to check back in the afternoon, as we are doing TWO posts every day this week!

"Home Away From Home" mini album, by Leanne Allinson.

I decided to create a mini on some of our favorite camping spots. We like to get away as often as possible and are so very fortunate to have many beautiful places to camp at, that are also within an easy drive for us. Some of these places have actually started to feel like a "Home away from Home".

The first few pages in this mini are half the size of the album. Some of them are full page 4x4 inch Instagram photos and represent the things we always do while camping … set up the camp site, ride bikes, swim and go on bush walks. I love that this is a great introduction to the main mini album concept.

The Basically Bare mini album I used came with envelopes. I have used these pages to hold extra journaling about how we spend our time at specific camp grounds. I have also stored the contact details and other relevant information in here too.

The great thing about this project is that I can easily add more pages and envelopes to it as we travel and experience additional camping adventures with our children. And I know I can add a wish list of the places we'd like to visit at the very back of the album. This way we might actually start checking the boxes and crossing things off our list. What a nice concept!! Thanks for visiting.

Supplies: 
Thankful: Perfect Day, Borders, Burlap, Homey, Turkey Tracks, Cute Cuts, Bountiful, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Finally Fall: Quadrants, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Minatures, Alphas+Bits Stickers; Sophisticates: Tall Tags; High Five Alpha Stickers: Brown-Cream; Ciao Chip Elements: Clouds, Trees; Birthday Boy: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Mr Boy: Alpha+Bits Stickers, Ciao Chip; Making The Team: Borders; Crochet Flowers: Juniper; Designer Tape: Pony Dot, Pickle Juice Chevron, Gulf Dot; Flags: Thankful 2

***************************************************************
Now, head on over to the Basically Bare blog and check out what their Design Team has created using their gorgeous mini albums and embellishments, and our fun Bella products! Keep coming back to both blogs all week long, because we have a ton more projects to share with you.

Bella Blvd & Basically Bare Team Up Week: Sheri Feypel

Welcome to day two of our week long Team-Up with Basically Bare! We have a group of our Bella designers that have mixed Basically Bare's gorgeous mini albums and embellishments into our projects. And the Basically Bare designers have been busy mixing Bella's products into their projects. Let's see what our designers have whipped up for us today. 

"Hello Fall" mini album, by Sheri Feypel.

I created my mini album using Basically Bare's Oh So Mini Album. Each of the pages has a different texture to them (felt, chipboard, canvas), which is what drew me to this one. The size was also perfect for me to showcase some pictures of my son on our annual fall photo shoot. I used mainly Bella Blvd's Finally Fall collection for this book, with a little bit of the new Thankful collection mixed in. Although Finally Fall is the 2011 fall collection from Bella Blvd, I still love it! The colors are perfect for my pictures. As I put this book together I treated each page as if it were just a mini layout. Some are heavily embellished, while others aren't. As you can see I used lots of Designer tape through out the album as well, it is the perfect accent to any page and there are so many that matched with this line. I also got a bit carried away with the Alphabet Stickers, as I love mixing and matching all of the different sizes and fonts.

Supplies:
Thankful & Finally Fall: At The Patch, Bliss, Autumn Splendor, Leaf Pile, Apple Holler, Cute Cuts, Borders, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Miniature Stickers; Quattrofino Alphabet Stickers: Mustard & Apricot, Brownies & Cream; Ciao Chip Elements: Trees; High Five Alphabet Stickers: Pink/Red, Yellow, Green, Blue; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Orange; Designer Tapes: Pony Dot, Pink Stripe, Teal Stripe, Orange Stripe, Yellow Chevron, Piggy Pink Stripe, Pickle Chevron; Button Market: Aqua Flowers, Fruit Punch, Orange Stars, Outdoors, Feminine Mix

***************************************************************************
Now, head on over to the Basically Bare blog and check out what their Design Team has created using their gorgeous mini albums and embellishments, and our fun Bella products! Keep coming back to both blogs all week long, because we have a ton more projects to share with you.

Black Friday Giveaway *WINNER*

It's time to announce a winner for our Black Friday giveaway!

Congrats Tracy! Email me at lauravegas.bellablvd@yahoo.com, with "BLACK FRIDAY GIVEAWAY WINNER" in the subject line, and we will get your goodies sent out to you!

Silhouette Advent Calendar: Bella Blvd Style

Count down to Christmas with the Silhouette advent calendar. This limited edition advent calendar kit comes with a full set of shapes that can be arranged any way you like. Use your Silhouette and your favorite paper to customize the calendar in your own style. With different decorations, the advent calendar can be used for any occasion.

Silhouette was generous enough to send one of their new Advent Calendars to one of Bella Blvd's designers, to be paired up with Bella's products. We are excited to share the finished project with you today. 

Christmas Advent Calendar, by Megan Klauer.

I pulled out 2 of my favorite Bella collections. Winter Wonder & Christmas Wishes, along with a mix of the wonderful Designer Tapes and the Sophisticates High Five Alphabets. The fact that my Silhouette did so much of the work was just awesome. I am hoping to use this for birthdays, chore charts, instagram photos, etc. It's versatile & definitely something I won't be packing away after the holidays!

This is our first ever Advent Calendar & the boys are so excited to get started. Instead of little gifts, each pocket holds a to-do for that day. Something simple but something we can do together to celebrate the season.

1. Make paper snowflakes.
2. Bake Christmas Cookies & take to a neighbor.
3. Hot Cocoa & marshmallows tonight!
4. Make pipe cleaner candy canes.
5. Make a Chocolate Treat - FUDGE!
6. Read a Christmas Story.
7. Family Game Night.

8. Watch a Christmas movie & eat popcorn.
9. Make Salt Dough Ornaments.
10. Decorate Ornaments.
11. Write letters to Santa.
12. Make Christmas Tree Sun Catchers.
13. Pancakes for supper! Add whip cream & holiday sprinkles.

14. Make snowflake tortillas.
15. Decorate Gingerbread houses.
16. Make Christmas tags for gifts.
17. Make homemade Hot Cocoa & package for teacher gifts.
18. Make hot cocoa rice krispy treats.

19. Go for a drive & look at Christmas lights.
20. Make popsicle stick snowflakes.
21. Wrap Christmas presents.
22. Take a family picture in front of the Christmas tree.
23. Make reindeer food.
24. Leave cookies & milk for Santa. Don't forget the reindeer!
25. Merry Christmas! Open presents & enjoy some cinnamon rolls!

I can't wait to get started! I am hoping this will translate nicely to my December Daily album as well. Go get yours HERE! You will LOVE it!

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 November, courtesy of Becky Fleck.

"Your Smile", by Becky Williams.

I find myself simplifying my scrapbook pages a bit these days. For this layout I followed the sketch pretty closely and just added some bits of tape and strips of patterned paper as accents. The little "I love you" piece is one of my favorites from the borders paper in the "Kiss Me" collection. 

Supplies: 
Kiss Me: Flutter, Borders & Cute Cuts, Love Notes, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Family Dynamix: Quadrants; High Five Alphabet Stickers: Black-White, Gulf; Button Market: Stars, Hot Pink Flowers; Designer Tapes: Jailbird, Red Dot, Gulf Dot, Piggy Pink Stripe, Teal Stripe

"Key West”, by Sheri Reguly.

I absolutely loved working with the layout of this sketch! The skinny vertical guides were perfect for a couple of scenic shots from our Florida vacation, while the larger guide was perfect for my focal image. I opted for a subtle background paper, as I didn’t want it to compete with the vibrant colors within my photos. The navy floral strip helps ground my page, while a few simple embellishments add balance and provide the perfect finishing touch.

Supplies:
Kiss Me: Flutter, Borders & Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers; High Five Alpha Stickers: Piggy Punch; Designer Tape: Pickle Juice Chevron; Button Market: Checkers

"Youlai Fes", by Yohko Takiguchi.

I love the cute monsters, spiders, and bats from the Too Cute To Spook collection and wanted to use them on a layout. But Halloween is not very popular in Japan. It is starting to become more popular year after year though. So I decided to use photos of Yokai Festival. Yokai are a class of supernatural monsters in Japanese folklore.

Supplies:
Too Cute To Spoke: The Boo Crew, Full Moon, Borders, Cute Cuts, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Miniatures Stickers

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

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.