Bella Blvd Studio Blog: Endless Inspiration: Engaged At Last Altered Projects

We hope you're ready to be inspired! We are looking forward to providing you with endless inspiration during these next few weeks, with never-before-seen projects that are being featured in our CHA Winter booth display. Our Design Team has been very busy creating oodles of project ideas with all of the new collections and products, and we are excited to finally share those projects with you!

Treat Containers, by Shellye McDaniel.

These little treat containers have the WOW factor, without all of the fuss! AND you can make them as large or as small as you'd like.

For this lot of favors, I began with a 6x6 square of paper for each. Using a quick-drying glue or heavy adhesive, glue two ends together; allow to dry. Next, machine stitch, glue, or staple the bottom end together.

After filling the inside you will want to close the top so that it is creased opposite of the bottom (I machine stitched these, but a hole punch with ribbon tied through also works beautifully). There are so many cute way to decorate the fronts of these! I cut strips of papers and sentiments from the Bachelorette Extras Paper and layered them with a punched heart and doily die-cut.

For the front of the wire basket, I hand-cut a heart and then backed it with a medium-weight chipboard. After embellishing, I tied it onto the basket with satin ribbons. Add matching shredded paper to the bottom and then arrange the favors inside!

Supplies:
Engaged At Last: He Proposed, Bridal Shower, Bachelorette Party, Bachelorette Extras, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Crochet Flowers: Juniper; Crochet Hearts: Pickle Juice

“Let's Party” Altered Dressform, by Shellye McDaniel.

All shapes and sizes of metal dressforms are readily available and fun to transform.

For the skirt, I started with a sheet of 12x12 "He Proposed" paper that I cut in half to measure 6x12. I then scored each piece (lengthwise) at 1/2" increments. Fan fold both 6x12 pieces and attach together at one end. At the bottom, use a corner-rounding punch on every-other fold (if desired).

Next, use a 1/8" hole punch to create holes at the top folds. Thread a piece of baker's twine or crochet thread through the holes and then tie around the base of the dressform. Pull the tension until the desired 'gathering' of the skirt is formed.

For the top, I simply criss-crossed two 1" wide strips of paper and tucked them behind the 'waistband' of the dress. I thought that a banner would be fitting for a bridal shower, so I created one that announces "Bachelorette Party Girls Only" I used a rolled flower die for the lei of flowers around the bodice. In finishing, I added a couple of the fun Feathers to the front and back, as well as a cute stick pin and satin bow.

Supplies:
Engaged At Last: He Proposed, Bridal Shower, Bachelorette Extras; Feathers: Punch; Flags: Bachelorette

S&S Altered Plaque, by Shellye McDaniel.

A sweet display that doubles as a gift for the bride-to-be! I found this gorgeous, curvy wooden plaque at Michaels. It was already painted white, which made decorating that much easier. I started by tracing the shape onto the Bachelorette Party Paper. In doing so, I wanted to keep the chevron pattern centered, so I made sure that it was lined-up accordingly before I began to trace.

For the top, I had an extra piece of chipboard from a mini album that I used to create the bright background. Again, I fashioned a heart by folding a piece of paper in half and cutting freehand. I cut the same sized heart from a piece of chipboard and machine-stitched the two together. After adding the heart to the center, I embellished the top with the initials of the couple, as well as some other fun items!

Supplies:
Engaged At Last: Bridal Shower, Bachelorette Party, He Proposed, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Engagement Icons; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Frosting; Love & Marriage: Chipboard Icons; Crochet Hearts: Saltwater, Pickle Juice; Button Market: Blues

Engaged Mini Album, by Laurie Schmidlin.

I wanted to create a mini album that would double as a mini scrapbook as well as a place where the Bride to Be could record different parts of the wedding planning process! I started by cutting out page shapes with my Silhouette cutting machine. I used lots of Cardstock Stickers and Miniatures, Chipboard pieces, Designer Tape, and Button Market buttons to embellish the pages. For the front, I added a new Cotton Candy Crochet Heart and an Engagement Flag! The album is approximately 5 3/4" and is bound together using an accordion paper fold.

Supplies:
Engaged At Last: He Proposed, Bridal Shower, Bachelorette Party, Bachelorette Extras, Bachelor Party, Bachelor Extras, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Miniatures Stickers, Engagement Chipboard Icons, Bachelor/Ette Chipboard Icons; Flags: Engagement; Crochet Hearts: Cotton Candy; Designer Tape: Gray Dot, Blue Chevron; Button Market: Aqua Flowers, Stars, Outdoor, Text