Bella Blvd Studio Blog

All American Endless Inspiration: Day One

We hope you're ready to be inspired! We are looking forward to providing you with endless inspiration this entire week, with never-before-seen projects that feature our NEW All American collection. Our Design Team has been very busy creating oodles of project ideas with all of the new collection and we are excited to finally share those projects with you!

“All American”, by Megan Klauer.

The red, white, & blue combination of course makes me think of fireworks, sparklers, & picnics, but it also makes me think of warm summer evenings at the ball field. Baseball is a staple to our summer & we love it. I've used the new (insert collection name here) to showcase a few baseball details. Nothing says all-american like baseball. 

Supplies:
All American: United We Stand, American Pride, Seeing Stars, Borders & Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits, Chipboard Icons; Designer Tape: Red Chevron

“Key West”, by Sheri Reguly.

The new All American collection is versatile well beyond your 4th of July photos. With the addition of a couple subtle elements from the Sand & Surf collection, I found it to be the perfect choice for a layout about our Key West family vacation.

Supplies:
All American: Boom Boom Pow, Borders & Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Stickers; Sand & Surf: Borders, Miniatures; Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Saltwater; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Blueberry; Designer Tape: Pickle Juice Chevron; Button Market: Checkers, Stars

“On A Hot Day In July”, by Malika Kelly.

I love that the All American line can be used for so much more than fourth of July pictures. Pool, picnic, family reunions ... these bright colors look great for so many different summer occasions.

Supplies:
All American: Boom Boom Pow, American Pride, United We Stand, Borders & Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Saltwater; High Five Alpha Stickers: Blue; Designer Tapes: Red Chevron

4th of July Rockets, by Wendy Antenucci.

Ever since I made my toilet paper flowers for Christmas I have been collection toilet paper rolls for projects so when I received my packet of All American I knew I wanted to make rockets. I wrapped paper around the toilet paper rolls and cut out circles that I rolled together for the lids of the rockets. I knew I wanted my rockets to have something frilly coming out underneath, so I took the designer tapes and used my Martha Stewart fringe scissors to give me that frilly look. I added a few decorative pieces to finish up my 4th of July decor!

Supplies:
All American: Borders & Cute Cuts, Boom Boom Pow, July Sky, United We Stand, Seeing Stars, American Pride, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Ciao Chip Everyday Elements: Icons; Designer Tape: Red Dot, Blue Dot, Red Chevron; Flags: Patriotic

“Celebrate” card, by Carina Lindholm.

I really love the colors in this All American collection. And I wanted to make a few cards to show that this collection can be used by everyone, not just Americans and America themed cards. My favourite paper in this collection is this cloud paper, it’s just so pretty. I also used some fun chipboard stars, stickers and to make the banners I used designer tapes.

Supplies:
All American: July Sky, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Designer Tape: Red Chevron, Chlorine Dot, Navy Dot

“Hi” card, by Carina Lindholm.

I covered almost the whole front of this card with cut out and chipboard flowers. I think the vibrant colors and the flower cluster makes this simple card fun and cheerful.

Supplies:
All American: Seeing Stars, Cute Cuts, Chipboard Icons; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Ice

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 March, courtesy of Becky Fleck.

“Lil' Surfers”, by Malika Kelly.

Usually I am a 1-3 photo per layout scrapper, so this sketch challenged me to get a little out of my comfort zone. I stuck close to the sketch just to be safe, changing up the background by adding an extra mat and border. I treated each patterned paper block as a place to group some embellishments. I really like how the layout turned out and will try using more multiple photo layouts in the future, especially when I have a bunch of pictures and can't just pick one or two to tell the story. 

Supplies:
Sand & Surf: Under the Coconuts, Flying High, GPS, Paradise, Surfs Up, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Miniatures, Chipboard Icons; High Five Alpha Stickers: Yellow; Designer Tape: Blue Chevron, Pony Dot; Button Market: Aqua Flowers; Flags: Sand & Surf

"Little Gentleman", by Yohko Takiguchi.

I reduced this sketch and placed it on the lower right of my layout. I replaced the space for two photos with the blocks of patterned paper. I love color combination of pastel color and black in Love and Marriage collection.

Supplies: 
Engaged At Last: Bachelor Extracts, Miniatures, Alpha+Bits; Love and Marriage: Vows, Cake Tasting, May Eighteenth, Turner Hall Ballroom, Borders, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, The Wedding Party Miniatures, Wedding Chipboard Icons; Feathers: Cream; High Five Alpha Stickers: Black-White, Brown-Cream

“How He Proposed”, by Kim Jeffress.

When I received this gorgeous collection of Engaged At Last papers and embellishments, I knew I wanted to get started on my wedding photos from 8 years ago. I began with my husband's proposal, which sadly for him didn't go too well with the ring not ready from the jeweler, but I didnt care at all! I was just sooooo excited to be getting married! I love the blocked design  of this sketch it allowed me to add snippets of pattern paper to complement my photos. The soft colors really add an ambient feel to my layout, and I love that I can layer the stickers and chipboard stickers so easily to create texture without it being too busy.

Supplies: 
Engaged At Last: Bridal Shower, He Proposed, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Miniatures, Engagment Chipboard Icons; FreeStyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Cotton Candy; Flags: Engagement; Designer Tape: Cotton Candy Chevron

"How Many Photos?", by Jenny Evans.

I have been wanting to scrap these photos since we took them on New Year's Eve, and this was the perfect sketch! The grid design is very popular right now because of Project Life, and I love being able to use it in layout form! I embellished our fun photos with a variety of Bella products, from Mr. Boy all the way to the new Engaged At Last collection.

Supplies:
Engaged At Last: Bachelor Party, Bachelor Extras, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Mr. Boy: Just Write Journal Stickers, Chipboard Icons; High Five Alpha Stickers: Blue, Green, Yellow; Ciao Chip Everyday Elements: Stars & Hearts; Designer Tape: Ice Stripe, Pickle Juice Stripe, Blue Chevron; Button Market: Orange Stars, Text, Masculine Mix

“Bunny Love”, by Allyson Meinholz.

I love, love, love doing sketches. This one took me a bit to get going, since there were so many boxes to fill. I ended up finding pictures from our trip to Florida and the colors went perfect with the Love & Marriage Collection. As for the sketch, I turned it upside down and around again! Once I laid out the photos and added the journaling sticker, I ended up filling up the other spots with embellishments. My favorite part was adding all the crochet hearts, as I thought they were perfect for all the Bunny Love! 

Supplies:
Love & Marriage: Esther Fleming Floral, Cake Tasting, Smokeys in Love, Borders, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Wedding Day Miniatures, Wedding Party Miniatures; Engaged at Last: Alpha+Bits Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Crochet Hearts: Punch, Cotton Candy, Bell Pepper, Pickle Juice, Saltwater, White; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Pickle Juice; High Five Alpha Stickers: Yellow

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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. 

Stephanie Introduces All American + A Giveaway

What a happy Friday it’s going to be … because I have something brand new and beautiful for you today! I’ve always wanted to design a patriotic collection.

For years my family has celebrated in tradition: First, the fourth of July parade, then a corn roast and a day on the lake capped off with a dinner BBQ and spectacular fireworks. Some of my favorite pictures of all time have been taken on the fourth of July. Red, White and Blue make for such awesome photographs. Check out these awesome ideas from the DT with new All American collection!

This brand new collection is officially being announced today, right here, right now. The All American Collection includes double-sided patterned papers, cardstock stickers, chipboard alphas and icons, two sets of Stick Pin Flags (some with icons and some with words), 3 new Designer Washi Tapes and a coordinating Collection Kit too. Here’s a glimpse:

Want a copy of the digital Catalog Supplement? Click HERE for the All American Catalog. 

While the great USofA proclaims it’s birthday this July, so will Bella Blvd. I hope you’ll join me in celebrating Bella Blvd’s fifth birthday with the release of our first ever spring mid-release. All American is my debut patriotic collection; You’ll be seeing stars in the July sky this summer as scrapbooking and paper crafting stands united with All American!

All these goodies will begin shipping April 1^st.

Here’s a closer look:

Double-Sided Patterned Papers:

Item #596 - Boom Boom Pow

Item #596 - Boom Boom Pow (Side B)

Item #597 - Seeing Stars

Item #597 - Seeing Stars (Side B)

Item #598 - American Pride

Item #598 - American Pride (Side B)

Item #599 - United We Stand

Item #599 - United We Stand (Side B)

Item # 600 - July Sky

Item #600 - July Sky (Side B)

Item #601 - Borders & Cute Cuts

Item #601 - Borders & Cute Cuts (Side B) 

12x12” Cardstock Stickers:

Item #602 - Alpha+Bits Stickers

Item # 603 - Just Write Journaling Stickers 

New Chipboard Stickers:

Item #604 - Sienna Ice Chipboard Alphas

Item #605 - All American Chip Icons 

New Stick Pin Flags:

Item #612 - Stick Pin Flags Icons

Item #613 -Stick Pin Flags Words

New Designer Washi Tapes:

Item #526 - Red Chevron 19mm

Item #529 - Chlorine Dot 19mm

Item #530 - Navy Dot 19mm 

And the Collection Kit too:

Item #625 - All American Collection Kit

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For our Retail Partners this entire collection is super affordable, at only $241.50 for the entire thing! Contact us HERE or login to your Retailer Account today for all details including specials and discounts on pre-orders!

 

We’ve also included a whole set of existing Coordinates for you to mix and match so easily! All of these current papers and embellishments that you might have in your current Bella Blvd stash already will match the new All American Collection perfectly!

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Now here’s the fun part!!

Want to win-it-before-you-can-buy-it?!

Enter to win the entire All American Collection, including the Coordinates today! 

Here’s how: Share this announcement somewhere online (fb, twitter, your blog, message board, etc.) Then come back here, leave a comment including a link to your share.

You have the entire weekend to enter ... and you can enter as many times as you wish!

(That’s right, share it 10x in one day, and leave us 10 diff. comments below with separate links to each) For more chances to win!

Challenge: If we reach 800 comments with links we’ll give away we’ll pick 5 lucky winners!!!! Ready, set … GO!

Cards On Thursday: St Patrick's Day

St Patricks Day is this coming Sunday, so we thought we would make today's card shares all about some fun and unique St Patricks Day cards.

“Smile Friend” card, by Laurie Schmidlin.

Bella's new Crochet Hearts make such cute Shamrocks, don't you think? I used three of the Pickle Juice Crochet Hearts and cut out a little "stem" using some coordinating patterned paper. I embellished it with some Button Market buttons, a Ciao Chip Star, and a couple of sentiment stickers.

Supplies: 
Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Saltwater; Birthday Girl: Party Dress; Birthday Boy: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Super Stud: Label Additions; Ciao Chip Elements: Stars & Hearts; Button Market: Stars, Blues; Crochet Hearts: Pickle Juice Hearts

“Lucky To Know You” card, by Laurie Schmidlin.

I am so smitten with the new Freestyle Sophisticates collection! So many of the colors will work for many different holiday cards! I used the new Freestyle Pickle Juice paper to create a Shamrock shaped card. For the sentiment, I chose to use two of the Sophisticates Green High Five Alphabet stickers.

Supplies:
Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Pickle Juice; High Five Alpha Stickers: Green; Button Market: Blues

"Good Luck" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

I used a heart punch to make the 4 leaf clover on this card. I punched 4 hearts out of the same patterned paper and arranged them to look like a clover. Easy! I started to make this card entirely green but, believe it or not, it seemed a bit too green! So I threw in a little yellow and I like the contrast! Thanks for looking!

Supplies:
Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Pickle Juice; High Five Alpha Stickers: Green; Sand & Surf: Paradise, Beach Balls, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Button Market: Bursts; Flags: Floral, Sunshine & Happiness

"Don't Forget your Green" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

I wanted to use a lot of green on this St. Patty's Day card. I dug around in my Bella Blvd stash and found this green flag from the "Camping" flags, the Green High Five Alphabets, and the "Outdoors" buttons. I used the new Pickle Juice Freestyle patterned paper as the base of the card and I grabbed the green patterned paper and the Just Write Journaling Stickers from the new Sand & Surf line. All these different green items coordinated so well together! I love that! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 

Supplies:
Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Pickle Juice; High Five Alpha Stickers: Green; Sand & Surf: Paradise, Beach Balls, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Engaged at Last: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Flags: Camping; Button Market: Outdoors

“Kiss Me I’m Irish” card, by Kathy Martin.

Bella Blvd’s Pickle Juice green is a favorite color of mine! I love the shade of green and the name is adorable, don’t you think? When I was asked to make a couple of St. Patrick’s Day cards for you, I jumped at the chance to create with the beautiful Pickle Juice papers and accents! What do you think? Do you think Pickle Juice green is perfect for St. Patrick’s Day?

 

Supplies:
Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Pickle Juice; Crochet Hearts: Pickle Juice; Button Market: Pickle Squares

 

“Kiss Me” card, by Kathy Martin.

When I don’t have an occasion specific collection for a project, like this St. Patrick’s Day card, I find that keeping the design clean and simple makes it a snap to create. For this card I focused on the sentiment using these Sienna Chip alphabets. I also love buttons and thought a trio of them would make the perfect accent. The final addition was the big red lips, which add an element of fun.

 

Supplies:
Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Pickle Juice; Button Market: Neutrals Mix, Pickle Squares; Designer Tape: Pony Dot; Engaged at Last: Ciao Chip

“Good Luck” card, by Sheri Feypel.

Rather than making a normal sized card, I went with a 5x5 this time. I really needed to accommodate my hexagons, so I felt this was a good size to fit them. I arranged my hexagons and added several different pink patterns to the middles of each one. I topped it off with a shamrock, a few buttons and some twine to bring it all together. Now I think I need a Shamrock Shake!

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Sprinkles and Lace Punch; Birthday Girl: Celebrate; Birthday Boy: Eat Cake; Kiss Me: Love Notes, Flutter; Love And Marriage: Esther Flemming Floral; Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Pickle Juice, Freestyle Cotton Candy; High Five Alpha Stickers: Green

“Happy Lucky Day” card, by Sheri Feypel.

Originally my sentiment on this card was going to be "Get Lucky" but I decided it might not be appropriate? I still think it would have been cute though. Anyhow, I went with a Rainbow of colors of the Designer Tapes from Bella Blvd instead of patterned papers. I used a dark grey background to make the tape colors pop. I cut the little flag out of tape as well. I love that there are so many different uses for this tape! Happy St. Patty's Day!

Supplies:
Designer Tapes: Red Dot, Orange Stripe, Yellow Chevron, Ice Stripe and Purple Dot; High Five Alpha Stickers: Green

Layouts On Wednesdays

We are back with more fabulous free-for-all layouts from our Layout Designers to share with you today.

“Disney Memories”, by Sheri Reguly.

I have to admit that I’ve been holding off on scrapbooking our Disney vacation for nearly an entire year now. I’ve been just waiting for the perfect product collection, and Sand & Surf is it! The fun, bright colors perfectly compliment the happiness in both my photos and my journaling, making it the ideal choice.

 

Supplies:
Sand & Surf: Under The Coconuts, Cute Cuts, Borders, GPS, Miniatures, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Engaged At Last: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Love And Marriage: May Eighteenth

"Happy Snow", by Becky Williams.

Here in west Texas we don't get a whole lot of snow so when we do we make sure to take advantage of it. I opted to use black and white pictures of my kids for this snow page and set that off with lots of color using Designer Tapes and lots of stickers. I overlapped the chipboard letters in my title a bit to help the title stand out more and give dimension to the page. 

Supplies: 
Sand & Surf: Miniatures, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Winter Wonder: Miniatures; Sophisticates: Calendars; Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Scallop; Engaged At Last: Bachelorette; Birthday Girl: Chipboard Icons; High Five Alpha Stickers: Yellow, Brown-Cream; Designer Tapes: Cotton Candy Chevron, Blue Chevron, 12mm Combo, Chevron Combo

“Silly, Giggly Girls”, by Becki Adams.

Girly, girly, girly is how I wanted this layout to turn out. It's about my daughter and her best friend. They are so silly when they get together. I couldn't wait to use my new Bella Goodies! I wanted to use feathers and lots of designer tapes. I punched out some pinked circles and backed them with Designer Tape to make my background extra colorful. I added banners, crochet hearts, for the finishing touches. The journaling on this layout is hidden behind the photo on a tag. I love how this project turned out and so does my daughter. She wants it hung on her bedroom wall :)

Supplies:
Love and Marriage: Cake Testing; Engaged At Last: Bachelor/ette Chipboard Icons; Designer Tapes: Hot Pink Dot Tape, Ice Stripe Tape, 12mm Combo, Polka Dot Combo, Chevron Combo, Pickle Juice Stripe; Feathers: Punch; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Punch; High Five Alpha Stickers: Piggy-Punch; Crochet Hearts: Punch; Flags: Bachelorette

“Stylin' In Your Shades”, by Jaclyn Rench.

The cat's eye glasses from the Kiss Me collection Cute Cuts sheet look so similar to the glasses that my daughter is wearing in this photo, that I couldn't help but to pair them together on a page. While I loved the sentiment that was originally on the glasses, I decided to alter the lenses with a bit of patterned paper, to make them look even more like those that my daughter is sporting! The next step was to dream up a fun title and to pull out some bright and sunny papers from the Sand & Surf collection to complete the page. 

Supplies:
Sand & Surf: Beach Balls,  Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Miniatures; Love and Marriage: Cute Cuts; Engaged at Last: Bachelorette Party; Kiss Me: Borders & Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Saltwater; Designer Tape: Ice Stripe; High Five Alphabet Stickers: Piggy-Punch

Tuesday Inspiration

Inspiration is all around us, and can be interpreted in so many different ways. We have chosen one image, and asked a handful of our designers to create a layout based on the inspiration piece. It's always fun to see what part of a piece a designers finds inspiring, and how they translate that into their designs. 

{Image credit: Pinterest}

“Volley For A Cure”, by Megan Klauer.

I used the numbers portion of the inspiration piece. Rather than creating a calendar feel, I used numbers that related to the photos; her team number as well as her class. I decided to place them within circles rather than squares to better coordinate with the actual volleyball. I love how an inspiration piece can be the spring board to something completely different!

Supplies: 
Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Gulf; Love And Marriage: Cute Cuts, May Eighteenth, Esther Fleming Floral; Sand & Surf: Borders, Beach Balls, Chipboard Icons; Sienna Chipboard Alpha: Frosting; High Five Alphabets: Piggy-Punch, Brown-Cream, Gulf; Crochet Hearts: Punch, Cotton Candy

“Bath Time”, by Jennifer Chapin.

I was inspired by the color scheme in the inspiration photo for this layout. I chose to print my photo in black and white so as not to compete with the multicolored theme. I also took inspiration from the pinked edges in the photo and got my pinking shears out! The buttons were easy to incorporate as well.

Supplies:
Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Banana; Engaged at Last: Bachelor Extras, Engagement Chipboard Icons, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Love And Marriage: May Eighteenth, Esther Fleming Floral, Borders, Wedding Party Miniatures; Sand & Surf: Beach Balls, Borders; Sienna Chipboard Alpha: Pickle Juice; Designer Tape: Ice Stripe, Punch Chevron; Button Market: Blues, Purple Flowers, Checkers

“Dress Up”, by Diane Payne.

I really loved the tone-on-tone patchwork of the inspiration piece so I pulled out the neutral pieces of the Engaged at Last and Love and Marriage collections and stitched them down like a patchwork quilt. I like the visual interest it created for my background without competing with the subject of my layout. I included a small hanging frame, like the inspiration piece, with my daughter's age.

Supplies:
Engaged at Last: Bachelor Party, He Proposed, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Engagement Chipboard Icons; Love and Marriage: Turner Hall Ballroom, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Birthday Girl: Just Write Journaling Stickers; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Ice; Button Market: Pink Flowers, Hot Pink Flowers; Flags: Bachelorette; Crochet Hearts: Bell Pepper, Cotton Candy; Feathers: Cotton Candy, Saltwater, Cream

“I Love You 7 Days A Week”, by Gina Lideros.

This was such a fun inspiration image this month. I can honestly say that there were so many ideas that I took from this image. The polka dot background inspired me to use Bella's Gray Dot Designer tape as a border. The numbers in the photo inspired me to use Bella's fun number border from the Love and Marriage collection. The white frames in the photo also inspired me to use this chipboard insert that I saved from the packaging of the Chipboard: Bachelor/ette Chipboard Icons. And the large buttons in the photo inspired me to add a couple of blues buttons from Bella's Button Market. I love the finished look of it all put together.

Supplies:
Engaged At Last: Bachelor Party, Bachelorette party, He Proposed, Bachelorette Extras Bachelor/ette Chipboard Icons; Love And Marriage: Borders; Just Write Journaling Stickers, The Wedding Party Miniatures; High Five Alpha Stickers: Gulf; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Frosting; Feathers: Frosting, White; Designer Tape: Gray Dot; Button Market: Blues

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We hope you will take some creative time for yourself, and try out our inspiration image! 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. 

Step-By-Step Monthly Project Sheets: Feathers & Crochet Hearts

Looking for fresh ideas and new inspiration using Bella Blvd products? Want to learn how to mix and match Bella products and create cute layouts? Stuck on a project and need some help? Want to teach a Bella Blvd workshop at your LSS? Or, do you own a LSS and need a sample idea to hang next to our products? If you've said yes to ANY of the above--you're going to love this!

You can download our Feathers & Crochet Hearts project sheet HERE. 

Bella Blvd has launched a new monthly feature to help you get inspired and keep you scrappin'. I have been designing a fresh never-featured-before project along with step-by-step directions for you to use, EVERY MONTH! Complete with a list of tools, supplies and Bella products needed, it couldn't get any easier! So dive into your stash today, or check out the online store links (on the sidebar) and pick up your supplies today! You'll get more pages completed with our help! Use us ... that's what we're here for!!!

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We recently added all of our project sheets into a gallery on the sidebar, for easy reference. There are now 18 step-by-step project sheets, all available for you to download, save, or print out. Just look for the image above on the right sidebar, and each project sheet image will have a link to the downloadable version. You can also find our previous project sheets by simply clicking on "Project Sheets" in the "Category" section on the left sidebar. That will bring up any post where we have shared project sheets.

On-Going Guest Designers: Jodi Wilton & Juliana Michaels

When we were choosing our 2012-2013 Design Team back in September, we had a few additional designers that we just weren't ready to pass up. So just like last year, we decided to invite these designers to join our team this year as On-Going Guest Designers. They will be sharing projects with us every other month, and we are excited to share their work with you.

“Cool Shades”, by Jodi Wilton.

I fell in love with the cute pair of sunglasses on the cute cuts page, and knew I had to do a layout about my daughter's obsession with sunglasses. I love how girlie this collection can be and decided to keep pink as main color, and compliment it with the other colors in the collection.

Supplies:  
Sand & Surf: Borders, Flying High, Paradise, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Miniatures; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Hot Pink; Flags: Girl, Sand & Surf; Sienna Chipboard Alphabets: Punch; Button Market: Pink Flowers

“Buried At The Beach”, by Jodi Wilton.

After creating a very girly layout, I wanted to show the versatility of this line, and created a layout about my son on the beach (or should I say in the sand). I love all the browns, oranges, and yellows in this line! I layered some chipboard for the embellishments, and added a sticker to one of the photos to really draw your eye to the photos.

Supplies:
Sand & Surf: Under the Coconuts, GPS, Borders, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Miniatures, Chipboard Icons; Flags: Sand & Surf; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Orange

“Vacation Time”, by Jodi Wilton.

This line is perfect for using your beach photos from vacation or the summer time! I focused on using the surf's up paper, to really bring out the blue in my daughter's swimsuit!

Supplies:
Sand & Surf: Surf's Up, GPS, Paradise, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Chipboard Icons, Miniatures, Just Write Journaling Stickers 

“Let's Ride”, by Juliana Michaels.

I was inspired by the Design Teams recent Designer Tape projects so I wanted to incorporate more than one or two tapes into my layout. Each strip of tape was backed with white cardstock to make the colors more bold since the tapes tend to be slightly transparent.

Supplies:
Birthday Girl: Celebrate, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Birthday Boy: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Surf N Turf; Kiss Me: Love Notes, Flutter, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Blueberry; High Five Alpha Stickers: Blue; Designer Tape: Punch Chevron, Pickle Juice Chevron, Piggy Pink Stripe, Teal Stripe, Pickle Juice Dot; Crochet Flowers: Dahlia

Designer Tape Easter Eggs, by Juliana Michaels.

I was again inspired to create something using the Designer Tapes. These are paper mache eggs from my local craft store. I painted them with acrylic paint and allowed them to dry. Once dry I attached a strip of punched patterned paper around each egg. I applied the Designer Tape to thin white cardstock to make the colors more bold and attached the strip around the center of the punched strip. The flowers were created using my die cut machine and punches. I tied embroidery floss around each egg and then hot glued the flower to the egg. 

Supplies:
Birthday Girl: Sugar Rush; Birthday Boy: About A Boy, Eat Cake; Kiss Me: Bouquet; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Chlorine; Sunshine & Happiness: Sunny Side Up; Designer Tape: Punch Chevron, Pickle Juice Chevron, Pink Stripe, Teal Stripe, Gulf Dot, Orange Stripe

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 first sketch for March, courtesy of Becky Fleck.

"Love This", by Becky Williams.

I stayed pretty true to the sketch but flipped it 180 degrees so that the border was on the left instead of right side. I used bits of Designer Tapes and stickers in place of the paper pieces and kept the overall design simple to draw focus to the pictures on my layout. I used the reverse side of the "Love and Marriage" collection Cute Cuts sheet for my background and colored in a few random hearts. My youngest is growing up so quickly that I wanted to scrap about how peaceful she looks while sleeping. Time goes by way too quickly! 

Supplies: 
Love and Marriage: Cute Cuts, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Flags; Engaged at Last: Bridal Shower, He Proposed; Designer Tape: Punch Chevron, Piggy Pink Stripe, 12mm Combo, Gray Chevron, Orange Stripe; High Five Alpha Stickers: Black-White, Piggy Punch

"District Honor Band", by Laura Vegas.

As I was looking at this sketch and trying to figure out how I was going to use it, I was drawn to how the photo and all the little squares of paper arranged around the photo were arranged in a nice, long row across the page. It reminded me of a recent photo from a honor band concert that my oldest daugher, Alyssa, played in. Once I cropped the photo to include just the band, I ended up with a LONG photo that was 10.5" wide and only 4" tall that was perfect for this sketch.

Supplies:
Birthday Boy: Just A Note; Love And Marriage: Borders; Hello Beautiful: Just A Note; Too Cute To Spook: Chipboard Icons; Sophisticates: Short Stories, Tall Tags; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Oreo; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Pony; Quatrofina Alpha Stickers: Black-White; Ciao Chip Elements: Clouds; Button Market: Stars

“Beach Party”, by Leanne Allinson.

When I first saw this sketch, I wanted to creating more of a patchwork back drop for my photo to rest on. I wanted the sketch to be exaggerated, but still have some white space  I also knew I wanted to create with the bright and fresh, Sand & Surf collection. This photo of my daughter preparing for her school swimming carnival brought the two together! I chose some colors in the lei she is wearing and transferred them to the patchwork squares of the sketch. The layers of the patterned papers, Alpha+Bits stickers and Ciao Chip Icons, result in a fun, summery layout.

Supplies:
Sand & Surf: Borders, Surfs Up, Paradise, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Miniatures, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Ciao Chip Icons; Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Saltwater; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Oyster; High Five Alpha Stickers: Gulf; Designer Tape: 12mm combo

"First Communion Day", by Katherine McElvain.

I love neutral colors for scrapbooking, so I am drawn to the Love and Marriage collection. It is filled with beige, and white... yummy! One problem, I am not in that wedding age. I'm too old, married 20 years ago when there was not digital cameras, and my kids are too young. So I have found alternate ways to use the great products. This sketch challenge gave me the perfect opportunity to put together a layout about my daughter on her first communion day using the Love and Marriage products. When interpreting the sketch I turned it on its side and used only the front and back side of the Cute Cuts paper to create the layered paper pieces behind the photo. I had to get creative to cover up words and images pertaining to marriage that were on the paper, cutting out the center of one journaling card and layering the photo and a cloud on top of another did the trick. The church and "congrats" sticker intended for a wedding page served well for a first communion page too. When I was almost finished with the layout I stamped the date at the bottom, and low and behold the year came out "2021" instead of "2012". OH NO! So I stamped a couple more correct dates and covered the mistake with a little flower. That's how it usually goes with me...but we will keep it our little secret, okay?

Supplies:
Love and Marriage: May Eighteenth, Cute Cuts, Wedding Icons, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Wedding Day Miniatures; Engaged At Last: Engagement Icons; Button Market: Checkers; High Five Alpha Stickers: Brown-Cream

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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. 

 

Creative Calendars

Today we have two calendar projects to share with you. Jennifer Edwardson has created a fun, hanging countdown calendar, perfect for helping the kids count down the days until holidays, birthdays or big events. And Local Artista Allyson Meinholtz has created a calendar that also acts as a scrapbook, including a layout to go along with each month.

Countdown Calendar, by Jennifer Edwardson.

I had so much fun creating this and was starting to call it the neverending project as I kept adding pieces the longer it at on my desk. I saw a really cute Christmas Countdown Calendar online last year (Pinterest of course), but it was really small and just for the 25 days of Christmas.  

I wanted to create a piece that had my kids able to visually see the days leading up to many special times throughout the year. Their Birthdays, Christmas, Easter, summer vacation, etc, are all so exciting for kids and mine are always counting down to something on the calendar. I thought this was a fun piece to get them just a little more excited throughout the year.

I started with a canvas that is 8 x 10" and 1 1/2" deep with a recessed back. I covered it in the new Freestyle Sophisticates first and then added some designer tape to the edges. Once I decided on the size of my cards I was able to add the mini clothespins and wording using the High Five Alphas.

Each of the (10) cards are 4 x 6" and were created either with journal cards from the Cute Cuts or simply cut from patterned papers. I used more Cute Cuts, stickers, designer tape, alphas, buttons, chip shapes and flags to embellish each one specific to it's theme – LOVED making these special cards.

I adhered a piece of grey/white sohpisticates inside the back of the canvas and added a glassine bag to hold the cards that weren't being used.

Then I punched out (30) pieces of the brown/tan chevron paper (Daddy's Girl) and lightly sanded all the edges. I printed out the numbers onto white cardstock, punched them into circles and adhered them onto the patterned paper bases. 

I made a cute little envelope to keep them in and adhered it using velcro so that the kids can take it off to search for the number and then tuck it back in behind. Once it was finally complete, I showed it to the kids and they LOVED it. Can't wait to get it up on the wall as St. Patricks Day is just around the corner.

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Calendar, by Allyson Meinholtz.

Every Christmas I make my mom a calendar. I am a bit behind on finishing her calendar from this past Christmas, and am still working on it. It is mainly done, and I am just printing and adding the photos. Since my mom has 5 granddaughters, each of the girls get their own month (their birthday month). Although this year we have 2 June Bugs, so they have to share their page. It was a bit tricky and I’m still trying to come up with a plan!