Bella Blvd Studio Blog

Project Life: Bella Style

Project Life is everywhere these days, in many shapes and forms. Whether you create full Project Life albums, a few Project Life inspired layouts/spreads here and there, or even simply working Project Life style products (such as Bella's new Daily Details papers) onto your everyday layouts, there are so many ways to incorporate this popular style into your designs. We are asking our designers to be inspired by Project Life, and show us how they work that inspiration onto their own pages.

"Lagoon Day", by Wendy Sue Anderson.

I have a habit of taking way too many photos during family outings. For instance, when our family went to a local(ish) amusement park last spring, I took dozens of photos on my camera, and another dozen or so on my phone. Were they all necessary? Nope. Does that matter? Nope. I printed a bunch of them because I knew I could use some pocket pages to hold them, so I could tell the story without having to choose only a few photos. The “Family Forever” collection was the ideal choice to scrapbook this event – the colors, phrases, and images coordinate perfectly!

Supplies:
Family Forever: Happy Home, Family Photo, Borders, Family Rules, Mom & Dad, Family Game Night, Treasures & Text, Trinkets, Candid Cards, Paper Pieces; High Five Alphas: Brown-Cream; Designer Tape: Red Chevron, Yellow Chevron; Button Market: Red Flowers

“2013”, by Katherine McElvain.

Sometimes being behind on a project may work to my benefit. That is the case with my 2013 Project Life book. Being far behind, this month I finally created my title page for the book, and because the year was over, I was able to include a collage of photos from 2013. I used Photoshop Elements to collage a group of photos in four 4x6 rectangles by color story. I then created four 3x4 boxes, each to match the color story of the photos above and below. I included a number on each section to create "2013".

  

In order to make the 3x4 elements I first covered chipboard numbers with designer tape, trimmed it down, and then added a variety of old and new stickers as well as flowers, and again trimmed to shape around the chipboard.

  

On the numbers that were the negative, I simply layered stickers on coordinating pattern paper, positioned so they would show through when the chipboard was mounted. At the finish I traced with black ink around the numbers to make them stand out a little more. I like the result of the rainbow of images and papers. When I look at the first page of my Project Life book it gives me a peak at all the colorful happenings that came though out the year.

Supplies:
Family Forever: Sunday Brunch, Borders, Treasures & Text; Molly: Sparkle & Shine; Play Date: Chasing Rainbows; Sand & Surf: Paradise; Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Cotton Candy, Freestyle Saltwater, Freestyle Pickle Juice, Freestyle Banana; Designer Tape: Various; Miniatures Stickers: Various; Alpha+Bits: Various

Monday Morning Challenge: Focus On The Color Green

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! Welcome to Monday Morning Challenge, where we offer up a challenge, and share with you our designers take on that challenge. Today we asked our designers to create projects using lots and lots of the color green. 

“Bee Happy” card, by Laurie Schmidlin.

To create this card with lots of green, I started with a white base. I punched circles out of several different green Bella patterned papers and then stitched them together. For embellishment, I added some Crochet Hearts, a Bella Button, and some stickers.

Supplies:
Play Date: Daily Details, Captions; Sand & Surf: Beach Balls; Lucky Starz: Pickle Juice Starz; Family Forever: Sunday Brunch; Love And Marriage: Vows; Molly: Sparkle & Shine; Spring Flings & Easter Things: Miniatures; Sunshine & Happiness: Miniatures; Button Market: Pickle Juice Squares; Crochet Hearts: Pickle Juice

“Leaf Without You” card, by Laurie Schmidlin.

When I first saw the "green" challenge for today, I immediately thought of this “Leaf Without You” Bella rubber stamp! I stamped it, colored it in with markers, added a little bit of glitter, and then layered it on two different patterned papers. I chose to add a neutral color to the green ... as well as a pop of red!

Supplies:
Play Date: Alpha+Bits; Spring Flings & Easter Things: Cute Cuts; Sand & Surf: Beach Balls; Love And Marriage: Smokeys in Love; Unity Stamps: Leaf Without You; Button Market: Pickle Juice Squares; Crochet Hearts: McIntosh 

“I Am So Incredibly Lucky”, by Jamie Harder.

I really feel like I am the luckiest Mom in the whole world and I love that St. Patrick’s Day gives me another opportunity to reflect on that! I just love that Bella Blvd has so many fabulous stickers that say just what I want to say! And of course, I can never get enough of hearts!

Supplies: 
Lucky Starz: McIntosh Starz, Pickle Juice Starz, Treasures & Text; Molly: Paper Pieces; Daily Chevies: Chevy Peep; Designer Tape: Pickle Juice Stripe

“Come on Spring”, by Jennifer Chapin.

I'm not sure about you, but where I live we have sure had one long winter! We are ready for spring. My kids and I decided to make some St. Patty's day cookies to coax springtime out of hiding! I used a simple grid design for this layout, making 9 square mats and embellishing with Candid Cards, stickers and stitching. I also printed my photos square. I kept the theme going by using lots of navy, yellow and of course green!

Supplies:
Molly: Sparkle & Shine, Refuse to Sink, Candid Cards, Trinkets, Treasures & Text; Max: Treasures & Text; Family Forever: Sunday Brunch, Mom & Dad, Borders, Candid Cards; Lucky Starz: Pickle Juice Starz, Bell Pepper Starz, Scallop Starz, Candid Cards; Spring Flings & Easter Things: Chipboard Icons; High Five Alpha Stickers: Color Wheel; Designer Tape: 12mm Combo

Friday Sketch: Cards

Who doesn't love a good sketch? It helps to take the guesswork out of the page and/or card design, but still allows you to put your own spin on things just be turning the sketch or altering it here and there. A few times 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. I asked one of our own talented designers, Diana Fisher, to create a sketch for us based off of a previously shared card, by designer Shellye McDaniel.

Original card, by Shellye McDaniel.

“Sweet” card, by Laurie Schmidlin.

What a fun sketch! I especially love how you can see so much of the background layer, making it perfect to use a paper with a larger pattern! I used paper, Paper Pieces, & stickers form the Molly collection. I embellished the card with a small piece of Designer Tape and a Bella Button.

Supplies:
Molly: Peace, Treasures & Text, Paper Pieces; Button Market: Hot Pink Flowers; Designer Tape: Cotton Candy Chevron

“Hello Dear” card, by Shellye McDaniel.

My focus on this month's sketch was the juxtaposed lines on the card's background. To recreate this image, I chose a base paper and then two contrasting papers that I cut into strips. Each strip was cut so that one end was wider than the other. I layered the strips onto the blue base paper and then stitched into place. I stayed with the general design of the sentiment area and kept things pretty clean-and-simple.

Supplies:
Lucky Starz: Ice Starz, Pickle Juice Starz, Surf N Turf Starz; Max: Treasures & Text; Button Market: Stars, Tie Dye; Designer Tape: Ice Stripe; High Five Alpha Stickers: Green

“You’re Awesome” card, by Diana Fisher.

I love the fox in the Max collection and couldn't think of a better way to send a "way to go" card for a certain little guy. A fun stamped sentiment makes it personal.

Supplies:
Max: That's My Boy, Borders, Rock Star, Candid Cards, Trinkets; Hampton Art Stamps: Sand & Surf

“Thanks” card, by Ashley Marcu.

This sketch is so fun! I grouped everything on the bottom left just like the sketch and then found balance with embellishments using Bella's designer tapes and stickers.

Supplies:
Family Forever: Borders, Happy Home, Paper Pieces, Trinkets; Designer Tapes: Blue Chevron, Pickle Juice Stripe 

“Birthday Boy” card, by Kathy Martin.

I can’t believe my baby boy is turning 13 this spring. A teenager! I remember laying him in his crib for the night, standing there amazed at how beautiful and precious! They grow up so fast. For this milestone birthday I created a card using Bella Blvd’s hip new Max and Lucky Starz along with a sentiment flag from the Birthday Boy line. And Diana’s sketch provided a fun blueprint! Happy 13^th birthday, Christopher! You’re a super star!

Supplies:
Max: Rock Star, Treasures & Text; Lucky Starz: Surf N Turf; Flags: Birthday Boy 2

Pinterest Inspired

It's always been fun to browse thru Pinterest, looking at the endless ideas and inspirational images that are out there. Our designers always enjoy taking whatever image we provide them, and using it in whatever way inspires them the most as they work on their projects. It's amazing to see how many different ideas and designs can be inspired by just one image.

{Image credit: Simple As That and The Happy Scraps}

“Good Luck” card, by Diana Fisher.

I was inspired by the image to use green, little banners and a "lucky" theme. This card isn't a St. Patty's Day card (though it could be), but rather a Good Luck card. I used vellum to put the "good" to the back, allowing the word "luck" to be the shining star on the top layer.

Supplies:
Max: Text Me; Lucky Starz: Bell Pepper Starz, Treasures & Text, Color Wheel High Five Alphas; Family Forever: Sunday Brunch

St Patrick’s Day gift box, by Diana Fisher.

Using the Pinterest image for inspiration, I was inspired by the green color, the clovers and the party banners in the picture. In line with a party, I made a little favor box that just happens to be filled with green mints. The clovers and a fun Bella Blvd flower are clustered on the top for layering and a bit of fun for our little party box.

Supplies:
Max: Text Me; Lucky Starz: Pickle Juice Starz, Bell Pepper Starz; Family Forever: Sunday Brunch; Baby Blooms a Bella: Champagne

“You Are My Lucky Charm”, by Jamie Harder.

I love to celebrate all holidays. So when I saw the Pinterest inspiration filled with shamrocks and the color green, I knew immediately that I wanted to do a “St. Patricks Day” layout! It was so much fun to find all the green treasures in so many of the Bella Blvd collections! My daughter loves to wear that green boa (and although it looks adorable on her, I am less of a fan because it leaves little feathers ALL over my house!) and so it was very fitting to have a feather on my page! I decided to make my own shamrock by cutting out four green hearts from the backside of the Daily Chevies Peep paper. The pops of pink really suit my little girly girl - she sure is my lucky charm!

Supplies:
Molly: Sparkle & Shine, Borders; Lucky Starz: Pickle Juice Starz; Snapshots: Hurry Up; Max: Rock Star; Daily Chevies: Chevy Peep, Chevy Oreo; Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Pickle Juice; Kiss Me: Alpha+Bits; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Pickle Juice; High Five Alpha Stickers: Green; Feathers: Pickle Juice

“Kiss Me”, by Becki Adams.

These Pinterest images inspired the title and the splash of green on my project. The Molly collection had the splash of green that I was looking for as well as lots of girly elements that I wanted to create this darling layout for my nieces.

Supplies:
Molly: Unlimited Text, Peace, Sparkle & Shine, Paper Pieces, Treasures & Text, Candid Cards; Crochet Hearts: Punch, Gulf, Pickle Juice, Bell Pepper; Designer Tapes: Gulf Dot; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Punch, Frosting

What's New Wednesday

Welcome to "What's New Wednesday"! Every Wednesday, our designers will be sharing projects using the latest and greatest products from Bella Blvd. Especially our newest collections, which our designers are having so much fun creating with!

“Slugger”, by Kelly Holbrook.

What I love most about Bella products, is that you can mix and match collections to customize the theme of your projects. The possibilities are endless. Here, I paired up Lucky Starz and Max with a few older collections to create a baseball themed page. I love how it turned out!

Supplies:
Lucky Starz: Gulf Starz, Treasures & Text, Trinkets; Max: Shark Attack, Rock Star, Treasures & Text, Paper Pieces; Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Scallop; Flags: All American Icons; Birthday Girl: Miles of Smiles; Making the Team: Alpha+Bits, Miniatures

“Shrinky Dinks”, by Wendy Sue Anderson.

I have been itching to scrapbook these photos for a while now, but I was waiting for just the perfect collection. I thought I would end up using something with sea life or something, but when I saw the colors in the MAX collection, I knew it was destiny! I love the perfect shade of orange, the boyish designs and the rainbow stripe paper – perfect for a page about coloring shrinky dinks!

Supplies:
Max: Borders, Rock Star, That’s My Boy, Shark Attack, Treasures & Text, Trinkets, Candid Cards, Paper Pieces; Flags: Baby Boy, Sunshine & Happiness; Button Market: Outdoors, Pickle Squares

“Foxy Friend” card, by Kathy Martin.

Like, it’s been toootally fun to play with the rad new Molly collection! Brings me back to my middle school years! Except that we didn’t have smart phones and spend our lunch texting our friends to see where on campus they were and where they were going or who liked who! We may not have had the technology, but we were hip and mod for our time, right? This Molly card creation is perfect for your daughter’s BFF or even yours, don’t you think?

Supplies:
Molly: Sketch With Style, Paper Pieces, Candid Cards, Treasures & Text, Trinkets; High Five Alpha Stickers: Color Wheel

“Home” card, by Kathy Martin.

I’m really into the new Paper Pieces and Candid Cards included in the new Bella Blvd collections! They’re perfect for mixing, matching and layering. Just my style. Another thing I adore are the adorable little houses from the Happy Home patterned paper, ideal for a new home card!

Supplies:
Family Forever: Happy Home, Paper Pieces, Candid Cards, Treasures & Text; Lucky Starz: Surf N Turf; Max: Trinkets; Button Market: Stars 

Step-by-Step Monthly Project Sheet: Molly Collection

Click here to download our Molly Project Sheet.

This month's step-by-step project sheet includes a complete supply list including tools needed and all directions to make this 12x12" "Documenting Life: 1 Selfie At A Time" layout. Just click the link to download the pdf worksheet and print. Not familiar with our free monthly Project Sheets? Sign up via our homepage, HERE, to receive them in your inbox each month, or check out all previous Project Sheets via the "Project Sheet" icon on the right sidebar of our blog.

March Guest Designer: Suzy Plantamura

We are so excited to introduce you to our talented March Guest Designer, Suzy Plantamura! Let's get to know a little more about Suzy and check out the projects she created to share with us!

My name is Suzy Plantamura and I have been creating scrapbook pages and working in this industry for over ten years. I have been on several design teams including American Crafts, Maya Road, MAMBI, and I’m currently on Studio Calico’s team. I was on the Creating Keepsakes Dream Team for four years. I currently have a stamp line with My Favorite Things. I love to doodle inspirational quotes, make scrapbook pages and cards, and hang out with my family in Southern California – especially at the beach. I was super excited to be asked to be a guest designer for Bella Blvd. I have always loved their products as they are exactly my scrapbook style – colorful, whimsical, and fun. 

"Laugh", by Suzy Plantamura.

For my first layout, I wanted to use a photo I had from a year ago when I attended a retreat for the Studio Calico design team. It makes me laugh every time I look at it as I am laughing so hard! I used a green, yellow, and turquoise color scheme. The large chipboard letters were perfect for the title. I layered some papers behind the photo and then started applying the embellishments.

There were so many cute ones to choose from that matched my theme! I love how easy this page came together with all the star stickers and cute words and phrases. Some washi tape along the top and bottom edge finished it off perfectly!

"Doughnuts", by Suzy Plantamura.

For this layout, I went with a color scheme that isn’t what I usually scrap with – reds, yellows and navy blue. I wanted to use watercolor and mists and do a more trendy look on the background of the layout.

I added mist drops and tilted the paper and let them run down it. I added some of the 4x6 project life cards behind the photos and used lots of stickers and cut out pieces of paper for embellishments.

The black and white doodles are from a paper that was part of a Studio Calico kit recently and I can’t get enough of it! Stephanie does the cutest doodles ever and they are so fun to use on layouts! I loved the contrast of the darker, more serious colors with the funky doodles and playful products.

"Girls Are Sweet", by Suzy Plantamura.

I went with three totally different color schemes for these three layouts and this one is my favorite! I love scrapping with pinks and teals and Bella Blvd is full of products in these colors! It was very easy to pull together this totally girly page with the gorgeous papers and stickers.

I added some more of my cut out images from the black and white doodle paper. I finished it off with sequins. I couldn’t have found better products to work with these funky girly photos from my daughter’s birthday party!

I just LOVED working with the Bella Blvd. products for these layouts. I could have made so many more with all the fun choices! Each of my layouts is totally different yet so me! Thanks Bella Blvd for having me as the guest designer this month!

Show & Tell Saturday: Scraproom Tour

I think everyone enjoys getting to peek into other designers scraprooms, right? It's fun to see how others store and organize the same types of products and tools that so many of us have. And while many of us have totally different ways of setting up our spaces, or have totally different types of spaces that we're working with, you never know when you'll see a new way of storing or organizing products that you can incorporate into your own space.

Scraproom Tour, by Wendy Antenucci.

Welcome to my scrap space! We recently moved and my lovely room became a space. I did a lot of purging to get all of my stuff into my space and now I am in love! My space is in the loft that overlooks our family room and kitchen allowing me to keep tabs on everything that is going on. My scrappy area shares the space with the Wii TV and with an extra bed so I do have to keep things somewhat neat (most of the time).  

My scrappy style and my space hold a lot in common - I LOVE white space! I try to keep everything neatly put away and purged so that I can think and actually enjoy the scrapping process. I do definitely make a mess while creating, but then I clean things up as soon as possible. The best place I found to store my scrappy goodies are in the closet!  I was able to place a few of the sterlite carts stacked and a bookcase into my closet which holds the bulk of my stash.

I have journaling pieces in one drawer, paints in another, stickles/inks in another, punches in another, border punches in yet another. In the other set of drawers I keep kits I am working with right now, layouts that haven't been put away yet, products from other manufactures that I am enjoying working with.

My bookcase is a wire piece from Home Depot; it holds my paper from the different Design Teams I am on, my box of photos, and tools.

I just bought a new piece from IKEA, it is probably my favorite! You can see the one drawer holds a lot of my Bella embellishments/stickers and here is another drawer with my washi tape collection.  

I have my most used things in this cabinet - ink pads, newest embellishments, sewing templates, needles, thread and the list goes on.

I have 2 bookcases that hold up my desktop and they are filled with items I use constantly - mists, dies, stamps, tapes, pens, etc. The last picture is of my work area, I have a box (from Target where most of my items came from) that holds my most loved tools and pens, they are right in front of me when I create. I always put these items back because I can't stand spending time searching for my scissors or ruler when I am on a scrappy kick. My hubby also built a box for my PL pieces - it resembles an old tape box, but he built it to fit what I wanted to store!

To make my area my happy spot, I hang my completed layouts on the wall - these are my favorites that just make me happy (and my kids love to see themselves) and remind me why I scrap. Thanks for joining me in my scrap space; I hope it has made you as happy as it makes me!

Friday Sketch

Who doesn't love a good sketch? It helps to take the guesswork out of the page and/or card design, but still allows you to put your own spin on things just be turning the sketch or altering it here and there. A few times 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. I asked one of our own talented designers, Diana Fisher, to create a sketch for us based off of a previously shared layout, by designer Jennifer Chapin.

Original layout, by Jennifer Chapin.

“Game Night”, by Kelly Holbrook.

One of my favorite things from the new Family Forever collection is the Paper Pieces. Here, I used several of them for my circle elements. Using a journaling spot for one of my circles helped convert the sketch from 12x12 to 8.5x11. I also used 7 strips of paper instead of nine, and 8 circles instead of 11.

Supplies:
Family Forever: Family Photo, Family Rules, Sunday Brunch, Paper Pieces, Candid Cards, Trinkets, Treasures & Text; Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Gulf; Lucky Starz: Color Wheel High Five Alphas; Designer Tape: Yellow Chevron, Red Chevron

“Handsome”, by Jen Chesnick.

Sketches are one of my go-to items when I am in a hurry OR I am just lacking any kind of creative mojo. They really jump start your project. Max is such a cute collection! Thankfully I have lots of little boy nephews to scrapbook. The font of the cardstock stickers is currently my FAVORITE! Especially the orange of Max! 

Supplies:
Max: Rock Star, Borders, Paper Pieces, Candid Cards, Treasures & Text

“Smile Are Contagious”, by Allyson Meinholz.

I enjoyed working with this sketch. I used dimensional adhesive to pop up a few strips of pattern paper, for the photo, and also on the stars to add dimension to the layout. I thought the NEW Lucky Starz collection was perfect for this Dance/Pom photo of Amelia! Love all of the colors and stars! 

Supplies:
Lucky Starz: Pickle Juice Starz, Bell Pepper Starz, Peep Starz, Gulf Starz, Treasure & Text, Trinkets, Color Wheel High Five Alphas; Molly: Refuse To Sink, Unlimited Text, Treasures & Text; Max: Treasures & Text; Family Forever: Treasures & Text; Designer Tape: Pink Dot, Yellow Chevron, Gulf Dot, Pickle Juice Dot

Pinterest Inspired

It's always been fun to browse thru Pinterest, looking at the endless ideas and inspirational images that are out there. Our designers always enjoy taking whatever image we provide them, and using it in whatever way inspires them the most as they work on their projects. It's amazing to see how many different ideas and designs can be inspired by just one image.

{Image credit: The Sweetest Occasion}

“Spunky You” card, by Laurie Schmidlin.

For this card, I was inspired by both the colors and the diamond pattern in the inspiration photo! I combined papers and elements from the Family Forever and Molly collections. For embellishment, I added a Bell Pepper Crochet Heart.

Supplies:
Family Forever: Mom & Dad, Trinkets; Molly: Refuse to Sink, Paper Pieces, Treasures & Text; Sienna Chipboard Alpha: Ice; Crochet Hearts: Bell Pepper

“Beautiful” card, by Laurie Schmidlin.

I love blue and yellow together, and that is what inspired me with this card. I layered patterned paper from the Lucky Starz and Family Forever collections. The focal images are from the Molly Paper Pieces set. For embellishment, I added a Bella Feather and a Crochet Heart.

Supplies:
Family Forever: Family Game Night, Mom & Dad, Trinkets; Lucky Starz: Surf N Turf Starz; Molly: Paper Pieces; Crochet Hearts: White; Feathers: White; Button Market: Outdoors

“Smile”, by Kay Rogers.

I was inspired by the amazing color scheme against the white. I decided to use a linear approach (shocker, I know ;)) and found a PageMaps sketch that would help me with the block design. The use of the Candid Cards led my design choice, and made the layout come together quickly. These happy colors make me think of sunny skies and warm temps. Just what I need this cold winter!

Supplies:
Lucky Starz: Treasures & Text, Trinkets, Candid Cards; Max: Candid Cards; Family Forever: Candid Cards; Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Banana; Daily Chevies: Bell Pepper; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Ice; Crochet Hearts: Bell Pepper, Scallop, White; Designer Tape: Yellow Chevron, Navy Dot, Ice Stripe

“Cast On”, by Wendy Antenucci.

Can you say FISH? When I saw the Pinterest images I instantly thought of my newest pass time, fishing. The colors looked just like a fish with its scales in the diamond shapes; I couldn't resist adding a little striped pattern on the edges of my page to match that straw too! To make my page, I began by cutting 1.5 inch squares in the navy, yellow striped, and the teal heart patterns and laying them down the center of my page giving the impression of a fish running down the page. I then added in my pictures careful not to obscure the "fish" image I just built. The addition of the scroll pieces were my idea of the grass floating in the lake. I added a few stickers bringing in a little pink to match my title which was inspired by the candid card in the Molly pack and to make the layout more girly. A few splashes of mist and some stamping gave the impression of bubbles on my page. The final touch was the "fishing" line that meanders across the page!

Supplies:
Molly: Candid Cards, Trinkets, Sparkle & Shine, Treasures & Text, Peace, Refuse to Sink; Lucky Starz: Treasures & Text, Trinkets; Family Forever: Family Photo, Treasures & Text, Mom & Dad; High Five Alpha Stickers: Piggy Punch