Bella Blvd Studio Blog: Special Guest Designer: Shannon Tidwell

This week, we have three talented guest designers joining us for a special "throwback" feature. These are designers that we all loved back in the day. Each of whom had their own signature style, and whose work we could recognize without even seeing their name attached to it. They were all known within the scrapbooking industry, each on handfuls of design teams, and their layouts could be seen in numerous magazines and idea books.

And then all three of them took a break from scrapbooking, for different reasons. Those breaks may have only been a year, or they may have been several years. But each of these designers recently had the itch to get back to scrapbooking, in one way or another. And we were thrilled that these three designers were up for guest designing for us this week, and we're excited to share their work with you!

Hi! Long time, no scrapbook! This is Shannon Tidwell, an ‘oldie’ when it comes to scrapbooking I suppose. That’s okay, I don’t mind, at least I have the albums and layouts to show for it! I took a break from scrapbooking last year. I always said I would stop doing it when it wasn’t ‘fun’ anymore. I started scrapbooking as a hobby and even though it turned into a bit more than that, I wanted to enjoy it just the same. The break was good for me … I discovered other hobbies (that also turned into more than hobbies, ha!). But as the year came to a close I realized that I hadn’t taken as many pictures, and that I had an itch to scrapbook. So I finished a few projects that I’d left unfinished for a year and started a few new ones. I still haven’t been able to jump right in where I left off, but it is fun to play with scissors and glue again. It can be tough coming back after a long break. I’m not really ‘up’ on what’s cool in the scrapbooking world. But that’s okay, I just stuck with what I know. Hand cut titles, color, color, color, and of course, a lot of patterned paper!

“Here We Go Again”, by Shannon Tidwell.

Star Student was the perfect set for my back to school pictures. I loved so many of the papers, I think I tried to use them all! I layered a couple patterned papers behind the Calendar Invisibles. I like how it shows just a peek of the Art Journal paper. For the large title I hand cut the numbers from a variety of papers. Didn’t the International Studies paper work perfectly for my “0”?! I added quite a few pop dots underneath the sticker embellishments to give them a little extra dimension.

“Love”, by Shannon Tidwell.

This bold black and white stripe side from Words of Wisdom had been calling my name. I knew I wanted to use it as the background, but decided to break it up with a few other modern patterns. I also added a strip of the Metallic Gold Confetti Clear Cut at the bottom of the page to lighten it up some. I used quite a bit of the Color Change on this layout. Love the boldness of black and white with a pop of color. I used a couple circle punches to create a little interest on the page as well. I think the modern patterns match my sweater well :)

“Ballerina”, by Shannon Tidwell.

I wanted this layout to be soft, but with a punch … just like my little ballerina! I mixed some of the softer colors with black and white accents. Again, I hand cut the title. I wanted it to span the page so I just lightly wrote it on a 12” paper and then cut around it. I used one of the scalloped shaped Invisibles to trace and cut the scalloped shape on the Ice Confetti Clear Cut. It made a fun layer on top of the Peep Strandz patterned paper. The heart sticker by the title didn’t have the ‘right’ word on it for my title … so I used another sticker to cover it up and make it work!

Thanks so much to Bella Blvd for allowing me to play with their fun release. I love that Bella Blvd always has bright and coordinating colors. It makes mixing and matching so fun.