Bella Blvd Studio Blog: April Guest Designer: Danielle Flanders

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

Hello, my name is Danielle Flanders. Thank you to Bella Blvd for allowing me to make a few projects for you today! I am a former K-2 Elementary Teacher with a degree in Speech Pathology and Audiology as well, but am a stay-at-home-mom now to 2 girls. Taylor is 15, and Kati is 9. I’ve been working with paper for about 15 years, but recently I’ve been into card making more than anything else. I really love working with the smaller palette and enjoy adding color, pattern, dimension and layers, but also a little bit of white space to allow the eye to rest. Currently, I’m designing for a few great companies and recently filmed a class with Craftsy on working with layers and dimension in cardmaking. I hope you enjoy these ideas I have for you today!

“Today”, by Danielle Flanders.

I love adding large elements to a layout, so trimming out these butterflies from the lovely papers gave me a starting point to work with some great pattern and color! I decided to watercolor the background in sort of a rainbow effect with pinks, oranges and yellows. Then I added the butterflies in coordinating colors across the top to anchor the photo and journaling, which is about my relationship with my 15 year old right now...getting a little bumpy as any teen/mom relationship, but I know things will come full circle again one day, and I have to allow her to fly right now! It's so hard to let them go though, isn't it? I always write notes to my girls about my current feelings. I hope one day, these will have great meaning to them. Until then, it's a creative outlet for me... and a therapeutic one at that!

Supplies:
Color Chaos: Oreo Black Strandz, Gulf Strandz, Peep Strandz, Orange Strandz, Treasures & Text; Campout: Daily Details; Enamel Dots: Cotton Candy; Ciao Chipboard: Borders, WhatNots

“Hello” card, by Danielle Flanders.

This was the first card I started out making when I received my box! I love using a white embossed background and then adding pops of color to the front by cutting pretty papers out with dies and layering many interesting details! The trendy font in the Color Chaos line is my favorite, so I had to incorporate that hello sticker!

Supplies:
Color Chaos: Orange Strandz, Trinkets; Campout: Go Camping; Simply Spring: Eggstravaganza; Enamel Dot: Cotton Candy

“Celebrate Today” card, by Danielle Flanders.

This card pretty much built itself. I love the Color Chaos line, and this card was just trimmed out of one of the papers. The font and colors are so trendy! I added some vellum hearts trimmed out with a heart die, folded them in half and just adhered half of the hearts for dimension. Tip: Use Glossy Accents and attach the hearts to the white portions of the card to hide the adhesive better. Seam binding wrapped around the card adds softness and dimension also.

Supplies:
Color Chaos: Words of Wisdom, Orange Strandz; Ciao Chipboard: WhatNots

“Heart” card, by Danielle Flanders.

This is one of my favorites, as I love the colorful splashes on the background paper! I cut out a heart die to place over the top. This allows little bursts of color to show through, but still keeping some white space to let your eye rest! A few stickers and chipboard pieces finish it off and add a little focal point in the front.

Supplies:
Color Chaos: Orange Strandz, Treasures & Text, Trinkets; Ciao Chipboard: Hearts & Stars, WhatNots

“Hugs” card, by Danielle Flanders.

Here I used several of the Ciao Chipboard Whatnots sayings on my card and placed them at different angles for a whimsical feel. A die cut word added over the top creates more dimension and a large focal point.

Supplies:
Color Chaos: Words of Wisdom; Ciao Chipboard: WhatNots

“You Will Forever Be” card, by Danielle Flanders.

Last, I wanted to use all of the cute border stickers and chipboard borders together to add lots of color and create a pretty background. I trimmed a saying from one of the Color Chaos papers and die cut it out with a frame shape to add over the top.

Supplies:
Campout: Daily Details; Color Chaos: Words Of Wisdom, Treasures & Text; Simply Spring: Treasures & Text; Ciao Chipboard; Borders, Hearts & Stars; Enamel Dots: Cotton Candy