Bella Blvd Studio Blog

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Focus On: Color Chaos Collection + Clear Cuts + Invisibles

This week, we thought we would spend a few days focusing on the Color Chaos collection, along with our Clear Cuts and Invisibles specialty papers. I love the projects our Creative Team members came up with, and I hope you do too!

"Watermelon", by Leanne Allinson.

A fun photo really needs to be teamed up with a fun collection and Color Chaos is the perfect choice! I've layered different sized squares of patterned paper in three sections and of the colors that represent watermelon - green on the top for the skin and black (the seeds) and red for the flesh at the bottom. The middle square was hand cut from the Invisibles Campout collection and a chipboard watermelon from the All American collection was added on top. Each of these sections has been machine stitched to the back ground cardstock before layered with the stickers from the Color Chaos Treasures & Text sheet.

Supplies:
Color Chaos: Guacamole Strandz, Ice Strandz, Pickle Juice Strandz, McIntosh Strandz, Exclusive Collection Bonus Kit Paper, Treasures & Text, Trinkets; Invisibles: Campout; Lucky Starz: Scallop Starz; Ciao Chip Elements: Hearts & Stars, Symbols; All American: Alpha+Bits, Chipboard Icons; Enamel Dots: Blueberry, Milk White

“Cute”, by Christin Grønnslett.

I am no typical scrapper that documents the daily events, I am more a collector of faces and expressions as my kids grow older as with this layout. The kids might prefer it if I did Project Life (as the ask me to photograph small things all the time - like things they build from Legos, etc), but for me as a scrapper I scrap for me and I get inspired by mixing color products with papers. To create this page I first used a spatula to spread clear gesso on white cardstock. (Note, clear gesso is clear and will not give your cardstock a yellow tint like the white gesso does, and mixes with the mist better). I usually work with multiple backgrounds at the same time so I let the gesso air dry. Then I start dropping mist on the page. Some drops I use a waterbrush on, the rest I just drop. For multiple layers of drops I let the drops dry before adding more layers. For the drops I mostly use shades or similar colors to the papers I intend to use, like you see here. I make these backgrounds to ease the contrast between the bold colors and the white cardstock and the fact that I can’t handle straight lines very well. I hope I have inspired you to mix some colors with the papers.  

Supplies:
Color Chaos: Punch Strandz, Orange Strandz, Oreo Black Strandz, Peep Strandz, Daily Details, Just Write Journaling, Trinkets; Simply Spring: Treasure & Text; Clear Cuts: Punch Confetti; Invisibles: Click Click; Amorie Chipboard Alphas: Peep; Ciao Chip Elements: WhatNots, Symbols, Hearts & Stars; Crochet Hearts: Punch; Feathers: Frosting; Enamel Dots: Guacamole

“Smile” photo keepsake box, by Corri Garza.

One of my goals for 2015 is to get more family photos into our albums. I always keep a stack of photos that I want to scrap on my desk. I was inspired by the Click Click invisibles sheet to create this cute box to store them in. This plain kraft box has been in my stash for ages. I embellished it with a some of the Punch Strandz paper with an overlay of Oreo Clear Cuts and cut a piece of the Click Click Invisible to cover the window in the box. I love the way it turned out. 

Supplies:
Color Chaos: Punch Strandz, Pepper Standz, Treasures & Text, Words of Wisdom; Clear Cuts: Oreo Black Confetti; Invisibles: Click Click; Amorie Chipboard Alphas: White; Ciao Chip Elements: Symbols, Hearts & Stars; Bella Bows: Oreo Black 

National Scrapbook Day: Giveaway Winners

Thanks again to everyone that joined us for our National Scrapbook Day festivities! We loved reading all of your comments, and knowing that you enjoyed getting to know our designers a little better and maybe even got a few ideas for doing your own "all about me" layouts. And now, it's time to announce our randomly chosen giveaway winners!

Congrats Brianna! Email me at [email protected], with "NSD BELLA BOWS GIVEAWAY WINNER" in the subject line and we will get your goodies on their way to you soon!

Congrats Lisa! Email me at [email protected], with "NSD JUST ADD COLOR GIVEAWAY WINNER" in the subject line and we will get your goodies on their way to you soon!

Congrats Sue! Email me at [email protected], with "NSD INVISIBLES GIVEAWAY WINNER" in the subject line and we will get your goodies on their way to you soon!

Congrats Liza! Email me at [email protected], with "NSD WAREHOUSE BOX GIVEAWAY WINNER" in the subject line and we will get your goodies on their way to you soon!

Step-By-Step Monthly Project Sheet: Star Student Collection

As the school year comes to an end, why not play with all this year’s images? Get them printed today and create this awesome school year layout. Our Star Student collection™ is great for scrapbook pages, end of the year cards and gifts for teachers. Add some texture to your pages by layering Amorie™ Chipboard and Clear Cuts™. This month’s layout features Star Student™.

CLICK HERE TO BEGIN DOWNLOADING APRIL’S FREE 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" "Four Years Of Awesome" layout, featuring our new Star Student collection. 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.

And to see more project ideas featuring our new Star Student collection, check out our Star Student Idea Gallery.

National Scrapbook Day: All About Laura & A Giveaway

Happy National Scrapbook Day everyone! We have so much to share with you today, so we hope you'll keep popping in throughout your day. I challenged all of our designers to create an "All About Me" layout, giving us a peek into a little part of their lives. Each of them also answered five quick scrapbooking related questions. We've been sharing these layouts over the last 10 hours, and have one left to share this hour. So sit back, grab a snack, and get to know our designers just a little bit more, and hopefully their projects will inspire you the next time you go to create!

"Oh Snap, The Struggle Is Real", by Laura Vegas.

This ended up being the perfect opportunity for me to finally finish this "all about me" layout I started years and years ago. I had printed out these photos with the intention of doing a layout about my sudden struggle with photography, after years of taking great photos without even thinking about it. And even though many years have passed since this, I still have the same struggles, mostly because I've never taken the time to figure out what I'm doing wrong. I came across the "oh snap" title in my Silhouette library, and knew it would be perfect for my title, which I completed with the Sienna chipboard alphas.

Supplies:
Color Chaos: Blueberry Strandz; Snapshots: Borders; Daily Chevies: Chevy Pickle Juice; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Blueberry; Ciao Chip Elements: Symbols; Enamel DooDads: Oreo Black

And now for some scrapping Q&A's:

1. What are your top 5 supplies/products that you cannot scrap without? 
White cardstock, Silhouette Cameo, patterned paper, mists, sewing machine.

2. What do you listen to while you scrap? TV, music, or do you do your best working in silence?
I usually scrap in silence, since my days are very noisy surrounded by daycare kids. If I have some really serious scrapping to get done, I might watch some shows on my laptop in my scraproom. And if I am home alone, and scrapping, I will listen to music on iTunes.

3. What snacks and/or drinks are beside you when you're scrapping?
I never eat while scrapping, but you'll find me drinking either a Starbucks Frappacino or ice water.

4. When do your do your best scrapping? Are you a morning scrapper, a late night scrapper, or do you find time during the day?
I used to be a late night scrapper. But even though I'm a total night owl, I just can't be that creative at night anymore. I scrap here and there during the day, and take full advantage of naptimes with the daycare kids. I also get a lot done on the weekends.

5. When the creativity isn't flowing, what do you do to get back into your creative zone?
When I've lost my creative mojo, it can be really hard for me to get back into that zone. I usually just ignore everything, until the time comes that I have no choice and I literally force myself to be creative. I do find that looking thru my own layouts, and picking out a favorite layout to "lift", whether lifting the entire design or a portion of the page, often helps me too.

And now, it's time for the last of four giveaways we have going on today. One lucky winner will be randomly chosen from the comments on this post to receive one of our Warehouse Box sale boxes, with a retail value of $180. Leave us a comment here (one comment per person please) for a chance to win. We will announce all of our winners Monday afternoon. 

National Scrapbook Day: All About Jennie - Our New Creative Team Member

Happy National Scrapbook Day everyone! We have so much to share with you today, so we hope you'll keep popping in throughout your day. I challenged all of our designers to create an "All About Me" layout, giving us a peek into a little part of their lives. Each of them also answered five quick scrapbooking related questions. We will be sharing these layouts, hour by hour, for 11 hours today. So sit back, grab a snack, and get to know our designers just a little bit more, and hopefully their projects will inspire you the next time you go to create!

We had a designer that had to unexpectedly step down from our Creative Team shortly after her introduction. We got right to work filling that spot, and are excited to introduce Jennie McGarvey as a new layout designer joining our 2015 Creative Team!

Hi, I'm Jennie McGarvey! I'm the mom of 3 school aged boys (Campbell, Sawyer and Harrison) and wife to Andy. We currently live in Southern California and enjoy the sunshine and warm temperatures year round. I started scrapbooking when I was 12 and in the current style in 2001 when I was pregnant with my oldest son. I scrapped off and on until 2011, when I decided to get online and share my projects. I have a bright, linear and colorful style that I use on my pages about my kids, pocket pages and cards. I have been published in various publications and currently also design for Scraptastic Kit Club and We R Memory Keepers. I am incredibly excited to be a part of the fun and colorful Bella Blvd team.

“Words”, by Jennie McGarvey.

I was excited to create a layout all about me! I sat down and thought about who I am and what I wanted to share about myself on a page. Then, I got to thinking. What if I shared a few inspirational quotes? That's where I settled, on quotes that were really meaningful to me. Then, when putting the page together I knew I was excited to use a Clear Cut Transparency as part of the design. A pie-chart seemed like a perfect way to divide me (or the quotes!) up and add a few different papers, too!  

Supplies:
Color Chaos: Punch Strandz, Bell Pepper Strandz, Treasures & Text; Campout: Gone Fishing; Clear Cuts: Arrows; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Pony; Crochet Hearts: Pickle Juice; Enamel Dots: Bell Pepper; Enamel DooDads: Ice; Bella Bows: Cotton Candy

And now for some scrapping Q&A's:

1. What are your top 5 supplies/products that you cannot scrap without?
ThermoWeb foam squares, sewing machine, enamel dots, journaling pen and ruler.

2. What do you listen to while you scrap? TV, music, or do you do your best working in silence?
I typically really like the silence, since most of the time there is a lot of noise in my home! However, I've started watching Netflix while scrapping and I find I do like that, too!

3. What snacks and/or drinks are beside you when you're scrapping?
Usually just water. I'm not very exciting like that!

4. When do your do your best scrapping? Are you a morning scrapper, a late night scrapper, or do you find time during the day?
I am best during the day, usually late morning during the week, when the kids are in school! Otherwise, I'm way too tired at night and the afternoons & weekends are way too busy.

5. When the creativity isn't flowing, what do you do to get back into your creative zone?
I usually try to leave it alone a little while. Usually if I take a short break I'm itching to get back into creating.

National Scrapbook Day: All About Jennifer & Julia

 

Happy National Scrapbook Day everyone! We have so much to share with you today, so we hope you'll keep popping in throughout your day. I challenged all of our designers to create an "All About Me" layout, giving us a peek into a little part of their lives. Each of them also answered five quick scrapbooking related questions. We will be sharing these layouts, hour by hour, for 11 hours today. So sit back, grab a snack, and get to know our designers just a little bit more, and hopefully their projects will inspire you the next time you go to create!

“Currently”, by Jennifer Chapin.

This was such a fun layout to make! I decided to do a "currents" page today for National Scrapbooking Day. I used some of the new Just Add Color collection for the background, then mixed and matched paper and embellishments from other collections for the rest. I printed my photos small and added titles for each one. I wanted to make this layout bright and colorful with lots of layers and I think it worked!

Supplies:
Just Add Color: Dotty, Daily Details, Treasures & Text, Trinkets; Rover: Treasures & Text, Trinkets; Star Student: Chipboard Icons, Trinkets; Color Chaos: Daily Details, Oreo Black Strandz, Gulf Strandz; Amorie Chipboard Alphas: White; Ciao Chip Elements: Hearts & Stars; High Five Alpha Stickers: Color Wheel

And now for some scrapping Q&A's:

1. What are your top 5 supplies/products that you cannot scrap without? 
Chipboard, enamel dots, my sewing machine, white cardstock and my Silhouette Cameo.

2. What do you listen to while you scrap? TV, music, or do you do your best working in silence?
I like to listen to Podcasts or audiobooks. Or silence. With two small kids silence is rare!

3. What snacks and/or drinks are beside you when you're scrapping?
Sparkling water or a Diet Pepsi. Popcorn in the evenings!

4. When do your do your best scrapping? Are you a morning scrapper, a late night scrapper, or do you find time during the day?
I would love to be a morning scrapper but I have to be at work at 6:30am. So nights it is after the kids are in bed. Sometimes on the weekends I wake up early to scrap in the peace and quiet :)

5. When the creativity isn't flowing, what do you do to get back into your creative zone?
Usually I will surf Pinterest or look through online scrapbooking galleries.

“Hello, Life is Wonderful”, by Julia Akinina.

For this layout I took my travel-style photo with an old train behind me because I love this photo and I love how these colors match up with the paper! I used sheet of paper with black and white pattern for my background and added a little bit of color with transparency overlay. My layout is about me, that's why it is so bright and positive (like me!). I used the machine stitching to fix all the layers and added a little accents using my cut machine and golden foil paper (you can see little golden stars in the close-ups).

Supplies:
Color Chaos: McIntosh Strandz, Scallop Strandz, Treasures & Text, Just Write Journaling, Trinkets;Clear Cuts: McIntosh Confetti;Star Student: Brainiac; Ciao Chip Elements: Hearts & Stars; Enamel Dots: McIntosh, Milk White

And now for some scrapping Q&A's:

1. What are your top 5 supplies/products that you cannot scrap without? 
Trimmer, Big Shot machine, white flat flowers, enamel dots, wooden embellishments

2. What do you listen to while you scrap? TV, music, or do you do your best working in silence?
When I am crafting I usually listen to the radio (house or jazz funk to work efficiently, or chill-out if I want to relax). I cannot watch TV while I'm scrapping because I think can easily stop my crafting and start watching TV more attentively.

3. What snacks and/or drinks are beside you when you're scrapping?
Chocolate! Exactly!

4. When do your do your best scrapping? Are you a morning scrapper, a late night scrapper, or do you find time during the day?
Despite the fact that I am not the early bird and I looove to sleep - I am the morning scrapper! My brain works efficiently only until 5 p.m. After this time I begin to look aside and think out the reasons not to scrap.

5. When the creativity isn't flowing, what do you do to get back into your creative zone?
I usually do things that inspired me, search interesting projects from the same collection in the Internet, drink coffee and have a break. If I create the Layout I can leave it on my desk for one night and the next morning all my doubts usually disappear. If I fell that I am Crafting too much and having overdose - I allow myself to have a rest for 2-3 days and after the short break ideas usually begin to attack my head!

National Scrapbook Day: All About Jen + A Giveaway

Happy National Scrapbook Day everyone! We have so much to share with you today, so we hope you'll keep popping in throughout your day. I challenged all of our designers to create an "All About Me" layout, giving us a peek into a little part of their lives. Each of them also answered five quick scrapbooking related questions. We will be sharing these layouts, hour by hour, for 11 hours today. So sit back, grab a snack, and get to know our designers just a little bit more, and hopefully their projects will inspire you the next time you go to create!

“Me, Myself & I”, by Jen Chesnick.

A page just about me. Does that seem to be the hardest thing ever for us scrapookers? I have a heck of a time scrapbooking myself. Who am I right now? I am a scrapbooker, a Mom, a Wife and a creative business owner. They seem to take up little chunks of my life.  So I created this page with that in mind. The circles represented my chunks of time and who I am currently. I used the colorful Invisibles from Color Chaos to add the pops of color to my white and black scheme. I kept the photo black and white to keep the focus on the color of the page.

Supplies:
Color Chaos: Ice Strandz, Daily Details, Treasures & Text, Just Write Journaling; Ciao Chip Elements: WhatNots, Symbols; Invisibles: Love, First Love; Bella Bows: Bell Pepper; Enamel Dots: Bell Pepper, Ice, Punch; Enamel DooDads: Guacamole, Blueberry

And now for some scrapping Q&A's:

1. What are your top 5 supplies/products that you cannot scrap without? 
Pattern Paper, Pop Dots, Cameo, Die-Cuts, Scissors  

2. What do you listen to while you scrap? TV, music, or do you do your best working in silence? 
Depends on my mood, but typically a prime music Playlist or a Podcast

3. What snacks and/or drinks are beside you when you're scrapping? 
Typically just water. 

4. When do your do your best scrapping? Are you a morning scrapper, a late night scrapper, or do you find time during the day? 
Anytime I can get to it lately.

5. When the creativity isn't flowing, what do you do to get back into your creative zone? 
Sketches and Pinterest browsing. 

And now, it's time for the third of four giveaways we have going on today. One lucky winner will be randomly chosen from the comments on this post to receive a 12 piece set of our Invisibles specialty papers, with a retail value of $30. Leave us a comment here (one comment per person please) for a chance to win. We will announce all of our winners Monday afternoon. 

National Scrapbook Day: All About Nichol & Leanne

Happy National Scrapbook Day everyone! We have so much to share with you today, so we hope you'll keep popping in throughout your day. I challenged all of our designers to create an "All About Me" layout, giving us a peek into a little part of their lives. Each of them also answered five quick scrapbooking related questions. We will be sharing these layouts, hour by hour, for 11 hours today. So sit back, grab a snack, and get to know our designers just a little bit more, and hopefully their projects will inspire you the next time you go to create!

“Favorite Things”, by Nichol Magouirk.

I don’t do pages about myself all that often (and always end up wishing I did more of them) but I find that these tend to be some of my favorites and tell so much about me at certain times throughout my life. I created a list-style page with a bunch of notes about my favorite things right now and added a die cut title separating the list to break it up a bit. I emphasized the list with a bunch of text stamping in colors to match the die cut patterned paper butterflies. Speaking of those butterflies, I picked a bunch of Bella Blvd patterned papers in blues, greens and yellows, die cut them in a bunch of sizes of butterflies and scattered them throughout the page for a bright punch of color on this mostly white page.

Supplies:
Simply Spring: Sunshine, Daily Details, Gingham, Eggstravaganza, Treasures & Text; Campout: Go Jump In The Lake, Under The Stars, Gone Fishing, Borders, Daily Details, In The Woods, Let’s Go Camping, Treasures & Texts; Enamel Dots: Blueberry

And now for some scrapping Q&A's:

1. What are your top 5 supplies/products that you cannot scrap without? 
Stamps, inks, Silhouette Cameo die cutting machine, paper trimmer, patterned papers

2. What do you listen to while you scrap? TV, music, or do you do your best working in silence?
I binge watch shows on Netflix or listen to books on Audible.

3. What snacks and/or drinks are beside you when you're scrapping?
Coffee and water in the morning, water and a Dr. Pepper in the afternoon.

4. When do your do your best scrapping? Are you a morning scrapper, a late night scrapper, or do you find time during the day?
Now that all 3 of my kids are in school, I do all my crafting during the morning/early afternoon so that I can go to their sports activities after school. 

5. When the creativity isn't flowing, what do you do to get back into your creative zone?
I clean, re-organize and purge!

"Me", by Leanne Allinson.

My challenge this year for National Scrapbook Day was to create a page that is essentially me. This page represents both sides of my creative play with half of the layout layered with Color Chaos patterned paper and the other half with meaningful journaling. It's rare for me to create a page with the focus on me but I have to admit, I enjoyed the process of writing down my current thoughts.

Supplies:
Color Chaos: Oreo Black Strandz, Ice Strandz, Scallop Strandz, Exclusive Collection Kit Bonus Paper; Molly: Selfie, Paper Pieces; Lucky Starz: Color Crazy Starz, Peep Starz, Scallop Starz; Snapshots: Rise & Shine; Enamel Dots: Bell Pepper, Milk White; Ciao Chip Elements: Hearts & Stars; Sienna Chipboards Alphas: Punch

And now for some scrapping Q&A's:

1. What are your top 5 supplies/products that you cannot scrap without? 
White Cardstock, machine stitching, chipboard alphas, enamel dots/shapes & label stickers.

2. What do you listen to while you scrap? TV, music, or do you do your best working in silence?
I enjoy listening to music playing softly in the back ground. Everything else seems to be a distraction, especially the TV!

3. What snacks and/or drinks are beside you when you're scrapping?
No snacks found here! White cardstock and chocolate don't mix!!

4. When do your do your best scrapping? Are you a morning scrapper, a late night scrapper, or do you find time during the day?
This process has never really changed for me. I have always scrapped in the morning. Usually after the kids have gone to school and I find the solitude in the house a comfort to be able to focus and play with pretty papers!

5. When the creativity isn't flowing, what do you do to get back into your creative zone?
I'll generally gravitate toward Pinterest to get my mojo flowing but the biggest motivator for me is to actually create color or pattern palettes. Once I have a collection of patterned papers and the coordinating embellishments in front of me, I usually have an immediate urge to create. 

National Scrapbook Day: All About Heather & A Giveaway

Happy National Scrapbook Day everyone! We have so much to share with you today, so we hope you'll keep popping in throughout your day. I challenged all of our designers to create an "All About Me" layout, giving us a peek into a little part of their lives. Each of them also answered five quick scrapbooking related questions. We will be sharing these layouts, hour by hour, for 11 hours today. So sit back, grab a snack, and get to know our designers just a little bit more, and hopefully their projects will inspire you the next time you go to create!

“Awesome”, by Heather Leopard.

The Just Add Color collection may just be my all-time fave collection from Bella Blvd ... maybe. I love that you can customize it to pretty much any photo or project you are working on. Since this was an "About ME" page, I chose the Dotty paper because I knew I wanted to accentuate a few words that really spoke to me. I pulled out my new Jillibean Soup Happy Hues paints and added some water to make them more watercolor-like and then I painted the words. After adding the color, I still felt the other non-colored words were distracting so I added alternating strips of black and white paper. Now they really popped. I kept the rest of the layout simple, adding my photo in the middle with a few layers and various stars around the page. I did not add a title because the words said it all.

Supplies:
Just Add Color: Dotty, Treasures & Text, Trinkets B&W; Color Chaos: McIntosh Strandz, Words of Wisdom, Guacamole Strandz, Orange Strandz; Ciao Chip Elements: Hearts & Stars; Enamel DooDads: Guacamole

And now for some scrapping Q&A's:

1. What are your top 5 supplies/products that you cannot scrap without? 
Pattern paper, sewing machine, Silhouette CAMEO, scissors and color (mists, paint, watercolors, etc).

2. What do you listen to while you scrap? TV, music, or do you do your best working in silence?
I usually have some sort of reality TV playing as background noise or I'm catching up with some great show on my Tivo. 

3. What snacks and/or drinks are beside you when you're scrapping?
I rarely snack when I'm crafting, unless I'm at a crop with friends and they bring chocolate. I can't resist chocolate and my favorite chocolate snack right now are Butterfinger Reese's PB cups. Drink of choice is Diet Coke or red wine.

4. When do your do your best scrapping? Are you a morning scrapper, a late night scrapper, or do you find time during the day?
I work full-time and I've got little kids so I usually scrap at night when they are all tucked into bed. I also try to get away for a day or two with friends every few months.

5. When the creativity isn't flowing, what do you do to get back into your creative zone?
I like to look at art posters, ads, Zentangle patterns and book covers on Pinterest. And of course, I am always inspired by all the talented scrappers out there!

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And now, it's time for the second of four giveaways we have going on today. One lucky winner will be randomly chosen from the comments on this post to receive a Just Add Color collection kit and a complete 12 piece set of our Little Bits stickers, with a retail value of $38. Leave us a comment here (one comment per person please) for a chance to win. We will announce all of our winners Monday afternoon.