Bella Blvd Studio Blog: Starting the New Year Off Right

Hi friends! Happy, happy New Year! Normally I am sad to see another end, wanting time to slow down a little so that I can savor everything a bit more. While I am still wanting to savor the blessings in my life, I am actually excited for a brand new year. A fresh story just waiting to be written.

This year I am setting small, achievable goals. One of those goals is to send more cards out. Like, actually write in them, address them, and send them off in the mail! My goal is to send a handmade card to the friends and family members that are my heart and mind. Sometimes life is tough and a little bit of sunshine in the mailbox just might make the difference for those around us. :-)

When the design team was challenged with the theme "Out with the old and in with the new" with a focus on some older Bella collections, I knew immediately that this was the little push that I needed to start the new year off right. I dug through my older Bella stash and pulled together some bright, happy papers and embellishments to create this card. I used some paper strips from the Color Chaos and Just Add Color! collections along with the clear stamps from the newer Bright & Brave collection.

When I know that I will be mailing the cards I make, I keep the layers to a minimum and try to select embellishments that are not too bulky. I achieved the look of a multi layered card by adding stickers.

Supplies
Color Chaos: Oreo Black Strandz, Treasures & Text; Just Add Color!: Speak Freely; IF Bright & Brave: Clear Stamps: Family Forever: Paper Pieces; Enamel Hearts: She Blooms Mix

While I was creating my first card, I realized that almost all of my cards in my stash are very feminine looking! :-) Because most of my family members are male, I thought that I had better create some masculine cards as well. I loved the Max collection but I haven't used it in a while as I've been distracted by all of the newer collections. As I was digging through some of the Max scraps and embellishments, it didn't take long for me to remember why I loved this collection so much! While there are certainly elements that are meant for younger boys, many of the papers and embellishments are perfect for older guys as well making it a very useful collection!

To create my card, I combined a couple of scraps from the Borders sheet along with a couple of Paper Pieces. Before adding them to my card, I stamped a simple background using one of the images from the IF Elements Clear Stamps set. I reigned in my desire to add all the embellishments (ha!) and kept the design clean and simple. I created the sentiment by spelling out the "hi there" using some Pretty Boy Tiny Text alphabet stickers.