Bella Blvd Studio Blog

2018 Resolutions in my Planner

Good morning everyone!!

Sarah here this morning to share with you how I added my 2018 New Years resolutions in my planner.

I have never been huge on making resolutions, because I never kept them and I knew I wouldn't. But this year has been a long rough one and I have given up some of the things I truly loved doing and I miss them. So I decided to make those things that I had given up, put to the side, but really missed. I decided to make those my resolutions for this year. They are something I can hold myself to!

I used the notes section for my place to write my resolutions and then moved on to adding the rest of my normal monthly things. What I'm watching, wearing, reading and such. But I loved this collection, not only for all the cute little birds in the collection,but oh man they are so cute!! But also for the sayings, acrylic stamps, ephemera pieces, stickers, there everywhere!!

 

Illustrated Faith / Seeds of Faith: 3x4's, Paper Pieces, Cardstock Stickers, Clear Cuts Pad, Fundamentals, Boarders. Illustrated Faith Basic washi Highlight it, Clear acrylic block, Black eyed Pea Ink

2018 Resolutions a digital scrapbooking page by Marla Thrall

I can't believe Christmas is over and 2017 is right around the corner! Like many people, I find myself drawn to the idea of making a list of Resolutions for the New Year. Today, I decided to make a little scrapbook page to document my plans. 

First, I opened the Basics alphas by Bella Blvd and Illustrated Faith. One of the really great things about digital scrapbooking is the ability to resize and reuse supplies over an over. I decided to enlarge the number stickers. 

Next, I clipped some fun papers from the Basics collection to the alphas- giving them  totally new look! I added a simple background paper behind the year where I would be able to journal. 

Next, I opened up my clear cuts folder and started adding them to my page along with a few resolutions. 

I kept going as I journaled- letting the bits and pieces of the kit speak to me and provide inspiration for goals. 

At this point, I'd filled most the page and came up with some solid, hopefully obtainable Resolutions for 2018! Plus, it was a fun little creative exercise that let me play around in Photoshop. 

Here's my finished page: 

Basics Bundle by Illustrated Faith & Bella Blvd 

Digital Christmas Tags- Tips and Tricks

Hi its Sabrina for the Bella Blvd Digital Creative Team and can you believe we are only 6 days from Christmas? Hard to believe! I wanted to share some tips and tricks on how to make digital Christmas tags. You can then print these out if you like and add them right to your gift. Let's get started! 

The best part of digital is that the pieces, stickers and chipboard don't have to be the size they come. So, when you are working with a smaller scale, like a tag, you can make the element smaller. My canvas is 3x4 and the reindeer in the car was way too big so I shrunk it down to not overtake the card. I then added a red border to be a road. My next step was to add in some alphabet and little fundamental stickers that I also shrunk down. Then I made sure to add a punch hole at the top in case I decide to print the tag out. 

Here it is:

 This next card I used a journaling card and covered over the sentiment with a tabbed fundamental sticker. I also covered the little elf in the bottom left with a large elf from the ephemera set. I then layered a few other pieces and a To/From and done! So easy and fun to make with this versatile collection.

For this next card I went with a horizontal 3x4 card and decided to create a Christmas scene. I used a chipboard tree, several ephemera trees and a house to put together the scene. I added in several borders to coordinate with the trees which create some awesome depth and dimension. My last step was to use a free Christmas font to type in the To and From. The whole thing together makes an wonderful, festive Christmas scene tag. 

This quick 3x4 card features Santa with some presents and a fundamental sticker at the top left corner to emphasize the Santa theme. I also used the free Christmas font again here to type in the To and From. 

My last card is a larger tag that is a 4x6 canvas. I also added in a 3 x 5 inch white mat so there would be a place to write the To and From. I added a border at the bottom (red tis the season to be jolly) and framed in the white mat with a pink Santa border. A few flairs, holly branches and red alphas finish off the card. 

I hope these cards inspire you to create a few fun digital tags that you can give to loved ones. Using this Santa Stops Here collection bundle makes it so easy to make festive tags. Thank you for stopping by and reading! 

Supplies: Santa Stops Here Collection Bundle 

 

December Documenting with Sarah

Good morning everyone!! Sarah here this morning with my first post for the Bella team and I am so excited!! I pulled out my Santa Stops here free standing album kit and decided to turn it into my December Documented album for this year. Every year when I make one of these, I go through and do my prep work and add more in as I go. I always like to keep it simple at first and add more embellishments on top of my pictures. Be warned, there will be a major picture over load in this post! lol

I go through and add my photos along with embellishments and I have to say for me, I love doing the whole album but the embellishing is my all time favorite. I add layers behind some of my photos before putting them down, then add my stickers and other pretties.I think my main problem is I always want to add to much and my album is heavier on one side. 

As Im going through and making my album I include all of our yearly traditions and then our day to day as well. Like on this page, I had my first Peppermint mocha from Starbucks, my mom and we went for one while we were out doing a little shopping, she is also the one who caught the picture of me, so I got it from here and added it in and kept the little cozy from around my cup, punched a few holes and added it in to the album.

And when I get to pages where I can add some more journaling in where I already know we have things planned I get a little of that done and in my album until I can print my pictures.

Going through my prep pages you'll see where I dont have some of my daily numbers stuck down. I do this so that If I need to move it because I have more that I want to add to a day then I can do that and not worry about having to pull anything up and mess something up, even though I always know theres cute thins I can cover a boo boo with.

I do plan on sharing my finished album during the first week of January on my Instagram with all the beautiful Bella Blvd products!!

 

Bella Blvd/Santa Stops here: Santa Stops here free standing album kit, Ciao Chips, Fundamentals, Ephemera, Pennants, Acrylic word, Illustrated Faith: Homespun Apple of my eye, Hey Sugar Sugar, Holly Jolly Christmas: Gift Tags, Festive Mini bows, Make your mark 6x8 clear cuts pad

Story of our Elf with Leanne Allinson

Hello Bella Friends! It’s Leanne here today sharing with you a layout featuring the gorgeous new Santa Stops Here collection. This bright and beautiful paper collection caught my eye immediately! Especially the Waiting For Santa patterned paper with all the glorious little houses.  It was this patterned paper that inspired me to share this year’s story of our elf.

 

 In the past I have documented how our elf was named and where he likes to “visit” in our house. But this year I wanted to document the struggle I have with remembering to move our little friend from home to home each night. I have nothing but praise for the parents and caregivers who manage to do this with very few issues.

 I confess to have woken suddenly during the night only to remember to quickly move our elf before the boys wake!! It was this horrible feeling of failing a simple task that made me question as to whether or not I should let Elfvis Presently revisit our home this year. Ultimately it came down to acknowledging that my youngest is only eight, and he deserves to enjoy the magic of Christmas.

 

step 1: To create this layout I knew I needed to leave enough space for journaling.  My first step was to allow my page design to have it as a feature. The bold red and white candy stripe border helped me establish where the rest of my chosen elements needed to go.

 

step 2: Add a little dimension to the white cardstock with splashes of black paint. It is best to add the paint before adhering the photo/s to the layout.

step 3: Run your layout through your printer, typewriter or simply hand write the story you want to share.

step 4: To recreate to township of house at the bottom of the layout, be prepared to fussy cut and then fussy cut some more! Rule a line in pencil to help guide the placement of your fussy cut houses.

 

step 5: Keep building the township with layers of houses, adding pop dots to some for extra dimension.

step 6: Complete your layout with a title using the Bella Blvd Wonky Alpha Stickers and add a few Puffy Star Stickers to draw the eye across your page.

Having documented my feelings on the subject of an elf on a shelf, I feel more prepared to tackle the assignment ahead of me. However, if you have any amazing but simple ideas that could help a girl out, I’d appreciate reading about them in the comments! Happy Holidays.. oh! And Happy Elf placement hunting!

Bella BLVD; Santa Stops Here: Borders, Waiting on Santa; Puffy Stars Stickers: McIntosh; Wonky Alpha Puffy Stickers: McIntosh; Illustrated Faith: Watercolor.

 

 

 

Shanna Stops In!

Hello sweet friends! So lovely to be back here again with you for the Christmas season! What is important to you as we enter into this Christmas? For me, it is to keep my heart on Jesus and everything we are given because of Him. That was the heart behind designing this line for Advent, that promise, that hope, that true love!

I was excited that our monthly kit with DaySpring matches the beautiful line we created with Bella, it just means everything gets to play TOGETHER! My friend Ali wrote the devotional content this month, and I love what she has to share about promises! For this post I am working on the 2nd devotional card in 2 Samuel 7. Ali asks us to ponder the promises David was given through his dynasty. I love taking time to dig into these verses and focus on the truth of the promise of Jesus, What a wonderful way to spend time in the word!

I started in 2nd Samuel as Ali suggested and wanted to start out with just a simple tone on tone look with the advent stamps. From there I focused on the title and kind of the larger element I wanted to incorporate into this page, I pulled the chipboard tree (I love the sentiment here) and the truth from the paper pieces. Of course I had to pull out the wordfetti ( I can't see to do a page without it) to pull my title together. YOUR truth, that is one of the things I want my heart to settle on this Christmas season. I love that visual reminder this gives me. Once I am done with the title I do my journaling to make sure I leave plenty of space for that ( with such little space to work with it is easy to go crazy with the visual elements). Once I am done journaling it is time to bring in the finishing touches, for me on this page that meant so paint (YES!!!! ) I love that we included white in our paint set so you can really create a custom color with a little color mixing. Using the new journaling pen pack I added some art marks on top of my paint. For this once again, I love creating a tone on tone look using the dark pink on the light pink paint and the aqua on the green paint. Those little details are so fun!! Finishing it up with a date stamp and of course... a tab this page comes together rather quickly and is a wonderful reminder of what Jesus is doing in my heart this season. 

I hope you have the MOST amazing Christmas season and I pray each one of you makes a little time to spend with Jesus. <3 

xoxo

Advent Bible Journaling Kit, Advent Stamps, Journaling Pens, Advent Monthly Bible Journaling Kit from DaySpring, Date it Date stamp, Shanna's favorite colors acrylics, Bible mat, tape runner 

GUEST DESIGNER ANNA UHRAS

 

 

Hi, I'm Anna  and  I'm so happy and honored to have the privilege to be this months guest designer for Bella Blvd.I live in a small village in the middle of Sweden. I'm a mum of five awesome kids ( age 22,20,18,6 and 4) happily married since 23 years with my dh Henrik who is a farmer. As for profession I'm a hairdresser, work halftime and halftime stay at home mum (which is a full-time work.. lol!) I love spending time with my family, scrapbooking (addicted for sure) and coffee. I have had a blast playing with the lovely Illustrated Faith Advent collection and the delightful, Santa Stops Here.  My scrappy style is often very colorful but yet pretty clean and distinct so these collections really are my cup of tea. 

I went for both some pages for the Santa Stops Here Album and some ordinary layouts in two different sizes.

 

Love the gorgeous die cuts. This is from last year when we got our Christmas tree - The perfect tree !

Also you can spy some of the lovely Puffy Star stickers. They are awesome!

I was so happy to find some skate themed PL-card and die cuts for my skating pics.

Aren't those white heart puffy stickers wonderful?! I'm in love, seriously.

And here's my layouts, the first one in 8.5x11 size, made with Santa Stops Here. 

The other two are made in ordinary 12x12 created with Illustrated Faith Advent collection.

Speaking about perfect, of course there was some delicious die cuts for my lovely cookies pics. Love the pinks found in the Santa Stops Here collection.

Here we go with a happy colorful Christmas Tree page made with the Advent collection. Those ornament die cuts are just amazing. I've cut out the "The" word in my title from one of the patterned  papers.

And last but definitely not least, a more soft page made with the more neutral colors in the Advent collection.  Love the delicate and serene feeling in this page.

Well, that's all for now! Thank you so much for looking and thank you so much Bella Blvd, for inviting me as a guest designer.

I want to wish you all a blessed and Merry Christmas. Eat lots of candy and yummy food, enjoy being with friends and family but most

of all, remember the message of Christmas. 

If you'd like to keep up with me futher on you can find me here:

BLOG | INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK

 

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Bella Blvd;Santa Stops Here Collection, Santa Stops Here Album and Acrylic words, Puffy Hearts;White, Illustrated Faith;Advent Collection

 

 

 

Advent Journaling with Lydia

Hello there, friends!  I hope you had a restful and blessed Thanksgiving season with family.  We are officially in Advent season, and I wanted to share a page using my favorite Bella Blvd/Illustrated Faith collection EVER; That is not an exaggeration either!  All the gold foil, brilliant colors, and ease of use make me swoon!  As soon as I received this in my product deck, I knew it would all have to be stuffed in my Bible!

I wanted to capture the true meaning of the Advent season with my page.  The verse I chose was:

Jeremiah 33:14-16 (ESV)

The Lord's Eternal Covenant with David

¹⁴ “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah.¹⁵ In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.¹⁶ In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness."

I wanted my verse to represent the coming of our Savior and also the gifts of hope, peace, joy, and love that He brings; Each Sunday of Advent we celebrate these gifts.

I thought I would share a couple verses that you and your family could read in celebration of each blessing during that Advent Sunday.

Dec. 3rd: Hope	Read Lamentations 3:21-24
Dec. 10th: Peace	Read John 14:27
Dec. 17th: Joy	Read Psalm 5:11
Dec 24th: Love	Read Matthew 22:36-40

 

 

 

I truly hope you found some inspiration from my Bible page, and I hope you will use it to bring the spirit of the Advent season to your own bibles or papercraft projects.  I wish you and your family a blessed holiday season! With all Christ's love, Lydia

 

 

IF Advent Collection Bible Journaling Kit;12x12 Advent Collection Paper: Adorned; Advent Collection Clear Acrylic Stamps; Advent Collection Washi Tape; Shanna's Favorites - Watercolor Set; IF Homespun Number Stickers - Oh My Heavens, Apply of My Eye, One in a Melon, Olive You; IF Advent Collection 12x12 Sticker Sheet; IF Pom Pom Clip - Apple of My Eye;  IF Basics Collection Stamps -  Elements

Fun with Leanne Allinson

Hey Bella BLVD friends! It's Leanne here and I am beyond thrilled to be welcomed back to the team for another term. My design team involvement with Bella stretches back as far as 2012, when I first applied to join and I've been here, full of excitement, ever since! I live in Australia with my husband of 18 years and my four children. You've probably witnessed my guys growing up before your own eyes in the pages and projects I've created. I still have a passion for this creative industry and I still love to document my family's growth.  I would like to share with you one of my favorite Bella Blvd layouts and then a new project that using the new Santa Stops Here Collection!

 

And now I want to share step by step guide on creating mini gift tags using the delightful Santa Stop Here collection. These gift tags are the perfect Holiday greeting for children to share with their friends in class or around the neighborhood. All you need are a few sheets of patterned paper, puffy stickers, enamel hearts and a Color Chaos White Confetti clear cut transparency!

 

step 1 | gather your supplies:

Bella Blvd Santa Stop Here patterned paper, Clear Cuts White Confetti transparency, puffy star and enamel heart stickers for embellishment, metal die circles, black pen, hole punch, twine.

 

 

step 2 | Trim your patterned paper tags to 1.5” x 6” in size and score a fold line at 3”. Determine which side of the patterned paper will be the inside of the tag.

step 3 | The next step is to create a window in the front of the tag. Unfold the patterned paper strip and secure a 0.75” metal circle die into position. For multiple tags, I have used washi tape to form guidelines for my tags to placed against.

The metal circle die has also been positioned with washi tape to form a cohesive look with multiple tags. This simple tip restricts the need for constant measuring on all the tags.

step 4 | Trim the transparency to 1.5” x 3” and add to the inside of the mini tag. The clear cut becomes the front of the window and adds interest without the extra bulk.

step 5 | With the transparency inside the folded tag, punch a small hole at the top of each layer and secure together using twine. To create the look of a mini tag, simply trim the top corners off near the fold line.

 

step 6 | Embellish the tag using strips of patterned paper. I wanted the windows to look like Christmas ornaments or baubles and added a small rectangle of patterned paper to the top of the circle cut out.

step 7 | Complete the mini tags by adding enamel hearts or puffy star stickers in coordinating colors.

 

These mini greeting cards or gift tags can be created in multiple batches and it takes next to no time for them to be put together.  Hopefully this blog post has now inspired you to create more with this cute Holiday collection. Thanks for visiting today.

Bella Blvd;Santa Stop Here: Daily Details, Santa's On The Move, Borders; Color Chaos: White Confetti Clear Cut; Puffy Star Stickers: Punch Mix; Illustrated Faith: Enamel Hearts Oh My Heavens Mix

 

 You can see more of Leanne's creativity here: 

FACEBOOK | BLOG | PINTEREST | INSTAGRAM