Bella Blvd Studio Blog

Sketch Week Day 5 | Erica Thompson

Hey friends! Welcome back to the Bella Blog and another day of sketch inspiration! Erica here with you and I am excited to share my layout using this months sketch for inspiration. 

This months sketch is lovely and I had so much fun creating with it and my Bella Blvd stash of products.

I have been wanting to use the Zoo Crew cut file that is available in the Silhouette Design Store to document one of our summer zoo trips! I knew it would be the perfect title piece for my layout and I placed it towards the bottom of my page. The sketch does now show a cut file but it does have a large title so this works perfectly! 

I started with the Fairy Garden 12x12 paper from the Let's Go On An Adventure collection as my starting point for what colors I wanted to use. This is my favorite paper from this collection and I love to use it! I fussy cut some of the florals on this page because I knew I wanted to add them around the layout. 

I pulled papers to match the Fairy Garden paper from Squeeze the Day, Bug Explorer and the Chloe collection. I backed the cut file and also die cut some stitched hearts to layer up next to my photo,

I mixed up the sketch a bit but it was great to use as my inspiration piece to get my layout started and I love how it turned out! To finish it off I added my journaling and some matte enamel dots from the Cooper collection. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today and we can't wait to see what you create with this months sketch!

Zoo Crew Cut File | Let's Go On An Adventure collection | Chloe Collection | Dog Mix Enamel Dots | Squeeze the Day Collection

Cut Files Week Day 2 | Erica Thompson

Erica here with day 2 of cut files and Bella Besties! I love working with the Bella Besties and picking fun colors and patterns to create my layout! I found this really cute  All Boy cut file in the Silhouette Design Store!

I picked out some colors from the Bella Besties that I thought would be perfect to create a layout documenting our little Liam. I cut the file out on some textured white cardstock and backed it with the Bella Besties paper. 

I really wanted to do something fun at the top of my layout and I was not exactly sure what and then I found this beautiful layout from Stephanie Buice that was so inspiring! I love all the stacked banners at the top of her layout! 

I cut up some of the Bella Besties pattern paper and cut them into different sized banners! I layered them up adding some foam adhesive behind them to add dimension. I pulled out the Bella Blvd Trinket Stickers in matching colors and scattered them around the banners. I also pulled in some other pattern papers and stickers from my stash of Bella products. 

My photo is documenting Liam and his love for his superhero's. I just love his imagination and his love for his guys started to young! It just makes this mommas heart happy! I love the sounds he makes when he is playing with his toys and the scenes he builds with them! This photo is a little blurry but it is just so precious to me. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Make sure to stop by the Silhouette Design Store and check out all the awesome cut file available from Bella Blvd. Have a great day!

Bella Blvd Products Used

Bella Besties: Hearts and Ombre Patterned Papers 

Bella Besties: Freehand Graph & Dot Patterned Papers

Trinkets Puffy Stickers: Ice & Gulf, Bella Pepper, Blueberry, Mcintosh, Black

All Boy Cut File

Cut File Week | Patricia

What a wonderful week of inspiration using the Bella Blvd Cut files from the team and leading up to National Scrapbooking Day!  I had so much fun looking through the cut files in the Silhouette Design Store for Bella Blvd files!  I LOVE that both cut files as well as print and cut files are available.  For this 6x8 pocket page spread, I used both!

I first used the Sun & Clouds Print & Cut file from the Squeeze the Day collection.  I sized, printed and cut the sun first to fit my 6x8 layout, then I sized the clouds to print and cut those.  Trimming the sun in half, I adhered it at the top of the base of my white background attached to Home Sweet Home Welcome Home pattern paper.  Then tucked one cloud under and adhered the other on top.  Added my title using the Acrylic Word Home and the Florence Stickers.  Before adhering anything or adding the white machine stitching around my layout, I penciled where the sun and photo would go, and sent through my typewriter to add my journaling.

The next Bella Blvd cut file I used is the Christmas Trees from the Santa Stops Here collection.  These trees are perfect for your outdoor memories!  I re-sized them before cutting them out from the 6x6 Bella Besties paper pad, and tucked some of the 'branches' under my photo to frame it.

I used the same cut file to cut out the second tree image from that same file.  (TIP:  to send through the Silhouette one time, I used the 6x6 Bella Besties paper pad across my 12x12 mat, moved the cut files on my screen to cut on the desired pattern paper.  Another way I got creative with the Bella Blvd files, is instead of cutting these clouds out, I duplicated the orange cloud, and lined all three up, then using the Draw Rectangle tool, I made a rectangle to about 3x4 to fit my pocket.  So I printed the clouds, then sent through my Silhouette, to get a perfectly aligned 3x4 card!  Just be sure to remove the clouds before sending through the Silhouette.  I layered the second tree design on top.

For the next 3x4 pocket, I used the Bug Explorer Daily Details to trim out the 4x6 card with the bees, and then trimmed to fit my 3x4 pocket.  I used the same sun as the print & cut but in the Squeeze the Day chipboard to layer on top and added stamping over it.

For the 4x6 pocket on the bottom, I used one of the 4x6 cards from the Squeeze the Day Daily Details pattern paper.  I used a smaller photo, added a machine stitched border around it, then placed the Squeeze the Day chipboard cloud that matches the Print & Cut file I used, the Squeeze the Day chipboard leaves and die cut, a Bug Explorer sticker, and a Heart Hugs sticker and dots to finish it.

If you have not tried the print & cut feature, it really is a cool tool and way to add to your pages.  I was able to create a lot of repetition within my design using the Squeeze the Day chipboard and Print & Cut file, as well as just using the print feature for the clouds for my 3x4 card!  Then using the trees to add to my filler 3x4 card and frame my photo. I hope you give these ideas to stretch your physical products with the Bella Blvd Cut Files from the Silhouette Design Store!

Mixing and Matching Collections| Tegan

This week's mission to create a layout with 2 or more Bella Blvd collections was a piece of cake because they all mix and match so easily! I starting by grabbing a large stack of different collections and then sorted through them for winter or non-themed items. It was actually fun...kind of like a treasure hunt! I think I ended up using 6 collections (7 if you count the Acrylic Word from the Bug Explorer collection)! Do you spy a little bit of Santa Squad, Let's Go On An Adventure, Wish Big Girl, Santa Stops Here, Squeeze the Day, or the Merry Christmas collection?! 

I started by using the Bella Blvd Snowflake Cut File and electronic die cut machine to cut five 3" tall snowflakes out of white cardstock. I then backed them with different colors of patterned paper. I had pulled out a combination of Acrylic Words and die cut pieces that could be used to describe winter, so I adhered those to the different snowflakes. Sure, winter can be such a bummer! But it really is a fascinating thing if you stop and think about it! 

I embellished the snowflakes with enamel dots from the Heart Hugs packs and Christmas Mix Enamel Dots from the Santa Squad collection. I really wanted to mix and match the colors to create a colorful layout!

The penguin Santa Squad Epoxy Sticker was perfect for adding a touch of winter. I also added Word Salad stickers on the snowflakes to add color around the page. And of course I used Word Salad stickers that could be used to describe winter!

I had so much fun mixing and matching the collections to create a fun and colorful winter layout! I can't decide which snowflake is my favorite, can you?

Thanks for joining us today! I hope I have inspired you to have fun mixing and matching your Bella Blvd collections! 

Santa Squad Collection: Ho! Ho! Ho! Patterned Paper, Christmas Mix Enamel Stickers, Squad Epoxy Stickers

Squeeze the Day Collection: Bananas For You Patterned Paper, Chipboard Stickers

Let's Go On An Adventure Collection: Mountain Peaks Patterned Paper, Fairy Garden Patterned Paper

Wish Big Girl Collection: Ephemera Words

Santa Stops Here Collection: Chipboard Stickers

Merry Christmas Collection: Daily Details Patterned Paper, Light It Up Patterned Paper, Acrylic Word 'Joy'

Bug Explorer: Acrylic Word 'fascinating' 

Bella Blvd Snowflake Cut File 

Heart Hugs (Enamel Dots): Sunshine, Give Thanks 

Puffy Star Stickers: Guacamole 

 

 

 

Getting Started with Digital Scrapbooking

Hi there Bella Blvd Fans! As you know Bella has some fabulous new Digital Collections available! I was given the opportunity to play with Bug Explorer! I considered doing a hybrid layout and printing some of the products out, but in the end, I really wanted to try my hand at Digital! Christine joining you today to show you my very first digital scrapbook layout! Here are the products I started with:

I went through the options and decided which ones were jumping out at me! I added them all to a blank canvas and just started moving things around.  

Once I added my picture on things really started to flow! I knew I wanted to play off his yellow shirt and the blue sky so that made embellishment choices and placement a little easier. Just like I do in traditional scrapbooking - I built the base of my layout first!

Then came the embellishments! I pulled in pieces from the Sticky Mix and Ephemera to embellish with.  All in all, this was a fun experiment. It was definitely faster than traditional scrapping and it was a good stretch for my creative brain!  

Thanks so much for joining me today!

Bug Explorer Digital Collection

 

 

Happy National Farm Animal Day

Hello there, friends! Today is National Farm Animal day, and I thought I'd give you a little throwback with the amazing Barnyard collection! It has a ton of cute little farm animal illustrations, and they were perfect to go alongside these cute photos of my son at the farm!

For the large portion at the top of my pocket page, I chose to fill it with a fantastic cloud sheet of paper and fill in the rest with another photo and my title.

I layered up some chicks and some paper grass to nestle in that cute little pig for extra dimension.

I chose a pocket page that had room for a full 4x6 photos, because I just loved the whole scene of my little one playing in the water spigot! A normal farm visit would result in actual animal photos, but my little one was far more interested in this pretty red spigot than the animals.

For my last 4x6 pocket, I wanted to tie in some more red, so I backed my journaling card with the amazing red paper from the Plaids & Dotty collection. I then layered on this cute-as-ever tractor and trailer.

I chose to layer my typed journaling over the red plaid; I typed my journaling on wax paper to create a great textured element, that would let the amazing plaid shine through!

Barnyard Collection, Bug Explorer 12x12 Paper, Plaids & Dotty 12x12 Paper, Word Salad Booklet, Puffy Wonky Alphas, Chipboard Alphas

Spring Love | TN Spread

 

Hello there, friends! I couldn't wait to share this happy little traveler's notebook spread with you! I'm not a very happy camper in winter, so when the taste of Spring rolls around, I'm in love!

I was happy to document this little photo of my handsome son and I on a brief stroke of warm weather with the windows open in our house. I can't wait to have many more of these photos to document.

I had a blast working with the Bug Explorer collection, and I wanted to nestle those little critters in some grass on the opposing page. I stitched in 3 strips of green paper from the Plaids & Dotty collection, which I cut strips to emulate grass.

I finished up my spread with some enamel hearts and a couple pieces from the Word Salad booklet.

Bug Explorer Collection, Word Salad Booklet, Enamel Dots & Doodads, Wonky Alphas, Secrets of the Sea Ephemera

Acrylic Words: A Mini Album's Best Friend

  This week on the Bella feed, it's been all about the Acrylic Words! I've been having an absolute blast working through this 4x4 mini album, using my collection of acrylic words.  They of course belong on layouts and on my Bible pages, but I've found a new love of putting them everywhere on my mini album.

I started out my 4x4 album with a little title using the Illustrated Faith Homespun Alphas, and I represented my color palette for my album using some vintage buttons.  I love to start mini albums this way, so that I keep a cohesive color palette for the entire project.

I let this photo from a local wetlands trip be the centerpiece of the beginning of the album, because I loved this summery, yellow flower!

In mini albums I love to include little pockets for journaling.  For this particular page, I sewed the edges of the photo, so that I could slide in a tag.

For this acrylic word, I simply stitched the ends onto my plastic sheet protector.  This way I could still customize the back of the page any way I liked.




I thought I would include a little tutorial for how I created the decorative tabs for non-sheet protected items.  I simply punched my Bella papers as shown below, and then I stitched them directly onto my tags and photos!

For this acrylic word, I simply adhered it to the edge of my photo!  I love the way it makes the photo pop!


This rainbow divider was made out of a trimmed down clear-cuts!  They are amazing for mini albums because the Illustrated Faith clear-cuts are thick and sturdy!


I'm still working in this little mini album, so it's not quite finished, but I wanted to share what an asset your Bella Acrylic Words can be to any mini album.  I finished this section with a selfie, and this perfect "Smile" acrylic!

 

Thank you so much for stopping by to check out my mini album today! I really hope you got some inspiration for your next mini album, and I hope it includes some acrylic words! xo Lydia

 

Acrylic Words, IF Homespun Alphas, IF Clear Cuts, Plaids & Dotty, Bug Explorer, Mom Life, Pop Quiz, & Island Escape Papers, Bug Explorer Sticky Mix, Chipboard & Ephemera,  Cute Clips, IF Mini Hexies, Wish Big Boy Words Ephemera, IF Pen, Puffy Stars

Be Kind, Always

 

Did you guys know that today is National Watermelon Day?!  I just knew I was going to have to do a watermelon themed page in my Bible to honor my favorite summer treat!  I normally have such structured & thought-out pages in my Bible, but I really just wanted to be carefree in worship for this one!

 

Proverbs 16:24(NIV)

²⁴ Gracious words are a honeycomb,
    sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.

 

I began my page by pulling out my Illustrated Faith Watercolors; I then painted my watermelon background - easy peasy!  I had originally thought I wanted to embroider on my seeds, but my Bible pages were a little too delicate for detailing that small; So I thought I would cut the enamel hearts in half for a whimsical look.

I then arranged those cute-as-ever ants from the Bug Explorer collection along the bottom of my page with the chipboard watermelon from the Island Escape collection!  To top of the page, I couldn't forget the tab!  I was most excited to crack into the new Word Salad Booklet!  This was one of my most anticipated items from the new collections!  It really is just a simple page, and you really need one of those from time to time!

 

 

I hope you all have had an amazing summer thus far, and I certainly hope you've been lucky to slice into some sweet watermelon too! Remember be kind, always, especially with your words! xo Lydia

 

IF Watercolors, Enamel Hearts (Black Eyed Pea & Bless Her Heart), Island Escape Chipboard Icons, Bug Explorer Ephemera, IF Homespun Alphas (One in a Melon & Olive You), IF Tiny Alpha Booklet, Tabbies, Word Salad Booklet

Bible Journaling with Bug Explorer

Welcome to a new week, friends!  Is it just me, or as soon as you lie down to sleep, do you have instant crafty inspiration?!  That always seems to be me!  Well this page was no exception, and a lack of sleep followed me into the new week.

 

My son and I do a word a day on the way to daycare every morning, and recently we have been focusing on animals.  We've been through about 10 thus far, and each day I'm so amazed at how enthralled my son is with learning each animal's characteristics.  Isn't God's handiwork amazing?!  So to honor those moments, I wanted to thank God for His beautiful creatures in my Bible.

      Psalm 104:24 (NIV)

²⁴ How many are your works, Lord!

In wisdom you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.

 

  

 

Thanks so much for stopping by today to see the Bible journaling page I created using the Bug Explorer collection! I'm always tuning in to see what you guys have been creating with the Bella Blvd collections! xo Lydia

Bug Explorer Collection: Ephemera & Sticky Mix, Ciao Chip Alphas (Blueberry), IF Homespun Alpha Stickers (Bananas for You), IF Mini Alpha Stickers (Olive You), IF Gratitude Stamp Set, If Tabbies & Washi