Bella Blvd Studio Blog

Spring Cards with Kelly

Hello everyone! Today I am sharing four spring cards...Two of them are graduation cards, and the other two are for Teacher Appreciation.

I always try to make graduation cards using the graduate's school colors. For this one, I used a combination of Plaids & Dotty, Let's Go on an Adventure, and Pop Quiz.

For this next one, I made a window using Blue Chevron from the Invisibles line. I positioned the clear patterned paper with a tiny bit of double stick tape before I secured it in place with stitching.

The next to cards are Teacher Appreciation cards made with the Home Sweet Home collection. This collection is probably my new favorite...so feminine and perfect for so many occasions. The inside of this first one says "for helping us GROW."

The inside of this card says "for helping us BLOOM."

So many celebrations happen at the end of the school year... graduations, recitals, spring programs...and there's nothing quite like a handmade card to make every occasion feel special.

Thanks for stopping by today!

 

Home Sweet Home: Ephemera Icons, DooHickey, Mosaic Tile, Borders; Let's Go on an Adventure: Morning Meadow; Plaids&Dotty: Blueberry; Pop Quiz: Sticky Mix; Heart Hugs: Black&White; Florence Alphas: Blueberry, Ice, Cotton Candy; Invisibles: Chevies Blueberry; Delight in His Day: Fundamentals; Cute Clips: Festive; Acrylic Shapes: Star Mix; Designer Washi: Rainbow, Ice Dot; Puffy Stars: Milk White; Tiny Text: Faithful; Word Salad

Graduation Cards with Corri

Hi everyone! This week we are focusing on the Florence alphabet stickers. Graduation is quickly approaching and we are invited to several parties so I thought I'd make a couple of cute cards using some of the new cute files along with the alphas. 

For my first card, I used this cute hot air balloon from the Let's Go on an Adventure collection. You can file the cut file at the Silhouette Store or in Lori Whitlock's Shop. 

I used some McIntosh Florence alphas to add a quote to my card. I love the whimsical look of this cute font. I used paper from the Let's go on an Adventure collection for my balloon and the background is a paper from the Splash Zone Collection. 

 

For my second card, I used another cute quote created with Black Florence alphas paired with the mountain cut file (Silhouette, SVG). 

The Florence Alphabet stickers are perfect for creating sentiments on card and layouts. You can see the full collections of stickers here. 

Thanks so much for stopping by! 

 

Splash Zone - Sunny Days, Let's go on an Adventure - Wildflowers, In the Woods, Borders, White Cardstock, 

Florence Alphabet Stickers - McIntosh, Black,  Heart Mix Acrylic Shapes, Silhouette Cameo, Cut files

 

 

Life is good cards

Good morning everyone!

I made some cards with the Home Sweet Some collection to share with you today and I lost them!!! I'm in the process of moving and have other people helping me and someone packed my scrappy goodness! So I was frantically going through boxes trying to find them and I finally did!!

I have to say I'm not a huge card maker, so most of mine are pretty simple, but I still think they're pretty. I actually made them for people that have been helping me fix up my new house and helping me move in. That made it much easier for me to make them too.

  

I made all three of these using one sheet of paper and some of the embellishments that go along with the Home Sweet Home collection, with a few heart hugs added in.

 

I started with this card, I loved the teal color so I chose that as my background. It actually said Friends are our chosen family, but I covered that up with the opposite side of the patterned paper. I grabbed both the ephemera words and the ephemera icons, pilled out the hearts and layered them on. I ruffled up the edge of the paper the hearts were on, drew some lines to make it look like stitching and then grabbed that AMAZING rainbow washi tape and added some to the top and bottom of the card for some more color and moved on to my next card.

I thought the trees on here were already cute, but wanted to add some of the mini heart hugs and the regular heart hugs, so I layered two of the hearts, after peeling the sentiments off, and turned them in to some trees and added some of the enamel dots to the other tree for some more color.

I thought the trees on here were already cute, but wanted to add some of the mini heart hugs and the regular heart hugs, so I layered two of the hearts, after peeling the sentiments off, and turned them in to some trees and added some of the enamel dots to the other tree for some more color.

Then onto my last card for this week. I layered some of the papers together, I love all of the patterns in this collection so much by the way and I hope you do too!! There so bright and playful so are some many of the other new collection!!

After layering the papers I pulled some of the houses out of the ephemera icons and the ciao chip icons, wanting to keep with the house theme and hearts. So I added two of the houses, one was a chipboard piece, a little dimension, and ephemera piece. I found the so thankful piece in the ephemera words and cut the ends to look like pennants, popped it up on some foam adhesive. Layered two hearts behind it, I loved that the yellow heart had a little heart on it too, made it feel like I was adding a third heart. I stuck them down and started to ruffle up the edges like I did on the other cards and added the lines to look like stitching and was done, nothing left to do but add my writing on the inside and send them to the people I made them for! 

Thanks for stopping by to see what I came up with today. If cards aren't really your thing, try to push yourself and see what you can come up with, even if there something easy like this. There still hand made and the people that receive them will love them and know you took the time to make it just for them!

Home Sweet Home Collection: Daily Details patterned paper, Ephemera words, Ephemera Icons, Ciao Chip Icons, Doohicky sticker sheet

Designer washi tape: Raindow

Mini Heart Hugs: Sentiments

Heart Hugs: Sunshine

Knot-so Dull Cards

Hello, Bella Blvd. friends! Tessa Buys here with a trio of "knot-so" dull cards. In fact, they're downright cheerful with their primary color palette and stitched details. If you're a clean and simple card maker like myself, you'll enjoy the techniques I'm sharing with you today. All you'll need is your favorite Bella Blvd papers and coordinating embroidery floss.

First, do you know how to create French knots? Here is a great little tutorial for a quick how-to. I like to add French knots to the center of flowers in tiny floral prints. Here I used yellow embroidery floss on all the flowers that had yellow centers.

I love the texture the little knots add to the card. Pop up the patterned paper on foam adhesive to make room for your backside knots and to add even more dimension to your card.

Second, a running stitch is my go-to when I want to add some texture and color, so this diagonal stripe card was quick work with exactly the result I wanted. I decided to stitch two parallel lines in contrasting colors.

Another take on a running stitch is to work in a circle. I used an anywhere punch to make a circle cut-out in my card base, then stitched around the circle to create a frame. I alternated four different colors of thread.

Next, I backed the open circle with a piece of cardstock that I had layered strips of washi tape onto. I love a lot of white space on cards!

The new Florence alphas made great sentiments in all the colors I needed, and the Let's Go on an Adventure collection provided the bright papers.

If you're looking for just the right handmade touch to add to your cards, you can't go wrong with a little simple stitching. And, of course, Bella Blvd.! Happy creating!

Let's Go on an Adventure patterned papers: Morning Meadow, Wildflowers; Florence alphabet stickers: Orange, Gulf, Cotton Candy, Punch, McIntosh; Cute Clips: Pumpkin Spice; Washi Tape: Rainbow

Big & little boy cards using the same collection | Kim Watson

Do you have any boy birthdays coming up?

Well I do, and thought I'd take advantage of this week's card challenge and make the cards in advance; specific to all the ages. I also decided to take the challenge one step further, I decided to use 'Wish Big for boys', for all of the cards, the big boy card included.

Take a look at each of them & the details.

Cards for Boys by Kim Watson

6th Birthday by Kim Watson

Layering x2 strips of black & white patterned papers with stitching & orange twine make a perfect 'shelf' for the other elements. 

A chipboard cake raised with foam adhesive, becomes a great place for my title. Each cake layer holds a part of the title. 

Look how cute the orange tiger looks sitting alongside the cake :) I love the bright fun colors...perfect for a 6 year old's birthday. Puffy stars & enamel dots are exactly what the card needs to finish it off, & using navy blue & white also helps balance the color. The result is a super, cute card!

 

Celebrate 7 card by Kim Watson

 

Having patterned die cut shapes included in the ephemera pack makes card making so simple to do. All it took to create this card was, cut the banner shapes & layer the die cuts. 

 

 

Layers of different heights of foam adhesive, help create super dimension, which in my opinion is vital for a successful card design when using scrapbooking products. 

 

 

Now for the 'big boy card'. With my son turning 15 in 2 weeks time I am needing a card for him but wasn't happy giving him a card with cute animals on it. This collection had everything I needed to make the perfect card for him.The fab thing about Bella collections, is that they include enough style variety to allow you to craft for any age. Don't you love the cupcake stack?! 

 

 

Layering cup cakes on a red 'plate', machine stitching & banner shapes tied in white twine, make this card perfect for any teen. 

 

 

So as you can see, a trio of cards were totally using the same collection. I especially love the bold colors & graphic style. I hope you have found these ideas inspirational for your next card making fest! 

Thanks for stopping by XXX

 

Wish Big Boy Collection kit, Puffy Stars, Wish Big Boy Embellishment Bundle 

Secrets of the Sea Slider Cards

Hey Bella friends! It's Leanne here, welcoming you all to an exciting new week with fresh ideas on how to create super, fun cards! Today I get to kick off the excitement with a set of 'slider cards'. These cards have interactive pieces on the front cover and are incredibly easy to put together!

The hardest part is deciding on which Bella Blvd collection to start with, because once you start, I can guarantee you will want to make more! Let's have a closer look..

See that? It's as simple as making a track for the slider to run along. No matter the shape! Let's get started.

 

My starting point with these cards are the adorable die cut Paper Pieces from Secrets of the Sea. Choose the ephemera piece you want to slide across your card and then add coordinating patterned paper to your supplies. For this card, I wanted the parrot to "fly" to the Sea Captain's shoulder.

step 1. Create a sentiment on the top patterned paper layer of the card, by either stamping or using sticker phrases. Leave enough room for the parrot to be able to move without covering the sentiment too much.

Include any additional title work for the sentiment. Layer a second piece of patterned paper, slightly larger than the first to provide a sturdy base for the slider to work upon.

step 2. Using a pencil, mark out guidelines for the beginning and ending of the slide track. Punch or use a small metal circle die at each point to soften the track endings.

step 3. Carefully trim the length of the track, making sure the width is equal to the width of the circles shown above. note: this is where having a grid patterned paper is helpful when creating your first card!

step 4. Creating the "moving parts".

To get the parrot to fly, punch a circle from cardstock which is larger than the track's width, but still small enough to be hidden by the Paper Piece. Add a foam dot to the cardstock circle which will fit inside the track. See below.

The cardstock circle sits behind the two patterned paper card layers.

step 5. Adhere the Paper Piece to the foam dot while it is in the track.

Check out how this little guy flies across the page!

step 6. To complete the card, layer a third piece of patterned paper, trimmed to the same size as the middle layer. Adhere the layers securely together but avoid placing double sided tape too close to the slider circle. There needs to be a gap to prevent the adhesive from restricting the movement of the slider. Now add all layers to the card base.

Add any extra stickers or embellishments to the front of the card.

Here's a closer look at two more slider cards created with the same Secrets of The Sea collections.

"You are SUBLIME" card.

This card has the same straight line/track concept as the card above. And how could I not have a play on words such as this!!

 

"Mermaid Vibes" card.

This card has the same idea, but the track has been created by using nesting circle metal dies. The inner circle and front patterned paper layer have been mounted onto foam dots for extra dimension. Just be mindful that the cardstock slider circle between the patterned paper layers, doesn't catch on the foam adhesive. The mermaid will then happily "swim" around in her rock pool.

Thanks for visiting the blog today. I hope you have as much fun creating this style of card as I did!

 

Wish Big Boy: Happy Birthday, Dinotastic; Secrets of the Sea: Paper Pieces, Fundamentals Stickers Boy, Best Fins Forever, 6x8 Mini Paper Pad; Puffy Heart Stickers: Blueberry Mix; Enamel Dots: Cotton Candy; Tiny Text Rain; Illustrated Faith Clear Stamps; Word Salad sticker phrases.

 

Valentine's Day Cards - Plaids and Dotty

Hi everyone! Valentine's Day is right around the corner so I paired the Plaids and Dotty Collection with some pieces from the Valentina Collection to make some cute cards. The Cotton Candy and Punch plaid papers are perfect for the heart themed projects. 

For the flamingo card, I used the Punch plaid paper and added a strip of Love paper from the Valentina Collection along with a card from the Daily Details sheet and a sticker from the Treasures sheet. I added a white heart and some black enamel dots from the Heart Hugs collection.

 

For my Everything card, I used Cotton Candy Plaid paper to create the background. I added a trio of hearts by combining two hearts from the Heart Hugs collection and a heart cut with my Silhouette Cameo from the dotty side of the same paper. I finished my card with a sentiment from the Valentina Collection and some enamel dots. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today! 

 

Wish Bog Birthday Card

Hi everyone.  Heather Leopard is here with a quick and easy birthday card that involves one of my favorite things to do...fussy cutting.  This is the easiest type of fussy cutting you can do too so let's take a look...

There you have it, a scalloped inspired birthday card.  I fussy cut circles for this card.  No teeny tiny pieces to work around; I just had to standardize on one size and I used that as a template to cut the rest of the circles.

It all started because of the circle paper you see above.  I know I wanted to create something with it and while I toyed around with the idea of balloons, I ultimately decided to layer them over each other. You can see the aftermath of the fussy cutting party I had.

 

I adhered patterned paper to the card base and trimmed the edges. I do end of covering all of the bottom part so if you want to save paper, just measure how high up you plan to take your scallops and cut your paper accordingly.  I wasn't sure at the time so I just covered the entire base.

Starting at the bottom of the card, adhere the scallops so that the bottom of the scallop is even with the bottom of the card. Then run a strip of adhesive across the top of the row so you can easily layer the scallops over each other.  Once the next layer is down, add a strip of adhesive over that layer and add more scallops. Rinse and repeat until it's as high as you wish.

I chose not to adhere adhesive to the bottoms of the scallops because I wanted to be able to lift them up a little bit for dimension. Trim the edges once they are all adhered to the card.

Lastly, add a border at the top of the scallops to cover the raw edges.  Then add a sentiment and a cute little party hippo, or whatever your heart desires.

This can be used for pretty much any card theme you wish so keep in mind that it doesn't have to be for birthday.

Thanks for stopping by today.

xoxo, Heather
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Wish Big: Girl Collection - patterned papers and ephemera

A Heart Hug for Every Occassion

As this weekend is World Card Making Day, I couldn't help getting a little jump start on the holiday.  The new Heart Hugs are serious cuteness, and Bella has prepared every sentiment you could need for any occasion!

I set out to create 2 birthday cards that I'd use for two youngsters' parties with my Heart Hugs!

I began this card with a white cardstock backing, because I really wanted the Heart Hugs to pop off the card!  I created little areas for them to nestle in by layering some scalloped semi-circles along the bottom half of the card.  This is so easy and creates a ton of dimension for either cards or a layout!

 

After fluffing up my scalloped layers, I nestled in a few Heart hugs!  I finished off the card with that cute as ever Hippo illustration and the Happy Birthday oval ephemera piece!

 

The next card I created using the Heart Hugs, I chose to use the Wish Big: Boy collection, because I needed a masculine card.

 

 I began this card with the idea that I would use my Heart Hugs to create a cluster of heart balloons.  I shuffled through my ephemera pack, and I found this cute octopus; He was perfect because one of his legs looked like the perfect hand for holding the balloon string!  It's like it was meant to be!

 

I stitched on my balloon string with my sewing machine, leaving lots of thread on the tail to create a little bow.  I then stuck on my Heart Hugs, which come with the perfect foam adhesive on the back.

 

I finished off my card with a sentiment, "Fun Times," from the ephemera words pack.

 

 

Thanks so much for joining me today! I hope you get your hands on some Heart Hugs for all your card-making endeavors, because they are just the cutest! xo Lydia

 
Wish Big: Girl Collection, Wish Big: Boy Collection, Heart Hugs

Happy Mail for Mom

Lydia here with you today to share the piece of happy mail I sent out to honor the moms in my life!  I actually spent several years of my life solely dedicated to creating happy mail because it just made me so darn happy to send and receive pretty packages in the mail.  I imagine it's no different for the lovely ladies in your lives!

I created a fold out envelope with a slot for a gift card.  I couldn't imagine using any other collection than the Mom Life collection for obvious reasons!  I just love the tones of orange, navy, and pink! 

 

I wanted the outside of my card to be exciting, so using some tulle I sewed on a layer of sequins for a shaker effort!  I then adhered two buttons to the backside, so that I could string the envelope closed.  All that was left was to decorate the inside with Mom Life goodies!

 

Thank you so much for joining me today!  I hope you all have a blessed celebration with your loved ones, honoring the women in our lives who care so fondly for us! xo Lydia

  Bella Blvd Mom Life Collection 12x12 Papers, Sticky Mix, & Ephemera, Bella Blvd Wonky Alphas in Milk White, Illustrated Faith Tiny Alpha Booklet, Illustrated Faith You Are Loved Clear Stamps, Bella Blvd Enamel Dots