Bella Blvd Studio Blog

Scrapping the Hard Stuff - January Mood Board

When I looked at the January Mood Board it gave me an overall feeling of pensiveness or reflection.  That makes for an odd place to jump into a scrapbook layout but as I was reflecting, I knew there was one major time in our family life that I had been putting off scrapbooking: the day my son had a seizure.  I know and believe it's important to scrapbook the hard stories because, they too, are part of the whole story.  But it's generally more fun to remember the happy moments.  That said, this was one of the most significant moments in my son's life to date as well as in my life as a parent.  It had to be done.  The colors and overall feel of the mood board gave me the inspiration to move forward and tackle this project.  Let's take a look at my creation.

You might also notice that I picked up on the color scheme and design of one of the pillows in the picture and used that as my design jumping off point.

Many times when I create I have lots of layers and lots of products but for today's layout things are clean and simple!

I started with my title "There Goes My Heart" based on the lyrics of a country song.  Adding that to the white space around one of the pictures allows it to pop out a little more and not get lost in all the patterns.

I added a couple of layers of patterned papers beneath my pictures, which are also matted with patterned papers.  Using my title as inspiration I used Puffy Heart Stickers and my main embellishment.  I wanted to have those surrounding his picture but also close to the journaling to help emphasize both of those.

My journaling is really the star of the layout.  The pictures show how awful he looked but the journaling gives a glimpse into what I was feeling.  The gray background behind it is a mood setter for that moment.  A border sticker helps to separate it from the rest of the layout and allow it to pop out.

My process video will give you a glimpse at how this all came together:

 

Thanks so much for joining me today!

Bella Besties Freehand Graph & Dot,  Florence Alphabet, Let's Go On An Adventure Patterned Paper, Puffy Stickers, Fireworks & Freedom Patterned Paper

 

Mixed media scrapbooking layout: January mood board inspiration

Hi everyone.  Heather here with a mixed media scrapbooking layout inspired by the January mood board.  Let's take a look at the mood board and then I'll walk you through how it inspired my scrapbooking layout.

Look at all that wonderful goodness in those images above.  I was initially drawn to the upper left artsy image but as I looked around the board, I also felt inspired by the golds/mustards, stars and the succulents.  I then remembered a photo I have of my daughter picking leaves for our goats and it just so happened that she was wearing an outfit with the colors of the mood board.  Winning!

To get started, I applied white gesso to white cardstock. As that was drying, I turned on my favorite tv show and fussy cut flowers in the color scheme from the mood board above. 

Once the gesso was dried and flowers were cut, I mixed my Bella Blvd / Illustrated Faith acrylic paints with water to make them more fluid. I painted this mixture on in a similar fashion to the artsy image in the mood board but I didn't want to cover the entire background.  I wanted to create a diagonal effect.  Once I had the colors in the areas I wanted, I then splashed more water on the entire page. This allowed the colors to move a bit more and blend with each other. I let that sit for a few minutes and then laid a paper towel over the page to soak up the water.  This lightened the colors, which was great because it was a bit too bold but it also left a cool pattern on some of the blue areas (because I used more paint and less water on the blue color).  

I set the new colorful background aside to dry and started working on printing my photo and choosing the title and embellishments.  Once the background was dried, it was a bit wavy so to fix that I normally run it through my Minc machine but that was not available so I placed it under a teflon sheet in my heat press.  

I scattered ephemera, Caio chip and fussy cut flowers around my photo until it kind of created a frame. The combination of the chipboard with the ephemera, flowers and stickers gave it nice dimension.  I used a few foam dots there as well.

For the title, I originally planned for it to say "Nature's Best", meaning the leaves my daughter was feeding our goats but the bottom portion of the page felt empty so I added memories and it was a nice addition because "memories" are what we're creating on our farm and this is definitely a great one. Oh and I was out of "A" letters so I just used an upside down "V".  

Lastly, I added a few border strips, large Heart Hug, smaller fussy cut flowers, puffy star stickers and some enamels (glossy and matte) to round out the page. Note that I placed the pink embellishments on the pink color, blue on the blue, orange on the orange.

Hopefully you can see how the artsy image provided the foundation and how the other elements from the mood board (colors, stars, greenery) inspired me to document this great memory.  Now, I'm off to add some journaling.

Let's Go On An Adventure: Wildflower patterned paper, Ciao Chip Icons; Doohickey stickers, Ephemera Icons; Bella Besties patterned Paper; Designer Washi Tape: Dotty; Puffy Star Stickers: Cotton Candy; Enamel Hearts rainbow; Heart Hugs, Matte enamels, Acrylic Word: Memories; Wonky Alpha Puffy Stickers: Orange, Florence Alphas: Blueberry; Illustrated Faith Gratitude Documented Icons

 

12 Days of Christmas Books | Kat Benjamin

Good morning, everyone!  Kat here today to share a fun little project that I'm really excited about.  This is my daughter's first year where she kind of understands what is happening with Christmas.  She knows who Santa is and she's so excited about trees and lights and we're trying to educate her all about the reason for the season.  I also really want her to be excited about the big day, so I decided we'd do a fun little countdown to Christmas once there were 12 days left. 

I found a cute little set of books at Target that had a fun variety of all different subject matter, from the 12 Days of Christmas, to baby Jesus, to Santa's reindeer.  I wrapped each of them and put a number tag on them so we can countdown to Christmas Day.  

I broke out the Santa Squad collection to make all my tags and it coordinates so well with a bunch of other great Bella products.  I think I used a little bit of everything from my stash to create these and I had the best time!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Does your family do anything fun to count down the days until your favorite holiday?

6x6 Paper Pad: Santa Squad; Doohickey Stickers: Santa Squad; Ciao Chip: Santa Squad; Bella Besties: Freehand Graph & Dot Pickle Juice; Clear Cuts: Hearts McIntosh; Florence Alphas: Pickle Juice, White, McIntosh, Guacamole, Ice; Designer Washi Tape: Red Stripe, Oh Christmas Tree, Snow; Ephemera Icons: Santa Squad; Ephemera Words: Santa Squad; Bella Pops: Hedge Hugs, Spread Some Cheer; Epoxy Stickers: Snow Fun; Heart Hugs: Christmas, Wild Berry; Acrylic Shapes: Gingerbreads; Enamels: Christmas Mix; Bella Bows: Guacamole

Gingerbread Garland

Hey Bella Blvd Friends! It's Leanne here today! Happy December!! It is definitely time to pull out the Christmas décor and put up the tree... unless you're like me and still waiting to find the time! LOL! But I have managed to play with some gorgeous Bella Blvd goodies and a cut file to help the days start to feel seasonal!

Bella Blvd has an awesome range of Silhouette cut files in the Design Store. I have modified the Gingerbread Couple design to make a cute paper garland. All the essential bits are there, I've just made my garland more 3D with puffy stickers and cute clips.

To create one of these paper gingerbread garlands for yourself, start by using the cut file to cut as many gingerbread couples you need. I have used the Freehand Graph & Dot patterned papers and kraft cardstock as my base.

Join the Gingerbread couples together using a hole punch where their hands meet and some festive twine.

Remove the bows carefully from the cute clips and attach as bow ties or hair accessories.

Add the puffy stickers as buttons.

Use enamel dots as the eyes (these are from heart hugs) and glue pieces of twine to the arms and legs, to recreate the piped frosting. Trim excess twine to the edge of the paper.

Finally, hang your latest Christmas décor and enjoy the season!

Thanks for visiting the blog today!

Freehand Graph & Dot: Pony, Cotton Candy; Cute Clips: Festive; Puffy Stickers: McIntosh Puffy Hearts; Heart Hugs: Halloween Heart Hugs; Enamel Hearts: Cotton Candy Doodads; Squeeze the Day: Mini Paper pad. Silhouette Design Store: Gingerbread Couple ID #307189.

Scrapbooking moments of gratitude

Hello Bella Blvd Friends! It's Leanne here today sharing a scrapbooked moment I am incredibly grateful for. Well.. in reality, it's a series of moments in time that I needed to document. The single image on my page, squeezes my heart because of the passage of time - in the blink of an eye I have moved years down the track. But for each moment I capture I am remaining grateful and look forward to the new memories to come.

My baby was four years old in this photo. That's six years ago now and before he started school. A time when we would drop off his older siblings at school and continue on with our day together. Just us. I think I am more reflective of this time with my youngest because he simply is, my youngest. We packed a lot of things into our days between 8am - 3pm. Now with him about to complete fourth grade, the differences in our days are vast.

This is why I love creating reflective layouts. It draws on our precious memories with a new perspective. Moments of gratitude are expressed in many ways. With this layout I wanted to celebrate using bright colours and movement on the page!

The scallop border trend has had a resurgence of late. I love how the half circles are depicting motion. Something most four year-old children have in common! And colour too! Rainbows of dots and graphs share a childlike innocence.

Bella Besties Freehand Graph & Dot is the perfect patterned paper choice. Scattered among the scallops I have added sticker phrases and matte enamels.

To complete my page I have left my title work simple. A single word from tiny text alpha stickers, machine stitched to the cardstock. My journaling has been added to the reverse side of the layout.

I hope I have encouraged you that it is indeed possible to look back on memories with fondness and a different perspective than being "in the moment". Often gratitude comes after the moment has passed.

Freehand Graph & Dot: Bell Pepper, Cotton Candy, Gulf, Punch, Rainbow Graph & Dot 6x6 paper pad; Word Salad stickers; Squeeze the Day: Fruity Mix Matte Enamel, Ephemera Icons; Bella Bows; Mom Life: Ephemera; Tiny Text Alphabets: Rainy Day; Epoxy Hearts.

 

 

Two Page Thankful Layout and Video Tutorial

Don't you just love this time of year? A time to reflect on all our blessings, gatherings with friends and family, and of course yummy food!  Christine joining you today with a layout that showcases my biggest earthly blessing, my family!  I decided to go with a two-page layout and share a lot of my favorite pictures from a recent fall adventure.  Let's take a look:

Not only are two page layouts great for getting lots of pictures on but also there's so much room to embellish and add some fun journaling.  

One of my favorite things about Bella Blvd is how seamlessly you can marry all the products - even mixing and matching collections.  This layout includes pieces from all of these collections Squeeze the Day, Bella Besties, Home Sweet Home, and Let's Go on An Adventure. 

By mixing and matching papers from several collections I was able to achieve that fall color scheme I was going for.

I punched out several big leaves and then folded them to add dimension. Puffy hearts in coordinating colors also made great accents.

Mixing and matching products to create a unique title is so much fun!  To make this one I combined a Florence Alphabet with two different Acrylic Words.  To give you a better idea of how this layout came together, I created a process video.  Here it is:

 

Thanks so much for joining me today!  Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving week next week!

Patterned Papers from Bella Besties and Squeeze the Day, Puffy Heart Stickers, Acrylic Words, Florence Alphabet, Ephemera from Squeeze the Day, Let's Go on an Adventure, and Home Sweet Home

 

 

Tips and tricks when using Mixed Media on a layout!

Hey there Bella Blvd friends! It is Leanne here today sharing a fun mixed media project. I love creating texture on my layouts and the best way to achieve this is with a little paint, ink and textured paste!

Today I want to share a few simple tips when looking at creating details with mixed media products. These items don't need to be expensive and quite often you can use tools you already have available to you. For this layout I started out by playing with textured paste.

After trimming my white cardstock to size, I used a small chevron stencil and layered textured paste directly to my background. I wanted it to be rough and uneven, to create the base for my messy watercolor application. The paste took 24 hours to dry properly and while it was drying, I weighted my cardstock down to try and make it flat again. Using mixed media products will warp and buckle cardstock and patterned papers during the creative process.

To layer paint onto the cardstock, it needs to be completed in stages. If multiple colors are added at the same time, they will mix and become muddy. Allowing drying time between each color on your page, will highlight focal points rather than distract from them.

For the larger bodies of paint, add a generous amount of watercolor paint to plastic packaging. Quickly apply the plastic packaging, face down, onto the cardstock. Gently rub the reverse side of the plastic to move the paint on the cardstock. Once again, allow the paint to dry between colous. Flicking or dropping paint onto the layout also adds to the overall messy mixed media technique.

Ink is another great way to add dimension to a layout that includes mixed media. After fussy cutting the reindeer and gingerbread people, I inked the edges with a complementary brown color to grunge them up a bit. Curl the edges of fussy cut pieces to make them appear like they are lifting from the page.

All of these techniques combined create a textured look for your layout. If you have the patience and you like to get messy, I highly recommend having a little paper play fun! Thanks for visiting the blog today.

 

 

Santa Squad: Ho Ho Ho patterned paper, Ephemera Icons, Epoxy Christmas Words; Freehand Graph & Dot: Bell Pepper Freehand Graph & Dot, Pony Freehand Graph & Dot; Florence Alphabet Stickers: Pony. Other - textured paste, watercolor paint, brown ink.

Halloween Cutie Layout By: Stephanie Buice

Hello everyone! Stephanie here today, sharing my latest Halloween layout with you guys using the Sweet & Spooky collection.

I love how this collection has so many different pieces that you can mix and match together and embellish until your little heart's desire.

Here is my layout:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I started by adding by adding the top row of patterned papers for my column, and then the "Halloween" section of my title. I simply used different papers from the collection for each letter of the word. I used the pattern preview sheet (the back of the Bonus Pattern paper) to get the best scale for my letters. 

 

 

Next I added my photo and a few tags and other embellishments from the Ephemera pack above it. Then I finished my title by adding in the word "cutie", and using some orange floss I added in the little chipboard spider so it looked like he was hanging from it. I finished the bottom part of my column and then added the yellow "Happy Halloween Y'all" chipboard piece along the top of my journaling. I finished my layout by hand stitching in the centers of a few of my letters and sprinkling on some enamel dots onto my tags.

 

 

And there you have it! A quick and easy Halloween layout that you can pull together and have a special memory documented and added to your collection. 

Thanks for stopping by today!

XOXO-Steph

Supplies Used: Enamel Dots: Oreo, Ice; All others from Sweet & Spooky Collection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Journaling on Your Pictures

Hi there Bella Blvd Fans! We've been exploring creative journaling techniques all week and today I am here to share an idea with you! When there's white space in your picture, why not add your journaling there? This works especially great with a layout with a big picture on it! Let's take a look!

I printed my picture in a big size for this layout. That left room in that upper corner for me to add journaling. I opted to have my journaling be an appropriate quote. When my pictures don't have a major story to go along with them, I like to just use a quote to tell the story!

I've said it a number of times and I will say it again: the Florence Alphabets are simply marvelous!  They are great for journaling and titles and card sentiments and, well, pretty much everything!

Knowing that I wasn't going to have a lot of room for embellishing, I decided to focus on hearts for my embellishments! In this section alone you can see nearly all the different types of hearts that Bella Blvd makes: Heart Hugs, stickers, ephemera, Acrylic Hearts, and Puffy Hearts. I love the selection and the ability to be able to add so much texture to my projects!

Want a close-up look at how I created this layout? Here's a process video that will walk you thru!

 

Thanks so much for visiting today!

Acrylic Shapes, Heart Hugs, Let's Go On An Adventure, Bella Besties Freehand Graph & Dot, Ciao Chip, Home Sweet Home, Squeeze the Day

Fuzzy Bunny layout

Good morning everyone!

Sarah here this morning to share a new layout with you for Bella Blvd. This week we were to find different ways to journal on our layouts. For me this was a bit hard because I don't usually journal on the front of my layouts. I usually write on the back of my layout or on a piece of paper and stick it to the back of my layout. I'm not big on my hand writing.

So, when I decided to do this layout, I thought that I would journal on the leaves. But I decided against that when I started folding them and adding the gold around the edges. It got to messing. But looking back on it now, I think that would have really worked,lol. Maybe next time, huh?

Well I started this layout with a white background and started playing with some gold spray, while I let the background dry, I decided to add some more gold to all the leaves I had already cut out. I chose leaves because they felt like fall, but the colors were still fantastically bright, so I went with it.

I didn't add any layering behind my photo when I put it on my background. I wanted the leaves to be the embellishments on the layout. Once I had my photo down, I started to layer sliding the leaves under the sides of the photo. Once I had the first layer where I wanted them, I stuck them down and started on the next layer. Placing them here and there, till I was happy with how they looked and stuck them down and moved to the next layer, until I had them all down.

I liked the look of the gold spray on the background showing threw, so I played along those lines to do my journaling. Like I said, this isn't something I normally do, so I thought keeping it small and not clustered together might make it easier on me.

When I had my journaling done, I added my title with two different colors of Florence alphas. Just a simple title, Fuzzy Bunny. The I remembers some of the extra pretties that go along with the Squeeze the day collection and I pulled them out too! I love the epoxy hearts and matte enamel dots, I don't think I could ever have enough of them. If I didn't watch myself I would have already used them all! Like I said, I pulled those out and started placing some of them in the centers of some of my leaves and tucking some here and there under other leaves.

I decided at this point that I wanted there to be something other than just a while background, so I decided to do a bit of ripping and cutting of the sides of the white cardstock, ruffle it up some and add a piece of Bella Besties behind it. I went with the gulf color, I mean blue is one of my favorite colors! And then I was done. I hope you enjoyed this layout!

Squeeze the day collection: 6x6  paper pad, Doohickey sticker sheet, Epoxy hearts, Matte enamels-Fruity mix

Bella Besties freehand:

 6x6 paper pad, 12x12 Graph and dots-Gulf

Florence Alpha Stickers: Punch, Black