Bella Blvd Studio Blog

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

Fall Cards with Corri

Hi everyone! Corri here today sharing a couple of Fall themed cards using the Bella Besties Collection and some of the cutting files. 

For my first card, I cut the Leaves from some Fall Colors and printed my sentiment using the print and cut feature in the Silhouette Studio software. I mounted the leaves with some foam tape to add some dimension.  

For my second card, I made a shaped note card using the adorable fox cutting file. I created the card base by first creating an offset, then mirroring and welding the base shape of the fox. Shaped cards always have a big impact and look like you put a lot of work in. 

I left this cute little guy without a sentiment since I think he's so cute all on his own.  

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Check out all the Bella Blvd cut files for more great icons to use on your cards! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fall-ing for Bella Blvd Cut Files

Over the last year, Bella Blvd has started offering cut files and they sure do add some flexibility and options to your projects. Today I am using the most detailed of all those cut files - the Tile Background Cut File from the Home Sweet Home Collection! Christine joining you with a layout packed with details and time featuring this gorgeous cut file!

Cut files like this take a long time to cut. You have to set them at a slow speed and then just be patient. In this case, it took about 35 minutes to cut! Planning for that, I set it to cut and then did other things!

Once it was all cut, I pulled out my Bella Besties and my circle punch and started backing it! I knew I wanted lots of fall colors! A fine tip glue pen made this job a little bit easier!!!

Because the layout already has lots of detail and color I knew I wasn't going to have to do a lot for embellishing! I created my title using a combination of an Acrylic World and Florence Alphabets.  Then I added some Heart Hugs and punched out vellum leaves to my design. I opted for vellum here because it would still let the colors and cut file show thru while adding a little bit of texture!  

Head on over to my YouTube channel to check out the full process video for this layout today!  Thanks for stopping by!

Bella Besties Freehand Graph & Dot, Acrylic Words, Cut Files, Heart Hugs

Love Fall

Hello Friends! It's Dorymar with you today. I’m so excited to share with you my first project as a Designer for Bella Blvd, it’s a dream come true!!!! Today, I’m sharing a layout I created using the Let’s Go on an Adventure Collection mixed up with the Bella Besties. Fall is a wonderful time of year; I love all the colors, the weather and the pumpkin smell everywhere. Fall is one of my favorite seasons!

This collection has very beautiful bright colors and they are very easy to use. One of my favorite things about this collection is the variety of touches of green and how the beautiful patterns match together. To create my projects, I love to incorporate several layers, this gives me the opportunity to match every pattern.

The collection is dedicated to outdoor adventures and to be able to incorporate it in the autumn season, I cut several sizes of leaves in different patterns of the papers. Then I added sewing for texture to the paper leaves. They look so beautiful!

My photos are 3"x4" and are matted with the Bella Besties Graph & Dot Pickle Juice. The ephemera words have a ton of wonderful sentiments, I added some closer to the photos.

To create the title of the project I used the “Love” word from the So in Love Chipboards and painted them with light blue ink for an ombre look and finished the title incorporating the “Fall” word from the wonky alpha puffy stickers. Closer to the title I added the beautiful leaves and to give the final touch, I added the cute fox from the ephemera with dimensional tape and the results was fantastic!

I hope you enjoyed my layout and could find some inspiration in creating your own layout using the Let’s Go on an Adventure Collection. Happy Fall to one and all! Have a great day!

Let’s Go On An Adventure Collection, Let’s Go On An Adventure Collection Ephemera words, Let’s Go On An Adventure Collection, Doohickey 12x12 Stickers, Let’s Go On An Adventure Ephemera Icons, So In Love Chipboard, Wonky Alpha Puffy Stickers Orange

 

Falling Leaves | Family Scrapbooking Layout

Hi everyone! Heather Leopard is here with a photo tutorial for a really fun fall layout featuring lots of leaves. Come take a look at what I created...

My idea for this originally started by thinking I'd layer leaves from the top down as if they were falling but as I was playing around with this Bella Blvd "leaves" cut file, I started thinking the concept would pair well with a round photo. That got me thinking of this alternate design. It cut the same leave in 3 different sizes - small, medium and large and in multiple different colors and patterns.

Starting with the largest leaves, I adhered them to the page in a sort of circle.

Next, I added the medium leaves and then the smaller leaves on top, moving in with each "row" I glued down until I had enough to create a border for my photo.

I printed a 3.75" round photo and placed it in the center of the wreath of leaves. As you can see from the photo, I only glued the bottom part of the leaves to the paper so that the ends of the leaves could have some dimension.

I tucked a few pieces of chipboard and ephemera under the photo and also added some embellishments to the top right.  

Lastly, and to create a diagonal type design, I added the title and a few more embellishments to the bottom left of the page. I'm still deciding where to put my journaling but I'm thinking maybe I'll add journaling strips on the bottom right.

Let's Go On An Adventure Border & Wildflowers 12x12 patterned paper, Ciao Chip, Ephemera Words, Ephemera Icons; Squeeze the Day Borders, Zesty, Fruit Salad 12x12 patterned paper, Bella Besties Graph & Dotty Pony, McIntosh, Orange 12x12 patterned paper, Wish Big Borders 12x12 patterned paper, Heart Hugs Earth, Heart Hugs Sunshine, Acrylic Word Family, Wonky Alphas Orange, Bella Blvd cut file "leaves" in Silhouette America store