Bella Blvd Studio Blog

Sketch Week | Sarah Millerhouse

I love the challenge of using a great sketch! When I first saw this sketch by Niki Rowland, I immediately thought it wasn’t my style. There was just so much white space. Once I decided I could make it my own and use beautiful patterned paper to fill up all that space, I immediately got into it. This layout ended up being one of my most favorite I’ve made, and it started with challenging me to move out of my comfort zone. 

I used the You Are My Sunshine collection for this layout. The stripes on the background the Shine Bright patterned paper that I cut apart, distressed the edges, and put in back down with the stripes in rainbow order. I love the pop of color it gives to the layout. I then added just a little mixed media on the background to subtly connect the top photo and clusters with the cluster at the bottom. I did this using white gesso and Shimmerz sprays that I applied with a brush. When it was almost dry, I added splatters of white acrylic paint behind all the areas where I knew my elements would go. 

I added my sweet photo at the top with several layers of patterned paper behind it to make it more substantial. I then added clusters on either side of the photo, like in the sketch, with the one on the right set just slightly higher.  

I added the cluster at the bottom using phrases that I distressed the edges of and pretty enamel stickers and ephemera. Everything is popped up with adhesive foam. 

I finished the layout by adding the Bella Blvd Sunshine cutfile that I cut in three layers and my strips of journaling just below that, just like in the sketch. 

I love how this layout turned out, and I hope it inspires you in some way! 

Products Used:

You Are My Sunshine: patterned paper, ephemera, enamel dots and stars

 

Time to Travel- Spring Break Edition! Day 1 | Rachel

Hi friends! Rachel here and I'm so excited to be sharing with you my first layout for the Bella Blvd Design Team. This month we are playing with the newest collection - Time to Travel. I love the bright primary colors in this line and all the thoughtfulness that went into designing a collection for all kinds of travel - flying, road trip, vacation, etc!

I started with a piece of white cardstock which is cut down to 11"x11" inches. Then I took the Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide pad and slid the pad face down on the white cardstock creating a streak of gorgeous light blue ink. I repeated this several times down the page. Sliding distress oxides down the page is so easy and a fun way to play with mixed media. My goal was to create a background that looked like the sky. I sat that aside to dry. Once it was dry, I came back and doodled and stamped around the edge of the white cardstock. The final touch to the stamping was some hearts from the Trinkets Puffy stickers in the color McIntosh. I like to add black pen and stamping to a lot of my layouts to contrast the white of the cardstock. Next, I mounted this to the Road Trip 12"x12" patterned paper from this collection. I always gravitate toward a classic black and white stripe.

My next step was to start working on the clouds. I used the cut outs from the Over the Rainbow collection. The Bella Blvd cut outs are great for those who want to add an element that looks like a cut file, but don't have a cutting machine (Cricut, Silhouette, etc). The cloud cut out comes in the set along with a pattern and directions to easily cut out and back the clouds.

Once I added the clouds to my page, it was time to add my photo and all the embellishments! I used the too cute Sunny Bella Pop, the Icons Ephemera, the Words and Tags Ephemera, along with the Ciao Chip from the Time to Travel Collection. I love how each pack of embellishments has so many options to choose from. This photo was taken in the airport, and I was able to find the perfect pieces - airplane, luggage, boarding ticket, etc.

The final touch was adding the title which is in the Ciao Chip set and document the date with a date stamp. Thank you so much for stopping by today! You can view the list of supplies I used below.

Bella Blvd Products Used:

12"x12" patterned paper - Road Trip

Over The Rainbow Cut Outs

Bella Pops - Sunny

Ciao Chip - Time to Travel

Trinkets Puffy Stickers - McIntosh

Icons Ephemera - Time to Travel

Words and Tags Ephemera - Time to Travel

 

You Are My Sunshine + Cut Outs | Brianna Lepper

Hey friends!  Brianna Lepper here today sharing a new layout for You Are My Sunshine + Cut Outs Week!  The You Are My Sunshine collection is one of my favorites and I LOVE working with Cut Outs.  If you're not familiar with Cut Outs, they are decorative cuts that usually have several different ones included in each package.  So you can actually get to use them on more than one project.  They also have printed instructions along with templates.  So awesome!  Here's my layout: 

For my layout, I chose the "Family" cut from the Family & Friends Cut Outs pack.  It was perfect to document this photo of me and my sisters on my Moms side.  This was taken back in 2008 and I can't believe how young we all look!  I traced each letter on some white cardstock and cut each one out.  I then took some Distress Oxide inks in coordinating colors and did an ombre design by ink blending on each color.  Before I backed the cut out, I splattered white acrylic spray on each letter.  

I set the backed cut out aside and got to work on my background.  I took the Shine Bright 12x12 patterned paper and trimmed each stripe out. I distressed the edges and then adhered all of the pieces to another piece of white cardstock.  The distressed edges really give the background some great texture and pop.  

I popped the cut out up on foam tape and adhered it to the center of my page.  I matted my photo with a couple of the patterned papers from the collection and then added an embellishment cluster to the right side of my photo.  I pulled in some dragonflies from the Ciao Chip chipboard sticker sheet and the Ephemera pack and layered them going up the page.  I also layered in some floral pieces and a couple of the Trinkets Puffy stickers.  

The top of the page needed a little something as well, so I pulled out a Ciao Chip rainbow and heart piece and layered more Trinket Puffy stickers along with them.  I also adhered a few Trinket Puffy butterflies.  

One more shot of this fun layout: 

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope that I've inspired you in some way today.  Have you had a chance to work with Cut Outs yet?  They're super convenient and perfect to take along with you if you're traveling, scrapping away from home or even if you don't want to fuss with your machine and software.  And who doesn't just LOVE the You Are My Sunshine collection.  It's so bright and beautiful and just makes me so happy!!  Have a great week friends! 

 

Bella Blvd Supplies Used: 

You Are My Sunshine Collection: 12x12 Patterned Paper, Ciao Chip Chipboard Stickers, Ephemera, Trinkets Puffy Stickers and Doohickey Cardstock Stickers; Word Salad Sticker Booklet; Family & Friends Cut Out

 

Designer's Choice Week | Nathalie

Hello Bella Blvd friends!

Nathalie here with my last post as part of the Bella Blvd Design Team.   The past two years as part of the team have been a huge honor, but my choice to step down from the team was a hard one, but a necessary one.   I am forever thankful to Stephanie S. for inviting me, and to my friend Stephanie Buice for being awesome as CT coordinator, and all around amazing!  And what better way to finish than with a project of my choice.

 

 

I love butterflies, and  the ones in the You Are My Sunshine collection were just perfect for this layout about my little cousins. 

 

I started by adding a bit of mixed media to my background, making sure to pick the color of the sash in my cousins' dresses.   I added a faded impression of a flutter of butterflies on the page.   To anchor the design and mixed media to the page, I ripped pieces of the background (right at the edge of the page), and backed the spaces with patterned paper from the You Are My Sunshine collection

 

 

I added a few layers of patterned paper behind the photo, and attached it to the center of the page.  I used pieces of ephemera, chipboard stickers, and enamel shapes to create two large clusters at corner of the photos.  I fussy cut a few butterflies and added them here to help add movement and direction through the page.

 

 

For the title of page I am mixing an acrylic word with Aria puff alphas.  I am using the last of my Bella Pops to bring more butterflies to the page, and tie all the clusters together,

 

 

I love how this turned out, and I hope that it inspires you to document your memories.  Thank you Bella Blvd for having as part of the team for the past two years, and to you all for always being there

 

XO

 

Bella Blvd. Supplies

 YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE COLLECTION:  Patterned Paper, Doohickey Stickers, Ephemera, Enamel shapes, Chipboard Stickers

Bella Pops

 

ARIA PUFFY STICKERS

ACRYLIC WORDS

Designer’s Choice Week | Yarelys Rodriguez

Hey there Bella Friends! Hope you are having a wonderful day! Yarelys here to share with you a new layout! To make this layout I used the Squeeze The Day collection and the Over The Rainbow Cut-Out.

I start my layout by backing the Cut-Out. For this I used the Borders, Fruity Hearts, Fruit Salad, I Pick You, So Berry Sweet and Zesty papers from the collection.

I wanted a sky for my rainbow, so I cut some clouds and glued them to a white cardstock with double sided tape. Then, I painted over them with the Vicki Boutin Art Crayons. Once I finished painting, I carefully took the clouds out.

Now it’s time to build my layout! I glued the rainbow with adhesive foam to give it dimension. Next, I glued my photo on top. For my title I used the acrylic words be you. Then, I cut some clouds and glued them with adhesive foam. To finish my layout I added Ephemera, Doohickey, Bella-Pops, Epoxy, Acrylic Shapes and Matte Enamels.

I love how this layout turned out! Hope you all like it and get inspired to create beautiful things! You can find the link for the process video of this layout below. Thanks for stopping by!

Have a lovely day!

Yarelys xx

@dreamsandpapers

https://youtu.be/YoYMQlhS7NA

Bella Blvd Supplies Used:

Squeeze The Day Collection: Borders, Fruity Hearts, Fruit Salad, I Pick You, So Berry Sweet and Zesty papers.

Cut-Outs: Over The Rainbow.

Doohickey: Squeeze The Day.

Ephemera Words: Squeeze The Day.

Bella-Pops: Follow The Rainbow.

Epoxy: Hearts and Icons.

Matte Enamels: Fruity Mix.

Acrylic Shapes: Rainbows.

Sketch Week | Brianna Lepper

Hey friends!  Brianna here today sharing a new layout using the beautiful March Sketch designed by fellow CT Member Niki Rowland.  I love working with sketches and had so much fun creating with this one.  This week, we were free to choose any collection to work with and I chose the My Candy Girl collection.  While on vacation back in December, we had ice cream on the Santa Barbara pier and this collection was perfect to document such a great trip.  I have a process video down at the end of this post, so if you'd like to see how this page came together, make sure to check it out!

Here's this months sketch: 

The sketch has a bit of a mixed media background at the top so I took out a stencil from my stash and used it to stamp on some ink.  I smooshed a couple of ink pads to my glass mat, sprayed some water into it and dipped each stencil into the ink.  I lightly kissed the stencil to my cardstock to create a fun grid look, similar to the sketch.  I added it to the top and also added a bit to the bottom.  I trimmed off an inch from the top and side of my white cardstock and adhered it to one of the 12x12 patterned papers to create a colorful border.  

The sketch calls for a photo and embellishments at the top of the page with a smaller cluster right under it at the bottom of the page.  I matted my photo with a few patterned papers and built embellishment clusters to the left and right of it.  I took out the ice cream cone from the Sweet Girl Cut Out and backed it with some of the patterned papers.  

Here are the embellishments on the right side of my photo.  The ice cream and treats in this collection are so adorable.

I created my title using a phrase from the Ciao Chip Chipboard Stickers, Aria Alphas in Punch and the Florence Alphas in Bell Pepper.

 

I added a fun cluster on the bottom of my page using some of the border stickers from the Doohickey Cardstock Stickers as well as a few Ephemera pieces.  

As a finishing detail, I added in some of the super cute Epoxy Sprinkles stickers.  

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope that I've inspired you in some way today.  I hope you love creating with this sketch, it's a great one!  See you in my next post friends.  

 

Bella Blvd Supplies Used: 

My Candy Girl Collection: 12x12 Patterned Papers, Doohickey Cardstock Stickers, Ciao Chipboard Stickers, Epoxy, Cute Clips, Ephemera and Cut Outs; Bella Besties: Florence Alphas in Bell Pepper and Aria Alphas in Punch.  

 

You Are My Sunshine + Bella Besties Week Day 3 | Tarrah

Hi creative friends!

It's Tarrah back with you today to share a new scrapbook layout featuring the You Are My Sunshine collection and Bella Besties.

I started by choosing one of the gorgeous Bella Blvd Rainbow cut files from the Silhouette Store and cut each piece out from some of the Bella Besties Freehand Graph and Dot papers. 

Once the pieces of the cut file were all cut out I adhered them to recreate the rainbow to a plain piece of white cardstock. I placed them so the dots were showing on the pink one and then alternating with the plaid for the red and so on. As I glued each strip down, I bent up the edges on the top of each of them so I could add some mixed media. I took out some Distress Oxide inks in coordinating colors and lightly painted under the tops of the curves of the sections of rainbow. I also added some splatters in the same colors. I trimmed down the white cardstock and adhered the cardstock to the colorful side of the My Only Sunshine paper, I just love all of the color on this layout! 

Once the inks were all dry and the rainbow was in place, I added my photo which is a black and white Snapchat selfie of myself looking slightly up to the sky, the Keep Looking Up There May Be A Rainbow die-cut piece was the perfect piece to add to my page so I placed this directly under my photo. I also added a few Doohickey stickers from the You Are My Sunshine collection here. To the left of my photo there was a space in the main rainbow so I added a die-cut one and then layered some puffy stickers also in rainbows over the top. At the base of the rainbow sections at either end, I added the 2 super cute chipboard clouds. Around the top of the rainbow cut file, I decided to add some of the chipboard dots, spreading them out to create a sense of movement on the page. I also had to add the super cute sun chipboard piece and layered a Doohickey sticker on top too.

Next it was time to add some embellishments, I decided to add them tone on tone, choosing die-cuts, chipboard, puffy stickers, epoxy stickers and Doohickey stickers. I placed the embellishments scattered on the rainbow in their matching or as close to their matching colors. When I attach small embellishments to my pages, I use liquid glue and I will even add extra glue to things that I think might need some extra. The chipboard pieces I usually find will need an extra helping hand.

Lastly I stamped the date stamp of when the photo was taken and I added the black photo corners from the Doohickey sticker sheet to each corner of the layout.

Thanks so much for stopping by the Bella Blvd blog today! I absolutely LOVE how my layout turned out and hope you love it as much as I do!

Bella Blvd products used:

You Are My Sunshine collection - My Only Sunshine paper

Bella Besties Freehand Graph and Dot papers

You Are My Sunshine Chipboard

You Are My Sunshine Doohickey stickers

You Are My Sunshine Ephemera Icons

You Are My Sunshine Puffy Stickers

You Are My Sunshine Epoxy Stickers

Happy creating!

To The Moon Collection Week Day 1 | Brianna Lepper

Hey friends!  Brianna Lepper here today sharing a new layout using the super awesome To The Moon collection.  While going through some older photos, I found the perfect ones to match this collection.  The photos are of my boys riding a little spaceship ride at a kids fair we went to.  Here's my layout, make sure to check out my process video at the end of this post to see how it came together! 

 

I really wanted to add a lot of different patterned papers to my page so I decided to use several different star punches from my stash.  The star shape really goes well with this collection too.  After I punched all of my stars, I put them aside and created a subtle mixed media background.  I pulled out my Shimmerz Paints sprays in yellow and orange and painted a thick, wavy line.  I planned on layering my stars right on top and thought that the yellow and orange colors would really make my stars pop.  

 

I also added some silver Stickles around the perimeter of all of my punched stars.  I just love that extra added sparkle!

 

I used the Ciao Chip Chipboard stickers to create my title and also added onto it with some Florence Alphas in Orange.

 

I pulled in some of the stars from that chipboard sticker sheet and also pulled in some ephemera pieces as well.  

 

I thought that the orange section needed a little something extra so I added in one of the Pennants from the Boy pack.  I also added in a few clusters of tangled thread and finished it off with some of the Epoxy stickers.  

 

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope that I've inspired you in some way today!  See you next time friends!

 

 

 

Bella Blvd Supplies Used: 

To The Moon Collection: Patterned Papers, Ciao Chip Chipboard Stickers, Ephemera Icons, Epoxy Stickers, Doohickey Cardstock Stickers, Pennants; Bella Besties: Florence Alphas in Orange.  

 

 

My Candy Girl Week Day 2 | Yarelys Rodriguez

Hey there Bella Friends! Hope you are having a wonderful day! Yarelys here to share with you a new layout! To make this layout I used the collection My Candy Girl.

For this layout I wanted to make a rainbow out of banners. So, I went through the papers of the collection and picked the Cookie Dough paper and cut an arch out of it. I also picked the Not Sharing, Sweet As Sugar and Unicorn Girl papers and cut lots of mini banners from them. Then, I painted my background with the Vicki Boutin Art Crayons in different tones of blue.

Once the background dried, I started building my layout. I glued the arch and layered the mini banners around it. Next, I cut the clouds from the Rainbow cut file. I cut the clouds in different sizes to layer them and create dimension. Then, I hand stitched around some of the clouds and glued them. I also glued my photo.

For my title I used the Sweetest and Smile words from the Ciao Chip. To finish my layout, I filled the center of the clouds with the Epoxy and added Doohickey, Ciao Chip and Puffy Stickers.

I love how this layout turned out! Hope you all like it and get inspired to create beautiful things! You can find the link for the process video of this layout below. Thanks for stopping by!

Have a lovely day!

Yarelys xx

@dreamsandpapers

https://youtu.be/6grHw-Uj_64

Bella Blvd Supplies Used:

My Candy Girl Collection: Cookie Dough, Not Sharing, Sweet As Sugar and Unicorn Girl papers.

Doohickey: My Candy Girl.

Ciao Chip: My Candy Girl.

Puffy Stickers: Sugar Coating.

Epoxy: Sprinkles and Heart Christmas Mix.

Cut File: Rainbow.

Heart Attack Week Day 4 | Sarah Millerhouse

Happy Valentine’s week! I love celebrating love, and I adore all the hearts I am seeing this week! I’m excited to share this love layout I created, featuring pictures of my niece with each of my babies and me! These are three of the people I love most in the world, so the photos were perfect for a love layout! 

I started with the Rainbow Heart Border Bella Blvd cut file. I ungrouped the hearts in the file and moved them around my page. I made them all different sizes and cut them out of solid white cardstock. I used the negative as the foundation for this page. 

Before I lifted it off the cutting mat, I used a little distress oxide around each heart to give a soft glow. I knew what patterned papers I was using to back each heart and used a coordinating color of ink. 

I backed each heart behind the white cardstock using patterned papers from the “You Are My Sunshine” and “Hearts & Ombré” collections. I stitched around most of the hearts using a few different types of stitches and color coordinated embroidery thread. I added dots of glitter around the hearts I didn’t stitch. This gives your eye varied details to notice and great texture! 

I filled the biggest heart with puffy hearts from the Puffy Hearts Stickers and Trinkets Puffy Stickers sheets. I included hearts in each of the colors on the page and varied the levels by using craft foam. 

I included ephemera hearts from “You Are My Sunshine” and Ciao Chip hearts from the “Squeeze the Day” collection. I added my sweet photos and distressed the edges of patterned paper behind them. I finished by adding my title using Ciao Chip letters from the “My Candy Girl” collection. 

I hope this layout makes you feel the love and inspires you in some way!!💖🧡💛

Heart Attack Week | Brianna Lepper

Hey friends!  Happy Valentine's Day!!  I hope you all have a great day spending it with the ones that you love!  For my layout, I used photos that I had taken of my boys when we had a dinner date at one of our favorite sushi restaurants.  My oldest was messing around with my youngest and I'm so happy that I captured it.  Here's my page, make sure to check out the process video at the end of this post to see how it came together!

 

 

I thought it would be fitting to use the Heart Attack Cut Out for this page!  This week is all about hearts, so I wanted to put on as many as I could.  I also wanted to do a bit of mixed media on my background and thought it would be fun to turn half of the Cut Out into a stencil.  So I tore it in half, added a bit of adhesive to the back to keep it still and then sprayed on a rainbow of colors using my Shimmerz Paints sprays from my stash.  I love how it turned out!  Then I popped the remaining portion of the Cut Out on foam tape and adhered it down.  I planned on adding all of my photos and embellishments, right on top.

 

 

I chose the Squeeze The Day collection specifically for the Ciao Chip sticker as my title (not only are they squeezing their day, but Noah is squeezing Elijah's neck and I thought it was cute lol).  This collection is also fun and has a lot of heart elements in it!  I used quite a few of the hearts from the Ephemera Icons and the Ciao Chip stickers.   

 

 

Here's the title: 

 

 

I matted my photos on vellum and arranged them so that I could add clusters of hearts between them all.  

 

 

For additional heart elements, I pulled in some Heart Hugs, Trinkets Puffy Stickers and a few Epoxy stickers.  

 

 

One more shot: 

 

 

Thank you so much for stopping by!  I hope that I've inspired you in some way today.  See you in my next post friends!

 

 

 

Bella Blvd Supplies Used: 

Squeeze The Day Collection: Ciao Chip Stickers, Epoxy Hearts, Ephemera Icons; Bella Besties: Heart Hugs Rainy Day, Mini Heart Hugs Sentiments, Trinkets Puffy Stickers in Blueberry, Punch, Peep and Cotton Candy; Word Salad Booklet. Cut Outs: Heart Attack.