Bella Blvd Studio Blog

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

Fabulous friend by Kim Watson

Do you have 'leftovers' from various collections on your craft table?

Well I always do, so this week's challenge of using 3 or more collections together, came at the perfect time for me. This page is the result.

Fabulous Friends by Kim Watson

The theory behind this type of design is simple. 

1. Have a specific page theme to guide your pattern & embellishment choices.
2. Choose a base to hold the design; I selected a white Chevies Clear Cuts sheet.
3. Decide on a color palette; I chose pink, orange, yellow with aqua highlights.
4. Collect leftover paper strips & stickers that comply with points 1., 2. and 3.
5. Get crafty :D

 

As you can see, the Bella 'philosophy' of having standard color palettes really helps the 'mixing' process. Look how well the patterns from the different collections coordinate together. 

These are the collections I used:

1. Plaids & Dotty
2. Mom Life
3. Oh My Stars
4. She Blooms

 

The strips trimmed from short to long, create a colorful mat for my photo, this makes for an eye catching focal point. Did you notice how I have varied the heights of each piece? The stepped effect allows one to slip embellishments in between the layers in an organic manner, as well as giving the page dimension. Don't you love the way the resulting shadows add super visual interest?

 

Earlier I mentioned using aqua as a highlight color....I did so using one of my fave embellishments, a big Felt Bow with support from appropriate Word Salad sentiment stickers. The blue acts as visual anchors & helps one to visually move around the page. 

So no matter the theme of your project, Bella Blvd has the perfect combination of products to make your crafting process a seamless one. I hope you are inspired to 'bust your stash' using this timeless idea.

Have an awesome day further.

Hugs XOXO

 

Moms Life, Oh My Stars, She Blooms, Plaids & Dotty Collection, Word Salad Booklet, Puffy Stickers, Bella Bows, Acrylic Words, Chevies Clear Cuts

DIY Mini Easter Baskets

Who loves putting together little DIY gifts for friends and family? I certainly do! And when I can use my paper crafting supplies to do it, it's even more fun! Christine joining you today to show how I combined several Bella Blvd Collections to make these mini Easter Baskets!

I decided to go ahead and make a girl one and a boy one using a cardstock base and then topping that with Plaids & Dotty!

I also used the Wish Big collection to create an egg embellishment. I simply cut the lantern from the ephemera pack in half and then spread it out on white cardstock so that it would form an oval. Then I fussy cut around it and voila, an egg! Adding a simple border down the middle accompanied by enamel dots made it even more cute.  

To identify the baskets, I created simple accompanying tags. Both tags came from the Oh My Stars Collection. No need to wonder, the colors match up perfectly because that's one thing that Bella Blvd is known for! With each collection you can count on the colors matching up from other collections, meaning it's easy to mix and match!

My approach was pretty much the same for the girl basket: add an egg, an embellishment, and a tag! You may notice that the style of the two baskets is slightly different. I used two different cut files but they are put together the same way. You can check out my video below for more details!

I do want to point out one more little detail that helps make these baskets special! The Bella Bows on the top were just the right finishing touch! I love it when you find an embellishment that is just right!

Thanks so much for joining me today! Happy Crafting Friends!

Bella Bows, Wish Big Collection: Ciao Chip, Ephemera, Stickers; Plaids & Dotty: Patterned Paper, Oh My Stars: Tags, Heart Hugs: Enamel Dots

 

 

Spring Flowers Scrapbooking Layout

I don't know about you but Spring always makes me put on my happy face. Mine usually comes in the form of a smile. My youngest daughter on the other hand displays her happiness slightly differently and I just had to document it.

When I started this layout, I knew I'd have tons of outdoor Spring-like photos to choose from so I created this layout backwards. Crazy concept but it worked. I decided I wanted to create a layout with tons of Spring colored flowers so I looked through my cut file library and found this design by Paige Evans. It's great because it sets the stage for the theme of the page yet leaves plenty of space to keep the attention focused on the photo.

I chose to back the cut file with 3 different green patterned papers for the various leaf types and then used Spring colored patterned papers for the different flowers.

Once I layered the backed cut file on the background paper I noticed it wasn't popping enough off the page.  I did two things to fix this. First, I fussy cut the diamond border from a patterned paper and adhered the strips to the back of the cut out design so it would create a border.  Then I glued the cut file and applied a thick coat of white gesso to the inside it. The diamonds look like arrows pointing in toward the photo and the gesso allows everything (photo, title and sentiments) inside the square to not get lost.

Lastly I added the chipboard flowers in corners across from each other to give the page a bit of dimension. Since I only adhered the inside border of the cut file to the background I think I will also pop some of the flowers and leaves up using foam dots.

I hope this sweet girl's silly face and the fancy flowers in this layout bring a little happiness your way today.

Plaids & Dotty; Wish Big Patterned Papers: Daily Details, Party Animal, Cakes & Crowns, Let's Celebrate, Candle Parade, Borders, Caio Chip Icons, Sticky Mix Cardstock Stickers; Island Escape Patterned Papers: Borders, Daily Details, Peace & Quiet, Bonus Pattern; Mom Life Patterned Papers: Houseplants, Daily Details, My Tribe, Jammies All Day; Oh My Stars Fundamentals; Wonky Alpha Puffy Stickers

 

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

Easter Bunny | Erica Thompson

Hello everyone! Erica here with you today to share a new layout with you! This week we are creating Easter/Spring layouts to share with you. For this layout I pulled out my Bella Blvd stash of papers and pulled out all the papers that matched the Simply Spring 12x12 sticker sheet.

I knew I wanted to use this beautiful cut file I cut weeks ago from Paige Evans. I cut it out of some white cardstock and backed it with a bunch of spring colored Bella Blvd papers. I love how it turned out and how colorful it is. 

The photo I am documenting is of my friend Sandy and I when she was up for a visit. We had to run to Wal-Mart to get a few things and the Easter Bunny was around giving out candy! Of coarse we had to get a selfie with him! I love this photo so much and it reminds me of the crazy fun Sandy and I have when we are together.

I used so many different collections in this layout but you would never know that! Everything matches perfectly together and that is one of the things I love about Bella Blvd! Once the cut file was backed I added lots of foam tape behind it and adhered it to a piece of white cardstock. I love the dimension this adds to the layout. 

I added a few layers behind my photo and also popped this up on the layout with some foam tape. I kept the embellishments pretty light on this layout since the cutfile is pretty busy and colorful. I added some of the stickers from the 12x12 sticker sheet, some enamel dots around the layout and a white heart hug. 

I love how it turned out! Here is a look at my completed layout. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today

 

Simply Spring 12x12 Stickers, Plaids & Dotty, Wish Big 6x12 Sticky Mix, Oh My Stars 12x12 Fundamentals, Mom Life Pattern Paper My Tribe, Color Chas Pattern Paper Peep Strandz, Popsicles & Pandas Pattern Paper Oh Summer, Heart Hugs

 

Unicorns & Spring Road Trips

Hey Bella Blvd Friends! It's Leanne here today sharing a fun and flowery layout just in time for Spring! This week I have used the brand new Bella Blvd silhouette cut files on my page, creating a quirky little unicorn from the zebra design. Check it out below!

I have also pulled out the Plaids and Dotty collection, as well as the Wish Big (Girl). The colours in these patterned papers evoke images of all things Spring. Perfect for documenting those seasonal memories!

The first thing I did was cut out my unicorn. I downloaded the Zebra file from the Silhouette store and added an offset outside image to produce the black cardstock shadow.

Patterned paper, white cardstock and glitter cardstock made up the rest of the cut out embellishment. The party hat conveniently becomes the glitter horn and at this stage adding glitter cardstock to the toes is just a bit of fun! The mane and tail are cut from several pieces of colour blocked patterned paper. For extra detail, fringe cut the mane before adding it between the layers of cardstock. Mount the face and nose onto foam tape for dimension.

For the flowers, I downloaded the Pink Flower from the Wish Big cut file collection and cut several of varying sizes out, to layer upon each other. The flowers were finished with an enamel dot in the center. The leaves were also cut from this cut file download.

Once the unicorn and flowers have been created I started to build my layout.

step 1. Trim white cardstock to size and hand stitch a rainbow directly to the back ground. Place the unicorn and flowers into position.

step 2. Add a 4"x4" photo to the other end of the stitched rainbow. Include some extra silhouette flowers and leaves above the photo.

 

step 3. Include dimension on the page with foam tape adhered to Wish Big (Girl) Words and Heart Hugs among the layers.

step 4. My title work follows the line of the rainbow curve. Using different fonts and colours draws attention to this focus point. A mix of Wonky Alphabets and Tiny Text coordinates beautifully with the Spring colours already displayed.

step 5. Allow your unicorn to be a little more quirky by including a small bow that has been removed from a Cute Clip paperclip.

step 6. At this point in creating the layout, I felt like I need to ground the cardstock rather than leaving it as is. An 8.5"x11" piece of Black Plaids and Dotty patterned paper has been machine stitched below the white cardstock layer, defining the edges of my page.

step 7. Finally, include journaling below the subtitle, using strips of cardstock and a typewriter.

If you are keen to see more of the amazing cut files created for Bella Blvd, don't forget to check out the Silhouette Design Store. Hopefully I have inspired you to play along and create some fun new cut file projects. Thanks for visiting the blog today.

 

Wish Big (Girl): Words, Sticky Mix, Daily Details, Borders, Party Animal; Wish Big (Boy): Cake Time, Happy Birthday; Wonky Alphabets: Punch; Tiny Text Alphabet: White, Bold & Beautiful; Heart Hugs: Thank Yous; Cut Files: Zebra, Red Flower, Pink Flower; Enamel Dots: Bell Pepper, Punch; Cute Clips: Festive.

 

 

 

Birthday Scrapbooking Layout | Wish Big Cut File

Hi everyone. Heather Leopard is here sharing a "sweet" birthday scrapbooking layout using the new Bella Blvd Wish Big cut files available in the Silhouette store or from Lori Whitlock. Let's take a look at how this layout came together. 

I love to go big so I was excited to see the stacked birthday cake offered as a cut file. It's called "cake" by Bella Blvd. To create this layout, I started with the colors in the photo...yellow, blue, pink and then I sifted through the Wish Big papers and found practically perfect matches. When deciding on the background, I wanted something "festive" but not overwhelming since I knew I would have a lot going on with the cake.  The dotty paper in light pink was perfect. It just needed a few confetti splatters in the colors I was using for the cake!

What I love about it the cake design is that all the layers are wonky. It's just so fun! When thinking about the layers I first started out with two busy patterns and one subdued pattern but quickly realized that would detract from the photo so I subbed in more tone on tone type patterns and only chose to use patterned paper for the middle layer. I then machine stitched the layers to the background cake cut file, which you can just barely see peeking through in a few places. 

Next up was the photo.  I printed this as a 3" x 4" photo and kept the layering around it relatively simple (for me). I added a piece of patterned paper under the bottom and then layered chipboard presents and a die cut sentiment.  Easy peasy.

So the large open space of the bottom layer of the cake was perfect for the title. It also allowed me room to bring on some of the dark blue I have scattered around, since that's the color of the actual cake in the photo. Then I was staring at the rest of the cake, which was not decorated yet and it dawned on me that layered cakes usually have some sort of decor, usually flowers so I pulled out the floral chipboard and anchored them in each corner.  I just love how they work so well for this page.

Bella Blvd Wish Big Collection, Wish Big Ciao Chip, Wish Big Ephemera Words, Wish Big Ephemera

Plaids and Dotty: Cotton Candy

Bella Blvd Cake cut file, Silhouette cutting machine

Using the New Cut Files || Memories

Good morning everyone! Kat here today to share my newest layout made with the new cut files!

I chose to use just one file - the red flower - and repeat it multiple times. I re-sized it a few times and cut out a bunch of them that I sprinkled all up and down my page. I then added in coordinating Word Salad Stickers on top of them, added in a few pickle juice-colored enamel hearts and my acrylic title. This page came together so fast since my main element was the pretty cuts.

Here is the full project:

Thanks so much for stopping in today!

Patterned Paper: Mom Life: My Tribe, Wish Big Girl: Borders, Party Animal, Cake and Crowns, Plaids and Dotty: Pickle Juice, Oh My Stars: Plum Stars; Enamel Hearts: Pickle Juice; Word Salad Stickers; Acrylic Word: Memories

Mixed media layout in 20 minutes by Kim Watson

I love design challenges and this week we have a super challenge on the go:

Design a page in 20 minutes.

I decided to take the challenge one step further and attempted a simple mixed media page with a die cut title in 20 minutes. And guess what? I was able to do it. Even though a simple design, the effects are fabulous!

This is the result.

To play along, these are the Bella products you will be needing.

Hip Hip Hooray by Kim Watson

Other supplies:

• Heavy cardstock
• Gesso
• Spray inks
• Silhouette cutting machine
• Cutting file from the Bella Blvd shop at The Silhouette Design Store

 

The background might look complicated, but it isn't at all.

• Cut the large title from the cardstock base, & cover the top half of the page with a thin layer of gesso using your fingers to blend. 
• Gesso dries almost immediately, now spray a thin layer of pink ink over the gesso'd area. 
• Splatter a selection of inks around the page to add 'confetti'.
• Cut the x2 pink patterns into strips big enough to fill the cut out area.
• Using foam adhesive, adhere the die cut word directly over the cut out title, creating a lovely dimensional effect. 

• Machine stitch the black dotted paper behind the white cardstock.
• Take the Sheet of Daily Details & cut from it the pieces you'll be needing. e.g. patterned circles, torn sprinkles paper, cake etc.
• Layer photo with patterned squares.
• Attach sentiment & puffy stickers.
• Adhere paper circles to the page & decorate with white enamel dots.
• Attach felt bows & thread.
• Write journaling. 

Oh My Stars: Black dot

Wish Big Girl: Daily Details, Sticky Mix

Paids & Dotty: Cotton Candy

Puffy Stars: Ice

Felt bows: Boy

Extra: Puffy Flowers