Bella Blvd Studio Blog

Layouts On Wednesdays: Two Page Layout Challenge

Today we have more free-for-all layout shares from our layout designers. But this month, I've also added in some fun challenges for the designers to take on as they create their layouts. The challenge for this week was to create two page layouts.

“Play”, by Jaclyn Rench.

You might never guess from these photos, but my little girl in teeny tiny. Her confident smile and precarious positioning on the playground equipment, shown here, might lead you to believe otherwise, though. The funny thing is, she thinks she is just as big as she looks, and is always attempting to copy the many things she sees her older brothers do.  Because this is so much a part of her personality right now, I knew I needed to document this memory in her scrapbook. I seamlessly mixed and matched elements from many different Bella collections to create this fun and happy page, showcasing this memorable stage in my daughter's life.

Supplies:
Love and Marriage: May Eighteenth, Esther Fleming Floral; Engaged at Last: He Proposed, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sand and Surf: Beach Balls, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers; All American: Chipboard Icons; Kiss Me: Bouquet Kisses; Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Gulf; Ciao Chip Elements: Clouds, Family Words, Trees; Designer Tape: Gulf Dot

“4 months old”,  by Jaclyn Rench.

My youngest son is four years old and I am STILL working my way through his baby album. Fortunately, the challenge to scrap a 2 page layout, was just the push I needed to pull out some of his early baby photos, the Bella Baby Boy collection and get to work! I love so many of the patterns and images in this collection that I wanted to find a way to incorporate as many of them as possible on my 2 page spread. My trusty square punch proved to be the perfect tool to allow me to include bits and pieces of many of the patterns, while also creating a quick and easy, cozy quilt design to showcase my photos.

Supplies:
Baby Boy: It's a Boy, Baby Blue, Momma's Boy, Wild About You, On the Go!, Heaven Sent, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers; High Five Alpha Stickers: Brown-Cream 

"Date Night", by Katherine McElvain.

Two page layouts are seldom created in my world so this assignment was a bit of a challenge. But  I realize that sometimes twice the space is great for accommodating more photos and more memories. In this case I had some fun pictures of a night out with some good friends at a murder mystery dinner party. I wanted to highlight all of our friends and fun, and two pages allowed me to fit it all in. The first page looks like one of my typical single photo layouts, and the second coordinates with a collage of smaller photos.  The photos had been taken indoors, at night, with a flash, so the color and quality was lacking. Therefore, I turned the grouping of photos to black and white to help create uniformity. I mixed a variety of Bella collections to create my color story of blues, purples and a bit of red.

Supplies:
Too Cute to Spook: The Boo Crew, Cob Webs, Cute Cuts; Socialite: Alpha+Bits Stickers, Cute Cuts, Dance Circle; Engaged At Last: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Love and Marriage: Smokey's In Love, Cake Tasting, May Eighteenth; Sand & Surf: Chipboard Icons; Feathers: Oreo-Black; Button Market: Wood Mix, Feminine Mix; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Blueberry; Simply Simona Chipboard Alpha: Oreo, Prune; Quattrofina Alpha Stickers: Milk & Oreo

“Happiness Right Here”, by Diane Payne.

For my 2-page layout I thought it would be fun to use a sequence of photos. For the larger photo I selected one with a lot of white space for my title. The swing photos were perfect for the Sunshine & Happiness collection, especially the Play Date patterned paper.

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Popsicle Kisses, Play Date, Happy Clouds, Chipboard Icons, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sand & Surf: Paradise, Chipboard Icons; High Five Alpha Stickers: Yellow, Piggy Punch; Ciao Chip Elements: Clouds; Designer Tape: Hot Pink Dot, Ice Stripe, Polka Dot Combo; Button Market: Fruit Punch, Hot Pink Flowers; Flags: Floral

“You Are My Sunshine”, by Sheri Reguly.

The starting point for my layout was this sweet photo taken of my daughter a few years back. I selected a variety of patterned papers and sticker accents that coordinated with the colors in my photo, as well as the patterns within her dress. A large die cut title balances the right hand side of my two page spread with the photo and journaling situated on the left.

Supplies:
Sand & Surf: GPS, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Miniatures; Love And Marriage: Just Write Journaling Stickers; Kiss Me: Borders & Cute Cuts; Baby Girl: Daddy’s Girl

Tuesday Inspiration

Inspiration is all around us, and can be interpreted in so many different ways. We have chosen one image, and asked a handful of our designers to create a layout based on the inspiration piece. It's always fun to see what part of a piece a designers finds inspiring, and how they translate that into their designs. 

{Photo Credit: Photo Card Boutique}

"Hello" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

I really love the colors, flowers, and even the flagged border (which is probably not even supposed to be the "inspirational" part of the piece!) on the right side of today's inspiration piece. On this card I hand cut lots of little flowers to create a border under the large "hello" sentiment. Then I used several scraps of paper to create a random flagged border underneath the flowers. I used mostly pinks, greens, and yellows/oranges like in the inspiration piece but I threw in a little blue also!

Supplies:
Sand & Surf: Paradise, Borders, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Love and Marriage: Smokeys in Love, Esther Fleming Floral, Borders; Engaged at Last: Bachelor Extras; Spring Fling and Easter Things: Flags; Sophisticates: Miniature Card Sentiments; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Pickle Juice; Finally Fall: Borders

"For a Super Great Friend" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

Still inspired by the colors, flowers, and flagged border on the inspiration piece, I used just 1 large flower here and created a flagged border behind it. I used a pretty subtle background paper ("Smokeys in Love" from the "Love & Marriage" line) so that the brightly colored patterned paper would stand out better. Thanks for looking!

Supplies:
Love and Marriage: Smokeys in Love, Esther Fleming Floral, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Engaged at Last: Bachelor Extras; Sand & Surf: Paradise, Beach Balls, Borders; Sunshine & Happiness: Flags; Sophisticates: Miniature Card Sentiments; Finally Fall: Borders; Button Market: Fruit Punch

“You Are Special” card, by Shellye McDaniel.

I added a splash of color to the chevron paper by applying some Designer Tape over a portion of it. For this card I wanted to show how the patterned papers can be turned into beautiful blossoms. Each flower was given two layers, along with a smaller flower and button in the center. Using a stylus and molding mat, you can give shape to the petals and create a true 3-D effect.

Supplies:
Engaged At Last: Alpha+Bits Stickers, Bachelorette Party; Sand & Surf: Borders, Paradise; Kiss Me: Flutter; Sophisticates: Miniature Card Sentiments; High Five Alpha Stickers: Piggy Punch; Designer Tape: Pickle Juice Chevron; Button Market: Hot Pink Flowers

“Welcome Baby” card, by Shellye McDaniel.

We have four ladies at work who are expecting, so baby cards have been on my agenda lately :) This sweet elephant Cute Cut was a must-have!  I added her to the card-front with foam dots and then embellished. The small green circles at the bottom were cut from one of the Baby Boy papers.

Supplies:
Baby Girl: It's a Girl, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Cute Cuts; Baby Boy: Baby Blue; We're Expecting: Coming Soon; Sunny Happy Skies: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Ciao Chip Elements: Borders; Crochet Flowers: Dahlia

"How Sweet It Is", by Leanne Allinson.

This month's inspiration photo has inspired me in all sorts of ways! I love the color palette but I also love and have used the title from the vase. The pink gingham check has been replicated from the photo, on my back ground patterned paper, by using the Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Cotton Candy. I have even gone as far as cutting the designer tape into a banner shape, to mimic the color swatches.

Supplies:
Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Cotton Candy, Freestyle Pickle Juice; Birthday Girl: Miles of Smiles; Love and Marriage: Esther Fleming Floral;  High Five Alpha Stickers: Piggy-Punch, Yellow; Designer Tape: Cotton Candy Chevron

“Cutie Girl”, by Becky Williams.

I really liked the color combination from the inspiration piece. It is a combo that I don't typically reach for (the pink, red, yellow, brown) so it was fun to go through my Bella collections to find pieces that would work and had these pictures of my Lily that fit perfectly. I also used quite a few Designer Tapes in those colors to build up the background on the page.

Supplies: 
Love and Marriage: Cute Cuts, Smokeys In Love, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Engaged at Last: Bachelorette Icons, Engagement Icons, Bachelor Extras, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sand & Surf: Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers; High Five Alpha Stickers: Brown-Cream; Designer Tapes: 12mm Combo, Hot Pink Dot, Cotton Candy Chevron, Pony Stripe, Pink Flowers, Pony Dot, Piggy Pink Stripe, Yellow Chevron, Red Dot

“How Sweet It Is”, by Malika Kelly.

I love the colors in the inspiration photo and so I tried to use all of them on a layout. I made a wave of color going from light to dark, mixing many of Bella's collections together! I love that they are so easy to mix and match! The words on this inspiration photo were perfect for my layout and so I used them for my title also trying to keep the letters to match up with the wave of color.

Supplies:
Kiss Me: Bouquet Kisses, Flutter; Birthday Girl: Dancing Queen, Celebrate, Miles of Smiles; Sand & Surf: Flying High, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Too Cute to Spook: Itsy Bitsy Spider; Love & Marriage: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Punch; Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Asparagus, Freestyle Banana; High Five Alpha Stickers: Pink-Red, Yellow, Green; Button Market: Pink Flowers, Pickle Squares; Crochet Hearts: Cotton Candy, Bell Pepper

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We hope you will take some creative time for yourself, and try out our inspiration image! Whether it's a card, or a layout, we would love to see what you come up with. You can link them here in the comment section, or share them on our Facebook page. 

A Layout Process Video Share

Today we have a colorful layout to share with you from layout designer Jennifer Chapin. Along with the layout, Jennifer is also sharing a video that she filmed showing you her creative process in putting this layout together!

“Color Run”, by Jennifer Chapin.

Today I'm sharing a process video with you of my newest Bella layout. I do a little misting on the background, then show how to make a base for your photos using paper strips and designer tape. Hope you enjoy!

 

Supplies:
Engaged at Last: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Love and Marriage: Borders; Sand & Surf: Beach Balls, Borders, Cute Cuts, Miniatures Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Frosting, Pickle Juice, Punch, Pony; Ciao Chip Elements: Clouds; Button Market: Stars, Masculine Mix; Designer Tape: Pickle Juice, Chevron Combo, Polka Dot Combo, 12mm Combo

Saturday Sketches

I know it's not quite Saturday, but we decided to share our Saturday Sketches feature a day early. Twice a month, we'll be bringing you a new sketch, and showing you a few takes on the sketch by our designers. Today, we have our first sketch for June, courtesy of Becky Fleck.

“This Is My View”, by Becki Adams.

If I ever need a jump start on a layout I start with a sketch. I altered this sketch a little bit, I changed two photos into one photo and moved the embellishments. I love all the new Bella Blvd collections. They have the best bright and cheerful colors for any project. The yellow feather added a lot of texture and color to make this layout and stand out.

Supplies:
Love and Marriage: Turner Hall Bedroom, My Eighteenth; Sand & Surf: Flying High; Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Peep; Kiss Me: Just Write Journaling Stickers; Sienna Chipboard Alphabet: Punch; High Five Alphabet Stickers: Gulf; Designer Tape: Chevron Combo, Hot Pink Dot Tape, Ice Stripe Tape, 12mm Combo; Feathers: Bell Pepper Feathers

"Fun in the Sun", by Jenny Evans.

This was such a fun sketch to work with! I started by selecting photos that worked well with it, and then picked a collection that coordinated with the photos. It was so easy to do minimal embellishing, but also give a great impact, as this collection is full of bright, fun colors and designs!

Supplies:
Sand & Surf: Surf's Up, GPS, Cute Cuts, Borders, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Saltwater, Orange; High Five Alpha Stickers: Green; Designer Tape: Hot Pink Dot; Button Market: Outdoors

“Time For Fireworks”, by Jaclyn Rench.

I'm often a bit of a rule follower, so when working from a sketch I tend to gravitate toward a fairly literal translation. For this page though, I think it's safe to say that I stepped out of my box a bit. I took inspiration for the title, photo and journaling placement from the sketch, but otherwise took a bit of a different direction with the patterned paper, banner strips and tone on tone stars. I love that a sketch can be an exact guide to your page, or might even just provide you with a piece of inspiration to interpret your own way. 

Supplies:
All American: Borders and Cute Cuts, Seeing Stars, United We Stand, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Designer Tape: Ice Stripe, Red Chevron, Chlorine Dot

"The Fling Before The Ring", by Allyson Meinholz.

This was a great sketch to work with. These photos were taken in Las Vegas for Stephanie's Girls Weekend. The last fling before the ring! I stayed pretty true to the sketch but I did use an enlarged photo as my main focus (all of us girlies in the elevator). Then I added two smaller photos, along with my titles and captions across the top of my layout. I added some bling and glossy accents for an added touch. I can't wait to scrapbook the rest of this trip. It was a great time with great peeps!

Supplies:
Love and Marriage: Cake Tasting, May Eighteenth; Engaged At Last: Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Bachelorette Extras: Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Punch

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We hope you will take some creative time for yourself, and try out our sketch! Whether it's a card, or a layout, we would love to see what you come up with. You can link them here in the comment section, or share them on our Facebook page. 

Cards On Thursdays: Father's Day Cards

Today we have more free-for-all card shares from our card designers. But this month, just as I have done with our layout designers, I have also added in some fun challenges for the designers to take on as they create their cards. The challenge for this week was to create Father's Day cards.

“Our Dad” card, by Laurie Schmidlin.

I just love how many of Bella's papers can be used for either feminine or masculine projects! I started by using the back side of the Borders paper (from the Engaged at Last collection). To customize my card, I used some Ciao Chip letters from the Sophisticates Family Words package. For embellishments, I added a Ciao Chip star, wooden button, and a coordinating border sticker.

Supplies:
Engaged at Last: Borders, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Ciao Chip Elements: Family Words, Stars & Hearts; Button Market: Checkers

“#1 Father” card, by Laurie Schmidlin.

One of the most difficult things for me about making masculine cards is limiting the amount of embellishments that I add! Bella has so many gorgeous embellishments and it is tempting to add one of each! :-) I've discovered, though, that less is more when it comes to creating for the guys in my life. Here, I used some Man of the House Belvedere chipboard letters along with a Ciao Chip star and buttons.

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Toasty; Ciao Chip Elements: Stars & Hearts; High Five Alpha Stickers: Brown-Cream; Man of the House: Belvedere

”Dad” card, by Carina Lindholm.

Then I was making this card I decided that I wanted the focus to be on the cute moustache chipboard icon. So I placed it on some plain kraft cardstock and inside a chipboard frame. Then I adhered a yellow chipboard border, a border sticker, a button and some bling under the moustache.

Supplies:
All American: United We Stand, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Engaged at Last: Bachelor/ette Icons; Ciao Chip Elements: Borders; Buttons Market: Fruit Punch; Miniatures: Family Stickers

“The Best Dad” card, by Carina Lindholm.

I cut out a bunch of strips from the borders sheet and used them to cover my card base. I stamped the moustache on yellow patterned paper and die cut it into a star. For my sentiment I used some lovely green letter stickers.

Supplies:
Engaged at Last: Bachelor Extras; Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Banana; High Five Alphabet Stickers: Green; Hampton Art Stamps: Kiss Me

“Father’s Day”, by Kathy Martin.

It’s easy to create Father’s Day cards with Bella Blvd’s Engaged at last collection with all the guy themed accents and prints! Instead of a milk mustache, dad’s card is wearing a beer mustache! Cheers to you and your dad this Father’s Day!

Supplies:
Engaged at Last: Bachelor Extras, Flags, Ciao Chip; High Five Alpha Stickers: Green

“Star Dad”, by Kathy Martin.

It’s no secret that I absolutely adore the new All American collection! I’ve made a lot of projects with this line and I think it’s perfect for Father’s Day too! I created this all star dad card for my hubs who just so happens to be about the best dad around! Happy Father’s Day, Dan!

Supplies:
All American: Borders & Cute Cuts, Seeing Stars, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Flags: Patriotic; Button Market: Stars

Layouts On Wednesdays: Punch Challenge

Today we have more free-for-all layout shares from our layout designers. But this month, I've also added in some fun challenges for the designers to take on as they create their layouts. The challenge for this week was to use punches.

"Lucky Me", by Megan Klauer.

The color scheme of this layout started my accident more or less. I keep my Designer Tapes in a little basket & these four colors were bunched together. I loved it; so I went with it. Sometimes that's all the inspiration we need to get started. I used a variety of my go-to circle punches to add to my layers. 

Supplies: 
Love and Marriage: Smokeys in Love, Borders, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sand & Surf: Paradise; Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Saltwater; Sophisticates: Short Stories; Designer Tapes: Pickle Juice Dot, Grey Dot, Navy Blue Dot, Teal Stripe; Ciao Chip Elements: Clouds

"Sea Side Magic", by Leanne Allinson.

I love using punches to help create layers on my pages, so this Bella challenge was a lot of fun. On this layout I have used the negative space created from the circle and arrow punches to give an illusion of depth. I've also used my standard, office supply, hole punch to create some confetti "splashes" on my otherwise plain cardstock.

Supplies:
Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Banana, Freestyle Salt Water; Birthday Boy: Eat Cake, All For You; Mr Boy: Quadrants; Sand & Surf: Alpha+Bits Stickers, Borders, Beach Balls, Just Write Journaling Stickers; High Five Alpha Stickers: Gulf; Designer Tape: Piggy Pink Stripe, Pickle Juice Chevron 

“Everyday”, by Malika Kelly.

My son loves to play hockey so I decided to make a layout to document his everyday playing in the driveway. Good ol' punches are sometimes forgotten about with all the fancy die cuts we have these days, but a basic circle can make a really fun layout! I used a circle punch to punch out a bunch of different patterned paper circles and scattered them along the left side of my layout. High Five sticker letters were perfect to use as the days of the week. I took a small star punch and punched it in two of my circles. Behind the punched out star I used some Bella Blvd red chevron designer tape. I then took the punched stars and added them to the right side of my layout. To add some dimension to my layout I used foam tape to pop up some of my circles. Let's see what you can do with your punches!

Supplies:
All American: Seeing Stars, American Pride, United We Stand, Borders & Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Freestyle Sophisticates: Freestyle Scallop; Making The Team: Alpha+Bits Stickers; High Five Alpha Stickers: Black-White; Designer Tape: Red Chevron; Button Market: Masculine Mix; Flags: All American Icons