Bella Blvd Studio Blog

Sunshine & Happiness Projects

Happy weekend everyone! I hope you're all squeezing in a little bit of creative time this weekend, to work on some of our challenges from the past week. And depending where you live, you're either hiding inside, away from the rain and snow ... or if you're like me, you're outside enjoying the warm and sunny day. This weekend, we're going to focus on the idea of warm and sunny days, and share some Sunshine & Happiness projects with you!

"Summertime", by Beth Gerlach.

I spend 80% of my waking hours outside in the summertime, usually with a bunch of little people, since I own and operate a daycare. This picture is of some of my favorite little peeps. I was so happy when Stephanie came out with the super-cute, super-bright Sunshine and Happiness line!  I've also used the bright patterns for birthday pages!  I also loved the choices of embellishments that go along with the lines. Once again, Stephanie has outdone herself! I can't get enough Bella!!!

"Summer Love", by Stephanie Hunt.

Summer time is such a great excuse to dress up in bright fun colors and go outside for a photo shoot. That's exactly what I did with my niece, Lauren last year. Her darling dress was sure to make for spectacular photos against the bright green summer grass. I've been inspired lately with all the snippets and flags and banners I'm seeing around the industry and also on Pinterest that I wanted to play with paper piecing. I cut snips and  "flags" from all the different border strips on the Borders patterned paper and then layered them, popping some up and adhering others kind of wonky. I love the texture it created along the bottom of the layout. For the title, "summer l-o-v-e" I mixed and matched leftover Simona chipboard alphabets I had in different colors along with the flower chipboard element.

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Sunny Side Up, Play Date, Cute Cuts, Borders, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Miniatures stickers, Chipboard Icons; Sophisticate: Yellow High Five Alpha Stickers, Blue High Five Alpha Stickers; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Saltwater, Peep, Oyster 

"Sending You Sunshine" card, by Sheri Feypel.

For this card, I wanted to make the tree stand our from the background papers, so I adhered it to the card with some foam adhesive squares. If you take a closer look you will notice that I did the same with the Sunshine Miniature sticker. And a little more foam adhesive behind the small circle in the middle of the sunshine sticker. I might use too much foam adhesive ... just maybe ;)

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Happy Clouds, Borders, Juicy Good Time, Popsicle Kisses, Chipboard Icons, Miniatures, Alpha+Bits Stickers

"Thank You" card, by Sheri Feypel.

All of the colors in the Sunshine & Happiness collection are so cheerful and inspiring! When I got my box of goodies for CHA, I couldn't resist playing with this collection first. It was so easy to create with! The sunshine sticker on the Just Write Journaling Stickers was the inspiration for this card. I layered it on top of a tag with foam adhesive to make it really pop off the card.

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Happy Clouds, Juicy Good Time, Play Date, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Flags

"Summer Memories" card, by Gail Hoecker.

This was a fun card to design using the new Sunshine & Happiness line. I thought when putting this together, if you didn't want to use it as a greeting card, it would work well as a journaling card for a scrapbook page. You could also add some extra photos along with the journaling in the card, adhere it to your page and there you go ... you could say you are getting more real estate on your page. I used the new Button Market line and also the Crochet Flowers...yes, I am in love!

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Play Day, Happy Clouds, Borders, Cute Cuts, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Miniatures; Button Market: Aqua Flowers, Fruit Punch; Crochet Flowers: Daisies

"Sending You Sunshine" cardy, by Allyson Meinholz.

I used the Sunshine & Happiness collection on this fun card. I hand cut the sun from the Cute Cuts patterned paper, and added Stickles to add a little sunshine. I then used foam dots to make it pop off the card. I used my Martha Stewart fringe scissors to cut the grass. I love how it added more dimension to the card. I also inked the edges for added color.

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Happy Clouds, Playdate, Petal Flower, Juicy Good Time, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sophisticates Ciao Chip: Clouds

"Let's Play" card, by Wendy Wagner.

This was a fun card to make!  How excited would you be to get a play date card like this inviting you over to someone’s house? The colors of this whole line make me smile :) I love all the different color clouds from the Happy Clouds paper! All the edges are inked with chalk ink and all the elements are popped up on the front of the card. I stickled over the top of the alpha stickers to give the card some glitz! I love this line, it totally screams "happy summer!

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Happy Clouds, Popsicle Kisses, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers

 

Challenge Week With Guest Designer Shannon Tidwell: Day Five

Hey everyone! It's Shannon Tidwell here again, for our last challenge day. We love seeing all of the projects you've been linking up for the challenges, and hope to keep seeing more and more over the next week (deadline is a week from today). Thanks so much to Bella Blvd for having me this week! It's been so fun scrapping with Bella products and sharing with you guys!

Saturday Challenge: Use Punched Circles 

For my last Challenge this week we are grabbing our trusty circle punches. Don't have one? Run, don't walk, and get one. The size I use most often is my 2" circle punch, but they are fun to combine. Remember earlier in the week when I talked about my 'bag of tricks'? My circle punch is definitely in there, as is the border I made on my first layout.

A few other ideas for your circle punch:

• Cut the circles in half and create a scalloped border around your page or photo
• Punch circles out of patterned paper and use the negative space to fill with embellishments
• Create bubbles for your title
• Punch out your photos to get rid of a noisy background or to get a lot of photos on one page

"Baby Love", by Shannon Tidwell.

To create the border simply punch circles out of the papers you want to use. Then fold the circles in half. You can mix different sizes and patterns, or keep them all the same. Then adhere one side of the circle down so that the other half sticks up. You could also create a double sided border and place the circles back to back. On this layout I chose to first create a larger scalloped border underneath the folded circle border. There are all kinds of variations you could do. Wouldn't little tiny circles be cute?!

"You & Me", by Shannon Tidwell.

On the second layout I created my own polka dot background. I actually punched the circles from a patterned paper that already had circles on it. It was just a little too busy for the layout I had in mind. So by punching out a few of the circles and then adhering them to my background I was able to create my own look. The backside of the paper had a pattern on it, so I flipped some of the circles and opted for the pattern instead. It can take a bit of time to figure out your circle placement. My biggest tip is not to try 'too' hard. You want it to look natural. Sometimes I just drop the circles on the page and let that help me figure out a natural looking placement (this is especially useful with sequins or confetti).

Thanks again for letting me hang out with you this week!  Let's see how the Bella DT used their circle punches. Ciao!

"Always My Baby", by Kimberly Neddo.
{A Winter CHA Project}

For this layout, I really wanted to showcase how versatile everything is with each other. You can see that I used 3 different flag pack designs together. The Baby Boy collection can easily be used with non-baby themed layout designs, rather than strictly boy or baby themed projects. I LOVE the colors in the Baby Blue collection. I punched out the circles from one of the Baby Boy papers, and adhered them along the bottom of my white cardstock, alternating full circles and half circles. I think it adds a fun touch!

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Popsicle Kisses, Happy clouds; Baby Boy: Mama’s Boy, Baby Blue, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sophisticates: Black/White High Five Alpha Stickers, Yellow High Five Alpha Stickers; Flags: Text Me, Winter, Just Married

"Beautiful", by Laura Vegas.
{A Winter CHA Project}

When I saw the backside of the Pretty In Pink patterned paper, with all of the fun polka dots, I knew they needed to be punched out and used in a fun way. I started by adhering the cloud pattern paper to the center of my white cardstock background, leaving lots of room around the edges. I then tucked the punched out circles behind the cloud paper, one by one, overlapping them as I went. I love how they frame the main part of the layout.

Supplies:
Baby Girl: Pretty In Pink, Sweet Dreams, Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Chipboard Icons; We're Expecting: Chipboard Icons

"Sending You Sunshine" card, by Gretchen McElveen.
{A Winter CHA Project}

I punched circles out of Sunshine & Happiness patterned paper to add some interest to this card and to play off of the "sunshine" theme a little bit. I sanded the edges of each circle before adhering it to the card. To me, sanding the edges like that helps to set it apart from the background paper. Also I adhered the sentiment and sunshine stickers to the card with foam adhesive to give the card some extra dimension.

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Borders, Popscicle Kisses, Sunny Side Up, Alpha + Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers

Springtime Altered Canvas, by Katherine McElvain.
{A Winter CHA Project}

The idea for this canvas came from a painted art project I saw on Pinterest. I decided to create a similar piece using punched circles and buttons from Bella Blvd. The first step was to draw the vines in pencil and paint over them using black acrylic paint. 

I punched a variety of circles in three Bella Blvd colors, and placed them on top of the branches to fill the canvas. When I was satisfies with how the colors and circles were distributed I Mog Podged the circles to the canvas.

To create some variety and texture to the project I added cut out flowers to the circles, and sewed on coordinating buttons form the new Bella Button Market.

Supplies:
Sunshine and Happiness: Borders, Popsicle Kisses, Happy Clouds, Petal Power; Button Market: Bursts, Feminine Mix, Aqua Flowers, Fruit Punch

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And now, we are going to ask you to play along with our challenge! This week, we will be featuring FIVE challenges. But it's not just about showing you what we came up with. We want to see your take on our challenges too. And we have a little extra incentive to get you creating and sharing.

We will be drawing one winner, to receive a prize package of $100+ worth of Bella Blvd products!

But this is different than our regular giveaways. You will have to participate in the challenges, in order to be entered in the drawing for that prize package. If you participate in one challenge, your name will be entered in one time. If you participate in three of the challenges, your name will be entered in three times. Make sense? And how about a bonus. If you participate in all five challenges, your name will be entered in not five times, but TEN times! We really hope you'll join in on the fun with us. Just click on the button below, to link us up to your completed projects. You have until Friday, March 2nd, to get your links added on. We will then announce a winner on Saturday, March 3rd.

Challenge Week With Guest Designer Shannon Tidwell: Day Four

Hi, this is Shannon Tidwell back again for another fun Challenge on the Bella Blvd Blog!

Thursday Challenge: Use Border Strip Papers 

Border Strip papers are right up there with the Cute Cuts in my book! You get so much on just one sheet of paper! When I see these sheets I immediately want to cut it apart, but you don't have to. You could use the whole sheet as a background. A little too busy? Tone it down with some paint or spray. Is there one strip right in the middle you want to use? Cut it out and use it!  Border Strips are also great for cards. You can get a little bit of pattern without having to cut into a full sheet.

"He'll Remember", by Shannon Tidwell.

Flag banners are all the rage right now, and these Border Strip papers are perfect for them! I cut out several of the strips I wanted ... don't forget, you could use the backside pattern, too. I mixed the strips with a few patterned paper strips as well as a few border stickers. I also layered on a few stickers to dress the banners up just a little. I chose to have my banner come from the left side and kind of 'point' at the photo, but you could turn this any direction. Let the banner lead your eye toward the focal point of your page.  

Now, let's see the awesome layouts the Bella DT created for the Challenge.

"So Tiny", by Brook Stewart.

I loved Shannon's challenge this week! The border strip papers are always one of my favorite Bella staples! One thing I really love to do is to cut them up and use them as little tags/flags/banners. The word/phrase lines add just the perfect sentiments and the patterns tie it all in really well!

Supplies:
Baby Boy: Borders, Momma’s Boy, Heaven Sent, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Sophisticates Ciao Chip Alphas: Pickle Juice, Orange; Button Market: Masculine Mix; Designer Tape: Pickle Juice Dot

"Cupcake Love", by Lynn Ghahary.

Using just the Borders papers was definitely a challenge for me since I am a patterned paper junkie at heart.  I decided to create my own pattern of sorts using various border strips cut to size in red, pink, and white patterns to coordinate with the colors in my photos.  And, yes, those cupcakes did taste as good as they look ;)

Supplies:
Lovey Dovey: Bear Hugs; Sophisticates: Tall Tags, Quattrofina Peep & Saffron Stickers; Family Dynamics: The Littlest Things, Alpha+Bits Cardstock Stickers; Spring Flings and Easter Things: Borders; Winter Wonder: Borders

"Beautiful Butterfly", by Katherine McElvain.

Bella Blvd. Borders papers are a necessity in my stash. The variety of color on one sheet is so useful when doing projects. I often add a strip on a layout here and there. For this project I did my usual and added a strip to from the Winter Wonder Borders on the bottom of my page, and a green strip form the Sunshine and Happiness Borders layered with a sticker from the same line in the middle of the layout. But I also used the Borders strips to do some paper weaving. They coordinate perfectly to with the other Bella papers to create monochromatic projects.

I created circle flowers by weaving paper strips together. I used strips from the Borders as well as other matching papers to have a variety of patterns in the weave. Then I punched out circles and adhered them to the back of my woven paper. After I trimmed off the excess paper around the circle I had a woven flower to add to my layout. The same technique can be used with any shape. So get yourself some Borders strips and start creating.

Supplies:
Sunshine and Happiness: Borders, Happy Clouds, Popsicle Kisses, Sunny Side Up, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Winter Wonder: Borders; Baby Boy: Baby Blue; Sophisticates: Oreo Ciao Chip, Blue High Five Alpha; Crochet Flowers: Juniper; Button Market: Neutrals Mix

"Will It Stick", by Julie Johnson.

For this layout I thought it would be fun to cut the border strips from the Winter Wonder collection into various sizes. I angled the ends like ribbons, and place them at different lengths around a circle. I left the ends loose to add a bit of dimension to the layout. My goofy son and nephew thought it would be fun to see if their tongues would stick to the frozen snowman so I titled the page with the question, "will it stick?". The alpha + bits letters didn't have a question mark so I got creative and changed an "R" to a question mark. The snowman is also cut from one of the border strips and backed onto a thin piece of chipboard. I added a scallop border, a few stickers from the Miniatures sticker sheet, a glittered snowflake, and a button to complete the layout.

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Borders, Toasty, Ski Slopes, Alpha + Bits, and Miniatures

"So Happy For You" card, by Alice Carman.

For this card I cut out the flowers from the pattern and adhered it in clusters alongside the Bella Blooms. The technique layering the border strips against each other using different patterns and clusters.

Supplies:
Baby Girl: Borders, Daddy’s Girl; Baby Boy: Cute Cuts; Unity Stamps: So Happy For You; Baby Blooms a Bella: Rossini, Champagne, Azzini

"Congratulations", by Alice Carman.

Today’s challenge is to use the border papers creatively and it was a task indeed. I think my take on the challenge is simple, but also something different. I used different patterns as my borders and cut the paper according to the design so it differs from a straight cut.

Supplies:
Baby Boy: Borders, Cute Cuts, On The Go; Unity Stamps: New Set Of Wheels; Sunshine & Happiness: Happy Clouds

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And now, we are going to ask you to play along with our challenge! This week, we will be featuring FIVE challenges. But it's not just about showing you what we came up with. We want to see your take on our challenges too. And we have a little extra incentive to get you creating and sharing.

We will be drawing one winner, to receive a prize package of $100+ worth of Bella Blvd products!

But this is different than our regular giveaways. You will have to participate in the challenges, in order to be entered in the drawing for that prize package. If you participate in one challenge, your name will be entered in one time. If you participate in three of the challenges, your name will be entered in three times. Make sense? And how about a bonus. If you participate in all five challenges, your name will be entered in not five times, but TEN times! We really hope you'll join in on the fun with us. Just click on the button below, to link us up to your completed projects. You have until Friday, March 2nd, to get your links added on. We will then announce a winner on Saturday, March 3rd.

 

Challenge Week With Guest Designer Shannon Tidwell: Day Three

Hi, it's me, Shannon Tidwell, back again for another day of fun & scrapbooking.

Wednesday Challenge: Use Patterned Paper as an Embellishment

For me, patterned paper is the supply of supplies. The one thing I couldn't scrap without. Not only is it the most versatile supply, it's also the least expensive. Win win!  So let's go big with some patterned paper and use it for the main embellishment on your page. It doesn't have to be something super complicated or time consuming, just interesting. Sometimes I like to challenge myself to use it in a different way, and sometimes I go to my bag of tricks. Do you have a bag of tricks? You should! They are just techniques that you've used in the past that worked! Stuck on a layout? Pull out one of your tricks to get your layout 'un-stuck' and before you know it you'll have something you love. 

A few of my favorite tricks with patterned paper:

• Grab your scissors and cut. Circles, stars, hearts. This is a great way to mix up a lot of papers on your page, too. 
• Have a paper with great elements, but it's a little busy for the page? Cut out the elements and use them on your page.
• Strips. Wide, skinny, short, long. Create a background, a border, or a base for your title.
• Make something. I love making pinwheels and rosettes ... fun and easy ways to add interest & dimension to your page. The bigger the better of course! 

"Summer Swim Team", by Shannon Tidwell.

For my first layout today, I made a little party on my page. I love creating dimensional accents with patterned paper. They don't weigh the page down a ton....or make the $ value of the page skyrocket. I let the silly string in the photos inspire the accent. Curly-Q's are so simple to make.  Just trim super skinny strips of paper and the wrap them around any round tool you've got. I left my curly-q's pretty tight, you can unroll them some to help loosen them up, or use a larger round tool to wrap them around. 

Your first question might be, what are these going to look like in your book? The answer: still fun! I'll kind of arrange them as I put the page in the page protector. Instead of seeing the top of the curly-q's you'll see the side, which will still be fun. Go ahead, have a little party on your next page!

"Baby Love", by Shannon Tidwell.

And the technique I chose for my second layout, I grabbed my trusty fringe scissors. You could do this same technique with regular scissors, but the fringe ones make it go a lot faster ... and the cuts are more uniform. I love how the fringe scissors kind of curl the paper automatically. This adds a lovely bit of texture and dimension. And if a little fringe is good, a lot is great!  (This is kind of my motto with everything in scrapbooking.)

To create the fringe border on this layout I cut several strips of patterned paper.  I usually cut them about 3" wide and then I have plenty of room to fringe and overlap them. Plain strips of paper would have been okay, but the fringe makes the paper an embellishment. 

Let's see what the Bella Blvd team has for you!

"My 2 Loves", by Nancy Damiano.

I love the eclectic look of mixing different patterns gives. I used the Silhouette to cut a little more than a dozen hearts out to adhere to the page. I chose both large and small patterns, as well as solid colored and multi-colored patterns to give the heart collage some pop.  I adhered the hearts with a mix of buttons and mini-staples, as well as pop dots for a layered look. The entire collage was built on a square of vellum to ground it to the layout.  The row of black and white photos of my husband and son through the years really stands out against the stark colors. This was such a fun and easy look to pull together. A little bit of this and a little bit of that - just how I like my pages!

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Calendar, Petite Pieces, Miniatures; Winter Wonder: Blizzard, Icy; Spring Fling & Easter Things: Moms Bouquet, Alpha+Bits; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Saltwater, McIntosh

"Pretty Tulips", by Becky Williams.

To create these flowers I simply cut narrow strips of patterned paper, added glue to the center and folded the ends to the middle. I then layered the strips and added a button with strong liquid adhesive. 

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Sprinkles and Lace Oyster, McIntosh; High Five Alphabet Stickers: Black/White; Spring Flings and Easter Things: Egg Hunt; Designer Tape: Red Dot, Pickle Juice Dot; Button Market: Snowflakes, Zebra, Bursts

"Wipeout", by Melissa Stinson.
{A Winter CHA Layout}

I'm just going to gloss over the fact that my husband and I were crazy enough to use our kayak as a sled (we hardly ever have snow here, so our existence is a sledless one) and skip straight to the techniques. I'd been wanting to try Marcy Penner's chevron tutorial for a while, and these photos of my husband falling out of the-kayak-I-shall-not-mention just begged for the jagged edges of a set of vertical chevrons. It kinds of makes the whole layout say "ouch," don't you think? And, yes, there is video of us being insane on YouTube...somewhere. ;)

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Blizzard, Toasty, Ski Slopes; Button Market: Snowflakes; Flags: Winter; Sophisticates: Blue High Five Alphabets

"Lara", by Sue Mylde.

As a teenager in Singapore, I took the bus to and from school. These buses had mini printout tickets which we teens like to 'create' something with. One of my favorite things is to create these paper origami hearts with them. And for this challenge I wanted to make these hearts for this layout too! While I used one of the hearts out by its lonesome, I've also clustered up some hearts together to create a flower and then layered it on top with another one of those cute blooms from the Bella collection! Cute, right? I love these Spring Flings & Easter Things collection - so bright and fun! It's not yet spring here in Calgary but I'm sure feeling the warmth of this page!

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: Egg Hunt, Mom's Bouquet, Sunny Sunday, Borders, Cute Cuts, Alphas +Bits; Blooms-a-Bella

"Sending You Sunshine" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

For this card I cut a bunch of clouds out of the Happy Clouds patterned paper from the Sunshine and Happiness line. Cutting images out of patterned paper is one of my favorite "techniques"!! I used the clouds to embellish around the sunshine from the Cute Cuts sheet. I adhered a couple of the clouds with foam adhesive to add some dimension to the card. I thought this was a perfect card to use the "Sending you some sunshine" sticker from the Alpha+Bits sticker sheet. Challenge complete!

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Happy Clouds, Cute Cuts, Sunny Side Up, Juicy Good Time, Alpha+ Bits Sticker Sheet; Flags: Floral

"Congrats" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

I used my circle punch to punch some patterned paper from the Baby Boy line. I also punched kraft cardstock with a slightly larger circle punch. Then I added the patterned paper on top of the kraft and created a big circle border across the card. I cut a couple of tiny hearts out of the Borders sheet from the Baby Boy line and used them as small embellishments on the card. Fun!

Supplies:
Baby Boy: Alpha + Bits stickers, It's a Boy, Momma's Boy, Cute Cuts, Borders

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And now, we are going to ask you to play along with our challenge! This week, we will be featuring FIVE challenges. But it's not just about showing you what we came up with. We want to see your take on our challenges too. And we have a little extra incentive to get you creating and sharing.

We will be drawing one winner, to receive a prize package of $100+ worth of Bella Blvd products!

But this is different than our regular giveaways. You will have to participate in the challenges, in order to be entered in the drawing for that prize package. If you participate in one challenge, your name will be entered in one time. If you participate in three of the challenges, your name will be entered in three times. Make sense? And how about a bonus. If you participate in all five challenges, your name will be entered in not five times, but TEN times! We really hope you'll join in on the fun with us. Just click on the button below, to link us up to your completed projects. You have until Friday, March 2nd, to get your links added on. We will then announce a winner on Saturday, March 3rd.

I saw a few questions come up in the comment section, and wanted to answer them here:
1. Yes ... cards count the same as layouts!
2. You don't have to have a blog to participate. You can link us to your project on Flickr, Pinterest, or in an online gallery.

Challenge Week With Guest Designer Shannon Tidwell: Day Two

Hi, it's me, Shannon Tidwell, back again for another day of fun & scrapbooking! We hope you're all working on our first challenge, because we really want to see YOUR takes on the ideas. And now, we're going to dive right into our next challenge.

Tuesday Challenge: Use patterned papers from 4 or more collections on your project

I LOVE mixing up patterned papers. Sometimes I start with the papers before the picture.  I dig through my stacks and put together a mix that I like and then see what photos I have that will go with them. If mixing patterned papers from different collections or even manufacturers seems daunting I have a few tips. You could stick with the same color scheme, mix larger patterns with smaller ones to help the balance, find inspiration from fashion or home decor, and my biggest tip ... don't overthink it!

"Happy", by Shannon Tidwell.

For my layout, Happy, as I was looking through the colorful stack of Bella Blvd papers my eye was drawn to the chevron pattern. So I picked out several of the similar pattern in different colors. To help balance it I added in a couple polka dots. I started with one paper as the background and just kept adding strips of patterned paper. I added in a few chipboard accents as well as stickers to add dimension and separation between the patterns. A couple fun things about the page. I sprinkled sequins across the page and then covered them with masking tape. A fun and easy border. Second, I stacked the chipboard title. I actually couldn't decide between the two colors so I decided to use both! The border sticker across the top wasn't quite 8.5" so I snipped it on one side and left a gap, then I filled the gap with a couple sticker tags and tied them together with twine.

"Birthday Girl", by Shannon Tidwell.

For my second layout today I decided to go with a monotone color scheme. That keeps matching papers super easy, especially with pinks. I based my layout on a sheet of Kraft cardstock to mellow the layout a bit. Then I punched about six 2" circles of each paper I'd chosen. By having such an interesting background I decided to keep the rest of the page relatively simple. I balanced the photo with a kraft tag and a few stickers as well as the pin she wore at her birthday (complete with pink icing on it). I thought the top of the page needed a little something so I combined a few stickers for a fun little embellishment.

I can't wait to see what the Bella Blvd Design Team came up with for the challenge.

"Hello Cupcake", by Melissa Stinson.

Mixing Bella collections is so easy! There are so many colors that are similar across the lines (such as the entire Sophisticates palette), so if you pick a red or yellow from one line, it's pretty much guaranteed to coordinated with the same color from another. For this layout I wanted aqua, yellow, and red, so I flipped through some older (and one of the new!) Bella collections, to pull together several sheets that complimented my photos.

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Blue High Five Alphabets, Essentials Peep & McIntosh Chipboard, Simply Simona McIntosh Chipboard; Baby Blooms a Bella: Azzini, Saffron; Midterm: Blurbs; Designer Tape: Yellow Chevron; Sunny Happy Skies: Creamsicle Clouds; Family Dynamix: Quadrants; Sunshine & Happiness: Borders, Happy Clouds; Hello Beautiful: Just Because; Socialite: Tango

"Happiness", by Laura Vegas.

Collections are great, because you can pull one set of papers out and know that they will all match. But I love the challenge of mixing papers from a wide variety of collections, onto one layout. And with Bella's patterned papers, this is so easy to do. For my layout, I started with the chipboard "Happiness" title, and I pulled all of my patterned papers to match the colors in the chipboard letters. Because so many of the papers are tone-on-tone patterns, they can be used together easily. Even in choosing each color's paper, I had lots of different papers to choose from. For example, I could have pulled a great green pattern paper from 3-4 different collections. (BTW, for a little "tutorial" of sorts, on how I created the sunburst on my layout, visit my blog HERE)

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Happy Clouds, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Miniatures Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Family Dynamix: The Littlest Things, Words of Wisdom, Quadrants; Too Cute To Spook: Itsy Bitsy Spider; Socialite: Cute Cuts; Tail Waggers & Cat Naps: Blocks N Borders; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Punch; All Inclusive: Skippin Stones; Ciao Chip Elements: Clouds

"At The Beach", by Kimberly Neddo.

I love mixing product lines together. It gives such a great realm of freedom to play and inter mix the products. It takes away all limits while you create! Sometimes I like having limits, and sometimes I like to be able to mix and match to get the look I want. The photographs are always what dictate my color pallet. How can I frame them? How can I make them stand out? Playing with colors and dimensions, are always what I play with to start every project. Thanks for looking! I hope this inspires you to get creative with your products too!

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Happy Clouds, Chipboard Icons; Finally Fall: At the Patch; Spring Flings & Easter Things: Mom's Bouquet; Sophisticates: Stars & Hearts Chipboard, Green High Five Alpha Stickers; Winter Wonder: Miniatures; Baby Boy: Alpha+Bits

"Drive", by Vivian Masket.

It's so easy to combine Bella Blvd products from different collections. The colors repeat across lines, so everything works well together. On this layout, I combined products from six different lines, including patterned papers from five different lines. I created a tone-on-tone effect by handcutting or punching shapes from three of the patterned papers and layered those shapes over the same patterned paper using pop dots. By having the star, heart, and cloud hang over the edges a bit, they are easier to spot, adding interest and detail without a lot of distraction.

Supplies:
Making the Team: Quadrants, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Sophisticates: Apricot Sprinkles & Lace; Finally Fall: At the Patch, Bliss; Family Dynamix: Quadrants; Super Stud: Eclipse; Tail Waggers & Cat Naps: Just Write Journaling Stickers

"Bliss" card, by Deanna Misner.

For both my cards today, I chose to combine pieces of the Spring Flings collection with the brand new baby collections. I really love that I keep seeing these adorable sunshines popping up everywhere, so I thought I'd make one myself. I used the cloudy background to "ground" my card, then used the deeper golden colors from the Spring Flings collection to create my sun. I love how the Ciao Chipboard pieces not only provide the sentiments for the card, but they also give it depth and a more substance. They're quickly becoming my "go to" embellishment.

Supplies:
Baby Boy collection: Heaven Sent; Spring Flings collection: Sunny Sunday; Sophisticates Ciao Chipboard

"Congrats" card, by Deanna Misner.

I had a little fun playing and finding fun color combinations and I ultimately decided to go with the classic pink and purple girly girl combo. I used a tag I had leftover from a previous Baby Girl collection project, so I thought I'd pair it with the pink chevron from Spring Flings. And I most definitely couldn't resist that adorable pink frog that comes in Spring Flings as well! I topped it off with the "Congrats" flag and 2
buttons from the Button Market and called it a day.

Supplies:
Baby Girl collection: Cute Cuts, Borders; Spring Flings collection: Egg Hunt; Button Market: pink flowers

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And now, we are going to ask you to play along with our challenge! This week, we will be featuring FIVE challenges. But it's not just about showing you what we came up with. We want to see your take on our challenges too. And we have a little extra incentive to get you creating and sharing.

We will be drawing one winner, to receive a prize package of $100+ worth of Bella Blvd products!

But this is different than our regular giveaways. You will have to participate in the challenges, in order to be entered in the drawing for that prize package. If you participate in one challenge, your name will be entered in one time. If you participate in three of the challenges, your name will be entered in three times. Make sense? And how about a bonus. If you participate in all five challenges, your name will be entered in not five times, but TEN times! We really hope you'll join in on the fun with us. Just click on the button below, to link us up to your completed projects. You have until Friday, March 2nd, to get your links added on. We will then announce a winner on Saturday, March 3rd. 

Challenge Week With Guest Designer Shannon Tidwell: Day One

We hope you're ready for a TON of inspiration this week! We thought it would be fun to have a week-long feature, revolving around challenges. Challenges having to do with pattern paper, to be exact. Paper is one product that every single scrapbooker has ... usually, in large amounts, right?!?! You can't create a layout, without using paper. We also wanted to invite a special guest designer, to help lead us in our challenges. When I think of a scrapbooker, who is super talented with pattern papers of all colors, patterns, and designs ... there is one name that immediately comes to mind. Let's get to know the talented Shannon Tidwell!

Hi, I'm Shannon! So here's the deal. I feel so silly talking about myself in third person, 'Shannon was a member of..blah blah blah'. Instead I'm going to give you the basics, honestly. I'm just a scrapbooker. I discovered 'scrapbooking' as we know it during the summer of 2000 in the check out line at Wal-Mart, thank goodness for long lines that day and a handy magazine rack. It was if the sky opened up and the angels sang. I then absorbed as much as I could, bought everything I could find, scrapped every spare moment I had. About a year later I was asked to join the Garden Girls Design Team at 2Peas. I've been lucky enough to stay on that team for the past 10+ years. I've taught several online classes at TwoPeas, complete with video tuturiols where I jabber like a goober. I got to be on the Better Homes and Gardens Scrapbooks, Etc. Creative Team in 2005. My favorite publishing accomplishment was having my son's photo on the cover, that's pretty cool. My biggest goal ... to keep enjoying and loving this HOBBY we call scrapbooking. And make a few pretty pages, to boot.

The photo I chose to share as my profile pic isn't anything fancy. It was captured with a phone camera. But it's a favorite because I remember feeling so cute that day. Don't you have days like that? Your hair is good, your clothes are good, and you're happy. Capture it, even if you feel silly posing in front of a crowd of people.

The non-scrapbooking stuff. I'm a mom, a room mom, a team mom, a wife, attempting to be a runner, and always a student of photography (and editing to fix my photography mistakes.)  You can visit my blog HERE. It's a mix of shopping, scrapping and mommy talk.  Enough talk, let's get on with the scrapbooking! Thanks so much to Stephanie, Laura, and Bella Blvd for inviting me to Guest this week!

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Monday Challenge: Use Cute Cuts On Your Layout

I love the Cute Cuts. Using them actually reminds me of the good ol' days when we had to cut out our lettering. I find the cutting therapeutic. The other great thing about Cute Cuts is that you get a lot of big embellishments for not much money, yay! Here are a few ideas for using Cute Cuts that I want to try:

• Create a scene, add a few pop dots to make it 3-dimensional
• Use one as a base for your title
• Add glitter or gems to dress them up a bit
• Punch partial images of the Cute Cuts for fun accents

"Attitude", by Shannon Tidwell.

And the idea I used for my layout is to create a patterned paper of sorts with the Cute Cuts.  I started with a 4x6 photo and a 4x6 of patterned paper.  I added the border below and then the title (which is also a Cute Cuts).  Then I cut several of the circle designs from the Cute Cut and arranged them onto the patterned paper to create a bolder pattern.  My biggest tip when working with circles, make sure you overlap some off the edges to keep the design balanced.  I adhered the baseball circle with a couple pop dots to make it stand out.

For the bottom portion of the layout I added my journaling but still felt like it needed something else.  But I didn't want to upset the 'top heavy' balance I was going for.  So I opted for a pen-line border as well as a few sequins stapled on. I've said before that I think the metal staples adds a little masculinity to the sequins...at least that's the story I'm sticking with.

The talented Bella Blvd Design Team is participating in the challenge too!  Here are their layouts.

"Dreams Are LIke Games", by Loredana Bucaria.

Hi everyone! Today is a Cute Cuts inspiration day and I want to share with you this page:) I have used a collection that you can imagine to use for a boy or a masculine theme and instead I used for me :) Ohh yes, because dreams are like games you have to believe in them hardly to make them came true! Don't you think? This picture was made by my iPhone and I love it. The cute cuts are sooo easy to use and they make a cool touch to my page :) I've added a lot of different embellishments and for this time I 've used one products line, is very fun to play with all kinds of materials from just one line :) Try to challenge yourself you will be so satisfied of the result!

Supplies:
Making The Team: Wall Of Fame, Cute Cuts, Borders, Alpha+Bits, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Ciao Chip; Mr Boy: Ciao Chip

"A Mild Winter", by Megan Klauer.

I am super bad about taking photos of my kids during the winter, and well this year we just haven't had much snow to play in. So, I decided that would be my focus for this page; a mild winter. I focused on how in January {in the midwest!} I was able to run outside to help reach a few goals. I used the "photo tabs" from two of the alpha+bits pages to create a simple pattern down the side of my design. I also decided to do most of my journaling on my computer as I knew it would be long. I still wanted to add some of my own handwriting, so I left a few pages to fill in a bit of information.

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Ski Slopes, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits, Just Write Stickers, Miniature Stickers

"Baby Boy", by Kim Arnold.

How cute is the elephant on the Cute cuts paper from the Baby Boy range? I just couldn’t resist cutting it out to include it on my layout. I also cut around his ear with a craft knife and popped it up with foam tape.  I thought it (and the whole super cute Baby Boy range) was perfect to include on this layout where I finally got around to scrapping the ultrasound photos of my son.

Supplies:
Baby Boy: It’s A Boy, Cute Cuts, On The Go, Baby Blue, Wild About You, Miniatures, Ciao Chip Icons; Button Market: Stars

"You Need Froggy on A Cloudy Day", by Katherine McElvain.
{A Winter CHA Layout}

Sometimes a die cut perfectly fits a theme of a layout. The Cute Cuts Bella Frog, with its bulgy eyes, looked just like my daughters favorite stuffed animal. So I had to add him to this layout of her snuggling with her froggy when she was in a gloomy mood one day. To add the umbrella in Froggy’s hand (do frogs have hands? Not sure) completed the theme.

Supplies:
Spring Flings: Cute Cuts, A Tisket A Tasket, Sunny Sunday, Borders, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Sophisticates: High Five Alphas (blue, green, yellow), Card Sentiments Miniatures, Punch, Ciao Chip Clouds; Designer Tape: Yellow Chevron; Flags: Floral

"Smile" card, by Kathy Martin.

With spring being my favorite season, I’ve really enjoyed creating with the Spring Flings & Easter Things collection. Any spring craft or celebration I can think of works with these colorful papers and accents! Both my son and I have spring birthdays and this versatile line is perfect for birthday celebrations too!

Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: Egg Hunt, Sunny Sunday, Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits; Sophisticates Miniatures: Card Sentiments; High Five Alpha Stickers: Green

"It's A Boy" card, by Kathy Martin.

I’ve lost count of how many scrapbook pages and cards I’ve created with this line! I can’t help myself, it’s so darn cute and fun to play with. I’m really smitten with these images like the animals and this adorable onesie!

Supplies:
Baby Boy: On the Go, Borders, Cute Cuts

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And now, we are going to ask you to play along with our challenge! This week, we will be featuring FIVE challenges. But it's not just about showing you what we came up with. We want to see your take on our challenges too. And we have a little extra incentive to get you creating and sharing.

We will be drawing one winner, to receive a prize package of $100+ worth of Bella Blvd products!

But this is different than our regular giveaways. You will have to participate in the challenges, in order to be entered in the drawing for that prize package. If you participate in one challenge, your name will be entered in one time. If you participate in three of the challenges, your name will be entered in three times. Make sense? And how about a bonus. If you participate in all five challenges, your name will be entered in not five times, but TEN times! We really hope you'll join in on the fun with us. Just click on the button below, to link us up to your completed projects. You have until Friday, March 2nd, to get your links added on. We will then announce a winner on Saturday, March 3rd.

Bella Blvd & Unity Stamps: Giveaway WINNERS

Opps! I forgot to announce our winners this morning, for the Unity Stamps, from Thursday's post. Better late than never, right ;)

Giveaway #1 - New Set Of Wheels Itty Bitty stamp

Congrats Cathy! Please email your mailing address to me at lauravegas.bellablvd@yahoo.com, with "UNITY STAMP BLOG WINNER - NEW SET OF WHEELS" in the subject line, and we'll get your stamp out to you!

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Giveaway #2 - Birdie Told Me Itty Bitty stamp

Congrats Denise! Please email your mailing address to me at lauravegas.bellablvd@yahoo.com, with "UNITY STAMP BLOG WINNER - BIRDIE TOLD ME" in the subject line, and we'll get your stamp out to you!

A Little Bit Of Winter Wonder

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend! Hopefully, some of you even lucked out and get to enjoy a three day weekend. I'm not sure about you, but I feel like spring is right around the corner. Our weather has been really nice lately, we're seeing more green in our yards, and I even switched over to flip flops a few weeks ago! So before Spring officially sneeks up on us, we have a few more Winter Wonder projects to share with you.

"I {Heart} Winter" mini album, by Brook Stewart.
{A Winter CHA Project}

I just love documenting winter photos! Last year I had quite a few from one of our first big snows, so this mini album was the perfect way to display them! I took a basic Maya Road chipboard album for the base and used the vibrant Winter Wonder collection to decorate it. The colors in this line make me so happy!! I was also able to add in some of the new Bella embellishments that really coordinated perfectly! I used several of the new Button Market buttons--those wooden snowflake buttons are super adorable! The Red Dots Designer Tape also meshes so well with this line! I added one of the fun new winter flags to the front of the album as well! Once I incorporated  all the fun details with the Alpha + Bits Sticker Sheets and Miniatures, it all came together so wonderfully!

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Blizzard, Toasty, Ski Slopes, Icy, Border Strips, Cute Cuts, Alpha & Bits Cardstock Stickers, Miniatures, Flags; Button Market: Snowflakes, Pickle Squares, Stars; Designer Tape: Red Dots

"You Give Me The Chills" card, by Becky Williams.
{A Winter CHA Project}

This card was so quick and easy to make. All I did was cut the Borders paper into strips, adhere them to the card, added a sticker and the card was done! When you need a card in a hurry this is a great way to get one done quickly. 

Supplies:
Winter Wonder Collection: Borders, Icy, Alpha + Bits

"Happy Winter" card, by Gretchen McElveen.
{A Winter CHA Project}

I love the Winter Wonder line! I love the soft winter colors mixed with the bolder reds and dark blues. And how cute is the little snowman sticker I used here? I love it!

Supplies:
Winter Wonder: Blizzard, Alpha + Bits Stickers, Miniatures

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Next week, we have SOOOO much good stuff planned for you! We have a very special, week-long Guest Designer joining us. She will be teaming up with our Design Team, to bring you a new challenge each day, and providing you with lots and lots of inspiring projects. We also want you to join in with us as well. So get those creative juices ready, and meet us back here first thing, Monday morning!