Bella Blvd Studio Blog

Product Spotlight: Crochet Flowers

Today, we are back with our new feature day, called "Product Spotlight". With the new embellishments that we introduced at Winter CHA, such as the buttons, flags, tapes, and flowers, we want to make sure to share plenty of inspiration and ideas with you for using these new products.

Today, we are focusing on our new Crochet Flowers! Aren't they adorable? They are the perfect size to embellish layouts and cards, at just about 1" in size. They come in four different colors sets, with pinks, reds, yellows, and blues. Our Crochet Flowers are the perfect little touch to add to your projects, adding texture and a little handmade goodness.

"Happy" by Becky Williams.

For this page I kept the design fairly simple by using strips of paper and just a few embellishments. One of my very favorite Bella products are the little Miniatures and Alpha+Bits stickers that always seem to find their way onto my projects. The little crocheted flowers added just the right pop of color and texture to my page.

Supplies:
Baby Boy: Momma's Boy, Borders, Alpha+Bits; We're Expecting: Bella Baby Bump; Baby Girl: Pretty in Pink, Miniatures; Sunshine & Happiness: Borders, Alpha+Bits; Sophisticates: Ciao Chip Sunshine & Happiness icons, Stars & Hearts, Borders, Simply Simona Prune; Crochet Flowers: Dahlia, Juniper, Daisies

“My Favorite Time Of The Year”, by Melissa Stinson.

I had so much fun making this layout using the new Crochet Flowers that Bella introduced at the CHA Winter show. I cut a polka dot background in a sheet of white cardstock, then layered it over a piece of Punch Sprinkles and Lace paper to add a few pops of color. On top of that, I placed Crochet Flowers in several of the background holes to create a scattered effect. While I love all the fun items on this page, after it was finished I still felt like I wanted to see more of those lovely photos, so I pulled out a 4x6 divided page protector and added several more large prints to create a two-page layout. To tie the two pages together, I adhered a small button and another Crochet Flower right on top of the page protector.

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Sprinkles and Lace Punch, High Five Alphabets Red, High Five Alphabets Black; Button Market: Wood Mix; Crochet Flowers: Poppy, Dahlia

“Happy Birthday” card, by Kathy Martin.

I have to have texture! Or I may as well go digital! Not that there’s anything wrong with digital, it’s just that I’m a hands-on type of girl who loves layers, texture and these new Bella Blvd. Crochet Flowers! Now that’s texture! And color! And they include buttons, another favorite of mine!

Supplies:
Flags: Birthday; Designer Tape: Pink Stripe; High Five Alphabets: Pink-Red, Yellow; Crochet Flowers: Poppy, Daisies, Juniper & Dahlia

"Congrats, Congrats, Congrats" card, by Deanna Misner.

This card is all about repetition. I repeated both the circles and the flowers to create a look of consistency and balance. I covered the edge with Designer Tape and folded the excess over the side just like how I'd wrap a present, and to bring a little more yellow in, I added the scalloped "I love you" border. It's an easy card that would be versatile with collection or theme.

Supplies:
Baby Boy: Borders, Baby Blue, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Designer Tape: Blue Gingham; Flag: Just Married; Crochet Flowers: Daisies, Juniper

Bella Blvd & The Twinery *GIVEAWAY WINNERS*

We want to thank each and every one of you for all of the sweet comments you left throughout our Team-Up feature last week, with The Twinery!

The winner of our GRAND PRIZE Embellishment Giveaway is:

Congrats Kathryn! Email your mailing address to me at lauravegas.bellablvd@yahoo.com, with "GRAND PRIZE EMBELLISHMENT GIVEAWAY WINNER" in the subject line, and we will get that on it's way to you! 

And the winner of  our RUNNER UP Paper & Sticker giveaway is:

Congrats Andrea! Email your mailing address to me at lauravegas.bellablvd@yahoo.com, with "RUNNER UP PAPER & STICKER GIVEAWAY WINNER" in the subject line, and we will get that on it's way to you! 

On-Going Guest Designers: Sarah Klemish & Kryssi Ng

Back in September, when we were choosing our new Design Team, we had a group of talented designers that we just couldn't pass up. So we added a special team of On-going Guest Designers, that will joining us here on the blog throughout the year, along with the rest of our Design Team. Today, we are welcoming back Sarah Klemish and Kryssi Ng, for another round of projects.

In the scrapbook world I am known as “Sarahak”, in the real world I am Sarah Klemish (wife, mother, daughter, sister). I still remember the first Creative Memories class I took 10 years ago – cardstock and pictures cut in funky shapes! I still treasure those layouts but since then my style has changed. I am typically what is known as a “simple” scrapper. Straight lines, white space and sewing, that sums it up. I am currently designing for Creative Memories (talk about coming full circle)! I have been published in Scrapbook Trends and was on the Better Homes and Gardens Scrapbook Etc. team for a year. I still do work for Scrapbooks Etc. and get published with them regularly. Love the hobby, love the people and love being asked to participate on fun projects! 

"Sweet Smile", by Sarah Klemish.

I love these pictures of my sister in laws niece, Gracie! Because she had this cute strawberry outfit on I decided to play off that for the layout! I started out with a neutral background, and I cut three different size pieces of paper for the banner. On the middle banner I pop dotted the strawberry chipboard shape, and I added the heart border with the orange scallop under the pictures. The title was done using a combination of Simply Simona Alphabet, and the “sweet” sticker from the Spring Fling & Easter Things Miniatures sticker sheet. 

Supplies:
Spring Fling & Easter Things: Egg Hunt, Miniatures Stickers; Sunshine & Happiness: Borders, Popsicle Kisses, Chipboard Icons; Simply Simona Alphabets and Numbers: Oyster

"Summertime Sisters", by Sarah Klemish.

I love these pictures of my good friend’s two little girls taken at the beach! The Sunshine & Happiness line was perfect for these summer pictures! I started out with a neutral background and added some black paint splatters. I added the two 2x3 pictures and then designed around that! The stripe strip across the top was cut from the Borders paper. Above the pictures I pop dotted the clouds and sun, and then added a pop dotted purple scallop border sticker below the pictures. I tucked the “Summer Time” flag behind the chipboard title. Lastly I tucked a couple banner cut tabs from the Borders paper behind the picture! 

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Borders, Alpha+Bits Sticker; Ciao Chip Elements: Clouds, Family Words; Flags: Summer

"Baby Baby", by Sarah Klemish.

The alternative school I work at has many students with babies and my favorite mom is Cali. This picture is of her and her baby, Josslyn! Love them! And love that they like me to take their picture! I used a variety of collections on this layout! I started out with a neutral background and added some black paint splatters. I then added a strip of the Baby Boy “Mama’s Boy” paper. After adding the picture I added a doily behind it and a small piece of the Red Dot Designer Tape. I then cut the “Baby Baby” title from the Baby Boy Borders paper and sewed it down, partially over the picture. I then tucked two flags behind the title, one from the Summer set and one from the Sunshine and Happiness set. I added 3 cut out hearts (two are pop dotted) from the Sunshine and Happiness “Happy Clouds” paper. Lastly I added journaling strips above the picture.

Supplies:
Baby Boy: Mama’s Boy; Baby Girl: Baby Cakes; Sunshine & Happiness: Happy Clouds; Designer Tape: Red Dot; Flags: Summer, Sunshine & Happiness

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I live in NYC with my husband and two little girls. I started doodling and drawing at a young age and pursued an education in fine arts. That lifelong passion eventually led me into the world of paper crafting and graphic designing. Most of my waking hours are dedicated to tending to my family but on the small window of free time on some days -- you can find me in my room making cards (and sometimes scrapbooking a layout) or tinkering around with Photoshop/Illustrator. Anything but cleaning!

“Let Me Count The Ways” card, by Kryssi Ng.

I knew I wanted to create a simple middle aligned layout. I had this Instax picture of my bestie sitting around that was waiting for the perfect papers to be scrapped. I used the uber trendy chevron washi tape to create my alignment and then went about adding dimensions and textures in specific spots until I was happy with the minimalist yet textural design.

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Happy Clouds, Popsicle Kisses; Designer Tape: Yellow Chevron; High Five Alphabets: Pink-Red

“Spread Your Wings and Fly” card, by Kryssi Ng.

I am drawn to the gorgeous clouds, it inspired me to created a tone on tone wall art. I used a white gel pen to outline the butterfly die cuts and to add texture. I love that there is random little pops of colors peeking out of the butterflies.

Supplies: 
Sunshine & Happiness: Happy Clouds; High Five Alphabets: Pink-Red

“Happy” card, by Kryssi Ng.

I love the happy colors in the Sunshine Happiness collection so much that I think it should be highlighted in a CAS card! I kept it super minimal with a simple layer. Used some Lifestyle dies to create the banner and finished off with the round stickers. It's so simple yet the colors pack quite a punch!

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Popsicle Kisses; High Five Alphabets: Pink-Red

Oh Happy Day - A Mini Album Share

Today, we have another gorgeous mini album to share with you.

"Oh Happy Day" mini album, by Wendy Morris.

I was so inspired with this mini for many reasons - mainly for the sunshine & happiness in my life - positive vibes, beautiful memories, the everyday, changes, and very exciting plans for the future. All of the Bella Blvd collections are full of color and fun flair and were the perfect palette for developing the title and theme of my mini, "Oh Happy Day". I used many printed papers from old & new Bella Blvd collections - just shows how the mix of Bella Blvd flows so well to mix & match across the color palette of collections. 

Be sure to check out my blog for even move peeks into this mini.

The base of the mini is composed of Zutter corrugated board and bound with the Zutter Bind-It-All with some distressing with the Zutter Distrezz-It-All.

Lovin' the sweet & fun buttons also from the Winter 2012 release.

On the page ("hello sun shine"), I drew into more details on this paper with much love for the hot air balloons and adding in some stamped hot air balloons, Bella Blvd Ciao Chip Clouds, sun, and Bella Blvd Icons.

The Miniatures are just the perfect splash also for mini projects - I worked these in on the page "Sledding Adventures".

What's not to love about the fun flags also from the Winter 2012 release? The sweet pearl on the head of the flag, just the perfect touch! 

The High Five Alphas from Bella are still my fav crush from the Winter 2012 release.  I would take 20 sheets of each and use them all, seriously. They are perfect for mini projects, cards, ATCs, etc.  I used them on the cover ("Oh Happy Day") for the title as well as throughout the mini.

Used my vintage typewriter for quick journaling here & there.

Scraps of paper I used with my punches (i.e. blow off the dust from your punches) along with and torn border stickers to make sweet borders under my pics.

Designer tapes are the perfect vintage flair to work with your mini prints (i.e. Instagram photos).

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Icons; Spring Flings & Easter Things: Egg Hunt; Sunny Happy Skies: Magic in the Sky, Alpha+Bits; Winter Wonder: Miniatures; Family Dynamix: Quadrants, Game Night; Mr. Boy: Borders N' Blocks; Christmas Wishes: Quadrants; Estate Sale: Bits-A-Bella; All Inclusive: Bookin' on the Beach; Super Stud: Bits-A-Bella; Hello Beautiful: Just Because, Thanks a Bunch; Flirty: Bits-A-Bella, Label Additions; Midterm: Text Me; Socialite: Cute Cuts; Simply Simona Alphabets & Numbers: White; Ciao Chip Versatile Elements: Clouds; Ciao Chip Essentials:  Peep & McIntosh, Oyster & Oreo, Asparagus & Pickle Juice; Designer Tapes: Teal Stripe, Pink Stripe, Red Dot, Yellow Chevron; Flags: Sunshine & Happiness, Fall; High Five Alphabets: Yellow, Blue, Pink-Red; Button Market: Snowflakes, Stars

Bella Blvd & The Twinery Team-Up: Day Five

Welcome to our last day of our week long Team-Up with The Twinery! We have a group of our Bella designers that have mixed The Twinery's gorgeous baker's twine into our projects. And The Twinery's designers have been busy mixing Bella's products into their projects. Let's see what our designers have whipped up for us today.

"Baby Face", by Deanna Misner.

This is quite possibly my most favorite photo of my son who was a week old at the time. I love that the photo was off center so that I had room to fit the title on top of the actual picture. I also decided to play a little with the twine and create my own argyle pattern. To me, nothing says "boy" better than some argyle pattern, so I criss-crossed gray twine to create the patterns on top of the diamond-shaped papers.

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Baby Boy: Momma's Boy, On The Go, Wild About You, Borders, Miniature Stickers, Ciao Chipboard; High Five Alpha Stickers: Blue; Button Market: Stars

The Twinery Supplies:
Stone

"May" calendar page layout, by Allyson Meinholz.

I am currently working on my pregnancy album for Alayna. Every month, I create a calendar page to document my biweekly doctor’s appointments and multiple ultrasounds. I made a pocket behind the calendar to store the ultrasound photos. I used the twine to create my “May” title, and to create the grass along the bottom of the page.

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Sunny Side Up, Popsicle Kisses, Play Date, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Miniature Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Crochet Flowers: Juniper; Button Market: Feminine Mix, Tie Dye, Aqua Flowers, Fruit Punch

The Twinery Supplies:
Peapod, Lilac, Lemondrop

"Owen", by Morgan Bandkowski.

I decided to make a layout using pictures of my friend's little boy, Owen. I wanted to make it fun so I decided to make the layout look like a big Tic-Tac-Toe board. The twine was a perfect way to make the lines and also the X's. I even used the twine to stitch on the buttons and the Ciao Chip letters. 

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Mr. Boy: Cute Cuts, Dinomite, Connect The dots; Sophisticates: Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: McIntosh; Designer Tape: Red Dot, Jail Bird; Flags: Home Sweet Home; Button Market: Bursts, Stars, Red Flowers

The Twinery Supplies:
Denim, Stone, Peapod, Maraschino

"It's All About The Frosting", by Sheri Feypel.

My son, Logan is the inspiration for this layout. He likes to "rearrange" his cupcakes to get the perfect frosting to cake ratio. I used the Bella Blvd Baby Girl line to document his cupcake eating style. I chose to keep it clean for this layout, adding dimension with foam pop dots and stitching around the scallop circle.

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Baby Girl: Pretty In Pink, Daddy's Girl, Snuggly Safari, Baby Cakes, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers; High Five Alphabets: Pink/Red  

The Twinery Supplies:
Capuccino

“It’s A Girl” card, by Kathy Martin.

For this Twinery project I wanted to use most of the twine colors and create something I haven’t seen yet. Using the same technique I did for my “Easter Egg” layout, I used a scoring board to create horizontal and vertical lines as a guide for the twine. Then I created a weaving pattern following those lines.

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Baby Girl: Chipboard Icons, Miniatures Stickers; Button Market: Feminine Mix; Sophisticates: Miniatures Card Sentiments

The Twinery Supplies:
Shore, Blossom, Honeydew, Mandarin, Stone

"Congrats" card, by Sheri Feypel.

I used Bella's Baby Boy line to create this card. I punched a star in the blue and white striped border and layered it on top of a shipping tag wrapped in twine. I removed the string from the tag and added more twine!

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Baby Boy: Wild About You, Borders, Alpha+Bits Stickers

The Twinery Supplies:
Capuccino, Buttercream, Shore

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Don't forget to head on over to The Twinery blog, and check out what their Design Team has created using their gorgeous baker's twine, and our fun Bella products! Also, there is still time to get in on their giveaway. They are giving away 3 Original Sampler Packs ($15 retail value each) and have asked readers to leave a comment on each of The Twinery's participating designer's blogs EACH DAY. You will have until Sunday to leave comments and they will announce the winners on Monday.

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"Grand Prize" is the Embellishment Bundle includes so many different Bella embellishments including the High Five alphabet stickers in a variety of colors, chipboard alphabets and numbers too, new Crochet Flowers and flags, chipboard embellishments from Too Cute to Spook, Mr Boy and Sophisticates elements, Stick Pin flags, Buttons and Button Mixes, several new Designer Tapes, and clear stamps too! This embellishment Bundle is valued over $50 and could be yours for FREE!

Runner up is the Paper and Sticker Giveaway including patterned papers, embellishment papers and cardstock stickers (12x12") from the following collections: Finally Fall seasonal collection, Estate Sale feminine vintage collection, Making the Team sports and athletics collection and We're Expecting pregnancy papers and stickers. This variety pack is valued over $30.

To be entered in our random drawings for these two giveaways, just leave us a comment on THIS post. We will be announcing the winners on Monday afternoon.

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We want to say a special thank you to The Twinery, including the all the participating designers and the plethora of product that was sent our way from The Twinery's studios. It's such a pleasure to work together in this industry to create excitement about all of our products. We hope you enjoyed this week full of inspiration, variety and giveaways!

Bella Blvd & The Twinery Team-Up: Day Four

Welcome to day four of our week long Team-Up with The Twinery! We have a group of our Bella designers that have mixed The Twinery's gorgeous baker's twine into our projects. And The Twinery's designers have been busy mixing Bella's products into their projects. Let's see what our designers have in store for us today.

“Girly Clothes”, by Brook Stewart.

I've had so much fun clothes shopping for our first little girl coming this summer! Her closet is already getting well stocked and I wanted to make sure to document it! I went with a lot of pink on this layout to reinforce the "girly" aspect of the subject. I added the beautiful pink twine colors around the outside as a border and secured them with mini staples. I also added a border of the lighter pink twine around my journaling spot to define it. I just stuck it down with some liquid glue.

Bella Blvd Supplies: 
Sunshine & Happiness: Juicy Good Time, Play Date; We're Expecting: Bella Baby Bump, Baby's First Miniatures; Baby Girl: Alpha+Bits Stickers; High Five Alphabet: Pink-Red; Baby Blooms a Bella: Rossini

The Twinery Supplies:
Pink Sorbet, Blossom

"We Love You" by Becky Williams.

For this layout I wanted to do something I'd seen on projects created by others: writing with the twine. It was a lot easier than I thought it might be. You simply draw the word with liquid glue and add the desired color of twine. You could even mix up the colors by cutting smaller segments of twine. 

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Baby Girl: It's A Girl, Ciao Chip Icons; Baby Boy: Miniatures Stickers; Sunshine & Happiness: Borders, Just Write Journaling Stickers; We're Expecting: Baby's Firsts Miniatures Stickers; Designer Tape: Pink Flowers; Sophisticates: Ciao Chip Borders; High Five Alpha Stickers: Black-White

The Twinery Supplies:
Maraschino, Pink Sorbet, Denim

“Easter Eggs”, by Kathy Martin.

I wanted the twine to really shine on this page so I created a frame with it. In order to make straight lines with the twine, I used a scoring board and then I traced those lines with a glue pen. I could have easily used the Bella Blvd. Spring Things & Easter Things for this dyed egg page, but the new Sunshine & Happiness line is equally adorable and versatile!

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Petal Power, Popsicle Kisses, Happy Clouds, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Chipboard Icons, Flags; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Punch; Button Market: Fruit Punch; Flags: Spring Flings & Easter Things; Ciao Chip: Clouds; High Five Alpha Stickers: Black-White, Blue

The Twinery Supplies:
Lemondrop, Orchid

“When I See You Smile” card, by Megan Klauer.

For the "rainbow-cloud" I took a piece of white card stock, covered the front side with adhesive & glue dots and began wrapping the twine around it. I then added a layer of dimensional pop dots to the top and added another piece of white card stock with the cloud punched out. This is such a versatile technique! Change the punch and the twine colors and you can get a whole new look! Have fun with it!

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Happy Clouds, Cute Cuts, Miniature Stickers

The Twinery Supplies:
Lilac, Caribbean, Peapod, Lemondrop, Mandarin, Pink Sorbet

Heart card, by Morgan Bandkowski.

I attend a lot of weddings so I am always trying to come up with different ideas for wedding cards. I used a die cut of a heart and wrapped twine all around it. I love using the Lace side of the Sprinkles & Lace paper because it gives the card a classy feel. 

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Sophisticates: Spinkles & Lace Oyster, Sprinkles & Lace Oreo; Christmas Wishes: Christmas Love

The Twinery Supplies:
Maraschino

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Now, head on over to The Twinery blog, and check out what their Design Team has created using their gorgeous baker's twine, and our fun Bella products! Also, be sure to check out THEIR giveaway. All the details, on how to be entered in their giveaway, are on their blog. NOTE: This is for The Twinery's giveaway on their blog. NOT our giveaway, which will happen on Friday ;)

Check back in with us tomorrow, for our last day of inspiration. And we'll reveal our big giveaways too!

Bella Blvd & The Twinery Team-Up: Day Three

Welcome to day three of our week long Team-Up with The Twinery! We have a group of our Bella designers that have mixed The Twinery's gorgeous baker's twine into our projects. And The Twinery's designers have been busy mixing Bella's products into their projects. Let's see what our designers have whipped up for us today.

“Hangin’ Out In A Tree”, by Kimberly Neddo.

I really love working with different shapes. For this layout, I arranged different patterned paper shapes in a large circle and wrapped several different colors of twine over the top for a fun effect to draw interest to the photograph, with the movement of the shapes and overlapping, encircled twines.

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Popsicle Kisses, Petal Power, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Ice, Blue High Five Alphabets; Hello Beautiful: Cute Cuts; Baby Boy: Momma's Boy; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Orange; Button Market: Pink Flowers, Aqua Flowers, Fruit Punch; Flags: Summer

The Twinery Supplies:
Caribbean, Pink Sorbet, Lemonade

“Getting To Know Grandpa”, by Brook Stewart.

I love these photos of my youngest little guy with my dad! I wanted to do something fairly simple so that they would be the main focus of the layout. I traced a 9" heart onto the background once I got the other paper strips stuck down where I wanted thyem. I then added a thin line of glue and attached the twine straight on the layout.

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Baby Boy: Baby Blue, Wild About You, Borders, Alpha+Bits; High Five Alphabets: Yellow, Blue

The Twinery Supplies:
Cappuccino

"Amazing", by Laura Vegas.

My first thought, when I got my package of The Twinery's baker's twine, was that I wanted to re-create a layout I did a few years ago, where I had wrapped string around blocks of patterned paper. I choose three colors of twine, and then set about finding tone-on-tone patterned papers to go with each color. By keeping the pattern paper and the twine the same color, it adds a nice subtle touch of interest to the page. I distressed the edges of my papers, which helps "hold" the twine in place, when I wrap it around each piece. I then adhered the twine wrapped pieces to the page using pop dots, for even more dimension. It's such a simple technique to do, but adds a fun touch to the page. 

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Baby Boy: Momma's Boy, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Family Dynamix: Tight-Knit, Borders N' Blocks; Lovey Dovey: Love Is In The Air, Sweetheart, Circle Of Love; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Oreo; Designer Tape: Jail Bird

The Twinery Supplies:
Blossom, Honeydew, Stone

"Green Gators", by Deanna Misner.

Making the Team was the PERFECT collection to feature my daughter's softball team pictures. And since our team is the Gators I, of course, borrowed the cute little alligator embellishments from the Baby Boy collection. Honestly, as soon as I heard our team name I started making this layout in my head. LOL. I knew I'd use those alligators. One thing that I absolutely love about using the twine is that it softens the page while making it a little more girly too. After all that chipboard, it needed some softness.

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Making The Team: Fan Club, Quadrants, Cute Cuts; Sunshine & Happiness: Alpha+Bits Stickers, Flags; Baby Boy: Ciao Chipboard, Flags; Designer Tape: Pickle Juice Dot; Button Market: Pickle Squares; High Five Alpha Stickers: Green

The Twinery Supplies:
Honeydew

"You Are My Sunshine" card, by Sheri Feypel.

I started out by piercing the shape of a sun, then adding the stitching. I wanted the sunshine to be the focal point of the card and chose a small sentiment to go along with it.

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Family Dynamix: Quadrants; Designer Tape: Yellow Chevron; Spring Flings & Easter Things: Miniatures; Sunshine & Happiness: Alpha+Bits Stickers

The Twinery Supplies: 
Lemondrop

"Sending You Sunshine" card, by Allyson Meinholz.

I used Sunshine & Happiness along with some Sophisticates chipboard and some buttons to create this card. I punched out a scallop circle and used the twine to go around & around, to make the raise of the sun. I added a chipboard accent, sticker, and a button for more dimension. Once I finished the card, I decided to add stitching to the outside edge, all around the card.

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness:

The Twinery Supplies:
Lemondrop

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Now, head on over to The Twinery blog, and check out what their Design Team has created using their gorgeous baker's twine, and our fun Bella products! Also, be sure to check out THEIR giveaway. All the details, on how to be entered in their giveaway, are on their blog. NOTE: This is for The Twinery's giveaway on their blog. NOT our giveaway, which will happen on Friday ;)

Check back in with us tomorrow, for even more inspiration. And stay tuned for Bella's giveaways, happening on Friday ;)

Bella Blvd & The Twinery Team-Up: Day Two

Welcome to day two of our week long Team-Up with The Twinery! We have a group of our Bella designers that have mixed The Twinery's gorgeous baker's twine into our projects. And The Twinery's designers have been busy mixing Bella's products into their projects. Let's see what our designers have whipped up for us today.

"Sunshine and Happiness" by Becky Williams.

When I coming up with ideas for my Twinery projects I knew that I wanted to create something that showcased many of the twine colors. I then got the idea to make a rainbow using the crocheted flowers as the clouds and this layout idea was born! I love the different colors of twine available from The Twinery and have had so much fun with these projects!

Bella Blvd Supplies: 
Baby Boy: Cute Cuts, Miniatures, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sunshine & Happiness: Borders, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Ciao Chip Icons; Baby Girl: Pretty In Pink; Crochet Flowers: Daisies; Designer Tape: Jailbird, Pink Stripe, Pickle Juice Dot; Sophisticates: Ciao Chip Clouds; High Five Alpha Stickers: Yellow, Blue

The Twinery Supplies:
Maraschino, Mandarin, Lemondrop, Pea Pod, Denim, Caribbean, Lilac, Pink Sorbet

“Dream Big Little Girl”, by Megan Klauer.

The Peapod colored twine quickly became my favorite color so I decided to use that as the base of my color scheme. With a touch of pink & yellow it was perfect with this picture of Ella from her second birthday shoot. I looped the twine through the button and continued it off the page on both sides. I then sewed over it to help keep it in place. I'm not sure I'm in love with the look of that, but it's something different and it's always fun to try something new. Using a dimensional dot I popped up the cupcake sticker and again tied it with the Peapod twine. 

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Finally Fall: Quadrants, Bliss, Cute Cuts, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Baby Girl: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Designer Tape: Teal Stripe; Sophisticates Ciao Chip: Clouds; Sophisticates High Five Alphabets: Pink-Red, Yellow; Button Market: Pink Flora {backside}, Wood Mix, Fruit Punch, Aqua Flowers, Stars

The Twinery Supplies:
Peapod

“First Strawberry Of The Season”, by Kathy Martin.

The Twinery and Bella Blvd are the perfect colorful combination! I really enjoyed creating ways to accent my page with The Twinery’s product! Some of my accents are common uses and then some are unique! This page is like an “I spy” page. Can you find all seven places and six colors that I incorporated twine into my project?

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Petal Power, Sunny Side Up, Play Date, Juicy Good Time, Happy Clouds, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Miniature Stickers; Chipboard Icons, Flags; Button Market: Pickle Squares; Designer Tape: Yellow Chevron, Teal Stripe; Ciao Chip: Clouds, Borders; High Five Alpha Stickers: Pink-Red 

The Twinery Supplies:
Lemondrop, Shore, Marachino, Blossom

“Get Well Soon”, by Brook Stewart.

When I was looking through my Bella stash, I came upon the rainbow die cut from the Spring collection and knew exactly what I wanted to do for this card project! The beautiful colors in the rainbow coordinate perfectly with the bright assortment of twine colors from the Twinery! I just cut some small pieces and glued them down along the coordinating colors of the rainbow of the die cut. I used a paper piercer and needle to secure the ends of the thread behind the rainbow at the ends for a finished look.

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Baby Boy: Cute Cuts, Heaven Sent; Spring Flings & Easter Things: Cute Cuts; Designer Tape: Yellow Chevron

The Twinery Supplies:
Maraschino, Blossom, Pink Sorbet, Lemondrop, Honeydew, Caribbean

"Maybe A Cupcake Will Help" card, by Suzanne Sergi.

Even though the Baby Girl collection is meant to be paired with baby photos, you will find patterns that will be perfect for cards. The cupcake paper found on the Baby Cakes paper, was the inspiration for this card. I pulled out a variety of pinks to create a card that will make anyone smile. I loved using the twine as accents to embellishments. I used the pink twine to wrap around the cupcake itself, and also as the final tip of frosting at the top.

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Baby Girl: Snuggly Safari, Cute Cuts, Pretty In Pink, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Button Market: Pink Flowers; Flags: Floral

The Twinery Supplies:
Blossom

“Happy 4^th” card, by Kimberly Neddo.

One of the things I love doing with twine, is wrapping it into a circle on Glubbers (large glue dots). It's so easy to create the perfect circle! I wanted to do a 2-color circle for this fun twine embellishment I made. I used my Big Shot tool to punch a hole in the center, where I threaded the twine through and tied a bow. I am loving the new Designer Tapes that Bella Blvd recently released. It works super great for pleating, as you can tell by the little pleating I added to the border across the center. The flag embellishments were the perfect touch to complete this card and I really loved making this card.

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Baby Boy: Momma's Boy; Simply Simona Chipboard Numbers: McIntosh; High Five Alpha Sticker: Pink-Red; Sunshine & Happiness: Miniatures Stickers; Flags: Patriotic

The Twinery Supplies:
Maraschino and Denim

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Now, head on over to The Twinery blog, and check out what their Design Team has created using their gorgeous baker's twine, and our fun Bella products! Also, be sure to check out their giveaway. They are giving away 3 Original Sampler Packs ($15 retail value each) and have asked readers to leave a comment on each of The Twinery's participating designer's blogs EACH DAY. You will have until Sunday to leave comments and they will announce the winners on Monday. NOTE: This is for The Twinery's giveaway, on their blog. This is NOT a giveaway on the Bella blog. Our's will be on Friday ;)

Check back in with us tomorrow, for even more inspiration. And stay tuned for Bella's giveaways, happening on Friday ;)

 

Bella Blvd & The Twinery Team-Up: Day One

We have big stuff planned for you this week, and we are so excited to get things going! Bella Blvd is teaming up with The Twinery, for a week full of inspiration. We have a group of our Bella designers that have mixed The Twinery's gorgeous baker's twine into our projects. And The Twinery's designers have been busy mixing Bella's products into their projects. We have loads of projects to share with you, so let's get started!

“Perfect Bliss”, by Kimberly Neddo.

I have been doing a lot of knitting and learning crocheting in my spare time, and I've really been enjoying it. I was so excited to be able to be a part of The Twinery team up with Bella Blvd, as I've been wanting to experiment with different crocheting techniques to embellish on a layout. I haven't seen this done before, with borders and different flowers. I love how this layout turned out with these unique twine embellishments I made.

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Happy Clouds, Popsicle Kisses, Miniatures Stickers; Baby Boy: Miniatures Stickers; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Saltwater; Ciao Chip: Clouds; High Five Alpha Stickers: Yellow; Button Market: Feminine Mix; Designer Tape: Pickle Juice

The Twinery Supplies:
Pink Sorbet, Caribbean, Lilac, Light Green, Lemonade

“Spring Photoshoot”, by Megan Klauer.

Twine is the perfect accessory to buttons! I took two of the little buttons from the Wood Mix & added a splash of color by simply tying twine through the holes. I also accented a journaling tag from the Cute Cuts page by tying twine around the top. 

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Spring Flings & Easter Things: Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Chipboard Icons, Flags; Designer Tape: Yellow Chevron, Pickle Juice Dots, Pink Stripe; Button Market: Wood Mix, Fruit Punch; Flags: Floral; Sophisticates Ciao Chip: Borders

The Twinery Supplies:
Caribbean, Lemondrop

"Apple Of My Eye", by Suzanne Sergi.

Hello Beautiful may not be a new release, but it is one of my favorites. Love the bold titles found on the Borders N' Blocks Paper! The yellow twine from the Twinery matched perfectly with the yellow found on these papers. Since the title was so bold, I added the twine along the bottom to ground it to my page. A small section also helped to dress up the apple diecut from the Cute Cuts paper. 

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Hello Beautiful: Thanks A Bunch, Just because, Borders N' Blocks, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers

The Twinery Supplies:
Lemondrop

"Stick Together" card by Becky Williams.

I created the hearts on this card by first punching three hearts in my white cardstock paper. I then cut 3 small squares of paper, covered one with patterned paper and the other two with strips of twine. I adhered the pieces on the back of the white cardstock and then added the sentiment stickers to the front of the card.

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Baby Boy: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sunshine & Happiness: Petal Power, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Miniatures Stickers; Designer Tape: Red Dot, Teal Stripe

The Twinery Supplies:
Pink Sorbet, Honeydew, Stone, Buttercream

"Hello" card, by Deanna Misner.

I wanted to create a card that would brighten someone's day, and nothing's better than the Sunshine & Happiness collection. I love that it's bold, bright, and so much fun! This card was also a great way to use up some of my scraps. I notched the ends of several patterned paper scraps, then I hand-cut the flowers and popped them up with 3D foam adhesive. I lined them with twine and added a quick sentiment to make an easy card.

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Sunny Side Up, Borders, Popsicle Kisses, Playdate, Happy Clouds; High Five Alpha Stickers: Yellow

The Twinery Supplies:
Lemondrop, Lilac, Mandarin, Pink Sorbet, Caribbean

"We Are Family" altered monogram, by Morgan Bandkowski.

I wanted to use the twine to create an altered project. I love those paper mache letters you can find at craft stores. I decided to get the letter "F" for family. My mom has a new sunroom on her house so I thought I would make her a letter to go in the room. I used cream yarn to cover the whole thing and the took two different colors of the twine and wrapped them around to accent it. I added a flower and stitched on two buttons & a flag to give it a little more pizazz! 

Bella Blvd Supplies:
Button Market: Checkers, Pickle Squares; Flags: Home Sweet Home; Baby Blooms a Bella: Champagne

The Twinery Supplies:
Flax, Honeydew

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Now, head on over to The Twinery blog, and check out what their Design Team has created using their gorgeous baker's twine, and our fun Bella products! Keep coming back to both blogs all week long, because we have a ton more projects to share with you. And watch for giveaways from both of us, as well!

Step-By-Step Project Sheet: Plastino & Mother's Day

Looking for fresh ideas and new inspiration using Bella Blvd products? Want to learn how to mix and match Bella products and create cute layouts? Stuck on a project and need some help? Want to teach a Bella Blvd workshop at your LSS? Or, do you own a LSS and need a sample idea to hang next to our products? If you've said yes to ANY of the above--you're going to love this!

You can download our Plastino & Mother's Day themed project sheet HERE.

Bella Blvd has launched a new monthly feature to help you get inspired and keep you scrappin'. I have been designing a fresh never-featured-before project along with step-by-step directions for you to use, EVERY MONTH! Complete with a list of tools, supplies and Bella products needed, it couldn't get any easier! So dive into your stash today, or check out the online store links (on the sidebar) and pick up your supplies today! You'll get more pages completed with our help! Use us ... that's what we're here for!!!

To find our previous project sheets, from other collections, you simply need to click on "Project Sheets" in the "Category" section on the left sidebar. That will bring up any post, where we have shared project sheets. Or, to make it easy for you today, just click on THIS and you'll be able to download our previous four project sheets!

National Scrapbook Day *GIVEAWAY WINNER*

It's time to announce our randomly chosen winner, from our National Scrapbook Day giveaway! The lucky winner is going to receive this amazing prize, along with a great selection of Bella Blvd goodies!

DRUMROLL PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations Lauren!!! Email your mailing address to me, at lauravegas.bellablvd@yahoo.com, with "NSD GIVEAWAY WINNER" in the subject line, and we will get your goodies sent out to you!

Saturday Sketches, On Friday

Stephanie is crazy busy this week, finalizing the new products for Summer CHA, so she's not around for her usual Friday post. So I figured we would post our sketch 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 May, courtesy of Becky Fleck. We are thrilled that Becky has agreed to design exclusive sketches, just for Bella!

“Summer Beauties”, by Kimberly Neddo.

Sometimes when I'm working with a sketch, I turn the print out of the sketch around to change it up a little bit. Changing direction, can be just what I need to be inspired and get to creating. For this layout, I turned it to the side, and used the title as the circlular part of the sketch. I love how this turned out, and how it inspired me to create.

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Happy Clouds, Sunny Side Up, Alpha+Bits, Miniatures; Ciao Chip: Family Words, Clouds, Springs Flings & Easter Things Icons; Crochet Flowers: Dahlia; Flags: Spring Flings & Easter Things

“Ziplining”, by Julie Johnson.

I just love this color combination. Perfect for sunny, outdoor photos. By the look of these photos you would think it's summertime, but no, it's a beautiful sunny January day on Catalina Island just off the coast of California. If you are familiar with my design style than you know I like to ink or distress the edges of my paper. But sometimes I also like the look of the colorful crisp edges but I always think I still need something to bring all the paper pieces together. I know it's a little "old school" but I still love to doodle. I use a very fine pen, .01, so I can get the finest lines possible and I am very random with my line work. I think the trick to doodling is not to have all your lines look alike. So mine are very random; some short, some long, over lapping, and even small dots in between. Once in awhile I even like to add in a heart or flower. It adds tons of detail to your layout but doesn't over power it. Try it...it's fun!!

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Sunny Side Up, Popsicle Kisses, Happy Clouds, Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Miniatures Stickers; Flags: Summer; Ciao Chip: Stars & Hearts, Borders; High Five Alphabets: Yellow; Crochet Flowers: Juniper

"Mad About You", by Sue Mydle.

Playing with this sketch was utterly fun. Rather than the two photos, I put four photos on the page, but offset them a little to give a bit more interest. The fun pieces from the Baby Boy collection simply lend themselves to whimsy, fun and cute!

Supplies:
Baby Boy: Momma's Boy, Wild About You, On the Go, Heaven Sent, Borders, Cute Cuts, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers; Flags: Girl; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Brownie, Saltwater; Designer Tape: Blue Gingham; Button: Stars

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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.

 

April Bella Buzz Newsletter - GIVEAWAY WINNER

It seems we (or I should probably say "ME", if I'm being totally honest ;)) forgot to announce a winner from our April Bella Buzz Newsletter giveaway! To be entered in the randomly chosen giveaway, for the Flirty collection, you simply had to visit our Facebook page, and let us know that you had read the newsletter. And now, for our winner, taken straight from our Facebook page:

Congrats Angela!!! Email me your mailing address, at lauravegas.bellablvd@yahoo.com, with "APRIL NEWSLETTER GIVEAWAY WINNER" in the subject line, and we will get your Flirty goodies sent out to you!

Cards On Thursdays

With Mother's Day coming up in a few days, I asked a few of our Card Designers to create cards that would be perfect for the occasion.

"Happy Mother's Day" card, by Gretchen McElveen.

I really love how the Bella Blvd products work so well together. On this first card I went with a fun pink, brown, and yellow color scheme using products from 4 different lines! Making stuff sure is fun and easy when all the products coordinate so well!

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Petal Power; Spring Fling and Easter Things: Miniature Stickers, Chipboard Icons; Baby Girl: Chipboard Icons; Winter Wonder: Toasty; Button Market: Wood Mix

"It's Your Day” card, by Gretchen McElveen.

On this next card I used some of the new Ciao Chip (Family Words and Clouds) with papers from the Sunshine & Happiness and Baby Girl lines. I don't know if I have ever used a pink, purple, and red color scheme like this before...but I think I like how it turned out! Happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers out there!

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Petal Power, Borders; Baby Girl: Pretty in Pink; Ciao Chip: Clouds, Family Words; Sophisticates: Pink-Red High Five Alphabets

"Best Mom" card, by Laura Vegas.

It might seem a bit odd that I turned to the Tail Waggers & Cat Naps collection when I sat down to make a few Mother's Day cards. A pet collection for Mother's Day cards? Sure, why not! I am very driven by color, when making my paper choices, and I just love the colors and patterns in this collection. The small circles patterned paper has little hearts and paw prints in some of the circles. To cover up the paw prints, I just used a regular hole punch to punch out some of the circles with hearts from a scrap piece of paper, and adhered them over the paw prints using mini pop dots.

Supplies:
Tail Waggers & Cat Naps: Treats, Borders N' Blocks; Simply Simona Chipboard Alphas: Pink; Quattrofina Alpha Stickers: Pink-Red; Designer Tape: Teal Stripe

"Congrats To The Best Mom" card, by Laura Vegas.

I started this card with a few of the pattern papers from the Tail Waggers & Cat Naps collection as well, but mixed in a bit more red and pinks this time. I used a mix of a Ciao Chip "Mom" word, some letter stickers, and a flag, to create my sentiment. I also used a fun cloud border punch along a few strips of patterned papers, and layered them together along the bottom of the card.

Supplies:
Tail Waggers & Cat Naps: Blocks N' Borders, Cute Cuts; Winter Wonder: Blizzard; Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace McIntosh; Family Dynamix: Quadrants; Ciao Chip: Family Words; Quattrofina Alpha Stickers: Pink-Red; Flag: Just Married

“Mom, You Make My Days Better” card, by Alice Carman.

Love that this week’s cards are focused on Moms. Now I have 2 cards ready to go for Mother’s Day. Yay! Using some favorite dies, I punched out some flowers and played with some borders. 

Supplies:
High Five Alphabets: Green; Baby Girl: Snuggly Safari, Miniatures; Sunshine & Happiness: Sunny Side Up, Borders

“Mom” card, by Alice Carman.

I think I went die cutting crazy on this card. Just love the different shapes you get and how it alters the look of the paper. Just love this Lovey Dovey line, don’t you?

Supplies:
Lovey Dovey: Alpha+Bits, Love is in the air, Cute Cuts, Borders, Circle of Love; Estate Sale: Hat Box; Designer Tape: Teal Stripe

"Mother's Day" card, by Wendy Wagner.

This card has a lot going on, like most of my scrapbooking! I love pattern, layers, and bling. The flags accent it perfect and are easy to attach to the pop dots under the heart. There is also some inking, glimmer mist and stickles going on. This is for sure a card I would love to get! Enjoy your upcoming Mother's Day :) 

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Popsicle Kisses, Borders, Juicy Good Time; We're Expecting: Miniatures Stickers; Baby Girl: Alpha+Bits Stickers; Flags: Floral, Spring Flings & Easter Things; Sophisticates: Stars & Hearts Ciao Chip; High Five Alpha Stickers: Blue, Green

"Happy Mother's Day" card, by Wendy Wagner.

This card was super simple but very classy. Three simple circles popped and inked, along with a matching crochet flower. I added the cute little Mothers Day banner and a cute border across the top. All on the simple white makes it a clean, easy to see simple card. Much different from the way I usually scrapbook, but sometimes it’s fun to go outside the lines! Enjoy!

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Sprinkles & Lace Peep, Sprinkles & Lace Banana, Sprinkles & Lace Ice, Ciao Chip Borders; Crochet Flowers: Daisies, Juniper, Dahlia; Spring Flings & Easter Things: Miniatures Stickers

Layouts On Wednesdays

It's another round of Free-For-All layouts today, and we have a very fun mix of layouts from our designers!

"Geeky Happiness", by Melissa Stinson.

I've been having a little too much fun with my Silhouette lately! It's a great way to quickly try out new techniques that might take much longer if pieced by hand. For instance, the sunburst pattern that I cut from the Sophisticates Sprinkles and Lace paper is a Silhouette cut file that I changed the dimensions on a bit to make it fit my layout- so much faster than measuring, cutting, and piecing by hand. Versatile tools like this are a great way to get even more from your Bella Blvd papers!

Supplies:
Sophisticates: Sprinkles and Lace Surf n Turf, High Five Alphabets Blue; Winter Wonder: Icy; Sunshine & Happiness: Popsicle Kisses, Happy Clouds, Chipboard Icons; Button Market: Masculine Mix, Stars; Decorative Tape: Teal Stripe

"Run Rabbit Run", by Kim Arnold.

I love the flexibility of the Sunshine & Happiness collection. There is a large amount of pink in this range, but it is also very easy to create a layout without any pink at all – as I have done with Run Rabbit Run. The super cute little chipboard bunny is from the new Spring Flings and Easter Things chipboard.

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Popsicle Kisses, Sunny Side Up, Happy Clouds, Alpha+Bits Stickers, Just Write Journaling Stickers, Miniature Stickers; Spring Flings & Easter Things: Chipboard Icons; Button Market: Masculine Mix; Sophisticates: Green High Five Alphabets

"Bones”, by Vivian Masket.

The fish skeleton flag from the Cat flag set was the perfect embellishment for this unusual set of photos I've been hanging onto for a while. I repeated the design of the flag embellishment by die-cutting a fish skeleton from the gray chevron B side of the Momma's Boy paper and used both the positive and negative shapes on my layout. The two basic patterned papers I used here added pops of color without taking the focus off of my photos. The white High Five Alphas worked well for adding the finishing touch of a title layered over my smaller photos.  

Supplies:
Baby Boy: Momma's Boy; Flags: Cat; Christmas Wishes: Candlelight; Sophisticates: High Five Alphabets (Black-White)

"Good friends", by Gretchen McElveen.
{A Winter CHA Project}

Believe it or not, this rather "busy" layout is just 2 sheets of patterned paper, the Alpha + Bits sticker sheet, and a few of the white High Five alphabets mixed in! You sure can do a lot with the Borders patterned paper, a sheet with lots of flowers to cut out (Petal Power), and a bunch of fun stickers!

Supplies:
Sunshine & Happiness: Petal Power, Borders, Alpha+Bits Stickers; Sophisticates: Black-White High Five Alphabets