... just Laura

Bella Blvd: Step-By-Step Monthly Project Sheet - Love And Marriage

I've had a very slow start to this week. The stomach flu found me for the second time in a month and a half, and it's had me down for the count for the last few days. So not cool. I'm one that so rarely gets sick, so I'm a little annnoyed to have so much sickness around me and all the little ones lately. Anyways. I had my May project sheet layout go up on the Bella Blvd blog on Mother's Day.

I was asked to create a Mother's Day layout, using the Love and Marriage collection and crochet hearts. Easy to do. Bella's collections are always full of super versitle patterns and designs, so they're not limited to the actual theme of the collection. The wedding collection worked perfectly for this Mother's Day layout.

You can download and print our project sheet, complete with a supply list and full instructions, right HERE.

Bella Blvd: Words With Friends

I'm a little late sharing this layout I created for the Bella Blvd blog, as part of our National Scrapbook Day celebration. There was just too much to share over the weekend, and this got pushed to the side. Might have had something to do with the 12 posts I put together on the Bella blog, just for Saturday.

If you missed it, you should check out the Bella blog posts from Saturday. I challenged all of the designers to create "All About Me" themed layouts and answer a few scrapping questions. I had this idea to do a layout about Words With Friends, the game I'm addicted to playing on my iPod Touch.

When I first started playing, forever ago, I was terrible. I lost every single game. Badly. Eventually, I started actually paying attention to the board, watching the triple/double letters/points tiles, and trying to be smarter about my moves. Don't get me wrong ... most of the time, I'm still just an average player. I lose. A lot. I have plenty of times where I make plays quickly, and without much thinking. But I also get in there and make some smart moves.

And what do I do when I make a great play? I'm a total dork and I take a screenshot of it. At first, I did it just so that I could prove to the girls that I wasn't terrible. They're not easily impressed by their mom, and believe me, these screenshots never seemed to impress them either. But it did make them laugh a little. Most likely at the fact that I felt the need to screenshot it.

When I realized how many screenshots I had started to collect, I knew I wanted to do something with them. I printed out a handful of them to use on this layout, all in a 2x3" size. I went through my stash of Bella papers and dug out some in blue, yellow, and grey, to match the photos of the game board. I even pulled in a bit of green, with the chipboard accents and the green patterned paper and vellum I used for the large circle.

I have created quite a few "All About Me" layouts in the past, but I've gotten away from doing them over the last year or so. This is a good reminder to get myself in the scrapbook albums more, even if it's about something as simple and silly as playing a favorite game.

Scrapbook & Cards Today: National Scrapbook Day

I'm getting a late start to posting a few projects that I created for National Scrapbook Day! Turns out, I never do any scrapping on NSD. I'm too busy blogging about it! First up, there's been a ton of good stuff happening over on the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog.

For my contribution to the NSD activities, I created a layout for the Old & New Challenge.

This is a great opportunity to dig into your stash and pull out some of those older products that you've been hanging onto for years. I think we all have good intentions of using these products, but they sometimes end up forgotten as we collect all the latest and greatest products and enjoy using those items while they're fresh and new.

 

For my "old" product, I decided to pull out some very old Making Memories chipboard alphas that I have always loved. I pulled out one of each letter of the alphabet and arranged them around the outside edges of my page. I had good intentions of painting them all to match my background paper, but when I came across this older sheet of embossed cardstock from Core'dinations, I liked how the raw chipboard alphas created a tone-on-tone effect with the cardstock and decided to leave them plain.

I did want to spiffy up the chipboard alphas a bit, so I used a new-to-me embossing folder, along with my trusty Cuttlebug die cut machine, to emboss each letter with fun polka dots. It gives a nice, subtle effect to the letters.

For my "new" products, I pulled out some of the newest embellishments from Bella Blvd. A few feathers (in white, pink, and navy blue to match), a few crochet hearts (in white and grey to match), and a few fun little stick pin flags. I clustered all of these embellishments together, to go beside the adorable photo of one of my daycare kiddos.

Bella Blvd is the sponsor for my hour, and they are giving away an assortment of feathers, crochet hearts, and maybe even some flags, to one lucky winner. For this particular giveaway, you can leave a comment HERE.

However, you'll want to check out all of the posts from today on the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog (there's a lot of them!), because there some fabulous giveaways on each and every post. All of the giveaways are open until 6:00pm, EST, on Sunday, May 11th, so you have lots of time to get your comments in for a chance to win!

Bella Blvd: She's So Twirly

I have another layout to share from the Paper Crafters Library feature I did for Bella Blvd.

This layout wasn't planned in any way, shape, or form. All I knew was that I had borrowed these adorably cute photos from my friend Krista, of her oldest daughter, and I wanted to create a fun little layout with them.

I had something totally different in mind when I printed the photos, which is why I printed them as 2x3's. I still went ahead and used them, but I kind of wish I had printed them a bit larger, since they were so cute.

I framed my page with a few border strips of patterned paper, and some black chevron designer tape. All of the patterned papers and then stickers for this layout are from the Engaged At Last collection. Which is NOT just for engagement photos ;)

I wanted to try a little something different for adding the feathers to this layout. I decided to cut some circles out of the page, layer the entire page onto another sheet of cardstock, and adhere the feathers inbetween the layers and under the circles.

When it comes to circles, I still use my trusty circle cutter from Creative Memories, which I have had for years and years. It's great for cutting circles out of places where a punch just won't reach. I cut three circles from my white cardstock, and then adhered just the left side of the page to a scrap piece of cardstock.This allowed me to lift up the right side of the white cardstock, and arrange the feathers exactly where I wanted them. I stapled the feathers in place, and then once they were all secured, I finished adhering my white cardstock all the way down.

I decided to cut a few thin circle outlines from black cardstock, to add to the bottom two circles. I would have cut one for the top circle as well, but I wasn't able to cut one that size with the circle cutter, and I wasn't about to try and do it by hand. I cannot cut a circle freehand if my life depended on it.

I managed to type this post up fairly quickly. It's amazing how long it takes sometimes to type up something so simple. Now maybe I can get to bed at a decent time. I have a very full house of kiddos tomorrow, and I just know it's going to be a rough day. Wish me luck!

Bella Blvd: Senior

I'm so glad it's Friday! We've been passing a not-so-lovely stomach bug around our family and daycare familes for the past week and a half. I am so ready for all of to be heathly and happy again. I have a TON of scrapping projects on my plate over the next few weeks and am desperately needing some time to focus on those as well. I am hoping this weekend is a productive one. Anyways. I have another layout to share from the Paper Crafters Library feature I did for Bella Blvd.

This lovely young woman is my neice, on Joe's side of the family. Seems like just yesterday, but it was almost three years ago when I took her Senior pictures for her.

I knew I was focusing on the feathers for this layout, so I picked out my feathers first, using the colors in the photo to make my choices. Then I picked out my patterned papers to match the feathers and the photo.

I started by securing the feathers in place by stapling the bottom ends of each feather directly to my page. Two little staples for each feather does the trick. I adhered a few crochet hearts across the bottom of the feathers, which helps cover up the staples.

Once I had my journaling strips printed out and trimmed (remembering to leave a bit of room on each end for the brads), I laid them over the feathers to make sure I knew where I wanted them to be. I did one strip at a time, piercing holes in both ends of the journaling strip, through the feathers and the layers of papers. I held the strip down and immediately pushed my brads through the layers, so as not to "lose" my place, so to speak.

I find that a lot of the Bella Blvd feathers stay in place perfectly, even if you only secure the ends. And some shift a little, if not secured at the top as well. The feathers on this layout were definitely more fluffier than others, which made them perfect for this little technique.

Paper Crafter's Library: Bella Blvd Spotlight Feature

Bella Blvd is excited to have a special spotlight feature on Paper Crafter's Library today. We have chosen to feature our Feather collection. I have created FOUR brand new layouts, sharing different ways to use feathers on your layouts, how to adhere them, and how much interest they can add to your pages. I thought I would share one of them here today.

This gorgeous photo taken by my good friend Krista Lund, of her neice Ashley, called out to be matched up with a handful of fluffy and colorful feathers!

I usually cluster 2-3 feathers together when I am using them on a layout. But sometimes, a photo or a layout just calls out for more and more feathers! I chose five feathers to use on this layout, matching the colors to Ashley's dress and jacket in the photo.

I've mentioned this before, but I find that the easiest way to adhere feathers to my projects is by stapling them directly to the page. I just plan on covering up those staples with something afterwards. You can see here that I simply laid out my feathers where I wanted them to be. I knew I would be placing a paper strip over the ends, so I didn't worry about leaving a gap between the photo and the feathers.

Then I added two staples to the end of each feather. When I'm stapling further into the page, where my stapler can't reach, I lay my page over one of those cushy mats used for paper piercing. I staple right into that mat, and then gently pull the page off the mat. When the page is flipped over, you'll see the ends of the staples sticking straight up. I just use my finger to bend all of the ends down. Easy to do.

I cut a strip of patterned paper to add between the feathers and the photo, which would cover up all of the staples. I did my machine stitching first and then adhered it to the page. I did add some of my regular adhesive, even though I know it won't be super secure on the feathers. But I also added a few glue dots to the ends of the paper strip, which were being adhered straight to cardstock, and also added a few staples for extra security.

I hand cut one of the large brown zig zag pieces from the chevron patterned paper, traced it onto the yellow patterned paper, and then layered them together.

Head over to the Paper Crafter's Library to check out my other layouts (I will be sharing them here on my blog later on) and to learn more about working with this fun and trendy new embellishment! Bella is also sponsoring a giveaway on their site as well, so make sure to get your name in for a chance to win some of these gorgeous feathers!

Bella Blvd: Step-By-Step Monthly Project Sheet - Sand & Surf

Our new monthly project sheet went up on the Bella Blvd blog yesterday.

For my April layout, I focused on the new Sand & Surf collection. Except that instead of using it for a beach or travel layout, I set out to use it for a regular summer layout. These photos were all taken at one of Sarah's birthday parties, a few years back. I wanted to pull out some of the photos of Joe's family from that day for this layout, since the majority of the photos of Sarah, her friends, and the actual party are already scrapped on other layouts.

You might notice that my two O's in "Pooside" are a little on the small side. I decided to use the inside's of the chipboard O's for two reasons. One being that I tend to run out of O's very quickly. I have plenty more packages that I could have opened, but figured I would save those for later. My second reason was that if I had used the actual O's in the package, my title wouldn't have fit. 

I try and do a fun technique of some kind on every project sheet layout that I create, and this month I decided to make a paper pieced sun element for the page. I used my trusty old circle cutter from Creative Memories to cut a large circle in the corner of my yellow patterned paper. Cutting it from the corner left me with two straight edges to line up on the aqua paper.

I also cut several strips of the yellow patterned paper, all about 3/4" wide. I misted all of the yellow pieces with water, scrunched them up into balls, flattened them back out and set them out to dry. This adds a ton of texture to your paper. You can see above that it almost looks like I adhered the large circle with pop dots. But I didn't. That's just how much texture I gained with the spritzing and scrunching.

After adhering the main part of the sun in the corner of the aqua wave patterned paper, I started adhering the sun rays. I tucked one end under the center of the sun, and then trimmed the other end to fit the design.

I had printed out a handful of 2"x3" photos to use on the page, before I really knew what the page was even going to look like. I didn't end up using all of them, but picked out five photos that summed up the afternoon. I adhered them all using pop dots, to add even more dimension to the page.

I sprinkled in a few threaded buttons, and added some stickers and chipboard pieces here and there.

You can download/print the project sheet, which has a complete supply list and full instructions, right HERE.

Scrapbook & Cards Today: Happy 7th Birthday Celebration

I'm a little late sharing this, but last week over on the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog, we were having a birthday celebration for their 7th birthday! A handful of the designers created projects to share throughout the week, and here's the cards that I contributed to the celebration.

I am constantly in need of birthday cards and yet they are the one type of card that I never seem to have on hand. I have used this same "award ribbon" style design for many other cards, such as baby cards, thinking of you cards, and even some coach's cards. I thought it would be the perfect design for birthday cards as well. I die cut the award ribbon pieces and "Happy Birthday" sentiment circle using my Silhouette Cameo.

Using a die cutting machine makes it really easy to cut duplicate pieces at once, which then makes it easy to mass produce a whole bunch of birthday cards at once. I added just a touch of machine stitching, and a simple star embellishment to the center of my sentiment. If you were wanting to mail your cards, I would suggest leaving off the star embellishment for easy mailing. 

There have also been some fabulous giveaways going on over on the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog, and you won't want to miss out on getting yourself entered for a chance to win. You have until April 4th to leave a comment on any of the birthday celebration giveaway posts, so you still have time to get entered.

Bella Blvd: American

Last Friday we revealed our new All American collection on the Bella Blvd blog, and this week we are sharing All American projects from our design team all week long. Five full days, with a new project from every single designer on the team. My layout was included on today's post.

This collection was perfect for scrapping some of the photos I took on Memorial Day last year. I did use a few of these photos before on a project sheet layout, but I really wanted to create a layout using more photos from the day to give a better view of the day. I used a storyboard template from Kerri Bradford Studio to create my photo collage, allowing me to get 9 photos on this one page. I also love that when I use a photo collage, I'm really just trimming one large photo, rather than trimming and adhering 9 individual photos.

I wanted to use the blue star patterned paper, but I didn't want it to overwhelm the page. So I used my Cameo to die cut this circle border to go along the left side of the page. I like that you can still see plenty of the star pattern on the blue paper, but it still allows bits of the white cardstock background to show through. I think it helps to balance out the white on the other areas of the page.

I wanted to add a little embellishing to the page, since it was mostly paper, stickers, and a few chipboard pieces, so I added some simple metal star brads along my circle border.

I used the "American" chipboard letters from the Chipboard Icons package for my title, dotting the "i" with a silver star brad. Since I was adding my journaling strips directly to the white cardstock background page, I lightly inked the edges of my strips with a navy blue ink pad to help them stand out. I had also lightly misted my white cardstock background with a light blueish misting spray.

Check out the Bella Blvd blog all week to see a wide variety of cards, layouts, and altered projects featuring this new collection (which begins shipping April 1st). There's a good mix of patriotic themed and everyday projects as well, showing how versitle the collection is.

Bella Blvd: District Honor Band

I have a quick layout share today that went up on the Bella Blvd blog over the weekend. Twice a month we have designers do their own takes on a sketch from Becky Fleck, and last week it was my turn.

It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do with this sketch.The one thing that I really liked was how the photo and small blocks of paper formed a long row from one side of the page to the other. It actually reminded me of a recent photo that I thought would work perfectly for this layout.

Alyssa loves band more than anything. She's been playing the clarinet since the 5th grade, I believe. She loves being a part of the high school band. It's become such a huge part of her life, and the majority of her friends are all fellow band members. Yesterday, while trying to persuade Sarah to join band next year as she had to turn in her class picks for freshman year (Eek. I'll have a freshmen and a senior next year!), she said that "all of us in the band are like one big family". She also said today that "Sometimes I want to ask people NOT in band what they do with their life". I love that she loves it that much!

Alyssa is in Honor Band at school, and was also selected to be a part of the District Honor Band and the County Honor Band this year (same as last year). This photo was taken at the District Honor Band concert which took place back in February. Since it was such a long group of band members, I knew that I could crop out a lot of the excess space above them and end up with a long, narrow photo. I think I ended up printing this at 11 inches long and only 4 inches tall.

I knew I wanted to use the aqua tone-on-tone music note patterned paper from the Birthday Boy collection, and that I wanted to mix it with lots of black and white, since band members wear concert black and white for their preformances. I really, really wanted to mix in another color, but no matter what I tried, it didn't work. So I kept with the aqua, black, and white color scheme. I pulled some scraps of patterned paper from lots of different collections to layer behind the large photo.

I am pretty sure that I meant to add a few of the black text buttons to the "D" and the "R" text chipboard alphas. I must have forgotten after I got done adding the clear star buttons to the black chipboard alphas.

You can see more takes on this same sketch, from a few of Bella's other designers, HERE.

Bella Blvd: Step-By-Step Monthly Project Sheet - Feathers & Crochet Hearts

We have our new March step-by-step monthly project sheet up on the Bella Blvd blog today.

This month, I was asked to focus on the new feathers and crochet hearts for my project sheet layout. I started with the polka dot patterned paper from the Sand & Surf collection, and chose some feathers and crochet hearts in coordinating colors. I then pulled out a few patterned papers from each of the three new collections, since I really wanted to mix and match for this layout.

But by the time I got done with the layout, all of my papers had come from the Sand & Surf collection. Not sure how that happened, since I had great papers pulled out from the engagment and wedding collections.

I love that the crochet hearts perfectly match so many of the feathers. Such gorgeous colors!

You can download/print the project sheet, which has a complete supply list and full instructions, right HERE.

Bella Blvd: Epiphany Team Up

All this week, over on the Bella Blvd blog, we have been teaming up with Epiphany Crafts for a week full of inspiration. A handful of our Bella designers were each sent one of Epiphany's punch tools and accessories to use along with our favorite Bella products. I was sent the Shape Studio Pennant Tool, along with the coordinating epoxy shapes.

I've had this photo collage of Sarah printed forever now. I never did use it for what I had originally printed it for, and was determined to finally get it scrapped. I went through my Bella stash to find some patterned papers that would match. The little hoodie she's wearing in the photo is green, with red cherries on it. So it seemed natural to pull some browns, blues, reds, and greens in.

I had a totally different idea in my head for the banner pieces. I was going to drape them, in a more curved way, above the title. The title which was originally "Sweet", an then got changed to "Sweetness" when I changed my mind on the banner pieces and ended up with an empty spot.

So in the end, I used the epoxy banner pieces as simple embellishments on the top and the bottom of the page. I kept wanting to add more to this page, but finally decided that I was happy with it the way it was.

I think I've mentioned before that birthday cards are the one type of card that I need the most, yet I never seem to have any on hand. I figured the banner shape seemed like a natural fit for birthdays, so I might as well make a few birthday cards.

I pulled out scraps of paper from the Birthday Boy collection to create this cute little row of epoxy covered banner pieces under the sentiment sticker.

And for my birthday girl card, I had to use the "You are the frosting to my cupcake" card from the Cute Cuts patterned paper. I adhered it to a brown patterned paper from the Birthday Boy collection and adhered it to the center of the card using pop dots.

Then I pulled out all the tiny scrap pieces of Birthday Girl patterned paper that I had, and went to town punching banner pieces. I decided to skip the epoxy shapes on this one, and just used the tool as a punch. I then started layering the pieces along the outside edge of the sentiment card for a playful look.

Stop by both the Bella Blvd blog and the Epiphany Crafts blog to see what the rest of the designers have created for you this week. You will also want to check out today's post on the Bella blog, as we are doing a BIG giveaway and you will want to leave a comment for a chance to win!

Bella Blvd: She Is My Entire Heart

Hey everyone! I've got two things to share with you today. First off, I have the second half of my guest blogger post up on the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog today. On Monday, I had shared a layout inspired by a Pinterest image, and that layout included feathers. Today, I am sharing lots of tips and tricks to working with and adhering real feathers to your papercrafting projects. You can read more HERE!

And speaking of feathers, I realized that I never got around to sharing my last Winter CHA layout from Bella Blvd. Which is kind of strange, since it was actually the first layout I made of the bunch. It includes feathers, so it ties in well with what else I've been sharing this week.

I created this layout for the catalog, and I was asked to make a "awesome layout with as much of the new product as possibe". I love a good challenge! I started with these photos that I had taken of Holly, my good friend Deneen's daughter (one of four daughters). I knew they would be neutral enough with the colors to go with any product I picked out.

Then I started picking out patterned papers. I set out to pick at least one patterned paper from each of the four new collections. The green dot paper is from the Sand & Surf collection, the aqua chevron paper is from the Freestyle Sophisticates collection, the pink hearts paper and the black ruled paper are from the Love And Marriage collection, and the striped paper is from the Engaged At Last collection.

I cut strips of varying sizes from each patterned paper and pieced them together on a sheet of white cardstock. I added a strip of the new black chevron designer tape across the top of the page, and also used some torn strips of pink and aqua designer tapes on other areas of the layout. We didn't release any new buttons, but I knew I had to include a few of the fun black text buttons to help embellish the page.

I choose three of the new feathers to include on the page: black, green and aqua. I also picked out some of the new crochet hearts to use. I had only gotten a few color packs for my CHA work, so I decided to stick with all pink hearts, since they matched the best.

I layered the feathers together and stapled them in place. I used my tiny attacher on the ends of the feathers, since I knew I wanted those staples to show. I actually added some staples further up on the feathers to help secure them better, knowing that I was going to add this "I love you. The end" sticker (from the Love & Marriage collection) on top of the staples to cover them up. I adhered the sticker to a scrap of cardstock first and cut around it, which made it much easier to adhere the sticker with pop dots over the feathers.

For my title, I used a mix of the new green Sienna chipboard alphas, the new black alpha stickers from the Engaged At Last collection, and some new aqua High Five alpha stickers.

Oh, and I also snuck on a few of the new flags from the Engaged At Last collection. Almost forgot about those. I think I did a pretty good job at representing each of the new collections as well as each of the new embellishments.

Bella Blvd: Step-By-Step Monthly Project Sheet - Kiss Me

We put up our February project sheet over on the Bella Blvd blog yesterday, just in time for Valentines Day.

{Photo by Krista Lund Photography}

I used the Kiss Me collection for this month's project sheet layout. I knew I wanted to do a fun border along the side of the page using lots and lots of hearts. I used my Cameo to cut out the hearts, but you could easily use any die cut machine or a few punches. I cut two hearts for every one you see on the layout, since I was doubling them up.

I adhered the first set of hearts with regular adhesive. For the second set of hearts, I lightly folder the hearts in half so there was a crease top to bottom, and then adhered them by putting adhesive only down the center. This allowed the sides of the hearts to lift up for some extra dimension.

You can download/print the project sheet, which has a complete supply list and full instructions, right HERE.

Bella Blvd: We Said I Do

Still powering through the week. It's Friday, which is a good thing. I love my Friday's now, since I only have one daycare kiddo. He's my one full-timer, and at 15 months old, he's a pure ball of energy and fun to be around. After the craziness of four very busy days, he gets me all to himself on Fridays!

I'm back with another layout that was up on the Bella Blvd blog earlier this week. This was my second layout using the new Love And Marriage collection.

I have borrowed photos of my cousin's wedding a few times over the years for other projects I've done. I don't think I've used these particular photos though. As I was browsing through the photos, I knew I wanted something to go with the "Going to the chapel" die cut card from the Cute Cuts paper, and these photos were perfect.

I love the softer colors in this collection, and used the green and aqua patterned papers for the base of my page. Sidenote: I just noticed the date and realized their wedding was almost exactly four years ago. And they are expecting their first baby in the next few months. A new little second cousin in the family.

I added a few of the lighter pink feathers to the page, and tucked them under the die cut "Going to the chapel" card, which I adhered using pop dots. I also added the chipboard chapel piece directly over the chapel that was printed on the card. It fit perfectly.

I used some of the Sienna chipboard alphas, along with a chipboard "i do" heart, to create my title. With a little "Bride & Groom" stick pin flag tucked in for fun.

You can see more projects featuring the Love And Marriage collection HERE, and check out THIS post for some gorgeous altered projects using this collection!

Bella Blvd: Step-By-Step Monthly Project Sheet - Winter Wonder

We snuck in our step-by-step monthly project sheet for January just in the knick of time. How is today the last day of January already?!?! 

For this months project sheet, I was working with the Winter Wonder collection. I've used pieces of this collection before, but not really for winter layouts, seeing as we don't experience any sort of actual "winter" here in my part of California. But I was able to scrounge up the one and only set of snow pictures that we have, from a trip Alyssa took to the snow with her dad, aunt, and grandparents. Forever ago.

You can download/print the project sheet, which has a complete supply list and full instructions, right HERE.

Bella Blvd: April's Bachelorette Party

I don't know about you all, but the past two months have been a huge blue to me. No matter how hard I try, I cannot catch up on anything these days. Life, the house, scrapbooking deadlines and work, the day job, the laundry. I'm behind on all of it. I'd give anything to be able to take a few vacation days and work like crazy to get myself back on track. Not sure I see that happening any time soon though.

Anyways, I still have a few last CHA layouts for Bella Blvd to share with you. I feel like I've shared a ton of them this past month, but I only created 11 of them for the booth. I'm down to my last 3 that I haven't shared yet. This one was up on the Bella Blvd blog on Monday.

Once again, I borrowed photos for this layout from my good friend Krista. I'm so glad she was able to help out with photos, because I wasn't sure how I was going to use the Engaged At Last collecion based off my own photos. I got married forever ago, and never had any engagement photos, and we never had bachelor or bachelorette parties. I've only been to two weddings in the last ten or so years, and those family members didn't have any photos to fit either. Thankfully, Krista had lots of photos to fit.

I think the text patterned paper is really cute, with lots of fun bachelor and bachelorette party phrases. I like to use paper like that in small amounts, so I cut a large circle out of it to use in the upper corner.

The chipboard frame is so cute, but I didn't have a photo that would work in it. So I used it to hold the "Bachelorette" chipboard piece that was part of my title. I added some threaded black text buttons to the bottom of the frame.

I used a piece of the new Freestyle Sophisticates hand drawn grid patterned paper, in grey, on the top part of my layout. I think we all know that I love to use the regular grid patterned paper from Bella on a lot of my layouts. It's just a great neutral paper for backgrounds. This new hand drawn grid, in a variety of colors, will be a great basic as well.

I added a few of the new feathers, in black and yellow. Love the punches of black in this collection. I stapled them to the layout, and then adhered a crochet heart over the stapes. I tucked in a stick pin flag, and added a few more threaded buttons to embellish.

You can see more projects using the new Engaged At Last collection on the Bella Blvd blog right HERE, and if you want to see some gorgeous altered project ideas using this collection, click HERE.

Bella Blvd: Just Like Them

A few days ago, we shared some projects using the Kiss Me collection over on the Bella Blvd blog. While Kiss Me isn't a brand new collection, it was new enough to be shown and featured in the booth at CHA, which meant we needed some new projects showing it off.

I started this layout with the colorful chevron patterned paper, and pulled all of my colors from there. Navy blue is a favorite color of mine (especially to wear), even though I don't use it often on my layouts. I love the navy blue feathers, and decided to add in a sheet of the blue Sophisticates patterned paper to match, knowing I'd also be using the navy blue chipboard alphas.

I used some pink, yellow, and aqua designer tapes on the edges of my photos, so I used embellishments and stickers in those same colors.

I was trying to come up with a title for this page, and had a few colors of the chipboard alphas out. I was very limited with the green alphas, since I had only received one package for CHA work and had used quite a few of the letters. Took me a while, but I finally came up with a fun title, adding in some tiny alphas from the High Five stickers to add my subtitle. I cut the "I'll tell you a secret" sticker in half, to hold the entire subtitle.

Stop by the Bella Blvd blog to see lots more Kiss Me projects. We've also been sharing altered projects, featuring the new collections, and there are some gorgeous projects! You won't want to miss them.

Bella Blvd: Love For Life

I ran out of time last night to get this post scheduled and am not trying to toss it up super quick before the daycare kid realize I've snuck away for a minute. They don't like when I try and be productive during the day ;)

Today, we are sharing layouts on the Bella Blvd blog that use the new Freestyle Sophisticates patterned papers. I love the Sophisticates patterned papers, as they are great "basics" that an be mixed and matched with any other given collection. For this layout, I only used two small strips of patterned paper from the Kiss Me collection, and then picked out four different colors of the Freestyle patterned papers to match.

When Stephanie first showed me these designs, I loved the hand drawn chevron design. But I also commented on how the fact that they weren't totally straight and even was going to drive me a bit crazy, seeing as how I love things perfectly straight. Once I had them in my hands and started cutting, I realized that if you trimmed off two rows of the chevron arrows at once, they made a straight piece. If that even make sense.

And then, after all that worrying about things being straight and even, I went and adhered them down on my page in uneven rows. A bit wonky, if you will. I might have even used a ruler to make sure my uneven rows were still somehow even by the time they were stacked up.

I added a few feathers for fun, along with a few threaded buttons. If you look closely here, you can see where I hand stitched this feather in two places using some coordinating green thread. Just to be sure the feather stayed where I wanted it.

Stop by the Bella Blvd blog to see more projects using these new papers! I will be back late tonight with a new layout share for Kerri Bradford Studio.

Bella Blvd: Aptos Beach

Today, on the Bella Blvd blog, we are sharing some of our CHA layouts and cards using the new Sand & Surf collection. This is such a fun summer collection, and it might have been my favorite to work with.

You might recognize these two adorable little girls from THIS layout. When my friend Krista was sending me photos to choose from, I had a hard time deciding which beach photos to use for this layout. I'm glad I was able to use both sets of pics that grabbed my scrapbooking eye.

I got a lot of use out of the Borders and Cute Cuts patterned paper on this layout. I used four different border strips, adding machine stitching along all of the edges.

The arrow, cloud, and sun along the top of my layout are all pieces that I cut from the Cute Cuts patterned paper. I love the Sienna chipboard alphas, and am excited that we have a few new colors coming out. Pickle Juice green is a color I will use over and over.

I printed out four photos in 3x3" squares. I choose to crop them leaving a bit of white space in at least one corner of the photo. I thought it would be fun to add some of the word/phrase stickers from the Alpha+Bits and Miniatures sticker sheets.

I also added a stick pin flag to one of the photos. I glue dotted the actual paper flag part, and added a few small torn pieces of designer tape to the pin part of the flag. I adhered all of the photos using lots of pop dots, and added the chipboard wave in between the photos.

I wanted to use the tall ruled journaling sticker, knowing I would print out my computer printed journaling (or Krista's journaling, I should say) and add the strips to the sticker. I ended up cutting off part of the journaling sticker to make it fit the space, so I still have a piece of it left for another project.

I used a small piece of the sandcastle border strip in this lower corner of the page, and added some scalloped punched strips of white cardstock to the top and bottom. I wanted to get some designer tape on the layout and decided to use a variety of pieces to create a little banner border. I cut a notch in one end of each piece, and layered them together.

Stop by the Bella Blvd blog to see lots more projects using the Sand & Surf collection. And stay tuned, as we have a ton more projects to share next week.

Bella Blvd: Wedding

Yesterday, on the Bella Blvd blog, we shared a ton of layouts and cards using the new Love And Marriage collection. Here's one of the layouts I made with this collection for the booth at CHA.

Once again, I borrowed some photos from my talented friend Krista. The truth is, I used her photos on five of the eleven layouts I made for CHA. I'm very grateful that she's so willing to share with me (and in return, she gets to keep any layouts I get back!), because aren't these gorgeous photos?

I pieced several border strips, pieces of patterned paper, and a border sticker together to create the base of my page. I love the touches of black in this collection as it really ties in so nicely with wedding photos. The black ruled patterned paper has aqua lines mixed in, and it's one of my favorites.

After I had all of my paper pieced together, I machine stitched along all of them. I knew that I wanted to use the pink chipboard flower, and hand cut the yellow and aqua flower from the Cute Cuts patterned paper. I think they make a really cute cluster with the coordinating threaded buttons on each flower.

I picked out the yellow and aqua feathers to add along with the flowers. To adhere the feathers I simpy stapled down the bottom ends of the feathers, since I knew the flowers would cover that area. Then I adhered my flowers using pop dots right over where my staples were.  

Make sure and check out the Bella Blvd blog for even more projects using this new collection. Our new products will start shipping on February 15th, so it won't be long before you can get your hands on these fun products!

Bella Blvd: Engaged And So In Love

For the next few weeks, over on the Bella Blvd blog, we are going to be sharing lots and lots of our Winter CHA booth projects. Yesterday we started with projects featuring the new Engaged At Last collection.

I wanted to create an engagement layout, so I asked my talented friend Krista if I could borrow some engagement photos from one of her sessions. I chose these photos of her friends Matt and Nicole, and printed them in black and white, which allowed me to mix and match them with any colors in the collection. 

I started by misting my white cardstock background paper with some pink spray mist. I adhered some strips of patterned paper and a few border stickers across the top and bottom of the page, and added some machine stitching. I choose three patterned papers (the pink chevron, the black diamond, and the aqua arrows), and trimmed a large rectangle from each paper. I distressed the edges of each piece and machine stiched around the edges.

The distressing and stitching around the papers helps add a lot of dimension, so that the papers aren't so flat against the page. I adhered them across the center of the page, and then layed a coordinating feather on each paper. To adhere the feathers, I simply stapled them down since I knew that my photos would hide most of the feathers. I just wanted them to poke out from the tops of the photos a bit. I then adhered my three photos using lots of pop dots.

The chipboard ring was the perfect accent to this page, along with the "he proposed" and "I said yes" chipboard pieces. I clustered them up in the upper left corner of the page.

I added a few more chipboard elements to the page, across the bottoms of the photos. I adhered the grey scalloped chipboard border using pop dots, since my photos were already raised up. Then I adhered the "engaged" chipboard piece to my photos, using pop dots as well. Lots and lots of pop dots on this page! I also tucked in the little stick pin flag with the wedding ring.

Make sure and check out the Bella Blvd blog for even more projects using this new collection. Our new products will start shipping on February 15th, so it won't be long before you can get your hands on these fun products!

Bella Blvd: CHA Winter Sneak Peek - Love And Marriage & Sand And Surf

I have two more sneak peek reveals to share with you today. One of these collections went up yesterday on the Bella Blvd blog and one went up today. We have three new collections releasing at CHA Winter this weekend, and these are the final two (Engaged At Last was revealed last week). We do have one more sneak peek happening this week, before the show starts on Saturday.

Our new Love And Marriage collection is what comes after the Engaged At Last collection. This collection is all about the wedding day festivities. I have worked with several wedding collections in the past for other manufacturers, and what I didn't always enjoy was that they were mostly black, white, and grey. I knew that when Stephanie decided to design a wedding collection that we would be quaranteed to see lots of color mixed in. And she did not let us down!

Here's some peeks at a few of my layouts that feature the new Love And Marriage collection. More to come on these layouts soon :)

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Our new Sand & Surf collection is all about summer, the beach, and tropical vacations. It's bright and cheerful, and perfect for those sand, surf, and water photos. There are still lots of great B-side patterns that are great for everyday layout as well. In fact, the tan arrow paper is what I used on my feather layout that I shared on Monday.

Here's some peeks at a few of my layouts that feature the new Sand & Surf collection. More to come on these layouts soon :)

{I shared this layout HERE already, but wanted to mention it again, since it uses pieces from this new collection}

Make sure and stop by the Bella Blvd blog to see the full reveal, projects featuring these new products, and a chance to get in on our giveaways for each reveal. Keep checking in, as we have lots more fun products to reveal to you!

Bella Blvd: CHA Winter Sneak Peek - Feathers

CHA Winter opens up this coming Saturday! It's always exciting to see all of the new products that the manufacturers are coming out with, isn't it? This week, on the Bella Blvd blog, we are continuing with our new product reveals of what will be making it's debut in their booth this weekend.

And today we are revealing our exciting new embellishment. Feathers! Feathers have been a big trend in the fashion world, and now Bella is bringing feathers to the scrapbooking world. Check out the rainbow of colors the feathers are available in. All of Bella's bright and fun colors they are known for, with shades to match any and all of their collections. They add lots of texture and interest to your projects, and are lots of fun to work with. Each package comes with four feathers.

I created this layout for the catalog, for the page featuring the feathers. I started this layout by picking out a handful of colors to work with, and then found a few photos to match and some coodinating papers from the new collections.

Since I knew I was adding quite a few feathers to my page, I decided to fan them out, coming out from behind one of my photos. The feathers come in a mix of sizes and shapes. Some are thinner, some are wider. Some are fluffier, some are more flat. They really do add a fun texture to the page.

My title was inspired by the arrows on the patterned paper I used as my background paper (which will be revealed in a new collection later this week). I started with my chipboard alphas to spell "Direction", and then after lots and lots of back and forth with myself, I settled on the rest of the title which I created with alpha stickers from the High Five Alpha sticker sheets.

My journaling is always the last thing I do on my layouts, so it was written after finally deciding on the title.

The feathers can be a bit tricky to adhere. I found that the easiest way to adhere them in place was to position them so that the ends were under another element on the page. This allows you to hide things. Like the staples that I used to adhere all of these feathers! I simply staped the ends down first, and then adhered my photo and journaling/title card over them, using pop dots and glue dots. I did a little shifting of the feathers here and there, so that I knew the adhesive was touching down to the paper in several spots to secure things.  

I also added a few of the wooden buttons to my page. Since they were positioned over the feathers, they added a little extra hold to keep them in place. Normally, I thread my buttons and then glue dot them to my layouts. But since I wanted these buttons to help hold the feathers in place, I did handstich them onto the page.

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Make sure and stop by the Bella Blvd blog to see the full reveal, projects featuring these new products, and a chance to get in on our giveaways for each reveal. Keep checking in, as we have lots more fun products to reveal to you!

Bella Blvd: CHA Winter Sneak Peeks - Crochet Hearts & Engaged At Last Collection

I got a little side-tracked yesterday (washing machine overfilled itself, spilled over, and flooded my laundry room. good times), so I didn't get a post up. Which means that instead of one sneak peek to share today, I have two of them.

Yesterday, on the Bella Blvd blog, we revealed our new Crochet Hearts. We've had the crochet flowers for a while now, and I love that Stephanie designed these cute little hearts. They come in a rainbow of colors that coordinate perfectly with Bella's colorful products.

Here's some peeks at a few of my layouts that feature the new Crochet Hearts. More to come on these layouts soon :)

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Then today, we revealed the new Engaged At Last collection. This is a really fun collection that takes you from the marriage proposal, thru the engagement period, into the briday shower, and even to the bachelor and bachelorette parties.

Here's some peeks at a few of my layouts I created using the Engaged At Last collection. More to come on these layouts soon :)

Make sure and stop by the Bella Blvd blog to see the full reveal, projects featuring these new products, and a chance to get in on our giveaways for each reveal. Keep checking in, as we have lots more fun products to reveal to you!

Bella Blvd: CHA Winter Sneak Peek - Designer Tapes

I know I have been very quiet here on the blog lately, but with good reason. CHA Winter is taking place a few weeks earlier this year than most years. This means that I spent most of December trying to balance a ton of CHA work for Bella Blvd (behind the scenes planning and creating projects), work (2 new daycare little ones came in December), family, soccer, and Christmas ... all at the same time. I won't lie. It's been pure madness. But the good news is that I should have plenty to blog about for the next few weeks. Starting with this:

Yes, it's sneak peek time on the Bella Blvd blog and you won't want to miss it! Starting today, and continuing into next week, we are revealing the new collections and products that Bella is debuting at CHA Winter (starting January 12th). I've been working with all of the new products for the last two weeks and I'm excited to let you all in on the fun new goodies!

We are starting the reveals with our new Designer Tapes! When Bella first came out with their own tapes (CHA Winter 2012), I was excited to try them out. I had never used washi tapes before, but they have quickly become a favorite supply of mine. If you're looking for bright, fun, and colorful tapes, Bella definitely has what you're looking for. We are introducing 9 new individual tapes (including the extremely popular yellow chevron that has been sold out for ages) and 3 combo packs (includes rolls not sold individually). Don't blame me if you want them all ;)

I created this layout focused on the new tapes. I had these photos of my friend Krista's daughters, and picked out a wide variety of the new designer tapes in colors to match. Even though I stuck with aquas, yellows, greens, and tans, I had plenty of designs to choose from. I used a total of 12 different rolls.

I tore off strips that were just shy of 12 inches long, and lined them up across the page, top to bottom. I basically used my tapes to create my own "patterned paper" background. I also used a few torn pieces of tape on the sides of my photos, and added a threaded button to each.

You're getting tiny peeks at some other products that we'll talk about later ;)

I also added some zig zag machine stitching along some of the designer tape strips. One thing that I love about the tapes are that they are very forgiving, and you can peel them up and move them around without tearing papers and/or photos. They stay put very well too. But when I want to be totally safe and make sure they don't go anywhere, maching stitching is an easy way to secure them down.

Make sure and stop by the Bella Blvd blog to see the full reveal, another project featuring the new Designer Tapes, and a chance to get in on our giveaway, where one lucky blog reader will win a full set of our new tapes. Keep checking in, as we have lots more fun products to reveal to you!

Scrapbook & Cards Today: Fall Issue Layouts, Part 2

I'm back to share another layout that I created for the Fall issue (you can download and/or view the issue FREE, right from that link) of Scrapbook & Cards Today. I was asked to work on the Easy, Detailed, Expert column. It focuses on showing three versions of a layout, so that no matter what level of difficulty appeals to you, there's an idea for everyone. Yesterday, I shared the Easy and Detailed layouts, and today I'm sharing my Expert layout.

Here is my take on an "EXPERT" version of my layout. While both of the first two layouts fit my style and are designs that I can see poppping up on lots of my layouts, this layout here is a great representation of my normal style of scrapping. It's got a touch of technique, but not anything that's super involved. It's got lots of texture, but without a ton of bulk.

I started by printing my photos all individually. I went from five photos to four photos, printing the main photo as a 4x6, and the other three photos as 2x3's. I knew that my photos and embellishments would add color to the page, so I wanted the center of the layout to be all white cardstock to built on.

I used the brown burlap patterned paper for my background (all papers and stickers by Bella Blvd), and then trimmed up a piece of embossed white dotted cardstock to add to the center of the page (which I sprayed with some green mist first). I used a scalloped border punch on some aqua patterned paper, and tucked a strip under each side of the white cardstock, so that just a little bit was peeking out.

I wanted to add a bit more texture to my flower sticker on this layout, so I started by roughing up the edges of the petals and then bending them up as well. I added a green punched circle to the center of the flower and machine stitched around it. I added a nice, chunky button to the center, with silver mini brads placed in the button holes.  

I adhered a few of my smaller photos to the page using pop dots. I added silver mini brads to my smaller buttons as well as the large button, which is a little trick I've done for years.

I used my Silhouette for the title on this layout, just as I did for the second layout. I chose a "pumpkin patch" title that had one word in a scripty font. I love having one part of the title in a regular, more basic font, and the second part of the title in a large script font. I also added some tiny alpha stickers to create a longer title.

I had a lot of fun working on this column. If you havn't checked out the Fall issue (you can download and/or view the issue FREE, right from that link) of Scrapbook & Cards Today, definitely give it a looksie. The Winter issue is due out later this week and I can't wait to see it.

Scrapbook & Cards Today: Fall Issue Layouts

I figure since the Winter issue of Scrapbook & Cards Today is set to come out this coming Friday, it's about time I shared a few layouts that I created for the Fall issue (you can download and/or view the issue FREE, right from that link).

I had just finished up my work for Creating Keepsakes a few months back, after being on the Dream Team for three years, and I was thrilled to get the opportunity to jump into doing some work for another publication. I was asked to work on the Easy, Detailed, Expert column. It focuses on showing three versions of a layout, so that no matter what level of difficulty appeals to you, there's an idea for everyone.

This first layout is my take on the "EASY" version of my layout. I started with a storyboard template from Kerri Bradford, and printed out my photos in a collage. This is a great way to make those layout come together faster. Instead of printing out FIVE photos, trimming them individually, and adhereing them all to the page ... I simply printed out one large photo, trimmed around it, and adhered it to the page.

It might take a few extra minutes to get your collage set up, but having one large photo to work around on the page really does simplify the layout process. There are so many different ways to arrange five photos on a page, but there's not that many places to place one large photo (which is really five photos in one).

I adhered the collage to the center of my page, towards the bottom, and then worked on building around it with my chosen products. I added a strip of the colorful leaf patterned paper along either side of the photo collage, and a nice brown burlap patterned paper strip below the collage. A brown scalloped border sticker went along the inside edge of the leaf strips, and a yellow scalloped punched border went on the inside edge of the brown paper strip.

I added a green scalloped border sticker along the top edge of the photo collage. If you look closely, you can see where I must have pieced together two strips of the border sticker. I can't even remember why. Since I was keeping this layout "easy", I resisted the urge to use dimensional adhesive (even though it's still easy, and takes no extra time than regular adhesive. Lol.), and simply stuck my yellow flower stick right to the page, adding the tree circle sticker to the center.

For my title, I used a mix of brown letter stickers and orange chipboard letter stickers. A few photo corner stickers finished off the page. Easy peasy.

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This second layout is my take on the "DETAILED" version of my layout. Once again, I used a photo collage, although this time I took off the rounded corners on the template and kept with the straight edges. I moved my collage over to the right edge of the page, close to the bottom, and started building around the photo collage with my products.

To unify these three takes on one layout, I kept with the same Thankful collection from Bella Blvd. I used a few of the same patterned papers on all three layouts, but also choose a few different patterned papers to mix it up a bit.

I kept the same brown burlap patterned paper along the bottom of the collage, and added this large polka dot patterned paper along the left side of the layout, in addition to the orange strip of patterned paper and the brown ribbon. I added just a touch of machine stitching to this page, along the orange patterned paper and the green scalloped border sticker. I also added threaded buttons along the ribbon, as well as the bottom corner of the page.

To add a bit of interest to the polka dot patterned paper, I punched out some of the circles from another piece of the same paper. I also punched some circles, in the same size, from a scrap piece of chipboard. I adhered the paper to the chipboard, and sanded down the edges, before adhering them directly on top of some of the circles on the layout. It adds a bit of subtle interest, without much bulk.

I pulled out my Silhouette to create my title, cutting it from the brown burlap patterned paper and some orange cardstock. I also added a bit of green misting to the white cardstock background of this page to add a touch more color. I embellished the flower sticker more this time. Added a punched blue circle of patterned paper, did a bit of machine stitched around the center, added a threaded button, curled up the edges a bit, and adhered with pop dots.

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Stop back by tomorrow to see my third layout for this feature, the "EXPERT" layout. 

Bella Blvd: Thankful Project Sheet

Yesterday, we put up our new step-by-step project sheet for November on the Bella Blvd blog, featuring the Thankful collection.

Each month, I try to work a fun technique into the layout design. This month, I thought it would be fun to create a little pocket that could be filled with punched shapes.

The confetti trend is so popular right now in paper crafting. Instead of doing small punched circles, I went with some punched leaves. This is a great way to include lots of different patterned papers.

I created the pocket using a piece of transparency on the front, a piece of vellum on the back, and I secured all four sides closed using designer tape and mini staples.

I layered quite a few stickers together, along with a few layered buttons and some cut out leaves, to add to the top corner of the page next to my journaling block.

You can view and download our step-by-step project sheet, with full instructions and supply list, RIGHT HERE.

Bella Blvd: Kiss Me Collection - Do U Really

I have another layout up today on the Bella Blvd blog, as we share projects made with our new mid release collection, Kiss Me.

Before the girls left for Disneyland, I asked if I could take a few picture of each of them, since I knew I needed to work on some layouts with the new Kiss Me collection. So there's really no particular story behind this photo of Sarah. Just me forcing her to take a photo. Lol. I was pulling out some of the papers and pieces that I thought would work well with her photo, not having any idea what the layout was going to be about.

Then I thought about what she says to me every time I tell her I love her. She replies with "Do you really?", in her best sarcastic, teenager way. To which I will usually say "Hmmmm. Let me think about it". Followed by a few seconds of thinking, and then a "You know what? I really DO love you". It's our routine, it's what we do. And I thought it was the perfect little story to get down on a layout.

I was originally only going to use Sarah's photo on the page. In fact, I had some navy blue chipboard letters out to spell "I love you". But when I noticed the "I love you" thought bubble sticker, I knew I had to add a photo of myself as well.

For a minute, I thought about making my own larger handmade thought bubble to hold Sarah's "Do you really", but using this journaling sticker seemed a whole lot easier. Lol.

I adore this little cloud! It's so stinkin cute, and ended up being the perfect spot to add the year with some white number stickers. If you were to look really closely at this photo (or clicked on it to see it larger), you might notice some small tears on my grid background paper. I was going go adhere the photo of myself, on which I have to use glue dots because of the texture on the back of my photo paper, and I dropped the photo. That stuff happens to me more than I care to admit ;)

Head on over to the Bella blog again, as we have a TON of projects that we're sharing today. Five layouts and six cards to be exact. Lots of good stuff!