Keeping Calm & Carrying On

Hollywood, California Feature: Graumans Theatre

I've been scrappin' some fun trips lately including the extra days spent in LA last year post-CHA. The next few days are going to be Hollywood Layout features! Hope you enjoy!

I forgot to stitch-up these buttons which I must do (personal pet-peeve), but am lovin' the scattered, random brads/buttons/bling look lately.

The floral and petals element was cut from an October Afternoon patterned paper.

Graumans Chinese Theatre was pretty cool. This was the first time I've ever done any sight-seeing in California and enjoyed reading up on the history behind the hand and footprints in the cement. I found some of my favorite actors and celebrities and took a bunch of photos!

Puerto Rico Part 2: The Vacation.

As mentioned earlier, Steven and Justin flew into Puerto Rico post-workshops so that the four of us could enjoy a bit of R&R.

Did you know that PR is actually a small little island? We drove from one end to the other with Nilmarie a couple times actually!

Who wouldn't be in heaven with a beach 20 feet from your door and a view like this?!

I shared plenty of Instagram photos while we were in PR, but these are some of my favorites from the trip.

Justin and Jenna were a hoot to travel with. We had a great time, this being our first "couples" vacation. First we stayed at the hotel with this amazing view.

Then we stayed at The Palmas with the ocean right at the doorstep and beautiful walkways like this one...

The boys practiced a bit of water aerobics (haha-dorks!).

And after having dinner at Nilmarie's house one evening, both Steven and Justin fell in love with this Puerto Rican Beer that Tato (Nilmy's husband) introduced them to.

Can someone tell me why boys (even at this age) lay in the sand/ocean like this? I just don't get it....just makes me think of where all the mucky sand and water are going as each wave comes in!

We sure did have some delicious dinners!

and some great date nights.

It took me a solid 2-3 to actually wind down from "work-mode" and feel like I was on vacation. The sunlight was devine and always re-inspires me to start creating again as soon as I get home.

The NCAA Final Four games were on the weekend the boys were in PR. Steven and I were rootin' for Kansas, of course. 

Even though I worked out nearly every day...my diet consisted of Waaaaayyy to many of these pretty pool drinks ;)

Puerto Rico is a beautiful island. I'm so excited that it's another place that both Steven and I have been to together as a couple.

Where are some of your favorite vacation spots?

Friday Photos: Puerto Rico Part I

Ciao ciao! Today I'm recapping my trip to Puerto Rico, which was devine by the way. I traveled to PR for both business and pleasure and enjoyed every minute of it. I feel, literally, like I have a whole 'nother family down "der". ;)

I can't even tell you how much I laugh when I hang out with Nilamarie (she's on the far left). Nilmarie owns a darling store, The Scrapbook Gallery, and has some wonderful customers and employees!

I love how the pink tablecloths reflected onto the ceiling....love it!

The workshops were full of peeps, some of which had returned since I met them last year and also plenty of new-bees.

We created this darling "HOME" themed mini album.

Don't even ask what's going on here.....

:) I told you we like to laugh!

There was plenty of Bella Blvd to go around!

Thank you Nilmy for an amazing stay in PR. You are like a sister to me, and your family is amazing. I wish you all the success and happiness in the world. I am SO GLAD we have become such great friends in the process.

For those of you interested in the "pleasure," or vacation portion of my trip to PR be sure to visit again tomorrow ;) for plenty more photos!

Ciao ciao for now!

Traveling Soon

After a brief break in traveling I will be in flight to Puerto Rico in less than 2 weeks! I will be returning to The Scrapbook Gallery, owned by this gem Nilmarie!

If you "like" The Scrapbook Gallery on FB, you can watch this funny little movie we made promoting the event back at CHA in California. (I couldn't figure out how to embed it here, so click on the image to head over to the store's FB page)

We have a whole bunch of fun stuff planned including four different workshops and a crop party night with make-n-takes, giveaways and challenges!

I can't wait to see all the beautifully dressed Puerto Rican women in my workshops! Last year we had a blast, and I was so impressed with our fashionable they all were! ;)

Here's a couple more workshop peeks! I'll be teaching both layouts and mini albums!

Looking forward to a mini-vacation at the tail end of this trip as well. Steven will be flying out to join me for some romantical beach time! I'll be sharing more updates from Puerto Rico later. (I will be teaching March 23, 24 & 25th)

Ciao ciao for now! Or..... Adios!

St. Peter Altar inside the Vatican

Hope you're having a wonderful, breathtaking weekend!

Italy Recap: February 2012

Ciao Ciao! I'm home from Italia, caught up on my sleep and back at work! I couldn't help but share some pictures from the beautiful "homeland", Italy.

Returning to Italy is always bitter sweet for me. Ever since I studied there and lived there during college, I can't help but get sappy when remember the European way of life, the delicious food, and the overall atmosphere. Allyson traveled with me this go around, five months pregnant and all! We arrived in Napoli (or Naples) at dinner time, the night before our first workshop.

The weather was chilly, but the hotel was beautiful! Check out the amazing rooftop! I can only envision what it looks like in the heart of summer!

Our room was white, clean and so fresh! Check out the beautiful arch!

I loved this little bed-tray in the room. Very sweet and charming, don't you think?!

This is Lory. She's the event planner and organizer of the Paper & Co. Show in Italy.

Upon arriving Lory informed Allyson & I that our workshop kits had still not arrived and that they were held-up or "stuck" in customs. Panic quickly sunk in. What are we going to do? How are we going to teach our workshops? I have never not had my kits show up ever!  Thankfully, Lory was wonderful and helped put our worries at ease. She translated every word, her and Teresita were wonderful helpers and we made the most out of what we had with is. We spent hours in the hotel room organizing pieces and creating remnants of projects for the workshops.

It was craziness. But in the end the students were understanding and very nice. I felt awful, even though there was nothing I could do to help the situation: the boxes were in customs and I could not do anything to change it. So the classes were a bit shorter than anticipated, but as the boxes of product continue (still today) to arrive in Italy, Lory and her team are mailing out the complete kits to all the attendees.

So, in reality the students got even more than they paid for-product wise. It was just very difficult to teach without all the materials.

This is Antonella. Isn't she beautiful? She was wonderful, and so funny. I could listen to her talk all day. I did my best with the little Italian that I speak to understand and communicate with her. But she was just so darling, and smiley and happy. Loved her ;)

Making new friends is always such a blessing that comes along with owning Bella Blvd. To teach alongside Celina Navarro and Donna Downey was an honor. They are both so generous and friendly and have so much wisdom and creativity to offer!

And even though the weather was "the coldest it's been since 1985" (yes, that's all we heard EVERYWHERE we went!) we made the best of it and enjoyed a couple days in Rome after the event.

Just as I remembered it. Astounding. Breathtaking.

The streets are my fave. Just wandering around and getting lost, walking and discovering sweet little shops, beautiful fruit stands and people watching. It's such a great way to take it all in!

And, it just so happened that Mamma Mia was playing at the theater. So we went...it was AWESOME! Even though it was all in Italian we knew the story line and loved every minute of it!!! Worth. Every. Penny.

Well, that's all for now....hope you enjoyed my short little tour of Italia!

I've Been Traveling....and Still Am

For those of you that follow me through Bella Blvd (and here also) you know I've been in California releasing my new products at the CHA Winter 2012 Craft & Hobby Trade Show.

That's me! Hi. ;)

The show was wonderful. It always is. The booth turned out great. I'm so grateful for all the designers, assistants, Bella employees and family and friends that help me prepare for this big week of business!

The new paper collections received great responses. But I have a gut feeling that Baby Boy & Baby Girl will be our top paper sellers.

This is Laura Vegas, my Design Team & Special Projects Coordinator. She lives in California so it was wonderful that she drove over to hang with some industry friends, help us out at the Bella booth and come along on some fun business dinners!

As always my girl rocked it! I'm always amazed when I watch them with customers. We've made so many wonderful friends through this hobby & industry and always look forward to catching up with them.

This is Tonya and Cynthea. They are with the adorable Doodlebug. We've been friends since I was in high school. Bucca Di Beppo's was our meeting spot for din din one night. Great times.

The two have bets on my wedding colors: Cynthea's vote is for Pink & Gray while Tonya is cheering for Pink & Brown. oh boy! (btw, I HAVE NO IDEA ABOUT ANYTHING WEDDING! STILL just very happy to be engaged!)

Thank you for always reading, for supporting me and telling all your friends about Bella Blvd too! I feel blessed. 

Today I will be arriving in Napoli, Italy where I will be teaching at the Paper and Company Show. I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures...so I can share with you soon!

I'm excited to be a part of this awesome group of teachers!

It's going to be wonderful and I've been doing my best to brush up on my Italiano with a few books while in the air! Wish me luck!

Arrividerci!

Double Page Layout: Shopping & Dinner

Last year I traveled to the beautiful Salt Lake to visit my dear friends at Doodlebug!

It was a true girls weekend loaded with shopping, giggling and catching up!

One of our stops was this charming antique/thrift store, Broadbent's that Tonya really wanted me to see. It has the ma&pop charm with the coolest retro signage outside.

After a full day of shopping, and I mean full, we drove up the mountains and had dinner at this awesome place too! I *love love love* the mountains, so this was just perfect!

It's pretty hard to believe that I've known "the doodle-less" (as I like to call them!) for more than 7 years! I always look forward to spending time with Cynthea and Tonya and the gang and can't wait for our next adventure!

Layout: And Counting...

As promised, this is the last layout featuring Canada photos. (at least for now!) It's quick and simple one that I hope will inspire you to document a special friend or someone in your life you are grateful for. After all, don't forget the month of November it's all about an ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE!

When I sat down and thought about it, I met Allyson when I was 16 years old. (that's more than 10 years ago!). We've been friends all this time and never once have traveled together, just the two of us!

So in honor of our "11 Years and Counting..." of friendship I created this simple single page layout. I wanted to include purple because it's Allyson's all-time favorite color and everytime I see something purple I think of her!

The journaling is important here and reminds me how great of a friend she has always been!

What friendships are you thankful for? Don't forget to let him/or/her know it!

 

O Canada: Scrapbookin' Adventures

After taking the ferry to Vancouver Island, Allyson and I arrived at Jennifer's beautiful store, Scrapbookin' Adventures where we taught more workshops! A while after our visit, Jen sent me a copy of the local paper that did an article under the "Women in Business" Column. To my surprise she had submitted the story about my trip to her store and how it helps her business!

So I scanned the original and printed it on white cardstock, matted it and *HAD TO* scrapbook it, of course ;)

I created a couple additional pieces to put inside the pocket--a photo of the store....

I also i ncluded the original newspaper clipping too.

and the photo on the front of the pocket includes some of the students in the workshops!

The "in the press" pocket-page title are mixing and matching chipbaord alphas from my Sophisticates product collection at Bella Blvd. Check it out!! I love layering these guys! I've got one more layout to share with you tomorrow from Canada----it's more of a "friends" layout! See you then!

O' CANADA: BC Crop for Kids 2011

I've created several layouts from my trip to Canada last year. I'm going to spread them into a couple different posts, consider this part 1.

Allyson and I traveled last September/October for the annual BC Crop for Kids fundraising event.

Each year Sandra and team raises thousands of dollars for the local Children's Hospital. I was excited to represent Bella Blvd in a couple different workshops at The Ramada hotel.

This layout has a bunch of photos from those couple of days including the huge hotel crop, some traditional details (the White Spot), and people that we met too.

I'm all about the details. Stitching is so time consuming, but really pays off most of the time. I love adding details to the Sophisticates chipboard alphabets!

During the event we roomed with Jennifer Edwardson of Scrapbookin' Adventures. Before heading to Vancouver Island to teach at her store, she took us shopping and around downtown Vancouver. 

More chipboard alphabets and numbers, buttons and stitching!

I saved some of the Canadian money (dollars and coins) too. One of my other layouts uses it in a more subtle and clever way!

Every layout needs a little bit of pink, right?!  ;)

I mixed and matched the Quattrofina alphabet stickers to add the subtitles and details throughout the 2-page layout.

I used my handy dandy tiny flower punch and my scraps to create trios of flowers throughout.

See what you can do with a couple sheets of cardstock, needle, thread, buttons and scraps?!

Here's a look at the completed 2-page layout:

I'll be sharing more from my trip to Canada soon! 

 

A Scrapbook Getaway: Crop A Doodle

If you follow me on FB, then you know recently I traveled to Indiana for the weekend to meet a couple of my favorite peeps at Crop A Doodle Do, A Scrapbooking Retreat and Spa.

The old house was just as charming as it was beautiful, nested in a multi-acre farm in Arcadia, Indiana.

Jill, Nikki and I have become really great friends of mine through the scrapbooking industry. We each started our businesses within six months of each other (back in 2008) and have relied on each other for advice, friendship and so much more. 

Each year we plan a getaway weekend (Fall seems like the best time to getaway from the offices), to scrapbook, visit and enjoy each other's company - outsideof the CHA trade-shows and weekly random emails. My drive this year was a little less than five hours. Nikki's was nearly ten (coming from Missouri) and Jill's a lucky three (from Ohio).

 

Becky (the Hostess with the Mostess) showed each of us around as we arrived separately. The three of us stayed in the Slumber Party room....

and were greeted by a heavenly plush robe and some bath goodies!

The room was perfect and the comforters were divine. I slept like a rock the entire stay...going to bed after 3am each night ;)

The house was beautiful and full of these pretty lighting fixtures in each room! 

I just loved the little details like the handmade curtains in the dining room, the hooks with our names on them in the bathroom,

and the deer in the front yard that has supposedly been there keeping watch for some 20+ years!

We had our own little cubbies to store our bathroom things,

 and plenty of scrapbooking space!

That's me croppin' away buried in our very organized mess of products, inspiration and snacks! We enjoyed watching FRIENDS (tv show) seasons on DVD. Good times as we laughed at those old episodes! We had a wonderful time.

 The food was delicious including the signature Cornbread Doodle Salad! Look at that darling presentation! How cute is that?!

And even a low-calorie dessert (jello chocolate mousse). Becky did the grocery shopping according to our emails about food preferences. Because I mentioned I was a calorie counter she incorporated a couple really calorie-friendly meals into the weekend! I totally love when people go above and beyond for the personal touch like that! 

And the owner, Bret, stopped in with a couple cute faces...

He stopped in to thank us for the business and tell us a bit about the house, and how it used to be his Grandmas. I, LITERALLY, almost brought home this little lady with me. Her name was Jayda; Bret was looking for a home for her....I was runner-up and missed out....but I'm sure she's going to make her new owner a very happy man. How can you not love that underbite! ;)

I feel pretty confident saying that we'll be back next year! We all fell in love with the hospitality, charm and staff @ Crop A Doodle Do in Arcadia, Indiana.

 

GOTTA HAVE IT + Important Lesson

That's right peeps! It's finally time! The Bella team and I will be busy this week packing and shipping to LSS and online stores all around the world! You can begin looking for the goodies to hit stores by the end of the week! 

If you're an online shopped visit the Bella Blog for a list of links of stores carrying Bella on the sidebar. I haven't been able to resist scrapbooking with the new products. Fresh paper just deserves to me cut, adhered and smelled too ;) 

This layout falls a little out of my chronilogical order that I've been sharing around here lately, but thought I'd post it today with the shipping reminder! Winter Wonder is so fun and versatile. The color palette I created lends itself well to any kind of outdoorsy photographs and events!

The Simona Chipboard alphabet letters dominate the title of my page. I layered them on top of one another and added some Miniatures Sticker elements to the centers of some of the letters.

In order to fit all the adjectives about me at 26  years old that I wanted to include, I printed some smaller onto cardstock and snipped them into flags, and fastened with brads.

Here I used one of the Just Write Journaling stickers as the matte for my chipboard numbers, that I also covered, trimmed and distressed with one of the Just Write Journaling stickers.

These photographs were taken literally 2 days before my brother-in-law died in the car accident in 2010. I can't help but think of that every time I look at these photos from Canada. Thank God I was home to be there for my sister and my family and wasn't still in Canada.

The reason I point this out is because scrapbooking is about documenting the moment.

At any given moment our lives can change. That's what this page reminds me of. I was happy in this moment of this adventure in Canada. I was also faithful, which prepared me for the next months and years that were ahead. It's crazy how one day you are happy and carefree, and the next your entire life changes.

Don't forget to document the moment. It will make a huge different days, months and even years from now. If you haven't seen that come true yet in your albums, I promise someday it will.

On My Way Home

From Indiana today. Trying to get home in time to see my mom and wish her a Happy Birthday. (yes we have lots of October birthdays!)

This weekend I met two good friends (one from Missouri and the other from Ohio) at Crop-A-Doodle-Do: The Ultimate Scrapbook Spa Getaway. We scrapbooked Friday and Saturday away!

We each drove in on Thursday or Friday and met here in Indiana. I'm scheduling this post early---so I can't quite give you a review yet....but I'm sure it's going to be wonderful.

I even signed up for a 30 minutes massage. Heaven. A little reward for mmmmmwwa.

The Cropping Room looks wonderful, I pre-planned plenty of layouts!

The three of us are making this an annual thing. Last year we visited a scrapbooking bed and breakfast in Illinois. Yes, I got the great end of the deal last year-only having to drive about 1.5 hours. But today I'm in for a long drive home....5.5 hours. I hope there's not too much traffic.

Let's see if I can make it home before the Packer game kicks off....

go Pack go!

Layout: Home From Texas

Today's layout is sure NOT to diappoint when talking about keeping it simple! I thought it was the perfect time of year to share this one with you...seeing that the Texas Rangers have made it, once again to the World Series!

Last June Steven and I were lucky enough to catch a Rangers Game while we were visiting Texas for one of my work trips (The Great American Scrapbook Convention in Arlington.) I don't have any close-ups unfortuneatly but the entire layout was designed around the computer printed journaling. I also kept the ticket stubs from the game and told kept the main, most imporant photos to remember the 100+ degree day!

Have you created any super simple layouts lately? I must admit sometimes it defintely is more about quantity than quality as I'm trying my hardest to catch up on my personal scrapbooking albums!