Keeping Calm & Carrying On

World CardMaking Day-3 GIVEAWAYS!

Happy World Cardmaking Day everyone! Even if you're not a cardmaker find some time to get crafty this weekend and participate in all the fun happenings around the industry. Over at Bella Blvd we are hosting 12 hours of cards & fun!

My talented new team of girls have created some beautiful Bella Blvd cards to inspire you, as we'll be multi-blog posting for 12 hours today!

Don't miss all the fun including our giveaways with:

Scrapbook & Cards Today Magazine

(you can win our Love & Marriage Collection Kit + Coordinating Bella/Hampton Art stamps!)

Moxie Fab World

(enter to win our new Christmas Countdown Collection!)

and oh we I mustn't forget, our very own

Bella Blvd giveaway too....

this awesome 10pc. Card Kit designed by our very own Brook Stewart!

Wherever you are, get crafty today! Make a card, brighten someones day!

Quick Cards: Play Date Collection

My newest collections are now available all around the world at your favorite scrapbooking stores. Play Date is one of my newest lines, filled with trees, rainbows, flowers and everything to create happy summer projects after a great day at the park. Often after I finish designing classes I have a ton of scraps leftover. This is typically when I whip up some quick cards. 

Wouldn't this simple little card cheer up a friend that's stressed or tired? Or just drop it in the mail to say hi....colorful handmade sentiments are still, I believe, one of the simplest things that can bring a smile to ones face. It's the thought that counts.

And just a sweet little card from the Daily Details pattern paper within the collection...whip this one up in no time and leave on a co-workers desk when they get up and walk into a meeting...so upon her/his return they'll see something thoughtful and colorful. 

What have you done to cheer up someones day? Take some time & make someone that you care about smile today. It makes a difference. Haven't seen the Play Date products? Here's the collection in a glimpse: double-sided patterned papers, cardstock stickers, and a coordinating collection kit. Mix and match Bella's buttons, feathers and Designer washi Tapes for more embellishments and variety.

Visit the Play Date Gallery at the Bella Blvd Studio Blog today for more Play Date ideas.

A Quick & Simple Card: Designer Washi Tapes

Happy first day of September! Around here that usually means summer is coming to a close. September is typically a busy month for me, traveling and teaching, and this year is no different. In between designing new Bella Blvd workshops, I like to create quick & easy cards with my scraps laying around on my desk.

Do you have a ton of Designer Washi Tapes laying around like me?! Bella Blvd's Washi tapes are super bright and colorful and come in so many different prints like stripes, dots, chevrons and more. Just pick up a scrap of white cardstock for the base, fold in half and create a colorful pattern using the washi tapes. Finish off with a hand doodled sentiment and Crochet Heart!

For more ideas with Bella Blvd's Designer Washi Tapes check out the Tape Gallery here.

Christmas in August: Bella Blvd Projects

Look at that cute little face! Our niece Lauren is growing up so quickly, I just had to capture her facial expressions and excitement from last December when Steven and I gave her a stocking from St. Nick! She's full of facial expressions and is just the happiest little girl!

The layout features papers and stickers from my brand new Christmas Countdown collection (You can see the Collection Reveal here). Added some Crochet Hearts & journaling to top it off.

I definitely feel like this layout is all about the photo so I wanted to keep it as the focal point. The full supply list, along with some additional details and photographs are being featured over at Bella Blvd today on the Studio Blog.

This card I created for CHA as well. Love me some of those new Paper Pieces die-cuts!

Looking for more Christmas Countdown ideas? Click here to see the current Christmas Countdown Idea Gallery. Hope you have a great Friday. I have the day off from work today to get going on some errands necessary to officially change my last name to Smokovich, and then I'm headed to my mom and dad's lake house with my sister and bestie for a nice relaxing weekend of peace and quiet, movies, games and relaxing fun :) Happy Friday!

All American Card

Wishing you a fun, fabulous and safe Holiday here in the U.S.A! 

Have you popped by Bella Blvd to see the awesome All American week-long inspiration event? One of my favorite papers from the All American line I designed is this one with the borders on the a-side and the Project Life inspired pieces on the b-side:

Enjoying a day off of work today with my family! Wishing you a Happy Holiday!

I'll Be at Scrapfest 2012

Have you checked out the Archiver's 2012 Scrapfest Website Yet?

The annual event is pretty amazing that the Mall of America & Archiver's put together. There are tons of classes, and nearly hundreds of free make-n-takes, plus so much fun stuff going on at the mall and local surrounding Archiver's locations.

Once again, in just about a month I will be traveling to this year's event teaching

four different Bella Blvd workshops!

Birthday Boy Workshop Information & Sign-Up: Click Here

 

Birthday Girl Workshop Information & Sign-Up: Click Here

 

Fall (& Home) Memories Workshop Information & Sign-Up: Click Here

 

Excellent Embellished Pages Workshop Information & Sign-Up: Click Here

These four workshops are full of brand new products and some great ideas to fill up your scrapbooks with! Here's a closer look:

In addition to (2) 12x12 Birthday pages, we will also create a birthday card in each of the Birthday workshops. It's always nice to have a card in your stash ready to go before you head to a party!

The Birthday Boy & the Birthday Girl Layout & Card workshops compliment each other in that the layouts are identical but feature products within the Girl/Boy collections that were just released at CHA Summer. Be sure to sign-up for both workshops if you have a boy & a girl!

We'll play with plenty of products including Designer Tapes, chipboard and Stick Pin Flags too!

The workshop comes with a complete, pre-cut kit including color images for you to have a closer look.

Within the Boy & Girl Birthday workshops we will create a 12x12" handmade pocket-page. If you're like me you tend to keep meaningful notes, tags or cards from friends & loved ones. This page is perfect for Birthday party memorabilia.

 And if you don't collect "stuff" then you can fill the pocket with photographs and a copy of the party invitation!

And as if Fall wasn't already my favorite season, these layouts are perfect for Fall or your everyday home & family photos!

The earth-tone color palette makes selecting photos to use super easy, even Sepia-toned pictures would be beautiful here. Images (two) 4x6" vertical photos stacked on top of the teal strip above.

Wallet-size pictures are fun to scrap with these days...and Instagram prints too!  We'll appreciate the empty-space and playing with layering with this page!

This quick and easy Thanksgiving card is great for the hostess this November, right?!

Last but not least, Archiver's actually requested an embellishment technique workshop from Bella Blvd this year.  I think it was a great suggestion as Bella Blvd has released so many brand new embellishments over this past calendar year including several of the products you see in the layout below:

Chipbaord shapes, button market pieces, Designer washi tapes, Crochet Flowers and lettering stickers too! 

This workshop will be a great education for mixing and matching Bella products too! Not to mention,  you'll go home with plenty of extra leftovers to create more pages and cards later!

Scrapfest tends to sneak up on me, as it's right at the end of summer. Last year my girls and I had so much fun attending our with Bella Blvd for the very first time. Here's a brief 2011 photo recap!

There are so many people & so much excitement! 

The Crops are a blast as we sponsor challenges, door prizes and enjoy inspiring all the croppers!

Last year it got a bit rowdie at our Crop Around Town, but everyone loved it!

For more information on my workshops visit the Bella Blvd Blog today.

Registration and workshop sign-up opens tomorrow morning, Friday August 3rd on the official Scrapfest website. For complete project images and to sign-up logon, sign-up and submit payment information!

*All workshop seats are limited and on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Brand New Bella

If you're a Bella Blvd fan, chances you are you've been watching the big reveals and entering in all the giveaways this week with our brand new products for the CHA Summer show. If you're not---what's wrong with you! Jump on the band wagon as we celebrate four years of business!

Trends, trends trends. 

They're are one of the most fun reasons to scrapbook. Watching great designers like The Garden Girls and the Creating Keepsakes Dream Team begin trends is always fascinating to me. Washi Tape is all the rage, seems like we can't get enough! 

One of my favorite em-BELLA-shments are the Designer Tapes-my version of everyday patterned washi tapes with thirty feet of happiness per roll!  They mix and match with every.single.Bella Blvd collection ever manufactured and are great for crafting and wrapping too!

Check out my latest advertisement (For S&CT magazine) featuring ALL 14 Bella tapes, including six new designs for CHA Summer!

Look at this cute use of Bella's tapes on this card created by Kathy Martin for Bella Blvd.

Check out what the Bella Blvd Design Team has created with these Designer Tapes by visiting the gallery here, and don't forget to leave a comment on this post for a chance to win new papers and stickers--winner will be announced here tomorrow!

Baby Girl Cards: Bella Blvd

I am definitely not a "card-maker." Instead, I make cards from the scraps I have left-over after finishing my 12x12" layouts. It's a fun way to play on a smaller scale and use up scraps. Plus, who doesn't love receiving a handmade card? I don't go all out like my friends Gail, Gretchen, Sheri and Kathy...they are super talented when it comes to cards. I adore theirs. 

After trimming a couple Cute Cuts from the Baby Girl sheet and wrapping some twine my little baby bundle was complete!

Nothing makes me happier than a quick and simple card. 

And one more for you today....pink pink pink = monochromatic. You know me, I just can't help myself! Pink clouds, pink hearts and the "baby love" sticker make a sweet sentiment, don't you think?

For more Baby Girl ideas (including altered projects, layouts and cards) visit Bella Blvd's Baby Girl Idea Gallery by clicking here.

Have a wonderful Sunday everyone!