card classes, card ideas, card making, card making idea, card techniques, cards, christmas cards, retro images, vintage cards

Have Yourself a Retro Little Christmas + FREE PRINTABLES!

I love retro images. Like LOVE, LOVE retro images. They make my heart smile and I feel all warm and cozy just looking at these darling illustrations. It’s no wonder, than, that they are the centerpiece for so many of my card creations!

Here are six cards I made recently. I thought you might enjoy these darling greetings.

This “Little Boy’s First Christmas” is one of my favorites. I love the color combo and the flower cluster so much!

Adding various sizes in your flower collage makes it look full and interesting – so, change it up! Add a variety!
Found this pine bundle in the floral section at Michaels and just took apart branches so that I could put them where I wanted them.

I was so happy when this sweet pink baby’s first Christmas card found a good home – I love the intricate lace, pearls, flowers, and seam binding!

Beautiful cards don’t have to be super fancy either. This one is simple, but just so happy and sweet!

Feeling inspired? Here are copies of the vintage images I used so that you can print and play with them too!

A few “must haves” when working with printables:

  • a great printer! I use HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 and it’s amazing (I use it a TON every single day for my business)
  • quality cardstock. Try Neenah Premium Cardstock for fabulous images
  • Stickles glitter – you won’t believe how it changes the entire quality of your card. For real

If you just want to get your hands on finished cards, be sure to check out my eBay and Etsy shop for lots of handmade goodies!

Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube for all things crafty! Please stay in touch and share your finished projects with me!

Thanks so much for crafting with me today, and happy holidays!

xoxo

Genevieve

Bella Stitchery

card classes, card ideas, card making, card making idea, card sale, card techniques, cards, Thanksgiving, thanksgiving cards, vintage thanksgiving cards

Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving Month! Gobble gobble!

🦃

I am so excited to share my recent festive greeting cards with you, my crafty friends! 


Some kitchens may be full of baked goods and turkeys, but mine is covered in turkey images and craft goodies! 

I love vintage images so much and it’s always such a pleasure to make greeting cards around these darling illustrations.

This is also one of my favorite color combos (I got married in the fall just for these colors – lol).

I used lots of hand-dyed seam binding and 49 and Market flowers on these special collages. I also inked all the edges with Tim Holtz Walnut Stain Distress Ink throughout.

Check out my YouTube tutorial for some bow-making ideas – I have lots of cheats for ya! 🙂

You can find all these happy holiday greeting cards in my eBay shop and my new Etsy shop.

What’s your favorite holiday to decorate for, and what is the coolest DIY décor idea you’ve seen? Keep in touch – let’s make stuff together!

xoxo

Genevieve

Bella Stitchery

card classes, card ideas, card making, card techniques, cards, christmas cards, Christmas ideas, christmas layouts, fussy cutting, gen's scrapbook kitchen, handmade scrapbook, holiday scrapbook pages, scrapbook, scrapbook ideas, scrapbook layouts, scrapbook page, scrapbook pages

Pastel Christmas!

There’s something so precious about a pastel Christmas! I love the sweet pinks and yummy teals – they always make me smile!

This month’s Handmade Club Kit is all about shabby chic Santa, elves, holly berries, and cookies. I had a wonderful time cutting out all these darling embellishments and playing with them in different collage settings.

Crystal Stickles is the perfect accent to all these delicious images. I added them to the roses, the elves’ costumes, and the cookie frosting.

I already have several Christmas cards ready in my eBay and Etsy shop too (yes, I know it’s October, but I couldn’t help myself!) 🙂

Don’t they just make you smile? Have you tried fussy cutting? What do you think about the process? It seems like people either love or hate it. I think the biggest tool for your cutting success is super small, precise scissors. It really makes all the difference.

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If you’d like some tips on better fussy cutting, I have a YouTube tutorial all about it too:

Well, hope you’ve enjoyed this peek into my October Santa’s workshop today! Keep in touch and happy crafting!

xoxo

Genevieve

Bella Stitchery

card ideas, card making, cards, halloween cards, handmade cards, scrapbook sales, scrapbook sketches, scrapbooking, scrapbooking ideas

Trick-or-Treat

This is one of my favorite times of year, for sure! I love the colors of fall and spookiness of October. Welcome to my happy place!

I’ve been busy in my new home of South Dakota – trying to find my rhythm here and the best place and time to create. It’s not without it’s challenges, however, it’s sometimes nice to have a fresh start too.

Here are some of the layouts I’ve made this month…

(all these handmade goodies can be found in my eBay shop and my NEW Etsy shop!)

Of course, I’ve had to make some darling greeting cards too – they just make my heart so happy!

What have YOU been up to this month, my crafty friends? And where do you like to craft? What is your favorite space and time of day. I think I’m *just* starting to hit my stride, and it’s so nice to get back to making pretty things after the summer’s move.

Thanks so much for hanging out with me today – keep in touch!

xoxo

Genevieve

Bella Stitchery

handmade scrapbook, scrapbook, scrapbook blogs, scrapbook ideas, scrapbook layouts, scrapbook page, scrapbook pages, scrapbook sales, scrapbooking, scrapbooking ideas

Music, Dance, Art

There’s nothing quite as inspiring as getting your hands on a new paper collection. I love the excitement of flipping through the new paper pad and being delighted at each new turn of the page.

My craft table was overflowing with the new Passion collection by Stamperia last week. It’s all about dance, music, and art. The colors are fabulous and the illustrations just melted my heart.

It was so easy to make gorgeous premade scrapbook pages and I felt like I just burned through the entire pack before I knew it.

Cellos and ballerinas – what could be more lovely?! I did a lot of fussy cutting on these layouts too, so pop up elements on the page and tuck photo mats underneath.

I also used LOTS of beautiful Prima Marketing flowers, such as the Sugar Cookie flowers below to coordinate with the colors in the collection.

You can find all my handmade scrapbook pages in my eBay shop this week. Each one is made with love and ready for your favorite artistic photos!

Thanks so much for hanging out with me today! Hope you were inspired! Please follow Bella Stitchery on social media and stay in touch. Happy crafting, my friend!

digital, digital collages, Digital Scrapbook Layouts, easy scrapbook pages, family scrapbook layout, gen's scrapbook kitchen, handmade scrapbook, scrapbook, scrapbook blogs, scrapbook ideas, scrapbook layouts, scrapbook page, scrapbook pages, scrapbook sketches, scrapbooking, scrapbooking ideas

Digital Scrapbooking

I’m so excited to introduce DIGITAL LAYOUTS in my eBay shop!

Bella Stitchery | eBay Stores
These are converted files from some of my favorite handmade scrapbook pages.

You’ll receive the hi-res image after checkout and simply overlay your own favorite photo!

You can use software such as Cut Paste Photos Pro (that’s what I used to insert the photos seen here), Photoshop, or any photo software you like.

I have 37 available right now in my eBay shop, and more to come soon!

You can still find all my original handmade scrapbook pages in my shop too here:

Bella Stitchery | eBay Stores

Happy crafting! xoxo

Genevieve

Bella Stitchery

christmas, christmas cards, Christmas ideas, christmas layouts, gen's scrapbook kitchen, handmade scrapbook, holiday scrapbook pages, scrapbook, scrapbook blogs, scrapbook ideas, scrapbook layouts, scrapbook page, scrapbook pages, scrapbook sketches, scrapbooking, scrapbooking ideas, shabby chic, shabby chic cards, shabby chic layouts

Handmade Club October Printable Scrapbook Pages

I’m so proud to be part of the Shabby Art Boutique Handmade Club’s team! The October 2020 kit has so many fabulous shabby chic Christmas printables, and I incorporated them into my 12×12 scrapbook layouts this week.

This Vintage style is so much fun to work with. I added lots of Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Ink and Diamond Stickles throughout to really bring all the fussy cut images to life.

I also made a couple darling retro Christmas cards. What a fun week!

Hope these pretty projects have inspired you today. You can find these and lots more handmade goodies in my eBay shop too, so please stop by and say “hi!”

xoxo

Genevieve

gen's scrapbook kitchen, gothic, halloween, handmade scrapbook, Junk Journal, Kelly's Crafts by Kelly, paper crafting ideas, paper crafts, scrapbook, scrapbook blogs, scrapbook ideas, scrapbook layouts, scrapbook page

Gothic Halloween Torn Junk Journal

I’m so eerily excited at the way this junk journal turned out!

I started with the Gothic Halloween digital junk journal kit from Kelly’s Crafts by Kelly for this lovely project. All images were printed onto 65lb Neenah cardstock.

I wanted to create an old, gothic feeling journal, so I decided to tear all my pages (including the main book pages that I bound together with seam binding) instead of cutting them with a paper trimmer.

All edges have been heavily inked with both Vintage Photo and Black Soot Distress Ink.

I loved the illustrations so much that it was easy to let them be the star, so I added only a few embellishments here and there. I did make my own resin pieces for this book, however, and I think they really added a nice touch. I have a YouTube video all about that process too, if you’d like to see just how easy they are to make:

Hope you enjoyed this flip-through blog journey with me today. May it inspire your creativity this week. Please let me know what you think and follow me on Facebook and Instagram for daily crafty goodness!

I also have hundreds of handmade journals, premade scrapbook pages, and greeting cards in my Bella Stitchery eBay shop!

Thanks so much, and keep in touch, my crafty friends! xoxo

Junk Journal, Kelly's Crafts by Kelly, mini album

Lady Amelia’s Portrait Upcycled Music Book Junk Journal

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Junk journals are just such a joy to make. They are a little of this and that, and are filled with everything that make me feel happy at the time.

Here is a journal I made from a vintage Easter sheet music book and the Lady Amelia’s Portrait Journal printable kit from Kelly’s Crafts by Kelly.

Here’s the before and after of my 8.5×10.5 inch sheet music book:

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The album cover was embellished by several packs of the Prima Marketing Georgia Blues flowers (LOVE these!)

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You can see a full flip through, along with lots more pretty details on my YouTube channel:

My finished journal is also now available in my eBay shop, and ready for a good home.  🙂

Thank you so much, my friend, for crafting with me today! I hope this journal inspired you – please keep in touch and happy crafting! xoxo

gen's scrapbook kitchen, mixed media, scrapbook, scrapbook blogs, scrapbook ideas, scrapbook layouts, scrapbook page, scrapbook pages, scrapbooking, scrapbooking ideas, summer scrapbook pages

DIY Custom Paint Mixing with Lindy’s Gang Magicals!

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I love Lindy’s Gang Magicals for so many reasons – one of which is their versatility. When mixed with some white gesso, it’s so super easy to make custom paint colors!

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Here’s a video about the simple, one-step process (I DID say it was easy right?):

I used this technique with each of the 5 colors in the Drop Dead Diva Magicals set to make this fun mixed media scrapbook layout too! You can purchase this happy layout from my eBay shop as well (only one available).

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Hope you found this colorful article inspiring! Let me know what you think. Have you used Magicals before? What is your favorite way to use them? I’d love to hear your thoughts, feedback and comments. Keep in touch, and let’s make stuff! xoxo