Dot & Whimsy

Handwritten, script and brush strokes

are fun trends right now in papercrafting and home decor.

Whether you create these by hand, using a cutting file

or stencil, it's a way to add a natural looking element!
Our challenge this past Thursday at
BELLA BLVD
was to incorporate some variation of this trend into our projects.
Design Team member, Nicole Nowosad, has been kind enough to
share a FREE brush stroke cutting file...check it out on the blog:
www.bellablvd.typepad.com

"Thanks" Card
 Pick a fun alphabet stencil and create your own card title!
I traced the stencil letters onto cardstock, making sure that all of the letters
 were 'welded' in some fashion. Next, I hand-cut around the letters, leaving just a bit of a
 border so that it would stand out against the black die-cut star.

 Supplies: Trick or Treat: Captions; Lucky Starz: Ice Starz, Treasures & Text;
 Family Forever: Treasures & Text; Snapshots: Paper Pieces
The alphabet stencil is one from DCWV and the 12X12 sheet includes
two different lettering varieties!


"Hello Lovely" Card

 I've always loved Stephanie's handwritten words, so I chose the 'lovely' sentiment
from one of the patterned papers and trimmed it out. Next, I penned on some "hellos"
to tie in with the feel of the larger sentiment.


Supplies: Family Forever: Mom & Dad, Sunday Brunch; Molly: Sketch With Style, 
Trinkets; Lucky Starz: Peep Starz; Crochet Flowers: Dahlia
The Heart Card die and larger scalloped die are from Top Dog Dies; the smaller
scalloped heart die is by Spellbinders.

 Also, Bella Blvd is releasing THREE new mini-collections!
The full reveal of each collection will begin next week, but here is a little
sneak of what's to come:

You will have Summer Squeeze, Scattered Sprinkles and Classic Calendars.
And because I just KNOW I'm going to be so in love with Summer Squeeze
and the touch of black found throughout, I wanted to show this paper
that Stephanie shared yesterday on the blog:

Yummm!  So, towards the end of next week you'll be seeing the full
reveals of each...I can't wait to see them for the first time myself :)
Have a great Saturday!

I'm up today at 

with a layout featuring my dancing daughter :)

 I paired up the "Love to Dance" cutting file with some Doodlebug 

patterned papers, cardstock and stickers.

Don't forget to grab each day's FREEBIE at Miss Kate's!

Here is today's:

Thanks for stopping by!

Hello and welcome to day four of the 

**You should be starting off today's hop with the May Arts Blog**

I love Lawn Fawn sooo much that I decided to do two cards for today

using the Hello Sunshine Stamps and 6X6 Paper Pad

I adore balloons and these heart-shaped ones stole my heart LOL

I stamped it in three different VersaMagic Chalk Inks: 

After hand-cutting each of the hearts, I attached a length of 

the May Arts' Baker's Twine to the back.  

Next, I arranged them to my liking over the grey dot paper

and then adhered in place with a foam dot.  The lengths of twine

were gathered together and wrapped around the bottom of the paper and 

secured at the back with a piece of tape.  

I thought that the 'sunset' paper would look perfect with a row of 

low laying clouds followed by a bed of green, green grass!

I simply stamped the cloud onto the diagonal blue striped paper and 

then cut out.  I stamped the sun in a Brilliance Sunflower Yellow and used

a 1.5" circle punch to separate it from the cardstock.  

I added two widths of the green dot ribbon to the bottom of the sun paper.

Next, I topped those with a band of hot pick ric-rack  that I glued to the back

of a third strand of green dot ribbon. 

That's all from me today!  Here is a complete list of this week's hop...I'm your

last stop for today, so I hope that you've enjoyed :)

  For my project, I've used Top Dog Dies' A2 Card #1 Die to create
 a rather handy and elegant notebook.

As many of you know...I make a lot of cards.

Making a lot of cards yields a lot of cards, so I'm letting them go!

I have set up a "shopping" page here on my blog where you

can purchase cards a la carte or in bulk :)

If you're an International friend, 

I will be glad to quote a shipping price for you...just send me an email!

Bulk cards will be hand-picked by me to create a nice

mixed assortment just for you!  BUT, if you don't find a need

for any 'little boy' cards, just add that to the description box that you

will find above each Paypal BUY NOW button. 

I'm working to list all available cards under the CARD CREATIONS

section of the blog; in the meantime, you may do a general 'search'

for "cards" or just scroll through the pages :)

Unless I've participated in a sketch or other challenge, all of my

cards are unique and one-of-a-kind.

If you're interested in my handmade mini albums, home decor and misc. items,

I have an Etsy Shop for those: Whimsy by Shellye

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Hello!  I have a fun “Cut & Paste” project up at

that combines Pink Paislee cutting files with the brand new

 “Hello Sunshine” Collection; the result is a super sweet sun-shaped mini album.
I'm going to share all of the photos here, but if you'd like to learn how I put it
all together you can visit today's blog post here :)

With cutting files (svgs) you can make your own sunny mini album

 just about any size that you’d like! These make wonderful gifts for grandma or a brag book

 to place on an end table…great conversation piece :) If you have a collection of minis, 

display them in a pretty basket and let your guests browse away!

Again, you can see tips on how I put it together at Pink Paislee :)
I'll be back soon...thanks for stopping by!

Welcome to my contribution to the 

So be sure to leave a comment so you're in the running :)

Here is the list designers participating in today's hop:

Eeek,  I just love my sweetest, newest craft up at

MAY ARTS RIBBON

Want to see how it's made?  Visit today's blog post at May Arts Ribbon!