Design Team Christmas Card Exchange

Every year at Christmas, the designers at FotoBella.com give something very special to each other...the gift of creativity!  Each designer draws the name of one other designer, then creates a Christmas card using holiday paper from FotoBella.com.  Today we would like to share the cards we designed with all of you!  Enjoy!

Apryl's card for Jessica featured Jolly ol' St. Nick from the 

"Dear Santa" collection by Bo Bunny.  This card is so bright and fun.  An illusion of a tree is created by using a cookie cutter style die cut, which allows the other colorful papers to show through! Brilliant!

Apryl added interest, texture and a bit of fun to her card by 

layering these other cute die cuts from the Ephemera Pack!

Jessica's card for Drea features the Russian Matryoshka Dolls! It is part of the "Merry & Bright" collection by Bo Bunny. She loved using the dolls in her design which come in both the "Noteworthy" Ephemera Pack and in the Chipboard Pack.

 Jessica made a "Double Z Fold" card which has been seen "popping up" all over Pinterest and on YouTube! 

Mixed media is this designer's forte, 

as you can see here in Drea's card for Jeri!  

 Drea used Bo Bunny's "Christmas Collage" paper collection and ephemera and "got inky" with Picket Fence distress ink. She used a postage stamp to mat the focal image and even got the sewing machine out to adhere some of the paper to her card!

This cheery greeting from MME is Jeri's card to ReNae.  

How stinkin' cute is this buck in his warm winter sweater?! 

These clean and simple papers, from the "Joyous" collection feature  a postcard style card.  When flipped over it reveals a pretty journaling spot.  The matching envelope features red and green sequins and a name plate with stickers. 

 ReNae's card to Apryl brings us back to Jolly ol' St. Nick again! 

It features a Victorian-inspired Santa Claus from Graphic 45's St. Nicholas paper collection. 

 Black and gold patterned papers were layered to create a faux frame, then I added a chipboard element, some gold gemstones, then finished it off with a bright red bow! The inside is gold with a wreath patterned banner across the bottom.

I added a personal sentiment inside.

We hope you have enjoyed our card exchange.  We invite you to post the cards you and your friends make for each other on our Facebook page! 

Or, Tag us on Instagram @fotobelladotcom.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Everyone!

Apryl, Jessica, Drea, Jeri and ReNae

Your FotoBella Design Team

Today is Christmas Card Day!

On this day, December 9, 1843, the first Christmas cards were created 

by Sir Henry Cole in London, England! 

Cole found that writing Christmas greetings to his numerous friends and colleagues was much too time-consuming.  So he asked a friend of his, artist John Calcotte Horsley to design a card which could be used by Cole but could also be sold to the public!

The original Christmas card showed three generations of a family raising a toast to the card's recipient. On either side were scenes of charity...with food and clothing being given to the poor. Mr. Horsley designed one thousand lithographs and hand-colored postcards which sold for a shilling each (in those days that was a whole day's pay!)

Early on, cards rarely showed winter or religious themes, instead they featured flowers, fairies and other designs that reminded the recipient of the approach of spring! Children, birds and animals were very popular themes of the day. 

By the 1850's many traditions of Victorian England were featured on Christmas cards including the hanging of the holly and Christmas trees.  These early Victorian Cards are favorites among collectors and paper crafters and are often replicated in today's paper companies such as Graphic 45, Bo Bunny, Carta Bella and others.

In fact, the December "2 Cards/ 2 Tags Kit by FotoBella I used Graphic 45's  "Children's Hour" paper collection which features beautiful Victorian designs.

December 9th is also considered the day to start mailing your Christmas cards!  Have you made them yet? 

If not, check our website for everything you'll need to make beautiful cards your recipient will treasure for years to come!

Happy Christmas Card Day!

December Membership Kit: Christmas Cards & Tags

It's hard to believe the holidays are just around the corner! 

In the next few weeks we all will be putting the finishing touches on our holiday decorations, and "wrapping" up our gift buying!  

For our "2 Cards/2 Tags" December Membership Kit I created 4 projects that could be made quickly and easily...yet would look like you spent hours on them!      

All four projects were made using the Graphic 45 Children's Hour paper collection. These beautiful cards and tags can all be made by you in an afternoon!  

They are the perfect compliment to a special gift, and the perfect way to say 

Happy Holidays to that very special person in your life!

Since they ship the second week in December, we wanted you to have the opportunity to see and order them now, so that you will have them in time to make and send them out before the holidays.

This beautiful Poinsettia card is sure to warm hearts! 

This gorgeous tag will look stunning on any gift!

The jeweled ivory flowers add a bit of sparkle!

Tags are great on gifts or as home decor!  

I love the textures on this one!

This kit is available NOW on our website! 

Order yours today!

And from all of us at FotoBella.com,

Happy Holidays!

Frank Garcia Classes at FotoBella!

FotoBella is so honored to have the one and only Frank Garcia teach two craft classes for us on December 10th and 11th, combined with our Warehouse Sale!

Frank is a product designer for Prima Marketing, an endorsed Prima Educator and an amazing mixed media artist. He is also Editor in Chief at PaperHaus Magazine.

He is famous for his mini albums, tags and dimensional projects. Frank's love for his art comes through in each of his classes.

If you love Frank's beautiful designs as much as we do, you will will not want to miss this opportunity!  

If you aren't familiar, be sure to check out his blog... you are sure to be inspired! 

Note: All classes will include lunch and snacks.

To register for a class click this link and you will be directed to the Event page! It will direct you to the Eventbrite site!

We look forward to seeing you there!

Give Thanks

Each year on the fourth Thursday in November, Americans gather for a day of feasting, football and family. While today’s celebrations would probably be unrecognizable to those attending the original 1621 harvest meal, Thanksgiving continues to be a day for Americans to come together

In honor of that "coming together" at Thanksgiving, I created this cute tag using the "Children's Hour" collection  by Graphic 45.

This tag is available in FotoBella's

"2 Cards, 2 Tags" Monthly Membership Kit.

It is one of four projects in the Graphic 45 "Children's Hour" November "2 Tags/2 Cards" Membership Kit available at Fotobella.com!

Here are the projects individually:

Wishing you a bountiful harvest

A cute Ohhhh...Autumn card

And a very special interactive card
Sweet November

It's a swivel card!

 Perfect for that special person!

You can pick up your kit at Fotobella.com HERE:

And Membership with Starter Bundle HERE:

Giving a personal handmade greeting card 
made by YOU is a great way to say 
"I am so thankful for you!"

Show them you care and get your kit today!

And from all of us to all of you,

a very Happy Thanksgiving!

~ReNae, Jeri, Drea, Jessica and Apryl

National Button Day

     Did you know that today is National Button Day? It was founded by the National Button Society in 1938, as a celebration of all who enjoyed collecting and crafting with buttons. I've been collecting buttons longer than I've been scrapping, as I used to be a seamstress, and have a huge collection that also includes jars and boxes of buttons that I've inherited over the years. But that doesn't stop me from buying and collecting new ones, and Bo Bunny Buttons are my favorite! So I created this page using Bo Bunny's Christmas Collage Papers to showcase these festive Buttons, along with some included in the Ephemera.

     I always stitch my buttons, and hand-stitched along the sides, and around the photos of my son when he was just three years old. The doilies were masked with Bo Bunny White Gesso, and the yellow one was done using Prima's Lace Doily #3 Stencil. 

      I popped up the "Holly Jolly" piece from the Noteworthy, after inking the edges with Picket Fence Distress Ink, with the Chipboard flourish peeking out beneath it.

     The edges of the title tag were inked with Abandoned Coral Distress Ink, along with the sides of my page, and finished with a Brad.

     Thanks for looking, and click here for some more buttons from FotoBella!  Happy National Button Day!

Have a BOOTIFUL Halloween!

HALLOWEEN IS HERE

and for those last minute cards and tags, "treat" yourself to the BOOTIFUL paper collection by Julie Nutting and Photo Play Paper Company!

These cute cards were made in the blink of an eye of newt!

The colorful papers and adorable stickers will make creating quick and easy!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

from all of us at

FotoBella.com

National Color Day Tag

     Happy National Color Day! Color can influence our moods, productivity, and even our decisions. I love them all, and used some of the latest Distress Inks to create this colorful tag!

          Using a blending tool I applied Candied Apple, Carved Pumpkin, Squeezed Lemonade, Twisted Citron, Mermaid Lagoon, and Wilted Violet Distress Inks diagonally onto a Tim Holtz manila tag.

     Then I used Tim Holtz' Gothic Stencil with Prima's Black Gesso, to give it a dramatic effect against all of the color.

   
     Where all of the small diamonds are, I added small flowers that were stamped and embossed with the Basic Grey Enjoy The Journey Clear Stamp, layered and colored with the same Distress Inks. Finally I added some black bling to the centers with Bo Bunny's Double Dot Tuxedo Jewels, and tied it off with some red and black ribbon.

     FotoBella makes it easy to shop by color for whatever supplies you may need to color and create with. So break out your colors, and enjoy National Color Day from all of us at FotoBella!

https://dreasscrapsofinspiration.blogspot.com/

Graphic 45 October "2 Cards/ 2 Tags" Kit Shakes it Up!

The Graphic 45 "A Children's Hour" October "2 Cards & 2 Tags" Membership Kit by FotoBella is shaking things up this month!  With this kit, you can impress your ghosts and goblins by giving them a handmade card or tag in their Trick or Treat bag this year!

October 2 Cards/2 Tags Membership Kit

Shaker cards are all the rage this year, 
and this Shaker card is fun to make and to receive! 

This tag celebrates Trick or Treating
 and reminds us we just have a few more days "til the 31st!

The collage card is bright and cheery, not at all spooky!

The details make this tag so very special!

Its the little touches that make the difference!

Put a secret Halloween message inside!

You will make it your own by fussy-cutting your own details!

The FotoBella "2 Cards/2 Tags" kit is so much fun this month!  You will be making a shaker card, a collage card, and two amazing tags with lots of spooky details!  The kit includes step-by-step detailed instructions with photos, so you'll look like a pro!  

Click HERE to order your kit today!

Happy Halloween!
ReNae