Throwback Thursday with a Retro Hip Twist | More Than Words | Amanda Baldwin
Hi Friends!
Amanda here for more Cocoa Vanilla Studio inspiration! Today I am sharing a slightly different take on the Throwback Thursday post!

That’s right folks! I have been getting my ‘retro’ on and created a Cocoa Vanilla Studio: MORE THAN WORDS delight for Issue 8 of Retro Hip Magazine! Yay!!!
Normally you have to purchase the magazine to see the full projects, but as a special treat for all of you, I have the editor’s permission to share this wonderful layout,
“Sweet Thing”

Oh my heart!
Isn’t this stunning?!! Throwback Thursday never looked so fresh & new! Such an exquisite page!
This layout was created for a special feature on how to make white space work for your designs. I just LOVE using white space to draw attention to my photos, and maximize overall design interest. I used one of my all time favorite Cocoa Vanilla Studio collections; MORE THAN WORDS, some light mixed media and a whole lotta fussy cutting to create this lovely layout. You can read the full article in Issue 8 of Retro Hip Magazine here, and by the way, code FRIEND10 will save you 10% off this issue!
In the meantime, here’s how I made this beautiful layout….
I started with 12 x 12″ white cardstock which I trimmed to 12 x 11 1/2″. Next, I machine stitched a half inch strip of pattern paper, CV-MT001 PRECIOUS onto the right hand side of the layout. I used the packaging technique with a pretty peach paint, and added a few splatters too! While this dried, I began fussy cutting butterflies from pattern papers, CV-MT003 GOSSAMER, CV-MT004 COLLAGE, & CV-MT006 TREASURE. I also fussy cut the sweet thing wreath from the TREASURE paper too. I then arranged the butterflies, with my sweet photo onto the peach watercolor base.
Here’s a closer look….
I tucked in a few DIE CUT EPHEMERA blooms into the photo cluster, and added a DIE CUT sentiment banner onto my photograph too. SO pretty!!!
Next I added that fussy cut sweet thing wreath, and a CHIPBOARD STICKER butterfly….

You’ll notice that I used a few pretty sequins from my stash (including those butterflies!), as well as a good sprinkling of the MORE THAN WORDS ENAMEL SHAPES.
For the finishing touch, I fussy cut the sweet heart sentiment from pattern paper, CV-MT006 TREASURE, and layered it over one of the butterflies with foam tape. I just love how effective this looks!
Such a pretty page for my sweet girl!
And there you have it!
Simple, beautiful, elegant!
Throwback Thursday made fresh and pretty!
I do hope you’ll check out my article in Issue 8 of Retro Hip Magazine for all my tips on maximizing white space for your scrapbook layouts!
Thanks so much for stopping by,
til next time,

























































I decided to cut a strip of the stripe side of the ‘Sprightly’ paper and placed it vertically down a plain white cardstock background. I then trimmed the white cardstock down so that I could use the pink side of the ‘Unscripted’ paper as a border. I added some machine stitching down each side of the vertical strip. I added some layers under my photo including the floral paper from the ‘Pretty Bits’ paper and one of the die-cut frames, I popped these all up using craft foam.
I tucked in one of the tab stickers both at the top and bottom of my photo from the Accessory sticker sheet. As you can see in the detail photo above, I used some of the gorgeous new foam words as my title! They are gorgeous and aren’t too sticky, perfect if you aren’t sure of placement, they are easily repositionable which is very handy for me! I also added one of the gorgeous bows and a few other embellishments finish off this side of the layout.
On the left hand side, I added one of the cute banner stickers and tucked in some of the gorgeous floral die-cuts. I also layered one of the flair buttons to the top of one of the florals. A few other small embellishments like the clear stickers and enamel dots finish off this side. One thing I wanted to point out in the floral die-cuts is that gorgeous texture you can see in the detail photo below. I just love that not only are there beautiful colours in this collection but the texture is awesome too.