November 2019

Christmas Cards | Mixed Collections | Mandy Melville

Mandy Melville 30/11/2019

Hello everyone!

Mandy here with you today to share a set of Christmas cards that I created using a combination of Cocoa Vanilla Studio collections! I chose a fresh and pretty colour scheme of pink, aqua, and lime, with a touch of grey and woodgrain. I then pulled together some products from the Happiness, Boys Rule, and You Rock collections to create my cards. I’m going to show you that it’s super easy to create Christmas themed projects even if you don’t have a Christmas collection. Plus I think the Cocoa Vanilla products are gorgeous and are perfect for using for any occasion / theme!

For my first card, I started by adding a piece of the beautiful pink Expressive paper from the Happiness collection to the middle of the card. I also used the Straight & Narrow paper from the Boys Rule collection, and tucked the grey stripe side under the top edge of the pink paper, and the lime green side under the bottom edge. I then adhered a die cut frame from the Boys Rule Miscellany pack to the card using foam tape for added dimension. I used some Christmas stamps from my stash to add a sentiment inside the frame.

To embellish the card I fussy cut a couple of stars out of the You Rock Starshine patterned paper, and then I also traced one onto the Boys Rule Straight & Narrow paper and hand cut it out. I think the stars help to give it a Chrismasy feel! To finish the card off, I added a few Wild at Heart sparkly enamel dots.

For my next card, I used the same patterned papers, and this time I layered them in strips across the front of the card. I only adhered the edges of the grey stripe paper as I wanted to tuck a couple of tags in behind this strip. The smaller tag is from the Happiness die cut ephemera pack, and I stamped the phrase ‘merry merry merry’ onto this one. The larger tag I created using a metal die from stash and the Bright & Beautiful woodgrain patterned paper, also from the Happiness collection.

Once again I finished this card off with a couple of fussy cut stars from the You Rock Starshine patterned paper, and some enamel dots from the More than Words collection.

I love how these cards turned out using non-Christmas themed collections, and I can’t wait to hand them out to some special friends during the Christmas season!

Thanks so much for joining me here on the blog today. I hope that you enjoyed taking a look at my cards!

Mandy x

Beautiful Girl | Sugar & Spice Collection | Anna Komenda

Anna Komenda 27/11/2019

Hello Friends! Have you seen the newest products in CVS store? You should run there quickly because Zoe released digital versions of older Cocoa Vanilla collections! I am over the moon happy about it, because I really loved them and I was missing my favorite stuff. You can purchase both papers and elements and they are already prepared to be printed in A4 size PDF files! You will also get each element separately if you want to use them your way. I am an embellishment person so I use up my embellies faster than the papers. Being able to print more elements to work with my paper leftovers is so amazing. What is ever more amazing is that if you purchase those digital versions of CVS lines, you will help support victims of current Australia bushfires.

I am in CVS team from the very first DT call so I own every collection that was released. We started with two lines: “Sugar and Spice” and “Flying High”. Those two collections were the reason I fell in love with Cocoa Vanilla and I cherish them so much. Especially the girly “Sugar and Spice”. I am almost run out of embellishments but I still have some paper scraps left. That’s why I decided to purchase elements and print them in bunches. Flowers are always my favorite, that’s why I printed a whole sheet filled with them. You can make yourself some print and cut file in Silhouette software or, if you are OK with fussy cutting, just cut them by hand.

I used paper scraps to make several fishtail tags and arranged them over the pink cardstock. Second step was adding a picture of my daughter above them and fill the space with a lot of flowers.

“Sugar and and spice” line came with 12×12 sticker sheet, wood veneers pack and some cork hearts. I still got some of them left and I was so happy to be able to use them up. I mixed in them between the flowers creating colorful and very cheerful page.

I already purchased few more element packs from other collections and I can’t wait to use them in my projects. If you run out of papers, you can also print them at A4 size! Or, if you are lucky and have A3 printer, you can get full 12×12 papers. The best thing is that you will never run out of your favorite papers and embellishments!

Thank you for stopping by and see you in December.

XO Anna

Future Pilot | Boys Rule | Amanda Baldwin

Amanda-Jayne Baldwin 26/11/2019

Hi Cocoa Vanilla Studio Friends!

Amanda here, & today I am sharing a super cool scrapbook page of my boy, the future pilot! As soon as I saw this photo I knew that I had the perfect Cocoa Vanilla Studio collection to document it with – none other than the awesome BOYS RULE line! This collection is seriously cool & just rocks when it comes to scrapping the boys! But enough chatter, here’s my scrapbook layout,

“Future Pilot”

Whoa!!! How awesome is this?! RAD, indeed!

I have featured the stunning CV-BR007 STAR FALL paper as my layout background, distressed & folded the right edge of this paper and stapled a trim of CV-BR009 GOOD TIMES behind it. This created a really raw, and edgy look which enhanced the masculinity of the overall design. The use of metal hardware (staples) not only attached the two papers, but also emphasized the rawness. Simple, but so effective!

I backed my sweet boy’s photograph with a few cool layers of the MISCELLANY frames and die cuts, as well as some fussy cut labels from CV-BR006 BOY STUFF paper. To these layers, I inserted in a few ACCESSORY STICKER stars and words/phrases, and then attached this photo cluster to my page. With my focal point in place, I then tucked my CHIPBOARD PIECES title ‘RAD’ into the top of the photo layers.

Over my treasured photograph, I foam mounted a couple more ACCESSORY STICKERS that featured stars, plus added I that awesome ‘king of the world’ FLAIR BUTTON. So cool!!!

To the right side of the photo cluster, I tucked in the ‘reach for the stars’ ACCESSORY STICKER – both the print and the sentiment coordinated perfectly with my page design.

More ACCESSORY STICKERS are used to adorn the bottom left of my photo cluster, as well as a few die cuts. To complete the photo cluster I foam mounted & overlapped that fabulous ‘adventure’ CHIPBOARD PIECE. Awesome!

For my title to be noticed on such a dark paper, I dove into my COCOA VANILLA STUDIO: COLOUR ME HAPPY stash and used the plain white ALPHABET STICKERS. I embellished around my title with more of the ACCESSORY STICKERS as well as two of the brush stroke CLEAR STICKERS. A few dots of white paint completed the page.

Simple, and yet so epic!!!

Scrapping the boys is made super easy (& totally awesome) with our fabulous BOYS RULE collection!

Thanks so much for visiting – I hope I have inspired you to get creating today!

til next time,

Happy Arty Days, Amanda xo

Every Photo Has a Story | Unforgettable collection | Guest Designer – Laura Alberts

Zoe Pearn 25/11/2019

Hi y’all!

Guest Designer Laura Alberts back again with a layout focused on the story aspect of the Unforgettable collection. I really loved this cut-apart piece with the phrase, “Every photo has a story” and made it the title of my project. This photo definitely has a story to tell, so it was perfect for this 9×12 sized layout. This photo of my impish daughter covered in paint is a pretty wild story, for sure! I include as many of these stories as possible in my albums because my kids love to read them. Imagine having such a wonderful collection of your childhood memories to enjoy as an adult!

The second cut-apart saying, “Life doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful” was such a fitting addition to this picture, I had to use it too! The top of the layout features the Natural Beauty paper that adds movement to the background, while the floral cluster softens the linear look.

My goal was to use flair, so two do appear on this layout, but I saw an opportunity to add tassels and took it! I absolutely love these tassels, such a lovely way to finish off a floral cluster.

I have greatly enjoyed my time as a guest designer for Cocoa Vanilla Studio and hope I have inspired you to create! If you would like to see how I created this layout, you can watch my process video on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/CZ-wV8oIfaQ

Thank you, Cocoa Vanilla Studio for the amazing opportunity to design for you!

Laura Alberts

Love this CRAZY life | Unforgettable Collection | Michelle Stokes

Michelle Stokes 24/11/2019

Hi Scrappy friends its Michelle back today with a new layout share. This one features the beautiful Unforgettable collection, a cut file from CUT to YOU and a couple crazy photos of this little family of mine. Love how it turned out, and it all came together so quick!

To begin I resized the cut file in Silhouette studio, backed the seperate words using 2 pattern papers (both sides of Sprightly) from the 6×8 paper stack then adhered to the centre of the page using foam tape. Next I added the photos that were printed slightly smaller than 3×4 size and layered with a couple more pattern papers (reverse sides of Unscripted and Garland) from the 6×8 paper stack. I cut the main white cardstock backing down in size so that I could mount in onto the beautiful floral pattern paper Glorious for even more colour.

I used 1 large floral ephemera piece, that I cut in half, to create clusters of embellishments to the top left and bottom right of the cut file. I also added a couple extra florals and hearts from both the ephemera and clear sticker pack.

On each photo I’ve added a heart that was left over from a previous layout I created using the awesome wreath of hearts in our FREE Cut file set. Theres also a couple more ephemera pieces and stickers tucked into the layers beneath the photo.

Lastly I added a couple of enamel dots and a splattering of gold ink and called it done. A nice quick layout thanks to that massive cut file title.

Well thats all from me today, be sure to stop by the Community group on facebook to chat all things Cocoa Vanilla Studio. And don’t forget to use the hashtag #cocoavanillastudio when sharing your creations on instagram and Pinterest.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Until next time, happy scrapping..

Michelle xx

Happy Times | Happiness collection | Kylie Kingham.

Kylie Kingham 23/11/2019

Hello lovelies! It’s Kylie back with you all today with a fun new layout. My assignment for today was to use cut files….Yay! I immediately headed to the website and found myself drawn to the ‘Colour Me Happy’ cut files. I teamed some of these with the gorgeous ‘Happiness’ collection for my layout today.

I cut some of the flower clusters from the files as well as some extra leaf bunches and the ‘XO’ letters. I wanted to work on a white background so that the colours of the papers that I backed my cut files with would really pop. With the ‘Botanical Bliss’ paper I added a 1.5cm border on both vertical edges of my layout.

Once I had backed my cut files I began adhering them in place. I used some adhesive foam tape to back them, this way they sat up from my page with some height. I also added some extra flowers from the die cut pack with foam for dimension.

My photo was printed in black and white, and I have backed it with some white tissue paper from my stash. It was adhered flat to my page so that the floral embellishments could sit above in height for effect. Some of the typed words from the sticker sheet were used to create a small sub title phrase which completed my layout.

Thanks so much for stopping by the blog today. I hope you have enjoyed seeing my latest layout and it has given you a little inspiration.

Until next time,

Kylie.

NEW: CVS Digital Products | Going Digital For A Good Cause

Zoe Pearn 22/11/2019

Hello everyone and Happy Saturday!

Last week I posted a video on our social media channels talking about how I’d like to turn some of our older/discontinued products into digital products and donate a portion of the sales to a charity to help victims of the bushfires that have been raging throughout my home state of New South Wales. So, from now through til midnight tomorrow, Sunday 24th November 2019,

25% OF ALL DIGITAL PRODUCT SALES

will be donated to the Vinnies (St Vincent De Paul) Bushfire Appeal.

To read more about the Vinnies Bushfire Appeal, or to donate directly, check out this link or click on the image below.

The reason I chose Vinnies as the charity as they seem to be doing more to help those who have been directly affected by the bushfires, and as someone who has personally been devastated by a natural disaster in the past, I know how much this means when everything else is lost.

So if you’ve missed out on one of our older collections, this is a great way to get it into your stash and help those in need at the same time…

All About Digital Products

Whether you are a dedicated digital scrapper, like to use digital supplies to print and create hybrid projects, or have never even heard of it, our digital products can help you create beautiful projects at home with just a printer and some scissors (or an electronic die cutting machine)!

Simply open as you would any normal photo or picture, print to your home printer and voila… Instant scrappy supplies on demand!

All of our element packs/bundles also include printable A4 sheets full of embellishments, so it couldn’t be easier to print and fussy cut your own embellishments at home!

All products are available as both individual Digital Paper Packs, Element Packs, and a discounted Collection Bundle.

Once purchased, you will be redirected instantly to your links to download, and you will also receive an email with the download links to your products. You can access your downloads from the My Account section at any time if you need to.

We will be adding more to our digital product range over time, but for now here is what we have on offer, right back to the beginnings of CVS!

[products ids=”2290,2747,2753,2760,2775,2783,2790,2805,2798″]

I really hope you’ll get behind this great cause, and add some of our digital goodies to your stash… you never know, you might just get hooked!

Thanks so much for reading, and I hope you have a fantastic day :)

xx Zoe

Shine | Unforgettable | Rachel Lowe

Rachel Lowe 21/11/2019

Hi all Rachel here! As most of you know I LOVE cut files and use them on nearly all my layouts. Today I have a pretty layout that is fun to make and there is only one piece of 12×12 paper used. I have used the SPRIGHTLY paper to create these gorgeous flowers.

I chose a super pretty flower cut file from the Silhouette Design Store. I created three different sizes by re sizing to large, medium and small. I then used from 6 to 3 layers for each flower. This creates the effect of different flowers, different layers and sizes which adds dimension to your layout.

Before attaching my flowers I added some Unforgettable clear sticker paint strokes to provide a contrast. I also cut some leaf branches in white so I could tuck them under the flowers.I laid out my flowers and worked out where I was going to add some stamping. I have used the gorgeous Bohemian Dream stamp set. Once I had done all this I added my flowers to the left of my page.

I added my 4×4 inch photo tucking it slightly under the flowers to connect the elements. I added a bright pink paint brush stroke from the Unforgettable clear stickers under my photo to draw your eye to the photo.

I used the word Shine from the black foam title stickers and again added another bright pink paint stroke clear sticker before attaching to add contrast and draw the eye.

To finish off I added some butterflies from the Unforgettable die cut pack, adding a paint blotch clear sticker under the wings finished off with an enamel dot under the wing. I added several black hearts from the Unforgettable foam titles around my page.

When using a cut file such as a flower, and you want to use more than one, before you purchase another think of resizing and how many layers can be added or taken away, this way one cut file can look like several different ones.

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope my layout using one piece of paper and one cut file inspires you to get creative this week!

Rachel X

Happy Christmas | Tis The Season Collection | Tarrah McLean

Tarrah McLean 20/11/2019

Hi creative friends!

It’s Tarrah McLean back with you on this Thursday! I hope all my fellow Aussie friends are all safe from these horrendous bush fires we are experiencing in our country at present?

Today I am sharing a layout for the Cut Files theme we have on all this week and being that its Thursday I was also given ‘Throwback Thursday’ where we create with an older collection. I decided to create a Christmas layout since it is fast approaching!I started my page by taking a sheet of white cardstock and adding a piece of vellum over the top to mute the white a little bit, as I had lots of the sequins left from the Tis The Season collection, I decided to add lots of them under the vellum to create a shaker pocket. Once I had added the sequins, I then machine stitched all the edges so that they wouldn’t fall out. I love how this turned out! I like that it adds another feature to my layout.

I took two of the 12 x 12 papers and cut some vertical strips from them and placed them down each side of the layout. then chose a gorgeous cut file title design by Cut To You and added some of the patterned papers behind each of the words. I added craft foam to the underneath and placed it in the centre of my page. I also popped up the photo of my sons on Christmas Day with craft foam so that it was at the same level as the title on my page. I love the shadows and dimension this creates on my page.

I then began to embellish my page using some of the accessory stickers (that are still available in the store) some of the die-cuts, wood veneers and of course a bitty bow and the tiny metal key! I only had 1 of the poinsettia flowers in the die-cut pack left so I added just the one to the very bottom of the title and layered the bow over the top. Lastly I added some of the enamel dots from the Tis The Season collection. Have you got any of the Tis The Season collection left? Pull it out and get creating with it! Its such a soft and gorgeous collection for Christmas photos.

Thank you so much for stopping by today! See you next time!

Tarrah x

The Good Life | Happiness | Tazhiana

Tazhiana Gordon 19/11/2019

Hello Cocoa Vanilla friends, and welcome back to cutfile week! I am not a pro when it comes to using cut files but I have a few tips and supplies to make them a bit more accessible. I’m scrapping a selfie this week that I took on my 29th birthday and I’m using the Happiness collection as well as a cut file from the Cut To You shop for Cocoa Vanilla.

I started but cutting the florals on white cardstock and cutting an offset piece on vellum. I knew I wanted a more abstract look rather than perfect backing, and I knew I wanted to make my own backing paper using watercolor paper and Distress Oxides and the vellum would be perfect to mask any imperfections. I can’t take any credit for this idea – I borrowed it from my friend, Laura Wonsik. So for tip number 1: get to know your design software. I’ve had a Silhouette for years and I’m just learning all of its features like offsetting and print and cut. Watch some YouTube videos and give yourself time to play before you actually sit down to make your project.

After cutting my elements and making my watercolor backgrounds, I traced the floral pieces, roughly cut it and adhered it to my cut file. This brings me to tip number 2: gather supplies. For cutfiles, a sharp pencil for tracing, a fine tipped pair of scissors, a fine tipped glue bottle and some clear vellum safe adhesive will go a long way. My fussy cut scissors are from EK Tools and I keep my glue in an 18 gauge Fineline bottle.

Once my cut file elements were ready, the rest of the layout was easy to assemble. I ripped off some patterned paper to add some interest to my background, matted my photo with some papers from the 6×8 paper pad, and embellished using the die cut ephemera and the cardstock stickers. My title came from the cardstock title pack and I popped a few elements up on foam to add some dimension to the page.

That’s it for me this week! I hope you found some inspiration here as well as some tips to demystify the cutting machine. Till next time, keep it crafty friends.