Picture Perfect Moments | These Days | Lina Monaco

Hello Friends!
Lina here with another layout using the ever beautiful and timeless, These Days collection. I thought it’d be a perfect collection to use to document a simple black and white photo of my daughter. If you’d like to watch the process video and how it all came together, click HERE to be taken to the Cocoa Vanilla Studio YouTube channel.


Using the rainbow ombre sheet of patterned paper called Daybreak, I used some Gesso and an old gift card and spread some of it in the top right hand corner of the paper. This will be where my photograph will sit and I wanted some contrast between the brightly coloured paper, my photo and the embellishments. I also took some of the gesso on a brush and splattered it down for a cool effect.
I then matted the background paper with the black and white patterned, Neighbourhood, and the green polkadot, Family Ties. I feel like all three patterns, although busy, work well with each other.


Next, time to embellish… I took pieces from both the Die Cut Ephemera and from the Floral Ephemera to create my clusters. I have one main one to the left side of my photo and then two smaller ones. One at the top right hand corner of my photo and the next, a much smaller one at the bottom left hand corner. These three clusters are dainty and simple as not to take away from the photo but add just the right amount of whimsy the layout needs.


I added tons of layers to the photo with matting using the A5 Paper Stack using papers that mixed well and many layers and tabs with the embellishing. Next, I added the lovely butterflies that are in the Die Cut Ephemera package to the page. I added hot glue to only the centers and lifted the wings up on either side so the butterflies looked like they are in flight.


To convey my message or journaling, I used the little typed sentiments from the Accessory Sticker sheet. That tiny type is my favourite and I ALWAYS gravitate to them for my “journaling”. It’s always just short and sweet and says exactly what I need it to. Lastly, a good sprinkling of some gold paint for good measure and to tie the entire layout together.

I hope you enjoyed my layout today, thanks for stopping by!

xoLina