Gwen Wruck

About Gwen Wruck

https://createdbygwen.com.au/

Gwen lives on the beautiful Gold Coast in Queensland with her hubby who happens to be a pro-photographer and daughter Caitlin; the most photographed child on the planet!! She started scrapping in 1998 and still absolutely loves it and does so every day. She has worked on many design teams and loves showcasing products, sharing ideas and connecting with the scrap community both on-line and locally. She has also enjoyed having layouts published in many scrapbooking magazines and teaching her love of the craft over the years at local stores and large expos. She is also as a Scrapbooking Memories Master (2017). She adores paper and layering it up and has quite an eclectic feel to her designs. Her pages are embellishment heavy - generally clusters and most definitely have a "pretty" feel to them. She loves chipboard, layers and flowers and almost always includes sewing on her pages. She has been on the Cocoa Vanilla Studio’s team since 2017 and we know you’ll love her creations.

Posts by Gwen Wruck:

CHRISTMAS JOY | JOYFUL | GWEN WRUCK

Hi Creative Friends,

Gwen back on the blog today with a new share using the ‘Joyful’ collection.  I am loving using these supplies for my Christmas scrapbooking this year.  Today I’m documenting a series of photos of my daughter from quite a few years back.  I don’t usually scrapbook with multiple photos so it’s nice to be able to do something a little different for this page and document this sweet little moment.

For this layout, I decided on a grid design.  To help me with that, I’m using the ‘Pocket Cards’.  I went ahead and chose several to create six blocks for the grid on my layout.  I’ve used the ‘Very Merry’ pattern paper for my background and the ‘Holly Days’ stripe pattern as my border.  I’ve also used this stripe to create my photo mats, making sure that I keep all of my stripes running left to right.

I’ve added in my signature stitching elements to the page as well, around the photos and also the border of the layout.  I’m loving this soft peach colour with this collection, it contrasts beautifully.

I was also keen to use the ‘Christmas Joy’ title from the ‘Chipboard Stickers Pack’.  It’s quite a substantial piece so I knew I had to get it into position early in the design.  I decided to centre it under two of my photos placed towards the left of the page.  To balance that out, I’ve placed my third photo towards the right hand side of my page.

I’ve then gone ahead and created several embellishment clusters, treating each block as a section but also making sure that everything balances out on the page overall.  I’ve mixed and matched elements from the ‘Die Cut Ephemera’ pack, the ‘Chipboard Stickers’, fussy cut florals from the ‘Tis the Season’ pattern paper, the ‘Accessory Stickers Sheet’ and even some of the ‘Epoxy Buttons’.

Once all of the embellishments were placed, I’ve gone back and added in some more stitching around the edges of each of the pocket cards which you can see here… AND… how sweet is this bunny from the ‘Die Cut Ephemera pack’?  I love how it sits on top of the wreath that is printed on the pocket card.  I’ve added mine here with dimensional tape to create layers on my page.

The shine of the gold foil on the elements in this collection is so lovely.  Here you can see the thickness of the chipboard in my title and that shine!

I have also made a YouTube video of my process which you can watch here:


I hope my layout has inspired you and that you are enjoying documenting your festive season.

Until next time,

Gwen

xo

OH WHAT FUN | JOYFUL | GWEN WRUCK

Hi Creative Friends,

Gwen on the blog today with my very first share using the new Joyful collection.  I adore this collection so so much, it’s so pretty AND it’s so easy to work with, this page was so fun to make!  I’m documenting a fun selfie that was taken of my family from a few years back including our sweet little Elf On The Shelf named Candy.  Have you started your Christmas scrapbooking yet?

The first paper I was drawn to in the collection was the ‘Holly Days’ paper.  I love the wreath design and it really helped me to pull this page together quickly.  I used the wreath as a guide for the design for the layout.

I have also used the ‘Making Spirits Bright’ pattern paper as a border for my layout base, the green is a really lovely tone and the print is so sweet.  I’ve used this same pattern paper to back a cut file, this one from CUT to YOU and then layered these cut file leaf pieces over a section of the wreath.  I’m using the leaves to add extra layers in the wreath for interest.  I’ve also fussy cut some florals from the ‘Tis the Season’ pattern paper and layered those into the wreath and cut file as well.  The idea was to take the one dimensional wreath that was printed on the pattern paper and make it layered and three dimensional.

I’ve added in my signature stitching around the photo as well as the layout edge which you can see here.

For my embellishments, I’ve kept them all running in the same direction as the wreath; circular around the page.  I’ve tried to just work with the flow of the layout around that feature.  I’ve mixed and matched elements from the ‘Die Cut Ephemera’ pack including this super sweet reindeer as well as the ‘Chipboard Stickers’ such as this one that says ‘Family Traditions’.

I’ve also added in several of the shimmery gold stars from the ‘Chipboard Pack’ and a flag and tab element from the ‘Die Cut Ephemera’ and ‘Chipboard Packs’.  To finish the page I added in one of the ‘Epoxy Buttons’, they are such a sweet element to add for dimension and texture.

I have made a YouTube process video for my share today which you can watch here:

I hope my page has inspired you to get Christmas crafting and to check out this beautiful collection.

Until next time,

Gwen

xo

HELLO SUNSHINE | ENDLESS SUMMER | GWEN WRUCK

Hi Creative friends,

Gwen back on the blog today with a stash busting share for you featuring the ‘Endless Summer‘ collection.  Whilst this collection is from a while ago now (2016), I still really love the soft tones in it and the sweet icons, they are perfect for documenting beach photos; these taken of my daughter many years ago.  I have quite a few embellishments for this line in my stash so I thought it would be a great opportunity to get some of those used up as well!

The idea for the page was to create a landscape of sorts, with my photos sitting towards the bottom of the page and the top portion of the page being a pretty summer sky.  I’ve used the ‘Blue Skies’ pattern paper for my background and then created a frame with the ‘Sun Bleached’ ombre pattern paper.  I’ve used this paper to create photo mats for my photos as well.

For a fun element to add to my sky background, I’ve cut two paper kites using a cut file from CUT to YOU.  I’ve backed these in the ‘Sun Bleached’ pattern paper as well as the ‘Aloha’ pattern paper, a fun tropical floral print.  I’ve added some stitching detail to really make them a feature of the design.

My photos also have a stitched border added for extra detail and they run along the bottom of the edge of the layout.  I wanted them to feel grounded against my background.

With the photo and large cut file elements in place, now I get to audition the embellishments in the collection.  I noticed at this point that I had a lot of little sentiments to work with from the ‘Die Cut Ephemera’ pack as well as the ‘Accessory Stickers’.  I even had some that had been fussy cut from the ‘This and  That’ pattern paper.  I also had some of the ‘Flair Buttons’ in my stash and am happy to have included two on this layout.

Thinking about the way the eye will flow from the top of the page down to my photos and across to the left, I have nestled in elements along the left hand edge of my paper kites.  I’ve also added a longer sentiment at the bottom of the page to balance things out and help that bottom section feel more grounded.  Here you can see how the cloud icons in the background pattern paper are matched to the flair button.  I love this layered look.

I’ve then added in a floral sticker from the ‘Accessory Sticker Sheet’ (which I cut in half) as well as some other round elements to soften the look of the page and add more interest.  The different sized round elements really add to the dimension of the page as well.  Lastly, I’ve added in two of the die cut butterflies from the ‘Accessory Sticker Sheet’ as well as a couple of ‘Enamel Shapes’ as a last finishing detail.

I have made a YouTube process video for this one which you can watch here:

I hope this layout inspires you to dive into your stash and get creating!

Until next time,

Gwen

xo

 

SUMMER LOVE | SUNKISSED | GWEN WRUCK

Hi Creative friends,

Gwen on the blog today bringing you some fun Summer themed inspiration.  My layout today features the beautiful bright ‘Sunkissed’ collection and I’m documenting a photo of my daughter on the beach at a recent family holiday.  I was really keen to use the deep blue of the ‘Bright Side‘ pattern paper as my background for this one to draw out the blue in the ocean in my photo.  I’ve teamed it with some of the pretty florals in the collection for a super fun bright and happy page.

To begin the layout, I’ve created a frame for my background using the ‘Sunny Days‘ pattern paper to layer onto of the ‘Bright Side‘ paper.  I’ve also added a stitched border for extra detail.

Next, I’ve backed a cut file from CUT to YOU using the two ombre style pattern papers in the collection ‘Summer Lights‘ and ‘Good Vibrations’.  I’ve used the floral ‘Growing Wild‘ paper in the rainbow section of the cut file as well as the pink exclusive pattern paper that is in the A5 paper stack.  I’ve gone with the more subtle prints here because my background has stripes and I’m teaming it with the florals.

I’ve also used the ‘Good Vibrations’ pattern paper to create a photo mat and then raised my photo on foam for dimension.  I’ve centred the back cut file on the page and now it’s time to add the pretty embellishments.

Starting with some fussy cut florals from the ‘Growing Wild‘ pattern paper, I’ve layered these both under and on top of the cut file.  I’ve mixed these with die cut florals from the ‘Die Cut Ephemera Pack‘ for added layers and to build out the embellishment clusters.  I also pulled out the fun thongs die cut to add to my page.

Next up, I’ve added in some elements from the ‘Accessory Sticker Sheet‘ including the round element at the top of the page that says ‘Fun in the Sun’.  I’ve also included in my floral clusters some of the ‘Wooden Epoxy Buttons‘ and a cute pair of sunglasses from the ‘Puffy Sticker Sheet‘.

The tile for my page has come from the ‘Glitter Foam Title Stickers‘  I’ve combined the word ‘Summer’ and ‘Love’.  As I’ve applied them to my page, I have bent them slightly to allow them to follow along the line of the rainbow.  I’ve also added a couple of the sweet heart elements from this sheet to my clusters for an added little pop of sparkle.  These were really easy to position and I love the dimension this adds to the page.

I finished up the page by adding in a few small fussy cut florals from the ‘Growing Wild’ pattern paper.

I’ve also made a YouTube process video for today’s page which you can watch here.

Until next time,

Gwen

xo

BEAUTIFUL LIFE | DAYDREAM | GWEN WRUCK

Hi Creative friends,

Gwen on the blog today excited to be here with a new share.  My layout features the Daydream collection which I’ve used to document a sweet photo of my daughter on her 13th Birthday.   I’m working with a black and white photo for this page so the soft colours in this collection (especially the greys and blues) were really inspiring to me.

For the background of my layout, I decided on the ‘Garden Variety‘ pattern paper.  I love working with a pattern paper background and wanted something a little darker for my background on this page.  I’ve decided to work with a large background style cut file and a dark pattern paper for the background will really help it pop!  I’ve backed this one from CUT to YOU with the ‘Daisy Days‘ paper, I love the sweet little flowers on this paper.

I’ve centred the cut file onto the background of my page and then added some machine stitching.  For the embellishment clusters, I’m going with 3 clusters for this page.  The main one will feature my title and will run along the left hand side, and my photo will balance that out and run along the right hand side.

Here you can see I’ve mounted my photo on foam for dimension and also added some stitching around the edge.  I’ve also added stitching to the cut file design.  I love adding stitching, it’s a fun little detail that gives a really sweet look to the page.  You can also see here my title and largest embellishment cluster.  I’ve used die cut pieces from the ‘Die Cut Ephemera‘ pack as well as stickers from the ‘Accessory Sticker Sheet’ and a sweet ‘puffy heart‘ in each cluster.

My other two embellishment clusters will be smaller and they will form a visual triangle (with my photo in the middle).  They will also include elements from the Accessory Sticker Sheet and Die Cut Ephemera packs.  I’ve also added in a coordinating flair from the collection.

Next, I’ve added are some fussy cut butterflies from the ‘All A Flutter‘ pattern paper.  I’ve raised these on foam for dimension, they look as though they are about to fly right off the page.  Lastly I’ve added a few of the typed sentiments from the ‘Accessory Sticker Sheet’ as a final touch on the page.

I’ve also made a YouTube video which you can watch here:

Thanks for popping by today, I hope you have enjoyed seeing the scrapbook process for this layout.

Until next time,

Gwen

xo

 

ONE BIG ADVENTURE | THESE DAYS | GWEN WRUCK

Hi Creative Friends,

Gwen back with you on the blog today with a fresh new share using the ‘These Days’ collection.  I’ve used it to document a fun photo of my teenage daughter at the beach on a recent family get away.  I’m doing a lot of fussy cutting for this page and have teamed that with a large title for a simple design that came together fast.

To create the background of my layout, I’ve created a frame with the ‘Wall of Fame’ pattern paper and added it to a sheet of Olive green card stock from my stash.  I love the shade of this paper, it screams fall.  I’ve also used it to back the word ‘Adventure’ in my title.  Next, I’ve used the signature floral print in the A5 pattern paper stack to back the word ‘Big’ in my title.  Using the A5 papers for this allows for more of the pattern to show, it really is the perfect scale for backing cut files.  This title design is a cut file from CUT to YOU.

As I was backing the title, I thought I’d extend it with the words ‘with you’.  These have come from the ‘Mini Puffy Alphas’ which are so cute!!  I’ve also added in some stitching here; to co-ordinate with the stitching around the edge of my page and photo.  I love the look of stitching over puffy stickers, it adds a home made touch to the page, texture and detail.

I’ve backed my photo with the ‘Daybreak’ pattern paper in the A5 paper pad and mounted it on foam.  I’ve then gone ahead and fussy cut out a bunch of floral pieces from the ‘Home Grown’ pattern paper.  I’ve added my photo to the left of the layout and then the floral elements down the right hand side of the photo flowing down the page towards the bottom right hand corner.

To further embellish the page, I’ve added in elements from the ‘Accessory Sticker Sheet’ including some typed sentiment stickers which I have mounted with 3D foam for dimension.  I’ve also fussy cut several butterflies from the ‘Take Flight’ pattern paper. *TIP – Fussy cut out a bunch of butterflies in advance to have them ready to add as finishing touches to your pages.  There is a lovely mix of colours to use in this collection.

Lastly, I’ve added in three of the ‘Wood Epoxy Buttons’ around the page.  These add a lovely texture and detail to the design.  They come on a foam pad which you can use for extra dimension, or remove if you prefer a slightly flatter look.

I’ve also made a YouTube process video which you can watch here:

I hope you have enjoyed seeing my process for this layout and it inspires you to get creating with this stunning collection.

Until next time,

Gwen

xo

 

PICTURE PERFECT | THESE DAYS | GWEN WRUCK

Hi Creative Friends,

Gwen with you on the blog today sharing a new layout using the ‘These Days’ collection.  For this layout, I’m documenting a fun photo of my daughter recently taken on a Farm Stay mini holiday.  This collection is super sweet and so fun to use for wonderful little moments like this one.  I’m feeling a little bit country-vibes for this layout.

To begin my page, I have chosen a cut file from CUT to YOU, and then used the ‘A5 Paper Stack’ to back it.  I’ve started with the banner piece of the cut file. The design was a little longer than A5 so I’ve added paper behind the left and right sides of the banner leaving a gap in the centre, this works out fine as this is where my photo will be placed.  I’ve then used the pretty peach exclusive pattern to back my flowers and a pretty green leaf print for the leaves.  I used this same green pattern paper to back my photo.

**TIP – The prints in the A5 paper stack are perfect for backing cut files and creating thin photo mats as the prints are smaller than those on the 12 x 12 pattern papers. This smaller print allows you to see the design even when using them in small pieces.

To create my background I’ve used the ‘Pretty Posies’ pattern paper for my layout edge and the ‘Neighbourhood’ pattern paper for my background.  The black and white print was a little busy for underneath my cut file, so I’ve added a layer of vellum from my stash to soften it.  I love the look of vellum, it’s such a soft element to add to a page.  I love too how the print of the pattern paper still shows through; very dreamy.

It’s now time to embellish.  I’ve gone with a large cluster (including my title) to the left of the photo and then two supporting clusters, one on the top left of my photo and the other on the bottom right of my photo.  I’ve used pieces from the ‘Die Cut Floral Ephemera’ as well as the ‘Die Cut Ephemera’ pieces to create the layers in my clusters and title.  The die cut piece that says ‘Picture Perfect Moments’ was perfect for my page.

For dimension and texture, I’ve added in elements from the ‘Puffy Stickers’ and three ‘Wood Buttons’.  I’ve finished off the page with several of the sentiment stickers from the ‘Accessory Sticker Sheet’ added with 3D foam adhesive.

I’ve also made a YouTube video of my process which you can watch here:

Thanks for popping by today.  I hope my page has inspired you in some way and you enjoyed my scrapbooking process.

Until next time,

Gwen

xo

 

 

BLOOM | THESE DAYS | GWEN WRUCK

Hi Creative Friends,

Gwen with you on the blog today sharing a new layout using the ‘These Days’ collection.  We are doing a bit of a Scrap-lift on the blog this week and I’m super excited to be inspired by a layout created by Laura Alberts.  I’ve included an image below of her layout so you can see all the inspiration I’ve had for my page.

There is so much about Laura’s page that inspires me.  I was first drawn to the frames in her background and their grid like format.  Then I was drawn to her black and white portrait image finished off with a striking black border on her layout.  For my layout, I simply started with those three elements and went from there.  I’ve pulled from my stash the same black and white pattern paper she has used for her outside edge (More than Words Collection – Gossamer) and then teamed it with the latest ‘These Days’ collection.  I’ve also found a black and white portrait photo to use, just as she has.  This one is a photo of me and I thought, why not use it, I don’t scrapbook myself nearly enough :)  I know I’m also going to use some butterfly embellishments just as she has in her page.

For the background of the layout, I’m using the ‘Home Grown’ pattern paper.  I love using pattern paper rather than card stock for my page backgrounds, this one is a pretty shade of yellow.  I’ve then pulled out a cut file from CUT to YOU, this one is a lovely mix of floral and frames.  I wanted to replicate the frames on Laura’s layout here.  I have gone ahead and backed the cut file using the A5 paper pad and then left the frames all open so that my lovely yellow background will show through.

Next, I’ve backed my photo and then fussy cut out a few of the pretty frames from the ‘Wall of Frame’ pattern paper.  I’m going to use these to layer into the frames in my cut file for something different.  This is a great way to give a bit of a backed look to the cut file, without the hard work.  The frames in this pattern paper are super quick to fussy cut out.  I’m using both of these elements taking inspiration from the frames in the background of Laura’s page.

I have positioned my photo to the left of the page so that you can see most of the floral elements in my cut file on the right.  From there, I’ve created three embellishment clusters using lots of elements from the collection.

I’ve featured elements from the ‘Die Cut Ephemera pack’ as well as florals from the ‘Floral Ephemera’ pack.  For the title of my page, I’m going with a sticker that says ‘Bloom where you are planted’ from the ‘Accessory Sticker Sheet’.  I’ve also used the typed sentiment stickers on the bottom of that sheet adding them to my page with foam tape for dimension.

To finish up the page, I’ve added in 3 of the ‘Wooden Buttons’ and they really help draw the eye around the layout as well as adding some lovely texture to the page.

I’ve also made a YouTube process video which you can watch here:

Thanks for popping by today, I hope you enjoyed seeing the details in my layout and that it has inspired you in some way :)

Until next time,

Gwen

xo

LOVING THE EVERYDAY | THESE DAYS | GWEN WRUCK

Hi Creative friends,

It’s Gwen and I’m back on the blog today sharing my very first layout using the stunning new ‘These Days’ collection.  The moment I saw this new collection I knew I’d love using it to document everyday moments of my family.  For this layout, I thought it would be fun to document my Miss 14 and her continued obsession with reading and her favourite book right now.

To begin my page, I’ve created my background using the ‘Family Ties’ and ‘Daybreak’ pattern papers.  I’ve also added some stitching around the edge for added detail.  I love using pattern papers for the backgrounds of my layouts and love this pretty green tone paper.

Next up, I’ve used the ‘Daybreak’ pattern paper to back a cut file from CUT to YOU as well as my photo.  This particular pattern paper is one of my favourites from the new collection.  I’ve popped the cut file onto foam tape for dimension and positioned onto my background along with the photo making sure everything is nice and straight with my T-square ruler.

For the embellishments for this layout, I have gone with a visual triangle, however, instead of the photo being inside the visual triangle, I have positioned my title inside of it.  The clusters I’ve built with similar elements including pieces from the ‘Die Cut Ephemera pack’ some ‘Wood Buttons’ and fussy cut out butterflies from the ‘Take Flight’ pattern paper.

I’ve also added some stickers from the ‘Accessory Sticker Sheet’ which I’ve mounted onto foam for dimension.  I love the sentiments that are included in this collection, perfect for sweet little family moments.  You’ll see each of my embellishment clusters has these elements in it, I find when I do this, it helps pull the page together.

I love the contrast of the white cut file shown here sitting onto of the background pattern paper.  You can also see here the elements of one of the embellishment clusters and my fussy cut butterfly.

If you would like to see how this page came together, I have a YouTube process video you can watch here:

Thanks for popping by,

Until next time,

Gwen

xo

 

SNAP SHOTS | UNFORGETTABLE | GWEN WRUCK

Hey Creative friends,

Gwen back on the Cocoa Vanilla blog today with a new project to share.  For this one, I’m using this months mood-board as my inspiration to scrapbook a sweet picture of our pet cat.  I was really draw to the circular elements in the mood board for this layout especially as my photo has a large circular element in it.  For more details on how you can play along be sure to visit the Cocoa Vanilla Studio Facebook group.

Here is the mood-board, as I mentioned above, I was inspired by the circular elements in the top left hand corner photo.  I was also inspired by the top middle photo with the water colour paint in it, such pretty colour. I do hope you can see how the mood-board inspired me and how it helped me pull my page together.

To begin the layout, I pulled out this large circular cut file from CUT to YOU and backed just the centre pieces.  I’ve used a combination of papers from the collection for this, it was super quick to do and is a great option if you are new to working with cut file designs.  I’ve then created a frame for my layout background using the ‘Sprightly’ pattern paper, I’ve made sure to also use this pattern within my cut file to help pull the page together.  I love this particular pattern paper for this mood board because of it’s water-colour feel.  It also includes all of the colours I plan to use on my page so it will help to give the page a cohesive look.

I’ve then backed my photo in a pretty mint green pattern paper and stitched around the edge for added detail.  I don’t often work with circles, but I felt the circular elements in my photo were the perfect fit for the mood board and when I teamed them with the cut file and other circular pieces of the ephemera pack, they all work together to help tell the story of my photo.

There are a bunch of elements in the ‘Ephemera Packs’ in this collection, I’ve mixed and matched elements in size and shape, paying particular attention to include some of the circular elements.  I even had a couple of the wreath style elements (from several left over packs) so added them as background layers.

Here you can see the ‘Flair Button’ from the collection and my main embellishment cluster.  I’ve also included some fussy cut out butterflies from the ‘Pretty Bits’ pattern paper.  These butterflies are a little larger than some of the other butterflies in the collection so they are perfect to mix and match.

To finish the layout, I’ve included some of the sentiment stickers from the ‘Accessory Sticker Sheet’ as well as some of the ‘Enamel Dots’.

I’ve also made a You Tube video for this share which you can watch here, I hope it inspires you.

Until next time,

Gwen

xo

 

 

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