Design Team

Love | These Days Collection | Raquel Bowman

Raquel Bowman 17/07/2021

Hi everyone, it’s Raquel here with you today sharing with you some ‘These Days’ inspiration. This is the first layout that I have created with this new collection and oh my, it is just so gorgeous.

Here is the layout I created to share with you today:

This layout is featuring my beautiful new nephew and my beautiful and proud daughter and cousin. I absolutely adore these photos of my little girl holding her cousin and I wanted to showcase them. I used a fun grid design cut file from Cut To You which then inspired my photo size and amount of photos I chose to feature on this layout. I decided to back the photos into the cut file and printed them approx 3×4″ size in black and white.

The grid design of the cut file encouraged me to use the patterned paper to back the different sections. This allowed me to bring in a variety of papers and the bring contrast to the page. When adding the patterned papers to the page I tried to balance the prints and colours to ensure that the layout still looked appealing to the eye.

To embellish the layout I added three main clusters to the layout as well as some other embellishments to help guide your eyes around the layout. The embellishments I have mainly used are ephemera but also accessory stickers, clear stickers and puffy stickers.

The ‘Little Moments of Joy’ sentiment embellishment piece was fussy cut from one of the 3×4″ pocket cards. It was the perfect addition to this page.

The top right of the layout features a photo. I added my fave embellishment the ‘tab’ to the left of the photo. The finishing touch was the cute little puffy sticker hearts. I would just love a whole sheet of those little hearts.

I used the multi coloured tiny puffy alphabet stickers to add my daughters and nephews name.

I framed the whole layout with the yellow gingham paper and adhered the whole square cut file onto the woodgrain paper. I adhered the cut file and a selection of the embellishments to the page using a foam tape to add dimension.

Thanks so much for stopping by the blog today. I hope that this layout has inspired you to get creating.
Raquel x

I Speak For the Trees | These Days Collection | Laura Alberts

Laura Alberts 16/07/2021

Hey y’all! Laura here again with a hand-stitched wreath layout using the stunning new These Days collection! I have two photos of my youngest daughter exploring through a tree in our backyard as she often does, finding new and inventive ways to get into the branches. I love the pops of red in the These Days collection that allow me to incorporate these photos seamlessly. This layout features a chain-stitch border and a hand-cut circle in the center that I backed with the Family Ties patterned paper.

I added in clear sticker trees around my titles to accentuate the Dr. Seuss quote I used for my title. These tiny puffy alphas worked perfectly to follow the line of my stitching and add a pop of color at the top of the layout. After fussy cutting the entirety of the Home Grown 12×12 patterned paper, I created a wreath of florals around the side and bottom of my stitched border. Adding in a few butterflies creates the impression of movement and fills in the gaps around the photos.

To finish off this project, I added gold Nuvo dropos for the butterfly trails, splattered gold ink spray around the edges, and popped two of the wood buttons on the edges of my floral clusters. Beyond the florals, I kept the embellishing fairly simple with a tab above the left photo and a word phrase below the right photos, both from the ephemera pack.

I hope this hand-stitched layout inspires you to try a new technique on your next layout, whether that’s stitching, fussy cutting, or splattering! To see this layout come together, check out the process video below:

Picture Perfect Moments | These Days Collection | Danni Visser

Danni Visser 15/07/2021

Hello Cocoa Vanilla fans! Danni here sharing my first creation with the incredible ‘These Days’ collection, and I have to say, this is possibly my favourite collection ever! I have been so inspired to create with this one that I had to jump straight in with it. This layout was inspired by the adorable mason jar 3×4 pocket card.

I started with a mason jar cutfile (there are plenty of these available on Etsy) and cut out a white cardstock outline, and solid inside piece using Family Ties 12×12 patterned paper and a lid using grey and silver glitter cardstock. I raised the jar outline and the lid on foam to create a 3D effect.

To create a filled mason jar effect, I printed two small photos and selected all the trees and houses from the die cut ephemera pack. I arranged these within the cutfile jar to echo the design in the 3×4 pocket card. I also added in some tiny houses that I fussy cut from Neighbourhood 12×12 patterned paper and some tiny butterflies fussy cut from the A5 paper stack. These are so perfect for adding those tiny details.

For the background I chose the woodgrain side of Pretty Posies 12×12 patterned paper. I love woodgrain patterns for backgrounds, and it nicely emphasises the rustic country vibe of the mason jar. To create some extra detail I splattered some white acrylic ink all around the outside of the large mason jar.

I couldn’t resist using the mason jar 3×4 pocket card on the layout somewhere, so I fussy cut it out of the card and tucked it to the right of the large mason jar. I layered it with the ‘Picture Perfect Moments’ die cut ephemera piece to use as my title. I love using these smaller pieces for titles when I already have a large statement piece on the page.

To complete the page I added some more fussy cut tiny butterflies from the A5 paper stack, as well as some of the larger butterflies that I fussy cut from Take Flight 12×12 patterned paper. I love the two sizes of these butterflies! It enables you to create so much visual interest by varying sizes on the layout. I also added a smattering of white dimensional drops as a final touch.

I hope you enjoyed this layout! I am in love with These Days. What are you most inspired by in this new collection? There is a process video linked below on the Cocoa Vanilla Studio YouTube channel if you would like to watch. Happy scrapping!

Danni x

Living the Dream | Unforgettable Collection | Mandy Melville

Mandy Melville 14/07/2021

Hi everyone!

Mandy here with you today for this week’s Throwback Thursday project. I decided to pull out the gorgeous Unforgettable collection to use for the layout that I’m sharing today. This is still one of my favourite CVS collections! I love the combination of the pink, aqua and woodgrain, with touches of peach and purple mixed in as well! The pretty florals and the scripty fonts just top it off beautifully. It was the perfect collection to document a couple of recent photos of a day we spent exploring a local national park. My youngest daughter brought along one of her soft toys (as she usually does), and while we there my son built a little tee pee house for her toy. I thought this was such a sweet thing to do, and I wanted to scrapbook these photos to record the memory.

To start this layout off, I cut some of the papers from the 6×8 inch Paper Stack into 2 inch squares and then adhered them around the outside edge of a sheet of cardstock to create a patchwork style border. Next I trimmed a sheet of white cardstock down to 9 inches square and matted it on the reverse side of the Lacewing patterned paper before adhering it to the centre of the layout. I also added some machine stitching around the edge of the white cardstock to add some extra texture and detail to the page.

I matted one of my photos with the pink side of the Unscripted patterned paper and the other with the beautiful Natural Beauty woodgrain paper. I adhered the photos roughly in the middle of the layout with them slightly overlapping and angled. I used craft foam to adhere the photo on the left to give it some nice shadow and dimension. I also added a couple of stickers from the Accessory Sticker sheet on the bottom right hand corner of that photo.

I created two floral clusters on the layout, one to the bottom left of the photos and the other to the top right. I used a combination of florals that were fussy cut from the Glorious patterned paper, along with a couple of leaf sprigs and feathers from the Die Cut Ephemera pack.

For my title I used the ‘Living the Dream’ die cut from Ephemera pack and I added this above the photo on the right. You’ll notice that I’ve created a diagonal flow to the layout with the viewer’s eye being drawn from the large floral cluster in the bottom left, up through the photos to the title and smaller floral cluster in the top right.

I adhered my typed journaling strips below the photos, and to finish the layout off I added some of the cute open hearts from the Clear Sticker pack around the floral clusters and title.

Thanks so much for joining me here on the blog today! I hope that you found some inspiration from my layout.

Mandy x

Floral home decor | Daydream Collection | Anna Komenda

Anna Komenda 13/07/2021

Hello hello everyone. It’s Anna here and today I want to share with you a fun project I made with pretty “Daydream” collection. Usually I start creating with a certain memory in mind or a photo, or at least a collection I want to use. This time the whole process started with a die I purchases few weeks ago. I don’t know how your scrappy shopping process looks but I tend to buy things just because they are pretty or because I saw someone making a pretty thing with them. It happens even though I know it doesn’t fit my style 100% or will be hard to use on layout or in an album. Shame on me – I know!!! So I recently challenged myself to put every item in use. Floral dies are the first on my list. I knew I couldn’t recreate the flowers that will look like real ones – I am just too lazy for than :) so I made more simple versions.

I picked few pattern papers from “Daydream” like “Sun shower” and “Stepping stones” and some older paper scraps. I took me a while to cut out many, many flowers and put them together. I haven’t done anything fancy, just shaped the petals a little bit with the rounded pen tip and glued them together. CVS papers work really well this way and it was an easy task. I created few sizes of flowers and a lot of leaves.

I took 6 inches wide embroidery hoop and backed it with two sheets of plastic foil with sequins and glitter in between. You can still see through it so the final result is very subtle. I glued down the flowers on one side creating a cascade that drops in the bottom creating a line. I filled everything with leaves in two different shades of green. You can also spot few butterflies here and there, sitting on the flowers. I fussy cut them from “All Aflutter” paper.

I also added small puffy heart for a yellow accent. Everything else is just a plain paper. I just love the possibilites this simple product gives. You can create wonder with just few sheets. Especially if they are as pretty as the ones from “Daydream” collection. If you want this kind of hanging composition to last longer, choose the good glue. I glued part of the flowers with hot glue gun so they will stick like forever. Just remember not to use hot glue over the transparency. It will bend and melt quickly. Instead, reach for a good doublesided tape. To make a composition even stronger, add small drops of glue in between flowers so they will be all connected.

Last step of my process was to add small bow and a piece of string to be able to hang the hoop on the wall. It was such a fun process, with no specific outcome in mind. I just made a bunch of flowers and then figured out what I can do with them. It first I was going to add some small photo but I liked this simple floral look so i turned the hoop into the decoration.

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope I inspired you a little bit to reach for your dies and put them in good use. I am still waiting for the box with new collection to arrive and fingers crossed I will be able to share my first project made with it in two weeks.

Anna

Summer Memories | Josefine vd Hoeven | Sunkissed

Josefine van der Hoeven 11/07/2021

Hello crafty Paperlovers, Welcome to the Cocoa Vanilla Studio Blog today! It’s Josefine here showing you a new scrapbook layout that I created with the beautiful collection Sunkissed. I am completely in love with this beautiful summer collection. Definitely one of my favorite collections ever!

I love circles layouts and wanted to create a circle layout with this beautiful summer collection. I cut out a circle border from the wood grain design paper of the Sunkissed collection and I cut out a circle from the blue/green colored design paper. Both circles I stitched with white sewing thread. I place these circles in the center of this page. I placed my photo on top of the circles in the middle. Around the edges of the circle I stamp several times with the distress oxide and make some mixed media splatters. The color I used is “broken china”.

I selected some flowers, die-cuts and stickers and make a cluster on both sides of the circle. I used the gold glitter puffy word ” Memories” and placed it under the circle. I also choose an aqua colored Alpha set for the word “Summer”. My title for this layout will be ” Summer memories”.

I have decorated different die-cuts with gold sewing thread. On top of the picture I placed some die-cuts and word strips. Of course, I also used a wooden button on this layout. I choose to keep this page clean and simple. Now t’s time to add some white and black acrylic paint splatters and use my brush for this. These splashes make it so festive.

I am very happy how this scrapbook layout turned out. I hope I was able to inspire you with this summer layout. I looking forward to seeing your beautiful creations with this awesome summer collection! Wish you a beautiful and crafty day! XoXo, Jo

These Days | These Days | Michelle Stokes

Michelle Stokes 10/07/2021

Hello Hello! It’s Michelle here on the blog today with a brand spankin new layout share that features our amazing NEW collection – These Days. Love Love LOVING the soft colour palette and all the pretty patterns within this collection. Its perfect to mix together within a grid style layout like I have done, which some of you might say is very similar to one I’ve made in the past. You’d all be correct as its the newest addition to my yearly themed layout of ALL things Leila.

For those who aren’t quite familiar with what I’m talking about, heres a look at the previous 2 layouts I created in past years using the same layout design, same design techniques and recording the same details as years past. I’ve done this so in years to come we can look back on all the fun things that Leila loved each year, and its an easy way to simplify scrapbooking when you just want to document memories quickly.

You can find last years post HERE , the previous 3 years were not shared on this blog.

The main focus of this layout is to share Leilas current favourites at the same time each year, along with a current photo. However, this year has been a little hectic and It skipped my mind to get it done scrapped so its a couple months later than usual.

To start off the layout I grabbed the a5 paper stack and flipped through to fins 6 complimentary pattern papers to create the grid background. I sewed around each piece using machine stitching adding a couple of extra detailed stitches in random places. Next up I worked on creating the list on a ‘clip board’ using some scrap notepaper and adhered to the woodgrain pattern paper from the a5 paper stack. I’ve used the fancy new black foam title stickers as a title and added mini puffy number stickers from the new mini puffy alphabet set for her age plus a cute little puffy house sticker and gold heart to bring the B&W photo and list together. I used the rainbow watercolour stripe a5 paper as a base for the photo, tucked in a label tab from the ephemera pack, created a mini floral cluster of both ephemera and fussy cut florals (Home Grown paper) and added a few accessory word stickers to finish off this area of the layout.

At the top left of the layout I created one magical cluster of ephemera pieces, wood button, puffy heart sticker, wreath from the Good Life cut apart paper and foam leaf from the foam title stickers pack.

I replicated a similar cluster at the bottom right using more ephemera, wood button, florals and foam leaf strand.

At the top I added a couple of banner flag pieces from the Good Life cut apart paper.

Lastly a close up of some of the messy stitching, oh so slightly distressed paper edges and a sprinkling of gold colour shine to finish it all off.

Well friends thats all from me today. Thank you so much for stopping by and seeing my super quick simple hack to document the things you don’t want to forget. It doesn’t always have to be all the pretty/cute photos that get scrapped, sometimes all you need is a simple photo of them doing what they love, and adding a list of all the other things they love.

Until next time, Happy Scrapping!
Michelle x

Everyday Stories | Unforgettable collection | Tarrah McLean

Tarrah McLean 08/07/2021

Hi creative friends,

It’s Tarrah back with you today to share a new layout focusing on an ‘Everyday’ theme and featuring the gorgeous Unforgettable collection!

When I think of ‘Everyday’ I think of myself with my immediate family – my husband and our 2 sons. It’s not often we get photos together so I take the opportunity when I can! I took a piece of the teal and white stripe paper and trimmed it to measure 8′ x 12′ I then cut it to measure 4′ x 12′ and then cut this into 3 pieces to measure 3′ x 4′ rectangles.

I bent the edges of each piece and adhered them in the centre of the small text patterned paper. I trimmed the small text paper down so that I could mat a pink piece of 12′ x 12′ paper behind the entire layout. I adhered my photo slightly to the left of the layout and in the centre.

On the right of the photo, I added the Everyday sticker from the accessory sticker sheet popping it up using foam dots for dimension. The sticker formed the first part of my page title, the second part of my title is the word ‘Stories’ from the Foam Title Stickers that I placed under my photo. Also on the right I tucked in some floral ephemera, a foam black heart and a die-cut heart and an enamel dot.

On the left I tucked in more ephemera including the camera, some tickets and some more enamel dots. I also added one of the gorgeous flair buttons here too. Lastly I added a few small things including some phrase stickers, dropped a few sprinkles of mist and stamped the date stamp.

Thank you so much for stopping by the Cocoa Vanilla Studio blog today! I hope you enjoyed my layout as much as I enjoyed creating it?! The design of this layout is easy to recreate yourself using any of the amazing Cocoa Vanilla collections!

Happy creating!

Tarrah x

Everyday Family Moments | Daydream | Rachel Lowe

Rachel Lowe 07/07/2021

Recently my cat of 18 years passed away. Although she was old it still hurt my heart greatly and when looking back at old photos I realised that I had not taken enough photos of her through the years. We often take everyday moments for granted and losing her reminded me that photographing and documenting everyday moments is just as important as life highlights. I have used the beautiful Daydream collection and with her being a ginger cat the colours in this collection were perfect.

I found my title in the Silhouette Design Store. I used the off set function (if you have a Silhouette Cameo) to create depth to it and creating light/shade by using these two papers, All A Flutter and Happy Place. I finished off adding some of the tiny flowers from the ephemera die cut pack.

I tore three paper strips from the All A Flutter Daisy Days and Garden Variety papers. I love the texture torn paper strips gives your layout. As I had chosen a busy paper I chose not to mat my photo (5×6 inches) but adding with foam tape to give it height.

Despite using the floral papers I went ahead and added two floral bunches on each side of my photo, not only does this frame my photo it allows you to layer with foam tape large florals so they stand out. Adding green foliage also adds impact and draws your eye.

I created some journalling by using words from the Accessory Sticker Sheet and the beautiful rainbow flair, I added some gold thread behind the flair to add a little sparkle!

I typed her name and dates slightly under the torn paper strips. (if your wondering why she had a boys name is because we assumed that as ginger cats are mostly boys, the vet later let us know ‘he’ was a ‘she’, a bit late to change the name lol!!) I added some butterflies from the die cut ephemera pack.

I finished my layout off adding one of the beautiful Puffy Hearts with a little more gold thread added.

Thank you for stopping by today!

Rachel x

Sweet Summer Days | Sunkissed collection | Sophie Delorme

Sophie Delorme 05/07/2021

Hello Cocoa Vanilla friends !

It’s Sophie on the blog today sharing a very summery layout with you !

I created this page with the lovely Sunkissed collection.

I had the idea of using one of my favorite papers of the collection, ”Just Chillin” on the wood grain side and create a frame on my layout. I cut four strips of this beautiful paper with 45 degre angles on each end to create that frame. I added adhesive foam in the middle of each strip and adhered them together in a square shape. It gives the effect that each strip is curled a little bit, mimicking a wooden frame. I added a few hand stitches with yellow embroidery thread to each corner of the frame, and centered it on the gorgeous “Good Vibrations” paper.