The beautiful wreath in the center of the mood board caught my eye instantly and was the starting point for my page.
I found a wreath on the silhouette store designed by Nic Squirrell. I backed it with patterned papers from both collections, and applied white gesso lightly on some of the cherries to soften them a little bit.
The leaves are backed with a A5 patterned paper from the Happiness collection.
Before adhering the wreath to the white background, I played with Shimmerz products and Distress Oxide inks to create a simple mixed media in the same color scheme of the wreath. I also added foam adhesive behind the wreath.
I printed a photo of the tiny paws of our puppy on the very first day we got her a few weeks ago. I think they are just adorable and remind me of a cute little bunny, perfect for Easter!!
I used the name of the digital collection for my title, and embellished the page with die cuts and fussy cut butterflies from the Happiness collection.
I added a few white Nuvo Drops around the wreath as the finishing touch.
Here are more close-ups:
I love it when I create a layout based on a mood board. Although it can take any direction, the inspiration at first never disappoints!
I hope that this page was inspiring for you!
Thank you for stopping by, and Happy Easter again!
Hi CVS friends, today is all about stash busting, yes its throwback Thursday. I recently invested some time in sorting out my older CVS collections, using three pizza boxes, one for 12×12 papers, one for paper scraps and the last one for embellishments. I have done this because I do not have enough left of a collection to create but adding them all together means I can be creative and mix and match collections.
Here is my throwback Thursday layout featuring a photo of my daughter. I went for an uplifting/inspirational layout for her. As you can see I have used a mix of collections here but they still coordinate so well together. I used two cut files from the Silhouette design store, paint palette and title ‘paint your dreams’.
I used the script writing inspirational paper as my base. I cut a 10×10 inch white cardstock strip and centred this on my base page. I next cut the paint palette and brush as this was the feature of my page. I found a wood grain paper in my CVS 12×12 paper box, once cut I added machine stitching to the edge. I backed it with a marble paper and to add a little something extra I added glitter to the paint blotches. I then added with foam tape off centre onto the white cardstock.
I then added my paint brush and added some small butterfly die cuts under the palette. I found a gorgeous die cut doily and used this to mat my photo. I used some phrase sentiments under my photo and finished off with a camera die cut.I added my title, I used some silver glitter paper for one word to stop it from looking too flat visually. I also added a light splash of black paint to add some contrast.
To finish off my page I added some beautiful die cut flowers and enamel dots. I added some more light splatters of black paint.
Most of these papers and embellishments are no longer in the store but you can recreate this layout with what you have in your CVS stash and don’t forget CVS have digital bundles of older collections too, just print and use.
Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you have a fab week!
Hello everyone ! It’s Sophie here and I am sharing a sweet layout with you today.
For today’s layout, I used a digital Cocoa Vanilla kit ! It’s the “Life is Beautiful collection“. I fell in love with the color scheme of the collection and all the gorgeous patterned papers and embellishments ! I printed them with my very old printer on good quality paper, and it gave beautiful results !
I started with an easy mixed media background. I call it the “reverse packaging technique”…
I put a few splatters of ink on a 12 x 12 plastic package, add a little bit of water and press my thick white cardstock on it. It always gives interesting results, and it was my starting point for the design of my page.
I teared a part of the beautiful coral-pink patterned paper to put on the left side of the page and did a little bit of stitching with matching thread.
I backed my photo with tissue paper, adhesive foam and a few layers of patterned paper for dimension and interest, and fussy cut plenty of beautiful embellishments from the same collection that I scattered around my photo.
I put a banner and the fussy cut word “Happy” for my title and a few butterflies for which I only glued the center to make their wings pop.
I wrote down my journaling and added the date, as well as a few Nuvo Crystal Drops.
Here are more close-ups:
I hope you felt inspired by my page today ! Digital products are a great alternative for collections that are no longer accessible and you can get them right away on your computer ! But don’t forget that they are all for personal use only !
Thank you so much for passing by the blog today, and happy creating !
Anna here today with you sharing a new layout. Have you ever used a digital kit? I must say that it’s my first time, and I’m so happy with the result. On this page, I’m featuring the Hello Lovely collection that you can find on the Digital Products section from the shop.
I have a standard A4 printer, so for my background, I decided to use two 12×12 patterned papers from the More than words collection. I used the Precious paper and backed it with the Gossamer paper. I think both go very well with the Hello Lovely collection.
The focal point of my layout is this cut file from Paige Taylor Evans. I think it describes perfectly the look of my youngest daughter in the pictures. I cut it from white cardstock and placed the photos behind the letters “O”.
Instead of backing all the letters, what I did methenolone enanthate primobolan depot was use the inner part of the letters as a template. I draw them on the patterned paper that I printed and fussy cut them. I raised the cut file with foam dots, but I glued the inner part of the letters to the background.
In the digital collection bundle, you can find printable element sheets. They’re so easy to cut, and I used them to embellish my page. I also die cut a couple of white bows with my Big Shot.
Thank you so much for stopping by today! I hope you like how I used this digital collection and encourage you to try it!
Hey everyone, its Raquel here with you today sharing a layout that I created using the free printable INSD kit and free live online class that Zoe did last Friday night. Zoe’s class was created in a 12×12 size and inspired by these home days in isolation. I was so motivated to create a page using the page design and kit as a base for an 8.5×11″ size layout.
Here is the layout that I created:
I created a process video to show how this layout came together, you can see it here:
The layout features two photos of my kiddies taken recently during our home learning. We are going onto our 7th week of isolation here in our household and are currently home learning. Our school has an amazingly supportive program for these two kiddies, but being 5 and 7 they of course need constant support to complete set tasks. Getting used to this new normal and Mummy as the teacher has been new for us all. While supporting my kiddies to learn, I am also a Foundation school teacher so as well as supporting my own kiddies I have a class of 19 to work with as well. To say its been a juggle is speaking lightly. I am very much looking forward to life resuming to normal and everyone being safe and healthy as I am sure we all are.
The photos are printed on my home printer (an Epson picture mate) and in black and white. Printing in black and white allows any colour palette to use. I will often print my photos in black and white if my photo is very busy with a lot of competing colours. The page kit itself had four approx 3×4″ cards in the printables. These cards were designed to act as photo mats. I used them for the same reason and was able to double mat my photos with what was included.
What I loved about the page kit was the paper strips were already designed to a length and width. Being a smaller layout, I was able to trim these narrower and shorter and still get the desired effect. I machine stitched the strips to the page and was able to curve the ends inwards to create dimension.
The page kit also came with a page of ephemera pieces. I am sure if you are tech savvy there would be a way of print and cutting these with a die cut machine. However, I simply took mine to the couch while I was with my family and fussy cut them out with some precision tip scissors.
I adhered the clusters with a combination of clear glue dots, liquid adhesive and adhesive foam squares. I love the multidimensional look the varying adhesives brings to a page.
I did add a couple of products from my stash to this page, but they were minimal. One thing I added was a piece of pink patterned paper from the ‘Make a wish’ collection to frame the whole layout in. I felt that the layout needed a border to ground it. I also machine stitched around the border. The other thing I added from my stash apart from white cardstock was the wood veneer pieces, they were from both the older collection Free Spirit and Colour me Happy. I had forgotten that I had them in my stash and were a surprising and welcomed addition to help complete this page. They added that finishing touch that I was after.
The digital kits intended title was ‘home life’ however because I work in a smaller size I felt like it was too overpowering. I was happy to find the memories wood veneer piece to finish my title area. I used the tag in the kit to layer my typewritten journaling onto. I didn’t go into too much detail of the whole home learning experience but plan to on future layouts to document this unprecedented time in our lives. The little bow with the crochet thread added that nice finishing touch to the tag and element of journaling.
I hope that you got to join us, the CVS team in the INSD weekend celebrations. It was so much fun with lots of challenges and inspiration shared.
Hello Friends. It’s Anna here. I am the last one, closing this amazing year of isnpiration over Cocoa Vanilla Blog. All of my super talented DT mates already shared their favorite 2019 Cocoa Vanilla projects and now it’s my turn. To be honest, I had a hard time choosing them because I love CVS products and I love all of my layouts and albums made with them.
You all know I love colors so I decided to pick a rainbow page as a first fav page of 2019. I created it as a sample for my classes, that I was lucky to teach in Australia this year. I used papers and embellishments from amazing “Happiness” collection. This name truly reflects the line itself. If you want to make this page, along with a second colorful layout, you can purchase the Double Page Kit in CVS store.
My second favorite page it much less colorful but I had so much fun making it. It’s a scraplift of my fellow DT member gal – Amanda and I used pretty “Midnight” collection. Simple heart made of fussy cut flowers is a perfect example that less is more.
One of my resolutions for 2019 was to reach for older collections much often to use up a little bit more of a growing pile of scrappy supplies. This birthday page was made with “Make a wish” line, which was one of my favorite collections in CVS history. I honestly used almost all of it.
I am a big fan of summer themed line so this “Hello sunshine” line is also on the top of my favorite CVS collections (who am I kidding – they all are on the top of my list…). This one was created during amazing event – CVS Creative Escape retreat. Zoe is making another one in 2020 and you really don’t want to miss that. Check the details here.
Last page is the most recent one. Once again I revisited an old line – the very first CVS collection called “Sugar and spice“. I do not have much of it left but I had a great help from Zoe, who released digital versions of older lines!!! How great is that. Now you can print your own papers and embellishments. We can call this layout a hybrid page, because I combined both older stuff and the newly printed elements.
That is all for today and for this year. We will meet again in 2020! I can’t believe how fast this year went by. I am sure 2020 will bring many more amazing products from CVS.
Hello Friends. Counting down to christmas is starting to look serious. Only 10 days!!! If you didn’t have time to mail your christmas cards, it’s the last call. I prepared some isnpirations for you for quick and easy cards. Cocoa Vanilla had a christmas collection – “Tis the season” – few years ago and I still got some bits and pieces left, mostly papers. When Zoe recently released the digital versions of older lines, including the christmas one, I thought it’s the perfect moment to revisit “Tis the season”. I printed myself three sheets of embellishments included into this line. They are already prepared as a PDF versions, so all I needed to do is to pust the “print” button.
Making those three cards took me about an hour, including some fussy cutting of printed elements. It’s a combination of paper scraps, few stickers, ephemera leftovers, wooden elements and digital pieces.
I usually make 10*14 cm cards but I wanted to use up some longer stickers from the sticker sheet so I decided to use 10*20 cm size for the first card. I arranged longer strips, combining them with a piece of paper and glued them over a dotty background.
Something I like to include into all of my projects is dimension. I knew that the cards have to survive being mailed so I used solid cardboard instead of foam squares under the bigger surfaces. I finished my card adding few flowers cut out from printable sheets and wooden elements.
Second card is smaller. Once again I reached for papers scraps. I had few 3*4 elements from one of the papers and I decided to use them on cards. I started with a green background, then I added 3*4 card and finished it with a title from sticker sheet. Winter flowers are from digital version. Even if you don’t have papers, you can print them too!!! If you have a regular printer, you will get A4 size paper – perfect for any cardmaking.
Last card I made has a cute, retro Santa as a main element and it was also taken from cut apart paper.
Santa is quite big so there was no much room left for embellishing. I created my title using ephemera leftover – word “christmas”. I added word “merry” using alpha stickers, that were included into the older lines. You can buy them really cheap now! I mixed real wooden element with the printed ones to finish my card.
I am so, so happy that Zoe decided to release those printable versions of older lines. I can come back to my favorite lines and use up the leftovers. And using up the leftovers always makes me happy and I know I am not waisting anything.
Thank you for stopping by and see you in two weeks.
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.