Inspiration

SO Sweet | Storyteller Collection | Michelle Stokes

HI All, its Michelle back here today with a new layout share featuring out BRAND NEW Storyteller Collection. Such a stunningly beautiful collection full of feminine patterns and oh so many sweet florals. And, if you know me well enough, you would absolutely be right in thinking that I jumped straight into the fussy cutting of ALL the florals before I even started the layout.

I thought it was time that this sweet little furry face made another appearance on the blog. Firstly because she’s just so stinkin cute, but also due to the lack of decent photos I’m getting from a certain 11 year old in my household haha.

To create the layout I grabbed the SPRING FLING and OH MY HEART papers and cut giant triangles (from the reverse side patterns) to overlap the majority of the bottom of the white cardstock background, adding machine stitching down the lightly distressed edges. I chose these two designs as they complimented each other well, and worked perfectly as a base for the giant clusters of fussy cut florals to stand out

I used the green pattern paper from the A5 paper stack to create layers under the black and white photo. Rather than using 1 full piece, I cut them into different sized shapes and layered randomly together before adhering to the layout using pieces of foam sheet for a little extra dimension.

I created a long line of floral clusters sprouting out from either end of the photo stack in a diagonal line using fussy cut pieces from both the 12×12 and A5 version of the SPRING FLING paper

I also added some fussy cut butterflies (FLY AWAY) , puffy stickers, accessory stickers and ephemera pieces to create added interest within the clusters.

I added more florals, ephemera, puffy and accessory stickers to fill up the open white space at the top of the layout

And lastly the title, using the awesome foam title stickers. So many title combinations to be made from one very versatile set, definitely an item to add to cart if you are purchasing this collection.

Here’s a closer look at all the pretty florals under the photo. You can see I’ve also added the usual sprinkle of gold ink to finish it all off.

And one final look at the whole layout

Well thats all from me today, thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing the first creation I’ve made using our BRAND NEW Collection – Storyteller. Cant wait to see what you all create with it too

Until next time, Happy Scrapping!
Michelle x

Smile | Storyteller collection | Tarrah McLean

Hi creative friends!

It’s Tarrah back with you and today I am very excited to be sharing my first layout featuring the stunning new Storyteller collection! This collection is absolutely gorgeous and so versatile for any themed projects and layouts you want to document your memories with! I absolutely LOVE anything with hearts so the 12′ x 12′ patterned papers with the hearts on them would have to be my favourite!

As soon as I saw the rainbow striped paper, I knew I wanted to use this paper for my first layout. I decided to cut the coloured strips up and placed them all but one, onto a sheet of plain white cardstock. I adhered them down and then bent the edges of all of them with my fingers to create some texture. I left one of the coloured strips out as I wanted to leave some space in between each coloured paper.

I placed my photo slightly to the right of the page using craft foam to add dimension. I layered some papers from the A5 paper stack underneath the photo and distressed the edges slightly to add some texture and to help make the photo pop! I searched through the pocket cards and found the perfect one to suit the photo of my son as photographer! I used craft foam to adhere the pocket card to the left of the photo. When I am placing elements on my page and I am not 100% certain about their position, I will mostly always only use a very small amount of adhesive in case I need to reposition anything or add an extra layer underneath. Once I am happy with where everything ends up on my layout, I add extra adhesive for reinforcement.

Now I have the main focus of the layout sorted out, next I added a title. I went through the gorgeous black Foam Titles and chose the word ‘Smile’. I placed this word at the bottom of the pocket card to help tie the photo, pocket card and title together. At either end of the photo and pocket card, I tucked in some pretty flower ephemera pieces, I also added the little piece that says ‘Snap Happy’ to the right of my photo.

On top of my photo, I adhered the ephemera piece that says, ‘The Story Behind the Photo’ and also a small phrase sticker from the Accessory Sticker sheet in the top right corner. I also added some more of the phrase stickers above the photo and below the photo, these are great additions to a page to help tell a story! Above the pocket card, I added the camera die-cut using craft foam. From this point, I decided to add my embellishments in a tone on tone look…I took some of the super cute heart die-cuts, enamel hearts and wood epoxy buttons and placed them on their corresponding colours.

Thank you so much for stopping by the Cocoa Vanilla blog today! I had so much fun creating this layout, I hope you enjoyed reading how I created it. Make sure to ask your retail store for the gorgeous Storyteller collection…you absolutely NEED this in your life!

Happy creating!

Tarrah x

Bloom And Grow | Midnight Collection | Kylie Kingham.

Hello friends! Kylie back with you to share a fun project with you all. Today is all about a throwback collection so as soon as I found out my assignment you can be sure I immediately thought of the MIDNIGHT range. I love every single collection of Cocoa Vanilla, but the ‘Midnight’ collection is just that little bit ‘extra’ for me. I love the subtle ‘Boho’ vibe, the delicate florals and pretty colour palette. When I dug through my stash I was super excited to find one last DIE CUT AND BACKING paper. I obviously had put one aside for safe keeping, but this assignment made me think it was time to finally create with it.

These background papers are quite unique and if you haven’t seen or created with one before I highly recommend them. They are great for creating beautiful pages fast! They kind of look as though you have used a cut file design and backed it but really all of that work has been done for you. You are also not limited to using the page as is, you can remove the die cut element and back it with whatever paper you wish or leave it plain. So the creative possibilities are endless.

For my layout today I decided to use the background as it was without breaking it up in any way. Since I didn’t want to cover the background too much, I decided to print my photos a little smaller. I resized them to 2.5″x 4″ using my Silhouette software, and used my home printer for printing. I cut down some of the ALL THE THINGS paper to two- 2.75″x 4.25″ photo mats so that my pictures would have a nice framed border. The photos were layered over each other and adhered to the lower right side portion of the circle template. I was extra super excited to see that I still had some of the adorable mason jar embellishments……I mean seriously…..How cute! Can’t ever get enough of these! I layered lots of florals as well as the mason jars at the base of my photos. To create dimension and texture I curled some of the flower edges upwards and used foam adhesive squares to adhere them in place.

For balance on my page I added a secondary cluster of embellishments on the opposite angle to my photos and following the curve of the circle. By using both the chipboard embellishments and the cardstock embellishments together gave a nice texture to my page. I finished my page design with with a few simple stickers such as the Butterfly and the sub phrase quotes. This was a very quick layout to bring together and I love the finished result.

Thanks for joining me today to check out my scrapbooking walk down memory lane with the throwback collection- MIDNIGHT.

See you next time,

Kylie.

Sunny Days | Sunkissed Collection | Rachel Lowe

Hello CVS friends well before I move onto the new gorgeous Storyteller collection which arrived in my mail box today here is a layout using an older collection (but still a fav of mine) Sunkissed . I had many of the wood epoxy buttons left that I decided to make them a focus of my layout.

I decided to create a non summer themed layout using the blue and pink palette and of course wood epoxy buttons! This beautiful Butterfly cut file is from the Silhouette Design Store, I just love the way there is tiny butterflies coming from the wing. I chose the deep blue and pink heart papers to create my butterfly, I used foam tape on the tiny butterflies to add dimension. I added the gorgeous dark blue heart button on my butterfly.

I added some die cut clouds to create the illusion of a sky above the butterfly. This is where I got to add two of the wood epoxy buttons, cute tiny rainbows! To add balance I added a puffy cloud sticker and to finish off I tucked two of the puffy sticker flowers behind the die cut clouds.

I then added my 3×3 inch photo (you could obviously add a larger one) matting it on some paper scraps in a way you could see each pattern peeping through. My photo is adhered with foam tape to add height. I added one of the large wood epoxy buttons to the left of my photo slightly over the photo mat, another rainbow but this time multi coloured.

I created a floral bunch using the floral die cut ephemera, layering and using foam tape and finished of with a phrase sentiment from the accessory sticker sheet.

I used the paint brush strokes from the clear sticker sheet to add a contrast against the white, which is also why I added a border using a light blue, this avoids the white background paper being too overwhelming. Over the top I added my title Sunny Days which again is a cut file from the Silhouette Design store. I added another wood epoxy button, I think this one with the word ‘fun’ just a perfect little extra to my title.

In total I managed to use five wood epoxy buttons on this layout! I probably wouldn’t use that many normally because I always hoard embellishments like this!!!! So if you have any Sunkissed left here is an idea to create a non summer layout.

Thank you as always for stopping by and I can’t wait to share my first layout using Storyteller!

Rachel X

I Am A Story Teller | Storyteller collection | Sue Plumb

Hi everyone, it’s Sue Plumb here to share my latest design team project with you. Today I am super excited to be sharing my very first layout using the brand new ‘Storyteller’ collection! And as with any new collection I receive, the first layout is always the hardest. This is partly because there are SO many pretty things to choose from, and partly because they are just so gorgeous you don’t want to use them up. haha (I know I am probably not alone on this one.) I decided the best way to “break the seal” was to just get stuck straight in and create something quick and simple.

My daughter is quite a talker. She loves nothing more than to entertain me with hilarious stories and she gets very animated when she tells them. I knew I had a great set of photos taken during one of her storytelling sessions and I decided they would be perfect to match with this collection.

I began my layout with a very simple background – some dark grey acrylic paint applied to a sheet of white cardstock with a brayer. The reason I chose to apply dark paint first instead of just working on the white background, is to help the colours pop against it.

I wanted to have a vertical style design for my layout, as I thought it would work well with the size and shape of my photos. I also wanted to keep the focal area of my layout confined to a central strip. I chose the stunning Brighter Days paper with its painted stripe pattern and cut it in half vertically. I then tore along the vertical edges to give an uneven edge, then I cut away the red stripe at the top to shorten it. I used scissors to make a small incision (about 1-2cm) from both sides along each of the painted lines. I then used a wooden skewer to roll up the edges of the paper.

Once I had the edges rolled, I adhered the patterned paper on top of the paint, then added my photos to the page with some scrap cardboard behind them. With the main elements of my layout in place, it was now time to add some embellishments! I used the pattern on the paper to dictate my embellishment placement by blocking the colours together. I began by fussy cutting some pieces from the Story Time cut apart paper, including the fabulous love this tag, which I tied with a little twine.

I then moved onto a mix of pieces from both the Die Cut Ephemera pack and Floral Ephemera pack and placed these strategically around my page. (I used foam tape under a few of the pieces to give a little more dimension.) I also added a couple of stickers from the Accessory Sticker sheet. I finished off my layout by adding several hearts and dots from the Puffy Stickers pack. At this point I actually had to stop myself from adding more to the page, because sometimes the key is knowing exactly when to stop.

Thanks so much for stopping by today so I could share this with you. Please make sure to contact your favourite scrappy retailer if you would like to get your hands on this stunning collection. It’s going to be a big seller, so get in early to avoid disappointment!
Until next time, happy scrapping!

Little Moments of Joy | These Days collection | Sophie Delorme

Hello Cocoa Vanilla friends!

It’s Sophie here and I’ve got a new layout to share!!

 

I used the beautiful These Days collection for my page today and decided to go with stripes!

I used a thick white cardstock for my background and cut a few strips of the Family Ties paper in several different lengths. I placed them below my photo, machine stitched on them with white thread and also added small teared pieces of velum on each of them for more interest. I think it also adds softness to the page.

 

I also placed a few sentences cut out of the The Good Life paper in between the strips of the Family Ties paper.

I mounted my photo on tissue paper and foam adhesive, cut a few frames from the Wall of Fame paper and used one of them to write down my journaling.

 

I used a pocket card for my title and embellished around my photo with beautiful florals from the Floral Ephemera pack.

 

I added a few hearts from the Puffy Stickers sheet as the finishing touch and stamped the date.

Here are more close-ups:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am so happy with the delicate and soft feel of this page, and how it highlights such a sweet moment with my puppy!

I hope it was inspiring for you too, and maybe gave you new ideas to try!

Thank you for passing by, and happy crafting!

Sophie xx

You are Awesome | Storyteller collection | Kellie Moore

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Cocoa Vanilla blog.

Today I’m sharing my first page using the new ‘Storyteller’ collection and it was so fun and overwhelming to jump into a brand new collection with so many things to choose from ….does anyone else have trouble making decisions when faced with ALL the choices?!

First, I decided on the ‘Cross it off ‘ paper to use as my base…I love a subtle grid for a background.

I decided to use a cutfile for my title so pulled out the A5 paper stack to back the letters….no having to cut into the 12×12 papers!! To help make the white of the cutfile stand out I added another  piece of the ‘Cross it Off’ paper behind it.

To give some dimension, I added foam tape behind my title.

I loved these pics of my son from several years ago being a ham in front of the camera and his clothes were a perfect match for this collection. As they were action shots I decided to cut my photos into silhouettes so they added a fun element to my page. Next I chose a frame the Diecut ephemera pack to add under my sons pic to ground his photo to the page, and stop it look like he was floating.

I love the cameras in this collection and added one between my photos. To add some texture to my camera I added the inside of a ‘Wooden Button’ to the lens… I like the pop of yellow! I also added a sticker from the ‘Accessory Sticker Sheet.’

Give me all the puffy stickers in a collection, and the hearts and dots in this range wont disappoint you….so fun! I added some either side of my two photos.

I hope you enjoyed my page today and are looking forward to getting this collection in you hands…it’s not too far away now!

Happy Scrapping!

Kel x

 

 

 

Sweet Heart | Storyteller collection | Mandy Melville

Hello everyone!

Mandy here today, and I’m so excited to be sharing my first layout featuring the gorgeous new Storyteller collection! I absolutely adore the beautiful colour palette, the sweet images, and of course the pretty florals in this collection! It is definitely going to be a fave of mine! For my first layout I decided to document a photo of my eldest daughter from about ten years ago. The reason I haven’t yet scrapped this photo is that I’ve never been able to find a girly collection that matches the reds and blues in the photo… until now! The Storyteller collection was perfect, and I’m so glad to have this sweet photo of my daughter documented!

I always find it hard when I get a new collection to just start cutting straight into the 12×12 papers. So for my first time playing with these beautiful products, I decided to make use of the A5 Paper Stack. I chose four different designs from the A5 papers and cut them to various widths and layered them together down the left and right hand sides of the page. I also matted my photo with one of the A5 papers and adhered it over the layers on the right hand side. I used craft foam to adhere it to make sure that it would stand out from the various patterned papers behind it.

Of course I couldn’t resist fussy cutting some of the florals clusters from the Spring Fling patterned paper to embellish my page. If you don’t enjoy fussy cutting, the good news is that this collection includes a Floral Ephemera pack which is full of lots of beautiful flowers and leaves. I started my embellishing by creating a cluster on the bottom left hand corner of the photo. I included one of the fussy cut florals, as well as a camera from the Die Cut Ephemera pack and a little banner from the Accessory Stickers. For some extra interest and texture, I added a Wood Epoxy Button to the centre of the flower.

I created a second cluster in the top left hand corner of the page, using another fussy cut floral, as well as a Chipboard banner. I again added a Wood Epoxy Button to the centre of the flower. Repeating elements like this in your embellishment clusters helps the layout to feel balanced and cohesive.

To complete the visual triangle, I created one final cluster on the top right hand corner of the photo. I made this one a little smaller and again included a fussy cut floral cluster as well as a Die Cut butterfly. To add interest to this cluster I tucked the flower underneath the edge of the photo and layered the butterfly on top.

For my title I couldn’t go past using the beautiful ‘Sweet Heart’ words from the Foam Title Stickers. I love the way the black title contrasts against the bright colours on the page, and the scripty font is just so pretty! I positioned my title in the white space in the middle of the page. This helps to draw the viewers eye from the cluster in the top left down to the one on the bottom of the photo. Underneath the title I added some typed journaling strips.

To finish the layout off, I added some Die Cut hearts around the clusters on the page. I also added one black foam heart from the Foam Title Stickers to each of the clusters, which again helps to emphasise the visual triangle and draw the viewer’s eye around the page.

Thanks so much for joining me here today. I hope that you found some inspiration. I can’t wait to share some more projects using the Storyteller collection soon!

Mandy x

Love This Girl | No Limits Collection | Danni Visser

Hi Cocoa Vanilla Studio fans! Danni here, back to share with you another fabulous No Limits collection layout. I have been eyeing off the gorgeous teal mixed media-inspired pattern on Stardust 12×12 patterned paper ever since I received the collection, so I decided to start with that as a base.

The first thing I did was add a sprinkling of stars using some different texture media. I used a 12×12 star stencil from my stash for the pattern, using a spatula to add first a sparkly gold glitter gel medium, then a white modelling paste. This added beautiful three-dimensional stars with lots of textural interest. I then added a bunch of ink splatters in gold and white all over the page.

Next I added two photos of myself and a very dear friend at dinner several years ago. Sometimes it’s lovely to look back and document a memory that happened a while ago! I added a white border to both photos and used the A5 paper stack to create a layered photo mat.

I used the die cut titles and some glittery alphas from my stash to spell out my title, layering it at the bottom of my photos.

For embellishments I went for a combo of the die cut ephemera, the accessory stickers and the chipboard stickers, layering them either side of my photo mat. I made sure to vary the heights of the embellishments, using foam squares in between where needed to create dimension.

I also added two epoxy wood buttons to finish off the packet, yay! I always feels SO good to use up a packet of scrapbooking supplies. I added a small embellishment cluster to the bottom of the page to balance out the top-heaviness of the layout.

Finally I added some puffy sticker dots to each of my embellishment clusters and a bunch of puffy sticker stars cascading down my page below the title. I love how this turned out and I hope you do too. There is a process video on the Cocoa Vanilla Studio YouTube channel if you would like to watch, link below. Happy scrapping!

Danni x

Born to be Awesome | No Limits Collection | Michelle Stokes

Hey Hey! It’s Michelle here today with a new layout share for you all using a technique that I’ve used a few times in the past, one that is quite time consuming, but looks pretty awesome once complete. I’ve also dipped into more of the No Limits Collection while I’m patiently awaiting the new Storyteller collection to arrive on my doorstep.

This layout was definitely a labour of love, weaving tiny little strips of paper together to create 1 large pattern overloaded background, but the end result was well worth it! Documenting a fun moment shared between Leila and 2 of her cousins late last year when we were able to get together to celebrate her 11th birthday. Still cant believe we’re halfway to 12 now.

I had a rough idea of how this layout was going to come together, so I started off by marking out a section on white cardstock where the weaved strips were going to sit, then adhered a couple of weaved pieces in place towards the bottom to create a starting point that wouldn’t slip out while building the piece up. I’ve used papers from both the A5 paper stack and 12×12 papers and continued to weave the strips all the way to the top, adding tiny drops of glue here and there along the edges to keep it all straight. This process took a couple of hours to perfect to get the right balance of colours and patterns throughout the piece. Once complete I added the extra white cardstock pieces over the top and sewed them down to hold the weaved piece in place.

Next I added the photo stack, layered with contrasting blue pattern papers with clusters of fun pieces either side.

To the right side I’ve mixed multiple pieces from the ephemera pack along with fussy cut stars from the Nebula pattern paper. Most are adhered with foam tape to lift them up and create dimension. We all know that I can’t create a layout without adding a tonne of foam tape for dimension, I just cant help it lol

To the left I’ve added more fussy cut stars and ephemera pieces, both scattered and tucked into the layers of the photo stack. I’ve used so many stars in my last few layouts that I’m surprised I’ve still got plenty left.

I created a mixed font title using the AWESOME word from the Die Cut Titles pack and an edited version of the ‘Born to Be’ banner from the accessory sticker sheet.

Last bundle of goodness grouped together on the bottom right section of the layout using a bunch more stars, ephemera pieces and a chipboard sticker piece to complete the group.

I gave the whole layout a sprinkle of black ink then called it done. Here’s another look at the final layout…

Really happy with the end result, creating something magical to document a sweet little moment between some pretty awesome cousins.

Well thats all from me today, thank you so much for stopping by. Be sure to share your creations with me when you try out the fun technique of paper weaving, I think it was kind of therapeutic in the end lol

Until Next Time, Happy Scrapping!
Michelle x

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