Home | These Days collection | Sue Plumb
Hi everyone, it’s Sue Plumb here today to share my latest design team project with you.
This week we are doing a scraplift theme with a twist, as the team have been tasked with scraplifting ourselves! I have to admit, it was a great excuse to look back over some of my Cocoa Vanilla projects from years gone by, but the task of choosing one was a bit like choosing a favourite child. In the end I decided on a layout from back in November 2018. It was created for the “Throwback Thursday” feature and I used the ‘Life is Beautiful’ collection, which was actually released back in Cocoa Vanilla’s first year back in 2015. This collection remains one of my all-time faves, and I still have some of it lovingly hoarded in my stash.
Here is my original layout…
For once, I actually scraplifted a layout and stuck pretty much to the original design. This was partly because I wanted to see if it would hold up to the test of time, but it was also because I was sick with COVID and was lacking in mojo and energy. So this scraplift couldn’t have come at a better time for me.
Here is my new layout using the gorgeous ‘These Days’ collection…
As you can see, I stuck very closely to my original design. I chose to document a photo of myself and my family in front of our new house that we recently purchased, and I knew this collection would be perfect for it. In particular, it was the Neighbourhood paper with all the sweet little houses that I had in mind. I combined this with the spotty print of the Take Flight paper and some strips of the pretty orange leafy pattern of the Wall of Fame paper as the base of my design. To add texture, I lightly distressed the outer edges of my papers.
With papers in place, it was time to start working on the other components. I decided to add two elements that I include on most of my current layouts that were missing from the original page – frayed gauze and a paper doily. I opted for a dark charcoal doily to tie in with the black of my photo, and I layered them on the background before sticking my photo on top.
Alongside my photo, I added the no place like home 3×4″ card from the Pocket Cards pack; whilst the oh happy day quote along the bottom edge of the photo was from the cut apart The Good Life paper.
I used pieces from the Floral Ephemera pack as the basis for my embellishment and title clusters. I added foam tape behind some of the flowers as I layered them, and I also bent the petals up away from the page to add dimension. In the cluster around the bottom left corner of my photo I added one of the Wood Epoxy Buttons to mimic the flair button from the original layout.
For the title cluster above my photo, I used the word home from the Foam Title Stickers, flowers from the Floral Ephemera pack and the small sweet flag from the Die Cut Ephemera pack. Being the butterfly lover I am, and also as a nod to all the butterflies on my original page, I couldn’t resist adding one of the butterflies (also from the ephemera pack).
A few finishing touches included a label from the Accessory Sticker sheet for my journalling and the date; small hearts from the Puffy Stickers pack added to my photo; and some small splatters of black ink around the page.
If you would like to see exactly how this page came together, you can watch my process video here:
I would highly recommend scraplifting one of your own layouts if you are ever stuck for inspiration – just pick one you love and go for it! Stay tuned over the coming days for more scraplift inspiration from the team.
Until next time, happy scrapping!
Let’s talk about texture. If you are not a fan or experienced in mixed media how do you add texture to a layout? I focused on texture when creating this layout. Paper tearing is one way to add texture, and paper tearing also allows you to add elements under and over the tears which also adds more visual impact.
Another way of adding texture is to sew on your layout, either by hand or using a sewing machine. I always add machine stitching to my layouts. Another technique with stitching is sewing over a strip of paper and then tearing the paper away from the stitching.
Paper layers, dimension (ie foam tape to attach some elements and enamel dots) and a light spray of paint (here I have used black) all add texture to a layout.
Recently I have dusted off my embossing folders and started to add texture to papers and elements using various embossing folders. So my 2020 did not look ‘flat’ I embossed with a polka dot folder and added dimension fluid dots which I also added over my title also.
I really enjoyed putting this layout together focusing on textures! I also wanted to scrap a part of the Covid 19 journey that I am involved in, because memory keepers is what we are.
