Monthly Challenge

Moodboard Inspiration with Heart & Home | Niki Rowland

Do you love or loath moodboards? I love them but I know some people struggle to interpret them. I tackle them by making a list of all the things I see and then I try to incorporate as many of them as possible into my layout.

For the beautiful October moodboard set by Sophie, this is the list I made: acorns, check print, web, leaves, wooden round, circle shape, flowers, words (script font and regular), knitted yarn/wool, pumpkins, woodgrain, the colours (green, orange blue, brown, pink, peach, yellow), Autumn theme. That’s a long list!

 

I was mostly inspired by the central photo of the wooden round. I used the A5 paper stack sheet of woodgrain paper and cut out the largest circle possible. I distressed the edges. I mounted my photo onto a check print.  I arranged my photo and Floral Ephemera to the right of the circle together with a Ephemera frame. The frame has acorns on it. I arranged all these elements as per the central photo of the wooden round, together with my title too over on the left. So far I’d incorporated: acorns, check print, leaves, wooden round, circle shape, flowers, words, woodgrain, the colours and an Autumn theme. Lots of boxes ticked there!

I added some ink under the area where the flowers would sit. I used a peach shade and then added some darker ink splatters over this area.

I wanted to incorporate the knitted yarn so took some white embroidery thread and cut three long lengths. I then plaited these and make a piece long enough to go around the edge of my wooden round. I just stuck it in place. I also added a doily under the wooden round, which could (at a stretch) represent the web on the moodboard. So now I could also tick off: web and knitted yarn. That’s pretty much everything except the pumpkins.

I added a few more fussy cut acorns, handwrote my journaling, and added some puffy heart stickers. I also created a little torn area on the left side of the layout backed with patterned paper, to balance out the very large cluster that was over to the right side.

So I think I nailed the moodboard and I hope that you have enjoyed seeing how I tackle a moodboard! Enjoy the process video of this layout.

Happy scrapping

Niki xx

@nikiclairecreates

So Thankful | Heart & Home collection | Tarrah McLean

Hi creative friends!

It’s Tarrah back with you and today I am sharing a new scrapbook layout created using the gorgeous Heart & Home collection. For this project, I have taken inspiration from the beautiful October mood board. I have documented an Autumn photo of myself amongst some fallen leaves, I love how my photo goes perfectly with this collection.

October Mood Board

The inspiration I took from the mood board was mostly from the centre image, I decided to replicate the woodgrain circle but added a few other layers of papers underneath to add some interest and to include some more colours. Naturally the colours from the mood board match perfectly with the Heart & Home collection.  I placed most of the elements to the right of the circle also like in the centre image of the mood board.

I created the circles from 3 different papers including the Harvest paper, the Gather paper and the Framed paper. I used the ‘B’ sides of each of each of these papers. I traced 3 different sized dinner plates and free hand cut them out. Once they were cut out, I adhered them layered on top of each other onto some white cardstock and then bent up the edges to add some texture. I trimmed the white cardstock down to measure approximately 11′ x 11′. I then adhered it to the ‘B’ side of the Bountiful patterned paper. Once adhered, I machine-stitched a border around the edges to add some texture.

I layered a paper from the A5 paper stack underneath my photo and adhered it to the right side of the layout using craft foam to add dimension. I layered a frame from the ephemera pack on the left side of the photo and also some small flowers from the floral ephemera pack. On the right of the photo, I added lots of the gorgeous florals also from the floral ephemera pack. If you look closely at the florals, I have added some of the puffy stickers to the centres of the florals also. My title is made up of the gorgeous gold foil cardstock words, I chose the words ‘So Thankful’ and adhered it to the bottom of the photo using craft foam.

To balance out the heaviness of the right side of the layout, I created a cluster of embellishments that mostly included some more of the gorgeous florals. I adhered some flat and adhered some with craft foam to create different heights and dimension. I did add a die-cut that said ‘Everyday Beauty’ here also. Some more phrases were added too including the Happiness Is Homemade banner that I added under the title and the Moment Captured banner die-cut that I adhered on top of the photo. I also added the Joyful Days sticker from the Accessory sticker sheet just above the title. Lastly I added some of the puffy hearts around the page, stamped the date stamp and sprinkled some white mist around.

Thank you so much for stopping by the Cocoa Vanilla blog today. I hope I have inspired you to pull out your Heart & Home collection and create with it. Make sure to join in our October mood board challenge and submit your project on our Facebook Page!

Happy creating!

Tarrah x

Good Times | Happy Days collection | Tarrah McLean

Hi creative friends,

It’s Tarrah back with you and today I am sharing a new scrapbook layout featuring the gorgeous Happy Days collection!

For this assignment I was tasked with creating a project inspired by the July 2023 mood board.

July 2023 Mood Board

I was inspired by the colours in the mood board, the postage stamps and the windmill. I chose to add the pinwheel from the Happy Days collection to replicate the windmill from the mood board and also the postage stamps that look similar to the small pictures in the bottom centre photo in the mood board. I chose the ‘B’ side of the Juicy Fruit paper as the background paper to work on.

I picked 3 photos from a recent trip to Ayers Rock and printed them in a filmstrip style, I was inspired to this from the Japanese temple photo in the top left corner of the mood board. I adhered the photos using craft foam to create some dimension, I layered some of the papers from the A5 paper stack under the photo to add some interest and colour.

On the left of the photo strip, I placed the Amazing prize winner die-cut and on the right hand side I adhered the postage stamp die-cuts. Above the postage stamps I adhered the pinwheel die-cut and placed a puffy enamel dot in the centre of the pinwheel. I added a few phrase stickers from the Accessory sticker sheet around the photo to help tell the story of the photos. On the left of the photos I placed a yellow puffy heart and some more enamel shapes.

My title was made up of the chipboard alphabet words, I placed one word above the photos and the other one below the photos. I added a few more small embellishments like die-cut hearts, enamel shapes and accessory stickers to finish the layout and lastly I stamped the date stamp using black ink.

Thank you so much for stopping by the Cocoa Vanilla blog today!

I hope you enjoyed reading about how I created my layout as much as I enjoyed creating it!

Happy creating!

Tarrah x

Happy Easter | Happy Days collection | Tarrah McLean

Hi creative friends!

It’s Tarrah back with you today, I am very excited to be sharing my first layout featuring the gorgeous new Happy Days collection!

I was tasked with using the gorgeous April mood board as my inspiration for my project this week, the Happy Days collection has so many elements in it that match perfectly with the mood board!

I am documenting 2 photos of my nieces from Easter last year, I love their sweet faces so much!

As the mood board is mostly Easter themed, I chose an Easter title cut file from CUT to YOU and backed it with one of the large 12′ x 12′ papers. I love the yellow plaid patterned paper!

You can see from the mood board image below that I was inspired by many things from the mood board! The Happy Days ephemera pack has the gorgeous tassel banner included in it, I knew I was definitely going to add that to this layout! It is perfect!

I absolutely love this mood board! There are so many things you can inspired from this board!

I placed a large white paper doily down on the heart background patterned paper and then adhered the cut file down using craft foam, leaving some room for my photos above the title. I did trim down the heart patterned paper and adhered it to the pink/purple spotted paper. I then machine stitched a zig zag border down the edges where the papers meet. I love the texture that the machine stitching adds to a layout!

I layered one of the papers from the A5 paper stack underneath my photos to help lift them a little bit. I added craft foam underneath the photos as well and also added craft foam under the tassel banner and adhered this at the bottom of the title.  Now that I am happy with the placement of the largest elements on my layout, its time to embellish and tell some of the story!

Do you ever look at embellishments and think about how you can use them for something they aren’t originally intended for?

I do this a lot! When I saw the fabric puffy hearts in the Happy Days collection, I just knew I had to add them to this page to mimic bunny ears! Really hoping that you picked out the bunny ears before I pointed them out to you hehe! Aren’t they the cutest?! I added 4 of these in the end, tucking them in enough so that they peek out of the tops of what they are adhered behind.

By using craft foam underneath some of the larger elements on my page, it creates some shadows and dimension to my page which I love! You can see in the photo above the shadows created under the tassel banner. I didn’t add too many embellishments to this layout as sometimes less is more when it comes to embellishing. I did add a few die-cuts from the ephemera pack like the Yay banner, the small flower to the right of my photos and the round journal spot above the photos. I also added the phrase across the cut file, to help break up all that yellow! I also added the cute Love This tab to the left of my photos as well.

Lastly I helped tell the story of my layout by adding the small phrase and word stickers from the Accessory sticker sheet. One of my signature things I do on almost all of my layouts is to stamp the date stamp, the date is of when the photo was taken. Another thing I like to do is, and you don’t see this but I like to sign the back of my layouts and I write the date that I created it as well. I have doing this for years now! Do you have something you like to include on all of your projects? Please share with us!

Thank you so much for stopping by the Cocoa Vanilla Studio blog today! I hope you enjoyed reading how I created my layout as much as I enjoyed creating it!

Make sure you get your hands on the gorgeous NEW Happy Days collection from your local scrapbook store or favourite online store!

Happy creating!

Tarrah x

Soup & Sangas | Storyteller Collection | Michelle Stokes

Hey Hey! It’s Michelle here today with a new layout to share with you all using the Storyteller Collection. This layout was inspired by our current Monthly Challenge board and I have to admit, of all the layouts I’ve ever made in the past, this would have to be the most random subject I’ve documented lol

Inspired by the pumpkins on the board, I went down a soup making rabbit hole and came up with this creation using a pumpkin design cut file from CUT to YOU.

There are so many different ideas that come from this board, it was quick tricky to figure out what would work for me and the random photos we take as a family each year.

The piles of pumpkins had me, and I got to work in silhouette studio resizing the CUT to YOU pumpkin file to create 1 large pumpkin to sit in the background of the layout and a second smaller pumpkin to act as the base for the title I was adding to the layout.

I used the Oh My Heart paper to cut out the pumpkins and backed the larger size with some vellum and the smaller with a pink paper from the A5 paper stack. Both pumpkins were adhered to the layout over the torn woodgrain strip (Cross if Off) using both double sided foam tape and thicker foam sheeting to add a slight hint of dimension.

I used multiple photos of my soup and sanga making time, printed out in a 3.7inch grid then cut into strips to overlay each other. I used the cute little rainbow hearts paper from the A5 paper stack for layering underneath then embellished with an accessory word sticker and label from the Story Time cut apart paper.

Next up I added the title using my beloved white alphas adding machine stitching to hold them in place, whilst adding a little pop of texture to the layout.

On both pumpkins I created a cluster on top of the leaf area, using multiple fussy cut florals in all sizes from the A5 paper stack version of Spring Fling. Slowly but surely I am making my way through all those tiny sweet flowers

I also strung a tag from the ephemera pack to the top of the larger pumpkin and adhered it to the cardstock using foam tape

Here’s a closer look at the florals cluster on the smaller pumpkin, using a mix of adhesives for varying layers of dimension. Tacky glue, glue dots and foam tape would have to be the most used items in my stash.

1 final cluster added to create the visual triangle of embellishments on the layout, then the usual splattering of gold ink to finish it all off..

Super quick and easy layout to recreate if the need be, other than all the fussy cutting of florals that is.

Here’s one final look at the end result..

Thanks so much for stopping by, I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing where my inspiration of our current Monthly Challenge board took me, I certainly enjoyed creating it.

Please be sure to check out the Cocoa Vanilla Studio Community Group on Facebook to see all the other entries, and enter your own for a chance to win. We really to love to see what you all create, and where your inspiration takes you each month.

Until next time, Happy Scrapping!
Michelle

Happy 21st | Daydream | Kellie Moore

Good morning CVS fans and welcome to the blog.

My page for today’s post is my interpretation of the monthly mood board designed by Melissa Vining…here it is if you haven’t already seen it.. soooo pretty!

 

For my page, I took inspiration from the flower wreath and those cupcakes. The light yellow and the pink of the cupcakes reminded me of the Daydream collection so I decided that’s what I would use for my page…here it is…

How pretty are the papers in the ‘Daydream’ collection?! I used a variety of them to back my cupcake cutfiles which are from Cut to You. The hearts on the cupcakes are so sweet!

To create my wreath I used the ‘Daisy Days’ paper and cut out the wreath and layered it over the right hand side of my page, then added some florals from the Ephemera pack popped up on foam tape to add some dimension and add fullness to the wreath.

Once I had my photo in position I decided I wanted my title to run down the right hand side of it. I used the word ‘Happy’ from the Ephemera Pack and the word ‘beautiful’ from the ‘Die Cut Titles’ then some gold thickers from my stash to finish it off…. I love using mixed fonts, they add more interest to the page. To fill in some spots around my title I used some of the butterflies and rainbows also from the Ephemera pack and the Accessory Sticker Sheet.

Other ways I added interest was some light ink blending through a stencil and some gold twine…. simple, yet effective!

Thanks for stopping by today, please consider giving the mood board a go, you may surprise yourself with where your imagination takes you!

Till next time!

Kellie :)

Happy Together | These Days | Lina Monaco

Hello Beautiful Friends,
Lina here today on the blog and YouTube channel featuring a layout I created using the These Days collection and the very colourful and inspirational mood board for the month.
You’ll be able to click HERE to be taken to YouTube to watch the process video for this layout.


The mood board this month is filled with lots of brightly coloured and fun Spring and Easter goodness. I drew my inspiration from all the colour and florals. I just could not resist! And using the These Days collection to create was just perfect in my opinion.


I started with a white sheet of cardstock and used my Silhouette Cameo to cut a circle in the middle that roughly measured 8×8 inches. Then I adhered my white cardstock to the lovely butter yellow gingham paper called Home Grown. The combination of the yellow gingham and the white cardstock made this background feel so light and airy. I then cut a circle frame with the patterned paper, Family Ties, to anchor the circle and give it more weight.


Next, I went to town and used alllll the florals, foliage, and butterflies. Using the Floral Ephemera, I created a (semi) frame around the circle to create somewhat of a wreath effect.


I (carefully) arranged my florals around my frame being extra generous on both the right and left sides. I finished off the layering with lots of foliage and butterflies that just add extra dimension. I also took this opportunity to add metallic gold thread behind my popped up photograph for a different type of texture.

For my title, I used the Foam Title Stickers and chose the words happy and together… voila`! My title easily came together, easy peasy! I also added some Wood Buttons and adorned the frame with teeny tiny hearts from the Puffy Stickers.


I had lots of fun creating this layout because of how bright and colourful the mood board is. It really out me in the mood for Spring and beautiful weather. I hope you’ll use the inspiration yourself and show us what you create with it.

Thanks for stopping by!
xoLina

My Sister My Friend | These Days Collection | Laura Alberts

Hey y’all! Laura back again with a layout inspired by the gorgeous October Mood Board. The color scheme was perfect for the These Days collection and these sweet florals and greenery reminded me of this cut file from Liz Longest Designs. It’s a very simple wreath that looks divine when dressed up with these floral ephemera pieces! I backed each of the leaves with a green floral paper from the A5 paper stack.

I separated out the colors of the flowers in the floral ephemera pack and stuck to the smaller ones for the wreath, balancing out the mix of colors around the page. Each of the flowers has a drop of Nuvo in the center to give it a little extra texture and sparkle! I used the small puffy alphas for my title, spelling out ‘My Sister My Friend’ right next to my top photo. These photos are of my twins and catching a rare moment of them being sweet to each other was definitely a scrapworthy moment!

I created four clusters on this layout around my photos. The top cluster has a fussy cut frame as a base, with a bit of fussy cut florals and floral ephemera laid on top. The sparkly gold cloth hearts are squeezed in too along with a puffy word phrase and heart. These details really make a tremendous difference to my clusters, giving them the finishing touches they needed.

Similarly, this cluster to the left of the bottom photo contains the same elements. This helps all of the clusters feel cohesive on the page. In addition to the Nuvo drops, I also splattered with gold ink spray around the floral clusters and the perimeter of the wreath for a whimsical look.

I hope this inspires you to look at your cut files a little differently and incorporate them in a big way on your projects too! To see how “My Sister My Friend” came together, check out the process video below!

 

Getaway Memories | Monthly Challenge | Sunkissed Collection | Michelle Stokes

Hey Hey! It’s Michelle here with a new layout share inspired by the May Monthly Challenge Board. This board for May – Slice of Summer – designed by Gwen, is full of bright rainbow colours with a fruity kick. I could have gone in so many directions for this layout, but in the end this is where I ended up….

Inspired by the rainbow paint, circular fruit bowl and the bright rainbow colours of the glassware from one amazing Mood Board! I’ve used the awesome Sunkissed Collection for its bright colours and summery floral patterns.

 

I started with the Summer Sun cut file from CUT to YOU (designed by Gwen) and cut only the outer piece of the design on white cardstock. I added vellum to the rays as I new I would be layering the cut file piece over some form of ink splatters.

Using the inner circle as a rough guide in the middle of a fresh piece of white cardstock, I added splatters of bright inks in rainbow circular order using the plastic packaging technique and sprinkled splatters using the straw out of the spray bottle. This was so fun to create, and a shame that I covered so much of it up with all those florals!

Once the background was dry and the cut file was stuck down I added the photo. A black and white snap from the last Cocoa Vanilla Studio Creative Escape Retreat in 2019 when all was right in the world and we could travel carefree. I layered the photo with pieces of pattern paper from the A5 paper stack ( Feelin’ FIne and the blue version of that awesome Leopard print pattern from Growing Wild). I tucked in a tag from the Fun in the Sun paper and sticker from the Accessory Stickers sheet.

To the left of the photo I created one massive floral cluster using my beloved fussy cut florals from the Growing Wild paper and a banner from the Fun in the Sun paper. I layered these with different forms of adhesive tapes to give the flowers dimension. I also added a wood button and puffy heart to finish of the mix

Above the photo I created a second cluster using similar florals and items to the other cluster. I do this on all my layouts to give them a cohesive look

Lastly I added a title using the awesome GOLD Glitter words and a sticker from the accessory sheet and then finished it off with spatters of gold ink.

Well friends, that’s all from me today. Thanks so much for stopping by! Be sure to get your entries into the album in our CVS Community Facebook Group. We love seeing how you all interpret the boards each month and the Sunkissed collection is perfect for this board!

Until Next time, Happy Scrapping!
Michelle xx

Happy Times | Happiness Collection + Monthly Challenge | Raquel Bowman

Hey everyone, its Raquel here with you today sharing some inspiration for this months Monthly Challenge that can be found in our Facebook ‘Cocoa Vanilla Studio Community’ – the winner randomly drawn will be able to score a $25 voucher to spend in the CVS store. 

Here is the layout that I created inspired by the mood board – 
 
I chose to draw inspiration from the colours, the nature and plant elements, adding butterflies to my page and also from the painted striped image at the bottom of the inspiration board. 
 
Here is the process video for this layout:

The subject of my layout is my home town of Geelong. This photo was taken pre-covid when the waterfront was very much hustle bustle even on a weekday. I think this pandemic has brought me to reflect on the good times and things that I have in my life, our little town is one of those things. 
 
The Happiness collection has soo many gorgeous floral elements and embellishments. As you can see from my process video the embellishing of this page came together so nicely and just worked. The cut file I have used on this page is another one from the Cut to You store, however this one was one of the Newsletter freebie files. I backed the file with vellum as I really wanted to showcase the beautiful florals on this layout. 
 
Can you see something different for me on this page? Yep I had a little play with some distress inks and water to create that rainbow wash background. I fully committed to the design, though I must admit, I thought I would not like the result and would end up putting the background in the bin. Much to my surprise, that wasn’t the case and I like how it turned out. 
 
The title Happy Times was found in the ephemera pack. I had played with the die cut titles pack in the collection, and really love the way the one titled ‘beautiful’ looked on the page, however, I ended up choosing the less bold and smaller in size ‘Happy Times’. 
 
To frame my photo I used the light pink cross paper from the 6×8 paper pad. This pink shade has to be one of my favourite papers in the collection.I have used it multiple times and I was surprised that I had some left to mat my photo. 
I created embellishment clusters to the left and right of the photo and also a small cluster to the bottom left of the page to balance out the heaviness on that top right side, this small cluster also served as a good place to pop my journaling. I have used mainly the florals in the ephemera pack to embellish this layout, though I did also use some of the Accessory stickers (words, hearts) and some fussy cut butterflies.
The journaling on this page, as always is typewritten and reflects my love of our town. 
I love the opportunities that layering various elements gives, allowing me to add dimension, detail and depth by using foam adhesives to varying parts of the clusters. This image below gives you the chance to see some of the layering and detail that is on this page. 
 
I hope that you have been inspired by my layout today. If you are not a member of our Facebook community be sure to join and take part in this challenge. I would love to see what you create. 

Thanks so much for popping by, Have a great week.

Raquel xxx

 

 

Cocoa Vanilla Studio Pty Ltd

Unit 2,
1 Monro Street
Nambucca Heads, NSW 2448
Australia

is a registered trademark of Cocoa Vanilla Studio Pty Ltd

ABN 75 660 282 511

ABOUT US

CUSTOMER CARE

wholesale

Subscribe + Get $5 Off!

Sign up for our newsletter and we'll let you know about new arrivals, sales, events + more. Plus, enjoy $5 AUD off your first order of $50 or more (check your inbox for details).

Back to top

All Content & Images Copyright © 2015 - Cocoa Vanilla Studio Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved.