These Days

Sweet Daisy | These Days | Michelle Stokes

Hello Hello! It’s Michelle back here today with a new layout to share, and a slightly different subject to scrapbook than the usual continuous layout shares of Leila. The past few days my fellow DT Members have been sharing some really awesome ways to add journalling to their layouts in a creative way, and today its my turn to share. I’ve used a mix of our more recent collections These Days and Sunkissed, plus one paper from the Boys Rule collection.

As you can see, a new addition to our family is on its way. This one is of the furry kind and she’s oh so cute! We’ve named her Daisy and cant wait to welcome her into our home. I wanted to document the first time we met this sweet little pup, and I think this layout was a perfect way to do so.

To begin the layout I found an awesome 3D cut file design on Etsy and cut it out using the Happy Go Lucky paper from the Boys Rule collection. The perfect shade of textured black to use for a 3D style cut file. Each individual piece is adhered together using foam tape to give it the dimensional 3D look. I added a couple of fussy cut flowers in place of a collar from the Home Grown paper (These Days Collection)

Now we can’t have a cute puppy on a page without a sweet little dog house can we?

Using the woodgrain pattern side of the Pretty Posies paper I’ve constructed a dog house using a concertina fold for the main structure. This gives it a more dimensional look, similar to what a real dog house might look like. I added a rainbow pattern dog bed (Family Ties paper), some flowers (Home Grown Paper) out the front and a name plate using a label tag from the Good Life paper along with some puffy alphabet stickers.

Heres some close ups of that sweet puppy face. She’s grown and changed a lot since these photos were taken, and I cant wait to document the next visit.

I printed the photos at around 2x3inch size and adhered them to the layout using some foam. Underneath these I’ve added the sweet heart paper from the back of the Good Life paper and sewn around the edges for a little extra detail. Tucked into this cluster are more mini flowers growing out of the “grass” (Family Ties paper) a cute puffy gold glitter heart, accessory sticker and cut apart ticket from the Good Life paper. Theres also a mini Butterly (Take Flight A5 paper) to match the 2 above the dog house and a strip of hearts which is another cut apart piece from the Good Life Paper.

In regards to journalling, I’ve kept it pretty simple. It’s not often that I add journalling to my layouts these days and when I do its not very substantial. So I thought I would share a way to get creative, when you don’t have a lot to write.

I’ve used one of the frames from the Wall of Fame paper to create a thought bubble, hovering over the dog in amongst the clouds to add a couple sentences about our time with her the other week. These are all adhered using foam tape to give them all a little dimension in the top corner. The clouds and sun can be found in the Sunkissed Collection Ephemera pack.

Lastly I added a sprinkling of gold ink around the layout and a couple of hand drawn bubble dots to connect the thought bubble to the sweet little dog.

Well thats all from me today. I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing my take on creative journalling. Be sure to check back in tomorrow to see what the next DT member has in store for you.

Until next time, Happy Scrapping!
Michelle x

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thankful For You | These Days collection | Tarrah McLean

Hi creative friends!

It’s Tarrah back with you today to share a new scrapbook layout incorporating creative journalling. I pulled out the gorgeous These Days collection as I love the Autumny feel this collection has, I documented a photo of my Mum and I.

I decided to incorporate my creative journalling by hiding it behind a cut file. The cut file I chose is from CUT to YOU. I cut out the smaller outline (solid piece to write the journalling on) of the design first and I then cut out the main design a bit bigger. I backed some different papers from the A5 paper stack behind the main design, I then adhered and made a crease on the left edge only so that the pumpkin opens up. I love how by looking at the main layout you can not tell that the pumpkin opens up.

I chose the small yellow gingham paper as my background paper however trimmed it down a little and backed it onto the beautiful wood grain paper. I then machine stitched around the entire outside edge to add some texture. To help open up the cut file, I added a tab sticker and some twine tied in a bow. I added baby powder to the bottom of the tab sticker to remove the stickiness of the sticker.

I adhered my photo in the bottom left corner of the cut file making sure there was no adhesive added to the section that needed to lift up. I also backed the Thankful part of the cut file with the wood grain A5 size paper and adhered it to the bottom of my photo using craft foam. To finish the title, I adhered the words For You using the super cute puffy alphabet stickers. I also placed a heart puffy in the centre of the words.

To embellish and enhance the story and design of my page, I took lots of die-cuts from the ephemera pack adhering many of these with craft foam, including the trees, the Family word and some of the florals too.  Just above the Thankful title and above the tree on the right I added epoxy wood beads and lastly I added some phrase stickers from the Accessory sticker sheet.

I absolutely love the way my layout turned out and I hope you were inspired to have a go at some creative journalling too? Thanks so much for stopping by the Cocoa Vanilla blog today!

Happy creating!

Tarrah x

Always Lovely | These days Layout | Anna Komenda

Hello crafty Friends. It’s Anna here and I have another page to share with you with beautiful “These days” collection. To be honest, I am in the process of making masculine album as an inspiration for you, but I underestimated the time needed to finish it. So layout it is this week and I will finish the album and share it as my next inspiration. This full of flowers page needed a serious date with my scissors :)

It started as a white sheet of paper, blue ink and a stencil. I applied really soft layer in the area I knew my flowers will end up. Next step was to add yellow splatters and wait until they are dry. In the meantime I was fussy cutting like crazy. All the flowers come from “Home grown” paper sheet. You may wonder why I didn’t use Flower pack instead. First, I wanted my flowers without the white outline. Second – I was being cheap here :) I would have to use at least one pack of them and it seemed like too much for one page. And they are in the category “too pretty to use”.

I also cut out some butterflies from “Take flight” paper to add to my composition. After all the flowers were ready, it all went pretty fast. I used foam squares to glue down the elements of my composition because you know I love dimension. I made my photo a party of the square frame and embellished it here and there with Ephemera pieces and Puffy stickers.

I wasn’t feeling creative for some unique title so I chose words from Title foam stickers. The font is so lovely and the quality is excellent. Black letters really pop from the background. As you can see, this page didn’t need much more than some flowers and butterflies and my embellishing was quite fast and easy here after all the flowers took their place.

My last step was to splash everything with blush mist and the page was done. I love squeezing out as much as I can from a simple paper sheet and this page is a perfect example. With a little bit of patience set of pattern papers can help you create fantastic projects. That’s why I always buy doubles for papers that can be fussy cut, like a flower or butterfly sheet. This way I use one as a simple pattern and second for cutting out pieces and I am not stuck with the dilemma – which side to use :)

That is all for today. Thank you so much for stopping by and fingers crossed I will finish my boy album in next two weeks :)

XO Anna

So Happy | These Days | Sophie Delorme

Hello Cocoa Vanilla friends!

Sophie here!

Today I am sharing a new layout created with the “These Days” collection !

 

I decided to highlight a sweet selfie of me and my dog on a big hike from a few weeks ago !

I started by using the beautiful “Neighbourhood” patterned paper as my base. I cut a white cardstock to make it an 11 inch square and centered it on my background paper.

Then, I folded the four corners of the cardstock and attached each corner with a brad from my stash. It adds a lovely dimension to the page and let the soft patterned paper show a little bit more.

 

I did a zigzag stitch on each non folded side on the cardstock.

I created an inner square with both the “Home Grown” and “Take Flight” patterned papers and stitched them in place.

I mounted my black and white photo on tissue paper and adhesive foam before placing it on the left side on the inner square.

I used the black Foam Title Stickers for my title. I created two clusters around my photo. One, on the right, with beautiful Die Cut Trees from the Die Cut Ephemera pack, the other on the left lower corner of the photo, with the Floral Ephemera pack.

 

 

I also added a few beautiful butterflies and other Die Cuts here and there around the page.

Finally, I created journaling strips and stamped the date.

Here are more close-ups:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I adore the soft look of the this collection ! It is so versatile !

I hope this layout could inspire you in some way !

Thank you so much, and happy crafting !

Sophie xx

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!

 

Home Sweet Home | These Days Collection | Danni Visser

Hi Cocoa Vanilla fans! Danni here with a fun layout featuring the Good Life 12×12 patterned paper cut-apart sheet from the gorgeous These Days collection. Cut apart sheets are a fantastic place to start when you’re feeling low on inspiration, as there are so many pieces to draw inspiration from. My favourite way to use them is to cluster several of the pieces around a central photo as I have done here.

To begin with I took a plain sheet of white cardstock and jazzed it up with some mixed media in colours to complement the These Days collection. I used yellow, duck egg blue and soft pink distress oxide inks and used a combination of brushing, spraying and splattering to create a messy background.

I cut up the Good Life 12×12 patterned paper and arranged the pieces I liked best around my photo. To vary the sizes of the pieces, I have also used one of the cut-apart sheets from the A5 paper stack. The pieces are similar to the 12×12 paper except scaled down, which means I can create interest with a variety of shapes and sizes.

To create even more interest and texture, I have taken three of the pieces and added some hand stitching. This is a nice way to add stitching if you don’t have the time or patience for lots of stitching. This was nice and quick, but still looks very cute. I decided to use the ‘Home Sweet Home’ piece as my title, then stitched over the word ‘Sweet’ with a whipped backstitch and over the leaf sprigs with a modified chain stitch. I also stitched around the little house piece and over the word ‘Sweet’ at the bottom of the page.

Once I had my main cluster placed, I added a small cluster to the top and bottom of the page. These pieces were also cut from the cut-apart tags and banners on the Good Life 12×12 patterned paper. There are so many bits and pieces on these cut-apart sheets! Once the main elements were placed it was easy to add a few embellishments to finish off the layout.

I added some of the floral ephemera in the empty spaces around my main cluster, using the smaller florals so as not to overwhelm the page. I used the clear stickers to add some leaf sprigs to my clusters, as well as the cross-hatch details for some extra interest. I also popped one of the puffy gold glitter hearts on one of my floral clusters, then added a little puffy sticker butterfly and a couple of hearts.

As the finishing touch I added some mini puffy alpha stickers at the bottom of my photo to spell the word ‘yum’. I love using embellishments to spruce up dead spaces in my photos like this, and these puffy alphas are the perfect size.

I just love how this one turned out! I hope you enjoyed joining me today. Happy scrapping!

Danni x

Autumn Days | These Days Collection | Josefine vd Hoeven

Hello crafty Paperlovers,
It’s Josefine here today with a new layout that I created with the beautiful collection “These Days”
I love the fall colors and this collection is a perfect match.

I choose different design papers from the “These Days” collection and punch out different leaves from the papers. In the center of the leaves, I stitch a border with gold thread and used my sewing machine for this.

I wrapped embroidery thread around my layout several times. I placed my picture on top on the embroidery thread and made a large cluster with the leaves. I chose different die-cuts, stickers and flowers and decorate my layout with these gorgeous embellishments.

I decorated my layout with more beautiful elements from this wonderful collection. The wooden buttons, butterflies and the cute golden hearts. I love all these beautiful layers I have created with the leaves. I used a wax seal next to my photo that I made with wax and a seal stamp and decorated it with gold flakes.

I used two different alpha sets for the title “Autumn Days” I like the nice and playful effect of using different alpha sets. I cut branches from water color paper and colored them with two different colors of Distress Oxide. The colors are “rusty hinge” and “walnut stain” I placed the branches in different places between the leaves.You can also see that I made splatters with white acrylic paint and gold ink. I like how my layout turned out.

Well that’s it for today paper friends and I’m grateful you stopped by on the blog to see what I created with this beautiful collection. I hope I was able to inspire you with this Autumn layout.
Wishing you all a very happy and creative day!
XoXo, Jo

 

Sweet Heart | These Days Collection | Michelle Stokes

Hello Hello! It’s Michelle here today with a new layout share featuring the super sweet These Days Collection. I went crazy with the fussy cutting of those beautiful florals on the Home Grown paper again and teamed it up with a little texture and a cute photo from 2011..

I’ve taken another walk down memory lane with this sweet photo of Leila just before she was 1. This was from a mini photo shoot that was taken just in time for her 1st birthday and gosh did they turn out cute!

I made a little photo stack using the photo, white cardstock, a piece of 3×4 pocket card and some off cuts of the Good Life paper. I knew I was trying to achieve an open frame style layout using tonnes of florals so I added the photo to the bottom left of the awesome woodgrain  paper (Pretty Posies) and layered it with some offcuts of muslin for texture.

I added machine stitching around both the photo and the top corner of the layout using white thread and my trusty sewing machine. Only a few bits show through, but I like the hints of extra texture it adds to the layout. I fussy cut a frame to be the central point of the florals, both frames on the page were cut from the Wall of Fame paper.

I used different adhesives on the florals for a mix of dimension and folded the petals upwards to give them a 3D look

Theres even the addition of a wood button and enamel dots and a gold glitter heart sprinkled here and there…

Along the bottom of the photo I added the other fussy cut frame and used this as the base for my mixed font title. I don’t have very many black foam title words left in my stash so I needed to get creative with my title on this layout. The mini puffy alphabets are perfect in size to add to any title.

I used the same mix of florals and embellishments within the bottom floral frame/cluster to keep a cohesive look to the layout. How stinking cute is that face!

And a different angle to see all the pretty layers that came together in one cluster of goodness. You can also see I’ve added a massive splattering of gold ink around the layout to finish it all off.

Well friends, that is all from me today. Thank you so much for stopping by to see what Ive created this week. Cant wait to get started on the next creation…

Until next time, Happy Scrapping

Michelle x

Happy School Days | These Days Collection | Sophie Delorme

Hello Cocoa Vanilla friends!

Sophie here!

Today I am sharing a school themed layout with the gorgeous These Days collection!

 

I used a cut file from Paige Evans named “Open Book” and I thought this was a beautiful starting point for my page.

I used a thick white cardstock for my background, on which I added a little bit of watercolor paint starting from the open book and up, adding also lots of little splatters of paint.

I let it dry completely, and in the meantime, backed my cut file with different patterned papers from the collection.

I applied white gesso on some parts of the book to fade away the colors a little bit for a very soft look.

 

I mounted the open book on adhesive foam before adhering it to the page.

I used a photo of my sweet daughter on her first day of school a few weeks ago. I couldn’t be happier that she still wants to collaborate for that!

I added tissue paper and adhesive foam behind it and placed it a little bit crooked on the right side of the open book.

I fussy cut 3 frames out of one of the A5 patterned papers, scattered them around and added a few embellishments on them.

 

My title is a mix of Die Cut Ephemera, Clear Sticker and letters created with a die from my stash.

 

Finally, I created a floral cluster with the Floral Ephemera pack, I added two butterflies and stamped the date on a label from the Accessory Stickers Pack.

 

Here are more close-ups.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am so happy with the result!

I hope you can find inspiration with my page today in using this beautiful collection in a versatile way!

Thank you for stopping by, have a great crafty day !

Sophie xx

Teach | These Days Collection | Raquel Bowman

Hi everyone, it’s Raquel here and today I am kicking off a school theme this week on the blog. And what better way to kick off school week than with a post celebrating World Teachers Day which is today, October 5th. So to celebrate this day I decided to create a layout all about the 2021 school year….and what an interesting year as a teacher and Mumma it has been here in Victoria.

Here is the layout that I created:

As I mentioned, my goal for this layout was to document the 2021 school year. And boy…what a year it has been. The continual shift and change from onsite to remote learning has been tough as a teacher of 5 year olds and a mum of two primary school age children. I had a few photos taken at random times throughout the year that I wanted to include on this page. This free ‘notes’ cut file from Paper Issues was perfect and allowed me to add multiple photos. I used the ‘Family Ties’ paper for the cut file and love this colour against the white background.

I took advantage of the theme of ‘teacher’ and included all of the woman and child ephemera pieces on this layout. They were the perfect addition to this page I thought.

Due to the framed design of this page my journaling is scattered from the to left square to the bottom of the page. As always I used my typewriter and cut it in a strip design.

To back the spaces in the cut file that were not filled with photos I used a combination of the 3×4″ pocket cards and the a5 paper pad. The designs were perfect and I was able to incorporate a variety of both busy and more subtle patterns to balance out the layout.

It is so lovely to be able to spend my days in my profession in the same school as my kiddies. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a perfect situation as my little man may attest, but I love being able to see those special school moments like awards and assemblies that I had previously missed as a Mumma.

The whole cut file was adhered to the page using a foam adhesive. I also used a variety of dimensional adhesives to adhere any of the ephemera pieces to the page.

The clear sticker hearts and mini heart puffy stickers were that perfect small embellishment to finish off my clustered areas of embellishments.

I also ran a two strips of patterned paper along the left side of the layout. I used my binding edge punch for one of the layers to coincide with the ‘school’ theme.

I am absolutely in love with the mini alpha puffy stickers,…..wow, such perfection! I love the impact they make without overtaking a layouts design.

It was hard to know what to title this page with, so the simple ‘teach’  seemed to fit the purpose. The ‘for the record’ sentiment was on a  3×4″ card. Worked well for this layout to lay journaling.

What a year, I’m crossing fingers and toes that 2022 is a much calmer year for us all xxx

Above all the challenges of the role that has been 2020 and 2021 as a teacher I honestly would not change my job for anything. The absolute joy I get from my profession as a teacher is the ultimate reward…the relationships, the growth I see and the professional learning that I make daily…..just the best!

On this day I think we also need to take our ‘hats off’ to the families and carers who have helped to facilitate their child’s learning alongside their child’s classroom teacher. What a team we have all made and what a journey this last two years has been! Thank you!

Happy World Teacher’s Day!

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