LOVE YOU | HAPPINESS | GWEN WRUCK

Hi Creative Friends,

I hope you are all well!  Gwen back on the Cocoa Vanilla blog today with a new share using the beautiful ‘Happiness‘ collection.  This one is a little different for me because it features 5 photos!  I usually create with only one or two photos per page so when my sister and I took this fun series of photos, I knew I had to come up with a plan to get them all on the one layout.

My initial thought for getting this many photos on my page was to print them small which I did first up.  Then, I got to thinking about a grid design and pulled out this cut file by CUT to YOU.  I had thought about placing the photos within the squares of the cut file, however I had printed them too small for that and didn’t want to waste the prints I had done… so, Plan C it was!

Unsure what to do about the photos, I put those aside and started working on the cut file. I’ve gone about backing some of the squares in the stunning blue of the ‘Good Vibes‘ paper.  Then, in the heart shapes, I backed with the pink of the ‘Meadow‘ paper.  To help the title stand out, I’ve backed that in the ‘Botanical Bliss‘ pattern paper.  I love the deep navy with the fresh white of the cut file.

With the elements of the cutfile backed, I’ve then placed the entire design onto some white card from my stash.  I have used foam tape in between the layers here for added dimension.  I’ve then created a border by mounting this large piece onto the ‘Expressive‘ paper.  I’ve made sure to take the centre of the pattern paper to save it for another project, this one is my favourite from this collection!

I’ve then mounted all of this onto a backing piece of the ‘Botanical Bliss‘ pattern paper.  I will often use a contrasting border on my page and find it really does finish off the edges nicely.

Next, I’ve mounted my photos with a very fine border of the ‘Expressive‘ paper and then mounted onto foam tape.  It was now a matter of playing with the design and layout to get it how I want.  After a little trial and error, I decided to go along the same line as the cut file.  You will notice the letters run from the top left the bottom right.  I’ve positioned my photos in much the same way so that your eye runs across the layout top left to bottom right.  Everything just flows across the page.

At this point, the page is nearly done but of course, I need some smaller elements to bring it all together!  I’ve fussy cut some pretty butterflies from the ‘Bright and Beautiful‘ paper (just the pink and blue ones to match my pattern papers) as well as two of the flair from the ‘flair pack‘.  I’ve also selected some stickers from the ‘Accessory Sticker Sheet‘ and a die-cut element from the ‘Die Cut Ephemera‘ pack.

I’ve added all of these elements running along the same line of my page, top left to bottom right, keeping with the flow of the photos and title of the page.  It was at this stage that I changed the title to be ‘Love You’ by adding in the die cut word ‘you’ from the ‘Die Cut Titles‘ pack and it finishes the page up perfectly.

Thanks for popping by today to see my latest project, I hope it inspires you to get creating and using some of your ‘Happiness’ stash.  If it does, I’d love to see what you make over on the Cocoa Vanilla Studio Facebook group.  There is so much inspiration over there and worth checking out!

Until next time,

Gwen

xo