christmas

Joy | Merry and Bright collection | Tarrah McLean

Hi friends!

It’s Tarrah back with you here on the Cocoa Vanilla blog and today I have a new Christmas themed layout to share with you featuring the stunning Merry and Bright collection! I just can’t get enough of this gorgeous Christmas collection! It’s my most favourite Christmas collection ever!

I decided to use the gorgeous large Christmas Tree die-cut and the backing paper but used it slightly differently to how it comes. I pulled off the die-cut from the backing patterned paper and backed all the spaces with papers from the 6′ x 8′ paper pad. These papers were different to the patterns on the backing paper it comes with. Once it was all backed, I added craft foam underneath and adhered it back to the backing paper, however I moved it over to the right so that the tree pattern underneath could be seen. I love the shadows this creates on my page.

On the right, I layered some of the awesome 3′ x 4′ journal cards under the photo of my Mum with my boys and niece. To the right of the photo I tucked in a tree die-cut and also added 2 over on the left, I tucked one in and the other is adhered on top. I also decorated the tree with a few more die-cuts and accessory stickers too. The flairs are super cute from the Merry and Bright collection, I added the pink one that says 25 December on the left side of the page.

I added more die-cuts including some hearts and phrases and those gorgeous gold puffy stars! One had to be added to the top of the tree and I added 2 more to the other embellishment clusters. To finish I trimmed down the backing patterned paper and backed it with the ‘B’ side of the Countdown paper. I then trimmed this paper down again and backed the entire layout with gold glitter cardstock. Lastly I splattered some gold mist around the layout and stamped the date stamp.

Thanks so much for stopping by the Cocoa Vanilla blog today, I hope you enjoyed my layout and that you were inspired in some way!

Happy Christmas creating!!

Tarrah x

Merry & Bright Mini Album | Rachel Lowe

Hi CVS friends, with Christmas almost upon us and recently receiving the new Merry & Bright collection I just had to make a mini album in preparation of those Christmas photos.

I only made a 6 pages in this album because to be honest most of my Christmas photos are usually less than average, but I can add the best or highlights!

I used a cut file from the Silhouette Design Store. To protect my album cover I cut one in acetate and used an embossing file (stars) to add texture. I added a pop-pom tassel for that little something extra. I love the coloured O rings you can now get, I chose some teal ones to blend in with the colour schemes of Merry & Bright.

I used the 6×8 inch paper pad for this album, another reason I love 6×8 inch paper pads, the smaller prints are perfect for mini albums and mini albums. I used Season Greetings paper wood grain side to create a thin border and Oh Christmas Tree paper over top. I embellished with florals from the die cut ephemera, a phrase sticker from the Accessory Stickers and finished off adding a flair and puffy gold star.

Here I created a pocket and made a tag. I have used Jingle All the Way paper for the tree page and tag. I added the Santa card from the Oh What Fun paper.

So I could add multiple 2×2 inch photos I added a accordion flap to the page adding another paper element from the Oh What Fun paper.

I added two die cut baubles, a puffy star and  finished off with a sprinkle gold paint across the page. I used the Oh Christmas Tree Paper as my base paper.

For my last page which I used Star Bright paper, added a frame die cut and created an embellishment cluster. You will notice I added a machine stitched border around each tree page to add texture and definition.

You could obviously add lots more pages or create double sided pages depending on how many photos you want to add, the good thing about mini albums like this you can make them bulky and they still look great.

Well thats it from me for today! Happy creating!

Rachel X

Christmas Family Traditions | Merry and Bright Collection | Danni Visser

Hi there scrappers! Danni here with another 12×12 layout. I am well and truly gearing up for the festive season and getting creative with the gorgeous Merry and Bright collection. I was inspired this time by the amazing Countdown 12×12 patterned paper with the gorgeous advent calendar-style squares, which I decided were perfect to document the advent calendar I made a few years ago.

To begin with I chopped straight into the paper and cut all the numbered squares apart. To add texture, I first distressed all the edges, then went through and stitched around the border of half the squares with my sewing machine and white thread. I left all the loose ends free to add even more soft textural elements to the layout. For the remaining squares, I used a heat embossing ink pen, gold embossing powder and a heating tool to add a shiny gold border. I just love gold for the festive season!

Once all my squares were ready, I laid them out on top of the Happy Holidays 12×12 patterned paper. I really love that the background is mostly white, but you can just see a sprinkling of the teeny tiny polka dots peeking out from between the squares.

Using the woodgrain and candy stripe papers from the A5 paper stack I made a square photo mat in the centre of my layout. I had originally printed a collage photo for this, but I didn’t love how it looked so I cut it apart into individual photos, keeping the main one in the centre and placing the rest randomly on top of some of the numbers.

With such a busy background, I wanted to keep embellishment minimal so as not to overwhelm the page. I took some of the stunning floral clusters that I had fussy cut from Joy to the World 12×12 patterned paper and created two clusters on opposite corners of my centre photo, layering one over the top and tucking the other underneath my photo. I made use of some of the tiny leaves and flowers to add detail.

Because I did not have much space left on the layout, I decided to simply use three of the tiny word phrases from the accessory stickers to serve as my title, framing them around my centre photo. As a finishing touch I added some gold dimensional drops to the centre of all my flowers, then added some white drops around my floral clusters.

I love how this layout turned out and I really hope you enjoyed joining me today. There is a video linked below where you can watch the whole layout come together. Thank you so much and happy scrapping!

Danni x

Easy advent calendar | Merry and bright collection | Anna Komenda

Hello everyone. It’s Anna here and I can finally share my first project made with new “Merry and bright” collection. You have already seen plenty of inspiration from my fellow DT girls and it won’t be easy to beat them :). December is approaching really fast and it seems like our European summer ended like a week ago. If you have kids, you may already prepared advent calendar to help them count down to Christmas Day. If not, I am here to help you. I prepared really fast and easy version, that took me about 3 hours to finish. You can spend your last two days of November preparing this project and make your kids very happy.

My calendar contains of 24 bags and boxes filled with small candy and pieces of Lego blocks. I mixed the shapes of containers to make everything more fun. Most of them are just plain crafts bags that are used to pack lunch or candies. I always keep stack of them in my house.

I also added few square boxes in two sizes made of various papers from “Merry and bright” collection. I used very helpful box punch board. You can make single box in few minutes and you don’t even have to use single drop of glue.

Last group is a few triangular boxes made with 6*6 squares. I just glued two sides together creating a tube, used stapler to seal one side and filled the box. Last step was to rotate it 90 degrees and seal it again with staples.

I made a little hole in each bag and box and added piece of longer craft string. I hanged everything or artificial pine branch, that I use every year for my calendar. I bough it for few dollars. You can also use real pine branch. It will last only through this season but it will smell amazing. You can also recycle something you already have in your house or just use plain, leafless branch found during the walk. I seal the boxes and bags the way they have to be cut to be opened so they only last one year. I don’t have enough room to store them so I just prefer make new each year.

I used numbers from 1 to 24 as in Poland we only count down to Christmas Eve (the most important dat on the whole Christmas period and the day children get their presents). I cut them our from paper called “Countdown”. You can either do like me cutting our each number or cut the whole squares. I mixed the numbers with elements from ephemera pack using up almost whole pack. Preparing everything took me like 2,5 hour so it went really fast. I played my favorite christmas songs to soak into the proper mood. Last half of hour was dedicated to add things inside, string and hang it on the branch. Just remember to spread the number evenly so the kids will cut the boxes out from left and right side every second day. Otherwise, in the middle of December you will have one side empty and the branch will start tilting.

How do you like my idea? Are you making your own advent calendars or you just buy premade ones? My kids are always very excited for ours and they can’t imagine not having it, even if I am trying to be lazy and bribe them with the bought one, filled with chocolate.

That is all for today. Thank you so much for stopping by and see you in December.

XO Anna

Merry and Bright | Merry & Bright collection | Sue Plumb

Hi everyone! Sue Plumb here to share my very first layout using the brand new ‘Merry & Bright’ collection. For this Christmas page, I couldn’t go past documenting one of my kids Santa photos from last year. Each year we try to do something a little out of the ordinary, as it not only makes it easier to get my kids to do it, but it also gives us something fun to look back on. (Not to mention giving Santa a good giggle as well.) Last year we decided to go with a Queen theme, as Bohemian Rhapsody is one of our favourite car sing-along songs.

Here is my layout…

As soon as I opened this collection, I was immediately drawn to the gorgeous wood grain print on the Season’s Greetings paper. (Zoe always has the best wood grains!) I decided to use it as the basis for my page, so I cut it down to measure 10×10″ and then mounted it onto the script pattern of the Oh What Fun paper to add a border.

I really wanted to make the background bit more “me” so I decided to add some mixed media as well. I brushed on some dark grey acrylic paint, then used a loose script stencil (which tied in beautifully with the script print paper) and some gold glaze to add texture.

Now it was time for some papery layers! I used pieces of some of the scaled down prints from the A5 Paper Stack to use as layers under my photo, adding in a dark grey paper doily (to tie in with the paint) and some frayed gauze for texture. I also added some cardboard to the back of my photo to help pop it up from the page.

For my embellishments, I began with the gorgeous floral pattern of the Joy to the World paper because I couldn’t wait to fussy cut those flowers! I cut two large pieces which I tucked in under the bottom left and top right corners of the photo, to create a diagonal flow to help draw the viewer’s eye through the photo. I also added an extra flower from the Die Cut Ephemera pack.

Then it was time for some pretty little bits and pieces. I used three of the Puffy Gold Stars, which I attached using my stapler; and some small pieces of twisted gold wire, which I also stapled to the page.

For my title, I fussy cut the words merry and bright from one of the 3×4″ Pocket Cards and then adhered it below my photo using foam tape to pop it up from the page. I also tucked in the sweet little Santa Flair Button alongside my title.

To finish off, I stamped the date and a few phrases using a roller stamp from my stash; then added a touch more festive sparkle with some splatters of gold mist and a sprinkling of gold sequins.

I’ve already been busy creating more layouts with this collection and I can’t wait to share them with you soon. If you don’t have this collection yet, make sure you contact your favourite retailer to ask if they have it in stock.

Until next time, happy scrapping!

The Most Wonderful Time | Merry & Bright | Raquel Bowman

Hi everyone, it’s Raquel here and today I am sharing my first layout with you using the new Christmas collection ‘Merry & Bright’. I don’t know if I feel quite ready personally for Christmas or Christmas documenting however I must say that I really loved creating this layout. 

The focus of this layout was to document the arrival of our Elves Chippy and Snowflake each year. This time is highly anticipated in my household and spoken about in incidental moments all throughout the year ‘Remember the time Chippy did….’ ‘I love when Snowflake did ….’. I used a photo taken during the first year that Chippy arrived and a cut file from Cut to You store. 

Here is the layout that I created:

The cut file stocking was backed using 6×8″ papers from the paper pad. I love that the paper pads come with the same patterns and designs as the 12×12″ sheets but on a much smaller scale. I just adore a diagonal stripe so I had to use that as the feature of the cut file backing. I used the text script paper under the gift tag, but also added an ephemera tag to the top of the stocking to replicate a tag on the stocking too.

To embellish the top of the stocking I used a ‘be jolly’ sticker and one of the gorgeous gold fabric stars.

The title is a sticker ‘the most wonderful time of the year’ and is a small feature off the layout.I used a mixture of foam adhesive on both the photo and the stocking die cut to add extra dimension to the page. 

The journaling for this layout was typed on my typewriting and cut into strip form.

I cannot wait to document the 2021 Christmas adventures with the elves and my little family using this absolutely beautiful collection. I hope you have been inspired by todays layout. 

 

Raquel x

 

Tis The Season | Merry & Bright collection | Tarrah McLean

Hi friends!

Welcome back to the Cocoa Vanilla Studio blog! Today I am very excited to be sharing my first design team layout using the AMAZING new Merry & Bright collection! I have documented a fun Christmas photo of my 2 sons from last year. Oh my goodness, seriously this collection is stunning! It is the perfect Christmas collection without being too over the top. The colours and all the elements are so gorgeous!! Even if you are not a fan of Christmas, this collection can be used for any themed project!

I decided to make good use of the 6′ x 8′ paper stack and began backing a holly wreath cut file design from CUT to YOU with the pretty papers in the stack. I tried to have the green for the holly leaves and I added red for the berries. The other florals I added a mixed floral paper and a striped paper. I will admit this did take some time but I feel the end result is worth it. Once the cut file was all backed, I turned it over and added craft foam to the bottom of the cut file.

I chose the Happy Holidays paper as my background paper and adhered the cut file at the top and bottom of the page to create a wreath shape. I then trimmed down the Happy Holidays paper a little smaller and matted it onto the Oh Christmas Tree paper. I like how this brings out the green/teal in the leaves in the cut file. On the top large in the cut file, I added one of the super cute gold puffy stars. See image below.

I matted my photo using some more of the 6′ x 8′ papers and also layered a paper doily underneath. I adhered the photo and mats to the lower centre of the wreath. I then cut the Tis The Season words from the Season’s Greetings paper for my title and adhered it using craft foam to the bottom of the photo.

I added the green Merry Christmas die-cut under the title and one of the beautiful flair buttons to the left of my photo. I also stapled a banner die-cut to the top left of the photo and adhered a heart die cut to the right of the photo. I tucked in some leaf sprig die-cuts into the cut file to enhance the wreath design.

Lastly I stamped the date stamp just below the heart die-cut of when the photo was taken.

Are you getting the new Merry & Bright collection? If you are considering buying it, considerate no more and do it! You will not regret it!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today, I hope you enjoyed my layout and that you are inspired to create with Cocoa Vanilla goodies!

Happy creating!

Tarrah x

 

Christmas cards | Tis the season | Anna Komenda

Hello Friends. Counting down to christmas is starting to look serious. Only 10 days!!! If you didn’t have time to mail your christmas cards, it’s the last call. I prepared some isnpirations for you for quick and easy cards. Cocoa Vanilla had a christmas collection – “Tis the season” –  few years ago and I still got some bits and pieces left, mostly papers. When Zoe recently released the digital versions of older lines, including the christmas one, I thought it’s the perfect moment to revisit “Tis the season”. I printed myself three sheets of embellishments included into this line. They are already prepared as a PDF versions, so all I needed to do is to pust the “print” button.

Making those three cards took me about an hour, including some fussy cutting of printed elements. It’s a combination of paper scraps, few stickers, ephemera leftovers, wooden elements and digital pieces.

I usually make 10*14 cm cards but I wanted to use up some longer stickers from the sticker sheet so I decided to use 10*20 cm size for the first card. I arranged longer strips, combining them with a piece of paper and glued them over a dotty background.

Something I like to include into all of my projects is dimension. I knew that the cards have to survive being mailed so I used solid cardboard instead of foam squares under the bigger surfaces. I finished my card adding few flowers cut out from printable sheets and wooden elements.

Second card is smaller. Once again I reached for papers scraps. I had few 3*4 elements from one of the papers and I decided to use them on cards. I started with a green background, then I added 3*4 card and finished it with a title from sticker sheet. Winter flowers are from digital version. Even if you don’t have papers, you can print them too!!! If you have a regular printer, you will get A4 size paper – perfect for any cardmaking.

Last card I made has a cute, retro Santa as a main element and it was also taken from cut apart paper.

Santa is quite big so there was no much room left for embellishing. I created my title using ephemera leftover – word “christmas”. I added word “merry” using alpha stickers, that were included into the older lines. You can buy them really cheap now! I mixed real wooden element with the printed ones to finish my card.

I am so, so happy that Zoe decided to release those printable versions of older lines. I can come back to my favorite lines and use up the leftovers. And using up the leftovers always makes me happy and I know I am not waisting anything.

Thank you for stopping by and see you in two weeks.

XO Anna

Xmas JOY | Unforgettable | Amanda Baldwin

Hi Cocoa Vanilla Studio Friends & Fans!

Amanda here, & I am super excited to share my Christmas theme page with the beautiful UNFORGETTABLE collection. I know – it isn’t a Christmas line, nor are there any Holidays elements to this collection BUT, I think UNFORGETTABLE is pretty versatile and suits all occasions! Here’s what I came up…

“Xmas JOY”

How beautiful! White & Peppermint is always synonymous with Yuletide vibes & is such an elegant color scheme to create with! Love it! Let’s take a closer look….

Christmas joy, indeed! These two were having such fun decorating the tree and dancing about to Christmas music. Such a happy capture – remember these days!!!

I started my layout with the reverse side of patterned paper, CV-UF007 SPRIGHTLY. I just adored those mint and white stripes, and knew they’d subtly suggest candy canes & peppermints. A perfect start to my Christmas page! To this paper, I centered & layered an 11″ x 11″  sheet of white cardstock. This created a really crisp and fresh background for my layout.

I cut a very simple digital cut file from Lilium Pixel SVG (in the Silhouette Store)  called:  Circle Floral Wreath and backed it with the B side of our divine CV-UFOO3 GARLAND paper. The simpleness of the wreath and snowflakes, combined with this stunning patterned paper was more than enough to create those Holiday feels! I foam mounted this wreath onto my base, before adding my photo cluster and embellishments. 

How sweet!

My photo cluster is made from a combination of the 6 X 8 PAPER STACK papers ( the smaller versions of pattern papers: STORYTELLER and NATURAL BEAUTY) that I have layered beneath my photograph. Between these layers, I also tucked in a few coordinating DIE CUT EPHEMERA pieces, and some ACCESSORY STICKERS. I foam mounted the last layer, and before adhering it to my layout, I also attached a few leafy CLEAR STICKERS to enhance the Christmas wreath appeal.

Over my photo, I adorned that fabulous Love this FLAIR BUTTON, and added my title, ‘JOY’. I should note that the ALPHABET STICKERS used on this layout are from an older Cocoa Vanilla Studio collection called ENDLESS SUMMER. I specifically selected all the mint colored letters for my page.

To the right of my photo cluster, I added one more phrase sticker, Every photo has a story from the ACCESSORY STICKERS sheet. I used the white and mint green ENAMEL DOTS to decorate around the photo & wreath, as well as a few glass beads and sequins from my stash.

Simple, but so effective!

To the top left hand side of my page, and following the curve of the wreath, I attached the ‘xmas’ part of  my title, and embellished around it with CLEAR STICKERS & ENAMEL DOTS.

For a finished look, I embellished around the wreath with more stickers, sequins and ENAMEL DOTS.

And there you have it!

A very beautiful, UNFORGETTABLE, Christmas layout!

Thanks so much for stopping by today – I really hope I inspired you to use this ‘everyday’ collection to document your Holidays with!

Merry Christmas & Have a Happy New Year!

Happy Arty Days, Amanda xo

Tis The Season | Tis The Season Collection | Tarrah McLean

Hi there creative friends!

It’s Tarrah McLean back with you and today I am sharing a new Christmas themed layout using the gorgeous Tis the Season collection.

I started my layout by cutting a Christmas Tree cut file design (sorry I am not sure where this one comes from) from white cardstock. I don’t have much of the traditional collection left now but I am so happy to be able to get everything I need in digital form! I will never run out again! If your stash is getting low of Tis the Season, make sure to grab the digital collection here and print your own! There are some of the older collections available in digital form now, so check them all out in the Cocoa Vanilla Store here! I did have some of the green holly paper left and I love how it looks behind the cut file design. I also had a small amount of the red and white diagonal stripe paper and decided to adhere a strip of that to the left side of the page.   I chose a photo of my youngest taken on Christmas Day when he was about 3 weeks old, he just turned 9 yesterday so the photo is quite old but its one of my favourites! I changed the colour of the photo to a soft black and white as the colours in the photo would have clashed with the soft colours in the collection. Underneath the photo I layered a small paper doily and a smaller piece of the red and white stripe paper to the right of the photo. I also layered a wood veneer frame on top of the photo, I like how this draws your eye to the photo. I popped up the photo using craft foam and then placed embellishments around the photo. The ticket that says ‘Child’ die-cut definitely had to be added, it was perfect tucked at the bottom of my photo.I used accessory stickers, enamel dots, die-cuts, wood veneer, sequins and a bitty bow to embellish. I have tons of the sequins left, I love the gold stars so I scattered a few of those around to add some sparkle. I placed the white bitty bow at the base of the tree to separate the tree from the pot. To finish the page, I added the date stamp of when the photo was taken. I love how my page turned out even with only minimal pieces from the Tis the Season collection!

Thank you so much for stopping by today! I hope you enjoyed my page today and that you are inspired to create your own Christmas themed layout using your stash of Tis the season!

Happy creating!

Tarrah x

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