I used the Storyteller collection to document this lovely photo of my dog Fiona waiting for her very best friend to arrive!
This month’s theme is “Tell a story”, and that was my focus on this page as I highlighted my cute little story by printing it on a Pocket Card and framing it with one of the frames included in the Storyteller Ephemera pack. Have you notice that it seems like Fiona is looking at the frame? That’s why I placed the journaling frame on the upper left side of the page.
I used my favourite paper of the collection “Brighter Days”, cut it into a big scalloped border and placed it on the right side of the page, adding a zig zag stitch in matching thread between each stripe.
I stamped the letters for my title with an alphabet stamp from my stash for the words “The Wait” and added the “Story” Chipboard sticker to complete my title.
Then, I embellished the page with beautiful floral die cuts and butterflies. I added two Wood Epoxy Buttons and a few Nuvo Drop dots as the finishing touch.
Here are more close-ups:
As you see, focussing on a story doesn’t necessarily have to occupy a lot of space on a layout. Presenting it as a focus point, or even like an embellishment, will guide the eye easily towards it and make it stand out beautifully!
I hope this was inspiring for you, thank you for passing by.
Hey y’all! Laura Alberts back again with a camping layout featuring the new Storyteller collection. This one is a horizontal design with three photos from an epic camping trip my husband and son took together. They hiked for 14 miles! That is definitely a story worth telling. For this layout, I primarily used the stunning Brighter Days patterned paper for this beautiful rainbow stripe in the background with navy paper from the A5 paper stack tucked behind it and layered around my center photo.
I created two clusters at the top and bottom of the largest photo. The top clusters are florals from the icon ephemera pack, with puffy stickers in the centers and fussy cut tiny florals added around the outside. I absolutely love the mix of floral types in this collection. With a variety of sizes and colors, this collection has such a beautiful mix of florals to choose from. I also added some outlining around my patterned papers to give the appearances of dimension, or shadows.
The lower two clusters are a mix of icon ephemera pieces and word phrases. Love the way these two clusters anchor the title on either side. I decided to keep the title very simple, using a foam word ‘Together’, and focus on the journaling instead. Using a T-square ruler, I drew several lines under my title and added in the important information I wanted to remember about my husband’s love for camping. This was such a fun way to document a memorable trip.
I hope this layout inspires you to add a bit of story telling to your layouts! To see how ‘Together’ was created, check out the process video below:
Mandy here today to share a new layout featuring the fabulous new Storyteller collection! I’m loving how versatile this collection is – it’s perfect for documenting so many different themed photos. For my layout today I chose to scrapbook a photo of my hubby and I. We recently booked a ‘Mystery Picnic’ date and had so much fun discovering new places and collecting lots of delicious food for our picnic along the way. I was keen to get this selfie that we took on the day scrapbooked, and the Storyteller collection was the perfect choice for this photo.
I started my layout off with the lovely blue Ditsy Daisy paper as my background. I then cut a circle, approximately 9 inches in diameter, out of a sheet of white cardstock. I then matted the circle with the woodgrain Cross it Off paper, added some machine stitching around the edge, and adhered it the centre of the page.
Next I matted my photo with three different papers from the A5 Paper Stack, adding some craft foam between the layers for extra dimension. I also tucked a Die Cut frame under the bottom right hand corner of the photo and added a little banner Sticker along the bottom edge of the photo.
For my title I decided on using the phrase ‘Our Story’ from the Foam Title Stickers. I love how this really pops! These stickers are so beautiful and versatile, and make it so easy to add a title to your layouts. Underneath the title I added a couple of little word stickers.
For my embellishing I couldn’t go past using some gorgeous fussy cut florals from the Spring Fling paper. I created a beautiful floral cluster on the bottom left hand corner of the photo, layering together various fussy cut flowers. Again I used some foam tape for added dimension when adhering some of the flowers.
I balanced this cluster out with another one on the top right hand corner of the photo, using more fussy cut florals from the Spring Fling paper. I then scattered a few die cut hearts around the floral clusters to finish the layout off.
Thanks so much for stopping by the blog today! I hope you enjoyed taking a closer look at my layout.
Hello lovely Cocoa Vanilla Studio fans! Danni here, back with another layout featuring the pretty Storyteller collection. On the blog this week the team are focusing on storytelling with our layouts. Today I am documenting what is a very important day of the year for many people, including myself – Mother’s Day.
I am not necessarily the most creative when it comes to storytelling; I am certainly not a prodigious journaller and I tend to go blank when it comes time to put pen to layout. To help overcome this I look for ways to add small areas of journalling in creative ways. This time I chose an envelope cutfile, knowing I would be able to tuck little pieces of my story inside them.
I went ahead and backed my cutfile using the A5 paper stack, alternating the busier patterns with the more solid ones to create variety. I made sure not to glue down the openings of the two envelopes I wanted to tuck things inside. To brighten up my white cardstock background, I took soft pink and yellow hybrid inks and added some subtle mixed media using the packaging technique.
Next, I chose the cut-apart sheets from the A5 paper stack and cut out a journalling spot and a couple of the adorable tags. I added some journalling to the journalling spot and tucked it into the middle envelope of the cutfile. I hole-punched the tags and added some coloured thread to them before popping them into the other open envelope.
To add more detail to the little envelopes, I used the chipboard stickers to add a heart envelope seal, then added some tiny word accessory stickers and a stamped date to another envelope to make it look as if it had been addressed. I also popped a puffy sticker heart inside the stamp – so sweet!
I added my photos above and below my cutfile to frame it nicely, then added my title using the foam title stickers to fill in the remaining large, awkward spaces. I embellished by adding some die cut ephemera florals, some more accessory stickers and lots of puffy stickers sprinkled around the layout.
Finally, I added another small journaling spot above one of the photos to finish. I am really happy with how I told my story with this layout. I hope you enjoyed joining me too. Happy scrapping!
Hello Friends. It’s Anna here with my newest page made with new “Storyteller” collection. I am sure you are all already familiar with this extraordinary line and many of you already got your own stash of it. It’s such a versatile collection, with beautiful color palette that will match any photo. In August we are all focusing on telling stories with our projects. I love making layouts but I usually hide my journaling on the back of the page. I am totally not happy with my hand writting so it’s the best solution for me. Today I am documenting the story of one of the toys my younger daughter got when she was just a baby. It was one of those bouncers with activity toys around the baby, all very colorful and making noises. It was a hit for us – I could take a quick shower knowing Maja will play with all the buttons and creatures. She loved bouncing up and down and she often fell asleep while playing there. She was hopping like crazy and my older daughter, who was five at the time, named this toy “hopek” from hopping (no English word not that correspond to that made up phrase). So the bouncer got it’s own unique name, that made us laugh every time we were using it. Gabrysia was famous for making up new words for many things.
I started my page with white cardstock. I knew I wanted to make something colorful as the bouncer was colorful as well. Plus I was scrapbooking cute baby photo and those scream for playful color combo! I took my inspiration from paper called “Brighter days” (You know I have a thing for rainbows). I used small heart dies and cut out set of four hearts from each color strip. My photo is almost A4 in size, so there was not much space left in the background to play with. I reached for long forgotten Gelatos and scribbles with them using colorful strips as a guide. I smeared them with my fingers a little bit. It created very playful designs, that looks like it was made by little child.
Next step was to glue down the photo with a little frame made with “Oh my heart” paper. I just wanted to make the picture pop from the white background. I reached for Flower Ephemera pack and picked flowers in corresponding to the strips colors placing them on the bottom edge of the photo. I also added my hearts using pieces of sticky foam to add a bit of dimension.
I also added some flowers on top of the photo making sort of a frame around the cute baby face. Bits and pieces from Ephemera pack landed on the photo as well. I used colorful banner, camera with flowers and a tab. Few chipboard butterflies enriched my composition around the flowers.
Last step was to add few puffy hearts (I just love those puffy stickers!) and three wooden epoxy buttons. I tend to hoard them as they are the cutest embellishment ever and I am always afraid I will run out of them.
I love how simple, playful and colorful this page turned out. It’s an essence of my scrappy style and it has rainbow! Rainbows always make me so happy. That is all for today. Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you feel inspired by my design.
It’s Tarrah back with you and today I am sharing another new scrapbook layout featuring the stunning Storyteller collection!
I have had this lovely photo of my parents printed for ages, I was finally able to document it using the Storyteller collection because look how the colours in the photo match perfectly with the colours in the collection?!
I chose the gorgeous woodgrain side of the Cross It Off paper as my main background paper, trimming this down and adhering it to a plain sheet of white cardstock. I decided to cut out a gorgeous book cut file from CUT to YOU from white cardstock using my Silhouette Cameo machine. I chose a variety of the papers from the A5 paper stack and backed them behind the cut file. Once the cut file was backed, I added some craft foam to the underneath and adhered it down on the woodgrain background paper. The reason I do this is so it creates dimension, shadows and texture. Once it was adhered to the background, I bent the edges of the ‘pages’ to make it look a little more realistic and to add even more dimension.
 I adhered the photo to the right side of the cut file and tucked in one the pocket cards on the left side of the photo. Under the bottom left corner I took one of the accessory stickers and placed it down. Further left of the pocket card, I took one of the banner chipboard pieces and adhered this down. Around my photo I added a few different embellishments including at the bottom of the photo, I added the ‘Love This’ ephemera piece using craft foam and tucked the half circle Our Story ephemera piece below it. To the right of the photo I added one of the super cute wood epoxy buttons and a small heart die-cut between the photo and the pocket card. Above the photo and below the chipboard banner I added some phrase stickers from the accessory sticker sheet to help tell the story.
The title for my layout is ‘Our Story’ made up from the gorgeous black foam title stickers. I placed this at the bottom of the cut file and love how it looks there. I also placed the swirl and a heart from the same pack here too. As I had the black at the bottom of the page, I wanted to create a visual triangle and did this by adding 2 more hearts in 2 different places on my layout to draw your eye around the page. Creating a visual triangle is important when designing and for the finished result as it becomes pleasing to the viewer. With my layout all of the colour going on in it, the visual triangle with the solid black elements helps to break up some of the colour. Under the title, I took more of the phrase stickers from the accessory sticker sheet and placed them down.
At the top of the book cut file, I knew I wanted to tuck in quite a few of the stunning florals from the floral ephemera pack. I played around with a few of them for a little while until I as happy with how it looked, I bent the edges of the petals and leaves also. In either corner of the book cut file, I took 2 of the floral chipboard pieces and tucked these in how I liked them. After the florals were added to the top, I felt like the very bottom of the page was a little bare so I took the floral book chipboard and placed it in the centre at the bottom of the page. I love how that added a little something to the page. I also placed a phrase sticker from the accessory sticker sheet on top of it. Lastly I stapled the ‘Love This’ tab on the right of the cut file and stamped the date stamp below the title.
Thank you so much for stopping by the Cocoa Vanilla blog today! I hope you enjoyed seeing and reading about how I created my layout as much as I enjoyed creating it?!
Haven’t got yourself the beautiful new Storyteller collection yet? Make sure you keep an eye out in the Cocoa Vanilla online store for its arrival soon!
It’s Sophie on the blog today and I am happy to share a brand-new page created with the Storyteller collection.
I used two cut files for this layout. They are designed by Paige Evans.
I used a thick white cardstock for my background. I backed a few of the clouds with a blue patterned paper from the A5 Paper Stack. I added a little bit of white gesso on some areas to create a more faded and fluffier look.
I placed the clouds on the upper part of the page, mounted on foam adhesive.
I backed the little houses cut file with many different patterned papers, again from the A5 Paper Stack and added a few white scalloped borders created with a border punch.
I also created a shaker heart on the middle bigger house and used some coral sequins from my stash.
I used a colored photo of my daughter Sabrina watering the garden with the “help” of our two dogs…
My title comes from the Foam Title Stickers pack.
I wrote down my journaling on a fussy cut piece of patterned paper and embellished around the shaker heart, journaling and photo with bits and pieces from the Die Cut Ephemera pack. I scattered a few Puffy Sticker Hearts as the finishing touch.
Here are more close-ups:
I love to use cut files on my pages. Do you use them often?
Well, thank you for passing by, and I will see you again soon!
Mandy here with you today to share a new layout featuring the fabulous new Storyteller collection! Over the month of August, our design team will be sharing projects that focus on story telling, and I’m up first with my project today. I wanted to tell the story of a friendship that my eldest daughter Abi has with one of our closest family friends. These girls have grown up together and have been friends their entire lives, and I think that that is a great story to document! We have many photos of them together of the years, but I decided to include just three – one from when they were very young (Abi was two years old, and Karla was one); another from Abi’s 7th birthday party; and a very recent one taken at her 18th.
I started my layout off with a sheet of the yellow Little Love paper as my background. I tore a strip off the bottom of the patterned paper and layered it over the top of the Ditsy Daisy paper. I also tucked a torn strip of the blue side of the Little Love paper under the edge of the yellow paper to provide some contrast. I then added some machine stitching around the edge of the page to bring it all together and add some more texture.
Next I cut my title using a cut file from the Silhouette Design Store. I wanted a long title that added to the story telling, and the quote “Friends are the Family we Choose” perfectly summed up the story that I wanted to tell on this layout. I cut the title first from the blue Little Love paper, and then I offset it and cut it again from white cardstock to create a border. I adhered the title using foam tape to help it to really pop off the page.
I printed the more recent photo at 4×6″ and the older photos at 3×4″. I matted all of them with the green Fly Away patterned paper as well as a paper from the A5 Paper Stack. I adhered the larger photo underneath the title, and the two smaller ones at the top of the page.
To the left of the larger photo I added a floral cluster that I fussy cut out of the beautiful Spring Fling patterned paper. I also added a cute Die Cut banner on the top left hand corner of the photo that says ‘This is Our Story’.
To balance out the cluster in the bottom left hand corner of the page, I created a smaller one in the top right. This one includes a Chipboard floral sticker as well as another small fussy cut flower. Around the floral clusters I added a sprinkling of hearts using Chipboard and Puffy Stickers.
To finish the layout off I of course had to add some journaling! I typed my journaling onto white cardstock, which I then cut up into strips and adhered to the right of the larger photo. This is my favourite way of adding journaling to my layouts.
I really enjoyed focusing on the ‘story telling’ aspect of this layout, which I think I achieved through the use of multiple photos, journaling, and a long title. And most importantly, I’m so glad that I got this story documented!
Hey y’all! Laura Alberts back again with another t-ball layout featuring my daughter and my husband. The colors in her uniform were just perfect for the Storyteller collection and I loved the idea of taking a very different spin on my last layout. In this one, I still used a small section of that Paige Taylor Evans star wreath cut file, but this time layered it in the background at the top of the page. Backing it with papers from the A5 paper stack for a splash of fun colors, this cut file really pops!
To give the appearance of dimension, I layered icon ephemera buttons on top and larger circle pieces underneath of the the cut file. These darling little flowers that I fussy cut from the Fly Away patterned paper are the perfect details to add around my clusters. With epoxy wood buttons for a decidedly non-paper addition, the clusters have texture too!
Adding in a cut apart piece and word phrases to match those details on the first half of this spread, I squeezed in so many words that truly capture the feeling of this moment. I kept my title small on this one, using the foam word “Happy” to keep it simple. Finishing it off with a frame to house my journaling and a camera from the icon ephemera, this layout is complete!
I hope this layout inspires you to scrap a wide variety of photos with this beautiful collection! If you’d like to see how “Happy” came together, check out the process video below.
Hello crafty Friend. It’a Anna here and today I have something different than a layout for you! I know it’s been a while but I also love making albums. Sure, layouts are faster and easier, but albums have this extra cute factor and can hold much more photos and stories. And what collection can be better for saving stories than a “Storyteller”? This brand new CVS line is just fantastic and so versatile. You can scrapbook any photo with it – both feminine and masculine, thanks to the big range of colors and motiffs. I didn’t have any specific ones in mind so I made a generic album, than can be filled any time in the future. It can also become a great gift for someone, who loves documenting their live.
Album itself is rather small but it can hold about 30 3*4 photos, thanks to the pockets and extra cards. I made the album base from scratch with three pieces of cardboard and some extra fabric to reinforce the cover. I think jeans pattern and color matches the papers perfectly. I combined it with paper with hearts called “Oh my heart”. You may notice the pattern is upside down, which wasn’t intended… I realized my error after the pages inside were finished and there was no easy fix for this. So I tried to cover the hearts with the flowers as much as I could hoping they will be distracting enough so hearts won’t be that visible.
Both front and back covers are decorated with ephemera pieces, floral ephemera pieces and chipboard stickers. There are so many great embellishments to choose from the “Storyteller” line! Black foam title stickers are just a cherry on top. I added them both on covers and inside the album as a contrasting piece and decorative element!
There is also one more product that I used in big quantities here – pocket cards! I am not a project lifer so I was sure I won’t use up those cards for my PL spreads. I decided to use as many as i could for my album. They serve as a filler for five pockers in the pages but they can be also found tucked into the pages. You can use them either as a base for extra photos or for some journaling.
For smaller projects, like my mini album, 6*8 paper stack can be more convinient to use than 12*12 papers.It also gives you a bigger choice for patterns as they are a bit different than the ones in 12*12 sheets. I used a lot of the pages for my album mixing them with dark navy cardstock as a page base.
On this page above I used doodly frames from ephemera pack as a pockets to slip photos into. All I needed to do is to add strips of foam on three sides of the frame and glue it down to the page.
Another page in my album got a little, long pocket that I filled with tags and squares cut out from 12*12 paper called “Story time”. This is such a mighty paper – you can cut it into pieces and add them into your epehemera pack for even more elements!
Two of my album pages got this little strip of paper that holds some loose pieces of papers and some 3*4 cards. You can add extra photos on them or a journaling. You can also add even more of them or remove them completely – whatever floats your boat!
When my album was done I went back and embellished each page with some small elements like puffy sticker hearts and dots or little, black foam hearts from Titles pack. This made the whole album more cohesive. This project took me few hours to finish, longer than a layout for sure, but it was time well spent and I love the final result. I hope you like it too and my alum will inspire you to make your own mini books with “Storyteller” line.
Thank you so much for stopping by and see you in August!
