Cut to You

Choose Happy | Happiness collection | Tarrah McLean

Hi creative friends!

It’s Tarrah back with you today to share a new scrapbook layout featuring the gorgeous Happiness collection! I was given the Throwback Thursday theme for this week so I decided to revisit the gorgeous Happiness collection and got creating! I don’t know about you but the Happiness collection would have to be one of my all-time favourite collections by Cocoa Vanilla, I am in love with it!

I chose to document a photo of my honey and I on a date a couple of months ago, opting to print the photo in black and white so that it would stand out amongst all the colour in the Happiness collection. I began by choosing a title cut file from CUT to YOU, cutting it out on white cardstock, I then took one of the papers from the A5 paper stack and backed the open letters in the cut file. I added craft foam to the underside of the larger letters and adhered it down in the centre of another sheet of plain white cardstock. I did leave adhesive off the top part of the cut file so that I could tuck in my photo and some embellishments and the cut file would be able to overlap these. I trimmed this white cardstock down to measure roughly 11′ x 11′ and adhered it to the ‘B’ side of the Botanical Bliss paper, I machine-stitched a border around the outside to add some texture and some interest.

I layered another of the papers from the A5 paper stack underneath the photo and also one of the frames from the ephemera pack. I also tucked one of the journal spots from the Accessory sticker sheet into the top of the frame and photo. Next, I cut out the ‘You Are My Happy’ from the A5 paper pad and adhered it to the right-hand side of the photo. I also tucked in the tag from the Accessory sticker sheet into the top of the You Are My Happy piece. I took some more ephemera pieces like the florals and butterflies and layered them around the cut file, I also layered the phrase banner die-cuts on top of the cut file.

The clear stickers in this collection are gorgeous so I added them around my page and also some of the phrase stickers from the Accessory sticker sheet as well. As I don’t journal on my pages all that much, I love how these phrase stickers help to tell the story behind my photo.

I cut a strip of the ‘B’ side of the ‘Frame of Mind’ paper and punched out a scalloped border using my border punch. I then adhered this piece below the cut file and machine-stitched through the centre to add some extra texture. Lastly I stamped the date stamp to finish my layout. A love how it turned out and hope you are inspired to get creative!

Thanks so much for stopping by the Cocoa Vanilla blog today!

Happy creating!

Tarrah x

Road Trip | Great Escape collection | Tarrah McLean

Hi creative friends!

It’s Tarrah back with you and today I am sharing a new layout created using the awesome Great Escape collection! I can not get enough of this collection! I think this is my 6th layout using this awesome collection and I still have heaps of ideas flowing! Talk about value for money!  I pulled out a super cute photo of my youngest son from when he was about 3 going for a ride in the car, I just love the thumbs up gesture- so cute!

I chose to work with a darker background paper choosing the ‘Journey’ patterned paper for this layout. I knew I was going to be adding the white cut file title and I really wanted that to pop off the page. The cut file I chose is from CUT to YOU, I cut out the title in white and cut out the road in black and backed it with some white cardstock to make it resemble a road as close as possible! For the large open letters in the cut file I took the A5 paper stack and choose various papers to add in the open holes. Once the cut file was all backed, I adhered the road down first using regular adhesive and then for the title, I added craft foam and then adhered it down in the centre of the page, I love adding craft foam so that it creates some dimension on my layout, this also allows me to tuck in bits and pieces where I want to if I feel some places need extra detail.

I added my photo on the right side, tucking it in behind the ‘D’ in Road I would normally layer a paper or a die-cut underneath my photo but this time I left it free of these. Once I was happy with the photo placement and the title it was time for my favourite part and that is embellishing! Below the photo I added a chipboard piece and I also added the flag chipboard piece overlapping the road and coming out of the ‘A’ in Road. The So Much Fun chipboard piece I added on top of the cut file and also added some of the phrase stickers from the Accessory sticker sheet to help tell my story.

I took a few die-cuts from the ephemera pack and also added these around my page too, I love finding the perfect piece that is the perfect shape or perfect colour to fit in spots! One of the many things I love to do when I create! I like to balance my pages and describe my style is very clean but colourful too!

Some of the smaller embellishments like the puffy shapes were some of the last things I added to my page, along with stamping the date stamp which is one of my go to things on every page! Do you have something you like to include on every project? Kind of like a signature? Lastly I trimmed down the ‘Journey’ patterned paper to roughly 11′ x 11′ and matted the entire layout on white cardstock. I then machine-stitched a border using black thread around the entire edge of the layout.

Thanks so much for stopping by the Cocoa Vanilla blog today! I hope you are inspired to use your Great Escape collection and create some adventure layouts!

Happy creating!

Tarrah x

Our Best Adventure Yet | Great Escape collection | Tarrah McLean

Hi creative friends!

It’s Tarrah back with you and today I am here to share a new scrapbook layout featuring the awesome Great Escape collection! I don’t know about you but I love travelling and I love documenting those travels too! Recently my partner and I took a trip to gorgeous Tasmania, it was wonderful, these photos are from beautiful Cradle Mountain and this collection has been perfect to document our travels.

I started by cutting out a cut file from CUT to YOU from white cardstock and then backed the different words and frames with papers from the Great Escape A5 paper stack.

I added 2 photos in the frames of the cut file as well and I had to be strategic with what photo I added in the top frame due to the frame below covering up part of the photo. I chose the ‘Direction’ patterned paper as my background, I then cut the navy blue strip from the ‘Wild Life’ patterned paper and adhered it to the left hand side of the paper. Once the cut file was all backed, I adhered it to the same background paper. Usually I adhere my cut files using craft foam to pop them up, however for this layout I knew I wanted to pop up the mountains and other die-cut embellishments in the middle. I added the mountains, the Fun Times sign, the wood piece and the Adventure word all from the ephemera pack.

I also placed the compass die-cut to the middle of the ‘O’ of the word ‘Our’ in the cut file, I used craft foam for this piece also to pop it up off the page. Down next to the ‘Yet’ word, I placed the super cute camper die-cut and layered some phrase stickers from the Accessory Sticker sheet on top from the ephemera pack. Once the larger elements were added to my page, I then added a few smaller embellishments including puffy enamel shapes and some more stickers from the Accessory sticker sheet, including the arrow sticker and the journal spot above the word ‘Our’. I love how the puffy enamel shapes add a touch of colour and dimension and I love how the phrase stickers help to tell the story if you don’t feel like journaling!

Lastly I stamped the date stamp and journaled where the photos were taken. I love how this cut file helped to make the design and placement decisions on my layout and the Great Escape collection really does make it so easy to create great memories!

 

Thanks 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! Make sure you get your hands on the awesome Great Escape collection!

Happy crafting!

Tarrah x

December | Joyful collection | Tarrah McLean

Hi creative friends!

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

I know, I know its still November but who said we couldn’t document Christmas all year round right? I know some people would not agree lol! I don’t know about you, but Christmas is one of my favourite times of the year to document memories, this photo is of our big Christmas tree from last year. I love this photo as it reminds me of beautiful times spent with my family.

I started by choosing the ‘B’ side of the Feeling Festive patterned paper to use for my background, I trimmed this piece down and adhered it to a plain white sheet of white cardstock and machine stitched a border around the outside to add some texture. I then cut out a cut file from CUT to YOU also using plain white cardstock. The A5 paper stack was then used, choosing several of the papers from it to back each letter in the cut file. Once the cut file was all backed, I adhered it slightly to the left on the ‘B’ side of the Feeling Festive paper. I cut strips out of the Holly Days paper and the Very Merry paper and adhered these vertically to the left of the cut file. I like how this helps to ground the cut file. Usually I adhere my cut files using craft foam however this time I knew I wanted to use craft foam on lots of the elements on top of the cut file.

I adhered my photo on the right of the cut file using craft foam and layered some of the Journaling Cards underneath,  I then added some die-cut pieces from the Ephemera pack and some Accessory Stickers and Puffy Stickers here too. I like to add embellishments near my photo to help draw the eye to the photo. You can see in the image above the shadows that using the craft foam creates under the photo, I love how this looks! It also allows for lots of tucking of embellishments as well. Above my photo, I placed some of the word and phrase stickers from the Accessory Sticker sheet, I love how these help with journaling and telling the story.

To balance out the heavy right side where my photo is placed, I decided to add the gorgeous die-cut Christmas Tree from the ephemera pack to the left hand side using craft foam, I added one of the gold puffy stars to the top of the tree and also layered more of the word and phrase stickers from the Accessory Sticker sheet, on top of the tree. I added some more gifts under the tree using puffy shapes and die-cuts. In the centre, I placed the FaLaLaLa die-cut, a banner sticker and another phrase sticker. I also pulled out some of the chipboard and added some of the pretty gold stars and I also added the Santa Hat to the top of ‘D’ in the December cut file.

In the centre of the ‘D’ in the December cut file, I took one of the circle stickers from the Accessory Sticker sheet and added one of the gorgeous wood epoxy buttons to the centre of the circle. Once all the bigger elements were added to my page and I was happy with all of the placement, I took a look at my layout to see if I was happy with it and if I thought it was finished. I can very easily overdo it sometimes and never know when to stop but I added just a few smaller embellishments like more gold chipboard stars and some Accessory stickers to finish. I also stamped the date stamp which is what I do on all of my layouts, its one of my signatures that I always like to do!

Thank you so much for stopping by the Cocoa Vanilla blog today! I hope I have inspired you to pull out your Cocoa Vanilla Christmas collections and start creating some of your past Christmas memories!

Happy creating!

Tarrah x

Happy | Heart & Home collection | Tarrah McLean

Hi creative friends!

It’s Tarrah back with you to share a new scrapbook layout featuring the gorgeous new Heart & Home collection! This collection is so gorgeous and perfect for documenting outdoor themed projects as well as thankful, home and Autumn/Fall themed projects! Heck its suitable for any type of project really!

I am documenting a recent photo taken on an adventure with my love. I take photos of us every chance I get!

I started by choosing an Autumn Leaf cut file from CUT to YOU and cut this out from plain white cardstock. I did resize it down slightly and then cut it out. I then adhered the cut file to the yellow/mustard coloured paper from the A5 paper stack. I fussy cut around the edges and then placed it to the side while I created the rest of the layout. I took a plain sheet of white cardstock, as I mostly start with, I took the ‘Flurry paper’ ( I love this paper!!) and tore it in half horizontally. I then adhered this to the top half of the white cardstock, I did leave the adhesive off the bottom  in case I decided to tuck anything at the bottom, which I did decide to do. I cut the bottom strip of rainbow diagonal stripes off the bottom of the ‘Gather paper’ and adhered this piece down.

Once the strip was adhered, you can see in the close up photo above that I rolled the edges of the tear part of the ‘Flurry paper’ to add some texture to my page and to reveal the paper on the other side, I love how this paper blends in with the diagonal stripes perfectly. I took the cut file that I finished earlier and using craft foam underneath for dimension, I adhered it overlapping the papers on the page and slightly over to the right hand side to leave some room on the left side for a title and some embellishments. I then placed my photo right on top of the cut file, I love how this adds an extra layer between the background and the photo. On top of the photo I adhered a phrase die-cut piece from the Ephemera pack and tucked in at the top the heart speech bubble die-cut. I cut some of the banner pieces from the ‘Gather paper’ and adhered one on the right hand side, tucked in behind the cut file and the other on the left hand side, underneath the sticker that says, ‘Another Perfect Moment Captured’ from the Accessory Sticker Sheet.

I also adhered the Simple Joys circle die-cut from the Ephemera Pack using craft foam on the right hand side and took a small phrase sticker and placed this above the circle die-cut. My title is one of the gorgeous gold foiled cardstock titles, I chose the word ‘Happy’ and adhered this to the left of my photo using craft foam to add some more dimension. I also added a few more of the small black and white word and phrase stickers from the Accessory Sticker Sheet around my page. I love to add these to my layouts as I do not journal all that much on my pages, adding these helps to tell the story of the photo and capture the moment a bit more. Next I took some of the leaves from the Floral Ephemera pack and tucked in a few of these around the cut file to extend on the cut file and bring the Autumn leaves from the paper above down to the bottom of the layout. I love how these look tucked in all around the cut file.

The Puffy Stickers are just SOOO beautiful so they definitely had to be added to my layout too! I placed most of these down amongst the Autumn Leaf die-cuts, placing some of the circle ones tucked under leaves and the heart ones out for all to see! Lastly stamped the date stamp as I always do and then I added some sprinkles of Gold Heidi Swapp Colour Shine.

I love the detail, the design, the dimension and the collection! It is SO easy to work with and you too can create pretty projects!

Thanks so much for stopping by the Cocoa Vanilla blog today! Make sure to get your hands on the gorgeous Heart & Home collection!

Happy creating!

Tarrah x

Together | Heart and Home collection | Tarrah McLean

Hi creative friends,

It’s Tarrah back with you and today I am excited to be sharing a layout with you featuring the new GORGEOUS Heart and Home collection! I love the handmade feel to this collection.

I started by choosing a cut file from CUT to YOU, I cut it out from the ‘B’ side of the gorgeous Fall Beauty paper. I was certain to place the cut file in the centre of the paper so I could use the outline as the background for my layout. I adhered the cut file to a plain sheet of white cardstock and trimmed down the cardstock to measure approximately 11′ x 11′ and adhered it the remainder of the Fall Beauty paper. I then machine stitched a border around the outside to add to that handmade feel.

I am documenting a photo of myself with my friends from one of their 50th birthdays a few years ago. Such a fun night celebrating! I placed the photo on the right hand side of the page and layered a piece of vellum and a frame from the die-cut pack underneath. I adhered the photo using craft foam to add a little dimension to my page. On top of the photo, I added a phrase banner from the die-cut pack and also placed a rectangle sticker from the accessory sticker sheet to the left of the photo.

At the bottom of the photo, I placed the paper strip with the cross hearts on it from the ‘Gather’ paper. I also tucked in some florals from the floral die-cut pack and placed a banner die-cut and a round die-cut both from the ephemera pack. To the right side of my photo, I tucked in some more florals here and also placed a word sticker from the Accessory Sticker sheet. My title is the ‘Together’ word from the gold title die-cut pack. I just love the gold foil on these! So pretty!

To balance out the heavy right side of the page that features my photo and title, I created a small cluster of embellishments that features mostly florals and a Love die-cut. I used different levels of adhesive here to show different levels of dimension. I also placed some more word and phrase stickers here from the Accessory sticker sheet. Lastly I placed some enamel puffy shapes and I stamped the date stamp to document the date of when the photo was taken.

Thanks so much for stopping by the Cocoa Vanilla blog! I hope you enjoyed reading about how I created my layout as much as I enjoyed creating it.

Happy creating!

Tarrah x

Laugh Love Happy | Happiness collection | Tarrah McLean

Hi creative friends!

It’s Tarrah back with you and today I am here to share a new scrapbook layout featuring the older but still GORGEOUS Happiness collection! The Happiness collection would have to be one of my absolute favourites by Cocoa Vanilla Studio! I love it sooo much!

The Happiness collection was the perfect collection to document a photo of my son, my Mum and I out exploring recently. We love getting outside and exploring my parents farm together!

I cut out a large cut file from CUT to YOU using white cardstock, I then chose lots of different papers from the A5 paper stack and backed all of the words with a different paper. This does take some time to get everything all backed however I love the end result and all that time it takes is worth it. I adhered the cut file to another sheet of plain white cardstock using regular adhesive, I often use craft foam underneath cut files but this time I didn’t. I trimmed down the cardstock to about 11′ x 11′ and adhered it to the Little Things 12′ x 12′ paper. I then machine stitched a border around the outside edge to create some texture.

Tip: If you only have a small amount of a collection left (mainly papers) and you want to use it up, cutting out a large cut file is a great way to use up some excess papers, you don’t need too many embellishments by doing this either.

I placed my photo over on the right hand side of the layout, I did have to cover up some of the cut file but I knew that and I am ok with that. I layered a paper underneath the photo and one of the round die-cuts from the ephemera pack and also tucked in some of the gorgeous florals in the top right and bottom left corners. The florals in this collection are stunning don’t you agree?!

To help draw the eye towards the photo some more, I added a die-cut heart in the bottom right corner of the photo, a banner sticker to the top right corner and a tab on the left of the photo. On the right hand side, I tucked in one of the circle stickers, above the photo, I placed some phrase stickers and stamped the date stamp. Creating layers gives the layout depth and lots of interest and really draws the eye into the subject of the layout.

To help the readers eye travel around the layout, I added more phrase stickers from the Accessory Sticker Sheet reading from the top of the page to the bottom of the page. These phrase stickers help to tell the story of the photo and are great to use instead of journalling. I don’t like my handwriting at all so these stickers are perfect for me to use for this purpose. I took some of the gorgeous butterfly die-cuts from the Ephemera pack and placed them tone on tone on the layout. I bent up their wings to add dimension and texture.

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

My Birthday | Happy Days Collection | Michelle Stokes

Hello Hello, It’s Michelle back here today with a new layout share for you all using the Happy Days Collection. I went bold with my pattern paper choice for the background of this one and let the rainbow paint strokes of the Sunshine Lollipops paper shine.

I chose a large cut file design from the CUT to YOU store to use as part of the background design, and it almost became part of the title for the layout. I’ve documented a happy family snap from my birthday a few weeks back, but as it was a ‘quiet’ dinner with family I didn’t think YAY YAY HAPPY WOO TIME was the best option to use, although it does sound quite funny.

I adhered the cutfile to the background using foam tape, giving the design a slight 3d effect.

I printed the photo in black and white so that there was no colour clashing with the background paper and used the frame from the ephemera pack to use as a layering element for this stack. I added fussy cut florals from the A5 paper stack in colour blocked groups according to the direction of colours on the background paper

In the top right corner I added a cluster of ephemera pieces and fussy cut florals from the LUSH BLOOMS paper that blended with the top of the background paper

And then created a second cluster in the bottom left with more ephemera, florals and fussy cut pieces. I added the title ‘My Birthday’ to the journal card using the mini puffy alphas from this collection. So cute and colourful, and so many options for mini titles.

Heres another look at the entire layout, including my usual sprinkling of gold ink to finish it all off. I’m really happy with how colourful this layout turned out, it came together quite quickly which is the best way to create a layout. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of using this collection. It’s bright happy colours and patterns are the absolute best!

Well thats all from me today, thanks so much for stopping by. Be sure to keep sharing all your amazing creations with us in the Cocoa Vanilla Studio Community Group on Facebook, we love to see what you all make!

Until next time, Happy Scrapping!
Michelle x

Choose Happy | Happy Days collection | Tarrah McLean

Hi creative friends!

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

For this project I was given the assignment of using patterned paper for my background and chose the ‘B’ side of the ‘Feel Good patterned paper’ to document a photo of my Mum and I taken a few years ago.

I chose a title cut file from CUT to YOU to add to my layout, cutting it from white cardstock. I then backed the open letters in the word ‘Happy’ with various papers from the A5 paper stack. I added craft foam to the underneath of the cut file and then adhered it to the background. I love how the white cardstock is a big contrast to the yellow background, this really helps the elements pop off the yellow patterned paper. I made sure to only use a small amount of adhesive so that things could be tucked underneath the cut file.

Above the cut file I tucked in my photo, I first layered one of the papers from the A5 paper stack under the photo, I also tucked in two of the stickers from the Accessory Sticker Sheet and tucked them in either side of the photo. I cut out some phrases from another sheet of the ‘Feel Good patterned paper’ and adhered one on top of the photo and the other on top of the cut file. I love to layer embellishments on top of cut files to add some more interest.

At the bottom of the cut file, I adhered the long paper strip with the tabs on it to also from the Feel Good patterned paper, I love how that looks like the cut file is sitting on a shelf of sorts. This was a great opportunity to add some of the small phrase stickers from the Accessory Sticker Sheet to the strip. I cut out the Choose Happy journal card also from the Feel Good paper and adhered it to the right of the photo, I then added some quotes about being happy to it.

Some of the smaller embellishments I added to my page are the Chipboard hearts, the gold foil butterflies cut out of the specialty paper, puffy hearts, ephemera, enamel hearts and some more accessory stickers. I love the dimension that my layout has and I love how it turned out too. Lastly I stamped the date stamp as I always do on my layouts. Don’t be afraid to use a busy patterned paper as your starting point for your page, you can still keep the focus on the photo by using clever techniques to draw your eye to the photo.

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

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