CUT to YOU cut files

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

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

Mad as a Hatter | Heart & Home Collection | Michelle Stokes

Hello Hello! It’s Michelle back here again with a new layout share using the newest Collection – Heart & Home. The colours within this collection reminded me of a photo I took recently of Leila for her last Book Week of Primary School so I thought what better moment to document than this one.

I started with a cut file design from CUT to YOU  that I’ve cut out using white cardstock and backed with pattern papers from the A5 paper stack. I used a different pattern in each of the stars, then mixed them up for the strips that shoot out between. I backed the main square with the woodgrain pattern and adhered the cut file piece to the cardstock using double sided foam tape to lift it off the background. I added a splattering of gold ink all over before finishing the page as I wanted to build the remaining embellishments around the splotches

Leila dressed up as the Mad Hatter for her final Book Week parade, and after all the effort we put into her costume, I’m happy to say she won for her class. Yay! We op shopped for most of her outfit items and spent more than we needed to on all the finishing pieces. I created a tea party cake stack with some hat boxes, a tea set and my hot glue gun, sewed a wig onto a top hat and created a sashing of threads. She had a great day, and had lots of compliments for her crazy costume.

I added the photo directly to the cut file piece without adding paper layers below as I felt there was already so much going on in the background. I wanted it to stand out amongst all the colour behind it so I raised it up a little with a piece of foam sheet and layered the ephemera pieces to the top corner.

I added another floral ephemera piece to the bottom , and another to the right of the layout to create a visual triangle of sorts.

I used the negative star pieces from the main cut file to add a little detail to the blank white space around the cut file, mixed in amongst the gold splatters with a couple of accessory stickers, ephemera pieces and puffy shapes

On the larger star of the cut file I added a mini title using the Mini Puffy Alphas. These are the perfect size for creating secondary titles on layouts as they’re not too big to distract from the main title

Which then makes way for the large title using my beloved white Alphabet stickers from quite a few years back. I added machine stitching over the top to ensure they stay adhered for many years to come, but also adds a little extra detail to the layout.

Here’s a final look at the entire layout..

Well friends thats all from me today, I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing my newest creation using the Heart & Home Collection.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Until next time, Happy Scrapping
Michelle x

Christmas Morning Joy | Merry & Bright collection | Tarrah McLean

Hi creative friends and Happy New Year!

It’s Tarrah back today to share a new scrapbook layout featuring the gorgeous Merry and Bright collection!

I just love creating Christmas layouts, what about you? I still have lots of the Merry and Bright collection and I also love to stash bust so I really enjoyed creating this layout!

I started by choosing my background paper – opting for the Star Bright paper. I then cut out a cut file from white cardstock. The cut file is from CUT to YOU and is called Stars Squared. Once the cut file was cut out, I struggled with the placement and design of my page so I cut up the cut file into separate pieces so I could place pieces of it where I wanted to. Do you ever do this? I do this a lot if I am struggling to like how a cut file looks on my page. There are no rules to say you have to use a cut file the way it was intended!

I backed all the stars of the cut file with papers from the Merry and Bright A5 paper stack, once it was all backed, I then placed foam adhesive to the underside of the cut file and adhered the cut file to the ‘Star Bright’ paper.

The photo I am documenting today was taken just this last Christmas of my 2 sons and my 2 beautiful nieces! My nieces were able to be here from England for this Christmas! It was wonderful to have them and it was the first Christmas we have had together with them! A very special memory to document. I layered one of the pocket cards and a cardstock frame from the ephemera pack under the photo and adhered it overlapping the cut file, in the centre of my layout. I also stapled a banner sticker from the accessory sticker sheet to the top left corner of the photo. My title is made up of a phrase sticker from the accessory sticker sheet overlapping the word ‘Joy’ fussy cut out from the Season’s Greeting paper.  It certainly was Christmas Morning Joy in our household!

To the left of the photo I also placed the Ho Ho Ho die-cut from the ephemera pack, a gorgeous flair button, a phrase sticker and a gold puffy star. In the top left I also placed that super cute Santa face die-cut from the ephemera pack and to balance that with the bottom right corner, I placed the sleigh, also from the ephemera pack.

To finish my layout, I added a few smaller embellishments like small die-cuts, stickers, another gold puffy star and completely finished the page with stamping the date stamp and sprinkling some gold Heidi shine. Once I had finished my layout, I then auditioned some papers to go behind the Star Bright one to act as a ‘frame’. I decided on the ‘B’ side of the ‘Joy to the World’ paper. I trimmed down the ‘Star Bright’ paper and adhered it to the ‘Joy to the World’ paper.

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.

Do you have the Merry & Bright collection? I encourage you to pull it out and create some pretty things with it!

Tarrah x

Happy Days | Monthly Challenge | Rachel Lowe

Have you seen this months monthly challenge? So beautiful and it instantly reminded me of my trip to Italy and namely Capri. Here is my layout and November challenge.

I chose a lemon cut file as Capri was all about lemons and Lemonchello! This gorgeous cut file is from Cut to You (created by Gwen). I used my CVS stash to created this layout and found a check yellow paper piece and a script paper piece. I decided to add my paper pieces with foam tape to add dimension, which when creating a 8.5×11 inch layout is important.

Before adhereing to my white cardstock I add some yellow watercolour and when dry added some script stamp and embossed with white power. This adds not only visual interest but also adds texture again important on a smaller layout size.

To add some pops of colour to contrast against the yellow and white I chose a turquoise and blues. I added my photo (me in Capri admiring the view) on a mat of turquoise with foam tape. I embellished around my photo, adding some fussy cut turquoise flowers, a journal spot and camera die cut.

I used alpha stickers to create my title and used accessory sticker sentiment phrases as sub journalling. I finished off adding some fussy cut butterflies and foam taped them around my page.

These papers and embellishments from my stash created a perfect travel themed layout. I love how scrapbook challenges inspire you and get your mojo going, this being a perfect challenge to document a beautiful time in a beautiful country!

Thank you for stopping by.

Rachel X

Soup & Sangas | Storyteller Collection | Michelle Stokes

Hey Hey! It’s Michelle here today with a new layout to share with you all using the Storyteller Collection. This layout was inspired by our current Monthly Challenge board and I have to admit, of all the layouts I’ve ever made in the past, this would have to be the most random subject I’ve documented lol

Inspired by the pumpkins on the board, I went down a soup making rabbit hole and came up with this creation using a pumpkin design cut file from CUT to YOU.

There are so many different ideas that come from this board, it was quick tricky to figure out what would work for me and the random photos we take as a family each year.

The piles of pumpkins had me, and I got to work in silhouette studio resizing the CUT to YOU pumpkin file to create 1 large pumpkin to sit in the background of the layout and a second smaller pumpkin to act as the base for the title I was adding to the layout.

I used the Oh My Heart paper to cut out the pumpkins and backed the larger size with some vellum and the smaller with a pink paper from the A5 paper stack. Both pumpkins were adhered to the layout over the torn woodgrain strip (Cross if Off) using both double sided foam tape and thicker foam sheeting to add a slight hint of dimension.

I used multiple photos of my soup and sanga making time, printed out in a 3.7inch grid then cut into strips to overlay each other. I used the cute little rainbow hearts paper from the A5 paper stack for layering underneath then embellished with an accessory word sticker and label from the Story Time cut apart paper.

Next up I added the title using my beloved white alphas adding machine stitching to hold them in place, whilst adding a little pop of texture to the layout.

On both pumpkins I created a cluster on top of the leaf area, using multiple fussy cut florals in all sizes from the A5 paper stack version of Spring Fling. Slowly but surely I am making my way through all those tiny sweet flowers

I also strung a tag from the ephemera pack to the top of the larger pumpkin and adhered it to the cardstock using foam tape

Here’s a closer look at the florals cluster on the smaller pumpkin, using a mix of adhesives for varying layers of dimension. Tacky glue, glue dots and foam tape would have to be the most used items in my stash.

1 final cluster added to create the visual triangle of embellishments on the layout, then the usual splattering of gold ink to finish it all off..

Super quick and easy layout to recreate if the need be, other than all the fussy cutting of florals that is.

Here’s one final look at the end result..

Thanks so much for stopping by, I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing where my inspiration of our current Monthly Challenge board took me, I certainly enjoyed creating it.

Please be sure to check out the Cocoa Vanilla Studio Community Group on Facebook to see all the other entries, and enter your own for a chance to win. We really to love to see what you all create, and where your inspiration takes you each month.

Until next time, Happy Scrapping!
Michelle

Bloom & Grow | Unforgettable collection | Tarrah McLean

Hi creative friends!

It’s Tarrah back with you and today I am sharing a sweet Spring themed layout featuring the gorgeous Unforgettable collection!

We are focusing on our current seasons this week on the Cocoa Vanilla blog with our projects! Currently we are enjoying some Spring weather here in Australia so my layout today is all about the florals and my title is pretty fitting as well! I am documenting a photo of my niece in front of a beautiful rose bush, the Unforgettable collection compliments my photo perfectly.

I chose the gorgeous teal coloured paper from the Unforgettable collection as my background. I did trim this piece down and adhered it to a sheet of plain white cardstock, I then bent the edges up to create some texture.

I chose a beautiful floral cut file from CUT to YOU that I cut up slightly and then backed it all with some of the gorgeous papers from the A5 paper stack from the Unforgettable collection.

Once the cut file was all backed, I added craft foam to the underneath and adhered it to the background paper. By using the craft foam, it creates shadows and dimension on my page which I love. Because I cut up the cut file, I was able to strategically place my photo between the 2x floral clusters, I added a small banner die-cut to the top right corner of the photo.

Next it was time to embellish and add the title. I decided to use a die-cut title from the Midnight collection – called Bloom & Grow. I added the word ‘Bloom’ to the left of the photo overlapping the small journal sticker that is tucked in to the side of the photo. I also added the ‘&’ and the ‘Grow’ at the bottom of the cut file. On the right of the photo, I added one of the super cute flair buttons from the Unforgettable collection and below the photo, I added a phrase die-cut and a word accessory sticker. I took out some of the larger florals from the ephemera pack and adhered some with craft foam and some with regular adhesive.

Some of the smaller flowers I adhered with craft foam to help them pop up and give the page some more dimension. Next I tucked in some of the pretty feathers from the ephemera pack and bent the edges up slightly on them to make them look more realistic. I just love the enamel dots in this collection and quite a few made it onto this page, I placed 2 in each cluster. I created 3 clusters of the enamel dots.

Lastly to finish my page, I stamped the date stamp and sprinkled some white mist around the page. Do you have any of the Unforgettable collection that you’re hoarding?!

Get it out and use it for some gorgeous projects!

Thank you so much for stopping by the Cocoa Vanilla blog today! I love how my layout turned out and I hope you enjoyed reading how I created it!

Happy creating!

Tarrah x

Happy Campers | Storyteller Collection | Michelle Stokes

Hello Hello! It’s Michelle here today with another instalment of our current story telling feature. I’ve used our beautiful Storyteller Collection for this layout that documents a big step in Leila’s school life – School Camp. Even though she might have been super anxious in the lead up to going away, Leila and her mates certainly enjoyed themselves while there.

I started off by cutting out some large clip boards from CUT to YOU to use as a place to ‘clip’ my photos. I used both sides of the DITSY DAISY paper to cut both the outline and the background of the boards and adhered the pieces together, leaving the ‘clip’ piece free to tuck in all the pieces they’re holding.

I added all 3 clipboards to a piece of the CROSS IT OFF paper, using pieces of foam sheets to give them a little pop off the page before adding all the other elements that I’ll share below.

I used 2 photos from the campers send off, both featuring friends that Leila’s had since Prep and even Kinder.

On the left side clip board I’ve layered the photo with a pocket page card, pieces cut from the cut apart sheet STORY TIME plus some fussy cut florals from the SPRING FLING paper in both 12×12 and A5 size

Over on the right I’ve added the 2nd photo layered on top of a folded card that’s hiding the written journalling. It’s not hidden for any other reason other than I wrote more than I expected and I couldn’t make it work tucked into the other clipboard. I added more of the same elements over this side as I did on the left clip board to keep things cohesive across the entire layout.

I used a simple piece of notepaper ripped from a book to write the journalling, adhered it between 2 pocket page cards then machine stitched top and bottom for a little extra detail.

On the middle clipboard I’ve added the title using another CUT to YOU cutfile cut out of the green A5 version of LITTLE LOVE, layered over the journalling spot from the cut apart paper STORY TIME with the addition of an accessory sticker from an older collection.

Along the tops of the clip boards I added some WOODEN BUTTONS to act as thought the boards are ‘pinned’ to the woodgrain background (CROSS IT OFF)

I added the twine along the tops and glued it into place using some tacky glue that dries clear. Theres also a sprinkling of both gold and white inks around the layout to finish it all off.

Here’s another look at the entire layout..

Well friends, thats all from me today. Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing my version of our story telling theme, it’s certainly been a fun one to create. Please be sure to share your own versions within our facebook community group HERE

Until next time, Happy Scrapping!
Michelle x

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