design team

Love You | Happiness Collection | Laura Alberts

Hey y’all! Laura here, sharing a wedding layout using the beautiful Happiness Collection. I absolutely love this gorgeous patterned paper, Expressive, and had to use it for the background. It has such a beautiful mixed media design to it with little marks that appear hand-drawn, stunning! I decided to add a little bit of extra media via texture paste through a stencil to create a landing spot for my photo.  With just a few scraps of papers from the 6×8 paper pad along the left side of the photo helps create a defined foundation.

I tucked in several floral ephemera pieces on the left side of the photo along with a few butterflies that I fussy cut from the 6×8 paper pad for a bit of fun. A couple of flags from the sticker sheet on the corner of the cluster. The title is layered along the bottom corner, overlapping a journaling spot with a sweet message about my darling husband.

Starting at the bottom right corner, I created a kaleidoscope of butterflies fluttering off toward the top, left corner, a few overlapping the photo. With a little bit of Nuvo Glitter Drops to create butterfly trails, it gives the appearance of movement on the layout. A little bit of gold ink splatter finishes off the edges!

I hope you found some inspiration in this wedding layout! It was so much fun to fussy cut out all of these beautiful butterflies from the Bright & Beautiful patterned paper. I find if I just adhere the butterflies at the center and leave the wings free it gives a fun 3-D look without adding bulk. Below is the process video for this layout, enjoy!

https://youtu.be/iqhCvmwGnlA

Super Star | Legendary Collection | Danni Visser

Hi there! Danni here, back with another fun layout using Legendary. You know we all LOVE stars over here at Cocoa Vanilla and I have been eyeing off the large star die cuts from the die cut ephemera for quite a while now. For this layout I decided to go sequin-happy and make some shaker embellishments!

I took four of the large star die cuts with the negative space in the centres to make my shakers, they were just absolutely perfect for this. To make the shakers, I adhered a layer of vellum behind the die cut for the largest stars and acetate for the smaller ones (just for some variation, you could use either). I then added a layer of adhesive foam around the edge, filled the space inside with sequins and glued another layer of vellum behind to keep it all together. Ta da! Instant shaker embellishments.

Next I went to work on my background. I laid down some white gesso on the grey side of All Star patterned paper, then went in with a combination of distress oxide inks, watercolours, pearl watercolours and spray inks in several different shades of blue, using the packaging technique to create lots of messy inky goodness. To finish off the background I added a generous splattering of acrylic ink in a bright metallic silver.

To mat my photo I used Offbeat, Outdoors Type and Wild One patterned papers in several layers, using up some of my scraps from previous layouts. I can’t stand to waste a single of piece of the gorgeous paper in this collection! I positioned my photo in the centre of my mixed media background and arranged the shaker stars around it, adding in lots of fussy cut stars from All Star patterned paper to fill in the gaps.

For my title I chose the words ‘Super Star’ from the die cut titles and machine stitched them onto the background, running it through back and forth several times with white thread for lots of texture. I added in some tiny stars from the clear stickers on top of my photo and in the centre of the large shakers for a bit of extra something!

Next I dug into the accessory stickers, choosing a label for the date and a couple of tiny word stickers at the bottom of my photo to help anchor it. I included a few lines of handwritten journaling to the right of my photo following the diagonal of my title, then added a sprinkle of enamel dots in three places to add the perfect finishing touch!

I hope you enjoyed this layout as much as I did!  I just love all the little details. There is a process video below if you would like to watch this page come together. Thank you for joining me today!

Danni x

 

INSD Challenge Inspiration | Gwen, Tazhi, Anna B, Rachel and Michelle

Hi everyone! Today is our final day of sharing the projects our design team created for our International Scrapbook Day celebration. We are starting with Gwen, who designed a “Grab 5” challenge for everyone and her criteria were – a chipboard element; a die cut title; flair button; enamel dots; and something fussy cut. She created a beautiful page of her daughter for her sample using our ‘Wild at Heart’ collection and a cut file from Cut to You.

Oh how we loved the gorgeous rich tones of this collection! It was so nice to see it showcased a couple of times during the weekend by our team.

Next up, we had another LIVE scrap stream into the group, with Tazhi using Gwen’s challenge criteria to create this beautiful page. (Lucky for Tazhi, she had her hubby do all the butterfly fussy cutting for her before she began.) She used our ‘Unforgettable’ collection and created her watercolour style background from her home in New York while we all watched on.

Our final challenge for the weekend was one that was set by Anna Blades, and she challenged everyone to create a monochromatic layout using tones of only one colour (plus black, white and grey were allowed). She used our ‘Bohemian Dream’ collection and decided to focus on the stunning purple from the range and came up with this sample that included soft, subtle mixed media on her background.

Also sharing a sample for our monochromatic challenge was Rachel, who decided pink was going to be her colour of choice and she nailed it! She mixed elements from several of our collections to create a delicate, feminine page. We love the floral cluster she created and the way those hearts draw the eye straight through the photo.

The final layout we have to share comes from Michelle, who also tackled the monochromatic challenge and chose pink as her colour of choice. Michelle decided to mix things up a bit by also combining this challenge with Anna’s heart themed sketch and a sweet photo of her daughter. She chose pink elements from across a variety of collections and pulled them all together to create this darling layout.

Look at how beautifully the different collections combined by choosing a single colour to unite them.

And that wraps up all the INSD inspiration from our awesome team. I am sure you will agree they all created some stunning, and very inspiring work. What a wonderful weekend we all had to celebrate this fabulous craft that we all love. Tomorrow we return to our “regular programming” so stop by and see what Danni has to share. Happy scrapping to you all!

INSD Challenge Inspiration | Anna K, Raquel, Melissa, Tarrah, Laura and Sue

Hi everyone! Today we are once more turning the spotlight on some of the layouts our design team created during our International Scrapbook Day celebration a few weeks ago.

The first layout we are sharing belongs to Anna, who created a fabulous sketch challenge for us, and this stunning sample layout using our ‘Happiness’ collection to go along with it…

If you would like to see how Anna put this beauty together, she has a process video available on our YouTube channel. You can watch it here:

Anna’s sketch challenge proved to be very popular, with many gorgeous layouts being shared as a result, including from our own team members. Raquel decided to play along using Anna’s sketch to create this layout of her and her son using our ‘Unforgettable’ collection which we absolutely love!

Raquel also created a process video for this layout, and you can watch it on our YouTube channel here:

The final layout we have to share using Anna’s sketch was from Melissa, who created this one LIVE in our INSD group from her home in New Zealand. She used our ‘Legendary’ collection and we are crushing on that big yellow heart and those die cut patterned paper leaves.

The next challenge we had on offer was Tarrah’s multi photo and mixed font challenge. Tarrah used our ‘Wild at Heart’ collection and was inspired by the work of fellow DT member Raquel to create an 8.5×11″ layout.

The next layout we have to share was also created for Tarrah’s challenge, but this time from Laura using our ‘More Than Words’ collection. She went all-out on the multi photo criteria, and managed to add FIVE photos on her page whilst still maintaining a clean, uncluttered look.

The final layout we have to share today comes from Sue, who created this mixed media layout during her LIVE scrap stream in the INSD group. She used our ‘Legendary’ collection which was a perfect match for the fun photos of her kids.

That’s all for today, but stay tuned because we have another serve of inspirational layouts from our team to come tomorrow. Until then, happy scrapping!

INSD Challenge Inspiration | Anita, Danni, Raquel and Kylie

Hi everyone! What an awesome weekend of fun, friendship and inspiration our International Scrapbook Day celebration weekend turned out to be. You may have seen that we shared all the challenge winner layouts on here a few days ago, so we thought this time we would turn the spotlight on some of the layouts our design team created for the weekend.

First up, for Anita’s mood board challenge, was this stunning layout – “Happy Little Moments” that was created by Anita as her challenge sample.

We are totally crushing on the gorgeous colour palette she used and those beautiful cut file flowers that she designed herself for Neat n Crafty Cutz. Anita also generously offered these as a free download, which you can grab for yourself HERE

Here’s a closer look at some of the details from Anita’s layout…

Anita also created a process video for her page, which you can watch on our YouTube channel here:

Continuing on with some inspiration for the same mood board challenge was Danni, who created this adorable layout “You Are Lovely” via a LIVE scrap that was held in the group.

It was so awesome to watch Danni work her magic with watercolours and see this layout unfold right before our eyes. If you missed all the action of Danni’s livestream and would like to see her put this page together, you can view the video in the INSD Celebration group HERE

Here’s a closer look at Danni’s gorgeous watercolour work combined with die cut blooms from our ‘Happiness’ collection. *swoon*

Next up on our challenge agenda, was Raquel’s Scraplift the DT challenge, with Raquel sharing a fabulous layout she created using a page by Kylie as her inspiration.

Here is Raquel’s “Memories” layout, featuring our ‘Unforgettable’ collection…

And here is the layout by Kylie that Raquel used as her inspiration…

You can see how Raquel took some of the main components of Kylie’s page structure and then used them as the building blocks for her own interpretation. So many beautiful layers!

And last but not least, Kylie also created a layout for Raquel’s scraplift challenge. This time, she turned the tables on Raquel and used one of Raquel’s layouts to inspire her own.

Here is the layout that Kylie created, “Sweet Memories”…

Kylie said about her layout “for my interpretation I used the Midnight collection. I really loved the heart overlay in Raquel’s layout and that is probably what inspired me to create my page similar.”

Here is Raquel’s original layout using our ‘Happiness’ collection…

Kylie also created a process video for her stunning page, so you can watch her put it all together on our YouTube channel here:

And there you have it – lots of INSD challenge inspiration from our design team with more to come! See you tomorrow with the next installment.

 

Family memories | Midnight Layout | Anna Komenda

Hello Friends. It’s Anna here with my newest layout. This week we are focusing on die cut titles – awesome product for all the layout makers. You can find them in few recent collections such as “Legendary“, “Happiness” and “Midnight“. Other collections have words too, made as a foam stickers or chipboards. You can easily mix and match them on your page. Sets are perfect for title building and you can combine few words in longer phrases. I decided to use “Midnight” collection as I still have a lot of elements form it. I created five rows of words on my background making meaningful clusters that describe my photos.

I started my project with “All the things” pattern paper and arranged words in an order. It’s a really simple layout as I wanted die cut titles to shine. They are the main focus and they didn’t need much of embellishing.

I printed my photos in black and white version to better fit the overall mood of the page. Very deep navy color of the words looks almost like black and pink, monochromatic background is a good, neutral base for them.

I embellished areas around the pictures using leftover chipboard flowers but you can easily replace them with flowers from ephemera pack or the ones fussy cut from paper. I also added even more words in different size and font.

I finished my page by stitching through every row using white thread. I wasn’t planning doing that at first but the layout looked like it needed something more so I carefully step in with my sewing machine. It created extra layer of texture and I am happy I did it.

Last step was to add enamel dots. This collection didn’t have a matching set so I grabbed the ones from “Unforgettable” line.

Do you like die cut titles as much as I do? My fellow DT girls are sharing with you even more ideas on how to use them and how to build longer titles adding alpha letters or stamping. So many great and inspiring ideas!

Thank you for stopping by and see you next month. Can you believe it’s already half of the year with June just around the corner? Crazy times. Stay safe and healthy <3 XO Anna

Hey Kid | Legendary Collection | Melissa Vining

Hello friends!! Its Melissa here and I’m back again today with another layout made with the stunning Legendary collection – I really can’t stop creating with it!  I was given the task of focusing on the Die Cut Titles, so I decided to go all out! Go big or go home right?!

I took this photo of my newly turned 13 teenager (and only son) Sam on his first day ever of high school earlier this year.  He looked so smart in his tie and blazer, and I knew I just had to use the gorgeous map patterned paper, which is the B side to Outdoors Type, with a border of the blue and white stripe cut apart from the B side of Total Legend.

I decided to incorporate several of the Die Cut Titles into a letter to Sam, and I used a manual die for the remaining words (cut from Total Legend, One Way, and Wild One).  I used my sewing machine to add lines underneath the manual die words for extra texture and interest, and used Enamel Dots for punctuation.

For my photo I layered up some of the same papers, and then simply embellished with the star cut file which Gwen designed to accompany Legendary.  I backed the stars with Wild Once, and I love how it brings out the yellow in his tie.

Carrying on with the star theme, which works really well for both boys and back-to-school layouts, I used a couple of the gorgeous stars from the Die Cut Ephemera pack and placed them off the page for interest.  I embellished them with arrows from the ephemera pack and phrases from the Accessory Stickers.

A little ephemera tab with the word “memorable” was perfect tucked under my layers.

I made a process video which you can watch here.

I’m so happy with this layout, and most importantly so is my son!! It means a lot when they are teenagers and still appreciate layouts that we mums make!

Thanks so much for looking!

Melissa xx

Super Star | Legendary Collection | Tarrah McLean

Hi Cocoa Vanilla friends!

It’s Tarrah back with you and today I am sharing another new layout featuring the awesome new Legendary collection!

I have been mixing up the size layout I have been working on lately and decided to create another 8.5′ x 11′ page today. I started by choosing to cut out the stars from the awesome exclusive FREE Legendary cut files, designed by Gwen. I cut these out from white cardstock using my Silhouette Cameo.
I chose the gorgeous rainbow paper called ‘Wild One‘ to back all the stars with. Once the stars were all backed, I added craft foam to the underside of the stars, I then arranged them vertically and adhered them to a white cardstock background that was trimmed down slightly smaller than 8.5′ x 11’. I chose to cut the ‘One Way‘ paper to be the mat behind the white cardstock. I then machined stitched around the edge of the white cardstock as you can see in some of the detailed photos.
I matted my photo (which is of my youngest son when he was about 3) to the B side of the ‘Wild One‘ paper. I then adhered it over the top of the stars so that it became the main feature of my page. I added one of the accessory sticker sheet banner stickers to the too right corner of the photo and also overlapped the title onto my photo also. The title is made up of those awesome font die cut cardstock titles, these are so super fun!
I added the rainbow star strip from the ‘Epic Tales‘ paper to the top of my layout and I finished off by adding a few more stars in clear stickers, diecuts and the flair badge too, the date stamp almost always makes it onto my pages too, so I stamped the date the photo was taken!
Thank you so much for stopping by today! I hope you are getting some creating time in? Why not check out the Cocoa Vanilla store for the awesome Legendary collection plus all the other amazing things in store now too!
Happy creating!
Tarrah x

My Darling | Throwback Thursday | Rachel Lowe

Hello CVS friends, today I have a layout to share using a mix of the older collections, Wild at Heart, Midnight , Unforgettable and Make a Wish collections.Instead of my go to white cardstock I used the beautiful and subtle grey white washed wood grain paper Artisan. I wanted a real pop of colour so used the bright pink paper Hooray. I have used a large scallop hand punch to create a border each side of the Wild at Heart Vellum sheet which is 4 x12 inches. I added machine stitching to each side of the pink border strips.I added my photo off centre with foam tape and finished off with a bow from Unforgettable collection.I have not matted my photo knowing I was going to be adding layered flowers which would draw the eye to the photo.I have used two different cut files from the Silhouette Design store to create my layered flowers but for those who do not have a cutting machine use a hand punch, punching at least 3 and then layer with foam tape. If you want to recreate these centres, they are super easy! Cut a 12 inch strip at 1/2 an inch. fringe cut with a pair of scissors and then roll as you would any rolled flowers. Once the glue has dried then push outwards all the way around, then glue to the centre of your flowers. I have used Inky Depths paper from the Midnight collection to create my flowers.You will see that I then tucked in-between the flowers fussy cut butterflies, some die cut leaves and a sentiment from the accessory stickers.I then created my title using Happiness die cut titles. I added some more fussy cut butterflies around my title adding some Unforgettable enamel dots.I love using word and phrase sentiments from the Accessory Stickers sheets and you can see I added some more under my photo and under my large title.And there you have it, I love how this turned out! A great colour palette even though I have used several different collections. Don’t be put off because of the flowers on this layout, you can make. beautiful one’s too, time to blow the dust off those punches!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for stopping by today and feel free to leave any questions you may have on this layout in the comments. See you soon, stay safe and well!

Rachel X

You Are My Sun | Legendary collection | Sue Plumb

Hi everyone! It’s Sue Plumb here to share another layout featuring the ‘Legendary’ collection with you. For this one I wanted to create a mixed media page to document these sweet photos of my two boys. (I’ll take smiling non-silly photos from them whenever I can get them!)

To start, I began with a sheet of white cardstock and some green ink, as I wanted to tie in the colour of the foliage behind them in the photos. I applied the ink to my messy mat, added a little water and swirled it through with my finger before I placed my cardstock over the top to soak it up. I then allowed it to dry before I repeated the process with some blue ink, then added some stamping with black ink using a stamp that featured tiny stars.

Once the inks were dry, I added a small tear along the top edge of the cardstock, then folded the edges of the tear back and fastened with tiny staples. I then backed the tear using some of the green print from the cut apart Total Legend paper. To balance it out, I then added a torn piece of the green striped print from the Explorer paper, adding a little torn marble print washi tape from my stash over the top.

I then turned my attention to the main focal area of my page, adding pieces of layered papers to create a photo mat. The papers I used included the blue star print from the Offbeat paper; more of the green stripe; the bold orange from the One Way paper; and the multi coloured stars of the All Star paper. I also added some more of the torn washi tape, frayed gauze, and a charcoal coloured paper doily from my stash.

After fastening all my layers in place and then adding my photos on top, it was time to get busy embellishing! The first piece I added was my title piece, which I fussy cut from the Epic Tales cut apart paper. I don’t tend to add my titles before other embellishments, but because this was a large piece and it had to be placed to the left of my photos (to hide the straight edge along the right side of it), I needed to place it first.

 

Now it was time to add “the sprinkles” – because that’s what embellishments are, right?! The sweet little morsels we add to finish things off. First and foremost, my layout needed STARS! (What else was I going to use with a title like that?) I fussy cut a handful of various sized stars from the All Star paper and scattered them around my page, bending the points up for extra dimension.

To balance my title, I needed a cluster to the right of my photos so I added a moon, the incredible label and an arrow from the Die Cut Ephemera pack (using foam tape to pop them up a little from the background). Above my photos I added a little star banner (also from the ephemera pack) and the little hey there phrase from the Accessory Sticker sheet. I then finished off my page with a splattering of navy mist.

Thanks so much for stopping by today so I could share this with you, I hope you are feeling inspired to pull out your supplies and get creative to. Until next time, happy scrapping!

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