design team

Hello | Unforgettable Collection | Tarrah McLean

Hi Cocoa Vanilla friends!

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

The colours in the Unforgettable collection are beautiful so I decided to showcase them all on this layout! I pulled out the 6′ x 8′ paper pad and starting using the papers to back a heart cut file available in The Cut Shoppe.  Once the heart design was backed, I added craft foam underneath and adhered it to the black and white spot paper also from the Unforgettable collection. I decided to trim down the black and white spot paper so that I could add the grey chevron paper is a border right around the page. I trimmed this paper down slightly also so that I could add a black cardstock border also.I added my photo of my 2 beautiful nieces slightly to the right of the heart and added a couple pf layers underneath including a paper doily and some more of the 6′ x 8′ papers from the paper pad. I also added one of the tags from the die-cut pack to the left of the photo and I popped up the photo and paper layers to give even more dimension. I pulled out the ‘Hello’ foam title and added it to the bottom of my photo and added a flair button and a phrase die-cut on the left of the photo.The butterflies in this collection are beautiful, quite a few of those made it onto my page also. To further embellish, I added 2 of the black foam hearts, some die-cut hearts and florals, some enamel dots and some of the stickers from the accessory sheet.

Thank you so much for stopping by the Cocoa Vanilla blog today! I hope you are inspired to pull out your Unforgettable collection and create with it!

Happy creating!

Tarrah x

Sweet Memories | Bohemian Dream | Rachel Lowe

Hi CVS friends! I adored Bohemian Dream collection with its purple and blues, crisp white contrasts, florals and beautiful die cuts. I have created a super pretty girly layout featuring Bohemian Dream.

 

I have used a beautful balloon cut file from the Silhouette Design Store. I have used Dreamer paper, both sides and the fun polka dot blue paper. The purple side of Dreamer I used an embossing paper to create the polka dot effect on keeping with the navy dot paper (also the texture added is gorgeous).

Once I had paper pieced the balloons I decided to hand stitch some of the balloons and balloon string. As I do with most designs I use the rule of threes or odd numbers for visual balance (note I used three different papers for the balloons) I hand stitched three of the balloons in white thread and silver thread for the stings. It created a wonderful texture and ensures the balloons do not look flat.

I next added my 3×3 inch photo using the thin frame from the die cut pack and attaching with foam tape to add more dimension. I chose tiny floral bunches to embellish around my frame as I didn’t want the balloons covered too much which I tucked under my photo and frame.  I also added several to the outer of three balloons.

I then chose word and phrase sentiments from the accessory sticker sheet in between the balloons, adding some purple sequins to draw your eye to them and break up the white.

To finish off I added my title, a sentiment banner from the die cut pack and two pretty butterflies (added with foam tape).The most time consuming part of this layout is the stitching but it really is worth the effort.

Thank you for stopping by and if you have any questions about my layout please leave in comments. Have a wonderful and creative week.

Rachel X

MemoryDex Inspiration | Midnight and Happiness | Tazhiana

Hello Cocoa Vanilla family! I’m back with some MemoryDex inspiration for you! I’ve been bitten by the crafting small bug and my favorite part of this system is you get to use up products that you wouldn’t ordinarily use on a layout. If you have a bit of ephemera or a cardstock sticker that you have no idea what to do with, throw it on a memorydex card and instant gratification!

For this project, I decided to use Happiness and Midnight and to make two cards with each collection – one that is textured and dimensional and one that featured a shaker pocket.
To create my shaker pockets, I used my Fuse tool but you can sew the pockets shut or use vellum and good, old fashioned adhesive to create this effect. My sequin mix was quickly thrown together after drawing inspiration from the collections – a rainbow mix for Happiness, and a mix of blues, pinks and silver for Midnight. I actually don’t own the MemoryDex dies but I do have the punch, so I start all my cards with a 4×4 inch base and then punch the bottom to place it in my storage box. In the case of the shaker pockets, I took a 2×4 inch strip, scored it at 1 inch, folded it in half, adhered it to my shaker, and then punched it so the final result was a 4×4 inch card.
To embellish, I grabbed a mishmash of die cuts, cardstock stickers, and chipboard pieces from both collections and layered to my heart’s content.
I did make a tiny envelope for my Happiness piece, I thought it would be fun to add an interesting element and tuck the stickers inside of it so it looked like there were elements escaping.
For my dimensional pieces, I stacked and stacked pieces until my cards have pretty good height and heft.
For my Midnight card, I made a large paper rosette that I layered on top of two doilies. For my rosette, I started with a strip of 1.5×12 inch paper, scored it evert quarter inch, accordion folded it, and then sealed it and pressed it into a circle. I then layered some cardstock stickers and chipboard over the top for more height and dimension, and topped it off with a flair button. This card might be my favorite of the bunch.
For my Happiness card, I started by pleating some crepe paper and layering that under some pleated fabric trim that I had in my stash. I layered that over a tag that I cut from a scrap of paper, added some floral and leaf die cuts, added my title from the cardstock title pack, and then for even more dimension, propped up the label sticker on foam for added height. I then added some cardstock stickers for more interest.
I hope you enjoyed these cards! They were so much fun to make and it’s really easy to try a lot of techniques and embellishments on this smaller scale. I hope you found inspiration here and give scrapping small a try! Till next time, keep it crafty friends.

LOVE YOU | HAPPINESS | GWEN WRUCK

Hi Creative Friends,

I hope you are all well!  Gwen back on the Cocoa Vanilla blog today with a new share using the beautiful ‘Happiness‘ collection.  This one is a little different for me because it features 5 photos!  I usually create with only one or two photos per page so when my sister and I took this fun series of photos, I knew I had to come up with a plan to get them all on the one layout.

My initial thought for getting this many photos on my page was to print them small which I did first up.  Then, I got to thinking about a grid design and pulled out this cut file by CUT to YOU.  I had thought about placing the photos within the squares of the cut file, however I had printed them too small for that and didn’t want to waste the prints I had done… so, Plan C it was!

Unsure what to do about the photos, I put those aside and started working on the cut file. I’ve gone about backing some of the squares in the stunning blue of the ‘Good Vibes‘ paper.  Then, in the heart shapes, I backed with the pink of the ‘Meadow‘ paper.  To help the title stand out, I’ve backed that in the ‘Botanical Bliss‘ pattern paper.  I love the deep navy with the fresh white of the cut file.

With the elements of the cutfile backed, I’ve then placed the entire design onto some white card from my stash.  I have used foam tape in between the layers here for added dimension.  I’ve then created a border by mounting this large piece onto the ‘Expressive‘ paper.  I’ve made sure to take the centre of the pattern paper to save it for another project, this one is my favourite from this collection!

I’ve then mounted all of this onto a backing piece of the ‘Botanical Bliss‘ pattern paper.  I will often use a contrasting border on my page and find it really does finish off the edges nicely.

Next, I’ve mounted my photos with a very fine border of the ‘Expressive‘ paper and then mounted onto foam tape.  It was now a matter of playing with the design and layout to get it how I want.  After a little trial and error, I decided to go along the same line as the cut file.  You will notice the letters run from the top left the bottom right.  I’ve positioned my photos in much the same way so that your eye runs across the layout top left to bottom right.  Everything just flows across the page.

At this point, the page is nearly done but of course, I need some smaller elements to bring it all together!  I’ve fussy cut some pretty butterflies from the ‘Bright and Beautiful‘ paper (just the pink and blue ones to match my pattern papers) as well as two of the flair from the ‘flair pack‘.  I’ve also selected some stickers from the ‘Accessory Sticker Sheet‘ and a die-cut element from the ‘Die Cut Ephemera‘ pack.

I’ve added all of these elements running along the same line of my page, top left to bottom right, keeping with the flow of the photos and title of the page.  It was at this stage that I changed the title to be ‘Love You’ by adding in the die cut word ‘you’ from the ‘Die Cut Titles‘ pack and it finishes the page up perfectly.

Thanks for popping by today to see my latest project, I hope it inspires you to get creating and using some of your ‘Happiness’ stash.  If it does, I’d love to see what you make over on the Cocoa Vanilla Studio Facebook group.  There is so much inspiration over there and worth checking out!

Until next time,

Gwen

xo

Zombie Apocalypse | Boy Collections | Tarrah McLean

Hi Cocoa Vanilla friends!

It’s Tarrah back with you and today I am sharing a Halloween layout created for the October mid month challenge over at CSI: Colour, Stories, Inspiration I used lots of the boy collections on this layout!

CSI: Colour, Stories, Inspiration Case File No. 298

I took inspiration from the skull and cross bones design in the image and also the colours. I cut out a skull and cross bone design from black cardstock using my Silhouette Cameo and used is one of the main focal points on my layout. I popped up the skull using craft foam and adhered the cross bones flat to the page. In the eyes of the skull, I backed one of them with one of the paper s from the You Rock collection and added one of the woodies from the Totally Rad collection to the other eye. The Totally Rad collection has lots of pieces with the skull and crossbones so I pulled out what I had left and used them as embellishments. The large white and black skull and cross bones was fussy cut from the ‘Stuff’ paper from the Boys Rule collection The photo is of my eldest son dressed up for Halloween as a zombie a couple of years ago. I just had to add the ‘Admit One Crazy Town ticket and the unbelievable sticker’as they went perfectly with the theme of my layout. I added some of the wood veneer stars from the Flying High collection – I couldn’t believe I still had these! To finish off, I added the chippie crown in the chipboard pieces pack from the Boys Rule collection and added a few last bits and pieces like the arrows, the star flair, the date stamp and some splatters of black mist.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Happy creating!

Tarrah x

You and me | Midnight Layout | Anna Komenda

Hello Friends! It’s Anna here and it’s my turn to inspire you with a project created with Cocoa Vanilla Studio collections. This time I left the new “Happiness” line on the side and came back to a little bit older, but still amazing, “Midnight” collection. I am such a big fan of flowers added to this line and soft colors. Pretty combination of dark navy, pink and orange was so inspiring. I was in a mood for die cutting, and I didn’t mind some repetitive job to be done. I spend some time cutting out many hexagons out of “Sunset strip” paper. I knew I wanted to arrange them in the similar color order as they are on the original paper. This is the final result of my efforts:

Such a vivid combination of hexagons needed some calm background. That’s why I decided to use “Moonlight” paper as a base. White color and soft script font works great as a starting point of every colorful project. Each hexagon is mounted with a layer of foam adhesive to add extra dimension to my page.

Flowers cut out from “Sophisticated” paper are my favorite flowers ever. I love how sketchy and whimsical they look. They are quite easy to cut out too. I scattered them around the page. They created such a lovely embellishment clusters highlighting the feminine theme of this page.

Title of my layout is made with word from Die cut titles pack. This is such an amazing product, if you have problems with figuring out clever titles for your pages. I love the font, colors, everything about this product.

Final step of embellishing my page was adding bits and pieces from Ephemera pack and Chipboards pack. Just a little words and simple tabs. I didn’t want to cover too much of my pretty background. I also reached for older products – some glittery enamel dots from “Make a wish” and “Wild at heart” collections. They matched perfectly to this layout. I had so much fun playing with dies and paper creating unique background. Since I got my electronic die cutting machine, simple metal dies got neglected. Rediscovering them was very refreshing to my mojo.

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

XO Anna

Girl Squad | Unforgettable Collection | Rachel Lowe

Hey friends Rachel here. Do you ever create a layout and then your are not sure if you love it!  Well I ended up creating two layouts this month because of this (it’s a Virgo thing lol!), anyway I will let you choose which version of my Girl Squad layout you like the most. So here is the first one I created. I wanted it to be soft and very girly and hence went for lots of white, pink and flowers.And here. is version two! I decided to go bold and bright, ensuring my lettering really stood out which I felt it got a little lost in the first version of the layout. The only drawback was I had to convert my photo to black and white, which I think lessens the beauty of the shot.On both layouts I have used Story Teller paper as my base so there was a slight contrast with the black dots instead of a flat white. My second version I have used a turquoise cardstock, cutting the Story Teller paper down to 11×11 inches. I also used the same cardstock to cut Girl Squad cut file. on my Silhouette Cameo, in my first layout I used white to cut the Girl Squad cut file.I used the beautiful Forget Me Not paper  to paper piece the Girl Squad cut file, wanting a smaller print so I could use some of the larger floral die cuts without them getting ‘lost’.From the 6×8 inch paper pad I used the Lacewing paper and fussy cut numerous butterflies. I wanted smaller butterflies hence why I used the sheet in the 6×8 inch pad and not the 12×12 paper. I added these with foam tape to create a 3d effect.I chose the largest floral bunch from the die cut ephemera pack and added in a way you could still see the lettering. Again I did this with foam tape to add dimension. I added some of the pink and turquoise enamel dots to flowers and under some of the butterfly wings.Before adding my photo I used some of the paint blotches from the Clear Sticker Sheet (I adore the clear stickers so much!) to ‘frame’ my photo and draw your eye to it. I used foam tape to attach my photo. I finished off adding some phrase stickers from the Accessory Sticker Sheet. 

So there you have it, only one difference in papers used but the over all effect if quite different! Thank you for stopping by today and have a wonderful creative week.

Rachel X

Traveler’s Notebook Spreads | Unforgettable and Happiness Collections | Sue Plumb

Hi everyone! It’s Sue Plumb here continuing on with our focus on traveler’s notebook pages. For today’s post I decided to create my first spread using the recently released, and oh-so-beautiful, ‘Unforgettable’ collection. I had a couple of photos of my sister and I that I printed in black and white, as I thought that despite being two separate pages, that they could work well side by side in my book.

I began with the 6×8″ Paper Stack, as these are the perfect sizes papers for my notebook inserts. I chose the scaled down version of the stunning butterfly Lacewing 12×12″ paper for the base of my pages. I trimmed down my sheet into two pieces and placed one either side of the spine.

On the left side I then added a pink and white striped piece of paper cut from the Pretty Bits 12×12″ cut apart paper. I then adhered my photo and journalling on top. I then worked vertically from the top to the bottom to embellish my page.

At the top I used the our little moments sticker from the Accessory Stickers sheet; followed by the captured word cut from the Story Teller paper; the large butterfly fussy cut from the Pretty Bits paper; and the small heart tab sticker from the Accessory Stickers sheet. I finished along the bottom of the page with the best things in life are free sticker and stamped the date.

I knew I needed to work in a vertical style again on the right page so that the two sides of my spread had cohesion across the design.

I started by adding the every photo has a story quote piece from the 6×8″ Paper Stack; followed by the wood grain piece from the Story Teller paper with my photo and journalling on top. Below that I added the take a photo it will last longer sticker from the Accessory Stickers sheet; then finished off with the cute pink camera from the Die Cut Ephemera pack.

For my second spread, I decided to work with the previously released ‘Happiness’ collection to document some photos of my boys and I on a day out together.

This time I was able to work with the spread as a whole, rather than two separate pages sharing a spread. I started with the 6×8″ Paper Pad, choosing the scaled down version of the Sprinkles paper as the base for my pages. I cut the sheet into two uneven pieces and placed them either side of the spine.

I then added my three photos and my journalling, which I stuck on top of a journal box cut from the Little Things paper. I also added the making memories quote card from the same paper.

Next, I added some floral pieces from the Die Cut Ephemera pack – cutting the largest piece in two and placing in on either side of the spine at the bottom of the page. I also used a couple of single flowers, which I tucked under the edges of my photos.

I then added two small phrase stickers from the Accessory Stickers sheet; and finished off with a few other elements from the ephemera pack – tickets, hearts and the title piece.

That’s all from me today, I hope I have inspired you to try some traveler’s notebook spreads if you haven’t already – it’s such a fun size to work in!

Living The Dream | Unforgettable | Tazhiana

Hello Cocoa Vanilla Family and welcome back to the blog! For my assignment this week, I was given the task of documenting in a traveler’s notebook, and considering this is the medium that made me fall in love with scrapbooking, this happened pretty seamlessly. I decided to play with the Unforgettable collection because it’s so delicious and I needed some floral action in my life. I chose to print my photos in black and white so I could use all the colors on my layouts.

For my first spread, I decided to create a sunburst of sorts using triangles I cut out from the 6×8 paper pad. I cut rectangles, then cut those in half to create the triangles and arranged them across the top half of my layout. That was the hard part. The rest of this came together pretty easily!
I chose to mat my photo on just one patterned paper since there were already so many going on in my background and then I popped the large floral element on foam, stuck it on the bottom left of my photo and added the circle die cut right behind it for dimension and interest.
On the left side of my page, I started with a card from the cut apart sheet since it was the same size as my photo, added a floral die cut and then adhered my title – also from the ephemera pack. With traveler’s notebooks, dimension can get out of hand really quickly so I chose to use a flat ephemera piece as my title as opposed to chipboard or foam. I added a single butterfly to the left side and a blue tab element to the right and called this layout done!
For my second project, I knew I wanted to use these branches that I had left over from a previous layout so I started with the pink cardstock background so the white of the cutfile would pop against the background. Then I printed my photos at 2×3 inches and matted them on three papers from the 6×6 patterned paper stack. I used strips of the same patterns on the right side of the spread to carry over the color and patterns and I added two more branches to the right side to continue the theme.
Now we embellish! I used some small elements from the ephemera pack as well as stickers from the accessory pack to add some texture and interest to the photos.
On the right side, I used a piece that I cut from one of the 6×8 patterned papers, layered it over a tag, flower, and butterfly, and added some additional flowers along the branches to tie the whole layout together. A couple of enamel dots on both sides finished off this spread and I am super happy with how both projects came out this week.
I hope you found inspiration here and are fired up to scrap small and make something beautiful today in a traveler’s notebook today. Till next time, keep it crafty friends and have a great day.

Traveler’s Notebook Spreads | More than Words + You Rock | Mandy Melville

Hey friends!

Mandy here with you today to share a couple of traveler’s notebook spreads that I created for Throwback Thursday! For my first layout I wanted to create something soft and pretty to document a photo of my youngest daughter and I taken on my birthday last month. The beautiful More than Words collection was just perfect for this!

I started my layout off by covering the left hand side of the spread with the Noteworthy patterned paper. I LOVE the beautiful scripty font on this paper! Next I cut two of the 3×4 inch pieces out of the Collage patterned paper, and I layered these behind my photo to help it to stand out against the background.

I embellished around the photo using some pretty die cuts from the collection.

For the right hand side of the spread, I used the Radiant patterned paper as my background. I chose that paper as it matched perfectly with the dress that my daughter was wearing in the photo. I then cut out the piece that says ‘Love You to Bits’ from the Treasure patterned paper, and I adhered it to the middle of the page using craft foam for added dimension. Lastly I scattered some little word stickers down the page, and I finished it off with a couple more floral die cuts.

For my second TN layout, I decided to pull out the awesome You Rock collection to scrapbook a photo of Isaac with one of his best mates, taken when I took them to Gravity X a couple of months ago. The bright and fun colours in this collection worked perfectly with photo and the theme of this spread.

I covered the left hand side of the spread with the reverse side of the Random patterned paper. This provided a nice neutral background to work with, while adding some cool detail to the page. Next I added the colourful striped piece of patterned paper down the left hand side of the page, which I cut out of the Stripped paper. I then fussy cut some stars to add to the layout. The smaller ones were from the Starshine patterned paper, and the larger one was from the Random paper. To finish the left hand side of the spread off, I added the piece that says ‘Boys will be Boys’, which I cut out of the Random patterned paper.

Down the right hand side of the spread I added a strip of blue patterned paper, which was also cut out the Stripped paper. I matted my photo with the reverse side of the In Line paper to help it to stand out on the page, and I also layered more pieces from the Random and the Stripped patterned papers behind the photo. For my title I used one of the chipboard words from the Boys Rule collection. I love how the black title really pops against the bright colours that I used on this layout.

I created a little embellishment cluster on the bottom right hand corner of the photo that includes another fussy cut star and a rubber charm from the collection. To complete the layout I added some short handwritten journaling at the bottom of the page, and I also added a couple of small chipboard plus signs.

Thanks so much for joining me here on the blog today! I hope that you’ve been inspired by my traveler’s notebook spreads, and that you enjoyed my ‘Throwback Thursday’ post using a couple of older collections!

Mandy x

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