enamel shapes

Let’s Go Explore | Great Escape | Michelle Stokes

Michelle Stokes 11/02/2024

Hooley Dooley its February already! Michelle here with you today, sharing something a little different for me using the new Great Escape Collection.

The minute I laid eyes on this awesome collection I immediately thought of all the travel inspired layouts and creations I could make, then I remembered that travel for us has well and truly been on the back burner for quite some time. So why not create a mini book ready for when we are ready to.

I created this mini album in 6×8 size using so many of the fun pattern papers from this collection, with plenty of space to add photos, write down memories and keep all the things we can collect along the way. Think maps, tickets and tags of all kinds. Theres pockets, fold outs and extra clear pages for all the extra photos I’m sure we will add. I’ll add a list of all materials used at the end of the post for those who may want to recreate for your own travel photos.

Once all the pages and pieces were complete, I bound it all together using my Cinch tool ready for our next family adventure.

Be warned, this is a very photo heavy post as it was just too hard to choose a few photos to share.

First up is a pocket with hidden tag for photos, bits n pieces or even a little journalling. Then when you flip the page you come across space for larger photos or even postcards collected along the journey

I added in pieces of notepaper scattered throughout the book to give space for journalling all about the adventures being had

I created a large pocket perfect to hold larger items like folded maps and brochures. This was super easy to create by joining 2 pieces of pattern paper together and sewing along the top and bottom. No need to sew along the edge that needed to be closed as the binding coils help to enclose that end.

I added another clear pocket over the page for another larger photo, which can be moved like all the pages in this album, by opening up the coil and rearranging.

Another funky pocket created by cutting into the paper in line with the design and sewed onto the backing paper using my sewing machine

One of my favourite ways to mix things up in these mini books is by creating different types of pages, this one is a double sided tag with ribbon, reminiscent of a luggage tag

Another fun piece is this flip out page that opens up to showcase multiple photos and journalling together, which would be perfect for extra special moments within the journey

Further into the book theres yet another pocket with some pull out pieces for hidden photos/journalling/ephemera, with the pocket sewn straight onto the pattern paper this time with an opening to the side.

Flipping through theres more places for photos, including a space for some film strip type photos and more journalling.

1 last pocket for the book with a top opening and plenty of space for extra photos/tickets or even receipts from along the journey

Lastly a space on the final page for last thoughts, future trip ideas, extra photos you name it

And a cute little something on the back of the book ready to fill out once its filled up with memories.

Well thats all from me today, thanks so much for stopping by and persevering through the enormous amount of photos I had to share of this fun mini book. If you happen to make your own version, please be sure to share it with us in the Cocoa Vanilla Studio Facebook Community Group as I’d love to see it. Hopefully yours might contain the memories its made for and not sitting patiently waiting for that trip to be booked lol

Until next time, Happy crafting!
Michelle x

PS. Heres whats left of the products I used, with a few extra paper scraps not shown.

Materials & Tools
Great Escape Collection
– 12×12 papers – 1 of each pattern
– A5 paper stack – 4 patterns, 1 of each
– Die Cut Ephemera Pack
– Accessory Sticker sheet
– Foam Title Stickers
– Puffy Stickers

Cinch Machine with Blue binding coil
Sewing Machine with white thread
6×8 clear pocket pages cut in half
White ribbon
Tiny Attacher
Glue Dots
Double sided foam adhesive

Family | Heart & Home Collection | Michelle Stokes

Michelle Stokes 11/11/2023

Hello Hello! It’s Michelle back today with another fun layout share using out beautiful Heart & Home Collection. I went with a rainbow assortment of pattern paper strips and some sweet family snaps. Kinda running low on photos to share these days, but I’m hoping the next few months of family celebrations will bring some fresh new snaps.

Now I’ll warn you, this post is very heavy in the photos, just not so much in the words. But sit back, relax with a drink and check out my newest creation..

I used almost all of the full colour pattern papers from the collection with a mix of multi colour papers and the typewriter text. I cut 2 strips from each piece that are roughly 1 inch wide, and left them all at different lengths to overlap at random heights in a blended colour order across the white background. I had intentions of sewing through the strips, but when creating late at night I tend to go off track from where I start.

Next up I gathered a few recent family snaps and printed them out in 2×2 and 2×2.5 inch size to back the cute frames from the ephemera pack and the cut apart frame from the GATHER paper. I used pieces of foam between the frame and the photo to make them look a little more realistic then adhered across the layout using more foam for dimension.

I layered in different forms of embellishments around the frames to add extra pops of interest, using a good mix of ephemera, fussy cut pieces, enamel shapes and accessory stickers

I added the Happy List from the GATHER paper which is perfect for adding our family list of loves at this present time. We certainly love our share of naughty foods, long car rides around our greater region of beaches and lots and lots of laughter

I added a loose string across the tops of the frames to make them look like they are strung across the layout. Mixing fibres like these is a good way to add a little texture to the layout.

Super cute photo of Leila and the doggo’s. No way they would sit this still ever again lol this must have been a fluke

I added the title to the bottom of the layout using the word FAMILY from the Ephemera pack along with the banner strip underneath. I used foam under these to pop them off the page giving more dimension to the bottom of the layout. Then I added the word sentiments from the accessory sticker sheet that work perfectly together in the area above the title.

Lastly I added a splattering of gold ink, some gold glittery splotches that dry like enamel dots, some tiny little fussy cut florals and then called it complete.

So many layers with all these strips gives so much texture to the layout which is a tick in my book.

Here’s a final look at the entire layout

Well thats all from me today, thanks so much for stopping by. Short and sweet with the words along with a total photo overload. I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing this creation today, just as much as I enjoyed creating it.

Until next time, Happy Scrapping
Michelle x

Beautiful You | Heart & Home Collection | Michelle Stokes

Michelle Stokes 25/10/2023

Hello Hello! It’s Michelle back here today with a new layout share featuring the Beautiful Heart & Home Collection. For this layout I set myself a challenge to only use the florals with the floral ephemera pack and a multitude of pattern papers in a circular design. Lets take a look at how I went

I started off by punching circles with a hand punch out of 12 different pattern papers, mostly from the A5 paper stack with a couple of 12×12. I arranged them in a circular design on the white cardstock background, which was giving me clock face vibes, just without the numbers. Each piece had the edge distressed for a little texture before adhering with foam tape to give dimension.

I actually worked backwards in my process from here on out, creating the title cluster first before adhering a photo to the page

For this cluster I used the word Beautiful from the Gold Foil Title that is adhered using foam for a little extra pop, some mini puffy alphas that I used in 1 colour only, some florals from the floral ephemera pack, and fussy cut pieces from the printed vellum and Bountiful paper.

Next up I created this large cluster of florals, ephemera and vellum using both foam and sticky dots for different heights of layers and dimension.

I created the other large cluster on the left side of the layout using similar elements to the other groups to keep things cohesive and balanced, then added the photo to the right.

I printed the photo in 3x3inch size and adhered to a piece of the woodgrain paper from this collection and adhered to the layout using foam to raise it off the background, enabling me to layer within the clustered pieces. It’s an older photo of Leila that I’m sure I’ve used and shared before, but its too sweet to not share again.

Here’s a photo that shows the dimension achieved using different forms of adhesives like foam tape, foam sheets and glue dots.

I added some mini puffy enamel shapes around the clusters, sprinkled some gold ink and dotted some sparkly gold dots here and there with a trusty new mixed media product I purchased at a recent craft show. I added the same medium to some of the florals for a little more sparkle.

Here’s a final look at the whole layout

Really happy with how this came together as I didn’t have a solid plan, just went with the flow and was content with the process.

Well scrappy friends, thats all from me today. Thank you so much for stopping by.

Until next time, Happy Scrapping!
Michelle x

Summer Fun | Endless Summer collection | Tarrah McLean

Tarrah McLean 08/10/2021

Hi creative friends!

It’s Tarrah back with you today to share a Summer themed scrapbook layout using one of the older Cocoa Vanilla Studio collections called Endless Summer. I chose this collection because of the gorgeous teal colour of the water in my photo, a selfie of myself kayaking earlier this year. The teal in the Endless Summer collection was a perfect match! Don’t you love it when that happens?!

I chose my background patterned paper first – opting for the pretty tropical floral outline paper. I did trim it down so that I could add a double mat of cardstock behind the patterned paper. I pulled out a pink and a teal cardstock to mat the page with. I added the wood grain die-cut frame from the Ephemera pack over my photo and stapled an arrow die-cut to the top right of the frame, I then adhered it using craft foam in the centre of my page. I like the look of various layers of dimension on my layouts so I added foam tapes and regular tape under the floral die-cuts and tucked these into both sides of my photo. I also added some leaves here and bent the edges up on both the florals and the leaves.

On the right of the photo I included the super cute flamingo die-cut and the Summer Holiday ticket from the ephemera pack. I also tucked one of the flair buttons and adhered a wood veneer arrow. Below my photo I adhered the Memories Are Made of This die-cut piece on top of the frame, I also tucked in the banner die-cut underneath the photo. My title is made up of the letters that spelt ‘Summer’ and the ‘Fun’ word in the ephemera pack. I also added the cute anchor wood veneer piece to the bottom left corner of the photo. Near the anchor I placed a wood epoxy bead and also placed another wood veneer piece across the Summer title.

To the left of my photo I added the round ‘Smile’ die-cut piece and a heart die-cut. Above the photo I added some cloud die-cuts with craft foam and layered the ‘Summer Days’ banner die-cut across the clouds. I also scattered some of the gorgeous enamel shapes in the hearts around the page. Lastly I stamped the date stamp and checked that everything was adhered down sufficiently.

Do you still have the Endless Summer collection in your stash? Why not pull it out and get creating with it? You can use my layout here as inspiration. If you don’t have the physical collection you can now purchase the Endless Summer digital collection and print your own papers and embellishments as many times as you like!

Thanks so much for stopping by the Cocoa Vanilla blog today! I hope you enjoyed my layout as much as I enjoyed creating it?!

Happy creating!

Tarrah x

Super Totally Rad | Totally Rad collection | Sue Plumb

Sue Plumb 06/08/2020

Hi everyone, it’s Sue Plumb here to share my latest design team project with you. As we all excitedly await the gorgeous new ‘Daydream’ collection, I have been inspired by some of my fellow team members who have been getting ready by doing some stash-busting. So I decided to have a dig into my own stash and see what I could find to use up. I finally settled on the ‘Totally Rad’ collection. For those of you who have been Cocoa Vanilla fans for a long time, you might have some of this hiding in your stash too; and for everyone who missed this range the first time around, you can now purchase it as a digital collection HERE

Here is my layout “Super Totally Rad”…

When it came to the background, I was limited with paper choices so I chose to use the sun burst style pattern on the “Good Times” paper from the ‘Boys Rule’ collection instead. I had a couple of photos from my boys recent 8th birthday, and I thought the colours of the cake would make it a fun subject to pair with the colourful ‘Totally Rad’ collection.

Based on the limited paper I had left to work with, I decided to go with a vertical design using a piece of the cute camera print “Happy Snaps” paper for the focal area of my page. Alongside that, I added a strip of the yellow chevron print which was the reverse side of the cameras. I also added a second strip of the chevrons along he right edge of my page. Because the photos I was working with were different orientations, I wanted to keep them contained on the vertical strip of paper and then fill around them.

The key to keeping this busy design cohesive, was to ensure that all the different elements I planned to use needed to be touching each other. This cascading arrangement meant that the viewer’s eye was automatically drawn down through the design. I used a mix of die cut ephemera pieces, as well as pieces that I had fussy cut from the “Mix Tape” cut apart sheet. I also used a flair button and some enamel shapes.

I am not a huge fan of symmetry in my work, so to balance out how heavy my design was along the central line of the page, I added a small embellishment cluster in the bottom right corner of my page, along with my hand written journalling.

I finished off with some black ink splatters and by stamping the phrase happy birthday to you a few times around the page. I am really happy with the clean simplicity of this page, but also with the fact I got to bust some stash and re-visit a collection that I loved.

I will be back again with another share in a couple of weeks time…and expect a certain new collection to be the star of the show! Until then, happy scrapping!

Life is a Beautiful Mess | Bohemian Dream collection | Sue Plumb

Sue Plumb 06/05/2020

Hi everyone! It’s Sue Plumb here to share my latest project with you. Today I am sharing a layout I created last weekend as part of the Cocoa Vanilla International Scrapbook Day celebration event. It was such an amazing weekend – full of fun, friendship, and of course, inspiration! I am so proud of our team and all the work they put into the event, and to hear how much everyone who took part enjoyed it, really made it all worthwhile.

So the layout I am sharing here was designed for Gwen’s “Grab 5” challenge where we had to include – a chipboard element; a die cut title; a flair button; enamel dots; and something fussy cut. I decided to document this fabulous photo of my daughter being hit with holi powder that was taken by a friend of mine who is a photographer. And what better to pair a splash of colour with, than the beautiful ‘Bohemian Dream’ collection?

Given the “arty” theme of this photograph, I decided the best approach would be to have some arty fun whilst I created it. I started with a sheet of white cardstock that I cut down to measure 11×11″ with the intention of mounting it on patterned paper later on. I pulled out my gelatos (if you don’t have gelatos you can substitute any sort of water soluble pastel or art crayon). I chose some colours that would match with the palette of the collection, and used them to create a very simple “scribbled” background in a rough square shape. I then used my fingertip and a baby wipe to blend the colours out.

With my background work complete, I then turned my attention to creating some layers for behind my photo. I gathered some scraps of the Gypsy Heart and Dreamer papers and added them behind my photo, tucking in a yellow paper doily from my stash as well. I also added a tag that I cut and the you brighten my world tag sticker from the Accessory Sticker sheet, both tied with twine.

For the fussy cut element of my page, I couldn’t go past using the stunning floral print from the collection – Abundant. I cut three pieces from the paper, tucking each of them under the edges of my photo to form a triangle around it. I also added the live a colourful life sticker along the bottom edge of the photo.

By now I needed to tick off a few other items from my criteria list, as I only had one in place so far. I grabbed a flair button from the Flair Button pack, adding it on top of the floral cluster to the left of photo. The next element I wanted to add was the chipboard element, so I chose a few pieces from the coordinating Chipboard Accent Sticker sheet – a couple of small hearts and the beautiful pink moth.

For my title, I knew exactly what I wanted it to say, so I grabbed the ‘Happiness’ Die Cut Titles pack and chose the words life is beautiful. To complete my title I fussy cut a mess from one of the cards on the cut apart Boho Bits paper, then mounted all the words down along the right side of my photo.

I finished off my page with a scattering of sweet enamel shapes (hearts) and a splattering of some navy mist. I was so happy with how this pretty page turned out!

If you haven’t joined the INSD group yet, you can find it on Facebook HERE. There are still a few days left to enter the challenges, plus there is also a free online class from Zoe you can access (including a printable digital kit); process, live scrap and instructional videos from different members of the team; and plenty of inspiration as well, of course.

Thanks so much for stopping by today so I cold share this with you. Until next time, happy scrapping!

The Best | You Rock and more…… | Rachel Lowe

Rachel Lowe 21/01/2020

Hey there CVS friends! Well here is the boy themed layout as chosen by you earlier in the month. I have used a mix of Boys Rule and You Rock collections.

I love grids and this is the basis of my design.

I used Boys Rule Messed Up paper as my background paper, who doesn’t love a paper where the mixed media is done for you! I then cut a 3×12 inch of Boys Rule Straight & Narrow paper and attached vertically to my base paper. I then hand punched different sized stars from Boys Rule Star Fall paper and arranged, slightly tucking some under the green paper and added some with foam tape slightly over the green paper. I added a row of stitching on the right side of the green strip to add texture.

I decided on a grid of three which allowed me one square for my photo and two to embellish. I started at the top creating an embellishment cluster, cutting a 3×3 inch square from Boys Rule Fun & Games paper. I added some random messy machine stitching and added a paper strip from the You Rock black cross paper. I then used the die cut ephemera from Boys Rule to embellish and finishing off with a flair from You Rock collection.

I next added my photo which is 2×2 inches, I used a die frame from the die cut pack and then matted onto Boys Rule Fun & Games denim square. I finished this off with some phrases from the Boys Rule Accessory Stickers and a flair from Made of Awesome collection.

I used another die cut frame for the Rubber tag Awesome. I used another phrase die cut and finished this off with enamel crosses from Made of Awesome collection, which I also added to the corners of my base page.

My title is created using Foam titles from Unforgettable collection (they don’t count as girl on this page lol!), they add such a wow factor in strong black with added height, a close second fav of mine, clear stickers being my absolute fav!

Of course you could add more photos, make your grid with 5 squares instead of three! I hope I lived up to the hype of creating a boy layout to inspire you. I can’t wait until the new boy collection Legendary arrives.

Thanks for stopping by and see you again soon!

Rachel X

Summer Days | Hello Sunshine Collection | Tarrah McLean

Tarrah McLean 08/08/2019

Hi Cocoa Vanilla friends,

It’s Tarrah back with you and today I am sharing a new layout using the Hello Sunshine collection. I decided to challenge myself by not using much patterned paper on this layout, the only piece I added was the piece underneath my photo. If you want to grab some Hello Sunshine, be quick as there are only a few pieces left from this awesome collection in the online store!To begin my layout, I chose a fun cut file design from The Cut Shoppe and cut it out from yellow cardstock. I then adhered the cut file to plain white cardstock. I love the contrast of the bright yellow against the white cardstock, reminds me so much of summer! For the very centre of the design of layout, I picked the ‘In the Summer Time’ sticker from the accessory sheet and popped it up on foam dots and placed it in the centre of my page.Like I said earlier, I matted my photo using just the one piece of patterned paper, this photo is a very recent one of my sister and her eldest daughter in the waters of the Jurassic Coast in England! How gorgeous is that archway and water?! So inviting! I popped my photo up to create some dimension and shadows and then the next step was to embellish. I chose some of the die-cuts from the ephemera pack including the coloured star strip, the iceblock rectangle piece and the journal tab. These 3 pieces I tucked it below the photo and to the right side of the photo. I created a focal point towards the centre of the page by adding a cute flair button, a wood veneer heart and another sticker. I also had to add that Sunshine puffy sticker, I just love the puffy stickers from this collection!Lastly I added some of the super cute enamel shape stars around the edges of the sun to add some colour and interest. I also splattered a few splats of black mist and added the date stamp to finish off my Summer page!