ephemera pieces

Happy Days | Throwback Thursday | Michelle Stokes

Hey Scrappy Friends, It’s Michelle back with you today to share a little Throwback Thursday creation. If you’re not familiar with this theme its where we dip into the archives of our Cocoa Vanilla Studio stash and create something magical with an older collection. Today I chose the Happy Days Collection to brighten up our scrolling time, plus a little walk down memory lane in the photo choice too.

I chose a sweet photo of Leila and I from many many moons ago. We were sharing a sweet moment in my craft room when she requested a selfie.

The layout itself started off quite different to this as I originally didn’t plan on using any white cardstock. I knew I wanted to create a wreath type layout as I haven’t made one in quite some time and they always look so beautiful. As I was moving the floral ephemera pieces around on the beautiful spotted aqua paper (Little Blossom B Side) I thought why not try a heart shape. I drew a rough shape between all the flower clusters, making mental notes for where I wanted them all placed, and then sewed all around the shape multiple times for a little hint of stitched texture.

Next up I worked on sticking all the florals down into the clusters using a mix of pieces from both the Floral and Ephemera packs within the collection. I even added some fussy cut florals and butterflies from the Lush Blooms and Flutterby papers. I mainly used foam double sided tape and tacky glue to piece the clusters together in a layered group

I added the photo in between the clusters using a frame from the Ephemera pack and backed with foam to pop it up off heart.

I used the words Happy Days from the Ephemera pack as my title, with the addition of a word sticker from the Accessory Stickers sheet. The perfect addition of colour to mix with all the bright flowers within this layout

Next I decided that the heart wasn’t standing out as much as I had hoped so I chopped into the background paper. I cut close to the machine stitching, under all the florals that were already adhered to the paper and thankfully was able to keep everything in tact. Once I had this main piece free I adhered it to some white cardstock in the centre of the page, then added all the smaller fussy cut florals around the larger clusters, added some puffy stickers then sprinkled with gold ink and some gold glitter paint in spots.

Here’s a final look at the entire layout, so bright and Happy…

Well friends, thats all from me today. Thanks so much for stopping by.

Until next time, Happy Scrapping!
Michelle x

Beautiful You | Heart & Home Collection | Michelle Stokes

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

 

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

Happy Days | Happy Days Collection | Michelle Stokes

Hey Crafty friends it’s Michelle here today. I’ve created a layout using the wonderful Happy Days Collection for part of my annual scrapbooking series documenting my daughters current loves.. To keep a cohesive look to this project I make all the pages in the same design, just switching out the collections to suit the feelings of that year. Leila allowed the use of pink for this years layout, which is a big thing compared to the previous years.. Lets take a look

The bonus of creating one of these layouts each year is that it comes together so fast. The design of the layout is already pre-decided, I just need to select the papers, cut them to size, machine stitch around the edges and adhere to the layout. This years layout features pretty papers from the A5 paper stack as the smaller scale print works well when combined together with multiple patterns. Each square is cut to roughly 3 3/4 inch and set around the edges of the layout with white space in the opposite diagonal corners.

I added a 3×5 size photo to another A5 pattern paper and adhered to the middle right side of the layout, overlapping some of the background pattern papers. I added the list of favourites to the left of the photo using a piece of notepaper adhered to some pattern paper to create a ‘clipboard’. I used ephemera pieces to create the title and my own handwriting to write the list of loves

I add minimal embellishments to these layouts as I really want the list of faves to stand out with each one I create. For this layout I made 2 main embellishment clusters in the top and bottom corners, diagonally across from each other. Both contain fussy cut florals from the LUSH BLOOMS paper, ephemera pieces, butterflies from the FLUTTERBY paper, punched mini flowers and some mini puffy stickers.

Theres also a couple of punched flowers in the same pattern paper as the bottom left corner, just for a little hidden dimension

Heres a final look at the entire layout, plus a link to last years post that shares all the previous years layouts can be found  HERE ..

I really enjoy creating these pages each year, and look forward to seeing them evolve each and every year. Theres a couple of years that I want to go back and create pages for that were before the times I started this project so I hope to share those with you all one day in the future. Do you document your kids favourite things each year? Please share in the Community group if you do, we all love to see different ideas on how people document these kinds of things, and It really is fun to look back on

Well thats all from me today, thank you so much for stopping by!

Until next time, Happy Scrapping!
Michelle x

You’re Awesome | No Limits Collection | Michelle Stokes

Hey Hey crafty friends, it’s Michelle back here today with another layout share for this month using our amazing NEW collection – No Limits. I’ve found another way to use this awesome collection for a non boy related layout which is just perfect for our not so girly daughter Leila. It also shows a way in which you can scrap multiple photos without overcrowding the page.

Grid layouts. These are a great way to get back into creating when you’re stuck in a creative ‘rut’ or like me, when your chaotic world is spiralling and you’re lacking time, but know that you need a therapeutic crafty sesh. This layout came together in no time and all and was the perfect way to document a couple of photos from Leila’s birthday back in December.

The patterns in this collection are just perfect to mix together, especially web using the smaller A5 prints. I’ve cut 8 patterns into 3x3inch squares and sewed around the edges to add a little extra detail

Each photo was printed in a slightly smaller size to the pattern paper, and I kept them all black and white to ensure no colour clashing happened. Each grid piece was adhered to the cardstock background using foam to add a slight hint of dimension across the entire layout.

Rather than massive clusters I’ve kept the embellishments to a small grouping of similar elements using ephemera and stickers combined with a mix of chipboard pieces and puffy stickers

There’s a few title choices within the awesome Chipboard sticker set, this one I’ve mixed with some accessory word stickers to give a mixed font look.

Still cant believe this kid of ours is now 11! I honestly don’t know where the days go..

One of my favourite mini clusters using a sticker tag, ephemera piece, fussy cut and puffy stars and some threads

I finished the layout off with a splattering of black ink and called it a day.   Dead set total legend for sure! But I am totally not biased at all right? lol

Well friends thats all from me today. Super short and sweet today sharing another great way to get multiple photos documented in a really quick yet effective way, plus using a collection thats not specifically designed for girls.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Until next time Happy Scrapping

Michelle x

Grade Five | No Limits Collection | Michelle Stokes

Hey Everyone! It’s Michelle back here today with a brand new layout share using the awesome NEW collection No Limits.  Loving the switch up on colour palette and patterns for this collection, especially those stars. Another fantastic collection thats brilliant for scrapping all things kid related, with a more masculine feel, but still just as good for scrapping the not so girly little ladies in our lives.

I jumped straight into some messy creating for this layout, blue inks watered down and smooshed onto some white cardstock to give a watercolour effect. I already had a rough idea of layout design from something I had previously created, so I added the splotches into areas where I thought they would peek out through the layers. And yes, its another scraplift of myself haha. I cant help it, it’s so much fun to recreate past layouts. You should absolutely try it when you’re stuck for inspiration!

The photos I chose to use are from this years first day of school, hard to believe Leila is now such a big kid in Grade Five. Luigi also made an appearance, like he does most days when she’s off to school.

The layout is full of circular elements both hand cut and ephemera/ sticker pieces plus a tonne of stars. I even went to the trouble of editing the photos into circles before printing them out in black and white. I hand cut around the edge of each photo and then adhered them to some of the awesome blue “Stardust” pattern paper from the A5 paper stack.

I played around with different combinations of pattern papers from the A5 paper stack to create the 3 main clusters on the page. I kept it pretty neutral to compliment rather than compete against each other . This helped when it was time to add all the extra pops of colour with fussy cut stars and ephemera pieces. I used a couple border punches to add the other pops of pattern paper to break up all the blue, white and neutral colours.

I added journalling to the main photo cluster using some notepad paper I had on hand, it was the perfect blue lined paper that co-ordinated so well with the colours of the stars. I cut this in a circular shape like the pattern papers using the plastic ring from inside a roll of foam tape. It was the perfect size for tracing out.

At the bottom of the layout I added a bunch of ephemera pieces, more fussy cut stars from the Nebula paper and some pretty cool word stickers from the accessory sticker sheet. Then there was just enough room to squeeze in a quick white alpha sticker title to finish it all off..

Heres a closer look below at all the layers I created with all those circles and stars.

Well friends, thats all from me today. Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing my first creation with our BRAND new Collection – No Limits. I cant wait to jump back into the box and get creating with it again soon.

Until Next time, Happy Scrapping
Michelle x

Cards for Christmas | Joyful collection | Michelle Stokes

Hello Hello and a very Merry Christmas to you all. It’s Michelle here today with a new festive crafty share using our beautiful Joyful Collection. I’ll keep this post short and sweet too, as I know you’re all probably out there enjoying the day with family.

I’ve been wanting to make some handmade cards for our immediate family at Christmas for years now, and this year I finally carved out some time to make some. The Joyful collection contains so many pretty elements that can easily be transformed into quick cards ready to pass along to loved ones near and far.

I made a couple different sizes of cards, the usual 4×6 size a 5×5 and a 6×6. All started with some white cardstock for the base of the card then a pattern paper background using the A5 paper stack. Smaller prints make the perfect background for smaller projects.

Each card has a different design while incorporating similar elements. Fussy cut florals from the ‘Tis the season‘ paper and some tiny gold puffy stars from the Puffy title stickers pack

A couple of them have accessory stickers, ephemera pieces and chipboard words

And each of them have machine stitching for a little extra detail

I cant quite pick a favourite out of the mix as all of them turned out so cute. I’m going to find it hard to figure out who gets what card, but I cant wait to give them out later today.

Well thats all from me today, I did promise short and sweet on this festive day. Thanks so much for taking the time out of your busy day to check in and see my creations. I wish you all a wonderful festive weekend!

Until next time, Happy Scrapping, food eating and present opening.

Michelle x

Christmas Magic | Joyful Collection | Michelle Stokes

Hey Hey! It’s Michelle back here today with a new layout share featuring the wonderful NEW Joyful Collection. SO many pretty patterns and colours with a couple of super cute creatures thrown into the mix. I’ve documented one of our fun family traditions from last Christmas, our crazy Elf on the Shelf shenanigans.

To start off the layout I grabbed out the A5 paper stack and cut out pieces from multiple patterns that are just over 3 inches square in size. I’ve distressed the edges, folded and ripped some pieces and also layered some with velum and other pops of pattern paper. All squares are adhered within a grid format using foam for slight dimension.

Next up I’ve worked on the photo stack, title and floral cluster group. I printed the photos out roughly 3.5×2.7 inch size and adhered them to the bottom left area of the layout using more foam. I also added in an extra pattern paper above the photos to balance out the colours on the layout.

We’ve loved playing around with the Elf each year, and sadly I think last year was the last season for creating this kind of ‘magic’. It was certainly fun to see what the Elf and her friends got up to each night, and am very interested to see what happens this year.

To the right of the photo I created a floral cluster using fussy cut pieces from the Tis the Season paper with the addition of stars from the ephemera and puffy title sticker packs.

The title was a super easy creation using a chipboard word sticker and a puffy title sticker

Up in the top right of the layout grouped together more fussy cut florals from the Tis the Season paper along with a super cute reindeer from the ephemera pack. I’ve been itching to find ways to incorporate the animals without just throwing them on for no reason, cause they’re all so darn cute!

Over on the left I created another small cluster of florals tucked behind the tag and banner from the ephemera pack. These florals are so pretty in real life, so its hard to cut into the paper.

Lastly some handwritten journalling to tell the story of our Elf Twinkle and her mates that helped to spread some Christmas Cheer. I used a ripped piece of notepaper from a pad that I keep handy on my desk and embellished it with some stars and accessory word sticker. To add one final touch to the layout I’ve added my usual sprinkling of gold ink, that splattered in places I didn’t really want it to, but thats the risk we take when creating something fun.

Well friends thats all from me today, thanks so much for stopping by! I cant wait to see what you’re all creating with the Joyful Collection so be sure to share with us in our CVS facebook group and on Social Media using the hashtags #cocoavanillastudio and #cvsjoyful .

Until next time, Happy Scrapping!
Michelle x

Christmas Spirit | Joyful Collection | Michelle Stokes

Hey Hey! It’s Michelle back here today with a new layout share featuring our BRAND NEW Collection – Joyful. Absolutely ecstatic to receive this collection with plenty of time to get the Christmas photos scrapped, cards made and December Memories albums started. This layout features a couple of nighttime photos from last year along our local ‘Waterfront’ thats always decorated ready to play around in the Christmas Spirit.

I started the layout by cutting out a star cluster cut file from CUT to YOU, designed by our fellow DT Member Gwen. My love for star shapes is just as big as it is for florals, so I love adding more than needed on layouts like this. The cut file has been cut out on white cardstock and backed using a variety of pretty pattern stars from the Making Spirits Bright paper  I also added some vellum and a piece of the pretty star pattern paper Deck the Halls. The entire piece was the backed using the Very Merry paper using some foam tape to give a shadowing effect to the outline.

I added the photos to a red pattern paper in the A5 paper stack and adhered them to the right of the star cutfile using foam for a little more lift off the page.

I got a little adventurous with this layout by adding a subtle hint of mixed media to the background by mixing 2 different colours together and smooshing them onto the background cardstock to create a watercolour effect. I also added splatters of the individual colours and some gold to compliment the hints of other gold elements on the page.

The title was a little tricky to create with all the different layers of dimension to work around, however the new super cool gold puffy title stickers adhere perfectly on top of the layers and was finished off with some old school white alphas. In this ‘cluster’ of sorts I also added a chipboard piece and star from the ephemera pack.

In the top left corner I created a mini cluster of stars using pieces from the chipboard sticker pack , gold puffy and ephemera stars and a cute wood button with a heart design.

The twine thats lopped along the top from left to right was actually a last minute addition, something to add when I felt it was missing something.

Bottom right cluster is made up of more pretty stars and a label sticker from the accessory sticker sheet to document the year and place

Well Scrappy friends, that is all from me today. I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing my first layout using the BRAND NEW Joyful Collection. I cant wait to dive back into my DT Box and create more fun layouts with this collection. The animals are super duper cute and absolutely need to feature on a creation some day soon.

Until then, thank you so much for stopping by and Happy Scrapping!
Michelle x

 

 

Sweet Sunshine | Sunkissed Collection | Michelle Stokes

Hello Scrappy friends! It’s Michelle back today with a new layout to share as part of our current Sparkle and Shine theme. I recently got my DT Box full of Sunkissed goodness so I was super excited to use it for this layout, especially the NEW Gold Glitter Foam Titles. Oh my HECK they are stunning and perfect for a theme like this one!

I started the layout by getting a little messy, yep you read that right. Clean freak here got messy for a second layout in a row! I used pink and gold shimmer sprays to create a watercolour effect using the plastic packaging technique, then splattered over the top using the spray tube. Once it was dry (and very warped) I added paper strips across the middle ( Fun in the Sun & Feelin’ Fine ) and machine stitched for a little extra detail. Then I hand cut the wavy edge in the ‘ Sunny Days ‘ paper and tucked that under the layers

I used papers from the A5 Paper stack to layer under the photo ( Just Chillin’ and a pink version of Bright Side ) This whole stack was layered with foam both between layers and under the entire stack to give it dimension off the super warped, never going to be flat background. I tucked a label from the ‘ Fun in the Sun ‘ cut apart paper and a tab from the ephemera pack into the layers also.

To the right of the photo I added a large cluster of fussy cut flowers from the 12×12 version of the STUNNING ‘ Growing Wild ‘ paper. I’ve got a stack more cut out ready for the next few layouts too. I added the title under this using the sweet Gold Glitter Foam Titles – a new edition to the Cocoa Vanilla Studio Embellishment range. Absolutely beautiful product to use. Oh and the Wood Buttons are back too, those who have followed CVS from the early days will remember these from earlier collections. I took the adhesive foam dot off the back and used a flat glue dot to adhere to the areas that already had enough dimension.

I used more fussy cut florals under the photo to create the second point to the visual triangle of embellishments I was aiming to achieve.

And then up the top of the layout a much smaller cluster of florals mixed with bunting flags from the ephemera pack. This is when I started adding all the sequins (from the Daydream collection) and a few glitter hearts from the Gold Glitter Foam titles pack. Tiny sequins to add a little hint of extra sparkle and to give the clusters a more completed look.

Lastly I added a touch of handwriting to document this season of life, or I should say that season. A time when Leila would actually cooperate and sit still long enough for me to take photos like this. These days they are very few and far between now that she is 10. I cherish all the photos I was able to get when she was younger, I might need to use bribery for some updates!

Before we say goodbye for today, here’s one final look at the entire layout

I think its safe to say the messy stuff is here to stay.. it certainly adds an extra element of completion to a layout.

Well friends thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing my first creation using the wonderful Sunkissed Collection. I can’t wait to create more stunning titles with those amazing Gold Glitter foam words. What are you excited to use from this collection? Let me know in the comments below

Until next time, Happy Scrapping!
Michelle x

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