floral ephemera

Family | Heart & Home collection | Sue Plumb

Hi everyone, it’s Sue Plumb here to share another design team project with you. Today I am sharing a mixed media layout featuring the ‘Heart & Home’ collection. Inspired by this month’s “Flower Frenzy” challenge, I decided to document this family photo I took while we were out celebrating an early Mother’s Day lunch. (Family photos with all of us in them are rare, as I am usually the one behind the camera – I am sure many of you can relate!)

I began this layout with a sheet of white cardstock, which I cut down to measure 11×11″, and then backed with the sweet Leaf Litter paper to form a border. I then used pale pink Distress Oxide ink mixed with a little water to create a watercolour paint, which I brushed vertically onto the top half of the page using a wide brush. I then chose a yellow acrylic paint and applied it vertically to the bottom half of the page using a small brayer. This gave me a two-toned background that coordinated perfectly with the colours of the collection.

Now it was time for some paper! I chose a mix of patterned papers, including Fall Beauty, Harvest, and a couple of designs from the A5 Paper Stack to create layers in the central area of my page. I used a mix of both cut and torn edges for contrasting textures, and also added some frayed gauze and a paper doily. My photo was then mounted on top with a little cardboard behind it to help pop it up from the page.

I stuck a couple of stickers from the Accessory Sticker sheet directly onto my photo, then turned my attention to the journalling. I cut a journal card from the Gather cut apart paper, then popped it into my typewriter. (I find the easiest way to do this is to use some washi tape to tack it to a larger piece of paper or card, so it doesn’t get lost in the roller.) I then tucked my journal card under the edge of photo and added a handmade heart embellishment on top.

Then it was time for some flowers! I used a combination of fussy cut pieces from the Bountiful paper, and others from the Floral Ephemera pack to build my clusters. I used my tried and true method of creating a visual triangle around my photo to help me decide placement which in this case was top left / centre right / middle bottom. You can see how this frames naturally around the focal point of my page (my photo). I layered the floral pieces, bending up the leaves to create dimension off the page.

I finished my page with a Gold Foil Title in the lower right corner; some stamped words and the date; and tiny gold ink splatters scattered around. Love how this one came together!

If you love flowers, then make sure you enter our May “Flower Frenzy” challenge which is hosted in our Facebook Cocoa Vanilla Studio Community group. You can enter as many times as you wish (providing each entry is created specifically for our challenge) and there is a $25 store voucher to be won. Looking forward to seeing your floral masterpieces!

Until next time, happy scrapping!

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

Happy B’Day | Happy Days collection | Sue Plumb

Hi everyone, it’s Sue Plumb here to share another design team project with you. Today I am sharing a layout that has been inspired by our April “Chasing Rainbows” challenge. This month the criteria is to use a BIG rainbow as the main design element of your layout. Now if you know anything about me, you already know I am not great at following rules, which is why anytime I try to follow a sketch I end up somewhere completely different. So it should be no surprise to you that my interpretation of this challenge is a little loose. Here’s what I came up with…

 

I was determined to create a boy page for this challenge, so how do you create a boy rainbow? Simple! You just cut the pink and purple off! I really loved this striped Sunshine Lollipops paper from the ‘Happy Days’ collection so decided to use it as my big feature. I really wanted the colours to pop, so I first added some dark grey acrylic paint to my cardstock for my background. I wanted to keep the paper intact for my main feature, but add some extra interest, so I snipped a little along the line between each colour and used a narrow wooden skewer to help roll the ends up (some I curled a little more than others).

The photo of my boys was taken whilst we were out celebrating their 11th birthday, so using bright colours was perfect for the occasion. As the rainbow was to be the main feature of my page, I didn’t want to mess it up by muddling the colours at all, so I decided to use the tone-on-tone technique for my embellishments.

I used a mix of pieces from the Die Cut Ephemera and Floral Ephemera packs (yes, you CAN have flowers on a boy page!) as well as Accessory Stickers. I placed the embellishments on top of (or as close to) the corresponding colours on the paper and used foam tape to add dimension to some of them.

I really love the effect that using this technique gives, and it makes it super simple to decide where to place things, so putting this page together was a breeze! I finished off the page by adding the Chipboard Title across the top (I ADORE these chipboard titles – the font is so awesome!)

Thanks so much for stopping by today so I could share this with you. I hope I have inspired you to tackle this month’s challenge (who doesn’t love rainbows?!) You can load your entry over in the Cocoa Vanilla Studio Community group to be in with a chance to win. I can’t wait to see all those rainbows!

Until next time, happy scrapping!

 

Together | Heart & Home collection | Sue Plumb

Hi everyone, it’s Sue Plumb here to share another design team project with you. Today I am sharing a mixed media family themed layout I created using the beautiful ‘Heart & Home’ collection. I decided to document this photo of my hubby and kids from Father’s Day a few years ago and feature the blue / green tones of the range.

I decided to keep this layout relatively clean and simple, so began with a white cardstock base and some mixed media. I first added some stencilling using a Distress Oxide and script stencil; then some light stamping over the top using a ledger stamp and grey ink. These three points formed my “visual triangle” to help define my placement for my photo.

 

I chose a mix of patterned papers to use for my page that included the B sides of the Bountiful, Harvest and Framed papers. I added torn pieces of the green and wood grain patterns along the bottom edge of my page, using my fingertip to ruffle the edges for extra texture. I then mirrored the same paper pieces on a smaller scale along the top edge of my page. The mixed media on the background helps to connect these pieces to the main area of the layout.

For the focal area of my design I used a mix of all three patterned papers and tucked a grey paper doily into the layers. I also added some frayed gauze for texture before mounting my photo on top, and then began adding my embellishments. I started with the sweet little heart banner in the corner of the photo from the Accessory Sticker sheet. I love adding embellishments directly onto my photos, as not only can you use this trick to cover unsightly things in the background or fill negative space, but I find it also helps to connect the photo to the rest of the elements on the page.

I wanted to build floral clusters on this page, so I rifled through the Floral Ephemera pack and pulled out pieces that worked with my colour scheme. Then it was simply a matter of shuffling the pieces around until I was happy with the arrangement. I made sure to tuck the pieces over and under each other, as well as other elements on the page, to help create depth. I also bent the edges up or used foam tape to add dimension to some of them. To the left of my photo I added a handmade felt arrow from my stash.

I chose the word together from the Gold Foil Titles pack as my page title, and then a few phrases from the Accessory Sticker sheet for some additional text. (I always try to ensure a balance between images / text and other elements on my page – it makes it more interesting for the viewer to have a mix of things to look at.) I finished off with some scattered dots and hearts from the Puffy Stickers pack and some tiny black ink splatters.

Thanks so much for joining me today, I hope I have inspired you. Why not pull out some of those stencils or stamps from your own stash to add some subtle mixed media to your next project? Remember – you don’t need to cover the whole page and sometimes a little can go a long way!

Until next time, happy scrapping!

Celebrate Together | Heart and Home | Kellie Moore

Hey there Cocoa Vanilla friends it’s Kellie here and welcome back to the blog today .

I have a layout using the new Heart and Home collection to share today….the memory I am documenting is a photo of myself with my youngest son recently taken at a wedding where he was a page boy….isn’t he the sweetest?!

To start my page, I decided I wanted to create a background with a bunch of the papers from the A5 paper stack so I decided to cut a bunch of squares and lay them on an angle, leaving a strip white space down the page to allow the page to not become too busy. To add more texture I added some hand stitching around the squares.

I placed my photo towards the left side of the page so I could create a diagonal through my photo. I matted my photo in white as I already had so much pattern going on.

I wanted to keep the embellishing on the lighter side to not overpower the photo so I added some of the floral ephemera to the top left and bottom right of my photo, not sticking them flat to the page so they add dimension.

For my title I chose the word ‘Celebrate’ from the Titles with Gold Foil then added the word ‘Together’ using the Mini Puffy Alphabet. I also used a heart sticker from the Accessory Sticker Sheet above my title, along with some of the heart Puffy Stickers.

I hope you enjoyed my page today and have found some inspiration to help you get creating.

Till next time !

Kel x

Family | Heart & Home collection | Mandy Melville

Hello everyone,

Mandy here today to share another layout featuring the beautiful Heart & Home collection. For this layout, I documented another family photo from our recent trip to Mudgee. This one is of Mum, my son Isaac, and myself picnicking at a vineyard, and I plan to put this page alongside the layout that I shared last month with photos taken on the same day. I love the way the colours in this collection really bring out the colours in the photo!

I started this page by cutting up 6 inch x 1.5 inch strips of patterned papers from the A5 Paper Stack. I then adhered these down the left hand side of a sheet of Golden Fields paper (b side). To finish off the background I punched a border strip from the woodgrain Framed patterned paper, and adhered it down the middle of the page where the paper strips meet the text background.

I matted my photo with the yellow paper from the A5 Paper Stack, and adhered it towards the top of the page, overlapping both the paper strips and the text background. Next I fussy cut a floral cluster out of the Bountiful paper, and tucked that under the bottom right hand corner of the photo. I added a few die cut elements to the cluster including some leaves, a house, and a banner. I adhered some items with foam tape to give the cluster some extra interest and dimension.

To balance out the larger floral cluster, I added two more smaller clusters to the page. One positioned on the top left hand corner of the photo, and the other in the bottom right hand corner of the layout. The positioning of the clusters gives the layout a diagonal flow, drawing the viewer’s eye from the top left, down through the photo and title, to the bottom right. I used more Die  Cut Ephemera, as well as some flowers from the Floral Ephemera pack, to create the second and third clusters. You can also see here that I created a subtitle to the left of the photo using the Mini Puffy Alpha Stickers.

For my title, I chose the word ‘Family’ from the Die Cut Ephemera pack. I outlined the letters with a brown pen and adhered them with craft foam to help them to pop off the page.

Thank you so much for joining me here on the blog today. I hope that you enjoyed taking a look at my layout!

Mandy x

Moodboard Inspiration with Heart & Home | Niki Rowland

Do you love or loath moodboards? I love them but I know some people struggle to interpret them. I tackle them by making a list of all the things I see and then I try to incorporate as many of them as possible into my layout.

For the beautiful October moodboard set by Sophie, this is the list I made: acorns, check print, web, leaves, wooden round, circle shape, flowers, words (script font and regular), knitted yarn/wool, pumpkins, woodgrain, the colours (green, orange blue, brown, pink, peach, yellow), Autumn theme. That’s a long list!

 

I was mostly inspired by the central photo of the wooden round. I used the A5 paper stack sheet of woodgrain paper and cut out the largest circle possible. I distressed the edges. I mounted my photo onto a check print.  I arranged my photo and Floral Ephemera to the right of the circle together with a Ephemera frame. The frame has acorns on it. I arranged all these elements as per the central photo of the wooden round, together with my title too over on the left. So far I’d incorporated: acorns, check print, leaves, wooden round, circle shape, flowers, words, woodgrain, the colours and an Autumn theme. Lots of boxes ticked there!

I added some ink under the area where the flowers would sit. I used a peach shade and then added some darker ink splatters over this area.

I wanted to incorporate the knitted yarn so took some white embroidery thread and cut three long lengths. I then plaited these and make a piece long enough to go around the edge of my wooden round. I just stuck it in place. I also added a doily under the wooden round, which could (at a stretch) represent the web on the moodboard. So now I could also tick off: web and knitted yarn. That’s pretty much everything except the pumpkins.

I added a few more fussy cut acorns, handwrote my journaling, and added some puffy heart stickers. I also created a little torn area on the left side of the layout backed with patterned paper, to balance out the very large cluster that was over to the right side.

So I think I nailed the moodboard and I hope that you have enjoyed seeing how I tackle a moodboard! Enjoy the process video of this layout.

Happy scrapping

Niki xx

@nikiclairecreates

Good Times | Heart & Home collection | Mandy Melville

Hello everyone!

Mandy here today to share a new layout featuring the stunningly beautiful Heart & Home collection. On this layout I documented a couple of photos of my hubby and I that were taken when we visited a winery recently in Mudgee. We had such a lovely time wine tasting and then having a picnic on the grounds of the winery. The colours in the Heart & Home collection  complemented my photos beautifully, so it was the perfect choice for scrapbooking these photos.

I started with the Golden Fields and the Fall Beauty patterned papers. I cut them both in half diagonally and then adhered them together to create my background. When creating a background like this, it’s best to make sure that one of the patterned papers has a less busy patterned so that your background doesn’t become too busy and overwhelm your photos. Next I matted my photos with the woodgrain paper from the A5 Paper Stack and adhered them at an angle along the join between the two background papers.

Because the background already added so much interest to the page, I wanted to keep the embellishing fairly simple. I decided on adding two floral clusters which were positioned again along that diagonal to draw the viewer’s eye down the page and through the photos. I used a combination of florals that I fussy cut out of the Bountiful paper, along with Die Cut and Floral Ephemera. I used foam tape to give the clusters some dimension and I avoided adding adhesive to the leaves so that they would lift nicely off the page.

I kept to a warm colour palette on this page, choosing the reds, pinks and oranges, and making sure to repeat these colours in both clusters to keep them looking balanced. By tucking some flowers under the edge of the photo, and adding others on top, it helps to give the cluster some extra dimension and interest. I also finished off both clusters with some Puffy Stickers.

For my title I couldn’t go past using the gorgeous Gold Foil Titles! I chose the phrase ‘Good Times’ and tucked the words in to the right of the photos. There are so many words in the pack, it makes it so easy to add beautiful titles to your pages! And who doesn’t love a touch of gold?!

Thanks so much for joining me here on the blog today! I’ll be back next month with some more inspiration.

Mandy x

Love This Autumn Scrapbooking Layout using Heart & Home

Hey everyone! This is Niki (@nikiclairecreates) and here is my latest creation with the beautiful Heart & Home collection. I have made a process video too, which is below.  I love gingham and check prints so was drawn to the check side of Flurry paper. I cut it into squares by following the lines on the paper and then layered these up in diamond formations onto a white background.

I added in additional squares but with the other side of the paper showing, I love that dark blue. I mounted my photo and placed this on the bottom diamond.

I added floral clusters using Floral Ephemera and the Die Cut Ephemera. I pinch the flowers first to give them some curl and then also raise them on foam pads too so there is lots of dimension.

I added a title using the gorgeous Gold Title Ephemera ‘love this’ but I also wanted to include a sub title ‘ticket to ride’ which I did using the Mini Puffy Alphabet Stickers – these are so cute and great for titles and subtitles.

I added some cut apart words from the Golden Fields paper manufacturing strip, all of which I distressed the edges and raised up on foam pads.

I finished off by adding my journaling, and some Puffy Stickers, as well as some splatters of white paint.

Thanks so much for joining me today and happy scrapping

Niki xx

@nikiclairecreates


You Are My Happy | Heart & Home | Kellie Moore

Hello Everyone, it’s Kel here today to share my first layout for the month of October….how this year is flying by!!

For today’s page I’m using Heart and Home and I decided to focus on the cooler tones…here is a look…

 

To start my page, I made some origami hearts (found a simple tutorial on Youtube) and to add more detail I added some hand stitching …they turned out really cute ! I used them as a feature across the bottom of my page.

I am documenting two pics of my youngest boy from many years ago…he was such a sweet baby. I placed my two photos to the top left of my page and placed paper strips under my photos to ground them to my page. To the top of my photos I added a tab and word phrase sticker from the Accessory Sticker Sheet.

I used the paper ‘Fall Beauty’ to fussy cut a bunch of the butterflies and placed them diagonally from the bottom and right side of the page so they flow up to my photos and draw attention to them. I also stitched some trails behind the butterflies.

Next I added some florals on both sides of my photos and these also have stitching added to them.

Lastly I added my title using a mix of the Puffy Mini Alpha Stickers and a Title with Gold Foil.

I hope you have been inspired today and are having lots of fun with the new Heart and Home collection.

Happy Scrapping!

Kel x

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