fussy cut florals

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 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

Good Vibes | Happy Days Collection | Michelle Stokes

Hello Crafty friends, it’s Michelle back here today. I’ve got a colourful new layout to share with you all that features our AMAZING new collection – Happy Days. Abso-freakin-lutely LOVING the rainbow assortment of pattern papers within this collection, so much so that I created a magical colour block creation. There’s plenty of embellishments to create this kind of layout, and I hope you all try it too! Lets take a look …

I started with pretty pattern paper squares from the A5 paper stack, each with added machine stitching around the edges. I adhered each piece using some foam for slight dimension and placed them in rainbow order around the outer edges of the cardstock background.

I used a couple of sweet ‘cool kid’ photos of Leila from a few years back, printed in black and white to ensure no colour clashing. Looking back on these photos I realised they’re from when we first moved into our house, before Leila started school. Hard to believe that this is her final year of Primary School and this ‘cool kid’ will be a teenager in 6 months time. Yikes!

Back to the crafty process.. Each colour block has embellishments to match. There’s florals fussy cut from the Lush Blooms paper, butterflies from the Flutterby paper, cut apart pieces from the Feel Good paper, punched shapes from other matching pattern papers from the collection, stickers from the Accessory Sticker Sheet and tiny Puffy stickers

I fussy cut the words GOOD VIBES from the Definitive paper for the title, as there’s always good vibes when this cute kid is involved.

I added a journal card from the A5 paper version of the Feel Good paper to list a few of the things that made Leila happy at that stage of her life. It stretched the memory to think of them all, thank heavens for the ridiculous amount of photos I took back then to help jog the memory.

I gave the entire layout a good splattering of gold ink to finish it all off and am really happy with the end result.

Here’s a closer look at the dimension of all those bits n bobs around the page, don’t know what I’d do without my beloved sticky dots and foam tape when creating. They definitely help give embellishments a pop off the page

Here’s a final look at the final colourful creation..

Well thats all from me today, thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing this magical rainbow creation, just as much as I loved making it. If you make your own version, please share with us in the CVS Facebook Community Group, I’d love to see!

Until next time, Happy Scrapping!
Michelle x

First day of Grade Six | Storyteller | Michelle Stokes

Hey Everyone it’s Michelle back with you today to share a super quick layout featuring the amazing Storyteller Collection. I’m still loving this collection with all its bright primary colours, perfect for documenting some first day of school photos that almost didn’t make it to print!

I knew I wanted to create something fast, simple and pretty all at the same time, and as we’re still in the month of ‘love’ I felt it needed to incorporate some kind of large heart design along with groups of pretty florals. The layout ended up being exactly what I was aiming for and will be a well cherished addition to Leila’s childhood albums for years to come.

I started off by finding a generic heart shape through google, and cutting the large shape out in the middle of some white cardstock using my silhouette. I adhered this piece to a second layer of white cardstock using foam sheets to give it some flat dimension.

I knew I’d be adding lots of colours to the layout in the way of floral clusters, so to avoid any pattern/ colour clashing I printed the photos of Leila in Black and White at just a smidge over 3x2inch size. I backed both photos with the woodgrain paper (Cross it Off) from the collection, added a couple of accessory stickers and adhered these pieces to the left of the heart using more foam sheeting to pop them up off the page a little.

The floral clusters came together so nicely but were probably the parts of the layout that took the longest. Fussy cutting is quite therapeutic, yet time consuming. I added a mix of ephemera pieces and accessory stickers to each of the groups to mix them up. The beautiful florals are from a mix of both the 12×12 and A5 version of the Spring Fling paper.

I used a mix of adhesives for the clusters, mostly foam tape and glue dots for slight dimension.

There’s also a sneaky enamel heart within each cluster for a finishing touch within each group.

I created a mixed font title using the usual blend of both handwritten text and my beloved white alpha stickers, with the addition of machine stitching for extra detail and to keep them in place.

Here’s a closer look at how sweet these alphas are, lets all keep our fingers and toes crossed that they make an appearance back in the CVS store sometime in the future as they really are the best for creating titles with.

I added the usual gold ink splatters around the layout to finish it all off to, something I do to all layouts to make them feel complete.

Here’s one final look at the entire layout and all its white space goodness!

Well thats all from me today, thank you so much for stopping by to see another of my crafty creations using the Storyteller Collection. I hope you’re all still loving this collection as much as we all are, but I bet you’re all itching to see what the amazing Zoe comes up with next. Be sure to keep an eye on all our Social Media Channels for more scrappy inspiration from all the team here at Cocoa Vanilla Studio.

Until next time, Happy Scrapping!
Michelle x

 

Beautiful You | Storyteller Collection | Michelle Stokes

Hey there Scrappy Friends! It’s Michelle back here with you today to share my newest creation using the Storyteller Collection. For this layout I wanted to document a couple of photos of Leila (being Leila) hanging out being the superstar that she is at her birthday celebrations last year. Hard to believe that in just 2 more months she will be 12!

I wanted to keep this layout pretty simple, with just a couple of photos, a ‘tidy’ background and my trademark floral clusters. I used the green circular pattern design from the back of the FLY AWAY paper and fussy cut 3 lines out using both scissors and my craft knife for all the inner pieces. Once ready I adhered in the top half of the white cardstock, roughly just above the centre line of the paper. I used double sided foam tape to lift it off the page just slightly.

I can’t take credit for these 2 magical photos, Leila’s aunty managed to capture them while the kids were happy playing in the massive play room while we had dinner. I kept them black and white so not to clash with the colours of the beautiful Storyteller Collection. I used 3×4 cards to back the photos before adhering to the middle of the green circles with foam for an extra pop of dimension.

Clusters created on either side of the photos using both fussy cut florals from the SPRING FLING paper (A5 paper stack size), flag banners from the ephemera pack, word flags from the STORY TIME cut apart paper, wood buttons and black foam hearts from the foam title stickers pack.

Totally obsessed with floral clusters, so much so that I ended up creating clusters similar to ones I’ve made previously. I just cant help it when florals are so so pretty and work so well in certain combinations.

These foam title stickers are the best for creating a good quick title that has impact on the page, they’re a beautiful product to work with too.

I added one last little cluster at the bottom of the layout layered together with another strip of green circles from the FLY AWAY paper, then splattered the entire layout with gold ink to finish it all off.

Here’s one more look at the entire layout, such a quick layout to recreate when you’ve got a couple of photos to document.

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

Until next time, Happy Scrapping
Michelle xx

Precious Moments Together | Storyteller Collection | Michelle Stokes

Hello Hello! It’s Michelle here today to share another layout for our month of sketch inspiration using the wonderful Storyteller Collection. I had so much fun creating my last layout that I thought, why not create another using a fun sketch from Page Maps. This one was based on a grid design and brings together multiple photos to tell a story, perfect for sharing one about a new blossoming doggy friendship.

We recently welcomed another sweet pup into our home, his name is Sonny and boy is he a handful. He’s the most hilarious little ball of fluff we’ve ever encountered, and is a great new addition to our little family. Our first doggo Daisy only took a few days to get use to having him around, and so far they seem like they’re going to be the very best of friends.

As you could imagine theres been a lot of photo taking in the last few days, so it was hard to narrow the selection down to just 4 for this project. I edited them all using an iPhone app and printed them out in black and white as per the size on the sketch below.

The sketch I was inspired by from the Page Maps website has a grid of pattern papers with 4 photos across the middle, machine stitching around the edges and clusters of flowers. I love creating with sketches as it takes the guess work out of how to start a layout when you’re stuck in a creative ‘rut’.

Seeing this little friendship begin has been so magical..

I used 4 different pattern papers from the A5 paper stack cut down to roughly 4inch squares, distressed the edges slightly and adhered to the white cardstock using pieces of foam sheet to raise them up off the page. I sewed around the edges next using my machine and some off white coloured thread.

I added the photos across the middle of the layout using the same foam sheets to add a little more dimension to the layout.

Next I worked on creating the clusters, bottom right was first using the ‘Love this’ tag from the STORY TIME cut apart sheet, a bunch of florals fussy cut from the A5 version of SPRING FLING,  journaling tag from the EPHEMERA pack, black heart from the FOAM TITLES pack and sticker from the ACCESSORY STICKER sheet.

In the top left corner I added another cluster of fussy cut florals, black heart and ephemera pieces. Using coordinating elements within all the clusters on a page really helps to give it a cohesive look

I added the title to the top left of the grid cluster also, using a mix of both a word from the FOAM TITLE STICKERs and a piece from the EPHEMERA pack

In the top right corner I created a smaller cluster, again using the same floral elements as the other 2 clusters. I used different types of adhesives in all 3 clusters to create different heights of dimension giving the clusters a more 3D feel. My go to adhesives for this are double sided foam tape, sticky thumb ‘sticky dots’ and tacky glue.

I added the usual splattering of gold ink to the layout after adding some hand written text to the journalling card

Here’s one last look at the entire layout..

Well thats all from me today, thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing another sketch inspired post from me, and the rest of the team this month. It sure was a fun theme for us to be inspired by. Be sure to share your sketch inspired layouts with us in the Cocoa Vanilla Studio Community Group on Facebook, we love seeing what you all create using the CVS Collections!

Until next time, Happy Scrapping
Michelle x

 

Book Week 2022 | Storyteller Collection | Michelle Stokes

Hey Hey! It’s Michelle here today with my newest layout share featuring the wonderful Storyteller Collection. This layout is part of our current monthly sketch theme, which is THE best way to get the creative juices flowing when you’re feeling low on inspiration and ideas. I chose an awesome sketch from the Page Maps website, which I’ll share a little further into this post, to document this years Book Week costume of choice. One that needed a little time and patience to recreate.

Here’s what I came up with this week..

The sketch I chose from Page Maps, shown below, was originally designed for a 8.5×11 size layout but is easily converted into a 12×12 design. All the same design features are there, with my own little spin.

I used a few of my favourite A5 patterns from the A5 paper stack to create the vertical strip of patterns down the middle of the layout (off centre). I distressed the edges and adhered flat to the white cardstock. There’s a scalloped border between the top 2 pattern papers using the yellow pattern side of the LITTLE LOVE paper, then a strip of hearts from the STORY TIME paper with a string of yellow pom poms between the bottom 2 pattern papers.

I centred the photos in the top half of the woodgrain section, adding some of the green pattern paper (FLY AWAY)  the rainbow hearts card from the A5 version of the STORY TIME paper and the love this tab from the EPHEMERA pack tucked into the top left photo.

To create the cluster on the right side of the layout I fussy cut the circle journalling piece from the cut apart paper STORY TIME, layered with another journalling sticker square from the ACCESSORY sticker sheet, pieces from the EPHEMERA pack plus a bunch of fussy cut florals from the A5 version of SPRING FLING paper.

For the left cluster I fussy cut more florals, added a ephemera heart and the A5 version of the round journaling spot from the STORY TIME paper in the A5 paper stack.

I added machine stitching in random places for a little added texture and interest across the page

And I dipped into the never ending, but almost used up, stash of very old white Alphabet stickers from a few years back to create the title of the layout.

I added a fair bit of hand written journalling to this layout, much more than I normally would add. I drew some rough lines using a pencil that I could erase once the writing was complete. I also added the usual splattering of gold ink to finish it all off

Here’s one more look at the entire layout..

Well friends, thats all from me today. Thanks so much for stopping by to see what I created for our current Sketch theme. Be sure to check back in each day to see what sketches the other DT members have been recreating too. If you get the chance to create with any that we’ve shared, please feel free to share them with us and the entire Cocoa Vanilla Studio Community in our group on Facebook.

Until Next time, Happy Scrapping!
Michelle x

Sweet Puppy Face | Storyteller Collection | Michelle Stokes

Hey Hey Scrappy friends! It’s Michelle here today with a new layout share featuring the beautiful Storyteller collection, documenting a sweet little furry face and a peek at the human child. I dipped into my stash of CUT to YOU cutfiles and went with a rainbow theme to bring this all together.

Leila always greets Daisy with the saying “Sweet Puppy Face” and I would absolutely agree, especially when she’s looking as scruffy as she does right now. I snapped this sweet pic of the two of them a few hours before creating the layout, when we were all snuggling on the couch after breakfast.

It’s been a little while since I shared something using a cutfile so I thought I’d go big with this one. Theres even a splattering of inks in multiple colours to compliment the heart, which may or may not have taken me multiple tries to get it right after a few failed attempts at a more messier background.

Let’s walk through how it all came together, starting with the cutfile. I chose the Sunburst Heart file from the CUT to YOU store and resized it in silhouette studio to fill up a large portion of the cardstock background. Once cut out, I backed all the individual ‘bursts’ of the heart with a rainbow assortment of patterns from both the 12×12 and A5 paper stack, then added machine stitching for extra detail.

I drew a rough outline of where the heart would sit on the layout and splattered the inks around in the same order that the papers are on the cutfile, then once dry I adhered the heart over the top using foam and double sided tape to pop it off the page.

I added the photo to a piece of the woodgrain paper (Cross it Off) and adhered to the right of the heart, then using the Foam title stickers and some older alpha stickers created the title to the left of the photo.

I created 3 floral clusters within a ‘visual triangle’ to embellish the layout and draw the eyes attention around the page. The clusters are made up of both fussy cut (Spring Fling) and ephemera florals, puffy stickers and a couple of word stickers from the accessory sheet.

I kept some of the threads loose for added texture, and used a range of different adhesives within the clusters for different depths of dimension

I ended up cutting the white cardstock down and matting the entire layout on to the Ditsy Daisy paper then added more machine stitching into 2 opposite corners.

Here’s a final look at the entire layout

Really loving this collection , and am very quickly using up so much of the pretty papers. I’ve got a mini book in the works that I hope to share soon thats used up a tonne of this collection, can’t wait for you to see it!

Well Scrappy friends thats all from me for now, thanks so much for stopping by.

Until next time, Happy Scrapping!
Michelle x

 

Cocoa Vanilla Studio Pty Ltd

Unit 2,
1 Monro Street
Nambucca Heads, NSW 2448
Australia

is a registered trademark of Cocoa Vanilla Studio Pty Ltd

ABN 75 660 282 511

ABOUT US

CUSTOMER CARE

wholesale

Subscribe + Get $5 Off!

Sign up for our newsletter and we'll let you know about new arrivals, sales, events + more. Plus, enjoy $5 AUD off your first order of $50 or more (check your inbox for details).

Back to top

All Content & Images Copyright © 2015 - Cocoa Vanilla Studio Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved.