fussy cutting

HELLO SUNSHINE | ENDLESS SUMMER | GWEN WRUCK

Hi Creative friends,

Gwen back on the blog today with a stash busting share for you featuring the ‘Endless Summer‘ collection.  Whilst this collection is from a while ago now (2016), I still really love the soft tones in it and the sweet icons, they are perfect for documenting beach photos; these taken of my daughter many years ago.  I have quite a few embellishments for this line in my stash so I thought it would be a great opportunity to get some of those used up as well!

The idea for the page was to create a landscape of sorts, with my photos sitting towards the bottom of the page and the top portion of the page being a pretty summer sky.  I’ve used the ‘Blue Skies’ pattern paper for my background and then created a frame with the ‘Sun Bleached’ ombre pattern paper.  I’ve used this paper to create photo mats for my photos as well.

For a fun element to add to my sky background, I’ve cut two paper kites using a cut file from CUT to YOU.  I’ve backed these in the ‘Sun Bleached’ pattern paper as well as the ‘Aloha’ pattern paper, a fun tropical floral print.  I’ve added some stitching detail to really make them a feature of the design.

My photos also have a stitched border added for extra detail and they run along the bottom of the edge of the layout.  I wanted them to feel grounded against my background.

With the photo and large cut file elements in place, now I get to audition the embellishments in the collection.  I noticed at this point that I had a lot of little sentiments to work with from the ‘Die Cut Ephemera’ pack as well as the ‘Accessory Stickers’.  I even had some that had been fussy cut from the ‘This and  That’ pattern paper.  I also had some of the ‘Flair Buttons’ in my stash and am happy to have included two on this layout.

Thinking about the way the eye will flow from the top of the page down to my photos and across to the left, I have nestled in elements along the left hand edge of my paper kites.  I’ve also added a longer sentiment at the bottom of the page to balance things out and help that bottom section feel more grounded.  Here you can see how the cloud icons in the background pattern paper are matched to the flair button.  I love this layered look.

I’ve then added in a floral sticker from the ‘Accessory Sticker Sheet’ (which I cut in half) as well as some other round elements to soften the look of the page and add more interest.  The different sized round elements really add to the dimension of the page as well.  Lastly, I’ve added in two of the die cut butterflies from the ‘Accessory Sticker Sheet’ as well as a couple of ‘Enamel Shapes’ as a last finishing detail.

I have made a YouTube process video for this one which you can watch here:

I hope this layout inspires you to dive into your stash and get creating!

Until next time,

Gwen

xo

 

Little Moments of Joy | These days collection | Josefine vd Hoeven

Hello Paperllovers,
Welcome to the Cocoa Vanilla studio blog! It’s Josefine here and I’m sharing a new layout with you today. I really wanted to use this spring photo of my kids and with the beautiful “These days” collection you can definitely use this to scrap your spring photos as well. I used a lot of embellishments from the These Days collection. Like the photo frames, wooden buttons, butterflies, flowers and stickers.

I start by cutting the photo frames and with gold sewing thread I stitched the edges. I cut the photo into a circle and also cut two circles from the design paper as well. I placed these circles behind the photo and with gold sewing thread I stitched the edges.

I die-cut twigs and leaves with various metal dies. Of course, you can also cut twigs and leaves with your electronic cutting machine. I colored the twigs and leaves with different colors of Distress Oxide. The colors I used are, worn lipstick, peeled paint, mowed lawn and spiced marmalade. I placed the photo in the center of my layout and slide the photo frames underneath on both sides of the photo. The third photo frame I place on top and using 3d foam so I can easily slide the colored branches around the photo.

I cut some butterflies and flowers from the gorgeous design papers and used the beautiful flower die-cuts, stickers and the wooden buttons from this awesome collection. I placed them I around the photo. I love creating layers with these amazing embellishments. For the title, I use a pocket page card titled ” Little Moments of Joy” I cut out the text and use it as a die-cut on my layout.

Now it’s time to make some splatters. First I started with white acrylic paint and mix it with water and used my brush to splatter with. I do this with the green Distress Oxide “mowed lawn” as well. I absolutely love the effect of ink splatters on my layout. I cut a label sticker in half and placed it under the clusters I made. I am very surprised and happy how my layout turned out when I mix these cheerful and bright colors of the distress oxide with this amazing collection. This way you can create a whole different atmosphere and I love it! This beautiful collection is so easy to use for different themes and seasons. Definitely a must have for any scrapbooker.

I hope I was able to inspire you today with this scrapbook layout and show you how easy it is to
use this collection for different seasons as well. I want to thank you all for visiting the Cocoa Vanilla blog today and of course hope to see you again next time with new inspiration. Wish you all a beautiful and crafty day friends! XoXo, Jo

 

 

 

 

SUMMER LOVE | SUNKISSED | GWEN WRUCK

Hi Creative friends,

Gwen on the blog today bringing you some fun Summer themed inspiration.  My layout today features the beautiful bright ‘Sunkissed’ collection and I’m documenting a photo of my daughter on the beach at a recent family holiday.  I was really keen to use the deep blue of the ‘Bright Side‘ pattern paper as my background for this one to draw out the blue in the ocean in my photo.  I’ve teamed it with some of the pretty florals in the collection for a super fun bright and happy page.

To begin the layout, I’ve created a frame for my background using the ‘Sunny Days‘ pattern paper to layer onto of the ‘Bright Side‘ paper.  I’ve also added a stitched border for extra detail.

Next, I’ve backed a cut file from CUT to YOU using the two ombre style pattern papers in the collection ‘Summer Lights‘ and ‘Good Vibrations’.  I’ve used the floral ‘Growing Wild‘ paper in the rainbow section of the cut file as well as the pink exclusive pattern paper that is in the A5 paper stack.  I’ve gone with the more subtle prints here because my background has stripes and I’m teaming it with the florals.

I’ve also used the ‘Good Vibrations’ pattern paper to create a photo mat and then raised my photo on foam for dimension.  I’ve centred the back cut file on the page and now it’s time to add the pretty embellishments.

Starting with some fussy cut florals from the ‘Growing Wild‘ pattern paper, I’ve layered these both under and on top of the cut file.  I’ve mixed these with die cut florals from the ‘Die Cut Ephemera Pack‘ for added layers and to build out the embellishment clusters.  I also pulled out the fun thongs die cut to add to my page.

Next up, I’ve added in some elements from the ‘Accessory Sticker Sheet‘ including the round element at the top of the page that says ‘Fun in the Sun’.  I’ve also included in my floral clusters some of the ‘Wooden Epoxy Buttons‘ and a cute pair of sunglasses from the ‘Puffy Sticker Sheet‘.

The tile for my page has come from the ‘Glitter Foam Title Stickers‘  I’ve combined the word ‘Summer’ and ‘Love’.  As I’ve applied them to my page, I have bent them slightly to allow them to follow along the line of the rainbow.  I’ve also added a couple of the sweet heart elements from this sheet to my clusters for an added little pop of sparkle.  These were really easy to position and I love the dimension this adds to the page.

I finished up the page by adding in a few small fussy cut florals from the ‘Growing Wild’ pattern paper.

I’ve also made a YouTube process video for today’s page which you can watch here.

Until next time,

Gwen

xo

Little Moments of Joy | These Days Collection | Laura Alberts

Hey y’all! Laura back again with a really sweet layout using what I call a ‘picture in picture’ design using the new These Days collection. This design features a smaller layout inside of a larger one and gives the impression of a frame or shadow box. The inside layout is 8 1/2 x 10 inches with a paper pieced wood grain border to frame it, then attached to the gorgeous heart background of The Good Life patterned paper. I also added one of the super cute wood buttons from this collection at the top to give the impression that it’s push-pinned on a wall.

I switched things up for myself with this one, moving the photos to the bottom of the page and the journaling to the top, which is quite opposite of my normal style. Along the beautiful green polka dot border, I added fussy cut houses from the cut apart side of The Good Life paper. Some of these little houses are raised on pop dots and others flat, for an impression of dimension. On the top right of my photos is a corner cluster that wraps around with a large and medium floral, plus a tab.

Each of my photos has a white border and a vellum photo mat to soften the layers.The title is actually fussy cut from one of the journaling cards included in the These Days collection and it fits perfectly between my two photos. By layering two of the ephemera floral clusters underneath of it, the title appears to burst out from the page. I’ve also fussy cut several of the tiny flowers from the pattern papers to use as scattering bits around my clusters.

  

I really love the way this rainbow stripe peeks out from the side of my photos and adds a bit more color to the overall layout. This bottom left photo features a horizontal cluster with more fussy cut florals from the stunning Home Grown patterned paper. As a finishing touch, I added gold Nuvo drops in the centers of some of my flowers and dotted around the outside of my clusters.

I hope this inspires you to look at your patterned papers and journaling cards a little differently and incorporate them in a big way on your projects too! To see how “Little Moments of Joy” came together, check out the process video below!

Our House | These Days collection | Josefine vd Hoeven

Hello creative Paper lovers,
It’s Josefine here at the Cocoa Vanilla blog today with a new layout for you. For this layout I used the beautiful collection “These Days” The challenge for this layout is “creative journaling” therefore I created an interactive element for journaling on this layout.

One of my favorite songs is “Our House” by Madness. I also think the song fits very well with the great style of this collection and it makes me think of my own family. I draw two circles in the center of the page and with the mini alpha set I make my title on the first circle. On the second circle I write part of the lyrics.I used my sewing machine and stitch with gold sewing thread through my title.

 

From the design paper “Neighborhood” I fussy cut all the houses and placed them in the center. I cut a 19 cm x 7 cm strip of design paper and fold it in half. I placed the photo on top of it and so I create a place to write my creative journaling in it.

Now that I have finished my journaling I am making a cluster of die-cuts flowers, butterflies, wooden buttons and word strips on the left side of the photo. I think it gives a fun and playful effect to my layout. I use 3D foam to create different layers in my cluster.

Finally I splatter with white acrylic paint that I mix with water and splatter on my layout I used my watercolor brush for this. For some extra color I also splatter with the color ” worn lipstick” from the Distress Oxides.

 

 

I want to thank everyone for stopping by the blog today and I hope I was able to inspire you. Of course I hope to see you again next time on the Cocoa Vanilla blog and for today I wish you a very happy and creative day. XoXo, Jo

 

Always Lovely | These days Layout | Anna Komenda

Hello crafty Friends. It’s Anna here and I have another page to share with you with beautiful “These days” collection. To be honest, I am in the process of making masculine album as an inspiration for you, but I underestimated the time needed to finish it. So layout it is this week and I will finish the album and share it as my next inspiration. This full of flowers page needed a serious date with my scissors :)

It started as a white sheet of paper, blue ink and a stencil. I applied really soft layer in the area I knew my flowers will end up. Next step was to add yellow splatters and wait until they are dry. In the meantime I was fussy cutting like crazy. All the flowers come from “Home grown” paper sheet. You may wonder why I didn’t use Flower pack instead. First, I wanted my flowers without the white outline. Second – I was being cheap here :) I would have to use at least one pack of them and it seemed like too much for one page. And they are in the category “too pretty to use”.

I also cut out some butterflies from “Take flight” paper to add to my composition. After all the flowers were ready, it all went pretty fast. I used foam squares to glue down the elements of my composition because you know I love dimension. I made my photo a party of the square frame and embellished it here and there with Ephemera pieces and Puffy stickers.

I wasn’t feeling creative for some unique title so I chose words from Title foam stickers. The font is so lovely and the quality is excellent. Black letters really pop from the background. As you can see, this page didn’t need much more than some flowers and butterflies and my embellishing was quite fast and easy here after all the flowers took their place.

My last step was to splash everything with blush mist and the page was done. I love squeezing out as much as I can from a simple paper sheet and this page is a perfect example. With a little bit of patience set of pattern papers can help you create fantastic projects. That’s why I always buy doubles for papers that can be fussy cut, like a flower or butterfly sheet. This way I use one as a simple pattern and second for cutting out pieces and I am not stuck with the dilemma – which side to use :)

That is all for today. Thank you so much for stopping by and fingers crossed I will finish my boy album in next two weeks :)

XO Anna

My Sister My Friend | These Days Collection | Laura Alberts

Hey y’all! Laura back again with a layout inspired by the gorgeous October Mood Board. The color scheme was perfect for the These Days collection and these sweet florals and greenery reminded me of this cut file from Liz Longest Designs. It’s a very simple wreath that looks divine when dressed up with these floral ephemera pieces! I backed each of the leaves with a green floral paper from the A5 paper stack.

I separated out the colors of the flowers in the floral ephemera pack and stuck to the smaller ones for the wreath, balancing out the mix of colors around the page. Each of the flowers has a drop of Nuvo in the center to give it a little extra texture and sparkle! I used the small puffy alphas for my title, spelling out ‘My Sister My Friend’ right next to my top photo. These photos are of my twins and catching a rare moment of them being sweet to each other was definitely a scrapworthy moment!

I created four clusters on this layout around my photos. The top cluster has a fussy cut frame as a base, with a bit of fussy cut florals and floral ephemera laid on top. The sparkly gold cloth hearts are squeezed in too along with a puffy word phrase and heart. These details really make a tremendous difference to my clusters, giving them the finishing touches they needed.

Similarly, this cluster to the left of the bottom photo contains the same elements. This helps all of the clusters feel cohesive on the page. In addition to the Nuvo drops, I also splattered with gold ink spray around the floral clusters and the perimeter of the wreath for a whimsical look.

I hope this inspires you to look at your cut files a little differently and incorporate them in a big way on your projects too! To see how “My Sister My Friend” came together, check out the process video below!

 

BEAUTIFUL LIFE | DAYDREAM | GWEN WRUCK

Hi Creative friends,

Gwen on the blog today excited to be here with a new share.  My layout features the Daydream collection which I’ve used to document a sweet photo of my daughter on her 13th Birthday.   I’m working with a black and white photo for this page so the soft colours in this collection (especially the greys and blues) were really inspiring to me.

For the background of my layout, I decided on the ‘Garden Variety‘ pattern paper.  I love working with a pattern paper background and wanted something a little darker for my background on this page.  I’ve decided to work with a large background style cut file and a dark pattern paper for the background will really help it pop!  I’ve backed this one from CUT to YOU with the ‘Daisy Days‘ paper, I love the sweet little flowers on this paper.

I’ve centred the cut file onto the background of my page and then added some machine stitching.  For the embellishment clusters, I’m going with 3 clusters for this page.  The main one will feature my title and will run along the left hand side, and my photo will balance that out and run along the right hand side.

Here you can see I’ve mounted my photo on foam for dimension and also added some stitching around the edge.  I’ve also added stitching to the cut file design.  I love adding stitching, it’s a fun little detail that gives a really sweet look to the page.  You can also see here my title and largest embellishment cluster.  I’ve used die cut pieces from the ‘Die Cut Ephemera‘ pack as well as stickers from the ‘Accessory Sticker Sheet’ and a sweet ‘puffy heart‘ in each cluster.

My other two embellishment clusters will be smaller and they will form a visual triangle (with my photo in the middle).  They will also include elements from the Accessory Sticker Sheet and Die Cut Ephemera packs.  I’ve also added in a coordinating flair from the collection.

Next, I’ve added are some fussy cut butterflies from the ‘All A Flutter‘ pattern paper.  I’ve raised these on foam for dimension, they look as though they are about to fly right off the page.  Lastly I’ve added a few of the typed sentiments from the ‘Accessory Sticker Sheet’ as a final touch on the page.

I’ve also made a YouTube video which you can watch here:

Thanks for popping by today, I hope you have enjoyed seeing the scrapbook process for this layout.

Until next time,

Gwen

xo

 

Home Sweet Home | These Days Collection | Danni Visser

Hi Cocoa Vanilla fans! Danni here with a fun layout featuring the Good Life 12×12 patterned paper cut-apart sheet from the gorgeous These Days collection. Cut apart sheets are a fantastic place to start when you’re feeling low on inspiration, as there are so many pieces to draw inspiration from. My favourite way to use them is to cluster several of the pieces around a central photo as I have done here.

To begin with I took a plain sheet of white cardstock and jazzed it up with some mixed media in colours to complement the These Days collection. I used yellow, duck egg blue and soft pink distress oxide inks and used a combination of brushing, spraying and splattering to create a messy background.

I cut up the Good Life 12×12 patterned paper and arranged the pieces I liked best around my photo. To vary the sizes of the pieces, I have also used one of the cut-apart sheets from the A5 paper stack. The pieces are similar to the 12×12 paper except scaled down, which means I can create interest with a variety of shapes and sizes.

To create even more interest and texture, I have taken three of the pieces and added some hand stitching. This is a nice way to add stitching if you don’t have the time or patience for lots of stitching. This was nice and quick, but still looks very cute. I decided to use the ‘Home Sweet Home’ piece as my title, then stitched over the word ‘Sweet’ with a whipped backstitch and over the leaf sprigs with a modified chain stitch. I also stitched around the little house piece and over the word ‘Sweet’ at the bottom of the page.

Once I had my main cluster placed, I added a small cluster to the top and bottom of the page. These pieces were also cut from the cut-apart tags and banners on the Good Life 12×12 patterned paper. There are so many bits and pieces on these cut-apart sheets! Once the main elements were placed it was easy to add a few embellishments to finish off the layout.

I added some of the floral ephemera in the empty spaces around my main cluster, using the smaller florals so as not to overwhelm the page. I used the clear stickers to add some leaf sprigs to my clusters, as well as the cross-hatch details for some extra interest. I also popped one of the puffy gold glitter hearts on one of my floral clusters, then added a little puffy sticker butterfly and a couple of hearts.

As the finishing touch I added some mini puffy alpha stickers at the bottom of my photo to spell the word ‘yum’. I love using embellishments to spruce up dead spaces in my photos like this, and these puffy alphas are the perfect size.

I just love how this one turned out! I hope you enjoyed joining me today. Happy scrapping!

Danni x

Shine Bright | Unforgettable Collection | Melissa Vining

Hello, its Melissa here and I’m so happy to be back for another Throwback Thursday layout!! I love Throwback Thursday because it enables me to dive into my stash and work with some older Cocoa Vanilla products.  I decided to go into my stash and work with the first older collection (as in not from 2021) that I came across – hence the beautiful Unforgettable Collection!  The photo is the offical school photo of my 7 year old daughter for this year.

I find school photos challenging to scrapbook because of the size of the photo, and often the colour tones that I can’t alter because the photos come printed. I decided to use “Natural Beauty” for my background, and I also layered up “Forget Me Not” and “Lacewing”.  I used my scallop edge punch for extra texture.  For my photo I fussy cut out the floral edges on one of the cut apart cards on “Story Teller”.  I also used embellishments from the “Die Cut Ephemera”, Accessory Stickers and “Flair Buttons”.

I decided to use several of the “Clear Stickers” and I layered them in two positions next to my photo to provide a minimal mixed media look.  I love how they look!

I created my title with one of the phrases from the Foam Title Stickers.  I finished my layout with some black ink splatters.

I hope I’ve inspired you to create layouts and projects with Unforgettable.

Take care

Melissa xx

 

 

 

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