Hey y’all! Laura Alberts back again with a super silly 9×12 layout featuring non-holiday themed photos using the delightfully holiday themed Merry & Bright collection! I particularly adore the florals in this collection and really wanted to make them the shine on this page. With two black and white photos on a wood grain background, using the Season’s Greetings patterned paper, these photos automatically ‘pop’ on this background regardless of how much color I add on.
I clustered together a number of fussy cut florals to create a border along the bottom of the photos, adding in a couple of the puffy stars for a bit of non-paper texture. I loved the gold tones these added to the page and reached into my stash for some large gold sequins to add as well.
For the strands of hearts along the bottom, I drew lines with my white gel pen, then added an assortment of hearts and the outlines of hearts (that I cut from the punch-out packaging!). These outlines are then backed with pocket page cards and paper scraps. The hearts that didn’t have an outline were drawn one with my white gel pen. By alternating between sequins and hearts, with a little bit of Nuvo drops in between, this gives a lovely detail to the bottom of the page as well as tying in the gold from the stars.
I have included a sketch based on this layout to inspire you to give this design a try! I hope the sketch for this layout inspires you and this embellishment style encourages you to look at your collections a little differently! It’s fun to see how you can change things up. If you’d like to see the Sweet Memories layout come together, I have the entire process in the video below!
Hello friends. Have you seen brand new “Sunkissed” line reveal? I am so excited about this collection. It’s like combination of all my favorite things in one: summer, rainbows, seaside and vivid colors. I still have to wait for few weeks to dive into it but it gives me more time to play with another gorgeous collection – “Daydream“. I still have plenty of papers and embellishments in my stash so I decided to make another page. This time I reached for quite old photos of tiny Maja ans scrapbooked them in sweet and cute way.
I mixed together two papers to make my background – solid “Happy place” pattern and “All flutter” cut into film strips. I made them using my edge punch, that I own for ages. I challenged myself to use more of my tools this year. I glued the strips only in the middle are so i was able to bend the edges and tuck some elements behind them.
Next step was to add photos and flower clusters around them. You can find plenty of pretty florals in ephemera pack. I focused in ones in pink, coral and yellow colors trying to keep my page quite monochromatic. I also fussy cut cute, little rainbows from “Up in the clouds” paper. They are just a perfect little embellishment!
I finished my composition adding few fabric, puffy hearts. They are so cute and give such a nice texture to the page. I also added little flair button. I am running low on them and tend to hoard them :) but I managed to overcome my parsimony. Last step was adding title using my stash of alpha stickers. Maja just learned how to send kisses with her hand and my hubby took photo in the right time, when she was doing that. Hence “Sending kisses” title. I so miss those days, when she was so tiny and cute.
I really like how this page turned out and I am glad I used my punch to make those strips. They create little anchors for all the embellishments so they do not float on the empty background.
Thank you so much for stopping by and see you soon in my other post <3
Hello Hello! It’s Michelle here with you today to share a new layout. I’ve used a couple of different collections for this layout as part of our current ‘Green and Gold’ theme. A mixture of Legendary and Boys Rule with a hint of Daydream and Unforgettable.
When I think of ‘Green & Gold’ I picture bright Aussie style colours – Green & Yellow. So thats exactly where this colour palette took me on this creative journey this week. There are so many wonderful green patterns within the extended Cocoa Vanilla Studio range, but the shade of green I’ve used for this layout is by far my most favourite of them all.
To begin I created a grid style layout featuring a couple of cute photos of Lelia and her beloved bunny from a few years back that I printed out in Black & White. I cut out 3.5″ frames from papers in the Legendary Collection for both the photos and title areas ( Wild One & Explorer ) and added a strip of dotted paper along the bottom (Straight & Narrow) from the Boys Rule Collection.
This kid is an absolute HOOT! Her imagination has been wild from the beginning. This day in particular was so fun, creating a ‘Box Coaster’ for them to ride around the galaxy haha
I kept the embellishing of each frame to a minimum by using word stickers ( Accessory Stickers sheet – Legendary ), sticker heart ( Accessory Stickers sheet – Daydream ), tiny fussy cut stars ( All Star – Legendary ) and an arrow ( Ephemera pack – Legendary ). Both frames adhered to the layout using a piece of foam sheet to give a slight hint of dimension.
The title area of the layout also acts as a tidy spot for some hidden journalling. The ‘Wild and Free’ card can be found on the Epic Tales cut apart paper in the Legendary Collection and the hidden journalling card and ‘Be Rad’ piece can be found on the ‘Boy Stuff’ cut apart paper in the Boys Rule Collection.
Heres a peek at the journalling ..
I cut the card down slightly, rounded the edges on the right and made a tag top including punched hole at the opposite end to add string and tie a bow.
In the top right frame I added a couple extra words that can be used as part of an extended title. The white alphas are by far my most used Cocoa Vanilla Studio embellishment by far, and those foam words from the Unforgettable Collection work so well with pretty much every collection there is.
I sewed the white alphas down so that they stay in place for years to come, but also to add a little extra design element to the layout. I added machine stitching around both of the yellow frames to keep the white X paper in place (Star Fall – Boys Rule). The ‘You are my Sunshine’ can be found on the Daydream Collection Accessory Sticker Sheet and the green tab is a sticker from the Legendary Collection Accessory Sticker Sheet.
Lastly I added a bunch of fussy cut starts in green and yellow to the bottom left and top right of the layout, scattered to give the grid style layout a slight ‘diagonal’ design feel. I also added my usual splattering of gold ink to finish it all off.
Well friends thats all from me today, thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing my take on our current ‘Green & Gold’ theme, be sure to share yours with us in the Cocoa Vanilla Studio Community Facebook Group.
Until Next time, Happy Scrapping!
Michelle x
PS.. A little side note regarding the fabulous Boys Rule Collection…. Because all us crazy crafters LOVED it so so much when it was originally released, back in the day, sadly its no longer available.
Hey y’all! Laura Alberts back again with two bright, cheerful pocket pages featuring the stunning Happiness collection. I thought this collection worked beautifully with January’s Mood Board because it had many of the colors as well as a really stunning painted look. To join in on the mood board inspiration, be sure to join us in the Cocoa Vanilla Studio Facebook Group!
One of the many reasons that I adore Cocoa Vanilla Studio’s collections is that they are always super versatile and can be used on a variety of projects. These pocket pages use a lot of the cut aparts from the Little Things patterned paper, ephemera pieces, and scraps! This top left card is layers of scraps with a sticker tag and ephemera journaling spot.
For the title card, I fussy cut the wreath from the ephemera pack and layered the flower pot and some hearts and florals together. My favorite part of this card is the clear sticker paint swatch, it adds a little idea of depth because it’s layered behind the flower pot. A little bit of Nuvo drops finishes it off with the detailing that really makes it feel finished. On the card below the title, I added tiny, fussy cut florals to the heart cut apart pieces and a word phrase to personalize it!
On this bottom card, I created a 4×6 card from paper scraps and then layered the green paper as a mat under my photo. Two hearts tucked in together below a word phrase sticker with tiny, fussy cut florals for added detail. The butterfly is fussy cut from the Bright & Beautiful patterned paper in the 6×8 paper pad.
For the title card on the second page, I used clear stickers for the paint stripes and title with a few fussy cut florals and butterflies for a whimsical touch. I added little dots of Nuvo drops to create butterfly trails.
I kept the embellishing fairly simple on my photos so as not to draw attention away from them. This pocket page had a common theme of how snuggly my twins had become and featured so many sweet photos of them cuddled up with me and their siblings.
This bottom card is my favorite from the whole page! I used clear stickers, backed with white cardstock, to cluster behind the photo of my oldest and youngest girls. Layering a couple of cut aparts on the right side to add some journaling. I really enjoy how beautifully the patterned papers work for creating 3×4 and 4×6 cards for pocket pages!
I hope these pocket pages inspire you to look at your pattern papers a little differently! It’s fun to see how you can change things up and use scrapbooking collections for pocket pages or a variety of other projects.
Hi Creative friends, Gwen back on the blog today with a new share for Cocoa Vanilla Studio using the brand new ‘DayDream‘ collection. For today’s share, I’m working with this picture of me. Yes, I’m still on a bit of a mission to scrapbook more layouts featuring photos of myself. I tend to do a lot of my daughter so it’s been fun to create a couple recently of me.
The idea for the page definitely started with the photo for this one, and with it being black and white, I thought it might be fun to pop it onto a coloured background. I’ve gone with the grey and white spot pattern in the ‘Garden Variety‘ pattern paper. I’ve used both sides of this paper for my background, adding a frame around the edge of my layout using the floral side. I’ve added stitching in a pretty pink thread for an added detail.
Next up, I’ve backed my cut file. This one is from CUT to YOU and I’ve used more of the ‘Garden Variety‘ pattern paper to do this. I’ve also used ‘Sweet Serenity‘ and ‘All Aflutter‘ pattern papers as well.
I’ve used these same papers to mat my photo, opting for a double mat for this page.
For the embellishments, I’ve fussy cut elements from the ‘Happy Place‘ pattern paper including the sweet rainbows and cute tab elements. I’ve also used some fussy cut florals from the ‘Garden Variety‘ pattern paper. I’ve teamed these with pieces from the ‘Ephemera Pack‘ as well as a ‘Puffy Hearts‘ and ‘Flair Button‘.
To finish the page, I’ve fussy cut out three moths from the ‘All Aflutter‘ pattern paper and added to my page with foam tape.
I’ve also made a process video for this layout which you can watch here:
I hope you enjoyed seeing me make this page and that it inspires you to get creating with your Cocoa Vanilla Studio goodies.
Hi everyone!! It’s Melissa here and I’m so happy to be back here with you sharing my first post of 20201!! And as its the beginning of the new year I thought it very appropriate to create a layout with my word for this year which is “Present”. One thing that lockdown taught me was that I need to spend more time with my children, and that even though I can be in the same room as them, I need to make an effort to put my phone down. I used the gorgeous ‘Daydream‘ collection, which I was very excited to return to after lots of Christmas scrapbooking!
For this layout I wanted a bold white title with my Silhouette Cameo, and I created this one by using the free fonts in the software. I cut the title letters 4 times and layered them up for added dimension. In order to make my title pop I used ‘Garden Variety’ for my background paper. I also used the A side of this paper and fussy cut both clusters and individual florals. I bent up the petals and used lots of dimensional adhesive to make them look realistic, and also added some glimmer paste on the open flowers.
I used the ‘6 x 8 Inch Paper Stack’ to create to mats around my photo. I chose two of the pink patterns and I love how they look against the grey of the background. I also used several ‘Die Cut Ephemera’ pieces for my embellishment.
I created clusters of flowers around the title, and also on top of my photo. It almost looks like a flower crown on my head!!
I cut apart ‘Happy Place’ for the heart and rainbow borders. I fussy cut around the tops of the rainbows for extra added interest, and I love that it creates a scallop border. The ‘Puffy Heart’ , tiny heart stickers (from the ‘Accessory Stickers’ and sequins from the ‘Sequins & Flowers’ provide sweet details. I was also proud of myself because I got one of the gorgeous ‘Flair Buttons’ onto my page too!
Here is a close up of my journalling, which explains more about how I will apply my word into my life this year.
I also made a process video which you can watch below. Also make sure you go to the Cocoa Vanilla YouTube channel and subscribe so you don’t miss out on all of the videos that we create for you!
Welcome back to the blog, Anna here with you today! Christmas is over, but for me, it’s hard to stop using the gorgeous Merry & Bright collection. So, I decided to use it in a wintry way. And including flowers, of course. I love the result!
First, I took the Sweet Serenity paper from the Daydream Collection and ripped it in half. I glued it on top of a watercolor sheet, where I did a mixed media background with pigment powders matching the colors. Then, I diluted white chalk paint with water and made splatters.
I used one of the frames from the Merry & Bright Die Cut Ephemera to frame my picture. And placed it in the middle of the page. Behind it, I put one of the Pocket Cards, which I turned into a tag.
To embellish the layout, I made a visual triangle creating three flower clusters. Some flowers were from the Die Cut Ephemera, and some others I fussy cut them from the Joy to the world paper. These flowers are so pretty, and it’s really easy to make beautiful clusters with them.
To built my title, I fussy cut the letters from the Season’s Greetings paper to spell the word “cold”, and then I complete the sentence with a little gold foil alphabet thicker that I had in my stash. So, my title is “Baby it’s cold outside” because we were on the street and my girls are wearing jackets with fur hats.
Finally, I scattered some snowflakes all over the page to add a snowy touch. I made them with a very old punch die that I have had for years.
And that’s all for today. I really love how it turned out. Thank you so much for stopping by today!
Hello Cocoa Vanilla friends, its Michelle back here today with my newest layout share for 2021! I chose the beautiful Daydream collection for this creation, documenting a sweet photo of fellow DT member Raquel and I from a couple years back. We’ve been friends since we started primary school and now our kids are great friends too.
I really wanted to use the wreath paper – Daisy Days – from the collection, and had a hankering for some fussy cutting… as much as I say I hate fussy cutting, it really is therapeutic and fun to do when sitting in front of the TV.
I used the wreath pieces as the base of the circular design and layered extra florals into areas to create large ‘clusters’. I used different types of adhesive to create multiple layers within the cluster, most used are foam tape and glue dots.
I’ve backed the photo using the smaller designs of Sweet Serenity and Sunshower from the A5 paper stack and tucked in a word tab from the ephemera pack. To the left of the photo I’ve added a flair button and butterfly from the ephemera pack and created larger floral clusters above and below this area that curve around the photo.
In the top group of florals I’ve used a mix of florals from the Garden Variety paper as well as the floral wreath piece, some smaller fussy cut tiny florals and a sticker.
In the larger grouping I’ve used florals from both the 12×12 and A5 size Garden Variety paper, a small rainbow from Up in the Clouds and a banner word from the ephemera pack.
And over on the right I’ve used both small and large florals again plus a sticker to complete the floral group, then added the title above to fill some of the open white space. I’ve used a die cut title word and stickers from past collections to create the mixed font title.
Lastly I added the usual splattering of gold ink and felt it was complete. One sweet photo of 2 friends who’ve known each other almost their entire life documented. A friendship that I cherish and am so thankful for. Don’t know what I would do without her.
Well friends that is all from me today. Thank you so much for stopping by!
It’s Sophie with you today with a non-christmassy layout created with the lovely Merry & Bright collection.
My assignment for today was to create a page about something new…
Well, the last months haven’t brought anything new for me… aside from a new -completely different- way to practice medicine. As a doctor working in the hospital during this Covid era, all I had in mind was all the new protocols and guidelines to which we had to adapt when seeing our patients. Seriously, what a tough year….!
I first hand drew it on white paper, and when I was satisfied with the result, I copied it on the beautiful “Star Bright” paper. I machine stitched on it with matching thread and painted with green watercolor the edges to create depth.
I cut a strip of the “Jingle All The Way” patterned paper for the upper edge of the mask, added two pieces of twine, and dimensional foam before adhering it to my page.
My title is a cut out of the “Season’s Greetings” patterned paper (NEW) and an alphabet cut file from JustNick Studio (Reality) that I backed with the beautiful “Oh Christmas Tree” patterned paper. I also added adhesive foam under my title.
I cut two large strips of the “Jingle All The Way” paper that I put on the two sides of the layout, with a tiny scalloped punched border from the “Star Bright” paper.
I created a beautiful floral cluster beneath my title and on the top of my photo, that are fussy cut out of paper and from the Die Cut Ephemera pack.
Finally, I handwrote my journaling on a Pocket Card that I hid behind my photo, documenting my adaptation to this new reality.
Here are some close-ups:
I really hope that I could inspire you today. Why not use this gorgeous Merry & Bright collection for non Christmassy layouts ? See how versatile it is ?
I wish you all a splendid beginning of 2021 with lots of joyful crafting time !
Hey everyone, wishing you all a Happy New Year. I hope you have all had a lovely Christmas and holiday break. I am here sharing my first layout for the new year with you all, with the theme of ‘new’ in mind. This layout is featuring the beautiful Daydream collection. For today’s layout I have also ventured back into creating a 12×12” size, a layout size which I have not created in for a few years now.
Here is the layout I created:
The theme of this layout is around the word ‘new’. I decided to document the ‘new’ way of teaching and learning that we all encountered in 2020. As a teacher I had to adapt to implementing and supporting the learning of my class via online platforms – and as a Mumma I had to juggle teaching my class and supporting the learning of my own school ages children. It has certainly been a ‘new’ way of teaching and a challenging year for all in this current pandemic.
The photo in particular was taken after we had just finished a stint of remote learning and I had run an evening of successful Zoom parent/teacher teacher conferences. This online learning thing was so challenging for all, I think on this particular evening I was just so proud to have made it to the other side, still smiling! I printed the photo at around 3.5 x 4.5” in size via my Epson Picturemate in black and white. I printed the picture in black and white as this picture was taken in my classroom, which had a lot of bright colours and displays in the background. This made it easier to choose and use the Daydream collection to document this story.
The cut file in those layout is one from the Cut to You store. I loved the graphical look of the design and the ties to schooling in a pie chart and thought it would work well to document this story. I used a combination of the 6×8” paper pad papers and the 12×12” papers to back the cut file sections. I used the Garden Variety paper print in two sections as I wanted this layout to feature clusters of the gorgeous floral ephemera pieces. A love creating with a simple cut file like this as they are super easy to back but look really effective on a layout.
The ‘heaviest’ embellishment cluster I created was to the right of the photo. This cluster had a mix of floral ephemera and fussy cut florals from the Garden Variety paper. I also delved into my enamel dot stash from past CVS collections to add those finishing touches to each cluster created.
The title of the layout is ‘captured’ and created using a past collection ‘Unforgettable’s’ foam stickers. Love a bold title that contrasts on a page, so these black foam stickers were perfect. The other words within the pack of titles were not as suitable as this was not necessarily a time that would fit the title of ‘the good life’ or ‘the best’ – I thought ‘captured’ works well as it gives a title that is just documenting this moment in time.
As always I have documented my story on a typewriter and cut it into strip form. For something different though I have adhered it with a thin dimensional adhesive tape (I use an affordable Bunnings one I have featured here). I love how it has added a slight shadow underneath each strip of my story.
Another cluster was created to the bottom left of the journaling. This cluster helps to balance the heaviness of the photo and the cluster to the right of the photo. This cluster features floral ephemera and fussy cut flowers.
To the top left of the photo I added another small cluster of embellishments. This helps to balance the layout. You will find that on most layouts I work in groups of three; in embellishment clusters and small embellishments too.
Thank you so much for stopping by the CVS blog today. I hope you have found this layout inspiring.
First, I took the 
