hearts

First day of Grade Six | Storyteller | Michelle Stokes

Michelle Stokes 25/02/2023

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

Love This | Storyteller collection | Tarrah McLean

Tarrah McLean 08/07/2022

Hi creative friends!

It’s Tarrah back with you and today I am sharing another layout featuring the stunning new Storyteller collection! This collection is absolutely gorgeous and so versatile for any themed projects and layouts you want to document your memories.

For my layout today, I am documenting a photo of my Mum and myself from a recent lunch out together.

I started by cutting out a free cut file design from Paper Issues from white cardstock and then got busy backing the hearts in the cut file with the beautiful heart and navy papers from the A5 paper stack. Once the cut file was all backed, I added craft foam underneath the cut file and adhered it to the centre of the gorgeous 12′ x 12′ wood grain patterned paper. I love the shadows and dimension this adds to my layout. I did trim down the wood grain paper a little bit and matted it with the 12′ x 12′ small floral paper. I machine stitched a border around the edge using my sewing machine with white thread.

I decided to place my photo over towards the right of the page so as not to cover up too much of the hearts in the cut file design. I chose 2 more of the papers from the A5 paper stack and trimmed them to layer under my photo. I also slightly distressed the edges of the papers, I like how this adds a little more interest and texture to my layout. I also added one of the small banner stickers from the Accessory Sticker sheet to the top left corner of my photo. I also tucked in one of the tab stickers above the photo too. I created a cluster of embellishments in the bottom right corner of the photo and could not go past the ‘Special To Me’ banner piece from the ephemera pack. I added foam tape under this piece and placed it under my photo. I also added a chipboard button, heart and floral die-cuts and a couple of stickers here as well.

To the left of my photo, I added the cute camera die-cut from the ephemera pack and placed one of the gorgeous wood epoxy buttons on top. Above the camera I also added some of the phrase and word stickers from the Accessory Sticker Sheet. Below the camera die-cut I added my title which is made up of the foam title stickers. Below the title I added a die-cut butterfly and another chipboard button. You will notice in between the hearts in the cut file that I added some of the super cute enamel hearts randomly. This was mainly to enhance the heart design of the page. I love how this looks.

In the top left corner I added another cluster of embellishments here also, this cluster consists of one of the gorgeous floral die-cuts, a chipboard button and a butterfly die-cut. I added this cluster to help balance out the cluster I added in the bottom right area of the page. This helps with the flow of the page and draws the viewers eye in. With almost all of my pages, I start out adding all of the largest elements like my photo, the title and any larger embellishments. I then move to adding some smaller embellishments and then the smaller things to finish off the page. Once I had finished embellishing my page, I added some sprinkles of white mist and stamped the date stamp as well.

Thank you so much for stopping by the Cocoa Vanilla blog today! I had so much fun creating this layout, I hope you enjoyed reading how I created it. Make sure to ask your retail store for the gorgeous Storyteller collection…you absolutely NEED this in your life!

Happy creating!

Tarrah x

Love Our Story | Storyteller | Kellie Moore

Kellie Moore 04/07/2022

Hey friends and welcome back to the Cocoa Vanilla blog.

Today I am back to share my second page using the new Storyteller collection…. here it is….

When I sat down to create, I was really drawn to the script chipboard words “Love Our Story” so I decided that was what I was going to use for the title of my page. I substituted the ‘our’ word for some smaller alphas from my stash as they fit better with my design.

The photo I am scrapbooking is the our first photo as a family of 5….and I really do love our story….. Ollie was the icing on our cake.

Once again I have been loving hand stitching on my pages…. so I diecut some hearts from the A5 paper stack in three different sizes and layered them up, adding the stitching which brings so much texture to my page.

I always love the woodgrain papers in CVS collections, so today I used the ‘Cross it Off’ paper as my main piece… neutral but effective in popping off all the colours I was using…to add more detail I used a scalloped border punch to add strips down the sides from the navy paper found in the A5 paper stack.

To finish off my page I added some butterflies from the ‘Fly Away’ patterned paper, a camera cut from one of the ‘Pocket Cards’ and some word phrases from the ‘Accessory Sticker Sheet.’ I thought the bottom of the page was a bit empty so I cut out the hearts from the border strip found on the ‘Story Time’ paper and made a strip along the bottom of the page combining them with the ‘Puffy Stickers’.

That’s it from me today, I hope you enjoyed this page and it has inspired you to get creating with this GORGEOUS Storyteller collection.

Thanks for popping in!

Kel x

Home | Joyful Collection | Danni Visser

Danni Visser 14/02/2022

Hello Cocoa Vanilla studio fans! Danni here with a fun take on one of my previous Cocoa Vanilla layouts – that’s right, I am scraplifting myself today! The layout I chose to scraplift is one of my favourites and was quite a fave among the Cocoa Vanilla Studio community as well. I made that layout using the incredible These Days collection which is still one of my absolute favourite collections to date. Here is the layout I scraplifted:

I stuck pretty close to the original layout, using a white background and textured paper hearts using patterned paper. I used the Joyful collection because the colours matched my photos beautifully, and I wanted to use the gorgeous stripes in the Holly Days 12×12 patterned paper. I started by cutting that paper into strips and distressing the edges. Next I cut two large heart shapes from plain cardstock by folding it in half and drawing a half-heart shape on one side, then cutting it out. You could also use an electronic or manual die-cutting machine if you wanted. Once I had my hearts, I layered my paper strips onto them working from the bottom up, adhering them as I went.

Once I had both hearts covered in strips and allowed them to dry, I flipped them over and used the back side of the shape to trim off the excess paper. I used my fingers to fold and roll the edges of the paper strips a bit more, as they had flattened a little in the glusing process and I wanted lots of texture! I jazzed up my background a little by adding lots of ink splatters in different shades of pink and green, plus some metallic gold (I may have gone slightly overboard on the splatters!).

Once the ink was dry I adhered my hearts down and added my photos on top. I added some dimensional foam to the back of my photos, particularly where they hung over the edges of the hearts, because the hearts are quite dimensional with all those paper layers.

Now I could decorate, the best part. I took ‘Tis the Season 12×12 patterned paper and fussy cut a bunch of the gorgeous florals. I made sure to get some large bunches as well as some smaller flowers and leaves, plus some teeny tiny blossoms and buds to sprinkle. I created three clusters of florals – one below my photos, one on the opposite side of the layout and one between the two heart layers. I tucked all the tiny leaves and sprigs between the blossoms.

I stamped the date onto a label from the accessory stickers in charcoal ink and layered it under my photo slightly. I also added a pretty gold-foiled tab sticker beside it for good measure. You can never have too much gold! From the same stickers I selected three tiny word phrases that were not Christmas-specific (even though Joyful is a holiday collection, this photo was taken in June and it works perfectly for non-holiday layouts). I sprinkled these among my flroal clusters and below my photos.

Finally I used the puffy gold title stickers to add a few tiny gold stars to each of my embellishment clusters, and the title ‘Home’ on top of the smaller heart. I hope you enjoyed this scraplift as much as I enjoyed making it! There is a process video linked below on the Cocoa Vanilla Studio YouTube channel if you would like to watch it all come together. Happy scrapping!

Danni x

Happy Days | Daydream collection | Tarrah McLean

Tarrah McLean 08/01/2021

Hi everyone and Happy New Year!

It’s Tarrah back with you today to share a new project featuring the stunning Daydream collection. I decided to create something a little different for my project today. I have created a round canvas wall hanging for my craft room!

I chose a 12′ size round canvas and chose the gorgeous Over the Rainbow paper for the background. I traced the canvas onto the paper and free hand cut it out. I used a strong glue to adhere the paper to the canvas, making sure there weren’t too many bubbles. On the left, the paper didn’t quite reach to cover up the canvas so I improvised and covered it with lots of gorgeous florals from the ephemera pack. I used glue and craft foam here for different heights of dimension.

On the right of the canvas I created another cluster of florals to balance with the cluster on the left. I used both glue and foam tape here again for dimension. Once the florals were all dry I bent up the edges of the flowers and leaves for even more dimension.

On the left side of the canvas I just had to include the journal card that reads, ‘These Are a Few of My Favourite Things” from the Happy Place paper. It is the perfect phrase to suit my craft room! At the top of the rainbow, I chose a few of the heart die-cuts in various colours and added these using craft foam for dimension. In the centre of the canvas I added craft foam underneath my title – ‘Happy Days’ – after all every day is a happy day in my craft room! I added 3 butterflies and moths here also along with, ‘The Good Life’ phrase from the ephemera pack. One of the super cute puffy hearts made it on and also some more heart die-cuts.

Once I was happy with the front, I felt the outside was too bare so I trialed a few different trims from my stash finally settling on some lace that I felt matched the prettiness and girly feel of the canvas.

Thank you so much for stopping by the Cocoa Vanilla blog today! I hope you enjoyed my project today and that you are inspired in some way. Make sure to get yourself the beautiful Daydream collection from the online store now if you don’t already have it!

Happy creating!

Tarrah x

Captured | Unforgettable Collection | Tarrah McLean

Tarrah McLean 08/10/2019

Hi Cocoa Vanilla friends!

It’s Tarrah back with you and today I am sharing another layout featuring the gorgeous brand new Unforgettable collection! I am also featuring one of the stunning FREE cut files by Cut To You. The Unforgettable collection and the cut file go together beautifully!I chose a pink, grey and white colour scheme for my layout today, I pulled some of the papers and lots of embellishments that were in that colour scheme and started out by cutting the cut file on white cardstock, I cut the file out with the intention of leaving some of the design inside the cardstock. I loved how I could pop out the hearts and create a dimensional look with them. I backed the cut file design with the pink paper and then machine stitched around the circle – you can see more detail in the photo below. I then matted the cut file and pink paper onto one of the grey patterned papers. The photo is of my sister and I at our brothers wedding a couple of years ago, not often we get photos together with both my sister and brother living in England now. I added lots of paper layers underneath my photo and used foam tape to pop up my photo from the page. In the photo below, you can see I added a cluster of embellishments including some die-cuts and accessory stickers, I used foam dots again to lift up the camera die-cut and I also added one of the enamel dots to the centre – hooray for enamel dots making a come back in this collection! I love them! Over one the right hand side is another cluster featuring some of the floral and butterfly die-cuts. I also added one of the cute bows to the right of my title. My title is one of the gorgeous foam word titles, these are brilliant to add to any project, they make a statement and they really pop off the page too! I added one of the larger butterfly die-cuts to the left of the title to balance out the with the smaller one on the right hand side. A couple more enamel dots and a couple pf the gorgeous clear stickers were also added for some extra interest and texture.

Make sure to check out the Cocoa Vanilla store to download your FREE Unforgettable cut files that co-ordinate with the Unforgettable collection perfectly!

I hope I have inspired you in some way today?

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Happy creating!

Tarrah x

Bloom & Grow | Unforgettable | Amanda Baldwin

Amanda-Jayne Baldwin 12/09/2019

Hi Cocoa Vanilla Studio Friends!

Amanda here, & I am beyond excited to be sharing my very first creation with our stunning new UNFORGETTABLE collection!

There are so many gorgeous papers and endless possibilities with this collection, and I wanted to showcase a few of them!

Here’s what I created,

“Bloom & Grow”

Oh wow! Isn’t this just divine?!!

When I first saw the UNFORGETTABLE collection, I was immediately struck by the cleverness of Zoe Pearn – a floral collection that reflected both Spring & Fall! Florals and blooms to suit both hemispheres – sheer brilliance! I was also impressed by the whimsical & somewhat bohemian feel that UNFORGETTABLE evoked!

With Fall as my favorite season, I just had to create an Autumnal page for my sweet girl! Here’s a closer look for you….

Gosh it’s so pretty!!!

For that warm & outdoorsy feel, I used the lovely CV-UF008 NATURAL BEAUTY woodgrain pattern paper as my layout base. Next I added the two large concentric hearts to the center of the page. The larger heart is a beautiful vermilion floral pattern paper from the reverse side of CV-UF005 LACEWING. Did I mention it had my heart swooning?! Such a rich and elegant pattern design – LOVE!!! The smaller heart is cut from simple white cardstock. With a ‘clean’ white base, attention is drawn immediately to my photograph – perfect!

I positioned my darling daughter’s picture onto a base of 3 x 4 note cards which I cut from pattern paper, CV-UF004 PRETTY BITS, and then glued the layers to the center of the page. For the embellishments tucked in and around my photo, I started with 3 larger fussy cut butterflies. These were also cut from the CV-UF004 LOVELY BITS paper (& yes, I used two sheets of this paper so that I could keep to my color scheme). Next I added that fabulous FLAIR BUTTON love this, & the two DIE CUT EPHEMERA pieces. And lastly, the CLEAR STICKER leaves tucked under the layers, and that super sweet butterfly to the bottom of the cluster. That smaller butterfly, and the others that you spy on my page, were all fussy cut from pattern paper CV-005 LACEWING – that paper may be my number one pick from this collection! SO incredibly beautiful!

Here’s a closer view of the photo cluster details….

Simply stunning!

As you travel around the layout, you’ll notice all the LACEWING fussy cut butterflies either tucked in or on the hearts. I include DIE CUT EPHEMERA blooms, foliage & even an arrow or two for added interest. CLEAR STICKERS also adorn the embellishment clusters and enhance the heart design.

The new FOAM TITLE STICKERS were the perfect go-to option for my layout title. The swirly font is super pretty, and the black foam is really striking on the woodgrain paper. I am also impressed with how easily they were to remove from the packaging, and to apply to my project. A new favorite product to the Cocoa Vanilla Studio range!