Hey y’all! Laura Alberts back again and I’m dipping into an OLD collection from 2016! After organizing my craft space, I found this collection and just had to dive in! It’s such a stunning mix of pastels and gray tones that were perfect for these first snow pictures. The title ephemera is from Midnight, but the rest is all from Love Always.
I started with this beautiful mixed media-style background paper, a strip of teal, then used ephemera pieces to create a border in between. The Nuvo drops and ephemera hearts along the right side gave this layout a fun pop of interest that it needed.
I cut out two tags from the patterned paper and layered them behind my photos, then built up two clusters that run diagonally through the photos. The cluster on the top leans to the right and the one on the bottom leans to the left. This guides the eye through the layout, and added to the butterflies, creates a sense of movement on the page.
If you’d like to see how “Shine” came together, be sure to check out the process video below!
It’s Tarrah back with you and today I am sharing a new layout created using the awesome Great Escape collection! I can not get enough of this collection! I think this is my 6th layout using this awesome collection and I still have heaps of ideas flowing! Talk about value for money! I pulled out a super cute photo of my youngest son from when he was about 3 going for a ride in the car, I just love the thumbs up gesture- so cute!
I chose to work with a darker background paper choosing the ‘Journey’ patterned paper for this layout. I knew I was going to be adding the white cut file title and I really wanted that to pop off the page. The cut file I chose is from CUT to YOU, I cut out the title in white and cut out the road in black and backed it with some white cardstock to make it resemble a road as close as possible! For the large open letters in the cut file I took the A5 paper stack and choose various papers to add in the open holes. Once the cut file was all backed, I adhered the road down first using regular adhesive and then for the title, I added craft foam and then adhered it down in the centre of the page, I love adding craft foam so that it creates some dimension on my layout, this also allows me to tuck in bits and pieces where I want to if I feel some places need extra detail.
I added my photo on the right side, tucking it in behind the ‘D’ in Road I would normally layer a paper or a die-cut underneath my photo but this time I left it free of these. Once I was happy with the photo placement and the title it was time for my favourite part and that is embellishing! Below the photo I added a chipboard piece and I also added the flag chipboard piece overlapping the road and coming out of the ‘A’ in Road. The So Much Fun chipboardpiece I added on top of the cut file and also added some of the phrase stickers from the Accessory sticker sheet to help tell my story.
I took a few die-cuts from the ephemera pack and also added these around my page too, I love finding the perfect piece that is the perfect shape or perfect colour to fit in spots! One of the many things I love to do when I create! I like to balance my pages and describe my style is very clean but colourful too!
Some of the smaller embellishments like the puffy shapes were some of the last things I added to my page, along with stamping the date stamp which is one of my go to things on every page! Do you have something you like to include on every project? Kind of like a signature? Lastly I trimmed down the ‘Journey’ patterned paper to roughly 11′ x 11′ and matted the entire layout on white cardstock. I then machine-stitched a border using black thread around the entire edge of the layout.
Thanks so much for stopping by the Cocoa Vanilla blog today! I hope you are inspired to use your Great Escape collection and create some adventure layouts!
It’s Sophie with you today and I am thrilled to share my layout inspired by the May challenge!
The challenge this month is called “Flower Frenzy”: Using flowers as the main design element of a layout… The more the better…!
I used the Sunkissed collection for this colorful page and went with big floral clusters all around my black and white photo.
I drew a few flowers on three A5 patterned papers, cut them out and hand stitched on each petal. They served as a background for the flowers and leaves that are from the Sunkissed floral ephemera pack.It adds texture and depth to the clusters, and even though it’s very bold and colorful, it doesn’t compete with the black and white photo, that still stays the star of the page.
I teared a big chunk of the “Feelin’ Fine” paper and placed it on the upper part of the layout. I fussy cut a few clouds out of the “Just Chillin’” paper and used some Clear Stickers for my title.
Here are more close-ups:
It’s a very simple page with only beautiful florals as embellishments, and I love it!!
I hope you do too!!
You have the whole month of May to participate in this floral challenge. You can use any Cocoa Vanilla Studio collection, as they all have a huge amount of gorgeous flowers that can be used.
Welcome everyone. It’s Anna here with another page made with newest Cocoa Vanilla collection called “The great escape”. To be honest, I am more beach girl and trails, tents and campfires are not my first choice when it comes to spending free time. I do not have many photos from the wild to scrapbook with this line but it doesn’t stop me! Having fun has many shades. This time I picked two photos taken during one of the rides in theme park. Colors on them match “The great escape” perfectly.
For this page I created a little scene with a guidepost. I was inspired by one of the ephemera pieces to make one. I started with splashing white cardstock with light blue mist. Next step was to create a ground for my sighpost using two papers with green patterns: “Journey” and “Direction“.
Wooden pattern on the sighpost is from the older “No limits” collection. Yellow one is a piece of “Horizon” paper and orange one is “Happy camper” paper. Words on the sigh are made with alpha die and “Starry night” pattern. White “sky” felt very empty so I added few whimsical clouds hand cut from “Adventurer” paper.
It was time to add photos. I backed each of them with a piece of blue pattern paper from A5 Paper Stack. As usual, I embelished the area around the photos using bits and pieces from Ephemera Pack, elements cut out from “Wild life” paper and stickers from Accessory Stickers sheet.
As always I finished my pages adding tiny Puffy Stickers. They are my favourite final accent.
How do you like my idea for a simple, handmade scene? You can change things up by adding more words to the pole, changing theme from landscape to beach or a city. It’s a really versatile type of design.
That is all for today. Thank you so much for spending your time with mee and see you in May!
Hey y’all! Laura Alberts here with a diagonal design using the stunning Heart & Home collection. I adored these frames and was excited to use them for my Thanksgiving photos with extended family. I started with a Bazzill navy cardstock and cut this lovely text patterned paper from corner to corner to layer on top.
Along the seam of the two papers, I stair-stepped my framed photos with the title ephemera in between to connect them. To fill the open corners, I added a combination of vellum and card stock ephemera flowers. Tiny, fussy cut flowers are sprinkled around the edges, along with Nuvo drops.
I added in a few bits from the cut-apart sheet and finished the layout off with these adorable puffy heart stickers and a sketchy border all the way around.
To see how “Our Family” came together, be sure to check out the process video below:
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!
Hey y’all! Laura Alberts back again with a lovely layout using the Heart & Home collection to scrap these photos documenting my newest obsession, crochet! The colors in this collection worked beautifully with the yarn that I used in the very first project I made. This blanket is a bit of a mess, but I learned so much!
I used a simple shelf design for this layout with two 6 inch strips of wood grain patterned paper for each base. This was a great design for using up scraps and hiding the rough edges behind my photos. All of the layers made this simple background interesting and fun! In addition, I used the vellum flowers that I fussy cut from the Heart & Home specialty paper to create clusters behind my photos.
The details of these clusters really help my layout shine! I especially love the tiny florals that I scattered around my clusters and titles. These are all fussy cut from the stunning patterned papers in this collection. I also outlined each of the paper layers with a black gel pen to give them a hint of shadow for a 3D look!
To see how “With Love” came together, check out the process video below:
It’s Tarrah back with you and today I am sharing a new layout inspired by the new April challenge to include a big rainbow as the main element on your layout. I decided to go with a non-traditional rainbow and created my own using various papers from the Boys Rule collection.
The new monthly challenge for April is to include a BIG rainbow as the main design element on your layout.
To help create the arches of the rainbow, I used various sized dinner plates and traced around the tops of them on the different patterned papers I chose from the Boys Rule collection. I chose these following papers from the Boys Rule collection: ‘Fun and Games’, ‘Straight and Narrow’, ‘Entitled’, ‘Expressionist’ and ‘Star Fall’. I then arranged them on a plain white cardstock background and adhered them down. I trimmed the white cardstock down to measure roughly 11′ x 11′ and adhered it to the ‘Boys Stuff’ patterned paper. I then machine-stitched each individual colour in the rainbow with matching thread.
At the base of the rainbow, I adhered a strip of the ‘Straight and Narrow’ paper horizontally to add another layer to my layout. I added craft foam underneath my photo and placed it over on the right side of my page, I layered the frame and journal spot from the ephemera pack tucked in on the left hand side of the photo, on top of the photo I added one of the banner stickers from the Accessory Sticker sheet. My title is from the chipboard pack, I love these words! I added the ‘You’ and ‘Are’ words at the top of the rainbow and the ‘Awesome’ word under the photo. Either side of the ‘Awesome’ word, I added the scalloped border sticker from the Clear Sticker sheet. Above the photo, I added one of the banner stickers from the Accessory Sticker sheet. I punched out some stars from the ‘Happy Go Lucky’ paperand then layered some of the star stickers over the top. I placed a few of these around my page.
Once I was happy with how the larger elements were placed on my layout, I started adding some smaller embellishments including more clear stickers, more accessory stickers and some more ephemera also. One of my signature features on my layouts is to stamp the date of when the photo was taken and this layout is no exception, I stamped the date stamp using some black ink.
I don’t often journal on my pages so I love the phrase and word stickers from the accessory sticker sheet. I add them to all of my Cocoa Vanilla layouts, where I can, to help tell the story. Boy layouts are one of my favourite projects to create and this one was so much fun to create! I really love how it turned out too. Make sure you create a layout and add a big rainbow element as your main design feature and share it with us by uploading it to the Cocoa Vanilla Studio Community Facebook page.
Thank you so much for stopping by the Cocoa Vanilla blog today! I hope you enjoyed reading about how I created my layout as much as I enjoyed creating it!
Hi everyone, it’s Sue Plumb here to share my latest design team project with you. Today I am sharing another layout using the fabulous ‘Great Escape’ collection that documents a photo of Zoe and I on our trip to the USA back in 2019. This pic was taken the day we went to the Grand Canyon, and it definitely rates as one of my favourite days EVER – I am so happy we got to share it together.
I started this page with a sheet of white cardstock and added some ‘Naples Yellow’ acrylic paint to it using a brayer. I chose this colour because of it was a lovely earthy yellow, and I knew it would work well with the other colours of the collection. I then chose a selection of patterned papers for my papery layers, including the green compass print from the Direction paper; the mustard yellow crosses from the A5 Paper Stack; and the orange chevron pattern from the Happy Camper paper. I distressed the edges of the green one to add some texture, before layering the other two on top.
Once the papers were in place I then added some frayed gauze before placing my photo on top of the layers. You can see how I cut the orange chevron print into an arrow shape to run behind my photo from left to right, which helps draw the viewer’s eye in and across the panoramic photo.
For my embellishments, I started by adding three main pieces around my photo – the compass on the left edge from the Die Cut Ephemera pack; the get outside and roam badge (also from the same pack) at the top; and the group of trees from the Chipboard Sticker sheet in the bottom right corner. These three pieces created my visual triangle around my photo and gave me anchor points to work from for the remainder of my embellishments. The other reason I started with these embellishments is because they were all larger pieces and it is always easier to get the biggest things on a page first.
The next piece I added was the ADVENTURE title from the Chipboard Sticker sheet. I knew I wanted to run this piece along the bottom edge of the photo because it is quite a long title and it mirrored the shape of my photo. With all those large elements in place it was then easy to go back and add a few extra embellishments to finish it off. I used the so much fun banner piece and a few stars from the Chipboard Sticker sheet, along with some tiny words and a label from the Accessory Sticker sheet.
I was determined not to over-embellish this page and detract from the photo, so I finished it off with only a few tiny black ink splatters and my handwritten journalling on the label.
I am loving creating with this collection so much, and I have another project with it in the works at the moment that I can’t wait to share! I’ll be back in two weeks with some more inspiration for you.
It’s Sophie here today with a new layout using the Great Escape collection!
When I saw this 3×4 card “The outdoors is calling” on the “Wild Life” paper, I knew exactly what photo to use and it was my starting point for the whole page!
I framed the photo and card on the wood grain “Starry Night” paper, framed everything on white cardstock and placed it on the “Star Gazing” paper.
I teared a big chunk of the “Adventurer” paper and placed it beneath the white rectangle, adding a fussy cut scalloped border from the “Wild Life” paper.
I hand stitched around the white rectangle and added a few cross stitches on the wood grain frame as well.
I used a label from the “Wild Life” paper to handwrite my date and placed Chipboard Stickers around my pocket card and photo to embellish the page.
Here are more close-ups:
This is a simple and more masculine page, and it makes the photo stand out so well!!
