merry and bright

Christmas Morning Joy | Merry & Bright collection | Tarrah McLean

Hi creative friends and Happy New Year!

It’s Tarrah back today to share a new scrapbook layout featuring the gorgeous Merry and Bright collection!

I just love creating Christmas layouts, what about you? I still have lots of the Merry and Bright collection and I also love to stash bust so I really enjoyed creating this layout!

I started by choosing my background paper – opting for the Star Bright paper. I then cut out a cut file from white cardstock. The cut file is from CUT to YOU and is called Stars Squared. Once the cut file was cut out, I struggled with the placement and design of my page so I cut up the cut file into separate pieces so I could place pieces of it where I wanted to. Do you ever do this? I do this a lot if I am struggling to like how a cut file looks on my page. There are no rules to say you have to use a cut file the way it was intended!

I backed all the stars of the cut file with papers from the Merry and Bright A5 paper stack, once it was all backed, I then placed foam adhesive to the underside of the cut file and adhered the cut file to the ‘Star Bright’ paper.

The photo I am documenting today was taken just this last Christmas of my 2 sons and my 2 beautiful nieces! My nieces were able to be here from England for this Christmas! It was wonderful to have them and it was the first Christmas we have had together with them! A very special memory to document. I layered one of the pocket cards and a cardstock frame from the ephemera pack under the photo and adhered it overlapping the cut file, in the centre of my layout. I also stapled a banner sticker from the accessory sticker sheet to the top left corner of the photo. My title is made up of a phrase sticker from the accessory sticker sheet overlapping the word ‘Joy’ fussy cut out from the Season’s Greeting paper.  It certainly was Christmas Morning Joy in our household!

To the left of the photo I also placed the Ho Ho Ho die-cut from the ephemera pack, a gorgeous flair button, a phrase sticker and a gold puffy star. In the top left I also placed that super cute Santa face die-cut from the ephemera pack and to balance that with the bottom right corner, I placed the sleigh, also from the ephemera pack.

To finish my layout, I added a few smaller embellishments like small die-cuts, stickers, another gold puffy star and completely finished the page with stamping the date stamp and sprinkling some gold Heidi shine. Once I had finished my layout, I then auditioned some papers to go behind the Star Bright one to act as a ‘frame’. I decided on the ‘B’ side of the ‘Joy to the World’ paper. I trimmed down the ‘Star Bright’ paper and adhered it to the ‘Joy to the World’ paper.

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.

Do you have the Merry & Bright collection? I encourage you to pull it out and create some pretty things with it!

Tarrah x

Merry Christmas | Merry & Bright collection | Tarrah McLean

Hi creative friends!

It’s Tarrah McLean back with you and today I am sharing a Christmas themed scrapbook layout with you featuring the gorgeous Merry and Bright collection from Cocoa Vanilla Studio. Do you like scrapbooking Christmas? I absolutely love it and would scrapbook using Christmas collections all year if I could!

I started my layout with a white cardstock base and decided to document a Snapchat photo of myself taken last Christmas Day, it goes perfectly with the Merry & Bright collection. I pulled out one of the frames from the ephemera pack and adhered it to my photo, I then added craft foam to the underneath of the photo. Before I adhered the photo to the white cardstock, I trimmed a piece of the woodgrain paper from the A5 paper stack and layered and adhered it underneath the photo, adhering the photo down on top.

I built my entire layout around the photo in the centre, choosing to leave lots of white space on this page. I tucked in some florals from the ephemera pack on either side of the photo, bending the edges of the leaves and flowers to create some shadows on my page. On top of the floral cluster on the right, I adhered a gorgeous flair button on top and also added a heart from the ephemera pack also. Above the photo, I adhered the ‘Merry’ tab and from the accessory stickers, I placed the banner with the star in the top right of my photo.

At the bottom of my photo, I placed the ‘Merry Christmas’ sticker from the accessory sticker sheet and this became my title for the page also. I also placed the rectangle journal spot sticker under the title sticker. Once I was happy with the centre cluster that is the main focus of my layout, I started to add some details to the top and bottom of the page. I cut out a strip of the pink, red and white stripe paper for both the top and bottom, I also scalloped the edge of a piece of the green check paper and adhered that piece at the top. I added some ephemera pieces, a banner sticker and one of the gorgeous gold stars also.

On the bottom edge, I added some more ephemera pieces and another gorgeous gold star also. Some of the smaller and last details I added were the small phrase stickers, the date stamp and splattered some gold Heidi Shine around my page also. I love how the gold Heidi shine looks against the white and also how some of it has landed on the holly leaves as well.  Once I was happy with my final layout on the white cardstock, I then trimmed down the white cardstock and adhered it to the coral 12′ x 12′ patterned paper from the collection.

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.

Do you have the Merry & Bright collection? I encourage you to pull it out and create some pretty things with it!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a safe, happy and healthy new year.

Tarrah x

 

Hello sweetheart | Merry & Bright and Daydream Collections | Anna Blades

Hi CVS friends!

Happy Australia Day! For today’s layout, my focus is the national colors: green and gold. I use gold very often in my projects, but green is not on my most used list. So, leaves and flowers came to the rescue. And I created this page with a picture of my sister and her son, mixing Daydream and Merry & Bright collections.

I used the Merry & Bright Star Bright Paper for my background and glued a white cardstock crooked on top of it, so you can see part of the Star Bright Paper on the left side. Then, I machine stitched two sides of the white cardstock.

Once I had the base, I made some brush strokes with gold metallic paint in the middle of the white cardstock. You can see it peeking through the elements.

With two of the Merry & Bright Pocket Cards, I framed my photo. I chose two with green tones to match my page. I put some foam behind the photo to rise it a little bit and add more dimension.

I took the Oh Christmas Tree Paper from the A5 Paper Stack and some metal dies and cut a bunch of leaves. I created two clusters with yellow flowers and more leaves from the Daydream Die Cut Ephemera.

For my title, I used one of the black foam titles from the Unforgettable collection. I love who it stands out. I put it on top of the picture, so it seems to be floating. Behind it, I placed one of the words from the Daydream Accessory Stickers that say “sweetheart”. So, the title is “Hello sweetheart”.

In the upper right corner, I glued a green Puffy fabric heart with gold metallic thread underneath it. And finally, I scattered some hearts and sequins to add a shiny touch to the page.

I hope you like this layout, and it gives you some inspiration. I could never get tired of using Cocoa Vanilla flowers!

Thank you so much for stopping by today, and I wish you a wonderful Australia Day!!

See you soon!

Anna xx

Merry and Bright Pocket Pages | Merry and Bright Collection | Danni Visser

Hi crafters! Danni here with a double pocket page layout featuring the gorgeous Merry and Bright collection. I have so many of the stunning pocket cards left that I just had to get some of them used up, and what better way than a couple of pocket pages?

I like to use pocket pages as a way to include lots of photos in my yearly albums, especially photos that aren’t the best quality, are of less interesting everyday moments, or when I have several similar photos that I can’t choose between. These pages are everyday Christmas season snapshots and some extras from our Christmas parade.

For my first page I chose the “Merry & Bright” pocket card and backed it on the candy stripe 12×12 patterned paper for a title card. I chose two pretty pocket cards – one to embellish with Santa from the die cut ephemera, the other as a perfect spot for my journaling. I like to cover ugly or distracting background details in my photos with pretty embellishments, so I also fussy cut the two hearts from one the pocket cards and used them to decorate a photo.

I added some clusters of florals fussy cut from floral 12×12 patterned paper to the corners of two of my photos, then used a combination of die cut ephemera and accessory stickers to fill in any empty spaces. The tiny heart die cuts came in handy for this project – I used lots of them to embellish my photos, outlining them in white gel pen to really make them ‘pop’.

For my second pocket page I decided to make a couple of decorative feature cards. First, I used the multicoloured polka spot paper from the A5 paper stack, some die cut baubles and some strip rhinestones to make a hanging bauble card, filling in the corners with layered fussy cut florals. For the second decorative card I layered tag and phrase stickers together on a green starry pocket card, adding baker’s twine to the tag and another heart die cut.

Many of these photos have not-so-nice things in the background (a rubbish bin for example) so the accessory stickers and smaller die cut ephemera worked perfectly to cover these up and add detail to the photos. I also used a combination of fussy cut and sticker labels to add small areas of journaling to highlight the important memories from these photos.

I inked the edges of many of the cards in a Christmassy green ink to help define the edges and added lots of tiny words from the accessory stickers to help tell my stories. Do you like to use pocket pages to record your stories?  I hope this inspired you to try some new things! There is a process video on YouTube linked below. Happy scrapping!

Danni x

 

Baby, it’s cold outside | Merry and Bright Collection | Anna Blades

Hello CVS friends!

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!

Have a wonderful 2021!

See you soon!

Anna xx

Christmas Time | Merry and Bright | Kylie Kingham

Hello everyone! It’s Kylie with you, on this, Christmas Day. For all of you who celebrate, I hope it’s a lovely time for you all. Today I thought it would be fitting to share a festive layout featuring the new Merry & Bright collection.

Included in this beautiful collection is the Christmas Tree Large Die & Backing Set It is a fast way to bring together a layout thanks to the background being complete already! It even features lovely shading with an effect of mixed media behind it, so all you need to do is add your favourite photo(s) and embellish! I have added some of the Puffy Gold Stars to my tree for some extra sparkle.

From the die cut pack I selected 3 baubles and adhered them to the top right hand corner with foam adhesive. I punch a small hole to the top of them so I could add some sparkly twine through them, finished off by stapling the ends to the top of my page.

My photos were printed in black and white for this particular layout, (mainly because my son had a bright blue shirt on! ….OOPS!) and were adhered to my page with more foam adhesive. More of the cute die cuts were then layered around the base of my photos until I was happy with the balance.

I love how fast this page came together! Thanks so much for stopping by the blog today. I hope my layout has given you a little inspiration for your own festive scrapbooking.

See you in 2021!

Kylie.

Pillow Box Gifts | Merry & Bright Collection | Tarrah McLean

Hi everyone and Merry Christmas! I hope you are all ready for the big man in red to arrive?!

Welcome back to the Cocoa Vanilla blog today! It’s Tarrah back with you today to share a Christmas gift box idea using the gorgeous new Merry and Bright collection.

I found a free pillow box template online, printed it out and traced it onto some vellum. I then used the vellum as my template and scored the pillow box shape onto 3 different patterned papers from the Merry and Bright collection! For the larger stripe one, I used a 12 x 12 piece of paper and the 2 smaller ones, I used the A5 paper pad papers. The A5 paper pad is perfect for projects like this!

I cut and folded the gift boxes and then assembled them together. They are super cute and easy to make! They are perfect boxes to gift money, vouchers, lollies, chocolates, earrings anything small really! I attached some white twine from my stash to each one and chose a tag for each and tied a bow.

For each gift box I added a tag and embellished each tag by adding a sticker or 2 from the Accessory sticker sheet and a die-cut from the ephemera pack. I also layered underneath each tag a die-cut flower for extra decoration. To fill your gift box, you just open one end and add the gift inside and close it back up! Super cute and easy!

Thank you so much for stopping by the Cocoa Vanilla blog today!

I hope you enjoyed my Christmas project and that you get a chance to create these yourself!

Wishing you all a safe and Merry Christmas. I hope you all get to spend time with loved ones and relax together.

Till next time,

Tarrah x

Miam ! | Merry & Bright collection | Sophie Delorme

Hello everyone !

 

It’s Sophie with you today sharing a lovely Christmas themed layout created with the Merry & Bright collection.

 

 

I challenged myself to use this gorgeous wreath paper named “Happy Holidays”  that I find quite intimidating to work with (I find it stunning by itself..!).

 

I decided to cut out the inner portion of the wreath. I handstitched the center of the leaves around the wreath with blue thread. I then added adhesive foam behind the wreath and backed it with the beautiful wood grain patterned paper named “ Season’s Greeting”, on which I previously splattered plenty of little drops of white acrilyc paint.

 

 

I put the floral cluster of the wreath on the right side of my layout.

 

My photo is from my little Sabrina in the middle of a baking afternoon, preparing yummy goodies from Christmas ! (and tasting them of course !!).

 

I added tissue paper and adhesive foam behind the photo before gluing it on my page.

 

My title is from letters cut out of the “Season’s Greeting” patterned paper.

 

 

I embellished the wreath floral cluster with other flowers and leaves from the Merry and Bright Die Cut Ephemera pack.

 

 

I also added three beautiful Christmas trees from the same Die Cut pack on the lower left side of the photo and tucked in a Pocket Card to write down my journaling next to the photo.

 

 

I think this wood grain paper really stands out from the soft colors of the wreath ! Do you like the end-result ?

 

Here are more close-ups:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope that my layout has giving you a new idea on how to use this beautiful wreath paper !

 

Happy scrapping !

 

Sophie xx

Christmas Memories | Merry and Bright Collection | Danni Visser

Hi there crafters! Today I am excited to share a layout with you that I created using the incredible Cocoa Vanilla Studio ‘Merry and Bright’ collection. I really wanted to do something creative with the Large Die Cut & Backing Kit – I had already used the die cut on a previous layout, so I wanted to play with the backing section for this layout.

With the die cut removed, the backing paper still has the geometric pattern of the tree with the outline on the paper, providing a perfect guide for some hand stitching. This is one of my absolute favourite techniques – I just love the texture and dimension it brings! The pattern made is so simple to pierce the holes, I simply followed the outline of the tree with my piercing tool. I then went in with some lovely deep green embroidery thread and added a chain-link stitch all around the border of the tree. So striking!

Next I was inspired by the gorgeous watercolour effect on the background paper, so I pulled out my own watercolours and added some extra trees. These trees are so simple to paint and require very little painting skill; simply make a few messy strokes and you’re done! I used a few different shades of green to add depth and dimension.

I matted my photo on some pink paper from the A5 paper stack to soften the edges. My photo is of a beautiful lighted tree we found in a field nearby our house – just the perfect photo for this layout. I took one of the 3×4 pocket cards and fussy-cut the ‘Christmas Memories’ sentiment to use as my title, I love the script font.

Next I used a mixture of die cut ephemera and fussy cut florals to create small embellishment clusters either side of my photo. I also added the little die cut ephemera sleigh, plus a tag and some more florals, below my tree. I just love the whimsy of this little cluster, so sweet!

For finishing touches I used some tiny word phrases from the accessory stickers around my photo, and of course I just had to add on of the adorable puffy gold stars to the top of my tree! I added a few lines of journaling in grey pen below my photo, and with that my layout was finished.

I really hope you enjoyed this one, it was an absolute joy to make and I just love it. There is a process video linked below for you to watch as well. Happy scrapping!

Danni x

 

Happy Christmas | Merry and Bright Layout | Anna Komenda

Hello Cocoa Vanilla fans. It’s Anna here today with another inspiration made with this year christmas line called “Merry and bright”. I already used this collection to make advent calendar for my kids and I can’t tell you enough how much I love it. It’s fresh and fun, with great patterns, that can be also used throughout the year, not only for christmas projects. I reached for last year photos and printed them in the row so they look a little bit like a film strip from the photo booth.

Next step was to cut out words from paper “Season’s greetings“. I focused on the ones with bigger font and arranged them on the back side of the same paper. I love using wooden patterns as my background. I only added glue on the middle of each letter for a little more texture. To make sure they won’t fall out, I added stitching with my sewing machine.

Gaps between the words are filled with elements from ephemera pack. This is always my favorite type of embellishments – very versatile, easy to use and lasts for a long time. I mounted them using 3D foam to add more texture.

This is a really simple page and you do not need any special skills to make similar one. Just a good scissors and a little bit of patience. You can cut out letters in advance wbile watching TV. You can also mix the letters creating your own title for more whimsical look.

I finished my page adding flair button and pretty, shiny fabric stars. I am totally in a festive mood and can’t wait for the christmas to come for another opportunity to snap new photos for even more scrappy fun. I will see you again after christmas so I wanted to wish you all merry and bright holidays. I hope you will spend them with the ones you love.

XO Anna

Load More

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.