monthly challenge

You Got This | No Limits collection | Sue Plumb

Hi everyone, it’s Sue Plumb here with another design team project for you. Today I am sharing a mixed media layout that has been inspired by this month’s “Seeing Stars” challenge. As an avid boy scrapper, stars are one of my absolute favourite things to put on my pages, so I couldn’t help myself but join in on the fun. The first thing I did was choose which collection I was going to work with, and I couldn’t go past the ‘No Limits’ collection, which is filled with all kinds of celestial themed elements. I paired it with a photo of my son at soccer, who was definitely a star on this particular day.

I began this layout with a sheet of white cardstock and a piece of the star print Orbit patterned paper that I had left over from another project. As it wasn’t a whole sheet, I decided to tear along the edges of it and have it run vertically on my page. Before sticking it down, I used a pencil to mark out where the paper would sit, then turned my attention to the background.

I wanted to add a splash of colour first, so I used my Mowed Lawn green Distress Oxide to add some loose watercolour underneath where the paper would sit. Once dry, I used some star-themed rubber stamps from my stash to add extra detail over the top. I used a large star first, which I stamped three times to form a triangle; then a background stamp featuring tiny stars to scatter around. I then stuck the starry patterned paper down on top.

With the large piece of paper in place, my background was complete, so I turned my attention to the photo and embellishments. I cut a mat for my photo using a green sheet from the A5 Paper Stack and secured it to the page. I topped it with a grey paper doily, frayed gauze, and then my photo which had some cardboard underneath to help pop it up from the page.

I then added my embellishments, focusing on creating three clusters – above, to the left and to the bottom right of the photo. On the left side I used the you’re the best banner from the Die Cut Ephemera pack. I also added the hand from the same pack, and placed it directly onto the photo. I finished off this cluster with a couple of stars nearby, that were fussy cut from the Nebula paper.

To the right of my photo I created another embellishment cluster, this time using a handmade heart embellishment from my stash, which I topped with a CVS limited edition flair button (from many moons ago). Both of these embellishments were to tie in with the print on my son’s t-shirt. As with the previous cluster, I also added some fussy cut stars nearby. I balanced the stars out by adding a couple more above the photo as well as my third “cluster”.

There were only a few elements left to complete at this point – my title, using the Die Cut Title words alongside the photo. A few more small stars from the Puffy Sticker pack and some small word stickers from the Accessory Sticker sheet. And finally, my handwritten journalling and I was done!

If you love stars as much as I do, then make sure you enter our June “Seeing Stars” challenge which is hosted in our Facebook Cocoa Vanilla Studio Community group. You can enter as many times as you wish (providing each entry is created specifically for our challenge) and there is a $25 store voucher to be won. Looking forward to seeing all those starry projects!

Until next time, happy scrapping!

Family | Heart & Home collection | Sue Plumb

Hi everyone, it’s Sue Plumb here to share another design team project with you. Today I am sharing a mixed media layout featuring the ‘Heart & Home’ collection. Inspired by this month’s “Flower Frenzy” challenge, I decided to document this family photo I took while we were out celebrating an early Mother’s Day lunch. (Family photos with all of us in them are rare, as I am usually the one behind the camera – I am sure many of you can relate!)

I began this layout with a sheet of white cardstock, which I cut down to measure 11×11″, and then backed with the sweet Leaf Litter paper to form a border. I then used pale pink Distress Oxide ink mixed with a little water to create a watercolour paint, which I brushed vertically onto the top half of the page using a wide brush. I then chose a yellow acrylic paint and applied it vertically to the bottom half of the page using a small brayer. This gave me a two-toned background that coordinated perfectly with the colours of the collection.

Now it was time for some paper! I chose a mix of patterned papers, including Fall Beauty, Harvest, and a couple of designs from the A5 Paper Stack to create layers in the central area of my page. I used a mix of both cut and torn edges for contrasting textures, and also added some frayed gauze and a paper doily. My photo was then mounted on top with a little cardboard behind it to help pop it up from the page.

I stuck a couple of stickers from the Accessory Sticker sheet directly onto my photo, then turned my attention to the journalling. I cut a journal card from the Gather cut apart paper, then popped it into my typewriter. (I find the easiest way to do this is to use some washi tape to tack it to a larger piece of paper or card, so it doesn’t get lost in the roller.) I then tucked my journal card under the edge of photo and added a handmade heart embellishment on top.

Then it was time for some flowers! I used a combination of fussy cut pieces from the Bountiful paper, and others from the Floral Ephemera pack to build my clusters. I used my tried and true method of creating a visual triangle around my photo to help me decide placement which in this case was top left / centre right / middle bottom. You can see how this frames naturally around the focal point of my page (my photo). I layered the floral pieces, bending up the leaves to create dimension off the page.

I finished my page with a Gold Foil Title in the lower right corner; some stamped words and the date; and tiny gold ink splatters scattered around. Love how this one came together!

If you love flowers, then make sure you enter our May “Flower Frenzy” challenge which is hosted in our Facebook Cocoa Vanilla Studio Community group. You can enter as many times as you wish (providing each entry is created specifically for our challenge) and there is a $25 store voucher to be won. Looking forward to seeing your floral masterpieces!

Until next time, happy scrapping!

Life is Good | Sunkissed collection | Sophie Delorme

Hello Cocoa Vanilla friends!

 

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.

 

Happy crafting !!

 

Sophie xx

You Are Awesome | Boys Rule collection | Tarrah McLean

Hi creative friends!

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’ paper and 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!

Happy creating!

Tarrah x

Adventure Awaits | Great Escape Collection | Michelle Stokes

Hey Scrappy friends, it’s Michelle here today. I’ve got a brand new layout share for you all using the Great Escape Collection thats inspired by this months Challenge – Scrap about your adventures. I’ve taken a step back in time to when I travelled overseas with my Mum in 2008 and had a magical visit to Times Square in New York. Loved this trip of a lifetime.

As the photo was already quite busy I didn’t want to add too much to the background of the layout or overdo the embellishments, so I’ve kept the background ‘clean’ and only used fussy cut stars from the Star Gazing paper for the main focal points of the embellishment clusters.

I took this photo from the top of a ‘hop on, hop off’ bus as we were touring around the city. This was the first glimpse of the area and it was just so impressive. The noise, the people, the cars. Everything there in that moment was everything you read and see online about New York. Its was magical and hectic all in one.

I backed the photo using the rainbow stripe side of the Journey Paper and layered it with some foam sheet to pop it off the page. I knew I would be using the chipboard pieces at some point so I needed to match the depth of dimension they would create. I added fussy cut stars from the Star Gazing paper to the top right with the addition of the cute mini van ephemera piece

I added more of the Journey Paper to the layout, this time the green tree pattern along the bottom of the layout to act as a landing point for one of the clusters. I added machine stitching along the top edge once all the stars and stickers were in place

To the left of the photo I created a cluster of stars using different forms of adhesive for a layered effect. I did this with all three clusters within the visual triangle. I also added an extra piece of chipboard to the photo along with a sticker and journal tab tucked into the top

To create the title I’ve used the word Adventure from the Chipboard Stickers pack along with my beloved white alphas and some handwritten text for journalling. I love the mixed look this creates. Then lastly I added my usual splatter of gold ink to add interest to all the whitespace surrounding the clusters.

Here’s a final look at the entire layout..

Well thats all from me today, thanks so much for stopping by. Be sure to check out the main post regarding this months Challenge to see more inspiration on the current task.

Until Next time, Happy Scrapping!
Michelle x

Wild, Fun & Free | Great Escape | Michelle Stokes

Hello Hello, it’s Michelle here with you today to share another creation using our NEW collection – Great Escape. I’ve tied this into our current Monthly Scrap–lifting Challenge to give you another example of  where your imagination can take you when lifting others creations.

Wild, Fun & Happy – all words easily used to describe this crazy doggo of ours. He keeps us entertained day in and day out, loves on us like no tomorrow, and drives his fur sister Daisy absolutely crazy.

I took inspiration from the absolutely amazing layout below, created by Josephine. For my creation I’ve used used a mix of hand cut and ephemera stars to create a similar look to the hearts in the original.

I hand cut all the larger stars from the pattern papers within the A5Paper stack. I used the larger of the stars within the Ephemera pack to trace around, then drew secondary lines around that to create a larger star. I then grouped 2 complimenting patterns together and sewed them together with some rough machine stitching and adhered to the white background using foam tape for dimension.

I added in ephemera stars, fussy cut stars from the A5 version of the Star Gazing paper and puffy stars from both the foam title pack and puffy stickers pack.

I printed the photos in 2.5×3.5inch size and layered them together using foam behind to pop them up over the tops of the spiky star points. There is so much going on within this layout in terms of dimension, but I love it. It really brings the layout to life.

I also added pops of ephemera pieces and accessory stickers into the star clusters to add even more excitement to the layout.

Lastly the title came together using words from the Foam Title Stickers pack and my trusty old tiny alphas from the Hello Lovely Collection from many many moons ago.. Wonder if anyone can twist Zoe’s arm to get these released again? I’m sure I’m not the only one who loves a little old school alpha action on a layout?

A few splatters of gold ink and I have one complete scrap-lifted layout ready to add to the collection of Pet scrappy layouts.

Here’s a final look at the layout, inspired by Josephine’s

Well friends, thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing my take on this Months Scrap Lift Challenge. Be sure to check out the original post HERE for all the info about it.

Until Next time, Happy Scrappin!
Michelle x

TOGETHER | THESE DAYS COLLECTION | SOPHIE DELORME

Hello friends!

It’s Sophie on the blog today with a mood board inspired layout!

 

Have you seen the November challenge? Niki Rowland designed a gorgeous mood board named “Grateful” this month. Here it is:

 

I used the These Days collection for my page, and was inspired by the warm orange and yellow tones of the board, the beautiful flowers on the left lower image, the sewing on the top right image and the heartfelt love on the top left image.

The photo of my two fur babies on a crisp sunny morning is so precious and was the perfect photo to illustrate the theme of the board.

I centered it on a 12×12 white cardstock, added two strips of patterned paper on the top and bottom parts of the layout and handstitched two horizontal lines with green thread.

I selected two pocket cards, added stitches to them and placed them on each side of the photo for my subtitle and journaling.

My title comes from the Foam Title Stickers from the collection.

 

I added embellishments from the Ephemera pack, the floral die cuts pack, a few phrase stickers and two fussy cut butterflies.

 

Here are more close-ups:

 

 

 

 

 

A mood board is such a great source of inspiration! Check out the blog on November 1st to see all the details of the challenge and how to enter for you to get a chance to win a $25 store voucher to the Cocoa Vanilla Studio online store.

Happy crafting!!

Sophie

So Thankful | Heart & Home collection | Tarrah McLean

Hi creative friends!

It’s Tarrah back with you and today I am sharing a new scrapbook layout created using the gorgeous Heart & Home collection. For this project, I have taken inspiration from the beautiful October mood board. I have documented an Autumn photo of myself amongst some fallen leaves, I love how my photo goes perfectly with this collection.

October Mood Board

The inspiration I took from the mood board was mostly from the centre image, I decided to replicate the woodgrain circle but added a few other layers of papers underneath to add some interest and to include some more colours. Naturally the colours from the mood board match perfectly with the Heart & Home collection.  I placed most of the elements to the right of the circle also like in the centre image of the mood board.

I created the circles from 3 different papers including the Harvest paper, the Gather paper and the Framed paper. I used the ‘B’ sides of each of each of these papers. I traced 3 different sized dinner plates and free hand cut them out. Once they were cut out, I adhered them layered on top of each other onto some white cardstock and then bent up the edges to add some texture. I trimmed the white cardstock down to measure approximately 11′ x 11′. I then adhered it to the ‘B’ side of the Bountiful patterned paper. Once adhered, I machine-stitched a border around the edges to add some texture.

I layered a paper from the A5 paper stack underneath my photo and adhered it to the right side of the layout using craft foam to add dimension. I layered a frame from the ephemera pack on the left side of the photo and also some small flowers from the floral ephemera pack. On the right of the photo, I added lots of the gorgeous florals also from the floral ephemera pack. If you look closely at the florals, I have added some of the puffy stickers to the centres of the florals also. My title is made up of the gorgeous gold foil cardstock words, I chose the words ‘So Thankful’ and adhered it to the bottom of the photo using craft foam.

To balance out the heaviness of the right side of the layout, I created a cluster of embellishments that mostly included some more of the gorgeous florals. I adhered some flat and adhered some with craft foam to create different heights and dimension. I did add a die-cut that said ‘Everyday Beauty’ here also. Some more phrases were added too including the Happiness Is Homemade banner that I added under the title and the Moment Captured banner die-cut that I adhered on top of the photo. I also added the Joyful Days sticker from the Accessory sticker sheet just above the title. Lastly I added some of the puffy hearts around the page, stamped the date stamp and sprinkled some white mist around.

Thank you so much for stopping by the Cocoa Vanilla blog today. I hope I have inspired you to pull out your Heart & Home collection and create with it. Make sure to join in our October mood board challenge and submit your project on our Facebook Page!

Happy creating!

Tarrah x

Good Times | Happy Days collection | Tarrah McLean

Hi creative friends,

It’s Tarrah back with you and today I am sharing a new scrapbook layout featuring the gorgeous Happy Days collection!

For this assignment I was tasked with creating a project inspired by the July 2023 mood board.

July 2023 Mood Board

I was inspired by the colours in the mood board, the postage stamps and the windmill. I chose to add the pinwheel from the Happy Days collection to replicate the windmill from the mood board and also the postage stamps that look similar to the small pictures in the bottom centre photo in the mood board. I chose the ‘B’ side of the Juicy Fruit paper as the background paper to work on.

I picked 3 photos from a recent trip to Ayers Rock and printed them in a filmstrip style, I was inspired to this from the Japanese temple photo in the top left corner of the mood board. I adhered the photos using craft foam to create some dimension, I layered some of the papers from the A5 paper stack under the photo to add some interest and colour.

On the left of the photo strip, I placed the Amazing prize winner die-cut and on the right hand side I adhered the postage stamp die-cuts. Above the postage stamps I adhered the pinwheel die-cut and placed a puffy enamel dot in the centre of the pinwheel. I added a few phrase stickers from the Accessory sticker sheet around the photo to help tell the story of the photos. On the left of the photos I placed a yellow puffy heart and some more enamel shapes.

My title was made up of the chipboard alphabet words, I placed one word above the photos and the other one below the photos. I added a few more small embellishments like die-cut hearts, enamel shapes and accessory stickers to finish the layout and lastly I stamped the date stamp using black ink.

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!

Happy creating!

Tarrah x

Happy Easter | Happy Days collection | Tarrah McLean

Hi creative friends!

It’s Tarrah back with you today, I am very excited to be sharing my first layout featuring the gorgeous new Happy Days collection!

I was tasked with using the gorgeous April mood board as my inspiration for my project this week, the Happy Days collection has so many elements in it that match perfectly with the mood board!

I am documenting 2 photos of my nieces from Easter last year, I love their sweet faces so much!

As the mood board is mostly Easter themed, I chose an Easter title cut file from CUT to YOU and backed it with one of the large 12′ x 12′ papers. I love the yellow plaid patterned paper!

You can see from the mood board image below that I was inspired by many things from the mood board! The Happy Days ephemera pack has the gorgeous tassel banner included in it, I knew I was definitely going to add that to this layout! It is perfect!

I absolutely love this mood board! There are so many things you can inspired from this board!

I placed a large white paper doily down on the heart background patterned paper and then adhered the cut file down using craft foam, leaving some room for my photos above the title. I did trim down the heart patterned paper and adhered it to the pink/purple spotted paper. I then machine stitched a zig zag border down the edges where the papers meet. I love the texture that the machine stitching adds to a layout!

I layered one of the papers from the A5 paper stack underneath my photos to help lift them a little bit. I added craft foam underneath the photos as well and also added craft foam under the tassel banner and adhered this at the bottom of the title.  Now that I am happy with the placement of the largest elements on my layout, its time to embellish and tell some of the story!

Do you ever look at embellishments and think about how you can use them for something they aren’t originally intended for?

I do this a lot! When I saw the fabric puffy hearts in the Happy Days collection, I just knew I had to add them to this page to mimic bunny ears! Really hoping that you picked out the bunny ears before I pointed them out to you hehe! Aren’t they the cutest?! I added 4 of these in the end, tucking them in enough so that they peek out of the tops of what they are adhered behind.

By using craft foam underneath some of the larger elements on my page, it creates some shadows and dimension to my page which I love! You can see in the photo above the shadows created under the tassel banner. I didn’t add too many embellishments to this layout as sometimes less is more when it comes to embellishing. I did add a few die-cuts from the ephemera pack like the Yay banner, the small flower to the right of my photos and the round journal spot above the photos. I also added the phrase across the cut file, to help break up all that yellow! I also added the cute Love This tab to the left of my photos as well.

Lastly I helped tell the story of my layout by adding the small phrase and word stickers from the Accessory sticker sheet. One of my signature things I do on almost all of my layouts is to stamp the date stamp, the date is of when the photo was taken. Another thing I like to do is, and you don’t see this but I like to sign the back of my layouts and I write the date that I created it as well. I have doing this for years now! Do you have something you like to include on all of your projects? Please share with us!

Thank you so much for stopping by the Cocoa Vanilla Studio blog today! I hope you enjoyed reading how I created my layout as much as I enjoyed creating it!

Make sure you get your hands on the gorgeous NEW Happy Days collection from your local scrapbook store or favourite online store!

Happy creating!

Tarrah x

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