No Limits collection

You Got This | No Limits collection | Sue Plumb

Sue Plumb 07/06/2024

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!

Year in Review 2023 | Favourite Layouts | Rachel Lowe

Rachel Lowe 22/12/2023

Firstly I wish you all a Happy Christmas and a New Year. This year went in a blink of an eye!

I went back through the layouts I have made and have chosen four of my favs I created using all things Cocoa Vanilla Studio!

Heart and Home collection to me was all about Autumn days and family. This layout features my fav photos of my youngest boy and I. As you know I love adding cut files to my layouts and here I used two so add texture and layers.

These Days collection is such a pretty collection and can be used for so many themes. It’s not often that I do mixed media but as here I used several patterned papers I needed to add white and so it wasn’t so stark I add a blue paint wish to it.

Happy Days collection is bright and beautiful. I loved the many colours of the collection. This is a very ‘busy’ layout for me but I love how it came together and everything about this layout says ‘HAPPY’.

This was a throw back Thursday layout I created this year and having three sons I just can’t go by a fab boy collection and No Limits is that. How awesome is this pie graph cut file! I cut two at different sizes and then layered, love the effect of the light against the dark paper.

Thank you for all your love on social media and also sharing your wonderful layouts!

See you in 2024!

Rachel X

Cool Kid | No Limits collection | Tarrah McLean

Tarrah McLean 09/08/2023

Hi creative friends!

It’s Tarrah back with you and today I am sharing a new boy-themed layout using the awesome No Limits collection! The No Limits collection is a bit of a throwback to one of the older Cocoa Vanilla collections but I love revisiting older collections! I don’t know about you but if I have heaps of a collection left, I like to challenge myself to use it up!

I started out with a white cardstock background as I mostly always do, trimming it down to measure 11′ x 11′ and adhering it to a sheet of black cardstock. I took the Nebula paper and tore rough edges down each side. I then took some of the Latitude paper and tore a piece vertically, I adhered the Nebula paper down and the yellow side of the Latitude paper on the right side. I trimmed the colourful border strip from the Universal paper and adhered this piece to left of the Nebula paper. I bent the edges of the papers using my fingers to add some texture and to add to the grunge/boy theme feel of the page. On the right of the papers, I added some black twine also for some added texture.

The photo is of my youngest son just after a haircut, he was loving his haircut and I just loved the look on his face so I snapped a few photos of him! I placed the photo in the centre of the papers, I layered one of the 3′ x 4′ pocket cards under the photo for an extra layer. I added some phrase stickers from the Accessory Sticker Sheet here to help tell the story of my layout. Although Certified Wild and Beast Mode may not be quite true lol! The One of a Kind chipboard certainly is true though and I placed this piece at the very top of the page.

To the right of my photo, I placed my title which is made up of the Die-cut Titles, I used craft foam underneath these to pop them off the page. I don’t know about you but I love the font of these titles! I added some phrases below the title here and then began to add some of the smaller embellishments. I added lots of star embellishments, including die-cuts, chipboard stars and puffy stars. I also added wood epoxy buttons and some tab stickers from the Accessory Sticker sheet.

I love the dimension, detail and texture that all the different papers and embellishments add to a page. The last thing I did was I stamped the date of when my photo was taken, I sprinkled some black mist and freehand drew a black border around the edge using my journal pen. I love how my boy themed layout turned out and hope you enjoyed reading about how I created it.

Thanks so much for stopping by the Cocoa Vanilla blog today!

Happy creating!

Tarrah x

Fun Fun Fun | No Limits collection | Tarrah McLean

Tarrah McLean 09/03/2023

Hi creative friends!

It’s Tarrah back with you and today I am sharing a new layout created using the awesome No Limits collection!

I haven’t created a boy layout for a while and I have lots of the awesome No Limits collection! I grabbed a sweet black and white photo of my youngest son and got to work creating!

I chose the awesome Spark paper for my main background, trimmed this piece down to measure 11′ x 11′ inches and then adhered it to the ‘B’ side of the Latitude paper

I then bent the edges up to create some texture and shadows on my page. I decided on a round design for this layout and took a dinner plate and pencil and lightly traced a circle with the dinner plate. I knew I wanted to add lots of the ephemera around the outside edge. This is a great way to use up lots of leftovers or little bits and pieces you may have laying around and don’t really know what to do with!

Before adding all of the ephemera and embellishments around the circle I wanted to get my photo in its place, as it is a large element and the main focal point of my page, this is important to me to get this part right. I layered one of the 3′ x 4′ pocket cards under the photo and adhered it to the right hand side of the page using craft foam. I did also cut in half one of the round frame die-cuts and tucked a piece in the top and bottom of my photo. For my title, I adhered another of the cool pocket cards with the words Fun Fun Fun! I also layered one of the phrase stickers from the accessory sticker sheet on top.

My favourite part when I create a layout is the embellishing! What’s yours?

Once my photo and title were added it was time to add all the embellishments around the drawn circle. I used a mixture of ephemera, chipboard, wood epoxy buttons, puffy stickers and accessory stickers. I adhered them all down around the circle using different types of adhesives. The chipboard I used a wet glue (even though these have their own adhesive, I like to add more as extra), the ephemera I used double sided tape and foam tape to give different dimension heights. I was careful to place similar colour elements away from each other, this helps creating a visual triangle on my page.

It was so fun to arrange all the elements around the circle, I placed larger embellishments first and then added smaller ones in between. To the right of my photo I stamped the date stamp using black ink and my date stamp. Lastly I sprinkled some black mist to finish my layout.

Thank you for stopping by the Cocoa Vanilla Studio blog today!

Do you love creating boy layouts? If that is a yes then the No Limits collection is an amazing collection to create some awesome boy pages!

I love how my layout turned out and hope you enjoyed reading about how I created it!

Happy creating!

Tarrah x

Farewell Lina Monaco

Zoe Pearn 04/02/2023

Hi everyone,

A little bit of sad news to share today as we say farewell (again) to one of our beloved team – Lina Monaco. Lina has been a treasured member of our Cocoa Vanilla Studio family for many years, having been a team member twice now after we wooed her back to do another tour with us. Unfortunately for us however, life is just way too busy now for Lina to keep up with everything, so we have to wave goodbye.

So let’s take another look at some of Lina’s recent projects that she created for us. First up, a beautiful layout featuring a photo of the lady of the hour herself along with her husband, and using our ‘Storyteller’ collection…

Lina loves working with bright colours, so next up we are sharing a gorgeous mixed media layout featuring our ‘Sunkissed’ collection…

One of the things we love about Lina is her versatility – she can rock a boy layout just as well as she can rock a girl one. Here’s a gorgeous one she created using ‘No Limits’…

And to round things out, we couldn’t resist sharing this layout that Lina created for our Throwback Thursday featuring one of her all-time favourite collections, ‘Bohemian Dream’. (I think this collection can be found on a lot of people’s favourite list!)

Lina – thank you SO much for all the amazing inspiration you have shared with us over the years and for being such a great ambassador for Cocoa Vanilla Studio. You’ll always be part of the family. We love you and wish you all the best!

Love You | No Limits collection | Sue Plumb

Sue Plumb 07/06/2022

Hi everyone, it’s Sue Plumb here to share my latest design team project with you. For today’s layout, I couldn’t resist using the fabulous No Limits collection to document a recent photo of my hubby and sons that I took when we were out to dinner. In fact, it was the navy shirts my sons were wearing that inspired me to choose the gorgeous Eclipse patterned paper as my page background. I just love how dramatic this paper is!

I have a process video for this layout at the bottom of this post – feel free to scroll straight to it, or read on for a brief explanation of my process.

I began by adding a little bit of doodled detail by highlighting the lines of the arches on the paper using a white pencil. (Which I later picked back up to add further details to my page.) I then added some patterned paper layers behind my photo a scrap of the brick patterned Spark left over from a previous project, combined with the wood grain print from the A5 Paper Stack. I also added frayed gauze for texture.

For my page title, I chose love you from the Die Cut Titles pack as my main title which I positioned along the top edge of my photo and popped up with some foam tape. I then used a Chipboard Sticker with the phrase to the moon and back as my sub-title, which I positioned nearby and used as the start of my first embellishment cluster.

I also created two more embellishment clusters, which were positioned along the left and bottom edges of my photo to help create a visual triangle around the focal point of my page (which of course, is my photo).

I used a mix of embellishments in each of my layered clusters including Chipboard Stickers, Die Cut Ephemera, Accessory Stickers, and Wood Epoxy Buttons. I tried to focus on having some common elements such as stars and circles included in each one to help tie them together.

The other main element on my page was the large moon I created using a frame from the Chipboard Sticker sheet, backed with patterned paper. I added some sketchy doodling around the outer edge of it (to give my moon a “glow”) and nearby I placed a small rocket that I had fussy cut from the Accessory Sticker sheet. I also added some doodled “trails” behind my rocket.

I finished off my page with some white ink splatters and a liberal scattering of Puffy Stickers.

If you would like to see how this layout came together, you can watch my process here:

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Until next time, happy scrapping!

Playground Pals | No Limits Collection | Danni Visser

Danni Visser 31/05/2022

Hi Cocoa Vanilla Studio fans! Danni here with another fabulously bright layout featuring the amazing No Limits collection!

This layout was made to be a companion page to the last layout I made, and as that one was on a patterned paper background, I decided to use plain white cardstock as a base so the whole spread doesn’t become too busy looking.

I made a title myself in my digital cutfile machine software, using a script title and then adding an offset to add another layer of dimension. This is a great way to make those titles really pop! I used the woodgrain side of Big Bang 12×12 patterned paper to cut out the title offset base layer of the title, then the rainbow pattern of Latitude 12×12 patterned paper to cut out the top layer. I love contrasting a bright rainbow paper against a neutral woodgrain. I then added a layer of dimensional foam between the two layers of the title before adhering them together.

Next I started on my background to add some colour and a personal touch with some mixed media. I used a combination of blues, yellow and peach hybrid inks to draw from the colours in the rainbow paper. I added some water to the inks and added them straight to the page using the packaging technique. I then added some splatters and went in with some white acrylic ink splatters for good measure. I was a little impatient waiting for the background to dry so there are quite a lot of smeared spots, but that’s ok! This page is handmade and I’m fine with a few little imperfections.

Once the background was (mostly) dry, I added my title across the centre and tucked my two photos in above and below. I then layered in some of the die cut ephemera pieces around my photos – I finally found a place for that adorable globe die cut and I’m so pleased about it! I didn’t really try to make specific ephemera clusters this time, I just tucked them around the edges of my photos where they looked good to me.

Next I took a couple of arrow pieces from the chipboard stickers and added one to the embellishments around each of my photos. I love using embellishments with different finishes and thicknesses to add visual interest to a page. I also added some dimensional foam to a few of the die cut ephemera pieces to vary their heights on the page.

As a finishing touch I used the accessory stickers to add a tab to the top of a photo, then used three of the tiny word phrases to add a final detail to each of my photos and below my title.

I love how this turned out, so bright and happy! Perfect for a fun summer day at the playground. I hope you enjoyed joining me today too. There is a process video of this layout on the Cocoa Vanilla Studio YouTube channel linked below if you would like to watch this come together. Happy scrapping!

Danni x

You’re The Best | No Limits collection | Tarrah McLean

Tarrah McLean 23/05/2022

Hi creative friends!

It’s Tarrah back with you today to share a new scrapbook layout created using the awesome No Limits collection.

I am documenting a photo of my eldest son taken at one of his birthdays a few years ago. It’s great to look back on older photos to see how much they have grown!!

I decided on the ‘B’ side of the Orbit paper for my background, trimming it down slightly and adhering it on some plain white cardstock. At this point I can never decide if I want to add machine stitching to the outside, so I usually carry on creating the layout and leave that decision to last! As you can see I did opt to machine stitch around the edge, I do like the texture this brings to the layout.

I cut out a cool star cut file by CUT to YOU from white cardstock and backed some of the larger stars with an orange paper from the A5 paper stack. Once backed I adhered the cut file on a slight angle to the background paper. At this point the decision was made on what colour scheme I was going to go with for my layout. I decided to go with orange, black and white. I tried to be careful that it did not look too Halloween themed!

I took some of the 3′ x 4′ pocket cards and layered them under my photo, I placed one vertically and one horizontally. I then added craft foam to the underneath and adhered this to the centre of the layout also on a slight angle, following the same angle that I adhered the cut file. I love the shadows and dimension that are created on my layout by adding craft foam underneath some elements. On top of my photo I adhered the banner die-cut piece that says You’re The Best, this also became the title of my layout. I pulled out lots of the orange and black elements from each of the packs of embellishments. I also cut some pieces from the Universal 12′ x 12′ paper that suited both the theme and colours of my page.

Another reason that I decided on the orange, black and white colour scheme was the colours in the photo of my son. By pulling colours from the photo, it helps to continue on from the photo and helps the photo to blend nicely on the page. I added some contrasting black ephemera stars to the large orange ones using craft foam. I also added the To the Moon and Back round ephemera piece to one of the stars also.

I absolutely love layering on my pages, I love the texture, dimension and interest it brings to a page. If there were no layers and different elements it would rather flat and boring. I once again embellished my page with the larger embellishments first like chipboard and ephemera. I then finish off embellishing with smaller things like accessory stickers, wood epoxy buttons and puffy stickers. Lastly I finished off with some sprinkles of white mist and stamped the date stamp.

Thanks so much for stopping by the Cocoa Vanilla blog today! I hope you enjoyed my layout as much as I enjoyed creating it?!

Make sure you check out the Cocoa Vanilla store as the new and very awesome No Limits collection is now in the online store to purchase.

Happy creating!

Tarrah x

To the Moon and Back | No Limits | Danni Visser

Danni Visser 14/05/2022

Hi Cocoa Vanilla fans! Danni here with a fun, bright layout featuring my two favourite little people and the incredible No Limits collection. This week the team were challenged to make a layout with multiple photos or shaped photos, so I decided to do both. I am really happy with how this one turned out, I hope you like it too!

One of the easiest ways to use shaped photos is to use a cutfile. I have had this star patterned one sitting in my stash for ages, so now was the perfect time to use it. It’s a combination cutfile/stitching template which gives an extra layer of detail and interest, but that’s completely optional.

I used the A5 paper stack, Eclipse 12×12 patterned paper and a couple of double-sided 3×4 cards to back all but two of the star shapes in the cutfile, which I saved for my photos. Just make sure to print the photos large enough so they will fit in the stars, then adhere the photos to the back of the cutfile and trim off the excess. My two littles were having a lovely time at the park this day, even though the weather was a bit gloomy!

Once my cutfile was backed I added some adhesive foam to the back of the stars to add dimension. For the stitching, I used the stitching template part of the cutfile to cut the stitching holes into The Big Bang 12×12 patterned paper, before stitching with embroidery thread using a chain-stitching technique. This can be quite time consuming, but I love all the extra texture this provides.

Once I had finished the stitching, I added some tiny delicate splatters of gold mist and white acrylic ink all around the outside of my stitched pattern. Then I adhered the cutfile down within the stitched pattern. Make sure to use a good amount of adhesive if you do something like this, as the backed cutfile is quite heavy.

For the title I decided to use the gorgeous ‘To the Moon and Back’ piece from the chipboard stickers and adhere it right in the centre of the largest star. I then did the same with two of the larger epoxy wood buttons and two of the other stars to add some more circular elements. To embellish, I added some more of the smaller chipboard pieces and layered them over the cutfile.

For finishing touches, I added lots of chipboard sticker and puffy sticker stars all around the outside of the layout, followed by three tiny word phrases from the accessory stickers. I love the contrast of the bright colours of this layout against the neutral woodgrain background. I hope you enjoyed joining me for this layout today. Take care and happy scrapping!

Danni x

Life is short | No Limits collection | SOPHIE DELORME

Sophie Delorme 05/05/2022

Hello Cocoa Vanilla friends!

Sophie on the blog today with this new layout created with the No Limits collection!

I used a black and white photo of my son Gabriel holding our new puppy on the very first day that we got her.

I used a white cardstock for my background and teared a big chunk of the No Limits Nebula patterned paper that I placed on the left side of the page.

I added tissue paper and foam adhesive behind the photo and placed a layer of the colorful No Limits Latitude paper on the left side of it.

I selected a cut file from the Silhouette Studio store, cut the title directly on the white cardstock, backed the letters with two yellow 3×4 cards and hand stitched around the Paw Print. I also created a little shaker with that paw print. It’s such a beautiful addition to the page!

I wrote my journaling on another 3×4 card, added two subtitles “Out of this world” and “One of a kind” fussy cut out of the No Limits Universal paper and stamped the date.

I decorated around the photo in a diagonal design with a few hearts punched out of different patterned papers, on which I added vellum hearts. I stitched the hearts in their center and curled up their edges. A simple but sophisticated way to embellish a page!