patterned paper

Happy Moments | Boys Rule & Midnight collections | Sue Plumb

Hi everyone, and welcome 2020! I am so happy to be here with my first project of the new year for you. Today I am continuing on with our Holidays & Vacations theme, and sharing a layout I created using a combination of the ‘Boys Rule’ and ‘Midnight’ collections. I know what you are thinking – a bit of a strange mix of collections, right? Despite the very obvious differences between the two, they did work together surprisingly well and were a perfect compliment for the colours in my photo.

For my layout I decided to document a photo that was taken at the Cocoa Vanilla retreat that was held last May. Scrap retreats are definitely one of my favourite kinds of holidays – besides spending time with great friends, you get to enjoy a change of scenery, have a break from your everyday responsibilities, AND you get to create! What’s not to love about that?!

I started my layout with ‘Boys Rule’, with a sheet of Star Fall as my base,which I topped with piece of white cardstock, cut slightly smaller than the paper, to leave a narrow border around the edge. I then added four blocks of paper to my background using pieces of the Messed Up; Expressionist and Straight & Narrow papers. I distressed each of the blocks by scrunching and then flattening them back out; then ran them horizontally on my page to compliment the landscape orientation of my photo.

With my background complete, I then added some scrap cardboard to the back of my photo and decided on its placement on the page. I chose the beautiful floral print Bloom & Grow paper from the ‘Midnight’ collection to begin embellishing my layout, fussy cutting several pieces to tuck in around my photo to frame it.

With the flowers in place I then added the little banner that said the best from the ‘Boys Rule’ Chipboard Pieces pack, and a small black and white butterfly sticker from the ‘Midnight’ Accessory Stickers; placing both near my top floral cluster.

I created a small cluster below my photo by combining another fussy cut floral piece with a small leafy branch and heart, both from the ‘Midnight’ Die Cut Ephemera pack. In my cluster to the left of my photo, I also added the shine bright flair button from the ‘Midnight’ Flair Buttons set.

For my page title, I used the words happy and moments from the ‘Midnight’ Chipboard Pieces pack; and then I finished off my layout by typing up my journalling and applying it in strips (again tying into the horizontal theme) near the bottom of the page.

That’s all from me today. I hope you are enjoying our Holidays & Vacations focus and that you are perhaps feeling inspired to document some of your own holiday moments. Stay tuned for more inspiration from the team for this theme!

Until next time, happy scrapping!

The City Of Love | More Than Words Collection | Tarrah McLean

Hi there creative friends!

It’s Tarrah back with you and today I am sharing a new layout using the stunning Cocoa Vanilla Studio More Than Words collection.

This week the design team were asked to create a project all about holidays and vacations. I have had some of my Paris holiday photos printed for some time so I choose 3 of my favourite to feature on my layout today.

I wanted to highlight the middle photo a little more so I raised it up off the page by adding a small chipboard frame underneath it and also added one of the black chipboard hearts to the photo. The other two photos I adhered flat to the paper, however I tucked in one of the tabs to the left and one of the small journal spots to the right.  

My title is actually made up of the black letter stickers from the Made of Awesome collection and the ‘Love’ is one of the black chipboard titles from the More Than Words collection. I absolutely LOVE the vellum flowers in this collection and almost used a whole pack of them just on this layout! They were perfect tucked in either end of my photo cluster. I did add a few of the die-cut ones too for some pops of colour. 

The XOXO flair was perfect to go with the ‘City of Love’ theme of my layout, I added it to the end of the ‘Love’ word. The ‘Remember This’ banner I popped up and placed above the ‘Love’ word. I added lots of words and phrases suited to our trip to Paris. I used accessory stickers, die-cuts and cut apart paper for this. To finish off, I added some of the super cute heart enamel shapes. 

Thank you so much for stopping by today! I hope this gets you inspired to create a holiday themed layout using one of the Cocoa Vanilla Studio pretty girly collections!

Happy creating!

Tarrah x

Favorities | Mixed | Anna Komenda

Hello Friends. It’s Anna here. I am the last one, closing this amazing year of isnpiration over Cocoa Vanilla Blog. All of my super talented DT mates already shared their favorite 2019 Cocoa Vanilla projects and now it’s my turn. To be honest, I had a hard time choosing them because I love CVS products and I love all of my layouts and albums made with them.

You all know I love colors so I decided to pick a rainbow page as a first fav page of 2019. I created it as a sample for my classes, that I was lucky to teach in Australia this year. I used papers and embellishments from amazing “Happiness” collection. This name truly reflects the line itself. If you want to make this page, along with a second colorful layout, you can purchase the Double Page Kit in CVS store.

My second favorite page it much less colorful but I had so much fun making it. It’s a scraplift of my fellow DT member gal – Amanda and I used pretty “Midnight” collection. Simple heart made of fussy cut flowers is a perfect example that less is more.

One of my resolutions for 2019 was to reach for older collections much often to use up a little bit more of a growing pile of scrappy supplies. This birthday page was made with “Make a wish” line, which was one of my favorite collections in CVS history. I honestly used almost all of it.

I am a big fan of summer themed line so this “Hello sunshine” line is also on the top of my favorite CVS collections (who am I kidding – they all are on the top of my list…). This one was created during amazing event – CVS Creative Escape retreat. Zoe is making another one in 2020 and you really don’t want to miss that. Check the details here.

Last page is the most recent one. Once again I revisited an old line – the very first CVS collection called “Sugar and spice“. I do not have much of it left but I had a great help from Zoe, who released digital versions of older lines!!! How great is that. Now you can print your own papers and embellishments. We can call this layout a hybrid page, because I combined both older stuff and the newly printed elements.

That is all for today and for this year. We will meet again in 2020! I can’t believe how fast this year went by. I am sure 2020 will bring many more amazing products from CVS.

Happy New Year Friends!

Anna

2019 Favourites | Tarrah McLean

Hi creative friends!

It’s Tarrah back with you and today its my turn to share some of my favourite layouts from 2019.

First up is this one I created recently using some of my last pieces of the gorgeous Tis the Season collection that I had been holding on to! This layout is one of my favourites because it has lots of my favourite things included on it, a photo of my boys, Christmas, a cut file, machine stitching and I also love the super cute shaker pocket that I filled with lots of the sequins from this collection.

Thankfully I can now have an endless supply of this stunning collection with the release of this collection in digital format! Never have to run out of it again! You can get your hands on the Tis the season digital collection in the Cocoa Vanilla store here.

My next favourite is this one I created using the amazing Unforgettable collection. I just Love all the florals in this collection and the colour palette is so beautiful too. I chose this one as a favourite because I love the design and how the soft colours of the collection make the darker black and white photo really pop. I also love all the layers of florals, papers and embellishments. The gorgeous foam titles in this collection are awesome to use too and the re-introduction of the bitty bows and tassels makes my bow heart happy!

Of course there has to be a boy themed layout in the mix having 2 sons and a husband! I used the awesome You Rock collection and used a sketch as inspiration to create my layout about my eldest son and hubby.

This layout is a favourite because I love the simple design and that I was able to use up some of my stash of the You Rock collection. The You Rock collection is probably my favourite Cocoa Vanilla boy collection. Unfortunately there are not too many pieces left from this collection and as yet its not a digital collection so if you have some left, lucky you!

Last but not least is this pretty layout using the stunning Happiness collection. This layout is one of my favourites because I absolutely LOVE the Happiness collection! This collection gets my colour loving heart skipping a beat! I mean just look at those stunning colours!!

I love that I was able to include lots of the different papers and I also fussy cut the colourful butterflies and scattered them around the layout.

Its also one of my favourite layouts because of the photo I added to the page, this photo features some of my people and they include boss lady Zoe, fellow team member and good friend, Sue and her gorgeous sister Mandy as well as former team member, Raquel and another friend Amy. I love spending time with ‘my people’ who get my passion for creating with pretty things!

Thank you so much for all your support this past year! I hope I inspired you in some way?!

Wishing you and your families all a very safe and Merry Christmas, I hope you get to spend time with the people you love the most and cherish those times with them.

All the best for a prosperous new year!

Happy creating!

Tarrah x

2019 Favourites | Sue Plumb

Hi everyone! It’s hard to believe we are mere days away from Christmas isn’t it? I hope your preparations are going well and that you don’t have too much left to do.

Today is my turn to share some of my favourite projects that I created during 2019. I am starting off with a layout that features the stunning ‘Happiness’ collection that was released earlier this year. I adore this range, with all its bright colours and beautiful florals. This page also features a photo of myself and a few of my crafty peeps that was taken at a retreat, bringing back some fun memories too.

This layout was actually inspired by a page from my fellow team member Gwen, as part of a “scraplift” theme that we did earlier in the year, and I love how it turned out! I even got my scissors out for some fussy cutting for this page, because those flowers were just begging to be cut out! One of my other favourite things from this collection is definitely the Clear Stickers – especially all the “painty” style ones!

You probably already know that as a mum of twin boys that I am partial to a good boy page; so for my next favourite, I couldn’t go past this mixed media layout of my dynamic duo using an old favourite – the ‘Totally Rad’ collection from 2016. I actually created this one whilst I was at the Cocoa Vanilla retreat, and besides the end result, I think I also love it because I created it whilst I was so relaxed and in such good company. (Seriously, if you have never been to a retreat before, make sure you put it on your bucket list!)

Despite the fact that this collection is no longer available, there is good news for fans of this range that may have missed getting their hands on it. This collection was recently released as a digital range, which you can purchase to print and cut at home! It includes all the papers (which are easy to print A4 size on a normal home printer); all the cool elements, and Zoe has even included three A4 sized ready to print PDFs, so you just have to print them off and cut them out. You can find the bundle in store HERE

My final favourite layout from this year also featured one of our older collections – ‘Life is Beautiful’ and a photo of my daughter and one of her best friends. This range was released waaay back in 2015, and to date it still remains a firm favourite of mine. The colour palette is just SO fresh and pretty, with the navy, aqua and apricot colour combination.

This layout is also a favourite of mine because it features butterflies. (And anyone who has seen my tattoo will already know how much I love butterflies.) I created these large layered butterflies using cut files from Cut to You, which I coloured with Distress Oxides, backed with some of my precious patterned paper scraps, then topped with butterfly stickers from the Accessory Sticker sheet. Combined with fussy cut florals and just enough ink splatters, it makes my creative heart happy. (This range is also now available as a digital collection and you can find it HERE)

Finally, I have to give a mention my other favourite project from this year that wasn’t a layout at all. It was the mini album that I created recently using the ‘Boys Rule’ collection for one of my sons to document the time following his premature birth. This one invoked all kinds of memories as I put it together (both good and bad) and truly was a labour of love.

You find my post with all the details of the album HERE or watch my flip through of the album below.

That’s all from me today, wishing you & your families a very merry Christmas! I hope you get a chance to spend quality time with the people you love most, and make plenty of happy memories to document later. XX

FAVORITES | MIXED | TAZHIANA

Hello friends and welcome to my roundup for 2019. It has been an honor and a privilege and great, great fun designing with Cocoa Vanilla’s beautiful products and I have a few that are close to my heart to share with you all!

This is the most recent project I’ve made while on the team but it’s probably the one I love the most. I love the Midnight collection so much, and if I had to pick a favorite from Zoe’s designs, this one would be it. The colors are so soft and beautiful and this color palette is my favorite.

I especially loved this layout because of the easy design. I love any layout where I can stashbust, use all the embellishments, and repeat things in threes. This layout hits all of those high places for me and it’s so easy to reproduce that this is one of my favorites.

This next layout is a close second! It was a page I made for Cut File week and I used one of Gwen’s files from the Cut To You shop as well as the Happiness collection. This layout features another one of my favorite things: RAINBOWS! I’ve long said that rainbow is my favorite color and that is still true.

In addition to rainbows, we have vellum and watercolor and all the flowers we can handle? With all of this fun and bright elements, what’s not to love?

For my last favorite, I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about one more thing that had my heart: traveler’s notebooks. Traveler’s notebooks were my first foray into scrapbooking and making and memory keeping, and I will always have a soft spot for this size and how accessible they are to so many people.

Traveler’s notebooks have that fun square shape without the intimidation factor of a 12×12 piece of cardstock. I love how this spread is lovely enough to be expanded to a traditional layout but small enough to fit into a book. This spread was fun and easily, one of my favorite traveler’s notebook layouts I’ve made all year!

So that’s it, friends! Thank you for a fun year, filled with memories, color and so many beautiful projects, and I cannot wait to see what happens next year.

Christmas cards | Tis the season | Anna Komenda

Hello Friends. Counting down to christmas is starting to look serious. Only 10 days!!! If you didn’t have time to mail your christmas cards, it’s the last call. I prepared some isnpirations for you for quick and easy cards. Cocoa Vanilla had a christmas collection – “Tis the season” –  few years ago and I still got some bits and pieces left, mostly papers. When Zoe recently released the digital versions of older lines, including the christmas one, I thought it’s the perfect moment to revisit “Tis the season”. I printed myself three sheets of embellishments included into this line. They are already prepared as a PDF versions, so all I needed to do is to pust the “print” button.

Making those three cards took me about an hour, including some fussy cutting of printed elements. It’s a combination of paper scraps, few stickers, ephemera leftovers, wooden elements and digital pieces.

I usually make 10*14 cm cards but I wanted to use up some longer stickers from the sticker sheet so I decided to use 10*20 cm size for the first card. I arranged longer strips, combining them with a piece of paper and glued them over a dotty background.

Something I like to include into all of my projects is dimension. I knew that the cards have to survive being mailed so I used solid cardboard instead of foam squares under the bigger surfaces. I finished my card adding few flowers cut out from printable sheets and wooden elements.

Second card is smaller. Once again I reached for papers scraps. I had few 3*4 elements from one of the papers and I decided to use them on cards. I started with a green background, then I added 3*4 card and finished it with a title from sticker sheet. Winter flowers are from digital version. Even if you don’t have papers, you can print them too!!! If you have a regular printer, you will get A4 size paper – perfect for any cardmaking.

Last card I made has a cute, retro Santa as a main element and it was also taken from cut apart paper.

Santa is quite big so there was no much room left for embellishing. I created my title using ephemera leftover – word “christmas”. I added word “merry” using alpha stickers, that were included into the older lines. You can buy them really cheap now! I mixed real wooden element with the printed ones to finish my card.

I am so, so happy that Zoe decided to release those printable versions of older lines. I can come back to my favorite lines and use up the leftovers. And using up the leftovers always makes me happy and I know I am not waisting anything.

Thank you for stopping by and see you in two weeks.

XO Anna

Tis The Season | Tis The Season Collection | Tarrah McLean

Hi there creative friends!

It’s Tarrah McLean back with you and today I am sharing a new Christmas themed layout using the gorgeous Tis the Season collection.

I started my layout by cutting a Christmas Tree cut file design (sorry I am not sure where this one comes from) from white cardstock. I don’t have much of the traditional collection left now but I am so happy to be able to get everything I need in digital form! I will never run out again! If your stash is getting low of Tis the Season, make sure to grab the digital collection here and print your own! There are some of the older collections available in digital form now, so check them all out in the Cocoa Vanilla Store here! I did have some of the green holly paper left and I love how it looks behind the cut file design. I also had a small amount of the red and white diagonal stripe paper and decided to adhere a strip of that to the left side of the page.   I chose a photo of my youngest taken on Christmas Day when he was about 3 weeks old, he just turned 9 yesterday so the photo is quite old but its one of my favourites! I changed the colour of the photo to a soft black and white as the colours in the photo would have clashed with the soft colours in the collection. Underneath the photo I layered a small paper doily and a smaller piece of the red and white stripe paper to the right of the photo. I also layered a wood veneer frame on top of the photo, I like how this draws your eye to the photo. I popped up the photo using craft foam and then placed embellishments around the photo. The ticket that says ‘Child’ die-cut definitely had to be added, it was perfect tucked at the bottom of my photo.I used accessory stickers, enamel dots, die-cuts, wood veneer, sequins and a bitty bow to embellish. I have tons of the sequins left, I love the gold stars so I scattered a few of those around to add some sparkle. I placed the white bitty bow at the base of the tree to separate the tree from the pot. To finish the page, I added the date stamp of when the photo was taken. I love how my page turned out even with only minimal pieces from the Tis the Season collection!

Thank you so much for stopping by today! I hope you enjoyed my page today and that you are inspired to create your own Christmas themed layout using your stash of Tis the season!

Happy creating!

Tarrah x

We Remember Moments | Unforgettable Collection | Sue Plumb

Hi everyone!

Sue Plumb here to share a recent mixed media layout I created using the gorgeous ‘Unforgettable’ collection and a photo of my children that I took while I was shopping with them a few years ago.

I started this page by creating a mixed media background on some white cardstock. I used pink ink to create a watercolour style background, before adding some stamping and coloured texture paste through a stencil in a few spots on my page. I also added some blue watercolour splatters over the top for some extra interest.

Next, I fussy cut the wreath from the beautiful Garland paper, adding foam tape underneath the floral section to pop it up from the page, before sticking it down on top of my background. (You can see how I bent the edges up from the page to add extra dimension.)

I then added some pieces of paper cut from the B sides of the Glorious and Sprightly papers as a mat for my photo, which I stuck down on top.

Alongside my photo, I added the quote “we don’t remember the days, we remember moments” from the scaled down version of the Story Teller paper from the 6×8″ Paper Stack to act as my page title. I was especially drawn to use this quote for this layout, as in the early days of having twins life seemed to pass by in such a blur. Going shopping with the kids and having two sitting in the trolley and one perched on the end like in the photo is something I will always remember though.

On top of the quote card I added the cute camera Flair Button and popped a couple of Enamel Dots nearby.

Now it was time to embellish my wreath. I used a variety of flowers from the Die Cut Ephemera pack, which I stuck down on top of the wreath using foam tape to provide further dimension. I also added 3 bows from the Tassels and Bows pack; and a few small phrase stickers from the Accessory Sticker sheet.

I finished off my layout by adding more Enamel Dots; a die cut butterfly; and then a few hand-stitched crosses using embroidery thread.

That’s all from me today, I hope I have inspired you to create something pretty too. Until next time, happy scrapping!

 

Captured Memories | Unforgettable Collection | Guest Designer – Laura Alberts

Hi y’all! Guest Designer Laura Alberts back again! I was honored to be asked if I could create a couple more layouts with Unforgettable, so of course I agreed with enthusiasm! This layout is a mixed media floral explosion, one of my favorite styles. These photos of my darling girls swinging at our local park is a vision of happiness because the swings are their favorite! I wanted to capture some of that happiness with this layout.

I began with Dylusions paint in Rose Quartz and swatched a large area to frame my photos. This bold pink is a leap for joy! It exudes the happiness these girls have when swinging, but also I love how perfectly it coordinates with the Unforgettable collection too! I added florals cut from the Garland paper and Unforgettable cut file leaves from the back of that paper underneath of the photos. Then, I sprinkled butterflies all around to add a bit of whimsy and fun!

I hope you find this layout inspiring! It was so much fun to dive back into this stunning collection and find new ways to use it. One of the many reasons I love Cocoa Vanilla Studio’s collections is that they are so versatile. I can scrap photos of any theme and type with these collections, how easy it all comes together when you love the products you’re playing with, am I right?

Laura Alberts, Guest Designer

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