Raquel Bowman

Grateful | These Days | Raquel Bowman

Hey everyone, it’s Raquel here today sharing a new layout featuring the new and amazing These Days collection. I was really inspired by the icons and elements in this collection and had a similar layout idea rolling around in my head since I received it. I had wanted to create a layout with a house design, and include the sentiment and quote “home is whenever I’m with you”.

 

Here is the layout I created:

 

The subject of this photo is hubby and I from our wedding back in 2011. The warm tones in the photo suited this colour palette beautifully. The main design of the page was a house cut file. To create this cut file I actually just found a house icon via google and traced that in my cutting machine software. This was a quick and easy way to customise my layout to suit the design I had in my mind.

The title ‘grateful’ was from the foam stickers. I love the bold and striking contrast the black has against the woodgrain paper and white of the cut file. The ‘together is the best place to be’ is from the accessory sticker sheet.

At the left and right sides of the house there was shrubbery style shape. I decided to use that as a base for embellishing and adding floral elements to the house – in a way to replicate garden beds out the front. I used a combination of the regular ephemera and the floral ephemera packs. I adhered these in a variety of depths. To finish this embellishment cluster below I added some puffy stickers, a clear sticker paint swipe and a ‘love you so much’ tiny word sticker.

The cluster to the left of the house was completed much the same using the same ephemera packs and puffy stickers. Again, using a variety of dimensions to adhere through the use of tapes and foam adhesives.

I wanted to add a smaller detail to the top left of the page so I tore the white background, and added a pop of the woodgrain under it to add another touch of that pattern. Machine stitching the edges of the layout helped to tie all this in together.

The ‘home is whenever I am with you’ is one of my favourite elements on this layout. I love that it mimics a photo frame and is the ideal and perfectly worded sub heading.

 

The whole house design was adhered to the page with a adhesive foam sheet. This gives enough shadow to create interest but also allows me to layer under and around it.

Thanks so much for stopping by the blog today. I hope you have been inspired by my layout today!

Take care

xxx

 

 

 

 

 

 

So Happy | Throwback Thursday – Bohemian Dreams | Raquel Bowman

Hey everyone. Happy Thursday! It’s Throwback Thursday here on the Cocoa Vanilla blog. I decided to throw it all the way back to ‘Bohemian Dreams’ one of my fave collections ever. Purple is one of my fave colours lately so this collection was certainly calling my name.

Here is the layout that I created:

This subject of this layout is myself and my bridesmaids at my Wedding. The image was taken by our photographer and one I just adore. The photo being black and white allowed me to bring in a lot of colours into the designing of the page. Normally I love to feature cut files on my layout but for this layout I wanted to focus more heavily on the papers and patterns within the collection.

I decided to make the ‘Beautiful Mess’ patterned paper a feature of this layout by cutting the individual 4×6″ and 3×4″ pieces. I layered these pieces below my matted photo in a somewhat vertical design, trying to distribute colours as best as I could. These were adhered together to form one piece and then adhered to my layout with a foam adhesive.

To the right of the photo I added a large photo cluster comprising of many pieces of ephemera and other embellishments. The title ‘so happy’ was also used from one of the accessory stickers.To achieve dimension on the clusters – elements are adhered to the page in varying depths using a combination of glue dots, double sided tape and foam adhesives.

 

Instead of journaling on this page I used the tiny word sticker sentiments from the accessory sticker sheet. These were able to tell my story, just in fewer words.

I think my favourite part of this collection, well actually most CVS collections are the florals. I have to hold myself back from adding more when I am embellishing.

 

One of my favourite staples in the ephemera packs is the small file tabs. They are one piece that I will add to most pages – usually to the top left corner of my photos.

 

As you can see from the image below the layout features a lot of dimension, particularly from the embellishments.

 

I hope that you have been inspired by my layout today for this Throwback Thursday. Thank you so much for stopping by the CVS blog to check it out.

 

Have a lovely day, stay safe xxx

Raquel

Love | These Days Collection | Raquel Bowman

Hi everyone, it’s Raquel here with you today sharing with you some ‘These Days’ inspiration. This is the first layout that I have created with this new collection and oh my, it is just so gorgeous.

Here is the layout I created to share with you today:

This layout is featuring my beautiful new nephew and my beautiful and proud daughter and cousin. I absolutely adore these photos of my little girl holding her cousin and I wanted to showcase them. I used a fun grid design cut file from Cut To You which then inspired my photo size and amount of photos I chose to feature on this layout. I decided to back the photos into the cut file and printed them approx 3×4″ size in black and white.

 

The grid design of the cut file encouraged me to use the patterned paper to back the different sections. This allowed me to bring in a variety of papers and the bring contrast to the page. When adding the patterned papers to the page I tried to balance the prints and colours to ensure that the layout still looked appealing to the eye.

To embellish the layout I added three main clusters to the layout as well as some other embellishments to help guide your eyes around the layout. The embellishments I have mainly used are ephemera but also accessory stickers, clear stickers and puffy stickers.

The ‘Little Moments of Joy’ sentiment embellishment piece was fussy cut from one of the 3×4″ pocket cards. It was the perfect addition to this page.

The top right of the layout features a photo. I added my fave embellishment the ‘tab’ to the left of the photo. The finishing touch was the cute little puffy sticker hearts. I would just love a whole sheet of those little hearts.

I used the multi coloured tiny puffy alphabet stickers to add my daughters and nephews name.

I framed the whole layout with the yellow gingham paper and adhered the whole square cut file onto the woodgrain paper. I adhered the cut file and a selection of the embellishments to the page using a foam tape to add dimension.

Thanks so much for stopping by the blog today. I hope that this layout has inspired you to get creating.
Raquel x

 

 

Summer Days | Sunkissed Collection | Raquel Bowman

Hey everyone, it’s Raquel here with you today sharing my latest layout featuring the bright and beautiful Sunkissed collection with you.

This layout is featuring my fave paper in the collection ‘Bright side’. As soon as I saw this paper I knew that I wanted to create a layout that features the rainbow design from the paper. It has taken me many layouts using this collection to finally decide on a layout design that featured it.

The subject of my layout is my kiddies at Summer on our vacation. I have been able to create and document a number of our summer memories thanks to Sunkissed. The pocket cards were the perfect size to mat my photos and I was able to choose complimentary colours to the colours I’ve used from the rainbow. I printed the photos using my portable photo printer and adhered them matted to the page with a foam adhesive.

The rainbow was fussy cut from the patterned paper  I decided to only feature three of the rainbow colours on this layout. I tacked them to my page lightly and secured them with machine stitching.

To the left of the photo I have embellished the page using a mix of ephemera, puffy stickers and floral ephemera pieces. I also used some of the gold foam hearts to match in with the title. The wood buttons were a nice finishing touch to the clusters of embellishments on the page.

I used similar embellishment choices to the right side of my photos also.

The gold foam stickers make the perfect feature title for a layout. Summer days worked perfectly on this layout and with these photos. Instead of my usual typewritten journaling I have used the mini word stickers on the Accessory sheet to sum up some thoughts from our day.

When adhering embellishments to the page I have used a combination of glue dots, liquid adhesive and foam adhesive.

The white card stock base was adhered to the ‘Summer lights’ paper on a slight angle to provide visual interest. I also machine stitched around the edges for further texture. 

I hope this layout has inspired you today to get creating with this beautiful collection.

Take care,

Raquel

Sweet Memories | Sunkissed collection and INSD Sketch Challenge | Raquel Bowman

Hey everyone, it’s Raquel here with you today sharing my latest layout with you all. Happy INSD everyone. I hope that you have enjoyed the challenges over on the CVS Facebook community page. It was a lovely weekend and I couldn’t resist joining in on one of the challenges also.

Here is the layout that I created: 

This layout was my contribution to Laura’s sketch challenge. As soon as I saw this sketch shared I knew I wanted to create a layout based on it. It is just so gorgeous.

I loved the vertical repeating design of the hearts and have been inspired by so many entries in the Facebook community for this challenge; I’ve seen hearts and rainbows and decided to have a look through my cutting dies stash and see what I could create. I found a gorgeous set of intricate butterfly layering dies and immediately knew that I wanted to create a layout featuring my Charlotte and the Sunkissed collection.

The photos were printed on my Canon Selphy in an ‘untraditional’ size. I actually made them fit side by side vertically making each photo approx 2″x6″ in length. I always edit my photos separately on an app on my phone prior to printing. Due to the editing and printing software my photos were missing my usual beloved white border, so I have used white card stock to replicate this. I love that sketches are able to provide you with so much inspiration but also allow you that creative license to make changes to suit your style.

I used the foam glitter stickers to make the title for this page and my fave journaling on my typewriter. As a teacher I know the challenges of girls growing up, however it is a whole different basket when you are raising your own little human. This can prove difficult at times but I am so proud of this little human and I wanted to document that on this layout.

In terms of layout design I have used metal die cut butterflies. I love the intricacy of the layers and the delicateness.

To help balance the layout I have used floral ephemera in the bottom left of the photo. I also added a touch of gold to work with the title.

You may or may not see … but I have to bring your attention to the fact that I did infact ‘mixed media’ on this layout. I used distress stains and a mask to create a subtle text print on my white background. I love the effect it gave the layout. I then got ‘super messy’ for me and added some teal and gold splatters to the layout.

As mentioned above the butterflies were cut with a metal die and layered on top of one another. I used my sewing machine to secure the layers and left the threads free to work as a design element.

I hope that you have been inspired by my layout today. Be sure to check out the challenges in our Facebook community to join in. You have until this Sunday.

Take care

Raquel

Sweet Memories | Sunkissed collection and INSD Sketch Challenge | Raquel Bowman

Hey everyone, it’s Raquel here with you today sharing my latest layout with you all. Happy INSD everyone. I hope that you have enjoyed the challenges over on the CVS Facebook community page. It was a lovely weekend and I couldn’t resist joining in on one of the challenges also.

Here is the layout that I created: 

This layout was my contribution to Laura’s sketch challenge. As soon as I saw this sketch shared I knew I wanted to create a layout based on it. It is just so gorgeous.

I loved the vertical repeating design of the hearts and have been inspired by so many entries in the Facebook community for this challenge; I’ve seen hearts and rainbows and decided to have a look through my cutting dies stash and see what I could create. I found a gorgeous set of intricate butterfly layering dies and immediately knew that I wanted to create a layout featuring my Charlotte and the Sunkissed collection.

The photos were printed on my Canon Selphy in an ‘untraditional’ size. I actually made them fit side by side vertically making each photo approx 2″x6″ in length. I always edit my photos separately on an app on my phone prior to printing. Due to the editing and printing software my photos were missing my usual beloved white border, so I have used white card stock to replicate this. I love that sketches are able to provide you with so much inspiration but also allow you that creative license to make changes to suit your style.

I used the foam glitter stickers to make the title for this page and my fave journaling on my typewriter. As a teacher I know the challenges of girls growing up, however it is a whole different basket when you are raising your own little human. This can prove difficult at times but I am so proud of this little human and I wanted to document that on this layout.

In terms of layout design I have used metal die cut butterflies. I love the intricacy of the layers and the delicateness.

To help balance the layout I have used floral ephemera in the bottom left of the photo. I also added a touch of gold to work with the title.

You may or may not see … but I have to bring your attention to the fact that I did infact ‘mixed media’ on this layout. I used distress stains and a mask to create a subtle text print on my white background. I love the effect it gave the layout. I then got ‘super messy’ for me and added some teal and gold splatters to the layout.

As mentioned above the butterflies were cut with a metal die and layered on top of one another. I used my sewing machine to secure the layers and left the threads free to work as a design element.

I hope that you have been inspired by my layout today. Be sure to check out the challenges in our Facebook community to join in. You have until this Sunday.

Take care

Raquel

Fun in the Sun | Sunkissed Collection | Raquel Bowman

Hey everyone, it’s Raquel here today sharing a new layout with you using the latest and gorgeous Sunkissed collection. Today’s layout is a layout I created for fun featuring some holiday memories using this bright and fun summer themed collection.

Here is the layout that I created to share with you today:

This layout is documenting a moment with our family when we have been away over summer. This layout is a flashback to 2018, I cannot believe how time flies and how quick our kids grow up!

You can see by these pictures that Mumma scrapbooker was trying to get those picture perfect photos – this is a foreign thing to these kiddies. I think they have been accustomed to posing for photos that on this specific day – this Mumma just gets what she gets, even if it wasn’t the perfectly posed photo . I printed three 3×4 photos for this layout and quickly realised that they would be too large for this layout. So I used a circular die I had in my stash to cut the three photos into circles.

The base of this layout was inspired by a Daffodil cut file from Cut  to You. I used various patterned papers in the paper pad to back the cut file.

The title of this layout ‘Fun in the Sun’ was created from the Glitter foam titles pack. To help balance the gold in the title I used some of the hearts amongst the layout also.

To build more detail to the cut files I added extra floral ephemera pieces, in particular I used leaves and the bud stems. To the top right of the page I added some short typewritten journaling that simple documented the when and where of the layout.

I was able to embellish in three main clusters on the page allowing the layout to still have balance. For the smaller details I used the puffy stickers and small ephemera hearts.

The white card stock base of the layout was framed with the blue clouds and machine stitched. I was able to add depth and dimension using foam adhesive to the cut files, florals and photos.

I hope this layout has inspired you today. Thanks for stopping by the blog to check it out.
Raquel

Bunny Kisses | Sunkissed Collection | Raquel Bowman

Hey everyone, it’s Raquel here sharing an Easter layout today with you all  I hope that you had an amazing Easter celebrating with your family and friends. I am creating with the Sunkissed collection today, the perfect collection for an Easter layout as well.

Here is the layout that I have created:

In this layout I have flash backed to Easter 2015 and documenting a super sweet photo of my babes. Boy, I had so much fun going back through the archives looking for an Easter memory to document. This photo spoke to me right away and I just new it was the one. Look at how little and cute my babes are. Oh my!

I printed my black and white photo with a small white border and matted the photo with the cloud paper in the small paper pack. To the top right of the photo I love to add the tabs that are available in the ephemera packs or accessory sticker sheets. This captured tab was a part of the ephemera pack.

The title of the layout also served as a big focal point of the layout given its size. This is a cut file from the Cut to You store and I have backed each word using a different paper from the paper pack. I thought the word Easter needed to be using the flora paper. The look just screams Easter to me. I adhere the paper to the back of the cut file and use my fine tip scissors to cut out the negative areas.


I added my main embellishment clusters to the top right and bottom left of the page to maintain balance. The top right cluster is made up of floral ephemera teamed with a small glitter heart from the foam title stickers and some enamel dots from my stash. I have used a variety of dimensional adhesives to adhere the florals.

The bottom left cluster on the page is created in very much the same way however this one contains a tiny word accessory sticker and the stamped date from the time this pic was taken.

The entire cut file was adhered to the page with a thin foam adhesive that was purchased from Australian hardware store Bunnings. It has the perfect amount of dimension to add a little shadow to the white on white of the cut file and background card stock.

The whole layout has been framed on the ‘Just Chillin’ paper in a skewed fashion. I then added machine stitching to complete the layout.

I hope this layout has inspired you today. See you soon!

Take care

Raquel x

Love you More | Sunkissed Collection | Raquel Bowman

Hey everyone – it’s Raquel here today I am sharing a layout with you that features ‘My Signature Style’. We have been invited to create a layout that encompasses our ‘signature style’.

Here is the layout that I created to share with you today:

My signature style and the elements I love to include on my layout are the following:

  • white card stock background
  • cut files
  • layered embellishment clusters
  • doilies
  • machine stitched border
  • typewritten journaling
  • a black and white photo.

These would certainly be my go to things that I include on my layout and I was able to incorporate most of these on my share with you today.

The subject of my layout was my handsome hubby and kids.  This photo was taken this past summer on our yearly vacation and I just adore the love that eludes from this pic. I knew that I wanted to turn this photo black and white as the colours within the photo would not have worked on this layout or coordinated with the gorgeous Sunkissed collection.

Printing a photo black and white allows you to mix up the layout colours without fear that the colours included may clash. I print my photos at home on a portable photo printer and add a white border. This allows me to add detailed patterned papers as layers if I choose.

The cut file I used on today’s layout is one from the Cut to You store that reads ‘Love you more’- the perfect sentiment for sure. I used a variety of the paper pad papers to back the cut file hearts. The small print allow for you to see the detail in the pattern.

I embellished the page with the cut hearts and tags in the ephemera pack. I also used the cute puffy sticker hearts as that final finishing touch when embellishing.

I fell in love with the design of this cut file straight away. As with any use of cut files, the process of backing the cut files is one that most time takes a length of times. I always love the end result.

In terms of embellishments on this page I used a combination of ephemera, wooden buttons and puffy stickers.

I hope that you have been inspired by my layout today.
Thank you for stopping my the cvs blog and seeing my signature style layout.

Take care

Raquel

Welcome to Paradise | Sunkissed Collection | Raquel Bowman

Hey everyone – it’s Raquel here today sharing my first layout featuring the new and beautiful ‘Sunkissed’ collection. I know I say it every time that a new collection is released – but “wow”, Zoe really knocked this one out of the park. The bright patterns, the variety of embellishments and the cute icons and phrases has got me completely in love!

Here is the layout that I created:


The subject of this layout is a photo I took on our summer holidays that we spent together as a family in a coastal town a few hours from our house. Both the kids, hubby and I look forward to this special trip together each and every year. Our favourite time is when we get to visit the beach – a walking distance from where we stay. The kids have an absolute ball – the Mr and I get so much joy from seeing their happy faces.

 

Along with the photo of course, one of the main features of the layout is the sun in the background. The sun was created using a maths compass to draw the circular semi circle design and fussy cut out. I then free hand cut out the triangles to be placed around it as the suns rays. I love how it turned out! The yellow patterned paper was an exciting find in the small paper pad. I love that the paper pad has differing designs than the 12×12 papers.

To embellish the page I have used a small selection of the floral ephemera to go in either side of the photo. I used a variety of dimensional adhesives to add depth and dimension to those floral clusters. Are you as happy as I am that CVS has released a floral ephemera pack?!? Sooo exciting!

I loved the ‘welcome to paradise’ ephemera piece and I just knew it was the perfect title for this photo of our favourite place – ‘our paradise’. To add some more detail to that piece I added a yellow fishtail banner to below the label from the remaining yellow paper in the paper pad. I also added with foam adhesive the phrase sticker ‘nothing but sunshine and blue skies’ as a sub-title.

as always – this layout features journaling. I love documenting my thoughts in simple form when journaling on my pages. As I am not a lover of my handwriting – I prefer the method of typewritten journaling to get our stories onto paper.

I hope this layout has inspired you today. If you have not yet gotten your hands on this stunning collection I assure you should do You won’t regret it!

Take care,

Raquel

 

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