stamping

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!

Together | 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 family themed layout I created using the beautiful ‘Heart & Home’ collection. I decided to document this photo of my hubby and kids from Father’s Day a few years ago and feature the blue / green tones of the range.

I decided to keep this layout relatively clean and simple, so began with a white cardstock base and some mixed media. I first added some stencilling using a Distress Oxide and script stencil; then some light stamping over the top using a ledger stamp and grey ink. These three points formed my “visual triangle” to help define my placement for my photo.

 

I chose a mix of patterned papers to use for my page that included the B sides of the Bountiful, Harvest and Framed papers. I added torn pieces of the green and wood grain patterns along the bottom edge of my page, using my fingertip to ruffle the edges for extra texture. I then mirrored the same paper pieces on a smaller scale along the top edge of my page. The mixed media on the background helps to connect these pieces to the main area of the layout.

For the focal area of my design I used a mix of all three patterned papers and tucked a grey paper doily into the layers. I also added some frayed gauze for texture before mounting my photo on top, and then began adding my embellishments. I started with the sweet little heart banner in the corner of the photo from the Accessory Sticker sheet. I love adding embellishments directly onto my photos, as not only can you use this trick to cover unsightly things in the background or fill negative space, but I find it also helps to connect the photo to the rest of the elements on the page.

I wanted to build floral clusters on this page, so I rifled through the Floral Ephemera pack and pulled out pieces that worked with my colour scheme. Then it was simply a matter of shuffling the pieces around until I was happy with the arrangement. I made sure to tuck the pieces over and under each other, as well as other elements on the page, to help create depth. I also bent the edges up or used foam tape to add dimension to some of them. To the left of my photo I added a handmade felt arrow from my stash.

I chose the word together from the Gold Foil Titles pack as my page title, and then a few phrases from the Accessory Sticker sheet for some additional text. (I always try to ensure a balance between images / text and other elements on my page – it makes it more interesting for the viewer to have a mix of things to look at.) I finished off with some scattered dots and hearts from the Puffy Stickers pack and some tiny black ink splatters.

Thanks so much for joining me today, I hope I have inspired you. Why not pull out some of those stencils or stamps from your own stash to add some subtle mixed media to your next project? Remember – you don’t need to cover the whole page and sometimes a little can go a long way!

Until next time, happy scrapping!

Favourite layout for 2023 | Happy Days | Kellie Moore

Welcome back today friends, it’s Kel back today to share my final post for 2023…and to share my favourite creation from this year.

Going back through all of my pages, my top 3 pages were all from the Happy Days collection…the colours are just so beautiful ad vibrant but I had to choose just one…. and I think it is this one..

I think it’s the colour palette…yellow always makes a page bright and happy, and mixed with aqua and magenta, it’s a chefs kiss.

I love circles in my designs and the pops of black help highlight the colours…

I hope you have all enjoyed the inspiration the design team and I have provided in 2023 and are looking forward to seeing what 2024 brings!

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas… stay safe and enjoy the festivities!

Kel x

Hello Sweet Girl | Happy Days | Kellie Moore

Welcome back to the Cocoa Vanilla blog everyone, it’s Kel here today to share my next layout using the Happy Days collection.

I decided I wanted to limit my colour choices to the magenta, yellow and aqua colours in the collection and this is what I came up with… I just LOVE this colour palette..

To start my page, I traced some circles in different sizes onto my background using a black permanent marker, then coloured them in using some watercolour. Next, I added some stamping in circular shapes in corresponding colours to help fill in my background.

To keep with the circular elements of my background, I cut my photo into a circle and backed it onto another circle using the Feel Good paper. I also cut some circles out of the Feel Good, Little Blossom and Flutterby papers to help fill out the background.

Next, I worked on my title. I used the ‘Hello’ banner flag from the Ephemera pack and some of the Chipboard Title Stickers. The word ‘girl’ didnt come as a word in the pack so I just made my own word with the letters on offer.

Next came the fun part of embellishing! On the right side of my photo I used the two pinwheels from the Ephemera Pack and also the sun which I layered under the ‘Hello’ flag.

To the left of my photo I used some of the florals that I cut from the ‘Lush Blooms’ paper. I also used some of the tiny florals that I cut from the A5 Paper Stack to scatter across my page. I also created a small cluster of the florals to the right side of my page.

I love the phrase stickers found on the Accessory Sticker Sheet and I used some of them under my photo and on the right side of my page.

I still felt my page need more so I used some of the butterflies from the Ephemera pack and some which I cut from the Flutterby paper..one next to my florals on the left, and a few ‘flying’ up the right side. I love to use dimensional foam under these to help them pop off the page.

Lastly, I used some of the Puffy Stickers to finish off any gaps, and stamped some black hearts to co-ordinate with my black and white photo and the black in the title…this helps make the colours on the page stand out.

Thanks for stopping  by today and you feel inspired.

Stay Scrappy

Kel x

Always Be Your Awesome Self | No Limits | Kellie Moore

Welcome back to the blog CVS fans, it’s Kel here today to share a page with you.

For today’s share, I wanted to create a ‘boy’ page and get some mixed media out so I decided to pull out my ‘No Limits’ collection. I still love this collection as much as I did when it was released so here is a look …

 

To create my background I started with some Distress Oxides in Faded Jeans, Fossilised Amber and Evergreen Bough. I added the ink onto some packaging, spritzed some water and ‘smooshed’ it onto my page. To the left of my page I used a stencil with some grey ink to add some more pattern, then used a black marker to add some detail.

 

I decided I wanted to have stars as a main shape on my page so I also added some green texture paste through a star stencil…they give the page a lot of texture!

 

To create some fun and to focus in on the photo of my son, I cut the silhouette of him out of my photo…this takes out the background noise in my picture.

 

Next, I cut out some circles to add a grounding element to my page and to lay out embellishments. From the ‘Universal’ paper I cut out the green ‘Always be your Awesome Self’ cut apart and decided to use this as my title. I cut the words apart and added them to the top left and bottom right of my photo…added with foam for the dimension and to make them ‘pop.’

 

To ground my photo to the page I added a tag, arrow and hand icon from the Ephemera pack…

 

Next, I bought in some of the stars from the Ephemera pack and the star Puffy Stickers to carry on with the star theme.

To finish of my page,I added some more stamping in black to make the colours on my page pop…love this look.

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope I have inspired you today.

See you next time!

Kel x

 

Choose Happy | Happy Days | Kellie Moore

Hello Cocoa fans, welcome back to the blog.

Today I have a page to share that features ‘watercolour’…this was my DT assignment, and I wont lie by saying I felt confident with this task. If you know my work, you know I’m not a huge user of mixed media. I love the look of it, but Im not confident but I gave it my best shot. Here is my page..

What I decided to do was use watercolour in a controlled way. I started with watering down some distress oxides in co-ordinating colours to the ‘Happy Days‘ collection, then I pulled out some alpha stamps from my stash. I used a paintbrush to paint on the colour onto my ink pads then stamped out some words onto white cardstock. Here is what it looks like close up..

 

I love the look of the words, they add a really unique look to my page. I used the paper ‘Flutterby’ as my main paper and layed it on top of a full 12×12 of the ‘Rainbow Bright’ paper. Next, i ripped down from the middle of the ‘Flutterby’ paper and added some of the ‘Little Blossom paper to the inside of the paper to add contrast.

Next, I started on my photo. I added a white border to my photo, then added a layer of the ‘Little Blossom’ paper and a layer of the ‘Feel Good’ paper. I then used one of the frame die-cuts (from the ephemera pack) cut in half to add to each side of my photo, and a label tab above my photo. I added some dimensional foam behind my photo to add dimension.

Now that I had my photo in place I decided to get my title in place. I used a label sticker from the ‘Accessory Sticker Sheet’ and some of the ‘Mini Puffy Alphabet’ stickers for the word ‘Choose’ then the word ‘Happy’ from the Die-Cut Ephemera. I added some yellow distress oxide under my title to make it pop and used some of the ‘Puffy Sticker’ hearts around it. At the bottom of the page I added some rainbows from the ‘Feel Good’ paper.

To finish off my page I added some more heart ‘Puffy Stickers’ above my photo and added some white ink splatters.

I hope you are inspired to create, and that you might try this watercolour technique or something similar …even if it is outside your comfort zone!

Thanks for stopping by today

Till next time

Kel

 

Love Our Story | Storyteller | Kellie Moore

Hello everyone and welcome back to the CVS blog.

Today I’m sharing a page using the new ‘Storyteller’ collection with a focus on florals.

I decided I wanted to divide my page into thirds, using blue, yellow and red as the focus for each section. To start my page, I used a strip of white cardstock to stamp florals using my distress oxides..the red is Candied Apple, the blue is Faded Jeans and the yellow is Fossilized Amber.

I chose 3 of our wedding photos and printed them in black and white so they didnt compete with my colours. I wanted to have something to pop out from behind my photos, so I used some gauze that I coloured with the same inks…this adds a nice texture to the page.

Next, I went through all the embellishments..the ephemera pack, the chipboard, accessory stickers, wooden buttons and puffy hearts and pulled out all the colours that matched and icons that would work…making sure I used florals in each cluster.

While going through my collection I also found a yellow and blue stitched heart from previous page so I included these as well..

For my title, I used the Foam Title Stickers, placing one word on each line of the page… including some of the black foam hearts…perfect for a wedding page right?!

I hope you found some inspiration today and enjoy CVS florals as much as I do!

Till next time

Kel x

Fun Adventure | No Limits | Kellie Moore

Hi Cocoa Vanilla fans and welcome back to the blog!

Today I have put my Storyteller collection away and have pulled out the No Limits collection to play with.

I am documenting some fun pictures of my husband and youngest son on a recent holiday to Bali when we went quad bike riding.

To start my page I used the woodgrain paper called “Big Bang”  and tore it about three quarters of the way down to create some texture and added a strip of the “Eclipse” paper underneath it.

I decided I wanted to add some mixed media to my background so I pulled out a circular stencil with some silver texture paste and added some white ink splatters.

I placed my photos in the middle of the page and used some vellum to add another layer. Next, to add more colour and papers to my page, I used a cut file from Paper Issues to add more circular elements to my page… I love these!!!

For my title, I used the word ‘Adventure’ from the Die Cut Titles and the word ‘Fun’ from one of the ‘Pocket Cards‘.

 

Once this was done I felt like the bottom of my page was too white so I pulled out some circular stamps and added these with co-ordinating colours … love the effect!

To finish my page, I used different pieces from the ‘Die cut elements’ pack’ and some of the Chipboard pieces including the stars to scatter around the page.

I hope you enjoyed my page today and you found some inspiration to get your memories documented.

Thanks for stopping by today

Kel

Love You | Storyteller collection | Sue Plumb

Hi everyone, it’s Sue Plumb here to share my latest design team project with you. Today I am sharing a layout I created for our focus on sketches this month, and I chose to work with a sketch from Page Maps. I actually started with my photos for this layout, and then searched for a sketch with two photos that I could use.

This is the sketch I chose…

And this is my take on it, using the gorgeous ‘Storyteller’ collection…

I couldn’t help but be drawn to that gorgeous blue that features throughout this collection, and I decided to pair it with the wood grain print from the Cross It Off paper. I also threw in a touch of green from the Fly Away paper for a bit of contrast.

I wanted to create a distressed look on the wood grain, so I added a little white acrylic paint using a brayer, then used a wood grain texture stamp and black ink to add extra subtle detail.

I stuck to the basic sketch design and kept my journalling in the centre, with my two photos placed on either side. My journalling was typed onto one of the Pocket Cards using my old typewriter. The extra layers of paper underneath my photos and journalling helped to separate them from the background. I used a frame from the Die Cut Ephemera pack that I cut in half to tuck in on either side of my photos to help frame them in.

Beneath my journal card, I added a row of three die cut hearts, and at the top of the card I added a die cut tab and a small wood button. I added several staples to the page to add an extra masculine touch.

I added an embellishment cluster below my photos using a due cut camera (popped up with some foam tape), a die cut flower and another wood button. I flanked this cluster on either side with the two words of my title, which came from the ‘These Days’ Foam Title pack.

I added a third wood button to the left of my photos because I needed the third one for balance. I also added a scattering of the heart Puffy Stickers around my page (one of my most favourite items from this collection!)

I finished off with some extra stamping and a few phrases from the Accessory Sticker sheet and placed them to help draw the viewer’s eye down through the journalling.

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

Thanks for stopping by today so I could share this with you. I hope you enjoyed my take on our sketch theme and that this sketch might be able to inspire you too! Until next time, happy scrapping!

Hey Kid | No Limits collection | Sue Plumb

Hi everyone, it’s Sue Plumb here today to share another project using the awesome new ‘No Limits’ collection. (Loving this collection SO much!) This layout features a photo of my hubby and one of my sons that I took while they were busy doing work in our garden recently. (This boy loves to help his Dad with projects in the yard!) I decided to use the wood grain print from the Big Bang patterned paper as my background for this page, as I thought it would work well for the outdoor theme.

You can see I have added some light mixed media layers to my background paper. I used a combination of acrylic paint, a stencil with ink, stamping, and splatters.

I used a mix of layered patterned papers for the focal area of my page that included Stardust, Orbit and Latitude and I used distressing, tearing and some frayed gauze to add texture. I also tucked in a paint sample card from my stash to help draw in the green on my sons hat, which I thought also worked well with the DIY that was happening on the day.

I used Die Cut Title words for my page title, but then used the always be your awesome self quote card from the Universal cut apart paper below it as a subtitle. Both of these were popped up from the page like my photo to create dimension and help them stand out from the background.

To embellish my layout I used lots of fussy cut stars from the gorgeous Nebula paper, which I combined with pieces from the Die Cut Ephemera pack and Accessory Sticker sheet.

I also added a few pieces from the Chipboard Sticker sheet which also provided some extra dimension.

Of course I couldn’t help but include some of my favourite embellishment from this collection – those stunning Puffy Stickers. (Seriously, I wish I had a million of these things!)

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

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you are feeling inspired to use up those scraps on your desk! Until next time, happy scrapping.

 

 

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