Sue Plumb

You Got This | No Limits collection | Sue Plumb

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until next time, happy scrapping!

Family | Heart & Home collection | Sue Plumb

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until next time, happy scrapping!

Happy B’Day | Happy Days collection | Sue Plumb

Hi everyone, it’s Sue Plumb here to share another design team project with you. Today I am sharing a layout that has been inspired by our April “Chasing Rainbows” challenge. This month the criteria is to use a BIG rainbow as the main design element of your layout. Now if you know anything about me, you already know I am not great at following rules, which is why anytime I try to follow a sketch I end up somewhere completely different. So it should be no surprise to you that my interpretation of this challenge is a little loose. Here’s what I came up with…

 

I was determined to create a boy page for this challenge, so how do you create a boy rainbow? Simple! You just cut the pink and purple off! I really loved this striped Sunshine Lollipops paper from the ‘Happy Days’ collection so decided to use it as my big feature. I really wanted the colours to pop, so I first added some dark grey acrylic paint to my cardstock for my background. I wanted to keep the paper intact for my main feature, but add some extra interest, so I snipped a little along the line between each colour and used a narrow wooden skewer to help roll the ends up (some I curled a little more than others).

The photo of my boys was taken whilst we were out celebrating their 11th birthday, so using bright colours was perfect for the occasion. As the rainbow was to be the main feature of my page, I didn’t want to mess it up by muddling the colours at all, so I decided to use the tone-on-tone technique for my embellishments.

I used a mix of pieces from the Die Cut Ephemera and Floral Ephemera packs (yes, you CAN have flowers on a boy page!) as well as Accessory Stickers. I placed the embellishments on top of (or as close to) the corresponding colours on the paper and used foam tape to add dimension to some of them.

I really love the effect that using this technique gives, and it makes it super simple to decide where to place things, so putting this page together was a breeze! I finished off the page by adding the Chipboard Title across the top (I ADORE these chipboard titles – the font is so awesome!)

Thanks so much for stopping by today so I could share this with you. I hope I have inspired you to tackle this month’s challenge (who doesn’t love rainbows?!) You can load your entry over in the Cocoa Vanilla Studio Community group to be in with a chance to win. I can’t wait to see all those rainbows!

Until next time, happy scrapping!

 

Adventure | Great Escape collection | Sue Plumb

Hi everyone, it’s Sue Plumb here to share my latest design team project with you. Today I am sharing another layout using the fabulous ‘Great Escape’ collection that documents a photo of Zoe and I on our trip to the USA back in 2019. This pic was taken the day we went to the Grand Canyon, and it definitely rates as one of my favourite days EVER – I am so happy we got to share it together.

I started this page with a sheet of white cardstock and added some ‘Naples Yellow’ acrylic paint to it using a brayer. I chose this colour because of it was a lovely earthy yellow, and I knew it would work well with the other colours of the collection. I then chose a selection of patterned papers for my papery layers, including the green compass print from the Direction paper; the mustard yellow crosses from the A5 Paper Stack; and the orange chevron pattern from the Happy Camper paper. I distressed the edges of the green one to add some texture, before layering the other two on top.

Once the papers were in place I then added some frayed gauze before placing my photo on top of the layers. You can see how I cut the orange chevron print into an arrow shape to run behind my photo from left to right, which helps draw the viewer’s eye in and across the panoramic photo.

For my embellishments, I started by adding three main pieces around my photo – the compass on the left edge from the Die Cut Ephemera pack; the get outside and roam badge (also from the same pack) at the top; and the group of trees from the Chipboard Sticker sheet in the bottom right corner. These three pieces created my visual triangle around my photo and gave me anchor points to work from for the remainder of my embellishments. The other reason I started with these embellishments is because they were all larger pieces and it is always easier to get the biggest things on a page first.

The next piece I added was the ADVENTURE title from the Chipboard Sticker sheet. I knew I wanted to run this piece along the bottom edge of the photo because it is quite a long title and it mirrored the shape of my photo. With all those large elements in place it was then easy to go back and add a few extra embellishments to finish it off. I used the so much fun banner piece and a few stars from the Chipboard Sticker sheet, along with some tiny words and a label from the Accessory Sticker sheet.

I was determined not to over-embellish this page and detract from the photo, so I finished it off with only a few tiny black ink splatters and my handwritten journalling on the label.

I am loving creating with this collection so much, and I have another project with it in the works at the moment that I can’t wait to share! I’ll be back in two weeks with some more inspiration for you.

Until then, happy scrapping!

Sunshine & Good Times | Mixed collections | Sue Plumb

Hi everyone, it’s Sue Plumb here to share another design team project with you. Today’s mixed media layout I am sharing was created to document a happy snap that was taken while we were out at a theme park celebrating my boys’ 11th birthday. This layout is part of a multi-page spread for my album that includes both 12×12″ and pocket pages. For this one I decided to use a mix of collections including Happy Days, Sunkissed, No Limits, and there’s even a little bit of You Rock from waaay back thrown in.

I began this page with white cardstock and some dark grey acrylic paint, which I applied randomly with a small brayer. You will often see this technique appearing on my pages, as the paint not only helps to define the focal area of the page, but in this case, the dark colour helps the brights to pop. I also used a red Distress Oxide and a stencil to add some extra detail over the top.

I then began the construction of my page with the Summer Lights paper from Sunkissed. I tore a couple of pieces and then flipped one over to show the reverse print, then layered them on top of one another. I also added a  yellow paper doily and some frayed gauze to the stack, and matted my photo with some black and white striped tissue paper before mounting on top.

I then started on my embellishments, beginning with the rad sticker from the You Rock Accessory Sticker sheet in the corner of my photo and the tab behind it from the No Limits Accessory Sticker sheet which was stamped with the date. Alongside my photo I used the sunshine sticker from the Sunkissed Accessory Sticker sheet as the first part of my page title, and I also added the white ampersand which was from a set of CVS alpha stickers from long ago. The small chipboard arrow was from the You Rock Chipboard Stickers.

To the right of the photo I also added a handmade star embellishments from my stash, which I topped with one of the Sunkissed Wood Epoxy Buttons. The gold wire was from my stash and I added a few twisted pieces around my page and secured them with staples.

The large stars that I scattered around my page were fussy cut from the Starshine paper from the You Rock collection. The second part of my title, good times uses the Happy Days Chipboard Titles. I finished off my page with some brief handwritten journalling and stamped phrases.

Thanks so much for joining me today so I could share this with you. I hope I have inspired you to dig deep in your stash and mix different collections together. It’s fun combining old and new supplies together and seeing what you can create with them! I’ll be back again soon with another project to share.

Until then, happy scrapping! X

Hello Fun Times | Great Escape collection | Sue Plumb

Hi everyone, it’s Sue Plumb here to share another design team project with you. Today I am sharing a mixed media layout featuring the brand new ‘Great Escape’ collection. Of course I took the opportunity to create a boy page and documented a photo of my hubby and sons.

I started my layout with the gorgeous white wood grain print from the Starry Night paper for my background. I first added a little grey acrylic paint using a 2″ wide brush, then added some stamping over the top with black ink. This just adds a little extra depth to the background, which helps the foreground layers to pop more.

For the paper layers in the focal area of my page, I used a combination of the Adventurer and Happy Camper 12×12″ papers, as well as the compass print from the A5 Paper Stack. I cut and tore the papers then shuffled them until I was happy, before adding a grey doily and frayed gauze on top. I then backed my photo with some scrap cardboard before sticking it down on top of the stack.

In the space alongside my photo I chose the word hello from the Puffy Title Stickers pack; I also added the cute little signpost with fun times on it from the Die Cut Ephemera pack as the second part of my title. Below my photo, I used a journal card from the Wild Life cut apart paper which I had popped into my typewriter to add my journalling.

With the main elements of papers, photo, title and journalling in place, the only thing left to do was add my embellishments. I chose a compass piece from the Die Cut Ephemera pack which I placed over the bottom left corner of my photo and then the we were here phrase from the Accessory Sticker sheet nearby. I finished this cluster off with some fussy cut stars from the Star Gazing paper.

Back on the other side of my layout, I added a sweet little flag from the Die Cut Ephemera pack below my journalling to complete the cascading line of text and some more fussy cut stars. I also added a cluster of stars near to the top of the page to complete my “visual triangle”. I finished off with some scattered stars from the Puffy Title Stickers pack and some small stamped phrases.

Thanks so much for stopping by today so I could share this with you. The fabulous new ‘Great Escape’ collection is shipping out to retailers now, so look out for it at your favourite scrappy store. I’ll be back in a couple of weeks with some more inspiration. Until then, 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!

Wild Thing | Great Escape collection | Sue Plumb

Hi everyone!

I am so happy to be back on the blog today and sharing a mixed media layout with you using the brand new ‘Great Escape’ collection. To say I was excited when I opened this box is an understatement. As a mum of two active pre-teen boys, I can see many projects coming up with this one! I had this first layout completed within a couple of hours of first opening the box…

This layout documents a funny story about one of my boys, who is currently obsessed with all things military. I chose the compass print of the Direction paper to be my page background, and added some dark grey acrylic paint with a brayer to define the focal area.

I then added a wide strip of the B side of the Happy Camper paper horizontally across the page to serve as the anchor point for my design. This was topped with a narrow strip of the B side of the Horizon paper to further help draw the eye across the page. The larger of my two photos was matted with the darker green print from the Journey paper and I also added some frayed gauze for texture underneath it.

I then took the same Horizon and Journey papers again, and cut two tags from them, adding hole reinforcement stickers and bakers twine to each. The tags were then tucked alongside the smaller of the photos and I used the twine to join them together. This was to keep with the military theme, and were reminiscent of the dog tags worn by soldiers. I added a small phrase sticker from the Accessory Sticker sheet to one, and used the second to stick my typed journalling onto. (I’ll post a longer explanation of the back story of this page at the end of the post for those who are interested.)

To embellish the layout, I used a number of pieces from the Die Cut Ephemera pack, including the get outside and roam badge, which I mounted on some foam tape to pop it up from the page. I also loved the arrow signpost from the Chipboard Stickers sheet that I placed along the yellow horizontal strip too.

At this point I went back and added some white acrylic paint using a stencil and brush. The purpose of this was to bring a bit of added lightness to the page over the darkness of the grey paint and it also helps add depth to the design as well.

I finished off by adding the wild thing Chipboard Sticker along the bottom of my main photo for my title; a large yellow star from the Die Cut Ephemera pack near the top of the page; and then scattered smaller stars and circles from the Puffy Stickers pack.

I really love how this page turned out, and my son does too! The ‘Great Escape’ collection will be hitting the shelves of scrappy retailers very soon. Look out for a pre-order at your favourite store – you’re going to love it!!! Thanks for joining me today, I’ll be back with another project to share soon.

Now for anyone who has stuck around this far and wants to know the story of this page….

My son had dressed up in his dad’s old camos and had his big Nerf gun wrapped in plastic when he went for a stroll around the block. (Disclaimer: my son is not a big boy, and is clearly recognisable as being a kid.) Upon being spotted by someone on a street nearby, they called the police to report “a man with a gun”, and two police cars were immediately dispatched to the area. (One containing police in tactical response gear.) The police cars came rolling down our street, spotted my son and sounded the siren, who immediately panicked and ran. Luckily, my hubby had gone outside to see what was happening and he was able to speak with the police to explain. The officers all had a good laugh about it and were surprised they had been called as he “was clearly a kid”. It will definitely be a funny story for him to tell his own kids one day. Document your stories!

So Awesome | Happy Days collection | Sue Plumb

Hi everyone, it’s Sue Plumb here and I am SO excited to be sharing my first design team project using the brand new ‘Happy Days’ collection. I am sure by now you have seen the collection in full (either here on the blog or in person), so I know you will agree with me when I say how gorgeous it is! All those bright, vibrant colours really do make me happy.

For my first layout I decided to document some recent happy photos I took – my daughter on her 15th birthday. She was ecstatic to receive her first pair of “Docs” (Dr Marten boots) as a gift – definitely a happy day for her.

I chose to start with the yellow plaid pattern on the B side of the “Feel Good” paper, which is the cut apart sheet for this collection. I didn’t really want to sacrifice the cut apart first up, but I could not resist that gorgeous happy yellow for my background. To add a little extra colour I added some teal acrylic paint using 2″ wide brush and the dry brush technique. Initially I had planned for the brush strokes to be horizontal on the page, but after spinning the page, I decided I like them better vertical.

Next, I started building my paper layers. I matted each of my three photos using the sweet strawberry print on the B side of the “Lush Blooms” paper. I also used an extra piece of this paper to place horizontally across the page as an anchor point for my photos. I tore along one edge to add a textural element. I topped the strawberry paper with a thin stripe of plum purple, which was cut from the top edge of the striped pattern on the “Sunshine Lollipops” paper. I then added some frayed gauze and an aqua paper doily before adding my photos on top.

Now it was time to start embellishing my page. I couldn’t resist reaching for the gorgeous florals from the collection; so I used a mix of flowers fussy cut from the “Lush Blooms” paper and pieces from the Floral Ephemera pack. The first cluster I created was around the top left corner of my photos. I also used a small banner piece from the Die Cut Ephemera pack across the top edge of my photo.

The second cluster I created was below the centre photo and here I used a larger fussy cut floral piece with foam tape behind it to add a little height. (I had already planned at this point that my title was going to go alongside it, even though I hadn’t added it yet.) With two clusters in place, it was time to add my third cluster to balance my page.

The position of the last floral cluster was alongside the photos on the right edge. The positioning of this final cluster completed my visual triangle around the focal point of my page. Again, I used some foam tape to create dimension.

With all the flowers in place, I then set about adding some text to the page. I chose the die cut hello flag from the ephemera pack to place along the bottom edge of my main photo. This formed the first part of my subtitle, which was Hello 1st Docs, with the letters for the second part coming from the Mini Puffy Alphabet Stickers pack. The main part of my title, So Awesome, was using words from the Chipboard Titles pack.

At this point it was simply a matter of a few finishing touches. I created a small cluster along the bottom edge of the page using a scrap of paper, a flower, a phrase stickers from the Accessory Sticker sheet and a sweet little heart shaped Puffy Sticker. I added a couple of extra phrase stickers and heart puffy stickers to the page as well. I also added a die cut butterfly (I am sure you already know how much I love them) and the final finishing touch was one of the gorgeous Puffy Hearts stuck directly onto my centre photo. Oh, and a little black ink splatter.

And that was it!! I hope you love my layout and it inspires you to get creative too. Even if you don’t have the ‘Happy Days’ collection yet, grab out some other Cocoa Vanilla goodies and get busy! ‘Happy Days’ is already shipping to retailers so keep an eye out at your favourite store.

Until next time, happy scrapping!

Happy Easter | Make a Wish collection | Sue Plumb

Hi everyone, it’s Sue Plumb here to share my latest design team project with you. As we are currently enjoying the Easter break and counting down to the arrival of the bunny tomorrow, I wanted to share a layout featuring one of my favourite Easter photos of my kids. This one was taken 10 years ago, when my boys were still babies – I miss those little squishy faces!

For my layout I decided to dig DEEP into my stash and pull out a collection that I have used for Easter projects before – ‘Make a Wish’. Although this collection was originally designed as a birthday collection, it had the perfect colour palette for my cute Easter page.

Although I was working with ‘Make a Wish’, I did borrow the background paper from the ‘These Days’ collection as I wanted to start with a yellow base. I then applied some blue acrylic paint with a brayer to help define the focal area.

As I had some of the chipboard sheet left, I decided to use one of the frames to frame my photo with. (This is not something I often do, as I usually prefer to use frames for layering around my page.) I also added a couple of layers of patterned paper behind it, along with a small yellow paper doily and some frayed gauze for texture.

I knew before I started this layout that I wanted to include an egg shape on my page, so I decided to create a broken egg from patterned paper and position my photo as though it had come from inside the egg. I used a simple template and traced around it onto the paper, then cut it and positioned the pieces on either side of my photo, adding a little foam tape underneath to help pop it up from the page. I also cut out a strip of hand drawn grass which helped anchor everything on the page.

Tucked amongst the grass on the left side of my page, I added a sweet little chipboard bunny from the ‘Joyful’ collection. As the bunny was wearing a small sprig of mistletoe on its head, I covered it up with a small heart from the ‘Make a Wish’ Die Cut Ephemera pack.

From the same ephemera pack, I used a number of floral and leafy pieces to add some clusters around my page; plus two hearts, a pink bow and a butterfly. (You didn’t really think I’d have no butterflies on this page did you? haha) I added text to my page using a mix of stickers from the Accessory Sticker sheet and a couple of chipboard pieces. (I especially loved the fact the small phrase stickers featured a mix of different coloured text.)

A tiny arrow from the puffy sticker sheet was the only other embellishment I used, then some pretty blue splatters around the page and I was done.

I hope you have gained some inspiration for scrapping your own Easter photos, and enjoyed the walk down memory lane using one of our old collections – I certainly had fun using it again after so long. Wishing you & your families a fun and safe Easter break with plenty of treats from the bunny!

Until next time, happy scrapping!

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