Throwback Thursday

Choose Happy | Happiness collection | Tarrah McLean

Hi creative friends!

It’s Tarrah back with you today to share a new scrapbook layout featuring the gorgeous Happiness collection! I was given the Throwback Thursday theme for this week so I decided to revisit the gorgeous Happiness collection and got creating! I don’t know about you but the Happiness collection would have to be one of my all-time favourite collections by Cocoa Vanilla, I am in love with it!

I chose to document a photo of my honey and I on a date a couple of months ago, opting to print the photo in black and white so that it would stand out amongst all the colour in the Happiness collection. I began by choosing a title cut file from CUT to YOU, cutting it out on white cardstock, I then took one of the papers from the A5 paper stack and backed the open letters in the cut file. I added craft foam to the underside of the larger letters and adhered it down in the centre of another sheet of plain white cardstock. I did leave adhesive off the top part of the cut file so that I could tuck in my photo and some embellishments and the cut file would be able to overlap these. I trimmed this white cardstock down to measure roughly 11′ x 11′ and adhered it to the ‘B’ side of the Botanical Bliss paper, I machine-stitched a border around the outside to add some texture and some interest.

I layered another of the papers from the A5 paper stack underneath the photo and also one of the frames from the ephemera pack. I also tucked one of the journal spots from the Accessory sticker sheet into the top of the frame and photo. Next, I cut out the ‘You Are My Happy’ from the A5 paper pad and adhered it to the right-hand side of the photo. I also tucked in the tag from the Accessory sticker sheet into the top of the You Are My Happy piece. I took some more ephemera pieces like the florals and butterflies and layered them around the cut file, I also layered the phrase banner die-cuts on top of the cut file.

The clear stickers in this collection are gorgeous so I added them around my page and also some of the phrase stickers from the Accessory sticker sheet as well. As I don’t journal on my pages all that much, I love how these phrase stickers help to tell the story behind my photo.

I cut a strip of the ‘B’ side of the ‘Frame of Mind’ paper and punched out a scalloped border using my border punch. I then adhered this piece below the cut file and machine-stitched through the centre to add some extra texture. Lastly I stamped the date stamp to finish my layout. A love how it turned out and hope you are inspired to get creative!

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

Happy creating!

Tarrah x

Happy Days | Throwback Thursday | Michelle Stokes

Hey Scrappy Friends, It’s Michelle back with you today to share a little Throwback Thursday creation. If you’re not familiar with this theme its where we dip into the archives of our Cocoa Vanilla Studio stash and create something magical with an older collection. Today I chose the Happy Days Collection to brighten up our scrolling time, plus a little walk down memory lane in the photo choice too.

I chose a sweet photo of Leila and I from many many moons ago. We were sharing a sweet moment in my craft room when she requested a selfie.

The layout itself started off quite different to this as I originally didn’t plan on using any white cardstock. I knew I wanted to create a wreath type layout as I haven’t made one in quite some time and they always look so beautiful. As I was moving the floral ephemera pieces around on the beautiful spotted aqua paper (Little Blossom B Side) I thought why not try a heart shape. I drew a rough shape between all the flower clusters, making mental notes for where I wanted them all placed, and then sewed all around the shape multiple times for a little hint of stitched texture.

Next up I worked on sticking all the florals down into the clusters using a mix of pieces from both the Floral and Ephemera packs within the collection. I even added some fussy cut florals and butterflies from the Lush Blooms and Flutterby papers. I mainly used foam double sided tape and tacky glue to piece the clusters together in a layered group

I added the photo in between the clusters using a frame from the Ephemera pack and backed with foam to pop it up off heart.

I used the words Happy Days from the Ephemera pack as my title, with the addition of a word sticker from the Accessory Stickers sheet. The perfect addition of colour to mix with all the bright flowers within this layout

Next I decided that the heart wasn’t standing out as much as I had hoped so I chopped into the background paper. I cut close to the machine stitching, under all the florals that were already adhered to the paper and thankfully was able to keep everything in tact. Once I had this main piece free I adhered it to some white cardstock in the centre of the page, then added all the smaller fussy cut florals around the larger clusters, added some puffy stickers then sprinkled with gold ink and some gold glitter paint in spots.

Here’s a final look at the entire layout, so bright and Happy…

Well friends, thats all from me today. Thanks so much for stopping by.

Until next time, Happy Scrapping!
Michelle x

Days Together | Daydream Collection | Melissa Vining

Hi everyone, Its Melissa here and I’m back with a new layout.  Its Thursday which means Throwback time! Yay!! What I love the most about Throwback Thursday is going through my stash of gorgeous Cocoa Vanilla Studio and deciding which collection to create with!  For this layout I decided to use the beautiful Daydream collection to document a family photo from Mother’s Day 2021.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This collection has gorgeous florals, and for this layout I decided to feature ‘Daisy Days’.  A great way to feature a patterned paper is to tear it, and place it on a white background.  This enables breathing space against a busy paper, and the use of mixed media helps integrate the two paper and cardstock. I used a distress oxide ink and the packaging technique to create some interest.

I used lots of ‘Die Cut Ephemera’ florals for my embellishing, some ‘Accessory Stickers’ and also a couple of fussy cut moths from ‘All Aflutter’.  I bent up the edges of the flowers for interest and dimension.   I was also very happy to get one of the ‘Flair Buttons’ onto the page!

For my titles I used one of the ‘Die Cut Ephemera’, and a word from the ‘Die Cut Titles’. I love that combining the two made for a very easy title!!

I hope you enjoyed seeing a layout created with Daydream, and I hope I’ve inspired you to dig into your Cocoa Vanilla Studio stash.  If you’re like me you may want to hoard pretty supplies, but there is nothing like using up products and documenting memories!

Have an awesome week.

Melissa xx

Favourite Moments | Daydream collection | Tarrah McLean

Hi creative friends!

It’s Tarrah McLean back with you today to share a new layout created for the Throwback Thursday feature this week.

I chose to pull out the STUNNING Daydream collection as I had the perfect photo to document using this gorgeous collection! The photo is of myself with my crafty friends from a recent macrame workshop where we made rainbows. Just love how my rainbow turned out!

I chose a rainbow style background cut file from Paper Issues and cut it out from white cardstock, I then adhered the cut file to a sheet of the peachy coloured paper in the Daydream collection. I really love the effect of the cut file against the background paper. I backed my photo with one of the papers from the A5 paper stack and distressed the edges with my edge distresser tool. I like the texture this gives to the edges. I adhered the photo to the centre of my page and layered some papers and embellishments underneath.

My title is made up of a word from the awesome die-cut titles and an ephemera piece from the ephemera pack. I popped up both pieces with some pop dots and placed the title slightly on the left at the bottom of my photo. I tucked in one of the gorgeous fabric puffy hearts behind the Favourite ephemera piece and also chose some of the gorgeous rainbow die-cuts to adhere here as well. I used different size adhesive so that there were layers to my layout, I like how this creates shadows on my page.

On the right of my photo, I pulled out more rainbow pieces in both accessory stickers and ephemera pieces too and adhered them the same as the other side with different levels of adhesive for a layered effect and to create shadows. Another gorgeous puffy heart was also tucked in and I adhered some gorgeous, small floral ephemera pieces too. When I create my layouts, I will always place and adhere the larger things on my page first like the photo, a cut file and a title. From there my next step is to add the smaller embellishments like die-cuts, frames, chipboard etc and work down to even smaller embellishments again like enamel dots, sequins and small stickers.

I like to audition things before I completely commit to them staying on the layout so I will choose something I want to add and then I try it in a few different places before I am happy with how it looks, I take into consideration the colour, the size and if it balances with other things also on the page, I try to achieve the visual triangle on my pages so that my layouts are pleasing to the viewers eye. The last thing I did on this layout was added a few sequins and sprinkled some gold mist around my page.

Thank you so much for stopping by the Cocoa Vanilla blog today! I love how my layout turned out and I hope you enjoyed reading how I created it!

Happy creating!

Tarrah x

Happy Birthday | Make A Wish collection | Tarrah McLean

Hi creative friends!

It’s Tarrah back with you and today I am sharing a new scrapbook layout for our Throwback Thursday feature! I decided to pull out the gorgeous Make A Wish collection for my layout today…do any of you still have any of this beautiful collection?

I am documenting a photo of my eldest niece who turned 6 last year…she had a pretty unicorn and tiara cake for her birthday cake!

I chose the white with pink spots paper for my background and trimmed down a piece of plain white cardstock to adhere on top of the white and pink spotted paper. Once adhered, I machine stitched around the outer edge to add some texture to my page. Next I chose a fun, birthday themed cut file from CUT to YOU and cut it out of white cardstock. I then chose some of the cute papers to back the balloons with and also the word Happy in the cut file. Once the cut file was backed I added craft foam underneath and adhered it to the plain white cardstock background. I love the shadows and dimension this creates on the page!

As the design of the cut file had some space on the left, this was the obvious place to add my photo and a 3′ x 4′ pocket card right next to my photo. I also added some machine stitching to the outer edges of both the photo and pocket card. I decided to add the word Birth using the alpha stickers from the Make A Wish collection so that my title reads, Happy Birthday instead of just Happy Day. I was able to pick letters that were all the same colour, placing them to the left of the word Day. Below the title, I added the notebook edge diecut and machine stitched across the very top edge, I love the texture this creates. I had one of the gorgeous fabric bows left over so it just had to be adhered on the ‘strings’ of the cut file. I also placed the Stay Lovely round sticker from the Accessory Stickers on one of the balloons.

Before I adhered the photo, I took the gorgeous doily die cut from the ephemera pack, cut it in half and tucked one half under the left edge of my photo. I also placed a tab sticker from the Accessory Sticker sheet and à banner puffy sticker from the puffy stickers. The small heart die-cuts are so gorgeous, I love all the colours these come in! I added a pretty yellow one here and a pink one on the other side above the letter ‘Y’ in Happy. Above the photo, I added the banner that says Fabulous and the Best Ever phrase piece also. I added some machine stitching through these 2 pieces also for some added texture. I placed the Hello arrow chipboard piece and a triangle puffy sticker in the centre of the page, to fill a little gap that was there.

To the left of the ‘H’ in the Happy word, I added one of the gorgeous vellum hearts, a phrase sticker and one of the chipboard hearts also. Across the middle of the title, I also added the Dream Big chipboard piece! Lastly the pink banner piece that says ‘Love You’ was added between the ‘P’ and ‘Y’ in Happy and I stamped the date stamp of when the photo was taken. I just loved working with the Make A Wish collection again! Even though it might be an older collection, you can still create pretty projects using older collections!

Thank you so much for stopping by the Cocoa Vanilla blog today! I hope you enjoyed my layout as much as I enjoyed creating it? I hope this inspires you to pull out an older Cocoa Vanilla collection and get creating with it?!  There is something satisfying about using up your stash don’t you think?

Happy creating!

Tarrah x

Epic Birthday Kid | Legendary Collection | Michelle Stokes

Hey Everyone! It’s Michelle back here today with another instalment of our regular ‘Throwback Thursday’ theme. I dipped into the remnants of my Legendary Collection stash for this layout to document my awesome nephews recent birthday. This kid is such a rad rockstar, he absolutely deserves to shine bright on the Cocoa Vanilla Studio blog!

Our little family have recently been struck down with the dreaded ‘spicy cough’ as some may call it, and during one of the many days that I didn’t move much from bed I ended up fussy cutting an entire sheet of stars from the ALL STAR 12×12 paper in the Legendary Collection. A lot of tiny scraps of paper left in the bed and a fully cramped hand but I’m absolutely thrilled with the end result, a vision that came together in my head while sick in bed a few days prior.

To create the layout I started with a star shape clip art found easily in a google search, resized in Silhouette studio so that it filled as much of the 12×12 background paper as possible and cut it out on white cardstock. I separated the large star shape from the negative outer edge piece without tearing any edges and kept both pieces for future steps. Next I created the star outline that overlays the top of the pattern stars, this was done with a simple cut, paste and resize of the original star shape to create the outline piece. Again, both pieces separated once cut and sat to the side.

Now it was time for the fun part. I used the larger star piece from the original cut to add all the different coloured and sized stars using both foam tape and glue adhesive for different heights of dimension. This took a couple of hours to get it all right to ensure both colours and sizes were evenly distributed. Once this step was complete I was able to assemble the layers to make the background pop.

To get the layers exactly right I started with a fresh sheet of white cardstock on the very bottom, on top of this I added the negative outer edge piece of cardstock from the first cut adhered flat on top. This helped to assist with the correct placement of the bright stars piece which was added straight after. The final ‘layer’ to this star spangled sanga was the second negative outer edge cardstock piece which I lined up with the first and adhered using foam tape to create shadow lines and dimension down into the star pieces, if thats what you would call it.  Lastly I added the star outline piece over all the layers, rotated around so that it sits different to the pieces below it and adhered with more foam tape for a little extra pop off the page.

I added the sweet photo of my super cool nephew to the left of centre and layered complimenting pattern papers underneath with the addition of a sticker and ephemera piece tucked in for good measure. I printed the photo in black and white to avoid any colour clashing, as there was a lot of similar colours in both.

Under the photo I added the mixed font title, made using the word EPIC from a 3×4 card on the EPIC TALES paper and some of my most favourite white alphas that I’ve stitched into place, finished off with a mini cluster of fussy cut stars

Over on the top right of the layout I added another little cluster of stars along with some ephemera pieces and a word sticker from the accessory sticker sheet

and in the bottom right side of the star I added a note about the photo and even more fussy cut stars.

Here’s a final look at the layout with all its brightly coloured stars and a splattering of black ink. I really enjoyed creating this layout using the Legendary Collection. It’s certainly fun creating things that are different to the usual pretty florals that I tend to be drawn to. Plus the fussy cutting of the stars felt quite therapeutic and was a good little activity to make the day pass quicker while stuck in iso.

Well thats all from me today, thanks so much for stopping by! I hope this layout has inspired you in some way to get a little creative with fussy cutting, as theres so many papers within the Cocoa Vanilla Studio Collections that are perfect for chopping up and recreating with. I hope to see some of your creations shared within our Community Group real soon.

Until next time, Happy Scrapping!

Michelle x

Memory Planning | Daydream Collection | Melissa Vining

Hi everyone, It’s Melissa here for Throwback Thursday! Today I have something a little different to share with you.  This year I’m doing Memory Planning in an attempt to limit the number of 12×12 layouts that I create, and to streamline my documenting process because not every story needs a big layout of its own.  I’m using a Memory Planner by Heidi Swapp and the gorgeous Daydream collection. This collection works so well with the Planner.

   

The Memory Planner paper has the lines, days of the week, dots beneath the days and the “week of:” printed on it.  I stamped the numbers and the week details.  Aside from the washi tape, everything else I used is from Daydream. Here is my left side page.  As you can see I used lots of Die Cut Ephemera to embellish my page.

I added an interactive element that I made with papers from the A5 Paper Stack.  Here is the inside:

Here is the page on the right side. I used my sewing machine on several elements to add texture.  I stitched before I adhered these elements so that the stitching wouldn’t go through the page.  The edge of my  The rainbow is a cut apart piece and was perfect for my journaling.

I have more journaling hidden under my interactive piece on this page.

I loved getting the rainbow ephemera piece and an Accessory Sticker onto my page, so perfect for my beach photos!

I love that Daydream is so versatile and can be used for lots of different memory keeping projects!

Take care

Melissa xx

Gamer Kids | Sunkissed Collection | Michelle Stokes

Hey Hey! It’s Michelle back here today with a fun new layout share as part of our fortnightly Throwback Thursday feature. This week I dipped into my Sunkissed stash to brighten up the place, and because I was having so much fun creating my last layout for the Scraplift theme, I fell down that rabbit hole again too!

I lifted a layout of mine from quite a few years back that incorporates a beautiful heart cut file from CUT to YOU, a bunch of florals and a mixed font title. I kept all the same similar elements and just switched up the collection to show off the bright and beautiful colours within the Sunkissed Collection.

I chose to document a sweet moment of Leila and our super sweet little pup Daisy, both focused on smashing buttons while playing something on the Switch. It’s not often these days that you can find Daisy alert, awake and happy to sit still for a photo as she’s either VERY lively, or snuggled up next to someone fast asleep.

I backed the photo using the darker blue print from the ‘Bright Side‘ paper, theres a pretty pink version of the same print in the A5 paper stack too that I’ve used to back a section of the awesome heart cut file from CUT to YOU. On that note, a majority of patterns used to back the cut file can be found in the A5 paper stack. The cut file was cut out on white cardstock and once filled with pretty papers, adhered to the layout using foam tape to give a slight hint of dimension.

Under the photo I created the first of 2 large floral clusters, most of which are made using fussy cut flowers from the ‘Growing Wild‘ papers in both the 12×12 and A5 paper sizes. I added some ephemera pieces, a wood button and some accessory sticker words to finish this one off

and then up in the top right corner of the layout I added the second major cluster using the same decorative elements to compliment the first cluster. Both clusters use a mix of adhesives to create different layers of dimension within the floral goodness.. Most used would be my trusty double sided foam tape and some sticky dots.

I went back in time to find these alpha stickers in my stash as I was after something not quite as bright as the white I usually add to layouts. These are a pretty grey(ish) colour with little white polka dots all over, perfect for this kind of layout as they don’t blend in with the cut file, and don’t stand out too much to take away the focus from the photo and cut file. Released way back when, with the Free Spirit Collection. Now thats a throwback item for sure! The gold heart and ‘these’ word are the very last remnants in my pack of the awesome gold glitter words from the Sunkissed Collection. My most favourite word sticker pack by far!

Oh and I cant forget to mention the very awesome background pattern paper I used for this layout, Summer Lights, reminds me of a delicious Mocktail/ Juice creation that I enjoyed many years ago. Gives off bright summer sunset vibes too.

Well friends, thats all from me today. Thanks so much for stopping by and taking a quick journey back to enjoy the beautiful Sunkissed Collection. It truly is one of my most favourite collections of all time. I just love the bright happy colours in this collection, they make me want to make ALL the happy scrappy things!

Until Next time, Happy Scrapping
Michelle x

Colour Fun | Sunkissed collection | Sue Plumb

Hi everyone, happy new year! If you are anything like me (4 weeks deep into school holidays), you are having trouble remembering what day it is and are tired of hearing “muuuuuum” for the five hundred and twentieth time today. (Hang in there, we’re past the half way mark!) Fortunately, I do know today is Thursday, because it is actually “Throwback Thursday” and my turn to bring you some fresh inspiration using an older collection. I didn’t go too far back though, because today I am sharing a layout featuring the beautiful ‘Sunkissed’ collection which is still available in the Cocoa Vanilla Studio online store.

For this layout, I wanted to create a mixed media page and decided to use some of my stash of acrylic paint. I love using paint because it is quick, easy, economical, and available in a great range of colours. And even those of you who are not “mixed media people” will usually have access to paint if you want try a technique like this yourself. (I didn’t use any fancy paints – cheap student grade acrylics will do the job!)

The photos I documented on this page are of my two boys taken on the day of their colour run at school. This was not long after they had crossed the finish line and they were both so proud of how wet and coloured they were. (And no, I didn’t bother trying to wash the clothes, they were destined for the bin anyway.) It was the colours of the paint on their clothes that inspired my colour choices for this layout.

As I mentioned above, I used acrylic paint for my mixed media background on this page. I used three different colours which I applied with a small brayer. (This method is great if you are short on time as the thin application means it dries super fast!) I then mounted my painted cardstock on top of the beautiful Good Vibrations striped paper, which created a fun page border.

Next, I added my rainbow arches, which had been fussy cut from a piece of the Bright Side paper left over from a previous project. I cut only the pink, orange and yellow arches (or what I had of them anyway) and stuck them onto my background.

I then created a layered mat for my photos to sit on using a piece of the heart print Feelin’ Fine paper, topped with a piece of the smaller scale cloud print paper from the A5 Paper Stack and finally a scrap of the Summer Lights paper. I also added a small yellow paper doily and some frayed gauze for texture before adding my photos on top.

The next step was to add my title, which I ran along the horizontal strip in my paper stack. To the left of my photos I used some alphabet stickers I had left over from the Love Always collection for the word colour and then to the right, I used the word fun from the Glitter Foam Title Stickers. Look at that gorgeous golden sparkle!

With all the main components in place, it was time to add a few fun embellishments. I chose a number of pieces from the Die Cut Ephemera pack including a flag, umbrella, and a watermelon slice. These were chosen purely based on their colour, but I love that they add a touch of whimsy to the page. I also added several stickers from the Puffy Stickers pack.

I finished off with some phrases from the Accessory Sticker sheet and some tiny black ink splatters. I love how fun and colourful this layout turned out!

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

Thanks for stopping by so I could share this with you, I hope you are feeling inspired to bust out some of your older Cocoa Vanilla stash now too! Until next time, happy scrapping!

You are Awesome | Legendary Collection | Mandy Melville

Hello everyone!

Mandy here today to share a new layout for our Throwback Thursday feature this week. I decided to pull out the awesome Legendary collection for this layout! The masculine themed collections from Cocoa Vanilla Studio are always amazing and Legendary is definitely one of my all time favourite collections for creating layouts about my boy! On this layout I documented a photo of Isaac from earlier this year. It was just an everyday kind of photo, but I wanted this layout to convey how awesome I think he is!

I started my layout off with a sheet of white cardstock as the background, and then I trimmed down a piece of the yellow Wild One patterned paper to adhere to the top half of the background. Instead of cutting it straight across, I decided to cut the bottom edge on an angle to give it some more interest. I also tucked a strip of both the navy Explorer paper and the All Star paper under the bottom edge of the yellow paper, and I distressed the edges of all three papers to give them lots of texture. Once my background was done I added some black machine stitching around the edge of the page.

Next I matted my photo with my woodgrain Outdoors Type patterned paper and I adhered it on the left hand side of the page using craft foam for extra dimension. I added a little banner sticker to the top left hand corner of the photo that says ‘You’re pretty rad’, and I also tucked a tag under the top edge of the photo that I cut out of the Brave Heart paper.

I knew I wanted to add lots of stars to this page as they complement the theme of the layout. This boy is a super star! I used quite a few from the die cut ephemera pack in various sizes, and I also fussy cut a few from the All Star paper. I scattered them vertically down the left hand side of the page behind my photo. The larger open die cut stars were backed with vellum, and some were adhered with foam tape to give the layout lots of interest.

On the bottom right hand corner of the photo I added a Rubber Charm from the You Rock collection, as well as a little word sticker from the Legendary Accessory Sticker sheet.

To finish my layout off I added my title and journalling on the right hand side of the page. I followed the angle of the yellow patterned paper when adhering both. For my title I used a word from the Die Cut Title pack, combined with some white alpha stickers from my stash. To the right of my title I added another die cut star, as well as a couple of arrows from the Clear Stickers.

Thanks so much for popping by today! I hope that you’ve been inspired by my Throwback Thursday layout using the Legendary collection!

Mandy x

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