white alphas

Mad as a Hatter | Heart & Home Collection | Michelle Stokes

Hello Hello! It’s Michelle back here again with a new layout share using the newest Collection – Heart & Home. The colours within this collection reminded me of a photo I took recently of Leila for her last Book Week of Primary School so I thought what better moment to document than this one.

I started with a cut file design from CUT to YOU  that I’ve cut out using white cardstock and backed with pattern papers from the A5 paper stack. I used a different pattern in each of the stars, then mixed them up for the strips that shoot out between. I backed the main square with the woodgrain pattern and adhered the cut file piece to the cardstock using double sided foam tape to lift it off the background. I added a splattering of gold ink all over before finishing the page as I wanted to build the remaining embellishments around the splotches

Leila dressed up as the Mad Hatter for her final Book Week parade, and after all the effort we put into her costume, I’m happy to say she won for her class. Yay! We op shopped for most of her outfit items and spent more than we needed to on all the finishing pieces. I created a tea party cake stack with some hat boxes, a tea set and my hot glue gun, sewed a wig onto a top hat and created a sashing of threads. She had a great day, and had lots of compliments for her crazy costume.

I added the photo directly to the cut file piece without adding paper layers below as I felt there was already so much going on in the background. I wanted it to stand out amongst all the colour behind it so I raised it up a little with a piece of foam sheet and layered the ephemera pieces to the top corner.

I added another floral ephemera piece to the bottom , and another to the right of the layout to create a visual triangle of sorts.

I used the negative star pieces from the main cut file to add a little detail to the blank white space around the cut file, mixed in amongst the gold splatters with a couple of accessory stickers, ephemera pieces and puffy shapes

On the larger star of the cut file I added a mini title using the Mini Puffy Alphas. These are the perfect size for creating secondary titles on layouts as they’re not too big to distract from the main title

Which then makes way for the large title using my beloved white Alphabet stickers from quite a few years back. I added machine stitching over the top to ensure they stay adhered for many years to come, but also adds a little extra detail to the layout.

Here’s a final look at the entire layout..

Well friends thats all from me today, I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing my newest creation using the Heart & Home Collection.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Until next time, Happy Scrapping
Michelle x

First day of Grade Six | Storyteller | Michelle Stokes

Hey Everyone it’s Michelle back with you today to share a super quick layout featuring the amazing Storyteller Collection. I’m still loving this collection with all its bright primary colours, perfect for documenting some first day of school photos that almost didn’t make it to print!

I knew I wanted to create something fast, simple and pretty all at the same time, and as we’re still in the month of ‘love’ I felt it needed to incorporate some kind of large heart design along with groups of pretty florals. The layout ended up being exactly what I was aiming for and will be a well cherished addition to Leila’s childhood albums for years to come.

I started off by finding a generic heart shape through google, and cutting the large shape out in the middle of some white cardstock using my silhouette. I adhered this piece to a second layer of white cardstock using foam sheets to give it some flat dimension.

I knew I’d be adding lots of colours to the layout in the way of floral clusters, so to avoid any pattern/ colour clashing I printed the photos of Leila in Black and White at just a smidge over 3x2inch size. I backed both photos with the woodgrain paper (Cross it Off) from the collection, added a couple of accessory stickers and adhered these pieces to the left of the heart using more foam sheeting to pop them up off the page a little.

The floral clusters came together so nicely but were probably the parts of the layout that took the longest. Fussy cutting is quite therapeutic, yet time consuming. I added a mix of ephemera pieces and accessory stickers to each of the groups to mix them up. The beautiful florals are from a mix of both the 12×12 and A5 version of the Spring Fling paper.

I used a mix of adhesives for the clusters, mostly foam tape and glue dots for slight dimension.

There’s also a sneaky enamel heart within each cluster for a finishing touch within each group.

I created a mixed font title using the usual blend of both handwritten text and my beloved white alpha stickers, with the addition of machine stitching for extra detail and to keep them in place.

Here’s a closer look at how sweet these alphas are, lets all keep our fingers and toes crossed that they make an appearance back in the CVS store sometime in the future as they really are the best for creating titles with.

I added the usual gold ink splatters around the layout to finish it all off to, something I do to all layouts to make them feel complete.

Here’s one final look at the entire layout and all its white space goodness!

Well thats all from me today, thank you so much for stopping by to see another of my crafty creations using the Storyteller Collection. I hope you’re all still loving this collection as much as we all are, but I bet you’re all itching to see what the amazing Zoe comes up with next. Be sure to keep an eye on all our Social Media Channels for more scrappy inspiration from all the team here at Cocoa Vanilla Studio.

Until next time, Happy Scrapping!
Michelle x

 

Book Week 2022 | Storyteller Collection | Michelle Stokes

Hey Hey! It’s Michelle here today with my newest layout share featuring the wonderful Storyteller Collection. This layout is part of our current monthly sketch theme, which is THE best way to get the creative juices flowing when you’re feeling low on inspiration and ideas. I chose an awesome sketch from the Page Maps website, which I’ll share a little further into this post, to document this years Book Week costume of choice. One that needed a little time and patience to recreate.

Here’s what I came up with this week..

The sketch I chose from Page Maps, shown below, was originally designed for a 8.5×11 size layout but is easily converted into a 12×12 design. All the same design features are there, with my own little spin.

I used a few of my favourite A5 patterns from the A5 paper stack to create the vertical strip of patterns down the middle of the layout (off centre). I distressed the edges and adhered flat to the white cardstock. There’s a scalloped border between the top 2 pattern papers using the yellow pattern side of the LITTLE LOVE paper, then a strip of hearts from the STORY TIME paper with a string of yellow pom poms between the bottom 2 pattern papers.

I centred the photos in the top half of the woodgrain section, adding some of the green pattern paper (FLY AWAY)  the rainbow hearts card from the A5 version of the STORY TIME paper and the love this tab from the EPHEMERA pack tucked into the top left photo.

To create the cluster on the right side of the layout I fussy cut the circle journalling piece from the cut apart paper STORY TIME, layered with another journalling sticker square from the ACCESSORY sticker sheet, pieces from the EPHEMERA pack plus a bunch of fussy cut florals from the A5 version of SPRING FLING paper.

For the left cluster I fussy cut more florals, added a ephemera heart and the A5 version of the round journaling spot from the STORY TIME paper in the A5 paper stack.

I added machine stitching in random places for a little added texture and interest across the page

And I dipped into the never ending, but almost used up, stash of very old white Alphabet stickers from a few years back to create the title of the layout.

I added a fair bit of hand written journalling to this layout, much more than I normally would add. I drew some rough lines using a pencil that I could erase once the writing was complete. I also added the usual splattering of gold ink to finish it all off

Here’s one more look at the entire layout..

Well friends, thats all from me today. Thanks so much for stopping by to see what I created for our current Sketch theme. Be sure to check back in each day to see what sketches the other DT members have been recreating too. If you get the chance to create with any that we’ve shared, please feel free to share them with us and the entire Cocoa Vanilla Studio Community in our group on Facebook.

Until Next time, Happy Scrapping!
Michelle x

Magical Christmas Memories | Joyful Collection | Michelle Stokes

Hey Hey! It’s Michelle here with a new layout share featuring the wonderful Joyful Collection. A brilliant Christmas themed collection that was just right for documenting our sweet Doggo’s first Christmas. We had such a magical day, and this little fur ball absolutely loved the insane amount of wrapping paper we had around.

I started the base of the layout first by getting messy with some inks, water and plastic packaging. The best way to smoosh the colour on without getting too messy, although it does make the paper warp a little but nothing I cant handle.

I’ve used a cutfile from CUTtoYOU that I used on a previous layout, this time I flipped it around a little and cut it up to fill the corners of the layout rather than the centre. I backed each star (including the main large star) with different pattern papers from both the A5 paper stack and 12×12 papers, then adhered them to the background using double sided tape for a little dimension.

The sweet little photo of human kid and fur kid has been backed with the candy cane print from the A5 paper stack and adhered using more of that fabulous doubled sided tape. I added the tags (ephemera pack and pattern paper) to the top right of the photo to cover some of the junk thats shown in the background of the photo lol

In the top left corner I added some extra ephemera pieces along with some fussy cut stars to created an open cluster of sorts

I repeated the same elements in the other star groups at the bottom and right side of the layout.

Next up I added a mixed font title using the awesome gold puffy title stickers, my beloved white alphas and an ephemera piece. I sewed through the white alphas to ensure they stay put for years to come.

Heck how cute! I couldn’t pass up the chance to use this sweet little rabbit from the ephemera pack in this tiny bottom cluster.

And as a last minute addition to the already adhered layout, I added in a little pocket to the back of the photo and tucked in a journalling card from the pocket page cards pack. I embellished this with some ephemera pieces and accessory stickers then added the note about Daisy Doggo’s first Christmas.

Well friends thats all from me today, thanks so much for stopping by to see my first creation of 2022. I can’t wait to get back into the craft room to make more mess with this wonderful Joyful Collection!

Until next time, Happy Scrapping!
Michelle x

Christmas Spirit | Joyful Collection | Michelle Stokes

Hey Hey! It’s Michelle back here today with a new layout share featuring our BRAND NEW Collection – Joyful. Absolutely ecstatic to receive this collection with plenty of time to get the Christmas photos scrapped, cards made and December Memories albums started. This layout features a couple of nighttime photos from last year along our local ‘Waterfront’ thats always decorated ready to play around in the Christmas Spirit.

I started the layout by cutting out a star cluster cut file from CUT to YOU, designed by our fellow DT Member Gwen. My love for star shapes is just as big as it is for florals, so I love adding more than needed on layouts like this. The cut file has been cut out on white cardstock and backed using a variety of pretty pattern stars from the Making Spirits Bright paper  I also added some vellum and a piece of the pretty star pattern paper Deck the Halls. The entire piece was the backed using the Very Merry paper using some foam tape to give a shadowing effect to the outline.

I added the photos to a red pattern paper in the A5 paper stack and adhered them to the right of the star cutfile using foam for a little more lift off the page.

I got a little adventurous with this layout by adding a subtle hint of mixed media to the background by mixing 2 different colours together and smooshing them onto the background cardstock to create a watercolour effect. I also added splatters of the individual colours and some gold to compliment the hints of other gold elements on the page.

The title was a little tricky to create with all the different layers of dimension to work around, however the new super cool gold puffy title stickers adhere perfectly on top of the layers and was finished off with some old school white alphas. In this ‘cluster’ of sorts I also added a chipboard piece and star from the ephemera pack.

In the top left corner I created a mini cluster of stars using pieces from the chipboard sticker pack , gold puffy and ephemera stars and a cute wood button with a heart design.

The twine thats lopped along the top from left to right was actually a last minute addition, something to add when I felt it was missing something.

Bottom right cluster is made up of more pretty stars and a label sticker from the accessory sticker sheet to document the year and place

Well Scrappy friends, that is all from me today. I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing my first layout using the BRAND NEW Joyful Collection. I cant wait to dive back into my DT Box and create more fun layouts with this collection. The animals are super duper cute and absolutely need to feature on a creation some day soon.

Until then, thank you so much for stopping by and Happy Scrapping!
Michelle x

 

 

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