wood epoxy buttons

Ho Ho Ho | Joyful Collection | Mandy Melville

Hello everyone!

Mandy here today to share a new layout using the ever-beautiful Joyful collection. This is my all-time-favourite Christmas collection! I absolutely love the colours, and the embellishments are so sweet – especially those cute little woodland creatures! I documented a couple of photos from last Christmas of my youngest daughter and my Mum.

I started my layout off with the Deck the Halls patterned paper as my background. I then cut a 6 inch circle out of the same paper, this time using the reverse side, and adhered the circle to the centre of my page. This provided a focal point on the page for me to build my layers on top of. I printed my photos at 3×4 inches and matted them with a paper from the A5 Paper Stack. I positioned the photos, along with a Pocket Card across the middle of the page, adhering them at an angle to give them a fun and whimsical look.

I created two embellishment clusters on the layout, positioned diagonally from one another in order to keep the layout feeling balanced, and to draw the viewer’s eye through the photos. The first was positioned below the photo on the left, and it includes a fussy cut floral cluster, as well as a cute deer, a present and a banner, all from the Die Cut Ephemera pack. I adhered the deer with foam tape to help it to pop off the page, and to give the cluster some extra dimension and interest.

For the second embellishment cluster, I used another fussy cut floral, as well as a Die Cut bird and a Chipboard banner. As in the first cluster, I also added a Wood Epoxy Button to the centre of the flower. Here you can also see the Die Cut phrase – Ho Ho Ho – that I used as the title for my layout.

To finish the layout off, I added a few Gold Puffy Stars around the page.

Thanks so much for stopping by the blog today! I hope that you enjoyed taking a look at my layout featuring the Joyful collection!

Mandy

You’re Cool | No Limits collection | Mandy Melville

Hello everyone!

Mandy here today for Throwback Thursday! I’m always a fan of using up my stash and giving an older collection a new lease on life, so I was excited to create a layout for the Throwback Thursday feature this month! I was in the mood to create a masculine page and wanted to document a photo of my son swimming in the pool on a recent family holiday. The No Limits collection was, as always, perfect for this! I’ve used this collection to document photos of my son when he was a toddler, right through to photos of my hubby, and everything in between. It’s so versatile, and I especially love the bright and vibrant colours!

I started by trimming the Eclipse patterned paper down to 10 inches square, and then adhering it to a sheet of white cardstock. This gave the layout a fun patchwork style look, and added lots of interest and colour to the background without much effort at all. I then chose a paper from the A5 paper Stack, and added some machine stitching around the edge before adhering it the middle of the page. This provided a matt for my photo, helping it to stand out and be separated from the background.

For my embellishing I decided to focus on the circular elements in the collection. I chose items from the accessory stickers, die cut ephemera, chipboard stickers and wood epoxy buttons, and arranged them from the bottom left hand corner of the layout, through to the top right. The diagonal flow of the embellishments helps to draw the viewers eye to the photo and title.

The repetition of the circular shape throughout helps to give the layout a cohesive feel, while the different textures, colours and sizes of each embellishment add interest to the page. I also added a sprinkling of chipboard stars to the page which provides another fun element.

For my title I wanted to use the Die Cut Titles, as I love the fun bold font! I decided on the phrase ‘You’re Cool’, which I think worked perfectly for this page! It not only describes my son’s ‘cool’ personality, but also references the fact that he ‘cooling’ off in the pool! I adhered my title with foam tape to help it to really pop off the page!

I hope that you enjoyed my ‘Throwback Thursday’ layout featuring the No Limits collection. What older Cocoa Vanilla collection do you still have in your stash that you’d love to dig into again?

Mandy x

 

Sweet Moments | Daydream collection | Mandy Melville

Hello everyone!

Mandy here with you today to share a new layout using one of my all-time favourite collections, Daydream! I adore the pretty colours and sweet florals in this collection and I can’t help coming back to it time and again. The photo that I chose for this layout is one of my Mum and youngest daughter, taken recently when we enjoyed a fun girls day out, op shopping and lunching!

The gorgeous wreath on the Daisy Days paper is one of my favourites, and it was the perfect way to showcase a special photo such as this one. I decided to add some extra interest to the background by using the Sun Shower paper to frame the wreath. I did this by cutting a wavy circle out of the middle of the paper and then laying it over the wreath paper.

Next I matted my photo using one of the papers from the 6 x 8 inch Paper Stack and I adhered it at the bottom of the wreath. I added some extra die cut flowers around the bottom of the photo, adhering them with foam tape to give them some nice dimension. I also added some leaves from the These Days Floral Ephemera to the cluster, and I finished it off with a Wood Epoxy Button, also from the These Days collection.

I love combining different alphas to create my titles and on this layout I chose to use a combination of the lovely Mini Puffy Alphas from the These Days collection, with a word from the Daydream Die Cut Titles. My title ‘Sweet Moments’ was the perfect sentiment for this photo. I added my typed journaling strips underneath the title.

I finished the layout off by adding a couple of sweet little butterflies that I fussy cut from one of the 6 x 8 papers, and I also tucked one of the lovely Puffy Hearts into the cluster around the photo. I love the texture that this adds to the page!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope that you enjoyed taking a look at my layout, and that you found some inspiration.

Mandy x

This makes me Smile | Storyteller collection | Mandy Melville

Hello everyone!

Mandy here with you today to share another layout using the amazing Storyteller collection! For today’s layout I chose to document a few photos from my recent birthday. We went out for brekkie in the morning, which is one of my favourite things to do. It was the perfect way to start the day, and even though we didn’t end up being able to go the beach like we’d planned because it rained, I had such an amazing day. The Storyteller collection was perfect for scrapbooking these happy snaps taken of me with family while we were out to brekkie.

 

I started this layout off by trimming down a sheet of white cardstock and matting it on the green Fly Away paper. I then printed my three 3×4 inch photos and arranged them into a photo strip. I layered multiple patterned paper, mostly from the A5 Paper Stack, behind the photos to create a bright and colourful photo mat.

I love fussy cutting the beautiful floral clusters on the Spring Fling paper to embellish my layouts with. Here you can see that I added one of these floral clusters to the right of the photo strip. I adhered just the centre of the flowers to the page, allowing the leaves and springs to lift off the page to create some movement and interest.

I added another fussy cut floral cluster to the left of the photos. This one I adhered with foam tape and overlapped it over the edge of the photos. I also added a wood epoxy button to the centre of the larger flower in the cluster. I love the texture and dimension that this adds to the page.

Lastly I added my title and journaling. I couldn’t go past using the amazing Foam Title Stickers for my title. There are so many great words and phrases in this pack, and I settled on using the phrase ‘This makes me Smile’. It was the perfect sentiment for these photos. I typed my journaling on my typewriter and added the journaling strips under the title.

I finished the layout off by adding a few die cut butterflies and a sprinkling of puffy heart stickers to the page.

Thanks so much for joining me here on the blog today! I hope that you enjoyed taking a look at my layout and found some inspiration.

Mandy x

Best Ever | Storyteller collection | Mandy Melville

Hello everyone!

Mandy here today to share another layout featuring the gorgeous Storyteller collection! For this layout, I decided to scrapbook a couple of photos from a day that Isaac and I spent at the zoo a couple of years ago. It was such a great day, and I wanted to document how much I enjoyed spending the day with him. The Storyteller collection was perfect for this page, and I love the way that I was able to focus on more of the blues & greens in the collection for this layout. And I don’t mind using a floral cluster or two on a boy layout either!

To start the layout off, I trimmed a sheet of white cardstock down to 11 inches square and matted it on the blue Ditsy Daisy paper.

Next I chose a selection of papers from the A5 Paper Stack and cut them down to 1 inch x 4 inches and arranged them across the bottom of the white cardstock. As I mentioned, I tried to stick mostly to the blues, greens and woodgrain as I thought these would complement the photos nicely. I then added a piece of the yellow Little Love paper along the top edge of the strips, along with a border that I punched from white cardstock. This added some nice detail and also provided a ‘ledge’ for the photos to sit on.

I printed two 3 x 4″ photos and matted them on the woodgrain paper from the A5 Paper Stack. I also chose a 3 x 4″ card and positioned it between the two photos. This also became the title for my layout. I adhered the photos and card with craft foam to give them all some extra dimension.

Once my background was done and my photos were in place I was ready to embellish! Of course I couldn’t resist fussy cutting one of the gorgeous floral clusters out of the Spring Fling paper! I adhered this below the photos on the left hand side of the page. I also added one of the Wood Epoxy Buttons to the floral cluster to give some more texture to the page.

To balance out this floral cluster, I added another embellishment cluster in the top right hand corner of the layout. This gives the page a diagonal flow, drawing the viewers eye from the larger cluster, up through the photos, to the one at the top of the page. In this cluster I included some items from the Die Cut Ephemera pack, including a banner, a floral cluster and a butterfly. I also added another Wood Epoxy Button as I like to repeat similar elements in each of my clusters.

I finished the layout off with some typed journaling and a sprinkling of Puffy Stickers.

Thank you so much for joining me here on the blog today. I hope that you’ve found some inspiration!

Mandy x

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!

So Sweet | Storyteller collection | Sue Plumb

Hi everyone, it’s Sue Plumb here to share my latest design team project with you. This month we are focusing on the reason we all scrapbook, and that is telling stories. For today’s layout I decided to document the story of my son and his friend. These two have known each other since they were babies, and it is so lovely to see that their friendship has lasted. I decided to use the gorgeous Storyteller collection for my page, and kept my photo black and white so that it wouldn’t clash with any of the colours of the collection.

I began my layout by creating a mixed media background, using a combination of pale peach acrylic paint and ‘Prize Ribbon’ Distress Oxide ink. I applied the acrylic paint with a brayer over an area approximately half of my page, leaving a white border around the edge. I really love the effect the brayer creates, and it also helps the paint to dry fast because the coat is so thin. On the other half of the page I applied the Distress Oxide by mixing it with water and using a wide brush, before setting it aside to dry. I love the contrast using two different mediums give the page – both from the colours and the effect of the different techniques.

Whilst my background was drying, I turned my attention to the paper component of my page. I cut a piece of the vibrant Oh My Heart paper to sit horizontally across my page where the paint and ink met. This provided separation between the lighter colour at the top and the darker colour at the bottom. I also added a very thin strip of the green pattern on the the reverse of the Fly Away paper behind where I planned to sit my photo. My photo was matted with a blue paper from the A5 Paper Stack, and I also tucked in a small yellow doily and some frayed gauze underneath it. In the top right corner of my photo I added the so happy banner sticker from the Accessory Sticker sheet.

Alongside my photo, I added one of the Pocket Cards which featured a coordinating strip of coloured hearts, and I used my typewriter to add my journalling to it. I then topped the card with the the story behind the photo die cut from the Die Cut Ephemera pack, which was mounted on some foam tape to help it stand out. Along the bottom edge of the card I added another die cut, this time a small banner which read happy little moments, that was also mounted on some foam tape. A Wood Epoxy Button with a sweet little camera completed my cluster on that side of the page.

 

Near the top edge of the page along the border of my paint, I added a second strip of the Oh My Heart paper, which I used as the anchor for another embellishment cluster. This one featured two die cuts – a camera and a floral piece, which were both adhered using foam tape. I also added another Wood Epoxy Button, this time the smaller size, over the lens of the camera. Alongside that was the noteworthy banner piece from the Chipboard Stickers sheet.

Below my photo I added yet another piece from the ephemera pack – a beautiful strip of bunting which provided a lovely underscore for my photo. This was also popped up on foam tape to ensure it sat up at the same height as my photo.

At the bottom of the page I added the words So Sweet from the Foam Title Stickers pack to form my page title, and a small foam heart from the same pack nearby. I finished embellishing my page by adding three butterflies from the ephemera pack and then last of all I added some small black ink splatters to tie it all together.

I am so happy I documented this story of friendship for my son and I know this layout will mean so much more to him with my words included on it than if it was just another pretty page. I know we can all be guilty of not including enough journalling on our layouts from time to time, so hope you are feeling inspired to get a story told on your next page.

If you’d like to see exactly how this page came together you can watch my process video:

Until next time, happy scrapping!

So Happy | Storyteller collection | Tarrah McLean

Hi creative friends!

It’s Tarrah back with you and today I am sharing a new scrapbook layout featuring the stunning NEW Storyteller collection!

For this week I was given the brief of focusing on the wood epoxy buttons in the Storyteller collection! How can you go past these cute embellishments? These are great little additions to any project, providing beautiful dimension and texture!

I recently went away on a little weekend getaway and there was a lovely fireplace inside the cabin we stayed in, I took a couple of selfies in front of the fire as it was so cozy!

I chose the ‘B’ side of the beautiful Spring Fling paper for my background, trimming it down slightly and adhering it a piece of plain white cardstock, I printed my photo in black and white and distressed the edges of the photo, I then pulled out one of the pocket cards and layered it under my photo. I popped the photo up from the pocket card using craft foam, I love the dimension this creates on my layout. On the photo, I stapled a banner sticker from the accessory sticker sheet and to the right of the photo I also adhered a tab from the ephemera pack. 

For my main design element I decided on a circle design, and since the gorgeous wood epoxy buttons are the feature, it allowed me to add lots to the centres of the circles!

I took my circle punches and the A5 paper stack and punched out a few circles from the papers in different sizes, I then layered them together to create 5 layered circles……I distressed the edges of all of the circles and added craft foam in between each layer to add dimension and texture.

I then took a wood epoxy button and added one to the centre of each of the layered circles I created. Once the layered circles were completed, I arranged them on my page how I liked them. I adhered them down, leaving some space at the bottom at the bottom to add a title and some more embellishments. I adhered the gorgeous rainbow banner from the ephemera pack below my photo and popped up the circle die-cut on the right of the photo. On the left of the photo, I just had to add the circle sticker from the accessory sticker sheet that says. ‘But First, Let Me Take a Selfie. I added pop dots to the left edge of this piece and placed it overlapping the photo slightly.

I chose the title ‘So Happy’ from the awesome foam title stickers from the collection and placed the title below my photo and also took some phrase stickers from the accessory stickers and added these below the title and above my photo too. To balance out the other side of the page, I adhered the shorter rainbow banner die-cut from the ephemera pack. I also adhered the camera chipboard piece using craft foam to add dimension and adhered another of the wood epoxy buttons in the centre of the camera.

To help fill in some of the spaces between the circles, I bought in some of the smaller embellishments. I added some of the button die-cuts, some puffy stickers, accessory stickers, foam black hearts and even more wood epoxy buttons too. I added two of the black foam hearts to create the all important visual triangle on my page, strategically placing the hearts in places to draw your eye around the layout. Lastly I sprinkled some white mist and stamped the date stamp.

Thank you so much for stopping by the Cocoa Vanilla blog today! I had so much fun creating this layout and focusing on the super cute wood epoxy buttons! I hope you enjoyed reading how I created it. Make sure to ask your retail store for the gorgeous Storyteller collection…you absolutely NEED this in your life!

Happy creating!

Tarrah x

Love This | Storyteller collection | Tarrah McLean

Hi creative friends!

It’s Tarrah back with you and today I am sharing another layout featuring the stunning new Storyteller collection! This collection is absolutely gorgeous and so versatile for any themed projects and layouts you want to document your memories.

 For my layout today, I am documenting a photo of my Mum and myself from a recent lunch out together.

 I started by cutting out a free cut file design from Paper Issues from white cardstock and then got busy backing the hearts in the cut file with the beautiful heart and navy papers from the A5 paper stack. Once the cut file was all backed, I added craft foam underneath the cut file and adhered it to the centre of the gorgeous 12′ x 12′ wood grain patterned paper. I love the shadows and dimension this adds to my layout. I did trim down the wood grain paper a little bit and matted it with the 12′ x 12′ small floral paper. I machine stitched a border around the edge using my sewing machine with white thread.

I decided to place my photo over towards the right of the page so as not to cover up too much of the hearts in the cut file design. I chose 2 more of the papers from the A5 paper stack and trimmed them to layer under my photo. I also slightly distressed the edges of the papers, I like how this adds a little more interest and texture to my layout. I also added one of the small banner stickers from the Accessory Sticker sheet to the top left corner of my photo. I also tucked in one of the tab stickers above the photo too. I created a cluster of embellishments in the bottom right corner of the photo and could not go past the ‘Special To Me’ banner piece from the ephemera pack. I added foam tape under this piece and placed it under my photo. I also added a chipboard button, heart and floral die-cuts and a couple of stickers here as well.

To the left of my photo, I added the cute camera die-cut from the ephemera pack and placed one of the gorgeous wood epoxy buttons on top. Above the camera I also added some of the phrase and word stickers from the Accessory Sticker Sheet. Below the camera die-cut I added my title which is made up of the foam title stickers. Below the title I added a die-cut butterfly and another chipboard button. You will notice in between the hearts in the cut file that I added some of the super cute enamel hearts randomly. This was mainly to enhance the heart design of the page. I love how this looks.

In the top left corner I added another cluster of embellishments here also, this cluster consists of one of the gorgeous floral die-cuts, a chipboard button and a butterfly die-cut. I added this cluster to help balance out the cluster I added in the bottom right area of the page. This helps with the flow of the page and draws the viewers eye in. With almost all of my pages, I start out adding all of the largest elements like my photo, the title and any larger embellishments. I then move to adding some smaller embellishments and then the smaller things to finish off the page. Once I had finished embellishing my page, I added some sprinkles of white mist and stamped the date stamp as well.

Thank you so much for stopping by the Cocoa Vanilla blog today! I had so much fun creating this layout, I hope you enjoyed reading how I created it. Make sure to ask your retail store for the gorgeous Storyteller collection…you absolutely NEED this in your life!

Happy creating!

Tarrah x

Smile | Storyteller collection | Tarrah McLean

Hi creative friends!

It’s Tarrah back with you and today I am very excited to be sharing my first layout featuring the stunning new Storyteller collection! This collection is absolutely gorgeous and so versatile for any themed projects and layouts you want to document your memories with! I absolutely LOVE anything with hearts so the 12′ x 12′ patterned papers with the hearts on them would have to be my favourite!

As soon as I saw the rainbow striped paper, I knew I wanted to use this paper for my first layout. I decided to cut the coloured strips up and placed them all but one, onto a sheet of plain white cardstock. I adhered them down and then bent the edges of all of them with my fingers to create some texture. I left one of the coloured strips out as I wanted to leave some space in between each coloured paper.

I placed my photo slightly to the right of the page using craft foam to add dimension. I layered some papers from the A5 paper stack underneath the photo and distressed the edges slightly to add some texture and to help make the photo pop! I searched through the pocket cards and found the perfect one to suit the photo of my son as photographer! I used craft foam to adhere the pocket card to the left of the photo. When I am placing elements on my page and I am not 100% certain about their position, I will mostly always only use a very small amount of adhesive in case I need to reposition anything or add an extra layer underneath. Once I am happy with where everything ends up on my layout, I add extra adhesive for reinforcement.

Now I have the main focus of the layout sorted out, next I added a title. I went through the gorgeous black Foam Titles and chose the word ‘Smile’. I placed this word at the bottom of the pocket card to help tie the photo, pocket card and title together. At either end of the photo and pocket card, I tucked in some pretty flower ephemera pieces, I also added the little piece that says ‘Snap Happy’ to the right of my photo.

On top of my photo, I adhered the ephemera piece that says, ‘The Story Behind the Photo’ and also a small phrase sticker from the Accessory Sticker sheet in the top right corner. I also added some more of the phrase stickers above the photo and below the photo, these are great additions to a page to help tell a story! Above the pocket card, I added the camera die-cut using craft foam. From this point, I decided to add my embellishments in a tone on tone look…I took some of the super cute heart die-cuts, enamel hearts and wood epoxy buttons and placed them on their corresponding colours.

Thank you so much for stopping by the Cocoa Vanilla blog today! I had so much fun creating this layout, I hope you enjoyed reading how I created it. Make sure to ask your retail store for the gorgeous Storyteller collection…you absolutely NEED this in your life!

Happy creating!

Tarrah x

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