“Fabulous” for Scrap the Girls April 2018

Hi Creative Friends!

April is here and I’m here to share the latest challenge for Scrap the Girls and I love love love it!  This month challenge is another mood board, featuring my fav combo, mint and pink, with a pop of red!

For my take, I drew inspiration from the bottom right-hand image, starting with fabulous as my title and how could I go past a mint and pink colour scheme.  AND here is my take…  (**Side note, the pop of pink on the edge does go all the way around the page, it just doesn’t look like it in the shot below)

The design for the page began with the large number 40 I have cut out on my Silhouette.  I have backed it with some paper scraps in the pink and mint colour tones and then hand stitched around the edges.  I will never get sick of hand stitching on my pages, it adds such a wonderful finishing touch and a lovely handmade element.

 

Next came the large word “fabulous” which I have also cut on my Silhouette, this time in a bright shade of pink!  I love the brightness it adds to my page.  I knew this would be my title and run across the bottom of my page.  These two elements are both quite large, so once I had a plan for their positions the rest of the page fell into place.

I decided on one main cluster for my page which would go above my title and below my photos.  It’s essentially a centred design, but off centre 🙂  If that makes sense!  I’ve also mounted my photos with the same bright pink cardstock as the title which brings the page together.

Then it was time to add in the little elements that finish off a page.  For these, I’ve gone with Gold, mainly because I had a few gold elements in my stash I wanted to use up (such as the cute little “best ever” chipboard piece and the bow paper clip) but also because I am a huge fan of Pink and Gold and in fact, my party (the one in the pictures) was a pink and gold theme!

I just love how all the little pieces work together to make up this page, combined with the super large number 40, I’m so happy with how it turned out!

Be sure to upload to the Facebook group for your chance to win a fab prize from our sponsors – I would love to see what you create!

This months sponsor:  Scrapping Fun Kits & Rainbow Splendour

Until next time,

Gwen

xo

REMEMBER THIS PRECIOUS MOMENT | MORE THAN WORDS | GWEN WRUCK

Hi Creative Friends,

I’m up on the Cocoa Vanilla blog today and I have to say, we sure have had a lot of fun this week with the team scrap-lifting other DT members.  I’m pretty excited that it is my turn as I love it when we get to do this!!  I see oh so many clever designs and wonderful creations from the design team, it’s so fun to be able to scrap-lift them; the hardest part is choosing who to lift!  This time around, I’ve decided to go with the crazy talented Anna Komenda.  Here is her stunning off the page “Dream Catcher” using Bohemian Dream that inspired me.

I love this so much!!! What’s not to love about the fussy cut flowers and that mixed media background AND all those lovely layers!!  I went about re-creating it using the latest collection More than words.

The first thing you will probably notice is that I’ve used calico as my background.  I liked the idea of having soft edges for the hoop as my version was not going to be a “dream catcher” as such but a frame essentially that could be hung on a wall.  I also knew my version would be far more neutral than Anna’s because of the soft tones of the collection I was using so I made sure to choose a photo that was soft and dreamy too.

I began the project by fussy cutting out all of the flowers on the Sketch Book paper.  There are quite a few, however, they are really quick to cut out as they are not crazy detailed.  I love that they are in a variety of different sizes.

Next, it was time to work on my background.  I’ve primed the calico with some white gesso, this not only gives it some stability but also helps any mixed media to blend rather than soaking straight into the fabric.  I’ve used mists from my stash and applied using the packaging technique as well as adding splatters.  I know it is subtle, but that was the way it was intended.  I really wanted to mimic the soft watercolours of the flowers I had fussy cut.

I’ve used a square photo for my project the same as Anna’s as I really liked the proportions she had with her frame and picture.  I also wanted to use the frame from the Die Cut Ephemera pack and knew that was for a square photo.  While I was looking through the pack, I found some sweet die cut butterflies and a little die cut piece that says “remember this”.

I also took this time to pull out the butterflies from the Vellum accents pack, I love the softness of these and knew they would be the perfect addition to my soft watercolour flowers.

It was now time to place everything. Starting with the largest flowers first, I added these all around the frame and picture.  I then began layering with the medium sized pieces, some I’ve placed on top of the larger pieces, others peaking out from behind them.  Lastly, I added the smallest flowers to my cluster.  Each layer has been added with foam tape for extra dimension.

I then added in my title which is a combination of the die cut piece mentioned above and words from the Chipboard Accent Stickers sheet.  This collection has so many title options which really helps your page come together quickly.  I’ve also added in some of the Enamel Shapes and a Flair for some smaller details for the project.

I really do love how this turned out and it now hangs pride of place in my craft space!  I hope this week we have inspired you to have a go at scrap lifting one of the Design team, we love seeing what you create on the Cocoa Vanilla Studios Facebook page, so be sure to share it with us!

** I almost forgot!!  If you like this project and would like to re-create it for yourself, why not join me in my March class at The Stampers Hut.  I’ll walk you through my process step x step and you will go home with your very own embroidery hoop framed project.  Call Karen on (07) 5539 5188 to book.

Until next time,

Gwen

xo

“Lovely” for Colour Blast

Hi Creative Friends,

Here today with my final share as part of the Colour Blast design team.  I have really loved pushing myself out of my comfort zone as part of the team and creating in my clean mixed media style, the time on the team has flown by! It seems this last project is quite fitting as I would say it is one of my “messiest” pages ever and I so love it!

For this project, I knew I wanted to use the Bohemian Dreams collection by Cocoa Vanilla with its lovely pink and purple tones.  I’ve pulled out colours that coordinate; I’ve gone with Colour Shimmer Sprays in Punch, Lovely Lilac and Rose Petal.  I’ve also used Colour Shimmer Cubes in Rose Petal, Royalty, and Punch.  These are not available online however many stockists carry these and they are in fact my favourite Colour Blast product so well worth trying to track down if you don’t already have some.

I began the design of my page by drawing 2 lines down the centre of my page with a pencil, these were to mark where the rectangles would go that make up the design for the page.  I then applied the Colour Shimmer Spray into the spaces alternating pink and purple tones using the packaging technique.

Once that had dried, I went about splattering on the colour from the Shimmer Cubes.  As this colour is more saturated, the splatters really stand out over the top of the mist. I love the tone on tone effect it has created.  I did mix some of the pinks and purples, however, tried to keep the rectangles either mostly pink or mostly purple.  I did also try and keep the colours contained, that is, leaving white space around the full edge of my page and also between the blocks of colour.

I did have a bit of a plan for this page, so I knew my title was going to be a chipboard piece from Cocoa Vanilla.  These come as plain white chipboard that you can colour any way you like.  I took the Royalty Colour Shimmer Cube and painted it in a watercolour style.  I wanted some areas to be darker than others and I also purposely left some areas around the edges white.

I then went about building my page.  Essentially, it is 4 rectangles of paper layers mixed together and stacked onto each other.  I kept with my colour theme, ensuring that the spaces stayed either mostly purple or mostly pink.  One rectangle was for my photo and another was for my journaling.  For the third rectangle, I wanted to use a die cut card, I just loved its message and felt it was the perfect fit for my photo.

Everyone knows I’m a perfectionist and normally there is no way I would put a photo like this out there, one with crazy hair and tired eyes, however, I’m learning of late to be more gentle with myself, and not so critical of myself or my abilities.  I’m learning that not everything needs to be perfect, my best is enough and part of this crazy journey is the “imperfect”.

Once my three rectangle elements were all in place, I was left with the one on the top right-hand side of the page.  I felt at this stage like the page needed a little ‘white space’ so I kept this rectangle very simple.  A Charms Creations heart right in the centre and a Rubber tab for the top.

The bones of the page are well and truly done now.  I’ve just added a few more little embellishments to finish off each of the rectangles.  I also then went about hand stitching the verticle and horizontal lines with some thread in a dark purple tone to make them stand out.

I give this project a “mess level” of high.  It is a messier style background for me and there is a lot of it!  It was however super easy to create and not a lot to clean up and I think the colour blocking of the design and space around the outside of the page helps it to still fit into my clean mixed media style.

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank Tenisha for the opportunity to be on the team and letting me share my work with you all.  While my time on the team is over, this won’t be the last clean mixed media page you see for me as I so love creating these!

Thanks for popping by today,

Until next time,

Gwen

xox

 

“Love You” for Charms Creations

Hi Creative Friends,

I hope you are all doing well!  I’m back on the blog today with a special share.  From time to time I get wonderful emails in my inbox from people asking me to guest design for them, I feel so blessed that people think of me and ask me to do this and when I received one from the beautiful soul that is Charm from Charms Creations, how could I say no!  I have been using her embellishments for a while now and love how they add a handmade element to my page (without me having to do all the handmade work)!  They are all made to order and I know a little bit of love goes into each and every one of them.

I thought for this page I’d work with one of her heart-shaped designs and decided to team that with a heart style cut file.  I backed the cut file in papers from Cocoa Vanilla Studio and then went to work on creating my background.  I’ve used Shimmer Sprays and Colour Cubes from Colour Blast Australia.

Once my background was dry, I went about positioning the cut file and my photo mat.  Next, it was time to work on my clusters.  You can see here a close up of the Hessian “Heavenly Heart” which I’ve used as the focal point in my main cluster to the left of my photo.  I’ve added a cute flair button on top to finish it off.  I love the texture here of the paper layers, the hessian and the smooth flair.

The Charm Creations elements are quite large, which means you only need one or two for each page and they really help pull a page together.  I’ve also had a dig into my stash (I am on a bit of a stash busting mission at the moment) and pulled out this chipboard title and some paper flowers to finish off my page.  I’ve also added a heap of fussy cut butterflies to pull the design together.

I thought I’d share a close up of my background here as well… and can you see the shine on those butterflies from the ‘Bling’ Colour cube by Colour Blast?  My hands-down favourite thing that they have!

and the page is done… thanks for popping by the blog today and getting this far.  If you haven’t seen the Charms Creations store yet, please stop by and check it out, these handmade embellishments really do add something special to your creations.

Until next time,

Gwen

xo

SWEET HEART | MORE THAN WORDS | GWEN WRUCK

Hi Creative Friends,

I am so in love with the newest Cocoa Vanilla Studios collection, it really is becoming one of my all-time favourites.  It just seems so versatile for the kinds of pages I like to create.   For my latest layout, I began with this sweet black and white photo taken of Miss 11 on a recent family holiday.  I knew I wanted to combine it with the soft pinks and peach tones in the collection with a touch of black.

I started by deciding on my title, which possibly may seem an odd place to start, however, I wanted to use the Chipboard Title Stickers and as they are quite large, knew that the word/words that I choose would dictate some of my design.  It’s much better to get this sorted in the beginning when you have more options in your design than get to the end and find you have run out of room for a title.  I have to add here that there are ohhh so many title options on this sheet, it was hard to decide.  In the end, I went with “Sweet Heart”.

With the title sorted, I then pulled out the Gossamer paper. There are so many things to love about this paper, those butterflies are made to be fussy cut and the black and white design was the perfect border for my page to compliment the black titles. I took out the centre section of the paper and then simply mounted my plain pink cardstock on top.  I then mounted my photo with this centrepiece and used the leftovers to fussy cut out as many of the butterflies as I could.  I added a double mount for my photo using the Effervescent paper.

Now I had a pile of perfectly pretty paper butterflies, my title and photo matted, it was time to make some design decisions.  I began by drawing with a pencil around a china dinner plate to create a circle shape in the centre of my page.  I then took my sewing machine and stitched around the circle twice.  It doesn’t have to be perfect, it all adds to the handmade feel.  I then positioned my photo onto one side.

To balance out the design, I added my title which I’ve split top and bottom of the page and then added a couple of flower clusters.  I’ve used the Die Cut Ephemera, and the large peach flower from the Chipboard Accent Stickers sheet.  I’ve also layered into the cluster a couple of leaves from the Vellum Accents pack.  Now it was time to add in my sweet little fussy cut butterflies around the circle.  I’ve placed them so that they are all flying towards the top of the page, rather than around in the circle, just for something different.

To finish the page off, I’ve created an embellishment cluster in the top left-hand corner of my photo and also added in some black hearts from the Chipboard Title Stickers, a Flair Badge and some Enamel shapes.

I really do love how this turned out, I don’t use a lot of black in my creating, but this still feels pretty and delicate to me and I think it really helps bring out the best in my photo.  This really is such a classically beautiful collection, be sure to pop over to the store or a local stockist and check it all out AND if you’re so inclined to recreate it, I love to see you share it on the Cocoa Vanilla Studios Facebook page.

Until next time,

Gwen

xo

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