Created by Gwen Blog - Page 41 of 108 - CUT to YOU (Created By Gwen)

MY FAVOURITES | BOHEMIAN DREAM and LOVE ALWAYS | GWEN WRUCK

Hi Creative Friends,

Back on the blog today with something a little different. This week for the Cocoa Vanilla Studios design team we have been asked to choose our favourite layouts for 2017. I know right, how does one choose? I so love all of the pages I created this year, so in my attempt to narrow it down I’ve chosen two layouts that best document significant parts of my year. Often, I like to scrap everyday moments, but these 2 layouts were created to document two very special things.

First up, is “This HAPPY Life” created using the new Bohemian Dream collection. This page was created to document Caitlin’s 10th Birthday. It is a little different for me in that I used so many photos, but that is what I love about it! I love that I can see at a glance how much she has grown up. I also adore the colours in this collection, so bright and happy, the perfect fit for this page.

My second choice is “XOX” created using the Love Always collection (one of my all time favourite collections). I love the softness of this page and how it documents a huge part of my 2017, my starting back at Ballet. In January, I set a goal of getting back en pointe, and I’m really happy to say, I’ve managed it! Yes, there is a lot of work to do before there will be pirouettes, but I am on my way!

Thanks for popping by today, and for your support both here and on the Cocoa Vanilla Studios blog. It has been such a fun year and I’m super excited to be able to share more Cocoa Vanilla Studios inspiration with you in 2018.

Until next time,

Gwen

“You Make my Heart Smile” for Colour Blast

Hi Creative friends,

I’m back on the blog today with my latest layout. This one features my hubby and daughter on a recent trip to Sea World. It’s really just a happy snap so for this page, I really just wanted to document their sweet relationship in a fun and cute way.

As usual, I started my page by choosing the colours I wanted to use with my photo. I’ve gone with Blush, Lipstick and Punch. Again, I’ve used the Colour blast Shimmer Cubes because I just love how clean they are to work with, no mess, no fuss, just pretty shimmery colour!! I began by creating splatters down the centre right side of my page.

I knew I wanted to add a highlight colour but at this stage, I wasn’t sure which to choose, so I swatched a few on a scrap piece of white cardstock. From this swatch, I was able to hold this against the background I had already created and my photo and compare how they would all look.

I ended up going with Rose Petal and have also added in Lovely Lilac. The idea was to pull colours that would go with my hubby’s shirt. My style is not very masculine, so when scrapping pages of him, I do tend to go with colours he is wearing to help pull the page together. (A little reminder here too, please don’t pop your lids on the Colour Shimmer Cubes, these beauties like fresh air, so throw those lids away once they are safely in their forever home, you won’t ever need to pop a lid on them.)

I simply added the two new colours in splatters in the same way until I was happy with the coverage. I have mentioned previously but I will add it again, if you are after a clean look, you have to wait until all the splatters are dry before adding the next layer. If you don’t, the colours will blend into each other. It took a while to build up so many splatters but I love how it turned out. Next, I really wanted to give the Colour Blast Colour Paste a go, and NOPE, I have not worked with it yet! When trying new things, I always find it best to work with a colour you know you love, so I went with Blush. This way, I knew if I didn’t like it, it would be the product and not because I wasn’t sure about the colour. I have to admit, Blush really is my favourite, but Bling comes a very close second!

Yes, as you can see by the photo evidence above, I did get a little messy! It wasn’t that bad, I just used my palette knife to scrape the Colour Paste across the stencil – a little goes a long way. I wanted to overlap some of the splatters with the focus down the left side of the page. The paste washes up really well so your stencil stays nice and clean.

I will add here, that I find stencils like this one that has a very clean pattern that is orderly really helps keep your design clean, even though you are using mixed media. So be on the lookout for geometric stencils that are uniform in the pattern if you prefer this style.

Now that the background was complete, it was time to add my photos and other embellishments. I worked with the photo first adding photo mats and then these cute die cut feathers.

For the chipboard, I didn’t really want to colour it but had to cover the grey/brown colour so I went straight to the Gesso. I love this because it is heavy gesso, so nice and thick and the coverage is so good, this was just one thick coat. I love how I can add the texture of the chipboard but it also blends into my background for a soft look.

Once the photo and feather elements were in place, I had a dig through my stash of things that would suit the colours on my page. When I found this cute speech bubble, I knew it was the perfect addition and would end up being the “title” of my page. I also found sweet butterflies to cut out and add, that were the perfect blend of the purple and navy I had going on.

Here you can see the pretty paint splatters showing through all of the embellishment clusters. I really love the softness they add to the page, it’s like they ground the embellishments and give them a guide to how they will flow up and down the page design.

Lucky last, another close up of the splatters on the right and the sweethearts from the Colour Paste on the left. I am really happy with how these two products have come together on the page. The Colour Paste has this wonderful dimension to it and a translucency when dry that is really cool.

I give this project a “mess level” of High, but worth it.

Sure, the cubes are super clean but I did break out a stencil and palette knife and you do have to keep an eye on that paste! A little does go a long way so don’t go in guns blazing 🙂

Thanks for popping by today, I hope this page inspires you to get yourself some Colour Paste, clean scrapper or not, you need this in your stash.

Gwen

xox

SWEET YOU @ CHRISTMAS | VARIOUS | GWEN WRUCK

Hi Creative Friends,

I love Christmas, I really do and I love scrapbooking our Christmas memories. Today I am sharing this sweet photo of Miss 9 at last years Santa photo session. She is getting to be a ‘big girl’ now and as we were standing in line for our photo, she noticed Santa asking the other children to put their hands on their heads to create Reindeer antlers. As she stood there, trying to be all grown up, she kept saying, “I am sooo not doing that Mum, that’s for little kids”. To my surprise, when it came to her turn, she followed along with Santas request and I have the darling photo to prove it.

This fortnight, we have been set the challenge to create a Christmas project with NON-Christmas supplies. To begin, I sorted through my stash in the hunt for Red and Mint, the two boldest colours in my photo. I found the Hello Lovely Glimmer paper which was a perfect match for the Mint, as well as the Make A Wish Daydream paper which I have used for my photo mat. The Red, however, was much harder to find, so I pulled out a bright Christmas red in cardstock from my stash.

I also then searched through my stash of cut files and found this one, by Neat and Crafty which again, is not a Christmas theme cut file but I thought the bows were really nice and would represent presents. I ended up cutting the file out three times, once in bright red and twice in white cardstock. At this stage, I wasn’t sure which direction I was going and for me, options are always good to have! It was at this point I did a whole lot of shuffling, in the end deciding on the white. I then went about backing the bows in various colours in the paper mentioned above. I then took the extra white version I had and trimmed off some single bows with my scissors and backed those as well. My plan was to mount them on foam for added dimension and layer them over the top of the main cut file.

I then thought it was all looking a bit plain, the cut file was blending into the white cardstock background. So, I added in the red version of the cut file as a layer, with only small portions of it showing, almost like an outline. I love how it really helps bring the page together.

With that all in place, I went about placing my photo and finding my embellishments. I just looked at all of the collections for things that would fit. The words “Best Ever” have come from the Make a Wish Accessory Sticker Sheet and the typed sentiments have all come from the Love Always Accessory Sticker Sheet. The “Special Memories” and “So Sweet” sentiments, as well as the love hearts, are all from the Sugar and Spice Accessory Stickers Sheet (an oldie but still one of my favourites). I’ve also added a couple of puffy heart stickers from the Endless Summer puffy sticker pack and sequins from my stash to finish.

The title “Sweet You” is from the Wild At Heart Collection Wood Veneer Words pack. I have used Bling Colour Blast embossing powder to turn them the perfect shade of Christmas gold.

I have kept the embellishments pretty simple as I didn’t want to take away from that background I had spent so much time creating. A few small clusters and the page was complete.

Thanks for popping by today, it’s now your turn to create a Christmas page, which we would love to see you share on the Community FaceBook group!

Until next time,

Gwen

"Believe in You" for Colour Blast

Hi Creative Friends,

By now you will all know I have quite the love affair with pink and mint so when I saw this pattern paper collection with the addition of Yellow, I knew it was time to pull out my Sunshine Colour Blast! Oh… such a happy colour to document these sweet selfies of me and my little Miss.

As I mentioned above, this page was all about the colours. I really do love this combo of Colour Shimmer Cubes in Sunshine, Punch, Lipstick and Envy and they were the perfect match to the pattern papers I had in mind. Aren’t they pretty!!

For this page, I really wanted to work with some florals with the idea to have a large one as a centre feature on my page. I wasn’t completely sure where this idea would take me, so went about die cutting a stack of florals and leaves in different sizes all on white cardstock. Next, it was time to colour them. I began with the packaging technique to get coverage as a first layer, and then went about adding more colour with splatters, tone on tone, and a paintbrush. I’ve added these while the base colour was still wet. I did not want the splatters to sit on top of the background but bleed and blend in instead, this way, you get a pretty watercolour effect.

I used Envy for the leaves and simply painted that on with a paintbrush. For the florals, I’ve used a combination of Lipstick and Punch. I was careful to make the colour uneven, I wanted a water-colour look, not perfect coverage. I’ve also darkened sections of the floral for interest, by adding extra colour with a paintbrush.

Next, it was time to work on my background. Once I had sorted out a basic plan for the design of the page, I knew where my large floral piece would be placed. From there, I went about very lightly drawing around it with a pencil. Next, I took my paintbrush and loosely painted over my pencil marks, working along the outer edge. Again, I wasn’t after a perfect shape just a soft whimsy outline. It certainly does not have to be perfect and in fact, I think it looks better when it’s not!

Now was the time for adding splatters. Lots of them, one colour at a time allowing each to dry in between to avoid them blending into each other. I just kept on splattering with my paintbrush until I was happy with the coverage.

Below you can see how all the colours look together. I just love the pop of the yellow in the Sunshine.

Now all of the mixed media elements were ready, it was time to assemble my page. First, I locked in the position of my paper layers, my photos and the large flower. I placed it so that you could see the edge of the drawn flower on my background poking through, it’s subtle, but I love it.

I then went about adding the other floral and leaf pieces to create clusters. I was sure not to stick the entire piece down, I love how the edges are a little curled up from the mixed media. It adds such a pretty element to your page.

Here you can see the pretty splatters sticking out from the edges of all my layers. They really do soften everything so nicely.

I give this project a “mess level” of Low

A paintbrush and some packaging and you are good to go! The pots of Shimmer keep all your colour contained and adding your mixed media to die cut pieces makes for a clean feel to your design.

Thanks for popping by today, I hope this page inspires you to paint yourself some pretty die cut florals, I really had fun doing this!

Gwen

xox

BEAUTIFUL CHRISTMAS | BOHEMIAN DREAM | GWEN WRUCK

Hi Creative friends,

They say every rule has an exception so when the design team were asked the question Pink or Blue? I think everyone would have thought I would say pink… and normally I would, absolutely because, well… PINK! However, being so close to the silly season, I really really wanted to scrap these two pics of my little Miss and I thought Blue would be the perfect choice for that, so Blue it was!

The design of this page began with the idea of creating a Christmas tree. As I was working with the new Bohemian Dream collection which is not a Christmas line as such, I knew I’d have to add some kind of Christmas element to bring it together. To do this, I simply cut the word “Christmas” out on my Silhouette. I placed the title towards the bottom of my page and centered it as I wanted it to represent the lowest branches of my Christmas tree design. I have backed the cut file with a combination of the Abundant, Gypsy Heart, and Flower Child papers.

To finish out my title, I used the Chipboard Title Stickers word “beautiful”. I just have to say too, the adhesive on these is so good, no need to add extra glue, it’s super strong – and we all love that! Just decorate with mist, paint etc and stick them on, I just love how customisable these are.

Now that the title was sorted, I worked on placing my photos. I knew they would be the 2nd largest element I would have besides the large title and needed them locked into position before I could add my mixed media and the rest of my design. Before sticking them down, I added some watercolor splatters in a pretty shade of blue. It softens the edges of the photo and adds to the otherwise fairly blank background. I’ve double mounted the photos using the Abundant, and Gypsy Heart papers and stitched around the edges with my machine.

To create the top of my tree, I’ve added two of the leave die cuts from the Ephemera Pack. I also centered a sentiment sticker from the Accessory Sticker sheet over the top to hide where the leaves meet. I’ve also added the “Oh So Happy” circle die cut from that same pack and the pretty butterfly in substitute for an angel.

Here you can see the pretty result from using shimmery watercolors on the white chipboard title stickers and the flair badge I’ve added to my tile. I’ve also placed more of the leaves, this time those from the Vellum accents pack under this cluster to add to the feel of the Christmas tree.

To finish off my layout, I stamped 4 hearts with grey ink onto the Gypsy Heart paper using the Clear Stamps set and fussy cut them out, I placed 3 of these at the bottom of my page for the tree base, and one at the very top to represent the very top of the tree.

Thanks for popping by today, I hope the mention of Christmas didn’t make you groan, I know it’s a little early, but if I don’t create in the season it’s oh so much harder to get it done during the year.

Until next time