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10 YEARS | BOHEMIAN DREAM | GWEN WRUCK

Hi Creative friends!

Back on the blog today with a very special share… Special for a couple of reasons, firstly, it is my very first project using the DIVINE new Bohemian Dream collection for Cocoa Vanilla Studios, and more importantly, it’s special because it’s a project 10 years in the making!

I am a huge fan of tag mini albums and I have always wanted to do one featuring my little Miss and all of her birthday celebrations. I wanted to create one project that would show just how much she has grown up over the years and of course, birthday photos are a great way to see that! It took a little bit of work to sort through 10 years of photos but so worth it! As you can imagine, there was quite a bit of inconsistency in the photos due to them being taken over such a long period of time over many different cameras. I thought the best way to work with that would be to print them all in black and white and edit with the same filter. I’m really happy with the consistent feel they now have.

I then went about putting the photos in order from birth to 10, this gave me a really good starting point for the design of the album and dictated the layout for all of the pages. Some of the photos were not that great quality wise so they had to be printed smaller, others were the square format and some were 6×4. I really love the mix of sizes and I think it really adds an eclectic feel to the album.

Now that the photos were sorted, it was time for the fun stuff! I ADORE this new collection especially the mix of pink and purple and the floral in the “Abundant” paper is to die for! I thought it best to stick with a small selection of papers, “Abundant”, “Dreamer”, “Wild and Free” and “Bo Ho Bits” and teamed these with a piece of bright green cardstock from my stash. I was going for bright and fun just like my Miss 10!

I have used a set of pocket page plastic sheets as pockets for my photos and went about inserting these and adding my pattern papers to the back. I created tabs for the photos to attach to the ring at the top out of rectangles cut from the “Bo Ho Bits” pattern paper. I simply fussy cut them out, folded in half and punched a hole in them. I have also used quite a few of the elements from this cut apart sheet for my embellishments. The number of each birthday came from my stash, it was good to finally get a use for those!

The bones of the project were coming together at this point so now was the time to go page by page adding lots of elements. I started with the tag from the Sticker sheet that says “You Brighten my World” and added that to a scrap of pattern paper, next came a tag that was die cut and then I’ve added the word “lovely” from the chipboard accessories sheet. For the next sheet, I’ve added a sticker tab to the right of my photo and a flair button. I really wanted to use lots of bits from all of the parts of the collection, they go so well together and I just love the dimension they all bring.

This part of the creation process was so fun, I simply went page by page adding bits until I was happy. Above you can see chipboard, fussy cut pieces of pattern paper and die cuts to create this cluster, finishing it off with some enamel shapes. It was so nice to be able to just pick pieces and add them, there are just so many choices and with everything being so new and so well co-ordinated it really was hard not to add everything… I did use quite a bit though and I love that!

Here you can see a side view of the album. I’ve added quite a few words and tabs down the side for interest and you can also see that I have added A LOT of sewing details to keep the album together. I have also included a few shaker pockets with sequins which are really fun. Sewing them really helps them stay together as they are handled so much more than pages in an album. I think this is one of the reasons I love making them so much, I seriously could make these all day every day!

I do hope you love what I have created with this new collection, it was so fun to make! If you haven’t had a chance to see it all, be sure to pop over to the Cocoa Vanilla Facebook page, it really is such a stunning collection. If you’d like your very own album just like this, be sure to check out the details of my upcoming class at The Stamper Hut Ashmore later on in the month. Details on Facebook 🙂

Until next time,

Gwen

"Happy Moments Together" for Colour Blast

Hi, Creative friends!!

Back with you today as part of the Colour Blast team sharing with you another “clean mixed media” project. Lots of close ups and step by steps so why not grab a cuppa and enjoy!

For this layout, I started with a black and white picture of myself and my daughter. I love scrapping photos like this, family pics of us just being together, no special occasion, just being us. I wanted to work with a white background and a monochromatic colour scheme, I’ve gone with Pink, Black and White.

To begin, I started with Bazzill Marshmallow card stock so no gesso was required. I’ve started with the packaging technique using Colour Shimmer Spray in Punch and Blush. I’ve mentioned before how I love using these 2 tones of pink together, they work so well for a tone on tone effect.

Next, I have added some splatters, firstly with the Shimmer Sprays, and then, once dry with the Colour Shimmer Cube in Punch.

Here is a close up… you can see the different result achieved by the packaging technique compared to the splatters.

Next, I needed some contrast, so I went with the stunning Sienna in the Colour Shimmer Spray. I have used a paint brush to add more splatters. I use one colour at a time and allow everything to dry before using the next colour. This helps to ensure no mixing of the colours as they dry.

With my background complete, it was now time to work on the cut file element I wanted to add. I simply cut out a bunch of flowers using my Silhouette and while they were still on my cutting mat, I applied Shimmer Spray in Blush and Sienna to them using the packaging technique. For this process I did allow the colours to mix a little and really love how that looks!

I was VERY careful not to add too much liquid here as the card stock I was using had not had gesso applied, and I didn’t want any moisture getting onto my Silhouette cutting mat. I then carefully removed the cut flowers from the mat and let fully dry. You will need to work quite quickly here as the longer the moisture sits on the paper the more likely it will tear as you remove it. I love how their edges curled up a little as they dried.

Here you can see a close up of the finished flowers. I love how uneven the mists look, there are sections where the colour is quite saturated and other sections with very little colour applied. I now had all of the elements ready to complete my page.

I simply arranged the flowers onto my background adding a tiny spot of glue to the centre. I really wanted their edges to stay curled up a little for added interest. I love how their open design allows you to see the background through the petals.

I then placed my photo and title as these were my two largest elements. Once their position was locked in, it was easy to add the other elements around them.

To complement my photo I’ve added in some other black and white elements including these chipboard hearts. I just love the contrast they provided to the design. I’ve added other die cut elements from Crate paper and Flutterby Designs and the page was done.

I give this project a “mess level” of Low

(Thanks to the plastic packaging which I didn’t even bother cleaning (throw it away people), and a paintbrush I can really control where the colour goes and still no messy hands or nails!)

Thanks for popping by

Gwen

xox

"Create Happiness" for Dlish Scraps

Hi Creative Friends,

I hope you are all doing well!

I’m here today to share my very last layout as part of the D-lish scraps design team. It has been an amazing year on the team, I really have loved every minute! I have especially loved Amanda’s amazing inspiration boards. She comes up with colour combos and inspiration that pushes me out of my comfort zone and enables me to push my creative boundaries and I so love that! So what better way to finish my term than with a layout inspired by the latest inspiration board “Over the Rainbow”.

This is the perfect example of a page I wouldn’t normally create, I love colour but generally would not use all of the colours on one page!! To keep it more my style, I went with a pastel version of the colours and used tone on tone for the embellishments.

To start the page, I have also kept the background pretty clean by adding some mist in co-ordinating colours. I have simply added each colour in a strip creating a ‘rainbow’ of sorts across the centre of the page. Next, I went about punching out the hearts using paper scraps from my stash. I wanted a pastel version of the colour represented in the inspiration board.

Next, I went about stitching a line of colour along the centre of each of the rows of hearts, to keep the design clean, I wanted to block the colours and use tone on tone. You can also see I’ve hand stitched around my photo, once I knew where the placement would be, I co-ordinated the stitched edge with the section of the background it would be sitting on. Now that I’ve mentioned it, you will really notice it in the images above… each section around the edge of the photo has co-ordinating thread.

Next, it was time for smaller elements, I pulled out a stack of Pick n place bows, one for each of the colours represented in my ‘rainbow’. Then, I did the same for the Jewelled cabochons and Resin flowers.

I also used one of my favourites the wood beads from Pink Fresh studio here as well. I’m loving the different textures here, the resin, the canvas and fabric bows and the wood. I just added items here and there in co-ordinating colours to the hearts and background until I was happy.

Lastly, I added my title using Thickers and a chipboard word painted with white Gesso and… that was the layout complete. I hope it inspires you to give the Inspiration board a go, they really are so fun to work with!

Thanks for all your support, encouraging words and love for my D-lish scraps layouts. I have so loved being part of the team. Looking forward to the next adventure, so lots more scrappy inspiration still to come.

Products used:

Chipboard titles/words

Pick N Place Canvas bow

thanks for popping by today

Gwen

HAPPY LITTLE MOMENTS | MAKE A WISH | GWEN WRUCK

Hi Creative Friends,

Back today for another Cocoa Vanilla Studios share, and this week on the blog the DT are focusing on Hearts and Flowers! You will all know this was NOT a challenge at all for me as I adore working with both! I started with this cute selfie taken by Miss 10 of herself and the cat, there is nothing quite like finding gems like these on your phone, I so adore them!

The inspiration for this page began with the cut file from Paper Issues. As my photo was a little grainy, I knew it would have to stay quite small in size so I thought I’d go for a large cut file element to fill in the remainder of the page. I also knew at this point I wanted to use the bright pink, green and yellow tones in the Fresh Cut paper from the Make A Wish Collection as my inspiration.

I don’t actually end up using a lot of this paper, however, it really was my starting point for the page. There are so many times where I’m not sure to start and pretty products like these always get me inspired!

I started by backing the three flowers in my cut file with this paper and the leaves as well, with the Party Dots paper. I also used these 2 papers as the mount for my photo. I also wanted to pull out floral elements from the die cut ephemera as well as the vellum accents pack. Both of these packs have so many pretty floral elements, I knew they would all be a perfect fit!! I also now took the time to fussy cut out a few of the yellow and pink flowers from the Fresh Cut paper.

Now was the time for some fun! I simply went about adding floral elements in between and over the top of the cut file piece. I was going for a floral explosion here! I also found this pretty little vellum piece in the vellum accents pack and thought it would be a very sweet title, I’ve just hand stitched it onto a circle of white cardstock and placed it in the centre of the middle flower.

You can see here my photo mat and some of the die cut pieces. The paper flower is part of the Hello Sunshine Collection – shop them here.

Now was the time to think about adding some hearts for the “heart” part of the challenge… I had certainly covered flowers at this point 🙂

I went with the Free Spirit Resin hearts and Life is Beautiful Wood Veneer hearts, I just love how all of the Cocoa Vanilla collections work so well together and they were a really nice finishing touch. I have also added in a wood veneer butterfly from this same pack to pull together the die cut butterflies I have added.

I really loved the page at this point, but felt it was missing something… it was still very white on white and needed a little more contrast. So I decided to add a little more stitching. Well, a lot more stitching actually! I had already added some for the circle title element, so it made sense to add some more around that floral piece. Then I added more on the leaves and a few other floral elements in pink, green and yellow…. the 3 colours that started it all in the first place!

Lastly, I added a few sequins for some sparkle and the page was done! This one did take a while with all the stitching and lots and lots of small elements, but I am super happy with how it turned out, I think it was worth it!

Thanks for popping by today

Until next time

Gwen

"Gather Pretty" for Colour Blast

Hi, Creative friends!!

Back with you today as part of the Colour Blast team sharing with you another “clean mixed media” project.

For this layout, I started with a picture I had taken of my craft room. I have been scrapping for a long time now and for much of that, I did not have my own scrappy space so for this page I wanted to document my craft space and my love of collecting pretty things to fill it with. I love vintage and second-hand shopping and especially love that I have a space of my own to decorate and keep the things that truly inspire me. #alltheprettythings

The inspiration for the colours in my page started with a printed chipboard banner from Maggie Holmes. I just love the colours in this so I went to my swatch book and found Colour Shimmer Sprays in Punch, Envy and Bling were a perfect match so I pulled out the matching Shimmer Cubes as well.

Next, I set about getting a plan for my design. I find it helps to know where you are going to be placing items on your page before you start any background work, this way you can keep colour to those areas leaving room for “white space”. I wanted to create a vertical design using some black and white picture frames cut from a pattern paper. I placed these onto my background and then marked their placement with a pencil for reference.

Now that I had a clear plan for the page, it was time to add some colour. I began by spraying some mist onto a clear stamp block and stamping on my background. I’ve also added a few splatters here and there using the nozzle of the spray knowing that some of these would be covered by my frames. I was just trying to get some layers going on here. It’s super important to dry each colour off before adding the next to stop the colours from going muddy. Below you can see the small pencil marks as a guide for my frames as well as the three colours added to my background.

Next, it was time to secure my frames onto the background. Once I had done this, I could see that the splatters I had added earlier had not really stood out, so it was time for some more. This time I used the Shimmer Cubes as I know the colour is deeper and bolder. I tried to focus the spatters along the lines of my design following along with the frames and was perfectly fine for some to go on top of the frames themselves.

You can see here a close up of the mix of splatters I now have from the Shimmer Spray and the Shimmer Cubes. Once this was all dry, I then went about stitching around each of the frames for added detail.

I was really loving the pop of black on my page here and decided at this point to roll with it! I pulled out the black chipboard title “gather” and fussy cut some pink and black butterflies. Then, searching through my stash, I found this laser die cut black butterfly which would fit in perfectly. I simply sprayed it with some Colour Shimmer Spray in Punch and WOW, did that sparkle! I really would recommend using your sprays over a darker colour, they really look beautiful.

I will add here that I was very generous with the spray I added to this element, I wanted the colour to pool in sections rather than having a light mist effect. I was really happy with how these elements were looking so it was now time to add my photo and other elements to my page. Lots of chipboard and some pretty pink paper flowers.

I’ve included a couple of close ups of the black die-cut butterfly with the Punch Shimmer Spray over the top, it really does look pretty!

You can see the shimmer here, including the shine in the background too!

and one more shot of some pretty details, these gold sequins were the perfect match to the Bling Colour Shimmer Cube splatters.

and there you have it.. my latest Colour Blast project – I really hope you like it and it inspires you to pull out your Colour Shimmer cubes, and your Shimmer Sprays and try them on some dark cardstock!

I give this project a “mess level” of Medium

(I did use a few more things for this project, a stamp block and paintbrush and there was a bit of over spray when working with the spray directly onto the butterfly, still no messy hands or nails!)

Thanks for popping by

Gwen

xox