What a collection! The new Love Always by Cocoa Vanilla - a layout share....

Hey everyone, I'm here today sharing my first layout I have created using the new and absolutely stunning Love Always collection. This layout, I actually taught at a recent retreat in Victoria which was so much fun and a chance to share the Cocoa Vanilla love with others.

This collection is truly after my heart; the pastel colours with pops of black, white and grey, the softness of embellishments and paper designs, the bundles of embellishments including die cut card stock ephemera and vellum ephemera- I mean what is not to love!?!

For this layout I decided to document this gorgeous photo of my kiddies hugging that was taken at Easter time. I was trying to get them to look at the camera, which is an impossible task these days might I add – and managed to snap this gorgeous picture of them hugging in the process.

I used white card stock as my base, which doesn’t come as a surprise, and applied a layer of whipped spackle through a text stencil in a diagonal direction. This adds a lovely subtle texture to my page. If you are interested in learning more about adding Subtle Texture to your pages in my style of scrapbooking I have a Big Picture Class you can take here by accessing a free trial of the classes if you are not already a member.

I layered my photo behind multiple layers of the patterned papers in the collection. I also added a doiley from my stash. The main layer is a 7″ circle which I matted with vellum and added to the page with foam adhesive. I then added my layered photo mat with another layer of foam adhesive. When I have large areas like this that I want to add dimension to I use a material such as a craft foam sheet. This is cost effective and gives a nice flat and even layer of dimension.

The title is made up of an ‘xo’ cut file available in the Cocoa Vanilla Store for immediate download. I backed these with a patterned paper in the collection and also added a layer of vellum behind them to help distinguish them from the white background. I also added them to the page with a double layer of foam adhesive so they were the same depth as the photo. You can really see the dimension in the image below.

The florals are a cut file based on the florals in the collection. I just adore them and they may be arriving in the CVS store soon *hint hint*. I backed the leaves section and floral section with the papers from the collection also.

Embellishing the page was done with a combination of the accessory sticker sheet and die cut ephemera. I honestly just can’t get enough ephemera!

I added some journalling, just basically my thoughts when I look at the photo. I did this by typing it onto my typewriter and adhering it in strip form under the title.

I had an absolute ball teaching this class to a number of the retreat attendees. I think they all loved the CVS goodies as much as I do!

I couldn’t finish the post without a pic that we managed to snap, myself with the lovely creator of these amazing products Zoe! Thank you for allowing me to share my love of your products with everyone!

Raquel xx