Sunday Sketch with Shu-Wen

 

Hi Everyone!

It's Shu-Wen here, sharing a spread that I created in my Life Crafted Album with the new "Bungalow Lane" Add-On Kit available in the Citrus Twist Kits shop! 

Here's the sketch that I used to create my spread:

I love square sketches because they can be used for both 12x12 layouts or Life Crafted Album layouts! 

For the left side of my page, I used a 3x4 landscape oriented photo. Since I knew that it would have to span across both sides of my Life Crafted Album spread, I made sure to pick a photo where it wouldn't matter if I cut the photo in half! I substituted the circle shaped embellishments on the left side of the sketch with some of the smaller floral ephemera pieces from the ephemera pack that came in the add-on kit, substituted the label below those with one of the foam stickers from the Thickers pack that came in the kit, and used some coordinating enamel dots (a Citrus Twist exclusive) to finish off that page. I even added some 3D foam adhesive behind one of these floral ephemera pieces to give my page more dimension!

For the right side of the spread, I used an Instax photo as the focus point for the page. I used one of the butterfly ephemera pieces and one of the larger florals from the ephemera pack to put on opposite corners of my photo and framed them with some leaves that I tore off one of the branch ephemera pieces in the ephemera pack. Since I didn't feel that my page needed any journaling, I decided to substitute that with another Thicker sticker from the add-on kit. Then, I finished off my page with more enamel dots from Citrus Twist Kits!

Here's what my full page looked like in the end! I love how the warm colors of the patterned papers and embellishments in this kit went so well with the warm tones in the photos I took of us hanging out by the fire. 

You can check out the process video that I made for this spread on my YouTube channel!

I love how this spread turned out! If you decide to make a layout using this sketch, feel free to tag me on Instagram or on the Citrus Twist Kits Facebook Fan page so that I can check it out! Make sure to check out the Citrus Twist Kits shop for all the new goodies this month! 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

3-to-Inspire with Nathalie DeSousa

 

Hi there,

Nathalie with you today this week's 3-to-Inspire challenge.  Every week, we  issue a challenge based on 3 prompts in hopes they inspired a project of your own.   These are this week's prompts:

1. Use numbers to tell your story
2. Limit your color palette
3. Create a grid design

Here is what I have created using the prompts and products from the September release.

I started by printing two of the same 6x8 Digital Ledger paper for the background of my page.  I chose this color as it contrast nicely with the yellow alphabet sticker that is  included in the Add on kit.

I printed my three photos in black and white to the same size -this will help to build the grid design on the page-.  I mentally drew a grid in the center of the layout, and  glued the photos to sit inside of the grid.

I pulled the new Luna Numbers 6x8 Stamp set, to stamp the outline of the numbers next to each photo.  Here, I used the puffy mini stickers from the add on kit to help me tell the story of an elevator malfunction,

I chose to create a pocket -from vellum- to house my journal lines.   I used the Luna Alpha Numbers stamp set to add the title for the page to the front of the pocket.   

I added  my lines of journal to a tag, and slid this in place!   To finish the page, I simply added a few of the new enamel dots around each of the numbers on the page.

I love how this turned out, and now it is your turn to use the three prompts to create a project of your own.  Remember to share with us your finished projects.  We would love to see what you created!

XO

Sunday Sketch with Patricia

 

Hello CTK Friends!  I hope all of you are well.  I love these Sunday Sketches because I can either be inspired to create exactly as it is or I can be inspired by what I see.  For today's sketch, I turned it to the left to fit in the Heidi Swapp Storyline Chapters album.

I decided to gain inspiration from the layers under the photo by punching out small tags from the Jen Hadfield Reaching Out Paper Pad from the shop.  The colors from the pad go great with the September goodies!

For the left side, I gained the inspiration from the top of the sketch and the right side with the layered piece having a notebook edge to it.  I just punched my edge of the pattern paper, trimmed it and layered September Ephemera over it.  For the journaling part of the sketch, I used a September Ephemera tag.

I still have layers of the ephemera, puffy stickers, the photos, and a little fussy cutting from the Jen Hadfield pattern paper pad all inspired by the sketch.  The last detail I added was the True Life V2 stamp.

Hope you are inspired by the Sunday Sketch and maybe you want to try taking the inspiration and changing it up a bit.  Happy Creating! 

MEET OUR SEPTEMBER 2021 GUEST DESIGNER: NATHALIE LEONELLI

 

Hi there!

We are so excited to welcome our second guest designer for September.  She is one of the sweetest ladies ever, plus she has an amazing eye for design, and creates the most beautiful pocket mail packages.  She was also part of one of our first  design teams many years ago.   We are so excited to welcome Nathalie Leonelli to our team for this month.  You are going to love her, too!

Hello, my name is Nathalie Leonelli and I am thrilled to be back here as a guest designer (I was part of the very first CTK design team forever ago!). I am married and the mother of two boys in college. I love dark chocolate, visiting new places and playing with paper.

 

 

Q&A with Nathalie

 

·   When did you start scrapbooking? 

About twenty years ago! Shortly after my wedding, I didn’t know what to do with all my photos and I found a kit at a craft store. Shortly after, I found an online forum and then I was hooked.

 ·    What is something most people would not know about you? 

      In my before-kids life, I worked in Los Angeles doing product placement on TV shows and movies.

     What are the 3 scrapbooking products you can’t live without?

     Anything that brings dimension and texture such as foam dots, chipboard and puffy stickers, oh and I also love die-cuts, stamps and…. how can anybody stick to just three products?!

 ·    What do you love about the September release? 

The soft and warm colors, the Feels Like Home Ephemera which is perfect for everyday memories and the Merry & Bright Gold Puffy alphabet which is so stunning I’d love to have three more packs!

 

·    Finish this sentence “If you could see my scrapbooking space now . . . “

… it looks nothing like this photo but “creative minds are rarely tidy”, right?

 

Nathalie's project

Hello Citrus Twist fans,

It's Nathalie and I am honored to be here to share one of my projects with you. The September release inspired me to work on my 2020 pocket album and I found so many great elements to create a monthly "everyday life" spread. 

When I am sitting down to create, I get a lot of ideas from the products themselves. As soon as I received my box of goodies, I opened the "Feels Like Home" ephemera pack and I selected my favorite die-cuts that ended up being my starting points.

 I enjoyed layering them in several spots on my pages.

 

Because most of my photos were rather dark, I chose to use the light pink, peachy and yellow toned journaling cards from the "Everyday Life" pack and printed a sheet from the "Coming Home" Ledger digital papers (one sheet is perfect to create two 4x6 cards).

 

 

I absolutely love the look of the “Merry & Bright” gold alphabet puffy stickers on my photo!

I added stitching details and enamel dots here and there for texture and typed my journaling on a manual typewriter.

 

 

If you are short on words, like I usually am, try using bullet points organized in highs and lows. They give a good snapshot of your week or month and don't require a lot of thinking!

It's with this final tip that I leave you and I hope you have found a couple of ideas for your next project. Thank you for having me!

Oh wow!  We love what Nathalie has created with our latest release, and learning a bit more about her.  She is one of the sweetest ladies we know.    Remember to check for more of Nathalie's work on Instagram @anounceofcreativity  You are going to love her work!

Nathalie will be sharing more of her talent with us throughout the month.    We cannot wait to see what she creates next!

XO

3-To-Inspire With Aimee

 

Hi there CTK friends! It's Aimee here with you today bringing you this week's 3-to-inspire challenge. Here's this week's prompts: 

1. Use 2x2 pocket page protectors. 

2. Leave some of your 2x2's clear and instead of pictures fill them with die cuts, puffy stickers, ephemera or even sequins (get creative with this)!

3. Carve out some space for a long story or journaling that takes up a whole page.

Let's take a look at my project and I'll walk you through what I did: 

I used my Life Crafted album in turquoise to tell a story of home and showcase a couple details from the weekend.  Now, I did not have enough photos to fill up all 8 pockets so I decided to have a ton of fun embellishing the remaining pockets. I used the new Feels Like Home die cut pack and the Happy Heart puffy stickers for this— and can I just say how perfectly they help tell my story! 

Some of these pieces I actually adhered to the outside of the page protectors instead of putting them inside— like the puffy house and the, "home" die cut for example and I love the tactile experience this provides. I layered up phrases with the beautiful acorn florals and added machine stitching and nests of thread for plenty of texture. 

I just adore the subtle Fall mood the new CTK September Exclusives bring without being overdone. Next, I wanted to focus on my story. I used the 6x8 Coming Home Digital ledger paper to give me just the space I needed to write up my journaling. I resized and printed the pink lined ledger paper in the set to be 4.25 X 8.25 inches— just the perfect size to fit into the full pocket page protector. I typed out my story on my typewriter and adorned the top with a fun title and some jewel toned enamel dots. 

My journaling was quite heart-felt and I had a lot to say and in the end the busyness of the accompanying pockets next door lead to a well balanced page. 

The possibilities are endless with 2x2 pockets. They're so much fun to decorate and can really create a unique look when paired alongside a page full of words! I hope you enjoyed this week's prompts and I hope inspired you to create something beautiful! 

Affectionately, 

MEET OUR SEPTEMBER 2021 GUEST DESIGNER: JEN MCMURTREY

 

Hello there!

Today we are very excited to introduce our first guest designer for September.  She is an amazing designer with a great eye for color, story telling and always eye catching projects.  She is also a friend of ours, and we are so happy she is joining us for this month.   Here is Jen McMurtrey!

 My name is Jen McMurtrey, and I live in a small agricultural town in southeastern Washington State (the population is just over 6,000 people). My husband Dan and I have three kids: Phoebe, 26; Caleb, 21; and Abby, 17; as well as three dogs who make regular appearances in my projects. Currently, I work as a business education teacher at the local high school where I teach business communications, accounting, business management, and career exploration classes. Additionally, I am an adviser for two clubs that keep me very busy this time of year. Prior to teaching at the high school, I taught business classes for four years at a college 50 miles from here before moving into the associate dean position. With all of the craziness in my life, crafting is what keeps me sane. Currently, I work on the creative teams for Elle’s Studio, Simple Stories, and Studio Forty; and doing so is a dream come true. I am so excited and feel so honored to be guest designing for Citrus Twist Kits and can’t wait to share my projects.

Q&A with JEN

·         When did you start scrapbooking?

In 2001, I was taking courses at the local community college and befriended a group of classmates who took me to a crop one Friday night at the LSS. I had no idea what to expect other than them telling me to bring a few photos. From the moment I stepped into that store, I was absolutely hooked. Never had I ever seen so many stickers and fun papers! It has been in the last ten years that I have been scrapbooking consistently and that is due in large part to being on various creative teams. Scrapbooking is my therapy and truly brings me joy. If I were able to craft in some capacity, I don’t know what I would do.

·         What is something most people would not know about you?

In my early 20's, I had a pet pot-bellied pig named Lucy who lived in my apartment and went everywhere with me . . . rides in the car, walks in the park, and over to my parents' house to visit. Sadly, she passed due to an uncanny series of events that I won't go into. However, her story was published in the local newspaper and later picked up by the Paul Harvey Show . . . and, "now you know the rest of the story."  

·         What are the 3 scrapbooking products you can’t live without?

First and foremost would have to be white cardstock, which is a staple on the majority of my projects. Any and all floral die cuts would have to be next because I love flowers and put them on everything. The third and last item has to be enamel dots because they add that extra bit of color and texture to projects that makes them feel complete.

·         What do you love about the September – Scrapbooking Add-on Kit?

Seriously, I love everything about the kit; however, the CTK ephemera packs were my favorite. They have this cool vintage vibe about them that reminds me of graphics from when I was kid.

·         Finish this sentence “If you could see my scrapbooking space now . . . “

. . . you would think a bomb went off! It is a hot mess right now!!

This is Jen's first project using our September Add on kit, True Life V1 Stamp set,  and  HERE WE GO Die Cut ephemera ( CTK Exclusives).

We love how she has combined our exclusive ephemera in small clusters through the length of her page( and all the repeated photo of her youngest daughter)

Her focal point is accented with a color photo and a large cluster of ephemera from our Add on Kit and exclusive ephemera, too

Her title work is just gorgeous.   She created a stamped line of sentiments using our True Life V1 stamp set.  Then added a title combining our Puffy words and alphas to continue the look of the stamped border.    She then finished her page with a last cluster of embellishments, ink drops and our September enamel dots.

Thank you so much Jen for this gorgeous project, and letting us learn a bit more about you.   Jen will be back during the month to share more of her talent with us.  You can always find her on Instagram to check her latest projects and lots of inspiration @jencmc72  https://www.instagram.com/jenmc72/

XO

Sunday Sketch with Shannon

 

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Hello, Citrus Twist friends! Shannon here with a Sunday Sketch to share. So, let's get right to it and take a look at the sketch.

All of those layers make my scrappy heart so happy. I definitely love lots of layered paper on my layouts. Let's take a look at how I interpreted this sketch on my layout.

I stuck fairly close to the original design of the sketch. Good design is good design and I'm not going to mess with a good thing! I did modify the sketch from 8.5x11 to a Life Crafted album size. To bring the page together, I used lots of products from the September 2021 Add On kit. I also added some Citrus Twist exclusive ephemera from the September 2021 release. Everything works so well together!

The sketch does have just one photo, but I decided to use two on mine. I printed them at Instax size to mimic the framed look that the photo has in the sketch. I liked the soft, floral look of my papers so I decided to soften the edges of my photos by layering lots of ephemera behind them.

I like the stagged look of the paper in the sketch so I stuck with that same look on my layout. In order to make sure everything lined up on both pages, I first cut two pieces of white cardstock to 8.25x5. Then, I added the punched holes. I lined up the papers on my desk so it looked like they were just one piece of cardstock. You could add a piece of low-tack tape to the back if you want to make sure they stay together. I adhered the patterned paper strips so they laid across the seam. Once the papers were all adhered to the background, I just used a xacto knife along the seam to create a clean cut down the middle.

I couldn't leave out the embellishment in the lower corner! I added a Thickers phrase and enamel dot in place of the label that is on the sketch. I also added just a couple quick lines of journaling and the date. I've noticed that I'm terrible at dating my layouts so I'm trying to get better!

I hope that I've inspired you to use this great sketch and put your own spin on it! I can't wait to see what you create!