"Home Is..." Fall Traveler's Notebook Spread with Mary

Hi scrappy friends!  Mary here with my very first Traveler's Notebook insert project ever!  I had so much fun using the main kit plus the embellishment kit to create this DIY insert and my introductory spread.  

But before we dive in, can I tell you a little story first?  Have you ever felt the prompting in your gut to just do something and not have any rational reasons as to why?  Well....I felt this tug over summer to start documenting places and scenery of where we currently live.  I had no clue at the time as to why I felt that pull but now that reason has definitely been revealed and I'm so glad I acted on that prompting.  

Last weekend we announced to our church (who my husband and I have been ministering to for 7 years) that we are starting the transition to relocate closer to family.  While this is a super sad transition, it is also exciting in many ways since we have not lived closer than 3.5 hours away from immediate family and with my husband's partial knee disability we really need to be closer to family.  

To be honest my husband and I have never felt that this place is OUR home but it absolutely is our children's home...they have never known anything different.  So I want to be able to document their first home in detail, from the beauty that's here, to the places we love to go, to our routine places like grocery stores.  I never want them to forget the place that was their foundation. 

We know we will be here for at least two more seasons so my goal is to document as much as I can of our town during each season.  I have a feeling this project will bless me in the process as well.  

So are you ready to take a peak?

If you watch the process video you'll see I start out in a completely different direction than what I end up with.  After working some kinks out I decided I needed to create this cute pocket because I knew I would have a bunch to say in the introduction.  I just stitched a piece of cardstock that was about the size of a 3x4 journaling card which I cut down from the Citrus Twist exclusive paper included in the main kit.  Here's a closer look for ya:

 

I cut apart this "Inhale the future, exhale the past" ephemera piece from Paige Evans' latest collection "Turn the Page" (which, by the way, was designed based on her own personal relocation process of embracing the change...or it could be that she knew I would need her wisdom in my own transition to come) and layered up some flowers and a frame behind it.   Don't be afraid to alter your ephemera bits!  This allowed me to make a tag for the journaling card and have an extra piece for another project.  Fist bumps for making three embellishments out of one!   

At the top of the spread I added some fussy cut banners from the Maggie Holmes "Carousel" line as a base for my cluster at the top.  The words on the washi tape that comes in the "Turn the Page" washi book are absolutely perfect for our transition time.  

I added this picture I took of the canal that I drive over every day on my way home.  I want to remember the beauty of our valley in the fall when the blue of the sky meets the brown of the desert hills.  The reflection in the canal that will soon be dried up is just breath taking.  

I kept with the washi tape theme on both sides of the spread to really tie it all together.  And, of course, gold Heidi Swapp Color Shine...#goldallthethings #amiright 

You can check out the process for this here!  

Thanks so much for popping in today!  I can't wait to share more of our story with you as this project continues to grow.

Xo,

Mary

Sunday Sketch with Veera and Kelly

It's Sunday and time for another Sunday Sketch challenge! This week's sketch is so fun with all the white space it has.

Here's Veera's take on the sketch: "I flipped the sketch  over and instead of two pictures I used one 4x6 photo. The exclusive pattern paper from October's main kit was perfect for this sketch as it had patterns there supporting the sketch like the subtle paint splatters on the top right corner."

Here are some close up pictures:

Here's Kelly's take on the sketch: "I fell in love with this sketch and the vertical title. To create the page I used the main kit, PL and Embellishment kits."

Now it's your turn! To play along with this weeks Sunday Sketch Challenge and be eligible to win a $5 gift certificate to the CTK Store, create a layout based on this sketch and post it in our gallery with today's date (10/15) in the title.

3-To-Inspire with Anna and Emma

Hi friends!  It's Anna and Emma on the blog with today's 3-To-Inspire challenge!

We share this challenge every Saturday for those of you that are looking for a little extra push to get scrapbooking, to keep scrapbooking, or those just looking for a challenge (and the chance to win a little something is an added bonus!).

I hope you'll join us this week using the following prompts:

1. Use 4 (or more) die-cuts
2. Use patterned paper for your background (i.e. no white cardstock, ahh)
3. Use your stamps

First up let's look at Anna's page!

 

I'm so happy to join Emma on her lovely 3 to Inspire challenge. I love this sort of challenges a well as sketch challenges.

The "use patterned paper as your backgroud" prompt is a bit scary but it's fun and inspiring to push yourself out of your comfort zone sometimes, lol!

I went for a grid design and a pretty clean and simple page this time.  Just a few splatters of ink this time. 

This kit is really so lovely to play with! It kind of scrap itself, lol.   Can't wait to see your take on this fun challenge!

And here is Emma's page using the same 3 prompts:

In most cases for the 3-To-Inspire challenges we will create a page then set the challenges around it, but this time Anna and I set our 3 ingredients first and then created our pages.  I have to confess the first one stressed me out - pattern paper background?!  Ahh!  I'm one of those people that uses white cardstock almost always but fortunately in this instance the main kit includes a gorgeous ledger pattern paper (CTK exclusive paper) - WIN!  Funnily enough, both Anna and I used the same paper  for our challenge ;).

I LOVE die-cuts so having to include 4 (or more) was a easy one and I actually built my page around those die-cuts.  I'd selected the "magical" and "moments" pieces first (for my title) and then layered additional die-cuts around them.  Before starting my page I'd picked out a couple photo's (a square and landscape format) but settled on using the square photo because the title die-cuts seem to fit better.  Anyone else create pages and then settle on a photo? I'll often start a page with one photo in mind but change it to something else later ;)

The stamping was another fun challenge although stamping doesn't come naturally to me, I often have to remind myself to use them (I used to be so intimidated by them...crazy hey?!) but I love how they're a super easy way to add more sentiments to your page.

To add a bit of dimension on my page I added foam dots underneath a few of my die-cut pieces and the photo.  I typed my journaling up on the computer again (using a typewriter font) and then just machine stitched it in place at the bottom left of my page.  The butterfly die-cut sitting at the bottom right was a last minute addition as I felt the bottom of the page needed a bit of balance (even out the gold flower at the top left of my photo) :)

Now it's your turn! Use the three prompts to create your own project/s and share them with us here in the gallery and/or our Facebook Forum.  We both look forward to seeing your project!

Thanks, Anna & Em xo

Pocket life challenge with Essie

Hey there, lovely ones!

It's Essie here with a new Pocket Life challenge for you. This is my first post here on the CT blog, and I'm so happy to be here!

I adored the kit this month. It was so cool to see some autumn themed elements for you guys in the north, but also to have every single one of them be adaptable to those of us down here in the south. Those abundant flowers are perfect for springtime, and that's what's happening for us!

Springtime, to me, is all about blossoms, light colours, and delicate textures. One of the ways I added those qualities to my spread was in a crepe rosette which I made using pink party streamers, as well as the sticker sheet and one of the papers from the kit.
So my challenge to you for this week is to create a seasonal element using any kind of textured material along with  pieces from the kit.

I love making process videos for my memory keeping projects, so here's a look at the one I made for this spread:

I hope you have heaps of fun with this challenge, and I'll see you again really soon!

Essie x

12x12 Layout-Converstations with Candace

Hello friends!  Candace back with you today to share a spread using the Pocket Life kit and the October Conversations 4x6 stamp set.  I am in LOVE with the stamp set this month and as soon as I saw it I knew exactly what I wanted to document.

I started my spread with a full 12x12 black and white photo. Next, I measured the stamp to see exactly how much room I had to insert my quote journaling.  I took the measurements into Photoshop and created a new canvas with guides to structure my type.



After printing out all my quote journaling I stamped the quote and line from the stamp set around the journaling.




To add a little more detail and dimension I added labels from the Pocket Life kit with the names of our family typed on top of each of the journal blocks.



Hearts from the ephemera pack were the perfect touch to a few of the blocks to create a visual triangle and further interest.



For my title I layered a few more pieces from the ephemera pack with dimensional adhesive.



For a more in-depth look at how this spread came together take a look at the video below!

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a beautiful day! 

Candace

Dresden

Today's scrapbook page holds a memory of a day trip to Dresden, the capital city of the Free

State of Saxony in Germany. The layout is based on the October 2nd Sunday Sketch Challenge from Citrus Twist Kits. And here is my interpretation of the sketch.

First I cut the patterned background paper into two pieces. I placed the pieces on the white

cardstock leaving a space for the journaling. On the first paper, I layered strips of different

patterned papers, the photo and a flower ephemera. I also placed part of a white doily

underneath the layered cluster. Then I added the title "Dresden."

On the second background paper, I added a smaller paper strip at the top and then added a

flower ephemera on the right. On the left side, I attached a decorated tag with foam pads.

In a final step, I used the stamp set from the kit and stamped "perfect day" and "momen"' at the

bottom and at the top. For the moment sentiment on the tag, I stamped onto white cardstock,

then cut the stamped image with my scissors and adhered it with foam pads.

I hope you like my layout inspiration based on the October 2nd sketch. Have fun creating with

your October Scrapbook Kit and the sketch.

Have a great day, 

Sandra

Scrapping with the Add-on Kit with Kira

Hey everyone!  Kira here to show you a couple layouts I created with the Fall Harvest Add-on Kit.  Any other fall lovers here?  It is definitely my favorite season, but it's my first year in San Antonio and apparently Texas hasn't received the memo that it's October.  Lol.  It's 90 degrees as I type this.

Anyway, I pulled out some older photos to work with to get me in the fall scrappy mood.  The first layout I created was for a few pictures of my son picking out his pumpkin last year.  He picked it out by giving it a kiss.  Awwwww! 

I created the large title on my Cricut and used that gorgeous blueberry paper that was included in the kit as my background paper.  I backed the cut out title with the orange and white plaid paper (B-side of "Whirling Leaves").  I decided to add some hand stitching around the word "pumpkin" in a blue that matched almost perfectly to the background paper.  It added the perfect amount of textural detail to my page. 

I'm going to be completely honest here though...the stitching was a nightmare.  This layout gave me so much grief and I've never had as many issues with the stitching ripping the paper as I did on this layout.  I had to cover up one of my "happy accidents" with a fussy cut pumpkin from the "Pumpkin Patch" paper.

But it looked so cute, that I added a few more around the page!  I brought in more of that pumpkin paper by tearing the blue cardstock and tucking the pumpkin paper underneath.  I stitched it down with the blue thread and just loved how it looked!

I added a few of the rubber charms from the Amber Moon collection, which was such a fun added piece of texture.  I finished off the layout by adding some of the Perfect Autumn enamel dots under my title and under the little torn flaps.  And finally I added some white paint splatters around the page.

After I finished this layout, I still had so much product left!  And was still totally in fall mode.  So I decided to make a quick layout of my son in his Halloween costume from last year. 

Can you tell who he went as?!  My husband and I are big 80s pop culture fans...so we dressed our kids as Marty McFly and Doc Brown (my baby was THE CUTEST Doc Brown!). 

I started with some white textured cardstock and decided to use this leaf cut file, also cut from white textured cardstock on top.  I used a few of the patterned papers from the kit to back a few of the leaves, creating a scatter of color across the page.  I didn't glue the cut file to the patterned paper leaves to give it a bit of added dimension. 

I backed my photo with the Dandelion cardstock and added a few pieces of ephemera from the 1canoe2 die cut pack, along with a few of the rubber charms to create two clusters around my photo.  Then I added my title using the Escape the Ordinary Golden Foil Wood Alpha Stickers.  Bonus points if you get the reference.

Thanks so much for joining me today!  And make sure to check out the Add-on kit this month!  You will not regret it!

xo, Kira