Mixed Media with Adele

Hey all!

Today I am playing with some mixed media and the gorgeous December Main Scrapbooking Kit. I decided to crack open my junk journal and do some "scrap-journaling" using a photo along with some paint and a stencil.

I used some of the gorgeous Crate Paper goodies included in the December kit today. I also created a process video at the end of this post, showing more details about each step I took using the mixed media.

I added paint and stenciling to the right hand side of my spread and overlapped the spine to create a more seamless look across the two pages.

Do you enjoy art journaling? I love including photos in my junk journal in a fun creative (and painty!) way. Have an awesome weekend scrappy peeps!

Home Sweet Home Pocket Page with Candace

Hello friends!  How much are you loving the December kits?!  I know I say this every month BUT I think this is my favorite kit yet!  I adore the collection of colors, themes and beautiful florals!  When I saw the 12x12 patterned paper all about home I was instantly inspired to tell the story of all the little things that I love about our new home.  I love when I look through products or kits and I am inspired to tell stories I haven't told before.  This is what memory keeping is all about!

Here is a look at the final spread.  I started by going around the house and taking pictures of my favorite elements.

I wanted the spread to have a light and delicate feel.  I decided to stick to a simple color  scheme to let the photos and story of home shine.  I chose light tans, greys, and a little pop of mint and blue.  What a beautiful color palate!

I chose cards from the 12x12 patterned paper and coordinating cards from the pocket life kit to add my journaling and details from around the house.

By adding one of the label stickers from the Heidi Swapp sticker sheet I was able to add a quick title for the spread and a cute puffy heart sticker.  The green heart sticker brings the pops of green on the right side to the left and creates balance in the spread.

I love the whole look of the spread with its light and delicate feel and the heart of the story told on the cards.  I love that I was inspired to tell a new story from our family's life and include it in our yearly album.

What stories will you be inspired to tell this month?

5 Minute Craft

Sometimes you just don't have the time to get everything out and lose yourself in crafting. I found myself in this situation a lot lately. So I created the 5 Minute Craft game. I needed a way to sneak crafting into my busy daily life. When the kids are at school and baby is napping - the mom/wife in me says do the laundry, do the dishes, pick up the living room - but the crafter in me says no one is home, run to your craft room and lock the door! Here is how I compromised:I pick up or do my chores for 5 minutes and then craft for 5 minutes. Back and forth, back and forth.

I love using my GRACEBOX kit because all the goodies and supplies are right there and it makes it efficient for my 5 minute limit. Here is how my 5 min craft session turned out. After four rounds (roughly a half an hour) I had the kitchen clean, dished loaded, two loads of laundry folded and created a fun page in my Bible. 

Art Process: Splatter paint background. Kit die cuts, alpha stickers, puffy heart stickers, & doilie topper. I lettered the HEART and used a faber castell pen to outline. 

I hope you'll try the 5 minute craft game! Have your cake and craft with it too! 

Pleasant Valley Pocket Page with Andrea

Hello sweet friends! Raise your hand if you are flying through your Pleasant Valley kit! It's so darn easy to use and the COLORS! Can we talk about the colors for a second? The pinks and blues in this kit are perfect for Fall days, Summer documenting, or even Winter pages. Today I'm sharing how I used them for a fun trip to our favorite orchard!

The day was warm and sunny so I wanted to bring out that vibe with the colors. I followed my typical pocket page formula of alternating photos and cards and sneaking in some smaller photos on the cards that have lots of room!

The colored puffy stickers make this title card POP! Since I had so many colors to choose from, I decided to do a rainbow effect with the colors that would contrast with the pink paper. Adding the floral sticker to the top and the word strip to the bottom finished it off!

The simple little yellow strip over the blue striped heart was the perfect place to stamp a little sentiment! Also, layering labels and stamps and photos and hearts is such an easy way to add color and story!

I spiced up this cute pink pocket card with a yellow puffy heart, a stamped statement, and some journaling.

Thanks so much for being here today and checking out how I am using the Pleasant Valley kits! Have a super crafty week!

Sunday Sketch with Trina + Emma

Hi CTK friends!  Trina and Emma on the blog today to share this weekend's Sunday Sketch.  First up lets have a look at our sketch:

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Hello! It’s Trina here, together with Emma, sharing our takes on this week’s sketch. I made this page to fit in my 2018 6” x 8” PL album.

I used this month’s bonus cut files to make the white cardstock paper piece. I pulled both papers and embellishments from the December 2018 Pleasant Valley kits.

Here is me layout. I stayed pretty true to the sketch - as I usually do - and wanted this picture of my daughter to tell the story.

Here is a close up of the star cut file and my pattern paper layers. I love how the puffy stars fit perfectly over the star cutouts.

I love Paige Evan’s small, colorful puffy stickers. They work perfect for small scrapbook pages.

It will be fun to see how you use this month’s sketch!

Xo,
Trina

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Hello CTK friends!  I love this week's sketch; combines two of my favourite things - layers and stars!  I'm a sucker for anything star related :)  I used the December "Pleasant Valley"Main Kit for my page, and here's my take on this fun sketch:

I tried to stick close to the sketch the time around. I used the bonus cut file to cut my stars but instead of using the negative I stitched the cut stars onto the background pattern paper.

I absolutely love the alpha's included in the Main Kit this month - they are the perfect size!

Instead of using the paper strips at the top/bottom per the sketch I went with a full border all the way around to frame the page more (and used the same pattern paper to match in with my stars!).

I challenged myself to use the bakers twine on this page so I just wrapped it around some scrap strips of paper and popped one of the cardstock / puffy sticker hearts on top.  I loved how it worked out, so  I did another bigger one and added it underneath my title at the bottom of the page!  Adds a bit of fun dimension to the page :)

Underneath the title I added a cute stamp sentiment and my date on one of the cardstock stickers!

I really wanted to add a pop of gold on the page and  there is only one gold tag sticker at the right size, so of course I messed it up when I stamped on it (didn't press hard enough, boo!)...but no worries, I just stamped on another one, cut it out and stuck it ontop to hide my terrible stamping job.

To finish it off I added a couple more embellishments above my photo (die-cut and puffy sticker) and called it done!

Such a fun sketch to work with!  I can't wait to see your pages using it.  Be sure to share your page with us in the CTK Facebook Fanpage (and please tag me so I wont miss it, would love to see your page and leave you some love!!).

Take care, Em xo

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BONUS DECEMBER CUT FILE

Available in the Digital Files section of the CTK store.

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3 to Inspire with Kira

Hey friends!  It's Kira and I am back with another 3-to-inspire to get those creative juices flowing today!  Here's the 3 items I am challenging you to use on your layout today:

1.  Stamps
2.  Stitching
3.  Splatters

And here's a look at the layout I created:

I started this layout with the Emerson Lane "Details" paper (included in the Pattern Paper Play kit).  I love a simple ledger paper for backgrounds.  It adds the right amount of pattern without completely overwhelming your page.

My layers consist of pieces from the cutapart paper, also from Emerson Lane, called Easy Peasy, which was included in the main "Pleasant Valley" kit.  I used my sewing machine to add some messy stitching to the my photo and the layer behind it.  I also added some stitching to two more places around my layout.  But if you don't have a sewing machine, you could always hand stitch or add hand drawn "stitches" for the same effect!

I used the "Better Together" thickers as my title, which are found in the Embellishment kit, and then finished off my embellishing with puffy stickers (also in the embellishment kit) and cardstock stickers (included in the main kit).  I used a few of the stamps included in the Postmarked stamp and the TN "Favorite Things" stamp set. 

 The splatters were the last thing I added.  Your splatters can be done with any medium:  watercolor, watered down acrylic paint, etc.  But I used my Shimmerz Coloringz in the color Night Moves and Shimmerz Blingz in Gold Glimmer for mine.

I hope these prompts inspire you to get your kits out today and get a cute photo scrapped!  Join us in our Facebook group so you can share your layouts, or to grab even more inspiration!

Until next time,

Kira

Travelers Notebook Challenge With Jennie

Hello, friends!  I'm so excited to challenge you to try something in your next travelers notebook layout!  I love using a travelers notebook to document our activities and the things that we do in our day to day lives.  One of my favorite parts about it is it's small canvas.  But, I also really like that I can try things that I might not else where since it's just one small space of many. So, let's get it into it!

I love the December kits.  Both the Pleasant Valley Pocket Life kit and the scrapbook kit are just beautiful this month.  So, I wanted to use mostly the Pocket Life kit, but added the alphas from the 

scrapbook kit were just perfect, so I had to add them.  I LOVE the size, font and color.  They accent so well and yet are super subtle too.

So, the challenge?  It's easy!  Trim around the focus or main image in your photo!  It's kind of a retro trend, but it's also very fun.  I also love how it makes the total focus on the important part of the story!   Because I didn't want to upstage the Painted Ladies, I kept the embellishing to a minimum to focus on the photo.  Layered die cuts make a great base and I selected simple patterned paper [from the Pocket Life Kit] to not detract but accent!

Do you have any photos that you just love?  Why not trim around the main part of the photo and add it to the next travelers notebook layout?  This time of year it's fun and easy to do with limited time. If you play along make sure to tag us on Facebook or Instagram so we can see!