Heartbreaker Layouts with Amanda!

Hi Citrus Twist Kit Friends & Fans!

Amanda here, and I am just so excited to share what I've been creating with this month's extraordinary Heartbreaker kits! So.much.gorgeousness!!!
And the stamps! Oh.my.heart, the stamps are errrrything!
But enough chatter, here's what I'm talkin'bout!

"Wonderful"

Wonderful, indeed! Fall pages never looked so pretty! 

I have used the beautiful Heartbreaker Scrapbook and Embellishment Kits, as well as the This Is Life "Magic Happens" Stamp! Awesome! 

I was immediately drawn to all the Amy Tangerine Shine On collection items in this kit! The patterns & colors just made my creative heart happy! There's also lots of die cuts from this line too, especially those stunning blooms!!! I use the Scrapbook Kit stamp on my cut apart label, and repeat the 'Be you, bravely' sentiment. All the other stamping is from the "Magic Happens" stamp. (And how sweet are those pink stamped heart icons?! Love!)

I am also crushing on that vintage music note paper! Seriously LOVING!

With a white cardstock background, it was a lil hard to see that 'wonderful' title. To add some definition to it, I smeared Coral Macaroon paint from the Mixed Media Color Pop acrylic paint from Vicki Boutin (July Mixed Media Kit) beneath it.  I also embellished my title with cotton floss from my stash, as well more of those heart icon stamps! Perfect! 

Lots of pretty layers & details form this page. 

Here's a closer look at the embellishment clusters.....

Stickers, die cuts, veneers, stamps, epoxy and puffy stickers - this layout has it all!!! So many pretties! 

Here's another view....

Told you the stamps are errrrything!!! They print so perfectly, & compliment all styles of memory keeping - love 'em! 

I've opted for a completely different look for my next layout....

"Remember This" 

How fun  & fabulous is this?! 

Apart from the obvious smaller size ( 8.5" x 11" ), I have created a less is more, clean lines kinda page! I have used the Heartbreaker Scrapbook Kit, & teamed it with embellishments from both the Add-On and Embellishment Kits. I just love the warm color scheme against the stark, white negative space - so refreshing and contemporary! 

This page is for my 'documenting the everyday' album. It's a really simple, no frills album filled with favourite moments and photographs that I just had to record. 

And aren't my two darlings just the sweetest?! Despite the 6.5yr age gap they totally dote on one another, and love to spend their after school time at the park together. So cute! 

The Maggie Holmes Willow Lane clear stickers were the perfect addition to this playful design!

So simple. So sweet! 

My next page is all the pretty things....

"This Story" 

Gasp! Isn't it swoon worthy?! SO super pretty with all those gorgeous florals! 

I have featured the PL Heartbreaker Kit, and combined it with the Add-On and Pattern Paper Kits. Just gorgeous! 

I couldn't resist that pretty floral paper, and it's coordinating ephemera! Perfect for scrapbooking this sweet picture of my daughter & how cute is that deer?!! So adorable!
Here's a closer look.....

I can't handle the cuteness! All the heart eyes for that deer!
I also love the gold script puffy word stickers from the PL kit. They're bold in gold, but because of their intricate script remain very delicate in appearance. Love!

Beauty in everything, indeed!The exclusive epoxy stickers are so awesome! And those blooms are just too pretty!

Even the brads are adorned with roses! Floral love!

And last, but by no means least, I have this stunning page to share.....

"Simple & Sweet"

Sigh! Isn't this all kinds of prettiness?!! 

I just fell in love with that divine mint green floral, and had to create a girly page with it! 

Actually, I had to create with all.the.things! I have mixed most of the September kits to create this layout - but with so many beautiful possibilities, why not?! 

Here's a few close ups for you....

So gor-jus! I just love how everything coordinates so beautifully despite being from a mix of the kits!

The scallop pattern on the woodgrain Willow Lane paper was just begging to be fussy cut & I used the scalloped trims as an alternative to ribbon or lace. 

Such a great way to highlight & use a pattern paper! 

Those golden Pinkfresh Studio puffy stickers are just awesome! So versatile and elegant, & they add warmth to an otherwise cool and minty fresh page!

And there you have it! 

A first look at my creations with the gorgeous September Heartbreaker Kits! 

If you haven't ordered your September kits yet, hurry on up HERE, as they're bound to sell out fast! 

Or even better, set up a monthly subscription and never miss out again! 

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

I'll be back later in the month with more inspiration and memory keeping ideas! 

til then, 

Happy Arty Days, 

Amanda xo 

Sunday Sketch with Kira

Hey there!  It's Kira and I am back with another Sunday Sketch!  Here's a look at the sketch we will be using this week:

And here's a look at my take:

Since I am currently working in a 8.5x11 format for my scrapbooking, I am always looking for ways to make 12x12 sketches work for me.  This sketch was perfect once I just flipped it!

I started by building my layers, I used mostly the exclusive papers from the "Heartbreaker" Pocket Life kit, but there's also a paper from the main kit that I tucked in there. I added some machine stitching to my layers to give it some extra texture and used some foam to add some dimension.

I used this photo of my son Elliott, which was taken on his brother's birthday.  My oldest son isn't a big sweets fan, so I made ice cream sandwiches with homemade cookies in place of a cake and added some whip cream on top to add the candle.  The birthday boy definitely wanted to blow out his candle, but then the ice cream cookie was handed off to his brother who has a sweet tooth.  I love how in this picture it looks almost as big as him!

I played off the photo for my title.  I used the "Wonderful" piece, included in the embellishment kit, along with the "sweet memories" sticker (also included in the embellishment kit).

I added some die cuts from the exclusive PL ephemera, some stickers from the Maggie Holmes sticker pack and some chipboard from the Amy Tangerine thicker pack.

I finished off the whole layout with some black watercolor splatters!  I can't wait to see your take on the sketch!  Make sure to join us over in the Facebook group to share your projects!

xo, Kira

Tuesday Tutorial with Tara - Smooshing

Hello friends, I hope you had a good start to your week. It's Tara here sharing my "smooshing technique" -

making a bright background (resembles watercolor) that you can use numerous ways. I used this

technique today on smaller cards to give sunshine and encouragement to send off in the mail. The colors

in March's GraceBox kit were so beautiful and it worked well with this technique.

Here is a step by step guide to get you to smooshing. You will need:

• Distress ink pads (you can test out other types of ink pads too!)
• Plastic packaging (I keep all the Citrus Twist Kit’s stamp packaging)
• Paper (I recommend heavier cardstock or watercolor/mixed media paper)
• Spritzer/water bottle
• Water 

First, grab an ink pad and stamp it directly onto the plastic. You will have to practice how many times you want to stamp the ink on the plastic to vary the intensity of the color.

Next, get a mister, spray bottle, or use a brush with some water and get some water on the stamped ink spots. Again, you will have to see how much or how little water you want to get the right color for your background. I practiced on some plain printer paper a few times, but usually I just wing it.

Now is the fun part! Carefully take your plastic and smoosh it onto your paper a few times. Feel free to add more water, more ink, and go crazy. The best part is you can never have too much color.

I added one of Amy Tangerine’s ‘Sunshine and Good Vibes’ die cuts and used the exclusive GraceBox stamps to add sentiments. I finished one card with a label sticker from the kit and some heart cork pieces from my stash.

Here is a look at the finished cards:

And a little closer look at each one:

I hope this inspired you to get more color on your layouts, bible journaling pages, and other fun projects.
Thank you for stopping by today.

Have a great week! Xxo - Tara

Tuesday Tutorial with Kira

Hey everyone!  It's Kira again for Tutorial Tuesday.  And I wanted to talk a little about inspiration.  Where do you find yours?  I am constantly looking towards other scrapbookers for my inspiration, but sometimes I like to grab my inspiration from unexpected places.

In fact, I have an entire Pinterest board dedicated to "Instagram Walls".  You know what I am talking about, right?  Those gorgeous wall murals people seek out to get the ~perfect~ Instagram shot.

For today's layout using the "Twin Falls" scrapbook kit, I found a picture of a very colorful disco ball wall.  I loved all the elements of this wall mural and thought it would translate well to a scrapbook page.

I started by searching for a picture of a disco ball and turned it into a cut file.  Because my inspiration piece was yellow, I used the exclusive "Pathways" paper as my cut file.  Initially, I thought I would back my cut file but once I placed it against the white American Crafts cardstock, I was in love with the clean look it gave my layout.

I stitched down the vertical lines of my cut file with some white thread.  This added the perfect amount of texture without taking away from the cut file.  I placed my photo (of me and my two monkeys) in the bottom left corner of my layout since they are both looking towards the upper right corner of the photo.

I built three clusters around my layout using some fussy cut flowers from the "Belle" paper from Maggie Holmes, some die cuts from the PFS Escape the Ordinary paper die cuts and some of the foam hearts from the Amy Tangerine thicker pack.

You can watch my entire process below.

I hope you were able to gain a little inspiration from this layout and look outside the box when you are looking for even more!

xo, Kira

Beautiful You

Hi friends-it's Laureen here using the gorgeous Emerson Scrapbook Kit one last time on the blog! I wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you to Trina for your trust and the amazing opportunity to work with the beautiful kits and hopefully inspire around here!

Now, onto my layout! As soon as I opened the kit and saw this patterned paper from Jillibean Soup I knew exactly what to do with it.  I love to work with quilts as my inspiration for layouts and this paper seems to be made for just that!

Once you cut up the paper into the small patterns and sort them into colors, you can use your imagination or a premade quilt for inspiration on how to position the bits. I found a beautiful quilt on Pinterest and placed my paper pieces in the same pattern, with the arrows pointing towards the middle creating a star shape.

The photo I used is a small 2x2 photo of my sister from her graduation from school.  I used the white foam phrases from Amy Tangerine that come in the kit and combined two words to form my title-Beautiful You.

Using a few bits from the kit, like the cute wood hearts and words stickers, I embellished very little around my picture because I felt like the background with the quilt paper already did enough for the page.

Usually I would add some stitching to my quilt inspired layouts, but this time for whatever reason I completely forgot and only realized it after already having my title and photo adhered down to the page.  If I could undo this step, I would have used white thread and simply sewed through the middle of the arrows.

That is it for my final post here on the blog for my guest designer position. It was a blast and I had so much fun!

Have a great rest of the week,
xx Laureen

Two ingredients to create magic

Hello!

It's Mira here today sharing an idea of how You can bake Your own AWESOME Clean&Simple Project Life cards with only two ingredients! One of them is Amy Tangerine sticker pad from August Pocket Life Kaleidoscope Kit. Second magic ingredient for today will be tadaaaaa: white cardstock!

You see? This is going to be VERY Simple idea:

You can use one sticker only, attach it to the center of Your card and You'll just love the effect!

But You can go further and create patterns! I made two cards with donuts and one with owls:

These cards are so cheerful that I didn't need anything else to embellish my pocket page!

I really hope You like the idea that I presented here today. Be sure to visit CTK blog tomorrow to see more of these stickers in action! I promise there will be more than just stickers :D

Take care, and don't forget to share Your projects with us!
xx
M

3 To Inspire with Tara

Hello lovelies! Today it's Tara here on the blog sharing this week's installation of:

I love, love, LOVE 3 To Inspire because it helps give me direction when I am stuck in a rut and I just love recipe challenges. I hope you join me this week and get crafting! Don't forget to play along for your chance to win some happy mail - just read through the end. Here are your prompts:

1. use memorabilia
2. use word stickers/thickers
3. add in handwritten journaling

Here is the pocket page I created using August's "Kaleidoscope" Pocket Life and Sprinkles kits:

I am loving all the fun goodies found in the kits this month!!! I used Amy Tangerine's "hello" from the 'Oh Happy Life' sticker book to add a subtle but much needed extra on my photo by the hot springs. Here is a closer look.

I thought it would be so fun to use the Pocket Life stamp phrase "daily grind" and write "weekend" over it. And those acetate hearts from from Crate Paper's 'Cute Girl' line...I can't get enough of them!!

Sometimes I find myself using more photos or fun embellishments and journaling cards instead of documenting the stories. I really wanted to focus on that and I encourage everyone to embrace their handwriting! I know it can sometimes be intimidating, but just have a go at it.

And finally, here is where I used memorabilia. I used one of the ticket stubs from visiting the Roman Baths and turned it to show the backside. I then used it as a layering piece under our family photo.

I added more little layers from the patterned paper split pack. I just love them so much!


Ok, now it's your turn. Create something fun using these three prompts for a chance to win some happy mail. Share your creations in our Gallery and/or Facebook Forum . Don't forget to label it with the date, 08/06 too and enter by the 13th of August. You can also enter on Instagram by tagging @citrustwistkits.

Thank you for stopping by and we can't wait to see what you create!

Have a wonderful weekend,

Xxo, Tara