Project Life Challenge with Andrea Gray

Hi friends! Today I'm sharing a fun Project Life Challenge - who's in!?

I actually have 2 challenges that you can use in any project! The first is: embellishment collage!

The pocket below shows how I combined stamps, acetate, die cuts, and puffy stickers to make an eye-catching title card. I love making these - it's like a puzzle of pretty supplies.

Use this technique on your next project and you'll also find that you can use so many of your favorite pieces together!!

The second challenge is to use a consistent style for your photos cards. This may work best for a themed or special event that you're adding to your pockets, weekly PL may not work too well but I know I'm going to give it a try. The idea is to make them all feel similar and that one doesn't stand on its own.

I wanted to document all of the girls I got to see in person on this one day. I sized the photos down to smaller than 3x4. I trimmed off a bit more from the bottom to leave room on the back paper. Then I matted them like Polaroids on 3x4 cardstock.

The consistent style here is that I stamped the name and added a heart. That's it! You can do this with a date stamp, a sentiment, or even word strips. Besides the look of clean and consistent, it was FAST! Having a formula and not having to figure out something different to do on each card made this page super easy!

Thanks for being here, friends! I hope you're inspired to try a new thing in your pocket page album!

Happy crafting!

3-to-Inspire with Andrea Gray

Hey friends! Today I am sharing a 3-to-Inspire and we're using puffy hearts, stamps and pocket cards!

Let's put these things together and see what we can come up with!

I decided to make a pocket page all about my word stack for 2019. Instead of one word, I chose 4!

Starting off with picking the cards to use is always the most fun. I had to use the 2019 cards, obviously. I used the go forth & be fierce cards for journaling and stamped the simple wildflower on top of the little transparent strip to add some layers.

I love the simplicity of the puffy hearts so if there's a place for them, I'll make it happen! I didn't want to mix around too many colors so I added a mint heart to coordinate with the mint &.

I was so pleased that the LOVE THIS card had 4 journaling spots - perfect for each of my 4 words! And to lighten up the dark-ish star card, I stapled a heart to a label!

A simple corner cluster is always a winner and I love how this chipboard/heart/stamp combo turned out! It's an easy way to make an interesting statement.

I hope you've enjoyed today's 3-to-Inspire and have found something you can take away to use in your own projects! Thanks for joining me today!

Sunday Sketch by Andrea Gray

Hey friends! Welcome to a new year! I'm super excited about the newest item in the CTK shop and I'll be sharing how I'm using it in today's Sunday Sketch!

I chose the sketch below and put my own spin on it with this different sized format.

My version of the sketch holds up a few main parts from the original: the outside borders, the top cluster and the bottom right title area.

I adore the little cluster at the top but with the 2 split layout, I moved it to the left. I used a label, a word strip, and a heart then stapled them together and added a tiny puffy heart right above it.

Some layering and a double date stamp  are always a good idea!

I took some liberties with this bottom section and used a pocket card that I ripped at the bottom and added lots of little bits. I used a tab with some puffy embellishments, an ampersand and a cute little heart die cut! I added to the cluster until it felt right and balanced since it was really the only thing on this side of the layout. 

I love how the black pieces stand out but don't take away from the soft colors everywhere else.

Thanks so much for joining me here today! I hope you can take this sketch, along with my version to create something unique to you and your style!

See you again really soon!

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!

3-to-Inspire with Andrea

Hello friends!! I'm so excited to share my first ever 3-to-Inspire for the Citrus Twist blog! I always find it helpful to have a starting point when I'm lost for ideas. In this post, I will give you a recipe and show you how I used the 3 items. Then you get to use them in a project and I hope you share it with us in the Facebook group!

Okay, for this project we are using:

1) String

2) Contrasting patterned paper

3) Large phrases or alphas

First I'll show you the finished project and then we'll look at the pieces that got it to this place!

One of my favorite things to do with twine and string is to roll it up in a little circle and tuck it under an element. I did that here and stapled it in place. You could use a fine line of liquid glue as an alternative.

I used a dark swiss dot paper and a light grid paper as my contrasting patters. They pop off of each other and look great when layered. I also added the yellow and cream ledger card for another contrasting layer!

The large phrase or alphas make a big statement for a title!

Thanks for joining me today! I'd love to see what you make using this recipe so be sure to share your finished project in the Facebook group! See you soon!

Retro Vibes with Andrea Gray

Hey there! today I am sharing a 6x8 layout using inspiration from one of the recent sketches! I always love a good starting point and then end up creating something within my own style.

I began by selecting papers that matched my photos and provided contrast. The foundation of the design would be patterned paper and since I would be layering them, I wanted a contrasting pattern. The blue floral and black with spots was perfect! Also, I pulled the yellow and coral colors from the patterned paper using two layered tabs to the right side.

Using 2 photos can be so fun, but I wanted just 1 to have a bit more focus than the two of them together so I layered a die cut card behind the left one so it popped off the background papers. Adding the stamped sentiment always provides that finishing touch!

To complete the typical design triangle, I added some fun elements to the top! A cool title using puffy alphas, a flag from the digital download, a button, a stapled heart, and a stamped date. These kinds of clusters are my jam!

There you have it, friends! A super easy layout that uses lots of product in a small space!

I hope you've found a little piece of inspiration today! Be sure to scroll around to find more amazing ideas from the rest of the Creative Team! 

Happy scrapping!

In My Studio - Desk space

Hello CTK friends!  This month the Pocket Life Team are sharing some photo's and details about the most important area when we create - our desk space! :)

My office area is definitely my happy place, and while it is rarely as clean as it is in these photos, I do try to stay as organized as possible so I can find everything I need when I'm working on projects.  The desk on the right is one that I've had for around 6 years and while it did a great job serving as my only crafting work surface for many years I did find myself shuffling everything around a lot, which was a bit frustrating at times. Earlier this year I took the plunge and got myself a second desk from Ikea, which is a bit larger than the first.  My favorite thing about this desk is that it can be adjusted in height.  While I prefer to craft while sitting, sometimes its easier to film videos while standing.  Now I can do both!

On my desk I like to keep some containers with my essential tools like scissors, tiny attacher, paper trimmer, adhesive, rulers, stamping blocks, pens and pencils, etc.  Keeping these things within reach is super helpful when I'm working on a project.  I also like to keep a small basket with kits that I'm currently working with on my desk so I use these products first.  I try to use up as much product as I can from these kits before moving the leftovers over to my stash.

I also have a little extension to my desk in this rolling cart that I picked up from Michaels.  This cart holds most of my embellishments, and I love that I can roll it from one desk to the other when I need to.  On top of this cart I keep other essentials that I'm constantly grabbing for, like my inks and project life cards.

I'm one of those people whose desk needs to be clean at all time, otherwise I can't seem to function! I have a lot of little cups, bowls and dishes so I can tidy everything away after I finish working on each project (although there is always an empty coffee cup or two lying around! I've got my computer, printer and Silhouette Cameo all set up and ready to go whenever the mood strikes me. The shelves above my desk store all my most used alphas and embellishments, my DIY camera set up for process videos, as well as all my notebooks, planners and finished Traveler's Notebooks!

As you can see, my Desk isn't very big. I love it when it's cleaned. I can't work if there's a lot of extra stuff on the table. All tools and embellishments are stored in the drawers of the table.

My family recently moved and this new space has been so fun to arrange! I make sure my desk has lots of available space to begin projects and so I can get messy and spread out when needed. 

Something that's super helpful in all of my desk spaces has been having my favorite supplies and embellishments out so I can see them. If things are tucked away, I just won't use them. I use a large muffin tin for small paper embellishments and it's so handy to be able to dig through to find what I need. 

I also recently began keeping a dish of my most used stamps on my desktop because I was constantly reaching for the same 4x6 stamp over and over but only using that one. I'm not sure if I will like the messiness of this forever but it sure is fun for now. 

Thanks for hanging out in my new space. I hope to create inspiring projects here!

Welcome to my desk space!  We recently moved so I am still organizing all my fun goodies, but I am already in love with the bright space.  I love the light grey walls and the bright light that comes through my window.  Having a clean, organized space helps me create stress free.  I love the huge vintage bankers desk with lots of drawers, pockets and storage compartments.  I like that everything is close at hand so I can create without even getting up.  I even have a Diet Coke close at hand, (a crafty must have)!

What does your desk space look like? We would love to see/hear (just share a post on the Facebook Fanpage!).

Is there anything you would like to see from our "In My Studio" posts? Please leave a comment below and we'll be sure to include it in the future!