April Winners!

Today we are happy to announce the winners for April's challenges!

Each week our Design Team provides you with two challenges to help you get your creative juices flowing. Saturday's 3 to Inspire challenge brings you three creative prompts to incorporate on a project of your choice. On Sunday. our Sunday Sketch challenge goes live. To participate in either or both challenges, all you need to do is upload your project to the gallery within a week of the challenge date noting the date of the challenge in the title of your project. Once a month we pick a winner from each challenge and announce them here on the blog.

Thanks to all that participated in the month of April! Here are the winners:

Sunday Sketch-$5 Gift Certificate to the CTK Store:
4/5: juliee
4/12: mamakven
4/19: amborne
4/26: mamakven

3 to Inspire-A small prize from the CTK Store:

4/18: barbp

Winners, please email Trina at CitrusTwistKits@yahoo.com to claim your prize!

Heidi Swapp 5x7 Wanderlust Album

I don't know about you, but I LOVE mini albums. I especially love them when they're in "unique" sizes like the Heidi Swapp 5x7 album! There aren't very many 5x7 albums out there in the market and I really don't know why.. this size is AWESOME! :)

I had the opportunity to play with the newly released album and want to share some of my album pages with you.  (If you're looking to purchase this album, they are stocked in the CTK Shop now!)  I used the March Pocket Life Kit, March Embellishment Kit, April Pocket Life Kit, and April Sprinkles Kit for a majority of the pages.  I also added a few different alphas from my stash.

Isn't this album gorgeous?! I love the white and gold!

I made this album to document the day (or should I say early morning) that my son was born.

These pictures that I included in my album were taken minutes after he was born.  I am SO glad that my mom was in the delivery room with me and my husband.  She was able to snap these photos while my husband and I were still trying to get a grasp that we were now parents of a human being. Crazy!

Our first family photo:

I'm still working on how to divide this album. For now, I just put all my pages together.  These next few pages are from the same morning that he was born, but during my first visit down to the NICU to see him.

Seeing your newborn connected to a bunch of wires is pretty heartbreaking, but luckily, he was very healthy and only had to stay in the NICU for 2.5 days.

I love the picture of him on the right side.  He was just so awake and alert that morning.

And there ya have it.  A few pages of my baby's birth album.  I'm still planning to have a separate baby album for him, so I'll likely use some of the same photos, but I thought this size mini album was perfect to spotlight his birth date!

Like I mentioned in my PL post last week, this is my last project for CTK.  I just wanted to thank Trina for such a great opportunity to design for her, the rest of the design team girls for all their love and support through the years on this team, and all of YOU for your love and support as well.  Thank you all so much! 

Pocket Life with April

Hi everyone! Happy Friday!  This is a bittersweet day for me.  This is the last Pocket Life post that I'll be sharing with you all because the month of April is my last month on the CTK Design Team.  (Don't worry - I'll be back next week to share one other project though, so you aren't totally rid of me yet! :P)

Anyway, I'm saving my goodbyes for next week's post.  For now, here's my PL 2015 week 7!  I used the April Pocket Life and Sprinkles kits plus some alphas from my stash.  Keep in mind that the PL designers played with the Amy Tangerine Rise n Shine papers in it's 12x12 size, but the actual kits going out to subscribers will include the 6x6 paper pad (so the sizing of the patterned paper will be different).

My week 7 turned out to be a 3 page spread since I included some photos of Valentine's day.  Here's the first page.  I'm usually not a big fan of selfies, but I find myself taking them a lot more nowadays, so that I can ensure that I have some photos with my little man.  Unfortunately, my husband very rarely takes any photos much less of me (unless I tell him to), so this is the only way I can ensure that I am included in our PL album.

Here are the 2nd and 3rd pages:

Here's a close-up on page 2.  I wrote out "Weird Habit" with alphas from my stash (so they are not included in April's kit).  I just thought they matched the papers well.

PS. Don't you HATE getting a bad hair cut/color? :(

And here's page 3.  The hubs always gets some really great pictures with the little mans because I'm always taking them!  Now if he would only do that for me... lol.

Alright, and here are your sketches:

Thank you all so much for coming by today and checking out my spread.  Like I said earlier, I'll be back to share one more project next week, so I'll see you all then! 

Have a great weekend!

Pocket Life Layouts with April

Hi everyone!  Today I'm sharing the 3 pocket life spreads that I put together using the March PL and Embellishment kits.  I loved the March kits!  They were my favorite so far this year.  I just loved the color scheme and all the little bits and pieces that were included in it.

So, I'm happy to say that I finally finished my weekly markers! :)  (Now I just need to go back and take photos of the previous weeks.)  Anyway, on to my spreads...

Week 4 is actually a 2-page spread, but I didn't finish the second page because it was a weekend that we spent out-of-town.  I'm not sure what it is, but I NEVER finish scrapping vacation photos!  I think it's just the amount of photos I end up having from a trip/vacation that overwhelms me and I put it aside.  Is anyone else like that?  Or is it just me?  Haha!

Week 5 is a single page spread.  I switched things up and used a Design A page protector.  Here's a tip: if you have a lot of photos from one picture taking session and you can't decide which to use, make a collage and use them all! :)  I have found myself making them more often nowadays with the little one.

And finally, week 6.  It's a 2 page spread, but instead of a left and right page, it's a front and back page.  I used to care that it was together, but this year, I don't.  Here's the front page:

And here's the back:

I hope you enjoyed looking at my current spreads.  Thanks for stopping by!

Pocket Life with April

Happy Friday!  April here to share a few of my 2015 pocket life spreads using the February PL and PL Embellishment kits plus a couple of alphas from my stash.

I apologize that my spreads don't have a weekly marker (yet).  At the time that I took photos of these spreads, I hadn't worked on them.  But since taking these photos, I did finish them, so my future spreads will be a little easier to identify.

Here's the first of three spreads for week 2:

Pages two and three of week 2:

And a closer look at each of these pages.  These pages includes the pictures that I took at CHA.

And here's my week 3:

A closer look of each side:

And here are your sketches:

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great weekend!

3 to Inspire with April

Hi everyone!  April here to share a new edition of the "3 to Inspire" series. We offer this new challenge every Saturday for those who need a little extra push to get scrapbooking, to keep scrapbooking, or those of you just looking for a challenge!

Your take on this challenge can be in the form of a layout or a PL spread and you'll want to include all 3 elements on your project.

This week, your inspiration should include:

1. Making your layout a different size than what you're normally used to
2. Mixing alphas from the most current kit and a previous kit
3. Adding journaling directly onto your photo

And here's my take on it.  This is an 8.5x11 layout that I will include directly in my Pocket Life album.  (Say hello to some of the other CTK girls!!)

And some close-up shots:

If you take on this challenge, post your layout or PL spread in the Citrus Twist Gallery or on the Facebook Citrus Twist Fan Page.

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Pocket Life with April

Hi everyone! April here to share a few different pocket life spreads that I created using the January PL and PL Embellie kits!

First, I have my week 40 from 2014. I'm currently behind and still trying to finish up my 2014 while I move forward with my 2015 album.

Right side documents the beginning of my birthday week with the much anticipated arrival of my baby nephew!

Left side:

Surprise.. I made a flip pocket!

I have a 6x8 insert for this same week that documents what I did for my birthday that week. I looove the 2x2 squares. You can pick up this pocket protector from the CTK shop!

And lastly, I have my first spread of my 2015 album - week 1. It's a single page spread. One of my strategies this year is to not worry if my spreads are 2 pages and if they are 2 pages, not worry if they are left and right of each other. I'm okay with having my weeks go back to back in my album (you'll see what I'm talking about soon).  You'll also notice the two blank spaces in the top left.  I'm planning to use the same weekly marker and menu template for all weeks - I just haven't created it yet! :P

The color of this next photo is so weird.. I apologize about that. I took it at the same time as the rest of my photos, but I must have taken it at a weird angle.  I used all the die cut letters in my spreads this time around.

I loved the colors of the enamel dots!

And here are your sketches:

Tuesday Tutorial

Hi everyone!  April here back from the maternity leave break I took in December and here with the first Tuesday Tutorial post by a PL designer.  Today, I'm here to share how to set up a PL 2015 cover page using one of the sheets in the 6x6 paper pad in the January PL kit.

This is the sheet that inspired my cover page.  It's the cut-apart sheet in the paper pad and I loved each square, so I wanted to include as many as I could in my cover.  All I did was cut it up and mount it to another piece of cardstock.. easy peasy!

I used the October Afternoon 3"x3" page protector and filled it with the cut-apart boxes along with some additional cardstock and journaling cards that I cut down to 3"x3" squares.  Then, I added some embellishments.

And here's my complete (super simple!) cover page inspired by the cut-apart paper:

 

Thanks for stopping by today! I'll be back soon to share even more PL pages using the January PL kits!