Pocket Life Sketch Friday with Tara

Hello friends and happy Friday - it's Tara here sharing my take on Pocket Life Sketch Friday. I've been working on my personal album. It's new to me this year and I have really enjoyed it!!

Don't forget to read through until the end for a chance to win some happy mail.

I'm using April's 'Sophie' PL kit and Sprinkles kit in this layout. I love the pops of colour and though it isn't quite summer here, I'm welcoming the sunshine that we do get.

For this layout, I really wanted to focus on journaling and using my handwriting. I love words and photos and my goal is to include more short and long stories with my photos.

Here is your sketch:

I ended up adding more to my layout as I noticed it was a little too plain for my liking. Here is the completed pocket page after some changes.

I added a flip card that I used some washi on to the outside of the pocket. I also added the cute foam stars and hearts, some stamping, and some layers and a cork piece too. I love using extra bits and bobs and took one of the top tear off strips from the paper pad and layered it under the word sticker. I adhered it to the outside of the pocket for some dimension and texture outside.

Here is the inside of the flip pocket. I wanted to use different journaling styles, so I made a list on the bottom 4x6 journaling card. I tucked behind some vellum that I stamped on for the title "loving". I'm also loving that alpha set from Kellie Stamps.

I would love to see what you do with the PL sketch this week. Please share your work in our Gallery or Facebook Fan Page by Friday, May 5th and title it PL 05/05. 

Have a lovely weekend! Xxo, Tara

3 to Inspire | Gina Rodgers

Hi everyone, welcome to another 3 to Inspire challenge! Hopefully these simple prompts will help you kickstart your weekend crafting. As a bonus when you upload your project you're in with a chance to win a voucher for the CTK store!

Here are your prompts:

1. add a hand-cut embellishment from patterned paper

2. use some staples or tiny attachers

3. add a triangle of patterned paper to (any) corner of your page

Here's my take, created with the April 'Sophie' main kit 

My 'hand-cut' embellishment is the butterfly, I've also added some die cuts and puffy sticker. Tiny attachers/staples are a great way to add some texture to your page

Now it's your turn! Use the 3 prompts to create your project and upload to the CTK gallery and/or Facebook Fan page. I'm looking forward to seeing your creations, have fun!

Gina x
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'Be Our Guest' Layout | Elsie Robinson

Hi CTK friends, it's Elsie here and I've got a 12x12 layout to share with you all today using the 'Sophie' Main Kit.

Inspiration for my layouts always comes from many different places, I could be inspired by papers, embellishments, colours etc. But sometimes I'm inspired by somewhat abstract sources, as is the case with this layout. For those of you who love this film as much as me, you've probably already guessed that this layout was inspired by Beauty & the Beast!

I've scrapped a photo of my friends and I having afternoon tea together from a few years ago, and whilst my photo has nothing directly to do with Beauty & the Beast, my love of the film really influenced a lot of this page's design and amplified the story behind my photo. Let me talk you through how...

I started by stitching my title. I found this free 'Be Our Guest' printable from Dawn Nicole Designs, which was completely perfect for this Beauty & the Beast themed layout and for the story behind my photo.

My colour scheme is primarily blue and yellow with pops of pink, which was obviously inspired by the colours of Belle's dresses! Two of my largest design elements followed that colour scheme: I stitched my title in yellow and used a piece of the 'Portrait' paper for that pop of blue.

And what would a Beauty & the Beast themed layout be without a teapot and teacup?! These were such simple shapes to draw, cut and stitch by hand and so they really didn't take too long to make at all. They also helped to tell the story behind my photo.

I fussy-cut the frames from the 'Portrait' paper which were not only really handy spots to include some journalling and stamping, but also helped create a vintage, traditional and whimsical vibe!

And of course I had to fussy-cut some of those butterflies, they're so pretty!

Some subtle details like using the small heart stamp from the Scrapbook kit with some light pink ink, and stitching some "bricks" with white thread really finished off this layout for me.

Thanks for joining me today and check out my process video below to see how this page came together!

- Elsie

Sunday Sketch with Karen

Hello there, Karen here with this weeks Sunday Sketch. This sketch caught my eye straight away because of the large photo, two smaller photos and then the tag, almost creating a grid, which is always a favourite layout tactic I love to use. See below: -

I used the amazing April Main kit for my layout. Using some of the paler patterned papers from the kit as a background to my photos (a trick I use to make the photos pop) and then using the gorgeous Exclusive Die cut embellishments from Pink Fresh Studios to surround the outside of the photos and patterned paper, keeping all the details to the middle of the layout. See my take on the sketch below. 

Below are a few more close up photos to show the gorgeous detail of these Exclusive Die cuts included in the April Kit, a real favourite of mine.

Now it's your turn to play along with this weeks Sunday Sketch Challenge, create a layout based off of today's sketch, upload it to the gallery with today's date (16/4) in the title, and you are in the chance to win a $5 gift certificate to the CTK Store. Good luck.

Karen xo

Tuesday Tutorial

Hi it's me, Rachel Lindas and I'm excited to share a Tuesday Tutorial with you. I decided to go a bit out of my normal and get messy with some new product.  I wanted to play around with the new Tim Holtz's Distressed Oxides.  I was so excited to use them because of their ability to have bold bright colors that don't bleed together if you don't want them to.  However when playing with them I found out they do bleed through your Bible pages which makes me so sad because the looks you can achieve with them are endless. I didn't give up so easily. As you will see in the video I used the journaling card that comes in the April kit as inspiration and made my own tip in. This way I could use the product I wanted to achieve the look I was going for without fear of ruining my pages.  You'll notice for my design I used the journaling card (I tab punched the shine Word and cut out the word "world" from it), light bulb stamp, and one of the paper pieces for the Simple Stories Faith line that all came in the April kit. I added the home spun alphas from Illustrated Faith and punched out a star from white card stock to finish my look.

Take note: When using the distressed Oxides one of their neat features is that you can blend the colors together when you activate them with water. Once that layer of color is dry you can add more color to the top even wet without it mixing in with the base layer. This is a very unique feature of these oxides and make the yellow color on my tip in pop on top of the blues instead of blend in. They can also be used as stamp pads. I used the same yellow color for my light bulb stamp to layer on top of the blue colors. I love how it turned out with bright bold colors.

Have a Wonderful Day, Rachel

Quilted Squares with Leigh

Hello, Leigh here to share a layout using a punch and trimmed squares.

The full layout using the Add-on Kit for April, and Patterned Paper Play Kit. So many colorful and pretty patterns to choose from!

I chose a rhombus punch and the same card stock from my background to punch the diamonds first, then filled in the spaces with patterned paper in the color scheme, coral, yellow, aqua and navy. 

If you point all the centers of the white diamonds together, then fill in the patterns underneath, you can trim the squares to 2 3/16inches and place them as shown above.

Then lay your photo on top and add some embellishments and journaling. I created the journaling on my new We R Memory Keepers Typecast Typewriter. 

You can bend up some of the edges from the floral die cut for dimension and interest, and top it off with a couple splashes of mist.

Thank you for joining me today, and happy scrapping!

Leigh

3 to Inspire

Hello and welcome to today's 3 to Inspire Challenge!  Here are this week's prompts:

1. Layer in a piece of packaging.
2. Tear some paper.
3. Add some thread.

Here's my take on the challenge using both the April "Sophie" Scrapbook and Embellishment Kits:

I absolutely adore this month's kit and was so happy that the colors in the kit went really well with a recent batch of photos that I took during a field trip to a horse rescue ranch. 

To stay on task with the challenge prompts, I tore the edges of two patterned papers and layered them on top of each. When I did this I made sure and flipped the paper over to the backside and tore towards myself this way the side that I wanted to use didn't have the white edge that appears after tearing. For my piece of packaging I chose to cut up the backing from the Pinkfresh word stickers and layer it under the photo. I really liked how this light polka dot pattern contrasted against the bright colors I had already used. Finally, I layered in two bunched up pieces of yellow thread.

Now it's your turn! To play along with this week's 3 to Inspire Challenge, create a project incorporating all three of the prompts, post it to our gallery with today's date (4/8) in the title, and you will be eligible to win a small prize from the CTK Store!

you are delightful

Good Morning!  Brenda here to share a page with you using the absolutely amazing "Sophie" main kit and embellishment kit.

For this page, I was drawn to the diamond shapes in the die cuts.  While I was laying things out I stuck two of them under the edge of the photo making a triangle edge on each side.  After that I just had to add the triangle papers on the corner.  I made them larger to try to fill more space on the page.  I also just really liked that floral pattern.  I'm pretty sure I will be using every tiny little bit of it.

Isn't that little camera just too cute?  I think that was my favorite piece on the whole page.  

Sometimes I start to finish a page with my original sketch/plan in mind.  Then sometimes things like this happen and I have a final page that is nothing like the plan.  I love when things work out that way.

Thank you for stopping to see my page.  I hope you have a wonderful day.

Brenda