Pocket Life with Jen :: December Style!

Happy Friday! Jen here today, sharing several pages created with the December Pocket Life and Pocket Life Embellishment Kits, as well as the lovely CTK Christmas Stamp set. My focus has shifted to a seasonal album this month. Rather than taking a daily approach, I'm instead creating pages based on events and seasonal happenings. This first set of pages documents our first big snowfall of the season here in NY. 

I love that the PL kit this month can be used for any application - holiday or not - while adding pieces from the Embellishment kit add a seasonal boost. In the pages below, I simply added a few elements from the die cut pack (Ho Ho Ho, holly leaf and Believe) and the PL supplies were instantly Santa perfect. For the Here's the Story card, I carefully cut the words from one of the Jillibean Soup Placements to layer over patterned paper.

My last two shares capture our North Pole Breakfast.

These are some of my favorite details...

And, here are your sketches this week!

Pcoket Life with Jen

Happy Friday! Jen here bringing you the first pocket pages with the November Pocket Life and Pocket Life Embellishment kits. These kits are jam packed with lovely patterns and goodies to accent your photos and cards.

I had so many photos I wanted to use this week (and, even more that I still need to add to an insert!) that every card and picture is sized to 3x4, including my weekly title card. I love the "Together" CTK exclusive card and the light orange watercolor effect. It was a perfect pairing for a family photo snapped at a trip to the pumpkin patch. The "Keep Calm" card stood out to me right away but, honestly? I prefer another coffee chain's Pumpkin Mocha coffee to the famed PSL so, I made the card my own with a label, the Gossamer Blue tiny alpha, a star sequin from my stash and reached back in time for the Nov CTK Coffee First stamp.

One of my favorite things about pocket scrapping is the ability to capture so many stories in one place, snippets that would likely never end up on a full page layout. This week has a few examples of that: 1) my first attempt at baking bread. Let's just say it was not a success, 2) my older son keeping a running count from our front door until parking at his preschool. Exactly 100! 3) our middle son is mischievous. To put it mildly. Using one of the CTK exclusive vellum cards as an overlay, I documented his imaginative additions to our dinner one night.

Here's a closer look at that story and how I used the vellum:

I'd love to see what you do with the November kits. If you're on Instagram, hashtag your shared projects with #citrustwistkits so we can check them out!

Here are your sketches for this week...enjoy!

Pocket Life with Jen

Hello all! I am thrilled to be sharing the first pocket pages of the month using the October Pocket Life and Pocket Life Embellishment kits. They are, quite simply, gorgeous! Last October's kit was probably my favorite. Ever. This one tops it. To sum it up...

"I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers." - L.M. Montgomery

Fancy Pants True Friend paper collection is rich and lovely but, the CTK exclusive cards this month completely captured my heart. I used a whopping six of them on these two pages, and had to seriously rein in my urge to hoard them forever. Absolute perfection. Every one!

The smatterings of black and white accents in both kits provide such a beautiful contrast to the warm colors of the cards and papers. That ticket wood chip? My head spins with the possibilities but, this one was just the right platform for a few alphabet stickers.

Here are your sketches for the week...enjoy!

Pocket Life with Jen

Happy Friday and happy September! I've been busily working through the final weeks of summer in our family album before my favorite season, autumn, moves in. Today I am sharing my week 34 using the gorgeous September Pocket Life and Pocket Life Embellishment kits. I may have squealed a bit when I opened my box this month and saw the new packaging. The beautifully presented, stamped muslin bag was like receiving a gift in the mail. In fact, that's exactly the feel of this kit! Lovely soft patterns and so many embellishments that it feels like the ultimate selection from a favorite scrappy boutique. Love...

The Pocket Life stamp set this month contains two of my new favorite CTK stamps ever: Noteworthy and Current events, in beautiful calligraphy with check boxes. One of my favorite ways to use the kit stamps is to add them to decorative labels.

I'd be hard pressed to choose a favorite embellishment this month, though the exclusive wood veneers are fantastic, and what a treat to have four complete alphabets along with word stickers!

 Here are your sketches this week. Happy scrapping!

iCapture: Photography with Jen

Hi, Jen here today sharing some of my favorite tips on how I take, edit and prep photos for my Pocket Life pages while on-the-go.

Being at home with three children under school age means 1) taking a lot of photos of their cute faces, primarily with my iPhone, and 2) having very limited time to scrapbook. The big, dSLR camera is always at the ready when at home but, the ease and practicality of using my phone camera has been winning out more often. The brilliant advantage is that a few phone apps and screen taps make photo editing and staying up to date with my albums easier. My most used apps of late are: PicTapGo for editing and Little Moments for adding text and graphics.

PicTapGo: (left) original, (right) edited

Little Moments: (left) original, (right) edited

One immediate benefit to using iPhone photos is that the images are already perfectly sized for 3x4 pockets. Using the PicFrame app, two photos are easily dropped onto a 4x6 canvas. The collage can then be sent to a printer or printing service straight from the phone. Just grab the prints, trim down the center and slip in your pocket pages...simple! Here are screen shots of my process:

This layout, using the beautiful August Pocket Life and Pocket Life Embellishment kits, uses only photos taken and edited using my phone.

Playing with Pocket Life with Jen

Happy Friday all! Jen here today sharing this month's first Pocket Life layout using the August kits. Can I just swoon?! Just look at the gorgeous colors and the fun accents. The Pocket Life and PL Embellishment kits are simply packed with loveliness.

I happened to have photos for this week all printed and ready to go before even seeing August's kits and yet, everything works perfectly. You'll notice that we are soccer (or, football to the rest of the world!) fans so, the duration of the 2014 World Cup was quite the event and had to be documented. The top right photo of my husband and kids perfectly captures the level of enthusiasm of each individual. Hilarious. Family portraits do not need to be all smiles and perfection. This here is a slice of real life!

My scrapbook studio in our new home is coming along and the quote sticker from the PL Embellishment Kit (any guesses?) captured my feelings about the space. I added that piece to a glassine bag that was part of the PL kit packaging and slipped my jouraling inside.

I hope that this glimpse of the PL kits has you excited for what will arrive on your doorstep this month!

And here are your Pocket Life sketches for the week:

6x6 Paper Play with Jen...

Hello all! I'm sharing a layout today featuring an easy way to make use of multiple patterns from the 6x6 paper pad in the Citrus Twist Pocket Life kit on a traditional scrapbook page.

If you love a number of patterns in a paper pad and can't quite choose, creating a grid of different designs is a great way to solve the dilemma and take the guesswork out of coordination. For my background grid, I simply cut six 2x3" rectangles, one from each pattern. Why 2x3"? I like to make my own journaling and filler cards from my paper pads, cutting two 3x4" pieces from each sheet. What I then have left is a 2x6" strip. This layout makes great use of those leftover strips!

I chose three that were primarily black and white, to play off my b&w photo, and three color prints. Rather than lining them up evenly, I laid them out in a slightly overlapping, tilted manner to add visual interest. Here's a closer look:

I used a length of the baker's twine from the kit packaging along with pennant stickers from the PL Kit to "hang" from the top of my background.

And, simply added a few other details with the Add-On Stamps, stickers from both the PL and PL Embellishment kits and a title cut with my Silhouette.

pocket life friday with jen

Happy Friday all! I'm thrilled to be sharing my Week 20 pages today using the June Pocket Life and PL Embellishment kits. The colors are so fresh and fun this month.

I'm still crazy in love with circles as a design element, and punched out five for just my date card alone, making use of several favorite patterns from the South of Market 6x6. Another element I carried through this spread? The fun little tabs from the Teresa Collins stickers sheet.

Our impromptu trip to a local farm this week was a complete coincidence but, the paper pad sure helped to document the experience. I use a circle from the cow print in my date card and the "local fresh" piece to accent my journaling about the visit.

This week came with a lot of photo ops and it was tough to narrow down. Instead of using several slots for journaling, I loaded up on the photos and made this embellished filler card. I punched a notch in the top and slipped my extra writing behind. Super simple! ("Us 5" stickers from the May PL kit)

About those extra pics? This was one I really wanted to include but, wasn't sure how it would fit. A little trimming made it the perfect size to add to the top of one of the exclusive PL cards this month. The original saying was "Play All Day."

Here are your Pocket Life sketches for the week:

Pocket Life with Jen

Happy Friday and a Happy Memorial Day weekend to our US readers! Today, I'm sharing Week 15 in my PL album:

My pages have been leaning toward a lighter, brighter, simpler approach lately. With three very young children at home, creative time often happens in 2-5 minute increments as I can catch a quiet moment in the day. A natural evolution toward simplicity. The beautiful May Pocket Life and Pocket Life Embellishment kits, as well as the add-on stamp, helped me keep this spread simple and still on trend. Part of that simplicity? Using quick, typed journaling on white backgrounds with a bit of embellishing. I feel very strongly about using my own handwriting on my pages for a personal feel so, I've made sure to add in bits here and there.

This week also shows my concerted effort to get photos of myself and my husband in this album regularly. Since I am a stay at home mom and take photos of the kids all day long, it's easy to have only those three little people represented but, that isn't the whole story! Mom and Dad need to be there too. Relationships need to be documented with photos. It matters.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!

6x6 Paper Play with Jen...

Hello everyone! Jen here today with a multi-photo layout making use of the lovely 6x6 Websters Pages paper pack in the May Pocket Life kit.

This pack offered such a wonderful variety of patterns! For this page, I chose four favorite iPhone photos of my daughter, along with two sheets of the paper to incorporate in my design: the blocked cloud/sky pattern and one with whimsical text boxes.

I used my Silhouette to cut multiple hearts from the cloud paper and repeated the same cuts using a sheet of pink vellum from my stash. I layered the two, over the negative of the vellum cuts, and machine stitched a line down the center of each heart to 1) adhere the shapes and 2) to easily add dimension.

The text box paper was perfect for my journaling. I simply put pen to paper, adding a few words to each box then, cut out the strips and added them to my page with a bit of liquid adhesive. I finished off the design with a Silhouette cut title and two of the clear heart stickers also included in the Pocket Life kit.

Thank you for stopping by!
Jen

NSD Challenge #2: Pocket Life with Jen

Thank you for stopping by to see today's daily NSD challenge on our blog! We hope these challenges will inspire you to scrapbook throughout this week. For each daily challenge you participate in you'll earn one chance to win (Participate 1 day, earn one chance to win. Participate 2 days, earn 2 chances to win. The more you participate, the bigger your chances to win!). We will draw one winner for a $100 embellishment grab bag. On May 11th we'll announce the lucky winner. To be entered into the daily drawing, post your layout to your online scrapbooking forum of choice, mention the Citrus Twist Kit challenge in your layout write up, then pop back to the Citrus Twist challenge blog you based your project on and leave a comment. Don't forget to visit the CTK Store to see new items, sale items and NSD grab bags! Thinking about subscribing to our Main or Pocket Life kits? We have a special offer for those new subscriptions between now and May 7th.

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NSD Challenge #2: Use CIRCLES to unite a layout.

Circles are easily accessible, whether using a punch, die, sticker or machine cut. They can be bold or, be used to soften a design. Throughout my layout here, I used circles in a variety of ways to pull two pages together: the pie chart, a pop of orange on a light blue background, layered on a die cut card, as a spot for a date and to ground the number of members in our family.

Here are my Week 14 Pocket Life pages, using the May PL and PL Embellishment kits and showing my use of circles:

Two of my favorites included in our soon to be revealed May Kits are the pie chart card and the circle 3x4 die cut. These two pieces inspired today's NSD challenge.

I can't wait to see your creations using circles!