Stepping Back - Travelers Notebook Challenge

Hello, there!  Let's talk travelers notebooks!  Let's talk about pushing ourselves a little bit.  How about we step back, back into our crafting.

We often buy products, tools in particular and don't get around to using them.  Well, how about we change that this week? I'm talking about paper punches!  This week, I'm using my hexagon punch in my travelers notebook.

I took a couple of the patterned papers from the February Love Stories kit, and used my hexagon punch to accent my photo and the 3x4 card.

I love spreading the punches around the page, which mimics movement. I also love how these colors are all working so well together!

A super cute page I'm so excited to have in my Favorites travelers notebook insert, thanks to my hexagon punch!  However, I couldn't stop there!

I also had a bunch of border punches that I haven't used in SO many years, but I decided today was going to be the day I dusted at least one of those off.

I thought it was a fun way to use this border punch!  It's not the common way, but it created a little bit of texture layering these patterned paper pieces with my photo.  I'm thinking I'm going to try this again with a couple of my other border punches, too!

Are you going to give this challenge a try?  Please do, we'd love to see!  Make sure you tag us on Facebook, Instagram or leave a comment here on the blog!

Just For Fun Travelers Notebook!

Hello, there!
I'm pretty sure I've talked to you all before about my just for fun, only because I want to, travelers notebook.  But, if I haven't talked to you about it, it's time we do.  Because for me, this is probably one of my favorite projects.  No, really!  This is an insert I have created so I can create just because I want to.  Maybe it's because I'm in love with the photo, or the story.  Maybe I want to use a sheet of pretty paper - there are no rules.  It's just for fun.  Now, more than likely, there's some documentation going on.  But, let's look at a couple of pages I added!
I'm using the February Life Crafted Kit for both of these pages.  I had different ideas I wanted to try for the photos I had selected. Both are simple, but I ended up really happy with both.

This photo wasn't special because it's a work of art, but I love it, nonetheless. It was a great hit my son had and the ball looked like the moon in the sky.  Then, when I saw this blue paper in the kit I knew they were the perfect combo! Cutting the photo into a circle went along with the moon theme, as well.  And I felt like the various elements all paired together effortlessly!

But, there were other elements I wanted to pair with a photo I had printed!

Now, this layout is also simple and has lots of white space.  (Which is always my favorite!) But, I layered together a couple of different elements on purpose - but mostly to match the footwear in the photo. The yellow is not a perfect match, but it coordinates and fits with the idea.

I love this project because I can break out embellishments I might not use or know how to use on my regular pages.  I can make pages just because I want to! And the February Life Crafted Kit worked so well and I love how it allowed me to document these precious memories and have fun, too!

Travelers Notebook Challenge With Jennie

Hello there!  I am so excited to be here with you today.  It's a new year and I want to give you a challenge.  Now, I could challenge you to stamp [my favorite!] or use one of the many amazing elements in the Fresh Starts kit.  However, I've got a different type of challenge for you today. I want to challenge you to create a travelers notebook insert, or at least a page, devoted to yourself. I'd like to see you dig deep, or at least really document a part of yourself in these pages of the insert, or on the one page.  Consider this for 2019! Tell the stories of the story teller.

This layout is part of my All About Me travelers notebook insert.  I've selected 30 prompts so I can discuss things about myself.  They are not all deep questions, but they tell a little bit more about myself.  I absolutely love the colors and items included in the Fresh Starts Kit - they are perfect to tell my stories.

For the left side of the layout, I answered the question if I was a morning or night person.  I trimmed a strip of the striped patterned paper included in the kit [LOVE IT!] and decorated with just a couple of die cuts, but asked the question with the puffy alphabet stickers.

The same idea on the right side.  However, there was a new question [What's your favorite job] that I stamped with the Outline Alphabet Stamp.  The house die cuts were the perfect accent for this question and I am so glad I had them!

Now, I love creating a few travelers notebook inserts, they are like mini albums but easy to use and compact.  However, you can do the same thing -- create something all about you -- in a planner, or in my case, in a Hobonichi Techo.

The New Beginnings stamp set is SO cute and was perfect page inside my journal.  I love those flowers and leaves! I'm using the Hobonichi to document me - my feelings, thoughts and the things going on in my life!  All About Me, wouldn't you say?

We'd love to see you play along with this challenge.  It's important to document yourself and tell your stories.  Make sure you tag us and share how you're documenting YOU!

Tuesday Tutorial!

Hello and Merry Christmas!  I'm hoping you have had a delightful day so far and your family is healthy and happy.  Once the festivities are over, you might want to get crafty - maybe ink up some stamps and that is what I'm thinking that I'll be doing!  I have a fun and super simple tutorial for you today that I think can really help you personalize all of your projects.

The left hand side was kept super simple in order to let the stamping be the highlight.  I used a few bits and pieces from the Pleasant Valley Pocket Life Kit and it was the perfect way to put it all together!

I love stamping.  It's so much fun.  And it's also so easy to personalize your projects.  I mean, where else am I going to find something that says CAL over and over again?  Right here with the Spencer Solid Stamp Set and the Spencer Outline Stamp Set I was able to create exactly what I wanted by repeatedly stamping CAL over and over again.

Before you start, there's a couple of things to consider.  What colors will you use? I wanted to use a golden yellow and navy blue -- the colors of Cal [University of California - Berkley].  I also knew that I DID NOT want the stamping to line up perfectly.  I wanted it to be slightly and somewhat offset -- all of the letters being a little bit different.  Believe it or not, that is how I like this type of stamping best.  And these Spencer alphas are PERFECT with this!

I also wanted to make sure that each line didn't start the same way as the one before it.  So, I had to make sure to keep track of what I had started with on the line previous. I didn't want it to be too contrived or neat - I wanted to keep it casual and random.

Try stamping out your own designs!  Either use them to replace patterned paper or a large cluster of embellishments -- whatever your project calls for!

Travelers Notebook Challenge With Jennie

Hello, friends!  I'm so excited to challenge you to try something in your next travelers notebook layout!  I love using a travelers notebook to document our activities and the things that we do in our day to day lives.  One of my favorite parts about it is it's small canvas.  But, I also really like that I can try things that I might not else where since it's just one small space of many. So, let's get it into it!

I love the December kits.  Both the Pleasant Valley Pocket Life kit and the scrapbook kit are just beautiful this month.  So, I wanted to use mostly the Pocket Life kit, but added the alphas from the 

scrapbook kit were just perfect, so I had to add them.  I LOVE the size, font and color.  They accent so well and yet are super subtle too.

So, the challenge?  It's easy!  Trim around the focus or main image in your photo!  It's kind of a retro trend, but it's also very fun.  I also love how it makes the total focus on the important part of the story!   Because I didn't want to upstage the Painted Ladies, I kept the embellishing to a minimum to focus on the photo.  Layered die cuts make a great base and I selected simple patterned paper [from the Pocket Life Kit] to not detract but accent!

Do you have any photos that you just love?  Why not trim around the main part of the photo and add it to the next travelers notebook layout?  This time of year it's fun and easy to do with limited time. If you play along make sure to tag us on Facebook or Instagram so we can see!

Planning With the Pocket Life Kit

Hey, there!  I am so excited to share with you how I used the November Pocket Life kit.  I loved the papers, cards and embellishments and I knew that I wanted to use as much of the kit as I could!  So, I decided to use the elements for regular planning!

I absolutely loved the patterned papers and I had to punch them and add them to my layout that I also decorated with photos.  This way, I could do my daily planning with my lists and activities but add a few photos for fun and inspiration!

I love using the papers for layering! It's so perfect for being inspired even with the average activities of a week.

The stamping is always a highlight for me in any project and this was no exception.  The Thankful stamp set is so cute - and it's perfect so many things and I loved using it to add an activity directly to the page.

Do you love adding embellishments and pretty pieces into your daily planning?  Are you always looking for new ways to make your plans shine?  The Pocket Life Kit might be exactly what you need to add a little creativity into your days!

Travelers Notebook Challenge!

Hello, there!  I've been creating in my travelers notebook and I cannot wait to try and inspire you all with what I created using the most recent Pocket Life Kit, Sunshine In My Soul.  I was creating another page in the All About Me insert and this kit was the perfect one for one of the prompts.  Let's take a look!

I often find that we end up extra alphabet stickers.  Letters that maybe we need one or two of -- but not all of the ones that are included.  What to do with them?  There's lots of ways to use them up - and for this page I used the alphabet stickers included in the kit as embellishment + title work. 

I simply took leftover alphabet stickers and placed them around my title - creating a descending block of letters that is perfect when talking about books and reading!

See?  The alphas were not only perfect as the title, but also as an accent, as well!  I love how it turned out, it's just so much fun and perfect for my theme.  Do you think that you could see yourself using this idea?  I have another, as well!

This card with the book spines was perfect, as well, for the theme and I knew I wanted to use it.  However, using it whole wasn't really going to work for the space I had available and the design of the page.  So, I simply trimmed out the book spines and discarded the rest.  [Though, with the gorgeous backside I am re-thinking that!] Do you trim up your pocket page cards to fit your project?  Why not try it next time, too?

I hope you love using the November Sunshine In My Soul kit as much as I do! Make sure you share on Facebook how you're using the kit -- and tag Citrus Twist Kits on Instagram -- so we can see your beautiful projects!

Travelers Notebooks With the Little Things

Hello, there!  I'm so excited to be back here with you today talking about a couple of Traveler's Notebook pages I created with the Pocket Life Little Things kit and I also combined with a few elements from the scrapbook kit, as well. The colors in the kits are just beautiful and I also really loved the die cuts this month, too!  So, combining those together really helped me make some pages that I love.  I'm working in my All About Me travelers notebook and sharing two of those pages with you.  I love getting to combine these kits together, they flow together seamlessly!

This page had a eclectic feel almost immediately.  The patterned paper background came from the scrapbook kit and lent itself to the photo, too.  [I felt like they went together, for some reason!  Maybe the colors?]  So, with the strong base, it was easy to add the die cuts and journaling, as well. The die cuts are small but not too small and so you can use many of them together and the layering is really fun.

Now, this photo had a different feel thanks to a Snapchat filter and because of it feeling a bit stark, I wanted to match that to the papers and embellishments, as well.  So, the bits fit together like a puzzle

and I love how that black heart from the Shine On Mini Inflatable Heart Ephemera [from the scrapbook kit] not only fits but really stands out.  I love the contrast it provided on this page among the rest of the fairly neutral/pastel embellishments.

Have you picked up the October kits? Do you have any favorite pieces in the kit?  I don't know if I could pick one, but I'd love to see what you are loving and how you're using those pieces!

Tuesday Tutorial With Jennie

Hello!  I am excited to share with you today a few steps to using the October [or any!] Citrus Twist Little Things Pocket Life kit in your planners!  I've used the papers, die cuts and stamps in my Happy Planner® and I'm excited to show you show you how I use them functionally and decoratively!

For reference, this is a BIG Happy Planner® which is letter size.  Meaning, the sheets are the same size as a regular piece of paper.  This is the planner that I use as a memory planner.  I put in our regular activities, plus photos, journaling and embellishments.  My most favorite embellishments to add are stamping and die cuts, with punched patterned paper rounding out the top.

One way I like to add stamping is by adding stamping on a piece of cardstock [you could as easily use a piece of patterned paper].  This does two things.  One, it helps you in case you make a mistake or get a little messy. Two, you can add a little bit of variety or visual interest to your page.  I used the Griffin Alpha Stamp to stamp the time of the activity.  I love how not only it looks, but how cost effective this is, as well!

Now, on this side you can see I did a couple of other stamping spots.  One, I simply stamped the time directly to the page.  I am a huge fan of the simplicity.  It's uncomplicated and straight to the point.  I also stamped directly on top of a die cut.  I love this!  It combines function and decoration!

But, stamping is not the only thing I love.  I also love die cuts on my pages, as you can see from the photos I've already shared.

I want to say that this cluster is my favorite, but I'm not sure I can choose!  However, what I can say is that I love that woodgrain frame included in the Little Things Pocket Life Kit.  It IS my favorite. [And I love the woodgrain combined with the black and white patterned paper!] By using several pieces from the package of die cuts, along with a punched piece of the patterned paper included with the kit - I've added an area on my planner pages to rest and look at the details.  I don't add a lot of other embellishing, other than these clusters, if you'll notice. I like to focus on the photos and activities and add decorative spots.

This is a similar idea to the cluster I shared above.  However, due to space AND wanting to have one primary cluster [the first I showed], this one is a bit smaller.  However, I've still included 3 items that have coordinating colors so they are all tied together.

Unrelated, I felt like I hit the jackpot when I saw the words SLOW DOWN included in the package - because these photos of my son on his seventeenth birthday needed these words to accompany them. A little more involvement here, a few more working pieces, but still has the same weight as the other clusters. I don't want any of them to feel like they are vastly different, as they are all the same importance.  But having them slightly varied makes them more interesting, so I enjoy that not one of them looks like the same - even though they coordinate.

Are you stamping or using die cuts in your planners?  Have you tried the die cuts that come in the Pocket Life kits?  Make sure to share with Citrus Twist on Facebook or tag them on Instagram so we can see how!