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 with Karen - Using an Art Medium - GESSO TECHNIQUE

Hi everyone! Karen here and today I'm sharing a simple tutorial on how I used GESSO to create a subdued background. I created this layout using the January 2017 Scrapbook "Oh Darling" Add-On Kit & the "Pattern Play" paper add-on kit.

I love creating with 12x12 patterned paper however the photos and embellishments can get lost in the background. And then someone invented GESSO - how lucky! I like to think of this art medium as a blank canvas, because technically its giving you a chance to 'rub' out some of that background. 

Hint: do not use too much GESSO, start off with a small amount & work your way to more. I use make-up sponges to work with GESSO rather than a brush, it gives it leaves a great texture on the paper. Spread it out across the patterned paper & then wait until it dries, which really isn't that long.

Once dried you then can start adding your layers, photo & embellishments. For this layout I used more GESSO to create an area to stamp on to. I think it turned out great. GESSO is really easy to stamp on. 

I also added a smaller amount of GESSO to the bottom of the page where I planned to add embellishments. I loved how it turned out.

Watch the video below to see more details on how this layout and technique came together.

I hope I've inspired you to try something new.

Karen xx

SUNDAY SKETCH WITH KAREN

Hello everyone. What does a Sunday mean? A new sketch of course. Below is a sketch you can use to create a layout.

 This is what I created using the sketch. 

I made some slight changes to my layout from the sketch and that is okay, you can too. Sometimes you have a slightly better idea or it could come down to what products you have to use & then this can differ to what is 'sketched' for you. 

I used a landscape photo, I don't use this size photo very often, so that was the first challenge for me with this sketch. I love to use square photos in my layouts.  The layout is 12x12 in size & I only used one large background layer unlike the sketch. To be honest I'm not use to larger layers so this was challenge number two & even though I gave it shot, I took the layer off & went with just the one background paper. Here are the details of my layout:

To play along this week, create a layout inspired by the sketch and upload it to the CTK gallery with today's date (01/15) in the title and you will be in with a chance to win a $5 gift certificate to spend in the CTK store
Happy Creating.

Karen xox

'Dream a Little Dream of me' with Karen

Hi, It’s Karen here today. I hope that you had a lovely Christmas and enjoyed spending time with family & friends. Today I want to share a layout I created with the December Kinsley scrapbook kit and Embellishment Add-On.

I feel as though I haven't scrapbooked in a while, & I've been itching to create, so once Christmas was over I could really concentrate on my craft, it felt so good! This kit has some beautiful papers in it, really dreamy colors & embellishments. When I saw the 'Pink Paislee' Moonstruck Cork Stickers with 'Dream' on it, my inspiration hit overload. Does that happen to you? I sometimes have no idea of what I want to create & use to design a layout, so I take my time to really look at the papers & embellishments & with luck, I usually am inspired. Fail that I use Pinterest, ha ha.

I loved stitching around my hand-cut 'speech' cloud using plain white embroidery thread & couldn't resist adding some more stitching on my layout elsewhere.

The kit also comes with 'We R Memory Keepers' Layered Tags, they are gorgeous & I had a hard time choosing which ones to use on my layout, in the end I went for the 'eyes' tag & my fave - black & white stripes. I love adding more layers to my photos & deciding what papers to add underneath is my fave part. My final embellishment to any layout is paint splatters, I love this part. I use colors that will accentuate my layout, I add water to my palette, get my brush full of paint & then splatter until I am satisfied. I never over do it, I glance over my layout after each splatter & ask myself is it enough? If not, I keep going!

I hope I've inspired you to create a layout today using your December Kits. Thanks for joining me, see you in January 2017! Can you believe that? Wow time certainly goes by too fast.

Karen xx

Kit Love

Happy Mail.  Karen here to share with you today a selection of my favourite pieces from the April 2016 "Santorini" Pocket Life Kit as well as the Sprinkles Kit. This kit is packed with so much goodness. 

Here is the Pocket Life Kit in full. Isn't it packed full of bright colours perfect for Spring? I think so. Pretty patterns mixed with fun bits and pieces, such as those wood veneers. I'm drawn to geometric patterns so these 6x6 papers are great.

My absolute favourite part are the 3x4 cards shown here below, I can't wait to use that 'sleep' card.

The sprinkles kit this month is packed with those clear plastic die cut words such as 'Hello' & these will be great to add captions to my photos. Love that these are included in this little kit.

Over all this month is like no other, its bright and fun & its going to work really well with my warm summer photos here in Australia. Do you go through your kits and pull your favourite pieces out to use first?  or do you hoard?   It would be so fun to see which pieces are your favourites.  If you're on Instagram, use the hashtag #ctkitlove where we can all share our favourites from this month's kit. 

Thank you so much for joining me today.

xx

In my Studio with Karen

Hello.
It's Karen here and today I invite you for a little peek into my studio & how I store my stamps. In December 2015 I had a massive de-clutter of my studio, inspired by the KonMari Method I re organised a few areas of my studio, stamp storage being one of them. 

I found this wooden carry box at TYPO in Australia last year & it was previously storing my 3x4 project life cards, but during that purge it became vacant..... so it was a perfect solution for my stamps. Now my stamps are altogether & its easier to find what I am looking for. 

I store my larger stamps like this: - 

Here is what my studio looks like now that I have had a de-clutter, its neat 'n' tidy & best of all I gave a large amount away to friends & family members. It felt freeing. 

I hope I've helped you think about your stamp storage & given you some other ideas. 

If you would like to visit more creative spaces - check what the rest of CTK team presented on the blog so far! 

Have a lovely day.
xo

Kit Love with Karen

Hello friends!  Karen here with you today to share some December kit love. When I opened my box of goodies this month I felt particularly excited because I had a break from the Citrus Twist Kits Design team in November to complete a third year teaching prac, so therefore a box of pretty paper in the mail made my day. I've recorded my first unboxing video on YouTube, so be kind. I hope to do more.

Hope you enjoy it and the kit as much as I do.

Happy creating.
xo

PL Sketch Friday with Karen

Hi everyone

Karen here with PL Sketch, every month with the Pocket Life Kit and the Sprinkles or Embellishment kit, I create at least one layout maybe even stretching it to two layouts with a 6x8 full scrapbook page. I love Scrapbooking as well as Pocket Life and can now confidently call myself a scrapbooker. 

Below is my layout that I'm sharing with you today.

I used a piece of grey cardstock I had #inmystudio and everything else you see on my pages are from the October Pocket Page Kit or Embellishment Kit. 

Here are you sketches. 

Can't wait to see what you create. Have fun.

Karen xo

Tuesday Tutorial with Karen

Today I thought I would share with you how I add some mixed media to my layouts. I've been adding paint splatters to most of my layouts for a while now, and I love the effect it creates, it adds depth to your pages and I hope that by showing you how easy it really is, you will give it a try on your next layout.

Below is what I grabbed in my studio, part of my creative process is gathering my papers and embellishments first, this helps with keeping under 15 minutes. The products I used on this layout are from what I had left over in the September Pocket Pages Citrus Twist Kit.

I love a good 'Grid' design, and I usually stick to this format when creating a layout. 

Place the squares on the page, including your photo. Play around with the patterns until you are happy with the look.

I had a few pl cards left over, including this one 'Sweet Thing' above, so I cut around it and placed in the middle of my 'grid'. 

I then added a few embellishments on the grid and around it. There is no real method in my madness here, it's pretty much hit or miss, whatever I feel satisfied with. I just play around with it.

Now for the real fun, mix up some paint in your palette, I went with a pink. I use a Zig Watercolour system brush and you just squeeze in some water with paint, this creates a runnier consistency to work with.

As you can see from above use your pointer finger to 'flick' or 'spatter' the paint on, you can even add some paint dots to your page to give it those bigger paint 'dots'. Add as much or as little as you want, again, there is no rule, no method, just when you feel enough is enough. 

And that's it, pretty easy huh. I added a little corner embellishment on the bottom too. This layout took under 15 minutes. 

Give it a go, I think you'll love it. See you next time.

xx

I used: September Lombard Pocket Pages Kit & Embellishment Kit

In My Studio with Karen

Hello,
It's Karen, today I wanted to invite you on a little tour of what I call my studio, the place where I create. I've wanted to show you my space for a while now, its a work in progress, I've currently got another table on order and some new shelves so I will have to share with you my updated studio when that happens, but for now have a look at where I 'work'. 

I'm fortunate enough to have my own space in our house, lucky me! I of course share the studio with my crafty girls, who happen to love sitting in here as well and 'playing'. My youngest tells me all the time that she wants a room just like mine when she grows up! Cute.

Lets start with the photo above, this is my desk, it's gigantic and really deep so lots of space to create a mess. I keep my picture mate printer handy on the left hand side, my scrap paper basket to the right, that needs sorting stat, its starting to overflow. In the white lace basket I keep current Project Life cards that might make it into my layouts over the next few weeks/months. In the tray I keep the current 'Citrus Twist Kits' so the contents are easy to find and in front of me while I create the layouts for the Design Team. My favourite part of this side of the studio is my big yellow 'Hello'. After I named my blog I found this in a local store and just had to have it. Its big and bright.

These lovely wooden draws contain embellishments such as die cuts, frames, tags and some tools. I love my washi tape man, I saw this idea on Dear Lizzy's blog. The wire basket contains the contents of the latest Week in the Life kit as I will be working on that soon. I update my banner on my wall above my desk every month or so, I love that I can change the whole look of my studio when I feel like it.

This shelf currently holds some of my planner collection, as well as little while bowls of wood veneers and some planner items like sticky notes, tabs and stickers. That basket.... drool....

To the right of my desk is a filing cabinet that has project life cards on top, plus big letters and numbers, planner pens, scrapbooking stickers & enamel dots. In that tray is large scrap paper, ink pads, glue runners and a tiny attacher plus staples. I have a few 'hello' items in my studio, my favourite word.

Behind my work table is another little space to create & take my photos, I keep a lot of my scrapbooking embellishments, cutters, punches and thickers over on this side of the studio. The three-tired wire basket holds ribbon, washi tape and twine. Yum. Under that table.... a sewing machine that pops out, various craft items that are too messy to show, ha ha. 

I love this particular space in my studio and the new tables and shelves are going to be all white of course, along the entire length of this wall, I can't wait. I keep my beloved midori travellers notebook over here, stamps, current collections, some more washi of course!

A close up of my ribbon and washi, project life kits, paper pads, 12x 12 paper on the bottom and thickers in those plastic tubs. This shelf holds a lot, it also has my past albums up the top. Plus all my teaching resources are here too. 

My studio gets the most perfect light, in the afternoon the sun shines right in, its a beautiful space to be in in the winter especially, so warm and cozy. We have a small leather lounge in here and this coffee table, perfect for sitting and relaxing, the girls read in here too. This table has some of my latest scrapbook layouts on the little easel, I love that they are on display for my family to see what I have been creating before they go in the albums. 

If You would like to visit more creative spaces - check what the rest of CTK team presented on the blog so far! So many great spaces. 

Have a lovely day!

xo

Friday Pocket Life Sketch

Hello Karen here to share with you some sketches to try on the weekend. Do you get creative on the weekend? I know I do, most likely because the days seem longer!

Now, here are the sketches based off of these pocket pages I created. I used an app called Bamboo for this sketch, so mind the basic-ness of it, it really is a SKETCH. They are 6x8 in size, but you can of course create any size. The second page is using a full scrap layout. I love inserting full page scrapbook layouts in my pocket pages.

Make sure you share your pocket pages with us in the Citrus Twist Gallery or onto our Facebook page!
Thanks for stopping by and taking a look.

Karen x

3 to Inspire with Karen

It's time for another edition of our "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 mini album, layout or PL spread and you'll want to include all 3 elements on your project.

Here's my take on the challenge, using the June PL kit & Add-on's. This kit was magical to work with. In fact I really don't think it took much 'work' at all, just lots of creative fun.

Here are your 3 to Inspire:

      1. Use a paper doily.

      2. Use some stitching.

      3. Use stamps.

Enjoy!