Sunday Sketch with Kathleen

Hey friends :) I'm here with another Sunday Sketch challenge and it might be one of my favourite Citrus Twist Kits sketches I've worked with so far. A sketch that involves lots of circles can only be good, if you ask me ;) So, here's the sketch:

And here is my take on it*. You will see that I stuck almost 100% to the sketch - I juts really loved the design. The only thing that didn't work out for me was the wide paper strip in the lower part of the layout, behind the photo and title.

* You can find a process video for my layout at the end of this post 

But other than that, it's almost exactly as it is in the sketch. Of course you can change it up as much or as little as you like. I just didn't feel like it needed a lot of changing.

For the circles in the sketch I used a 1.5" paper punch and punched them out of some of the patterned papers and also the sheet of vellum from the Scrapbook Main kit. For the navy blue circle in the second row I used a sticker from the Pinkfresh Studio The Mix No. 2 cardstock stickers - it had the perfect size, fit the colours of my punched out circles perfectly and even had a phrase that fit for this page. It was almost meant to be ;)

I also used some smaller circle stickers, punch outs and embellishments to layer on the bigger circles, and added some stitching, too. For the circles where I added another paper layer, I used my sewing machine to stitch the layer down in order to add more dimension.

Now onto the lower half of the layout. The sketch shows a tag tucked in behind the photo and I planned to add my journaling on it. To be able to pull it out, I used the vellum from the main kit to make a pocket that would hold the tag.

To make my photo stand out a little more, I wanted to add some colour behind it, but none of the patterned papers really worked. In the end I used that beautiful striped paper from the Pink Paislee/Paige Evans "Pick Me Up" foam mini alpha sticker package.

For my title I used a mix of those mini alpha stickers and a die cut from the American Crafts "Stay Colorful" ephemera pack. And, to finish it off, of course I added some paint splatters and some stamping with the CTK exclusive stamps.

And as promised before, here is the process video, in case you want to see how this page came together :)

I am very happy with how the layout turned out - especially with the colour scheme. I don't think I've ever used it before but I am very much in love with it. So you might be seeing another project with the same colours soon, haha ;)

Now it's your turn!  To play along with this week's sketch and to be eligible to win a $5 gift certificate to the CTK Store,  create a layout based off of this week's sketch and upload it to the CTK Facebook group with today's date (04/15) in the description. Can't wait to see what you all come up with!!

3-to-Inspire with Kathleen

Hey there, it's Kathleen here again and I'm so happy to bring you another 3-to-Inspire blogpost - these are definitely one of my absolute favourites here on the Citrus Twist Kits blog!

I hope you already had some time to play with your March "Lemon Drop" kits and love them as much as me :) The fun, bright colours together with the black and white patterns are my favourite thing in the kit! So it's no surprise that I'm showcasing those on my project for today's blogpost.

For my project I used the Scrapbook Main and the Embellishment kit.

And here are the three prompts:

• Use at least two black and white patterned papers
• Add hidden journaling
• "Frame" your layout

You don't have to use a lot of the black and white patterned papers, just a strip of it peeking out from behind something or using it to mat your photo totally work, too!

For my hidden journaling I used a piece from the Crate Paper "Here + There" ephemera pack, typed my journaling on (my typewriter wasn't cooperating but since I had only one of those pieces so I couldn't redo it and because the text is hidden, I just went with it) and then tucked that piece on the left side behind my white cardstock.

When I adhered the paper strips around my white cardstock, I made sure to leave a space for that card where I didn't add any adhesive.

To add some colourful contrast to the black and white elements on my page, I decided to use some orange/coral red bits and pieces, like the patterned paper strip on the left, the tag from the "Here + There" ephemera pack and some of the Pinkfresh Studio "The Mix No. 2" puffy hearts.

But before that I thought I would try doing a mixed media-ish background using some watercolours, mists and a star stencil with some shimmery texture paste (it's difficult to see in the photos, but you can see it on the right side next to the photo and on the lower left side, too).

Mixed media is still "difficult" for me and I need to try things out and kinda find my groove, which is also why it's rather "light" on this layout, but I am super happy with how it turned out!

Then I added the date and some phrases with roller stamps from my stash and that's it!

I hope you like my take on the prompts and of course I would love to see how you interprete them! If you play along, don't forget to upload your project to the CTK gallery and/or Facebook group for a chance to win a $5 coupon to the store!

"Crazy Plantlady" Layout & How to Use Vintage Music Book Pages with Kathleen

Hey there, it's Kathleen here again and today I want to show you how you can incorporate the vintage music book sheets that were included in the February "Cedar Grove" scrapbooking kit.

For my layout I used the music book sheet as a layering piece for my background. Behind that I used the CTK exclusive paper with the very subtle yellow geometric pattern. The music sheet was perfect to add some more texture and pattern to my page without overloading it, since the colour of the music sheet is quite neutral.

Because the colours in my photo were very vibrant already, I didn't want to add too much colour anymore. I pulled the green and red/terracotta from the photo and added some more yellow bits and pieces to repeat the yellow from the patterned paper in my background.

I didn't add any journaling on this page because it doesn't really need it. This is just a photo of some (of the many) plants in our home, taken while my sansevieria plant was in bloom :)

To fill the white space on the lower half of my page, I added another little cluster of labels, ticket stubs (that I cut from the Crate Paper Flourish "Always" paper) and one of the Pinkfresh Studio "Let Your Heart Decide" leatherette stickers.

I used the exclusive stamp set and some spray mists to finish off my page and that's it :)

Hope you like this layout and feel inspired to use the vintage music book sheets from your kits! Or maybe you already have? Let me know how you used yours!

Thanks for stopping by,
Kathleen

Sunday Sketch with Nathalie and Kathleen

Hey there!

Nathalie and Kathleen with you today (can you believe, I paired up with Scattered Confetti!! ) to bring you this week's Sketch Challenge. First let me show you the sketch we are using as inspiration for our pages:

And here is my take on this sketch using the beautiful Sugarland main kit, embellishment kit, and By The Numbers Stamp set:

As you can see, I chose to follow the sketch with a few modifications to document a picture of my daughter and her zing for life.

I love large picture layouts, so i decided to replace the large negative space of the sketch with a blown-up picture, and then added the title on to the white space in the picture.

I chose be true to the sketch, and kept the small cluster at the top left corner of the page,  but just added a few more pieces to balance the layout.

To finish my page, I recreated the picture cluster from the sketch but used pieces of ephemera from the Main Kit and the Emhellishment kit  instead of the photographs.   You can say I stayed true to the sketch with a small twist!

I love how easy this page was to put together using the sketch, and this month's colorful and versatile Sugarland Kits.

Cannot wait to see how you interpret the sketch!

That is all for me, now it is Kathleen's turn to show you her gorgeous take on the sketch.

XOXO,

Nathalie.

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Hey there, it’s Kathleen here, and before I’ll show you my take on the sketch, I just want to say: WOW! Isn’t Nathalie’s layout just absolutely stunning? I love the big photo she used and how she changed up the photos in the sketch and made an embellishment cluster there – so good!

For my layout I used the Sugarland Scrapbook main kit and actually also changed up the sketch a little bit. Because the orientation of my two photos was horizontal, I decided to have them stacked on top of each other rather than next to each other.

Other than that I stuck fairly closely to the sketch, although I did move the tag from the lower part to the upper left corner and used the “Love you tons“ ephemera piece from the Crate Paper “Good Vibes“ collection next to my photos instead. To be honest, when I saw last week’s Sunday sketch blogpost, I realised that my page – unintentionally – ended up being a mix between that sketch and the one from this post ;)

In order to have some separation between the two photos, I decided to use one of the pompom frames to highlight one of them. I picked the one with the aqua trim but didn’t really like the brown frame it had. So I just used some white gesso to recolour it and then added some sparkle with a golden glitter glue from my stash.

The white tag in the top left corner is actually from the “Good Vibes” ephemera package; I just chose one than I knew I wouldn’t use and turned it around so I could use the white backside :) and for the stamping I used the “By the Numbers” stamp set which I absolutely love! The inspiration sheet you get with that stamp set shows so many great ways you can use it – I’m sure it will make an appearance in a lot of my projects :D

So thanks for stopping by, I hope you feel inspired to get creative with this sketch now!

Now it's your turn!  To play along with this week's sketch and to be eligible to win a $5 gift certificate to the CTK Store, create a layout based off of this week's sketch and upload it to the CTK Gallery with today's date (01/28) in the title. We can't wait to see what you all come up with!!

Documenting the Good & the Bad with Kathleen

Hey there, it's Kathleen here again and first of all I want to wish you all a Happy New Year!!

When I unpacked my Citrus Twist Kits January "Sugarland" kits right after Christmas, I absolutely loved the bright, fresh colour scheme. I loved working on my December Daily album, which is filled with lots of greens, reds, but also blush, black and white, but I felt SO ready for a non-Christmassy colour palette!

All I knew when I started this layout was that I wanted to use one of those gorgeous pompom frames from the Crate Paper "Good Vibes" collection that were included in the Main kit, as well as lots of the patterned papers.

Now when I see pompom, mint/teal, pink and yellow, I immediately think of my scrapbooking heroine Suse Fish (who happens to be a guest designer this month - so keep your eyes peeled for the visual feast that awaits you!). If you've seen her work on IG or her blog (and I really can't believe you haven't), then you know that these are the typical Suse-colours. And she also happens to be the queen of layering which allows for lots of different patterns and papers on your layout.

So I quickly searched my Pinterest board where I keep my favourite layouts of all the talented ladies out there and found one by Suse that she had actually made with a Citrus Twist Kits kit in the past - how perfect is that? I absolutely love all the layers on the right side of the layouts with lots of little bits peeking out from below:

Now a lot of times when I have another layout as inspiration or starting point for mine, it starts off looking quite similar (in terms of placement and structure) but then often ends up taking a different turn. Sometimes you can still see the similarities, and sometimes it completely changes up to a point where there is (almost) no resemblance between the two.

This time, however, you can definitely see a lot of similarities and that is because it just worked and felt "right". I didn't feel the need to change a lot of things because the way Suse had laid out her page and what she chose to put on hers, actually worked really well for me!

I didn't plan on keeping almost everything like it was in Suse's layout, it just kind of happened - haha. I only looked at her layout a few times when I started mine and then closed it, but it seems it was really stuck in my head ;)

So as you can see, I also used some torn strips of some of the patterned papers from the kit and layered them on the right side of my layout. I also tucked in pieces of the vintage book page that is included (how cool is that?!) and some other bits and pieces like tags and labels.

I also used one of the cute exclusive phrase stickers (how fun are the phrases on them??) that reads "It's complicated" and stuck it in there. When you look at the photo of me in the pool with the blue sky and sunshine, you would think that this is a really happy, perfect memory - which in reality it isn't. I was actually sick a lot while we were on vacation and spent a lot of the time in bed, but one day decided I wanted to get into that pool at least once to have some nice photos to take away from this trip..

So to hint at the fact that there is more to this story than what you can see in the photo, I used this sticker. I included more journaling on one of those cards that was included in the Crate Paper "Good Vibes" ephemera pack which fitted perfectly behind my photo. I also used the "The Story" stamp from the exclusive stamp set to give another hint that there is this card tucked away behind the photo that you can pull out.

On the left side of my page I added another small(ish) cluster of embellishments. I used that cute die cut tag from the ephemera package, layered a piece of patterned paper behind it and sprinkled some more bits and pieces on/around it. I cut off the part of the tag that ran off the page, turned it around (the backside is white) and used it in the right corner of my layout as another layering piece.

The little "good vibes" phrase was part of one of the branding strips of the patterned papers and it fit perfectly onto that small tag. Now I said that the memory isn't just all good, so the "good vibes" and "chill out" phrases might seem a bit wrong - but the fact of the matter is that we ended up having a lot of fun taking these photos.

So even though the circumstances weren't perfect, it wasn't all bad and I wanted my layout to reflect that.

To finish off my page I added my title with the phrase thickers, splattered some yellow colour shine across my page and added some more embellishments like the wood veneer arrow* in the bottom left corner, and some stars in different shapes and textures*.

* I got the wood veneer arrow and the yellow acrylic stars in one of the "NSD 2016 Bits & Pieces Grab Bags" that you can get in the CTK shop for only $3!!

I am very pleased with how this page turned out (and I have Suse to thank for that because her layout was so inspiring!) and I am also very happy about how I documented the "not so great" part about this memory. I don't only want to scrap about the happy memories and I also don't want to just leave out the negative sides of certain events or memories, so finding a way to incorporate these as well (in a way that I still like the project) is important, I think.

I hope you like today's inspiration - whether it's the sketch, the colour scheme or the part about documenting the good and the bad!

Happy crafting, friends!
Kathleen

Sunday Sketch with Kathleen

Hey there, it's Kathleen here and first of all, I hope you all had a wonderful, relaxed Christmas with all your loved ones! Today it's my turn to share a Sunday Sketch with you, so let's have a look at it first:

And here is my take on it:

As you can see, I stuck almost 100% to the sketch. The only thing I really changed is the placement of the journaling (I added mine as hidden journaling and I will show you in a second how and where) and the alignment of the two photos.

For my photos I printed the same one twice (of my husband and our dog - who loves to sleep on my side of the bed as soon as I leave); once in colour and once in black and white. Because I didn't want to cover up too much of our dog in the right photo, I decided to add my photos kind of offset.

For my title I used this gorgeous "story" die cut from the ephemera pack in the Scrapbook kit and also added one of the little tags from the exclusive cutouts page. "Down & Out" seemed quite appropriate for this page :D

As I said before, I added my journaling as hidden journaling. On the one hand because I didn't feel it would fit below my photos and on the other because I wanted it to be handwritten. Since I'm not too fond of my handwriting, though, I went for this solution.

I cut out one of the tags from the Crate Paper "Good Vibes" cut aparts paper, slid it into the glassine bag that the little cork pieces came in, and layered this behind my photo on the right.

For the paint splatters in the sketch I used some Color Shine sprays from my stash, some star puffy stickers from the Maggie Holmes "Carousel" collection, some of the exclusive epoxy sticker dots and these really cute little starburst stamps from the exclusive stamp set.

I am absolutely in love with those little starbursts, so I had to add quite a few of them! I think they add such an interesting touch to this cluster and I'm quite sure they will make an appearance on many more of my projects :D

I also added some more details like the red and blue stitching on the left and right side, the stickers in the lower left corner and the little tag in the upper right corner peeking out from behind the paper strips.


Now it's your turn!  To play along with this week's sketch and to be eligible to win a $5 gift certificate to the CTK Store,  create a layout based off of this week's sketch and upload it to the CTK Gallery with today's date (12/31) in the title. Can't wait to see what you all come up with!!

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you all a safe and Happy New Year!!

3 to Inspire with Kathleen

Hi CTK friends!  It's Kathleen here and it's time for another 3-to-Inspire challenge!

First up let's look at the prompts I used for my page:

1. Incorporate different textures in your layout. Use at least one other medium apart from paper (like the white tulle or some gesso, paint or texture paste).
2. Use more than one photo.3. Add some paper tearing.

 And here is the page I created for this challenge:

I'm usually not a very big fan of red in my projects, but Christmas season seems to be the only time it is working for me and the look of this Christmassy red together with the black and white is really growing on me :D

So for my layout I used the December "Sonoma" Scrapbook Main kit, as well as one little phrase sticker from the Embellishment kit (the red one on my photo). For my papers and embellishments I stuck to the ones that had black, white and red in them because I felt these really helped make my photos pop and because I also wanted that winter-y feel.

For the different textures I decided to add a piece of the white tulle that was included in the Scrapbook Kit behind one of my photos and also use some of my Tonic Studios Nuvo Glimmer Paste (in Moonstone) from my stash together with one of my favourite stencils. It kind of looks like snowflakes or snow flurry, which fitted these photos perfectly. 

It's difficult to see in the photos, but I added the glimmer paste on the white part of my layout around and behind my photos.

I also included different kinds of textures in the embellishments of my page: I used some of the exclusive cork pieces, the exclusive epoxy stickers, some paper die cuts and some of the Maggie Holmes "Carousel" puffy stickers.

Even though the colour scheme is far from what I'd normally choose, I am very happy with how this layout turned out.

I hope you feel inspired to give this challenge a try and I can't wait to see what you will create! :) So, use the three prompts to create your own project/s and share them with us here in the gallery and/or our Facebook Forum. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a happy holiday!
Kathleen

3-To-Inspire with Kathleen and Emma

Hi CTK friends!  It's time for another 3-To-Inspire challenge and this weekend Kathleen and Emma are teaming up to share a couple pages to inspire you!

First up let's look at the prompts they used for their pages:

1. Create a banner/garland on your LO
2. Add your journaling with a typewriter or print it
3. Use one or more patterned paper strips

Hello friends!  So happy to be back with my favourite weekly challenge, 3-To-Inspire!  I know I've mentioned how much I love these recipe challenges, but it's doubly so today because I have Kathleen joining me this week!  I've been a huge fan of Kathleen's for a long time so you can imagine how excited I was when she joined our DT ;)

Here's a look at the page I created using the three prompts:

 

I started my page with the pattern paper strip on the left side of my page - I picked this paper because I love the colour but the diagonal stripe is fun.  The banner garland was an easy one using the fun Sticky Note Pads from Maggie Holmes' that are included in the Embellishment kit this month - they're perfect for this challenge.  But incase you didn't pick up the Embellishment Kit this month then it's easy to create your own flags/banners using your trusty scissors or punch.  

 To give my garlands a bit more dimension I also layered a few of the exclusive die-cuts from the Main kit underneath and machine stitched them all in place (I find I have to include some kind of stitching on my page, feels naked without it!).

My journaling was typed up on the computer using a typewriter font (this one is called "Canon Typestar") and printed out on plain white paper.  I love my old traditional typewriter but it's so big that I couldn't find anywhere to store it in my room and have popped it in one of our storage cupboards, so using the computer is a fast/easy way to get the same look without getting the big typewriter out of storage ;)

 
At this point I added my title (I used the Phrase Stickers from Pinkfresh Studio) at the bottom right of my page.  To balance out the black at the bottom, I also added a couple more phrase stickers above my photo at the top of the page too.

Last but not least, I popped a few fun embellishments (chipboard heart from the Main Kit and heart stickers from the embellishment kit) around my page - picking colours that matched in with the colours of my banner (they're a perfect match, right?!).

As always, I really enjoyed this recipe challenge and I can't wait to see your pages!  Now let's have a look at Kathleen's stunning layout using the same three prompts :)

 

Hey there :)  It's Kathleen here and I'm so happy to join Emma for this week's 3-to-Inspire challenge! I absolutely love her projects and her style, so it was no suprise that I would love her challenge as well ;)  Here is my take on it:

 
I also chose the sticky note pad flags from the Crate Paper/Maggie Holmes "Carousel" line for my garland, but of course you could also use regular paper and cut your own little flags and mix them with the die cuts from the Scrapbook Main Kit.

Since I am not a big fan of my handwriting and I usually only add it as hidden journaling, I was more than happy to add my journaling using my typewriter.  However, because I had already aded all my papers and embellishments to my layout, I couldn't type directly onto it.  Therefore I cat a small piece of vellum (or simple tracing paper), write my journaling with my typewriter on it and adhered the vellum with a strip of washi to my page.

Then on the bottom of my layout I added strips of the patterned papers included in the Scrapbook Main kit, layered my photos onto them, as well as my title and some small embellishments and finished it off with that adorable black and white bow!  I need about a dozen more of those :D

I hope you feel inspired to give this challenge a try!  Can't wait to see what you create!

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Now it's your turn! Use the three prompts to create your own project/s and share them with us here in the gallery and/or our Facebook Forum.  We both look forward to seeing your project!

Thanks,