Beautiful You

Hi friends-it's Laureen here using the gorgeous Emerson Scrapbook Kit one last time on the blog! I wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you to Trina for your trust and the amazing opportunity to work with the beautiful kits and hopefully inspire around here!

Now, onto my layout! As soon as I opened the kit and saw this patterned paper from Jillibean Soup I knew exactly what to do with it.  I love to work with quilts as my inspiration for layouts and this paper seems to be made for just that!

Once you cut up the paper into the small patterns and sort them into colors, you can use your imagination or a premade quilt for inspiration on how to position the bits. I found a beautiful quilt on Pinterest and placed my paper pieces in the same pattern, with the arrows pointing towards the middle creating a star shape.

The photo I used is a small 2x2 photo of my sister from her graduation from school.  I used the white foam phrases from Amy Tangerine that come in the kit and combined two words to form my title-Beautiful You.

Using a few bits from the kit, like the cute wood hearts and words stickers, I embellished very little around my picture because I felt like the background with the quilt paper already did enough for the page.

Usually I would add some stitching to my quilt inspired layouts, but this time for whatever reason I completely forgot and only realized it after already having my title and photo adhered down to the page.  If I could undo this step, I would have used white thread and simply sewed through the middle of the arrows.

That is it for my final post here on the blog for my guest designer position. It was a blast and I had so much fun!

Have a great rest of the week,
xx Laureen

Sunday Sketch

Hi friends and happy sketch time!

I was able to create a layout again using the beautiful sketch for today's Sunday Sketch Challenge!

I absolutely loved the hexagons and therefore just had to recreate it using the November "Emerson" Scrapbook Kit!

I started off by cutting a strip out of the beautiful exclusive woodgrain paper to four inches and sewed it down onto the middle of my page. The rest came together rather quickly-I cut out six hexagons out of the Crate Paper papers from the kit and then later used one as a template to cut my three pictures into the same shape.

I had three hexagons left and decided to just continue the pattern across the page-because it gives you more room for embellishing-and more embellishments is always good right?! I love the cork stickers included in the kit and just had to use the stars and little hearts around my hexagons and photos.

The stamp set includes awesome saying that are perfect for planning-like the priority one-but also great for scrapbooking. The stamp "going places" was the perfect little addition to my travel photos that were all taken in Paris on top of the Arc de Triumph.

I always love the look of photos with text on it-as if you used a clear sticker on top of it.  That's why I used the "going places" with the Stayz On Ink and stamped it directly onto one of the pictures.

That's it from me for today-I hope you will have fun creating with the sketch-it is such a beautiful one plus the shaped photos make such a difference in your album and changes things up!

Now it's your turn! To play along with this weeks Sunday Sketch Challenge, create a layout based off the sketch, upload it to our gallery with today's date (11/13) in the title of your project, and you will be eligible to win a $5 gift certificate to the CTK Store!

Happy Sunday and happy creating!
Laureen

Tuesday Tutorial

Hi friends-
Laureen with you today with the Tuesday Tutorial.

I once made a décor letter to hang on my door with butterflies on it.  Ever since then my sister has wanted one with her letter to hang in her room.  When I was assigned with doing the tutorial for this week, I knew I would create her letter and again used lots of butterflies.

I used three of the Crate Paper patterned papers from the November "Emerson" Scrapbook Kit.  You'll also need a piece of thick chipboard and of course-a pencil, scissors, or a craft knife, glue and either cut out a shape of your  choice by hand or use your diecutting machine to do the work for you.

For the first step, I drew the letter of my choice-you can also do a large circle for a wreath or any shape you'd like-onto my chipboard and cut it out with my exacto knife.

After I cut it out, I didn't want to leave it plain, so I chose a patterned paper to cover up the greyish brown of the chipboard. I placed glue all over the A and then folded over the edges of the paper to make it look neat.

Now it was time to finish the piece with lots of paper butterflies. I used cut files and my Silhouette and cut out a bunch of cute little butterflies-the largest being four inches wide.  I like using different shapes and sizes to layer them and to give a more textured look.

All you need to do with the butterflies is to adhere them onto the décor piece-I like to use just a tiny bit of glue on the middle and after I've attached all of them, fold up the wings so it looks more dimensional and like a real butterfly that is ready to fly away.

Now just grab your favorite pieces of embellishments from the kit-I used the wood hearts and the Golden Days enamel dots and sprinkled those around my letter to finish it up.  Last you just need to thread some twine through the opening and you are ready to hang it!

I hope you could follow along nicely and that you enjoyed this post!

Have a great day-
Laureen

Tuesday Tutorial

Hi friends-

Laureen back with you for a fun tutorial!  I decided to make a string art layout for this tutorial because they are super pretty, but also super easy to make!

I used the October "Waverly" Scrapbook Kit and focused on bits to match a fall layout.  For my first step, I simply drew a shape onto my white cardstock-I decided to use three leaves on a branch.  If you have a Silhouette you can just use any cut file you'd like and instead of using the blade just change the setting to Silhouette Sketch Pen.  I am currently on vacation and didn't have my Silhouette, so it's old school scrapping ;).

After you draw your shape of choice, you need to pierce holes about every half inch.

For my leaves I used pink and blush colored thread because those two colors matched the kit and my photo perfectly.

Do a simple backstitch through all the outlines using a light colored thread and tie a knot on the back.  We are ready to move on to the fun part-creating the string art.

For this part you take about two arms lengths of thread and start from on point on the back-don't pull the thread too tight, as this will curl up your paper.  I like to thread through each hole about once.

For a different look, I love to use bits and pieces on the thread-in this case, I used the little stars from the kit.

Repeat the last steps for the different leaves or just until your shape looks fine to you.

I then used the cut-apart sheet from the scrapbook kit and embellished around the right side of my photo. Here's a look at the final project:

Thank you so much following along!

Laureen

Sunday Sketch

Hi friends-Laureen back with you today to share my take on this week's Sunday Sketch using the awesome October "Waverly" Scrapbook Kit!  Here's a look at the sketch:

The gorgeous sketch  immediately made me want to create.  I used one of the Maggie Holmes  Gather papers, the one with the wood grain, and created a ton of layers behind my photo.

For added detail, I fussy cut two birds out of the Gather paper and some leaves from the floral patterned paper.  The stamp set that comes with the kit is just so cute-it includes two branches-one solid and one outline stamp.

The Thickers that come in the kit are just divine-the gold dipped look is perfect and the pink matches the pink bits from Indigo Hills and the pink tones from Gather perfectly!  I created my title by combining an ephemera piece from Indigo Hills and the letters from Crate Paper. 

I knew I wanted to stamp them scattered around my page for added detail and used a brown ink to match the color of the paper.  The embellishing came together rather quickly-the little pink acrylic stars and the cork stars made the job pretty easy!

I used one of the little bags that the embellishments came in and put a tag inside and adhered it underneath all my paper layers. This way you can have some hidden journaling.  I personally don't journal on my pages and use this method just for added interest-plus I really wanted to use the blue Baker's Twine the kit was packaged with!

That's it for my second post. I truly hope you enjoyed it and had fun reading!  Now, it's your turn.  To play along with this week's Sketch Challenge,  create a layout based off of today's post, upload it to the CTK Gallery with today's date (10/9) in the title, and you will be eligible to win a $5 gift certificate to the CTK Store!

Have a great day,
Laureen

Meet Our Guest Designer & 3 to Inspire

Hello everyone! Today we would like to take the time to introduce you to our guest designer for the months of October and November. Say hello to Laureen Wagener!

Hi crafty peeps-my name is Laureen.  I am 22 years old and I am delighted to be this month's guest designer for Citrus Twist Kits!  You are going to fall in love with the October Kit-it is super fun, full of fall colors, and has amazing exclusives included! As soon as I got the kit I created my four projects with it I couldn't and wouldn't stop.

Before we get to Laureen's beautiful project, let's get to know our guest designer a little bit more. First, here's a peak into the space where Laureen creates:

Now for a little Q&A with Laureen:

How long have you been scrapbooking and why did you start?

I discovered scrapbooking in 2013 and for whatever reason only made a few pages and then got into cardmaking.  I rediscovered scrapbooking in March 2016 shortly after I got my cancer diagnosis and it helped me rock through the tough days when chemo really hit in.  Scrapbooking helped me focus on something different other then cancer and always makes me feel great!  I was always a very creative person, needing something to do with my hands-as a kid I loved Window Color, crafting with napkins, and painting!  Scrapbooking now lets me get messy and also scrap and display the gazillion of pictures that otherwise would get lost on the computer or phone.

How would you describe your scrapbooking style?

Since I've started my style developed and drastically changed.  I am a traditional scrapbooker getting my fingers all sticky and my table messy.  I really love the look of bright pages using die-cuts and patterned paper and also completely fell in love with stitching on my layouts. 

What scrapbookers have influenced you the most?

I would say Paige Taylor Evans was one of my biggest inspirations!  I loved her video from back in the Two Peas in a Bucket days-her colorful layouts and usage of patterns is just divine and makes me want to create!  I also had the pleasure of meeting her twice already and she is just a total sweetheart.

What is your favorite things about kit clubs?

The variety is incredible, especially all those amazing goodies for the amount of money you pay!  You always get the latest and greatest stuff out there and it makes creating so much easier-everything has been coordinated for you already!  Also, I adore the exclusive products that now come in kits!

What are your 5 favorite scrapbooking items you can't do without?  

What a tough question as I love everything about scrapbooking!  I would say that patterned paper is my top pick, directly followed by ephemera and chipboard.  I also love enamel dots and buttons for a little extra something on your pages!

How would you describe the Citrus Twist October "Waverly" Scrapbook Kit?

All the heart eyes!!  This kit has awesome colors that work for a variety of projects and different styles! I especially loved the little amazingly cute goodies inside the little bags-talk about eye candy there!

To learn more about Laureen and to see more of her work you can stop by her blog, find her on Instragram @madamerosenrot, and check out her boards on Pinterest

Since today also happens to be a Saturday, we are delighted to have Laureen set this week's 3 to Inspire Challenge!  

Here are this week's prompts:

1. Layer in a piece of vellum or other sheer material.

2. Use a piece of patterned paper for your background.

3. Add some flair. 

For this first layout I made, I decided to focus on the Indigo Hills bits from the kit.  I decided to use a picture of a bracelet my best friend gave me during chemotherapy to wish me luck and all the best results and therefore the small sentiments from the Indigo Hills ephemera pack work great for this picture!  I beat cancer in June when I received  my last chemo and a call from doctor at the end of the month saying that I am cancer free.

 The background paper I used is just too gorgeous to be cut apart and therefore I used it as my entire background.  I placed a cut file over it and softened the look by layering vellum behind the cut file. The blue acrylic letters are so awesome-I used them to spell a part of my title and one of the die-cut hearts to finish the title: Love This. 

Thank you so much Laureen for joining us here at Citrus Twist Kits! Your projects are both beautiful and inspirational.  It has been a real pleasure getting to know you better and we are looking forward to seeing more of your projects!  

To play along with this week's 3 to Inspire challenge, create a layout based off of the three prompts, post it in the CTK Gallery with today's date (10/1) in the title, and you will have a chance to win a small prize from the CTK Store.

.

**Make sure and leave a comment at the end of this post for a chance to win one of Laureen's fave scrapbooking products! Good luck!!