Little Moments Documented with Nathalie

Hi there!
Nathalie with you today with a new layout that celebrates those little moments that make your day, on in this case my baby's day.   Since we are at the end of the month, i used what i have left of my Love Stories and Add-on kit to create this page.

It all started with a bit of mixed media on the background.  I used the Vicki Boutin acrylic pop paints that were included in the CTK  mixed media kit in July.    I chose the teals to create the background and bring some  of the accents in the papers.  Once the paint dried, i added a few textured hearts using texture paste and set it aside to dry.

I pulled a cut file from The Cut Shoppe and cut the large ampersand from salmon colored cardstock.   A bit of foam adhesive attaches the cut file to the background and adds dimension to the page.

To back and layer the picture, i  pulled papers from the add on kit and also the Love Stories kit.   All the embellishment clusters  and title were also created by mixing goodies from both kits.

To complete my visual triangle, i added a small cluster at the bottom of the page.    I simply cut a slit into the background, and use the folded edges to repeat the elements of the clusters.   A few sentiments images were added  using the Love Stories stamp set. 

I really hope that you are inspired by today's project.   Having both kits to mix and match on this page made it so easy to pull it all together.  Remember to share with us your creations and be prepared for a new beautiful kit!

XO

Sunday Sketch with Amanda!

Hi CTK Friends!

Amanda here, and I am so excited to be joining you for today's installment of the awesome Sunday Sketch challenge! I hope you'll get some time to craft & play along!
Here's the fabulous sketch we're being inspired with.....

Wow! What a terrific sketch! I love this design & can see it working for both scrapbook pages AND as a page for my Life Crafted Album!
So naturally,  I've created both pages to inspire you with!
First up is my scrapbook layout, "Sweet"

CTK Supplies: Life Crafted February Love Stories Kit, February Scrapbooking Add-on Kit.

Sigh! Isn't this divine! Such a young, fresh & feminine page of my daughter & niece! I just adore all those pretty pattern paper layers & colors! Gorgeous!
With such a fabulous sketch, I really didn't want to alter it. I mean, seriously, that design rocks! So my layout follows it fairly closely.
I especially loved the shipping tag feature, & just had to use the 4" x 8" cream tag that was included in the Love Stories Kit!
Here's a closer look at my layout....

I switched the messy thread in the sketch for the hearts, butterfly & acetate die cut. The larger hearts are fussy cut from one of the Crate Paper La La Love papers. That bright blue one coordinates perfectly with the puffy sticker heart & die cut butterfly, and really pops against the soft colors. 

And need I mention how amazing the acetate die cuts are in this month's Love Stories Kit?! Love!!!!!!

Here's a look at another acetate shape on my layout.......

Beautiful!

I use the crisp white Heidi Swapp Thickers from the Scrapbooking Add On Kit for my layout title, and embellish this cluster with more of those pretty ephemera butterflies, and puffy sticker hearts.

Oh.so.pretty!!!

For my Life Crafted Album page, I rotate the sketch 90 degrees so it will better suit my narrow 5" x 8" layout....

CTK Supplies: Life Crafted February Love Stories Kit, February Scrapbooking Add On Kit, February Subscriber Printables. 

Oh how beautiful! I've used a similar color scheme, but this time I opted for warm red accents instead of mint green. I used one of the February Subscriber Printables in place of my layout title, & positioned my title where the journaling may have featured. Those exclusive gold puffy alphabet are simply stunning! Such a sweet lil page for my Life Crafted Album! 

And there you have it - one sketch, two ways! 

I hope my layouts have inspired you to play along and get creating with your Citrus Twist Life Crafted Kits! 

Be sure to share your creations in the Citrus Twist Kits Fan Page HERE.

I can't wait to see what you create!

Thanks so much for joining me today, 

til next time, 

Happy Arty Days, 

Amanda xo 

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!

Life Crafted LOVE with Amanda!

Hi CTK Friends!

Amanda here, and boy oh boy have I been having tons of fun with my new Life Crafted Album!
The new February Life Crafted Kit - Love Stories - is all kinds of awesomeness! From pretty pattern papers to the divine ephemera & even the acetate shapes, this kit has my heart!
But enough chatter, let's take a lil looksee into my album.....

Missed my first post with the opening "Getting Started" pages? You can check it out here.

Here's the next installment...

CTK Supplies: Life Crafted January Fresh Starts Kit & die cut ephemera from February Love Stories Kit. 

This month I have been able to really embrace how Life Crafted is going to work for me & my stories! You'll see that I have now divided my album into 3 key sections: A Beautiful Life - memory keeping & story telling, Give Yourself Time - dedicated to self care and personal growth, & Random Thoughts - fun, random bits n pieces from daily life, as well as a bit of creative play. It's kinda like 3 albums in one, which will grow & develop as the year unfolds. I used my January Fresh Starts Kit for this, and then continue to mix and match the two kits because the kits have been so beautifully curated that everything coordinates together perfectly! 

My album will be an eclectic mix of scrapbook pages, pocket pages, traveler's notebook spreads and all things in between! Ultimately, it will become a beautiful mini album that reflects me & my stories! Perfect! 

Here's a few pages from my A Beautiful Life section.....

CTK Supplies: Life Crafted February Love Stories Kit, Life Crafted Album - black. 

This IS my why! Such a treasured memory, & so beautifully documented. Love the soft color palette & the gold foil accents. On the left hand side of my album, I have a more traditional scrapbook style page with lots of pretty layers & embellishments. I trim the pattern paper to a 5" x 8" size, and hole punch the side so it fits into my ringed binder. To the right, I have created a more TN / pocket style page - doing things my way & loving how it looks! 

The stamps included in the Love Stories Kit are amazing! I use them subtly on both pages. 

CTK Supplies: Life Crafted February Love Stories Kit, January Life Crafted Fresh Starts 6" x 8" Pattern Paper.

How awesome are these TN style pages?! Love This, indeed! Documenting the everyday moments never looked so good! Here's how it fits into my album...

Yes, This!!! 

For these pages, I mostly used the February Love Stories Kit, but I also added in the powder blue pattern paper from the January Kit. The 3" x 4" cards were perfect for these fun photos of my husband, son & new puppy - just look at the facial expression on my son, hear the love, indeed! The die cut acetate shapes in this month's kit are such a fabulous edition too! 

CTK Supplies: Life Crafted February Love Stories Kit, black puffy alphas from the January Kit. 

Nawww! Another wonderful moment documented! So sweet!

I have mixed up my memory keeping style again & I have to say, I am having so much fun! The 5" x 8" title page is a fave of mine, & I love the mix of the January black puffy alphabet stickers with the February ephemera & acetate shapes! 

Here's a close up of my TN style page...

Isn't this darling?!!

I loved the bold colors, but as most of my album will be soft & full of pastel pretties, I used plain white paper as my base. The white helps to balance the yellow & red, and adds a 'clean' look to the page. 

Best part, it looks gorgeous and I documented it in minutes! Life Crafted is fitting memory keeping into my busy life! LOVE!

Next up, my Give Yourself Time feature....

For my opening page,  I use a clear vellum overlay which I embellish with the you've totally got this ephemera & a puffy heart sticker from the Love Stories Kit. But it's what's underneath that has me....

CTK Supplies: Life Crafted January Fresh Starts Kit. 

Ga ga gorgeous! Nothing says self care like encouraging affirmations! That pattern paper is totally swoon worthy! 

Over the page, you'll see more from the February kits....

CTK Supplies: Life Crafted February Love Stories Kit

Each month the Life Crafted kits include an exclusive 3" x 8" book mark & this month's was perfect for my self care album! I embellished mine with die cut ephemera & acetate shapes as well as foiled chipboard & puffy sticker hearts! (All are from the Love Stories Kit). 

Peeking behind the book mark is a pocket page affirmation....

CTK Supplies: Life Crafted February Love Stories Kit

Sigh! SO pretty & so heartfelt! A little reminder to self kinda page! 

Tip: To keep the dimension of the die cut butterfly wings, I adhere the butterfly onto the outside of the pocket, not onto the paper. This prevents bulging, out of shape pockets and looks just as effective. 

Also in my 'me' section, I am trying to document more of lil' 'ole me....

CTK Supplies: Life Crafted February Love Stories Kit. 

Nawww, puppy love & evening beach walks! My best Summer, right here! This makes my heart happy!

As the month's progress, so will my stories & self care - but oddly enough, I have already created the closing page to this part of my album.....

CTK Supplies: Life Crafted February Love Stories Kit

As soon as I saw the I AM ENOUGH label, I knew I wanted use it for the closing page of my Give Yourself Time album. I foam mount it onto a pretty pink label,& that divine floral paper. Pretty! I also add one last reminder to self...Breathe! Those gold puffy alphas are errrrrything!

And last, but by no means least, here's a very quick peek into my Random Thoughts part of the album.....

CTK Supplies: Life Crafted February Love Stories Kit

How fun is this?! Bright, colorful & creative play! Love it! 

And there you have it! 

Life Crafted  - my album, my stories, my way! 

If you're keen to hear more of the how-to, tips & tricks on crafting my album, join me in this quick album walk through video HERE

https://youtu.be/qOcmtKgymv0

I hope you enjoy watching and please press the subscribe button for future inspiration! 

Thanks so much for joining me today, 

I hope I have given you some ideas for how to use your Life Crafted Album & Kits! 

til next time, 

Happy Arty Days, 

Amanda xo

Let's Get Digital with Nathalie

Hello everyone!

Nathalie back with you to show you a few projects created using the new Digital files that coordinate with the Life Crafted Love Stories kit.   This month's kit is gorgeous, but having the digital products makes it more versatile and never ending....

It is no secret that I  love working hybrid entries for my personal journal (Traveller's Notebook), so imagine how happy it makes me to be able to add these entries in my Life Crafted album.   There is something about being able to customize the page and papers that makes it so much more special to document my memories.

For this first entry in my Personal Journal, I chose to create the vellum dashboard using one of the PL cards.  First, a document was created on Photoshop with the dimensions on a Standard TN page size.  Then i embedded the PL card and size it to fit the page.

Since i wanted something really soft for the page, i used the adjusment commands in Photoshop to alter the colors of the card to suit my needs.  Once it was printed, I cut the vellum with an offset of about half an inch, so that i can tuck it under the next page of the TN.

For this page, i used the new Digital TN papers (these are the same prints as the ones in the Love Stories kits, but sized to fit an standard Traveler's Notebook page) to create the  background of the page.  Once it was all printed, I added my picture and a few pieces of the cut apart elements (available for free to all Subscribers) as well as my lines of journal and call the page completed.

 Well, now let me show you how i have been incorporating the Digital files in my January Life Crafted album.

For this page, i use the This is Life digital stamp to create  the flower branches (i size and rotated the stamp a few times to create the background).   Next i used the large version (this just means the file has been sized so that it does not lose definition when enlarging it) of one of the phrases to create my title.

I  added the lines of journal and send it to print on vellum. In addition, i once again used the digital TN papers to print the pink ledger paper so that i can use it as  layer behind the vellum.

For my picture, i enlarged it to fit 4x8 in as i used it to cover the back of the large tag (included in the Love Stories kit) and then punched the hole so that i can add the little piece of string through it.

To finish this page i used pieces of ephemera from the Love Stories kit as well as some elements from the cut apart sheet - just love the small fussy cut butterfly on top of the page protector-  and the stamp set to decorate the page.

I really hope this inspires you to check the new Digital Files available in the Citrus Twist Kits Shop.  Think of all the possibilities and how much they will stretch your kit!  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me!

XO

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!