Pocket Page Challenge with Erica

Hey guys, Erica here, and today I am sharing the second pocket page layout I made with my Weekender kit!





I started with a simple title card - adding my week with the puffy alphas from the kit and a sub title with some tile alphas from a past kit. Then I added two of the flowers from the ephemera pack and sewed them on with happy yellow thread. I layered a photo on one journal card and cut out the sentiment from another to glue onto my photo.





It's usually not a proper Project Life spread from me if there's no movie of the week! This week was no exception and I have really taken to stitching down vellum to create pockets to hold my tickets. On my pocket I used some elements from the March Cutaparts sheet and then stamped with the add on stamps. I also printed the movie poster and layered it with some labels.





I added a third element of stitching on my layout by stitching down a die cut and paired it with a puffy heart. I have another photo with a simple die cut, and one card with a smaller photo that just needed a layer of paper and a tab.





On my last card I paired a few tabs and labels together with a brilliant sentiment stamp from the kit. I simply inked up half of the stamp each time to separate the phrases to nestle my TV show poster in between.





I hope this has given you a little inspiration for your own memory keeping with pockets. Thanks for joining me on the blog today!

Life Crafted with Erica

Hey guys! It's Erica here with another layout in my Life Crafted album using the Weekender kit!

Choosing which photos to use and which to leave out on a layout can be hard for me. I love including as many photos as I can, so I am absolutely thrilled with the 2x2 Pocket Pages to give me all the space I need!

On the left hand side of my spread I chose two of favourite photos to highlight and printed them larger. I added layers and texture with scraps of the 6x8 papers. I stamped directly on my photo with the adorable Weekend Life stamp set, and added the gold puffy alphas for my title.





On each photo I added the same elements to compliment each other- a chipboard tab, gold alphas and a phrase from the ephemera pack.





On the right hand side I filled half of my pockets with photos, alternating each pocket with a white piece of card to stamp on and embellish. I chose colours to compliment the bright and fun nature of my photos and the little shops stamp was perfect for Brunch!





I used a few elements from the March Cutaparts Sheet on one pocket. They are a fantastic source for bonus ephemera. I always print mine immediately and incorporate them into my diecut pack. 





To finish off my spread I sprinkled a few puffy hearts about and added a little bit of journaling to a label. Now it's all ready to pop into my Life Crafted album!





Thanks for joining me on the blog today! Happy crafting!

Sunday Sketch with Nathalie

Hello everyone!
Nathalie with you today with this week's Sunday Sketch.   At this time, when we all are living in a state of caution, crafting seems to be a perfect escape for all the news that are bombarding our lives.   Today, i want to share with you all, how i used this week's sketch to document snapshots of our lives using the March kits.  Let me show you the sketch:

I love the versatility of the sketch, and how it helps to kick start your creative process.  Well, i wanted to show you how it can easily transform the sketch from a scrapbook layout to a Life Crafted entry.

For my Scrapbook layout, i chose to work with the March 2020 Add On Kit.   All the Stamp Market papers were the perfect background for the picture of my little guy.  I stayed pretty close to the original sketch with a few minor changes.

The sketch asks for pieces of paper as picture corners, i chose to change them for small floral clusters and labels ( these both are ephemera pieces from the Add On kit), and even switch the position of one of them so that it doesn't cover an important part of the picture.

Another change was the title placement.  The sketch calls for a small place mat (available for free to subscribers, or for sale at the CTK Digital shop) cut out, instead, i supersize one of the PL cards and used the space add my journal lines.  I created a pocket from vellum and placed it in between the pictures, so i can slide the journal card easily.

puffy

I move the title to the top of the page, and chose to add a large cluster of flowers to balance the page. A small piece of ephemera from the WEEKENDER kit was stitched on top of the flowers as the title for the page.  A few stamped sentiments in the labels and under the title ( Life Crafted and TN stamp), a few enamel dots and the puffy butterfly complete the page.

Now, let me show you how i used the sketch as inspiration for this Life Crafted layout:

It was so easy to convert the sketch to a Life Crafted layout by just rotating it 90 degrees.  This time, i use the Weekender  kit to complete this page...

I chose to size down the pictures to squares, and pretty much follow the sketch to create the layers behind the picture.  I cut some of the paper, and the 4x6 cards to create the layers.   The  title card comes from the PL digital cards.   I chose to add bits of hand stitching around the page to add texture on the layout.

I followed the sketch as to where to place the journal ( i used Photoshop to create a journal box  that will hold my writing).  Once i printed the paper, i glued a large strip of paper to the right of the page, than hand stitched a cluster of elements to it just as the sketch shows.  A few more stamped sentiments complete this page.

I hope this has inspire you to check the March Kits and use this week's sketch to create a project of your own.  Remember to share with us your finished projects,  we love to see what you create, too!

'Til next time!

3-to-Inspire with Ashley

Hello everyone!  It's Ashley, and today I'm here with my first Design Team Blog post!  I've got a fun 3-to-Inspire challenge for you, based on my new Traveler's Notebook layout using the March 2020 "Weekender" Kit.  This challenge is a fun way to get those creative juices flowing and give you some ideas for using your Citrus Twist Kits.  You can create a layout, Traveler's Notebook layout or pocket page spread using the 3 prompts.  Just make sure to use all 3 prompts on whatever project you choose to do.

Here are this week's 3 prompts:

     1.  Use multiple photos - 3 or more
     2.  Cut your 6x8 papers into smaller shapes and incorporate them into your project (for example:
          small squares, circles, hexagons, etc.)
     3.  Mix Chipboard Stickers, Exclusive Die Cut Pieces and Puffy Heart stickers

Here's the Traveler's Notebook layout I created for the challenge, using the March "Weekender" Life Crafted Kit.

I loved all of the 6x8 patterned papers included in the March "Weekender" Kit and wanted to find a way to incorporate them into my layout.  I decided to trim the papers into 1.6 inch squares and use them to create a grid background.  Once I had the papers arranged and adhered the way I wanted them, I used my sewing machine to stitch along the edges of the squares horizontally and vertically.

This grid design gave me the perfect spots for adding my photos.  We went to Disney World in February and they had some beautiful painted butterflies in Epcot for International Festival of the Arts.  I snapped a photo of each of the kids in front of the butterfly they picked out and wanted to have them all on one layout.  This design provided me with a visual triangle that worked great for placing the photos.

Once I have my basics in place...background and photos...it's time for my favorite part of creating a layout - adding the embellishments!  There are some fun ticket shapes in the Exclusive Die Cut pack that fit just right in the square shapes I cut for my background.  I added those first and then decided on some other pieces I wanted for the layout.  I chose the cute speech bubble from the Chipboard Stickers and also placed a couple of the Puffy Heart Stickers.  I love to create a variety of textures on my projects with embellishments from the Kits.

My finishing touch for the layout was a die cut title.  I used the words "good" and "life" from the March 2020 Digital Stamp Set.  I wanted the words to be a little bolder, so I opened them in my Silhouette Studio Software and added an Offset to get the thickness I wanted.  I cut the title from White card stock so it would add a nice contrast with the patterned papers in the background.

Thanks so much for stopping by the Blog today!  I hope you'll join in the 3-to-Inspire challenge and have fun creating with the prompts.  You can share your projects in the Citrus Twist Facebook Fan Page, and I would love to see your take on the challenge, so make sure to tag me when you post!

Pocket Life Challenge with Amy Jo Vanden Brink

Wow!  Time to get those photos in the pockets everyone!  One of the best ways to do that is to get your photos printed!  I like to work ahead and print on a weekly basis so that I never get behind, then when a new kit arrives on my doorstep I can fill in the gaps with my favourite pieces.

Challenge: Get photos ready in advance of the new kit arriving!

If you already have photos ready, good for you.  I'm going to show you one of my Pocket Page spreads that was ready and awaiting photos when my March kit landed (so the photos are from February, I don't usually find there is much problem in matching up the photos from one month to the kit from another.  Especially when the theme is so easy like this Weekender kit!)

I had a variety of photos ready to go here, and when I'm working like this, the thing that makes it easy for me is to pull one or two colors from the new kit out.  Here you can see I grabbed the yellow and the pink (so easy as they are my top two colors!) and then some small pieces to support those colors (tags, chipboard arrow).

If you struggle to find enough cards or pieces in the right color scheme, you can always fill up a blank white 3x4 card with one of the larger tag pieces, or as in the bottom right corner on the next page, you can cut down some of the 6x8 papers to make smaller cards.  Adding the large circle makes it look like it was a card that was designed to look like this, but it was two separate pieces.

The next step for me is to find small sayings or sentiments that can further tell my stories, or even just a small embellishment to make the page feel finished.

Thanks for joining me today!  I hope this gets you putting photos in the pockets of your own albums!

Memory Planning

 Hello crafty friends!
This year I decided to document our stories in a planner. I’m memory planning and loving it! I used the gorgeous March scrapbooking kit and loved using all the florals from this kit! If you’re not familiar with memory planning here’s a glimpse of memory planning. Each week I document highlights from each day. Sometimes I have multiple pictures and sometimes I just journal thoughts from the day and others I have both. I recap the week’s events in the far left edge.

 

I did a lot of stitching through your this week’s spread:

 

I also used a single 3x4 card from one of the pattern papers and punched the edge to place in my disc planner:

  

I hope you enjoyed this new to me way of telling my stories! 

3 to Inspire with Amy Jo Vanden Brink

Hello!  I'm excited to be back with you this weekend with a 3 to Inspire challenge!  This month I'm going a little bit outside of the box for my 3 things, and I hope to encourage you to do the same.  

I started by gathering my 3 items;

1- the Gold Puffy Alphabet (swoon!)

2- the numbered tags from the ephemera package (double swoon!)

3- the digital ephemera pieces (I don't often go hybrid in my pocket pages, but these elements were too good to pass up!

I started by using the digital pieces to create 4 cards, the Friday, Saturday, Sunday tabs at the top of a white 3x4 card, and the weekend file folder printed at a width of 4 inches (the width ends up being more than 3 inches, but I cut off the side I didn't want).  I also printed the black RELAX circle at a size that I knew I would be able to use one of my circle punches to cut out (1.5 inches) and the blue "always on my heart" tag I enlarged to fill a 3x4 card.

I used the gold puffy letters to add the dates and then to highlight some of the activities we did over the weekend as well.  I always like using an alphabet like this to create connection across the spread and add some context to photos.

The numbered tags were so awesome in the ephemera pack, that I knew I wanted to use them all together rather than split them up.  So I spread them across the photos and cropped edges off as necessary to make them fit on the sides and tops of photos.

A look at the right side of the spread.

And the left side.

I hope this pocket page gives you some inspiration on how to use those digital elements!  You may have noticed I managed to sneak a 4th item in there, I cannot resist the puffy hearts, so a few of them ended up joining the tags!