Cinque Terre by Marie-Pierre

Hi everyone,

it's Marie here today and for my layout I used the April scrapbooking main kit. I absolutely love all these papers with some sort of frames so when I saw this one, I new I wanted to use it with many small photos!

We just came back from a 10 days road trip to Germany, Italy and Switzerland so I had enough photos to fill the whole page! ha! But I refrained myself and decided to document only my trip to Cinque Terre on that one page. :)

This is the final layout.
And here's how I made it:

I first chose my photos, depending on the size and shapes of the frames and I gathered them on a 4x6 canvas so I could print them all at once (I use 4 4x6 photo papers to print them all).

Once they were all printed, I've cut them out and layered them where they go to see if the balance between photos and empty frames was ok. I already had decided on the frame where my title would go.

I finally cut out the inside of the frames and layered the photo underneath. I adhered them all with washi tape.

I like the look of the photo being behind the main paper.

I then decided to paint some frames with gold ink because the purely black and white look I was going for didn't let my photos shine as I thought it would. I think it's because they are too small. The nice yellow gold and the shimmer in the ink make a big difference!

I finally added small puffy stickers here and there and some words too to add details to the story. I played with the arrow stickers to bring the attention of the viewer toward certain smaller photos that were getting lost in the busyness.

I spelled my titles with the letter stickers.

And voilà! A fast and easy layout to make! And I quite like the look of all these small photos gathered together. :)

With this layout and with lots of sadness, I am retiring from the Citrus Twist Kits team. I thank Trina from the bottom of my heart for having me here. It's been a wonderful 2 years ride for me and I'm grateful for the opportunity! I'll see you around on the web for sure!!!

Have fun creating and telling your stories guys! That's the most important thing!!

Marie xox

Tuesday Tutorial | Double Page Layout Process

Hello everyone!

Marie here today with you to show you how I made a double page layout and incorporated 7 photos and a lot of text to record your story.

When I started scrapbooking, the worse part of the process for me was the start. I was looking at the canvas and didn't know where to go from there. It's only after many years of practice that I could easily start a layout. If you are like me and get intimidated by the beginning of the layout, or if you want to know how to incorporate many photos and words on a layout, just keep reading. I'll give you some of my tips and tricks and try to let you see inside my head. :)

Here's the layout I created:

The first thing I did when I received the kit was to look at the colors and motives and ask me what I could document with it. I immediately saw all the oranges and blues and decided it would be perfect to go with my trip I made to Dubai, a week ago.

I then printed photos I wanted to use. I print my pictures randomly in different sizes: 4x4, 4x6 or 3x4 (I then fit 2 of them on a 4x6 piece of photo paper). I print at home but you can easily resize your photos with any photo editing program and make them fit a 4x6 canvas and then send them to the place you normally get your photos printed.

Here I played my photos on some pieces of the kit and I was trying to select what I would use, making the colors and the theme fit my story.

I then trimmed my photos (got rid of the white borders) and that gave me a better look. I played around a little bit more.

I then selected 2 pieces of paper/cardstock which would be my base of the layout. I chose the yellow and white piece of paper which reminded me of the sand dunes (the triangles in the pattern) and I tried to go with the white yardstick for the right page but my very dark photos were not looking good on the crisp white, so I decided to go with the cream cardstock which gave to whole layout a softer look. I really like to use 2 different papers for a double page layout. I find that it brings more interest and it makes me also use more colors.

Once I had my 2 backgrounds selected, I started laying my photos down and that's also when I cut apart that large 12x12 piece of paper with all the small squares I wanted to use. I formed some kind of a loose grid.

When placing my elements and photos down, I was careful to group together what was going together: the silly pictures of us with the camel had to go next to the "just being me is fun" quote, and the adventure square was ment to be next to the dunes and the car pictures and finally, the blu square saying "here with you always" had to go next to the picture of me with my husband. It almost was a no brainer. :)

I added the "Go see the world" square to balance the orange square on the left page.

And I started adding some embellishments, forming a visual triangle that would bring the left and right page together. I thought of the visual triangle too when placing my blue elements. Look at the 2 blue squares. They form a triangle with the large photo on the right page. Also, we were wearing navy blue on that day so, although it's a little more subtle, you can see two diagonal lines of navy lue on the layout, right? Those triangles and lines are responsible for guiding the eye of the viewer on the layout. When you put a layout together, always think of these two elements. You can build a triangle with colors, or even with the kind of embellishment. For example here the cork elements which I placed also in a triangle. Do you see that?

Once my loose grid was there, I added a title. I looked at the place where it would make sense to add it. There was this fairly big whole right there so I thought of a title that would be the good size to fill the space but not over fill it. With the size of the letters in the kit, sand dunes seemed like the perfect title for my layout. If I have had smaller letters, I could have made a longer title like a day in the desert, for example. Since I wasn't done with my layout, I just gently placed the letters there, without adhering them completely.

At that moment, I decided that this picture of the sand dunes was blending too much with the yellow background, so I used a navy blue paper to make a small frame around it. When working with a kit, it's really easy to do so because all the papers are working together. Use a softer colored paper to calm your photo down or like me, a stronger paper to make the photo stand out.

I also wanted the orange square to stand out. Instead of framing it with more paper, I decided to stitch a gold frame around it. The gold thread is very subtle but sparkly so it creates a really nice visual effect. I have my sewing machine right on my table, which makes it so easy to just sew on almost every layout I make. Also, I always have either gold thread or white thread ready to stitch. It's so practical and easy!

Now is the time I started thinking about the journaling. I had placed my pictures in a random order, just thinking of the colors and shapes of them to make sense, and I hadn't,t payed attention to the time of the events presented in the photos. So I thought that the sticker labels would be perfect to add that element of time on my layout. It would also be another way of attaching my left and right page together. The eye reads the numbers 1 to 3 and then naturally looks for the number 4 which is on the right page.

Here is the number 4:

When i started thinking of the time, I decided that I had to swap the large photo of the Burj Al Arab, which we visited in another day during the trip to Dubai, with two photos of more things we did in the desert. Hence the two small 3x4 photos that just appeared on my layout. :) The quality of that one of us together in the dark is really poor, but it fits better with the story so overall, I'm happy with that choice.



I wrote some details on the sticker labels and added a second title on the right page which would add detail to the first title and which would, once again, tie the two pages together.

I added more small embellishments to add color and texture to my layout.

At that point I decided to add more details in my journaling than just the "what" that was already on the sticker labels. When you make a layout and add details, think of the story the viewer will not know when only looking at the pictures. Tell the small anecdotes and funny stories, or small details you don't want to forget. I think that journaling and details like this are what make a scrapbook more interesting than just a simple photo book so use the space you have to write. Just a little bit more at least. :)

When adding small embellishment, add them close to your basic elements that form the page. Here you see that I overlapped the camera on the orange paper. Same thing with the cork embellishments on that next photo:

Also, when using embellishments with a whole in it, like the heart and the arrow here on the right page, pay attention to what will show through that whole. It would have been awkward if the arrow would have been placed a little more down, letting show and amplifying the gap between the blue paper and the photo under it for example.

I finally looked at where there were enough space available to write my journaling. I thought of what I wanted to say and planed it according to the space I had. I also decided to write and stamp with navy blue ink instead of using a black pen. I really like how it makes all the navy blue in the layout pop out and make sense.

Here's the finished layout:

Voilà, I hope you like it and I hope you feel inspired and energize to go create something yourself! :)

Marie

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Add-on kit with Marie-Pierre

Hello CTK fans!!

This month I was "working" with the "bright side" add-on kit and there were so many pretty embellishments, that I ended up not even using the papers!!

Here's my layout:

Every year, since 2010, we take a family photo at Christmas time. Nobody like to do it, but I force them. ;) And this year someone told me: it would be fun to see them all together. Well, here they are! And I love to see the growth of the kids.

I used the grey cardstock as my base and I crafted the title with the chipboard letters, a word from the sticker sheet (I let out the "friends" that was attached to the "family") and a label, also from the sticker sheet. I wrote the word "obligatory" with my brush pen.

From one of the palm leaf from the sticker sheet, I created a Christmas tree. The glittery dots are the centers of the geotags and anchor and I used a star that I found in my stash.

I used a grid composition with different sizes of photos and I added small embellishments to guide the eye all around the grid. I also stamped the years each photo was taken.

I used the "happily ever after" stamp set to stamp on the yellow label.

I love the gold glitter on the stickers!!

And here I have a very simple layout with a story that moves me.

Marie-Pierre

Let's get digital with Marie-Pierre

Hey everyone!
How is your December going?
I'd like to share a digital file with you today. I created it with the month of December in mind. You can download it int he file section of our Facebook Fan Page.

There are many ways you could use this file. If you have an electronic die cutting system, you could cut it out and use it as a title. You could also use it on a card on even as word art in a frame. If you don't have a die cutting machine, you could print it on a layout or directly on a photo. If you open it in Photoshop, you can change the color as well.  Here's how I used it on a layout:

I've cut it twice, once in white cardstock and once in a blue patterned paper and I layered them. The die cut is very thin but it's pretty sturdy. If you die cut it in cardstock, you will want to make it a double cut. I didn't and I had to cut some small parts with my scissors. If you cut it in patterned paper, you don't need a double cut.

I adhered both layers with a little bit of hot glue. I like hot glue because it gives dimension to my embellishments.

Here are some more detail shots of my layout.

I hope you'll put this cut file to good use. I think it would be a good one to use in a December Daily. Just saying. ;) If you use the file, post it on our Facebook fan page or on Instagram and tag me please!! @mpcapistran I'd love to see what you do with it!! 

Have fun crafting!!

Marie-Pierre

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PL Sketch Friday With Marie-Pierre Capistran

Hello everyone!

It's Marie-Pierre here to share with you a full 2 page spread of pocket life scrapbooking! Only this time, I used my Scrapbooking and embellishment kits! You can't really go wrong when you decide to go for the Citrus Twist kits, they are all so versatile and full of goodness.

Here's a better view of the left page:

 And some details

I'm in love with that birds paper from Maggie Holmes (Gather collection) so I included quite a bit of it all across my spread. I added the 2 words from the cut appart sheet and 2 puffy stickers.

In this pocket I used a neutral paper on which I could write my journaling and I decided to cover the bottom part of it to add some color (another patterned paper that I stitched to the first one) and I topped it with a bird that I've cut out of the pattern paper. I added a small adhesive brad in the top left corner. I added a brad to the top photo as well. 

I added a small puffy heart here. Simple can often go a long way!

This is the right page:

I decided to play it soft, since my pictures had very dark colors.

I love to print my pictures in a 3x3 size and I then leave a white border around it. This lets me mount it to a patterned paper and it often gives me room to journal. This time though I decided to simply add a label on which I wrote the name of the place we were at. I did my journaling on a 3x4 card that you will see in a little bit. I stapled my label and added a puffy heart. 2 Patterned papers, one label and a puffy sticker. Doesn't get more simple than this. It's classy and soft. i like it.

I wanted to play with the really cute confetti mix I got with my kit. I used a die cut and filled a pocket. I will close it with my fuse tool once I know what I want to add on the other side of the pocket. Right next to that filled pocket, I used a piece of very subtle patterned paper. I decorated it with a label (for the tile) and another bird cut out of the Maggie Holmes patterned paper. I also kept one pink star to add there on the card next to the filled pocket.

This photo was already pretty busy but I still added some element of declaration: 2 round shaped embellishments and 2 stars. A little bit of stitching too.

 Finally here's my journaling. I really love to use patterned papers to write my journaling on vs. white card stock. The color is always a nice addition to my spread.

Now, here's the sketch I created based on my spread. If you want you can play along with us and use the whole sketch or just part of it if you work with a smaller album. For a chance to win, upload your project to the Facebook Fan Page or the Citrus Twist Kits gallery by Friday October 21. Don't forget to include PL 10/14 in your title.

Have fun creating!!

Marie-Pierre

3 to Inspire with Marie-Pierre

Hi everyone!

After taking a long break to move to Europe, I'm so happy to be back to the Citrus Twist Kits blog! :) I hope you are ready to get inspired! I have a Project Life spread for you today!!

The September Pocket Life kit was totally my style! I loved every little bits and pieces!

This is the left page:

And this is the right page:

Here are some detail shots.

To "type" on this little typewriter die cut, I used my printer. I typed my text in Photoshop, the first "adventure" is written in dark grey and the second one in light grey and then I printed it on a plain piece of paper. I taped my die cut over the text and ran the sheet again through the printer. I used to have a typewriter but I found that the process was pretty much the same to type on die cuts or cards. I find that by using my computer, it's easier to center my text and I like that I can adapt the size of the text for what I need.

I used a small label and some puffy alphas to write a title on my journaling card.

I found this house card so cute that I didn't want to mess it up. I only wrote some words on it and finally decided to add a star (from the embellishment kit). Sometimes, simple is just the better way to go!

I turned this 6x6 paper into a 4x6 journaling card. And I even stamped a bit... :) Makes me happy.

Here again I used the puffy stickers to write a title for the right page:

And I used the 2 little birdies die cuts to guide the eye between these 3 photos that are linked together.

I stitched a little bit. I stitched the label under the "the container is here" title and I stitched the black and white heart die cut in the middle of the photo. I added a small word label that I mounted on foam dots.

This paper with the cute houses has to be my favorite! I decided to let it shine! I added a sigle label on top of it to add just a bit of journaling.

And now here are your 3 prompts to get you started:

- Use your favorite card or paper and let it shine by adding only one simple thing to it.

- Use small alphas to create a title or 2.

- Try some stitching. It doesn't have to be a lot and it doesn't have to be with the sewing machine. Just get a needle and sew something into place.

Have fun!!! And don't forget to share your 3 to Inspire creations in the gallery and/or our Facebook Forum. I can't wait to see what you make!!

Marie-Pierre