Hello Citrus Twist Kits friends!
Today we are so excited to introduce our April 2020 Guest Designer: Brandi Kincaid. She really needs no introduction, as she is an amazing designer and a close friend of CTK. We had the pleasure of meet Brandi at our first retreat, and all we can say is that she is uber talented, but one of the nicest souls we have come across. Let's get to know Brandi...
Q & A with Brandi
When did you start scrapbooking? I
began scrapbooking in 2013, just after my mother was diagnosed with cancer. I
realized very quickly how important it was to document the everyday stuff of
our lives, because those habits and routines can change so quickly. Being able
to take note of what might have seemed mundane, and then to play with paper and
stamps and stickers to make it more beautiful, allowed me to make room in my
life for more joy by way of telling my stories. I found that being able to
create pocket pages, and layouts, and mini books that reflected by design what
I was trying to document with words and photos, gave me a richer physical
history to look back on when I needed it.
What is something most people would
not know about you? One of my all time favorite movies is Bloodsport, with
Jean-Claude Van Damme
What are the 3 scrapbooking products
you can’t live without?
1.
foam
dots/tape
2.
floral
die cuts
3.
date
stamp
What do you love about the April Life
Crafted kit _ NIGHT & DAY? I am a huge fan of documenting daily routines,
especially ones it’s easy to overlook or shrug off as boring, and the stamps,
paper, and die cuts in this kit are not only beautiful, but they nudge you to
tell those stories, and give you tools to prompt you to tell more about your
days and nights, and that’s amazing!
Finish this sentence “If you could see my scrapbooking space now . . .
…you’d see piles of stamp sets that I
keep putting away and taking right back out because I NEED them on hand. Every
time I try to pare it down, the stack grows again!”
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We'll let Brandi take it from here:
Hello, friends! This is Brandi, and I’m
thrilled to be a guest designer this month. I barely got everything out of the
packaging before I started to play, so I’ve got a bunch of pages in my Life
Crafted album to share.
I don’t think I’d be surprising anyone
when I say that March was a weird month. I spent the first part of it in the
hospital with a non-virus related illness while the start of the pandemic
swirled outside, and all that time, I was distracting myself with planning all
the stories I wanted to share in these pages. Of course, once I came home it was
harder to decide what I wanted to document now vs. later, but thanks to this
month’s amazing kit, decision fatigue was short-lived. Being nudged by the
product to slow down the worry in my mind and take note of the little habits of
the morning, noon, and night were so good for me, and it found me looking
through my photo stream and my home in search of pieces that could tell the
simple stories surrounding me. I started this by documenting the bloom of our
beautiful plum tree.
I’ve got lots of photos of this tree
from over the years, and while every one of them is lovely, I really wanted
something different this time. I also knew I wanted to show design-wise what I
was hoping to tell story-wise, so I printed a full page photo on transparency
paper ( I use whatever is cheapest at the store and have always had success!).
When I know there will be a lot journaling, but I don’t necessarily want to add
more and more pages to my album, I like to play hide and seek with my words. By
stitching around three sides of the transparency image and a piece of patterned
paper on the back of it, I created a simple pocket that my journaling can
easily slide in and out of when I want to read it. I love the subtle effect of
those words through the trees, too. The added ticket from the digital elements
for the kit was just the thing to add a bit of detail and the date, while also
tying it together with other pages I was working on.
Messy desks and letters to myself -
this might be the most “me” page there ever was.
Since I stitched the photo from the
front of this page to the back, I was happy to use the vintage inspired sheet
from the kit. The real life stitches paired with the design on the page paired
so well together, and made it feel more special and hand spun. When pages are
really simple like this, with just a photo and a few lines of text, those small
stitches really make it fun.
My dilemma with this page was how to
include the letter to myself and my photo while still being able to see both,
and not make wither too tiny. Because I hand wrote the letter, it was a little
longer (that digital lined paper was so, so perfect for it though) and didn’t
leave room for the photo on the same page. Hello, paperclip! It’s easy for me
to take the photo off and add it back on, and this way you get a peek of the
letter and the image without adding another page.
I have to laugh that I could probably
count on one hand how many times I included a photo of me in all of my albums
from last year, and now here are two, but hey, crazy times call for looking one’s
self in the eye a little more.
Keeping it simple once again with a
full page photo - don’t you just love those - but adding a pop of color by
brining another of of those digital ticket elements to it. This gives me a
small space for a few words and a date, but keeps the focus where I want it, on
the image.
When I gathered the photos from around
the house from this week, I had too many to put in album without spending a
month’s worth of album real estate on a few days. This is the perfect time to
pull out one of the 2x2 square pocket pages. If you don’t need the image to be
huge to enjoy it and tell it’s story, go small! I alternated between images and
story, and got in all of the photos I wanted on one page. Success!
Side note because I feel like I always
need the reminder: you are in charge of your products. Need to trim a chipboard
piece to fit? Do it! Cut a stamp to make the sentiment or the size better for
your page? Do it! Let the products support you the way you supported them.
Because I used the 2x2 on one page,
but really wanted to feature an insert of my puppy, Augie Roo, on the opposite
page, I decided to let the gorgeous floral paper from the kit shine on the left
instead of trying to fill each pocket. I love these flowers and the small die
cut juxtaposed with my furry friend.
And yes, one last digital ticket
element, making three different pages tied together by a simple, sweet bit of
repetition.
Last, but not least, the little 4x6
insert was finished on the back with another photo and a trimmed down journal
card added atop my other floral paper love. I mean, doesn’t it look like that
floral was made to match the color on the back of our playing cards? Sigh, I
love that kind of luck.
Thank you so much for joining me on
this first adventure with this month’s kit. I can’t want to come back and show
you what else I’ve been working on with these amazing pieces.
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OMG! these pages Brandi created with our Night and Day kit are amazing! WE are truly honored to have our friend as a guest this month, and cannot wait to see what she creates next.
Remember to follow Brandi on :
Instagram -
https://www.instagram.com/brandi_kincaid/
Her Shop -
https://www.theshinybits.com/
Thank you so much Brandi!
