MEET OUR JULY 2022 GUEST DESIGNER - JESSICA NICOLAS

 

Hello there!

We are so excited to welcome our July 2022 Guest Designer to our blog.   She is an amazing designer who shares her Faith through paper and  embellishments.   Let's give Jessica Nicolas a warm welcome to our blog and Design Team for this month.

Hi darlings! I’m so excited to be guest designing for the month of July. I am a Dominican-American who is a wife and mom of three. I love to read, craft, bible journal and document our family adventures

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We ask Jessica a few questions that will get to know her better:

Q&A with Jessica

• When did you start journaling?

 Started bible journaling 5 years ago after finding out I could combine my love of crafting with my passion for the Word of God. It has become a way to use my creative side to document what I study.

 

• What is something most people would not know about you?

 My favorite job was being a gift wrapper at Macys. The Christmas season was the best and it’s how I know almost every Christmas song by heart.

 

• What are the 3 scrapbooking products you can’t live without?

 Stamps, Tim Holtz Distress Oxides and all the alphas!

 

• What do you love about the July kit- FLEA MARKET FINDINGS v2?

 The variety in the die cuts is definitely my favorite. So many pieces to layer and tuck that I know will really make my projects pop!

 

• Finish this sentence “If you could see my scrapbooking space now . . . “You’d wonder how many stamps and inks a girl needs! Haha”

Bible Journaling Inspiration w/ Flea Market Findings 2

 

Hi darlings! I’m so excited to join the Citrus Twist team as a Guest Designer for the month of July. Here is how my first project in my bible turned out:

 

I’m starting off the month using the Flea Market Findings 2 kit in my bible. I love using different products to journal my faith, and paper products like this July kit makes it so easy. In this project I mainly used the die cuts, a journaling card and the enamel dots to compliment.

First I shifted through the paper packs and die cuts and after falling in love with the bird and florals I chose pieces that would coordinate. Then I arranged these on my bible page to get a feel for where these pieces would go.

 

 I knew I wanted a card to add some journaling so I went through the 3x4 cards that would fit perfectly in my margin and decided on the “recorded” one. I then layered over and under the card with a pink doily and other die cuts in various pinks and mints. After writing my reflection on the reading I added a yellow and pink label to stamp my date.

 

Luke 12:22-38 speaks about not worrying about tomorrow because the Lord will care and provide. So I thought the sentiment “every day has it’s own story” was fitting. I used the puffy words “you are so important” to symbolize God’s care.

 

For the top of my page I usually add a tab and the green label die cut was perfect for that. I also used the “So Loved” ticket to serve as a title for my page, then sprinkled some enamel dots to finish it off.

For more on my process check out my video here: 

https://youtu.be/EPqJajRtCTA

Don't forget to follow Jessica to check more of her beautiful work!

♡ Let’s Connect! ♡ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CrownedByJesus Instagram: instagram.com/jessa_crownedbyJesus Blog: www.crownedbyJesus.com Affiliate Links: www.crownedbyjesus.com/my-links My YT Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/JessaCrowne... BYTHEWELL4GOD Affiliate Link: https://www.bythewell4god.com?aff=9 Creative Retreat Affiliate Link: http://rwrd.io/fmyyzj1?cr

Have a great day! 

Sunday Sketch with Diane

Hi everyone, Diane here with your Sunday Sketch challenge! I cracked open a brand new Life Crafted album today and I thought I would start my album with a nice and easy page. And when I want something easy, I always start with a sketch!

So here is today's sketch:

And here is how my spread turned out:

For today's spread, I used digital TN papers from the Citrus Twist store. I used Photoshop to resize my base pages to 5 x 8.25 inches and printed them on textured card stock. Then I printed off a few other patterns as smaller pieces I could use for layering.

When I have used most of a die cut pack, I usually split the remaining pieces into categories such as florals, tiny words, hearts etc. Which is exactly how I managed to find all the pretty florals for this page without pulling out multiple packs of die cuts!

I added a bunch of french knots and stitching to this page to add a real handmade feel, this is my biggest tip when working with digitals. Adding some sort of texture other than paper helps to stop it feeling too flat.

Here's a look at the process this spread took ...

Thanks for stopping by today and I'd love to see any page you create using this challenge so don't forget to tag me and share over on the Citrus Twist Facebook Fan page!

Sunday Sketch with Diane

Hi everyone, Diane here with your Sunday Sketch challenge! I adore sketches as a jumping off point for any layout. Today I decided to adapt this 12x12 sketch for a spread in my Life Crafted album.

Here is today's sketch:

And here is how my spread turned out:

Because I was scaling this sketch down from a 12x12 to my Life Crafted album, I had to shift a few things from the sketch around to fit. For instance, I moved the banner flags from in between the photos on the sketch to above my photos on my page so I could allow for slightly larger photos.

I used a combination of punches and hand trimming to create enough flags for both the top of my page and a few under my title cluster. I stuck with the yellows and blues from the Peachy Keen paper pad but also threw in some woodgrain paper and a few teal elements from the die cut pack and tiny word stickers to add a bit of interest.

Before I adhered everything down, I typed my journaling directly onto the background and then added my title in black foam alphas to tie in my black and white photos.

I also stitched down my clusters and top strips, I love the texture I get from my sewing machine but it also helps to make sure all those small elements are adhered nicely. Lastly, I added a cork sticker for a bit more texture.

Here's a look at the process this spread took ...

Thanks for stopping by today and I'd love to see any page you create using this challenge so don't forget to tag me and share over on the Citrus Twist Facebook Fan page!

3-to-Inspire with Diane

Hi everyone, Diane here with another 3-to-inspire challenge for you! You can find this challenge here every Saturday for those who need a little extra creative push to get scrapbooking, to keep scrapbooking or for those who just like a challenge! Your take on this challenge can be a layout, Traveler's Notebook page or a spread in your Life Crafted album. And remember that you'll want to include all 3 prompts on your project!

Your prompts this week are:

1. Document a not great day
2. Stamp in more than 3 colours
3. Add a mix of stickers

I started my spread with a base page of white card stock (5 x 8.25 inches), a 3x4 photo and one of the May digital cards. I ended up taking my stamping colour scheme from the yummy colours in the card.

I used a bunch of stamps from the UGH stamp set and five different ink colours to create a random stamped background for behind my title die cut. I tried to make sure I had a nice spread of colours, balancing out the colours and sizes of stamps, while also leaving visual space to stamp the rest of my title. 

I added a couple of card stock stickers to my bad day photo and then added a few puffy hearts across the spread, using the same colours as my stamping and called my spread done.

Here's a look at the process this spread took ...

Thanks for stopping by today and I'd love to see any page you create using this challenge so don't forget to tag me and share over on the Citrus Twist Facebook Fan page!

Sunday Sketch with Diane

Hi everyone, Diane here with your Sunday Sketch challenge! I adore sketches as a jumping off point for any layout. Today I decided to adapt this 12x12 sketch for a spread in my Life Crafted album.

Here is today's sketch:

And here is how my spread turned out:

I was super inspired when I saw this sketch because it reminded me of one of my favourite techniques for using up all those little scrappy pieces of my Sweet Story paper that I can't bear the throw away. 

All I do is stack them together, in this case horizontally across the paper, add a little adhesive and stitch the whole thing together with my sewing machine. It gives me a fun little place to build the rest of my layout.

From there, I added my two photos, using a little craft foam for dimension. Then I used both the Tickets and Tags and the Hearts and Such die cuts packs to add a few little sentiments instead of the labels in the sketch.

I decided to skip the top and bottom strips in the sketch and instead make my title cluster a little larger by adding a bigger die cut before stamping my title with the Chloe Alpha.

I added hearts instead of the butterflies from the sketch, starting with the most perfect little wood veneer and then filling the rest of the page with puffy hearts.

If you know me, then you know the scariest thing is adding splatters to my layouts! So instead of risking it all with ink, I grabbed a gel pen and added them in by hand! Such an easy technique for when you aren't feeling mixed media brave!

Here's a look at the process this spread took ...

Thanks for stopping by today and I'd love to see any page you create using this challenge so don't forget to tag me and share over on the Citrus Twist Facebook Fan page!

3-to-Inspire with Diane

Hi everyone, Diane here with another 3-to-inspire challenge for you! You can find this challenge here every Saturday for those who need a little extra creative push to get scrapbooking, to keep scrapbooking or for those who just like a challenge! Your take on this challenge can be a layout, Traveler's Notebook page or a spread in your Life Crafted album. And remember that you'll want to include all 3 prompts on your project!

Your prompts this week are:

1. Document something you are currently watching/reading/doing/eating/drinking ...
2. Use colours and patterns inspired by your current thing
3. Add some stitching or sparkle (or both)!

I started my page by grabbing a screenshot of my current obsession from Google and printing it so it would fit on one half of my Life Crafted album spread. Then I chose a paper from the Sweet Story 6x8 pad that would: 1) coordinate with my photo and 2) allow me to stamp and journal on top of it. In the end I went with a very subtle gold, pink and white stripe.

Then I chose a card stock inspired by Bridgerton itself! I ended up going for a lovely Lavender colour, which I took over to my computer and cut to size using my Silhouette. I not only cut the pages, but also created a frame sized to fit my patterned paper behind it.

I then placed my photo and florals where I wanted them so I could work out where to stamp my title with the Currently stamp set. Then I added my journalling directly onto the patterned paper with my typewriter. I used my sewing machine to stitch the paper behind the card stock.

Then I adhered down all the florals around my photo and journaling, making sure to layer some in front and behind to create the illusion of depth. The last step was to add plenty of sparkle with some sequins and a few puffy hearts in coordinating colours!

Here's a look at the process this spread took ...

Thanks for stopping by today and I'd love to see any page you create using this challenge so don't forget to tag me and share over on the Citrus Twist Facebook Fan page!

3-to-Inspire with Diane

Hi everyone, Diane here with another 3-to-inspire challenge for you! You can find this challenge here every Saturday for those who need a little extra creative push to get scrapbooking, to keep scrapbooking or for those who just like a challenge! Your take on this challenge can be a layout, Traveler's Notebook page or a pocket page spread in your Life Crafted and remember that you'll want to include all 3 prompts on your project.

Your prompts this week are:

1. Get yourself in the photo
2. NO white backgrounds
3. Use your stamps

For my take on this challenge, I created a spread in my Life Crafted album. When my December DT box arrived, the first thing I did was take out the AMAZING Get Messy stamp set and start playing with some stamps. I even filmed a little reel for Instagram. While I was doing all that, I snapped a photo from over head of me working at my desk. I achieved this by balancing my phone camera on a shelf above me.

Stamping the background pattern onto some lovely, sunny yellow card stock did take a little while but was totally worth it. I started from the middle of my card stock and tried to use every stamp on the set! Using a tone on tone colour scheme keeps everything very subtle and stops the pattern from becoming overwhelmingly busy. For an even simpler way to achieve this look, take a peek at my process video below and I'll show you the cheat version!

I typed my journaling onto some spare white card and then adhered a 3x4 photo to the front. I slipped a few sequins into the bottom of a page protector, then placed my photo and journalling into the middle of it and stitched all the way around with my sewing machine to encapsulate it. Then I added a few more sequins on top and stitched the whole things hut to create a little shaker page. If you don't have a sewing 

machine, you could hand stitch it, use a fuse tool, or even staple you photo to the page protector.

Lastly, I added some amazing pink alphas to my photo to create a title, making sure that when the shaker page it flipped over, my journaling didn't obstruct any of the title. And that's it, a super fun, super fast spread made in minutes!

Here's a look at the process this spread took ...

Thanks for stopping by today and I'd love to see any page you create using this challenge so don't forget to tag me and share in the Citrus Twist Facebook Fan page!