KIT LOVE - April 2020

Hello dear friends!
April is here!  It is time for a new season, and though  we are all facing a new reality -one we never could have expected- there is always the little things.  Those are the ones we want to focus on, to celebrate, to help you document.

Our April Life Crafted kit, NIGHT & DAY is a combination of a soft color palette, versatile designs and as always lots of heart.  This month's soft focus are all the stories that happen daily.  We are sure that you are going to enjoy documenting your memories with it.
Let's join Trina as she shares a closer look at the Night & Day Life Crafted kit:




How beautiful is the kit!  We can only dream off all the stories you will tell with it.  But we have not forgotten about all the documenters that prefer a larger format.  So we are also releasing a Scrapbooking  Add-on kit along our stamps and Life Crafted kit:

This month we  are featuring  a paper selection from Heidi Swapp Chapters collection, The Stamp Market's Miss Modern collection and Crate Paper's Magical Forest collection.  The color palette of both kits complement each other, so it is easy to combine them both in your projects.  Join Nathalie as she shares an unboxing on the kit:





We are so excited to bring to you the April Kits along with our stamps and a selection of products that will help you document all the little things.  Our design team has been playing with the kit already and have create many beautiful projects. Here are a few close ups of what you will see on our Social Media...

We will make it through these hard times, but while we live our new reality don't forget to document the little things, to savor the moments and to dream of all the silver linings. 

Stay safe our friends!

Life Crafted Album Spread with Tina

Hey there!

It's Tina here, and today I want to share with you my first project in a Life Crafted album using the gorgeous February Add On kit! Once I saw the beautiful pattern papers from the kit I knew exactly which photos I would use first.

So I started by deciding what layout I would use for the photos and stopped on a TN page on the left and a 4x6 plus a 4x2 (page protector #3) on the right. After that I chose three pattern papers from the kit that match the photos and trimmed them to the size needed for the layout. The paper with stripes was actually a perfect match for the photo with my daughter riding a bike as the light blue, mint and blush pink colors were in the same order on both of them.

To add a little bit of texture to the striped pattern paper I cross stitched here and there along the lines on it. After that I added some embellishments from the Add On kit and a chipboard sticker "go your own way" from the Life Crafted kit.

To finish this page I added a title using the puffy phrase stickers and adhered a lovely floral bow to the photo. Even though the bow made the page quite bulky I still managed to put it into the page protector #1, but then I decided to give a try to the new adhesive page strips and, OMG, it was love at first site!!! It looks so awesome and at the same time you can touch and feel all the texture of the page! And from now on we can make TN spreads as bulky as we wish and they will fit into the Life Crafted album perfectly! I'm just so excited about this product I can't stop talking about it.

Well, next I started working on the right hand side of the spread. I matted the second photo with a piece of a blue pattern paper to make the photo more visible on the page. Added a circle chipboard sticker and a few ephemera pieces here and there.

In the very end I decided to hand stitch the lines on the "get some sunshine and fresh air" ephemera and adhered some enamel dots here and there on the spread. And that's all! It was so much fun to play with this kit, I can't wait to share more projects with you later this month!

Thank you so much for stopping by! Until next time!

XO,

Sunday Sketch with Sheree

Hi everyone!


It’s Sheree here with you today to share a new Sunday Sketch Challenge!  It’s just the thing to get your Sunday off to a creative start don’t you think?  This is the sketch we’re working with today…

Here’s what I came up with…

I decided on a white cardstock background then chose some of the papers from the JanuaryScrapbooking Add-on Kit and the text paper from the “Fierce & Fabulous”Life Crafted Kit to layer together behind the photo.  I also added a piece of vellum from my stash and added machine stitching. The photo was then layered on top.

I typed up my journaling onto some plain white cardstock using my typewriter and tucked it under the side of the photo, then added some of the Add-on Kit floral die cuts and a ticket too.

For the title in the top left of the page, I combined the Life Crafted Kit fabric sticker and pink foam alphabet stickers with the Add-on Kit word stickers and die cut flower and the This Is Life “Fierce” Stamp Set to create a cluster.  I also added some machine stitching for additional texture.

I stayed with my clean, simple style leaving out the scattered embellishments that are diagonally across the sketch as I felt the cluster in the top left corner was enough for this layout.



You can watch my process in the video below...


Now it’s your turn to play!  I hope you’re inspired to jump right in and create with this new sketch!

I’ll see you again soon with a fresh, new project.  Enjoy your day!

Sheree x

3-To-Inspire with Marsha

Hey friends!  Marsha here today with this week's 3-to-Inspire challenge.  This is one of my favorite challenges, because it's such a great way to get your creativity flowing by focusing on three key elements.

Here are the prompts:

1. Play with hexagons
2. Use a cut file
3. Add PURPLE

Here is my take on the challenge:

For my project, I used the October Scrapbooking Add-on Kit, the Life Crafted "At My Table" Kit, and a subscriber exclusive cut file- Screen 4.  I love the bright colors in the kits this month, especially the gorgeous purple!  In my opinion, it's not used nearly enough in scrapbooking products!

I decided to create a layout in my Life Crafted album documenting a fun photo taken at my grandmother's 90th birthday party earlier this year.   I began by cutting out the cut file using white cardstock.  I layered it over a piece of grid patterned paper from the Add-on kit, trimmed to 5"x8.25" (to fit in the LC album).  Next, I backed several of the hexagons with patterned papers from the Life Crafted kit, also adding foam behind one of the hexagons for added interest.  For the title, I used some puffy phrase stickers from the Pink Paislee Truly Grateful collection, found in the Add-on kit.  To embellish the page, I added some ephemera pieces, a butterfly, and a puffy heart sticker, all from the kits.

For the other page, I added a piece of purple patterned paper behind my photo.  I trimmed out a couple more hexagon shapes and added them around the page.  This made the spread more cohesive by using this shape on both sides of the layout.  Next, I used some puffy stickers and ephemera pieces to embellish.  Using the Life Crafted Stamp, I added some stamping to some of the clusters.  I also added some hand-written journaling to each side of my photo.  I prefer the look of typewriter or computer printed journaling, but it's nice sometimes to use my own handwriting, even if it is imperfect.

I love how this layout came together using these amazing kits!

Here's one final look at the spread:

Thank you for stopping by today!  I can't wait to see your take on this 3-to-Inspire challenge.  Be sure you share it with us on the Fan Facebook Page or on Instagram using #citrustwistkits!

Sunday Sketch with Sheree

Hi everyone!

I’m here on the blog today with this week’s Sunday Sketch!  Sketches are such a great way to get you started on a layout, especially when you’ve lost some of your creative mojo.  Here’s what it looks like...

This is my take on the sketch…

I’ve used items from both the gorgeous Life Crafted and Scrapbooking Add-on Kits to put this layout together.  Overall, I tried to stay fairly true to the sketch, but made a few little changes to put my own spin on it.

Instead of the vertical strips behind the photo I used the Field Trip paper that has the looks of multiple pieces put together.  I love the different colors in this paper against the white background and paired it with the grey 6 x 8 paper from the Life Crafted Kit.

I kept the embellishments nice and simple in my usual style.  The florals in the kit this month are absolutely gorgeous and the puffy stickers are perfect for adding extra little details.   I also added some stamping around the page using the September 2019 Life CraftedTraveler’s Notebook Stamp Set.  These stamps are perfect to use for all sorts of adventures!

You can see my process in the video below:



I love how easily this page came together using the sketch and this month’s kits. 

I hope you’ll join in the fun and share your version of the sketch with us too!  Be sure to tag us on social media so we can see what you come up with!

Together Layout with Sheree

Hi everyone!

I’m so excited to be here with my first creative team post!  Today I have a layout to share with your featuring this month’s Scrapbooking Add-on Kit.

There were so many beautiful Maggie Homes goodies included in the add-on kit and when I saw the pretty floral paper I knew I had to fussy cut the flowers!  I chose the plain white cardstock for the background then cut a large tag from the woodgrain paper to use behind the photo.  I used my sewing machine to stitch around the tag and a border around the background.



I added some messy stitching to the top right of the photo along with a butterfly die cut and the fussy cut flowers and leaves were tucked in behind the left side.  I used foam dots under the butterfly, flower and the leaves to add dimension.

The yellow pom pom trim included in the kit is super cute and I love the texture it adds to my layout!  I simply adhered a piece to the bottom of the tag with some double sided tape.  The “Together” word from the puffy stickers pack was perfect for the title and I added one of the cute seal stickers to the side of the photo too.

My journaling was typed and cut into strips before being adhered under the tag.  I carried on the stitching element at the ends of each strip.

A puffy banner sticker and a gold heart were added under the journaling along with the date to finish off the page.

You can see my process in the video below…

I love how this layout came together using this kit!  I hope I’ve given you a few ideas to use on your next project!

Thank you for joining me on the blog today!  I look forward to sharing another fun project with you soon.

Sunday Sketch with Nathalie

Hi there!
Nathalie here with this week's sketch challenge, and i am in love with all the layers that it showcases.  Having a sketch always makes a project come together easily in a short amount of time.  So, before i show you what i created using the Life Chapters kit and a few pieces from the add-on kit, let me share the sketch with you all.

I was inspired by the layers and positioning of the elements  to create this page about my youngest sister and her lovely story (trust me she herself is an adventure for us!)

I tried an stayed true to the sketch, but as you can see there are a few minor changes that make it more my style.  Firstly, i switched the location of the label and the small paper strip from the bottom to the top of the page, and added a bit of mixed media to the background, hence adding texture to this page.

While the texture paste dried, i used the Notebook Edge cut file to cut one of the Pinkfresh Studio papers with it, at the same time a few of the floral images from the Sunny Days papers (Maggie Holmes) from the add-on kit were fussy cut.

I pulled all the blue elements  i could find in the cut apart elements, ephemera and labels to bring the pops of color to this page.   Once i had everything ready, i followed the sketch to create the layers behind the picture using papers from both the Life Chapters and Add on Kits.

The ripped layer of paper was replaced with the fussy cut florals, and all the blue elements were used to create the small clusters that create the visual triangle on this page.   Gotta love the small alphas included in the Life Chapters kit, as they are the perfect font to combine with all die cuts, and so on, just like featured in the title of this page.  The following video will show you how it all came together:

As you can see this page is a reflection of my sister's story and it came together rather easily with the  inspiration the sketch provides.

Now it is  your turn to put the sketch to use in a project of your own.  Remember to share with us what you create, tag @citrustwistkits or #citrustwistkits when sharing it on social media or just upload your picture to the CTK Friends page on Facebook.  We love seeing your creations.

XO