Be prepared for December - Tuesday tutorial

Hello Everyone!

It's Mira and in today's post I would like to talk a bit about being prepared for December. It's almost here! Yay! Aren't You excited? It's the best time of the year and most of us just can't wait to start creating everyday magic plus capturing and documenting it in our albums.

December album can be sometimes overwhelming, so today's Tuesday Tutorial edition will be focused on some tips that I believe can help You start the album and actually finish it!

So, how can we be prepared for December-album journey?

1. Create a little space where You can put Your selection of December supplies and stick with this selection for the whole month

Or at least try :) By choosing things in advance, You can avoid walking through all of Your supplies later. It'll keep You sane and save Your time!

You can for example choose the goodies from Your own stash based on a specific color scheme - this is exactly what I've been doing for the last four years!

I especially love using things from previous CTK kits in my DD album, and this is my second year with white and gold tones as a dominant. So for a few last months I've been selecting most of the gold and wood elements from the kits and put them aside. This year I will probably add some red and turquoise accents here and there (oh so lovely Snow & Cocoa!).

Another way to collect stuff for Your Special December Box can be just by ordering a few December kits from Citrus Twist Kits, which I believe You already did, and stick with what's inside the packages! This will make Your creating process a lot lot easier!

2. Prepare foundation pages

You can have the number cards/pages ready in November, and I promise - nobody will call You crazy (at least nobody from the scrapbooking world). Place them in Your album and change their order later with absolutely no guilty feelings. Also if it helps, try to think about the topics that You would like to cover in Your album and when. Maybe planning what You'll be doing on weekends could help?

3. Prepare some embellishment clusters

Combining different elements and sticking them together can be real fun. It is also quite relaxing activity! Especially when You want to do something nice with paper and scissors, but You don't have pictures to work with.
When You'll have Your pictures printed in December, You'll just add these and voila! No mess involved!

4. Keep it simple 

As simple as possible.
Let's be honest. During December, there's not much time for paper projects. There are many other things to do. For example baking ginger-bread house or... skating (my favorite winter activity!). Or cuddles! It's so much better to spend our time with people that we love, than alone... so maybe trying this new technique that You've been wanting to try for a very long time, would not be the best idea now? Just think about it, and don't expect too much from Yourself. And You'll definitely manage to finish Your album. Or maybe all family members can help with a few pages? Maybe it will turn into Your family little tradition?

5. Have fun! Always have fun!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope this post will keep You motivated and at the end of December You will be happy to share Your December Album with us!

Have a fantastic month full of magic!

Almost a double page layout with Veera

Hi, it’s Veera and today I’m sharing two layouts I did with September Add-On Kit and Pattern Paper Play #1. I used the same striped pattern Paper from Crate Paper as my background.

I really loved the diagonal stripes on the paper and used it as a guide where to place the pictures. Both of the layouts have similar elements like doilies, mist splatters and gold accents.

After I finished the layouts and looked at them side by side I realized that these would actually make a great double page layout too if just the stories and pictures would have matched. So I almost made a double page layout, right?

-Veera

Tuesday Tutorial with Veera

Hello, it’s Veera here today to share a layout and a process video with you. This month I got to play with the add-on kit and I was inspired by the frames that were included in the ephemera pack.

From the video you can see how I made this layout. Because I had a clear idea about the design the process of getting the layout done was pretty quick. As always it includes some trial and error when it comes to embellishment placing but isn’t that the fun part of scrapbooking, right?

Here are some close-up pictures:

I hope you liked the video and are inspired to use frames in your next layout!

Veera

Sunday Sketch with Emma

Hi everyone!  Emma here sharing this week's Sunday Sketch!

First up, let's take a look at this weeks sketch:

And here is my take on it!

I love sketches, they're such a great kick-starter for creating a page - this one was a little outside my "normal" style which made it all the more fun.  I've pretty much stuck with the exact design, although admittedly I've switched up the title/journaling but the rest is pretty much like for like!

I went with soft colours for my page, most of the kits this month are a softer palette and although I'm usually one for using all the bright colours, the pastel shades (like the mint!!!) are such a nice change.

I adore all the Cocoa Vanilla veneers that are included the "Maggie" Main kit.  They're so pretty.

I'm also big on creating layers on my pages at the moment - not unusual for me but I seem to building them up more this month.  Super easy to do using doilies and die-cuts (of which there are plenty in the kits this month!).

 

Now it's your turn to take on this week's sketch!

We love to see what you do with our kits and sketches so please make sure to upload your projects to the Citrus Twist Gallery. And remember, by uploading your take on today's sketch to the gallery you will be entered to win a $5 Coupon to use on anything in the CTK Store!  Just remember to include the date of the sketch to the title line :)

Thanks, Em xo 

3 to Inspire with Mira

Hello Hello!

Are You ready for new edition of 3 to inspire challenge!?

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 or a PL spread and remember that you'll want to include all 3 prompts on your project.

The prompts for this week are:

1. Use as many white, thick frames around photos as possible
2. Choose the pocket page design or a layout composition that You haven't try before (or didn't use for a long time)
3. Don't use filter on Your pictures

I love how this challenge pushes me to try new ideas! It's amazing! I tend to use the same page protector design over and over again, always use as many pictures as possible and they are most likely to be the size of 4x6 in the landscape orientation. Boredom boredom You are welcome!
But for today I managed to experiment a bit and went out of my comfort zone! Yay! And I really like the results!
Here are my two pocket pages made for today:

And what do I have here?

Plenty of pictures (couldn't skip that tone!) that my Sister took with her phone, when we were spending time at the beach. And even more pictures taken by my lovely friend who was spending a very wonderful weekend in the mountains with me a few weeks back (these pictures were also taken by the smartphone camera :)).

Not even one picture was treated with filter! This is not common for me, but as You can see they don't need any enhancement! I love them! BTW, how often do You use pictures taken by someone else? This was kind of new for me!

I was working with September "Maggie" Pocket Life Kit together with Embellishment Kit and additionally I used a lot of white thick paper to create the base of my layouts (white frames white frames).

Here are some details:

Squares squares squares - not often You can find these page protectors in my album! But they look sooo good! I need to use them more often! And white frames will make Your pages to look clean and elegant.

I hope this is inspiring for You! Please, please, please if You have to remember ONE thing from today's post let it be: Get Out Of Your Comfort Zones More Often :D

Thank You Guys! Now is your turn! Use the three prompts to create your own projects and share them with us in the CTK Gallery and/or on our Facebook Fan Page by Saturday, September 24th, for a chance to win. You can also upload to Instagram and tag us @citrustwistkits.

Have fun!

So Much Love

Good Morning!  I'm here today to share a little page I made this week.  As soon as I opened my box of goodies, I knew exactly what photo I was going to use the little bear with.  In fact, I had been anxiously awaiting his arrival.

My littlest munchkin has this stuffed bear.  She has had him since she was about 18 months old.  She still has him and sleeps with him every night.  Once he was even lost.  For three months.  Apparently he felt the need to hibernate in a cooler in the pantry.  She was the saddest little buggy when we couldn't find him.

Anyway...I ran across this photo in my FB memories a while back and was dying to make a page with it.  Along came that darling little bear with the September main kit and this page was made.  I think he is just perfect.

I used the "Maggie" September main kit for this page as well as bits from the "Like a Girl" add-on and the Sprinkles kit.

That's it from me today.  Thank you for stopping by to read my little story and have a look at my page.  Have a wonderful day.

Brenda

Let's get digital with Aimee Dow

I've decided I'm going to be a cut file designer. I don't expect it to make me millions or even enough to fill a piggy bank. It will however be a great defence when my husband asks why I have doodled all over our latest electricity bill - I was inspired and it just couldn't wait. Having said that here is my my latest doodle "design" from the back of the target receipt.

No one should ever leave their fine liners unguarded around me, but the good news is that you all benefit! Just click on the raw gem design above and you can download the .svg file and/or the .jpg file from my google drive. Then the word is your oyster. Make it big and use up all your pattern paper scraps filling it in, shrink it down and add it to you clusters or even make it your boarder. Just think of the possibilities. Jewel layouts for girls AND boys. Any page that you can put "Crystal Clear" in the title. Hell you could even back it with brown and do a layout about the outdoors or rock climbing. Me? Well I choose "You are such a Gem".

I made the page with this months Main and Sprinkles kit. The sprinkles kit has some really great little gem looking ephemera in it. I love the subtle use of the cut file here. It filled a huge gap in my design too. If you'd like to give this cut file a go I would LOVE to see it. You can tag @aimee_dow on instagram. Oh and don't forget to hashtag it #citrustwistkits and #aimeedow.

Aimee Xx

3 to Inspire with Brooke

Happy Saturday and welcome to this week's 3 to inspire challenge!  This is my first time hosting and I'm so excited you're here with me today!

I thought it would be fun to challenge you all to use the following three different items to create a project this week...

1) The three patterned papers you see above from the main scrapbook kit.  I love, love, love the way these papers look together and am especially fond of that exclusive design from Trina.
2) The Dear Lizzy black and white design Thickers.  I mean, these are so great.  I'm digging that dipped look and think the dots add a fun twist.
3) The embellishment pack from Crate Paper's Cool Kid line is a fun little trove of embellishments that add just the right amount of something extra.

Here are a few detail shots of the completed spread.

I think the contrast of the black and white letters against that yellow paper really pops.

Just a few very simple embellishments are the perfect way to enhance the paper designs.  The enamel plus signs are a fun shape we haven't really seen in enamel before and I'm obsessed with them.  Also, you can't really ever have too many paper clips and if you know me, yellow's my favorite so the clips included in this pack are perfect.

So there you have it!  A project using just the three items mentioned above.

I hope you'll join in on this week's 3 to Inspire challenge.  Please be sure to upload your projects to the online gallery and share on social media using #citrustwistkits #ctk3toinspire.

Happy Making!