Kit Love with Kira

Hello everyone!  Can you believe it's November already?!  I am back with a little kit love today.  If you haven't already gotten a closer look inside the kits this month, feel free to check out my unboxing video here.

I wanted to share with you three layouts I created with the main kit this month.  But first, let's talk about mojo.  Any of you experience periods of time where you just aren't feeling creative or motivated to get a layout made?  I know I do!  But the longer I put off creating...the longer I go with feeling "stuck".  My solution:  scraplifting.

You already know that this team is full of amazingly talented ladies creating beautiful layouts monthly, so why not take the inspiration they provide and scraplift them?!  Well, that is exactly what I did.  And I created three beautiful pages, using only the main scrapbook kit, in less than 2 hours!

 Here's a look at the first layout I made:

Can you guess who I scraplifted?  Anna, of course!  Her style is so distinct, I could spot a layout of hers from a mile away.  I always love her subtle mixed media techniques and her use of textiles, such as thread, in her pages.

 

I stuck pretty close to Anna's original, even stepping outside my comfort zone and adding some mixed media of my own.

I even went with a short, sweet title like Anna did in her original too.  I love these teal, glitter thickers.  They're perfect for boy and girl layouts alike!

Another favorite from the kit  is the exclusive die cut pack.  So many perfectly coordinating elements to use on your pages.

I only strayed from Anna's layout slightly when building this upper cluster, and I added some bakers twine from my stash for just a touch more texture. You can watch my entire process here.  

After I completed my Anna-lift, I worked on this page, scraplifting one of my all time favorite scrapbookers, Kelly!

Kelly has such a beautiful, delicate style.  And I love the simplicity of her pages.  It was a no-brainer when I saw her original layout that I NEEDED to scraplift it.

 Kelly's layout, like Anna's, had some subtle mixed media.  Which again, really stretched me!  (Guys, I never do mixed media...yet, here we are, two layouts in, with more paint!)  I used what I had in my stash (which isn't much) and created the soft pink-peach color by mixing white gesso with a drop of magenta Heidi Swapp color shine.

Kelly's original had so many gorgeous florals from the Turn the Page ephemera pack, and I wanted to recreate that in subtler terms with the exclusive die cuts from this months kit.  So instead of an entire "bed" of florals, I created a cluster on each side of my photo.

I went simple with my title using some of the die cuts and a word from the thicker sheet.  I finished the page off with some stamping and the date!  You can watch my entire process here. 

For my final page, I had to scraplift my insta-bestie, Mary!

Mary's original layout was very bright and colorful...and very girly!  I wanted to maintain the same fun feel while also keeping my layout less...pink.  (Let's be honest tho, pink is always bound to find its way onto my boy layouts too. Lol).

 

I stuck pretty close to Mary's original layout, but switched things up to fit the papers included in this month's kit.  Instead of fussy cutting around florals, I fussy cut around scallops!

Instead of butterflies, I scattered stars.  I kept with the placement of the title, and I love how the teal compliments that scallop paper so well!

I even found some mini clothespins in my stash that were a pretty aqua color!  Perfect for this scraplift.  I finished off by placing a fussy cut scallop piece at the top of the page just as Mary had done on her original.  You can watch my entire process here. 

And less than 2 hours later, done!  Thanks for stopping by!

xo, Kira

Tuesday Tutorial

"Hi everyone! It's Jessica here for the Tuesday Tutorial! Today, I'm going to show you how I incorporate and embellish ephemera into my yearly album using an insert.

As someone who has recently gone through the whole wedding planning process, I know the pain-staking time it takes to create wedding invitations. For that reason, I always save all the bits that come into the mail and add them as an insert for the week of the wedding. 

1. Determine the color scheme. My friend's wedding colors were purple and gold, but I love the way that the teal from the Oliver kit compliment the purple. I decided to incorporate that color along with the gold in the kit. 

2. Decide on the size of insert. Since wedding invites and ephemera vary in size, you'll need to determine the best starting place for your page protector. I chose 6x8, but remember that it can always be modified later if needed (see step #4). 

3. Make the paper and embellishments work for you. I LOVED the foam Freckled Fawn word stickers in this month's kit, but I knew the black wouldn't show up on the deep purple. Instead of scrapping the idea, I took out my heat gun and embossed gold right on top of the sticker. Worked like a charm! You can do the same thing with paint or inks. 

4. Make adjustments where needed. Since the Save the Date card was slightly smaller than the insert, I pulled out my Fuse tool and anchored it into the sheet. I love the customized effect! I was then able to use the teal patterned paper to frame it in place. This is also a nice way to add glitter or other shaker elements for a fun look. 

5. Add the finishing touches. I wanted to keep the insert simple so that the invitations would show through, but wanted to add a little bit extra. I pulled out the Shimelle enamel shapes and scattered those throughout the cards and finished up with a couple of the Gold Foam word stickers to fill in the empty space. 

That's it! Now, I can slide this in next to my layouts from her wedding day and enjoy everything together for years to come. 

Hope you enjoyed! 

Jessica

30 Lists with Tara

Hiya friends!

I don't know about you but I am a list maker - to do's, wish lists, packing lists, grocery lists, and so much more. You can say I'm kind of a fan girl of lists.

Today I'm sharing how I used March's Oliver PL and Embellishment kits in a different way. I'm participating in 30 Days of Lists this month and it's loads of fun! I like having different ways of documenting and the pressure is off of me to come up with the prompts - so I thought I would give it a go.

Here is List 07 - 'People I Talk to Everyday":

I used the Citrus Twist Numbers Stamp in the shop to number my lists. I love the classic look of them that made each list perfect.

I used a journaling card that fit perfectly with the prompt, since the people I talk to everyday are my family and friends! And if you really want to know, yes, I do talk to myself. Sometimes I need a little pep talk or to say stuff out loud to figure it out. I admit I am a bit of a weird one...

I first made a title using some Kellie Stamps from my stash. Then I added washi from my stash to secure the card and exclusive Leopard puffy alpha stickers in the shop. The little Maggie Holmes labels and stickers worked out well here too. 

Here is a closer look.

Here is List 08 - "I'm Saving For":

Here I used some of the packaging for my layout. The striped 'journaling card' is the packaging from the PinkFresh Studios 'Dream On' ephemera. I also used the brown paper bag that the Embellishment kits come in for the title and the grid card that comes with the Citrus Twist exclusive stamps for the stamped label. I really do love re-purposing scraps and packaging in new ways. 

Do you like to make lists or are you participating in 30 Days of lists? We would love to hear about it and how you incorporate your Citrus Twist Kits with your lists.

Thank you for stopping by today. Stay crafty!

Xxo - Tara

Mini-Album Sneak Peak

This month at Citrus Twist we have included two 4x6 chipboards and O rings in the March "Oliver" Scrapbook Kit to serve as a foundation for a mini-album. To make sure you have lots of inspiration and ideas for creating your own albums, five of our designers will be creating their own mini-albums and will be sharing their projects on our Facebook Fan Page and other social media sites.

To get you excited as you wait for your own kits to arrive, we are sharing album sneaks here on the blog today from each of our designers along with a little bit of detail about their projects:

Emma Wood

Hi friends! I love creating mini albums so I was excited to see the chipboard and rings included in the main kit this month.  The 6X4 size is perfect too; you can go big using all those 6x4 photos, but it's not too big that you have a lot of space to worry about filling.

My mini-album is all about the first day of school for Zack-I've been taking the same style of photo on his day of school each new school year (I think it will be fun to look back in 10 years at how he's changed through out all of his school years) and having them all together in one mini-album is the perfect way to showcase them.

Veera Saarivuo

I love creating mini books.  I love the smaller format that challenges me to try different things. This time I wanted to challenge myself with the cover.  I'm a very clean simple scrapbooker and I'm not a huge fan of paints as I can't work with them with clean hands.  I wanted to paint the covers with mint and white paint to create a nice texture.  I love how the covers turned out so I'm challenging  you to pick up your paints and use them while creating a minibook!

Elsie Robinson

Hi everyone it's Elsie here and I'm really excited to give you a peek into the mini album that I'm making with the Oliver Kit this month! To me, creating the structure of mini albums always seems like a really overwhelming and grueling task because I'm impatient to get into the fun decorating bit.  But the 6x4 chipboard pieces in the kit made the album "construction" super easy!

Michelle Wedertz

Hi guys! First, I am very excited to be contributing a mini-album this month! Mini-albums always provide a nice and refreshing break from my usual scrapbooking routine. I get a lot of joy from choosing the subject of an album and having the opportunity to use all the photos-especially when I have a nice, big stack of photos from a particular day or story.

I thought that the March "Oliver" Kits-both the Scrapbook and Pocket Life Kits-were a perfect match to document one of our beach trips from last year and after receiving my photo order in the mail I set out to create the inside of my album first! The cover is typically harder for me to create, so instead of spending lots of time get past that roadblock, I like to jump right in and work from the inside out! Usually by the time I am finished, I will have a better idea of what I want my cover too look like.  I can't wait to share the complete mini album with you all later this month!

Andrea Bethke

Using the beautiful Citrus Twist March kits, I decided to make a mini album that was about hope and all the elements right now in my life that are helping me stay hopeful during what has been a really difficult time. These three things are – happiness, bravery and love!

As some of you may or may not know, I have a very serious health condition called CRPS and it causes constant pain every day of my life. Lately my CRPS has been particularly bad.  A mini album is perfect for the purpose of reflecting on the thoughts and feelings that you are experiencing at a particular time in your life. The good and the bad.  Not all of our stories are pretty, perfect stories, but all of them are important! For this reason, I challenge you to create a mini album that reflects not only what is good and sweet in your life, but also what is difficult and bitter. Try including the perfect picture moments and the not so perfect ones...try journaling in a way that goes deeper than just...”what a great day!” Write about your thoughts and emotions. Be real!

For more inspiration, mini album tips, ideas, and challenges make sure and visit our Facebook Fan Page and gallery throughout the month of March as our designers will continue to share their process, completed projects, and provide lots of  inspiration for your own albums! 

Tuesday Tutorial 8/9

Good Morning all!  I am so happy to be here today.

For this Tuesday Tutorial I am going to show you one of my favorite ways to jazz up a pretty background paper with some acrylic paint.

Sometimes I love a paper but it just seems a bit too busy for me.  I usually scrap on white so using a full color/pattern background can be a challenge.  I like a challenge...but I also like paint so I figured why not mix them together.

First, I find a really pretty paper that I don't want to cut up, the paint I want to use and some gesso.
(I ended up not using the Nuvo drops.  Sometimes that happens)

The gesso goes on first.  It keeps the paint from bleeding through and I really like the white.  It breaks up the color.  You could definitely opt for a clear gesso if you wanted.  Let the gesso dry completely before adding the paint.

I applied the gesso and the paint using an old gift card.  This made for a much smoother application.  The paint was a little thick so the paintbrush allowed me to drop a little water on the paper to loosen it up.  All you need to do to spread the paint out is dab some of the paint onto the gift card edge and smooth it across the paper.  I pulled the paint towards the middle of the canvas.  I liked the edges being a bit ragged instead of straight.  I seems to give motion to the paint, drawing the eye in.  Let this layer dry as well.

Next, a little bit of color shine.  Just unscrew the top and drop it on.  I had to dip the "straw" in a few times to get enough.  This will take some time to dry.  I found that out the hard way.  I ended up laying the elements I was testing out on the black drops and nearly ruined a couple of things.

Now you can add on your photo(s) and elements.  See how the paint helps to give a bit of a mat for all the other pretty things?  Now they won't get lost on those beautiful confetti dots.

Wild Child add-on + Pattern Play #1

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you have fun using paint on your pages.

Brenda

Carefree

Good Morning all!  Hope you are having a wonderful day.

Today I am bringing you a super simple but fun page.  I have been missing my paints lately but have not had time to use them.  This photo was calling for something a little extra so I pulled out my watercolors.  Since this was an ocean photo, I made the watercolor "blob" look a bit like water.

The little triangles were cute from the Shimelle Starshine "Gallileo" paper  All I did was cut one of the small squares in half and the corners off of another larger square.

Isn't this triangle stamp awesome? I went just perfectly with the other triangles on the page.

To finish off the page I used watercolor drops and some color shine in a similar color to make "splashes" from the waves.

kits used - Driftwood + Sprinkles

So, I got to play with my watercolors and have fun scrapping.  The best of both of my favorite hobbies.

Thank you for stopping by today!  Have a fabulous rest of your week.


Brenda

July Kit Love with Tara

Hello! It's Tara here sharing my favorites for July. Our "Good Times" Pocket Life kit has a wide variety of goodies and I have truly loved working with Crate Paper's Poolside line...I can't get enough of it!!! I also used the Embellishment Kit, "Instalove". This kit worked so well with my PL kit and I still have more left over. Our PL kit was such a hit that we have already have sold out but you can check out the full contents in our shop.


Can I just say these denim stickers are just scrumptious? Such a neutral to work with but loads of style with ease.

Instead of focusing on the things I loved most, I wanted to share a different "kit love" view - layout love. Here are my layouts I have made so far. I must say I truly have enjoyed working with this month's kit and it is by far my favorite for the year.

I love, love, love the mint stickers that were a CTK collaboration with PinkFresh Studio. I can't wait for more colors to come in the future!

All the lovely embellies came from the "Instalove" kit or my PL kit, plus a few from the July Main kit and some from my stash.

Another view of the little layout love stack.

What I love most is this kit is so versatile. The bright colors are muted with some neutrals. Plus there are some fun and funky touches that fit so many styles. Yes - I even used the brown bag that comes in our kits, recycled as my layout page. So many possibilities!!

I was able to create seven layouts and two fun cards!!! I wanted to go with an easier approach for PL to allow more freedom. I document life in a monthly format and just go with the flow on which dates I want to work with.

I would call this a "partial" killing of the kit, as I still have a lot more fun stuff to work with! I will add the rest of my layouts in the gallery when I'm finished.

I hope you enjoyed today's layout love! Please share your favorite tidbits and creations with us here and in the gallery.

Thanks for stopping by!

Xxo, Tara