Pocket Life with April

Happy Black Friday, CTKers!  For everyone in the US, I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

April here to share my Pocket Life Week 37 using the November PL and PL Embellishment Kits.  This was one of the spreads that I did as part of my catch up effort.  I had the spread planned and my photos in the page protector, so all I did was fill it with the fun details.  I definitely have been keeping things more simple since I am playing catch up.

Left side:

Right side:

And here are your sketches:

Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday Tutorial with Nathalie

Hello CTK friends! Nathalie here to share a new page created with the November "Get Cozy" main kit plus the "Special Order" embellishment kit as well as a video tutorial.

NON-KIT ITEMS: Thickers, blue ink, bamboo skewer

Once I decided on the background paper and started working on my page, I thought that a big arrow would be the perfect embellishment to go with the target!

Here are the supplies used for the making of the arrow:

I love the vellum bags in the kits and using one to create the "feathers" of the arrow gives it a light airy texture. Here is my quick video tutorial:

Thank you for stopping by! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Sunday sketch with Lucia

Hello everyone - and happy sunday!

Here is a new sketch, as usual :)

I really liked (and enjoyed cutting out) the hexagon shapes! I've used the Big Shot to cut out my three photos and a patterned paper (from November 2014 Main Kit).

I played a bit with the composition. Finally I decided not to add that paper behind the hexagons and went for my favourite clean style :)

A little bit of machine stitching ...

And the page is ready!

I hope you enjoyed and will join us this week! All you need to do for a chance to win a $5 to spend at CTK store is to create a project based on the sketch and upload it to the CTK gallery by the 29. November 2014. Include "sketch 11/23" in the description.

Good luck and have fun with your projects!

Lucia

Tuesday tutorial by Christin

Christin here to show you a little tutorial on how I mix watercolor effects with stencils, stamps and this months lovely rubons from the November main kit and embellishment kit.

I am a little camera shy so you will not here my voice, but I hope you will be able to follow what I do anyway.

As the little text in the start of the video says, I started to prep the ordinary white cardstock with clear gesso. You might wonder why I use clear gesso and not white gesso and I can think of at least 2 reasons. One is that white gesso come out as yellow on the white cardstock and that the colors mixes better with the clear gesso than the white.   The clear gesso is not smooth like white gesso.




Here you can see the finished layout and some closeups











Now I hope you will not forget to use all the lovely rubons in the kit on your projects.

Sunday sketch with Eve

Hello,

I'm happy to share with you this new sunday sketch. I used the main kit.

I did my background with silver Heiddi swapp Ink.

Thank you for visiting my sketch post and I cant wait to see what you do with this week's sketch. Be sure to share your take on the sketch in the Citrus Twist Kits Gallery.

To play along this week and for a chance to win $5 to spend at CTK store, upload your projects based on this week sketch to the CTK gallery. You have until November 22th and please include "Sketch 11/16" in the description.

Pocket Life with Olya

Happy Friday! Olya here with my November Pocket Life and Pocket Life Embellishment kits pages. I'm always amazed with so many beautiful items in these kits, and the colors that coordinate so well together.
Now let's take a look at my week's spread, shall we?

Here is a close up of the left hand side page. That week was full of colorful leaves, foggy days, coffee dates and happy watercolors. I like how it's a variety of subjects that may seem too random to document yet everything just flows together thanks to all these kit's embellishments and cut files. 

I just adore those puffy stickers. And wood veneers always have a special place in my heart.

And here is the right hand side layout. The entire page is dedicated to a weekend trip to Whistler. We knew that we were moving at the end of that month so it was nice to take a break from packing and have a little getaway up to the mountains. I used the minimalist approach and focused on mainly photos telling the story. I did however use (almost) all the lovely embellishments to enhance that story telling :)

Again, I just can't get enough of all the embellishments in this month's kits. I mean, just look at that flair button alone!

I also made a little (5x7) insert because believe it or not I had more photos and postcards from the trip that I couldn't fit into a 12x12 page. Here are the front and back together. I used one of the 6x6 patterned papers and trimmed it to 5x6 and then "grew" it to a 5x7 by adding that trimmed inch of a scrap paper to the other side. (a little DIY for your weekend if you like :)
On the back of the patterned paper  I stamped the word magic from November's PL stamp. I tried to match the colors of the stamp ink to the colors of the creek water, which was truly magic to look at. 

And that's all for this week, friends. Thank you for stopping by and checking out my pages.
Have a wonderful and creative weekend!
xo

Constellation Trend With Sandy



Hi it's Sandy. I'm so glad to be back playing with Citrus Twist's November Kits after taking two-month long break to travel for work. The first thing that struck me about this month's Get Cozy Main Kit is that Heidi Swapp Star Gazing pattern paper. Fashion, movies and home decor have been under the constellation spell for a while so it's no surprise to see it making the jump into scrapbooking. I want to show you my take on this intergalactic trend.

I didn't want to be too literal with it so no scrapping about the moon or pairing it with a night sky photo. Instead I choose to focus on the zodiac motifs - how the star points are joint together with lines but with the alphabets of my layout title taking the place of stars. Since I'll be spreading my title out across the width of the page I go with the smaller sized Pink Paislee Solstice Alphas (spray painted silver to better fit in with the colour scheme of the layout) from the Special Order Embellishment Kit, mixing in a larger sized R from the Beanboard Alpha set that's included in the Get Cozy Main Kit so that it'll stand out against the photo. In a final node to this celestial trend I also sprinkle some Gossamer Blue Enamel Stars among the horns of my deer embellishment cluster.

Heidi Swapp Star Gazing Pattern Paper 

Have you been inspired by this fashionable constellation trend too? If so please share it with us by loading your project onto our Gallery. Every week one submitted layout will be chosen to be featured on the Citrus Twist Kits Blog.   

Tuesday Tutorial with our Guest Designer Kay Roger

Hi all! Kay here with a confession to make. I'm a kit killer. There, I said it.
Seriously? I love the challenge of creating with kits. And every month I make myself use up the contents of my kits. I went through the hoarding phase at one point in this hobby and here's what I found.

• The more supplies I had, the less creative I was.
• I used to worry that about "using up" or running out of  my favorite supplies. But the truth is there is always something new and fun coming out, replacing my "have to have" list in a hurry.
• My creative time is limited. If I pull from the kit, almost exclusively, I not only use up my kit but I save the time of rummaging for supplies.

I normally get 5 - 6 layouts from a kit. I try to make them look different enough that no one would know they were from the same kit. I look at it as an "assignment," and I stick with it. And once those layouts are done I empty the kit box remnants into my larger stash. Then I stalk the mailman obsessively for my next kit. ;)
Here are the 5 layouts I made with the November kit.
First up, the sketch layout.



I love how the kit can have a summer feel as well. I love this pic of my daughter a beloved family friend!

 

For this layout I wanted a funkier feel with a bit more drama. The dark background with vibrant colors helped me achieve that.

 

This layout is my oldest and her bridesmaids. I wanted the picture to be the main focus.

This layout of my oldest and her husband is one of my favorite types of layouts. I can use up my scraps, and keep the layout fun.

 

 

Any other kit killers out there? I'd love to hear how you use up your kits!

 

Sunday Sketch with our Guest Designer Kay Rodgers

Kay here today with a sketch using the November kit. I followed the sketch pretty closely because I loved it! Sketches so often get me out of a rut! I love the pops of fushia and red in this kit, especially against the blue. The picture is of my daughter and my nieces, who share summer birthday celebrations every year.

 

 

Thank you for visiting my sketch post and I cant wait to see what you do with this week's sketch. Be sure to share your take on the sketch in the Citrus Twist Kits Gallery.

To play along this week and for a chance to win $5 to spend at CTK store, upload your projects based on this week sketch to the CTK gallery. You have until November 14th and please include "Sketch 11/9" in the description.

November kit love

Follow me as I open my November "Get Cosy" Main kit and "Special order" Embellishment kit both available at CitrusTwistKits.com

You will find this finished page and all my other pages with these kits in the Gallery!

Thank you for sharing my excitement :)

Tips for Catching Up on Pocket Life and My PL Week 36

For anyone who is doing Pocket Life this year, are you keeping up?  Right now, I am currently around 2 months behind.. the most I have been all year.  I don't know about you, but it's always around this time of the year that I manage to fall behind.  Today, I just wanted to share some tips and my process on playing catch up.

1.  Write everything down!  Whether you use a paper planner, filofax, or a phone app, spend some time during the week to write things down.  It doesn't need to be everyday.  I usually write in my planner every other day or so.  Having everything written down makes it easy to look back on everything when you're ready to plan your spreads.

2.  Plan your spreads!  I just create a rough sketch of my spreads on scratch paper, then start filling out each pocket while referencing my planner and the photos on my iPhone.  I only use photos from my iPhone for my PL (it's just what works for me), but if you use photos from another source, don't forget to have those with you while you're planning your spread.

Extra tip: using primarily photos from my iPhone makes it so that I can plan and edit photos while on the go like when I'm waiting at my doctors office or waiting for my car to get maintained.

3.  Once I have my spreads planned, I edit my photos (again, all through my iPhone usually while I'm waiting for something or while watching TV).  Once I have my photos edited, I print all my photos at one time.  I use a Canon Selphy, if you're wondering.  Then I go ahead and start filling my page protectors with the photos and memorabilia that I plan on using.

4.  Once I have all my photos and memorabilia in each page protector, I start working on each individual spread.  I work on whatever spread I feel inspired by since I am able to see what photos I am working with and where they are in each spread.  Sometimes that means I'll work on week 41 even though I haven't worked on weeks 36-40 yet, but that's okay.  Just having my photos printed and in my page protectors makes me feel less stressed out because then comes the fun part... playing with product to make a pretty spread! :)

Another extra tip:  In your spare time and if you have some spare materials on hand, create some PL cards, so they are ready for you to fill into your spreads above!  I had taken a class at my local scrapbooking store with Kelly Purkey and she gave us a bunch of product to work with, so I had a lot leftover after we finished with the mini album.  I had some down time when I got home from the class, so I went ahead and made some PL cards using the supplies.  Now, I'll be able to slip these in to some of my spreads shown above!

There you have it!  I know the tips I mentioned above doesn't work for everyone, but that's what works for me!  Hope you found it somewhat helpful! :)

And before I leave, I just wanted to share my Pocket Life Week 36 using the November PL and PL Embellishment Kits (plus some leftover alphas from the October kits).

Left side:

Right side:

Don't forget: even the bad days need to be documented!  I used this Jillibean card as a cover for some journaling about my bad day.

I had an insert this week on my friend's bday celebration.  For the "seriously" card, I plan on finishing up some journaling on the story of the cake in the bottom photo.  I created the card using another Jillibean card mounted on the packaging from the Amy Tangerine puffy stickers.

Thanks for stopping by!