In My Studio - Tools

Hello CTK friends!  This month a few members of the Creative Team are sharing  photo's and details of how they store their various tools!

Cece here showing you the tools I use. Here’s the mug where I store my scissors, punchers, markers, pens, pencils, dirty brushes, water brush pens. Then this mug goes on my craft cart so it’s easily accessible.

There are so many things in the craft world that I wish I had but it’s hard to get a hold of some things while living in a foreign country so I’m leaning how to just use what I have in my stash and I’m still able to get by pretty well. 🤗

Tool storage, right now, for me is in brown cardboard boxes! Not because I’m trying to make things hard to find but because my family is moving!  So instead I’m showing you my top twelve tools & supplies! 

1. Teeny tiny watercolor brush 
2. Faber Castel Big Brush Pens 
3. Acrylic block & acrylic stamps 
4. Tim Holtz mini stapler 
5. Washi tape 
6. Jumbo bow clip
7. Paint
8. Date stamper 
9. Die Cuts 
10. Mini Pom Pom maker
11. Tabs
12. Tape runner 

Whenever I travel this is what gets packed! I can’t wait to hear what some of your favorite tools are and how you neatly or not so neatly store them!! 

Ashley aka @magmagandme 

Honestly, most of my tools are spread out around my room. I organize more by type or what they’re used for. But I like to keep my most used tools within arms reach so when I recently built my giant pegboard system, I added some cute areas to hold some tools. My favorite holders are these macrame hanging mason jars.

I taught myself macrame for the sole purpose of making these. Ha! They hold scissors, pens and paintbrushes. Another container I have is this wire basket from Walmart. It holds punches and staplers and fits perfectly on my pegboard shelves.

I store most of my tools as scissors, rulers, different pen's, staplers and so on in my tool-bag (makes it easy just to pick with you if you are of for a scrap-crop).

My tape's, date stamps and regular black ink pads I store in a little separate basket.

Also I've a big basket-tower on my desk for miscellaneous bits and pieces.

Hi there! We live in an apartment which means that i have to share my time and space with my family.   Well, that also means many of my tools are stashed in drawers and in designated spaces for my supplies.

Our large display bookcase in the living room has a few empty shelves, and it is where i store most of my mixed media stuff. I love decorative/funky jars that can housemy brushes, knifes, etc, and since you can see through the glass these also serve as decor pieces.  The lower drawers of this book case house my machines, this way they are out of the way and the view of the public.

A few months ago we bought an industrial type bookcase for the dining room so that i can house some of my scrapbook supplies (yes, we are surrounded by my stash!), since it is open, I try at best to keep everything organized (this is a craftermath!).  I love having my most used tools just a stretch away from the dining room table since i do most of my work and videos from there!

Most of my tools sit on or right near my main desk.  I picked up this "kids craft bucket" spinning from an online shop in Australia and it's perfect for holding almost everything! The individual buckets are super handy in that I can just it pick up and carry it to wherever I need it to be at the time.  I can fit so much "stuff" in this too, I love it.

The only other tools I use often are my typewriter (which sits on the desk, right in the middle so I can use it all the time!), my cameo (which I've parked underneath my desk on a small rolling table) and my sewing machine (which sits just to the left of my main desk)!

How do you store your tools? We would love to see/hear (just share a post on the Facebook Fanpage!).

Is there anything you would like to see from our "In My Studio" posts? Please leave a comment below and we'll be sure to include it in the future!

Tuesday Tutorial with Sarah

Happy Tuesday, Everyone!  Today I'm here with a tutorial that has to do with using square photos in your pocket pages.  I think square photos are often overlooked in pocket pages, typically because most pockets are sized for 3x4 or 4x6 cards.  However, I wanted to show you how you can still use square photos in those pockets and have a lot of fun with it!

Let's talk about 3 different ways to use this type of photo.  My photos are sized to 2.5 x 2.5 inches, which always seems to be the perfect size because I can keep a small white border and still have the photo fit on a 3x4 card.

In this first example I used two of the 6x8 papers from the December "Pleasant Valley" CTK pocket life kit and cut them both in half to make 4- 4x6 cards.  Then I took one of the 4x6 cards and cut it diagonally.  To make a pocket out of it, I simply applied double sided adhesive to the edges and then layered it on top of a 4x6 card that had a different pattern.  This makes a great pocket to tuck tickets or any small papers inside of.  Finally, I adhered my square photo right on top of that triangle pocket and added a couple of embellishments.

In this next example I layered my square photos on top of 3x4 cards.  I love doing this because it allows me to get more use out of my filler cards, and I also have room to do some more embellishing!

My last example is to treat a 4x6 card as a mini layout.  I like to keep my mini layouts simple so it doesn't get too busy with the rest of the pockets on the page, but this again can be a great way to use up some embellishments and just have fun with your pockets!

I hope you'll give some of these examples a try on your next pocket page layout!  Its a really fun way to switch things up from time to time.

Happy Crafting!

Kit Love with Diane

The December "Pleasant Valley" kits are SO super fun, I had to share the contents with you! If you haven't already, you can grab yours here!

Here's my unboxing of the CTK December "Pleasant Valley" kits ...

I could barely wait to finish filming the unboxing before I was diving into the Pocket Life kit and the Postmarked stamp to create a special page in my TN. This stamp set was perfect for creating a page about the special happy mail I received from a friend!

I bet you can't wait to receive your kits and we can't wait to see what you make with them, so don't forget to post your layouts in the Facebook Fan Page so we can all see!

Sunday Sketch with Nathalie

Hi there!
Nathalie with you today with the first Sunday Sketch for December using the new revealed Pleasant Valley kits! How gorgeous are they!!!  Since we are already getting snow here in Toronto, I think this sketch is perfect for the season, but trust me it can work with any season.  Let me show you the sketch:

This time, I want to show you how versatile this sketch can be. So i created both a layout and TN spread with it; let's start with the Scrapbook layout:

For this page, I chose to work with this month's Add-On kit -since it is filled with Winter theme papers and embellishments- and one of this month's free  cut files.

I chose to stay true to the sketch with just a few small changes.   First i added a few extra snowflakes to the page, and decided to take away the small triangles on the top picture, and replace them with a layer of paper and some embellishments.

The bottom part of the page was created following the sketch.  I love all the colors and patterns of the Simple Stories papers in the add on kit!  But decided to use the Shine On paper from the Patterned Paper Play kit as the background for the page.   I added a few extra snowflakes cut from vellu, and  added some embellishments around the layers.  The sentiments all come from this month's TN stamp.

Love how this turned out, the colors of the kit are perfect for the cute pictures of our baby playing on the snow, but since we are already talking snow, I decided to continue the "winter" team to my TN using this sketch to document our first snowfall of the season.

This time, the sketch was flipped by 90 degrees to fit the format.   I decided to go for a large picture instead of a two picture spread, but decide to use the snowflakes that are in the sketch to help me tell the story.

The title of this page was added to the center of the picture using one of the cut outs and one of the cut apart elements from this month's free printable. 

I continue the layered look of the cards onto the other half of the TN using papers, embellishments and cards from the PL kit.  To add the ilusion of dimension, I simply added glue just to the top part of the cards, and layer a few vellum snowflakes in between.  I chose to add a large snowflake in place of the second picture, and added a few sentiments using this month's TN stamp.

Did i mentioned that this sketch is super versatile? and about all the beautiful Pleasant Valley  kits!  Well, then it is time for you be inspired by the sketch to create a page of your own.  Remember to share your creations with us on the Citrus Twist Kits Friends page on Facebook or by using #CTK, @Citrustwistkits on social media.  I cannot wait to see what you create with this sketch.

XO

3-to-Inspire with Andrea

Hello friends!! I'm so excited to share my first ever 3-to-Inspire for the Citrus Twist blog! I always find it helpful to have a starting point when I'm lost for ideas. In this post, I will give you a recipe and show you how I used the 3 items. Then you get to use them in a project and I hope you share it with us in the Facebook group!

Okay, for this project we are using:

1) String

2) Contrasting patterned paper

3) Large phrases or alphas

First I'll show you the finished project and then we'll look at the pieces that got it to this place!

One of my favorite things to do with twine and string is to roll it up in a little circle and tuck it under an element. I did that here and stapled it in place. You could use a fine line of liquid glue as an alternative.

I used a dark swiss dot paper and a light grid paper as my contrasting patters. They pop off of each other and look great when layered. I also added the yellow and cream ledger card for another contrasting layer!

The large phrase or alphas make a big statement for a title!

Thanks for joining me today! I'd love to see what you make using this recipe so be sure to share your finished project in the Facebook group! See you soon!