Open Post - Amy Jo Vanden Brink

 

I mentioned in my last post that this kit spurred me on to finish up my 2017 Family album.  It was so satisfying to get the album finished, and this kit was perfect for my final page.  

Sometimes I agonize over which side of the card to use.  The best is when you can use the card in a pocket and both sides are useful!  The top left of this page allowed me to use both the front of the card on the layout previous, and the back on this side!  What a win!  The plus sign card was also able to be used on both sides of the layout. The cardstock is so great, that there wasn't even a shadow of the journaling from the other side visible.

I love the yellow in the kit, and the yellow and purple together were an awesome combo!  I loved all the small pieces in this kit that allowed me to embellish up my photos.  Phrase stickers and circles with phrases are a great way to spread color across the spread and get my sentiments down.

Thanks for joining me here today!  I hope this project was inspiring for you.

Pocket Page Challenge With Lisa Varshine

 Hi friends! I'm back today to share a pocket page spread using the gorgeous August kit and add-on. I really loved the cheerful and bright, very summery colors of this kit and they worked perfectly with my photos from our recent family trip to Lake Oconee, just outside of Atlanta. 

Being a die-hard pocket page crafter, the first thing I'll often look at when I get a new kit is the journaling cards. I feel in love with these 3x4 cards immediately. I knew this sunset photo would be front and center and the colors played so well with the colors from these cards. 

This spread was truly about my daughter and not as much about the actual trip, so I wanted to include a sweet, feminine element. The add-on kit has the most gorgeous flowers that work surprisingly well with so many themes. I also love to juxtapose the sweetness a little bit with a healthy dose of black (coming both from the black and white photo and the 6x8 number patterned paper I trimmed from the Life Crafted Kit.) 

I think the great die-cuts and embellishments from the kit and add-on almost stole the show in this spread. I love the sunshine die-cut, the banners, the hearts, all of them. I'm a fan of subtle embellishments that add to your story, not overpower it. If you've seen some of my spreads, you know I prefer fairly simple, graphic pages. 

I hope you found a little bit of inspiration in this spread, thank you so much for looking!!

Life Crafted with Erica

Hey crafty friends! I hope you are all well. Today I am sharing a Life Crafted page made entirely with the True Stories August Digital Files!





I was inspired by this Bear Crossing ephemera piece from the Digital Tags and used everything from the papers (patterned and travelers notebook!) to the free Cutapart Elements to bring it to life. The digitals are a great option to consider with the whole world experiencing shipping delays right now.





I used Photoshop to create this spread, resizing elements and combining different papers. On this first page I combined one of the Travler's Notebook Basics pages with a Pattern Paper. Then I resized some of the flowers and butterflies from the Ephemera to layer under my tag.




To stop this layout coming out completely flat I added some texture by popping the tag up on foam. I also printed the flowers and butterflies separately. That simple additional layer of paper adds so much visual interest.





On the second page I layered to my heart's content until I was happy with it on Photoshop. And one cool thing I found with the digital ephemera was that the background parts that would normally be white card stock are clear digitally, so layering looks even better! Then I printed out everything except the bottom paper as one layer and adhered them together. I added the tiny flowers and butterfly on top as I did with the first page.





Using digital files really opens up a whole new world to resize and play with the content as much as you want. I had so much fun creating this layout with just the digitals this month and I hope this has given you some ideas on how to use them!

Sunday Sketch with Krystal

 

Hey all! Krystal here with this week's Sunday Sketch. Here's a look at the sketch I chose for today.

I loved all of the layers behind the photo, the label embellishments, and the stitched accents! Here's the page I was able to come up with using the sketch. 

As you can see, I made a few changes. Instead of doing a regular layout, I decided to create a page in my Life Crafted Album. So I flipped the sketch on its side and created a two-page spread.

I used the B-side of the Crate Paper "Flora" paper from the Scrapbooking Add-On Kit as the base for my pages and cut them down to 8.25" x 5" so that they would go directly into my album and not be in a pocket. I added a tiny strip of one of the Traveler's Notebook Basics papers to add a border on both sides, then stitched them down using my sewing machine. 

For the layers behind my photo, I chose a combination of papers from the True Stories Life Crafted Kit and the Add-On Kit. I also added one of the little doilies from the Add-On Kit to give the page some texture and add softness to the layers. I added a little stitching to these layers as well, similar to the stitching shown in the sketch. 

I tucked a couple of the tags and tickets from the True Stories Digital Tags and a label from the kit in around my photo for additional layers and to tie in all of the colors from the rainbow paper. I added a small phrase die cut, as shown in the sketch, then decided to add one of the florals from the Life Crafted Kit ephemera to the top of my layers as an additional embellishment. 

I kept the other side of my spread very simple, as it was in the sketch. I stamped two of the stamps from the True Stories Kit Stamp Set in black ink at the top of the page, doing a second and third generation stamp of each to give the title more visual weight. Then I added my journaling below my title using my typewriter. 

I finished my page by adding another floral from the Life Crafted Kit ephemera and a tiny heart puffy sticker from the Add-On Kit to the bottom of my journaling. This helps tie this page in with the elements on the other side of the spread. 

And that's my finished page! I hope you enjoyed seeing my interpretation of this week's sketch, and I hope you'll try creating a page for yourself. Thanks so much for stopping by. I'll see you back here soon!

3-to-Inspire with Diane

Hi everyone, Diane here with another 3-to-inspire challenge for you! 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, Traveler's Notebook page or a pocket page spread in your Life Crafted and remember that you'll want to include all 3 prompts on your project.

Your prompts this week are:

1. Use a repeated shape
2. Add multiple photos
3. Add something shiny

For my take on this challenge, I created a page in my Life Crafted album. I created my base pages by printing one of the digital papers from the August Life Crafted kit at 5x8.25 inches and then trimmed a matching page from white card stock.

I used Photoshop and my Silhouette to create a stencil from one of the digital ephemera pieces so I could add some shiny foil to my page as a title. All the details on how I did this are in the process video below for you.

The rest of my page came together really simply. I took three photos from a series I took of my dog Lily, and turned them into black and white photos so they wouldn't compete with any of the colours on the page. Then I added the three photos across my spread, using foam squares to bump one of them up for a little dimension. I really love my Life Crafted albums for this sort of bulky page.

Then I scattered nearly all of the diamond pieces from the ephemera pack across the page, using the same technique of bumping some of them up on foam squares.

This page was super simple but I love how bold and graphic it turned out. It just goes to show that things don't need to be complicated to be effective.

Here's a look at the process this spread took ...

Thanks for stopping by today and I'd love to see any page you create using this challenge so don't forget to tag me and share in the Citrus Twist Facebook Fan page!

Life Crafted with Veronica

Hello my crafty friends! 

Veronica here with a Life Crafted layout. I decided to create a small layout sized 5x8" which fits perfectly inside my summer album. This album is a simple 1 2x2" photo of my oldest kiddo when he turned 15 in June! I know, I know....how is that possible if I'm only 25 you ask? LOL!! 

Here I used 2 PL cards from the Aug kit as a base background. The ampersand is a 3x4" card and the grid card to the right is a 4x6".

Then I layered 4 labels that also come as cut aparts in the kit. I love these labels and I use them up every month. I love to stamp, layer and sew on them. Here I layered  them and then layered the numbers 1 ad 5 from the pattern paper. I also stamped and added a foam arrow from the kit:

I love machine stitching anywhere I can and so I used black thread to add some pop and balance to the layout:

Hope you enjoyed this sweet little layout I created all about my "man-child". lol

Happy crafting and happy Friday!

Life Crafted with Marsha

 

Hey friends!  This is Marsha, and I'm here today sharing a layout in my Life Crafted Album.  I used the beautiful August Life Crafted "True Stories" Kit, the Scrapbooking Add-on Kit, the This is Life "Stories" Stamp, and the Traveler's Notebook Stamp.

To begin the layout, I trimmed a piece of white cardstock to fit as a full page in the album.  I knew I wanted to use the vintage dictionary page, that was included in the Add-on kit, as a layer on the page.  I trimmed it down, tore one of the edges for extra texture, and adhered it to the layout.  I was careful not to add adhesive to the top edge so that I could include a tag with some hidden journaling.  

  

Then, I went through the kits and chose some ephemera, puffy stickers, and cut aparts to use on the layout.  I arranged them in a grid- one of my favorite layout designs.  I also fussy cut some florals from one of the patterned papers to use on both sides of the spread.  To finish off the left side of the layout, I stamped a sentiment using the Traveler's Notebook Stamp and added a bit of ribbon to one of the tags.

For the right side of the spread, I trimmed a patterned paper from the Add-on kit to fit as a full page in the album.  I trimmed two more patterned papers and adhered them to the base page.  There were so many gorgeous papers in the kits, I wanted to use them ALL!  I added my photo and some of the fussy cut florals.  I used the "Stories" stamp to add the title and did some simple embellishing with a label, puffy sticker, and ephemera ticket.

I layered an acetate piece over a patterned paper and added them to the page using mini staples.  I couldn't resist adding a couple more puffy heart stickers- these are always a kit favorite!

Thank you for stopping by today!  I hope you have found some inspiration for using this month's kits!

 xo,