Video tutorial with Amélie

Hi there! Here is Amélie. Today I will share with you a new "Start to Finish" video to make this layout:



I love the background paper from Shimelle. This paper is so colorful and perfect for my child layout! This paper allows to use lot of colors possibilities! Just perfect!
To make this layout, I used August Main, Embellie and Add On kits. I hope you will enjoy it!

Here are some close ups:












And now here is the video:


Thanks for watching!!
See you soon!
Amélie

August Citrus Twist Kit Reveal

It's reveal day over at Citrus Twist Kits today and we have lots to share including a line-up of colorful August scrapbooking kits and add-ons.

We have a new look and style coming to our Pocket Life kit beginning with the September kit with lower shipping costs for our PL-only subscribers beginning with September. As the first kit club in the world to bring a PL kit to market in 2012 we weren't sure how scrapbookers would receive a PL kit. Since then the PL market has grown big and we've been listening to what our subscribers have to say.

You asked us to get creative with ways to lower your shipping costs on our Pocket Life kits. We have some great news beginning with our September PL kits. We did it!

• New lower shipping costs.
 Shipping costs are going down for our PL kit-only* subscribers. Here are the new rates beginning in September:

• $6.25 United States

• $9.00 Canada

• $15.00 International
• *(The new shipping rates do not apply to Main Kit and Main plus PL kit subscribers who will continue to pay their current shipping costs.)

• We've downsized the box that your PL kits ship in. This helped us arrive at a lower shipping cost.

• Many of our customers have gotten back to us to let us know they have trouble using up an entire paper pad, so we'll be putting in a half pad (ranging from about 12-18 sheets of 6x6 paper) each month. This lowered the weight of the kit which in turn helped us lower your shipping costs.

• We are increasing the number of embellishments you get in your PL kits. The August kit is our transition kit. It still has the entire 6x6 (Shimelle!) paper pad plus a little extra embellishment.

• Beginning in September the cost of the PL kit will increase to $19.50. By adding more embellishments we've increased the value of your kit. The good news here is that for current PL subscribers or new subscribers who subscribe between now and August 31st, you will keep the current price of $18.00 as long as you continue your subscription.

• We have a welcome gift--in addition to our welcome stamp--for our new or returning PL subscribers (and also for current subscribers who refer a friend in August who starts a new PL subscription at the current price of $18. Just have them mention your name in the comments section at checkout.)

Here is a sneak peek of our new Pocket Life kit (September 2014). Each kit will come sweetly packaged in a cute little cloth bag with a special treatment applied.

The August 2014 Kits

Main Kit. We'll start off sharing the Main kit "All that Glitters." We love that the new lines are arriving and are joy-filled to finally share some of Shimelle's new line in our August kits along with other new lines that have just hit the market! We are seeing design samples come in from our design girls that are soft and/or bold. You can take this kit so many different directions! You can check the kit out here on our Kits page.

Pocket Life Kit. "It had to be You" is August's Pocket Life kit and it features color, color and more color! Our "It had to be You" Pocket Life kit is packed with color, fun and embellishments this month. Be sure to visit our blog in August to see what our PL Design Team has been up to.

Add-on Kit. "Seaside Adventure" is our Add-on kit this month. You are in for some fun with this month's colorful collection of whimsy and joy! Mix and match new papers from Studio Calico Brighton Pier and Webster's Pages Ocean Melody, throw in Heidi Swapp Hello Today ephemera, 2 alphabets (one adorable mini, one sparkly orange foam), big Amy Tangerine foam words, frames, puffy shapes and darling wood sequins and you will have a scrapbook party of your own!

August Stamp. Our "Weather Report" August stamp is available by subscription for $4.25 includes shipping worldwide ($3.25 for our Main or PL kit subscribers.) You can also get this 19-piece stamp set individually for $5.00.

Embellishment Kit. The "Summer Dreaming" Embellishment kit is packed with cuteness to grace your scrapbooking or PL pages. We've combines a soft aqua mini alphabet sticker and word set with layered standouts and colorful brads.

PL Embellishment Kit. Our "Little Bit of Sass" PL Embellishment kit is (while this kit sold out during presale, we are hoping to receive more soon) just packed! If you like Shimelle, ephemera and a little chipboard and buttons, this kit is perfect.

Pattern Paper Kit. It's "Time to Play" with this month's Pattern Paper kit. We've pulled together lots of pattern and bright colors for you this month in this 12 x 12 paper kit that matches both the Main and Pocket Life kits.

Citrus Twist Store is Newly Stocked

We've stocked the CTK Store with more fun items. When our new website look is unveiled, our Store will have product categories to make shopping easier. These are just a few of the items that have been added:

Here is our video reveal for August for those of you who want to see all the details of our kits.



Have fun scrapbooking and Pocket Life'ing this month. Thank you for popping by to read our August kit reveal blog.

Trina

Sunday Sketch Challenge with Trina

Are you ready for the Sunday sketch? It's Trina here today working with one of Kasia's sketches and I've used the sketch in two ways, working with two August kits:

• Once using the Seaside Adventure Add-on kit and 8.5 x 11 layout size
• Once using the All that Glitters Main kit and 12 x 12 layout size

This week we'd love to see your layouts (any trim size) using this Sunday sketch. Share them in our Gallery and on the Citrus Twist Kits Fan Page on Facebook (be sure to request to join the new fan page if you haven't yet!) by August 11th and you'll earn an entry into a drawing to win a $5 CTK gift certificate. Our GCs can be used towards add-ons or store items.

Let's start with Kasia's sketch:

Sketch Take 1

Here is my first 8.5 x 11 layout using the sketch. I worked with August's "Seaside Adventure" Kit Add-on and had a ton of fun playing with the papers and embellishments in the kit:

A little close-up:

And another one:

I couldn't resist cutting a little strip of the mini triangles off of the new Webster's Pages Ocean Melody paper to create one of my tags:

Sketch Take 2

For the second take I played primarily with the August Main kit "All that Glitters" and mixed in some embellishments from the August Embellishment kit, too. Here is the result:

I couldn't decide which paper was my favorite from "All that Glitters" but I am leaning towards the Notes & Things "Noted" paper. The Notes & Things ephemera pack is probably my favorite ephemera pack ever:

Another close-up for you:

One of my favorite things about the sketch this time are the splattered circles mixed with stars. I fussy cut gold stars out of the Brighton Pier gold star printed vellum to make most of my stars:

More tags and stars:

I played (mostly) with this month's stamps to do my journaling. It was pretty fun stringing various stamps phrases and words together:

Here is a quick share of some of the fun tools and gadgets I've recently added to my stash. My Fujifilm Instax printer is probably my new favorite. I just took this tiny little printer (about the size of a small camera) on a trip to visit family and we had a little too much fun taking photos with our smart phones and immediately printing the photos out:

This ColorBox Cleaning Pad (it's available in the Citrus Twist store) is my favorite must-have because I love to stamp, love to keep my stamps clean and this cleaning pad makes it oh so simple! Add to that Shimelle's new reverse date rolling date stamp (day/month/year) and I had some fun:

Remember, if you would like to play along, make a layout based on this sketch and post it in our gallery by August 11th, putting "sketch 8/1" as part of your title, or link us on this post. We'll pick one lucky winner from those who enter to win a $5 gift certificate!

Thanks for visiting!

Kit Love with Jen Chapin

Hello and welcome to this month's Kit Love post! I'm going to share a few photos of my kits and how I organize them when they first come in the mail. I found this white bowl at Salvation Army one day while thrifting and it is perfect to hold embellishments. These are Crate Paper and they are gorgeous! I find that if I get all my products out of their packaging I am more likely to use them.

I put my wood veneer in this small yellow bowl from Anthropologie. Other miscellaneous embellishments went into a ceramic egg container I picked up at Michaels.

Check out the wood veneers this month! And the paper garland and gold paper clips. So awesome. I also picked up this new Shimelle date stamp in the CTK shop.

Lots of enamel dots this month which makes me happy! I can't seem to make a page without them.

Other embellishments I like to lay out to get a good look at them.

 Here is a look at the Pocket Life cards included in the PL kit. I am loving the colors this month!!

The PL kit also includes a 12x12 paper with cards which I went ahead and cut apart.

Another tip to share -- this one actually came from Trina but it was such a great idea that I had to use it too! I am using a 6x8 Simple Stories binder to hold all my Citrus Twist stamps. They fit perfectly in the 3x4 pockets.

I wanted to share a few pages out of the Studio Calico Handbook that I started with the kits -- you can pick up this awesome album along with extra page protectors in the CTK shop.

I am loving that black and white chevron card from the PL kit.

Perfect cards this month to document your date nights!

That's it for today! Hopefully you are excited to get your August kits and get to scrapping. Have a great weekend :)

August 2014 Mood Board

Welcome to August's 2014 kit Mood Board. This month's Main and Pocket Life kits are perfect for capturing the last sunny days of summer and ready to welcome in fall, back to school days and dinner alfresco on the porch. Rich teals, warm reds, golden yellow with pops of black and gold, August's scrapbooking kits will have you dreaming big, keeping the faith and believing in magic.

Reveal day is on August 4th, 10 p.m. PST here on our Kits page. Pre sale is underway for our subscribers and we have the Citrus Twist Kits store freshly stocked.

If you haven't heard, our Facebook Citrus Twist Kits Fan Page--a private CTK forum--is live! Please find us on Facebook and send a request if you'd like to join. We would love to see what you are doing with our kits, learn a little more about you and celebrate a life of scrapbooking and Project Life.

Thanks for all the love our subscribers send us in emails. Here is a quick share:

"I received my very first CT Pocket Life kit. . . and my stamp subscription. I am smitten and blown away by all the goodies you include in the kits! This is my first ever subscription and I'm already a lifer! . . . I am super impressed with how much you take care of your customers and are prompt in responding too! Thank you again!"

Have a fabulous today.

Trina

August Guest Designer Emily Spahn & a Giveaway

 Hi! I’m Emily Spahn. I am a wife, a mother, a music teacher, and of course, a scrapbooker. After a decade of living and teaching in the Chicagoland area, my husband and I moved our family back to our home state of Wisconsin. We live in our “new” 90 year home just outside of Madison, WI. I’m currently taking a short break from teaching to stay home with my three crazy kids Mirielle (5), Henry (3) and Oliver (almost 1), it’s been an enjoyable change. In addition to srcrapbooking and spending time with my family, I enjoy photography (though I seem to find myself using my iPhone much more than my big camera nowadays), reading, music, thrifting (I’m a little addicted to the antiques board on Craigslist), and being outdoors.

Thank you to Citrus Twist for inviting me to be the guest designer this month! It’s been a blast! For more of my work or to just learn more about me, feel free to stop by my blog: http://justem.typepad.com/scrapbookery/

1. How long have you been scrapbooking and why did you start? I began scrapbooking in 5th grade, which was a very, very long time ago! ;) I saw a girl do a presentation on scrapbooking at a Forensics tournament and decided it was something I might like to try. My first scrapbook was made using white typing paper, Scotch tape, and some very fantastic title and journaling blocks that I drew myself with crayon! A few years later I discovered patterned paper and was changed forever! I have been scrapbooking on and of since then, but 10 years ago after I was out of college and married I started scrapbooking more seriously. About seven years ago I got into the world of online scrapbooking, publishing, and design teams, and I’ve never looked back!

2. How would you describe your scrapbooking style? I think my style is simple, colorful, and fun. I don’t necessarily think that I have a style that is immediately recognizable, but I’m okay with that! I scrap 8.5x11 about 99% of the time. It’s funny – 12x12 is very hard for me…it’s much to big. And cards are also not my favorite…they are much too small! ;)

3. What scrapbookers have influenced you most? My “original” favorites from my scrapbooking origins would definitely have to be Shelley Lamming and Kelli Crowe. I was obsessed with them back when I started scrapbooking more seriously, and they definitely influenced my style. Presently I have too many favorites to mention. My “favorite” scrapbookers definitely rotate!

4. What is your favorite thing about kit clubs? I am NOT a matchy scrapper. I love mixing and matching elements from various manufacturers. I love a good mix of patterns and color. Kit clubs take the work out of it all for me by providing a great selection of product that goes together, but doesn’t all come from the same manufacturer or the same line!

5. What are your 5 favorite scrapbooking items you can't live without? • my Cannon Selphy printer • patterned paper (and lots of it!) • label stickers • die cut file tabs (I know, that’s really specific, but I LOVE them. They are my favorite) • enamel dots

6. How would you describe the Citrus Twist August scrapbook kit? I’m having such a great time creating with the August kit! I love the color scheme and the little bits of black and gold that are thrown into the mix. If I had to describe it I would say it’s like the beach at night. ;) It’s not super bright and summery, but it’s got just enough shimmer and shine to make it calm and magical.

Here is a sneak peek at what I have created with the August Kit.

**About my scraproom: As I mentioned, we moved into a new house (well, it’s actually a very OLD house, about 90 years old) right before Thanksgiving. We’ve slowly been working to decorate and update it. One of its best features is the renovated attic, which is where my scrap space is located. Unfortunately this space is at the bottom of the priority list when it comes to fixing up the house, so not much has been done with it! This is a pretty sad iPhone photo that I took when it happened to be clean one day! I can’t wait to finish unpacking everything (yes I still have boxes of scrapbooking stuff to unpack) and getting it all organized!

**You can win one of Emily's favorite things by leaving her a comment/question below in comments.**

Playing with Pocket Life with Jen

Happy Friday all! Jen here today sharing this month's first Pocket Life layout using the August kits. Can I just swoon?! Just look at the gorgeous colors and the fun accents. The Pocket Life and PL Embellishment kits are simply packed with loveliness.

I happened to have photos for this week all printed and ready to go before even seeing August's kits and yet, everything works perfectly. You'll notice that we are soccer (or, football to the rest of the world!) fans so, the duration of the 2014 World Cup was quite the event and had to be documented. The top right photo of my husband and kids perfectly captures the level of enthusiasm of each individual. Hilarious. Family portraits do not need to be all smiles and perfection. This here is a slice of real life!

My scrapbook studio in our new home is coming along and the quote sticker from the PL Embellishment Kit (any guesses?) captured my feelings about the space. I added that piece to a glassine bag that was part of the PL kit packaging and slipped my jouraling inside.

I hope that this glimpse of the PL kits has you excited for what will arrive on your doorstep this month!

And here are your Pocket Life sketches for the week: