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 and remember that you'll want to include all 3 prompts on your project.

Your prompts this week are:

1. Try a dark background
2. Create a banner
3. Use some acetate

Here’s my take on this challenge ...

I decided to do my challenge in my Traveler's Notebook, which is just like doing a mini 12x12 layout really! The only difference is that I split everything down the middle so the book can fold when I'm finished.

I used a dark floral background, adding texture with some machine stitching and distressing, before lightening it all up with a banner pennant shape to house my photo and title.

Then I created another banner at the top using all sorts of embellishments and stitching and stamping.

I matted my photo with a coordinating patterned paper and then added more machine stitching. I used a Xyron machine to adhere my acetate pieces, I find that really is a great way to stick them down, but you could always stitch them or staple them too.

My final step was to add some white splatters on the background and some black splatters on my pennant. Then I needed to replace my photo after accidentally splattering all over my face! Tip: cover your photos when adding splatters!

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

I can't wait to see what you do with this challenge so don't forget to post your layouts in the Facebook Fan Page so we can see!

Life Crafted with Laura Rahel

Hey friends it's Laura Rahel Crosby here with you today and I've got a life crafted page to share. I'm created this 9x12 Project Life page for my 2018 album using this month's kit and I love how it turned out. The white acrylic "hello" is probably my favorite part! So pretty. Perfect for documenting a day visiting my hometown and catching up with an old friend and my baby niece.

I kept the page really simple with just a couple embellishments and cards from this month's kit. I loved that blue 3x4 card and made it a center statement to build my page around. I created the bottom right card using a few of the acetate pieces in this month's kit. All I need to do to finish the page is add a little bit of journaling to that card and it'll be another page in my album! I hope you've enjoyed this page and are feeling inspired to get creative with your Life Crafted Citrus Twist Kit this month. Make sure you're following me on YouTube to see how I put this page together later in the month.

xo, Laura

Meet Our Guest Designer: INGUNN MARKIEWICZ

We are so excited to have a second Guest Designer join us this month.  We love her clean and colorful style,  her photography and all her stories.   Please join me in welcoming INGUNN MARKIEWICZ to Citrus Twist Kits.  Wait til you see what she has created.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

GET TO KNOW INGUNN

I was born and raised in Norway but currently live in the Seattle area with my husband, two little kids, and an adorable Italian Greyhound. I love spending my free time running or hiking in the mountains and then coming home to scrapbook about it, reliving all of my favorite moments. 

Q&A with INGUNN

·  When did you start scrapbooking?

In 2006, I wandered into a craft store in Norway to buy materials for our wedding invitations. I noticed some scrapbooking products next to the pretty paper, and something just clicked in my head and I knew this was a hobby I would enjoy. I fumbled around a bit at first, unsure of how to start making layouts I actually liked, but after reading Cathy Zielske's book's later that year, I found my style: clean, simple, focusing on the photos and the stories. 

·  What is something most people would not know about you?

People often assume that I'm very outgoing and adventurous since I'm in the mountains a lot, but I'm actually incredibly introverted and first and foremost a homebody. I guess I'm kind of hobbit-like - I love to be in the comfort of my own home, but once in a while I the need for a long journey kicks in.

·  What are the 3 scrapbooking products you can’t live without?

Photoshop, my printer, and chipboard.

·  What do you love about the August Life Crafted kit?

The florals, the acetate pieces, and the fact that the general theme of chasing rainbows fits my headspace perfectly right now. I'm going through a rough patch (as I'm sure you'll be able to see from my projects) and I am looking for the silver linings and searching out the rainbows and sunshine...and using scrapbooking to work through my feelings.

·  Finish this sentence “If you could see my scrapbooking space now . . . “

...it would be a giant mess. We are preparing to host house guests and I need to turn my scrapbook space into an extra guest room, so I am currently scrapbooking on the floor like some sort of savage, surrounded by homeless product.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For my first project, I let the "just enjoy where you are right now" card spark the idea for my page. I'm using a Life Crafted album to keep the summer moments I want to remember this year, and one of those memories is from when I was having lunch with my toddler and managed to dig through all the depressive feelings I was having and instead focus on the present. I grabbed a photo from that day along with the caption I had written about it on instagram, which I printed onto that beautiful floral card. 

I decided I wanted more of the floral on the opposing side, so I used Photoshop to turn the digital version of the card into a 2x4 piece for the pocket below the photo. I was about to call it good when I noticed the phrase "take a moment to value the present" in the digital stamp set, which could not have been more perfect for this page! It looked a little too harsh in black, so I decided to play with a two-toned version - I used one white version and one blue version, erasing the sections I didn't need.

I like to keep things very simple, so once everything was printed out and put into pockets, I just added two embellishments - the white chipboard circle to add an element of interest on the journaling card, and an acetate piece to fill in the white space at the bottom of the photo. The red on the acetate piece also mirrored the red journaling card to further help tie the two sides of the spread together. 

Thanks so much for joining me, and i will be back with a new project, soon!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What a beautiful Life Crafted layout that INGUNN is sharing with us today, we love it!  Remember to check more of her work on her Instagram feed - you are going to love her!-

"Success Story" with Marsha

Hey friends!  Marsha here today sharing a layout in my Life Crafted Album.  I used the fabulous August Scrapbooking Add-on kit, the subscriber exclusive Ampersand Love cut file, and the Simple Words Version 2 stamps.

Here's a look at the layout:

For this layout, I began by cutting out the cut file using white cardstock.  Because I planned to use the cut file on the left side of the layout, I trimmed the thick white border from the left side of the cut file.  I backed the ampersand portion of the cut file with a patterned paper from the kit and mounted the entire file onto another patterned paper from the kit, trimmed to 5"x8.25" to fit in the Life Crafted Album.

I added the title using a fabric ephemera piece and a gold title piece, both from the kit.  Next, I added some stamping, another fabric ephemera piece and some puffy stickers to complete this side of the layout.

For the right side, I began by layering some patterned papers behind my photo.  I embellished around the photo using cardstock ephemera, puffy stickers, and fabric ephemera pieces.  I also added some stamping using the Simple Words Version 2 stamp.  This set includes so many fun sentiments!  Using some sharp scissors, I trimmed and pieced together two different stamps in the set to make a phrase I stamped at the top of the page.  Don't be afraid to make your stamps work for you and your layouts!

Here's a final look at the spread in my album:

Thank you for stopping by today!  I hope you will check out the fun new cut files and the amazing Scrapbooking Add-on kit available this month at Citrus Twist Kits.  I will see you again soon!

Pocket Life Challenge With Theresa | 2019 Album Week 25

Hello Lovelies, Theresa here with you today for my last blog post as a part of this amazing design team! I have a Pocket Life Challenge for you today and, in the interest of keeping it simple and manage-able, I have just one challenge:

USE YOUR FAVORITES!!!!

I know, I know, the Citrus Twist kits are so incredibly gorgeous each month it is hard to pick favorites, and oh so easy to tuck it all away in our drawers as if we are holding onto a big secret! Well, consider this your intervention to use the products in your kit that make you want to save (hoard) them. I encourage you each month when your kits arrive, take everything out and pay attention to the products that catch your eye! As inspiration I am going to share my personal favorites from the Chasing Rainbows Kit and how I have used them in this layout today.

1. Puffy Alphabet stickers!

Who is with me on the eternal love of puffy stickers? I cannot get enough of them. For my title/date card on this layout I used the alphabet stickers to spell out the week number. Even if you don't have numbers in an alphabet set, I challenge you to use those puffy stickers anyway!

2. Stamp sets!

Let's go ahead and admit we are addicted to the amazing stamp sets from Citrus Twist, right? They are so gorgeous and incredibly use-able, and best of all you can use them over and over again. Stamps are a basic supply staple, so let's pull those out and use them! I especially love when a particular photo + a stamp merge into the perfect marriage, like in this photo I took of a storm we had. I snapped a shot of the rainbow that was part of this dramatic storm and stamped the word sentiment from the Life Crafted stamp set to call your attention to this beautiful photo.

3. Chipboard Sets!

Chipboard is perfect for adding just a bit of dimension to our pages, and the tiny circles in this month's kit are the perfect size for pockets! These chipboard pieces also repeat the color palette of mint, pink, and gold on this layout, which leads your eye to certain points across the page.

Notice also on the journal card above how I used the Chasing Rainbows stamp set to create journaling lines down the left side of the card. And that leads to my next favorite thing:

4. Acrylic Words!

These are addictive and the Hello word in this month's kit is was just begging to be used on top of the blue skies patterned paper! How magical is this!

5. Transparent elements!

This month's kit contained an entire pack of transparent pieces and my heart stood still a little bit! I love see-through elements on any page, layout, or album, and these are beautiful. For the filler card below I cut one leaf a bit so it fit in with the larger floral. I then used my Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher to staple it into place. 

Bonus Favorite pictured above: Cork Stickers!

There are so many favorite pieces in each kit every month and I hope this layout has inspired you to get them down onto a layout today! Thank you so much for having me on this most fantastic design team and for allowing me to inspire you! When you create your beautiful pages this month, please share them with us and tag us so we can all see! Happy crafting!

Hello, More of This With Patricia

Hello CTK friends!  This is the first full week of back to school and back to ballet classes, BUT so thankful to have the memories of Summer and a way to document and remember using the August Chasing Rainbows Life Crafted kit for my 6x8 pocket spread today.

To start my spread, I started with the full 6x8 side.  The papers in the Life Crafted album come already sized, so all I had to do was pick a paper from the kit to use as my background.  Next, I selected the Free Boho Heart Subscriber cut file.  As you get your monthly subscription, these exclusives really complement the kits beautifully.  I loved the look of the clouds paper with the Boho Heart.

I sized it just a tad smaller to fit my 6x8 background and then I tilted it, and added the acrylic, white Hello from the kit to look as though it was part of it.  Then I detail cut some flowers from more papers, and added some of the embellishments over and under it from the kit.  The "there is sun behind the clouds" is part of the pattern paper background, so I worked around that as well.  I really wanted to use more of the clear embellishments from the kit including the die cuts and the vellum tape stickers.  I also combined a sentiment from the stamp set with the Life Crafted kit and a sentiment from the Oh, Happy Day Stamp set onto labels I trimmed from the 4x6 card from the kit to layer over my photo and tuck right under one of the feathers.

Love the look of layering the vellum tape stickers with the acetate die cuts!  I just wanted a something light here, and was perfect.

My right side uses two 3x4 pockets and a 4x6 pocket.  I balanced this side with the left using the same soft colors, but with the slight pop of color from the acetate die cuts from the kit.  Using a 3x4 card from the kit, I layered the acetate die cuts over the ampersand from the design, it peeks through a bit, but I loved how the 'you' and 'me' banners flow from either side.  I layered a cork embellishment from the kit on top and used an ampersand from the add-on kit in July.

I have one full 3x4 photo next to that, so I printed a smaller photo for the 4x6 pocket to use with one of the 4x6 cards from the kit, added the "Chasing Rainbows" from the kit stamp set, which is so awesome in its retro detail, another cork and acetate die cut to frame my photo and typed journaling. It repeats the same products, colors, and feel of my left page and top pockets.

Hope you are enjoying your kit either in your Life Crafted album, in your larger pocket pages, or your larger scrapbook pages!  Please continue to share in our Facebook group.  Happy Creating!!

Sunday Sketch with Emma

Hello friends!  Emma on the blog today with this weeks Sunday Sketch (my favourite!).  First up lets have a look at the fun sketch I had to work with this month:

As always my page is downsized to fit in my Life Crafted album (it's the only size I work with these days!) and here's what I came up with:

I loved the original sketch but I thought it might be fun to deconstruct it a little and put my own spin on it.  Instead of having clusters of papers under my photo I've made the whole layout a big cluster using 3 layers (white on pattern paper on white again!).  I also mixed up the designated title area by adding in a few paints, rainbow pattern of course, and used one of the layered stickers as a title instead.

I absolutely adore the lemon pattern paper included in the Life Crafted kit this month (I mean is is not a perfect paper for Citrus Twist?!) - the yellow is the prettiest and makes such a lovely backdrop for my rainbow themed layout.

I've been trying to break out of my norm and add something different to my pages lately - the paints are that.  It's nothing ground breaking but paints are not something I usually use but it was such a simple way to tie in with the rainbow pattern in my photo.  And double-bonus that the Rainbow Roux Epoxy Stickers (JilliBean) from this month's Scrapbook Add-on kit could match with it!

Super happy how it finished up and although it's not a copy of the sketch - it was fun taking parts of it and changing it for my page!

Thanks for joining me on the blog today - I hope you have fun working with this weeks sketch and I can't wait to see your take on it.  Be sure to share in our Facebook Fanpage or tag us on Instagram!

Take care, Emma xo