May Guest Designer

Hi everyone!  My name is Melissa Renkawitz and I am thrilled to be a Guest Designer for Citrus Twist Kits for the month of May!  Allow me to tell you a bit about myself… I am an architect living in upstate New York with my husband and our 13 year old daughter.  They are both total goofballs and always entertaining me with plenty of memories to document!  I began scrapbooking nearly 14 years ago and in 2012 discovered the Project Life format.  Being an architect, I have a love for the balance of form and function, and the Project Life format really emulates that for me.  Plus, I find it’s a great way to document everyday moments that my traditional scrapbooking doesn’t. 

 

Here’s a peek at my work space.  Most of my work is done at this L-shaped desk… 

 

 

Above my desk I have a pegboard for easy access to my go-to supplies.  Along the top of the pegboard are hanging buckets to hold pens, hand tools, etc.  On the lower shelves I have a collection of small bins to hold items like spray ink, small stamps, acrylic, glue, roller stamps, etc.  The closed cabinets above are usually a mess of paper pads and miscellaneous stuff (for fans of the TV show Friends, it’s a “Monica closet”).

 

 

At each side of my workspace I have a stack of drawers.  The drawers on the left are all paper (and are long overdue for a purge!).  The drawers on the right hold items sorted by category, like wood veneer, flair and cork, with punches, stamps, ink pads and mixed media in the larger trays above.   

 

 

On the opposite side of the room I have a couple cube units that hold albums and lesser-used supplies.  This area also acts as a lay-out space for my current album or other projects.  At the far right I keep my IKEA Raskog cart, which holds current kits on the top, and past kit leftovers and 6x6 pads on the lower bins.

 

Here’s a little Q&A session, to get to know me a bit more…

 

1. How long have you been scrapbooking and why did you start?  I’ve been scrapbooking since my daughter was born, nearly 14 years ago.  Like many new moms, I had a desire to photograph and document every moment, and I’ve always been artsy and creative, so scrapbooking was a natural progression.  In 2012 I began working in the Project Life format, and I absolutely love it!

 

2. How would you describe your scrapbooking style?   I’m an architect, so I tend towards a balanced & clean design, an organized color palette and a bit of artistic interest.  Balance and repetition are design elements I utilize frequently, both in architecture and scrapbooking.  While I do scrap traditional 12x12 and other formats, I do most of my work these days in the Project Life format.  I really like that it pushes me to capture the “everyday” parts of our lives- little details I know my daughter (and future generations) will want to recall when she is older- like the TV shows we watch, things around the house, social media posts, etc.

 

3. What scrapbookers have influenced you most?   This is tough one, as I’m inspired by so many in the scrapbooking community every day!  I love Adele Toomey (Inkie Quill) and am thrilled to see she will be joining the CTK design team!  I’m also a big fan of Diane Williams (Dearly Dee).  I think her style is a bit similar to mine, and who doesn’t love her sweet puppy pics!?!  I’d also have to say Becky Higgins has influenced me by introducing the Project Life format.  It really transformed my approach to documenting everyday life.  And lastly, Ali Edwards has been inspirational in motivating me to tell the “story” behind a photograph, although I continue to struggle with journaling!

 

4. What is your favorite thing about kit clubs?  Kit clubs (and Citrus Twist in particular) have completely renewed my excitement for scrapbooking.  I love that they are a complete package of supplies to work on projects, so I spend less time figuring out what products coordinate with one another and more time actually scrapbooking!  I also love that they are a compilation of various manufacturers and products, so my layouts don’t seem too matchy-matchy, but still have an organized, coordinated feel.  Plus… I just love happy mail!!!!

 

5. What are your 5 favorite scrapbooking items you can't do without?  Beyond the boring necessities of glue and photos, I can’t live without… 1) Spray ink for splattering- Heidi Swapp “Gold” and Studio Calico “Clay” are my go-to.  2) Needle and Thread- I stitch almost everything lately.  I actually don’t own a machine and do all my stitching by hand!  3) The mini stamps from Citrus Twist kits- these have definitely become a staple of my supplies.  I keep an open bin of them on my desk, along with a mini stamp block and ink pad.  They are so versatile!  4) Acrylic- I’m a sucker for acrylic pieces and they frequently find their way into my work.  5) Puffy stickers- especially alpha!  I find it’s the perfect amount of dimension & texture, without adding bulk. 

 

6. How would you describe the Citrus Twist May "Brighton" scrapbook kit and why will people love it?  When I first opened the “Brighton” scrapbook kit I gotta say… I squealed!  I’m drawn to metallics and I just LOVE the coppery accents in this kit- the Pinkfresh alpha and die-cuts!  Combined with the color palette in the paper and other embellishments, this kit is simply GORGEOUS!  I would describe it as- “springtime in the city”…. Bright spring colors, with a bit of floral and a coppery shine! 

Now I hope you all visit the Facebook Citrus Twist Kits Fan Page and join in the festivities that we have going on for NSD 2017!  Each day we will be posting 2-3 challenges to get you inspired and cropping. The Citrus Twist Design Team Members along with me, your May Guest Designer, will be hosting challenges throughout the week to share with you. Expect everything from Sketches to Scraplifting to Journaling to Faith challenges. Each challenge host will post the details for their challenge and their take on the challenge. We invite you to play along daily (or jump in at any time during the week) to earn chances to win lots of prizes!

To get you all started I am going to share my NSD Challenge both here on the blog as well as on the Facebook Fan Page! My challenge is a sketch challenge! Here's the sketch:

For my take on the challenge I used the May "Brighton" Scrapbook Kit:

For my layout, I adjusted the proportions of the sketch to an 8.5x11 size, as it will become an “insert” in my Project Life album and I wanted a slightly smaller scale.  The May scrapbook kit included a great paper from Pinkfresh with lots of bold words and text.  I was drawn to the “remember” portion of this paper, and used that strip down the left side of the page.  For the remaining area, I used the lovely woodgrain paper from the Oasis collection and stitched these 2 papers together.

 

To add additional interest to the base page, I added a mixed media background over the woodgrain.  I didn’t want to compete with the busy patterned paper I planned to add, so I kept it simple with white acrylic paint and just a bit of a pink ink splatter.  To ground my photos, I layered a few pieces of patterned paper together.  I really love the bold tropical floral from Maggie Holmes, which I balanced with the exclusive teal pattern.  The top piece I also added stitching to, and I pulled up the edges of this paper, for some added texture.  All my stitching on this layout is using a copper thread, which coordinates really well with the alpha stickers and adds a bit of shimmer.

 

My favorite item in the May scrapbook kit has got to be the puffy alpha from Pinkfresh.  I love the font and that copper color makes me swoon!!!  I didn’t want my title to get lost in the patterned paper, so I added it over the mixed media area of my background, and added an enamel heart as a period.  The rest of my journaling I typed out on the computer, printed and cut into strips.

 

 To add a bit of interest to the top of the page, I added a cute puffy butterfly. 

 

One final detail for this layout… Because this will be inserted into my Project Life album, I wanted to add a small tab along the right side edge.  I used one of the Pinkfresh die-cuts from the kit, which has the word “noted” in copper foil, and stitched it in-place.  I’ll cut a slit in my page protector to allow this to stick out.

 

 

Make sure and hop on over to the Citrus Twist Kits Fan Page to see the "official" thread for my Sketch Challenge and to see what the other Design Team members have for you! Looking forward to seeing your take on the sketch!