Tutorial: A hint of whimsy

Hello there Citrus Twist fans. Today I'll be a sharing a quick video tutorial with you. I wanted to use a couple of the embellishments from the Sophie Main kit as well as from the Add-on kit. I was inspired by a cloud in the Citrus Twist "Sophie" Paper Ephemera pack. You can see it in the middle of the photo below.

I cut out some shapes using some older dies and my Big Shot and then started putting everything together. In all it took me 20 minutes. 

I used the packaging from some Dear Lizzy embellishments that came in the kit to cut out the butterflies. That way nothing goes to waste. Some packaging is really pretty. 

Thank you so much for stopping by and if you were inspried by the video and you created a layout, upload it to the Citrus Twist gallery. I'd love to see your creations.

Happy Scrapping

Lilith

Sunday Sketch with Andrea (with some Disney Magic!)

Hello there and welcome to today's Sunday Sketch! It's Andrea here and I am excited to share with you today's sketch and how I used it along with the April Citrus Twist "Sophie" kit to create a fun layout about my love for Disney magic! 

I don't know about you but I love Disney! I love all the fairytale fun, all the whimsy and childlike innocence and bright happiness of it all! It is like a world of imagination where no matter how old you are, you get to experience the world with this joyful wonder and playfulness that is unfortunately so often missing from our daily lives. I of course, am of the mindset that we should be infusing this kind of whimsy and magic in our day to day lives which is why I am all about “living life as a fairytale” and writing our own happily ever after. To that end, memory keeping and scrapbooking is such a wonderful way to do this, because it invites us to both tell our story and to be playful and creative! So let's get creating! This is today's sketch:

It looks pretty simple. I knew however that it might be a little difficult for me considering the fact that it uses two photos lined up in an a-typical way and also because it is a 12x12 and I knew I wanted to do a 8 ½ x 11. Now I have converted the 12x12 sketches to fit the 8 ½ x 11 before, but because of the layout of this one, I was a little nervous. I managed it though, as you can see. I basically just cut off that right side where all the negative space is.

And as for my concern regarding the placement of the two photos, I simply chose to make that top photo a square instead of a rectangle. I just felt like for my purposes, it worked better.

I'm noting these kinds of things to you, because I want to make it clear that whatever sketch you want to use, you can adjust it to fit your own purposes. Don't be afraid to move things around, to change the size of things, etc...a sketch is always just a place to start. It is supposed to get you going along the way, and also to help you step outside your box a little...but don't let it be a detriment to your creativity! It is a helpful tool...a suggestion, not a rule! Have fun and play!

As you can see, I used mostly goodies from the main kit for this layout (along with some paper from the Patterned Paper Play add on kit). I love the papers this month! I love all those pretty pinks and teals and blues! Oh and I really loved fussy cutting out the beautiful butterflies from the Maggie Holmes Chasing Dreams paper...that paper is just perfect for fussy cutting! The butterflies add a fun, pop off the page element that gives the layout a whimsical, interactive feeling.

I created my title using the pretty black puffy stickers in the kit and spelled out the word “magic”. And then did some journaling about the magical feeling that Disneyland always gives me. And I think the photos along with the doodles I added of Minnie and Mickey and the Castle, inside the fussy cut frames (from the Maggie Holmes frames patterned paper) really helps tell that story of Disney magic! It was a really fun day!

Alright, I hope you enjoyed today's sketch and my layout! I had fun playing with this sketch! Now it is your time to try our sketch too! So join in on this challenge and share what you create using today's Sunday Sketch by posting your creation in our gallery and/or on our Citrus Twist Facebook group! Remember to put today's date (4/23/17) in the title! You could win a $5 gift certificate to Citrus Twist so please show us what you make with this sketch! Okay, have a happy scrappy day and remember to live your life as a fairytale!!! 

'Be Our Guest' Layout | Elsie Robinson

Hi CTK friends, it's Elsie here and I've got a 12x12 layout to share with you all today using the 'Sophie' Main Kit.

Inspiration for my layouts always comes from many different places, I could be inspired by papers, embellishments, colours etc. But sometimes I'm inspired by somewhat abstract sources, as is the case with this layout. For those of you who love this film as much as me, you've probably already guessed that this layout was inspired by Beauty & the Beast!

I've scrapped a photo of my friends and I having afternoon tea together from a few years ago, and whilst my photo has nothing directly to do with Beauty & the Beast, my love of the film really influenced a lot of this page's design and amplified the story behind my photo. Let me talk you through how...

I started by stitching my title. I found this free 'Be Our Guest' printable from Dawn Nicole Designs, which was completely perfect for this Beauty & the Beast themed layout and for the story behind my photo.

My colour scheme is primarily blue and yellow with pops of pink, which was obviously inspired by the colours of Belle's dresses! Two of my largest design elements followed that colour scheme: I stitched my title in yellow and used a piece of the 'Portrait' paper for that pop of blue.

And what would a Beauty & the Beast themed layout be without a teapot and teacup?! These were such simple shapes to draw, cut and stitch by hand and so they really didn't take too long to make at all. They also helped to tell the story behind my photo.

I fussy-cut the frames from the 'Portrait' paper which were not only really handy spots to include some journalling and stamping, but also helped create a vintage, traditional and whimsical vibe!

And of course I had to fussy-cut some of those butterflies, they're so pretty!

Some subtle details like using the small heart stamp from the Scrapbook kit with some light pink ink, and stitching some "bricks" with white thread really finished off this layout for me.

Thanks for joining me today and check out my process video below to see how this page came together!

- Elsie

Friday Sketch with Kasia

Hello! It's Kasia here with a new set of pocket pages and sketches for you!

You know that I love bright pages with lots of white and pops of happy color - in April's kits I've founs my favorite ones to play with and I think mix of yellow and mint will stick with me for longer. Just have a look!

I used some backs of paper from 6x6 pad to create more white cards to fill my pockets and than played with stickers and embellishments from Pocket Life kit, as well as Main and Add-On kits.

I love mixing small pieces and adding with them details to my layouts - don't you think they look adorable?

Creating this month's pages was also a good excuse to practice my lettering! I recently started playing with hand lettering and why not incorporate it in my Project Life?

it will be fun to see it changing as I improve my skills! Also such a great way to add more personal touches to the album, don't you think so?

There are of course sketches waiting for you if you would like to repeat any of these simple compositions :) Remember that the way you play with sketch is up to you - you can rotate it, flip it or use its design upside down - just have fun with it!

Sunday Sketch with Emma

Hi everyone, Emma here with this week's Sunday Sketch!  First up lets look at our sketch, it's a fun one with 2 photo's and lots of room for those embellishments!

I used the April Main kit for my layout (although I added in a few drops of Heidi Swapp Color Shine which I'd picked up from the store a little while back).  The first thing that appealed to me about this sketch is the line of tags on the left hand side of the page!  The first thing that popped into my thought was that it would be a perfect way to use the phrase stickers and stamps!  And here's a look at my page:

I went with the softer tones of pinks on my page and mixed it with pops of yellow.  I think it's girly/pretty with a little pops of sass (those yellows!) which describes my niece perfectly.

The sketch is designed with 12x12 in mind so I had to adapt it a little for my 6x8 format (which would be the same for you 8.5x11 scrappers).  Because it was getting a little crowded at the top of my page, I dropped out the top RHS corner piece and added white machine stitching there instead.

For the bottom section of my page I extended the journaling (which I printed out from my computer and just cut into little word strips) and removed the bottom tag shown in the sketch so it wasn't too cramped. I guess if I scrapped 12x12 I would have had the room to include both, but at 6x8 space is at a premium and I often have to scale things down so the page isn't crazy busy.

The puffy stickers included in the April Main kit are just adorable and I'm having to remind myself not to hoard them and actually put them on my pages!  I really wish the set included another of those rainbows though ;)

I'm also trying to bust out of the "I can't stamp" attitude I've had for years.  I love the look of stamps on other peoples pages, but they kinda freak me out - I'm always worried I'll mess up a page at the very end trying to do it.  I have always loved the phrase stamps included in the kits each month so I'm determined to use them more!  And I'm sure my stamping will get better as I go :)

Now it's your turn! To play along with this week's Sunday Sketch Challenge, create a layout based off of today's sketch, upload it to the gallery with today's date (4/9) in the title, and you are in for a chance to win a $5 gift certificate to the CTK Store!

Thanks, Em xo

Pocket Life Sketch Friday with Mira

Welcome Pocket Life Fans!

It's time for the first Pocket Sketch Friday this month! It's Mira here and I'll be sharing two sketches with You together with a couple of spring-related pocket pages that I've made with April Kits. This month I've played with Pocket Life and Sprinkles kits mixed with Add-on (which I think will be my monthly choice from now on). These kits are always filled with so many gorgeous stuff, especially tiny and colorful embellishments that I love the most! What about You? What's Your favourite part of each kit?

Here are the two sketches that I prepared for You:

And the pages from my album:

My pages are filled with pictures from our little walk when we were searching for the first signs of spring. Obviously after 30 minutes we ended up at playground - our daughter's favourite place! :) Luckily we took a few spring-related photos, so I can still pretend we were searching for those signs.

To highlight this uniquely fresh character of every spring season I kept my pages bright and colorful. Papers and cards from Pocket Life Kit helped a lot.

Also those colorful alpha stickers from Add-on kit did the job!

I used two Heidi Swapp flower stamps from Add-on kit to create my own springish journaling cards.

And here You have more details :))

I really love those white foam word stickers from Sprinkles kit and the word hope was the very best choice for my spread, since I miss sunbeams and flowers and nice temperatures so much! What about You?

Okay, that's it for now!
I hope the sketches will help You with Your pages! Don't forget to share them with us! You have a chance to win a price from Citrus Twist Kits! All You need to do is:
Create a layout based on the sketch of Your choice, post your layout to our Gallery or our Facebook Fan Page by Friday, March 14th and be sure to include PL 04/14 in the title!


Thank You for reading and I have a delightful weekend!