Let's Get Digital -- With Andrea!

Hellooooooo!!! :-) It's Andrea here and today I have a cool “Let's Get Digital” project for you using the super cool “Boardwalk” kit from Citrus Twist! I love the bright colors in this kit, and the fun and “fancy free” kind of feeling that it has. It feels very summery! I am super duper excited too because I designed some really fun goodies for this month's Pocket Life kit – the leatherette stickers!!! Today I am actually using the main kit, but I decided to do a little printable for you guys to use that matches nicely with those stickers (so you can use them with those if you want to, too)! To that end, I made both a digital stamp title of it (that you can use on any size layout – 8 ½ x 11 or 12x12, etc), and a fun 4x6 decorative card that you can print out and use in your pocket page scrapping! 

Here are the printables (I will put them up on the Citrus Twist Facebook Fan Page so you can download them from the file folder in there if you like):

“Hey, you make me smile” Digital Stamp Title

“Hey, you make me smile” 4x6 pocket card

Alright, now that you have seen the printables, print them out and “lets get digital” shall we?!!!...and do some hybrid scrappin!!!! So here is the layout that I did for today!

I love how it came out! I decided to do a little film-strip with my pictures. I love doing film-strips like this! If you have never tried it you should! It is another fun “lets get digital” kind of thing to do in your scrapping to spice things up a bit! I know a lot of times we tend to stick to just average photo sizes like 3x4 and 4x6. However, by mixing it up with like a cool little film-strip you can make your page look very fresh and cute and add some more interest and movement to your design! All you do is create a film-strip on whatever photo program you like to use on your computer. Photo programs that I like to use for this kind of thing (and for everything really) are Photoshop and Lightroom. This time I used Lightroom. If you have another program you like though, that is fine. There is probably even an app now that you can use to put photos in a film-strip like this.

On the computer, I put my digital stamp, “Hey, you make me smile”, title on the right side of the page. And I did some journaling on the right side too, lower towards the bottom of the page. And then I printed that all out on an 8 ½ x 11 piece of vellum. You could totally choose to print on cardstock if you like, but I wanted to use vellum in order to do the fun “sequin shaker” background that I did for my layout!

To do the “sequin shaker” background, I just layered my vellum onto some of the pretty patterned paper from the kit (the Good Times patterned paper from Photoplay) and I placed sequins here and there in between the vellum and the paper. Some of the sequins I adhered down into place, and some I let float around free. I threw a few small ephemera pieces in there too with the sequins (from the Elles Studio Live Laugh Love pack in the kit).

To finish, I added a few more embellies like the rubber shapes from Elles Studio and some of the puffy stickers from them too, and a couple of paperclips as well! You know how I love my paperclips!!!

Alright, hope you enjoyed this “Let's Get Digital” and you enjoy my printables I designed for you! Try combining them with the leatherette stickers I designed for June too! Please share whatever you make with these cutfiles!! I can't wait to see what you make!!! You can share on our Facebook Fan Page or on instagram...just hashtag with #letsgetdigital , #citrustwistkits , #andreabethke and tag me @fairytalescrapbook so I can see! Thanks so much!!! Happy Scrapping!!!

XOXOXO – Andrea

3 To Inspire - Two Ways!

Happy Saturday! It's Tara and Andrea here with you sharing our twist on '3 To Inspire' today. We have a couple layouts to share as well as a double challenge! Andrea joined in along for the fun  and we gave each other a recipe challenge. Join us and try out our recipe challenge!

Here is Andrea and her take on the recipe I gave her.

Tara challenged me to do a layout with: 

1. monochromatic or two-toned color scheme

2. puffy stickers

3. multiple photos

This was her “recipe” for me and I loved it! It was such a cool challenge! I don't know if I have ever done a page where I limited the number of colors that could be used like that and it actually helped to push me out of my box and I think it came out so cute! I love the pinks and greens in my layout! I also don't think I have ever used so many puffy stickers on a layout so that was a cool creative push too!

I really had fun using the May “Brighton” for this challenge! It was cool to pull together all the things from it that I thought would work and then just proceed creatively from that point. You are limiting yourself on what you can use from a kit (which is already like a creative limit of things to use from your scrapbook stash), but it actually opens up all these new ideas and possibilities! That is the point of a challenge like this, it really helps you to be even more creative and to try new things!

Often when we scrapbook, especially if we have been doing it for a long time, which I have, we can get caught in the same habits when it comes to making a layout. I know there are certain ideas, styles, products, formats, etc, that have become favorites of mine, that I tend to repeat. And so I always try to do new challenges like this every so often to make sure that I don't fall into a subconscious loop of creativity. I suggest you challenge yourself every so often too so that you mix things up and stay fresh! And it definitely helps even more to have someone create a “recipe” like this for you (instead of picking a challenge recipe for yourself, although that can be helpful too). Someone else might be able to better see what your tendencies are and think of some new ways for you to switch things up a bit!

I had so much fun with this challenge! Working with Tara was excellent! She is very sweet and supportive!
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Here is the recipe Andrea gave me to work with:
1. doodling or brush-script
2. use a paperclip
3. layering pretty patterned paper

I loved the challenge Andrea gave me! I really wanted to take advantage of the fun exclusive 6x6 papers that were in the Brighton Pocket Life kit this month. I started off with a layer of vellum under my photo from my stash and my favorite paper was the blue colorful paper I used on the right side with the floral doily print.

I made a little layered cluster at the bottom of the page. The colors in the kits this month are fun and bright!  I used a label stamp to create the purple label beneath the "be fearless" die cut. I cut off the black and white striped border from one of the 4x6 journaling cards to use as another layer.

I added in a plastic paper clip from my stash to add even more layering. I love using little strips of papers to make the kit go a long way. The polka dot paper is the packaging included with the puffy stickers!

I decided to make my own journaling card using a brush script phrase I wrote out. I absolutely loved the bird houses on the wall so I went with that theme for some fun. I liked keeping the color scheme minimal and bold with black lettering on a white background.

I really love how this layering came together. 

Now it's your turn! To play along with this week's 3 to Inspire Challenge, create a project incorporating all three of the prompts from one of our challenge recipes, post it to our gallery with today's date (5/27) in the title, and you will be eligible to win some happy mail from the CTK Store!

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!!! 

3 To Inspire with Veera and Andrea

Today we have a treat for you! Me (Veera) and Andrea joined forces and both of use created layouts to this weeks' 3 To Inspire challenge.

This week we encourage you to 

1. sew
2. use color pink
3. use word stickers

Here's my take on these 3 prompts:

For this layout I used February main kit and embellishment kit. I used pink as my main accent color using pink word stickers and those beautiful pink flowers. As the top part of the layout is full of embellishments I balanced the layout by using a lot of white space.

Lately word stickers have been one of my favorite embellishments. These stickers can be used for telling the story and they are easy embellishments that helps the layout look finished.

Now it's Andrea's turn!

Hi there everyone! It's Andrea here and I had so much fun working on this special “3 to Inspire” with Veera for you all! When Veera and I picked the three elements of this challenge – sewing, word stickers, and the color pink, I was so excited because I knew that these would all work great with the Citrus Twist February kits and the over-all feeling of February which is frankly quite sweet and lovely (due to the nature of Valentines Day I think).

For my layout, I knew that I needed to use the super beautiful floral patterned from Crate Paper Oasis that is in “The Bright Side” add on kit. There is some fun pinks in that floral paper, but to add some more pink to my layout, I chose to use cute embellishments like some pink flowers from the Pink Paislee ephemera in the add on kit, and some butterflies and hearts and things from the chipboard stickers in the Main Kit. For more pops of pink, I did some fussy cutting and used some arrows from some of the patterned paper in the Pattern Paper Play kit and also some sweet little tickets that I cut from some of the product packaging.

I added word stickers to my layout that would help to tell the story. I used words like “loving this”, “let's go”, “me and you” and “you are my happy” to show that the story is all about me and my love, my husband Ryan, on a romantic Valentines Day night out. By adding both the flat word stickers and the chipboard ones, more dimension and interest is given to the page.

To add my sewing in, I did some hand-stitching here and there on my page. I stitched a bit across the top of the page where the paper clips are to kind of further anchor down the flags and things that I added to that top corner. I also did some cross stitches on my fussy cut pink tickets. And for the last of my sewing, I created a special little heart using a left-over piece from the Pink Paislee ephemera pack which I painted and then added some white cardstock to and stitched to make a fun and interesting, one of a kind embellishment for my page. (note: I added a few more painted touches here and there that had a bit of this kind of effect on it just to balance things out).

I had so much fun with this “3 to Inspire” with Veera! (Oh, and I just want to also point out that I had a lot of fun with my pics on this layout too and so can you...here is a fun tip...try coloring your pic/s for your layout in cool, colors like the challenge color pink and/or mint, yellow, blue, etc using photoshop or another photo editing app or software! )

So here you have it, inspiration and 3 prompts! I hope you enjoyed both of the layouts! Remember to join me and Andrea in this challenge and when you make your own layout or other project using these prompts, please share with us on the Citrus Twist gallery, the Facebook Forum and also on Instagram! Don't forget to tag @citrustwistkits and hashtag with #citrustwistkits and #ctk3toinspire!

Veera & Andrea

Let's get digital - hello 2017!

Welcome everyone!
It's Mira and Andrea here and in today's post we'd like to invite You to join Citrus Twist Kits Facebook Fan Page (if You still didn't) and search this amazing place for a few freebie files that You can use in Your projects!

We prepared two cutting files and a lot of printables (You will find them later in the post)  for You and created some inspirations to show You how they can be used! So! Let's begin with cutting files from Mira:

What I made with one of the files is a simple, no-picture layout that is opening my Pocket Life Album saying which year this is:

In January Pocket Life Kit I found a few CTK exclusive papers that were perfect for the opening page of my album - they are bright, intensive and strong and really motivating. I thought they could bring me the positive energy whenever I'd open the album. 

I really love that delicate flower pattern on the other paper included in the kit, so I used it to add a little subtle effect to the page. 

All those exclusive products from this month's PL kit are happily screaming: "Happy New Year! Happy New Year!" so I picked some of them, mixed with embellishments from Embellishment kit, added some final touches with my sewing machine and black ink splatters, and in one moment I created a very nice title page for 2017!

And hello again, from me, Andrea! I've partnered with Mira today as part of the “Let's Get Digital” scrappy fun, to bring you fun free printables to use for the new year too! You can get the printables on the Citrus Twist Kits Facebook FanPage, the same place where you can get Mira's beautiful cutfiles.

I created a two page spread using the printable I designed and the amazing January kits – the main kit, “Jameson”, and the “Oh Darling” add on kit, plus a couple of things from the Sprinkles kit and the Embellishment kit. The kits this month are so beautiful filled with such beautiful and bold colors that really inspired me and made me feel bold and confident with this new year that we have just begun! I am starting my project life album for 2017 and so these will be the first couple of pages in my 8 ½ x 11 album.

For my printables, I created two fun pieces that can each be used in different ways, according to what suits your needs. You may choose to print on photo paper, cardstock or vellum or a combination (as I did). And the printables come in a few different sizes (8 ½ x11 6x8 and 3x4 ) so if you are doing pocket pages you may print the printable as a card as well. Do whatever works for you! In my case, I like to do a mix of layouts and pocket pages in my PL albums and I decided that I would begin my album with a big bold statement cover page! I combined the pink polka dot printable (which I printed out on semi-gloss photo paper) and the black and white printable (which I printed out on vellum) and sewed them together to make a statement piece for the beginning of my album.

For the layout that I did to also start out my new album for the new year, I chose to also go big and bold with the use of a large picture. I chose a pic of myself that reflected my thoughts on this new year, what I hope will be one filled with great possibilities and a bright future on the horizon!

I used the bright bold colors and patterns in the kit like the pretty multi-colored striped Crate Paper patterned paper from the add on kit and the beautiful blue exclusive paper from Citrus Twist in the Main kit. I chose embellishments that I thought fit the “new year, new adventure” theme of my spread and indeed my album for this year. I love the wood piece in the kit that says “hello 2017” on it, the 2017 stamp, and the pieces from the exclusive ephemera pack that say things like “be bold” and “live your best”!

I hope you enjoy the printables and that I have inspired you on how they can be used along with the January kits to make a fun new start to your memory keeping this year! Please share what you create on the Citrus Twist Facebook Page...I would love to see all your creative ideas for how to use the printables! Hope you enjoy the all the 2017 freebies from today's “Let's Get Digital” with me, Andrea, and Mira...we so enjoyed making these goodies for you and we can't wait to see what you do!

Happy Scrapping! – Andrea & Mira