August Life Crafted with Amanda Baldwin

Hi CTK Friends & Fans!

Amanda here, sharing some more August Life Crafted: Chasing Rainbows Kit inspiration!
If you missed my scrapbook layout post earlier this month, you can go back and check it out HERE.

For today's post,  I am totally focusing on documenting the everyday stories in my Life Crafted Album. Nothing fancy or time consuming - just simple, beautiful everyday moments recorded!

Here's what I have created with the Chasing Rainbows Kit....

"This Kid"

How sweet is this?!

I've been going to scrap these photos for sometime now, but never really found the right collection to do it with. Until now! The designs on the exclusive pattern papers are similar to the one on my son's shirt, and partner perfectly! The cool blues & teal with the white base create such a refreshing, and modern look. A light & fun color palette for Summer pages. Love it! 

Here's how these pages look in my Life Crafted Album.....

To add emphasis to my photographs, I layered both of them on 3 x 4 note cards, and kept embellishments to a minimum. You'll spy a few tabs and hearts, and of course, those incredible printed cork stickers. The cork adds a touch of warmth & balance, and connects the color photograph to both pages. 

I used the vellum tape stickers for a tiny spot of journaling, and finished with the Turquoise Puffy Alphabet Stickers title.

Simple, but so effective! 

Next up, I created a page for my darling daughter, using some of the gorgeous florals in this month's kit....

Sigh! SO pretty! 

Another really simple design that only takes a minute to create. 

Here's how.....

Simply trim the pink floral pattern paper to 5" x 8". 

Adhere the 3" x 8" bookmark onto the pink floral paper, about half an inch from the left hand side. 

Next, back your photograph onto the yellow bloom 3" x 4" note card, and mount it to the bookmark with thick foam tape. 

Embellish with an acrylic heart, sentiment from the Digital Printable Cutapart Sheet, and that awesome Printed Cork adornment. 

Voila! 

Super pretty & with minimum fuss!

The Life Crafted Kits make memory keeping a breeze, especially for those of us who are time poor! 

Here's another double pager from my Life Crafted Album, recording the simple things in life....

Life's little pleasures, indeed! I absolutely LOVE the colors in this month's kit! So much variety, and a perfect mix of Summer blending into Fall! 

For the page on the left, I have used a 5" x 8" sheet of smooth white cardstock and layered it with note cards. I used the acetate ephemera for my title at the base of my page, and then embellished with printed cork, a chipboard sticker, and a vellum tape sentiment. 

For the page on the right, I  opted for a pattern paper base, which I mostly covered with smooth white cardstock. I oversized the bloom pattern tag from the Digital Printable Cutapart Sheet, & created a book mark to layer my photograph and embellishments onto. Here's a closer look for you.....

Such a simple, but oh so pretty page! 

And there you have it! 

Daily documenting made super easy, and really beautiful with the Life Crafted Kits & Albums!

I hope I have inspired you to dive into your kits, and start documenting those important everyday stories! 

Thanks so much for visiting, 

Happy Arty Days, 

Amanda xo 

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.

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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.

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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!

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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!-

3-to-Inspire with Amanda!

Hi Citrus Twist Kit Friends & Fans! 

Amanda here, & welcome back for another inspirational installment of our favorite 3-to-Inspire challenge post! The August Kits are simply STUNNING! & I just had to use both of them for my layout today! (If you don't know what I'm talking about, you better head over to the CTK store now before they're completely sold out!)
Before I share my layout, here's the 3 things you'll need to feature in your projects to play along too....

1. Use floral pattern paper  I love a good floral & to be completely honest, both kits are sporting some very pretty designs! Infact, it was hard to pick which floral paper to use!

2. Put a heart on it  There are a myriad of heart embellishments, digtial items and even stamps  for August. Show us how you like to feature hearts on your creations.

3. Make it messy  Feature any form of mixed media on your project - be it stamping and inks (the stamps this month are aaah-mazing!!!), watercolors, or even some texture paste. Whatever medium takes your fancy - just be sure to include it on your finished project.

Now with the formalities outta the way, here's my layout to inspire you with...

"Hello"

Isn't this dreamy & divine?!

As I mentioned previously, I couldn't decide on which gorgeous August Kit to create with, so in the end I combined both the Life Crafted Chasing Rainbows Kit with the Scrapbook Add-On Kit. I think they coordinated pretty well together! You'll also spy that I used this months Traveler's Notebook Stamp, and some of our wonderful Digital Cut Apart Elements too! Simply stunning!

Here's a closer look for you....

I used the divine floral pattern paper, New Thoughts from Pinkfresh Studio that was included in this month's Scrapbook Add-On Kit. I just LOVE the colors in this pretty floral paper - they complimented my photograph beautifully, & became the color scheme for my entire design. I used the white cardstock as my layout base, and then created a painty, watercolor background using the Pinkfresh Studio Liquid Watercolors. The colors I used were Lavender, Sapphire, Bubblegum & Sky Blue and you can find them all in the shop HERE! To this background, I also repeat stamped the heart icon from the Life Crafted Traveler's Notebook Stamp. Gorgeous!!!

In keeping with my color scheme, I decided to print & fussy cut a number of the Digital Cut Apart Elements. Believe it, or not, my larger lilac banner base is actually the same banner as the tiny one with the blue rose on it (simply enlarged and printed singularly).

 So cool! I just love how versatile the Digitals are! 

Over this banner, I built my photo cluster using lots of lovelies from the Life Crafted Chasing Rainbows Kit. If you look carefully, you'll even notice that I fussy cut the Kit Title Note Card, & used it both above, and to the side, of my sweet photo! To complete this cluster, I adorned my photo with that fabulous printed cork embellishment. 

The hello acrylic word included in the Chasing Rainbows Kit was too amazing not to use! I positioned mine over my mixed media base so that it was more visible on the white cardstock. 

For a finished look, I added cotton floss & sequins from my stash, as well as the blue puffy alphas & acetate hearts from the Life Crafted Kit. Voila!

There you have it! My take on this week's 3-to-Inspire challenge! 

Now it's your turn! I can't wait to see what you'll create! 

Be sure to upload your creations to the Citrus Twist Kits Fan Page HERE.

Haven't shopped your kits yet? If you're super fast there *might* be one or two still available in the store HERE but, to avoid disappointment be sure to sign up for a subscription & never miss a kit again - YAY!!!

Happy Creating!

Thanks so much for visiting, 

til next time, 

Happy Arty Days, 

Amanda xo