December Album using December Kits with Emma!

Hello CTK friends!  Emma on the blog today to share a little look through my December album!  It's been a long time since I've had the chance to sit down and actually put some pages together but with the Christmas season upon us, I knew I had to try to put another album together - not just to record all the Christmasy things, but just the everyday chaos that is December for my family :)

My motto for this year is "keep it simple and get it done!".  I've a terrible habit of overthinking when putting albums together (which means they take forever to do..) but I just don't have the time for it this year.  Cue the Life Crafted Album and page protectors!  Teamed with the December Life Crafted Kit and December Add-on and I'm happy to report that I am managing to stay up-to-date, yay!  And after a few months break from scrapbooking, I can't tell you how exciting it is ;)

I am using the Black Life Crafted Album this year and I painted the gold plate on the outside white.

On my spine I've added one of the Crate Paper Snowflakes chipboard pieces (from this store this month) along with a "December" sticker (from the Christmas Stories Kit - sadly it sold out in record time!) and added a white tag from my stash with the year stamped on it (stamp from the store too, Heidi Swapp Winter Wonderland).

I was worried painting the gold plate might not work out (and I'd ruin my album, ha) but it's actually finished up looking rather nice I think!  Just taped up the cloth area around the plate using washi tape then spray-painted it with white paint.  Fiddly but easy enough!

And rather than blabber on I thought I'd just take a heap of photos sharing my album - here's a look through of what I've done so far (lots of photos to follow!):

For my cover page I created a wreath using craft wire and white twine.  I created a circle shape with the craft wire then knotted short lengths of twine around it - once it was full I just trimmed the twine down and fixed it in place on a clear page using a couple stitches.

No album of mine is ever complete without at least one sequin pocket!  I'm sure another will appear before the end ;)

Lots of changes around here with Zack finishing up Grade 6 and getting ready to start High School.  Meant he had to get his first suit for Graduation!  He looks so grown up, cry!  That chipboard piece from the Life Crafted Kit was a perfect match for that days story!

All of the chipboard and thickers used throughout my album are fixed on top of the protector pages - stops them looking too bulky inside the pocket.

As you can see - there's not much to my December album.  Lots of random moments, not all of it Christmas-related, but I'm getting those moments recorded.  And keeping it simple means that I get it done!

Sticking with the 3x4 Page Protectors and 4x6 Page Protectors also keeps things consistent and it's so easy to just run the photos off on the printer, pop them into a pocket, add a few little stickers here and there to suit and add some journaling on top.  All of my journaling is typed up on the computer then printed out on plain white copy paper (then I fix it in place using machine stitching or staples) - it's something I can do every couple days without stressing!

Thanks so much for joining me on the blog today - I hope you're having as much fun with your December/Christmas Album!

Take care, Emma xo

Christmas Stories with Lorilei

Hello!  Thank you for joining me today for my second post using the Christmas Stories Kit (2019) from Citrus Twist Kits!  Today I am sharing some fun pages I made for December using the kit.

I placed all the numbered squares from the Pink Paislee cut-apart sheet into pockets to give me an idea of "busier" days I know we have already scheduled for December.  I decided to print a few photos from last year to give me an idea of how I wanted the album to feel and how I would decorate it with the kit.

I decided that I will most likely include multiple photos onto a 4x6 print on days that have more photos.  I will add embellishments and stickers to go with the photos.  I added a little string of banners below the photo on this page and paired it with a Heidi Swapp journal card.

On the next page, I used four tags from the Pebbles cut-apart sheet and attached them to white cardstock with brads so that they swing-out.  I can include some hidden journaling or small photos under the tags!  I used the branding strip to decorate the top and bottom of the page.

These tags are so cute!!

On my next set of pages I paired a large photo with a cluster made from a Pink Paislee sticker, a pebbles cut-apart banner and a white snowflake with a tag using the gorgeous Pink Paislee paper.  I will add a 3x4 photo to this size of tag with some typed journaling.

I added an eyelet to the banner for extra detail!

Sometimes the simplest cluster of embellishments is all you need to pretty up your photo!

The more I use the Christmas Stories kit, the more I love it!  You can find it in the Citrus Twist shop!  Happy scrapping!

Christmas Stories with Lorilei

Hello!  I am excited to share the start of my December album using the Christmas Stories 2019 Kit from Citrus Twist Kits!  It was like an early Christmas opening the gorgeous kit!  I was thrilled to see the Heidi Swapp Winter Wonderland collection mixed with Pebbles, Pink Paislee, Pinkfresh Studio and the beautiful pieces by Citrus Twist Kits!
This will be my third year making an album of December memories.  I have learned a few things along the way about what my needs are in the busy month of December and making the opportunity to start early will be helpful in the process of recording those stories once December hits!  I focused on preparation to start the process.  Some of the tips may sound simple, but they are not steps I have taken other years, and I think they will be a game-changer for being prepared!

I chose a quiet afternoon and went through the entire Christmas Stories kit to familiarize myself with everything included.  I downloaded all the extra digital goodies so that I would know what my options were as well.  Next, I picked out all the pieces that needed attention to be used.  I trimmed the papers with tags, banners and cards, printed a sheet of labels and trimmed them all.  I cut some snowflakes from white cardstock on my silhouette and die cut some stars from gold glitter paper from my stash.   I cut 3 Build a Poinsetta cut files from the Christmas Stories digital set and painted them with watercolours to match the colours in the Heidi Swapp Winter Wonderland die cuts.  I found a nice dish to hold all my bits and pieces so that they would be handy to add to my album!

Next up, I decided to add photo page protectors to my album.  I chose to include 25 "days" worth of the combination of one double 3x4 insert and a full-size insert.  My thinking is that I will add paper tag inserts and extra protectors as needed for the number of photos on any given day.  Having all the inserts ready gives me a jumping-off point!  I can also collage photos in photoshop to fit in the full-size protector and include more photos that way.  Once I had all the preparation finished, I began adding some of the cards, numbers and tags to my album.  The beauty of the Life Crafted album is that I can move items around easily to fit the photos and stories.  I made a tag using the pretty red paper and used a Heidi Swapp cut apart card, doily and one of my poinsettia's to decorate!  I love using tags to add more photos or journaling, and they make a nice textural page in the album!

I love the little banners from the Pebbles "Just for You" paper!

For even more preparation, I set up a full-size photo printing template in photoshop.  I can know just clip my photo to the template and print!  I did some test printing with a Christmas photo from 2009!  I am happy with how the album seems to flow with the page protector set up.  I can add a 3x4 photo, as well.  I love to have easy options!

In my opinion, the most fun in a December album is the embellishments!!  I haven't adhered any of my ideas so far so that I can change things up depending on colours in photos or particular stories, but I love being able to have a "play" and see how things look together!

Thanks so much for joining me today, I hope you get your gorgeous Christmas Stories 2019 kit out and get to know it!

Christmas Daily with Tina

Hello CTK friends! Tina here today with a few pages and a process video created using Christmas Stories 2019 Kit for my favorite scrapbook project ever - December Daily!

I love everything about Christmas, snowy winter days and holiday traditions, for me this is really the best time of the year! But when December comes I always struggle to find time to document all the memories while I'm too busy making them. That's why I started with some base pages which you can prepare ahead although I decided to work on December 2016.

As I don't usually use lots of embellishments on album covers I decided to add only the words "Merry & Bright" to my Christmas album. And after that I started working on my title page. First I trimmed the green grid pattern paper to fit into the Life Crafted album. Then I matted the vellum calendar die cut with a piece of white cardstock, added puffy candy cone numbers and a few embellishments around the calendar. That's it!

Next I wanted to create a page divider using this awesome buffalo plaid screen cut file that is included in the Christmas Stories 2019 Kit. All you have to do is to cut two circles out of the "Paper 12" from the Together for Christmas collection by Pink Paislee, mat them with cute litlle paper doilies and some a few embellishments from the kit.

For the next page I used the other side of the same "Paper 12" pattern paper which is also so cute. I trimmed it to fit into the page protector #1, adhered puffy golden sticker "Merry" in the center and added a snowflake border at the top and bottom of the page. This beautiful snowflake frame is also one of the many wonderful cut files included with the kit.

And here is a spread made with my favorite pattern paper of the kit. For me it's too gorgeous to be cut to use the other side of the paper and I simply couldn't imagine not using it in my album. So I started by trimming the paper and adjusting the house image to fit into the album. After that I cut small squares out of the windows and backed them with photos and journaling. But you can fill these tiny windows with whatever you want, it can be Christmas movies you watched, or a few best memories of the season, or something you're grateful for, etc. In the end I added some puffy and word stickers here and there.

You can see my process in the video below:

I love how easily these pages came together using the Christmas Stories 2019 Kit. I hope I've given you a few ideas to use on your December Daily project! Be sure to share your projects on the CTK Fan Page on Facebook or use #citrustwistkits on Instagram so we can see what you come up with!

Christmas Daily with Krystal

Hi everyone! Krystal here with the very first look at my December Daily album for 2019! I'm so excited to share this with all of you, and I'm definitely getting revved up to start documenting the holiday season.

I knew that I wanted to keep my December Daily album very simple this year. The holiday season is so busy for all of us, and I've found that keeping my documenting simple makes me infinitely more likely to complete my album in a reasonable amount of time. That's why I was so excited to use the Christmas Stories kit and album for my 2019 DD. Having a kit to work from makes it so simple to put everything together!

Now, on to the actual album. I started with my title page, of course. I knew that I wanted it to be a full-size page outside of a pocket, and I knew that I wanted to use one of the gorgeous gold puffy Phrase Thickers. I chose Paper 8 from Pink Paislee's Together for Christmas as my background. I love the graphic nature of the black and white plaid, and I knew that I would be able to use both sides of the paper for my title and intentions page.

I added some of the adorable candy-cane stripe puffy Thickers from Heidi Swapp's Winter Wonderland collection to finish out my title and backed it with a strip of the Counting Down paper from Pebbles Merry Little Christmas collection. Then I finished off the page by adding some trims from my stash. I love how simple the page is , but that it still sets a fun tone for the rest of the album.

I also decided to create some really basic foundation pages. I used Paper 12 from Together for Christmas to number all of my days, then found coordinating papers from the kit to match each square number. I used a mix of Life Crafted Page Protectors to keep things interesting and added in a few pages outside of the pockets as well.

So far, nothing is adhered down yet, so I'll have lots of room to switch things up and move things around during December when I start adding my photos, journaling, and embellishments. I just wanted to have something in my album to give myself a starting point, and so that I didn't end up with blank-page paralysis.

I'm really happy with how my album is coming together so far, and I love how easily it was to put together using the Christmas Stories kit! The video below gives you a closer look at my process.


Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you are inspired to start planning your holiday album, and be sure to stop by the shop to pick up a Christmas Stories kit of your very own! 😊