Life Crafted with Erica

Hey guys! It's Erica here with another layout in my Life Crafted album using the Weekender kit!

Choosing which photos to use and which to leave out on a layout can be hard for me. I love including as many photos as I can, so I am absolutely thrilled with the 2x2 Pocket Pages to give me all the space I need!

On the left hand side of my spread I chose two of favourite photos to highlight and printed them larger. I added layers and texture with scraps of the 6x8 papers. I stamped directly on my photo with the adorable Weekend Life stamp set, and added the gold puffy alphas for my title.





On each photo I added the same elements to compliment each other- a chipboard tab, gold alphas and a phrase from the ephemera pack.





On the right hand side I filled half of my pockets with photos, alternating each pocket with a white piece of card to stamp on and embellish. I chose colours to compliment the bright and fun nature of my photos and the little shops stamp was perfect for Brunch!





I used a few elements from the March Cutaparts Sheet on one pocket. They are a fantastic source for bonus ephemera. I always print mine immediately and incorporate them into my diecut pack. 





To finish off my spread I sprinkled a few puffy hearts about and added a little bit of journaling to a label. Now it's all ready to pop into my Life Crafted album!





Thanks for joining me on the blog today! Happy crafting!

Sunday Sketch with Nathalie

Hello everyone!
Nathalie with you today with this week's Sunday Sketch.   At this time, when we all are living in a state of caution, crafting seems to be a perfect escape for all the news that are bombarding our lives.   Today, i want to share with you all, how i used this week's sketch to document snapshots of our lives using the March kits.  Let me show you the sketch:

I love the versatility of the sketch, and how it helps to kick start your creative process.  Well, i wanted to show you how it can easily transform the sketch from a scrapbook layout to a Life Crafted entry.

For my Scrapbook layout, i chose to work with the March 2020 Add On Kit.   All the Stamp Market papers were the perfect background for the picture of my little guy.  I stayed pretty close to the original sketch with a few minor changes.

The sketch asks for pieces of paper as picture corners, i chose to change them for small floral clusters and labels ( these both are ephemera pieces from the Add On kit), and even switch the position of one of them so that it doesn't cover an important part of the picture.

Another change was the title placement.  The sketch calls for a small place mat (available for free to subscribers, or for sale at the CTK Digital shop) cut out, instead, i supersize one of the PL cards and used the space add my journal lines.  I created a pocket from vellum and placed it in between the pictures, so i can slide the journal card easily.

puffy

I move the title to the top of the page, and chose to add a large cluster of flowers to balance the page. A small piece of ephemera from the WEEKENDER kit was stitched on top of the flowers as the title for the page.  A few stamped sentiments in the labels and under the title ( Life Crafted and TN stamp), a few enamel dots and the puffy butterfly complete the page.

Now, let me show you how i used the sketch as inspiration for this Life Crafted layout:

It was so easy to convert the sketch to a Life Crafted layout by just rotating it 90 degrees.  This time, i use the Weekender  kit to complete this page...

I chose to size down the pictures to squares, and pretty much follow the sketch to create the layers behind the picture.  I cut some of the paper, and the 4x6 cards to create the layers.   The  title card comes from the PL digital cards.   I chose to add bits of hand stitching around the page to add texture on the layout.

I followed the sketch as to where to place the journal ( i used Photoshop to create a journal box  that will hold my writing).  Once i printed the paper, i glued a large strip of paper to the right of the page, than hand stitched a cluster of elements to it just as the sketch shows.  A few more stamped sentiments complete this page.

I hope this has inspire you to check the March Kits and use this week's sketch to create a project of your own.  Remember to share with us your finished projects,  we love to see what you create, too!

'Til next time!

Pocket Life Challenge with Amy Jo Vanden Brink

Wow!  Time to get those photos in the pockets everyone!  One of the best ways to do that is to get your photos printed!  I like to work ahead and print on a weekly basis so that I never get behind, then when a new kit arrives on my doorstep I can fill in the gaps with my favourite pieces.

Challenge: Get photos ready in advance of the new kit arriving!

If you already have photos ready, good for you.  I'm going to show you one of my Pocket Page spreads that was ready and awaiting photos when my March kit landed (so the photos are from February, I don't usually find there is much problem in matching up the photos from one month to the kit from another.  Especially when the theme is so easy like this Weekender kit!)

I had a variety of photos ready to go here, and when I'm working like this, the thing that makes it easy for me is to pull one or two colors from the new kit out.  Here you can see I grabbed the yellow and the pink (so easy as they are my top two colors!) and then some small pieces to support those colors (tags, chipboard arrow).

If you struggle to find enough cards or pieces in the right color scheme, you can always fill up a blank white 3x4 card with one of the larger tag pieces, or as in the bottom right corner on the next page, you can cut down some of the 6x8 papers to make smaller cards.  Adding the large circle makes it look like it was a card that was designed to look like this, but it was two separate pieces.

The next step for me is to find small sayings or sentiments that can further tell my stories, or even just a small embellishment to make the page feel finished.

Thanks for joining me today!  I hope this gets you putting photos in the pockets of your own albums!

3 to Inspire with Amy Jo Vanden Brink

Hello!  I'm excited to be back with you this weekend with a 3 to Inspire challenge!  This month I'm going a little bit outside of the box for my 3 things, and I hope to encourage you to do the same.  

I started by gathering my 3 items;

1- the Gold Puffy Alphabet (swoon!)

2- the numbered tags from the ephemera package (double swoon!)

3- the digital ephemera pieces (I don't often go hybrid in my pocket pages, but these elements were too good to pass up!

I started by using the digital pieces to create 4 cards, the Friday, Saturday, Sunday tabs at the top of a white 3x4 card, and the weekend file folder printed at a width of 4 inches (the width ends up being more than 3 inches, but I cut off the side I didn't want).  I also printed the black RELAX circle at a size that I knew I would be able to use one of my circle punches to cut out (1.5 inches) and the blue "always on my heart" tag I enlarged to fill a 3x4 card.

I used the gold puffy letters to add the dates and then to highlight some of the activities we did over the weekend as well.  I always like using an alphabet like this to create connection across the spread and add some context to photos.

The numbered tags were so awesome in the ephemera pack, that I knew I wanted to use them all together rather than split them up.  So I spread them across the photos and cropped edges off as necessary to make them fit on the sides and tops of photos.

A look at the right side of the spread.

And the left side.

I hope this pocket page gives you some inspiration on how to use those digital elements!  You may have noticed I managed to sneak a 4th item in there, I cannot resist the puffy hearts, so a few of them ended up joining the tags!

KIT LOVE - March 2020

Hello CTK Friends!

We are so excited to kick off March with the reveal of our new Life Crafted kit, Scrapbooking Add-on kit and stamps.   The new WEEKENDER Life Crafted kit will have you reaching for all those sweet memories of your everyday and the glorious weekend adventures.

  This month, the kit's soft focus is how you celebrate and spend your weekends.  The colorful palette of the kit will help you document a story-filled month... Join Trina as she shares the WEEKENDER kit unboxing in the following video:





For all of the paper crafters out there, this month we are so excited to be featuring the Stamp Market's Miss Modern collection in our Scrapbooking Add-on Kit.  We have curated a kit that complements our Life Crafted WEEKENDER kit and will help you add more stories to your albums.

This month's Add on kit is a mixture of modern and clean design, we are sure you will love what this kit has to offer.  Join Nathalie as she shares a closer look at the Add on kit in the upcoming video:





This month we also welcome new designers to our Creative Team.  It is always sad to say good bye to a few of our designers,  but  we are also so excited to share with you all the projects they have created with our March kits.  Here is a sample of what will be coming to our social media on the next few weeks:

WEEKENDER KIT AND STAMPS

ADD ON KIT

WEEKENDER KIT

Remember to stop by our shop to check all the  kits and stamps, and add them to your box.   Shipping will start on March 4th.

WE cannot wait to see what you will create with the MARCH 2020 kits and stamps.

XO

OUR GUEST DESIGNER: ASHLEY HORTON

 


Hi there!
We are so happy to have Ashley share some of her awesome talent with us today!  She has used the POSSIBILITIES kit in her projects, and i am sure you are going to love what she has created for this post!.

Here is Ashley:

Hi everyone!  It’s Ashley, and I’m back with another layout in my Charcoal Gray Life Crafted Album using the February Possibilities Kit!  I love using large photos for layouts in my Traveler’s Notebook and did just that for this layout.

I printed my photo in black and white and placed it on the back of one of my previous pages in the album.  When I take photos, I try to frame them with white space.  This way, I can add embellishments or digitals right over my photo.  I used a mix of the ephemera pieces, chipboard and puffy stickers on my photo to add some fun embellishments.  I also used one of the cut apart labels and wanted to share a fun tip for cutting these out.  I use my paper trimmer to cut all of the straight edges.  Then, I take my single hole punch and punch out the corners to create the indents of the label.

There are some gorgeous 3x4 Journaling Cards in the Possibilities Kit and I wanted to incorporate them into my layout.  I like that you can use them as is or you can also customize your journaling cards.  I added a couple of ephemera pieces to both of the cards before placing them in one of the 3x8 page protectors.

To finish off my layout, I decided to make a tab for the 3x8 page protector.  I opened a tab cut file in Silhouette Studio and cut it from one of the journaling cards in the Kit.  Then, I placed the “grateful heart” sentiment on the tab.  I used my tiny attacher to staple the tab in the center of the page protector.

I’ve had so much fun with the Possibilities Kit and I hope I’ve shared some ideas with you, that you can use with your Kit!  Thanks so much for stopping by today, to take a look at my Traveler’s Notebook layout!

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All we can say is WOW!  We are so thankful to Ashley for sharing some inspiration with you all.  Remember to follow Ashley on her social media outlets.

Product Highlight - THIS IS LIFE: GOOD VIBES Digital Stamp

Hi there!

Nathalie with you today with a few projects created with the new POSSIBILITIES Life Crafted kit.  I love this month's kit, but every month one of the first products i reach for are the Digital files.  So, today i want to share with you a few layouts created using my hybrid approach:

The new This is Life "Good Vibes" Digital Stamp set ( just like its physical format) is filled with possibilities that can help you create one of a kind projects in  a short amount of time.

I started with this layout all about our youngest Goddaughter's 1st birthday.   I love seeing all the yellow on the pictures i received throughout the day, so  i chose three of them that tell the story of the day and printed them in a photo strip design.

I chose a large title so it balances the photo strip.  This was  easily created by using Photoshop to print two of the sunburst designs on white cardstock. I made sure to leave a space between them so i can add my title. Once i printed the design, i used a paper piercing tool to create a holes at the ends of each of the lines and used yellow embroidery thread to stitch over the design.

I then used the Spencer Solid 6x8 stamp set to add the word one in between the stitched lines.  Then used  purple ink to stamp the "Awesome" word image and the butterfly outline from the This is Life Stamp set on white cardstock and fussy cut it.  I just glued these on the page to complete the title work.

On the other side of the layout, i used the Digital TN Papers to create the base for the page and then added my picture.   Once again, i used the This is Life "Good Vibes" stamp set to create the butterfly images and small circle sunburst that embellish the pictures.

For my next page, i once again reached for the This  Is Life: Good Vibes Digital Stamp set and used Photoshop to create the large butterfly images and stars you see on the page.  I size them so that they create the illusion of movement and dimension on the page.

To bring color to the page, i diluted  ink to resemble watercolor and added a splatter of it on each butterfly followed by smaller splatters around it. Since i used very little water, the paper did not warp, and the ink from the printer did not run either.

To finish this page, I chose to type my journal and added one of the large foam words as the title for the layout.   I then enlarged the picture of my other Goddaughter and their new pet to fit the page and added pieces from the cut apart elements page ( free for subscribers) and more stamped images to complete the page.

I hope you stop by the Citrus Twist Kits Digital shop to check all the new digital files especially the new This is Life:  Good Vibes Digital Stamp set.   Having the option of creating your background and printing them at home surely stretch your kits and create one of a kind pages!

Cannot wait to see how you use this ideas  on your pages.

XO