Documenting Made Easy

If you're someone like me, who loves to buy aka "hoard" scrapbook supplies because they are so pretty to look at or you saw something in Youtube someone is using that you must have. Yup, that is basically me! Most of my income goes to scrapbooking which is bad, I know I am trying to cut it down believe me. Memory keeping is no fun when I am overwhelmed with supplies and I am hungry! Lol! I am very thankful with Trina and her team to be part of Citrus Twist DT. This month's kit is called Stories and all about family, being thankful and grateful basically fall colours. Sadly where I am from, we don't have fall. We only have two kinds of weather, its hot or wet season. Worry not that didn't stop me from using the this month's kit. 

That's one of the things I like about Citrus Twist kit is that, it comes in this new handy little pouch that I can basically bring anywhere! Those puffy alphas are just so cute! I need 20 more of those! I'm a sucker for puffy stickers but I like these specially because they are not too puffy! Ok, that sounded totally contradictory but believe me it has a nice depth to it that it wouldn't make your project life pages even traveler's notebook pages too bulky which is a plus in my book. For this spread, I only used it in the title to say "weekend" cause I am trying to save them for other projects!

The 6x8 exclusive pattern papers are another fave of mine, I can use them in my traveler's notebook as well as a backer/frame for my photos to add another pop of colour. That card with cups goes very well with my time at Starbucks and that cork embellishments fit just right in. The cute stamp phrases is another fave. Its so versatile and non intrusive that you can stamp them on anywhere!!

My spread wouldn't be complete without any pictures of my dog, Mylo. When I saw the preview of the ephemera pack and it has that cute doggie die cut, I was jumping with joy! Ok I'm a bit weird like that. It's just that I often see cute stamps, embellishments, stickers of cats but the dogs are often, ho hum. However, this one I find so adorable, so I really had to use it!

In just a couple of hours I am done with my spread, cause all I needed was in that pouch. I just needed some adhesive and I am good to go. I do that from time to time, just work on a kit. Force myself not to look for that specific stamp or embellishment that it takes hours to finish a spread. Let's admit it in this day and age, we don't have hours to do crafting. We're very fortunate if we get that splurge once a month. Working on just one kit, you don't need to worry about things not looking good together cause that's where Citrus Twist team comes in. They make sure that everything fits beautifully together. My finish spread might not be a work of art, its simple and clean just how I like it. Moreover, it makes me jot down the memories and tell the stories and that is more important. 

Versatility of Pocket Life Kit

This month have been a busy month for me and I was kind of getting worried that my pocket life kit took its sweet time coming to my doorstep. So I planned ahead on what to do when the kit came, well..not exactly extensive planning though... more of what pictures to use and if I will use it as a pocket life entry in my album this year or make a mini album out of it.

In all honesty, I have started lots and lots of mini album and I think I only managed to really finished one, which was my trip to Korea. So I was hesitant to do a separate mini album, but there are lots of photos that I want to include. While pondering on what to use, I chance upon someone destashing a Passport size Traveler's Notebook in one of the facebook sites that I am a member in. Fast forward to the day my kit came.

The kit itself is not a travel themeish however, it does have an outdoorsy feel with all the butterflies and flowers in the exclusive ephemera pack. So I challenge myself to use up most of the products in my kit. I quickly cut to size the Dream paper pad before I change my mind, printed my photos to size and planned out where to use the journal cards. 

I try to simplify my process by having a pattern in what I create so that not every page is unique or special, Most of my "spreads" are consist of one page photo and the opposite page is a journaling card with journal or just plain filler card. After that I would try out the embellishment which ones I feel that would fit and suit the "spread".  

For sceneries, I have the habit of taking panoramic shots with my phone, so I try to incorporate those by doing in in a single spread, like this photo above.

The first time I saw this grey die cut piece that is included in the kit, I sure did look for ways how to use it. In the end, I use it simply by putting in in the middle of the page with few muted down embellishments so as not to attract too much confusion. Moreover, as much as I love using the enamel dots in my layouts, I was hesitant to go crazy with those in this album because I was already having trouble with it being too bulky.  

Just for fun, I made this little flip up using the tab and labels from the cut apart sheet that is included in this month's kit. It's a simple and yet a nice surprise.

My favourite spread in this traveler's notebook is this one. When closed the panel looks like just one ordinary spread. I did cheat a little by using a 12x12 sheet of patterned paper that I have laying around. It doesn't hurt that it has gold foiling in it. Anything with gold foil, I am so all over it.

When that panel is open, it would show page with photos layered with bush of the ephemeras. My favourite this month is the die cut ephemeras so I just had to use them up in this album. I love how the die cut word looks so natural among the other ephemeras.

I used the labels in the cut apart sheet and use the stamp set to find words that are closely related to the pictures. 

I just couldn't resist using this cure puffy sunglass sticker that is from the Embellishment kit.

In the end its all fat and chunky, however since its very small and handy, I wouldn't have a problem where to store it. Which is one of my problem, living in a small city apartment.

Memory Keeping with Few Photos

Hello everyone! For this blog post, I want to show you how you can use Citrus Twist Pocket Life kits to document your life even though you don't have tons of photos to use. Actually in my last photo which is for my Project Life entry, I didn't have actual photos but the memories or stories are there documented and journaled.

The first photo is my work in progress traveler's notebook for the trip I took with my friends a couple of months back. As you can see, I utilised the exclusive ephemera. I am planning to list down my top 3 memories of our trip together. Admittedly I am not a fan for flowers and bird ephemera because I can never make it look good together. However, I trust the experts here a Citrus Twist that worked very hard to give us a cohesive kit every month that it would go together and it would work. I am happy to say that yes I am happy with how it came out.

This year I switched from a 9x12 to 6x8 album for my project life. There were days, weeks or even months that I don't have photos but lots of memories that I want to be journaled to remember. I love that this months cards gives me ample of space to blabber about and still have space for me to embellish the cards and make them more personal, more me rather than generic cards.

My fave this month is the cork hearts with gold outline. I think its part of the add-on.

Project Life Sketch with Nicole

Hi lovelys! I'm super excited to share with you this simple project life sketch of mine.

This year, I'm using a 9x12 album and I like to be able to keep everything in one album for the entire year so I try to keep things flat. I'm months behind with my PL but I try not to worry too much cause it looses the fun of documenting. 

The Gather PL kit is my first DT kit and I love it! I couldn't help but be amaze with how pretty the products are and how well it goes together. Since I'm using a 3x3 page protector I cut down a bunch of journal cards as well as one special paper from the paper pad.

For this spread, I used a lot of customise cards with lots of stamps, cork embellishments, stitches, sticker sheets and journaling.

"This Makes Me Smile" card is actually a pattern paper is from Maggie Holmes Gather paper pad that is part of the Gather PL kit. The Hello Weekend card is made from a plain American Crafts card stock and I use the clear stamp included in the kit to make my own patterned paper.

Here is a shot of the whole spread for the event that happened my birthday month. I love how flat and easy the embellishments that is included in the kit. You can't go wrong with a Citrus Twist PL kit. My main strategy when making a spread like this is repetition, to make it easier and concentrate more on memory keeping and documenting which is the more important thing. Check out the sketch that I use for this. Enjoy! Pls share your projects created using my sketch.

Thank you!