GUEST DESIGNER - HEBA ALSIBAI

We are so excited to have Heba join us for one last time here in our blog.  She is an amazing designer, and her project is just gorgeous, so i let her tell you about it

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Hello everyone, I’m excited to share my second project as a guest designer for Citrus Twist. I’ll be using the new Gratitude crafted kit. If you follow me on social media you know that I am my sons biggest marching band fan. Every Friday night, my daughter and I get together with our friends to create a cheer squad to cheer on the marching band kids. So when I saw the Gratitude Kit with all its colorful pattern paper, I know I had to document our cheer squad.

I’m a huge fan of multiple photos on one spread especially when working in a traveler’s notebook. It’s my go to when I have a lot of photos from one occasion. You never have to choose which ones make it on your spread:). Just make sure you use small photos to be able to fit them all.

For this spread I decided to go with my go to sketch for adding multiple photos on one small layout. It’s to add my photos in a straight line creating a column of photos. This helps your spread stay uncluttered and neat. I started by adding one of the brighter pattern papers from the kit for my background. This paper worked well with my bright and fun photos.

Once my bright background was added I needed to mute it down a bit. So I ended up using the navy blue paper to help mute it down. This also gave me space to add a title. I ended up using the glittery alpha stickers that came in my kit to add “Cheer Squad”.

I embellished my photos with puffy sticker, chipboard and word stickers from the kit. This is my favorite way to add layers and texture to my spread. I used a 3x4 card from the kit to give me that space I needed for my journaling. This also helped the colors flow from the left side of my spread to the right side of my spread. I finished my layout by stamping a little subtitle above my card and called my layout done.

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Thank you Heba for such beautiful projects, we have loved having you this month as our Guest Designer, and cannot wait to see your next creations.  

Remember to leave Heba some love, and be sure to follow her -you will be inspired by her creations!-

 Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/hebaalsibai/

 YouTube channel  http://www.youtube.com/c/MyLittleJournal

My Favorite Things with Elizabeth

Hello friends.  Today, I'd like to share a few of the foundation pages in My Favorite Things Life-Crafted Album.  As a reminder, I plan to use WORDS and PHOTOS to document some of the things that are SPECIAL to me.

I believe that a SIMPLE design formula = SUCCESS.  

To begin each section, I created a tag out of Kraft card stock.  I used VersaMark ink and an OLD advent stamp to create a subtle background.  Next, I added ribbon and a puffy number sticker.  I also added a strip of washi tape to the back of the tag to coordinate with my journaling spot.

I plan to include two photos in each section - one full size 4 x 8.25 and one 3 x 4.  

In addition to photos, each section will have a space for WORDS.  For consistency, I attached my journaling spot with the SAME washi tape as my tag to MORE Kraft card stock.  Next, I attached a label and two enamel dots to serve as the title of my collection.

Finally, I created a 3 x 4 filler card for each section to SUPPORT my words and photos.  I LOVED playing with journaling cards, papers, stickers, digital items, doilies AND stamps.

Here's a closer look at how EACH section will flow in the album.

Stay tuned.  Next month, I'll share my completed pages.  

Sunday Sketch Challenge with Nathalie

Hi there!

Nathalie with you today with this week's Sunday Sketch Challenge.   It is starting to feel like the most and busiest time of the year.  With so many activities happening, time for documenting our life is diminished.  Here is where sketches come in handy as they give you a map to construct your page, then add a fun kit , and it takes no time to put pages together.  This is the case for the following, but before we continue let me show you the sketch:

I was so inspired to work with the sketch as it lends so easily for different formats of documenting that i just had to use it on a layout and my Life Crafted album.  Let me show you.

This month's Scrapbook Add-on kit is gorgeous, filled with autumnal colors and designs and perfect to document a few memories from the first CTK Retreat.

I stayed true to the sketch this time around, but decided to add a layer of mixed media instead of paper as the bottom layer of the page ( the stencil is from Finnabair and Vicki Boutin Rose Gold glaze).

While the glaze dried, i pulled papers from the Add-On kit, and created the layers behind the pictures.   I chose a paper from Pebbles -This is Family- as the base for the layers as it contrasts with the rest of the papers, then cut papers from Pink Paislee and Maggie Holmes to match the layers in the sketch ( and even used my sewing machine as the sketch suggested).

I chose to replace the tickets/labels in the sketch with flowers (from Pink Paislee's Again and Again collection ) included in the add-on kit and then added pieces of the Cut-apart elements to create the clusters as the sketch shows.   I chose to add a few sentiments to the page using gold ink and the Life Crafted and Traveller's Notebook stamp set.   To finish, I just added my title and all my journaling as the sketch suggested.

I love how easy  this came together, so i decided to use the same sketch for one of my entries in my Gratitude Journal (Life Crafted Album) using this month's Life Crafted Gratitude kit and its digital files.

I chose to use a hybrid approach for this page - so, this came together in less than 20 minutes-.   First, i flipped the sketch 90 degrees which set my two pages in place.

I pulled the November Digital TN papers and printed the BEAUTIFUL purple paper to match the size of the Life Crafted insert (5x8.25") , then also printed the star paper and all the cut apart elements that are in the page.

This time, i chose to replace one of the paper layers and second picture  for a screenshot of my flight itinerary ( let's just say, I made Trina lose her Ferry spot, and delayed our arrival to the Inn by a few hours).  However, i built the page as suggested by the sketch and replaced the stitching with stamped sentiments from the Life Crafted and Traveler's Notebook Stamp sets.

For the other side of the layout, i chose to use the digital Cut Apart elements to create the cluster of labels and tags on the page -these were enlarged to balance the journal on the bottom of the page, and then printed separately).   I pulled the This is Life:  Grateful Digital stamp to help me create the title for the page.  Once again, i finished the page by adding stamped sentiments and Purple embellishments from the Life Crafted kit.

Love how easy these pages came together using the sketch as the starting point.  This month's kits are just so beautiful that it was so easy to mix and match pieces, and then there is the digital files that complement the kits.  Now it is your turn to be inspired by the sketch!  Don't forget to share with us what you create, we love to  see your work.

Remember to check the kits (take advantage of the Subscription offer!) and all the digital files available at the CTK Shop.   If you have questions about these pages, please do not hesitate to contact me!

xo,

"BeautiFALL" Life Crafted with Tina Stepanova

Hello CTK friends!

It's Tina here, and today I want to share with you a new Life Crafted project I made using the beautiful November "Gratitude" Kit.

I decided to combine documenting one of our recent hikes and gratitude journaling as this month's kit is perfect for both of these. So I started by decorating the photos of the first layout with some kind of title at the top using glitter alphabet stickers and a "time to unwind" puffy sticker. Next I trimmed a 3x4 journaling card to fit into the lower pocket of a page protector #3 and printed my journaling on it.

After that I cut out the quote from the turquoise journaling card and adhered its words to the butterfly card. And that's it, the first layout was finished.

On the back of the butterfly card I printed my gratitude journaling (I must say I did it before I adhered the quote I was telling you above). And then I added a cut apart purple label and a puffy sticker at the top of another photo of my family.

For the last page I chose a page protector #1, trimmed a piece of white cardstock to fit into it and created a fallen leaves pattern using die-cut vellum pieces from the kit. To add a little bit of dimension to the leaves I punched holes along the middle line of each leaf and hand stitched them with a mustard yellow thread. In the end I added a few chipboard pieces in the upper corner of the photo and created a title with glitter alphabet stickers.

Thank you so much for stopping by! Until next time!

XO,

MEET OUR GUEST DESIGNER : HEBA ALSIBAI

Hi there!
We are super excited to introduce our Guest Designer for this month.  Her style is clean, innovative, inspiring, and she is one of the nicest girls you could ever meet.  Help us welcome, our November Guest Designer, Heba Alsibai.   You are going to love her and her projects.

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GET TO KNOW HEBA

Hello, everyone! My name is Heba; I’m a mother of two teenagers and a wife to a wonderful husband. My husband and I own a small medical supply company that keeps my husband traveling and me working from home. I love that I’m able to work from home; I get to see my kids go off to school and welcome them home when they get back. I live in the beautiful state of Georgia, far from the hustle and bustle of Atlanta. I'm a total homebody that loves to read and loves to watch reruns of Friends. But by far my favorite thing to do is crafting. I also love sharing my crafty projects on my YouTube channel and Instagram.

You can find me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/hebaalsibai/

and my YouTube channel where I share process video http://www.youtube.com/c/MyLittleJournal

Q & A with HEBA

-          When did you start scrapbooking?

Back in 2001 When I gave birth to my first born, I started keeping a little scrapbook album for him. It wasn’t your traditional scrapbook album. It was more of journaling milestones and documenting pictures with dates. I also did the same with my daughter once she was born. But in 2007, I moved to Dubai and became really good friends with my next door neighbor who was an avid scrapbooker. Once she shared her beautiful scrapbooking layouts with me, I was hooked.

-          What is something most people would not know about you?

I play the piano! I started playing the piano at a young age and majored in music education but changed my major half way through to Early Childhood Education. I love music so much I even passed it on to my kids. Now my son is first chair Bass Clarinet and my daughter is first chair violin. We are definitely not a sports family lol.

-          What are the 3 scrapbooking products you can’t live without?

My #1 product has to be my Canon Selphy Printer. I can’t document anything with out great quality pictures. I love my printer so much I have at least three videos on my channel sharing tips and tricks on how to use a Selphy printer.

My #2 has to be Kokuyo Dotliner adhesive. If you haven’t tried this adhesive you are missing out. It holds up really well but if you change your mind and want to move things around on your layout, you can still do that without tearing your paper.

My #3 is my Scrapbook.com ink pads. You have 51 colors to choose from, they also have reinkers, and the quality is amazing. If you don’t want to invest in so many ink pads I recommend you start with their Premium black dye ink first. It’s the best black ink ever.

-          What do you love about the November  – GRATITUDE-?

I’m a sucker for puffy stickers and the puffy stickers in this kit is everything. I love the different shapes and sentimental of these stickers. They are very versatile and definitely fun to work with.

-          Finish this sentence “If you could see my scrapbooking space now . . . “

You would find all my unfinished projects on the floor. If I put my unfinished projects away then I will never finish them. So they sit on the floor to remind me that I need to work through them and get them done J

Hello friends! I'm delighted to be the guest designer for Citrus Twist this month, and share my first project with you using the Gather Life Crafted Kit. I can’t tell you how much I’m loving the Life Crafted Album. As a fan of the traveler’s notebooks, this size album is up my ally. I’ve been using my Life Crafted album to document my son's senior year of high school.  

The Gather kit had the perfect mix of embellishment, cards and papers to document my fun and bright senior. When I saw this beautiful yellow card I new I would be documenting him in his bright yellow mascot custom. I could have added my card in a 3x8 page protector. But I wanted to create an interactive element in my album and create a large tag. All I did was punch a hole for my twine, trimmed off the top corners and created a 3x8 tag. Easy peezy lemon squeezy :) 

I wanted to add some embellishments to my tag and picture, but I also wanted to keep it simple. So I added a few word stickers down my photo and a cute speech bubble. I’m all about, less is more, so by adding similar colored embellishments on my tag helped everything flow nicely. 

I had one more senior picture of my son to document so I ended up using the backside of my tag to document it.  I thought it would be fun to trim around my picture and make it look like my son was peaking out from the edge of the tag. I think it looks pretty cool, don’t you think? Using the stamp set to add words and sentiments around my image adds another fun element. 

To finish my layouts I used a 3x8 page protector with two 3x4 pockets. This gave me space to add two cards, one for my journaling and the other as a filler pocket. It was so much fun putting these spreads together. If you have a senior I recommend you document his/her senior year in the Life Crafted Album. It’s such a great size to document your seniors last year in high school.

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WOW!!!  Thank you Heba for sharing a bit of you with our followers and the amazing project.   We love it!  Remember to leave Heba some love and to follow her on social media.

 Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/hebaalsibai/

 YouTube channel  http://www.youtube.com/c/MyLittleJournal

  She will be back later this moth with another project  and a bit more of her!

XO