Using Your Words with Shannon

 

Hey there, Citrus Twist friends! We are just days from Christmas (if you celebrate) so I wanted to share a story from my December Details album. I opted to use a Life Crafted album to house my project. Actually, if I'm being honest, my project has grown into two albums. And that's just fine with me! Whatever it takes to get my stories told. As a matter of fact, that's what I want to talk to you about today. Stories.

We all scrapbook for different reasons. Some like making pretty things. Some like playing with mixed media. Some like writing all the words. Some are a mix. I find myself leaning more toward writing all the words more often than not. I like a good balance of creative play and writing. I enjoy finding fun ways to write my journaling. Otherwise, it can just feel like a chore, and who wants that?

If you read my journaling above you'll see how I turned it into a fun story. I infused some of my sarcastic personality into the writing and made sure to make it something that would be fun for the kids to read. Since I have a 6-year-old who is an avid reader and a lover of my scrapbooks I have to be mindful of what I write and keep the magic of Christmas alive. Plus, I think you'll agree that journaling in this way is much more engaging to the reader! When I have a lot to say, like I did here, I love using the TN Basics from Citrus Twist. The one I used here is from the December TN Basics pack. I bring it into Photoshop to type out my journaling. Since I enjoy the typewriter look I use Remington Noiseless (8 point size) for my font.

Looking for other ways to vary your journaling? Here are a few ideas:

• Write out a list (kind of like I'm doing right now!)
• Format it as a letter. It doesn't need to be to a person. I've seen people address their letters to a favorite store, drink, ornament, etc.
• Write it as a "breaking news" story. How fun would this be for Santa's arrival?!
• Write it out interview-style.

And now, since I enjoy the creative part of scrapbooking as much as I enjoy the writing part, let's take a quick look at the rest of this layout.

I used a mix of the Sparkle & Joy kit, Comfort & Joy Digital Journaling Cards, December TN Basics, and Comfort & Joy Digital Elements to bring everything together. That card in the lower left corner? That's a TN Basics page shrunk down to size. And the card in the upper right is a 4x3 card from Sparkle & Joy kit that I cut down to fit the Instax-size page protectors. In fact, I used the back of that card for the opposite side of the layout. Double-sided cards for the win!

See that ruler card? That's the B side of the "25" card. And the "holiday cheer" card? That's a December TN Basics. The beauty of using digital/hybrid items is that you can repurpose them in so many different ways! Also - if you're looking to add the Instax look to your photos without an Instax camera, you can download a free Photoshop template in the Citrus Twist Kits Fan Page group on Facebook.

Finally, the title page. If you could call it that. I had a few scraps from the paper pack in the Sparkle & Joy kit that I wanted to use but none were long enough to be a full page. I didn't love the look of the seam so I added a line of labels to cover it up. I used the Sparkle & Joy Christmas Stamp to add a sentiment to each label (and then accidentally punched a hole through part of a sentiment - whoops!). I used the candy apple red puffy alpha for a monotone look of my "she's here." Then I decided that the page still needed a little something, which is where the large "this" die cut came in. After that, I had to make myself stop!

I hope that I've given you some new ideas for ways to breathe new life into your journaling. What one are you going to try first? I hope you'll share when you're done!

DECEMBER MEMORIES with our Guest Designer LORILEI MURPHY

 

Hi there!

Today our Guest Designer, LORILEI MURPHY, is joining us with a last look at her December Memories album.   She used our Sparkle and Joy kit, stamps, digital files and Candy Red Apple Life Crafted album to document memories of Christmas past.  Let's take a look at her projects:

We love all that Lorilei has created to document her 2009 Christmas season.   Lorilei, thank you so much for sharing your talent and stories with us.  You can always follow Lorilei for more inspiration at https://www.instagram.com/roseyposey_studio/

December Documented with Krystal

 

Hi all! This is Krystal, and today I'm sharing another foundation page in my December Documented album. I wanted to create a page that would allow me to add a whole bunch of photos from Christmas Day without having to add a ton of pages to my album. So I decided to make a waterfall page.

I decided to make my waterfall page sized to fit 3x4 inch photos. To do so, I cut a base page from a sheet of acetate I had in my stash to be 4x8.25 inches. That's the size of a page protector with two 3x4 pockets. 

I then cut one of the papers from the Sparkle and Joy kit to be 3.25x8 inches. That will be the bottom page of my waterfall. For the pages that will flip up, I cut three papers from the kit to 3.25x7.5, 3.25x6, and 3.25x4.5 inches respectively. That will give me space to add a 3x4 card to each flip-up page and still have plenty of room for photos and embellishments. 

I adhered a 3x4 card from the kit to the bottom of each of the flip-up pages. I liked the way they each peeked out from the page above them. And because I cut my pages to 3.25 inches wide, you can see a border of patterned paper around each card as well. 

I kept my embellishments very minimal so that I have the freedom to embellish according to my photos and stories from the actual day I'll be documenting. But at least I have something to get myself started!

If you'd like to see more details about how I put this page together, you can watch my entire process in the video below.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you were able to find some inspiration in my project, and I hope you'll try creating a waterfall page in your own album!

Sparkle and Joy with Guest Designer, Elizabeth Heinz

Hello friends, it's Elizabeth.  I'm DELIGHTED to share some more pages in my "ABC Christmas" Life Crafted Album.  As a reminder, I'm following a SIMPLE design formula to document some of my family's FAVORITE holiday traditions.  

For the left-hand page, I enlarged a photo to 4" x 8.25" to slip inside the page protector.  To finish, I created an embellishment cluster using a die-cut, chipboard circle and and puffy star sticker.  I chose this chipboard circle because the color AND sentiment complimented the sentiment on the journal card on the opposite page.

For the top right-hand page, I used a stamp from my stash, the red puffy alphabet sticker and my computer to create my title.  To finish, I added another die-cut and puffy sticker.  "Ho ho ho" and the mug of hot chocolate were the PERFECT combination for this story.

For the bottom right-hand page, I chose a 3 x 4 journal card to hold my WORDS.  At the top, I stapled another cute, colorful die-cut.

I hope these pages provided some INSPIRATION.  I'll be back later this month to share more ideas.  HAPPY crafting.  XO, Elizabeth

Sparkle & Joy with Patricia

 

Hello Friends!  I cannot wait to see how everyone documents this December with the Sparkle & Joy kit.  It is my favorite time to gain inspiration from each other.  And speaking of each other, even though I do not create base pages, in part of my prepping, I want to include an intro page that is very different from past years.  Here is my idea and inspiration for this years documenting.

First, I have one of the new Christmas Dividers/Tabs cut files cut from mirrored gold paper.  I made a goof in punching my holes, so used the pattern paper from the kit as reinforcers and as a way to add color and texture as you open my album.

Ah 2020, so many emotions and so much happening this year.  I used one of the cut files to create a vellum overlay of 2020 for my intro page.

I'm using the This is Life AM/PM stamp set and will keep it handy as I begin documenting.  I feel like this stamp really captures and sums up the positive I want to focus on from the year as it comes to a close.  Not ignoring what took place, but acknowledging it and showing how I want to make the choice and walkaway from how I've grown from the year.  I typed out the lyrics of Image of God by We are Messengers.  Like the stamp, the song captures the feeling I want to bring into this year's album. 

I typed the lyrics on the October TN pattern paper, and changed it to a light green, then added my text in a darker green.  I stamped at the top and bottom with the This is Life AM/PM, then placed the vellum 2020 over it.  

Once that was in place, I added hand stitching and puffy stickers from the kit.

I love this opening in my album as a reminder that we are all made in the Image of God.  It is setting my intention to make this December and close of the year more meaningful.  Hope this inspires you to dig deeper into how you want to document this year and ways to use the kit and digitals!  You can watch the video of the divider and my opening page coming together in the video below or here on the Citrus Twist Kits YouTube channel.

Sparkle & Joy with Krystal

 

Hi all! Krystal here with a fun embellishment tutorial using the Sparkle & Joy kit. Today I'll be showing you how to make rosettes to add to your album. Let's get started!

I started by choosing 7 papers, mostly leftover scraps, from the kit. I trimmed each of them down to thin strips, measuring between 1/2 and 1 1/2 inches wide. I cut two strips of the same width from each paper so that I could adhere them together to make one long strip to make the rosette from.

Once I had all of the strips cut, I used my score board to score the strips every 1/4 inch along the length. Then I folded them accordion style, making sure to alternate the beginning fold of each strip so that they could fit together nicely. I used a glue gun to adhere both sides of each strip together to create folded circles. Then I glued them to a circle of cardstock to create the rosettes.

Once I had all of the rosettes glued together, I embellished the front of each using paper circles, along with some of the chipboard circles and puffy stickers from the kit. 

If you had trouble following along with the written tutorial, you can find more detailed instructions in the video below.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you were able to find some inspiration for using your Sparkle & Joy kit this December. Until next time!

Sparkle & Joy with Ashley Horton

 

Hey there, friends!!  It's Ashley, and I'm back today to share a few more pages with you, in my December album, using the Sparkle & Joy Kit!  I've had so much fun documenting a trip we took in December 2018 to Helen, Georgia!  If you've missed any of the pages in my album, you can find my first Blog post here and see my other pages on the Citrus Twist Instagram feed.

For these pages, I had to use the back side of one of the 2x2 page protectors and thought it would be fun to fill it with a photo instead of embellishments.  I sized my photo to 4x6 and once I had it printed, cut it into 2x2 squares to fit in the page protector.  I did add some embellishments to fill in the two spaces at the top.  I like that they add something a little different to the page.

On the right hand side, I printed a full sized photo and slipped it one of the 4x8 page protectors.  Since I used page protectors for both of these pages, I decided to place some of my embellishments outside of the page protectors.  I like being able to layer them directly on my photos or on the outside!

On these next two pages, I cut one of the patterned papers from the Sparkle & Joy Kit to place in the page protector.  I didn't want to use another full sized photo, and I thought the patterned paper would create a fun background for my journaling card.  I taped the journaling card to a piece of 8.5x11 copy paper with washi tape and then ran it through my typewriter.  I finished off the left hand side of the page with one of the tab stickers and the cute little deer from the ephemera pack.

I wanted to use some of the Sparkle & Joy Digitals on the right hand side of the page.  I printed three of them on matte photo paper and trimmed them out.  Then I sized my photo to the same dimensions and printed it out in black and white.  Once I had all of them cut out, I arranged them on a white background in a grid pattern.  Then, I thought it would be fun to create a little shaker pocket with the FaLaLa Digital tag.  I sewed the bottom and one side closed, using a piece of vellum.  Then I placed my "confetti" on the inside and stitched the remaining sides closed.

My last layout, focuses on a favorite photo of the kids, that was taken on the trip.  I had them pose in front of one of the huge Christmas trees that were in the town.  I wanted to go big with this one, so I spread it across both pages in my album.  I used two different patterned papers from the Kit as the base of my layout.  I didn't want to cut anybody in half or down the middle of anyone's face on my photo, so I sized it first in Adobe Illustrator to make sure it would fit the page without doing either one of those.  Once I had the correct size, I placed it to the far right and then cut off the left hand side of the photo and lined it up on the opposite page.

I also loved the placement of the photo this way, because it left room for me to add my title on the left.  I used one of the words from the Gold Puffy Sticker sheet, placed vertically next to my photo.  Since I wanted the photo to be the focal point of this page, I kept my embellishments very simple.  I added two embellishment clusters at the top and bottom of the photo on the right hand side.  This placement also worked to create a visual triangle with the clusters and title.

I hope you are having a blast creating with your Sparkle & Joy Kit!!  I know I am!!  Make sure you keep an eye out on Instagram for a couple of other projects I'll be sharing between now and December.  And, don't forget to check out the fun digitals that coordinate with the Kit!