Love You

Good morning! I hope you are doing well. It's Claudia here with you and today I'm sharing a layout I created with this month's Main kit. I like challenging myself so I decided to use a color scheme I normally wouldn't go for and pull in a lot of orange/peach embellishments. The photo I used fits that color scheme quite well so that definitely made it easier.

The orange paper from the Pinkfresh Studio Dream On collection that comes in this month's kit was the perfect paper to create a little bit of interest to the background seeing as the color works well with the rest of the layout and the pattern is not too busy.

One of my favorite papers this month is the one from the Maggie Holmes Chasing Dreams collection with all the butterflies. I cut out a few that matched my color scheme and placed them on my layout. As always, I folded up the wings to create more dimension.

For my layering I mostly used papers that had some orange and mint/teal in them, but I also decided to pull in a little bit of black because that is in the photo and I always love the contrast it adds to any project.

I placed the embellishments in a (sort of) diagonal way and also pulled in the phrase stickers from the Pinkfresh Studio Live More collection to fill in the space. I love the exclusive die cut pack from this month's kit so I made sure to use a lot of them on the left side of my photo.

To finish off my layout I pulled in some of the puffy stickers from the Pinkfresh Studio Dream On collection to add a bit more interest to some places on the layout that I felt needed a bit more. The last thing I did was add some splatters by using my Heidi Swapp Gold Lame Color Shine from my stash.

Thank you so much for joining me today, I hope you enjoyed seeing this layout and that you feel inspired to create yourself. Have a wonderful day!

- Claudia

Sunday Sketch with Claudia

Good morning! I hope you're having a lovely weekend. It's Claudia here with you and today I'm sharing a layout I created using the following sketch;

One of the things I really like about working with sketches is that it gives you a start of point in terms of where to put certain things on your layout. I knew from the start that I didn't want to use 2 photos on this layout so instead of using another photo I just chose to go with another design element. I cut out a piece from the cut apart paper from the Crate Paper Oasis collection which came in this month's Main Kit.

Since my photo was taken in the sky I thought the title 'Let's Go' would be quite fitting. I used the gold glittered thickers from the Main Kit to create part of my title. For the 'Go' part I used some letters from the cut apart paper from the Pinkfresh Studio Dream On and traced them on the pink circle paper from the Maggie Holmes Chasing Dreams collection to add an extra pop of pink (I can never have too much pink on a layout!). To give the letters a bit more definition I pulled out a pencil and outlined them.

I don't really do journaling on my layouts so I used the numbers that you see on the sketch as a design element, which I think works just fine. Do you have a similar photo? Maybe it would be an idea to put your top 5 favorite / dream destinations on there if you're not too keen on doing visible journaling on your layouts.

I punched out a few tiny butterflies with my punch and added them to create a little more interest and dimension in some places. I finished off the layout by adding some gold splatters using the Heidi Swapp Gold Lame Color Shine mist from my stash.

To play along with this week's challenge, create a layout inspired by the sketch, upload it to the Citrus Twist Kits Gallery with the sketch date (3/26) in the title, and you might win a $5 gift certificate to the CTK store.

Looking forward to seeing what you will create!


Claudia

3 to Inspire with Claudia

Hello everyone! I hope you are having a lovely weekend. Claudia here with you today and I'm very excited to be hosting the 3 to inspire this week. For this layout I used the March 2017 Main Kit + Sprinkles Kit.

Here are the 3 prompts for this week:
1. Add a strip of pattern paper to one (or both) side of the layout
2. Use a curved title
3. Add at least 3 layers behind your photo

I absolutely love the exclusive paper that comes with this month's kit so I knew that that was the paper I wanted to put on the left side of my layout. Because it is quite color, it immediately gave me an idea on which color scheme to use.

I really enjoy putting paper layers behind my photo, but what I enjoy even more is tucking in little bits and pieces in between them to create dimension on my layout. The exclusive cork pieces that come in this month's kit are perfect to do just that.

The Freckled Fawn foam stickers are one of my favorite items from this month's kit - because they are made out of foam you can bend them in whatever way you want, making it a lot of fun to play around with (hence the curved title prompt, but of course you can also use any type of alpha you want).

To add extra pops of color I added some enamel dots from the Shimelle 'Little By Little' collection - you can never go wrong with enamel dots (or shapes for that matter)! :)

I hope you enjoyed seeing this layout and that you will feel inspired to play along this week. Use the three prompts to create your own projects and share them with us here in the gallery and/or our Facebook Forum. You can share them on Instagram too! Don't forget to tag @citrustwistkits and hashtag #citrustwistkits #ctk3toinspire.

xo Claudia

Think Happy, Be Happy with Claudia

Good morning! It's Claudia here with you and today I'm sharing a layout I made with the gorgeous Brinley February 2017 Main kit + February 2017 Embellishment kit. I love anything and everything pink so these kits are right up my alley.

I started off by cutting 2 strips of my favorite papers that are included in this month's kit. I only had to cut into one paper because I loved both sides. I knew I wanted to mainly focus on the items from the Maggie Holmes Catching Dreams collections that were included in the kits.

I selected some of the papers I wanted to use for the layering and grabbed a piece of vellum from my stash. This is a great way to add a different texture in between your layers or to tone down a certain paper that you are using for your layering.

I added some foam tape behind my photo so that I could add some of the chipboard thickers from the Main kit behind it. I love the dimension this adds.

I love these cork shapes from the Hazelwood collection by 1Canoe2 that came in the Main kit, I thought the butterfly worked perfectly with my layout. I added a pink heart on top of it to add a pop of pink and to make it look a little more interesting.

The last thing I did was add some gold splatters using the Heidi Swapp Color Shine Gold Lame mist from my stash.

Thank you so much for joining me! I hope you enjoyed seeing this layout and that you feel inspired to start creating. Have a wonderful day!

- Claudia

Hello Fun / Oh Darling Add On Kit

Good morning! I hope you are doing well. It's Claudia here and today I'm sharing a layout I made with this month's 'Oh Darling' Add On Kit and the Pattern Paper Play Kit.

For this layout I'm using a somewhat larger photo than usual and didn't trim it down. The reason I didn't do this is because the photo has some open space which I thought would be the perfect place for my title to go.

I knew I wanted to make a somewhat colorful layout and the paper with the watercolor circles from the Pattern Paper Play Kit was the perfect one to get started with. I cut out the circles (about half of them ones that were on the paper) and put them to the right side of my layout.

I then went through the embellishments in the kit and selected some that matched the colors of the circles. I couldn't find enough matching ones, so I thought that it would be nice to add some of the foam number thickers to the ones that didn't have anything on them yet. If you struggle with using numbers this might a great way for you to use them up! :)

For my title I used one of the gold foiled pieces from the ephemera pack (Hello) and for the other part I used those beautiful black foam thickers again. I love mixing titles - it just makes them look a little more interesting to look at.

Thank you for joining me today, I hope you enjoyed seeing this layout and that you feel inspired to start creating! Have a great day!

xo Claudia

In My Studio with Claudia van Rooijen

Good morning everyone. It's Claudia here with you and today I have a something a little bit different to share with you, which is my scrap 'studio' / scrap space. I was a little bit hesitant about doing this post because I feel like my scrap space isn't really worthy of showing and I always get a bit jealous when I see the most amazing craft rooms. At the same time, I realize that there's lots of us who don't have that luxury so I decided to do it anyway.

Wild About You

Good morning! Claudia here with you and today I'm sharing a layout using the gorgeous November Main kit and the Sprinkles kit. I'm absolutely in love with these kits and I think they are very versatile in terms of the color scheme you can use. I personally really love using feminine colors (read - pretty much all the time haha!), so I thought that it would be fun to set a 'challenge' for myself to use masculine colors/elements and try something different from my usual style.

I love the exclusive paper that came in the kit this month and instantly decided to use that as my background. The next thing I did was go through to rest of the papers and select some that I felt would match the color scheme I had in mind.

I knew I wanted to use those white foam thickers that said 'Wild About You' for my title but wasn't quite sure about the placement. I separated the words to make the layout a little more interesting to look at.

For the embellishing I added some of the puffy dots to create pops of color. I also added a bunch of sequins and hearts to make it look more 'full'.

Thank you for stopping by today! I hope that you enjoyed seeing this layout and that you feel inspired to challenge yourself to try something you haven't done (in a while). Have a great day! :)

- Claudia

3 to Inspire with Claudia

Good morning! This week I'm hosting the 3 to inspire weekly challenge and I'm so excited to be here with you today. This is my first post since joining the team and I can't wait to share more of my work with you.

Here are the 3 prompts for this week:
1. Use a black and white photo
2. Get creative with the Pinkfresh Studio Indigo Hills Ephemera
3. Use at least 2 strips of patterned paper with torn edges

The first thing I did was decide which papers I wanted to use for the strips at the top. I decided on that gorgeous bird paper and the wooden one to create a little bit of balance. When it comes to tearing up the edges; anything goes! There's no right or wrong way to do this so tear away! If you want, you could fold up the edges so the other side of the paper is visible in a subtle way.

I personally really love using black and white photos because it makes it so much easier to find colors that match (pretty much all colors). 

I love the Pinkfresh Studio Indigo Hills Ephemera that came in the Main kit this month so I wanted to try and use up as many of them as I could. Most of the time I just select a few bits and pieces that go with my layout but this time I actually pulled out the ephemera pieces first, decided on their placement, and then picked out my photo and everything else.

 

The ephemera pieces are the main 'feature' on this layout, but I needed something to fill in the empty spaces. These exclusive puffy stickers were perfect to do just that; they are also a great way to add a pop of a certain color to your layout. 

I hope you enjoyed seeing this layout and that you will feel inspired to play along this week. Use the three prompts to create your own projects and share them with us here in the gallery and/or our Facebook Forum. You can share them on Instagram too! Don't forget to tag @citrustwistkits and hashtag #citrustwistkits #ctk3toinspire.

xo Claudia