Simple Strategies With Sandy

Hi everyone ! I'm thrilled to be back and working with the first kits of 2014. One of my favourite things this month is the Studio Calico Printshop 6x6 paper pad from the Project Life Kit. The smaller scale patterns are perfect for what I call my messy-desk style layout.   

 

This type of design basically seeks to replicate the look of a craft table with scraps of pattern paper strewn all over. I simply take a large sheet of brown paper, cut a 8.5x11 rectangle out of the middle and move pieces of 6x6 papers around, under the cut-out until I settle on a pleasing arrangement. 

 

Then I glue everything down and trim off any excess that falls outside the cut-out. Add the title, a photo or two, some journaling and finish off with a fun embellishment like this Citrus Twist exclusive - a handmade butterfly garland.

 

The many graphic black and white patterns in this paper pad, in particular that bold graffiti scrawl, suggested to me the excitement and energy of New York. So I paired them with some neutralising kraft papers and scrapped this page about visiting Liberty Island. I've used some store items on my page such as The Pier slide frame and labels from Basic Grey's Capture Snippets Journal, as well as some items from older kits such as the Star & Bee chipboard arrows and Prima alphabets.    

 

Hope you enjoy playing with your January kits as much as I do. And don't forget to check out the store as Trina has added lots of exciting new items. You have to be quick though, as they tend to sell out fast ! 

Sunday Sketch with Jen - Guessing Game #5!

Hey guys! It's Jen here and today I'm sharing a layout I made with this week's sketch - check it out below.

I decided to interpret the sketch pretty literally and used a large photo in the center of the page. Every item I used is from the main scrapbook and embellishment kit - as well as the pocket life kit for one item.

Recognize anything? Be sure to leave a comment with your guesses as to what's in the kit, you could win a $5 gift card to the Citrus Twist shop!

To play along with the Sunday Sketch Challenge, upload your layout(s) to the gallery by January 11th to be entered in a drawing to win a $5 Citrus Twist gift certificate to our store or add-on kits. When uploading to the gallery, please include "Sketch 1/4" along with your layout title.

Can't wait to see what you do with this week's sketch!

It's January Reveal Day at Citrus Twist Kits!

A New Year, a fresh start and lots of bright color coming your way this month from Citrus Twist Kits. This month's kits will be like a small burst of sun in your kit box this month. To ring in the New Year we are offering a refer a friend subscriber special. When you refer a friend who subscribes by January 15th to either the Main or Pocket Life kit, both you and your friend will get 3 exclusive Citrus Twist Kits stamps from past kits. (These stamps are not for sale individually!) Make sure the friend you refer mentions you in the comments section at checkout.

Our new Kits page is easier to navigate now. You can check out our kits here at Citrus Twist Kits Subscriptions.

We'll start with January's Main scrapbook kit, "You are My Sunshine." You can see lots of color in this kit with many neutral paper options. With this kit you can go big and bold or neutral with small pops of color.

Next is our January Pocket Life kit "Magic Days." It's delightful to see the Design Team sneaks rolling in for this colorful kit:

"Love Always" our kit add-on for the month will transition you right into February. The new chip board shapes from October Afternoon are too cute!

Next we have our "Epic Fun" Embellishment kit. If you've been subscribing to our kits for a while, you know that our Embellishment and Pocket Life Embellishment kits always coordinate with our Main and PL kits. We keep these at an affordable price for those of you (like me) who can't get enough embellishments to grace your pages:

"Rainbow Sherbet" will bring back those lazy summer day memories of ice cream on the boardwalk. The low-profile foam alphabet works perfect for Pocket Life. Small chalkboard stickers will be a fun addition for your PL projects this month:

This month's "Shine On" Pattern Paper kit is a great mix of paper to make your kits go even further. From geometric to floral, you'll love the blue, orange, yellow and pink in this kit:

Our Solid Paper kit allows you to double up on solids for your Main kit and always matches your Pocket Life kit, too. The title banner might read "pattern paper" but this kit has one each of 4 solids, as shown below:

And last comes the newest subscription addition to Citrus Twist Kits: Our 6-month stamp subscription. You'll still be able to buy the monthly stamp individually, but we've listened to your requests to also make this a subscription so you won't have to think about purchasing every month. Here is January's "Silver Linings" stamp that you will be able to use over and over again:

Here is a video to view Melissa's unveiling of our January kits:



Thank you for visiting and have a wonderful 2014 filled with many wonderful scrapbookable moments! We can't wait to see what you do with the kits when you post your creations in our Gallery.

Trina

Guessing Game #4 - Love You layout with Amélie

Hi there! Here is Amélie and today, I am going to share with you my first layout with January kit. This month, I am working with Add-On kit. I really love this kit which is so colorful and bright!
For this layout, I just wanted to play with "hearts", I was inspired by hearts paper from Crate of the kit. So, you will find on this layout lot of hearts ♥, some have been cut with my Silhouette Cameo.

Chic tags labels and gold washi tape come from my Citrus Twist Christmas kit.
I hope this layout inspire you!
Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to leave a comment comment with your guess of what's in this month's kits based on what you see in my layout and you'll be entered to win a $5 GC to the CTK shop!
Have a good day,
Amélie

Guessing Game #3 - Playing with Pocket Life with April

Happy New Year CTKers! And happy first friday of the month.. and year!  It's April.. here to share my Pocket Life week 47.

With the holidays and then getting sick right at the end of the year, I managed to put this spread together very easily but I didn't have too much time to do so.  Luckily, Trina always coordinates the best kits, so it made it easy to do a spread quickly!

I absolutely LOVED the January kits.  There was so much included in the Pocket Life kit - I can't wait to play with it in it's entirety.  For this spread, I used the Pocket Life Kit, PL Embellie Kit, and the Main Embellie Kit.

Here's a close up shot of a couple of my favorite cards on this spread:

I LOOOOVE gold doilies and was so happy to see that Trina included a couple in the Pocket Life kit!

And here are your sketches:

Don't forget:  You still have the chance to leave a comment with a guess at what's in this month's kit for a chance to win a $5 GC to the CTK store!

Thanks for stopping by!

Guessing Game #2 - Be Inspired with Jen Chapin

Hi there! Jen here and today I am sharing my first layout with you using the January kit. This kit is so bright and fun and I had such a great time working with it! I was inspired by these photos of my kids for this layout. My daughter and son are totally different! My daughter Keira loves to sit and play quietly, read, play games on the iPad, and color. My son Connor on the other hand -- well he is into everything! Here I caught him playing in the toilet ;)

I decided to divide my page in half and do one side pink and one side blue. I added some elements from the kit to complete the look. Everything you see here is from the main scrapbook and embellishment kits, and the orange letters are from the Pocket Life kit! The only thing I added from my stash was mist.

So, what did you spot in this month's kit?? Be sure to leave your comment and let us know for a change to win a $5 gift card to the Citrus Twist shop!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Meet our Guest Designer Lucia

My name is Lucia, I’m 29 (will turn 30 on 14^th Jan!) and I come from Slovakia. I live with my sister, a bunny Cookie and a cat Pepsi in my lovely hometown under the mountains in the north of my country. I love white chocolate, Agatha Christie’s detective stories, Les Misérables musical, the smell of lilac, home décor and I love to feel warm spring air on my face.

After an awesome experience - nine years of travelling, living and working in different European countries I’ve decided it was time to come back home and start following my dream.

I’ve completed a British e-course about designing pretty patterns last year and then designed some digital scrapbooking papers, journaling tags and clear stamps in Slovak. My dream is to become a surface pattern designer and do what I love – anything scrapbooking related.

http://luciabarabas.com/

https://www.facebook.com/LuciaBarabasDesigns

http://www.youtube.com/user/luciabarabas

http://instagram.com/luciabarabas

  

1. How long have you been scrapbooking and why did you start? I started scrapbooking in the summer of 2011. I used to live in Rome at the time and one lovely afternoon me and a friend (a Texan!) were sitting in St. Peter's Square, chatting about what we would love to do in life as a dream job. I wanted to make and sell cards (I always loved paper crafting) and have cats. I had really starte dto make cards in the end and while googling "cardmaking" it's obvious that I found "scrapbooking" too. It was like I could finally give a name to something I loved to do since I was a child! (Scrapbooking is not well known in Europe yet, compared to the U.S.) Today scrapbooking takes most of my (not only) free time. And I have a cat and a bunny. :)
2. How would you describe your scrapbooking style? It's clean, loose and simple in mostly white and pastel colors. Layers, white thread and some glitter, sequins or at least paint splatters are a must! I also like use and re-use things like frames or packaging that I use for layering or confetti from punching holes for example.
3. What scrapbookers have influenced you most? In the beginning I was influenced a lot by Rahel Menig. Now it's mostly Stephanie Bryan, Allison Waken, Marcy Penner and Anna-Maria Wolniak. And I love Paige Evans, too. :)
4. What is your favorite thing about kit clubs? It's that little magic - to open the kit and find a variety of all the pretty papers and bits and pieces that go well together. I love the fact that the only thing I have to think about is what I will use them for (and that I don't need to put those things together first :) )
5. If you departed on a week-long trip to CHA Anaheim 2014, what are your 5 favorite scrapbooking items you would bring with you (besides your camera and photos)? Definitely foam alphabet thickets. I LOVE them! Then it would be tissue paper, white acrylic paint, some lovely patterned papers in pastel colors and (I will cheat on the last one) a box full of pretty little rounded embellishments like brads, flairs and sequins.

Here is a peek at here scrap space:

Lucia's Citrus Twist Kits box is on its way to her and she is hoping she gets it any day now! Watch for more of her work this month.

**Remember to leave some love for a chance to win ONE of her favorite items!**