Sunday Sketch with Leigh

Welcome to our Sunday Sketch! Leigh here, to share a pretty literal interpretation of the sketch because the sketch is so great! Thank you to Michelle Wedertz for creating these.

Using the June Boardwalk Scrapbook Kit and the Embellishment kit, I stayed true to the sketch. I love the centered grid and the spots for embellishment, well really, I  love everything about this sketch!

The sketch for today.

The turquoise boots are the main focal point of the photo, so I chose the complementary (opposite on the color wheel) orange for the embellishment on my page. There are so many options to choose from in the June embellishment kit. 

Add your favorite embellishments behind and on top of the squares, and you have a quick to complete page done in a jiffy.


Thanks for joining us today, and happy crafting.
Leigh

3 to Inspire

Hi friends, Tara here with another "3 to Inspire" challenge for you. You can find this challenge here every Saturday for those who need a little extra creative push to get scrapbooking, keep scrapbooking or for those who just like a challenge! Don't forget to read through the end to see how you can enter to win some Happy Mail.


My prompts for you today are:

1. stamping a patterned background 
2. adding color with mixed media
3. long journaling/story telling

Here is my finished layout in my traveler's notebook for this challenge:

I recently celebrated my birthday last month. I had some goals I wanted to achieve before this birthday and I realized I haven't reached any of them!!! Instead of beating myself up and feeling sorry for myself, I took this birthday as an opportunity to start fresh. We are always so hard on ourselves and this year I am practicing more self-love. I took this as a great opportunity to share that in my spread here.

I really wanted to work more with some mixed media and decided to break out my acrylic paints that have been sitting barely used. I started with a layer of white Gesso smeared on the page. Then I alternated using blue, coral, and yellow paints on a gift card to get the little smears. I went vertical and horizontal for a more messy, but colorful look. I wanted to tone it down a bit so I added a light layer of Gesso again. Then one more layer in a few places of the three paints. I made sure to use my heat tool (you can use a hair dryer too) to dry each layer. at first I wasn't sure if I would love it but in the end it was just perfect!!

I then added my stamping background using the "XOXO" sentiment from the June GraceBox kit. I wanted to make sure it had the stamp throughout so I stamped around my photo that I already glued down.

I love all the little sentiments in the kit. I added some of the die cuts and a sticker from the kit, as well as an old wood chip piece I had from a previous kit. 

Here is a closer look at my journaling.

I used the washi sample included in the GraceBox kit and the scallop stamp from the Scripture Doodles stamp set. I also drew a box around my journaling. I really love how well the Illustrated Faith pens work on top of mixed media. They are truly the best ever.


I'm completely smitten with the gold and cork hearts in the Sprinkles kit this month - I wish I had a lot of extras for my stash! I used one of the heart leatherette stickers I had left over from a kit and added a homemade enamel dot. There is a little bit of light layering with vellum and a bit of the Elle's Studio paper from the June 'Boardwalk' PL kit.

I also used the fun "On Record" stamp from the Boardwalk kit. I know I"ll be using that stamp a lot. I love the font so much!

Now it's your turn! To play along, simply create a project (scrapbooking, pocket life, bible journaling, etc) using this week's prompts. Upload it to the Gallery with today's date (6/3) in the title, and you will be eligible to win some Happy Mail from the CTK store. I can't wait to see what you create.

Have a lovely weekend! Xxo, Tara

Pocket Life Sketch Friday with Diane

One way to deal with a lack of photos is an enlargement. One way to deal with a poorly lit and focused photo is to change it to black and white. Here I've combined both! Which allowed me to keep a strong colour scheme of yellow and teal with some little pops of red florals from the June Pocket Life kit.

Here are some details...

And here is the process video of how this layout came together...


And now for the sketch for you to work with...

Thanks for visiting Pocket Life Sketch Friday, where every week we share PL sketches and a chance to win. For your chance to win, create a layout based on the sketch in this blog post, post your layout to our Gallery or our Facebook Fan Page by Friday, June 9th 2017. Be sure to include PL 06/02 in the title!

June Guest Designer

Hello, hello, Citrus Twist fans! My name is Megan, aka Crafty Meggy or Meggy Blethen, and I am so excited to be the guest designer this month! I can't wait to use this fun summery kit and show you all the projects I make with it.

First up, I have a little Q&A sesh for you and then we will jump to my very first layout.

How long have you been scrapbooking and why did you start?

I started scrapbooking when I was about 14 years old. My youth group did a little scrapbook collage and it totally opened my eyes and ever since then I have been hooked. Since I was a teenager I started out scrapbooking about myself and my friends, but once I got married and had kids they were a lot more fun subjects. I want them to remember their childhood, something that I don't have myself, so I have continued scrapbooking.

How would you describe your scrapbooking style? 

I like to say my style is somewhat simple and I like to use a lot of clean lines. I have delved into mixed media a little bit, but I try to stay pretty clean.

What scrapbookers have influenced you most?

I am influenced by so many people it is hard to pick just a few of them, but I will try. The big wigs that I really love are Paige Evans, Amanda Jayne Baldwin and Missy Widden. I also really love Christy Harriman, Hannah Lemieux and Kira and Mary from Create Craft Repeat. There are so many I could literally go on for HOURS!!

What is your favorite thing about kit clubs?

I really love that with most kits you can get the latest and greatest collections at a really good price. The exclusive products and printables are also a really fun addition to kits.

What are your 5 favorite scrapbooking items you can't do without? 

Thickers, sequins, patterned paper, spray mists and my ATG gun. I don't know what I'd do without that tape gun! Lol!

How would you describe the Citrus Twist June "Boardwalk" kit and why will people love it?

This kit is summery and full of yummy goodies to make some awesome projects! I don't know about you but I am ready to jump head first into summer so let's get this party started!!

Next I want to show you my kit reveal video on my YouTube channel. You can find that here:

Now, let's move onto my layout:

For this layout I wanted to keep it simple and when I think of simple I go for a white background. I love that the kit came with white cardstock.

For this top left cluster I used the chipboard flowers and little yellow tag. I aso brought in a couple little tags from the Elle's Studio embellishments to add some small layers to the cluster. The black and blue stamped arrows finish off this cluster nicely.

I love how well the fonts for the kit alpha and the Elle's studio puffy stickers went well together. I recolored the kit alpha to help the two flow better as a title.

If you'd like to see my layout process video you can watch that here on my YouTube Channel: 

Thanks so much for stopping by today!! I will be posting on social media throughout the month and be back on the blog on the 13th with a tutorial. If you have a request for anything you'd like to see leave a comment and I will try to make it happen!

Have a great scrappy week!

Challenge Winners

Today we are happy to announce the challenge winners for both March and April!

Each week our Design Team provides you with three challenges to help you get your creative juices flowing. Pocket Life Sketch Friday gives you sketches to use in your pocket style scrapbooking. Saturday's 3 to Inspire challenge brings you three creative prompts to incorporate on a project of your choice. On Sunday, our Sunday Sketch challenge goes live.

To participate in either or all challenges, all you need to do is upload your project to the gallery within a week of the challenge date, noting the date of the challenge in the title of your project. One winner is picked for each challenge and announced here on the blog.

Thanks to all that participated during the months of March and April! Here are the winners:

Sunday Sketch: $5 Gift Certificate to the CTK Store

     3/5: jinnynewlin  3/12: barbp  3/19: barbp  3/26: stefcia

     4/2: mamakven 4/9: sandyr  4/16: barbp  4/23: deshetrick3  4/30: barbp

 
3 to Inspire: A small prize from the CTK Store

     3/25: mamkven
     4/1: mamakven  4/8: dbryant  4/22: jinnynewlin  4/29: malocup2

Pocket Sketch Friday: Fun Mail

     3/31: stefcia 4/14: mamakven  4/21: mamakven

**Winners: To claim your prize, please email Trina at citrustwistkits@yahoo.com and include the date and name of the challenge that you have won in the subject line./

Tuesday Tutorial - 5 Journaling Ideas for your memory keeping

Documenting memories is a beautiful mix of words and images. In our albums and layouts we mix journaling and photos - they make our memories alive and protect them from fading. Just few words jotted down next to a picture make it more vivid and true, a date in the corner reminds when the event took place, a short story makes the photo real.

It’s important not to forget the words when it comes to memory keeping - after all, they tell the story! If you feel uninspired and would like to find some new, creative ways that will help to spice up your journaling here you are - I have 5 ways for creative journaling for you!

1. USE STICKERS TO TELL YOUR STORY

Small, colorful stickers with words on them are so much fun! You can use them in so many ways, also as a tool to support your journaling! Sometimes I like to use only a single word sticker to capture a mood or memory shown in the picture. On some spreads I play with the stickers and try to create a catchy title for my photo or few lines of simple journaling. I love the final effect!

2. MAKE A LIST!

You don’t have to always write your journaling in a story format. To mix things up a bit I love writing lists! A list can deliver so much information in condensed format - what you love, what you do, what you are working on, what your plans are. Experiment with lists, they can be super creative way to boost up your journaling!

3. ASK SOMEONE ELSE TO SHARE THEIR POINT OF VIEW

When you start documenting memories it’s natural that all the stories are told from your point of view. It’s great, but why not try asking someone else for help? Every now and than ask your partner to write a line or two in your album. Challenge your kid (I bet they will love it!) to write about your adventures. Ask for help, ask for opinions, ask for another person’s perspective - make them feel that they are part of the album too!

4. PLAY WITH STAMPS

Stamps are for sure one of my favorite scrapbooking gadgets! They can be used over and over again in so many different ways! The little stamps that come with Citrus Twist Kits are particularly great for journaling - look at all the phrases and sayings! You can use them as tiny word stickers (or create your own “stamped” stickers on the scraps of paper!), stamp them on photos or cards, choose one word or build phrases - so many possibilities for creative journaling!

5. USE A PROMPT

If you feel bored and uninspired try to use a journaling prompt that would spark some creativity! You can find plenty of them on Pinterest. The journaling prompts might help you to look at subject of your photo or layout from different angle, very often they offer a fresh and unique perspective to storytelling!

What are your favorite ways to journal in your albums? How do you introduce journaling on the layouts? Let us know in the comments!

Seize The Day

Good morning! Welcome back to the blog. It's Claudia here with you and today I'm sharing a layout I created with the gorgeous May kits. For this particular layout I'm using the Main and Sprinkles kits.

I've been trying to 'challenge' myself to use more patterned paper for my background so I decided to use this lovely paper from the Pinkfresh Studio Live More collection which comes in this month's Main kit. I also cut a piece of white cardstock (about 6"x12") to put in the middle of the layout. I decided that that is where I wanted my photo and the embellishments to go.

 

 

For the color scheme I decided to mostly go with colors featured in the background paper with a few hints of mint/teal added to it.  

I'm in love with these puffy stickers from the Maggie Holmes Chasing Dreams collection and this floral one had the perfect color to match with the color scheme I'm using for this layout. 

 

At first I wasn't sure if I was going to like the rose gold foiling since I am obsessed with regular gold but I must admit that I ended up really loving the way it looked. It's definitely a nice change. I really enjoy these alphas that come in the Sprinkles kit so I made sure to use them for a (partial) title.

 

Because the photo is in black and white I thought it would be nice to add a little bit of black to the background so I pulled out my 1" circle punch and selected one of the papers from the kit that had some black on it. I then cut them in half and placed them on the layout - this frames it all together quite nicely.

There's also a process video up on my Youtube channel;

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