Let's Get Digital with Tara

Happy Monday friends! I'm here today sharing some inspiration using the June Cypress cut aparts (can you say yes for free??) with this month's GraceBox kit.


I'm in Ecclesiastes 3 and encouraged by God making everything beautiful in it's own time. Right now I am experiencing a season of slowing down, inviting myself to live light and saying yes to space. Sometimes it's hard to recognize when you need to reign back from good things, but I find it necessary to grow and learn.

I printed out the cut aparts and made a little cluster at the top of my journaling page. I didn't re-size the circles, but used my 1" circle punch. It was a perfect landing spot for the large sticker, "God is working on me".

I love the label with "slow down & lighten up" but it was a bit too big for my page. I cut down the label and created another cluster with my favorite cut apart piece - the pink speech bubble. I see myself using that over and over again! I used my 1" punch again for the striped circle.

The stamps add so much to any journaling page. I don't think I have found a Citrus Twist Kits stamp I didn't like.

It's a bittersweet day for me today since this will be my last post being on the Citrus Twist Kits team. I've had a pleasure creating for them for three years and have enjoyed every minute of it.

Thank you for stopping by today! I hope you find encouragement to savor the season of life you are in now, as well as the seasons to come.

Blessings! Xxo - Tara

Growing in Faith | Tara

Good morning friends! Today I'm sharing a little bit of love for May's GraceBox kit. It's packed with so much color and goodness, I couldn't wait to dig in. I find myself enjoying time with God creating and crafting. I usually take a step back to first read and re-read the verse or chapter a few times before diving in!

I use the YouVersion bible app in conjunction with my NLT bible that I create in. Having different formats available make it really easy to read, go over, and research when diving into scripture. The app also provides a verse of the day. I focused on May 19th's verse (2 Corinthians 4:16), but took it deeper with focusing on the entire chapter, 2 Corinthians 4.


I loved the circle stamp with the hearts and stamped it a few times to create a background. I later added some watercolor throughout the page for more of a pop.

I kept it simple, making a little cluster with the fun gold vine trim and some die cuts. I added some of the word stickers and cut down the long "meet Him in the margins" to fit my journaling page better. I chose a few word stickers that helped highlight some key phrases and take away points from the chapter.


The new alpha stamp is so fun and is the perfect size for all types of projects. I left myself a little phrase of encouragement, "Don't lose heart." This entire chapter really helps bring His light into my life and is such a good reminder of how the best is to come.

I loved using the alphas from April's GraceBox kit with the word stickers. There are so many possibilities!

Here is a closer look at the bottom of my journaling page.

I am often reminding myself to dwell in him and be filled with His Spirit. It's so easy to get stuck in your own way instead of letting Him lead.

I hope you are encouraged to dig deep and find time in God's word along with creating and crafting. What are ways you grow in faith? We would love to see them shared on our Citrus Twist Kits Fan Page or Instagram.

Have a lovely day!

Xxo, Tara

Bible Journaling | Unfailing Love

Hello friends, it's Tara here on the blog today sharing a quick and easy bible journaling page today. I kept it simple and clean, focusing on the verse and my prayer.

I have been working on being more intentional with starting my day in God's word. Sometimes it's so overwhelming thinking of all the different studies or methods to choose from. I found a really simple, 3 minute routine thanks to Hello Mornings. I love how it's all about GodTime, PlanTime, and MoveTime.

Kat, the creator of Hello Mornings suggests starting with the verse Psalm 143:8.

I used a few bits and pieces from April's GraceBox kit. I wanted to keep this journaling page really simple and bold with the black and white. My favorite elements to use are the Twilight gold foil rub ons paired with the Illustrated Faith clear sticker alphas.

You can faintly see the smaller dot stamp up on the top of the journaling page using a pale seaglass ink and down below using a past GraceBox stamp with lines using a pale pink ink. I wanted to add a few hints of color here and there that was just barely noticeable.

How do you start your day with God? I would love to hear what you do in your daily or even weekly routine.

Thanks for stopping by today and have a wonderful week!

Blessings!

xxo, Tara

Tuesday Tutorial with Tara | Label Love

Hi friends, Tara here today for another installation of Tuesday Tutorial. I'm sharing an easy way to stretch your stash. I love little bits of ephemera and sometimes have a hard time finding the right phrase or the right size for a certain project. Here is an easy way to create your own labels and ephemera to fit your needs.

Grab some ink pads, clear blocks, and stamps!

I start by using this awesome label from the Detours stamp.

I then add phrase stamps from April's GraceBox kit, along with other stamps from past GraceBox kits. I prefer to go for mostly neutral shades but added in a bit of color too.

For a little bit of a fun twist - I also stamped on some vellum paper and loved how it turned out! Test out a few different types of ink. You can see the top left "Say Yes" circle smeared pretty badly. 
TIP - ink on vellum takes longer to dry so give it some time before cutting out your ephemera. I have to say the Illustrated Faith ink pad was my favorite to use!

When you have some down time (for me it's usually watching a show or listening to a podcast), I find it very relaxing to cut out the little ephemera labels and bits.

I didn't have a large enough circle punch, but made wonky circles by using the Rise and Shine stamp set circles and cutting it a bit off to the side. I love having a little pile of bits ready to add to projects.

I stacked up the circle, label, and and old phrase stamp to give this tab a layered look. I love how the layered ephemera looks using this month's GraceBox kit and some watercolor.

Here is a look at the entire journal entry.

I hope you find some inspiration to create some labels, tags, and/or ephemera. Please share your creations in the Citrus Twist Fan Page. Thank you for stopping by!

Tuesday Tutorial with Tara - Smooshing

Hello friends, I hope you had a good start to your week. It's Tara here sharing my "smooshing technique" -

making a bright background (resembles watercolor) that you can use numerous ways. I used this

technique today on smaller cards to give sunshine and encouragement to send off in the mail. The colors

in March's GraceBox kit were so beautiful and it worked well with this technique.

Here is a step by step guide to get you to smooshing. You will need:

• Distress ink pads (you can test out other types of ink pads too!)
• Plastic packaging (I keep all the Citrus Twist Kit’s stamp packaging)
• Paper (I recommend heavier cardstock or watercolor/mixed media paper)
• Spritzer/water bottle
• Water 

First, grab an ink pad and stamp it directly onto the plastic. You will have to practice how many times you want to stamp the ink on the plastic to vary the intensity of the color.

Next, get a mister, spray bottle, or use a brush with some water and get some water on the stamped ink spots. Again, you will have to see how much or how little water you want to get the right color for your background. I practiced on some plain printer paper a few times, but usually I just wing it.

Now is the fun part! Carefully take your plastic and smoosh it onto your paper a few times. Feel free to add more water, more ink, and go crazy. The best part is you can never have too much color.

I added one of Amy Tangerine’s ‘Sunshine and Good Vibes’ die cuts and used the exclusive GraceBox stamps to add sentiments. I finished one card with a label sticker from the kit and some heart cork pieces from my stash.

Here is a look at the finished cards:

And a little closer look at each one:

I hope this inspired you to get more color on your layouts, bible journaling pages, and other fun projects.
Thank you for stopping by today.

Have a great week! Xxo - Tara

Extend Your Kits | Kristel & Tara

Happy Monday friends! Today Kristel and Tara are sharing a different spin on how they used their kits in other ways than the norm. Kristel is working with the Sugarland PL kit and Tara is using the January GraceBox kit. 

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Hi all! So, today Tara and I wanted to challenge ourselves to use our kits for something totally different than what we were used to.
I have been working with the Pocket Life kit, which is perfect for all sorts of memory keeping; whether it's Project Life, scrapbooking, using a traveler's notebook, etc.
But, I have found out it is also perfect for decorating your planner, for example :-) And I'm sure there are many more ways to use your kit.

To keep track of my DT projects and deadlines, social media and personal crafty ideas, I'm using a (medium) Happy Planner this year.
These have a weekly overview in which the days are vertically divided into rectangle little boxes which you can use in all sorts of ways.

Since I don't need to break up my days, I just use one or two boxes to write down all my notes and the others I like to decorate.

I chose a few of the papers in the kit, including the awesome book page, and cut rectangle boxes in the same size as my planner's.

I always like to create some sort of a pattern with these boxes and leave open space where I can write down all my notes.
As long as I leave enough white space for my notes, I'm all for decorating, so I got out some of the included embellishments and played with them.
To finish this week's layout, I got out (CTK) November's TN stamp set, which has a couple of cute hearts included, and stamped a couple of hearts to act as bullet points.

I absolutely loved this challenge and its results, so I guess i will be using my PL kit more often for my planner and maybe more :-) 

Have a lovely week and until next time!

Love, Kristel

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Hello! I am so excited to work with Kristel today on a different take of how to use our kits. I use the GraceBox kits mostly for bible journaling and faith journaling, but really wanted to try something different.

This year I purchased a Hobonichi Cousin planner to use for my faith catchall. Instead of planning in it, I am using the daily pages for reflections on bible readings.

I wanted to use the first page of January for mapping my faith this year. I took the concept of mind mapping and tweaked it to faith mapping.

I'm a huge fan of all Citrus Twist Kits stamps and used this month's stamp set along with a few others from past GraceBox kits - V2 stamp, V4 stamp, V8 stamp, V13 stamp, Scripture doodles stamp, V17 stamp, and V19 stamp found here.

I really want to work on my walk with the Lord and strengthening in my faith. I decided to use the "walk in faith" stamp as my focus this year. I then chose key points to help me in my daily faith walk.

I added color to my page with Tim Holtz distress inks and water. I love to add it to extra packaging and smoosh it all over creating a watercolor effect. I also used the stencil and layered a few different colors of chalk ink to make the messy dots.

I added a few bullet points of what was on my heart regarding each key point.

I loved layering the cute Pretty Little Studio cutapart sheet and layering it with the vibrant Vicki Boutin diecuts for a pop of color.

I had so much fun going out of my comfort zone with this challenge. I plan to incorporate more faith mapping in the future. 

Have a wonderful week and thank you for stopping by. I hope Kristel and I inspired you to try a few new things with your kits.

Blessings! Xxo, Tara

Scripture Challenge Share

Hi friends, Tara here today! I'm one of those people that love a good daily challenge. I get so excited but a week into them I'm burnt out and so behind! I'm really loving The Reset Girl's Faithful Life Challenge. It's a weekly challenge and you can do 1 or 4 different scripture writings for the week! I love having options for weeks that are packed full of things, or being able to do more when I find more time.

Here's a little peak at my traveler's notebook entry for Week 2 using the September GraceBox kit.

I started off using some Prima fluid chalk edger with a wipe and made the pink background. Then using this month's stamp set, along with an older GraceBox V4 stamp, I added crosses and stars. I'm loving the awesome alpha stickers that came in the kit this month! I couldn't get the true color to show up but they are translucent and so lovely.

Here is the full traveler's notebook entry. I love writing scripture! It helps me memorize it and I enjoy being able to go back and meditate on different messages from the bible. 

This verse is one of my favorites - it reminds me that life isn't meant to be easy or without struggles. We can find our strength through Jesus. I'm so thankful for that!

Thanks for stopping by today! Be blessed, xo - Tara

Gratitude Log with Tara

Hello friends! It's Tara here today sharing a little bit of something I've been working on. For months now I have been thinking of how to include writing out daily gratitude to welcome each day as it comes. When I start my day with a heart filled with love, my entire mood and attitude is different as I conquer the big and little challenges that come my way.

I decided to use a passport traveler's notebook undated weekly insert. I love how portable this size is! I'll be traveling this week so it will be easy to add this notebook with my small stash of supplies. The blank canvas of spaces wide open is just waiting for me to create something each week and record my gratitude.

I used this month's GraceBox kit and it's filled to the brim with bits and bobs of colorful goodness!

Here are the supplies I used:

I added in some washi tape, distress ink, and mini mister from my stash along with some past GraceBox stamps.

Here is my first week in August so far.

I love using the Illustrated Faith stamp pad - it doesn't bleed through the pages. I will remember to stamp before I use distress ink - the numbers (Traveler's Notebook class stamp set) smeared a bit. They don't bother me as this week's pages were meant to be a bit messy!

Thank you for stopping by today. I can't wait to see how you use your GraceBox kit or document your gratitude. 

Have a lovely week! Xo - Tara

Tuesday Tutorial with Tara

Good morning friends! I hope your week is starting off fantastic. It's Tara here today sharing a mini album tutorial I made with July's GraceBox kit. I wanted to make a mini album that was a little book of God's truths. It's easy to get caught up with the everyday busyness, that we forget God's grace and mercies. This mini album is going to a friend to help encourage her in the happy and tough days.

I'm making the exact style of accordion album as I did here. Thanks to the original creator, Stephanie Bryan, I recreated it once more. This is one of my favourite stash busters - I used a lot of papers, embellishments, stamps, and washi tape I already owned.

The first step is to pick a 12x12 piece of patterned paper and cut it into 3 4 inch high strips. Next, score your 4x12 piece of paper every 3 inches. I'm using one of the older exclusive Citrus Twist Kits paper from a main kit.

I decided to only use 2 strips of paper for this mini album. Finally, attach the ends together! Then comes the fun part - decorate to your heart's desire.

Here is the finished cover:

Here are a few of the accordion pages.

 

Some up close shots of each page:

 I wanted to make this mini album interactive. I tucked this bible verse into some layered papers.

Flip up the paper cluster to reveal two more verses.

I cut down one of the bible journaling cards down as a tip in.

I added a small little sentiment on the bottom.

Pull out the yellow piece of paper and find the "amen" sentiment from the Scripture Doodles stamp.

This was a cute die cut from a past GraceBox kit.

I added the small glassine bag from the kit layered on top of patterned paper. I'm going to add a special note inside.

Here is the back half of the accordion mini album.

Thank you for stopping by today. I hope this mini album inspires you to make one for documenting life, writing down bible verses, or other fun things you would like to remember.

Xxo, Tara