Stash Busting
Making your own kits for Project Life, memory keeping, and scrapbooking is easy when you shop your own stash. Having kits ready to go makes crafty time far more efficient. Instead of spending precious time hunting for supplies, get right to work with a ready to go kit.
Right now the world is shutting down and going into self quarantine to flatten the curve on the Covid-19 virus. My family is no different. I'm taking this pause in life to catch up on some over due scrapbooking. To maximize the time I spend in my craft studio, I've finally started using the many kits I've subscribed to over the years. What a treat! I'm getting so much more done thanks to having ready- to- go kits.
If you're like me, you probably have hoards of product you've never even touched. Why do we do this?! We buy and buy, and then don't use it because it's "too pretty", or insert whatever adjective you apply to your stash. Can we just agree this is a broad issue for the crafty community? It has to stop! (I'm sure the "pushers" aka Studio Calico, Scrapbook.com, etc, would disagree! HA!)
After dipping into the many kits I have on hand, I realized that I could be making kits from my own stash. I've done this in the past, but forgot how fun it is to create your own kit.
Before I start building kits I think about the projects I have on the back burner or the projects I know I want to start. I like to build kits that can cater to both Project Life and documenting stories in travelers notebooks. Once I have an idea of what I'm building the kits for, I get to work.
Here's how I tackle this project:
Start with paper. This is often how I start building a kit. I choose a paper pack or even a loose sheet of pattered paper to build the kit around. This can help dictate the color or purpose of the kit. Will the kit be for every day life documenting or something specific like camping trips or days at the beach?
Add embellishments. I go through each type of embellishment I have on hand. I like to add tiny word stickers and phrases to my projects. I look for any that fit with the theme. Another favorite are die cuts. Not to mention this is a great time to bust out those chipboard stickers. Puffy stickers are also a favorite.
Alpha stickers. I usually try to add at least one sheet of alpha stickers. I have SO MANY alpha stickers. If I add a sheet that's been partially used, I might add a second set also.
Washi tape. I like to add a few different washi tape patterns to my kits. I don't necessarily want to add an entire roll, so here's a trick I use.
Tip: Create a washi strip sampler
Grab some wax paper from your kitchen and cut a square roughly 7 inches x 5 inches. Place strips across the wax paper. Trim the edges down and add to your kit. You can also create a sampler by cutting down a piece of a packaging card to 3x4. Wrap several loops of washi around the card and tuck it in your new kit
I store my kits in plastic pouches, zipper pouches or cellophane bags. You can find all my favorite storage products on my Amazon Storage Idea List.
Here are a few kits I recently put together. There is a video up on my YouTube channel showing the process. (or scroll to the bottom.)
Lovely Lemon Kit
I based this kit on bright blue and lemon patterned papers. I decided to keep the color palette the focus using yellow, blue, black and minty green. I also wanted this kit to be cheery. It feels like early summer to me. I used a combination of products I had from old Studio Calico documenter kits, Project Life Cards, and new Felicity Jane products. This kit includes puffy word stickers, enamel dots, photo corners and tiny phrase stickers.
I love how this kit turned out and I can't wait to use it. My favorite part are the tiny lemon slice confetti from the Felicity Jane Sarah Collection. I don't know how I'll use them, but I will find a way!
All the Color Kit
This kit started with the Jen Hadfield Chasing Adventures paper pad. I loved the bright graphic floral paper and built the rest of the kit around these colors. I added old Project Life cards, enamel heart stickers from Illustrated Faith, gold alpha stickers and die cuts from Felicity Jane, and washi tape. Being a girl mom, it won't be hard to find things to document with this bright and fun kit.
I hope you'll give kit building a go and bust up some of that stash of yours. I find kit building so fun and relaxing that sometimes rather than scrapbook, I'll spend an afternoon just building kits. Probably counter intuitive to the whole idea of building kits to be productive. Oh well! Happy crafting!
xoxo - Kelli
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