I’ve done a really good job of using up my craft stash over the last 10 months. I’ve actually got some empty shelves and drawers in my craft room!
I have been telling myself for years, that I just needed time. I kept saying that I wanted to keep the stuff I wasn’t using because I would enjoy using it in retirement.
That has proven to be true!! I’m so happy that I kept all the things that I didn’t have time to use, because I am truly enjoying all the things now! A side benefit is that I don’t have to make a bunch of new purchases because I have the stuff to use! I’m not sure about how other people feel when they first retire, but that hit to your income level is a bit of a shock. My crafty budget shrunk tremendously.
Alas, after 10 months of working my way through my patterned paper stash it was time to think about replenishing with some new stuff. I’ve only purchase a couple of sets of patterned paper in the last 7 or 8 years and those were purchased in February on a trip to some fabulous craft stores in Florida.
I decided to try out some scrapbooking kits. There are several kits that I’ve heard people talking about and really endorsing. There is the ScrapRoom, the Hip Kit Club, and the Cherry Box. I’m sure there are more, but these are the ones that I’ve been hearing about from my new scrapping friends.
The ScrapRoom kit sold out right away and the Cherry Box seems like a multi-craft kit, so I decided to try the Hip Kit Club kit for October.
I LOVED it! I will definitely try this one again. It was packed full of goodies for sure. You will see the goodies in the video below!
Here is the page that I created:
This layout was created for the ScrapHappy LOAD Challenge for October 2020. This is a LayOut A Day challenge and I received the story prompt that was about dogs or animals in your family. I found these two pictures when I was reorganizing my photos a few days ago, so the timing of this prompt was perfect!
I did add a few sentiment strips and the smaller alphabet stickers from a Maggie Holmes sticker book that came in the September Pocket Pages Kit that I ordered from Hip Kit to try one of those as well. I added the white 12 x12″ paper and some ink splatter and green enamel dots from my stash, otherwise, all of the materials were in the October Main Kit.
You can see my process in this video:
I really tried to keep the visual triangles in mind while creating my layout. I have 3 ephemera clusters that form a triangle and I tried to have a dog, a bit of gold and a tree in each cluster. I added the enamel dots in the same way.
I like to have an ephemera cluster on one of the corners of the page. Here I have the cluster in the bottom left corner of my layout. I love the icon ephemera in this Jen Hadfield collection called The Avenue. It’s a nice collection with lots of icons that will work for all kinds of occasions throughout the year.
This is the small cluster that I placed in the bottom right corner of the photos. I love that gold acorn!
In this photo, you see the cluster on the top left of the photo set that I created. I always make this one a little fuller than the one at the base of the photos. It always feels more balanced this way.
I LOVE that plaid paper. I do believe my father had at least on flannel shirt in a plaid just like that!
Being able to explore new products from many different companies is so exciting. I love that this kit combined products from several different company lines. It was a nice way to see what they paired together as well by seeing what they included in this Main Kit from what they curated for this month.
I have a rule for myself though: I can’t buy any new kits until I’ve used most of this one! I don’t want to create any more piles of stash that sit around unused.
That is also one of the benefits of creating some of my own kits by shopping my stash. I’m using things in my stash and it cost me nothing to create them. When I get to the end of this kit, I will add the scraps and leftovers to my diy fall kit because they will coordinate perfectly with the colors in that kit.
Supply List:
Are you interested in the products I used? To make them easier for you to find, I have linked them below. (Affiliate disclosure ) As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Your purchases help keep my blog running at no additional cost to you and I thank you for the support!
Thank you for stopping by my friend!!
