Workin' the kit. Part 1

October's kit is a beautiful tapestry of lovely patterned papers, beautiful fall embellishments, plus unique envelopes, tags and gift boxes. Between the main kit and the add-on kit (of which the add-on is still available) there is much variety and an array of options to take this kit creatively.

My personal challenge this month was to see how far I could make the kit go, in terms of the quantity of layouts I could create with only using the kit, and some of my own cardstock. This all started when I was going to make a mini album and document the many years of my two very close friends. I have years of photos, and wanted to take a glimpse of each year and make it into a mini book. Well, the small format was just not working for me. It gave me a feeling of small-ness. I know that sounds profound. But being the friend of white space, I went with a new approach for me. I took what was going to be a 6x6 book  and super-sized it to 8 1/2 x 11. This friendship is too important to me to keep small. So it will now have it's very own album in my library of photo albums.

Here is how it is coming along.

One of my go-to methods is to work a variation on a theme. And this book is no exception to that theory. The basic format is 8 1/2 x 11. I keep in stock large quantities of basic card stock. This happens to be 80 pound textured cream. It's a great stock. As mentioned before, the pattern papers in this kit were ever so lovely. The Pink Paislee Clam Bake is featured on this page. The attempt was to maintain the tone of the photo with the color of the paper. I added a Crate Paper border strip to the bottom. A small piece of the 6x6 Jillibean Soup paper compliments the corner on the right. All that was left to do was add embellishments. The printed label layered with 'joy' and a few stickers from the Crate Paper alpha labels + that adorable felt leaf were all that was needed to give this layout the beauty I was seeking. Did you notice the mini white tag? I trimmed that down from the large white blank tags that were part of the add-on kit.

Keeping with the theme...this page started with the larger piece of the Pink Paislee Clam Chowder pattern. I used a small piece of the back side of the paper...just because I liked it so much. Again, I added a border trim from the Crate Paper border stickers. You will notice again the placement of the printed labels that were then layered with a punched butterfly and a couple of stickers from the Crate Paper alpha labels. A tag is a bit hidden under the seam binding, but it too is from the alpha labels.

Please forgive the wonky photo. Ah...I just plain repeated myself from the first page up top. The only difference is that instead of the trimmed white tag, I added a meaningful quote. If you knew these girls of mine, you would understand how true this quote to me is.

I had a bit more fun with this layout. I challenge you to play with those patterned papers and make them pop. I love how the Echo Park Sundress and the Jillibean Soup Sweet & Sour Soup collection add to the fun of this photo. And...notice I did not really change up the sketch any. Just changed up how I played with the embellishments.

This is one of those layouts that looks much better in real life than it does in this photo. I just love how the wood grain of the Crate Paper border sticker contrasts to the softness of the alternate side of the Crate Paper Farmhouse accent cut sheet. This layout also incorporates one of the journal tags from that paper. The floral border is just so pretty. Again...a tag (I trimmed this down from the manila tags in the kit), some words, stickers from the Crate Paper alpha's, and seam binding. Love. This page really does speak to me about the beauty of this friendship.

That is all for this post. But so far I have put together five pages, and there is more to come. AND...I have three other projects in the gallery due out this weekend...so hopefully you are seeing how far this kit will go for you and what you want to create.

I will come back next time and share the rest of the layouts with you. And see if I diverged from the main sketch any.

Till then...