Hello everyone! I'm introducing a brand new video series to help us all use our stashes! I'll be walking through each section of making a kit and how to go about picking which colors and such. My videos, as always, tend to bit a bit rambly, so if I couldn't keep it clean and simple this word explanation below should do. I hope you enjoy the video and if you have any questions at all feel free to ask! I'll be happy to assist anyone. :) Now, enjoy the show!

For those that don't know, kits are all the rage. You can become part of kit clubs and subscribe to get a monthly kit and for those of us who can't afford it or just want to use up our stash a bit more easily make our own kits. Kit making can be very intimidating if you have a very large stash, so start small. Start bashing your stash and you'll get the hang of it in no time. The purpose of our kit making isn't just to use up our stash, but to also get excited about old supplies again. There are probably several older collections or paper pads that you've forgotten about. Hopefully, this will make you fall in love with your older favorites once again.



I have attempted to simplify this process as much as possible for everyone, so below I have listed out the steps and then go into detail further. So, without further ado, let's jump into it!

#1. Pick a patterned paper to start

Pick a patterned paper that you think is so stunningly beautiful. I picked a beautiful floral pattern that has several different colors in it. This may be overwhelming to some, so you can pick a simpler color palate if you'd prefer. Once you've picked your "parent" paper, start picking which colors out of that sheet you'd like to expand upon.

#2. Pick a color scheme

As I started to mention above, you should base the color palate of your homemade kit from the first patterned paper you choose. If it doesn't have that many colors in it, build off of the one color that you have picked out. There are a lot of color schemes for inspiration on Pinterest. In my "parent" paper (or the paper you're branching off of), there are actually quite a few bright color options to choose from. I started by identifying the neutral(s) that I wanted to use. As I explain in the video, my paper naturally has white and gray tones as the neutrals. You'll want to build off of these neutrals to create cohesiveness throughout your kit. Don't worry to jump out of the box though! My paper had white, but I ended up adding another patterned piece that had cream colors, so don't worry too much about being matchy matchy!

#3. Add cardstock colors

We all seem to have a plethora of cardstock that is neglected and this is a great way to incorporate some and make room for more fun goodies! In my kit, I added four cardstock papers to be able to create layers and backgrounds. I recommend at least adding three pieces to your kit and hopefully you can use them all up! If you're wondering what colors you should pick, then start thinking about why you picked your "parent" paper to begin with. What colors really spoke to you? I picked out some really fun spring time colors for a couple different reasons. One, they were the ones that jumped out at me from my parent paper. Two, I really don't scrapbook with these colors often and thought I should give it a whirl. If you guys need help or anything like I've said before, leave me a comment or shoot me an email and I'd be more than happy to help in your personal kit adventures.

#4. Know when to stop

Everyone's kit will be different. There is no set number of how many papers you'll be better off with. You want to make sure you have enough to make a few layouts, but not too many that you're overwhelmed and not making layouts. Too many choices isn't always a good thing. So when you're comfortable with the 12x12 sheets you've picked out stop. P.S. You can always add more later on!

#5. Adding Supplementary Papers

We all have scraps, 6x6, mat stacks, 8 1/2 x 11, and more paper that we should also consider including in your kit. The more pretty papers, the merrier! Now, we don't want to overwhelm ourselves with options here either. So I only picked out four smaller sized papers (mainly because my stash didn't have much to match, but that's besides the point). If you think you conquer and use up more smaller papers than 12x12s, go for it! Throw in 6 or 8 sheets of smaller patterned papers. We want to pick these out based on colors again. Identify the neutrals and main color scheme and pick from there.

Woohoo! You've all passed the 5 step program to picking out papers! I know it was a lot of information to take in, but I'm dedicating myself to you guys and helping everyone to be able to conquer their stash through kit making. So, again, if you have any questions I would be more than happy to help! I'm only a comment or message away! All of my social media links are in the top right corner as well as in the sidebar. Don't forget to tag me in your own personal process! I'd love to see what everyone is up to!

If you still aren't into the whole kit craze here's some of the benefits of using kits! 1). They help you organize your stash into premade categories for easier, simplified scrapping. 2). It takes out the stress that some people get while scrapbooking. 3). Helps foster excitement for older supplies in your stash. 4). They can help create a theme among pages that are of a similar topic, without being themed. So, there's a little extra tidbit of information for you! Hope you all enjoyed this first installment and up next we have #2 - Picking Pocket Page Cards!