New Scrapping Strategy...Big Brother, Treasure This, and Smile Allora

I have loads of kits because that is how I like to scrap.  However, I recently began to feel a little overwhelmed by the number I have.  I definitely use my kits, almost every layout I do comes from one, yet I am soooo slow to kill them.  

As I was thinking about this problem a few thoughts came to mind.  First, I scrap with bits of paper.  It is not very often that I use huge chunks of patterned paper at a time.  Second, I jump from kit to kit, often taking a picture and matching it to a  kit's color scheme.  So you can imagine why I don't often max out a kit.  

At the same time I was thinking about how to tackle this, I came across another blogger's post that mentioned Shimelle's class The Perfect Collection which tackles the task of getting your money's worth out of a collection or kit.  I was already a fan of Shimelle, so I took the class.   Her style is definitely different from mine, but the strategies she proposes for tackling a collection/kit are certainly universal and easily apply to my style.  

What I have come up with initially is that I need to focus on one kit at a time and scrap several layouts using just one kit.  Now I did not want to take the joy and freedom out of jumping around through my lovely kits, so I set a goal:  Pick one kit a week, do 2 to 3 layouts with it, and then use whatever else I want for other layouts.  And so far this is working and I have killed my Neverland kit from Studio Calico.  **Disclaimer:  Have not included Neverland's add-on Hook in the killing--this kit was purchased with my son in mind and will be using it on Hayden specific layouts throughout the next month or two or whenever he blesses me with the opportunity to take his picture. 

Another strategy I am taking is to sit down with a kit and my computer and print out several pictures that will go.  By doing this in a batch, I am ready to take on the kit and make a dent in my stash.

Here are the final three layouts I completed using Neverland, making my total five layouts.  (The first two were blogged in a previous post.)

 

My oldest and youngest--love them!  This one was atually made last and I took some leftover strips, cut them down to sizen and layered them.  Super easy and simple. 

A closer look at the title.....actually raided an older kit for the woodgrain alphas (from So Cal.)

My fave layout out of the bunch.  Just bits and pieces of patterned paper (can you see why it takes me awhile to use up a kit?)  Also some pieces from SoCal.

Loving my daughter and her toothy grin!  I swear, she just turned one and has a mouth full of the cutest teeth ever!  (Now something went amuck here with the misting template--it moved and I did not notice until I was all finished putting this together.  Oops.)

By giving just this one kit some special attention I was able to put this kit to rest which is a GREAT feeling.  Love knowing that I am actually putting my money to good use :-).   

Michelle