Scrapbooking - How to create your own scrapbook kit

Have you ever wanted to put your own scrapbooking kit together?  I have, and that is what led me on my journey of discovery.  I also believe, based on my research, that I'm not alone in wanting the ability to create my own scrapbook kit.

I want to give you some context and background as to why I went on this journey and why I am writing this blog post. Maybe someone else has had this same, or similar, experience.

Several months ago I discovered the Scraptastic Kit Club through Tracy aka mercytiara on YouTube.  I fell in love with these kits and recognised their value for money.  I then discovered Emily aka omgitsemily074 on YouTube, who gets the Hip Kit Club.  I think these kits are also value for money.  I do not, and have not, subscribed to these kit clubs.  I do want to, believe me I do, but due to other financial priorities I have decided that I will refrain from subscribing until 2015.  However, I still wanted a scrapbooking kit and at that point realised if I wasn't going to join a club then I had to look at creating my own, and what better way than to use up my current stash to create that kit feeling.

This led me to research creating your own scrapbooking kits.  I read numerous blog posts and watched several YouTube videos.  Surprisingly, there wasn't as much out there as I had hoped for, or more precisely there wasn't much out there that I felt addressed what I was wanting.  That is, specifically spelling out for me what I should include in a kit and how to start going about it.  The blog posts I read were really good in a general sense but you could say I was after a little more 'hand holding process'.  However, my search did lead me to Nicole aka nicmackin on YouTube.  I found Nicole's Kit Love series and her first video of this series called "Kit Love: Putting it together".

This video answered the questions I was asking, specifically how to start putting a kit together.  In the "putting it together" video, Nicole explains and shows you her process.  This is what I learnt:

• Pick a piece of pattern paper that has a variety of colours.
• For example, a cut out sheet.  This will become your base piece

• Select pattern papers that will coordinate with your base piece and build your kit/collection around that.

• Add a few colours of cardstock that will also coordinate with your kit.

• Add embellishments to your kit that you have in your stash and you want to use.
• If your stash includes bling, brads, flair, ephemera, chipboard etc from a pattern paper collection that you have in your kit, then add them.  Since you have already selected the pattern paper to go in your kit, these embellishments and/or bits and pieces will coordinate.

• Keep the contents of your kit general.
• In other words, don't create a kit for specific themes as it will be very limiting.  Your kit should be general that no matter what photos you choose to scrap they will work with the kit or vice versa.

The type of embellishment you want to include will be dependent on what you have in your stash.  In deciding what to include, I looked at the type of things included in several kit clubs - see Terri Bradford's YouTube channel CreateScrapbooks or her blogs CreateScrapbooks or ScrapClubs for further information on what goes into a number of different kit club kits.  I have found her videos a wealth of information on the different kits available and learnt of kit clubs I had never previously known about.

The items I have seen in a number of different kit club kits, but not limited to, are:

• wood veeners
• flairs
• buttons
• enamel dots
• bling / pearls
• brads
• washi tape
• ribbon
• ephemera / die packs
• chipboard
• cut out sheets
• silhouette cuts
• sequins
• doilies
• paperclips
• tags

Kits also often include:

• stamps
• inks
• mists / sprays
• alphabet stickers / thickers
• stickers
• project life / pocket page cards
• labels
• paints / colouring items
• embossing powder

What is not included, but you may want to consider adding to your kit is:

• punches
• embossing folders
• dies
• mixed media product such as gesso, modeling paste
• stencils

If you have a Silhouette and/or Cricut machine, you can create your own cuts depending on the cut files and/or cartridges you own.

In building your kit, I would summarise the content as follows:

• pattern paper
• cardstock
• embellishments
• inks, sprays, mists
• stamps
• colouring items, mixed media
• punches, embossing folders, dies

I have not talked about specific quantities.  This was deliberate on my part, as I didn't want anyone to feel restricted in their choices.  However, if you want an idea on the quantity to include in your kit, you can check out any of the kit clubs around to see what they offer or you can also check out the Two Girls and a Kit May Recipe Card on YouTube.

• You can get more information about Two Girls and a Kit from Carrie Elias's YouTube Channel or Blog or Amanda O'Banion's YouTube Channel or Blog.

In addition, I recommend you check out the blog "Counterfeit Kit Challenge" as they offer great challenges and ideas on building your own kit.  They have several design team members that can provide you with inspiration.

I hope this post helps someone, who like me, is/was looking for more specific guidance on how to put your scrapbooking kit together.

I will be doing a "scrapbooking kit" series. My next scrapbooking post will be the first in this series, and will encompass me putting my first kit together based on the principles I have outlined above.  After each kit creation, I will then post the layouts that I make from that kit, so stay tuned.

Cheers FiLoMa