November 2020 - Killing Kits

Can you believe that it's the end of the month already? December is knocking at the door and Christmas is just around the corner. 

Before we know it, we'll be welcoming 2021 in with the hopes of a less tumultuous year ahead. 

This has been a great month for me - as always! Birthdays and (corona-rules-friendly) family time, blues skies and sunshine, time with my own little family of three - now including our gorgeous puppy and a new home. It's been quite the month. So now it's time for me to give you some tips for "Killing the Kit"!

Our inspiration kit this month was from the Hip Kit Club (October main kit) and I'm in love with the original kit as well as the one I made too. Here's a reminder:-

Well, I have a confession to make:- I've only made one single layout using this kit - blame the move which started on October 31st and which has taken up all my time. Things are still chaotic to be honest and 90% of my craft stuff is still in boxes. All excuses I know but I really pushed myself to make my Challenge #2 page and haven't managed anything else. 

Which means... I'm not at that point of my kit where I'm left with scraps and partial sticker sheets and therefore not at the "kill the kit" stage. 

What's a girl to do?

Well... I'm going to imagine what I would be doing if I was at that stage by looking at my kit and thinking what I'd be left with once a few pages have come together.

I think there might be:-

• a whole bunch of stickers as I have a sticker book, some epoxy stickers, a sticker sheet and some puffies
• some die-cuts left over from the pack which don't quite work on layouts
• mini journalling spots from the BG "Writer's bk" pack
• tags
• resist leaves
• cut-apart pocket cards from the papers
• bits and pieces of paper - there will definitely be some fussy cut elements, some large and some small scraps

That little list shouts out to me that I should think about making some cards which is my first go-to idea for leftovers and something I like to do to make sure I always have a supply on hand.

Therefore, I'm going to look back over my last mini-kits where I also made cards to see if I could just copy or use what I made before for inspiration.

Maybe one of these? These designs use up a bunch of the products on my list that I'll have left over.

Then I might consider going back to some of our wonderful Master Forger Clair's ideas from when she was in charge of killing the kits! Every month she filled with awe about what she could run up with a handful of tiny scraps and a sprinkle of embellies.

What about these ideas?

Clair brought together some ideas for using 

• cut-apart pocket cards here
• shipping tags here
• little bits and branding strips here (see photo 1 below)
• mini album foundations here (see photo 2 below)
• fabulously pretty quick cards here (see photo 3 below)
• and she brought together all her ideas in this blog post - very inspirational 

And of course, not to forget that I might just make a layout by scrap lifting myself - a page that uses up scraps of paper would be a good start! 

Something like this maybe?

Or some pocket cards for my very neglected Project Life. I made these some time ago which could be used as inspiration for my kit leftovers this time around.

Susan shared her process for dealing with the end of her kit here - and it makes so much sense to me so that might be the way I go.

Anyway... what I hope is that I've shown you that there's no need to reinvent the wheel each month when trying to use up the leftovers in your kit! 

There are plenty of ideas out there for using up all the bits and pieces. And of course, you are in charge of your own kits. If you don't want to kill your kit, then you absolutely don't have to! 

Maybe you're the type to just break up the kit back into your own stash when you think you're "done" or it's the end of the month. Or maybe - like me - you tend to keep several older kits on the shelf to dive into as and when the inspiration hits. 

It's your kit and your rules ;-) 

Be sure to share your own ideas and let us know if you'd like us to continue this series in the new year!

Come back tomorrow for our December project led by the ever-creative Master Forger Leslie! I can't wait to see how the other Master Forgers interpret her idea! We do hope you will join us and share in the fun.

We always love to see your work, so please share your kits and projects with us. You can post them in out Facebook Community, or share them on Instagram (we are @counterfeitkitchallenge or tag us using #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcnovember2020).

Thanks for sharing November with me and here's to a wonderfully merry December!

Lisa!