September 2022 - Kill That Kit!

 Where oh where did September go??? Too fast! Juliet's has sooo enjoyed hanging out with you guys here on the blog and she hopes that you have been inspired! 

And today, I (Lisa) offered to fill in for the KILL THAT KIT post. 😉

I'm going to be honest with you... I am nowhere near killing my September kit. In fact, I've only made two single layouts with my supplies. I just don't seem to have so much time at the moment to create but it's good to know that when I have time and mojo, I have a couple of kits on the shelf to turn to.

So when it comes to killing the kit, there are a couple of things I do and I know I've talked about them before but just to remind you:

1. If I am flipping past the kit in favour of other supplies, feeling uninspired by the box contents, it usually means that it's time to break up the kit - regardless of how many layouts or projects I've made. Sometimes it might be just one layout (so that makes me look at why this kit didn't grab me) or over 10! Whatever... time to put the products back into my stash or filter out into a donate pile.

2. I might finish off supplies by making up a batch of cards - always quick and easy - and this can be a great way to use up ends of sticker sheets or die cuts, or use those items that are more themed which don't often find their way onto my layouts. I did this in August last year here.

3. If there are larger pieces of paper or plenty of embellishments, I sometimes put together one or two base layouts which I can then add a photo and journalling to at a later time. I shared this idea with you in April here

4. And this is the method I'd like to talk about today... do some groundwork first by selecting a journalling prompt and a sketch. Don't even think about supplies or kits or what you end up with! Then write up your story and pick out photos to fit the sketch selected and only THEN go to your kits and see if one of them is good for the story you want to tell. For me, once I have the four ingredients (sketch, photos, story and supplies) the layout usually comes together quite quickly and this can often motivate me to dip into those products again right away. 

This is the second layout I made with my September kit, Hush and it's for the Simple Scrapper Creative Team to be featured in the membership exclusive magazine "Spark" in November/December. And I followed the above method - first selecting one of the assigned sketches while thinking about a story I could tell. Then I picked out a Story Starter that could guide what to say in my journalling and then headed over to my photo library to narrow down to just three photos. Then I wrote up my journaling using the Story Starter which helped me identify the need to adjust the sketch a little to provide enough space for the story. My September kit seemed the perfect match and then the layout practically made itself!

I do for almost ALL my Simple Scrapper layouts, first planning my assignment layouts by picking out sketches and Story Starters for each of the assignments. Then it's either story first (written up on the computer ready for editing the format and / or printing when I reach that point) or printing photos. Once I have the story written, the sketch selected (and printed out), and the photos ready for each assignment, I head over to my pile of kits and just have a look to see if they match the theme or sentiment of my layout.  Writing up the journalling ahead of time has the added advantage of allowing you to see how much space you need on your page for the story you want to tell - you might need to tweak the design to make space, decide to print rather than write the story or even select another sketch. All these decisions made ahead of (in my case) standing at my scrap table means that creative time can really be maximised!

Now this is all a lot of words but how can I help you in practical ways? Well, I looked around and found some free downloads for journalling ideas and then picked out two really appealing sketches so that you can give my method a go. Have a look at these:

Found on Pinterest and unable to source the original location.

A fun freebie from Ali Edwards here

This sketch is featured in the Creative Memories blog post here: Sketch Round-up July 12-25

This sketch, and ways to interpret it is discussed over in this blog post: Allison Davis - Sketch support #8

THANKS go out to in a BIG way to our lovely Guest Designer, Christine Harden!

And of course THANK YOU to our wonderful followers for playing along with us or even if you are stalking quietly in the background! Make sure you come back tomorrow, 1st October (yikes) for a new kit inspiration and fun month we have in store for you! Thank you so much for a great month! See ya soon!

You KNOW that we always love to see your work, so please share your kits and projects with us. You can post them in our Facebook Community, or share them on Instagram (we are @counterfeitkitchallenge or tag us using #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcseptember2022).