Monthly Scrapbook Kits

Part 1 - Pros and Cons, Specific List of Clubs, How to Choose

Monthly Scrapbook Kits - Find Pros and Cons, Specific Kit Clubs, How to Choose a Monthly Kit Club, How to Make Your Own Kits...I'm talking about all of this and more fun stuff. I had a blast listening to an episode of The Paperclipping Roundtable called The Fun of Kits - it was all about this topic and I got a lot of inspiration. So...I'm going to talk about some of the ideas from the episode and give my opinions as well. After listening for the second time, I wanted to subscribe to every single kit club and create kits with all of my current stash. I might just do that...we'll see. I think for sure I need to recycle/purge some stuff...I've been thinking that for a while...you can follow along with all my scrapbooking adventures over on my Facebook page...we have fun chatting and encouraging each other to keep going...come join us!

Part 2 of this article! 

Monthly Scrapbook Kits 1 - Paperclipping Roundtable Episode 178

This is very often one of my"scrapbook baby steps" for the day - listening to this scrapbooking podcast. "Scrapbook Baby Steps" is my way of keeping myself from getting overwhelmed by all of the stuff I want to do and quitting altogether...I do my best to do at least 1 thing each day that furthers my scrapbook goals. That's my whole philosophy here on my site...not getting overwhelmed and crashing and burning...just doing what I can when I can. I usually listen while I'm exercising...sometimes while I'm doing my household chores. It has kept me very inspired and motivated and I've learned so much!

Noell Hyman is the host of this scrapbook podcast about monthly scrapbook kits and she does such a good job. For this episode she has 3 guests:

Ruth Bonzer - I'm not familiar with her but it was fun to hear the perspective of an Australian scrapbooker

May Flaum - She is a regular on the show

Tracy Banks - I subscribe to her YouTube channel and she is featured on my Scrapbooking TV page

Here are some of the topics this episode covers:

1. What kits are and how to use them:

- items from different manufacturers put together to coordinate for you. Kit club owners put these together and this is generally what you would think of as monthly scrapbook kits

- collection kits - manufacturers that create papers and embellishments that go together

- crafting supplies that go together

2. How to choose a kit club - Tracy talks about how she chose a kit club - she has some reviews of kit clubs on her YouTube channel Mercy Tiara

3. Tracy talks about how she uses kits and manages the budget and possible overload of monthly scrapbook kits

4. Ruth talks about how she reorganizes her kits as she goes along...getting rid of stuff...this is very appealing! She takes her kits to work and scraps on her lunch break...not sure if I could do this? She feels like kits help her "stay on top of her stash." Noell says she uses up her older products easier by putting them in with her collections/kits and rearranging her stuff into kits on an ongoing basis.

Noell has quite a few member videos all about how to think of your supplies/stash as kits and how to put items together to "make kits" - Ruth talked about this as well. Although, Noell isn't a big fan of monthly scrapbook kits, she does like buying collections. Here's a great blog post she has about making your old products exciting again (by putting them in kits)

Monthly Scrapbook Kits 2 - Pros and Cons

Pros:

Exclusive Products - Many of the monthly scrapbook kits include exclusive stamps or other items in each kit or some of their monthly kits. It can be fun to get things you can't get anywhere else.

Budget - Tracy and Ruth think kits are good for their budget. They say kits have partial packs and they don't get "too much" - I can see this 'cause sometimes I buy the huge paper packs at Michael's and then I get tired of the papers before they are used up.

Community - see what other "normal" people are making with the same products that you have - it can be a good way to learn as a beginner. Most of the monthly scrapbook kits have forums and member galleries so you can see what everyone else is doing with the exact same products you have. This really appeals to me from a learning perspective. I've been scrapbooking for a long time but there is always something to learn...new techniques...new products...new/creative ways to use products...etc....

Cut down on feeling overwhelmed - keeps the overwhelm down...you don't have to send a lot of time looking for stuff...just "get it done" when the the products are already coordinated for you in your monthly scrapbook kits

Cons:

If you like to shop, it's easy to get too much - Ruth talks about this - what can I you really use in a month's time?

Be careful that you aren't just liking the packaging. Monthly scrapbook kits are marketed very well and they look so pretty. Analyze the contents and think about if you actually create with the products that are in the kits. The flipside...it can challenge you to try new things.

Monthly Scrapbook Kits 3 - Show Notes

Show Notes

At the bottom of each blog post/podcast/show notes at Paperclipping.com are all the extra comments from listeners. The discussion continues and you can also ask questions here.

Here are 2 of the great things I found in the comments:

1. Shimelle Laine - also known as Glitter Girl from TwoPeasinaBucket.com and a frequent guest on the show has a video about making your own kits. It's called Kit Me Up Before You Go-Go

2. One of the Commenters Said This:

Also check out the "Counterfeit Kit Club Challenge Blog" all about creating kits from your stash based on current kit clubs - it is a fun thing to do.

I'm going to give a shout out to a challenge blog that turned my kit use around at a time when I had to give up a kit subscription some years ago - the Counterfeit Kit Challenge. I'm on the team so I'm somewhat biased but the idea is that we all have a lot of stash that needs to be used! So each month, we are given a "real" kit as inspiration for us to shop our own stash and create a kit that is totally us using product that we already have, probably love (or we wouldn't have bought it) and have spent good money on! And then through the month, the blog offers inspiration, techniques and challenges to encourage us to use the kits we've created. Creating my own kit each month gave me a good feeling right from the start as I have way more stash than I will ever use. I have still purchased the occasional kit over the months but the CKC kit is what I turn to over and over again for ease and speed of scrapping whenever I am in the mood.

See if I ever start using monthly scrapbook kits....