Scrapbooking & Beyond Kit Kraze

Have you ever thought about joining a kit club? In the last few years, this niche in the scrapbook industry has exploded with possibilities. Visiting a craft store and choosing your own product can be a satisfying venture. However, if you must take a few sidekicks with you who would rather spend their time at the nearest toy store than wait for you to choose embellishments, shopping for scrapbook supplies, it can be more stressful than fun. This is where the kit club comes in. There are actually people out there who will put together very thoughtful kits with perfectly coordinated parts. Many kit designers will choose a manufacturer’s line and include many elements of the collection, but then add the perfect flower, button or ribbon from other manufacturers to make the kit complete with everything you need to create a beautiful project. This series will show readers what it is like to receive a scrapbook kit and some possibilities for projects as shown by the four designers participating in this series. Get inspired to create fabulous pages by checking out the work of these talented designers, grab your own kit, and get to scrappin’. The Pebbles Inc. Lil’ Miss Collection was chosen as the focus for the spring 2010 issue primarily for its color palette. The papers are a perfect balance between pastel and vibrant colors. They also incorporate a floral theme, but since it is grounded in brown, the kit has an earthy feel. Ribbon, rub-ons, stickers and chipboard are perfect complements to the paper and the theme of the kit. The possibilities are endless.

Enter our drawing for a chance to win the kit featured in this issue.
Write your name, mailing and e-mail address, and phone number on a postcard and send to:
All American Crafts, 7 Waterloo Road, Stanhope, NJ 07874, Attn: Scrapbooking & Beyond KIT KRAZE,
or click here fill out the online entry form. All entries must be received by April 1, 2010. Winner will be notified by April 15, 2010 and announced in our Summer issue, on sale June 1, 2010. Another exciting kit will be offered in our Summer 2010 issue.

Spring 2010 Kit includes:

Materials
Color photo(s) of choice
Martha Stewart Ink Pad in Red
Clearsnap ColorBox Chalk Ink in Chestnut Roan
Ranger Clear Accents
Duncan Scribbles 3D Paint in Coral Rose
Glitter glue in pink
Brads in brown
Fiskars Border Punch in Apron Lace
Punch in flower
EK Success ZIG Writer in Black
Marker in brown
Foam dots
Double-sided adhesive
Sewing machine and brown sewing thread
Computer, printer, scissors, ruler, pencil, tracing paper, transfer paper, sandpaper, craft knife

Some Little Lady
Designed by Liz Qualman

My goal was to use a little bit of everything in the kit without making my layout look too cluttered. The color palette on the printed papers was a perfect complement to the photo of my daughter. I really love the Creative Imaginations Scallop Die Cut, but I thought it might look a bit washed out as the only background, so I traced it onto the brown side of the Sweetheart patterned paper. Since the Creative Imaginations Scallop Die Cut had the cute little holes in the paper, I cut it into a circle mat and used the Chestnut Roan ink pad to antique around outside edges. Using the holes in the paper, I laced some sheer ribbon through every two holes to create a more dramatic border. Two of the patterned papers were cut into semicircles. Pebbles Inc. does the coolest thing with their papers that includes a printed strip of coordinating design on the back of the paper descriptions. I used the dark brown strips from the Sister patterned paper to break up the two semi-circles. Then I added Candy Dots to the dark strip to add some texture and balance to the pink Pink Paislee flower and Pebbles Inc. white chipboard flowers. I used a bit of a Rub-On for part of the journaling and a little flower that reflected the design on the patterned papers, stitckers, and chipboard. When creating the title, I used a combination of Pebbles Inc. stickers and Doodlebug Design alphabet.

i heart you because…
Designed by Julie Howard

Take note of the tiny little pair of pink pumps on the bird! The paper ruffle is simply a strip of patterned paper that I cut to twice the length of the area I wished to cover. I traced and cut a scalloped edge, then gave the strip a light sanding and distressed it further by wadding it into a ball, several times over. The final step was to simply gather it up into random pleats and machine zigzag-stitch in place.

Journaling: Chelsea loves to hang out with Grandma Cindy. They have sleepovers, watch American Idol, sing songs, gossip about boys and giggle for hours. But best of all . . . Grandma Cindy allows Chelsea to play in her shoe closet!

“This is a layout of my mother and my niece. I snapped this photo of them this past May during one of their ‘girl nights.’ You can see from the photo what a special bond they share.” – Julie Howard

Baby Love
Designed by Robbie Herring

This kit just screamed cute little girl for me. This is my great niece holding a baby goat. We get a kick out of her because we think that she likes the goats better than us! She was so excited when she was finally big enough to hold the babies all by herself. The pink flower in the kit was exactly like the brown one. I decided that I wanted to use it in the corner, so I snipped the button off and folded it in half. I made a tiny stitch to hold it together. The large letters were solid brown. I wanted to tone them down a bit and decided to go with polka dots similar to the ribbon. I just made little dots with 3D Paint. It’s a simple way to add some extra dimension or to change the look of a solid colored embellishment. I also added a bit of the paint to the chipboard flower and one of the stickers to coordinate. The photo corners on the layout were a glittered frame included in the kit. I cut it in half to create my own corners. I also cut a rectangle from the Scallop Notebook Die Cut for the journaling block.

Journaling: The very first thing you ask when you come to visit us is, “Do you have baby goats?” I’m pretty sure in your eyes it’s the best part of coming to our house. We love to see how much fun you have. Ella-2008

Bayou Babe
Designed by Susan Dupre

Journaling: We spent the entire day floating down the bayou sitting on the porch of the camp that Uncle Brandon and Uncle Jeffrey built. I couldn’t avoid taking a picture of you as you sat there watching the world go by.