As part of our Simple Tip Saturday series this year, I’m inviting fresh voices into the mix. Today we’re hearing from Simple Scrapper team member Allie Trumpower with her simple tip.
What is one way you simplify scrapbooking?
Using “kits” of products, either created by myself or someone else, has simplified scrapbooking for me– I went from taking 2+ hours to finish a simple page, to being able to create a complex and exciting page in under 30 minutes!
What problem does it solve for you?
I used to get paralyzed with ALL of the choices– I would spend more time picking out products than I would spend on design or putting it all together– and I would always change my mind in the middle of the page and get MORE product out– more decisions! With a kit, the decisions are minimal, and it allows me to focus on the design of the page and the story I want to tell. I can still grab “additional” products to put on the page if it needs it, but those decisions are minimal when everything is picked out from the beginning!
Why do you think it works so well?
It minimizes the decisions I need to make– I tend to over-think and over analyze and kitting takes that away! Sometimes, I just want to move product around, and sometimes I want to SCRAP… making my own kits allows me to “play” with product when I feel like “just playing” and using those kits later when I want to “serious scrap” makes that time go faster and be more productive!
How can others get started with it?
I didn’t really ‘get’ how easy and effective scrapping with a kit was until I was on a digital creative team and could ONLY use elements from ONE kit. If you’re a digital scrapper, I challenge you to make a page from ONE designer’s ONE kit (or one color palette like the BYOC at the LilyPad, and keep practicing doing that – don’t get lost in your hard drive searching for the perfect element!
Simple Tip Saturdays are for sharing easy ideas to grab and run.
I totally agree about this I have made amazing layouts and very quickly from kitting each month. I follow Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog and they challenge you each month to make the inspirational kit they offer that you build from your stash for the month. They encourage using many different companies and using the old and the new together. It’s a wonderful way to start the month and then just build your layouts throughout the month very easily cause the hardest part is being taken care of.
i have tried building kits from my stash, but I’ve realized I don’t really have a great embellishment stash. I think I need to buy some embellishments first and then I can try again. I felt a bit stifled when I tried before. I’ll have to give it another go.
Make sure you consider why it is that you don’t have a big embellishment stash. Is it because you use them up quickly – or is it because you’re not using them much at all. There’s no requirement for what has to go in a kit.
I do this, too! I totally agree that using stash kits simplifies the scrapping process. I pull together kits on a monthly basis – sometimes I use the Counterfeit Kit Challenge as inspiration, other times I come up with something on the fly – then I scrap whatever pics fit the mood or theme of the kit I’ve assembled. It’s made my scrapbooking so much more fun, and I get tons more done.