Matching up and making up my own monthly kit...

When I first started scrapbooking, I quickly discovered monthly kits  and remember subscribing to Sarah's first scrapbooking kits and Lianne's ribbon kits!  I loved how a kit helped to build up my stash of embellishments and papers and gave me supplies to use that already worked together.

It's been a while since I've purchased or had a kit to work with and, after a couple of months of not buying supplies and weeks away from making any layouts, I decided to inspire myself to get creating again by designing my own kit from items in the shop, trying to stick to a £20 budget.

My starting point was a piece of Simple Stories paper with a chalkboard design: I knew that this would make a great base for a page.  I then set about finding some other papers that I liked and would have some similar colours and theme to make everything hang together.  I like to mix and match manufacturers and after having a good search around the site, I found a piece of Lily Bee paper with a delicate heart bokeh design and a piece of pink Amy Tan paper with hearts and arrows.  To these, I added a sheet of Studio Calico paper which is made up of smaller cards, ideal for cutting out.  The reverse of this paper also had a pink pattern which also coordinated with the other designs.

A kit needs an alphabet and I chose a sheet of Jillibean Soup Alphabean stickers in teal (teal and pink are one of my favourite colour combinations).  I love these letter stickers as they contain a good range of upper and lower case and are a lovely size for long titles.  I also added a sheet of Jillibean Wise Words: these stickers are a bargain at only 99p per sheet and are ideal for titles or embellishments/extra details, especially as they contain images as well as words.  I love washi tape and use it on nearly every page that I make but instead of adding a whole roll to my kit, I chose a sheet of Crate Paper's washi paper.  These contain loads of strips of different patterns that you simply cut up and use.  My final touches to add details to my layouts were some Studio Calico sequins (I knew that the woodgrain sequins would be a perfect match for my papers), some label and star stickers for colour and interest and some Maya Road mini envelopes.

(links to all of the products in my kit are at the bottom of this post)

So far, I have made two pages using a selection of things from my kit and, as June is the month of my wedding anniversary, they're both rare pages featuring me and my husband.

By Helen

My Kit:
Simple Stories Chalkboard Paper
Studio Calico Snippets Me Oh My Paper
Amy Tan Yes Please Commit Paper
Lily Bee Sweet Shoppe Marshmellow Paper
Crate Paper The Pier Washi Paper
Basic Grey Mint Julep Title Stickers
Studio Calico Sequins
Jillibean Soup Wise Words
Jillibean Soup Alphabeans
Maya Road Envelopes