Practical Scrappers Blog Hop

Welcome to the Practical Scrappers Blog Hop where we are Scrapping our Stash.

CHA is this weekend and that means the industry is putting out all kinds of fabulous new product.  So what better time to kick off our new monthly series of Scrapping our Stash!  A special shout out to the sponsor of today’s hop: Kiwi Lane Designs!

Kiwi Lane Designs creates templates that help take the frustration out of scrapbooking!  And one lucky winner today will get a border set and an accessory set from Kiwi Lane. Details on how you can win this prize are on the Practical Scrappers blog!

You should have arrived here from Lanette Erickson‘s blog. If not, you can go to the Practical Scrappers blog to start from the beginning or for the full list in case you get lost along the way! From my site please head on over to Wendy Coffman.

Today I took the idea of using your stash in a different direction. I wanted to show you how I use my monthly kit subscriptions. I’ve been getting a kit from Gossamer Blue since September and took some videos but never shared them until now. (It’s your lucky day!!) In this video I open up my October kit (and the add-on I splurged on) and go through the contents for you. Below you will see the layouts I created from the kit and what I have left over. Keeping in mind that the add-on included a 6×6 paper pad, I think I did not too bad using up my kit that month!

Here’s the Kit Reveal.

And my layouts.

Every month we also get a free coordinating cut file and printable page. I haven’t used the cut files yet (my Silhouette is in another room so I tend to forget about it) but I used several of the printables on this page. The punched wood grain circle with the teal heart, the punched circle with the camera and the punched teal circle with cross stitched hearts that is tucked behind the title grouping are all from that sheet. So too are the arrow beneath the photo and the two photo corners.

For this page I used 2 sheets from the 6×6 paper pad behind my photos. Having the photos and those 2 accent papers on slight angles creates energy – reflective of my 3 energetic daughters. Keeping it all corralled on a nice rectangular double mat makes sure the focus stays on those photos. A double mat like this is also a great way to use up your stash if you find you have an insane amount of patterned paper (not that I would know anything about that – cough, cough!)

I used 2 more pieces of 6×6 paper here but actually cut the darker pink one into two pieces so it would stretch across my photos. That’s an excellent tip for you! It looks like a larger rectangle – the gap is hidden behind the photos.

I used that same stretching technique here just in the opposite orientation. This layout also demonstrates some serious stash busting of those wood veneer pieces, don’t you think? I loved these candid shots of my middle daughter and my husband and as soon as I opened up the kit and saw these two silhouette pieces I knew they had to go on this layout!

Finally, my last layout using this kit. Lot’s of the die cuts from the Amy tangerine package as well as pieces from the printable sheet. More wood veneer – buttons this time – and another 6×6 sheet stretched ALL the way across the layout.

Okay, now you’ve seen what I started with and what I made … let’s take a look at what was left over. I still have a lot of letter stickers (never a bad thing!!) and most of the 6×6 paper pad but my papers and embellishments are pretty decimated.

Well, that’s all I have for you today. Thanks for hopping with us and good luck busting your stash! Your next stop is  Wendy Coffman. Have a great weekend everyone!