Make your own Card Kit 1

Every now and then I get a cleaning/organizing bug. I find myself going through my crafty supplies in an effort to make them easier and more convenient to use. And it really helps! Seeing everything I already own is a great reminder that I might not need the 30 shiny new stamps that were just released.

The last thing I organized was my card kits. I only get one card kit per month (from Simon Says Stamp), but it still stacks up over time. Originally, I simply left the kits in the box they came in and stacked them in the corner of my crafty closet, with a label on the side. However, this wasn't ideal because I'd forget what was in each kit and that meant I used them less. So, I started switching them to big ziploc bags.

The clear bags were a better solution, as I could see the stamp set, embellishments and colors of the kit much easier. It still wasn't ideal, though, because I still often forgot to look through the kits when I was searching for the perfect card supplies.

So, my latest organizing idea was to leave the last 3 months of card kits in ziploc bags, and put the rest of it away with my other supplies. So, stickers went with stickers, washi tape with washi tape, stamps into their pockets and stored with the rest of my stamps, and so on. So far, I'm liking this system much better, as it's giving me a chance to break out of the kit-only box and use the supplies more.

While doing this organization project, I felt really inspired to try my hand at making my own card kit. I figured this would be a great way to fine-tune my planning and design skills, as well as inspire me to use up some of my ever-growing supply stash.

Here are the contents of my very first kit and how I went about putting it together.

I think every kit needs to have a launching point of some sort -- whether that's a product, color scheme or topic/theme. I decided to start with this chipboard sticker set from Simple Stories DIY Boutique line. I've had this sticker set for a while and kept wanting to use it. But it never fit entirely in the card I was making, so it just sat there in my stash. I thought I might have a better chance of using it if I built a kit around it.

I chose the paper quite randomly, going for colors and tones that matched the stickers. Some papers were from the same line as the sticker, but the majority were simply from  my stash. I did not try to match the colors exactly, instead I went for choosing colors that had the right brightness and tones.

And that's a close-up of the different papers I chose. Since the sticker had a creamy off-white background, I chose to go with similar tones for the white.

Next, I prepared a few card bases that fit the tones of the patterned paper and sticker. These bases are already cut and folded into A2-sized cards (4¼x5½").

The first part of embellishments was a set of enamel dots. I grabbed the bright enamel dots from Freckled Fawn, as well as a black/gray and gold sets of enamel dots from Studio Calico. The colors of the enamel dots are not the exact match to the other supplies, but they do stand out great against the patterned paper I chose.

The second part of the embellishments was dipping into my wood veneer and button stash. I found some fun wood veneer and buttons in the same tones as the papers. I also grabbed a couple of flair, some black satin ribbon and a rainbow washi tape.

The last step was getting a few stamp sets that go along with the rest of the kit.

Since I like coloring, I grabbed two stamp sets that I could color. On the left is Evie from The Greeting Farm secret stamp club. On the right is Some Odd Girl's Hipster Mae. Both of them seem to fit the modern hipster vibe I got from the chipboard stickers.

Next, I grabbed a couple of stamp sets that are a little bit funny. On the left is Stuck on This from the Sweet Stamp Shop (now retired, sorry!) and Paper Smooches' Teen Routine is on the right.

Since there was a mustache on the sticker pack, I thought it might be good to add in a masculine stamp, so I chose Terrific Ties from My Favorite Things.

Lastly, I wanted to make sure that I had some good sentiments to work with, so I chose two stamp sets from Simon Says Stamp - Stripe Greetings on the left and Big Scripty Greetings on the right.

And that's all there is to this kit! I will be sharing the cards created with this kit as well as my thoughts about how well (or badly!) it worked for me soon.

Until next time... Thanks for reading!
~Elle~