I need you!

Of course I do, but more specifically I need you to ask me some questions. I’m working on a presentation for my Big Picture class, and I thought it would be fun to address real questions.

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So please – lay it on me!! Any questions you can think of about scrapbook kits – using them, making, ideas for specific themes of kits, favorites, what to do with ___…. anything! Leave your question(s) in comment section here please.

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As you can see I’ve been busy. This picture represents only about 1/2 the layouts I made for class! Working without feedback as I do, sometimes I feel like I miss some piece that my students would want. Oh, I work hard to make sure I don’t miss anything major – but I thought a presentation with some Q & A would be a fun addition BONUS to this class.

As a thank you, if I’m able to use any of your questions I will mail you a little treat. Something special in a ‘happy mail’ envelope to say thanks. I’ll respond to each comment left – and you’ll know soon if a treat is heading your way.

Thanks for helping!!

update: Thank you to those who’ve commented so far – I now have enough for the presentation. If you have questions though, DO feel free to ask. I will continue to respond.

39 thoughts on “I need you!”

  1. What can you do, when the colors in your photographs don’t seem to coordinate with the colors/elements in the kit? Many times, I purchase a kit because there is something(s) in the kit that is particularly appealing to me, and I have a photo or group of photos I want to use with the kit. However, often i find my photos don’t really “go” with the kit…and then I end up not using it. Any suggestions??

  2. I have used a few kits in the past but then I have those wonderful leftovers. What do I do with them? Do I want to keep the stuff together or?

  3. one of the things I hear asked all the time is…”What do you look for in a kit?” my answer is fresh products and something unique – odd embellishments or ephermera…you know stuff you do not see everyday!! That is what entices me to make a kit purchase.

  4. I’ve never purchased any actual kits ( I know hard to believe) Are there ways to use them other than layouts and cards?

    Like, could I make a mini book or tag book with them? Keychain book?

    Alter a picture frame ? Make magnets with them?

  5. A lot of kits come with a sample of layouts/projects created with the kit – that is always cool – gives us inspiration and ideas on how we can use the kit!!

  6. I’d like to know what exactly I should gather to make my own kit. I have so much stuff in my stash, I’d like to use it. I was thinking of gathering some of those 12 x 12 craft keepers (they often sell for $1 at Michael’s) and putting some kits together. I realize I need paper, but what else do you recommend to round out the kit? And how do you tie it together? One or two, or how many main colors? Obviously it needs to be a similar style. How do you guage that? How can I incorporate leftovers that I have? What type of embellishments should I include. Do you have a checklist of items that should be included in a homemade kit?

  7. I joined a kit club and found them to have too much random, uncoordinating product in them. What should you look for before joinging a kit club?

  8. What techniques can you use to blend leftover kit pieces together? I’d like to know to use up the extra bits from all my kits, but still have a cohesive look to a project.

  9. I’ve only bought a few kits online. Love them! I used to belong to a kit club at my LSS and have lots of those I never used. Old stuff. I want to use them but they seem unattracitve and not sure what to do. First I would like to know how you can take old kits and use them in fun ways. Second I have soooooooooooooooooo much stuff it’s crazy, I would like to know how to pull some of my own stuff into a kit and make a bunch of layouts with my “own” kit.

  10. I love kits. I can always find uses for the leftovers, but there never seems to be enough solids. How do you match more solids?

  11. I would like to see a kit used multiple ways..a layout or two, a mini book, some cards, and/or a home decor project. I’d just like to see how versatile they can be for my random crafting whims. :o)

  12. I would like some good ideas on how to store leftovers from kits-how to store, should I keep them separate, or combine them in with my stash at some point? Also, ideas on just using leftover scraps to make little projects-like cards, and home decor projects.

  13. I’ve not tried kits for several of the reasons already stated – I may love the look of the kit, but will it go with my picutres – how many pages can I really make with it – what will I do with the leftovers since I don’t have much storage space – should I try a kit club – which one – is it really economical – or will I get a lot of things I won’t use…… I wanted to sign up for the class because you are the instructor, but didn’t because of all these questions.

  14. I have always been afraid of kits because I think that I would get a bunch of stuff that I wouldnt EVER use because it might not be my style. I guess it would help me think outside the box if I had to use a kit. What should a good kit comprise of?? If I wanted to put together matching items.

  15. Several kits I’ve seen have great solid colors but the patterned paper were these HUGE prints that didn’t really go with anything. How can they be used so that the kit doesn’t sit unused?

  16. Kits tend to come with big alpha letters and I rarely can figure out what to do with them. Not my style I guess. So, how about some new innovative ideas for the letters if you are not going to use them for a title….Thanks!

  17. I see that there are a lot of questions already. Mine would have been how do you put a kit together from your own stash? We tend to just look at one line and stick with it. A lot of kits have papers from different companies that are the same colors or completely different and I never would have put them together. So how do we “just go for it”?

    Same with when you get a kit with papers and embellishments that aren’t our style/color/ etc, should we just challenge ourselves to use them?

    Any tips on changing an item in a kit that we don’t like? distressing is something that always comes up but any others?

    Great bonus idea for you class.

  18. I’ve looked at kit clubs and always look at the previous months kits to decide it I want to join. So far, I haven’t joined..only purchased a few kits here and there. I think I would like to join but am wondering what to do on the months when the kit is full of stuff that just isn’t my style. I’m sure there is a bigger picture I am missing.

  19. I like the kits, but then find I have all these leftovers things that I’m not sure what to do with. It would be nice to come up with a little idea sheet on how else you can use these random leftovers and show pics. Thanks May!

  20. What if you get some “unique” items in a kit you have NEVER used before…i.e. fabric squares, feathers, chains, metals, etc……or papers we would NEVER purchase ourselves because we would never “match” them…Where would we go for samples/examples/ideas ??

  21. I love your website. I have had fun scrolling through your posts and am intrigued by your questions for questions. I love the idea of a kit but like many others that have commented, I have never purchased a kit. My question is with kits is do they come with idea sheets or suggestions to get the creative juices flowing? How do I incorporate them into pages if my photos do not match or the kit doesn’t match my style?

  22. Looking forward to your class May! I would like to see ideas on how to choose different pattern papers to work together — large print, small print, stripe, etc. Also how to alter raw chipboard that is often included in kits to make a unique or special accent. Also, many kits include ribbon. What are some new and special ways to use ribbon. Some kits include a stamp. What are some different ways to use a stamp to compliment the layout or card. I would love to see all these things covered in your class. Thanks for asking!

  23. What makes a kit a good value? We are all trying to get value for our money and I would like to know how I can tell if the kit is a good value or would I be better off purchasing the elements seperatly?

    Also I would like to know how you store your kits and how you store your kits after you have used some of the contents? How long will you keep a kit together?

    Thanks so much May I enjoyed your first kit class, I feel like i could bennifit form more information as well. Thanks again May!

  24. I know the gallon, quart, pint approach to scrapbook design can produce some really great layouts. If you were creating a kit from your stash, would you recommend creating it by sticking with mostly 3 colors? What are some of your favorite 3 color combos?

  25. When putting together your own kits, where do you draw the line between too much stuff and not enough stuff in the kit? How do you know how much of everything to include without going overboard or skimping?

  26. I’m taking your kit class, and I’m really looking forward to it. The kit clubs I’ve belonged to all required that you commit to several months at least. It never fails that most of the kits I love and have lots of ideas about how to use them. Then there are a couple that just stump me. I either don’t like the bulk of the stuff in the kit, or it’s just so not my style that I have no idea what to do with it. I’d love some ideas of how to doctor things up to make them look different than they originally did, so that I can use more of the kits that I have/get.

  27. I can’t decide how to store my things. I don’t have a good enough memory I guess to say, “Oh, this is such and such” but I LOOOOVEEEE having all my like items in jars, cans, etc, so I can dig through them. How do you remember what’s what?

  28. Kits often come with the need to journal and journaling tags. What is the best way to express what you want in the space provided and how do you keep the writing small enough to fit but readable?

  29. I have bought a couple of kits and I love them but I have so much left over afterward…only because I can’t visualize using the items…maybe if there were some sort of suggestion sheet from the person who put the kit together about what their vision was. Do I make sense? I am not talking something elaborate…just a quick list of things you could do with the items in the kit. Is that what you were looking for?

  30. Hi! I’m back again with another question. When you get that kit in your hands and open the box, what should you do next? (Besides fondle the contents!) Is there some major organizational thing you should do to make sure that you really do use this kit and not just put it away and forget about it? Should you write down some ideas as you look over what is in the kit? Etc.

  31. When making specific kits do you like making Theme Kits – Girly- Seasonal, etc. When buying premade kits, a lot of them have patterns/colors so outside of my comfort zone…how do you take that step outside of your zone to use these patterns, etc on layouts? Do you jump in right away & create layouts or 3D projects with your kit supplies?
    Diane aka doverdi #1329

  32. I used to be in a kit club. It was great for awhile. I only have two boys and rarely put flowers on boy pages, so I would get very frustrated with kits that had too much feminine product. I would love ideas on how to use this product for boy pages. (and please don’t tell me it is okay to put flowers on boy pages as is…my boys find them offensive :))

    Also, I want to know how to make hybrid kits. I am doing a lot more hybrid scrapping, but want ideas on how to plan my layouts and product better. Such as: who has good hybrid kits and where do I get them? and how do you make sure that you save the right amount of room for your traditional product when looking at a smaller version of the page on your computer screen?

    PS Love the paper and pixels book. very inspirational!

  33. I scrap with lots of photos on a page – rarely do I have fewer than 4! Usually 5 or 6. Yes, I crop a lot of photos!

    Page kits are often planned for one or two pages – and the idea sheets often reflect this.

    It is ‘too much’ to use all the product designed for one page with 5-6 photos… So my question: What are some easy ways to expand a kit designed for 1-2 pages into 3-4 pages of layouts?

  34. I HAVEN’T TRIED THE KITS YET,BUT
    WOULD LOVE TO JOIN IN ON YOUR
    CLASSES…..WOULD LOVE TO FIND A
    FISKARS DRILL SOMEWHERE,I SAW PINKY
    USE ONE AT TRAINING AND WANTED ONE
    EVER SINCE….

  35. I belong to a couple great kit clubs. I do love the variety of product you get. I have a couple of dilemmas.
    First, I think its already been mentioned, is that I have a hard time breaking up the kit to organize the leftovers! I’d love to see some ideas on how others do this.
    Secondly, what is the proper protocol for layouts done with kits? Credits need to be given but do you just give the name of the kit company? Or do you still list each manufactured of each item? And what about the embellishments that don’t show the mfg, i.e. loose buttons, lace, ribbons, individual items like small journaling cards that we do not know who the mfg is?

    Hope it’s not too much but just a couple dilemmas I have in working with kits!

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