1. It helps me use up my stash.
2. It means I don't have to take much more than I need- and will only need to buy a few papers- and can use my spending money on embellishments rather than patterned paper (which I have a lot of already).
3. Batch tasking like this saves a HEAP of time. A big part of any LO is choosing the supplies- If I can go through and choose the papers for forty layouts all in one session then I only have to go through my stash once- not forty times!!
4. Having all sorts of choices already sorted for me means I can do what takes my fancy and I can get into it fast.
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When I kit like this I start from two different places depending on my mood.
Option One: This is the stash buster option I go through my patterned papers and find the ones I have had for quite a while, as well as some that I absolutely love and really want to scrap with and lay them out ALL over my lounge room floor.
Option Two: I go through my photos and find some that I am 'in the mood' to scrap then I lay them all out as below.
(Option three is a bit of both- in which case I do the papers first).
Step two in both processes is to match 'this with that'. So if I have paper all over my floor I will pull out my envelopes of enlargements, and my albums of photos waiting to be scrapped and find the matches.
I am looking for colour matches contrasting or complementary- not the same colour. Or thematic matches. If I find more than one paper option I will add them both. I may or may not use them both in the final LO but at least I have the paper with me to chose from and not back at home where it's going to be useless.
Here are some examples...
The brown tones in this image is a good match with the greens in my photo and a few of the butterflies pick up the red of the table. This works thematically because the butterflies go to fun and outdoors.
The spooky paper is great with the witchy photos- the tan is neutral and will work with most things and the orange highlights are also found in my pictures.
The colours here work with my photos and the circles echo the ball in the image. You can see a similarly toned paper in the background which has chevrons- these will give the illusion of movement- I'll point them in the same direction the ball is moving in.
Arrows work with these images for the movement theme again. There isn't too much bright colour or bust details in my photo so this relatively colourful and busy paper with pair nicely.
A science-themed paper to match the science experiment in the photos.
This one is all about the colours.
This one is about colour too- I can see that these colours will work with my sons green shirt because that green is already in the paper. The pictures are quite bold so I have chosen a soft paper so there's no competition.
This is a paper I have had for ages and really like but found hard to match- but it works well with the sheets and picks up the pinks in the quilt cover. It contrasts nicely with my daughters green top.
Once I have complete sets of paper and photos I have a think about what I know is in my stash that will work well with what I have going on and go grab it...
I knew I had these Pirate Stickers from the same paper range the flag paper came from.
I knew I had some paper with cereal boxes for my baby eating cereal page.
The next stage is to go through my scrap paper drawers. These are sorted by colour and I pull each one out in turn and go through them to see if I have some papers to co-ordinate with what I have going on. Once again I am looking for colours and patterns that compliment or contrast...
Here's the final result. I didn't find matches from the scrap drawers for all of the pages but some of the offcuts from what I have already might work- because it's pretty unusual for me to use a full 12x12 sheet on a LO. Or I might buy a sheet or two while I am away. (I scrap at Country Paper Craft in Bruce Rock- it's a store and a retreat.)
The final stage before I put it all away is to add a sheet of cardstock to each set. 98% of the time that will be White or French Vanilla. Very rarely I might use Black (Raven), Kraft, Chocolate, or Grey.
Then I slip it all into, what ends up being a very full, Work-in-Progress Album- if you don't own one I highly recommend them. When I get to the retreat I flip through and pick the page I want to work on and pull all my bits out and get straight into it. When the page is done I slip it back into it's spot in the album for safe transport home.
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