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Post by kiwikate on Sept 27, 2023 9:17:26 GMT
Once again I find myself overwhelmed by too much stuff, too many choices. In the chaos I pulled out a SSS card kit and I have been busy all weekend just using that one kit. I wonder if my brain would function better just doing kits? I have also done a major de-stash again and selling off the excess. My biggest issue is when my life/work are too busy, I buy instead of creating. So, anyone mainly a kit creator? Any thoughts?
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Post by scrapperal on Sept 27, 2023 16:03:17 GMT
I like kits when I go to crops because theoretically, I don't need to bring a lot of extras (even though I do). I used to buy all the Basic Grey card kits and I always and a stash of card on hand to give. I really like the Sheetload of Cards sketches. Maybe you could make kits using the sketches?
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Post by joblackford on Sept 27, 2023 16:26:11 GMT
I don’t, although I have considered trying to become a 6x6 patterned paper pad+die cuts only cardmaker, and I think I could be 80% happy with that.
But in the context of crochet, yes. I buy one blanket kit and just start crocheting. I don’t always follow the exact pattern for the kit I buy but always from the same artist who designs the kits (Attic24). When I’m done with the blanket I give away any extra yarn and buy a new kit. I don’t even try to stash the extra or come up with a project to use it up. It’s too stressful and ends up leading to me buying more and more on a treadmill of trying to use it up and I don’t enjoy that. Just doing the kit really helps me limit decisions and just go all in on the project in front of me.
Card kits might work a little differently than crochet blankets, but you could try it out. Box up the excess, or just continue doing what you’re doing - grab a kit and focus on that, see what you can do with it. Stopping shopping for novelty and all the other dopamine hits is tricky but that’s kind of a separate issue.
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Shakti
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Post by Shakti on Sept 27, 2023 16:27:52 GMT
Reading between the lines, it seems to me that what you're saying, kiwikate, is that you what you like about kits like the SSS card kits is that it's a curated set of coordinated products. This way you don't get overwhelmed going through a large stash finding things to put together or even figure out where to start. Am I reading you right?
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leeny
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Post by leeny on Sept 27, 2023 17:54:04 GMT
Even though I have a ton of supplies and a huge Pinterest page of card samples, I use card kits. I belong to a Facebook group that sends cards to people needing cheering up and these kits work well for that. I make them up ahead of time and they are at the ready. I also subscribe to Krazy Kreations monthly card kits because they are unique. Kits are great to take to retreats and when I go with dh fishing. I use my regular supplies when I have a lot of time to experiment.
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Post by cmpeter on Sept 27, 2023 20:39:41 GMT
Definitely not predominately because I like variety, but I frequently buy the MFT Card kits.
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Post by kiwikate on Sept 27, 2023 22:24:02 GMT
Reading between the lines, it seems to me that what you're saying, kiwikate , is that you what you like about kits like the SSS card kits is that it's a curated set of coordinated products. This way you don't get overwhelmed going through a large stash finding things to put together or even figure out where to start. Am I reading you right? Yes, 100% on the spot! Even though my stash is small comparatively, it still feels like it is too much.
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Shakti
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Post by Shakti on Sept 28, 2023 11:22:25 GMT
I buy at least one kit a month, more often two, and sometimes even three. I do try to cap it there!
I don't spend enough time playing with the open-ended kits, the one that are more like curated collections, such as SSS and MMH, as often as I should. But, yes, I could easily see keeping myself busy and happy just with the kits.
I even have some vague plans for trying to combine similarly-themed kits from different brands!
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azcrafty
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Post by azcrafty on Sept 28, 2023 14:37:13 GMT
I love to get kits too. I have been a PaperPumpkin subscriber for years , but I decided to take a little brake from them and revisit if I still want them on the future.
I do get some of the MMH kits if I love them and very few SSS kits- I know those stamps will be around so I don't feel the pressure to make a quick decision.
Kits are a great way to focus my mind on a specific set or style and helps me when I don't have one. The only big fall down to them that if you sub to one it can pile up very fast.
KW used to have a series where she made a kit for the month from her stash and would only use those to create cards. Im thinking to make a kit for the coming CARDtober and try to only use those to create the cards for the challenges 🤔.
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Shakti
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Post by Shakti on Sept 28, 2023 14:57:09 GMT
Who is this? As I've said elsewhere, I won't subscribe to anything if there's no option to skip a month and I don't get at least a peek before I need to decide.
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azcrafty
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Post by azcrafty on Sept 28, 2023 15:42:22 GMT
Who is this? As I've said elsewhere, I won't subscribe to anything if there's no option to skip a month and I don't get at least a peek before I need to decide. Kristina Werner Here the video where she is putting her capsule together youtu.be/aPgbgu_mxYI?si=L-KD9-SF9fPAivd6
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Shakti
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Post by Shakti on Sept 28, 2023 15:53:29 GMT
Duh. Just watched her on Sunday, but didn't put it together. Thank you!
EtA:
Watched the video. It is an interesting concept. As a person who does buy kits and sometimes thinks about combining some of them (shocking how often different brands put out similar themes in similar timeframes, right?), I can easily see building one of these "capsules" around one kit, pulling other items from my stash that seem like they'd coordinate, or around two similar kits.
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Post by kiwikate on Sept 28, 2023 21:53:35 GMT
That’s a great video and great ideas here. Thank you all for the discussion that came from my random musings :-) I think I might try out the capsule idea~
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Shakti
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Post by Shakti on Sept 30, 2023 19:20:45 GMT
I've been thinking about this "capsule" idea. I wasn't really sure how it comes together, so I poked around KW's blog some more. She's definitely a very different crafter than I am -- I would never wonder which watercolor set to bring -- I'm not much of a painter at all. I do have a three-day crafty retreat coming up in early November -- bring your own thing, but with fellow crafters and away from home. I'll be free of CARDtober and the fall card exchange, so I imagine it will time to focus hard on Christmas. I'm wondering if I should bring "all the Christmas things" or try to narrow it down. If I do, I don't think it will be using her formula/list, but maybe there is some version of that vision that would work for me. Of course, right now all my autumn-themed set are together while I work on those two big fall projects. Maybe on Thursdays in October you all will tell me I should have narrowed down -- that less would've been more
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Post by joblackford on Sept 30, 2023 20:37:21 GMT
Another person with a different style (although still a painter) is Jill Foster for Penny Black’s YouTube channel. She creates very simple stash kits using a grouping of stamps and dies and batches the work so she can work in a small cloffice space and not get overwhelmed. She has several videos talking about avoiding decision fatigue and several using her holiday card supplies that’s kind of a capsule/kit. I think there’s value in the videos even if the cards themselves are not your style. Her storage methods are also very very simple - a couple of photo boxes with basic paper envelopes to hold the dies and die cuts, etc. youtube.com/@pennyblackinc?si=GQxVgkKb7LG3f1a8
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anaterra
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Post by anaterra on Oct 2, 2023 21:04:08 GMT
I waffle all the time about getting a card kit subscription... I have done several different scrap clubs..
I want to get paper pumpkin and stamps of life.. I also want to get the spellbinders because I recently got the plat 6...
I haven't subbed to any.. maybe in the new year I will readjust my budget... really its because I get a sock of the month and a nail polish of the month.. blahhhh why cant i have tons of money... lol
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kate
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Post by kate on Oct 2, 2023 23:51:56 GMT
I have often considered the same thing! I love using kits. Before I knew monthly kits were a "thing" (yes, MANY years ago), I used to kit up my own stash before going to a crop. I really liked working that way. My stash sure comes in handy, though, even for the kits... sometimes a certain die or embossing folder just adds the right touch. And sometimes, I enjoy making a one-off card inspired by just pawing through my stash. Like joblackford, I do think that kits could satisfy me about 80%. Hmmm might be time to make some more kits from my stash!
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Shakti
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Post by Shakti on Dec 28, 2023 12:02:51 GMT
I have been thinking more about this “capsule” concept. I realized, probably this fall, how much seasonality plays into my crafting. Both with my fall and holiday cards I just kind of threw all the relevant kits/sets in a heap and mixed and matched liberally. I’ve added a season tag to Color My Llife for now, but I am seriously considering either rearranging how I store things completely or at creating some sort of temporary container for the NOW things, like the one for the new things.
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Post by kiwikate on Dec 29, 2023 9:45:57 GMT
I’d love to hear your process on this- I am still working out the best way for me and it is definitely a theme/seasonal selection.
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Shakti
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Post by Shakti on Dec 29, 2023 20:01:12 GMT
I know it sort of starts or started with kits. Last fall I bought a SSS fall kit with sunflowers but never used it because I was already deep into Christmas cards and a HA/Joann kit that I didn't use because it was dies and sentiment stamps and I didn't have a die cutter yet (it had come in the front door though, so I knew I was getting it for Chrismas). This fall I bit on Gina K and HA MMH. I threw all of that into a pile when it came time to make fall cards and mixed and matched at will.
Christmas didn't work that way, but I'm thinking the spring Pea card exchange might. I'm also thinking that I might go through my bin of "new" stuff to be used and think about kitting that stuff up or add more things to kits waiting to be used. I will certainly keep you posted as it evolves.
Right now, with the Cards for Cubs drive coming up in March, I might take all the HA kits (mostly from Joann, I think) I have that are birthday/balloon/celebration themed, along with a few other items I've picked up that I think might work with them, and focus on fun birthday cards for a bit.
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Shakti
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Post by Shakti on Jan 16, 2024 12:44:35 GMT
So, I found a bin and pulled a bunch of birthday stuff into it -- sentiments, inside sentiments, a few HA kits, I'm not even sure what else. Because it was for Cards for Cubs, I also pulled in any sets with encouragement sentiments I could find. This weekend I worked on using up some old kits with background-patterned card bases, stickers and die cuts. The bases were glossy or very glossy so I needed sentiments on punched/die cut shapes or die cut themselves. It wasn't quite as dynamic as it was when I used this "system" in the fall for autumn and holiday cards, but still encouraged some mixing and matching.
At some point I realized I could tame my "messy crafter" tendencies a little by just dumping stuff in the bin when I was done with it -- dies, stamps, anything -- all sort of loose and rattling around in the bin. It seemed like it was going to work better than leaving stuff all over the desk and risking losing something. It mostly worked. I am missing one small word stamp.
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hockeyspaz62
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Post by hockeyspaz62 on Jan 17, 2024 1:52:49 GMT
Card kits are a little too limiting for me. I like dies because I can pick and choose my paper colors for everything. Card kits also seem to have too many things that I wouldn’t use, and I already have a bunch of that.
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Shakti
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Post by Shakti on Jan 17, 2024 1:58:15 GMT
That's interesting to me, hockeyspaz62. It seems to me that "card kit" is so many different things, if you know what I mean. Which kits have you looked at and what are they things that you wouldn't use?
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scrapnnana
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Post by scrapnnana on Jan 17, 2024 3:52:53 GMT
Card kits are a little too limiting for me. I like dies because I can pick and. House my paper colors for everything. Card kits also seem to have too many things that I wouldn’t use, and I already have a bunch of that. I feel the same. I don’t mind card kits, but I don’t like to be limited by them, either. I have a lot of fun dies, stamps, and papers in my stash. I am more likely to gather my various elements and create my own kit for a project, but if I start with a kit or a collection, I am also inclined to see what else I have that I can add to the kit elements. I’m also not shy about removing or ignoring parts of a kit if I don’t like something. I prefer starting with lots of options to choose from, then I narrow them down. I used to work and teach at the LSS for several years. I was surrounded by numerous choices all the time. I think that is probably why I like having lots of options rather than just using a pre-made kit.
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scrapnnana
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Post by scrapnnana on Jan 17, 2024 20:47:43 GMT
Once again I find myself overwhelmed by too much stuff, too many choices. In the chaos I pulled out a SSS card kit and I have been busy all weekend just using that one kit. I wonder if my brain would function better just doing kits? I have also done a major de-stash again and selling off the excess. My biggest issue is when my life/work are too busy, I buy instead of creating. So, anyone mainly a kit creator? Any thoughts? Maybe you have already tried this, but could you take some time to go through your paper stash, and bundle ones that go well together; then go through your ephemera, and see what goes well with the papers you pulled and add them to the papers; and then your embellishments, and add some of those. Then you have your own kit, built with what you already have. Do this at a time that you don’t feel pressured to create. Just pull items together that seem to look good based on color, design, theme, etc. (My biggest issue with kits is that there seems to always be something that I don’t like, whether it’s a patterned paper or two, or ephemera or embellishments that I don’t care for.) Pull some card and/or page sketches you like, grab your home made kit, and go to town for a weekend, like you just did.
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kellyr21
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Post by kellyr21 on Jan 17, 2024 22:52:12 GMT
I do like to buy card kits. I can follow their designs or create my own with the supplies they provide. All I need to add is my adhesive and have fun. I'll have to think about making kits for future use. That would be a good idea for going to craft events.
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Shakti
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Post by Shakti on Jan 18, 2024 13:10:12 GMT
(My biggest issue with kits is that there seems to always be something that I don’t like, whether it’s a patterned paper or two, or ephemera or embellishments that I don’t care for.) This is why I point out that "card kit" means so many different things to/from different companies. Some are really just coordinating sets or collections of stamps, dies, and stencils while others are mostly patterned paper and ephemera. There are variations all along that spectrum. I think the various kits I often buy aren't all even in the same part of that spectrum.
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scrapnnana
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Post by scrapnnana on Jan 18, 2024 23:38:50 GMT
(My biggest issue with kits is that there seems to always be something that I don’t like, whether it’s a patterned paper or two, or ephemera or embellishments that I don’t care for.) This is why I point out that "card kit" means so many different things to/from different companies. Some are really just coordinating sets or collections of stamps, dies, and stencils while others are mostly patterned paper and ephemera. There are variations all along that spectrum. I think the various kits I often buy aren't all even in the same part of that spectrum. That’s true, but I often combine items from different manufacturers, different designers, etc., and I often find those different items can still go beautifully together. I have no issue with those who prefer to just purchase and use manufacturer kits. But kits can also be created with what you have on hand from multiple companies, not just what is currently being offered by the big name crafters. 8 years ago, as I was packing up all my crafts in preparation for a big move, I also created and packed kits which I put into a crop bag, so I could keep crafting with my friends before I moved halfway across the country. I didn’t use pre-made kits. I assembled my own. They worked really well for me, and they were all made up of items that I had on hand. I didn’t have the time or energy to go shopping.
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Post by kiwikate on Jan 19, 2024 2:36:24 GMT
Once again I find myself overwhelmed by too much stuff, too many choices. In the chaos I pulled out a SSS card kit and I have been busy all weekend just using that one kit. I wonder if my brain would function better just doing kits? I have also done a major de-stash again and selling off the excess. My biggest issue is when my life/work are too busy, I buy instead of creating. So, anyone mainly a kit creator? Any thoughts? Maybe you have already tried this, but could you take some time to go through your paper stash, and bundle ones that go well together; then go through your ephemera, and see what goes well with the papers you pulled and add them to the papers; and then your embellishments, and add some of those. Then you have your own kit, built with what you already have. Do this at a time that you don’t feel pressured to create. Just pull items together that seem to look good based on color, design, theme, etc. (My biggest issue with kits is that there seems to always be something that I don’t like, whether it’s a patterned paper or two, or ephemera or embellishments that I don’t care for.) Pull some card and/or page sketches you like, grab your home made kit, and go to town for a weekend, like you just did. Thank you- I have tried variations of this, but not recently. I might be able to give this a go this weekend! Thanks for the encouragement.
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clio
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Post by clio on Jan 19, 2024 2:47:27 GMT
Nearly all of my cards are for donation. I find some card kits very useful, especially MMH whose stamps & dies I often reuse. Run hot & cold on SSS. Mostly I make my own “kits” with 12x12 scrapbook collections that I get on sales - trim papers into 4 x 5.25 panels then using the various cutaparts, journal cards & stickers I can easily get 30-40 cards depending on the paper, 6x6 pads & an ephemera package tend to be 20ish. Use stamps from my stash for sentiments. They may not be the most elaborate designs, but they touch a lot of people and that’s the point.
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