Kit making

I'm a kit maker for crops because I never scrap at home. I put one- layout kits together, complete with pics, a week or two, or month prior to a weekend away. I add 2-3 pattern papers (double sided is great for this, more bang for your buck once you start cutting.) Then I add embellishments, trims, borders, bling. Then journaling cards and titles or I write down what I wat the title to be. I work in phases. Layout pics first, then paper, then go through my embellishemnts in the approximate order above, pulling whatever might work. I bet have I 100 page kits prepped for my weekend the first weekend of May. It took 2-3 days prepping. I did some of them back in Nov. and some this last week.

Whatever I don't use on a page goes in a box when a page is done and those are the first embellishment and papers I pick through when I make kits next time, cause I hate refilling, lol.

i just take card stock to the crop and pull as needed.

PS...one of the best things I've ever learned about scrapbooking, I learned from Shimellle, and weirdly, I've used it in several other areas that I tend to get bogged down with the thought that if "I just keep looking, I'll find the perfect....or something even better....." and that advice is, once you find something that will work, stop looking, that's good enough. It has saved me sooo much time, and really helped me get more pages done, instead of spending that time continuing to look for "even better" whatevers! Once I tried that thought process on a few pages, and nothing blew up or caught on fire, it encouraged me to make that call more and more, whenever I'd find myself getting bogged down. Turns out, I really like looking at completed pages more than thumbing through my paper with no stories or photos on them. Ha!

I keep editing this post because I keep thinking of more to add, sorry! Something ELSE I've picked up from Shimellle's videos is that she has been known to scrap the same photo more than once...whether it's a smaller version that will end up in the same book, or same size (or bigger) and landing in another album. This reminded me that 95% of the pictures I'm currently scrapping, there's a digital backup. What's the worst that could happen? If I end up hating the page that freaking much, I can toss the whole thing and reprint it. That reassurance helps me push through and not sweat my choices so much.

I'm the same way - kit or no kit I spend at least an hour (usually closer to 3) per layout.  

If I was to try to do this at a crop, I would end up lugging waaaay too much stuff only to not use most of it and come home w/very few layouts done.  I mean, chatting w/pals at the crop is half the fun, right?  If I didn't have a plan, I'd get nothing done.

This is why I put together kits (or power layout as they called it in the dark ages) when I'm going to a crop.  Like others said, I have way too much stuff to haul it all there.

When I'm power layouting, I start w/my 'cover sheet'.  I made a word document that has 5 headings: title, cardstock, book, pen color & misc.  I always start w/my photos and then choose a sketch (if it's from a book, I write down the title of the book & the page # under that heading) that works w/the number & orientation of my photos.  From there, I let the sketch guide me as to how many embellishments, pieces of patterned paper, etc. I use.  Background & matting cardstock colors get decided on based on the colors in my photos.  Then I choose my title and what I'll be using to create it (Thickers, my Slice, chipboard, etc.).  Everything gets written down on my cover sheet and all flat items get put in a large ziploc bag w/the cover sheet.  Things that don't get packed in the bag at this point (stamps, pens, brads, stamp pads, ribbons, tools needed, etc.) I mark off w/a highlighter.  When I'm packing for the crop, I simply grab the highlighted items and pack them in my crop bags.

This way when I'm at the crop, I can get a lot done while having a good time because all my 'heavy thinking' is done ahead of time.

Like justcindy said, I have trained myself to stop looking/waiting for the perfect thing.  I make do w/what I have in front of me and move on.  I am still working on not 'saving things for the perfect page' and using up what I have.  That's a toughie!

Hope I've helped even a little!

THIS ^^^ seems like a great way to go about it so you *don't* overthink things. Once my junk pile stash is organized, it will be much easier to implement a system like this for being more productive both at home and when I go to a retreat or crop. I kind of do this now in a way by having my themed stuff all in a bin with the photos and sketches, I just don't narrow it down to a layout sized grouping. I tend to work on multiple layouts using the same category of photos at a time, so I just bring the whole bin of stuff for that theme, some sketch books and my photos and go off of the sketch once I'm there picking from what I have in the bin.

I need to try the cover sheet thing though, that seems to me like it would be a huge time saver because it would give the needed reminders to grab the things that I would otherwise forget in my rush to get packed and out the door.

When it comes to scrapping, I am uber organized. We just got back from a trip to Jamaica and I had half my pages done before we left. Right now I am in the process of ordering photos for three albums. For the rest of the layouts, I have all of the sketches completed and paper picked out. I just wasn't sure what titles and how many pictures I needed on a page. Now ask me what we are having for dinner this week and I will give you a blank look.

I like to check out Counterfeit Kit Challenge  every month to see what they're counterfeiting from their stash. I love that they also have tutorials on how to make your own items from your stash.

I make them to keep organized... sort of. I organize coordinating paper from paper lines that I bought together in zip top bags. If I bought the matching embellishments, I throw those in there as well. I don't put cardstock or any other embellishments inside as I have that stuff sorted and stored differently and it's easy to grab when I need it. I do not put photos or sketches or anything in these "kits." Just the paper and embellies that came with the paper line.

Now when I make kits for crops, I grab a kit from the above, and THEN I match photos, maybe a sketch and add the other "stuff" I'd need to finish the layout (cardstock, matching jewels, an alphabet, etc.) to the kit bag. As someone else mentioned, I'll put a post-it note on the bag if I need to bring a tool or certain color stamping ink to the crop to complete the page.

Sometimes I will make a kit from "scratch" to take to a crop or do at home. In that case I will pull single sheets of patterned paper that I have stored by color (vs. in coordinated collections in a Baggie) and then add the cardstock and other stuff that will look nice with my plan for the photos.