A Review of Kit Clubs

I am going to start at the beginning.  I really thought I was going to join Scraptastic and that would be it.  But when I joined I noticed that the kit I received was heavy on exclusive papers and I was a bit disappointed.  But, I thought, well I am in this for the next few months and I'll just start perusing other kit clubs so that when my obligation is up, I'll know which club I want to go with.  Then three months in, Scraptastic decided to do away with the scrapbook kit and concentrate on planners. 

I also decided to do at least two months with each club...cuz well sometimes no matter how much you may enjoy one club... every once in a while there is bound to be that one kit that you just do not care much for.  It happens. 

And I decided I would work with the main kit(s) only.  No add-ons for my comparison.  

Clubs I decided to investigate were:  Studio Calico, Scrapbook Circle, Gossamer Blue, Citrus Twist, and Hip Kit. 

Clubs I chose not to try out were:  
Felicity Jane since they are all exclusive and my main intent in joining a club is to receive a bit of whats new on the market from various manufacturers. 

Noel Mignon due to cost and I thought the volume of what you receive was a bit overwhelming for me. 

Clique Kits because I just did not care for heading to a website and not being able to peruse past kits and add-ons.  A little too "clique-y" for me.  I see many pretty pages on their blog, but again I just did not like being unable to go into their history to see for myself what they had to offer. 

Cocoa Daisy because they seemed to have a limited payment system, plus you had to wait for an "opening".  I just wanted to order a couple of kits to try 'em out.  So that one went by the wayside.  Again, I do see many finished pages by their designers that are indeed delightful.  Just did not feel right for me. 

Studio Calico
I began by looking at Studio Calico since they had a introductory special.

Papers:  six patterned papers, one specialty paper, and two sheets of cardstock.

Embellishments:  several small acrylic pieces, acetate die cuts, chipboard, and wood veneers

Alphabets:  exclusive to Studio Calico.  Sticker alphas were thin and presented on sheets that were the same color as the alpha making it difficult to peel off.  One of the alphas I got was super-sized also making it a challenge to use and another was a set of cards with a stylistic gray-tone letter design on each of the cards -- again not easily usable. 

I found that while I liked many of the papers individually, as a kit they did not relate to each other very well.  I struggled to complete pages I was happy with and had to use items from stash on each page I made.  Now I do have a stash and nothing wrong with breaking into it.  I just feel that you should be able to make at least a page or two completely from your kit. 

This was one of my favorite pages created from Studio Calico kits and I did have to dig through my stash to add a banner, labels, wood veneer car, and two strips of gold patterned paper. 

Kits arrived on time and without damage.  I really never looked for a facebook page associated with Studio Calico, so there may be one.  Their blog has very well designed projects, but did seem to rely heavily on a mix of kits rather than each kit on its own merit. 
 
Next up: Scrapbook Circle