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 

Having some technical issues on the blog, so if anyone is reading this, you may notice that some items like my blog lists are being removed (time to update anyway) and there may be more changes depending upon what works and what doesn't. 

OK, now that the blog tech issue and changes have been duly noted, I'll move on to (hopefully) more fun things! 

Still in test mode on the kits...  But on a side note, isn't it nice when you can just pull out a piece of paper and use it, as is!  Refreshing!  Truly I do like cutting and slicing things up, I do enjoy play time with paint and gesso and ink... but every once in a while it is really quite enjoyable to just pull out a piece or two of paper and add photos and a title and actually like the outcome and be ... well... done! 


The page above used a paper from Studio Calico which I trimmed just slightly and mounted onto a black and white diagonal stripe paper (out of the old stash).  I loved the diagonal lines against the photo of the leaning water tower.  The photo is layered up with a couple two-three pieces of pink-ish vellum.  I did get out my colored pencils and lightly colored in some aqua so the pink and aqua sky would be kind of replicated with the pink-ish vellum and the aqua added to the background paper. 

Other than that, embellishments were kept to a minimum and the title went on following the diagonal lines on the paper.  I ended up using two different alphas from my stash because there wasn't enough of either alpha to do the entire title. 

The next page also required little in the way of changes. 

I wanted to pick up on the red of the old gas pumps in the photo and this paper did that without screaming "RED"....   

After layering the photo onto a light gold print and some black and white text, I cut out the "you are here" arrow to help direct the eye (and because it is a cool travel-y phrase).  The rest of the embellishments were kept very basic, very similar (i.e., wood veneers, arrow shapes...)  I tucked a small journaling card in at the top of the photo and added a pair of little sunglasses.  But all in all, this page is pretty simple. 

I did also trim this page down and layered it onto a gold/orange-y print paper (again from my stash--I think it is Heidi Swapp).  Title alpha and the large chevron print paper is from a Studio Calico kit.

Sometimes, simple is the answer...both to creating pages and to using a kit! 

Choosing a Kit Club

Ha, Ha!  I've been scrapping again!!! 

Lately I've been trying out scrapbook kit clubs.  Like everything else there is no one perfect club to join.  It all depends on you.  What do you want from a club?

For me, I am looking for a taste of the new products and supplies on the market.  There are no scrapbooking stores in my area.  Zip, nada, niet, not one.  Not even in the bigger city of Lexington (an hour away).  There is a Hobby Lobby (thank heaven) about 20 minutes away and a Michael's a bit further than that. 

So besides a bit of new product, for me I want a good mix of feminine and masculine papers.  Not every month's selection are going to appeal to me, but some clubs are decidedly more feminine than others. 

And I want a mix of embellishments.  I'm not typically a big sticker person, but I do like enamel dots and wood veneer and such.

I also do not really need a big selection of cardstock in my kits.  I have plenty in my stash. 

Of course, price is always a consideration too! 

So there you have it.... 

I am currently giving Scraptastic and Studio Calico a whirl and there are a couple more clubs out there that I would at least like to try. 

The above page is form a Studio Calico kit, the Scout kit (which I think was the June kit), while the page below is from a Scraptastic kit, Wipeout (also their June offering). 

I did have to add some things from my stash (title alpha on the Everything is Bigger in Texas page), plus the enamel dots, the chipboard heart (old, old Making Memories) and the black and white print layer under the photo, as well as the vellum layer.  I did some outlining, roughed up the edges of the paper and that was about it! 

I have a couple more pages to post from this kit, but I made 4-5 pages and struggled a bit as I just didn't feel that things coordinated very well.  Now remember this is only through my eyes... everyone views these things differently.  Studio Calico has been putting kits out there for a long time and folks seem to like them pretty well.  I'm just saying I'm not sure they're a good fit for me. 

More on kits to come!!!!