Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash August Kit Reveal

Hello, everyone! Happy August 1st! Man, where did July go? It feels like I was just writing up my July stash bash post a few days ago and here we are on the first day of August. 

Before we get to my August kit, I wanted to give an update on my July kit. I made three layouts with my kit and only had 3 full sheets of paper left! I did add a few more scraps to my scrap bin, but I know that I will have no problem using them up when I pull these collections out again.

Now, onto this month's kit. I am not going to lie - pulling a kit together for this month was a bit of a struggle. I pretty well know what pictures I would like to scrap but when I started pulling papers to go with the pictures...I just wasn't happy with anything I put together. I really blame it on these commissioned albums I've been working on! I've been pairing papers with the last few photos of one of the albums that I have left to do and I think my creative brain was just on overload and over it. But, it finally hit me what I needed, what I wanted to do for this month to make it a little easier on me and I am so excited to get started that I had to make myself get the photos taken of my kit and write up the blog post before I started cutting into my papers!

Before we get to the nitty gritty of why I pulled the kit that I did, here's what this challege is all about. Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash is a challenge that my good friend Lisa and I do every month in an attempt to get our stash used up. We pull items from our stash based on a "recipe" (which you will see below) and use those items throughout the month.

Here's a look at this month's recipe:

The solution to my kit makng problems is right there in the recipe - our focus item for August - Project Life cards, cut apart cards, pocket cards - whatever you want to call them! When I saw that, I knew that that was what I needed to concentrate on for my kit. I have been missing working in my Project Life album and this is the perfect time to get it out and make a couple of layouts. 

To be honest, I did not stick too closely to the recipe. My kit is on the bigger side - with a total of 24 papers, more than 3-4 embellishments, and a few more than 5-7 scraps. I did not pull from different collections or different manufacturers, I stuck with one complete collection from one manufacturer -Simple Stories' Hello Today collection.

Here's a look at my kit:

Let me stat by saying - I love this collection! I love it so much that I have not just one collection pack, not two collection packs, but THREE collection packs of this collection! I received one of the collection kits as a Christmas present and once I saw all of the pretty cut aparts AND the pretty patterns on the back, I knew I needed another so I could use all of the cards and still have the pretty patterned papers, too. I can't remember how I came to have a third collection...I think I may have picked it up at Tuesday Morning. 

I love this collection so much so that even though I have 3 collection kits - I have been hoarding it since it came out! I have had it filed away in my stash wanting to use it, and not wanting to use it, because then it will be all gone! I've got to get out of that mindset! They have their 2022 version set to be released in September and I really like it, too, but I have told myself that I cannot get it unless I get some of this one used up!

Why do I have 24 papers you ask? I know that I could have pulled 5 of the cut apart papers and 5 of the backgrounds, narrowed down my embellishments and scraps, and I could have been within the parameters of the recipe. I tend to like working in the season we are in, so I could have picked May through September and 5 pretty patterned papers and been fine. But I also know me and know that even though I picked those papers to work with, that my brain would say - "Hey, you should have started with January - you have all of those photos already printed," or "you should have kept out December because you've been itching to work on last year's December Daily." It never fails, when I pull papers I think I want to use and put others back in my stash - it's the papers that I put back that I wish I'd kept out! So, to avoid all of that I put all of the papers in my kit!

Here is a look at the papers - the cut aparts are on the back row and the pretty patterns are in the front:

Here are the cut aparts for January - June:

And the cut aparts for July - Decemmber:

And here are all of the pretty patterned papers:

Here are the embellishments:

I think I have all of the embellishments - sticker sheets, chipboard stickers, foam stickers, puffy stickers, sticker book, journaling bits, ephemera, chipboard frames, enamel dots, and the 6x8 paper pad. I should not need any other embellishments - UNLESS, I make a traditional layout with just the patterned papers that these type of icons, etc. don't work with, then I will pull embellishments from my stash. 

Here are the scraps that I pulled:

I stuck with mostly Simpe Stories scraps, but there are a few other manufactures in there, as well. These will mostly be used for traditional layouts but they may appear as a pocket card if needed.

Since I am still working on the commissioned albums I know I won't have a ton of time to work on my own stuff. I am going to try to stick with this kit for the majority of projects that I need to get done this month - everything is all pulled out and together so that will make it so much easier on me when it's time to sit down and scrap. 

Be sure to stop by Lisa's blog to see the beautiful kit that she has pulled together for this month. 

This is a just-for-fun challenge, but if you do play along and put together your own stash bash kit - add it to the linky below and we will be sure to check it out and cheer you on! Here are the rules:

1. Follow the challenge prompt to create a kit to work with throughout the month. You may use other items, but please concentrate on using your kit, and link it below.

2. Create new, not previously posted projects using your stash kit.

3. If you have a blog - please include the challenge graphic and a link to our challenge in your posts. 

4. You may link to social media if you don't have a blog. If you share on Instagram, please make sure to use - #lisaandlorisgreatstashbash2022

Here's to getting a few pocket pages, a few tradtional layouts, and maybe even a couple of traveler's notebook layouts done this month! I can't wait!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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