Hello, hello! Happy Sunday to you! We are in the middle of a long holiday weekend and I am enjoying every minute of it. It is the first day of September and time for a new Lisa & Lori's Great Stash Bash Kit Challenge!
Before I get to my new kit, I will give an update on my August kit. I only had one full sheet of 12x12 paper to go back into my stash, and that makes me ridiculously happy! I didn't work as much with my smaller format kit as I would have liked, but I will get around to it eventually!
Now, if you don't know what this challenge is all about, here is how this challenge works - on the 1st of each month, we will post a challenge prompt and the stash kit we have created using that prompt. Then, we will use as much of our stash kit as possible on different projects throughout the month.
This will be a just-for-fun challenge so there is no monthly prize - but the real prize is using up our stash! We hope you will join us in our quest to bash our stash! If you play along - link up on either my blog or Lisa's blog (or both if you choose) so that we can see who is joining us each month. Now on to our September kit challenge! Here is the recipe for this month:
Pull 10 papers, 3-4 embellishments, and 5-7 scrap papers to create your kit. Our focus item for September is enamel dots/bling.
Here is my kit for September:
I don't name my kits, but if I did, I would call this month's "The Hot Mess Express" kit! Isn't that photo a bunch of scrappy loveliness?! And I do have plans - or at least good intentions - for every piece of paper in this kit!
I took a different approach this month when I started pulling my kit. Instead of picking a collection to work with, like I have been doing for a long time, I went back to the roots of this challenge and went through my stash and pulled papers from a variety of manufacturers.
I think one of the reasons I veered away from doing it this way is because I have a terrible time narrowing down my paper choices! It's so easy - and quick - to pick five or ten papers from a collection kit. When I have all of my pretties laid out before me it's hard to choose just ten papers! Which is why I have twenty!
I could have divided the papers into four mini-kits for you, but that would have been even more time-consuming and I was running out of time after looking through all of my papers! So, you get to see them all together, and the reason my kit would be called "The Hot Mess Express!"
Here are the papers:
All of these papers are more than a year old. The newest paper in my kit is that pink and white stripe from Photo Play. I don't remember when it came out and there is no date on it but my best guess is it is at least two years old. Everything else is much older than that!
We have Elle's Studio, Sassafrass Lass, My Mind's Eye, Dear Lizzy, Close To My Heart, Lily Bee Designs, Chatterbox, Recollections, The Paper Studio, Amy Tangerine, I think, and maybe a sheet from We R Memory Keepers. I'm not certain about the last two. They were both from paper pads that had been torn down. That is quite a variety of manufacturers!
Since I am not working from any specific collections, picking embellishments was a bit more difficult than just throwing in the ephemera packs or stickers from the collection. I have several of these bins and 4x6 photo cases full of bits and pieces from past kits and items that didn't make it onto layouts. They serve as a catch-all. Instead of taking the time to put the embellishments away, they generally get thrown into one of these:
I went through several and pulled out items that were the same colors as my papers and that fit the theme of the layouts I plan to work on this month. My plans are for a school layout, a (maybe) 4th of July layout, a donut layout, and at least one traveler's notebook layout. I pulled the yellow floral paper from Sassafrass just because I love that paper and really want to use it! I don't have any photos in mind just yet, and I don't know if it will be a traditional layout or a smaller format layout, but I am really going to challenge myself to use it!
Here are the embellishments that I pulled:
And just in case I need something else, I pulled several of my neglected sticker books to use this month. I stuck to the ones that had a lot of the same colors or themes:
Here are the scraps that I pulled. If I need something more I can always dive back into my scraps folder:
Our focus item for September is enamel dots/bling. I tried to pull packs that were mostly used up and had the same colors. Not every enamel dot/shape will work, but hopefully I can get a few of these used:
I am super excited about my kit this month, even though it is bigger than normal. I can't wait to see what I can do with it!
Be sure to head on over to
Lisa's blog - My Creative Endeavors - to see the beautiful kit that she has put together. She always has the best kits!
Remember - 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 - #lisaandlorisgreatstashbash2024
Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! Have a great day!
