CKC November Mini Kit and Layout AND Layering With Shimelle

I know what you're thinking and you can stop laughing!  Right now! 😂

I am TOTALLY capable of pulling together a mini kit! 😛 Yes it's 6th of the month and that means it's mini kit day over on Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog where I am guest designer for November.

My choice was simple - since we were using Citrus Twist's "Little Things" for the main kit, it made sense to choose the co-ordinating "Little Things" Pocket Life kit to base my mini kit on.  I was subscribed to both kits about 5 years ago.  Admittedly they are different now - they seem a little smaller than they used to be, but I also think that reflects the more minimalist style so often seen these days.

My cunning plan was to then be able to incorporate the mini kit my main kit...but not before I was required to MAKE a PROJECT with the mini kit.  Say whaaat??

Boy, I did NOT think this through!

But first let me take you through the kit.  I'm actually rather proud of the way I stuck to the limitations!

Here is what the original kit contains, and what I substituted each item with (mine is in green)

Pattern Paper

• Exclusive 6" x 8" Pattern Paper, 12 single-sided sheets (Citrus Twist)
  12 pieces of scrap paper from my scrap box
  
  
  
  
  
  

Embellishments

• Exclusive Twilight Blue Puffy Alphabet Stickers (Citrus Twist)
• Paige Evans Pick Me Up Thickers
• Exclusive Puffy Stickers (Citrus Twist)
• Alice in Wonderland Sticker sheet by Echo Park
• Exclusive Die-Cut Cardstock Ephemera (Kaitlin Sheaffer for Citrus Twist)
• Admittedly large selection of die cuts (mainly pulled from last month's kit.  Bonus points for  recycling.
• Exclusive Tiny Word Stickers with Gold Foil Words (Citrus Twist)
• Maggie Holmes word stickers from Flourish
• 2" x 3" High-Quality polymer stamp set (Citrus Twist)

• My stamps are stored in DVD cases with as many sets as I can cram in and these Amy Tangerine sets have a good mix of both words and images.  

• Twelve 3" x 4" double-sided journaling cards (Kaitlin Sheaffer for Citrus Twist Kits)
• 6 3x4 cards from Paige Evans and 6 3x4 cards from Maggie Holmes
• Two 4" x 6" double-sided journaling cards (Kaitlin Sheaffer for Citrus Twist)
• 1 each of 4x6 cards from Paige Evans and Maggie Holmes

 

• 7 Etched Wood Veneer Mini Hearts (Citrus Twist)
•  Alice in Wonderland by EP decorative brads
• Vintage Book Page (a flea market find)
• Oops forgot to photograph, but it's there!
• Cut apart Labels (Citrus Twist)
•  "Festival" cut apart labels paper by Maggie Holmes from Carousel
• Digital Printable cut apart Sheet, downloadable from our website under Shop, Digital Files (Citrus Twist)
• "forgery" labels made on Silhouette and with stamps and manual die cutter 

Embellishment part of the Mini kit

Extras (because you knew knew had to be some (but only a few))
Amy Tangerine mini doilies (those things are tiny!)
Dear Lizzy enamel dots, wood buttons and "brads" (single embellishment sheet)
Mambi chips chipboard sticker booklet

So what's a girl to do when she doesn't have a single 12x12 inch paper for a background?

Three choices the way I see it:

1. Make a pocket page or smaller project  It is after all, a pocket life kit
2. cheat and grab a full sheet of patterned paper (or cardstock depending on level of guilt) for the background
3.  Make franken-paper

 

Heir Comes the Bride

 




I decided to make franken-paper.  Of course I did.  I even took advantage of the branding strip to apply the adhesive to so I could maximize the paper (an entire half inch in this case! 😝)

Naturally AFTER deciding which event to scrapbook and (which photos to use), I realized that a facing pocket page would world really tell the story better.  😩

The photos on this layout look a bit crazy (they're of me cutting out masks for Prince Harry's wedding as fast as I could, but clearly not fast enough for my gorgeous nieces!).  Oh and I quite forgot to mention that I'm back going through Shimelle's Layer on Layer on Layer class.  

This is an untidier version of Prompt 18 and has lots of references to being crafty, although cutting out printable faces isn't exactly in the same league as painting the Mona Lisa, but still!!  I have more photos from this part of the night, and to make a layout for each is way too many, but if I put a good selection on a pocket page, I can do both!  

The same applies to the High Tea part of the night that my sister hosted.  So many beautiful photos of the table setting and food, but how much can you write about any one thing?  The solution would seem to be using the other side of the page protector for a second pocket page.

For now though, here are a few close up of the 12x12 page since it it looks kinda...well weird!

It feels like an eternity since I made a pocket page, so here goes!

I was happy with some of the pockets, but definitely not all of them.

I cut apart this pattern paper (a long time ago) from Shimelle's True stories collection and threw it in with my die cuts.  I further cut them apart and made cute little mini doily embellishments. 

The photos on the pocket page are definitely easier to identify than the other one.  My nieces loved those masks even though at 2 and 4 years old they had no idea who any of those people are!

It felt as though I spent 80% of my time hunting for (and losing) die cuts on my desk.  It's the down side to having so many I suppose, but I struggled as it is finding exactly what I wanted despite having plenty to choose from!  


 

 



Fortunately the word sticker sheet was really 4 sheets with some small alphas, although they wouldn't have been my first choice with this layout sit on that fine line between needing the variety a larger kit provides and the time saved by going straight to a kit rather than rummaging through my entire craft inventory.

Another advantage of gathering kits on a regular basis (even if you don't end up making a lot with them) is that you become more familiar with what you have.  The most obvious advantage is not doubling up when shopping, but finding just what you need is also more likely.

This is what both sides look like together,  The High Tea part of the story came first so it'll go on the other side of then pocket page protector with some kind of 12x12 to go with it.

 

 Heir Comes the Bride

That's all for now and please visit everyone else who has made a mini kit!

Love and mini kit mayhem,