Big Autumn Kit Pages

A week ago, I posted about a big autumn-themed kit I put together, and I have been workin' it!

Sometimes, I don't have a long story to go with photos. I just love the photo and want to highlight it on a scrapbook pages, like this one of a sidewalk near our house, sprinkled with leafy confetti. I love the colors in the photo and the playfulness of it. I used a variety of different items on this page, and I like how they work together.

I used a PageMaps sketch for this page with all Doodlebug papers which I love-love-LOVE! Also got to use a brand new alphabet stamp set with matching dies from Lawn Fawn that I saw used on a layout by May Flaum and simply HAD to have. I used some other dies, too, including a new set of pinked circles by Stampin' Up! that is making me oh-so-happy.

This one is for an album I'm creating for my Mom. As I've mentioned before, she has memory loss, and I've been thinking that a scrapbook full of memories would be a good thing for her to flip through from time to time. Based on another PageMaps sketch, this layout puts some patterned paper I've had for awhile to work, along with even older bits and pieces, and a great stamp I forgot I had.

Another PageMaps sketch, and more of that bright Doodlebug paper with coordinating enamel dots, that stamp again, this time in a different color and used for creating a great border. I really love those alpha stamps from Lawn Fawn with their oh-so-convenient dies! Those are going to show up on my pages a lot in the near future. Just nifty!

So, this page is my own design, and I used a piece of patterned paper for the background that I've had for years. I mean, YEARS. Like I've had that piece of paper in my stash since...oh...2006 or so? Way back when I started assembling a stash. Unfortunately, I made a bit of a mistake in the original journaling, so I had to correct it with a new journaling block cut from the same ledger print paper. That's how it is sometimes, and that's what adds a certain charm to these handmade pieces of art and story.

This two-pager is a little different for me because although there are pieces fussy cut from patterned paper included, there aren't any simple blocks or strips of patterned paper here. I used a lot of disparate bits to create a layout about our trip to a nearby orchard in 2012. There's even a stamped piece I made quite awhile ago that had an additional background layer I removed to make it work with the other embellishments on these pages.

Here's a closeup of the first page:

And a close up of the second:

Finally, a page about my parents' 38th anniversary. I was inspired by a layout May Flaum created for her Stamping for Scrapbookers class, which I highly recommend. I didn't totally scraplift her design, but it was definitely the springboard for this layout. I loved being able to create a few layered embellishments using my punches, and I loved getting some older Sassafras letter stickers and patterned paper into play.

One thing kits help me do is put papers and embellishments together that I wouldn't normally have thought to pair if I'd left them in their own collection kits. It's part of what I love so much about scrapbooking in the first place, making colors and patterns work in concert with each other.

I'm getting a lot of fun mileage out of this Big Autumn Kit, with more to come. There's lots of patterned paper left, lots of embellishments, and I'm hoping to get several more pages completed this weekend, using up stash and getting stories told, photos onto pages.