Like For Ever February kit

So, after months of deliberation, I have finally bit the bullet and decided to try out a scrapbook kit subscription... In the end I went with Like For Ever, which is one of the few UK based companies. I was so taken with their February kit called 'Beep Beep', featuring the new Dear Lizzy and Shimelle lines, that I finally decided that it was time to go for it...

And I couldn't be more pleased with the results so far... I have been truly inspired by the kit itself and the facebook community of fellow subscribers and their work... And another thing I found helpful (which I never thought I would) is the limitation that comes from using a kit and nothing (or not much) else. I know it doesn't sound very inspiring or helpful, but it is really... I have a tendency of being bogged down by the details and spending hours (literally) going through my stash, looking for the perfect embellishment for the page. Using the kit, I found it quite helpful that my hand was in a way forced by only having a limited number of paper, embellishments, alphabets, etc. to choose from. I made some unusual choices, but spent a lot less time on each layout, so in the end I achieved more.

And these are the layouts I have so far completed with the kit materials:

Express Yourself

This layout is to be filed under the TMI category ;-)... The story behind it is that my son played the dame character at the school panto and loved every single minute of it... but at the same time he loved putting his rugby gear on and look all 'blokey' for the camera. We are keeping an open mind... I never posted the dame photo on any social media before, at his request, but he allowed me to scrap it and post it now, bless him...

The idea behind this layout was to emphasize the difference between his 'personalities' with the paper and embellishments. I used two of my all time favourite patterned papers, both from Shimelle - the top one is from her new line Little by Little, the one at the bottom is from Go Now Go. I love how the bottom one, which is an autumnal paper is more masculine in colour and tone, whereas the top one, which is from a spring line, is fresher and girlier with its whites and pastels.

Remember, Always

The multi-stripe paper - another one from the Little by Little collection - was another love at first sight. As soon as I saw it I knew I would use it with this photo as the rainbow stripes reminded me of my little girl's colour block swimming costume. And while I was going through old photos to find this one, I also printed out a number of other ones and ended up scrapping most of them - it was a lovely little trip down memory lane...

Angel Boy

Never in a million years did I think I would use this Dear Lizzy paper on a layout about my son and husband, but here it is - wonders never seize... A relatively simple layout; it came together so easily and I decided not to over-complicate it. I liked that the title association and the cloud-like pattern gave this layout a floaty effect, so I could use the helium ballon diecuts - i'm never too keen on these, as I don't identify with them at all, so it was a happy coincidence that I could use them up on this layout in a way that they make sense (sort of)...

Girl's Gotta Have Shoes

I think this is my fave layout for February. The story behind it is the awe I used to watch my kids figuring out the world around them by copying and trialing. My daughter especially was so consistent - she had such a sharp eye for detail, nothing ever went unnoticed by her and she used to love the whole process of discovery...

Again, this layout came together quite accidentally, as I was limiting myself to using just the kit wherever possible... and I really like the result. I had just a bit of the chevron paper left, so I used it as a mat for the photo. I worked with two clusters - one for the photo and title, the other one for the journaling. Once I made this design decision, the placement of the embellishment was super-easy. I started to run out of the Dear Lizzy diecut pieces, hence the random placement of the fox; but apart from that, I really liked all the embellishments on this page, including the journal card and the alphabet.

Oh Hello, Little Love

So, at this point I was seriously running out of everything... I used the pink floral paper for the background, a couple of the cut-apart journaling blocks, a few remaining diecut pieces, and very little else. The funny story about this layout is that the photos are quite a few years old, and the dress my daughter is wearing is even older. I had some leftover watercolour off-cuts from a different project, which was a good match to the colour of the dress, so I decided to use an older die to cut the flowers from it - so the embellishment might not be very contemporary now, but it's certainly contemporary with the photos. Both the die and the dress are fairly ancient.

Oh Hello, Cutie Pie

Well, I never said I was very original about titles... ;-)

This layout was one of the first one I started and the last one I finished. It took blood, sweat and tears to finish it and it ended up pretty battered and dog-eared at all four corners. I had really high hopes for this layout, but it didn't turn out quite like I've imagined it... I loved the rainbow paper and the signature floral from Dear Lizzy and they both reminded of this dress my daughter used to have (I loved it so much, I bought it in the next size up and I wanted her to never, ever grow out of it).

I got really stuck with this layout, because originally I wanted to journal on the lilac paper on the right hand side, but there just wasn't enough room, so I ended up using it above the photo for the title, and brought in a journaling slip from an older Shimelle line and placed it left of the photo. There is a lot of cutting shapes out of paper on this layout, but that's ok with me.

So, that's 6 layouts from the one kit, with a bit of washi and extra alphabets thrown in... I am quite pleased with the result and looking forward to make a start on the March kit...