Page kits are my preferred method of cropping. Why? I tend to buy embellishments for certain layouts and in order to get them together, there is a bit of a filing system. While not perfected, it works for me.
First - photos are sorted as soon as they arrive - they go into paper folders with brief descriptions. I just use notebook paper folders, so I do toss/recycle after pages are complete. If I buy an embellishment, I try to put photos and embellies into a baggie prior to page kit, sometimes this happens, other times I have a stack of embellishments by the photos. Normally, I spend about 5-10 minutes per kit.
How I create my page kits varies a bit, but the basics are below.
First - pick out the patterned papers I think I may want to use - as you can tell, this layout has something to do with fishing. I used to start with card stock (years ago), but read a tip from someone (sorry, I don't remember who) about picking pp first as cs is so much cheaper and easier to find if you don't have the right color on hand.
Next - pick out the cardstock. This took forever for these pictures. They are very dark and the colors I thought I wanted did not work. Ended up with a gemstone and a blue (second photo)
Then I narrowed the patterned papers as well. I cut the two tags I wanted from the cardstock page and filed the rest of the papers back with fishing/outdoors.
Now for some elements and notes - at first I only had a few, then the title came to mind and
a bunch more embellishments showed up!
Then I pulled a few scraps I thought I might want
Finally - I had a basic idea in mind of what I wanted to do, so wrote it down quickly.
Hmm, don't think I will use all the embellishments, or paper, but I am not pulling things out just yet. I will leave all together for the next time I scrap in case I change my mind. No lettering yet - I always have cricut, slice or letter templates with me, so I can decide on size/style of letter when I sit down to scrap.
Finally - into a 2 gallon baggie and next stop - my scrap case. I try to keep about 20 kits ready to go at all times. That way I can grab the shoulder bag of kits (sometimes a bag of plain cs arranged by color comes too), my tool kit and cutter (usually baby bug and gypsy or jukebox - depends on timing/space) and enjoy the day. Week long crops require an 18 gallon rubbermaid tote of kits. So, I do try to prep a bunch at a time. Once I am in the 'groove' it all works and kits tend to come together quickly. Not sure why, but this one did not - until I found the little fish die cut I was looking for.
