Scrapbooking Plans in 2014 plus a Baby Layout

With the new year, I think we all think about starting fresh and what little changes we want to make during this year. I have thought about this a lot in different aspects of my life, including scrapbooking. Last year, my goal was to average one layout a week - so 52 layouts. This was not including Project Life or card making. I ended up making around 80 layouts (I don't have the exact number with me but I did track it) and completed all but about 14 weeks of Project Life (which I still plan to finish). I also made quite a few cards. This was A LOT of crafting for me, and I really enjoyed it.

For this year, I definitely want to keep up my crafting but wanted to challenge myself a little differently. I started back to traditional scrapbooking around May of 2012. Since that time, I have purged a lot of my older supplies and "replenished" (to say the least!) my stash. One thing I really started doing was using the items I purchased right away. However, I would usually only make one or two layouts and then move on...so what I decided to do this year is make a list of lines or kits I have purchased but have not completely "used". Then each week, I want to make a layout from one of the lines/kits. I plan to do this for Project Life and card kits as well. Basically, this is my way of "using my stash".

Now as far as buying supplies goes, this is always a hot topic on scrapbooking message boards so the subject is definitely discussed a lot. I have thought a lot about what I have purchased, what I use, how much stash I like to have, etc. and what I have decided for 2014 is to really try and just buy the kits I purchase from Studio Calico and not try to buy much "regular" supplies beyond that. I will probably need an album or two and I would like to purchase a few more copics and maybe some basic manual dies but that is really it. I have to admit I do have a weakness for Thicker deals from TJ Maxx or Tuesday Morning or Marshall's..so I will probably end up purchasing some of those at some point but am trying to minimize it!

The reason I have decided to keep my kits is I really like getting new supplies each month and the challenge of using something I didn't necessarily pick out myself. That part definitely sparks my creativity! It also helps to know you have new supplies coming so you don't need to save a special embellishment, etc...You need to use it as you will be getting more the next month.

I plan to post my layouts that I make from the items in my stash on my blog each week so hopefully you can check it out and maybe get some ideas on using some of your stash. My hope is to do the posts on Wednesdays.

Now for a layout because what is a blog post without some sort of picture/layout??

This one started with the Sundries paper from the Modern Mercantile line by Lisa Dickinson for Jenni Bowlin Studio. I decided to cut the paper on the chevron lines and was planning to mount it on another piece of paper but couldn't find one that I thought worked well until I came across this handwritting paper in yellow from the Baby Edition paper pack from Becky Higgins. I loved how the two looked paired together. I actually then set it aside and didn't use it for awhile. I then saw the paper in my stash and thought, I need to do a baby layout of Eli with this paper so here it is. I used some other papers from my stash and some others from the Baby Edition paper pack as well. For the embellishments, I used some cameo cuts as well as the some die cuts and stick pins from Jillibean Soup. Here are a few close up pictures:

Definitely love and miss those chunky cheeks!

If you made it to the end of this lengthy post, thanks for reading and I hope it maybe sparked some ideas for you to use your stash this year. Thanks for stopping by!

Megan