Grow Scrapbook Kit | Special Guest Linda Jordan

Hi there! This is Linda and I’m so excited to be here today to share with you my project planning for the Grow Quarterly Scrapbook Kit. Most of the scrapbook kits don’t have a specific story prompt (like a story kit), which gives you more flexibility, but sometimes makes it difficult to come up with story ideas. I love this kit because it has a very loose theme, Grow, which is great for stories of your garden, outdoors, or aging! But, it’s also very loosely themed so you can use this kit to tell most stories.

Because this kit has such a loose theme, I kept in mind photos + stories from the past couple of months, as my jumping off point for most of my projects and then use the kit itself to spark design ideas.

My first step is always to look through the kit in its entirety. As I get to each item, I think about a few things:

1. Is this something I want to add into my stash because it’s a great basic, or do I want to use it in a specific project? 
2. For embellishments, is this something I want to use all on one project, or should I use these a little at a time as additional embellishments?
3. Does this include a story prompt I want to use as a jumping off point for a story?
4. For papers, is this something I want to cut up or keep whole?
5. Does this product lend itself well to project life?

Next, I go through the products again and begin lumping together the products I want to use in a specific project and sketching out the project ideas. I also make note of the album I will add it into, the specific story I want to tell, any specific photos I want to include, and which products I want to use. 

In the video, I walk through my process for planning out 10 projects using this kit, as well as talk through some other ideas. If you prefer still images, or if you want them to reference, I have also included photos of each of my plans below with some additional thoughts.

STORY PLANS

1. My yard: this summer

This kit came with some fun prompt pages, like this “right now” one. This paper can easily be used to document things related to the theme of grow, or you can use it to document anything that is going on right now.

2. Pumpkin is 9

I love a good list! The 1-5 numbered list is a great place to document any 5 things. I chose to use it to document 5 things about my cat right now at his current age. This kit is great for documenting birthdays/aging and I love the idea of making a list of “currently” things about someone on their birthday. (But keep in mind there is a “birthday” story kit coming up!)

3. Waterfall Day 9x12

This kit is great for documenting all things nature related, I am using it to document a recent hike to see a waterfall, but it would be an ideal kit for anything outdoors.

Some of the patterns in this kit are beautiful and bold, like the 12x12 paper I chose for this layout. Sometimes it can be hard to balance such a bold pattern with a scrapbook layout, a good way to do that is to make the paper the star of one page on a two-page spread. I decided to use it to simply hold my title, which will be contrasting white letters. 

4. Project Life: week of August 1 - 6

I love using scrapbook kits in project life! Just because these kits don’t come with pocket page cards, doesn’t mean you can’t use them in this style of project. Look for papers that contain patterns that are easily cut down. 

Additionally, look for prompt papers that can be cropped to fit inside of a 4x6 or 3x4 pocket. If you’re unsure how a paper will look cut down, you can place an empty divided page protector on top of the paper and see where the divided lines fall on your patterned paper. 

5. Growing as an artist

There are so many ways to interpret the theme grow. A fun growth story to tell is about either your own growth or someone else’s growth at something. For me, I’m talking about my growth as a crafter and how I have improved/evolved in my crafting over the years. But this could be your growth/progress at anything! A hobby, a sport, through your education, a career, etc.

6. All grown up: Summer @ 18

I love the theme of “grow” to literally document a person’s growth. I decided to use this theme twice to document a similar story but in very different ways. My second project (above) was about my cat at age 9, this project is about my daughter at age 18. This theme is perfect to document facts about a person (or pet) at a specific age!

7. Learning to garden

This year I have gotten a little more invested in my yard, even though I am very much a newbie and don’t know what I’m doing! I thought this kit was perfect to document where I am now in this journey of growing things.

The leaf paper was the perfect jumping off point for this story for me. This paper is great for any stories about the outdoors or the changing seasons. I love it as a home for my journaling paired with a photo on the other page.

8. Blooming

This theme is great for prompting longer journaling. I am someone who loves journaling, in addition to scrapbook, and often find the hobbies overlapping. I use scrapbooking not only to document stories of the past, but also reflect on my current life and plan for the future.

Take this kit as an opportunity for some longer journaling. You can journal about blooming or growth, or you can journal about something else on your mind. If you are a subscriber to just write, you can use this as an opportunity to get some of those words onto a layout. This kit would work well for many of the recent Just Write prompts, but “seeds” and “age” stand out in my mind as working particularly well. 

9. 2023 Mini Me album title page

Title pages & ending pages in albums are great ways to use patterned papers that stand out to you. I love this floral paper in the kit and didn’t want to cover most of it up, so I decided to use it as a title page in my next 6x8 stories album (I recently started this album when my first one for the year got too full). 

If you don’t always create title pages (or ending pages) for your albums, take this as an opportunity to go fill in those gaps and finish off your albums with a gorgeous patterned paper from this kit!

10. Summer as a little kid

The designs in this kit seem to “grow” up themselves—some, like the pieces used in this spread, are very childlike, and others, like the pieces used in the last two spreads, are more adult. 

This kit is great to fill in older stories that might be gaps in your albums from various ages. These could be stories of your child or of yourself.

NEXT STEPS

My next step to tackle these projects will be to break them down into action items. This is a process I shared in my class Plan, Prep & Play (https://aliedwards.com/shop/classes/plan-prep-play) that is still available for purchase. 

Essentially, this means I will break down each project into the steps I need to get it created and work on a few of the projects at a time to speed up my process. These steps will include things like selecting/editing/printing my photos, writing out my journaling, and assembling my pages.

Here is a final look at all my story plans in one place:

Thank you so much for joining me today in story planning with the Grow quarterly scrapbook kit. I hope this gave you some ideas for projects with this kit! If you found this post helpful, I create a similar styled lesson for each of the story kits in the story kit classroom. 

If you want to see these projects come together, I will share them on my instagram as I complete them: @lindalovescreating . If you have any additional ideas or questions please leave them below. I hope you have fun telling stories with this kit!