Freeform round

When we had finished all our kits, there was a bit of a "what shall we do next?" conversation. It occurred to me that we still had quite a lot left from all the kits, and I suggested that we put all the leftovers together and made cards from those. As the greetings would be mostly used up, we were allowed to add our own, but the challenge would be to attempt to co-ordinate all the kits together. So we did.

And as I laid out all the beautiful, mismatched leftovers on a table and looked through them with something approaching despair, it occurred to me that there are times when I probably ought to keep my mouth shut! It was MUCH more difficult to combine different styles, colour schemes, genres together than to use (mostly) matched hand-picked kits. But the girls dug deep with their usual creativity, and here are the lovely cards that they came up with.

Kathleen is moving state and has her craft room all packed up, and Claudia had tidied up all her kits before the big idea was suggested, so they have bowed out of this round.

First up is Danielle, who finished up some of my kit in her first, and Virginia's in her second. She didn't attempt to mix the kits.

Then we have Jenny who did a little mixing, and added some contrasting card-stock. The first two are from Virginia's kit with the flower from mine.

Those spots and brads are from my kit.

I actually don't know where this lovely striped paper came from because I don't think I had that in any of my kits. Maybe someone can help me out there? The greeting picks out the aqua beautifully though, doesn't it?

More from my kit, with sequins from Nora's, I believe.

Next we have Nora, who used elements of her own with just touches from the kits. This aqua patterned paper is from Virginia's.

And the fawn is from mine, with Nora's die-cut sun and sequins.

 This combines Virginia's kit with mine.

And this is all Virginia's.

 My (Rosey's) cards are next. I used some more elements from Nora's kit, with the background paper from Jenny's.

Here we have everything from Nora except the black rik-rak which was from Claudia's.

 This is all from Virginia's kit except the greeting which was supplied by Nora.

And Danielle's Valentine's kit provided most of this card for my niece who turns 13 next week. I used a little paper from Virginia's and my kits too.

Last up is Virginia. She has really mixed and matched! This one has her own greeting and string, Claudia's olive green paper, my spotty paper and the wood-grain background is from Kathleen's Christmas kit.

Here she has combined Danielle's hearts paper with Nora's blue greeting and silk, and the flower and pearls from her own kit.

Even more mixing up here with Jenny's flower, Claudia's background paper, Nora's silk and corrugated card from her own kit.

Nora's blue swirly paper, Claudia's chevrons, Virginia's music paper and string, and Nora's balloon and sequins - wow!

I spot Jenny's blue flower, Virginia's lace, Nora's flowery paper and gems.

And finally, this colourful card combines papers from me, Virginia and Jenny with her own flowers and lace, and my button.

I have to say that although this last round was never a competition to find out who could mix and match the best, if it had been, then Virginia would have won hands down!


And that concludes the first round of the SJ Card Kit Club. Thank you to the whole team for a really challenging and educating year. Comparing the first rounds with the later ones, the improvement in our cards is actually really obvious. I, for one, have learned more about how I work than I would have thought possible.

So WELL DONE everyone!

The jury is still out over whether/when we will do another round. Personal circumstances have changed dramatically for more than one of us. The owners of ScrapJazz itself have given notice that they are closing the site down at the end of this year. We've set up a Group on Facebook, but we're all still getting to grips with it. All I can say for now is "watch this space", and meanwhile, keep on crafting.

Au revoir!