Do Greeting Card Kits Save Time & Spark Creativity?

I am a HUGE fan of greeting card kits!  Like more than a lit – we are talking a lot!  But not for the reasons that some might think.  Can they save you a ton of time when you need a card – you betcha!  You can grab the elements and go to town creating a last minute, nearly forgotten birthday card.  A quick thank you card, anything really as long as you have a variety of sentiments.

For me, I love them for the ease of use, but also for all the little pieces.  I very rarely create the suggested card using the kits.  Many times I actually feel like it's my mission or something to make sure I don't make the suggested card ideas.  They are such a huge opportunity for a creativity spark, and I never want to miss out on that!!!

So I could either tell you all about it, or I could show you.

And the kit I will talk about today is the Happenings Simply Created Card Kit from Stampin' Up.  This one caught my eye because of the gray colors in it and all the polka dots.

So there are a lot of different patterns as you can see.  Buttons and baker's twine, cards and envelopes – enough to make 15 cards.  And it's only $14.95.  At a $1/card, really affordable, right?  But what happens when you split up those supplies and go nuts?  Over the next few days, I will share how I adapted this kit to my style of card making.  Some will be posted here, some on Facebook.

Today's is one of my fave's.  I decided to pop some yellow into the picture.

Rather than making a note card that comes in the kit, I wanted it to be a full size card.  The base is Smoky Slate with Whisper White on top.  Then came that fab smoky slate polka dot patterned paper from the kit.

Then it came time for the yellow.  It started with plain Daffodil Delight card stock.  Then I tried embossing that yellow, then I decided to try some patterned paper.  I don't have much in the Daffodil Delight patterned paper, but I do have Polka Dot Parade (a moment of silence for our beloved retiring Polka Dot Parade paper).  But rather than using the polka dots, I turned it over and went for the circles, it matched the Smoky Slate much better.

Onto the stamping – I went for the Bring on the Cake stamps set.  I love this particular stamp in this set, because you can color in for what you want it to be.  Just grab a marker and you have really customized it.

That button and the silver twisty baker's twine are both from that kit.  And I could have used a strip of the silver glimmer paper that is also in the kit instead of that punched piece of Smoky Slate, but I have it earmarked for another project :).

How fun, right?

To me, this kit is one of the most missed items in the Occasions Catalog.  It is buried on a page, with only like a 3″ x 3″ section devoted to it, and to me the same card is an icky idea.

You can order the coordinating stamp set if you want, I didn't.  I have a lot of thin sentiments, I bought two kits instead!

If you like gray, you will love this greeting card kit!

Here is the complete card and the supplies used are listed below.

To order the kit and the other supplies used, simply click the images below:

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I hope this post has opened your eyes up to this kit and that you find it to not only save you time when you need it to, but also to spark your creativity!