Monthly Subscription Reviews ~ Ali Edwards, Studio Calico & Hip Kit

Happy Friday Scrapbook Peeps!

As I discussed at the beginning of January, and from the many pages I've posted, I am being much more intentional about getting back into my scrapbooks.  I signed up for several monthly subscription kits & thought I'd share my impressions of them so far.   After each review, I've added a few layouts (both full 12x12 & Project Life pocket style) to give you a comparison of each kit.  I'll apologize up front for the various lighting on the photos below.  Sometimes I have to use different settings for different colors... I've been experimenting with editing as well.  It's a work in progress for me but I can see photography and/or Photoshop classes are in my near future :)

Ali Edwards Story Kit & Story Stamp:
I started this subscription in December and decided to go with both the Story Kit and the Story Stamp for 6 months.  If you sign up for both, you get the digital kit free. I love having the digital items to do overlays on my photos or extra cards to type my journaling.  I have received 3 kits so far ~ Surprise, Review & Numbers.  I loved them all and the quality of the products is amazing!  The pocket cards are 2-sided with different designs on each side and they are made of nice heavy cardstock.  Also included in the kit are a variety of beautiful embellishments that are different each month.    Another nice thing about having the digital kit, is that I have access to all of the double-sided cards... so when I use one, it's OK because I can print another.  The Story Stamps always coordinate perfectly with the Story Kits with fonts and sayings.  The stamps are quality clear acrylic & stamp beautifully.

A new "Classroom" is started on the Ali Edwards website for each Story Kit.  Ali includes videos of the kit contents and process videos for her projects.  Guest storytellers also post new videos mid-month for more inspiration.   In addition to the video section, the "classroom" also has a gallery to add your own pages, a forum to have discussions and ask questions, and a place for digital downloads for that month. She also has a very detailed downloadable PDF for each month with step-by-step instructions for her projects, as well as thoughts on other suggestions for using them.

This subscription is completely thought out & detailed.  They are designed to make you think and tell your stories. In my opinion, the Story Kits & Story Stamps are well worth the price.  I will be keeping my subscription to this one FOR SURE!

Here are a few of the pages I've done with Story Kits/Story Stamps:

Studio Calico Documenter Kit: 

Just last month, I started with Studio Calico. They also manufacturer the Ali Edwards kits, so I knew they would be a great quality products.  The pocket cards are 2-sided and several were gold foiled... GORGEOUS!!!  The colors were bright and beautiful as well.  The fantastic embellishments were a mixture of items designs by Jasmine Jones and One Little Bird (both are fabulous digital designers) like washi tape, gold foil sticker sentiments & chipboard elements.  Each Documenter kit also comes with a small clear stamp set.

Additional Purchases: Studio Calico offers the "Classroom" for an additional $5 with your subscription.  It includes several process videos, a gallery, and a digital download with printable embellishments.  You can also purchase the digital kit of the double sided pocket cards for $5.99 so you always have both sides of the cards & you can pull up the PNG file to add your journaling.  In addition, you can purchase additional coordinating items that will be sent along with your kit, like a 4x6 or 12x12 paper pad, stamps, letter stickers, etc.  For my next kit, I purchased the 4x6 paper so I can make additional matching pockets on my pages.

I signed up for a 6 month subscription & I'm pretty sure I'll be keeping this one as well.  Below are some pages I made with the January kit.

Hip Kit Club:

In December, I signed up for the Project Life monthly kit from the Hip Kit Club for a 3 month subscription.  They also have a regular scrapbooking kit, add on embellishment, paper, cardstock and a Color It kits.  For the first month, I purchased some of the add-on items so I could see what they were all about.  It was a lot of product with tons of exclusive items that they design to coordinate with the other papers and embellishments in the kit.  All of the Project Life cards that come in the kit are exclusive and are single sided.  I've used a few here and there, but I don't love them as much as the Ali Edwards or Studio Calico cards.  I have been using lots of the embellishments.  All of the products are nice quality!

For the January kit, in addition to my Project Life kit, I also ordered the 12x12 pattern paper add-on. They had several exclusive paper designs that I liked & thought they would be nice to have for full layouts or cut them up to use with the PL cards.  Again, all of the Project Life cards are exclusive & single-sided.  This month's collection of cards were pretty good. However, you can only do so many "2016 Highlights" and "Welcome 2017/Happy New Year" pages, so I need to get a bit creative with them.  The PL Kit also came with a huge package of painted cork embellishments, alphabet stickers, enamel triangles, and a date stamp... so much fun stuff.

I haven't received the February Kit yet, but it should be here soon.  This month, I only ordered the Project Life kit because I noticed that the other kits did not contain any exclusive products. This really surprised me since Hip Kit is known for designing many of their own items to coordinate with other items in the kit.  The PL kit will still have the exclusive single-sided cards and one other exclusive item.

At this point, the jury is still out if I continue with this monthly.  I am contemplating switching to the main scrapbook kit since I get plenty of cards from the other two kits.  I hope they continue with the exclusive products going forward.

Here are a few 12x12 layouts I've done so far with the December Hip Kit.  I also have some Project Life pocket style pages done; however, I haven't photographed them yet.  I'm still working with the January kit, so I don't have any pages to share with that one yet.

 

Felicity Jane:
I just signed up for this subscription and haven't received it yet.  I am so excited to see it in person because it looks stunning!  It comes with all exclusive products ~ 12x12 papers, embellishments, cut apart stickers and a stamp set. Here's a peek at the kit called London that may even show up today! :)

UPDATE:  Click HERE to see my thoughts and a project using the Felicity Jane London Kit. {Hint... I LOVE IT}

I won't be keeping a subscription to all of these kits, but I really like to touch products and work with them, so subscribing for at least a short time was necessary for me to see if I would like them.  So stay tuned for more pages ~ I'm scrapping up a storm!

Thanks for stopping by & have a great weekend!