How to make the most of mini kits

It’s all too tempting to look at a mini kit from a narrow perspective, thinking you could likely only make one good layout from it. In this post, I want to challenge you to broaden your perspective as well as offer a beautiful mini kit freebie. Mini kits force you to be creative and can offer amazing versatility if you’re ready to jump in.

Let’s start with a few essential principles for maximizing a mini kit:

1. Work those papers – Experiment with layering and using different papers as borders and backgrounds. If you always go for a solid, try a pattern.

2. Go minimal – To avoid your layouts looking redundant, use embellishments sparingly. Try a super-simple, elegant look.

3. Emphasize type – Use an alpha and one or more great fonts to set the tone of your page with a great title and some thoughtful journaling.  Make your words the center of your pages.

4. Coordinate – Look for pieces from the same designer that coordinate. You might be surprised and the combos you can create!

Now, let’s use a great example to illustrate. The Ruffled mini and free with any purchase April Sampler from Pamela Donnis at Funky Playground Designs.

Check out these layouts! They are a true testament to how flexible mini kits can be. You are only limited by your own imagination.

From mflott

From Val Barbieri

From aly321

From chigirl

From kim21673

Today, Julie Marie Designs is sharing a beautiful mini kit freebie with Simple Scrapper readers to help you practice your mini-maximizing skills.  Earth Wings #2 perfectly coordinates with Julie’s previous kit, Earth Wings #1. As a bonus, there is an amazing coupon for Julie’s brand new store (and it’s a fab one) within the download!

Download link expired | buy this kit

Here are three great layouts using Earth Wings #2, straight from Julie’s creative team:

From fliffyangel

From tammy1999

From sarahtawisha