Stories By The Month™ | Special Guest Lisa Varshine

Hi friends! Happy New Year! We're thrilled to share that after almost a year of being on waitlist, our Stories By The Month™ subscription is now open to new subscribers. Beginning this month we'll be sharing inspiration using these kits periodically on the blog. I'm kicking us off with a quick and easy spread using a combination of physical and digital products from the January-themed kit.

In addition to two Design A page protectors, I included one 10x8 insert with word art from the kit. I'm a big fan of enlarged photos and love using them as a home for my stories. I use Photoshop to add all of my digital elements to spreads, in addition to creating any cards, etc. This particular word art was taken from one of the digital 3x4 cards in that kit.

My title card is another digital that I printed in black, with the gold foil vellum slipped in on top, one of my favorite (and easy) ways to use the vellum from the kit. For many of the pieces I design in these kits each month, that's my goal: make them simple and graphic. Typography is my very favorite. For several of the 4x6 photos I use the same format as the numbered 3x4 cards I included in January's kit. Since I wanted to use more than what I had in the kit, I whipped up a few additional cards and recolored them to suit my photos. A perk of hybrid scrapbooking.

I've always been a big fan of including journaling directly on my photos, but it is time consuming. It's a great option for photo-heavy spreads, as mine tend to be. I print both my journaling cards and photos on the same paper, an Epson 13x19 luster paper. Here's that exact paper. I have the Epson XP 15000 oversize printer that's very popular (for good reason!)

You'll see the same elements repeated on the right side of this spread.

I recolored another digital element to include on top of this photo. It's not often I opt for less color. These pages came together very quickly, which is vital in my current season of life. I'm finding less and less time for playing with product in my process.

Looking for more inspiration using these kits? Join us in the monthly Inspiration By The Month classroom, included in the cost of your physical subscription. You'll have access to four lessons: pocket page inspiration from myself, Jill Drangsholt, and Jen Wong, as well as a hybrid lesson from Denine Zielinski. We hope you'll join us in the classroom...but don't wait! There are only a few spot remaining before we go to waitlist again. Subscribe now to receive our newest February-themed kit.

Looking for more from me? Find me on instagram at @frecklepickle. Check out my photography class, Magic of Moments, here. You can also find projects from me in Hybrid Product Play, our travel classes, December Daily® Product Play and Prep Day, as well as several WITL Prep Day classes.