Cocoa Daisy- Creating With Old Kits #1

My scrap space is FULL of stuff! Even after all the times I have cleaned up and cleared out, I still have a large amount of stuff, that I can't part with. Years of collecting Cocoa Daisy scrapbook kits take up a significant amount of my space. Each month I go back through my Cocoa Daisy collection and try to pull kits I want to play with. Many of these kits are only partially used and live in their original bags except for the embellishments that tend to add bulk. So any embellishments that aren't flat are in smaller bags with the kit date, so I can locate them when I am using the kit.

Today's 12x12 layout uses a current picture and a very old kit. The kit I am using is Verandah from June 2009. 

I am pleased with my layout, and upon completing it, I found myself reminded that the people who will be looking at this layout and reading this story have no idea how old my supplies are. More importantly, they don't care how old my stuff is, they care about the memory. Such a great reminder and encouragement to pull out what you have been hoarding and use it to tell your story.

And here is my layout:

A couple of things I love about this layout:  

• First of all, my sweet, funny Jude, he has become quite entertaining and more amusing in the last few months. This personality has always been right under the surface and would sneak out occasionally around family and close friends. But since completing a year of school, it tends to sneak out more often, even in public. Love him!
•  I remember loving the Collage Press Knave of Hearts Collage Cuts Die Cut Rings when I first got this kit 10 years ago, I just never used it. I looked for a single image of this paper, but couldn't find one. So if you look at the above image of the kit, it is the bottom right paper. The paper was die cut rings of about 6-8 different sizes and shapes. I still have the remaining rings and the 12x12 paper they came from. I am currently brainstorming about how to use them.
• I love the wooden stars on this layout. They aren't from the kit but from my stash. Some are Cocoa Daisy exclusives, and some are from a package that Studio Calico put out years ago. I went through a significant phase of collecting stars, since using too many hearts on "boy" layouts was kinda weird to me. So I consider stars to be the manly version of hearts.
• I still love a good tag for my handwritten journaling. I need all the lines to keep it straight. 
• I seriously hoarded the Lilybee Design ABC Stickers (Jude's name & the date on the layout). There were over 1,000 stickers per 12x12 page, and they were the perfect size.
• I also used brads from my stash and a chipboard sticker from a Teresa Collins Decorative Buttons set. I hoarded those too. 

As I bagged up this kit, I was mentally planning to what I wanted to do with some of the other kit elements:

• The floral mask from Heidi Swapp would make a great stenciled background for some of the K & Co Amy Butler Lotus Butterflies Die Cuts on a card. Or cards, since I have so many left over. I also kept the negative of the Butterfly 12x12 die cut paper. That negative space would make a great stencil as well. For reference that particular die cut paper is on the bottom left of the kit image. 
• I love the Jenni Bowlin Rhinestone Buttons. I love buttons on all kinds of projects, but the bulk of these is a bit more than I usually like for a 12x12 page. But they would be great for an Off the Page kind of project.