The Picinic Basket: the leftovers have a new home

It's been over a year since Studio Calico first introduced their Project Life® kits and I have enjoyed each and every one of them. I started my subscription the minute they announced the kits so my sub goes way back to January 2013. I have absolutely loved the variety and mix of the kits and had a great time this past year incorporating them into my spreads. Because I'm so photo heavy I don't always use every card each month so there are always a few leftover. I have done an okay job of keeping them together but was never super organized with them.

I typically keep the most current kit out and all together and pull from it as I'm working on my spreads. When a new kit would comes in the leftover embellishments get merged with my supplies or passed on to my daughter it if was something she really wanted. The leftover cards were placed in a bin off the top of my work space in no special order but typically placed in front of the last months cards. I would pull from them a lot if the current kit didn't have exactly what I needed or if I remembered a specific card from a previous kit that was a good match. Because of that they didn't always stay in perfect order.

When 2013 ended I new I wanted to organize those leftover cards in some way but wasn't finding the best solution out there. I have seen some really awesome organizers but the 4x6 and 3x4 cards were always in separate sections and I really wanted the whole months kit together.

I've been using these bins to hold all of my stamps and while I was out shopping the other day I saw one and it dawned on me that it was exactly what I needed. I don't know why I didn't realize it before but perhaps seeing it on the shelf empty I was able to see the potential. The size of bin is 11" x 7" x 3.5" and while it looks small you will be surprised how much it holds.

I decided to make dividers from some plain white cardstock and they are sized 6" x 5". I have saved the cute little stickers that come with the kits and applied them to the top left corner of the cardstock dividers. These stickers are meant for the spine of the storage boxes which I have saved and use for other purposes. I have since found my sticker for Roundabout which I believe was the first kit that came in the box. I don't believe a sticker came with the Valley High kits if I'm remembering correctly so that might be why I can't find that one.

Behind each kits divider I have everything related to that months offerings. I added the card that comes with each kit

In this case for Sugar Rush I have the cute little Valentine addon that was available that month

the 3x4 main kit cards and any from addons that I had purchased.

the 4x6 cards

and the 4x6 paper pads if I purchased them

Now for the most part my cards were kept fairly well together but there were quite a few that needed to be put back in place. What I did was lay out post its for each kit with the month and name written on it. I started with the 4x6 cards and placed them in the correct months then I did the same for the 3x4 cards. I also did the same for the addon cards but since these typically did not have rounded corners I had already pulled them out of the 3x4 card stack so it would be easier to sort. I found that it definitely helped to work in smaller batches. If I didn't know what kit it was from I would pull up the kit card images from the Studio Calico site and match the cards that way. It didn't take too long and thankfully since I had used a good portion of my cards I didn't have a ton to go thru. There are still some cards that I can't identify, about a dozen but I think they might have been from class kits so for the mean time they are in the last section under Misc until I can figure them out. But I'll tell you going thru each one card by card sure made me realize how awesome these kits have been and how many great cards I still need to use.

For the kits that did not have the cute little label I just ran the dividers thru my printer and using a typewriter font labeled each card with the kit name, month and year similar to the labels.

At the back I also separated out any cards that were sold as extras as you can see below. It made more sense to me to keep these separated by designer.

This is everything all together in the one bin. As you can see there is still plenty of room for more cards to be added as the months go on. Eventually I'll need another bin but not just yet.