Project Life 2024 | Week 09 | March

[@roseydaylife]

Great spread and good advice from your husband.

[@KashaGage]

Thanks so much!

[@user-yg7dx8ev2x]

I've been feeling "off" about the kits and thought it was just me. I'm glad to know it isn't just me. I've considered stopping my shipments for a bit, just for a break.

[@KashaGage]

It's not just you. I'm in the same boat - considering taking a break for a while from my subscriptions.

[@user-yg7dx8ev2x]

@@KashaGage but what if I run out of supplies?! Wait. That probably wouldn't happen for 10 years. I should be okay for a little while.

[@melissaCA76]

Your honest and uncensored review made me chuckle. I skipped that March kit after getting the first two months. Too much repetition and I personally don’t like having soooo many month names repeated on all the products. I don’t need a reminder every page that it’s January, Jan, Jan, January, Feb, February, Feb, Feb. The florals in the March kit are cute, imo, but it’s the same image that’s been repeated in Studio Calico kits many times.

[@KashaGage]

🤣 love what you said about not needing a reminder of what month we’re in. I think at this point, I’m only going to stay subscribed until June. And we’ll see what I do after that

[@stephiebella]

I so agree about the month repeated so many times. Feel that way with witl kits too.

[@createdbysteph]

Hi Kasha! I have been loving watching your PL videos! I appreciate your "brutally honest" review of the SBTM kit. I'm also feeling a lot of the same things over here myself. It's incredibly disappointing as I feel like the quality of this kit this year is not representative of the AED brand overall. It's frustrating to have a full kit of supplies and still find it hard to use them because they're so repetitive or duplicative. I haven't subbed to this kit for quite a few years, but got excited about it in January and signed up for a full year, which I now really regret. It's disappointing. BUT what is not disappointing is watching you put your spreads together and BE YOURSELF! Thanks for sharing your process with us all!

[@KashaGage]

Thanks for being here Steph. And glad to know that I'm not the only one who feels this way - unfortunate considering the circumstances.

[@jenellstock2380]

Kasha I really liked your spread. And I totally agree with you about the repetitiveness and same types of styles used in the scrapbook by the month kits. I like Vellum, but for me in my project life albums it doesn’t always make sense. So maybe a little less of that and a few more cards that were new and not repeated from years ago or with the exact same images over and over. I had contacted Ali‘s team last year questioning that some of the images on the stamps that were included in the scrapbook by the month kits were the same. The same circle or sun or wording, or whatever from previous years or even the same year. And I have most of them. So yes, I agree with you. I actually think Ali’s team needs the feedback from her users and community. But more importantly, I think your pages are turning out great! ❤️

[@KashaGage]

Jenell, always love your feedback and am thankful for the support. You're right, it is a lot of vellum. And the repeated designs on the Story Kit stamps last year, yup, I thought what a waste.

[@life_documented7]

I am so over the chipboard tags as well as all the vellum and some of the repeated items. I do like the month 4x6 and the calendar for PL. Thank you for the honest review! Love watching your videos!

[@KashaGage]

Thanks for sharing and being here.

[@bhandforth]

I have subscribed to AE story kits since the beginning and off & on to the SBTM kits. I subscribed to the kit this year with the change of more cards and vellum, but like you it is too repetitive. I will probably stop after my 6 month commitment unless I see change. I also agree with your husband, don’t sensor your opinion. Love your videos and honesty.❤

[@KashaGage]

Thanks for sharing Becky! I too am giving it 6 months this year for the SBTM.

[@jsecarson2]

Thanks for your honesty. I have never subscribed to AE kits. Although I liked some of the designs, I didn’t necessarily like the colors or everything in the kits. I think they cost too much to have product you don’t want. So I will occasionally buy a digital kit when it’s on sale and print only what I need and change what I want to change. And I agree with what someone else said, her handwriting, while nice, is not something I want all over my pages. I like my own handwriting! 😂

[@KashaGage]

Thanks for sharing! Love how you only purchase when it's on sale and then adapt the product to make it work for you!

[@colleenmartin5341]

Love your videos. What kind of sticker paper do you use?

[@KashaGage]

Thanks Colleen! It's called Maco. Seems to work well. amzn.to/3IsllxJ

[@stephanievandersmissen3066]

Well, firstly I always love watching your videos Kasha, but you already know that 😊. I’m happy that you are finding your joy with your PL this year. Secondly I’m totally with you concerning the March STBM kit, so happy that I click on pass each month and I get to see the kit before making a decision of buying or not buying it. This month I was expecting greens ( my favorite color ❤) and I saw the kit 😳 and thought immediately who died ? 😅 maybe a harsh reaction but an honest one . Where’s my green and my spring colors? Nowhere. Gah fortunately I passed that one, hopefully April will be better. And yes reusing older digitals feels so cheap, especially when I’ve been a subscriber for quite a few years, getting the physical and digital kits. I must say that we can totally see that there isn’t Ali’s touch anymore and some designs are from SC which is really weird. I’m loving the story kit though ( not sure about some of the themes that will come later in the year but we’ll see 😅). We can definitely see that Ali is still working on this one and that she’s invested in it. I’m also doing OLW and feels great about that one too. I guess we’ll have to wait next year and hope for another chance for the STBM , I was so happy with the fact that they were returning to a more PL version with lots of cards and no stamp! But it quickly fizzled out . Thank you Kasha for being real, maybe some people will react strongly but just be YOU, it’s the most important thing 😘

[@KashaGage]

Aww thanks Steph for your support and sharing your thoughts/opinions about supplies this year. You were not alone in the thought of "who died?" when seeing the colors. 🤣 I agree that it feels like it's lost that Ali touch.

[@11hilkr]

I’m not super happy with the color schemes this year either. The bright colors of January felt impossible to use with my cold snowy photos and it’s hard to mix in older SBTM pieces since the color palettes are so different this year. I feel like some of the vellum examples in the class are not very practical either. I could maybe see myself covering one or two photos a year but not every month. Now it feels like we went from almost no product last year to too many things I won’t use…I’m back and forth on cancelling but I guess I’ll give it a few more months for now! I appreciate your honesty with the review!

[@11hilkr]

Also, has anyone else noticed some of the cards look grainy? Like they sent a low resolution file to print. Especially with the repeated 3x4 card with the title and florals. I’ve noticed it every month now.

[@KashaGage]

TFS! I always appreciated a similar color palette for the months from year-to-year as it allowed your to mix and match kits. You're right there is a lot of vellum. I plan to give it until June before making a decision.

[@stephanievandersmissen3066]

I noticed the grainy ink on some cards too, looks cheap. I will certainly cancel when my subscription expires in 5 months too.

[@lynnegillis8910]

I couldn't agree more on the repetitiveness of the kits. I feel like it allows whoever is designing them to not have to put a lot of time into it, but from my perspective it's just irritating. I could literally think of 100s of prompts/quotes/designs that are new/different... but we keep getting the same ones recycled over and over and over again. One of my issues with the repeated cards is that the fonts keep changing - and the fonts that are used are often just so bizarre - and things I can't easily match if I want to make additional cards. If there's going to be something repeated month to month, I wish the fonts were the same on the repeated items. Overall (I know I've said this before) the feeling I get from the kits lately is that they're all just so random and they don't feel like anyone really put any thoughtful design thinking into them. They don't feel cohesive or creative, they just feel tired and repetitive. That's why I switched from the physical to the digital kits. At least with the digital ones I can make some adjustments. But even then, I'm not sure how much longer I'll be a subscriber. I've been one since the very beginning, but it's getting old and they're not inexpensive. I just don't feel like I'm getting much for my money.

[@KashaGage]

Thanks for your honesty Lynne - I share similar thoughts and feelings too! ❤️

[@secondesnature]

🙌🏼

[@kelly-janes]

Love seeing your process and hearing your thoughts as you work through your weeks. I always appreciate your honest review of the products too! Just curious, and I mean this with the upmost respect, why do you continue your subscription if you're unhappy with the products? I know it can sometimes be hard to read tone in comments, so please know it's not meant with any judgement. I know at one point you were working with Ali's brand so I wasn't sure if that was still happening? I don't even know if she still has ambassadors for her brand?? Pocket page products can be so hard to find too, so I wasn't sure if it was because there aren't a lot of options out there so you continue with your subscriptions to get new product in each month even though you don't love it all. Studio Calico was always my absolute favorite, and I'm not 100% loving the changes with their kits, but I also know they can't please everyone so I'm just rolling with it. HA! (It's mainly the card thickness, that I have to trim the cards down myself, I know they said the card count is the same, but now that the cards aren't truly double sided I feel like there are less cards) But there are so few products out there that match my style so I still continue to get the kit.

[@KashaGage]

Hi Kelly, great questions! I’m on the fence about canceling my subs & have kept them primarily bc they do have pocket cards and so few out there do. I’m considering just going back and using my stash & digital versions, since I’m finding these are no longer appealing to me. (Again, can’t please everybody). I did see the changes SC made this year and it is tough when you’re used to products supporting your style of memory keeping.

[@wisconsindieter]

The thickers look great! Thanks for sharing your week! You are very talented and have great ideas. Maybe reach out to Ali and voice your concerns. I think she would appreciate it!

[@KashaGage]

Thanks for the feedback!

[@alexgoodman2461]

The one thing I previously liked about the SBTM kits was that the colour scheme for each month was the same across the years, which made it easy to mix old months with the new. I don't hate repeated cards, but 6 is a large portion of such a small kit to repeat every month. One or 2 that are different than past years would have been fine. As for March specifically, I agree it feels like more of a January scheme, but it also feels like a lot of pieces were repeated from the Seek story kit...? In the past March was full of greens and blues but more of a pastel palette, this one feels like March is depressed that spring is coming. I understand that Ali can't do everything for her business, but I'm not sure they made the right choice with the changes to this kit in particular. It feels too copy-and-paste as opposed to a freshly designed kit, and I feel that it cheapens the AED brand. The zodiac card is so off-brand that I'm not even sure how it made it into this kit in the first place. They could have done any number of other cards in its place, especially with the copy-and-paste model they're using for these kits.

[@KashaGage]

Thanks Alex for being here and sharing your opinion. I too always appreciated a similar color palette so you could mix and match kits. And I have to laugh, March is depressed about spring this year. 🤣

[@threebeansmombo8098]

I was not happy with the direction it’s taken I don’t think it looks anything like the brand. I seen Januarys kit I’m glad I cancelled this year. You Layout looks great you pushed forward better than I would have. Maybe if enough people speak up it will go back 😊

[@KashaGage]

Thank you for sharing. And maybe things will change going forward in the future.

[@amithi68]

Yes, please, don't censor yourself, I value your opinions and ideas. I feel that overall in the general scrapbook community there are too many people "fan-girling". When I contrast that with my main hobby reading and its community, I like the "uniformity" of expressed opinions in scrapbooking (I feel it's the wrong word, but don't have a better one) even less, book reviewers offer much more divers opinions across the board. Personally I never subscribed to any of the AE kits or bought any of the products, even when I liked the designs. There's too much of Ali's handwriting in it for my liking, if there's handwriting in my albums it's going to be mine. But in general I find with many of the kits across the different brands and designers I rarely see me using more than half, so I don't see the point of subscribing. Better for my wallet to pick and choose. These days I tend to buy digital products, as they are easier to change to what I need. I still like to follow the AE community in particular, because of the ideas, different projects and concepts. They taught me that it's okay to not only have "best days ever" and wanting to document the hard times, the not so beautiful messes and all the ugly feelings as well. That was a great leap for my mental health. At the end of 2022 I suffered pretty badly from burn-out and was ready to quit my job. With some help from my husband and "one little word" I managed to stay in my job and even love it again during 2023. Not every part, but enough. I learned being present and mindful and not losing sight of what is important from watching and really listening to scrapbook videos like yours. So thank you for being honest.

[@KashaGage]

Thank you for sharing your journey over the past couple of years. I am glad that you are in a better place!! I agree about there being a lot of "fan-girl" within the scrapbook community as opposed to others. It's tough, and maybe it's just me, but it feels like there's this unwritten rule/expectation that we're supposed to keep opinions to ourselves if we don't like something. Not to mention, inside several Facebook scrapbook communities, expressing an opinion that dislikes something is no longer approved. Love that you find it freeing within your book/reader community. And your opinion is always value here! ❤️

[@kristinebruhn4040]

Perhaps it’s a good time to take a break and try a different designer for a while. Seems such a shame to pay money for a product that frustrates you. Excited to follow you and see your gorgeous pages.

[@KashaGage]

Thanks for the feedback Kristine. And I agree about a shame for paying for product that you don't use. If the kits are more or less the same, then I plan to unsubscribe around June.