My First Counterfeit Kit

This is my first post for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge.  I discovered the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog a few weeks ago, via a thread on the Two Peas message board, and I found so much inspiration in the posts from the past few months.  Besides being my first challenge post, it's also my first scrapbooking post in general, so here it goes!.....

The inspiration kit is at Burlap and Buttercups and included some really lovely paper.  But I didn't have any of it, so I looked for similar pieces in my own stash, in colors that worked for me.

For my kit, I knew that I wanted to use it to get moving on pages for our dog, Junior. He has been with us for over a year, and I haven't done a single page for him. Bad dog mom. Bad!  So I looked at what doggish things I've collected, considered those things against the inspiration kit, and here's what I came up with:

I used several Fancy Pants papers, and other papers from American Crafts, Jillibean Soup, Reminisce Autumn Afternoon and a few sheets of Core'dinations cardstocks.  I also included a Basic Grey laser-cut doillie sheet and a 6x6 paper pad of Basic Grey Max and Whiskers. 

I've already started using the Max and Whiskers to make some embellishment pieces.

I started some other homemade pieces in the kit, too.  I made my own notebook paper on some Bazzill Kraft.  I used another piece of Bazzill (with the swiss dot pattern like the background in the Fancy Pants Spring Fever paper), printed some journal blocks on it, and placed clear animal-themed stickers onto the paper.  I'll play around with it and see if it becomes something useful.

I also included a handful of small embellishments and clips in lieu of the inspiration kit's stick pins (those things scare me - I'd be the one to step on them).  And I didn't have any punched chipboard frames, but I do have loads of regular chip shapes. I played a bit with punching my own holes with my Cropodile - I like it! I also have this set of Lil' Davis Designs chipboard alphabet - same punched design idea. Maybe I can paint them or find some other way to finally use them this month.

I also put together a coordinating summer ad-on kit, based on Kim's inspiration kit (check out Kim's blog at http://lovejoyscrap.blogspot.com/).  Here's my take:

This one is easy to describe: A few pieces of paper and my Gypsy.  I just couldn't find any summer embellishments in my stuff, and for sure nothing that went along with the peachy/buttery type colors that seemed to work their way through my kit choices.  But I do have several cartridges on that darn Gypsy.  Specifically, I have Freshly Picked, Summer Vacation and Walk in My Garden - all good candidates for making some summer embellishments.  I declare this month the month on the Cricut....I've spent enough money on the stuff, it's about time it started earning its keep here in my little corner of the 'burbs.

Can't wait to get started on all the challenges and projects!