Counterfeit Kit Challenge: Mini (Card?) Kit

Welcome March!

Looking for a Counterfeit Kit? Well, you're in the right place.  If you've been hopping through the Master Forger kits today, you've reached the end of the line.  As you've probably seen, our inspiration kit for this month is a kit from Noel Mignon.

And for my own kit, I used some of the color inspiration and made a mini kit:

Back in mid-February, right before our vacation, I put together this kit for March.  As I looked at all the great stuff in the inspiration kit, I started pulling lots of things from my stash. But at some point I realized that I needed to seriously reign it in.  I still had/have my full February kit to tackle (mostly planned that way; I knew I didn't have much scrapping time in February), and I can't forget that gigantic November kit that's waiting for my attention for my December Daily project.  Throw in the other dozen projects I want to tackle, and I just didn't need another big kit right now.

So I started over, this time focusing on a few packs of embellishments and just a 6x6 pad of paper.  I love the happy oranges and yellows, and I already did a page with some of the kit contents. I may use the rest of the kit for some project life catch up, a couple of regular pages, or maybe even some cards.  Something obtainable.  We'll see how the month goes!

February Counterfeit Kit

Welcome to February! A new month means a new Counterfeit Kit Challenge. 

Update: I just rearranged this post's text and pictures this morning, so I'm back in action.  My complaint for the day: Blogger is pretty user friendly from a desktop, but the Blogger app for mobile devices, frankly, stinks.

Now on to the kit!

This month's inspiration kit is Chasing Pavements from Scraptastic Kit Club.

The inspiration kit.....full of greens and blues.

I had none of the Chasing Pavements contents, but I had some very similar papers, so I went from there. I've put together a lot of stuff (you might actually find a kitchen sink in there somewhere) just because I couldn't stop pulling these blues and greens from my stash. I used my scrap bin and Cricut to make a bowl of arrows and confetti, too.

My kit - papers are mostly from years of collecting Jillibean Soup, with a few other pieces thrown in there, too. I guess those colors have been popular for awhile! I pulled scraps from my red, yellow and orange scrap bins to cut the arrows with my Cricut, a counterfeit of that sheet of Studio Calico arrows.  I added lots of other bits and pieces that included the colors of the inspiration kit, so I have plenty of stuff to work with this month!

I usually pick pics first, then kit. But this month i have no idea what pictures I'm going to scrap. That's pretty scary for me!  But my biggest challenge for the month? We fly to Mexico in just a few days, so I imagine this big kit will be a work in progress for months to come. Who knows, maybe it will end up being the start of my next Mexico album.

Oh, almost forgot to mention that I made my collage picture with the PhotoGrid app that I mentioned last week on a post about photo apps. Last night at 9pm, when I was in a mild panic because of some laptop issues, I had to figure out how to get my pictures into this post with just the use of my phone or iPad, and that PhotoGrid app saved my night.

I am the last stop on the Master Forger hop today, so please visit the CKC blog for this month's challenge info and the new Mr Linky page for links to all your kit work.and I'll be back later this morning to clean up/rearrange my post a bit. For now, my kit pics should be below:

Counterfeit Kit Pages

Today I'm finally posting some pages created with my January Counterfeit Kit. And before I get to the pages, I wanted to mention info about the CKC blog this month:

• Be sure to link something to this month's Mr. Linky! There's an extra incentive - Cassie owns an awesome scrappy store on Etsy called Paper Issues, and she is sponsoring a $20 Paper Issues gift certificate to one random winner from all those who add to the Mr. Linky.The winner will be drawn at the end of the month.  So get your projects linked up for your change to win! 
• Watch for this month's blog hop on January 25th. It's too late to join the hop, but please join us for some inspiration.

OK, so on to the pages......

I needed to fill the back side of a page protector (cut down from an 8x10 protector). I just used things from my kit (except some scraps and a piece of kraftstock) to fill this awkward space.

I think this next page ended up being one of my favorites of the book. I just love the flower picture. We ate outside on the patio with that beautiful view of the vineyard and lake, just a really nice place to be.  I  like how the colors on the page added to the colors of that picture: 

And I couldn't show three pages today without including the dog, could I? 

Again, mostly items from my kit. The sticker sentiments in my kit didn't have what I needed, so I covered the saying in the middle and used it for the background of my title.

I used Stickles to hide the not-so-great edges of that oval I cut to cover the sticker.  It also worked to hold those tiny little letter stickers in place. These little sticker letters are so cute, but the adhesive is never really very good, is it? I decided to name the phenomenon - Alphabet Drift.  Ever see it?  You spell a word, turn around, and find the letters have drifted - down the page, up your arm, across the desk, etc.  Alphabet Drift. Look it up - I bet it's in the dictionary.

I used a Zig Glue Pen in spots across the page, and then sprinkled sequins over the sticky spots.  Pretty simple way to use loose sequins, as long as you don't mind the work of corralling those little boogers back into the jar.  After my experience, my work with sequins may be short lived.

I don't know if it's my kit, the new year, the cold weather, or the pending visit of friends, but I suddenly feel the draw of my scraproom like I haven't felt in quite awhile. Wish I could bottle the motivation I'm feeling right now.

Welcome 2013!! January Counterfeit Kit

Glad to be back to start 2013!

Today I have just a quick post for the January Counterfeit Kit. I'll be back later this week - after holiday houseguests leave and some decorations are put away - and hopefully will get to play with my kit soon.

I'm at the end of the Master Forger kit hop.  Click here to start from the beginning and to see the full list of Master Forgers for 2013.  We're welcoming lots of new faces for the new year!

This month's inspiration kit from Paperissues, with lovely blues, pinks and reds.....

The start of my kit - I decided to raid my December Daily kit for anything not-so-holiday looking and looked for similar blues, greens and pink/reds from the inspiration kit. Definitely not the same colors, but these papers from the Crate Peppermint Twist line have that same Crate style/feel as the inspiration kit's contents.

I looked for other papers to add and decided on the pretty neutral Pink Paislee line. I added some travel/journal-theme items, because I'm hoping to finish my summer vacation pages this month. I didn't have a string of sequins like the inspiration kit, but I did have this jar of loose sequins. Maybe I'll string them together, maybe I'll sprinkle them around a page....who knows?

Please do visit the CKC blog for more information about this month's challenges and special news for the new year!  There's nothing like January to get us all excited for new beginnings, fresh challenges, and motivation to meet goals and resolutions. Hope you play along and add your work to the month's Mr. Linky and find the inspiration you need to get started on some great projects!

November Counterfeit Kit

Well, today's Counterfeit Kit proved to be more difficult that I first imagined, but I'm so happy with the results!

When we first got the news about this month's kit challenge, to counterfeit a current collection, I immediately decided to pick a holiday collection and use my kit for my December Daily pages. But I didn't realize how hard it would be to pick a collection and decide how to use it.

Last year I used all one collection for my DD.  I liked that method, but I knew I wanted to try a more mixed style this year.  So as new collections were released over the past couple of months,  I bought pieces I like from all sorts of collections, thinking, "it will all come together in the end."

And that time has come.  I decided to pull it all together and figure out a way to move from "random and hodge-podge" to "eclectic," and I decided to use Studio Calico Wonderland as my inspiration.  It was one collection I hadn't purchased any pieces (although I wanted to), so I thought it would be a good, neutral place to start.

For the sake of simplicity, I'm just providing this one picture of the inspiration collection.  To see all the pieces, click here for the stock of these items at 2Peas, or here to see the stock at Studio Calico.

Each month Bethany posts a list of ways you might interpret the counterfeiting challenge.  This month I went with the second method on the list:

"Use the "kit contents" as inspiration, and recreate your own kit with the same types of supplies, but in a different color or style that corresponds better with your preferences/photographs/scrapbook style/tastes."  

I hope that by counterfeiting these embellishments with all the different collections of papers, I will be able to tie them all together within this one project.

I needed this push to actually start cutting into all these papers. Otherwise I think I would have been stalled in the these-papers-are-too-pretty-to-use phase and may never have gotten my album off the ground!  It's a random group of papers, isn't it?

The SC collection uses trees, houses and snowflakes throughout the range. I did the same and added reindeer. My goal is to place a reindeer somewhere on each page of my book. Pictured here are all the little bits and baubles I could find in my stash that feature those four items.

The collection's sheet of hexagon stickers is great, but I don't have a hexagon punch or easy way to duplicate a lot of hex's at once. But what I do have is an elongated octagon - the perk of working in "Block O" country, we have a custom Block O Ellison die. So I kept cutting and went crazy punching octagons! Now I have that shape, plus the outer "O" to use as a frame. I kept some of the negative shapes in case they come in handy for journaling blocks or photo frames, too.

Veneers - I love these little wooden shapes! I decided to make a few of my own, using the wood veneer paper I used in my July kit. I had about 3/4 of a sheet remaining, and I never got around to using it in the Cricut at that time, so I decided it was a good time to experiment. I cut extras copies in regular cardstock so I can turn the veneer into faux-chipboard, but I've left them alone for now.  I love my reindeer wood frame, too!

I made my own flair! Until recently I didn't know that we have a button maker in our office, and it's just .10 to make a button. I just left out the pin on the back, and now I have oodles of flair in designs from several collections' papers.

I'm not a big stamper, but since SC is known for its stamps, I thought I should at least throw in a few stamps for this kit. So I pulled everything I could find in my stash that had trees, houses, etc. And I don't have a good alpha set like the SC collection, but I do have this monogram set and thought it might be useful, even just for the numbers.

Later this week I'll show more details on my individual pieces, along with a couple of additional counterfeits - some album inserts and more ephemera based on the Wonderland collection.  Then I'll get busy making a few base pages for the book.  Like last year, my goal is to have my book all set up and ready for pictures by Thanksgiving, so I'll be busy for the next couple of weekends.

Alright, that's it for me. Now click through to Susanne's blog to see her inspiring kit!  And here's the full Master Forger Hop order, in case you need some direction along the way:

Start: Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog http://counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com

Guest Designer: Julie http://hisglorygirl.blogspot.com/

Crystalhttp://crystalscraftycreations.blogspot.com/

Jemma http://just-jimjams.blogspot.com/

Lisa http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com/

Libeeti http://creationswithlove-li-bee-ti.blogspot.com/

Margie http://scrappinmargie.blogspot.com/

Milissa http://millermall.blogspot.com/

YOU ARE HERE:  Rebecca http://howiburb.blogspot.com/

NEXT STOP:  Susanne http://www.snapsandsnippets.blogspot.com/

Bethany http://inspiredscrapper-bethany.blogspot.com/

Something Old and Something New......

And something black, something blue.....In my October Counterfeit Kit.

Those four points came together in my kit, which I am naming Soothing Moments.

If you're hopping through the Master Forger kit posts:  

You came from: Milissa http://millermall.blogspot.com/

You are here: Rebecca http://howiburb.blogspot.com/

Your next stop: Susanne http://www.snapsandsnippets.blogspot.com

I had part of my thyroid removed last week, and I'm trying to get back to normal. I really thought I'd feel good by now, but I really don't, and I'm kind of cranky about it. So I indulged in some retail therapy last week to make myself feel better, with an eye on embellishments I don't usually pick because they're too expensive. I didn't go too crazy, but I ended up with some things I really want to use soon. Without realizing it, several pieces like the Thickers tiles and the Pebbles masking tape stickers are nearly identical to the inspiration kit items. So i thought, what the heck and dumped them into my own kit.

Those new things are layered onto some older papers, with lots of blues like the inspiration kit. The whole thing really started with that colorful stripe, which like the sheet in the original kit, has so many colors that it should be pretty versatile. Some of my papers have been seen before; I did manage to do a good scrap room clean up last weekend and de-kitted all my prior Counterfeit Kits, so all those items went back to the stash and were once again up for grabs.

Oh, and I forgot to mention the inspiration kit. It's Gossamer Blue's September kit. Check out Gossamer's kits because they are new and fresh and completely full of beautiful goodies! I just went there to grab a page link and got distracted by an October add-on kit. Maybe I should ride the shopping high just a bit longer?!

I'm hoping to feel focused and alert enough to play and enjoy some Soothing Moments this weekend. I'm DETERMINED to make it happen! We will see what my body has to say about that plan.

If you want to come up with your own kit and projects, remember to add a link to the Mr Linky page so we can visit and see your creations. And leave a note in the comments to tell me about a soothing moment - something you're going to do for yourself this week. You deserve it!

A Little of This.....A Little of That.....

The first Counterfeit Kit challenge of the month is something I'm sure everyone needs a nudge to do: Use something old!

I didn't have to dig very hard to find some oldies but goodies in my own stash.

Eyelets! I haven't crunched an eyelet in a long time. While the two I used here won't put much of a dent
in the stash, it was a good reminder to get them out and put a few on some upcoming pages.  I'll also
use more of them for my star banner from my kit this month.

I used several Jillibean Soup cut outs. They're not that old, but I did get a bunch of
these sheets at the warehouse sale earlier this year.  I needed to get some of those
pieces onto a page, so I was glad to have a place to use them here.

When I put my kit together, I didn't realize how much grey I had within it.  Between the
B-sides of some paper and some of the small elements, I had quite a few little pieces
in shades of grey, and that was perfect to go around my shadow picture, I think.

Now check out the other Master Forger examples today and be sure to link your own challenge projects to this month's  Mr. Linky. Thanks for looking!

September Counterfeit Kit

I think the only fair name for my kit this month is "No Frills."

It was bound to happen eventually......I've run into an inspiration kit that's full of great stuff, but I had a really hard time translating it to all the supplies on my shelves.  Combine that issue with my desire to put something together that was manageable for the realities of my output (that's a nice way of saying I know I'm not very productive right now!), I present No Frills:

I started with the dot paper in the inspiration kit and found a similar piece, with different colors, from AC Chap. From there I just looked for other stuff within those colors. 

Added some trim, some twine, and some leftover cutouts and speech bubbles, and I'm calling it good.

The inspiration kit has those cute canvas banner pieces. I didn't have banner pieces, but I did have a sheet of
canvas stars and some eyelets. Put them together, and I think I see a star banner in my future :). I didn't
add all the eyelets yet, in case I want to use a different color.

The inspiration kit also had that cute puffy alpha. I didn't have any alphas like that, but I did find this reeeeaaaallllyyy
old sheet of puffy tag shapes.  I'm going to see if I can find a way to use these stickers this month.

So, the added twist for our kits this month was to add 3 counterfeits inspired by the recent CHA releases.  I am almost embarrassed to show my first two counterfeits because they're not really counterfeit creations, just counterfeit substitutions.  But they're definitely things I can't wait to actually get my hands on.

The Studio Calico Handbook lines and the Simple Stories Snap collections both include albums and coordinating pieces in a 6x8 size.  I am super excited for these releases, because I had already started my new Project Life project on July 1 in a 6x8 album.  It was just perfect timing to see all these new pieces and page protectors, which will give me some options to use the popular journal card sizes while still keeping my pint-sized project size.

The picture below shows my two easy substitutions. One, my album, which is the same album I used for my December Daily, is a stamp binder from Hobby Lobby.  Now that the other albums are available, maybe I'll try them, but honestly, I'm really happy with this option. They look similar to WRMK albums, so they look nice on a shelf, and they have a very big 2.5" d-ring, so it holds tons of pages.

The other stuff in the picture is my second substitution. I found one of the first Snap items, these 6x8 page dividers for the Take a Hike line. They are really just pre-decorated 6 3/4 x 8 3/8 sheets of cardstock.  I looked around and thought, duh, I can do that!  So I went through my scrap bin and made lots of options to use in my book.  The bonus: I can 3-hole punch them like I need for my binder.  And I can decorate the dividers as needed along the way.



Do you see that post-it note that says "Romney the dog?" Sorry, I didn't realize that little
reminder note was sticking out there.  I need to get a photo developed of our vacation-
packed car, where Junior's crate was wedged between suitcases and bags. We joked
that we might have to tie him to the roof, which led to the "Romney the dog" jokes.
Nothing political, just a little inside (or, really, outside) joke around our house!!!haha

I'm going to save my 3rd counterfeit item for later this month. I wasn't happy with how it turned out, so I need to make some adjustments.

And that's all, folks.  I'm hoping this month can be more productive than last month - there's really nowhere to go but up, I guess!  Hope you have your own productive month and choose to play along with the Counterfeit Kit challenges. 

If you're hopping, your next stop is Susanne, who always has such a great take on our kits. And you can always start from the beginning on the CKC blog. Thanks for stopping!

August Kit - Picnics and Posies

I'm back from vacation, and the first week back to work was brutal. But we're finally caught up on laundry, groceries and all the usual stuff, so I think I'm ready to get back to regular life.

I'm also having issues with my laptop - charger, so I don't have an easy way to get my kit pictures loaded here. So the best I can do is an iPad picture:

I haven't ever named a kit, but Picnics and Posies just came to me when I looked at all my supplies in one place. I resolved to use a lot of Jillibean Soup (stuff I got at the warehouse sale in March), and then little bits of other reds, blues, and yellows. I didn't have time to do any homemade embellishments, so I'll rely on my kit to make some things as I go along this month. The inspiration kit has lots of great potential ideas.

If you're hopping, the next stop is Susanne. Have a great week!

July Counterfeits - My First Video!

This is my second post of the day, sort of a part two for my July kit. If you're doing the blog hop and looking for my original kit post, check here. 

I came up with three things I wanted to "counterfeit" in this month's inspiration kit: An aqua alphabet, buttons, and wood veneer shapes.  I have been wanting to try my hand at making a video, so I thought this would be a good time to test the process.

I'm no professional....I say um a lot.....it could be about 5 minutes shorter.....I apologize in advance for my gross thumb cuticle (I even tried some makeup to spare you!)......There. Now that all my insecurities are out of the way, without further ado:

The alpha example starts around minute 1:00, buttons at 4:00 and wood veneers about 8:30. 

And here's the tutorial I referenced in the video for buttons made from Shrinky Dinks.  I have a special (somewhat silly) experiment planned for these buttons this weekend; I'll let you know how it ends.

Have a fantastic weekend, everyone - We'll be avoiding any outdoor activities and hiding in the air conditioning. Please oh please oh please let our electricity hold out!

July Counterfeit Kit

It's the 6th of the month and that means it's time to show our Counterfeit Kits.  Here is the hop order:

Counterfeit Kit Challenge (home base)

Guest Designer: Sherri (Welcome back, Sherri!)

Jemma

Jen

Julie Ann

Lisa

Libeeti

Margie

Milissa

Rebecca  (You are here)

Susanne  (Next stop in the hop)

Bethany

I was super excited to see this month's inspiration kit from Citrus Twist.  For all the kit making I've done, I haven't ever purchased a pre-made kit.  This one may be the first, if anything is left by the time I try to purchase.  The colors and items in the kit are just totally me.  I don't own a single stitch of the inspiration kit's contents, but I was able to find pretty close substitutions for most items in the kit.

 

My papers - lots of DCWV, some WRMK and MME, and a piece of wood veneer paper from Creative Imaginations.
It looks like a lot of blues, but there are more shades of orange and red on the reverse side of some of the papers.

 

I found several scraps in my scrap bin that I wanted to throw into this kit.  Instead of cutting my own thought
bubbles, I found a DCWV sheet with printed bubbles and a printable I printed and never used from a
previous kit.  The scrap bin is going to be really useful this month!

I picked several alphas and the "&" is representative of an alpha I will
make this month.  I added a couple of 6x6 pads, ribbons, fabric tape,
buttons (both handmade and from my stash) and wood veneer-
counterfeits. 

Like I said, I was able to make lots of substitutions, but there were a few things I needed to counterfeit, specifically an alpha, the wood veneers, and the buttons.  Rather than trying to explain in pictures, I have tried my hand at a video.  I will post that video later today or early tomorrow.   
 
So, have a great month! Be sure to add to the July Mr. Linky on the CKC blog, so we can all be inspired!  Also, check the Citrus Twist blog June posts for great inspiration for this month's original kit.