Master Forger Journaling Project

Thanks for hopping to the next stop on our special blog project today!  You've likely arrived from Milissa's blog, and I am the final stop for the day:

Angela http://colestoucan.blogspot.co.uk/ 

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

Jennifer http://www.jennifersjumbles.blogspot.com/ 

Julie http://www.hisglorygirl.blogspot.com/ 

Lisa H. http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com/ 

Lisa J http://thesimplelifewithlisa.blogspot.com.au/

Lynnette http://sassyscrapper2010.blogspot.com/ 

Milissa http://millermall.blogspot.com/

Rebecca http://howiburb.blogspot.com/

In case you are starting from here, the details of today's project are included in today's post on the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog.  One last big thank you to  Christie Zimmer at Grace is Overrated.
I approached Christie a few weeks ago about this vague idea of a project, and she was so gracious to let us use her journaling sheets as a part of the project.  Thanks, Christie!

So, here are my journaling jots, completed around Valentine's Day. You can tell that I had vacation on the brain and was coming down to crunch time on what was going to get done before I left the country (including this project :)).  If it wasn't for the last minute, I'd never get anything done at all!

I had several stories that came to mind after a bit of journaling, but one of them stuck out for my project. I had a clear winner for the "favorite part of my day" prompt. The greeting I share with my dog when I get home each day gives me a few moments of pure joy, regardless of the kind of day I'm returning from. I had an extra copy of a favorite picture of Junior, so I thought I'd do a page that captured this story for us.

About this page layout: I've recently noticed a trend (maybe not new, but new to me) toward un-clustering and un-layering embellishments and photos. You know, the way we used to do things back in the days of the sticker sneeze, just updated with today's embellishments.  Everything old is new again!  I started a Pinterest board with a few examples if you're interested. I'm no trend setter or definer, but I think the divided page protector "movement" is influencing the way people are doing their regular 12x12 pages, too.  Anyway, I wanted to try something similar and used this page by Robyn Weirlich as my scraplift/inspiration here.

Thanks again to all of you that are hopping through our projects today. Hope you learned a little more about some of the Master Forgers and found a couple of good tips along the way.  Stop by the Counterfeit Kit blog today and take one last look at this month's Mr. Linky.  It will disappear in a day or so, to be replaced with a new link for the month of March. And please stop back on Friday to see the new inspiration kit, meet this month's guest designer, and take a look at the Master Forgers' kits for the month, too.  See you then!

More Dogs

When I was trying to title this post, I was reminded of this video. It has nothing to do with anything except that it makes me laugh:

And I need to laugh, because what else is there to do when bad things happen?

This weekend I watched our dog, Junior - the star of so many of my pages - have a seizure.  It was scary, and the treatment news from our emergency vet was sort of a shock.  We were there once before, about 6 months ago, for what I thought might have been a seizure (we thought maybe he had just fallen off the bed and was scared or injured, but now I'm sure that was a seizure, too). 

We talked to our usual vet (who was Junior's foster mom and who has been fantastic as a vet!) over the weekend and will do more with her this week.  But walking out the door to come to work this morning was hard. I'm worried that this seizure activity may have happened when we weren't home, too, and we've never known it.  I've been with him pretty much every minute for the past 3 weeks and to have this happen right as I'm coming back to work is really unsettling.

So while we wait, I'm just thinking about my puppy......and that made me think of posting these pages about him.....

I was at my LSS for a crop last month, and all the Christmas paper was on clearance.  I picked up several sheets for no particular reason, and it sat on my table while I tried to get to work on some pages for my Counterfeit Kit.  But my eye kept getting drawn to the new stuff, and first one piece moved to my project, then another, then a sticker, and finally I decided not to fight it, and I just moved my kit aside and starting playing with the new stuff :).  So here I used all Christmas papers (mostly B-sides) in a completely non-Christmas layout.

Our next competition is in two weeks. We have not been training over the past few weeks, so I'm just hoping we can qualify a few runs and have a good time.  Really, what else matters but some quality time with that cute face?

By the way, if you're interested, we are doing Rally. If you're looking for some bonding time and obedience training with your dog, it's a great way to do it!

October Counterfeit Kit Challenge #1: Quilt Inspiration

Hi Everyone!

Today is my first day back to work. Bleh!  I really turned a corner last week and feel quite a lot better now, and I've been a productive little scrapper over the past few days.  But now it's back to reality, and again I say, bleh!

Before I get to the challenge, I want to make sure everyone sees that the Counterfeit Kit Challenge is looking for new Master Forgers!  In case you didn't see the post, check here for all the details.  When the announcement for new team members was posted, I was reminded of how I felt when I joined the group last year.  It has definitely lived up to the excitement, and I can't wait to see some new faces in the group soon!

OK.  So onto business.  Today we're showing our Counterfeit Kit projects for Challenge #1 - to let quilts inspire a page. 

I recently noticed this paper from Basic Grey Clippings and used it as inspiration for my project.

Here is my project. I cut 1" squares from all the papers in my kit and used them to make some simple square-pattern
borders throughout my pages.  I used a long chain on the left, a short chain behind the title, and another piece
behind the journaling on the second page. 

I also used this red paper from my kit. It has been in my stash for a long time, and I not
quilt-like circular pattern to it, so I was glad to use it for this challenge.

The colorful "Woof" came from the paper title strip. It was too cute to not put to use :). The kraft stripe is another paper title strip put to good use.  The large quote card is hiding a big hole in that sheet of paper.  I didn't have a plan as I put this page together, so sometimes I had to improvise and find ways to make it all come together. 



If you complete a project of your own, be sure to add it to the October Mr. Linky at the Counterfeit Kit blog.  Have a great week!

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!