A New Challenge

There are so many challenges out there in the blogosphere that it's hard to keep up with them all. There are so many I would love to participate in, but it's just not possible. So it's important to keep my eyes open for the ones that really draw me in.

I find lots of challenges that interest me on Deb's blog - I honestly don't know how she keeps up with them all and STILL produce such stunning creations for each one; and also S's blog - I am amazed at the quantity of fun, happy layouts she produces.

So far, I have joined in "Jingle Belles - Taking December back... one holiday card at a time!" courtesy of Deb and now I have decided to jump in at the deep end with the "Counterfeit Kit Challenge" courtesy of S.

If you haven't heard about the Counterfeit Kit Challenge, the idea behind it is that most of us have so much stash that isn't being used that we can use the big kit clubs as inspiration to shop our stash and create similar kits of our own. Then the blog issues challenges to use up the kit throughout the month.

This is right up my street as I love using kits but am not subscribing to any right now, and I have lots of stash (admit it, who doesn't??) that I need to use. I always feel like I need more, but we don't really need more do we?!? We need to use up what we have! And I've learnt to love using my stash thanks to the other big challenge I participate in three times a year, LOAD.

I lurked watched S produce kits in January and February and have now decided to join in for March.

This month's counterfeit kit is using the Studio Calico kit "Into the Woods" and also all four add-on kits as its inspiration - choose one or all of the kits, copy it exactly if you have the products, be inspired by the general feel of the project, or the colours or the theme. Anything goes.

Here is a photo of "Into the Woods" from the SC site (I decided to start easy by just choosing one main kit rather than getting ahead of myself) and I went with the general feel of the kit, including those gorgeous bright yellows and oranges.

(Photo from SC site)

I've noticed that I tend to shy away from these bright shades and yet I always love them when I see others using them, so that was a good starting point. Then I just looked around for some papers that were similar colours or designs and a collection of embellishments that fit the theme. I added in more than in the original kit as I tend to embellish more than most and I also made sure that I picked out some really old stuff that I would like finish.

So here is my kit:

Now that I see the kits side by side they don't really look so similar, but I am happy with how it's turned out. The papers along the top are full sheets but the sheets at the bottom are only partial. I dived into my scrap box to find some bits and pieces too. The alphas are all half used already so that will be a challenge in itself to create titles with limited letters. In fact, most of the products I have picked out are not complete and that will feel really good if I really get to use up most of it. I included lots of neutrals, and nature shades and textures which I love using.

I decided to jump straight in and make a layout using some photos of Maddie and Cameron. Yes, I know that there is yet another banner on there (!!) and I actually fished out the JBS banner stickers and letters for that to add into the kit but it seemed a good addition to the middle.

I like the overall selection of products and colours here and realised that I definitely wouldn't have mixed them up and used them in this way normally. So the kit has already proved fun and interesting for me.

I also picked out photos that didn't really have much to say to me (especially as I wasn't there with them on that day) and instead of talking about the children themselves, I journalled about how I "steal" photos like these from Liberty's computer whenever I am over there so that I can keep up with these scrumptious munchkins. Also a different direction for me.

I'm interested to make a few more layouts with my counterfeit kit (perhaps I should give it a name?) throughout the rest of the month, being inspired by the challenges the site gives out and also by the other counterfeiters. Sounds like good fun to me.