Getting all negative

Negative space is right on trend at the moment so the latest Counterfeit Kit Challenge mini-challenge is perfectly timed.

"Use your negative space from a die cut or punch on your project" is what we were asked to do and I was going to bail out. And then my delightfully creative fellow Forger, S (check her out here) posted her project and I knew I just HAD to copy her! Ha ha!

She has made two beautiful cards so do go over to say hi and see them. So I decided to lift her idea of a card rather than a layout. And that got me remembering a card I'd made back in July when I was making daily cards with adorable Pam. We followed the prompts from 2Peas and one was particularly lovely and used the negative from a punched butterfly so I decided to lift myself lifting 2Peas. And then because S had made two cards, I thought why not and lifted that idea too! That's a whole lot of lifting right there! ;-)

Thanks S for the inspiration!

Here's my card from July that I originally made with Pam when we did a card (or almost a card) a day.

And here are the two cards I made for this challenge. I used my July CKC Beach-house kit and went for a more masculine colour schme and just a warm one. I admit to adding in the rub on sentiments and a length of white twine just to add that last touch but the rest is from the kit. And there's still more to make from it too!

So go get punching and don't forget to share over at the CKC blog!

Squeezing in a little time for me

I really wanted to find a few minutes for me this evening - amongst the chaos of packing and clearing and sorting.

And I'm happy to say I managed it!

This layout is for a Scrap Happy challenge I'm part of at the moment for which I am waaaaay late but also for my good blog friend S's "In Good Company" challenge to use some Jenni Bowlin Studio product.

I used my July Beach-house CKC kit for this and added in the crepe paper for the border, the Lucky bingo card and the date die cut which are all JBS and were lying at the bottom of my stash! So thanks S for getting me to fish it out.

All in all, a fun 30 minutes. It's not a masterpiece but my headache has gone and I'm feeling a bit calmer for this creative time.

Finding inspiration...

.... everywhere.

That's such an important part of my scrapbooking which is just one of the reasons I LOVE CKC so much. They really get my brain whirring with their mini-challenges. What at first looks a bit difficult or maybe something that doesn't grab me right away, often turns into one of my favourites. 

Mini challenge #2 is just such a challenge.

I first looked at the "be inspired by a character in a favourite TV show or book" and had no idea which direction to take. 

And then I let it stew. And stew. And stew. And sure enough, it came to me. And I have created a page I love. Oh joy!

I am a huge Gone With The Wind fan. It's my favourite book and by far my favourite film. And so I let that be my starting point. Scarlet O'Hara to be precise. I thought about what words or feelings I came up with when I read the book (many many times over the years!) and decided on soft, feminine, layers, petticoats, lace, ribbons, pretty earring, wonderful homes, old-fashioned and antique and went from there.

Looking at the kits I have left out now that all the rest of my stash is packed away, I realised that I still have a lot of pretty product left in my June kit, Subtlety and decided to go with that one.

I started with cream and built up layers and die-cut edges, and pretty things and ribbon, and doily and generally just anything that seemed to fit. I created the whole page before going to my photos and looking for something that spoke to me. 

This photo caught my eye and I decided to just write down what I had thought when I took that photo for a prompt.

This was a fast page for me and #6 from that kit. And I love how it came out.

Don't you love it when that happens?!?

So what character will you be inspired by? Don't forget to share over at the CKC site's Mr Linky (here).

Unloved and unused

How much stuff have you got in your scrap stash that is unloved and / or unused?

Well, in clearing out my scrap room, I have certainly cleared out PILES of stuff. Stuff that I loved when I first got it but somehow they have moved from loved to "neh". It felt good to move it along to a better home.

But part of the fun of the Counterfeit Kit Challenge is that encouragement we get to pull out our older stuff and use it up! I try to combine new and old in my kits and it's always a great way to see just how much I still like (or not like) the neglected items in my stash.

So the CKC Challenge #1 about using up our "oldie but a goodie" is another perfect excuse to have a go to drag some stuff out and try it to see how much you still like it.

I used a piece of die cut paper that I bought lots of when it first came out and also a chipboard coaster which I covered with paper. I quite like the dimension it gives this element and makes the photo stand out - although that could be more linked to the bright (too bright?!?) paper I covered it with :-)

So, get your older stuff out and get creative.

Creating my counterfeited CHA items - hangers

Now aren't those little BasicGrey hangers so adorable? I know I'll be keeping my eyes open for it but in the meantime, I thought I'd give these a go too.

I used a few basic ingredients - some thin craft wire, a sheet of BG stickers and a few scraps of BG paper. I used Plumeria for these as that was first that came to hand!

First off was the hanger itself which I thought would be the hardest thing to master and the first thing to need to do. I promise I did this totally by eye and just grabbed the wire and a paintbrush and started bending, using the paintbrush to help my rounded corners. I started with the hook at the top, then down to the first bend and then the triangle form for the bottom of the hanger. The last bit was the trickiest - wrapping that last bit of wire around the hook to finish off the hanger end. I trimmed the end of the wire, squashed down the end so that it didn't have a sharp edge and that was it. Honest - about three minutes per hanger. And of course, they got better and easier as I went on. They are no way the same size but I decided I was ok with that. To judge the bottom "rung" of the hanger, I just eyeballed it next to the stickers and paper I had on the desk.

As you can see, it's not perfect but once you add the sticker and paper it's less noticeable.

I then layered up some papers, stickers, twine, stitching and generally copied what BG had done with the originals.

Again, I think I spent no longer than 30 minutes on these three hangers from start to finish! And these cost me pennies rather than what I'm sure is a more hefty price on the originals!

Having a go?!? Make sure you share if you do!

Creating my counterfeited CHA items - feathers!

A few of you commented on my CKC September kit counterfeited items (from my kit post here) and I just thought I'd write a couple of really short posts about how I did them.

First up, the JBS feathers:

I only had a photo of them from the internet but they appeared to be velum with a delicate white print on them. So that's where I started.

I picked out some white vellum and cut out some feather type shapes although I think they came out a bit big in the end. But that's the fun of it, you can make them as big or small as you like - try them out and see.

Then I took my Stampin' Up Whisper White, inked up some butterflies and stamped the feathers. The result was really subtle which is exactly what I wanted. You can only see the butterfly details up close. I also used my Mr Huey white mist and sprayed one or two which gave a more distinct effect and took AGES to dry! Patience has never been my strong point. I ended up using my heat gun and still managed to smudge it a bit.

After that, I took some very thin craft wire and cut a length longer than the feather so that I would have a stem. The wire had a natural curve to it which was ideal for the look I was looking for in the end.

I used Glossy Accents and drew a fine line of glue along the centre of the feather on the back. I laid the wire down and held it firm for a few seconds (tricky with the curve but a few fingers gently holding it down finally did the trick) and then left them to dry.

After that, all that was left to do was to cut the feathery bits into the vellum - from the edge to almost at the wire. The vellum naturally starts to feather out and then a little tweak to the wire to make the curve more pronounced gave the feather its shape and the feathers a bit more definition.

Total time from start to finish? Probably no more than 30 minutes. My kind of lazy embellishment making! :-)

Why not have a go at making your own. I think the possibilities for making these different and individual are endless. Make sure you let me know if you have a go!

Counterfeit Kit Challenge September kit reveal blog hop

Welcome to the September Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog hop kit reveal.

If you've arrived here directly, I recommend you go back to the beginning of the hop over at the CKC site (here) so you don't miss out on any of the fun and inspiration. If you are here via the delightful Julie Ann (here) then you are on the right track and I'm glad you've stopped by. Leave me a message to let me know you were here and then go off and make up your kit! 

This month our Guest Designer is the most fabulous Clair from Obstinate Pursuit! How delightful is that?

The CKC has been making me very happy these last months with their GDs by choosing several of my lovely blog friends: first Leslie, then Lynette and now Clair. Happy dance!

This month's kit is made up of two parts - an inspiration kit and CHA Summer inspiration. Fun!

First off, we were given the kit from Birds of a Feather for August 2012 {here} which appealed to me straight away with its clean lines and pretty colours and Studio Calico products.

Even though I had a few of the products in the kit, I decided to just match it in a more interpretive way - product types, colours etc. I included one single SC paper and then looked for patterns that are similar - the discs, the ledger paper, a small floral. Then the same with the embellishments - twine, twill, flowers, some clips, some mini journalling spots, some tapes, some alphas and a handful of buttons

I've called my kit "Packing" as that is exactly what I'll be up to this month! 

I'm hoping that my CKC kits will be able to keep me going on the scrapbooking front until I get all my stuff out in my new room. I'm just intending on making up a mini tool kit and then just hold onto this kit and the three I have yet to finish and keep it to that!

And then there was the second part of our challenge - to be inspired by our favourite CHA Summer releases. Three to be precise.

This was a bit harder for me as I hadn't really paid attention to what had been exhibited. But a scroll through some of the links that the other Master Forgers offered up and I tracked down three products that really caught my eye from Jenni Bowlin, Amy Tan and BasicGrey.

First up is something that I suspect you might see on several stops on the hop - seems like we all fell in love with these paper feathers by JBS. 

I loved the vellum version of them and especially with the white on white so I tried it out.

Vellum Feathers by Jenni Bowlin Studio

Then there were the stitched layered hearts by Amy Tan over at American Crafts even though I only managed to track down a blurry photo on Shimelle's blog.

Photo courtesy of Shimelle's blog

And last but not least, there were the BG hangers and I think that I'll be using my versions on cards but we will have to see.

Hangers by Basic Grey

Next on the hop is Libeeti and she makes a lot of her own embellishments so I am sure she will have made some winners for the second part of the kit this month!

And here's the full hop list in case you get lost along the way!


Guest Designer: Claire http://obstinatepursuit.blogspot.de/

Crystal:  http://crystalscraftycreations.blogspot.com/

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

Jen http://mypair-a-dice.blogspot.com/

Julie Ann http://julieannshahin2.blogspot.com/

Lisa http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com/ <---- you are here

Libeeti http://creationswithlove-li-bee-ti.blogspot.com/ <---- go here next 

Margie http://scrappinmargie.blogspot.com/

Milissa http://millermall.blogspot.com/

Rebecca http://howiburb.blogspot.com/

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

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