Counterfeit Kit Challenge February kit reveal

Warning: Another really long, photo heavy post here for my kit reveal! Good luck.

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

Hopefully, you have arrived to me via Lesley (the top layer of my Lesley/Leslie sandwich! Although that joke might be getting a bit thin now - he he!) and if not, you might want to pop back to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog (here) to start at the beginning.

And you will want to do that this month as we have the very wonderful Susanne back to the team as Guest Designer and you KNOW how she always creates the best kits. We are thrilled to have her back, even if it’s only for this month. So please give her a warm (re)welcome.

We’ve been given kits by Kits de Somni this month and even though I don’t speak a word of Spanish, they're gorgeous. And there are several different kits to choose from in case you are really not up to lots of hearts on your pages but this is the one the spoke to me (link to kit here).

The first thing I realised was that the kit had several papers and elements from the My Mind’s Eye Cupid’s Arrow collection which I purchased recently and have actually used a lot of already. Now looking at the rest of the kit, I realised that there was nothing else in the kit I could really match but that the whole feeling of this kit was down to the colours which are predominantly bright red, a hint of pink, pale blue and then plenty of neutral black, white and grey for good measure.

Taking those collection leftovers as a starting point, I decided to go the colour route this time around. I went through my stash and picked out lots of product that were in those colours. After a while I had a huge pile of stuff but most of it was quite new. Mmmmm… that’s not really using up long lost product is it? So out came old papers and embellishments and another pile was created. And then I had a light-bulb moment. I’d just make TWO kits! One chock full of newer goodies and a smaller one with really, really old stuff. In fact, I included a mini-kit from the early Bellaboo days – February 2008 – which was still untouched and too pretty to leave on the shelf.

Two kits? Sounds a lot right? Especially when I've got two or three still on the shelf - practically untouched. Well, as you may or may not know, February is LOAD and kits are my absolute go-to for most of the month so I'm sure that all the kits will at least see some daylight even if they are not fully used up. I intend to give them all a try and then at the end of Feb, break up whatever is left. The combination of LOAD and CKC is perfect and February is my favourite LOAD of the year and I have high hopes.

So here is “Tender”, featuring My Mind’s Eye Cupid’s Arrow, Teresa Collins , along with some October Afternoon, Crate Paper and Studio Calico to name just a few. It’s a monster kit and has even grown since I took the photos as I got hold of that gorgeous heart printed vellum as well as the Maggie Holmes gold doily vellum.

And here is “Nostalgic” featuring vintage Teresa Collins, Urban Lily, Heidi Swapp, Love Elsie and Jennie Bowlin. Everything in this kit is at least 4 or 5 years old!

Want to see some detail shots of Tender?

The papers have come out much bluer than the original kit but they all seemed to go so well together, and the gold spots? Had to be!

And then plenty of embellishments were sprinkled. Enamels, alphas, doilies and some brads to match the inspiration kit, plus lots more that just seemed to match the colours and textures of the other items I'd already added in. And then, plus a few more!

Now for some details of my second kit, Nostalgic.

I looked through all my older paper to see what would go with the mini-Valentine kit I found and that matched the colours I'd decided on for these two kits. As you can see, there's a lot more pink and red and black here and far less blue. I think there's quite a lot of options in here even if I'm not in love with some of it. We'll see if there's much left at the end of the month and if there is, it'll get donated!

The embellishments are a mix of those from the kit including some eyelets - eeek! I've thrown all my other eyelets away so I'm not at all sure what I'll do with them! - and then a mix of bits and pieces from the bottom of my baskets. Lots of Heidi Swapp here from 2007 and 2008. Definitely time to see them on pages or gone. Watch this space!

Thanks for getting this far. This was a BIG post. So, off you go to see what Leslie has for us in her magical blue box.

Here is the full blog hop list in case you get lost along the way.

Guest Designer: Susanne: http://snapsandsnippets.blogspot.com

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

Julene:        http://julenebydesign.blogspot.com.au

Lesley G.:     http://ohblogitifyoucantbeatthem.blogspot.co.uk

Lisa H.:        http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com/ You are here

Leslie:         http://lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.com Go here next

Lynnette:     http://sassyscrapper2010.blogspot.com/

Millisa:         http://millermall.blogspot.com/

Stephanie:    http://skylinepaperie.blogspot.ca

By the time you read this, LOAD will have started and I'm pretty excited about it this time, I have to say. Pam will be joining me *happy dance* as well as my Scrapabilly friend Sylvia for the first time, and a couple of my fellow Master Forgers *wink, wink*. I think we are going to have a fun month. Can't wait...