Hopefully, you've been hopping along and have arrived here from Leslie's blog where she no doubt delighted you with the contents of her magical blue box! But if you are here direct and would like to catch up with the whole blog hop, you can find the full list at the end of this post or pop back to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog and start right there at the beginning!
Don't forget to say hello to our lovely Guest Designer, Janine. We are delighted to have her with us this month and I'm looking forward to spending the month with her.
Our inspiration kit comes from A Piece of Cake Designs - their January Cupcake kit is full of lots of scummy My Mind's Eye goodies. Take a look at it. Isn't it lovely?!?
I didn't have a single item which matched the original kit which really made me really scramble through my stash to put together a kit which I'm really looking forward to dipping into. I didn't manage to finish off my kit last month during LOAD but I'm feeling really inspired to create at the moment so this will certainly keep me going in the right direction.
So, here's my take on the Cupcake kit, Drift.
Instead of matching up each piece of paper with the exact colours or designs, I once again turned to my Pinterest board (you can find all the items in the inspiration kit listed on my CKC March board here) for general directions or patterns to match up.
I included two different woodgrain papers and several spots as well as a small floral design, some bold chevron stripes and some more solid, smaller patterns in colours in similar colours to the original. I noticed that I have very few orange tone papers in my collection so my papers are a bit more in the softer brown and beige direction. A map paper and a balloon design from BasicGrey stand in for those designs in the inspiration kit and of course, I've included a hint of gold in the form of a foil polka dot and a vellum because that's got my name written all over it! Last but not least, I've included a grey polaroid paper instead of the black and white print. Theres a good mix of older and newer papers and prints from Studio Calico, BasicGrey, Echo Park, Webster's Pages and Crate Paper.
As always, I've included more embellishments than the original kit because you know that that's my thing! But I did work through the original kit and match up the items piece by piece. I will add in twine and ribbon as I need for individual pages but I couldn't anything that was perfect for the kit as a whole - I love that woodgrain ribbon in the inspiration kit. I wish I had something like that or even some washi in woodgrain effect. I'm sure I'll come up with something as the kit gets used up!
Instead of the wood frames, I included this gorgeous pack of Martha Stewart rosette flowers in woodgrain effect and a whole array of pretty, bright doilies. I was sad to find that I didn't have any sequins in yellow or orange but a few matt gold as well as gold doily "ribbon" will be a good substitute.
The pack of woodgrain polaroid frames are replaced by these pretty die cut frames and then I discovered a whole pack of BasicGrey die cuts to match up with the MME pack in the original as well as a part pack of die cuts from Jillibean Soup which I thought would go well with the papers I had picked out.
A few of my precious A Flair For Buttons flairs will be very carefully used and hopefully find a happy home on a layout.
I'm not a big one for mixed media and don't include many colour techniques on my layouts so, instead of the two Gelatos, I've added in two Glimmer Mists in the same colours. I've added some alphas in both smaller and larger font and some mistable Thickers to remind me to use the mists in a way other than just splatting! And there in the corner? That's a sheet of cork paper which I am going to use to forge some labels. I'll try and pull a blog post together about that.
I always leave making my kit up to the very last minute but once it's made, I feel so virtuous and then inspired to get scrapping. I very rarely scrap a page without using a kit of some sort these days and probably 80% of the time, that kit is one of my Counterfeit Kits. I make them big to give me lots of variety within the selection I've picked out and know that because it's MY kit, then it's all ME! I love to see all those products which I've so lovingly bought, find a happy place in a kit that's got my style written all over it!
The whole Counterfeit team are sharing top tips for making and working with our kits today and I thought long and hard only to come up with not one but two:
- So first up, don't feel like you have to match up the kit completely or make a kit that's full of pink, for example, if you use every colour in the rainbow other than pink! Find something that speaks to you and work from there. Make a kit you know you will use that is "inspired" by the original and don't be afraid that the kit-making-police will drop by your door. (Ps: they are not really real, just in case you were worried - LOL) You are the one who will be using the kit so make sure it is something you will love using. For example, I always add way more embellishments into my selection than the original because that's what makes me happy. And don't feel you need to forge all the elements in your kit that you don't have if that's not your thing. Creating parts of the kit is a whole lot of fun if that's what you like to do but if the idea of hand-stamping a full sheet of 12x12 fills you with trepidation, try a smaller scale for example, or simply marvel at the creations you see in the CKC team and find something in your paper collection which fits, then move on!
- One last tip would be to watch how you use your kit for a few months and see what gets left in the bottom of the box when you realise you are done with it. It's likely that these items just don't rock your boat any more and maybe it's time to give them a new home with someone who will love them more than you do. I've really streamlined my whole stash - reducing my total by about 50% in the process - by letting go of those items which just don't get used through the kit. That way, I now know that what I pull from my stash makes me happy and is more likely to find its way onto my pages. It's definitely a win-win for me and my niece who gets all my donated items.
What's your top tip for making or using up your Counterfeit kits? I'd love to know!!!
Thanks for making it this far. Next on the hop is the very adorable and wonderful Lynnette who will astonish and astound you with her incredibly staged kit. As you know, I got the chance to meet her in February and what a delight that was, She is every bit as lovely and sweet as she seems. :-)
And here's the full list in case you get lost along the way.
Susanne: http://snapsandsnippets.blogspot.com
Your balloon paper is beautiful and the woodgrain is a fabulous counterfeit piece, in my opinion. I, actually thought your kit to be spot on. I'm so glad that you clarified the whole matching up to counterfeit. I have varied my approach a little each month depending on how I get inspired by each month's kits - sometimes it's a theme, sometimes a color scheme. But, I always try to make it easily fit for my stash and my goals. I also, love your tip for assessing what you are left with at the end of a month. Sometimes I keep things that will never realistically be used with how I'm doing things now.
ReplyDeleteYou have such a fabulous mix of brights and neutrals that I am confident that you are going to be greatly inspired to work through this month. Glad you included some signature gold!
Did you hear me oohing at your doilies and flair?!
ReplyDeleteFab kit!
Phew - so glad that the Kit-Making-Police won't come after me for substituting pink ;-)
ReplyDeleteYour kit is, as always, full to bursting with lovely stash - loving the flair and the frames.
Lovely kit Lisa, and fab tips. I especially like all the round elements you've included. Clever name too.
ReplyDeleteYour kit this month is spectacular. Perhaps even better than the original? Never too many embellies, imho. Your kit making advice is spot on, although I tend to move the lonely bits back to the stash. Perhaps I could try baby steps and let one thing go at the end of each kit.
ReplyDeleteI always love your kits, so sweet and feminine! Love the embellishments and sprays especially!
ReplyDeleteLOVE your kit! OMgosh look at those doilies! I really need to spy out on internet the color doilies. Love the golds too excited to see what you do with the sequins that are stringed up I have those in my stash but avoid them cause I don't know what to do with them :)
ReplyDeleteLOL at Kit making police, I did stress over that notion when I first started at CKC.Your kit is superb. Loving the gold touches,the beautiful flairs and those dinky frames.
ReplyDeleteYour kit is beautiful, and thanks for making a pinterest board with each of the original kit items- that will be so helpful to me!
ReplyDeleteLove the way this kit reminds me of you. I could name it as yours in a line up! Gold dot vellum, maps, doilies and lots of embellies. All wonderfully coordinated. Hope it serves you well for many, many layouts.
ReplyDeleteSuch pretty colors. Matches the cupcake kit quite a lot.
ReplyDeleteYour kit is fabulous, first off, just wonderful, But thank you so much for the part about making the kit your own! Oh my gosh, it totally helped me, I ended up taking your advice, totally re creating my kit, and I am going to take the second piece of advice as well and see what I have left over. I know I've included too many items (on purpose) so that will be my project over the next few months, Thank you so much!
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely collection of kits and embellishments...I'm drooling over those luscious doilies! I like your last bit of advice too. I'm still very new to this but I will definitely keep in mind your tip to pay attention to what I keep having as leftovers every month.
ReplyDeleteAaah...feel as satisfied as if I'd eaten a wonderful meal or visited the antique mall (as in eye candy) :-) Your presentation and photography is always a delight.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you struck a chord with your kitting advice. Can't wait to see some more NYC trip pages!
Loads of doilies there hun, can't wait to see your creations - a lovely full kit!
ReplyDeleteAnother beautiful kit...really like those luscious doilies and all your golden touches. I'm still really new to this but I like your advice about paying attention to what's left when I'm done with the kit. Now I just need to find someone who'll be happy to take those items off my hands!
ReplyDeleteThis is an incredible kit! There's ton of wonderful stuff in it to use. I love making a kit my very own because if I don't then I may not finish it off.
ReplyDeletefun name for your very pretty kit
ReplyDelete