Forgeries on the Fourth

I had a go at two things this month in my Counterfeit Kit Challenge September kit, Sundance.

Now when I say, "I had a go", I mean that I picked out two items that are really simple and made a version of my own! I mean, really simple! 

I am not the Queen, or even Princess, of Forgery such as my good Master Forger friends, Leslie or Lesley. I leave the intricate, difficult, needing-lots-of-work and imagination stuff to them! I'm here to show you how simple can be simple.

First up was the geometric woodgrain and blue paper. According to Lesley's kit reveal on Thursday, that paper is actually made up of three blocks but I could only see two so I went with that!

I literally just cut up two sheets of paper and put them onto a backing sheet so that they lay nice and flat. Done. Less than five minutes but now I have a paper that I will use as a background for a layout and I really like the colours. In real life the blue is a lovely soft, sky blue - the only one I found in my stash.

Next up were the dipped alphas. More tricky. I had some wood veneer design Thickers and some cork too so I thought that I'd use those in my kit and have a try at painting and embossing them. As always, with mixed results.

First up I covered up the letters using washi tape to give me a clean line, leaving just under half showing.

I then used some acrylic paint to cover the exposed area. Either I have really thick paint, or my brush wasn't good enough but up close they show the brush marks. Maybe you could do better than me. The effect from a distance is great though! Depends how particular you are. 

Next up, I thought about using white embossing powder to give a smooth, glossy effect. That worked really well except I needed three or four layers to get that nice smooth surface and then when I took the washi off, the edge wasn't as clean as it should have been. Maybe you could find a way to get that line better because the effect up close and far away was great!

One last minute idea was on the table. I started thinking about those darn letters and how disappointed I was at the result. And then I thought about what they actually were - dipped letters. The secret's right there perhaps - dipping!

So I watered down some of my too-thick, white acrylic paint. Those bubbles caused a problem but if I'd had more time, I guess they would have dissipated. I was just in a rush to try out this last idea.

Then I once again picked out a couple of letters - one from each set of Thickers - wrapped washi tape around the same point of the letter and literally dipped them into the paint. I had to use a pin to pop the bubbles that were in the paint and also use the end of a paintbrush to go around the sides to remove the excess paint (perhaps it could have been even thinner) and then left them to dry.

Now, that looks much better. Still not quite perfect along that middle line but so much better. I might even give that another go as I come to a title I want to use.

My job here isn't to show you how perfectly I managed to forge these items, rather to give you some tips about how you might manage to make something similar in an easy way - even better than me! And to give you some hints about the mistakes I made along the way. I hope I've succeeded in inspiring you to give one or two items in the original kit a go.

Don't forget that we love it when you join in and make up your own kits. Share your kit and your creations over at our Link-Up page and don't forget the Member Blog Hop on the 24th. 

***** MEMBER BLOG HOP ***** 

Find out how below!  
Go on, you know you want to! 
Your project should be something new, using a Counterfeit Kit Challenge kit, that you haven't shown before and will only post for the hop. Be inspired by any of the challenges this month or just share something you've created with your kit. Remember, the more the merrier and it never fails to be a lot of fun! 
To be a part of our blog hop: 

• E-mail us your name & blog address & promise to participate at thecounterfeitkitchallengeblog@gmail.com by the 18th September.
• You will receive an e-mail from us by the 20th September with a list of the hop participants.
• You will need to schedule your own blog post showing your project based on a challenge and link to the person after you in the hop.All Blog Hop posts will need to be scheduled to go live on the 24th September at 12:00am Mountain Standard Time (Arizona) but we will help you with the scheduling