Counterfeit Kit Challenge - 2017 Trends

Welcome back to today's post for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge second inspiration prompt of the month.

Master Forger Leslie challenged us to be inspired by scrapbook trends from 2017 that were featured in a recent Scrap Gals podcast by Tracy Fox. You can find out all the 12 trends she mentioned over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog today as well, of course, at Tracy's own blog here where she's brought together all 12 trends into one blog post with links to the individual blog posts. I love that Leslie brought our attention to this and love all the names Tracy gave to the trends. I picked a few to choose from: Get Angular, Yippee Strippy!, Embedded Embellishments, Scribble It! and Decorated Seams.

Independent of the Counterfeit challenge, I realised that I had recently had a go at the Decorated Seams style with a layout I made for the Scrapabilly May Kit des Monats which features Pinkfresh Studio Be You products, This was my favourite layout of the kit and I really piled on the die cuts across the join of the two papers. I've seen this style online here and there and was happy to have a go myself. And I'm really pleased with the result.

This meant that I didn't really want to repeat the same style again so soon and went through the list once more, eventually deciding on Get Angular. I really think I'll be going back through this list to try some of the others too as they all look really fun to make - it was hard to pick just one.

There were some full sheets of paper left in my May kit, Funky which was great for this as I layered up three angular papers coming in from the same direction as Tracy's. I realise that I could have made this angle more pronounced to really get that triangular shape coming into the page but overall, I'm really happy with how this turned out.

Sorry for the poor photos. Maybe I'll try to get some better ones in daylight and change them out!

Are you inspired by this prompt? Have you made up your own Counterfeit kit? Have you been busy using it up? We would love to see what you come up with, so please share your kits and projects with us. You can do this by using our Link-Up Page here on the blog, posting in the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Facebook Community or on Instagram (we are @counterfeitkitchallenge and use the tag #counterfeitkitchallenge). Hope to see you there!

Counterfeit Kit Challenge May kit reveal blog hop

And, suddenly April was over and here were are on 1st May!

Welcome to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge May kit reveal blog hop. It's lovely to see you here again this month.

Before we get going with the details, hopefully you've arrived here via wonderful Leslie's blog and next up is the ever delightful Margie. And of course, don't miss out on our wonderful Guest Designer Emma who just happens to have a connection to our inspiration kit this month. We are thrilled to have Emma and her kit in May and I just know it's going to be a great month so don't miss out on anyone on the hop. Make sure you join in over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog and over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Facebook community.

Master Forger Leslie picked out this month's kit and I was really happy to see that she picked out Mind the Scrap's April kit - which just happens to be Emma's kit club over there in the UK! I love the bright colours and motifs and just knew that I was going to have fun pulling together my own supplies - more about that soon.

You can find Emma and her kit club at http://www.mindthescrap.co.uk/ and the April kit is here

April Mind the Scrap scrapbook kit unboxing video HERE

I knew that I didn't have any of the items in the original kit nor did I have many papers in the main colours - purple, navy and bright blue - so I would have to get creative! I have to admit that I love the inspiration kit so much, I'm really tempted to get myself one from Mind the Scrap but my own kit is so huge this month that maybe that won't be necessary!

First of all, here's my kit, Funky.

I started off with the bokeh paper which reminded me of the ombré purple paper in the original. Then I found some Paige Evans papers with shades of purple and the My Mind's Eye Blush papers with the dark navy and copper to add in as well as a woodgrain and a black and white spot. The original kit had some Shimelle papers and elements so I thought that this would a good place to look for some papers which could go with the selection I already had - some bright blues, some deeper blues and a bright floral which reminded me very much of the inspiration kit.

Then I decided I wanted to add in some really bright, funky stuff because the original MTS kit was really fun and colourful. I found some papers with bright stripes, spots, designs and tropical elements - Crate Paper Good Vibes and Simple Stories Carpe Diem. While not exactly like the original, they seem to match the feel of the other papers. Now, 17 papers is very, very over the top but hey, why not!

Of course, almost all of these are also double sided and the b-sides are also a lot of fun. I think I have so much choice here that it'll be easy to bring papers together in a way that pleases me and there are a few older papers here that would be good to cut and use!

I've added in some gold alphas as well as some smaller glitter alphabets to give me some variety. As far as embellishments go, I added in a bunch of die cuts from Dear Lizzy and Crate Paper in the same bright colours and fun designs. There's also a piece of gold glitter paper, some charms and a bunch of chipboard die-cuts to add to the mix. It feels a little light on embellies to be honest, so I'm sure that a few extras will no doubt find their way in to my kit over the month!

Definitely inspired by the original although it looks quite different, I'm really pleased with how this came together and I'm excited to get stuck in. May is a LOAD month so I'm hoping to get inspired by this and my other two kits that I have hanging around. It's unlikely I'll manage a full LOAD but every page I make is a bonus!

Here's the Design Team/Master Forger Blog Hop in case you get lost along the way:

Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog - http://counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com/
Guest Designer - Emma Clark - https://www.flickr.com/photos/64255593@N06/   
Cindy - http://cindyscreations-cinmfoster.blogspot.com
Julene http://julenebydesign.blogspot.com
Laura - https://www.instagram.com/mrsp_scrapsandtea/
Leslie - http://lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.com/
Lisa - http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com/
Margie - http://scrappinmargie.blogspot.com/
Tina - http://tinasscrapcorner.blogspot.com/

We would love to see what you come up with, so please share your kits and projects with us. You can do this by using our Link-Up Page here on the blog, posting in the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Facebook Community or on Instagram (we are @counterfeitkitchallenge and use the tag #counterfeitkitchallenge).