Counterfeit Kit Challenge prompt #2 - Mix and Match Title

Hopefully you remember the kit I made up at the beginning of the month - Heatwave.

It was full of brights and bolds so when you look at the layout below, you might wonder how that happened! But first let's remind ourselves of Cindy's challenge to us this time around.

She asked us to be inspired by a mix and match title or journalling. "We have them in our stash - alphabet stickers, word stickers, stamps, dies and even punches. The challenge is to use at least two different alphabet styles for your title or journaling." She's also created a Pinterest board with inspiration for you which you can find here.

This is right up my street as I usually include several alphas in each of my kits with different fonts and sizes and love mixing them up.

Here's my layout.

I started off by looking into my kit to see what wordy elements I had and discovered that the b-side of the large floral was a lovely handwritten design featuring a repeated "weekend". I built the rest of my layout around that word which I fussy cut and used that as a starting point. I have really limited letters in the alphas I included in the kit so I had to get a bit creative with the words I made up! So too many e's or s's but to be honest, that helped me make my title even more mixed up as each word came from a different letter sticker according to which letters were available. 

I also fished out other wordy items in my kit and added them as embellishments.

I decided to use the hexagon paper by MME and that set the colour scheme for the rest of the layout and I picked out all the blues and greens so that it turned out to be a really toned down layout rather than the hot shades in the original.

The little clipboards were on the b-side of the red paper from my kit and I thought they worked nicely to feature as a mat for my photos as if they were really holding the photos.

Then I just decorated using black, green and blue and tucked my journalling onto a few of the hexagons. I tried to scatter the embellishments into different corners of the page to add dimension and interest and even though the photos are bright and Christmassy, the whole layout is much calmer and softer which pleases me!

I love how versatile my kits are when I look at the backs of the papers that I picked originally! In effect, you get the a-sides, the b-sides and then a mix of both - three kits in one and limitless possibilities!

Have a great day everyone and don't forget that we love it when you share your own projects inspired by any of the Counterfeit Kit Challenge kits, prompts or mini-kits. You can share over at the blog, in the FB community or on Instagram - whichever suits you best!

In the meantime, head over to the blog to see what the others have produced with this fun mixed-up font prompt and you can share here:

• the Link-Up page here on the blog
• the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Facebook Community Group 
• Instagram (find us @counterfeitchallenge and share with #counterfeitchallenge )

August Counterfeit Kit Challenge - Forgery on the Fourth

Welcome to Forgery on the Fourth for Counterfeit Kit Challenge in August where we are inspired by the Cocoa Daisy Twinkling of the Tea July kit/s.

You can find my kit reveal here and you might have spotted the two items I decided to pick out and counterfeit this month - the hexagonal chipboard shapes and the hexagonal paper. Don't forget to check out the other forgeries on offer this month at the CKC blog and share with us if you come up with your own ideas (links at the end)

First up, I picked out my two small hexagon dies and a bunch of small pattern prints from my scrap container to use in my Big Shot.

It took about 10-15 mins to cut out all too this pile - I tried to make sure that each shape had something interesting right in the centre.

I also cut a bunch of chipboard hexagons using the cardboard back page of a notebook. It's thicker than cardstock but not as thick as grungeboard or similar.

I ran the chipboard through my Xryon mini sticker maker so that are all sticky - seemed like the perfect solution rather than a mucky glue stick! Although of course, that would work perfectly! It's just I'm not really good at not getting glue all over myself.

And voila! Small hexagons stuck onto the chipboard as well as a larger one. And I've left the chipboard in the Xyron backing paper so that I can just stick them together as and when I need according to what I want on my project.

Next up was the hexagon designed paper. I picked out some scraps in the colours of the original Cocoa Daisy paper - yellow, orange, pink, red and green.

I took the larger die and again, took about 10 minutes to cut out a bunch of shapes using the Big Shot.

I added a small amount of adhesive in the centre of each hexagon and then applied them to a sheet of white cardstock (which I cut down to 8.5x12"). The original had a white border so I added them in this way too which certainly gave me a little wiggle room and seems easier than if I had put them all directly next to each other.

At this point, it looks a lot like the original sheet of paper but I wanted to take it a step further.

I then stitched over every single of the hexagons - close to the edge. I considered adding the stitching in the white space but decided that I wanted the look of the white stitches on top of each of the designs. I was absolutely inspired by Clair's wonderful paper patchwork cards here that she showcased in her {Killing Kits Series}. She made me realise that the detail this adds to your project is worth the time it takes. This sheet took me about 30 minutes to stitch which might sound a long time for just a small piece of paper but the effect it has makes me happy! My only tip would be is to get your tension right and go SLOW!

I then just trimmed off all the loose threads and tidied up the edges. I am over the moon with this! I love it and don't know if I'll be using it as a piece on top of the 12x12 white cardstock or maybe cut it down for cards or mats.

And there you go - two unique elements for my kit that I love. Yes, it took a little time but it was worth it!

Why not have a go yourself?

Just a reminder that we love it when you are inspired by our kits, forgeries, makes and shares so if you have a go yourself, make sure you link up either on the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog here or in our Counterfeit Kit Challenge Facebook community here.

Counterfeit Kit Challenge August kit reveal blog hop

It's 1st August which can only mean one thing - it's the Counterfeit Kit Challenge kit reveal blog hop and I'm excited to get going this month.

Hopefully you've reached me via Leslie and her blue box here and next up on the hop you need to go along to Tina here who always has fabulously large kits! And of course, you have to check out our wonderful Guest Designer Doreen at the beginning of the hop - excited to have her on board with us this month! In fact, just make sure you hop along to everyone so that you don't miss out on any of the gorgeous kits this month. We are surely still celebrating summer with our creations! (Full blog hop list at the end of this post.)

Master Forger Cindy picked out our kit for August and decided on the gorgeous Twinkling of the Tea from Cocoa Daisy July 2018 kits.  I particularly loved the colour scheme with the yellows, oranges and greens and the overall fresh feel of the products. So pretty. Here it is:

Now, even though I loved those colours, I knew I would have a bit of a problem matching a lot of the elements of the kit because I don't have much of those three main shades in my own stash. So I looked at the core ideas that jumped out at me when I looked at the selection: spots, floral, woodgrain, hexagons, words, fresh and summery.

And then I picked out papers that sort of matched the feel of each piece of paper followed by embellishments and alphas that were inspired by the original. We are hot hot hot over here in Europe right now so it seemed appropriate to call my kit, "Heatwave"!

Here you can see that I matched up the floral, a small red print, woodgrain (reinterpreted), yellow print, wordy design, geometric, large spots and a paper that featured green (more aqua in my kit). I also added in two hexagonal designs - more on that later.

Then I added in embellishments - black alpha, black words, grey small letter stickers, black clips, hexagonal chipboard pieces, black and white ribbon and die cuts.

Of course, I added in more items because I need the variety and I just went with things that caught my eye as I moved around my scrap space.

My selection of die cuts consist of a whole mixed handful that I found as I rummaged around in my die cut container. There's no real theme running through them - I just picked out golds, words, brights and florals that I liked.

At the last minute, I grabbed a whole back of leaf/flower/butterfly die cuts and added them in too. They are all new and I hope I'm inspired to use some up!

You need to come back on the 4th because I'll have two easy forgeries that I snuck into my kit (I'm sure you noticed!)

Thanks so much for dropping by and here's the full list so that you don't miss any of the inspiration.

• Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog -  http://counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com/
• Guest Designer – Doreen - https://madijoes.blogspot.com/
• Cindy - https://cindyscreations-cinmfoster.blogspot.com/
• Julene - https://julenebydesign.blogspot.com/
• Leslie - https://lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.com/
• Lisa - https://lisahausmann.blogspot.com/
• Tina - https://tinasscrapcorner.blogspot.com/
• Laura - https://www.instagram.com/mrsp_scrapsandtea/

Don't forget to share your kits and projects! We love love love to see what you make with the kits we pick out for you!

If you have a go yourself, make sure you link up either on the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog here or in our Counterfeit Kit Challenge Facebook community here.