Monday 4 November 2019

November 2019 - Counterfeit Kit Challenge - Forgery on the Fourth

A reminder of the Counterfeit Kit Challenge November inspiration kit from Scrapdelight Scrapwinkel in the Netherlands. I am truly in love with this kit and am so happy that I picked it out for us this month.

https://www.scrapdelight.nl/product/67860/123-documenter-kit-pocket-pages-winter-thema/

I decided that I wanted to focus on the pretty fairy lights for my forgeries as well as what seemed to be really simple coffee cups and a "winter" word. It all seemed pretty easy and could be found in my Silhouette files.

Easier said than done for this Silhouette novice - even after 7 years and much increased use!

I searched my own files, then looked in the Silhouette store and came up with a good sample of full width banners and some shorter ones as well as a set of light chains which looked pretty close to the original. Then I went on the search for coffee cups and a word. So far so good.

I managed to work out how to create an offset cut for the word so that I could cut the original word out in blue and add it to a white background. I was on a roll! Then I worked out that I would need to make the coffee cup lids and hearts on a second sheet in different colours. Again, looking good.

The final light chain that looked so similar to the original also had separate shapes for the lights and the strings to be cut out in different colours. Ok, they also needed to be on a different cutting mat. I mirrored a couple of the chains so that the swing would be different and filled one sheet to be cut out in white. This was easy!


Then I organised all the bits I wanted to cut out in colour on another sheet - positioning them to match up where I intended to put different coloured scraps of paper. I was trying to make it easy after all and didn't want to have to load up the cutting sheet a gazillion times with different bits of paper.

My Silhouette layout looked something like this!


And my sheet of paper looked like this with the different scraps taking up different locations matching up to what my final layout was (I changed the previous layout a bit once I had the papers picked out). All the little bits of coloured paper came from my kit which I thought was quite clever.


However, every time I sent the file to cut, the paper slipped around and didn't cut properly. Even though I had refreshed the glue on the cutting mat and pressed the paper down really really hard! It drove me crazy. I was achieving one or two of the tiny things with each pass before the paper started to shift around. I was at it for HOURS!

This morning, I sat down with fresh energy and a clearer head and decided to send each shape through separately and attach the papers to the cutting mat with a little washi. Worked a dream!

I used a glue pen to do the fiddly work of adding the tiny pieces onto the white shapes. I'm not designed for this type of detailed work - I just don't have the patience. But even so, I'm pleased with the result of how they turned out - if you don't look too closely!


I lost the dot to the "i" along the way. I'll have to draw it in I think!


And the little lights are so tiny that I just picked them up and stuck them down as well as I could. Now I see that some of them are textured and some not - ah! Textured cardstock which I'm not used to using these days - oh well. As always, live and learn!


However, all in all, these die cuts will be useful I'm sure and you'll have to see what I do with them. I don't have anything specific planned, but the month is still young...

I've added some free cut file links over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenger blog today so head over there to check out what the others have created as well as the links.

Don't forget that there's a whole load of inspiration over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog and we always love seeing how you've been inspired. So please share your kits and projects with us.

You can use our Monthly Link-up page, post them in our Facebook Community, or share them on Instagram (we are @counterfeitkitchallenge or tag us using #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcnovember2019).

Friday 1 November 2019

November 2019 - Counterfeit Kit Challenge kit reveal and blog hop

Ah! At last! It's November - my favourite month of the year.

Welcome, welcome, welcome - I'm so glad to see you here.

Hopefully you've reached me via the ever lovely Leslie's blog and next up is sweet Lori - they both have awesome kits! And I'm delighted to welcome Tara as Guest Designer at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge in November - make sure you stop by and say hello to her too. She's also pretty awesome!

Of course, as always, you can find the full blog hop at the end of this post. And don't forget to make the most of the inspiration at CKC this month because it's the last regular kit of the year! We always shake things up in December - details are still being organised behind the scenes.

Right - onto to business! I'm on kit duty this month and discovered the most gorgeous kit for us to be inspired by over at Scrapdelight Scrapwinkel in the Netherlands.

Scrapdelight Scrapwinkel 

Obviously, the site is in Dutch but I found it easy to find my way around and pretty scrapbook supplies are pretty in any language, aren't they?

I picked out the pocket page kit for our main inspiration, but there are options for full scrapbook pages as well as a paper add on that can be used for additional images or inspiration.

I was particularly inspired by the beautiful colours and paper designs - it seemed so wintry and seasonal without being all about snow and Christmas.



But there is a "traditional" scrapbook kit too:


And the add on paper kit so that you can see a bit more of the paper design:


Isn't it gorgeous?

Of course I totally fell in love with it and had to have it as our inspiration and then when I came to making up my kit, I realised that I have very little product in these fabulous colours.

I saved the day by picking out these papers which seemed to sum up the main colour scheme of the kit - grey, pink, lilac, yellow with a hint of mustard and a dark, slate-ish blue - as well as the motif of the banner fairy lights which I totally fell in love with even though it's not exactly a colour in the original kit.


From these five papers, my Twinkle kit came together:


Here are all my papers in shades similar but not exactly the same as the original - but there are greys, pinks, lilacs, slate blues and plenty of white. I also added in that cream banner design top right - it's a Dear Lizzy design if I remember rightly and reminded me of the fairy light banners in the inspiration kit. It doesn't really go with any of the other papers so it might be difficult to use but I thought it would be worth a try. I've been hoarding it all these years.


The floral is a partial sheet and the three on top of that are thin papers and smaller than 12x12 - suitable for cards maybe?


There are some really old designs here so it will be interesting to see if they get used up.

I didn't focus on matching up the patterns but have some similarities - stripes, repeating deigns, words and of course my fairy lights!


I included a few embellies but will be adding a couple of "forgeries" in the next day or so - come back on the 4th!


Alphabets, stickers to match two of the papers, some pink-based die cuts, a couple of sparkly tags, glitter hearts and some dots finish off my collection. 


Yes, I will definitely be adding some more embellishments to this kit as the month goes on. It feels very light.


My kit isn't anything like the original when I think about it - but the inspiration is there and that's what it's all about. I know that I will love using my kit but maybe I need to make a list of products in the original kit colours to add to my stash next time I go shopping. 

Thanks for visiting today and here's the full blog hop so that you can be sure not to miss any of today's kit creations!

Don't forget to drop in at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge throughout the month as we give you tips, ideas and challenges as you put together and use your kit. 

Here's what we have coming up this month:  
  • November 2nd: I'll be back with a "Just the Gist" post to help jump-start your kit-making. 
  • November 4th:  We'll have our "Forgery on the Fourth" post where the Master Forgers will reveal how they created their own version of some of the items in this month's kit. 
  • November 6th: We'll reveal a couple of mini-kits and projects, in case you're a little limited for time this month and would prefer a more petite kit. 
  • November 12th & 18th:  We'll give you two challenges to help you use the kit you've made. 
  • November 24th: I'll be showcasing one of the CKC community who's caught my eye this month. 

We always love to see your work, so please share your kits and projects with us. You can use our Monthly Link-up page, post them in our Facebook Community, or share them on Instagram (we are @counterfeitkitchallenge or tag us using #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcnovember2019). 

Thanks so much for stopping by! We can't wait to see your kits and projects this month!

Sunday 6 October 2019

Counterfeit Kit Challenge - September mini-kit reveal and project

Good Morning and welcome to the first blog post of October. Glad to see you here. 

For the Counterfeit Kit Challenge October 2019 kit, here's a reminder of the Studio Calico July 2012 "Summer of '69" kit that Laura picked out for us. 

Look at all that lovely "vintage" product and super colours. 

So 2012... more of that later. 


I loved all the papers here and decided to look into my scraps box to pull my mini-kit together. At this stage, I was unsure if I was making up a kit for cards or a layout but I knew that I need enough paper to manage either. I spotted the Studio Calico banner patterned page (you can see it better in the second photo below). It seems to bring together everything that the original kit had to offer and so I started with that single piece of paper to build the rest of the kit.

Here's Throwback


Here you can see the full mix of old papers that I pulled out of my box. All the sheets are only partial and it looks bigger than it is. I think it includes Authentique, Dear Lizzy, Crate Paper, Studio Calico, October Afternoon and Cosmo Cricket - there might even be some BasicGrey in there but I'm not sure. I love it!


I fished out a bag of October Afternoon goodies that would be good to use up and a selection of small flowers and buttons which I haven't used on my pages for ages! The grey ribbon really took me back and I know I'm going to enjoy finding ways to use up these items.


Two alphas and an unopened October Afternoon pack of flags and banner items - I can see these being useful on cards.


And of course, some doilies to match the original kit.


Lots of lovely pieces to bring a little nostalgia onto my page.


Once I had my kit, it was time to decide what to make with it and in the end, I decided to make a page. I didn't have any cream cardstock so I went with my palest kraft and seem to have produced a page which looks exactly like pages I made in 2012 - so it's all full circle on the throwback! This was not exactly my intention but I love the result nonetheless.

I even matched it up with some original, orange-toned, vintage, 1970s photos and this time, I even used the original prints and haven't scanned and edited them to take out any of the tint.


I used to do this with buttons all the time in the past so it was nice to remind myself of how much I like the look of it!


And flowers! When was the last time I added any onto my page? I think I tend to avoid so much dimension today because I've seen what a difference it makes to my albums :-)


And a handful of precious October Afternoon alphas - *sigh* - which I added into my kit when I realised that I'd be making a full page layout.


You can see Susan's gorgeous mini-kit and layout over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog here and don't forget that there's always loads of inspiration over there on the blog throughout the month. You can also find out where and how to connect with us - the blog is always the starting point for all the information.

Thanks for dropping by, don't forget to say hello!

Wednesday 18 September 2019

September 2019 - Counterfeit Kit Challenge - Back to School!

Good morning - Happy Hump Day!

It's time for Challenge #2 over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge but first, here's a quick reminder of the personalised, curated kit we're using as our September inspiration courtesy of the Secret Not Secret Kit Club.  If you missed this month's reveal, why not head back to the CKC blog hop on the 1st here and get the gen - it's never too late to join in.


And here's another reminder of my own Wanderlust kit (find the details here).


And now it's time for the challenge itself:

Challenge #2 - Back to School

"In the UK, September always marks the start of the new school year and whenever I see September on my calendar, my mind goes back to that time of my life. The low-lying sun, the misty mornings, the beginning of autumn, the smell of new school supplies, the familiar sights and sounds as we all piled back into the classroom."

Be inspired by this "back to school" feeling!

As I often do these days, I made up the whole layout without actually knowing what photo or story I wanted to tell. But it all started with that sheet of photo-realistic Crate Paper that I've used as a background. The road stretching out before me reminded me of the days of school and how it's the starting point to life. I love the design and when I have a pattern such as this, I try to come up with a layout that allows the full picture to be seen with a cluster of layers and elements tucked off to one corner or other.

I've also taken to looking for colour combinations in my kits that have some sort of significance and even though they are not true to the shades of my original school uniform (sky blue, navy and bright green), I picked out shades of blue and green for my layout and brought in blacks and grey to add a little more interest and contrast.

I'm always surprised at how many items of a particular colour I can find in my kits when I look at them critically like this.

Counterfeit Kit Challenge September kit, Wanderlust lo#1

I have to admit to adding in that navy alphabet to my kit and yes, it now lives in the kit box - my kits tend to grow throughout the month!


It was a lot of fun looking for different shapes and small pieces to cluster up for dimension, texture and additional interest. I also like the symbolism that may of those items have to support my story.


The larger "empty" section above the cluster proved perfect for my longer journalling and then a modern (from 2011), bright, eye-catching photo finished off the design. With so few photos from my original time at school, I'm really enjoying finding ways to use the school building photos I have from that visit to tell stories from years and years ago. And I really like the contrast of the colours in the photo with the muted background.


We always love to see your work, so please share your kits and projects with us.
You can use our Monthly Link-up page, post them in our Facebook Community, or share them on Instagram (we are @counterfeitkitchallenge or tag us using #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcseptember2019).

Thanks so much for stopping by - don't forget to check out the blog after letting me know you were here!

What school stories are you going to tell this month? 

Wednesday 4 September 2019

Counterfeit Kit Challenge - Forgery on the Fourth

I'm back today with my Forgery on the Fourth for Counterfeit Kit Challenge September kit.

You can find out more links and other forgeries from the team over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog here so don't forget to head over there to see what's on offer :-) 

A reminder of our personalised curated kit for September's inspiration courtesy of Khristina Sorge from the Secret Not Secret Kit Club (you can find details about her club online here) who is also our wonderful Guest Designer this month. 

This is the kit she made for us.


My eye immediately went to the die cut viewfinders and the outline plane embellishment. I knew I could come up with something similar using my Silhouette. It took me a couple of minutes to find some viewfinders in my library so I was on a roll but a plane? I had to use a cluster embellishment and ungroup them to have a single plane to use.

Next up was to resize a bunch of them, position them in a similar way to the original in the kit and then work out how to connect them. Merging them was tricky and it took a long time to get them perfectly positioned so that they touched but didn't go "into" the neighbouring shape. While that looked ok as block shapes, once I worked out how to create an outline shape, I could see that when they overlapped too much, the outline wasn't solid but rather had openings where they touched. I went online to find out how to create an outline cut from a solid shape (apparently it's offset and I worked out that an inside offset was better). Then I kept nudging the shapes around, merging, offsetting and checking the form before undoing all those last steps to nudge the shapes around again and continue through that iterative process until I was relatively happy with the result! It's not perfect but I'm happy with it and I think that no-one would notice the imperfection. This is a screenshot of how my template looked in Silhouette before I sent it to cut.

I used a thick white cardstock and it came out perfectly. It really took a long time but I learned about offsetting shapes and am gradually building up more than just the basic skills that I've had for some time now. When I use my Silhouette, I'm always thrilled with the result and just purchasing this shape might have been a whole lot easier but I've got a lot of satisfaction from creating this die cut myself.



I also thought I'd give the epoxy stickers a go. I liked the simple white on black form with the non-uniform white outline and thought I could recreate something similar. I used an almost black paper and them white heat embossed some motifs from a travel collection stamp set and a few phrases that were the same as the original set. I cut these out using three different sized dies and then cut a set of white cardstock circles too. I mounted the black paper onto the white cardstock in different ways - sometimes using a larger white circle and sometimes, the same size. I moved the shapes around so that there was a different frame of white on each one.


Then I covered a few of them with Mod Podge Dimensional Magic, laying them out on baking paper first so that they didn't stick. I tried to get right up to the edges and knock out the air bubbles before leaving them for 24 hours to dry.


The final result isn't perfect as there were definitely some bubbles still left in the glue as well as some rough edges as the glue settled and dried. I was also a little disappointed that the white cardstock appears less than white now. The Dimensional Magic is not 100% clear but at least the white of the cardstock is now the same white as the embossing!


Just for comparison, I also did the same thing to a few with Glossy Accents. As you can see, the white cardstock appears a more true white but the surface is certainly not as smooth and glossy or as dimensional.


I've left a few without the "epoxy" effect and no doubt all my faux epoxy stickers will get used up on cards at some point.

If you have some clear epoxy stickers, you can of course make your stickers in an easier way than this. I've included a YouTube link over on the CKC blog today for different ways to put your backgrounds together for these.

In the past I've also talked about making complete copies of sets of word-based Thickers using my Silhouette (you can find examples here and here).

Why not try your hand at making your own embellishments for your own kit? It can be a lot of fun learning new techniques and trying different things out to achieve the results you're looking for. Not all of my "forgeries" are successful, but I love giving it a try!

Don't forget that there's a whole load of inspiration over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog and we always love seeing how you've been inspired. So please share your kits and projects with us.

You can use our Monthly Link-up page, post them in our Facebook Community, or share them on Instagram (we are @counterfeitkitchallenge or tag us using #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcseptember2019).

Monday 2 September 2019

August at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge and mini-LOAD819

It's a new month and I'm going to try to get into a better routine of sharing my scrapbooking projects. I have plans!

I was quite productive in August - well compared to recent times - and made a total of 9 pages. Two for the Creative Team at Simple Scrapper and seven as part of the Scrap Happy mini-LOAD819.

Even though I didn't manage a layout every day - I skipped an evening in favour of a cocktail on the balcony which seemed a good call - I caught up the next day and completed 7 layouts in 7 days which still feels like a win for me.

While some of those LOAD layouts could also be counted for Whimsical Musings prompts (and don't forget my relaunch for that today over at the blog), I decided just to count them for the LOAD819 prompts. I was almost on prompt for most of the week too which wasn't bad for me.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I'm going to share the mini-LOAD819 layouts in this post, 6 of which were made with my Counterfeit Kit Challenge August kit, Macarons (you can find out all about that kit here).

It feels like a long time since I did a regular layout share so here goes (sorry that this is a long post):

LOAD819#1 / CKC Macarons #1

The LOAD prompt was about the learning experience and I just knew that I wanted to make a pretty page featuring my gorgeously lovely niece who is growing up to be a simply wonderful young lady.


I had included this sunburst paper in my kit and decided to go back to a favourite technique of sewing along the rays to give it some interest and texture. I used white and gold thread to change it up a little.

My kit was full of some more cutesy items and they seemed to fit on this page.

You can just see a hint of a pull out tab here where I included a screenshot of her first school report which of course, is glowing. I was so proud to read the lovely words her teacher had for her and thought it was perfect to match the theme of the page.


I raided my Shimelle sticker book for some stickers and elements to add some whimsical elements to decorate different corners of the page.



LOAD819#2 / CKC Macarons #2

This prompt was about school timetables. I discovered that I really only have a handful of random school shots, most of which I'm not even in, so I need to get very creative about how to scrap the few school stories I want to tell. When I saw this photo it struck me as unusual to have me sitting there with my homework spread out. I normally hung out in my room, not doing it if at all possible. That was the way I decided to go to tell a snippet of my ambiguous relationship with school.


I was drawn to the darker shades in my kit along with the star design and then just lightened it up a little to mat my photo. It was fun to pick out some elements from my kit that were totally different to layout #1 and show how versatile most kits are if you look at them in different ways.


I've actually changed this title slightly to replace the a and t for an @ symbol because I needed the a for another title! ha ha.


LOAD819#3 / CKC Macarons #3

The prompt here was about "recess" or lunchtime. I thought about writing about our "playroom" which was always an experience and not really much about "play" at all. But then I saw this photo that I'd taken back in 2011 when the school had a building anniversary that we were happy to attend. It helped me get some captures of corners of the school that are connected to some strong memories even they're not all positive.


Another example of how you can usually shop your kit for various motifs and colours to make each layout different from the last.



The story is a little bittersweet but I haven't concentrated on the negative side of it. Sometimes this is the way to tackle those more difficult stories - connect it to happier times, and just refer to it in passing rather than dwelling on the negative.


LOAD518#4 / CKC Macarons #4

I've shared this already (you can find it in my blog post here) as part of last month's Counterfeit Kit Challenge prompt #2 - What is summer to you?"

Obviously, this was definitely off-prompt for LOAD but it made me happy to get so many photos of a recent event onto a page so quickly.


LOAD819#5

The challenge today was to talk about school friends but I was inspired to make a layout about my "mint greet washi friend" (in-joke) online friend who has become a real life friend. This is the third time we've got together - London, Germany and Paris! That seemed to deserve a page. I recently acquired the Carta Bella Let's Travel collection which seemed perfect for some Paris pages and it's true. This is the second Paris layout I've made and it's got a bit of everything - pretty colours, nice designs, a hint of theme, interesting bits and pieces for embellishment.


I included the banner here and it reminded me how much I love making these thready loops to decorate the top of the banner tags. I have to remember to do that again soon.


I layered up that tag element at the bottom with four die cuts and lot of foam squares. Perfect for a dimensional corner of the page. 


LOAD819#6 / CKC Macarons #5 

The LOAD prompt was a visit to the Principal's office and it immediately made me think of waiting outside the Head Mistress's office, watching the lights with dread until I had to go in to face my fate.

I'm less pleased with this and have changed out the journalling block several times. I've decided to let it go now and leave it as it is. It uses another photo from 2011 but I'm glad to have found a way to connect it back to my time as a "naughty" teenager (I was nowhere near as bad as it sounds!)


I deliberately used blues and greens here to mirror the school uniform that we wore back then. It was fun to find different shades that could carry though that colour theme (dots and stickers) as well as that days of the week strip of paper which made me think about the school weekday routine.


I hate that photo but it's the only one I have so that's what I have to live with!


LOAD819#7 / CKC Macarons #6

The LOAD challenge was to create a page about after school. I immediately decided that I wanted to capture a story about arriving in France on day one of my new life to be faced with the reality of the day to day of adult life after school. Before I made this layout, I went to my albums to look at what other S of France stories I have only to find that I have about three. So there's definitely some catching up to do.

It's another one I'm completely happy with but I'm going to let it go and live with it without any tweaking. Sometimes, you just have to accept that not every layout is going to turn out as lovely as you'd like.


Some pretty elements and a couple of stickers from the Shimelle pack proved perfect decorations to "lighten" up the mood of the layout.


I wanted to write a lot so I knew I had to keep the embellies low key to give me that space on the background paper.


All in all, I'm relatively happy with the results. My Counterfeit Kit Challenge August kit is well used and I now have a few more stories recorded. I'd love to achieve a full month of LOAD in October as part of the Scrap Happy membership - let's see how that works out for me.

I'll be back soon with my August projects for the Creative Team at Simple Scrapper.

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