May 2019 - Counterfeit Kit Challenge mini card kit

It's been quite a busy time round here and the CKC blog with the Counterfeit Kit Challenge reveal on 1st, the Just the Gist post on the 2nd, Forgery on the Third on the ... well... 3rd, and then of course, {inter}National Scrapbook Day on the 4th.

There was a lot of activity both on the blog/s and behind the scenes to get it all ready so I was happy that I'd decided to go for a mini-kit this month - a couple of hours and the cards were done and ready to be sent out, even with all the stitching and detail I added.

First off, let's remind ourselves of the inspiration kit - the March 2019 My Creative Scrapbooks main kit:

My Creative Scrapbooks March Main Kit

I loved how summery this kit was with all the travel works, the flowers, the happy aspects. It has pineapples and flamingos and tropical flowers and all of that reminded me of the Simple Stories papers in the "Hello Summer" collection for which I had some of the papers and also the die-cuts.

So that's where I started for my "Greetings!" card kit.

I picked out cut apart sheet featuring a rather gorgeous flamingo which I knew I would use on a card and then added in the stripe and the spots of which matched up patterns in the original kit. I then included the die cut pack matching the collection as well as a few die cuts that I had featuring little girls and some unicorns - all reminding me of the inspiration kit.

I included a stamp set that has yet to be christened as well as a sheet of phrase stickers from another Simple Stories collection and I thought both of these could be useful for card titles.

A few sheets of mini-stickers rounded off this mini-collection.

I then spent a couple of hours and from these three sheets of paper, came up with 7 cards. I still have some scraps so I might make up some more but for now, I'm happy!

I deliberately found ways to include something of each of the items in my kit, testing out designs and styles to see what I liked.

I had some pre-prepared card bases as well as a few regular white cards and added in one small piece of pink cardstock as a mat (on the card below).

Because I always go for the simplest of designs, mostly focusing on 3x4 cards from the cut apart sheets, I went to town with the sewing machine and added stitching on several of the layers and even round the designs (speech bubble, sun and pineapple). 

Fast and simple is the way I always go with cards but overall, I'm happy with the fun elements I've added here and think that they will be a nice addition to my card stash. 

Don't miss MF Susan's beautiful mini-kit and project on the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog today and of course, there's more fun to be had during the 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 and you can tag us using 

#counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcmarch2019).

{inter}National Scrapbook Day - Saturday 4th May 2019

I'm thrilled to be here for {inter}National Scrapbook Day representing the Counterfeit Kit Challenge in collaboration with Bash Your Scrapbook Stash! What fun. 

 It's also a private Facebook Community and its focus is most definitely using up your beloved scrapbook stash and being part of a warm, welcoming, happy, sharing community. 

That sounds familiar! Don't we always say that about The Counterfeit Kit Challenge community?!?

We thought it was a perfect complement to CKC and are excited to be joining them today to share the scrapbook stash love.

The Bash Your Scrapbook Stash group presents monthly and weekly challenges of a different nature to encourage their members to use their stash with specific items, techniques or tools to create scrapbook layouts, projects, cards, tags or even embellishments.

A short time ago today, our darling MF Leslie was on FB Live in the BYSS community presenting an extra, exclusive, just-for-iNDS-at-BYSS kit and a sketch challenge. If you head over to the community, you can find the replay and see what she has to say about kit making and her take on the kit. 

But of course, we wanted to share the kit and our own creations with you here on our own blog too as our own {inter}National Scrapbook Day celebrations!

We picked out the June 2018 Studio Calico kit, "Expedition" and hope that you love it as much as we do! It's got some constellations (who might love that I wonder?!?), some travel items, a bunch of pretties and some lovely colours so what's not to love?

Studio Calico describe it as "Set out on an adventure – the world is yours to explore! You’ll have everything you need to record your travels when you return home. We’ve combined bright colors, organic elements, and an outdoorsy, vintage vibe for a look that will have you dreaming of your next “Expedition"". 

That sounds like my kind of kit and the consensus among the team was that it was a winner!

Studio Calico June 2018 kit Expedition

But that's not all! We also have an EXCLUSIVE {inter}National Scrapbook Day sketch for you today, created by our wonderful  MF Susan. It's got so much to love with the full page design, the space for lots of journalling, the showcase photo and the oodles of room for interpretation.  

Sketch credit: Master Forger Susan

This is the original page she made from which she made the sketch so I'm super curious to see the different interpretations on this design:

The ladies over at Bash Your Scrapbook Stash will also be offering two exclusive to their membership challenges so if you want more more more, then I recommend you head over there and join in the stash bashing activities!

***********************************************

I decided to make a small (for me kit) with just four sheets of paper and a handful of embellishments but I very much took my inspiration from the Studio Calico kit.

Of course, if you know me you'll know that I was totally taken with the constellation paper and decided that was all I needed as a starting point for my own. 

I picked out an Echo Park star paper hiding in my "stars" collection(!) and selected a Crate Paper stripe that seemed to pick out the green from the constellation paper, a Crate Paper "Good Vibes sheet with geometric lines which I thought could match up with the map paper in the original kit and then a surprising choice of an orange and pink October Afternoon paper. It just reminded me of the yellow pattern in the Studio Calico kit! I know you might find it odd but I like the contrast. There is also a "forgery" sheet of paper which includes the same quote as the inspiration kit. Result!

The alphabet and sticker sheets from BasicGrey Aurora , some word stickers from Pinkfresh Studio, a Sutdio Calico stamp set, a sprinkle of veneer stars and sequins and a whole pile of printed labels finished off the kit. 

I know the mix of papers may not seem an automatic fit, but I've already made one page and love how they combined! 

I was really happy to use some older products including some very precious BasicGrey supplies (sob sob sob!)

There are two forgeries in her kit - the quote paper and the labels which were totally quick and easy to make.

I started off by finding a font which reminded me of the loopy font on the Studio Calico paper. I started off trying to design this in MS Word and quickly changed to Photoshop elements. I knew that I needed to cut the 12x12 paper down and the choice was to make it shorter or narrower. I decided to use the full width for the quote and sacrifice the length a little. So I trimmed the original patterned paper (again, a precious BasicGrey basic) down to 8.5" long. On PS Elements I wrote out the quote in the same format as the original and then moved the lines around until they were overlapping in the same way. Turning the text down the page means that I would be able to print it out onto my patterned paper. I think it's pretty close to the original and am excited to use.

The second forgery - the pile of labels - were fussy cut from sheets downloaded from the internet and printed out on heavy duty printer paper. That's a whole bunch of labels which will be so useful on this and many other kits.

She used the download on Kaitlin Staffer's blog here http://kaitlinsheaffer.com - go to the downloads page for a full array of fabulous labels in different colours. There are also may different downloads on Pinterest - just search for "printable labels" and be astounded at the results!

I haven't used Susan's wonderful sketch but you never know, I might get around to it later today or even over the scrappy weekend!

However, I made this relatively simple page, inspired by that wonderful piece of constellation paper which triggered a long-forgotten memory! 

I decided to use this 12x12 white cardstock that I cut out with my Cameo a loooooong time ago and thought the fun stripe behind it was such a great look. That way, all those colours wouldn't clash and I could bring together all my papers in a harmonious way!

See - that hint of pink and orange paper works so well as a contrast!

I had no photo at all of the original memory that the constellation paper triggered so I just used a photo from last week and then started my journalling from today and how that memory had just appeared!

I think this post is now long enough so I hope you were inspired by our extra kit today. Join in the fun over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog and FB community and the Bash Your Scrapbook Stash FB community. Make sure you say hello and share your takes!