November 2023 - Counterfeit Kit Challenge kit reveal and hop

It's November - my favourite month of the year!

No, I have no idea how that happened either but that's the truth which means it must be time for another kit over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge 😉

It's my turn to pick out the kit and it was a tough choice. I wanted something that could be easily adjusted for whatever you want your November to be - spring, autumn, pre-Christmas etc etc. 

I decided on a Hip Kit Club kit from last November which I really love and think can definitely fill my tweakable criteria! 

Here it is - isn't it lovely? I love the colours and patterns and even though it's definitely Christmas themed, I really think it can be interpreted in a different way - as several of the team seem to have done!

Hip Kit Club November 2022 main kit

It's also my pleasure to welcome my very good scrappy friend, Silvia as our Guest Designer this month. Such a delight to have this creative inspiration join the team.

Onto my kit then...

Here is "Comfy".

I picked out the colour scheme of red, pink, mint and aqua along with the patterns of stripe, floral, dots, music, geometric, knit and repeated small patterns. Starting with the Kaisercraft knitted pattern from their Wonderland collection, I picked out some blues and greens in Carta Bella's Snow Much Fun and Winter Market collections. The red, pink, mint tones reminded me of Mix & A-Mingle by Simple Stories last Christmas and then I added in a couple of sheets of Heart Eyes too. In this way, I have a nice mix of real festive motifs as well as some non-Christmas patterns in the same colour scheme. Clever huh? 

I thought the small pink design here on the right was similar to the yellow print of the original kit and that ticket paper is just lovely and fun to fussy cut maybe. Florals and solids are always going to work for winter pages which may or may not need to be Christmas.

That knitted print is a firm favourite and I bought several sheets of it so I'm excited to mix it in with the other papers. I really love that winter floral and an interested to find a way to make it work for me.

I think this is an interesting mix of patterns and colours so let's see how it inspires me to actually use it!

I added I die cuts, sticker books and enamel dots from both the Simple Stories collections in the hope of actually using some of them!

And several alphabets - mostly very much used up. All the pink/gold I have as well as aqua, white and flouncy gold which reminded me of the original kit as well.

I really liked the silver in the inspiration kit but decided to go for my standard gold after all!

And there you have it. I like it! I hope you do too. What will I create? I'm not sure - I have a crazy busy month ahead but I am feeling inspired so keep your fingers crossed for me.

Obviously, more details over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog and along the hop - catch them all below!

• Counterfeit Kit Challenge - http://counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com/ 
• Guest Designer Silvia - https://www.instagram.com/silvia_scrappt/ 
• Brandi - https://www.instagram.com/scrappy.boymama/ 
• Christine - https://www.youtube.com/@ScrappingHarden 
• Cindy - https://cindyscreations-cinmfoster.blogspot.com/ 
• Julene - http://julenebydesign.blogspot.com/  
• Lisa - http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com  
• Leslie - http://lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.com  
• Tara - https://kryptonite72-rambles.blogspot.com/  
• Tina - http://tinasscrapcorner.blogspot.com/ 

And please share your kits and creations over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge FB community here or on Instagram. You can tag us @counterfeitkitchallenge and use #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcnovember2023

September 2023 - Counterfeit Kit Challenge reveal and hop

 For those of you who know me well, you will be aware that 1st September marks the beginning of my #watchmesmile season and I'm excited to reach my favourite time of year!

As always, I start the month with high hopes and big ambitions which may or may not materialise, but especially at this time of year - with so so so many things on my calendar - it's important to live each day and soak up the new pace of life that autumn brings.

So I'm excited to be sharing the new inspiration kit over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge which was picked out by MF Tina and definitely stretched my kit making capabilities.

First up, let's say a big hello and welcome to our wonderful Guest Designer Jennifer Croasdale who can be found over on Instagram as @jen_cro_scraps.

And onto our kit which is definitely something different this month!

MF Tina has picked out the (Not) Just for Boys kit club "Aurora" Limitless kit from April 2023. You can find out all about it over at the (Not) Just for Boys kit club here - including all the contents - and of course, Tina has all the info over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog here.

(Not) Just for Boys kit club "Aurora" Limitless kit from April 2023

First up - I had nothing from this kit except the Silhouette "family" die-cut file. Second up the name reminded me of BasicGrey Aurora which, as fate would have it, features purples and greens. Third up - that reminded me of all the other BasicGrey featuring lilac, lavender and purple which I may or may not have been hoarding these last XXX years. Fourth up, that dark paper with the white dots reminded me of Simple Stories Heart papers. Fifth up - my kit came together much more quickly than I had anticipated! Twenty minutes or so and I had a full selection of papers and embellishments with lots and lots of older, vintage products and so... may I present to you... Treasured.

I actually started by pulling the Siple Stories Heart papers Forever and Always in my Heart before moving on to the BG Aurora collection where I also included the alphabet sheet. Then LilyKate, Granola and Wisteria (including all my scraps). I tried to pick up the beige and white dots, the stripes, the florals and botanicals and the stripes as well as the key colours of mint, shades of purple and blue with a sprinkle of neutrals. I really think this is an interesting mix of colours and prints and am excited as always to see if I can use these older products in a modern way!

Then onto the embellishments where I also wanted to select some older, less used items and dived into my Pinkfresh Studio selection. You can see all sorts of items from different collections here as well as some enamel dots which at least have the dark, the mint and the purple even if that peach is unlikely to see any use this time around... maybe that is a challenge for me!

Lots of different types of embellishments including journalling tags, puffy stickers and words, enamel dots, some BasicGrey chipboard and even wooden elements. I added in a couple of very used up Thickers sheets to really challenge myself and also included a ticket die to match those in the original kit.

Last up was a whole sheet of outline words to find uses for (cards may feature in my future) to go alongside the "family" design from the original kit.

This is definitely an unusual kit for me and I know it will be challenging to use - with the colours and older products - but I'm ready and excited to give it a go.

What will your kit look like? 

Don't forget to check out the whole hop (see below) and say hello to everyone along the way.

• Counterfeit Kit Challenge - http://counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com/ 
• Guest Designer Jennifer Croasdale -  https://www.instagram.com/jen_cro_scraps/
• Christine - https://www.youtube.com/@ScrappingHarden 
• Cindy - https://cindyscreations-cinmfoster.blogspot.com/ 
• Julene - http://julenebydesign.blogspot.com/  
• Lisa – http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com 
• Leslie - http://lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.com 
• Misty - https://craftysoup.com  
• Tara - https://kryptonite72-rambles.blogspot.com/ 
• Tina - http://tinasscrapcorner.blogspot.com/ 
• Brandi - https://www.instagram.com/scrappy.boymama/

And please share your kits and creations over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge FB community here or on Instagram. You can tag us @counterfeitkitchallenge and use #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcseptember2023

August 2023 - Counterfeit Kit Challenge reveal and hop

 I can't believe it's been so long since I was last here on the blog. It's not as if I haven't been crafty in that time, just not here I guess! I've been on mini-kit duty over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge over the last couple of months and now I'm back with a regular kit so let's get started, shall we?

It's my turn to host the month at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge and not only did I ask our wonderful ex-MF and wunderkind Clair to join us, but I also picked a new kit club by the European online shop, Pink and Paper which is run by the delightful Flóra.

I joined up immediately and love the fact that she is local (as in Europe!) and that there are still new kit clubs starting up to inspire us all! 

I've picked the first kit she offered - June 2023 which includes Crate Paper Gingham Garden as well as Cocoa Vanilla Happy Days items - I'll be sharing photos of all the individual items over in the FB community as well as the full content list if you like all the details!

Here is the kit:

I particularly love all the florals, those super cute puffy hearts and the mix of soft and stronger shades. It speaks to my flower loving, pastel adoring heart! There's a lot in there and lots of ways to stretch it and make it your own.

Here is my kit, Bouquet (bad photos of course because it's late at night 😳)

I started off with the striped paper which reminded me of the paint strip paper from Gingham Garden. Mine is a Paige Evans "Wonders" paper. From there I picked out the large rose floral (Simple Stories Happy Hearts), the lilac heart print (Echo Park You & Me) and a green chevron by Pink Paisley (Atlas). I was drawn to the birds and butterflies in the Jen Hadfield Peaceful Heart collection and then added in a small sprig design too. I finished off with a couple of sheets from Gingham Garden which were not in the original. Yes, my selection is definitely not the same as the inspiration kit but I do think it's got a lot of similarities. I'm pretty sure that I can work with these papers even if they look as if they don't automatically go together!

I see some fussy cutting in my future with the roses and those little black and white sprigs!

Then I kept the embellishments light thinking that I can add to my kit if I need. I've included Gingham Garden enamel dots and die cuts, some Echo Park pastel enamel dots, a pack of labels and tags from Paige Evans, a set of Thickers as well as a smaller white alphabet.

To finish off my embellishments I've thrown in a bag of florals and mixed little items that I have in my desktop tote bag. This hasn't been used for some time and thought it might be useful to top up the florals. As always, let's see how successful I am at using up these older items.

I like the mix of items in Bouquet which was important to me as of course, I have the original kit on my shelf (or at least what is left of it!). I think I can make a few pages from this selection and look forward to seeing what you all pull together too!

Don't forget to check out the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog for the full details of the hop and what you can expect through the month before heading over to the CKC community on FB here where all the sharing goes on!

March 2023 - Counterfeit Kit Challenge Mini kit reveal and project

I find it hard to believe that this is the first time I've put anyone on the blog since the middle of January, but there you have it! Busy times - which is mostly a good thing ;-) 

Anyway, I'm back today with a post about the Counterfeit Kit Challenge mini-kit which I signed up for this month.

MF Anna picked out this kit for us to inspire us - "Time to Thrive" by Traci Reed which had a very distinct look with the embellishments and colour scheme. I was pretty unsure which way to take it.

I thought about making a mini-album but after a less than successful LOAD in February (I only managed 11 layouts in total), I decided to make another page kit from my huge Mabel kit and tell another of my "28 Days of Mabel" stories. I'm still planning on getting the full 28 Days of Mabel done as soon as I can - just a goal for myself.

Looking at the original kit, I decided to go with the yellow, blue, green colour scheme with a red/pink heart paper which could be useful and matches the inspiration. I also decided that the floral embellishments, labels, twine bows and banners were good things to include and I liked the idea of hearts, florals, stars, leaves and dots so made sure my papers or embellishments highlighted those parts of the inspiration as well. I brought together some papers (all of which are partial sheets), some tags left over from last month's mini, alphas, some floral die-cuts and a handful of dies to make some extra embellishments if needed. My "Mabel kit" is full of peach, lemon, pinks and soft pastels so it was interesting to sort through and find some items which didn't exactly fit that colour scheme and was pleased with the resulting kit. It looks bigger than it really is! I might squeeze out two pages but this was really only designed for the one layout - let's see.

Here are my papers. I thought the smaller designs would make this page come together more easily and the tags seemed to have colours that complemented the papers - more or less! The spot paper reminded me of the watercolour effect of the striped paper in the original kit. I've added it in but am unsure how I will be using it.

I also included some of the dies that I've been repeatedly using on my Mabel pages recently. They may or may not prove useful but these small shapes are perfect for tucking in under corners or creating dimensional interest here and there.

One of my strategies recently is to fully prepare pages ahead of time so when I sit to create, everything I need is there and all the decisions have been made. I even write and print out the journalling whenever I can. This page was put together in the same was so I also added in a Simple Scrapper membership sketch, some photos I wanted to use and the story I wanted to tell before I considered my page-kit to be complete. The story I wanted to tell featured Mabel's friend - a black Labrador - so I felt that this stronger colour scheme would work well and still fit into my album of mostly softer shades.

The Simple Scrapper sketch is 8.5x11" so I adapted it for my 12x12 preference and the two photos I had picked out. The bottom photo - where they are cuddling - is almost identical to one I had printed out to tell another story about how they cuddle up. I had been irritated to realise how similar they were and that I couldn't use them both on one page so I was determined to find a way to include it in another story and by adding in the photo of Luna nudging Mabel to initiate play, the idea for the story came together.

I tried to stay guided by the sketch and I think the little line of tags is super cute and the addition of some leaves and flowers, as well as keeping those stronger shades to smaller proportions, keeps the layouts looking sweet and girly! They are both gorgeous "little" girls after all!

28 Days of Mabel #12

Even though it's definitely different to the other Mabel pages I've made recently, I think it will fit into the album nicely and it was a great exercise to pull out papers and colours from a very full-on, baby pink themed larger kit to match the inspiration kit! This layout tells a very important friendship story for Mabel's album and it makes me happy! It's great to be challenged to think outside of the box of your normal scrappy go-to's. Why not give it a try!

You can see the other mini kits over on the blog here and then be part of the Counterfeit Kit Challenge FB community here.