April 2019 - Counterfeit Kit Challenge prompt #2 - Hidden!

I'm back with a challenge layout today and am thrilled to be able to say that I not only used my April kit for layout #2, but I also fulfilled the challenge on the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog - Hidden!, and also my own Whimsical Musings prompt WM#325 - be inspired by a blue-toned necklace.

I do love it when I get multiple challenges completed in one layout - although there are others out there much better at it than me.

Here's a reminder of my take on the Hip Kit Club March 2019 kit, "Balconia" and you can find all the details for the inspiration kit over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog here.

Right, back to business...

I challenged the team with the following:

Challenge #2 - Hidden!

Easter is coming and many little ones will be participating in Easter Egg Huts in the garden. Create you own "hunt" on your page by including some hidden elements on your page such as journaling, symbolism or more photos. Let the hunt begin!

I decided to go for lots of hidden symbolism as well as a truly hidden-in-plain-sight element to my page. 

Can you see it? 

It's right there in the middle and I have to admit to being rather proud of it and ever so grateful for my beloved Silhouette Cameo which has earned its keep this week in more ways than one. When I use it, I truly love it and don't know why I don't use it more often!

So... if you didn't notice, here are some of the elements I included in my page.

• I splatted gold and blue onto the background to mirror the state flag of Alaska where I bought this gorgeous necklace
• the title is a nod to the flowers in the necklace which also happens to be the state flower of Alaska too. The actual words of the title are of course, double meaning as I really don't ever want to forget my trip and experiences during the holiday of a lifetime.
• I also used blue and gold with the messy thread elements 
• the softer colours of the patterned papers I used reminded me of the autumnal colours I experienced during my travels around the Yukon and my short stay in Alaska
• I've included the constellations you can find on the state flag - subtle but clear to see if you know where to look!
• and the best bit... I've cut out the state of Alaska from my favourite constellation covered Studio Calico vellum and laid it underneath the photo. You have to really look carefully to notice it and that's the effect I wanted. The focus is on the photo and the bead elements I've attached to the page as embellishments but the negative space on on the vellum is there to discover. 

I've been including hidden symbolism on my pages for a long time - colours, motifs, patterns etc - and find myself going back to this technique over and over which makes me happy. I hope you'll give it a try if this is something new for you. Make sure you link up to let me know how you get along!

Head back to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog so that you don't miss any of the other shares today and of course, there's heaps and heaps of inspiration and community shares over on Instagram here and the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Facebook Community here.

April 2019 Counterfeit Kit Challenge kit reveal blog hop

It's 1st April and that's no joke!

Hopefully, you're here for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge March blog hop kit reveal and I'm delighted to be choosing the kit again this month. It's going to be a good one!

No doubt you've reached me via the inspirational Leslie's blog (here), and next up is the delightful Lori (here), and I'm thrilled to welcome Debbie Stemper as Counterfeit Kit Challenge Guest Designer this month so make sure you head over to her blog (here) too.

I find myself returning to the same kit clubs over and over and this month was no exception. So it's not really much of a surprise that I picked out the Hip Kit Club March 2019 kit for our inspiration this time around, which features a wonderful combination of Crate Paper, Heidi Swapp and some Hip Kit Club exclusives. I hope you love it as much as I do.

You can find the link to the main kit here: https://www.hipkitclub.net/march-2019-main-kit

There are also some other kits available if you wanted to take inspiration from those and a great unboxing video if you want to get some more detail about the kit:

Paper: https://www.hipkitclub.net/march-2019-paper-kit 

Pocket Page: https://www.hipkitclub.net/march-2019-project-life-kit  

Embellishment: https://www.hipkitclub.net/march-2019-embellishment-kit 

Color: https://www.hipkitclub.net/march-2019-color-kit 

Cardstock: https://www.hipkitclub.net/march-2019-cardstock-kit 

Unboxing video: https://youtu.be/ghg4bmT6foc 

I've named my kit "Balconia" which isn't really a real word but is a phrase we use here in Germany for the time of year when we start spending all our time out on the balcony, enjoying the sunshine, pottering among our flower boxes and of course, eating Bratwurst from the BBQ and drinking cold beer! - "Life on Balconia"! I actually spend time on Balconia all year round, but it definitely intensifies at the end of March and the beginning of April when we replant the boxes and officially open BBQ season!

I know, I know! You're struggling to find where the inspiration kit is in among all the products in my kit but I promise I started with a list consisting of:

• spots
• hearts
• florals
• small patterns
• circles
• green
• pink
• black & white
• mustard yellow
• bright blue
• green
• summer & sunshine
• clips
• bows

And if you look closely, you'll find all of these except a lot of the bight green and the bows.

Here are my papers. I started with the large spot and hearts (bottom left), and the pink/blue Crate Paper design and floral (top left) and then added in the pie chart circles, the tiny spot and the black and white trailing leaves before finishing off with a couple more florals and the stripes which reminded me of the original kit.

It may not be exactly the same but the inspiration is there and I really think that this mix will give me some super variety!

I then added in some clips that I bought recently and the colours seemed to fit ...

... the stickers that feature floral and words, a colourful mix of enamel dots, a full pack of bright, happy die cuts ... 

...  and black alphas which match the original kit as well as some smaller letters because I love a good mix.

I also added in a few items that are quite a bit older because I've realised that I always stuff my kits with all sorts of scrummy new stuff and my older product is a little neglected. Some brad stickers, some labels and a handful of journalling spots and tags. Let's see if I'll find a way to bring them up to date.

Here's the full blog hop list in case you get lost along the way:

• Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog: http://counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com/
• Guest Designer Debbie Stember: https://pigsflyng.wordpress.com
• Cindy: http://cindyscreations-cinmfoster.blogspot.com
• Leslie: http://lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.com/
• Lisa: http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com/
• Lori: https://loriannie670.blogspot.com/
• Tina: https://tinasscrapcorner.blogspot.com
• Laura: https://www.instagram.com/mrsp_scrapsandtea/

We always love to see your work, so please share your kits and projects with us!  
You can link up in different ways:

• 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 #ckcapril2019

Thanks for stopping by today - I'll be here again tomorrow with some ideas 

to help you put together your kit!

March 2019 Counterfeit Kit Challenge Frame It Up!

Over on the Counterfeit Kit Challenge today, I'm challenging everyone to "Frame it Up!".

Our inspiration kit included several different frames - in the embellishment pack as well as a frame patterned paper - so I thought it would be a good idea to get those frames used up on our pages.

I love using them but often forget that I have so many of them hanging around in my stash so this was a great chance for me to include a handful in my kit and then actually use them up!

I wanted to find a way to use the in the design of the page itself rather than just as an embellishment and realised that I had one larger Crate Paper fabric item as well as two matching smaller ones which got my brain working. Originally, I thought I'd fill all three with my journalling and then realised that the larger one was perfect to highlight my main photo - you really head to this point of the page first which is exactly what I wanted.

The two smaller ones were then perfect to fill with printed journalling which looks neat and includes more than I could have hand written.

My remaining two photos were matted to give them some dimension and help them fill the spaces better.

I'd fussy cut out the banner along the top already and realised that it would be the perfect backdrop for some additional die cut elements to help with the dimension and adds some extra whimsy. The banner also forms an additional frame to the page.

Layered up butterflies have foam dots underneath their wings to really lift the wings and add texture to the busy border.

I added all the elements of my grid onto some layered papers to really make it pop. I love how I used some really bright and eye-catching papers but the overall feeling of the page is more muted and soft.

I filled the last space on the grid with a longer title so that there was no trapped or empty space. It all worked out perfectly even though it looks nothing like I thought it would when I first started looking for photos!

You can find other examples of framed elements over at the CKC blog this morning so make sure you check those out too. And don't forget to go back to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge again on 18th for our second challenge. :-) 

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).

Counterfeit Kit Challenge March 2019 kit reveal blog hop

My oh my! It's March already. But that means another month, another kit, another counterfeiting four weeks of fun and more fun to be had, and that can't be a bad thing!

It was my turn to pick and organise the Counterfeit Kit Challenge kit this month and it was a lot of fun to have a look around for the perfect spring kit for your inspiration.

I selected the Scrapbooks and Cards Today spring 2018 kit, "Blue Skies & Butterflies".

I loved the bright colours and the sweet themes and thought it was just perfect for this time of year - I hope you agree.

Back to the blog hop - hopefully, you've arrived here from the inspirational Leslie and next up is the wonderful Lori and so that you don't miss anyone on the hop, the full list is at the end of this post. I'm particularly thrilled to have ex-Master Forger, scrapbooker extraordinaire and fellow-Scorpio, Susanne from Scraps and Snippets as our Guest Designer this month. This is going to be a great month so I hope you'll play along.

Here's the kit. Look at all that scrumminess.

Find details of the kit here

You can also find a great video here and also a section of the projects made by the design team here.

My kit turned out a little differently than I had expected but I looked through my stash to find spring colours that I was reminded of in the kit and to match up - more in the feel than the exact design - the patterns.

Anyway, here's "Budding"

Here are the papers I picked out. Now I can imagine that you're wondering where the themes of the original kit are and why have I included llamas?!? Well, I realised that I don't actually have any paper with butterflies any more (I included the softer vintage coloured butterflies I have in last month's kit) so I included birds instead which still say "spring" to me. I've gone for small, repeating patterns, stripes, larger and smaller florals and a frame-filled pattern. I also tried to find some colours such as the yellow and pink that can be found in that SCT kit and then added in some papers that I just love the idea of using up for scrapping at this time of year - hence the llamas!

I found a point in the video where the papers were lined up like this and so I paused it and matched them up piece for piece in my own interpretation.

I then went through the items in the original kit for embellishments and identified die-cuts, veneer, stamps, words and puffy stickers. I picked out some items that seemed to match these embellies and also some additional butterflies and brad items that had the same colour scheme.

I purchased these cutie pie puffy stickers last week and because they are rather cute and sweet, I thought they would fit this kit rather well - not usually my style but I had to have them.

I realised I had quite a few bunnies and a quite adorable lamb in my veneer collection and thought that would be something fun to add in. I might even run up some Easter cards.

I received these punched butterflies from a wonderful scrappy friend across the miles (shout out to Sherrie) so in they've gone (in fact I have a couple of dozen in the kit). I always forget to use stamps so I realised that I had some whimsical frames that looked exactly the same as the printed paper as well as some from HS and my beloved butterfly stamps from Martha Stewart.

A few frames completed my kit.

Now for the confession: I also have a collection of items that I've added into a second pizza box and will dip into when I'm working with this kit. The box includes the rest of the Simple Stories llama themed papers (which are just too cute to resist even if I have no idea how on earth I could use them), some old Dear Lizzy and a selection of alphas in different sizes as well as a few extra embellishments. I haven't taken a photo because they don't really form my main kit and don't really match the inspiration kit - just this kit!


Here's  the full blog hop list in case you get lost along the way - don't miss out any of the great kits on offer this month!

• Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog: http://counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com/
• Guest Designer Susanne: https://snapsandsnippets.blogspot.com/
• Cindy: http://cindyscreations-cinmfoster.blogspot.com/
• Julene: http://julenebydesign.blogspot.com/
• Leslie: http://lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.com/
• Lisa: http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com/
• Lori: https://loriannie670.blogspot.com/
• Tina: https://tinasscrapcorner.blogspot.com
• Laura: https://www.instagram.com/mrsp_scrapsandtea/

And as always, we love it when you share with us so don't be shy and connect as much as you can! 

You can join in via:

• the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog here and the link up page here
• the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Facebook community here
• the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Instagram account here (find us @counterfeitkitchallenge and share with #counterfeitkitchallenge)

February 2019 - Counterfeit Kit Challenge - Feathers

Great to have you here today for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge prompt #2 which calls for us to be inspired by feathers!

I had included a couple of die cut feathers in my kit but remembering the forgery feathers that I featured in the Forger on the Fourth post inspired me to make some more but this time from soft pink tissue paper. I knew this would be more difficult to use than the vellum I'd used before but it was worth a try.

I used one of the die cuts I had in my kit as a template to cut about 8 pink tissue feathers and then I used copper wire for the "spine" with a tiny amount of Glossy Accents.

After they had dried, I just cut the sides into the centre to give the feather effect. I have to say that if I had worked a little bit tidier and "cleaner" with the glue, these would have worked really well. But overall, I was happy with the result.

And then I just used all the feathers I'd made - except a couple which had torn a little - and the other feathers from my kit to make a full feather cluster on the side of my photo.

I kept the overall layout relatively simple with just a couple of layers, some matching tissue paper behind the photo and a few doilies fussy cut from on one the kit papers to complement the feathers.

I know the photos are almost the same but I really wanted to use them both as a lovely reminder of my day with all three of my youngest nieces! The title refers to the "bump" nicknames that my sister gave to each of them.

To be honest, the layout was a little rushed and I think it might need a little tweaking here and there - especially around the cluster but maybe I'll live with it a while and see what it needs for me to be happy with it. Let's see how it works! However, photos on a layout less than a week after they were taken is a success in my book!

Check out the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog to see what the other Master Forgers have done with this challenge and make sure you share! We love it when you share your own makes!

You can join in via:

• the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog here and the link up page here
• the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Facebook community here
• the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Instagram account here (find us @counterfeitkitchallenge and share with #counterfeitkitchallenge)

Counterfeit Kit Challenge February 2019 kit reveal blog hop

Welcome to February and to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge February kit reveal blog hop.

Hopefully, you've reached me from Leslie's inspirational blog  and next up is the wonderful Laura over on Instagram here. As always, their kits will be sure to please. In fact, I don't know why I write this every month because ALL the kits the team makes are wonderful. Each. And. Every. Month! :-)

This month, follower Kim Ferguson is our Guest Designer and we are very happy to have her with us. Make sure you head over to her Facebook page here to check out her kit and keep up with her makes throughout the month. You can find all the creativity throughout the month on the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog as well as the Counterfeit Kit Challenge community over on Facebook.

This month Master Forger Julene is supporting Australian manufacturer Kaisercraft by offering us their Anthology collection for our inspiration kit. A wonderfully vintage feel mix of botanicals, butterflies, woodgrain and collage patterns with shades of brown, mint, teal and a hint of yellow. You can see the full range over on the Kaisercraft website here.

I know mine doesn't look much like the original but the inspiration is definitely there! Let's have a look at it first. Here's Vintage.

I started off by identifying the patterns and colours in the original collection. I came up with these lists:

• birds, keys, feathers, butterflies, flora & botanicals, spots, stripes, grid, letters, woodgrain, map, collage, distressed
• brown, cream, gold-yellow, eggshell blue, teal, mint, forest green, black, grey, beige

To me, it has an "old school" feel and reminded me of Prima, Rusty Pickle, BasicGrey, Graphic45 or Making Memories. And I knew that I had lots of this sort of paper in my organiser that often gets ignored! It holds all my older papers and doesn't get dipped into very often. So I decided to go back to the roots and fish out a whole bunch of papers that seemed to match my inspiration lists.

I know this is a huge amount of paper but I know that they are going to be a little more difficult to use than usual so it's good to have a lot of choices!

Here are my papers and there are some of my absolute favourites from the time. They may not exactly match my style these days but they are still appealing in their own way. 

I decided that I would add in a lot of washi because I forget to use them!

And then I matched my lists and threw in plenty of bits and pieces that will make for some interesting combinations.

I know that I will need to add in some more items as I go along and have not included alphas so those will be added in as and when I need them.

I think I will aim to make a large set of cards to refill my supplies and reduce my expectations of how many layouts I can come up with to around 3 or 4. It's a LOAD month so I need to have products which I'm totally inspired by and I know this set will need a little more thought so let's see how it works for me!

Here's the full blog hop list:

Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog: http://counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com/

Guest Designer Kim Ferguson: Kim on Facebook

Cindy: http://cindyscreations-cinmfoster.blogspot.com/

Tina: https://tinasscrapcorner.blogspot.com/

Julene: http://julenebydesign.blogspot.com/

Leslie: http://lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.com/

Lisa: http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com/

Laura: https://www.instagram.com/mrsp_scrapsandtea/

And as always, we love it when you share with us so don't be shy and connect as much as you can! 

You can join in via:

• the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog here and the link up page here
• the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Facebook community here
• the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Instagram account here (find us @counterfeitkitchallenge and share with #counterfeitkitchallenge)

Counterfeit Kit Challenge - Mood Board Challenge #2

Welcome back to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge prompt #2 which is all about Susan's wonderful mood board.

Check out the details of the mood board over on the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog here.

She asked us to take inspiration in any way we wanted to from her curated collection of beautiful images. And there's a whole lot of gorgeousness there so I'm interested to see how everyone else takes their pages.

The bow of decorative plates on the wall caught my eye, especially with the "block" of furniture which reminded me of a blocked photo on a page design, as well as that super quote in the middle. Several of the photos were all about messy piles or layers and then of course, there was the round cake and the arched doorway.

I decided to focus on a curve of messy stitched circles which would frame my blocked photo and incorporate the quote as my title. This gorgeous photo of my wonderful nieces seemed like an all round perfect fit. 

I picked out lots of circular elements from my kit in soft pinks to match those pretty faces and then added in some darker shades which tied in with their bold school uniforms. The curved stitching, the random element placement and the bunched up threads were inspired by the piles of books and papers in the mood board as well as some of those darker shades.

I wanted to add in a glittery heart for interest and then realised that I needed some other glittery items because it was too stand alone. I used more glitter hearts and then cut some very thin strips of the same shade of pink glitter paper and layered them under here and there. They are not totally obvious but make two visual triangles. I also added in a couple more small hearts for interest.

I went with a mixed title which is something I love to do and included a couple of phrase stickers for variety. More stitching was added for interest and to make sure that those pesky Thickers don't come off (super unsticky which is irritating!).

This layout was quick and easy and a lot of fun to pull together once I had decided where the inspiration was taking me! I love it.

You can see what the other Master Forgers did with this mood board over on the blog here so why not check that out. And don't forget to share if you're inspired to create too!

You can add it to our Link-up page, post it in our Facebook Community, or share it on Instagram (use #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcjanuary2019).  We love seeing what you make!

Another year with Jingle Belles

It's January and that means another set of creative goals for the year! And again, I'm going to try to join in on the Jingle Belles challenge as much as I can. 

Last Christmas I failed to send a single Christmas card. Not to mention any hand-made cards. And it just made me sad. This year I want to do better. Let's see. I can't promise to manage every week but honestly, a card or two each week can't be that difficult, can it? 

The inspiration over at the Jingle Belles blog- where they offer prompts every second week to take Christmas back over the year - is fabulous and whenever I join in, I love it. Lauren and Stephanie make the most beautiful cards that motivate me to try harder rather than always going for he easy option of a very quick and easy card. If you'Ve never joined in and would like to have a pile of cards at the end of the year, without the stress, check out their website here.

The first challenge of the year JB:19:01 - for which I'm posting too late, but hey ho, it's a start - is "No Time Like the Presents" which all about recycling wrapping, tags or just using your leftover wrapping supplies on a card before putting them back into the cellar for the rest of the year.

Each year I make tags for our German Secret Santa and last Christmas I really went to town with a die-cut layered extravaganza. They took me hours to make and were rather over the top but I loved them all the same. I needed 5 plus one for my niece and ended up making 8 (although I ran out of a few of the die cuts for the last one) and had the last two hanging around on my desk.

This prompt seemed an ideal place to showcase those last two leftover tags. 

The next prompt will be up on the Jingle Belles blog tomorrow so I'm interested to see if I can keep up. The couple of years I managed were so successful. Wish me luck.