June 2020 - Counterfeit Kit Challenge #1 - Wonderful world!

Here today to talk about the Counterfeit Kit Challenge #1, set by MF Tara who has challenged us today to think about what a wonderful world this is.

"Create a layout about the wonderful world that you live in.  This could be a layout about the beauty of the natural world.  You could create a layout about the world you created-home, work, etc.  Let your creative juices flow!"

What a great challenge at this time of uncertainty, disquiet and concern.

I knew what I would talk about right away when I sat down to scrapbook - which is not happening often enough right now tbh.

Last month, after many, many years of debate on the subject, we added to our tiny family unit of 2 and brought Mabel into our life. I can't tell you how happy we are. I know that I want to give her her own album or at least set of stories so this was a great place to start.

Turning to my June Counterfeit Kit Challenge kit, Promise - see original reveal post here - I decided that this layout was worthy of the fabulous Pinkfresh Studio rainbow design and started from there. It didn't feel like it needed a lot of embellishment as it already has all the colours, the word art and even ink splats.

I added some extra work stickers, a couple of puffy stickers, a scatter of tiny butterflies and a couple of layers around the photo. I wanted to keep as much of the top design element of the paper uncovered as possible so I didn't really add much more to the photo block.

Oh my! Look how tiny she is! Three weeks later, I can tell you that even though she's still "small", she's "huge" in comparison to this photo!

My title is so very true.

A small cluster at the top of the page just to add some dimension and variety.

Couldn't resist adding some leftover die cut hearts from a previous project. To be open, I added in the Pinkfresch puffy stickers and word elements to my CKC kit just to add in some different textures and styles.

So there we have it, the first in what is sure to be many layouts about Mabel who has come into our lives at just the right moment. We are in love 💗.

Don't forget that there are other takes on this uplifting prompt over at the CKC blog today and more up throughout the rest of the month. You can find all the info over on the blog.

June 2020 - Counterfeit Kit Challenge kit reveal and hop

Welcome to June and this month's Counterfeit Kit Challenge hop.

You should have reached me via Julene's blog here and next up is Tara. Of course, we also have an awesome Guest Designer too - Becca! - so make sure you drop by there and say hello. There's a full hop list at the end of the post in case you get lost along the way.

This month, MF Tara chose a kit by Clique Kits International called "Wonderful World" and it's gorgeous. 

Here's the main kit:

and the embellishments:

Here's my kit which I've named "Promise" inspired by the rainbow coloured paper design that was my starting point.

I know it doesn't look anything like the original but I was first inspired by the rainbow paper. I don't have any rainbows in my stash which was a bit disappointing but it reminded me of the Pinkfresh Studio "Just a Little Lovely" collection - both design and colour scheme - and I started from there.

I picked out two sheets from that collection and then turned to Crate Paper for the large spots and mustard tones as well as a floral. From there I moved on to the Echo Park "Let's Travel" and Carta Bella "Summer Market" for some shades and designs that reminded me of the original even though in total, we seem to have moved away somewhat from the colour of the Clique Kits selection.

I wanted a selection of papers that are versatile but retain the spirit of the lighter shades and designs from the original. A more hopeful collection of product to scrap some happy pages. The rainbow design reminded me of the rainbows of hope at the moment and the name "Promise" seemed appropriate.

For the embellishments, I started off with lots of butterflies, labels, tags and flowers from my miscellaneous collection - matching the motifs of the original. I also threw in some cameras because the original has a few of those with the suitcase and travel side of the selection.

I added in a bunch of very used up black alphas but then included some other random, differently-sized older letter sheets too in the hope that I can use them up!

I threw in some puffy stickers from the Summer Market collection, some hearts to match the original kit and a pack of butterflies which would be good to use up.

Last but not least, I included the die-cuts and enamel dots from the Let's Travel collection to give me some variety and to pick up the tags and suitcase theme from the inspiration kit.

It's another big kit which is worrying to be honest as I'm just not creating as much as I have done in the past. But you might have missed the fact that we have an addition to the the family :-) No doubt I'll be making a page - or ten - about her arrival so maybe I'll be inspired to get some more creating done!

Here's the full hop incase you get lost along the way - make sure you say hello to everyone. You don't want to miss out!

• Counterfeit Kit Challenge - http://counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com/
• Guest Designer - Becca - https://beccasheartland.blogspot.com/
• Cindy - http://cindyscreations-cinmfoster.blogspot.com/
• Julene - http://julenebydesign.blogspot.com/
• Lisa - http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com/
• Tara - https://kryptonite72-rambles.blogspot.com/
• Leslie - http://lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.com/
• Tina - http://tinasscrapcorner.blogspot.com/
• Tracey - https://3obsessions.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 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 #ckcjune2020).

Counterfeit Kit Challenge May kit reveal and hop

It's May already and here we are for the latest Counterfeit Kit Challenge kit reveal and blog hop which is always exciting. A new month, new challenges, new inspiration. Not to forget that tomorrow is {inter}National Scrapbook Day and there's even more going on over at the CKC blog so don't forget to check that out too.

But back to today's hop. Hopefully, you've reached me from Julene's blog - I'm sure her kit is fabulously huge as always - and next up is Lori - her enthusiasm and productivity is very inspiring! This month, we're delighted to welcome Ashley who can be found at her blog here. You'll find the full list at the end of the post and I really think you can't afford to miss a single kit this month - such great stuff out there!

Master Forger Leslie has picked out the Club Echo Park March 2020 Kit (find it here: https://clubechopark.com/current-kit.php) which is based on the Carta Bella "Oh Happy Day" collection which was so full of luscious colours that my kit was a pleasure to pull together.

Here are some photos that Leslie created for us.

And this is the kit that I created - Llamaricious!

I have to say that this kit turned into something I wasn't expecting and much bigger than planned - but you know what? I started using it today already and I have to say that I am STILL missing some embellishments!

Here are my papers and I kicked things off with that bird paper in the top row by Crate Paper followed by the two Pink Paislee (grey and yellow) and built it out from there. The original seemed quite whimsical with birds, lemons, vases and hats so I decided to throw in my leftovers from a  collection featuring llamas and cactus and then my eye fell on the Valentine collection I got by Pebbles which also features llamas, plenty of hearts and candy stripes, with a good sprinkle of other cute animals. I know it doesn't really look like the original but it all seemed to go together with the pinks and aquas I'd already included, I also found a sheet of mason jars which I thought would be a good substitute for the vases. I love this mix of papers!

On to the embellishments and like I said above, I feel that I should add a few more to give me some more variety but let's see what I've added so far.

I started off with the washi from the Pebbles collection and went from there. Some Crate Paper stickers - words, labels and borders seemed to offer some different shapes and shades.

Puffy stickers from Pebbles, the full sticker book from the Carta Bella Summer Market collection....

Lots of Thickers that matched the papers as well as the Pebbles glitter words and a smaller letter sticker set by October Afternoon, finished off with some enamel style dots which I can't live without.

To finish off, I spotted these llama clips. I think I've had these in a kit before and they didn't get used so let's see if I can find an appropriate way to include them on a page!

Huge but clearly not huge enough! Do you have any suggestions of what embellishment I'm missing?

I'm trying to get a couple of items for the Forgery on the Fourth so check out the CKC blog on the fourth to see if I managed that as well as throughout the month! There's LOADS going on this month - you don't want to miss out on any of it!

Here's the full list in case you need it and thanks for dropping by today! Happy hopping!

• Counterfeit Kit Challenge - http://counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com/
• Guest Designer - https://marklandandmain.blogspot.com/ 
• Cindy - http://cindyscreations-cinmfoster.blogspot.com/
• Julene - http://julenebydesign.blogspot.com/
• Lisa - http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com/
• Lori -  https://loriannie670.blogspot.com/
• Tara - https://kryptonite72-rambles.blogspot.com/
• Tina - http://tinasscrapcorner.blogspot.com/
• Tracey - https://3obsessions.blogspot.com/
• Laura - https://www.instagram.com/mrsp_scrapsandtea/

Counterfeit Kit Challenge April - Challenge #1 Pinteresting Times

Welcome, welcome and here I am - a day late which seems to be the story of my life at the moment.

There are a few reasons why I'm late but I won't bore you with the details as it sounds like I'm making excuses! Let's just put it down to these crazy days we are all experiencing at the moment.

Challenge #1 Pinteresting Times

Master Forger Clair challenged us to take inspiration from her gorgeous Pinterest board for today's challenge and it was such a difficult task to pick just one! It reminded me that I also have so many fabulous creative ideas pinned on my own boards that I really have to remember to go over there more often. There were times in the past when I would lose hours down the rabbit holes of all the ideas there ....

Anyway, after quite some time um'ing and ah'ing over all the layouts I picked a particularly lovely, simple layout by Marcy Penny. I love her style which is of course, almost the opposite of my own style and wondered how I could interpret this into a "Lisa" design.

Found on Pinterest here

I stretched the design to my preferred 12x12 format and printed my photo somewhat larger than the original and came up with a layout that I really quite like!

Yes, it's a bit simpler than my usual style and I think that the tag would have benefited from being a little larger but to be honest, I don't think I want to add anything else to this.

I picked a topic that didn't really need a lot of journalling as it really is just a reminder to myself after celebrating my dad's milestone birthday this weekend with my sister - virtually, via a three-way video meeting and realising that this photo is the last one I have of just the three of us - now almost 19 years ago!

My kit provided me with a lovely mix of softer and bolder colours and patterns which I really enjoyed mixing. Love how that turned out.

I added some extra stitching, a sprinkle of ink, a scatter of enamel dots and a small title but really, the rest is fairly true to the original design - same but different.

I've been on rather a creative hiatus these last weeks - focussing on getting through days at home and keeping a regular routine seems to have pushed my scrappy mojo out of the way - so I was happy to be pushed into making this page. It felt good to stretch my creative muscles and I love my kit so maybe I can get a bit more productive this week.

Don't forget that the Counterfeit Kit Challenge is here throughout the month with inspiration and challenges to make and use the products in your stash that you love! Check out the blog to find out more! Start with the kit reveal posts each month (see April 1st's post here) to get that initial inspiration and then continue through the month for ideas and tips for how to pull your supplies together and get them used up on pages and projects!

Wishing you all a very happy Easter Monday.

Stay safe. Stay healthy.

Counterfeit Kit Challenge April kit reveal and hop

Welcome to the blog today and happy 1st April.

It's a strange world right now and I'm happy and grateful for this hobby of ours to help distract us from the 24/7 news reports from across the globe. I hope that you are safe, healthy and feeling positive and I'm happy to be sharing our Counterfeit Kit Challenge April kit with you today.

I'm hoping you reached me via the always wonderful Leslie and as always, the lovely Lori is up after me but don't forget to drop in on our fabulous Guest Designer Mel who joins us all the way from New Zealand! You can find her on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/meldavis.nz/


Clair's in charge this month and she's picked the gorgeous Cocoa Daisy, Orchard Path Kits - there's a wide selection available so there's sure to be something that inspires you! Pocket Kit, Travellers Notebook Kit, Planner Kit and lots and lots of extras.

Pocket Kit

Memory Keeping Sticker Kit

I adored the colour scheme of the original and let that guide my kit almost completely. 

My kit seems to have strayed from the original to some degree but it has the main shades of peach and green.

I started off by glancing though some older BasicGrey pages and found that green design (top left) followed by the peach/green tones (2nd left) and then the map print which has green a slights richer peach (5th left).

I then added in some more peach papers that caught my eye and some darker grey/green papers to broaden the colour scheme.

The navy print reminded me of the darker shades in the original and then I saw a partial cut apart sheet that just seemed to go with the others and threw that in too. A few 6x6 sheets featuring pretty florals rounded off the papers and picked out remaining elements I was inspired by in the Cocoa Daisy original.

The embellishments were kicked off by including items from the same My Mind's Eye collection as the cut apart sheet - some pocket cards, brads, stickers, enamel shapes, buttons, die cuts etc. Even though these do not match all the colours in the rest of the kit, I thought it was a great place to start to make sure I included lots of pretty bits and pieces which is often what I'm off searching for additionally when making pages.

There's also the sticker sheet from BasicGrey that matches two of the patterned papers I've included. It's hardly touched so let's see if I can get creative this month.

I included three different alphabets and a partial set of enamel dots as well as a set of chipboard shapes (no-name) which I've yet to make much headway into. 

It's definitely a bigger kit than I've had the last few months but I think it's going to work for me. I'm hoping to get inspired to scrap some more while I'm spending all my time at home. It's difficult to find the motivation at the moment with everything that's going on but I know it will do me some good if I can concentrate on the pretty stuff on my craft table rather than the scary stuff on TV.

Thanks for coming along today. Don't forget to hop along to all the team this month and here's the list in case you get lost along the way.

• Guest Designer, Mel - https://www.instagram.com/meldavis.nz/
• Counterfeit Kit Challenge - http://counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com/
• Guest Designer Mel - https://www.instagram.com/meldavis.nz/
• 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/
• Tara - https://kryptonite72-rambles.blogspot.com/
• Tina - http://tinasscrapcorner.blogspot.com/
• Tracey - https://3obsessions.blogspot.com/
• Laura - https://www.instagram.com/mrsp_scrapsandtea/

Sending positive vibes across the miles to you all. Stay safe, stay healthy, stay home. 

Counterfeit Kit Challenge March kit reveal hop

Welcome to March and to a new Counterfeit Kit Challenge month of inspiration.

You should have reached me from the fabulous Leslie and then delightful Lori is next up on your journey. And we are so very lucky to have the wonderful Julie as our Guest Designer again this month - it's always a treat when Julie joins us! Make sure you say hi! But as ever, you can find the full blog hop list at the end of the post. Of course, you should visit everyone on the hop as we all loved the kit Lori picked out for us and so I'm sure that there will be some amazing kits to be inspired by.

Now onto the kit.

Lori picked out the Citrus Twist February 2020 Scrapbooking Add-on and what a stunner it is! All those gorgeous colours and scrummy embellishments! It's got lots of Pinkfresh Studio in there as well as well as a smattering of Crate Paper. The rainbow paper caught my eye immediately - and of course the blue paper which looks like it might be stars and constellations! - and just think there's so much to love here. There's a whole lot of spring feeling in this kit and I really like the light feel to it all.

Citrus Twist February 2020 Scrapbooking Add-on

There is also a coordinating Life Crafted kit (for pocket pages) that is super cute too.

Life Crafted kit 

I went to my Pinkfresh Studio stash and found a lighter-than-usual blue constellation paper and matched that up with a Photoplay rainbow sheet that I had snapped up recently. This then became the base for my kit!

So, here is Rainbow!

I decided that this could be a bit of a smaller kit because I've been scrapping up a storm during February and made 30 layouts in 29 days for LOAD, using up all my remaining kits (July, August, November and January) and I think I'll be taking it a little easier in March. (Even though Scrap Happy is hosting Calvinball2020 which might tempt me a little now that I'm back in the creative swing).

For my papers, I picked out a few other items from Pinkfresh - the vellum and a partial sheet of bird design which reminded me of the original - before turning to Crate where I found the word covered paper and then Pink Paislee for the clouds and tropical flowers. This may not seem a lot but several of the b-sides are perfect to use too and I think this will be good for a handful of layouts. You never know, if I run out of kit, I could just make up another one mid-month! I think my kit turned out a bit brighter than the original but I still think it's very much a spring collection. Can't wait to cut into that paper!

I then added a bunch of embellishments and alphabets as LOAD showed me that these are the items I usually go off to find and then add into my kit during the creative process - my kits grow a lot during their lifetime!

I looked for shapes and colours that reminded me of the original kit and while I may not have matched item for item, I think it shares a similar vibe! At the last minute, I also three in a few really old items to see if I could use them up. I think I'll be trying to do more of that this year. I have a lot of old stash that I still love so I shouldn't always reach for the new shiny purchases!

Here's the full hop list today to make sure that you don't miss out on any of the fun. Make sure you say hi to all the team as you hop along!

• Counterfeit Kit Challenge - http://counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com/
• Guest Designer Julie - https://jsquaredscrapspot.wordpress.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/
• Tara - https://kryptonite72-rambles.blogspot.com/
• Tina - http://tinasscrapcorner.blogspot.com/
• Tracey - https://3obsessions.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 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 #ckcjanuary2020). 

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