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!

April 2023 - CKC Challenge #1 - Celebrate all the things!

 Over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge you can find out all about our latest challenge set my MF Misty!

She was inspired by the birthday theme of the original kit and asked us 

to make a celebratory layout.

I haven't been feeling creative recently and have struggled to find the time or the motivation to really get scrapping so I gave myself a talking to and headed off to my weekly crop with my summer "Easygoing" kit in hand.

I decided just to go with the flow and see where the creative process took me without considering what layout I was really making. Just happy, sunny papers and techniques/design that make me happy.

I love the tag sheets that Simple Stories seem to have in every collection these days and started the whole process by cutting those up into individual tags and deciding that there were 5 really lovely ones I would like to use on my layout. Next up was a full sheet of floral clusters that I spent a happy half hour fussy-cutting up - I didn't keep any of the background, just cut out all the flowers!

So, I knew that I wanted to use tags and some flowers and now I headed into my tried and trusted design techniques!

The obligatory distressed, overlapping paper strips top and bottom of the page with a banner of tags along the middle where I intended to fit photos and journalling if possible.

I had the basic set up of my page within a few mins and then I tied those tags together which took me forever with the bows at the end! After that, it was just a matter of tucking in some fussy-cut flowers into the bottom paper strips. At this point, I was happy with my progress and decided it would be a celebration of friendship layout. 

We (my scrappy friends and I) have celebrated National Scrapabilly Day (the LSS run by our fearless leader Sylvia!) the last two summers and so, the summer photos and the theme of friendship and celebrations all came together. I knew all of this but the layout sat there waiting for a finish up for more than two weeks!

Today was that day and of course, the final touches of the photos, the journalling and some enamel dots took a very short time - why do I ALWAYS procrastinate so much?!? 

Overall, I'm very happy with how this all came together and turned out! 

Friends are always worth celebrating!

You can find out more about what the rest of the team created for this challenge over on the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog and of course, in the CKC FB community here and over on IG here.

We'd love it if you created your very own celebratory layout and shared it with us - see you over there 😉

April 2023 - Counterfeit Kit Challenge kit reveal and hop

 It's April and that's no joke!

Welcome back to the blog where I'm showcasing the new inspiration kit from the Counterfeit Kit Challenge.

MF Misty is in charge this month and has selected a Scrapbook and Cards Today sampler kit from March 2022 - it's bright and funky and totally up my street!

For more photos of the content of the kit including links to Victoria Calvin's take, head over to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog where Misty has put in a lot of work to give you content lists and photos of the main elements that can be found in it.

And of course, no month is complete without an awesome Guest Designer and I can't believe that Misty was successful in securing my Mint Green Washi Friend (in-joke) Kathy! I've been trying to get her on board for literally years so I'm delighted to see that she is joining us in the Counterfeit Kit Challenge FB community this month as well as sharing over on Instagram (@codakathy). Please, please, please make sure you head over there and say hello to her! We are beyond thrilled to spend April with her!

Right, onto the serious stuff! My kit. I decided to name it "Easygoing" because of the summer vibes it has!

When I saw the kit, I was particularly taken with the bright summer colours and the navy/coral florals. It felt like an interesting combination. It totally reminded me of the Simple Stories summer collection "Sunkissed" and so I started by pulling out those papers, embellishments and washi tapes and went from there.

I added in a few other Simple Stories papers from an older collection "Hello Summer" as well as the two sided spots in red and blue from "Say Cheese Main Street" followed by two sheets of bright, happy Paige Evans from "Go the Scenic Route". There are quite a few papers here for my usual kits but I spy some designs to cut apart or fussy cut and some b-side basics which will be great to use.

As mentioned, I already had the die-cuts and washi from the Sunkissed collection so I added in a bunch of twine in summer colours (thinking I could replicate some of the bows for the original kit) as well as some happy enamel dots.

Extra die-cuts from various bright, colourful collections and some really old, vintage photo frames as well as a sheet of super cute summer puffy stickers from Doodlebug that I just had to have but feel challenged to use!

Of course alphabets in various sizes and colours and some puffy words from PinkFresh Studio to give a full range of possibilities.

And there you have it. IT's a big kit for me these days but I hope to be inspired to pick out some sunny, fun photos to scrap and we will have to see where my inspiration takes me.

Of course, there is a hop so make sure you catch all the stops along the way:

• Counterfeit Kit Challenge: http://counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com/
• Guest Designer: Kathy Leicht-Gregg in Instagram @codakathy
• Anna: https://www.youtube.com/c/piececraftlove
• Cindy: https://cindyscreations-cinmfoster.blogspot.com
• Julene: http://julenebydesign.blogspot.com
• Leslie: http://lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.com
• Lisa: https://lisahausmann.blogspot.com/
• Misty: https://craftysoup.com/
• Tara:  https://kryptonite72-rambles.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 #ckcapril2023