Counterfeit Kit Challenge - Forgeries on the Fourth

You know me... I'm a bit of a lazy crafter. 

I love the forgery side of the Counterfeit Kit Challenge - the idea of making your own takes on kit items but using your own ingenuity and stash - but the reality is that I often don't make the time and often go for the printable options instead.

But when I saw the original inspiration kit this month, I spied the acetate words and wondered if that would be an idea for me to make. Then I took another look at the kit and saw that there were three papers that would be really easy to make a version of... or so I thought!

Care to take a trip through my trials and tribulations? 

I started with the hatch design paper by Pink Paislee - the blue/green one. I found a scrap of watercolour design paper to try out how I thought I could make it. 

First up was to draw some squares which were about 1"-

And then I used my ruler and a black pen to fill in the lines. Mmmm - not so good! The ink smudged and the lines were way too close together and then I realised that the original paper must have been 2" squares instead.

So I took another scrap of more greener paper - it was quite a large scrap to be honest but I'm planning to use it in smaller pieces on cards so it will give me a bit of flexibility.

Again, I started by drawing some squares - this time in 2" squares.

Then I started with the lines and used a Uniball rollerball pen which didn't smear. I began using a ruler and then realised that a freehand line would match the original better so off I went. Very imperfect lines but the overall effect is definitely close to the original. The wobbles and imperfections won't show up once it's all cut up for cards. That's what I call a success.

I realised that the white spots on yellow might be easy to create with a white pen or pencil. The pencil was a no no (you can see a couple of lines there on the right which didn't work well at all). Of course, the ongoing problem with my white pens (what am I doing wrong? why do my pens all dry up even though they are full?) meant that the spots and lines are again, not perfect. But for cards, I think the paper will work fine. Relatively successful and completed in just a few minutes!

The last of the three papers that caught my eye was the Pinkfresh Studio sheet with the strips of colour and some lines of text.

I decided to just use some thin washi tape to give the translucent effect that the original paper had and just stretched them across the paper randomly.

I found a few scraps of words in my box and added in a few to the strips.

Once all the edges were trimmed I was quite pleased with the outcome. Not exactly the same as the original, but definitely inspired by that gorgeous sheet of paper.

Giddy with the success I was experiencing, I decided to make some card bases (6x4") using some odd strips of paper from the bottom of my scrap box - many manufacturer strips that I can't bear to throw out! These three bases have already been transformed into cards so make sure you check out my mini kit reveal on Wednesday for the details.

The top base uses some of the washi paper from Crate Paper.

Last up was my original idea - the acetate words.

I knew I didn't have any printable acetate in my supplies and therefore decided to make some print and cut words on vellum. Sounds easy right? I've done it before and it was easy so this wouldn't take long... or so I thought.

I found some words in my Cameo library, added them to an A4 template, added the print registers and filled the words with colour. That was new for me and I loved the result! I knew the vellum wouldn't be as bright as this template but isn't it pretty?

First print out onto vellum was a fail. I have no idea what went wrong here but I just got a middle length of print. However, I loved the effect on the vellum so I knew I was on the right track.

I tried it out by printing on regular paper - should have tried that first! But it showed that it worked and showed me how great those phrases were going to look.

So I printed them out again - this time successfully, added them to my cutting mat and sent it to the Cameo and waited expectantly.

However, the Cameo couldn't find the registers and ended up cutting all these phrases about half an inch to the left. And of course the cutting mat was too sticky and all the vellum tore while I was trying to remove it.

• Tip number 1: if you are using vellum, make sure your mat isn't so sticky. Sticky enough so that it's firm on the mat, but not as sticky as you need for cardstock maybe! 
• Tip number 2: if the Cameo can't read the register marks, it might be that there's not enough light. I used my torch function on my iPhone over the Cameo and off it went without a hitch.

Look at this wonderful sheet - can you see the cuts?

I really took my time taking the vellum off the mat and taking out the tiny insides of letters or words. I am proud to say that I didn't tear a single millimetre of any word and was thrilled with how they looked!

Look at this - so cute! Can't wait to use them. I'm not sure if I'll be adding these into my full kit (which I revealed on Saturday) or my mini kit - come back on Wednesday for those details.

Another hugely long post so well done if you've made it this far. As and when I use my items featured here, I'll make sure to show you but in the meantime, make sure you share your kits, projects and forgeries! We LOVE to be inspired by YOU.

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