Counterfeit Kit Challenge mini kit and project

Well, I'm Miss Late-in-the-Day as usual but I thought I'd make the effort (at midnight!) to write up a complementary post here to give you some detail shots.

If you've been over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog this morning, then you'll have seen my mini kit that I made for August's Counterfeit Challenge.

This month our inspiration was the gorgeous Studio Calico "Lost River" from Sept 2016. Here's the main kit and there were additional kits too - a planner kit and a pocket page kit - as well as digital downloads of the papers and the pocket cards. Just search for "Lost River" over at the SC site to find all the goodies.

Master Forger Clair picked out the kit this month and we were all delighted with it. A great transition from summer to autumn. She was somewhat of an enabler too, pointing out that the digital downloads were still available. And yes, I couldn't resist. I purchased the pocket page downloads and am thrilled to have them. I'll get them printed soon but wanted to make up my mini kit without them!

So, onto my mini-kit... I took inspiration from the colours and feel of the original inspiration kit and then followed Master Forger Susanne's "directions" in Just The Gist of It to pull together a Project Life kit for my August pages.  

I know this looks like more than a mini-kit but all the sheets are 6x6 and the cards are all pocket page cards (so 4x6 or 3x4). I'm still finding my way through the Project Life system and it's taking me some time to work out how to make things fit my own style and how much project should be in a mini-kit for one month's spreads.

I didn't include many embellishments in the hope that I wouldn't feel obliged to over decorate too many pages - some veneers, some gold and white confetti (reminiscent of the vellum circles), gold thread and some washi tape. I included alphas and some labels which didn't make the cut in the end but I wanted to make sure I had at least a few options. 

I knew there would be lots left over after making my pages, and also noted that I'm definitely missing some pocket page cards for journalling and of different orientations. And indeed, there really was a lot of the kit left over but I'm happy overall with how it came together.

I'm trying to follow the same format each month so that there's some consistency and in the hope that it becomes easier for me. It also gives me the chance to use both landscape and portrait photos and cards in both sizes. So I start the month with a single side of Design A, then have two sides of Design D and finish off with the Design A again. If that's not enough, I can add something in between (I did that in April with my 30 days of Selfies spread). I'm trying not to be too rigid but to have enough guidelines to make it simpler.

I managed to get August completed across the "usual" four sides.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - I'm finding this more difficult than I think it should be. It takes me ages to make spreads like these (feels much longer than regular pages) and I'm not sure the overall design is entirely pleasing! I love that I have the month's details captured and all those little photos that wouldn't normally make it onto pages used up, so I guess it's definitely worth it, but I'm still looking for ways to enjoy the process more and make it feel better designed! 

Tips and tricks still ever welcome!

In the meantime, I'll leave it at this and wish you a very happy Hump Day. And don't forget to share what you make with your Counterfeit Kit Challenge kits! Join in over at our Counterfeit Kit Challenge Facebook Community. The more the merrier!