Counterfeit Kit August '17

Oh. My. Goodness. I cannot believe how long it's been since I blogged here! I have been minimally creative in the past few months, but most of what I make, I just snap a photo and post to instagram. Just easier, I guess. Anyway, it's about time I get into some challenges again, otherwise another year will pass by and I'll be even more behind, ack!

I always enjoy playing along with the folks over at Counterfeit Kit Challenge, so what better way to get back into the swing of things than by making myself a new kit for August? I know, I know, August is almost over, I am super late to the party, but I am convinced that I can make something with this kit in the next nine days! I've even got ideas in mind, if you can believe it, haha! So, without further ado, here is the kit that the CKC team has posted as inspiration:

Huh. It's the Gossamer Blue Main Kit from July '17, and my first thought was, there is a distinct lack of pink going on here! But no worries, I can work with this! I decided to stick with the main colours, and I even managed to do some counterfeiting as I was putting my kit together. Here's a portion of what I came up with:

Not the greatest image, I admit, but what I've put together has quite a bit of potential, what with the inks and stamps I've got available to me. I'm picturing a couple of project life spreads (not sure if you can tell from the image but there are some PL journaling cards there amongst the bits and pieces) and a mini album - the colours are going to work perfectly with the photos I took on my first ever hiking trip with Ailis.

I've also got some matching cardstock, tone-on-tone papers, and various die cuts, but the longer I take to put this post together, the less scrappy time I have. Better get to it before I procrastinate much more, am I right? Wish me luck, kids!

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September Counterfeit Kit

Wow, I'm so glad school has started up again! My kids were starting to get a bit stir crazy there, haha! But with the regular routine and cooler weather comes more time for scrapbooking, fingers crossed.

One thing I love to do at the beginning of each month, whether I have a chance to play along or not, is check out the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog.  This month's kit is a beaut, and here's what it looks like:

The first thing that struck me were the colours, so I went into my stash and pulled out anything in baby blue, peach, red, or with a black and white print that seemed to go:

Then I went into a kit of Project Life style cards that I'd purchased from CTMH a while back, and pulled these ones out:

And what about 6x6 paper packs? Well, I found some wood veneer paper, as well as more of that peach/coral colour, mostly from Studio Calico and Crate Paper, I believe. The paper on the right, the black and white flowers, was a free printable (link here). Plus once I dug further into my stash, I found some other journaling cards and camera accents that I'd printed out ages ago, hoping to use them in my SMASH book:

So I was pretty happy with all that, but of course I had to forge some items from the kit. Honestly, I put in quite a lot of effort with this kit, but it was a lot of fun and I learned a few things too. For example, those bow die cuts? I made those by tracing a free clip art file I imported into the Silhouette software program. And the hearts were made in the Silhouette software as well, by choosing one of my old heart files and using the line tool to draw some cuts through it. The "HAPPY" and "YOU & ME" title pieces I made using the Impact font and welding the letters together. "Smile" was made pretty much the same way but with a free font called Sweet Pea. The flowers were simply a nesting cut file I had previously purchased from Silhouette that I thought matched those in the original kit best.

Here I have some ancient stickers and some wood veneer pieces from CTMH, as well as some brads, chipboard hearts and a flair button. 

Did you see the "Forgeries on the Fourth" post over on the CKC blog? I copied some of the expert forgers to make those stamped border strips and print out the orange labels. I also pulled some more wood veneer pieces, washi tape, flair buttons and bling from my embellishment drawer:

And finally, a boatload of somewhat coordinating scraps and journaling cards (here and here) :

So yeah, I probably could have played some more at forging different pieces from the original kit, but it's already the 9th and I haven't produced anything yet! Better to quit while I'm ahead, so to speak!

I also started a Pinterest board to keep all my Counterfeit Kit pins handy, so check it out if you wish right here. I hope you've enjoyed my kit and stay tuned here to see what I create with it!

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"Sand Sun Fun" for LOAD Mini Summer Lovin'

Hey everyone, I have some good news! I won a spot in Scrap Happy's "LOAD Mini Summer Lovin'" event this week from Alison at Alison Day Designs! How cool is that? This is the first time I've tried a LOAD, or LayOut A Day, so even though this is the fifth day, I'm still getting into the swing of things. The layout above is the third I've finished, though, so that's pretty speedy progress for me!

I used this fabulous sketch from Let's Get Sketchy for inspiration: 

First I scraped on a layer of gesso over the middle of the white card stock. Then I applied some Salty Ocean Distress Ink using the packaging technique to create that beautiful watercolour effect. The die cut is part of a freebie from Scrapbook Nerd:

The circle was fun to do. First I traced one of those Creative Memories cutting circles with a pencil. Then I took the nozzle out of a bottle of black Dylusions spray, and just drew freehand around the circle a few times, making that messy, scratchy look. I love how that turned out!

And here's a close-up of the journaling, basically telling the story of how I thought Jason was nuts to want to take the kids swimming in the river. I didn't think it was safe, but at that time of year, the water was pretty shallow - an adult could probably walk across to the other side without going in over their chest, and the current was not very strong. Still, they were the only kids with life jackets there - I guess maybe I'm a little paranoid, but better safe than sorry, I say! 

And another closeup of some of the papers, cork arrows and gems (CTMH):

I took these photos outside on my deck in natural morning light, but I don't know, the background paper looks awfully blue! It's white, I swear!

Thanks for looking, and hope you have a great weekend, whether it's summer where you are or not!

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June 2016 Counterfeit Kit

Oh my goodness, it has been sooooo long since I posted anything to this blog! Did you wonder where I've been? Well, I have still been creating, but with a much looser schedule. No challenges, at all! And anything I do create, I usually just post it to my Instagram feed. I've been mucking around with a planner - that lasted three months, I think - and pocket pages, which have been great for scrapping the year chronologically, but don't really get my creative juices flowing, ya know? So, how about a counterfeit kit to jumpstart the summer? Sounds good to me!

This month, the folks over at Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog have chosen the May 2016 Hip Kit to copy, and wouldn't you know, I've actually been thinking about subscribing to the Hip Kit Club for a bit now, and even watching some process videos by some of the design team members. Feeling very inspired, I have to say! And the May kit is just beautiful!!! Here's a photo of the original:

And here's my take:

Back row is all Basic Grey, and front row from left to right is Imaginisce, two Fancy Pants, a piece of feather print vellum from CTMH that you can barely see, and a piece from Carta Bella. 

As for counterfeiting, I had a total blast using my new Ranger water brush and some Distress Inks to make these "die cuts":

I think they turned out pretty good for an amateur, and I'll definitely be trying this technique again in the near future!

I also have a bunch of random scraps in shades of yellow, turquoise, pink and navy, but I think I'm going to leave it at this for now. I can always add embellishments as I go along, but if I spend any longer counterfeiting, I won't have any time in the month left to create! So wish me luck and let's hope I get some actual pages done (and posted!) this month.

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Birthday Card for "Freshly Made Sketches"

Just a quick post to show off a birthday card I made yesterday for Brenna's little friend.  Most of the products I used are from Close to My Heart, but the ink is Distress Ink.  I love this little hedgehog stamp - I definitely need to find more ways to use it!

And here's the sketch I used for my inspiration, from Freshly Made Sketches:

Now I'm off to finish my husband's birthday card - it's a little more involved than this one, so hopefully I'll be able to post it before the end of the year!

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Simple Card for CAS(E) this Sketch!

Here is a quick card I made on Sunday for a friend of mine who just purchased her first house.  I thought the "life is good" stamp was a fitting sentiment!

I used sketch #149 from CAS(E) this Sketch! blog:

Everything came together quite easily.  I used a die cut leaf from my November Counterfeit Kit as a mask, and just sponged some Distress Ink over top - Picked Raspberry and Peacock Feathers were the colours.  Then I splashed some Dylusions spray, stamped a little banner, and called it a day!

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look, and don't forget to leave me a comment!  I would love to hear what you have been up to lately!!!

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New Card for Freshly Made Sketches

I was commissioned to make a thank you card the other day, so I grabbed a sketch (pretty much the only way I can make a card!) and put this one together:

I decided to use a grey base for my card because I conveniently had the right size piece of cardstock already on my table - don't you love it when that happens?

I have quite the stack of 6x6 paper pads in my desk drawer - they used to sell them cheap at my semi-local Winners store - and went through those to choose something feminine.  I decided to go with these ones from MME's Miss Caroline pack.  

Then, I didn't want the inside to be all boring, so I added some more patterned paper, Silhouette die cuts, and enamel dots:

I really like how this looks!  I vow to decorate the inside of my cards forevermore!

And here is the lovely sketch I used from Freshly Made Sketches:

So that's it for today.  My work space is currently all clear, so now the only thing to decide is what project to tackle next.  Maybe I'll do some art journaling....

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