November Counterfeit Kit

So I actually put this kit together a few days ago, but I'm just getting it posted now because my stupid computer died on me!  I'm using the Blogger app on my phone to write this, that's how dedicated I am to my blog, haha!  

Anyway, I don't know how to post a pic of the original kit on here, but you can go to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog to see it.  (Dang, I tried to add a link but I don't think this app will let me do it, sorry!). They also have a YouTube link showing the entire kit, which was very helpful to my replication process.  I ended up having two of the exact papers in my stash already, so started with those and went from there:

These were the first papers I pulled. Back row is from Fancy Pants' Burlap and Bouquets line, and the front row is from CTMH's Free To Be Me line.

Next I chose some more papers that seemed to fit with the theme of the original kit:

As you can see, I've got quite a wide variety, including some Basic Grey, Kaiser Craft, Bo Bunny, Simple Stories, and MME.  Hoping to put a dent in that crazy amount of patterned paper I have built up.

Here's my tray of embellishments and stamps:

Lots of goodies here!

And finally a little basket of printables and die cuts:

That's it for now! Hoping to get a good start on a layout today, but also need to do some laundry, get groceries, go for a workout, maybe some baking...Why oh why can't the weekends be longer?

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Counterfeit Kit for October

Well, after a whole summer of no crafting, I'm hoping to get my mojo back in order to use up some of my ever growing stash! What better way to get inspired than by joining in with the ladies from Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog?

The kit this month looks a little something like this:

And here's my take on it:

I used that piece of Simple Stories floral paper as my starting point, and just grabbed other papers, ribbon, and flowers to match.

Then, to keep the embellishment gathering process simple, I pulled out a drawer of my newest stuff. There are assorted die cuts I previously cut with my Cameo, which I figure can be inked to match whatever project they get used for.  There's also some Prima canvas shapes, buttons, feathers, and I don't even know what else.  It's like a tickle trunk!

So stay tuned to this blog for more - I already have a few layouts in the planning process.  Yay, so excited to get going again!

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Creative Blog Hop Tour!!!

Have you heard of this yet?  The "Creative Blog Hop Tour"?  Well, if you haven't, let me tell you a bit about it.  I've been tagged by my bloggy friend Alison.  I am going to answer four questions about myself, and then introduce you to one of my crafty buddies.  Next week, it will be her turn to do the same.  Like a big ol' game of tag, but without the running!

So first off, let me tell you a bit about Alison.  You can find her at her blog, Alison Day Designs.  I "met" Alison a few years ago, somehow, I don't even really know how it happened!  But after commenting back and forth on each others' crafty creations for a while, it soon became obvious that we were kindred spirits.  We are always joking about living parallel lives, because I cannot tell you how many times I visited her blog and realized that our kids were puking on the same day, or we'd used the same sketch for a scrapbook layout, or we had made a page for the same online challenge.  Pretty trippy when that happens to two gals living several hundred kilometers apart!  I was lucky enough to meet Alison in real life when I traveled to Vancouver a while back:

So fun!  Make sure to visit Alison's blog and say hi!

Seeing this hop is all about getting to know our fellow crafty bloggers, there is a series of questions I need to answer about myself:

1. What am I currently working on?  

Honestly, I haven't worked on anything in quite a while.  I seem to have lost my mojo!  I think part of it had to do with my space, or lack thereof.

This was my nook under the stairs of the house we've been in for just over a year (wow, doesn't seem like that long!)  And while it may look like a cozy little retreat, in reality, it just wasn't working for me.  Dark (even with an Ott lite), crowded, messy, with dust from the stairs falling all over my projects - ugh!  And I hated having that whole disaster area visible as soon as anyone walked in the front door.  So a couple of weeks ago, I packed up all of my stuff and moved it out of there.  Don't worry, it's still accessible - I just have to rethink my process a bit.

For the summer, though, I plan to focus on my Smashbooks.  It's so easy to just pull out some bits and pieces from my storage drawer, "smash" together a page or two, and then stick it back in the drawer.  Here's a look at some of my more recent Smashbook pages that I posted to Instagram but I don't think I've posted here:

2.  How does my work differ from others of its genre?

This is a really tough question!  I'm not sure you could look at any of my pages and say, "That's a 'Roxy' page!"  But I love taking part in online challenges, and that seems to stretch me in different directions I would never have thought possible before starting a blog.  You never really know what you're going to see from me, and so I'll say that my unpredictability is what makes me unique.

3.  Why do I write/create what I do?

My first scrapbook I made after my first trip to the Netherlands.  My relatives over there all had these albums where the photos were stuck onto pages and decorated with captions and stickers - I'd never seen anything like it!  So I bought myself an album and adhesive squares, some deckle edged scissors and markers, and set to work.  That was in 1998.  Wow, have things changed!!!  So while it started out as a desire to tell the story of my trip, eventually it turned into a hobby and a passion.  I still love that I am documenting our lives in my scrapbooks, but the act of creating something that can be considered art is so satisfying to me, and that's what has kept me doing it for so long.

4.  How does your creating process work?

This has changed over the years, too.  When I became a Creative Memories consultant in 2003, we always taught to start with the photos and matching papers, then journal, and finally embellish with stickers.  While I still often stick with this basic process, lately I've been having fun by starting with the products.  I love the challenge site "Counterfeit Kit Challenge" - they choose a kit from an online kit company, and challenge participants are to create a kit inspired from it using supplies from their own stash.  For the whole month, you can link up the projects you make with your kit, and the chicks at Counterfeit Kits will post additional challenges that you can take part in, too.  Anyhoo, by making my own kit, I force myself to start with the products first!

Here's a page I made with my last counterfeit kit:

Whew, that was tough!  Those four questions really got my mind going!  So now it's time for me to introduce one of my best scrapping and blogging buddies, Tara Cox:

Tara was the owner of my most favourite scrapbooking store in.  The.  World!!!  That's how we met, but then we got to know each other better through crops and classes, blog comments and Facebook.  Now she's closed her store, gotten married, and moved to South Carolina!  Thank goodness for all those ways we have to keep in touch!

Tara is a truly gifted artist, and even Tim Holtz has taken note!  Be sure to visit her blog to check out her amazing creations and to say hi!  

So thanks for stopping by!  This hop is a lot of fun- heads up, you may be one of the next people tagged!

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New Layout with my Counterfeit Kit

I've really been loving instagram pics and the Rhonna Designs app I have on my phone.  As far as printing, though, it's been a bit hit and miss.  You can print your instagram pics at Walmart, but they have to be uploaded to instagram, and I don't want to upload ALL my photos to instagram!  And of course, I don't have a Walmart in the near vicinity, so I tried emailing the photos to myself, downloading them to my computer, then printing them out on photo paper.  Sometimes it works great, and sometimes the photos end up all pixelated.  If anyone knows a better way, I would love some advice on this!

So here's a layout I put together using my May Counterfeit Kit, some instagram pics, and a sketch from Let's Get Sketchy:

I deviated from my kit a bit to use a new Dylusions stencil, some texture paste and Dylusions spray.  I don't know, the result is a little out there compared to what I'm used to, but I think I like it...

And here's the sketch I used (love how everything's on an angle!): 

That's it for now, thanks for looking!

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May Counterfeit Kit

So I'm a little late to the party, but I did make a counterfeit kit for May and I'm intending to use it, starting right now!  The kit I wanted to copy is this beautiful kit from Paper Camellia:

And here's what I came up with:

If you're wondering what my process was, it goes a little something like this:  see that scrap of vintage camera paper?  I started with that and matched up papers from there.  

I really liked the die cuts that came in the inspiration kit, so I used my silhouette to make my own:

 You can also see the library pockets and journaling cards I made to match the original kit.

And here's a pile of scraps that I could not make pretty no matter what I tried.  Hopefully I'll be able to use all of them up this month!

And that's about it!  How 'bout you, are you joining in with a counterfeit kit?  Leave a link in the comments and I'll pop by to see!

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Fur-ever Friends

I've done Hunter pages, and Casie pages, even a Casie mini album, but never a page about the two of them together!  What do you think, isn't that picture adorable?  

 I wrote a bit about how they didn't get along at first, and how we wonder if their relationship is more mother/son or brother/sister (Jason says, "What about husband/wife?" but they are so not like that!).  The journaling ended up perfectly tying into the title:

 Don't you love when that happens?

Here's a closie of some elements on the left hand side:

All supplies are from my February Counterfeit Kit.

And here's the sketch I worked with from Let's Get Sketchy:

That's all, I hope you like!

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February's Counterfeit Kit

Seeing I got so much scrapping done last month with my counterfeit kit, it just made sense to make another kit this month.  Here's the kit I chose to copy:

And here's my version:

 I'm quite proud of how it turned out, as I actually made some of my own supplies from things I had on hand.  Like, I created the "me & you" die cut with my Cameo.  I also cut some doilies and printed these cool arrows (you can get this printable for free here!):

 Some more things I cut with my Cameo - tags and little envelopes you can see here:

 I even had some tickets I had printed out a long time ago (I know they're from Becky Fleck, but I'm not sure where they are) that seemed to match the tickets in the original kit.  Then I decided to add some buttons and feathers, just for the heck of it:

Ooooh, I can't wait to dig in and play!  Maybe I'll do some scrapping right now!!! 

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"Hello Life" and Some SMASH Pages

Still working with my Counterfeit Kit!  Here's a fun page I made about our last Canada Day experience:

I used this great sketch from Stuck?! Sketches:

Here's a close-up of the journaling and Brenna's face as she got hauled away from the party (she was hopping mad!): 

 Isn't that just priceless?

And I've been digging out the ol' SMASH books and getting some things smashed in there.  Here's a double page spread commemorating a trip to Vancouver in my red SMASH book:

I made a little pocket with a Starbucks sleeve by stapling the bottom.  It makes a great spot for clothing tags and receipts from my trip.  I've also got some inked up boarding passes, a card my friend Alison gave me when we met for the first time, and the ticket stub from the Metric concert I went to.

And here I've got another double page spread in my red SMASH book with mementos from some of the prizes I've been winning lately, mostly from book blogs:

I tried my hand at some form of collage.  I've got tissue paper Mod Podged on there with address labels and such.  Then I stenciled Distress Ink and Dylusions all over the place, and stamped with CTMH background stamps and Memento ink.  The envelope in the centre is held onto the binding with paperclips, and when you flip it, the spread looks like this:

I love how that chevron on the backside of the envelope turned out!

Anyway, that's it for me, hope you enjoyed!

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June 2012 Project 12

So I don't know if any of you recall, but I was following along with Project 12 for a whole year (!) in 2011, but then I missed a bunch of 2012.  I thought it would be a good idea to go back and catch up, so here is the double-pager I made for June: 

All the products I used came from my January Counterfeit Kit, and here's the Page Maps sketch I used (also from June 2012):

I was a little intimidated to leave that whole section on the upper right blank, but I guess with the busy paper, it works.  It's growing on me!

Here's the right side with the journaling:

And the left side with the doily title and cork speech bubble:

So have you given some thought to making your own counterfeit kit next month?  It is so much fun, and I've been able to get a ton of scrapping done!

Thanks for looking!

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Guest Designer at PPC

Hey guys, guess what?  I'm a guest designer today over at the Scrapbooker's Paradise Blog!!!  The challenge this week is:

Well, as soon as I knew the prompt, I made my girls go outside with their little friend so I could take some pictures!  Here's what I came up with:

Gotta say, that colour combo is a little out there, even for me, but I really like how it turned out, orange snowflakes and all!

Little close-up of the journaling:

I hope you'll join in and make something "Frosty" this week!

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January Counterfeit Kit

I'm so excited to be getting my Counterfeit Kit ready early in the month!  Let's hope I can kill this kit!!!

Here is the kit we're counterfeiting this month:

And here's what I managed to come up with:

Looks like my papers are a tad brighter than the originals, but I just had to add some new Bella Blvd. papers and stickers that I won from Scrapbooker's Paradise!  (They're the three on the top right.)  The top three on the left are Simple Stories, then the middle row has Echo Park and Studio Calico ledger paper, two pieces of vellum, a piece of Amy Tan (that's the one with all the frames) and some grey cardstock.  The bottom row has two pieces of paper I MADE!!!  The pink one I just painted some white lines freehand on, and the blue one was once plain white cardstock - I just inked and embossed some snowflakes, then brayered the whole thing with ink.  And finally, at the very bottom, another scrap of ledger paper and some pink glittery scraps.

Here's some of my embellishments:

 Let's see, speech bubbles seemed to be big in the original kit, so I pulled some cork shapes (new) and some die cuts (old, from another kit).  I've also got a cute stamp set from Close to My Heart that came with a mini album kit, and some leftover die cuts to go with.  Some Bella Blvd. stickers (also from that prize pack), Studio Calico flare buttons, an alpha stamp and star stamp set, heart pins (soooooooo old!), three mini clothespins, some doilies, gems, glittery buttons, washi, and ink.

The original kit had lots of stars, and since I didn't have any, I got busy cutting some with my Cameo:

And that's about it!  I'm really stoked to get busy and do some scrapping!  How 'bout you, are you counterfeiting this month?

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