I love kit building and that is why I am on the design team for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge project. We take an inspiration kit each month and proceed to replicate it, or as we say, counterfeit it. This is a free, friendly group that helps inspire you to create your own kits. Then we bring you inspiration and challenges to help you use up those kits!
I’m hosting the activities this tome over at CKC. That means I get to create our challenges this time around. So…here we are with the first challenge of the month. I adored the circle print from the first image of the inspiration. Based on that, I challenge everyone to go geometric with their layouts.
I loved this paper so much that I created a cutfile that represented it. Just take a look below. Man. I’m just loving it. This is up for free here on my blog, so you can love it too. (While you are checking that out, I also created one more unrelated cut file that is also free over there.)
So with that cut file, I pulled a bunch of papers from my CKC kit and got to work making this layout. Oh. My. Heart. I just love this. I did tone it down with vellum. I do wish I had lighter weight vellum since it was toned down a tad bit too much. Even so, I’m just pleased. (Did I say that yet? LOL)
I have a video sharing more details on this process as well.
I hope you can follow along with the other designers and see how they interpreted this challenge. For more info check out the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog page, our Facebook group, or tag us on Instagram @counterfeitkitchallenge or use #counterfeitkitchallenge.
As a design team member over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge group I play along with as many of our monthly inspiration challenges as I can. The Forgery on the Fourth project is definitely one I enjoy! That is where we see a scrap product we like and set out to recreate it with supplies we already own. So let’s go ahead and dive in to what I have for you this month.
Since we always start our forgery projects with inspiration, here is the image we are working with this month. It is the DLS Designs, Timeless collection.
I wanted to recreate a few different pattern papers from this kit, and a washi tape from the add-ons. I loved the yellow striped paper, the starry green-teal paper and the scalloped paper. I set to making each item.
Everything was pretty straight forward. The hardest recreation was the scalloped print since I didn’t have any stamps to do that one. Instead I used an embossing folder and had to figure out how to get the patterns to align over several separate pieces; twelve by twelve sheets of paper do not fit in an embossing machine! You can see everything in the video.
For more creative ideas, the CKC blog has more forgery examples to check out. I hope this gave you some ideas on how you can recreate your favorite products with supplies you already have on hand. Don’t forget to show off your stuff over on the CKC Facebook group, or tag us on Instagram @counterfeitkitchallenge or use #counterfeitkitchallenge.
I love kit building and that is why I am on the design team for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge project. We take an inspiration kit each month and proceed to replicate it, or as we say, counterfeit it. This is a free, friendly group that helps inspire you to use up supplies you already own. We are not about needing to buy the latest and greatest thing (though we won’t stop you if you enjoy new crafty goodies😉 ).
Welcome to May! It is my turn to host the activities at CKC this time! I’m excited to share what I’ve got going on for us this month. First though, let’s welcome our guest designer. My friend Alison Day agreed to share her talents with us this month. Not only is she a lovely layout creator, she also owns a scrapbook & craft store—Ladner Village Arts & Crafts located near Vancouver BC, Canada. You can find Alison on her blog, her YouTube channel and Instagram.
Now that we have given Alison some love, let’s move on to our inspiration! I was browsing the net looking for a kit when I happened upon a new-to-me company—DLS Design. It isn’t a surprise that I’d never heard of them since they are located in the Netherlands. However, when I saw their kit called Timeless, I was hooked! (Oh how I wish it wasn’t too expensive to ship their products to the US. Sigh.) That bold geometric hit all the sweet spots for me. Bold, but well balanced with softer colors and white. Plus quirky detailing to the circles. Then a deep dive into the collection lead me to fabulous icons like moths, pears, houses and so much more.
So here is what the Timeless kit looks like on their website.
Since this image isn’t full of detail, I did a bit of copying and pasting to get a better look at all the items within this kit. Here is how I put everything together. Some of the images aren’t the best as they were tricky to track down!
Note that this kit is a smaller selection of goodies from their larger collection release. If you want to see the entire line you can get even more inspiration.
So to build my kit I stared with that first pattern paper that I fell in love with. I actually had quite a few circle and half circle prints in my stash. Nothing was quite perfect but I settled on a Heidi Swapp paper that I really like (far right). From there I built out my other papers with pieces that captured the mood of the inspiration papers.
Next it was time to pull embellishments. I wanted all the cool icons, but I don’t have many of them in my stash. I had to make do with what I could pull.
On the left I have some cut-apart cards that have some of the icons, such as house plants, moths and books. I included a sticker sheet and ephemera pack from PinkFresh Studio that also had some more of the icons. The colors of those two weren’t a perfect match, but I will use the pieces that work. Phrases, enamels, hearts and stars were all on the inspiration menu and they made it in as well. Alphas are a must, but I skipped the kit stamp in favor of a die. Then, from the expanded collection I added in washi tape as well. Embellishments complete!
Don’t forget that each month I also create a few of my own elements to add into my kit. In the kit build video below I talk about some of what I have planned if you want a small sneak peek.
Before I wrap up this post, there is a tradition over at CKC of titling our kits just like companies do. So I’m calling mine…
Sweet Summertime
All the bold color, fruit and moths remind me of warm summer days & nights!
If you want more details on my kit building thought process, check out my video.
I hope you can follow along with the other designers and see how they interpreted their own kits. I know I am very curious to see what they all come up with.
Have fun kit building and don’t forget to show off your stuff over on the CKC Facebook group, or tag us on Instagram @counterfeitkitchallenge or use #counterfeitkitchallenge.
I’ll be back on the 4th, for our Product Forgeries. Until then, have an artful day!
As a design team member over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge group I play along with as many of our monthly inspiration challenges as I can. The Forgery on the Fourth project is definitely one I enjoy! That is where we see a scrap product we like and set out to recreate it with supplies we already own. So let’s go ahead and dive in to what I have for you this month.
Since we always start our forgery projects with inspiration, here is the image we are working with this month. It is the [fill in blank here].
But if we take a deep dive into this kit and all it’s components, we can zoom in on these few items. In the pattern papers there is a green grid print that can be easily doodled by hand. That “plus” print pattern paper also can be super easily replicated. There are on the to-do list for sure. Next, the “rainbow” embellishments made up of little florals are not that hard. The little floral “medallions” –for a lack of a better word– from the embellishment stickers are best shown in this version from one pocket card.
In that final pic above, I took things ever farther. I explain in the video that if you are new to doodling, you can get started by copying. Once you are comfortable, new ideas will come and you can just keep going. These are the ideas that popped to mind as I was playing. I had more ideas that I had time to make.
If you want to work with me as I walk through the process, you can follow along with this video.
For more creative ideas, the CKC blog has more forgery examples to check out. I hope this gave you some ideas on how you can recreate your favorite products with supplies you already have on hand. Don’t forget to show off your stuff over on the CKC Facebook group, or tag us on Instagram @counterfeitkitchallenge or use #counterfeitkitchallenge.
Until next time, have an artful day.
PRODUCTS USED^^
^^ Disclaimer: I offer affiliate shopping linked products when possible. This shopping won’t cost you anything extra, but I get a small kick back from the companies for sending business their way. It is an easy way to tell me “Thank You” for the content I provide. I appreciate you using my links!
I love kit building and that is why I am on the design team for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge project. We take an inspiration kit each month and proceed to replicate it, or as we say, counterfeit it. This is a free, friendly group that helps inspire you to use up supplies you already own. We are not about needing to buy the latest and greatest thing (though we won’t stop you if you enjoy new crafty goodies😉 ).
To start off let’s welcome CKC’s guest designer for April–Nikki Ihus. Nikki and I have known each other through various crafty channels and I’m glad to welcome her back to the group once again! You can find her on YouTube and Instagram.
This month our hostess Tara chose the Felicity Digital and Printable Scrapbook kit created by Traci Reed. As I’m a Traci Reed fan, I already own this kit! Let’s take a look and see how I decided to balance what I own digitally with supplies from my stash.
Below is the fully digital kit and the gallery of pics after that are just a few of the printable elements. I used both in my kit building process.
The first thing I wanted to include was the color palette and some of the patterns. Though when I went to my supplies it was a bit tricky to find things that felt like real representation of the kit’s elements. I pulled what I had though and got close with most of it. Some pieces are much more interpreted than others, but it is my kit and I can totally do that!
So these are the papers I came up with. A couple of those are homemade, but I’ll get to that more on the Fourth!
Once the papers were pulled I could focus on the embellishments. I did print and cut some of the Traci Reed “sticker” (I use them as die cuts instead) embellishments from this collection. Since I pulled a bunch of stamp word phrases, I knew I wouldn’t need those from the sticker set! I did add in wood veneer, buttons and hearts which were all elements of the Felicity kit. I also pulled in some fibers as a nod to the digital kit. A final bit of embellishment was some washi. This was solely inspired by one of the Felicity stickers that looked like it had been anchored with washi. Perfect excuse to pull in a supply I need to use more often.
What i forgot to include at this stage was my alphas. The kit alphas were button style and I didn’t not have the energy to pull anything like that together. Instead I just grabbed packs that were good color options to go with my papers.
Don’t forget that each month I also create my own elements to add into my kit. Of course these are inspired by the original kit, but often have a twist of their own. So don’t miss what I will make in just a couple of days.
There is a tradition over at CKC of titling our kits just like companies do. Since I had to get creative representing some of the pattern papers, I’m calling my kit…
Floral Twist
If you want more details on my kit building thought process, check out my kit build video.
I hope you can follow along with the other designers and see how they interpreted their own kits.
Have fun kit building and don’t forget to show off your stuff over on the CKC Facebook group, or tag us on Instagram @counterfeitkitchallenge or use #counterfeitkitchallenge.
I’ll be back on the 4th, for our Product Forgeries. Until then, have an artful day!
Just a couple more things to share with you as I wrap up the month. The second item is my fav so don’t miss that one.
First up I did my Mystery Box Monday project. This is where I’ve purchased a grab bag of discounted supplies and I pull out three things from the box without looking. Then I have to put all of those to use on a project. It is just a silly creativity stretcher and a good excuse to purchase a box of random supplies.
I pulled out two ink pads and I was starting to feel nervous. Luckily, the third item was a stamp set. Whew! I had something more to work with. Although, now that I think about it, I totally could have gotten inky with stencils or stamps from my stash. As it was, I pulled way more inks and other supplies and went well beyond what my three mystery ingredients were!
I had fun creating this 5×7 art piece. I’ve been thinking about doing something like this for a while to hang on my wall. This feeling of artfulness outside of the scrapbook page is growing in my brain more and more lately! I did decide to give this one away as I still have more ideas for MY walls! (More on this project in this video.)
Speaking of artfulness, the next one gets very arty indeed. But it isn’t hard! It just needs a few specific supplies. I talk all about it in the video, which is the best way to get the hang of the whole process. However, if you want the step by step blog post, that is all over on the ScrapHappy.org blog where I am a creative team member.
Oh my! Just playing with all that color is fun. Who cares about turning it to anything in the end. Yet, I did have this layout in mind, so my alcohol inked background did make it to a finished product!
Okay, that is it for March. I know Easter is in a couple of day from posting this. If you celebrate, I wish you a Happy Easter. Until next time, have an artful day!
It wasn’t too busy in my craft room this week. I got a few projects done, some cleaning and organizing sorted, and some sewing progress made. As for YouTube, just a couple of projects went up. In fact these were the only layouts I actually finished. I’ve been working on my sketch class over at SCT but between headaches and appointments, it has sat unfinished.
So, here is what I did do. This one was the second CKC challenge, called the blast off challenge, where we use 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 of elements. Specifically it was 5 enamels, 4 chipboard pieces, 3 photos, 2 ribbons/fibers and 1 word title. I’ve never done this before, so here it is! Video available.
The second layout was for the monthly sketch challenge. I altered it a little to fit my needs but you can see the inspiration. Video up for this one too.
I’ll be back soon to wrap up March. Until then, have an artful day.
Yesterday I updated you on what I’ve been working on as part of my CKC design team life. Today I’m back with the other projects that have been keeping me busy in the craft room.
Community Project
Each year I create and donate Easter cards to a senior meal program. The cards go out to the seniors who are home bound and they accompany the Easter meal delivery. I’ve had such kind comments from the folks getting these cards that I’m glad to keep doing this project. I am happy to bring people a little joy through paper and ink!
Craft Shopping
I’ve been running low on certain supplies and needed a restock. Also, the February release from Concord & 9th had a few things in there that made me ooh and ahh. In fact, the Easter cards above were created from a new Turnabout stamp set. If you have never used a Turnabout, it is fun! After aligning the stamp, you ink, stamp and rotate it up to 4 times to get a background pattern. (Images from the C9 website.) This set is not an Easter set. However, with the right colors this background can mimic jelly beans or even Easter eggs. I love supplies that have this kind of flexibility!
If you want to see what else I got in my crafty shopping boxes, I do have a video.
Freckled Fawn^^
My latest FF subscription boxe reached my house and I dove into as soon as I could. Check out the unboxing and project video if you want all the details.
I played with the washi tape in the kit and made up a new washi technique. I plan on doing an small addendum to my popular 10 Ways to Use Washi video. I won’t have 10 new ways, but 3 or 4 to share!
Disaster in the Craft Room
The most recent event was the breaking of my Gemini II machine. I reviewed this machine back in March of 2023. Had I really understood then what I know now, I would have been more careful! Luckily my husband did a little surgery on it and it is now working. However, the issue lead me to create a video as a word of caution to any Gemini II owners–or potential owners. If you want to know more about what happened, check out that video.
Event Crafting
And finally, I’ve been doing some crafting inspired by the SBC Fest over at Scrapbook.com^^. They offer free online class events each year. While you don’t have to use their products, they do offer shopping lists and bundles should you want to. The bundles are even available after the event so you can take the class first and really see if you want to own those products later. I only bought a couple of small stamp sets and have worked on the projects largely from my own supplies. Here is what I’ve done so far.
That wraps things up for now. I have been doing some sewing this month as well, but I don’t have pictures of those projects yet. Maybe this will encourage me to document that process next!
I have just a couple more things coming to you for March, so until then, have an artful day!
^^Disclaimer: I offer affiliate shopping linked products when possible. This shopping won’t cost you anything extra, but I get a small kick back from the companies for sending business their way. It is an easy way to tell me “Thank You” for the content I provide. I appreciate you using my links!
Freckled Fawn They sell products individually, or in subscription kits. The kit subscriptions are a build-your-own bundle style. You pick and choose which of their standard items you’d like shipped to you each month. They carry items from wood veneer all the way up to 12×12 scrapbook papers. Take a look and see if there are any goodies you wan to add to your craft room! And… if you use the code craftysoup you’ll get 8% off your order!
I love kit building and that is why I am on the design team for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge project. We take an inspiration kit each month and proceed to replicate it, or as we say, counterfeit it. This is a free, friendly group that helps inspire you to create your own kits. Then we bring you inspiration and challenges to help you use up those kits!
I’ve been busy at the sewing machine lately so the blog has taken a backseat not only to that, but also to getting my YouTube videos up. However, it is never too late to share some inspiration. So, let me catch you up on where we are in our monthly kit and project inspiration cycle.
First, I created my forgery projects as usual. I was inspired by that pink ruffled crepe ribbon on the right. I made my own ruffled crepe ribbon out of party streamers. Super easy and super cheap!
I had fun making the ribbon, so I kept playing with the crepe paper. I used to to clip and create flowers (left). Then I glued it down to cardstock and used some punches to create even more flowers (right)
The first challenge was pretty easy for me. It was to use buttons and flowers, both of which I had plenty of in my kit. In fact those left hand flowers made it onto this layout. I did make a minor change by covering the centers with pattern paper that worked for my project better. Lovely.
The second challenge was one I have never done before. Interesting! It is called the blast off challenge where you use 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 of different items. This time we had…
5 enamel dots
4 chipboard pieces
3 photos
2 fibers
1 word title
It was a fun challenge and lead to a simpler layout, which was a change of pace for me. Again, video available!
I’ll be back tomorrow with an update of my paper crafty projects. In the meantime, you can check out everythig CKC has to offer. For more info head to Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog page, our Facebook group, or follow us on Instagram @counterfeitkitchallenge.
I love kit building and that is why I am on the design team for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge project. We take an inspiration kit each month and proceed to replicate it, or as we say, counterfeit it. This is a free, friendly group that helps inspire you to use up supplies you already own. We are not about needing to buy the latest and greatest thing (though we won’t stop you if you enjoy new crafty goodies😉 ).
Fresh month and fresh start to spring. Well… as I’m typing this we are looking at a weather report with the potential of snow in my area. Not very common for us at this point in the season. I’ll just focus on the word potential! Either way we are diving into a fresh CKC kit featuring lovely florals.
Before we get to the kit, I want introduce you to our guest designer. Let’s welcome…Jessica Haab! You can find her on her on Instagram–Jessica Haab (@kids2scrap) Leave her some encouragement as we dive into this months creativity.
Now we can get to the pretty supplies. To start, here is our inspiration kit. It is PARASOL 12 x 12 Kit – Citrus Twist Kits. Julene, our CKC team member hosting this month, said she chose this one for its spring feel (despite her Australian fall season) and opportunities for forgeries.
This kit was packed with things I love: teals, mixed media, a tad of geometrics, and some subtle florals. All that went into my thought process as I built my kit this time around. I focused on Jen Hadfield, Vicki Boutin and even a bit of Maggie Holmes (notice that the inspiration is Maggie Holmes dominant?)
So these are the papers I came up with.
If you look closely, there is one paper in there that doesn’t really seem to fit with the original inspiration. Notice it? It is a Jen Hadfield piece from Flower Child. It features roller skates, scooters, and bikes. It steps out of the soft romantic vibe of Maggie Holmes and lands us in modern graphic vibe.
I promise, there is a reason it is in there. In the inspo, second row of papers, second from the left, is a sheet of Maggie Holmes that features larger iconography. I didn’t really have anything like that in my stash. So instead I looked for something with bicycles, which you can see just a tiny hint of peeking out from behind the fibers in the photo. While I thought I had another Jen Hadfield bike print in my stash, I could not find it. So, this one took its place. And honestly I love the active feeling it adds to my kit. Plus I know the perfect story that will go with that paper (stay tuned!).
On to the embellishments. I jam packed my kit with just about everything found in the inspo: die cuts, wood buttons, fibers, enamels, sequins and on and on. I even have some beautiful forgeries for you this month. But you’ll have to come back on the 4th for that project.
I’m looking forward to diving into this kit. But before we go… There is a tradition over at CKC of titling our kits just like companies do. I wanted to give a big nod to that roller skate and bike paper I included, so I’m calling mine…
Roll into Spring
If you want more details on my kit building thought process, check out my kit build video.
I hope you can follow along with the other designers and see how they interpreted their own kits.
Have fun kit building and don’t forget to show off your stuff over on the CKC Facebook group, or tag us on Instagram @counterfeitkitchallenge or use #counterfeitkitchallenge.
I’ll be back on the 4th, for our Product Forgeries. Until then, have an artful day!
craftysoup.com 