Category: Kit Talk

CKC Kit Build, March ’23

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😉 ).

Team member Anna is our hostess this month and we’ll see the kit she chose to inspire us in a moment. But first Let’s welcome our guest designer before we dive in… Amanda Castle, known as A Joyful Scrapper on YouTube. Pop over to her channel and leave her some love on her kit reveal post!

Now we can get to the pretty stuff. To start, here is our inspiration kit. It is called Time to Thrive digital and printable kit by Traci Reed. Anna loves Traci Reed and wanted something that could lean her into a green color palette for March.

Though I love Traci Reed, I don’t own this kit, so a true counterfeit is in order! I was inspired by many of the patterns, the numbered circles and a general mental wellness vibe.

I played quite closely with the prints in the kit, coming up with things as close as I had in my stash and making a few minor interpretations. I did skip many of the pinks since I’m needing a little break from pink.

For embellishments, I went with hearts, butterflies, chipbaord, labels lots of alphas.

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. So I’m calling mine Mindful for the nod to the original self-care kit theme and the way that I follow some self care in my own life right now.

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.

Here’s the full hop link list

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!

Until next time, have an artful day.

CKC Kit Time, Feb ’23

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😉 ).

Let’s welcome our guest designer before we dive in….

Karen Pietruszkiewicz has been playing along with us over at CKC for a little while now. Her enthusiasm has been infectious! I’m so glad she is on board as our guest this month. She’ll be sharing her work right no the CKC Facebook group so you’ll be able to see all the CKC goodness in one spot.

Now we can get to the pretty stuff. To start, here is our inspiration kit, picked by this month’s kit hostess Cindy. We have the Cocoa Daisy Modern Memory Keeping kit from Feb ’22, called Elegance Blooms. Cocoa Daisy is always packed with options. If you want more ideas check out their site. But we are going to take a brief look and then get to the kit building.

I knew there were elements that I just had to have: enamel dots, circles, arrows, hearts. The rest of the kitting was still up in the air. It wasn’t until I went to start grabbing papers that I settled on the idea that the floral/foliage framed paper shown below should be my starting point.

With that idea in mind I went straight to my Pink Fresh papers since I know they do some lovely floral frames. I found one and the colors played nicely with the inspiration so that was the start of my kit. I also knew that I wanted to pull some chevron in appreciation of the very bold chevron in the inspiration. The color palette flowed both from my starting paper (pictured on the left below) and from nods to the inspiration.

Embellishments this month needed to be all pre-made as it is a LOAD month for me. (If you don’t know about LOAD, the short version is it is a LayOut A Day project hosted over at ScrapHappy.org.) If I am going to create a layout every day, the projects need to come together quickly. I also wanted to give myself plenty of choices for embellishing so I packed a lot in my kit this time. Notice there are some tools in that collection for making my own embellishments. But that will come with the Forgery on the Fourth (coming soon) project and not with each page itself!

There is a tradition over at CKC of titling our kits just like companies do. So I’m calling mine… Fun Lovin’ for the mix of hearts and bold prints.

I hope you can follow along with the other designers and see how they interpreted their own kits.

Here’s the full hop link list

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!

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!

SCT Sampler Kit Unboxing, Jan ’23

Getting my SCT Sampler kit in the mail each month is a bright spot. This small affordable package is just enough newness + surprise to keep me satisfied. This month the package contained products from Simple Stories. Take a look… (and sorry in advance for the color in this photo. I didn’t notice the issue until it was too late.)

I wouldn’t want to leave you wondering just what to do with these supplies. So I almost always make a project as soon as my box arrives. That way I am sure to use it instead of just showing it off. This time around I made a January in review layout. With this kit and this layout, I will be doing a review page each month! Stay tuned for those. For now this is how far I got with this layout. I have two more photos to add, which I left room for just in case I had more to say for January, and sure enough I did.

Of course if you want more information you can watch my YouTube video to get a better look at the kit products and my project.

If you want more info on these kits, check out the links and info below.

SCT sampler kit information
Please note: you can not order the current kit. Instead you sign up for a future beginning date for your kits. Kits currently run between $14 per month (1-year commitment billed every 4 months) to $17 per month (4-month commitment billed fully). Extras not shown in the video include a private Facebook group with video shares each month, a cut file download to match the theme word and discounts for prominent online scrapbook shops.

I hope you enjoyed taking a look at what these little kits have to offer and seeing it put into action with a project. I’ll be back soon with more crafty goodness. Until then, have an artful day.

Until next time, have an artful day.

CKC Kit Build, January ’23

I think I have gotten to the time of my life when I am surprised every single time when the calendar flips over to a new month. Plus with this being January the calendar has also flipped over to a new year. Oh how time flies. After a break in December from kitting, and largely from scrapping, it is time to get back at it.

Lisa is our Master Forger hostess for this month. She chose a Hip Kit Club inspiration from just this past December of 2022. Before we take a peek at the kit, let’s welcome our guest designer, Anandi. Anandi has been playing along with us at over at CKC for a little while now and her design sense is beautiful. She has been a part of the Simple Scrapper design team in the past so she know’s what she’s doing! 😉

Alright, now we can take a look at the inspiration piece. I grabbed this screenshot from the Hip Kit Club YouTube video kit reveal. The graphic was just much clearer that the website photos. Odd. Anyway, I took inspiration from the kit for these elements: yellow, aqua, pink, navy, grids, stripes, woodgrain, birds and foliage, chipboard, die cuts, homey icons, and snowflakes.

Hip Kit Club offers a wide range of add-ons for their kits, so I did take a look at those as well. A few things caught my eye. I liked the wood grain foliage pieces in the embellishment set, the idea of mixed media and the sweater texture of the metal die. So all these ideas got incorporated in my kit.

So here are my papers

And what my embellishments ended up being.

There were a few items I missed tucking in my kit because I forgot or because I couldn’t find them. So a few more bits will be coming. In addition I’ll have some forgeries coming on the fourth, so stay tuned for those. Finally, as a tradition over at CKC, we name our kits. I’m calling my kit Warm & Wintery for the juxtaposition of the hot pinks and yellows along side the blues and snowflake elements!

In the meantime if you like to hear more thoughts behind my kit process, then you can check out the video version.

Go ahead and follow along with the other designers and see how they interpreted their own kits.

Here’s the full hop link list

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!

SCT Sampler Kit Unboxing, Nov ’22

Getting my SCT Sampler kit in the mail each month is a bright spot. This small affordable package is just enough newness + surprise to keep me satisfied. This month the package contained wintery and Christmas products from Spell Binders and Lawn Fawn, plus a stamp set from Hero Arts. Take a look…

I wouldn’t want to leave you wondering just what to do with these supplies. So I almost always make a project as soon as my box arrives. That way I am sure to use it instead of just showing it off. This time around I made batches of Christmas cards. My card making tends to be simple and repeatable. This batch went together quickly

But I kept going making just a few more designs with the extra supplies sitting around after this batch.

Of course if you want more information you can watch my YouTube video to get a better look at the kit products and my project.

If you want more info on these kits, check out the links and info below.

SCT sampler kit information
Please note: you can not order the current kit. Instead you sign up for a future beginning date for your kits. Kits currently run between $14 per month (1-year commitment billed every 4 months) to $17 per month (4-month commitment billed fully). Extras not shown in the video include a private Facebook group with video shares each month, a cut file download to match the theme word and discounts for prominent online scrapbook shops.

I hope you enjoyed taking a look at what these little kits have to offer and seeing it put into action with a project. I’ll be back soon with more crafty goodness. Until then, have an artful day.

CKC Kit Build, November ’22

Wowza. Another new month is here. This last part of the season has just whipped by and I don’t feel like I’ve given my previous kits enough love. Sigh. But time progresses and so do I. With that, lets move on to my new kit as part of the design team for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge project. If you are new to CKC, 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😉 ).

Let’s welcome our guest designer Machelle Willing to the team for November. She’s been around the CKC block before so she will bring her experience to the team again this month.

Our inspiration kit this time around is the October Kit, Herbstzauber (NOTE: the kit has been removed from the company site so please check out their main site listed next…) offered by a German company called Scrapbook Werkstatt. This kit is centered around product by PinkFresh Studio, Maggie Holmes and Paige Evans, all of which I have used in the past. I had to dig in my stash to see what I may have still had on hand from these pieces vs what I’d need to replicate.

Before we get to my kit, let’s peek at most of the inspiration pieces.

For my build I started with the same PinkFresh paper line and it turns out that I had a partial sheet of the ticket style print to tuck in my kit. I added in a map print based on the inspiration. Next came a jumbo text print from Shimelle to take the place of the word print from PinkFresh. Then a bunch of decisions had to be made to get to the final paper selection (see the video below for all the details!)

Next up was embellishments. As last month was a jumbo embellishment month, I kept things calmer this time. I drew very heavily from the inspiration in pulling these bits together. Notice I’ve got blank wood buttons in my kit. I bet you know I’m going to dress those up somehow for the Forgery on the Fourth project at CKC. Just a little hint for you!

Okay. That is my kit. Now… there is a tradition over at CKC of titling our kits just like companies do. I had a hard time finding the right name. I’m going to call this one Across the Seasons since I brought in more springy purples and green as well as richer autumnal yellows and blues.

If you want to see my thoughts behind my kit choices, check out my kit build video.

I hope you can follow along with the other designers and see how they interpreted their own kits.

Here’s the full hop link list

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 using those blank buttons. Until then, 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!

SCT Sampler Kit Unboxing, October ’22

I know I never got September’s unboxing posted. Oh boy. But you can still catch that over on my YouTube channel! I’m just going to go ahead an move on with October…

Here is the kit this month! We’ve got our reusable supply (stamp set from LDRS), our word die and supplies from Carta Bella’s Welcome Fall collection** and Vicki Boutin’s Print Shop collection**.

I wouldn’t want to leave you wondering just what to do with these supplies. So I usually make a project as soon as my box arrives. That way I am sure to use it instead of just showing it off. This time around I made a layout about the rascally squirrels in my yard.

I incorporated several stamping techniques including watercolor stamping and a “hightlight” stamping technique. If you want more information on those (and more!) you can watch my YouTube video to get a better look at the kit products and my project.

If you want more info on these kits, check out the links and info below.

SCT sampler kit information
Please note: you can not order the current kit. Instead you sign up for a future beginning date for your kits. Kits currently run between $14 per month (1-year commitment billed every 4 months) to $17 per month (4-month commitment billed fully). Extras not shown in the video include a private Facebook group with video shares each month, a cut file download to match the theme word and discounts for prominent online scrapbook shops.

I hope you enjoyed taking a look at what these little kits have to offer as well as seeing it put into action with a project. I’ll be back soon with more crafty goodness. Until then, 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!

CKC Kit Build, October ’22

Wowza. Another new month is here. This last part of the season has just whipped by and I don’t feel like I’ve given my previous kits enough love. Sigh. But time progresses and so do I. With that, lets move on to my new kit as part of the design team for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge project. If you are new to CKC, 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😉 ).

Let’s welcome our guest designer before we dive in….Nikki Ihus. Nikki and I know each other from various crafty circles, and she even was a part of my YouTube going through a growth spurt back in the early days. I’m excited to have her join the team this month!

Our inspiration kit this time around is the August Cherry Box** offered by A Cherry On Top Crafts** website. This kit is centered around product by 49th and Market that has a very neutral color palette, and vintage vibe with a nature feel. I’ll admit that the neutral color palette had me guessing for a while, but as you’ll see I figured out how my style would mesh with the inspiration kit!

Before we get to my kit, let’s peek at most of the inspiration pieces.

For my build I started with my own 49th and Market stash, which definitely has more color to it. But I picked out the papers with the most neutral overall look. I then added in papers from Simple Stories and others that had more color but kept a bit of a vintage vibe. And butterflies. There were lots and lots of butterflies.

I only chose 11 papers this time because my kits have been too big for my busy schedule lately. Also, October is a LOAD month (more on that here) which means I am creating a layout a day on a very wide variety of topics. I’ve found that in past LOAD months, my one CKC kit often only works for a couple of layouts. So I wanted to keep my kit small to allow more room for other creativity in my variety of story telling.

However, the small kit idea melted down after I started pulling embellishments. If you watch the video, you’ll see just how much of a madwoman I was! Well, through a long process I did narrow it down to still-a-rather-large pile. I think that means this months my layouts will be more along the lines of lots (and lots) of embellishing layers instead of paper layers.

Okay. That is my kit. Now… there is a tradition over at CKC of titling our kits just like companies do. So I’m calling mine MAD HATTER both for my lack of rational control in pulling items and for the vintage styling that Alice in Wonderland often encompasses.

If you want to see my entire mad 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.

Here’s the full hop link list

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!

** 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!

CKC Kit Build, September ’22

I love kit building and 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😉 ).

Before we dive into kit building, I want to welcome our guest designer for the month, Christine Harden. You can read more about Christine on the kit reveal post over on the CKC Blog. I hope you visit her Instagram and leaver her some love.

Now, on with the show. You can hear all my thoughts on my kit build in this video, or keep reading for the condensed version.

To start, here is our inspiration kit. It is the Wildflower Collection by Traci Reed. I’m a a big Traci Reed fan and I already own much of these supplies. There is a lot more to this collection, but these images give you a taste. I encourage you to go check out her site. And if you aren’t a digital scrapper, don’t be intimidated. I use digital products often in my physical scrapping. Keep reading and you’ll see some of what I mean.

I could have mimicked—counterfeited!—this kit with products off my shelves. But I just plain love this collection and so why reinvent the wheel? I printed out my favorite papers from the paper pack. I do not have a large format printer so I am limited to the 8.5″x11″ (US letter) size. I’m okay with that! I do some scrapping in that size anyway. However, adding in a bit of cardstock is an easy way to get myself up to the standard 12×12 size. I did add in a couple of other papers also. So, my paper selection ended up looking like this.

Embellishments were up next. This month I went a bit over the top! Just remember anything you don’t end up using can always be put away again for another day. I was just so inspired by these products that I wanted to up the ante. I pulled in journaling card stamps & die sets, mixed media supplies in stencils and sprays, twines, enamels, sequins, and the pre-printed “stickers”—I use them as die cuts really—directly from Traci Reed.

There is a tradition over at CKC of titling our kits just like companies do. So I’m calling mine Wild Child for the pure glee I had just piling in the embellishments.

I hope you can follow along with the other designers and see how they interpreted their own kits.

Here’s the full hop link list

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!

SCT Sampler Kit Unboxing, August ’22

Getting my SCT Sampler kit in the mail each month is a bright spot. This small affordable package is just enough newness + surprise to keep me satisfied. This month the package contained products from Heidi Swapp’s Sun Chaser collection, Lawn Fawn’s All the Dots paper pad and a nested diamond shaped die set from Honey Bee Stamps. It really was a package of goodness!

A quick update before we move on… I now have affiliate shopping links! This means that you you choose to shop, you may use my links to various online retailers and I will get a small commission without your prices being affected. That bit of kickback will help fund future projects and filming quality on my blog and YouTube channel. So, if you are so inclined, I’d be very appreciated if you used my shopping links.

Scrapbook.com: https://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=33086&u=3257631&m=7429

A Cherry On Top: https://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=1497494&u=3257631&m=95132

ScrapbookPal.com: https://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=1067072&u=3257631&m=74394

Okay, enough salsey talk. Back to the crafting! I wouldn’t want to leave you wondering just what to do with all those lovely supplies. So I almost always make a project as soon as my box arrives. That way I am sure to use it instead of just showing it off. This time around I used that diamond die set to create an interesting background for my layout.

I created a bit of a visual triangle with black diamonds and die cut pieces. And then I simply embellished areas with color-coordinating stickers.

Of course if you want more information you can watch my YouTube video to get a better look at the kit products and my project.

If you want more info on these kits, check out the links and info below.

SCT sampler kit information
Please note: you can not order the current kit. Instead you sign up for a future beginning date for your kits. Kits currently run between $14 per month (1-year commitment billed every 4 months) to $17 per month (4-month commitment billed fully). Extras not shown in the video include a private Facebook group with video shares each month, a cut file download to match the theme word and discounts for prominent online scrapbook shops.

I hope you enjoyed taking a look at what these little kits have to offer and seeing it put into action with a project. I’ll be back soon with more crafty goodness. Until then, have an artful day.