Category: Kit Talk

CKC Kit Build, April ’24

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.

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!

CKC Kit Build, March ’24

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.

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!

CKC Challenge #4, February ’24

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!

And we have reached the final challenge of the month. If you joined me in January, you’ll know that that the final challenge each month will now be a use your scraps challenge. I was inspired by another group challenge as well for this one. ScrapHappy’s current Unexpected Inspiration challenge is all about games and I was inspired by a game called Patchwork to use up scraps in a quilted fashion.

Take a look at the game box.

Lots of color and pattern all pieced together. Perfect for using scraps. Not only that, but the game title inspired my own story and title! Now, I didn’t want to spend too much time quilting, so I kept my quilted portion smaller and used it as grounding and accent.

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 inspiration. For more info check out the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog page, our Facebook group, or tag us on Instagram @counterfeitkitchallenge or use #counterfeitkitchallenge.

And if you want to get in on the ScrapHappy membership, check out details on joining here.

Until next time, have an artful day.

CKC Challenge #3, February ’24

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!

The 22nd is always the 3rd challenge of the month where we give you a sketch to use as a starting point for your layout! This month’s sketch was created by team member, Brandi. Be sure to check out her social media for more freebies like this. Let’s take a look at that sketch.

I liked the vertical lines, the bold title and offset photos. I decided to interpret the triangles using mixed media instead. I did lose a bit of that feeling when all was said and done. But… that is how sketches go sometimes!

Notice just a hint of map style stenciling behind the title and again on the lower opposite corner? That was my fill in for the triangles. When I was working it felt more like a triangle than it did by the end. Here are just a couple more views of the final design.

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 inspiration. For more info check out the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog page, our Facebook group, or tag us on Instagram @counterfeitkitchallenge or use #counterfeitkitchallenge.

Until next time, have an artful day.

Freckled Fawn Kit Unboxing, February ’24

I’m back with my Freckled Fawn Kit subscription for this month. I’ll show off what I’m getting in my kit and create a project with it. As I am newer to these kits, I’ll share my pros and cons with you as I go. With that, let’s dive into this months kit.

Unfortunately I forgot to take my posed kit photo before diving in, so instead I grabbed this screen shot from my reveal video.

I was happy to see that the washi selection was a role of tape this time instead of washi sheets. I like both and will be happy to see the variety of options included moving forward with my subscription. Likewise, the chipboard stickers and cardstock label stickers had some differences to them this month than last month. I was worried I’d get bored with the same supplies over and over, but so far there is a tad of variety in the shapes to keep it interesting. Plus, the small alpha stickers this month have gold foiled letters and that was a lovely surprise. As I just touched on reviewing the kit when I got the release email, I didn’t notice that detail.

Now, for a bit of a con. When I did get the release email I was able, as a subscriber, to add on extras for no extra shipping fee. I did choose to get a second set of the floral ephemera since I imagine creating an entire wreath with these beauties. However, the second set didn’t make it into my package. I contacted them the same day I opened my kit and I have yet to hear back. I will give it just a bit more of time and try again. I’ll let you know what happens.

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 12×12 layout based on a sketch from a sketch class I am taking.

I am still struggling with some lighting issues in my space after one of my light fixtures went kaput. So this is not the most flattering photo, but you can still see all the pretty colors, textures and patterns included in the kit.

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.

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 15% off your order!

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 next time, 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, February ’24

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😉 ).

As we dive into our inspiration for February, let’s welcome Jessica Mikels as our guest designer for the month. You can connect with her via her Blog, Instagram account, and YouTube channel. I hear she is a mixed media goddess, so if you are like me and go for that style, do check her out.

Now we can get to the pretty stuff. To start, here is our inspiration kit. It is November Rain kit by Not Just For Boys Kit Club. Our CKC team member hosting this kit is Brandi Jo. Since she has boys to scrap she wants kits that shy away from pinks, flowers and butterflies. This kit fits the bill.

This kit was outside my comfort zone. I actually liked that! It meant that it was a challenge, and I enjoy a good challenge/puzzle. Oranges and browns are not my go-to colors, especially here in the midst of winter. I knew I needed to lighten and brighten this kit if it was going to work for me.

I did this in several ways. First, I chose a Traci Reed digital collection that features a cozy, homey vibe in a richer color palette, including oranges. It is called Hygge Season and has an add-on that includes specific winter icons. While I was browsing my TR supplies, I landed on the Tempest collection (a freebie on her site– follow instructions to get all three parts of the freebie). This one has a bit of color overlap with the inspo kit by having coraly-orange, tealy-green, navy, plus some pink. The takes on the colors in this collection definitely brighten things up.

I also chose wood grain that included whites, a bit of pink and lighter versions of orange. You can see in the photo below how everything pulled together.

I have lots of die cuts (too many really to use in one month!), a bit of cork inspired by one of the brown kit papers, as well as stencils and navy spray in my embellishments. I pulled several alphas in browns and tans and one navy. They all have most of the vowels used up so hopefully I can get some titles out of these. That is why I pulled so many! Check it out.

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…

Yin Yang

This title won’t make sense unless you hear me in the video talk about some of the embellments featuring homey vibes while some feature bad-day vibes. If you want more details on all that and more, 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!

January Wrap Up

I have been struggling to keep up with life these days. Have you ever been there? Well, in an effort to stay active here I’m going to wrap up January in a bit of a gallery style, so let’s dive in.

CKC Challenge #1: Tell about a cozy adventure.

Video

I went back to 2018 or 2019 for this story of exploring a new-to-me town while my daughter was at an event. Despite the rain, it was a lovely adventure.

This is from my ongoing Mystery Box Monday series. I have a grab bag of supplies that I ordered. “Grab bag” means I have no idea what is in the box! I reach in without looking (a challenge!), pull out three items, and put them to use on a project. This is just a fun and creativity stretching exercise. Are the projects always great? Nope. Do I learn something each time? Yep.

Video

CKC Challenge #2: Tell a story of a special moment.

We happened to have this owl visit our yard one day for several hours. My whole family was in awe and we spent a good amount of time just staring at this guy.

Video

Iron Crafter Challenge: Use Stamping

Iron Crafter is all about putting underutilized supplies to use. I wouldn’t say my stamps are under used, but one thing I don’t do much is stamp my titles. So along with other stamping, I also stamped part of my title.

Video

CKC#3: Use a sketch.

The CKC group has added two extra challenges to our array of inspiration each month. Sketches are one such addition. If you want to see the sketch and how I worked it to this layout, check out the video.

Video

New for 2024: Freckled Fawn Kit unboxing + project

Since my SCT Sampler kits were discontinued, I went on a quest to find a new kit subscription. I landed on Freckled Fawn! Here is my first project from my January kit. The video shows the entire unboxing, thoughts on why I chose Freckled Fawn and the project creation.

Video

Mixed Media Mayhem

I love the Mixed Media Mayhem group, but as I am struggling with time in my days, this is the one YouTube project that I may need to drop from my calendar. I’m still thinking this over. At any rate, I was really happy with how this one turned out.

Video

CKC Challenge #4: Use your scraps

At the end of each month, CKC is now offering the “use your scraps” challenge. While I have a go-to list of using up scraps, I’m not sure I have 12 ideas–one of each month of 2024. I will be learning along the way with everyone! As my ideas run out, I may skip doing videos on this project as well. Again, decisions need to be made!

Video

So, that wraps up my January. If you have any questions or comments, just drop me a note and I’d be happy to get back to you.

Until next time, have an artful day.

CKC Kit Build, January ’24

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 the new year. There are just a couple of changes happening over at CKC that I want to tell you about. First, we’ll be including extra inspiration for you every month! Second, our team has had a few people need to step away and we need a few newbies to take their place. We have a design team call open and if you’re interested, we are a relaxed crew of scrappers who just like to share ideas and inspiration.

With the business out of the way we can start the new year of inspiration with a scrapbook kit build! I do want to take a moment to welcome our guest designer right away. Kristen, aka Scrapping on the Fly on both YouTube and Instagram, is joining us this month. Kristen shared this little info about herself

“Hello! My name is Kristen, I am the proud mom of two, mostly, grown kiddos and a lover of all things scrapbooking! Making the memories to scrapbook, buying the collections and crafty tools, organizing all the fun stash and, of course, using all the different craft things to make a layout! I started my fist official scrapbook in 1996 and have been creating ever since! ❤️“

Give Kristen a big welcome on her socials or over on our Facebook group! Now we can get to the pretty paper. To start, here is our inspiration kit. It is the very recent December 2023 kit from Hip Kit Club. Take a look at what we have to inspire us.

I was inspired by a few things in this kit. The tree trunk paper with the birds was a starting point for me. I knew I wanted something nature leaning. The next stop in my thinking was plenty of plaids based just on one single print. I also wanted to include some snowflakes without getting too wintery. I did like a lot of the wintery branches and foliage so that got added to the kit as well. With those icons included, I next turned to the color inspiration. I used a palette of light & dark blues, yellow, and pops of red and green.

So these are the papers I came up with. Notice the left side is plaid heavy. That just felt so cozy to me for the season.

For the embellishments I leaned heavily into cozy and homey icons, as well as the woodland critters. Since one of my papers had a bit of gold I also added that into my embellishments. What I forgot to make sure was in my picture was a sticker book from Simple Stories that has homey icons I want to use. It also include some alpha stickers. Which, leads me into the second thing I didn’t photograph — the plain black foam that I’ll be die cutting with an alpha die set for my titling.

Don’t forget that each month I also create my own elements to add into my kit. I have much of that done but don’t have the photos edited just yet. You can join me on the 4th for the full reveal of those items.

There is a tradition over at CKC of titling our kits just like companies do. So I’m calling mine…

Comfy & Cozy Are We

If you want more details on my kit building thought process, check out my kit build video. [[Coming soon!]]

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, November ’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. Yet, this package is coming to an end. The kit is being discontinued after December. Read down below for a sneak at what is coming next for me. But first let’s check out this month’s kit.

As is typical for November, this month’s kit is Christmas related. While I don’t do a lot of very themed scrapbooking, getting just a few new holiday themed products is a little treat. I especially loved the die set, stamp set, and gold embellishments this time around.

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 Christmas layout using some color blocking with my 6×6 papers to build up a 12×12 layout.

So, now that the SCT kits have almost come to an end, what is next for SCT and what is next for me? I did talk on this topic in my reveal video (below) so I will leave you to check that out. What I did mention is that I know I want a monthly goody selection and I considered many options! Here is the list of companies I considered. As of now, I believe I have chosen which company I will use so stay tuned next month as I reveal which one met the most of my needs!

I’ll be back soon with more crafty goodness. Until then, have an artful day.

CKC Kit Build, November ’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😉 ).

We have arrived at the final CKC kit of 2023. I can’t believe the year is almost over. I’m feeling it in my bones though. It has been a long, tiring year, but I digress.

Before we move into this final kit inspiration let’s welcome… Silvia Jorke! Silvia is a scrappy friend of our fearless leader, and November hostess, Lisa. You can find Silvia on her Instagram account. I hear she is a prolific project maker so you should be able to find lots of inspiration!

Now we can get to the inspiration kit for this month. We have the November ’22 kit by Hip Kit Club. Hip Kit is a big, popular, original product club company with a big following and lots of product and inspiration. The November kit is always Christmas Holiday inspired.

I don’t prefer my kits to be highly or specifically themed since my heart is in everyday moments scrapping. That is the beauty of CKC! I can be inspired by a lovely kit to pull together my own fresh prettiness and collate what works so well for me. So let’s dive in.

Notice that there are a few holiday specific papers, but many of the papers are just highly patterned paper in a holiday color scheme. So my shift in kit will keep the pattern, focus on cozy colors and ditch the Christmas. I’m not anti-Christmas here, mind you. I will just go to my holiday file when I need the theme. LOL.

So these are the papers I came up with. I pulled lots of blue, a teal sweater style print, plaids and a couple of light & bright yellows, and pinks to replace the reds. All have great pattern to them. All papers are by Pink Fresh studio since the Hip Kit work often reminds me Pink Fresh.

Here is a look at the embellishments. I did far less planning with the embellishment and just went with my gut. I sorted through a pile of Pink Fresh embellishments and just grabbed anything that grabbed me! I found texture, color and any little phrases caught my attention the most. As for alphas I *think* the inspiration kit had a woodgrain alpha (hard to tell from the pic), so I started with that and then added in blue, and neutrals for a variety. Also included is a small scale alpha book for my mix-and-match font titles. As a final touch I have a jar of Lunar Paste since HKC always offers a mixed media add-on.

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…

Winter Peace

If you want more details on my kit building thought process, check out my kit build video. However, again this month, my thoughts were captured pretty well here in this post!

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. I’m not on the official hop this time as I’m taking on the mini-kit role this month. However, I always do the main kit no matter what my role is!

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!