Tag: kit-building

CKC Kit Build, February ’25

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 a new month of kit building. I have the duty of hosting our kit inspiration this month. I’m excited about the kit I picked. It has some elements I love and some looks that push me a bit. Perfect! Before I talk more about that I want to welcome Sheryle Thomas as our guest designer this month. She is a retired nurse and loves to tell stories of her lovely cats. That has my heart for sure! Sheryle is sharing all her work over on our Facebook group so be sure to leave her some love over there.

So let’s move on with our kit. I chose the May ’24 kit from Kitaholics Kits in Australia. Sadly after choosing this kit, it has vanished from the website. Luckily I saved some kit photos before that happened, so we are good to go with our inspiration. Here are a few looks at what we have in store this time around.

Screenshot

Be sure to take a closer look at the Cedar House papers by American Crafts in this kit. Many of them have gold foiling. I did not realize that at first! I was drawn to the kit for the earthy vibe that reminded me of a cabin in the woods. Yet some of the embellishments are just the opposite, with young energy popping off the page. However, there are more of those nature vibe embellishments also. Finally, while I adore woodgrains I don’t often stick to monochromatic scrapping, so that is another challenging part of this kit for me.

With all that in mind, these are the papers I came up with. I did pour over both the A and B sides of the inspiration and made one-to-tone choices when I could. There are some interpretive substitutions but I am super happy with my kit.

Now remember when I said monochromatic scrapping is hard for me? This is where my kit building started ballooning into a massive kit. We’ll get to all the extras I ended up adding but let’s start with the extra pattern papers. I wanted more color so I took that striped paper in the photo above as a jumping off point to bring in more color. Not only more color, but also more gold foiling. The three papers on the right end do just that. Plus it doesn’t hurt to add hearts to a February kit, right?

Let’s take a look at the base embellishments next. I’ve got a little bit of everything from the inspiration in here, from the kid energy to the nature vide.

The inspiration also included some mixed media elements. I stuck really closely to the inspo color palette. I did choose a lot of extras in the stamp category in the woodland animal theme.

I didn’t stop there. I needed more stuff in my kit, including tons of embellishments along the nature/outdoor theme. I have all of the Simple Stories Trail Mix line, some 49th and Market, plus a bit of Jen Hadfield with gold foiling.

Okay, one more thing and then I am done. I adored the burlap ribbons in the inspiration kit. Not many kits include those details these days, so that is very much one thing that drew me to choose this inspiration. With that I added lots of texture in the form of trims, burlap paper and corrugated cardboard papers. I’m looking forward to using up these old stash items.

Whew! Now that we have seen everything, there is a tradition over at CKC of titling our kits. So I’m calling mine…

Cabin Adventures

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 where I’ll be adding even more to this kit. Until then, have an artful day!

CKC Kit Build, January ’25

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😉 ).

Happy New Year everyone. January is always a big shift for me as I move from largely die cutting and card making back into scrapbooking. I often feel a bit rusty switching gears again. I’ll shake off that feeling and get right back to it. So… Welcome to a new month of kit building. Christine is our hostess this time. She chose the September 2024 kit from Hip Kit Club to inspire us. Before we dive into the details of this kit, let’s give a warm welcome to our guest designer this month. Jennifer Cain. You can find her on Instagram and on YouTube.

So let’s move on with our kit. Here are a few looks at what we have in store this time around.

It is a bit hard to get a closer look at all these goodies so you’ll have to trust me when I say I saw something sepcific that caught my attention, LOL.

For the papers, I only used items that sparked some interest for me. There was no specific reasons I included some papers and not others. The funniest thing about building out my papers was that I completely forgot I had this split-heart print in my stash. It was such a fun match to the inspo! Some other paper choices were more on the interpretive side, but that is how I roll.

For the embellishments I was super inspired by small little images in the kit pack. That lead me to pulling a lot of die sets and stamps sets to mimic those images. From roller coasters, to owls, to shoes, I packed in a bunch of little imagery. It’ll be a month of making embellies for each layout! Yet, I still do have my FOF (aka Forgeries on the Fourth) project coming, so perhaps I can get some work in ahead of time to pre-make some elelements.

Hope you will come back on the fourth to see what I made ahead and what I left to do in real time!

Before we go, there is a tradition over at CKC of titling our kits just like companies do. So I’m calling mine…

Sky High

… in honor of the stars and rollercoasters and hot air ballon images.

If you want more details on my kit building thought process, check out my kit build video. (This will go live 6am PST. To keep our team coordinated, our blog posts go live at midnight EST.)

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, November ’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 a new month of kit building. Vikki is our hostess this time. She chose the Goldenrod Digital & Printable Kit by Traci Reed Designs to inspire us. Before we dive into the details of this kit, let’s give a warm welcome to our guest designer this month. Tamra Hunt, pictured to the left! You can find her on her blog.

So let’s move on with our kit. Here are a few looks at what we have in store this time around.

Lets take a bigger look at the papers since that is where I usually start. What caught my attention was the fact that there were plenty of everyday papers tucked in there. From plaids to polkadots, I found plenty to inspire me outside of the definite fall theme of this collection. I very much appreciate that! I also liked that the softer than traditional color palette as well as the addition of gray and gray-teals.

So these are the papers I came up with. I subbed out the black star print for a large bold multicolor star. I included one leafy print and one pumpkin print as a nod to the theme. I also subbed in one wreath print that while intended for Christmas, could work really well on a Halloween layout with porch pumpkins!

And here is a look at the embellishments. I kept my main selection of embellishments manageable. I will allow myself to draw readily from my stash of fall and Halloween embellishments as needed.

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. I’m sharing some things from super-easy to fun-techniquey this time around.

There is a tradition over at CKC of titling our kits just like companies do. So in honor of the wreath print I included, I’m calling mine…

Porch Decor

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, October ’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😉 ).

Man, I have been so busy with a long list of stuff going on. Luckily most of it is good. Unfortunately it means multiple things have fallen through the cracks. Deep breath. Pick up the trail and move forward.

With that I am here with my October kit. The team at CKC breaks up tasks for the group by various jobs. I’m actually on the job of creating a mini kit + project this month. But… that kit & project is going to be a fun home decor idea (sneaky peek there). That means I still need a scrappy kit. So here it goes.

First here is our guest designer: Liz Ketter! You can find her on Instagram. I don’t know Liz so I am looking forward to seeing her work. Speaking of which we need to build a kit based on inspiration. Since I am behind the times, you can check out Liz’s and the rest of the team’s kits over at the CKC Blog. We are working with the An Autumn Tale: Chilly Breeze digial kit available at Sweet Shoppe Designs.

The very first thing I noticed was the demin accent. LOVE. We have had at least one other month with denim vibes during my tenure on the team. Still loving it. I also appreciate the softer takes on oranges and browns. Those are not my go-to colors at all. Yet the tones here have a bit of a glow to them that I appreciate.

So these are the papers I came up with. Apologies for the blurry photo. I had my camer in the wrong setting when I snapped this and didn’t realize it until it was too late.

And here is a look at the embellishments. Despite the chaotic look of this pile, I kept it simple. I added dies and stamps to create items as I scrap. I added textural elements of felt and cork. Then I just plopped my entire fall embellishment pouch onto my kit. Done.

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. I’m loving my ideas this time.

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

Easy Breezy Autumn

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!