December 2023 - Sketching Around The Christmas Tree!

 Welcome December and a new month here at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge.

If you've been here a while, you'll know that we like to shake things up for the festive month because we are all busy getting ready for the main event and have a To Do list from here to Timbuktu.

But we hope that among all the great stuff you have planned for December, you'd also like to carve out a little creative time for yourself. You might be recording your December in a daily way, you might still want to create some scrapbook pages, perhaps you'd just like to play with pretty paper. 

So, moving away from our normal kitting routine, we'd like to offer you something gentle, low-key and fun to just keep the creative juices flowing and hope that you will be inspired to play along.

Don't worry! The new year will welcome back the team for our usual programme of more inspirational kits, challenges and projects. And of course, as we mentioned yesterday (see post here), you'll see some changes which will be very exciting!

But in the meantime, please join us for "Sketching Around The Christmas Tree!"

Starting bright and early tomorrow - 2nd December - we will be all things sketchy over in our FB Counterfeit Kit Challenge community.

We know how you all love our sketch challenges so we thought why not offer sketch inspiration in the lead up to Christmas. On the first day, one Master Forger will post a sketch to inspire you and then on the next day, they will show you their own page or project based on that sketch! 

In total, we will have 12 wonderful sketches taking us all the way through to Christmas Day. 

Take the sketch and interpret it however you like. 

• It's a 12x12 sketch and you are doing a daily December album? 
• Adjust the dimensions down to your format and make it your own. 
• It's a 8.5x11 three small photo sketch and you need space to write your lengthy childhood Christmas memory? 
• Replace the photos with journalling spots. 
• Our Master Forger has created a wintery Christmas page but you are living in the southern hemisphere right in the middle of summer? 
• Use rainbow colours and change the vibe of the page. 
• The sketch is for a scrapbook layout, but you are in the mood for making some last minute Christmas cards? 
• Go for it! Have fun changing the sketch for your creative needs

Remember the golden "rule" round here - YOUR project, YOUR rules! Take our ideas and make something that works for YOU!

Simple, right? Fun, huh? Totally doable, isn't it? 

😉🎄🎅 We thought you'd like it!🎅🎄😉

We'd love it if you'd join in. As always you can share kits, layouts and projects with us in our Facebook Community, or tag us over on Instagram (we are @counterfeitkitchallenge or tag us using #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcdecember2023 and #ckcsketchingaroundthechristmastree). 

 Thanks so much for stopping by! We can't wait to see you playing along with our festive fun this month.

November 2023 - Ch... ch... ch... ch... Changes

 Normally, we have our Kill the Kit feature on the last day of the month but as you know, I very rarely kill my kit in the month I make it. For the last year or two, I've created a summary of the ideas the team have had through the year which is always very inspiring so I do suggest you go back over the posts from this year to remind yourself of our ideas.

This month is different though. This month we have some news we'd like to share and some changes to the team that you'll see in the next month or so.

We have some people to say goodbye to which always makes us sad. Our talented Design Team really is a family and there is a lot of fun and chat and inspiration behind the scenes. We have each others' back, we support each other and are very much there for each other. So it is ALWAYS sad to say goodbye to anyone. Therefore, it's with a very heavy heart that we have to adieu to three wonderful team members who we are already missing:

Anna who was only with us for a short time but wowed us with her talent and readiness to help out wherever needed. She moved on a while back but I've been waiting to make the announcement.

Laura was with us since 2018 and I loved bringing in a little more European influence to the team! She had a great attitude to putting her kits together - making it work for her, printing digital elements to make up parts of her kits, moving to digital kits when her printer died and her aversion to Blogger! I think we can all relate to that!

Leslie has been with us for a very long time! If I'm correct, it's more than 10 years which is a LOT of kits and pages and forgeries and so much inspiration. She is a creative force to be reckoned with.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank them for their contributions to our team over the years and we will miss them. 

Please join me in sending them a virtual group hug and we hope that they will join us in the community when they have time.

But wait, there's more 😉

I'm also stepping down from the team and from the administrative support of the team overall which means that this month - the kit I picked out, the challenges, the pages, the GD and the Follower Showcase - have all been my last! It was quite bittersweet to be honest. But it's been a long time and I have so many years of Counterfeit Kit Challenge memories to make me smile! 

I first played along in early 2011, became a Master Forger in October 2011 and then took on the administration of the team in 2016. I've only missed one single month in all that time and I've just looked up how many kits and mini-kits I've made and it's scary! Let's just say too many to count - I kept skipping numbers and now I've given up actually trying to come up with a definitive number!! I've lost count of the pages and projects I've made but let me just say that the dozens of completed LOADs over the years would not have been possible without those piled up, un-killed kits on my shelf! I've been inspired by the team, by our process, by the challenges and of course, by our followers. So it was a very hard decision to step down and away, but I am leaving you all in the best of hands. 

The most wonderful Tara will be taking over the responsibility for running the team and I know she is going to be AWESOME!!

No doubt she will make some changes - maybe even big changes - but she is as passionate about what we do here as I have been and I know she will do a fantastic job. 

I leave you all in good hands and I can't wait to watch from the sidelines!

I'm not heading out just yet though - I'll be contributing to "Sketching Around the Christmas Tree" so I'll see you there!

Lisa

December 2023 - Sketching Around The Christmas Tree

 I'm just dashing in here today to give you a heads up about what we are preparing for you in December!

As you know, we like to shake things up for the festive month and we know that you all have so much happening but a little creativity here and there would be nice.

Our "Sketching Around the Christmas Tree" will offer sketches and interpretations for you to dip into as much or as little as you can/like!

Come on over on 1st December to find out all the info. We will be basing this festive inspiration over in our FB Counterfeit Kit Challenge community so you'll need to come and find us there!

Hope to see you in the community and we can't wait to share our sketches and pages with you all!

November 2023 - Follower Showcase

 It's the best day of my kit month when I get to showcase an awesome follower who has caught my eye in the FB Counterfeit Kit Challenge Community.

First up I would like to give the hugest shout out to the most fabulous of design teams - Tara, Christine, Julene, Cindy, Misty, Tina - who have really done fantastic work this month! Check out their gorgeous creations and make sure you give them some love!

When I went over the projects in the community, there were so many wonderful pages and some stunning Christmas cards too so I'd like to give virtual hugs and cheers to Anandi, Sheryle, Deb, Judy, Karin, Laurie, DawnLyn just to name a few. 

The community is full of great inspiration and you have all contributed to that.

Today, though, I'd like to give a huge showcase to the very talented Nelya who impressed me with two layouts. Just so creative and colourful and happy and everything I love about our hobby. 

First off, she created her own background inspired by the inspiration kit using some stamps and embossing and then she turned it into the most unexpected but beautiful Christmas layout with so many gorgeous cut flowers. I love it!

And then she was inspired by our moodboard to create a fun, busy, festive layout with stitching and embossing and all that fun stuff!

Nelya told me, "I like that the Counterfeit Kit Challenge inspires us to think outside the box, and use our stash to make pretty things!"

I love that - this is exactly why we do what we do here at Counterfeit Kit Challenge!

Don't you just love these layouts? A very worthy highlight I think 😀

There is just one more post to come at the end of the month and we will also drop in to let you know what we are going to be up to in December! Make sure you come back to find out all the info. 

You know that we always love to see your work, so please share your kits and projects with us. You can post them in our Facebook Community or share them on Instagram (we are @counterfeitkitchallenge or tag us using #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcnovember2023).

Lisa

November 2023 - Bonus Birthday Challenge #3 - Sprinkles!

And today we have an extra bonus challenge for you. It would be great to know that this inspired you to find some creative time at this busy time of year to make something pretty! 

Today is my special day and I love to scrap pages about birthdays and celebrations but I'm also aware that Christmas is just around the corner and Advent - such an important thing on the German calendar - is coming up just next week! This time of year is so special on so many levels! 

Therefore, I'm continuing with my idea of birthdays and celebrations and exciting things to look forward to with an extra challenge today. 

Thinking about glitter and birthday cupcakes covered with sprinkles and pretty presents and falling snow and twinkling lights and snow globes, I'd like you to include some sort of "falling sprinkles" on your page or project today!

I knew the look that I wanted to achieve on my layout as soon as I decided on our challenge. I had a vision of sequins falling down the page. Maybe it hasn't turned out exactly the same as the vision in my head but the sewn on sequins are definitely making me happy. 

I decided to make a page with a few thoughts about getting older. The number today is a little scary but I'm trying to stay positive and am happy to have captured a little on this page.

Keeping it simple with the embellishments as the sequins are more than enough, this page came together quite easily. The design of the page was loosely inspired by a sketch from the Simple Scrapper membership.

And I'm delighted that my friend and this month's Guest Designer, Silvia, was inspired to make a page for us today!

"First of all: Happy Birthday Lisa, I am so happy to have you in my galaxy!

Sprinkles - what a great theme for a challenge. 

Fortunately there is a sprinkle story on my to-do list for layouts. In fact it is a story about our "hunt" for my favourite sprinkles "Cosmic Galaxy" - spoiler I got a mega pack and it is already half empty again.

Because of the colours on the photo wallpaper from the Happy Sprinkles Shop I chose my blue and yellow papers for the layout and there are for sure also some stars."

There's still a few more posts to come this month so make sure you stick around to see it all and of course, we will be letting you know what is happening round here in December. You are going to love it.

You know that we always love to see your work, so please share your kits and projects with us. You can post them in our Facebook Community or share them on Instagram (we are @counterfeitkitchallenge or tag us using #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcnovember2023).

Lisa

November 2023 - Challenge #2 - Sweet Anticipation!

Time for Challenge #2 and I hope you are working your way through your lovely kit supplies. Hopefully, this challenge will also tempt you to join in!

 This is my birthday month and of course, the festivities of Christmas are just around the corner which is certainly building up a certain amount of "anticipation"! 

What are you excited for? What products have you been waiting impatiently to use or which projects are you itching to get started on? What events on the calendar are you looking forward to? What parts of the festive season are you wanting to start? There are so many ways to interpret this prompt! 

Use the idea of "sweet anticipation" on your page or project today! 

MF Christine 

I was inspired by the Christmas theme of our inspiration kit.  I decided to document my cat Saturn, who can NEVER wait to get into the presents on Christmas Day!  She clearly anticipates the open bags and boxes and hops right in.  I used the scraps in my kit to build a "tree" and a cut file for the title, using Distress Oxides to add a little ombre color.  

MF Julene 

I haven't even thought about Christmas yet but thought of something else.

I finally managed to visit a Zoo, about 5 hours away, that I've wanted to go to for years. While there I paid to feed some gorgeous tiny Tamarins from South America. I used the photo the zoo gave me from that feeding. Colours I chose from my kit were neutral colours plus a dusty red and brighter red to match my top. 

This is a better photo of myself and the tamarins. Their moustaches are so long. 

 

MF Tina 

This time of the year I always anticipate our annual Victorian Christmas I was so excited about this year's that I went over to get tickets 2 weeks too soon! My kit of Christmas supplies is perfect to scrap this year's event:

 Here is what the rest of November's inspiration will look like:

• 22nd November – Bonus Challenge #3 – To celebrate birthdays and offer even more inspiration to use your kit this month! 
• 24th November - Follower's Showcase - who has caught our eye this month. 
• 30^th November - Killing the Kit - an idea or two focusing on using up the bits and pieces left in your kit. 

You know that we always love to see your work, so please share your kits and projects with us. You can post them in our Facebook Community or share them on Instagram (we are @counterfeitkitchallenge or tag us using #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcnovember2023).

Lisa

November 2023 - Challenge #1 - Moodboard Inspiration!

It's time for the first challenge of the month where we hope to inspire you to use up those supplies that you have so lovingly put into your kits! 

We have a lot of fun translating the inspiration of the original kit into a sneak peek moodboard to whet your appetites for what is to come each month.

 

So, this month, be inspired by our moodboard! 

Take the colours, the patterns, the layout or whatever takes your fancy from the moodboard and use that inspiration on your page or project!

GD Silvia 

"When getting the mood board from Lisa, I first recognized the darker flower paper from the inspiration kit on the bottom left side. In my kit this is the darker star paper. Then I saw the photo in the bottom middle of the moodboard and remembered a photo I took from our cousins trip this month when I was walking behind my cousins. With that paper and picture in mind, I decided to also use the mood board as a sketch to create my layout and here is the result:"

MF Brandi 

Brandi’s kit is full of lots of Christmas-y goodies, so she had no trouble pulling festive inspiration from the moodboard! She pulled out music notes, reindeer, florals & even some sweater print paper inspired by the yarn. 

MF Cindy 

Cindy's kit is not a Christmas themed kit, but a Fall and Autumn kit. Cindy took inspiration from the mood board the colors turquoise and yellow then the flower paper and buttons for her layout.

MF Lisa 

Lisa decided to pick out the red and pink vibe from the moodboard as well as the blue yarn and the reindeer to select pieces from her kit for her layout.

She always knew that she wanted to use the whole of the Kaisercraft knit paper as a background because she loves it so much so that was where she started. From there she picked out the red and two pink papers as a contrast to the mint and as a bold mat to her busy photos. Two cut-apart cards either side of the central block and a few fussy cut tickets in some cute colours and then a handful of small embellishments and a sprinkle were all this layout needed. 

Eye-catching title letters and some journalling finished off this simple but happy layout!

Ps. Did you spot our wonderful Guest Designer in my photos? 😉

MF Tara 

Master Forger Tara went rogue with her kit and used only the color palette from the kit to create her kit, which you can view HERE.  So, her inspiration from the moodboard will not reflect any Christmas themed layouts!  What she saw in the moodboard was the turquoise twisted yarn, the music notes, and the rosettes.  Here's her completed layout!

 Here is what the rest of November's inspiration will look like: 

• 18th November - Challenge #2 - To inspire you to get creating from your own kit. 
• 22nd November – Bonus Challenge #3 – To celebrate birthdays and offer even more inspiration to use your kit this month! 
• 24th November - Follower's Showcase - who has caught our eye this month. 
• 30^th November - Killing the Kit - an idea or two focusing on using up the bits and pieces left in your kit. 

You know that we always love to see your work, so please share your kits and projects with us. You can post them in our Facebook Community or share them on Instagram (we are @counterfeitkitchallenge or tag us using #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcnovember2023).

Lisa