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

November 2023 - Mini kit reveal and project

 Sometimes, you just don't have the time or motivation to make and use up a full kit. Maybe you need to replenish your card supplies, or have a small mini-album in mind to make. 

This is where we show you mini-kits that we've made up as well as the small projects that we made with those supplies.

Today Master Forger Misty shares her ideas and we hope that you will also feel inspired to give this a go if you need to take a slightly different direction this month!

A quick reminder of the inspiration kit in November to kick-things off: 

The Hip Kit Club November 2022 main kit 

This is the time of year when I make Christmas cards to send out to friends and family. I wanted to share an array of cards that you could create from the simple, to the more complex with just one small kit of scraps!

I pulled some cheery scraps of pattern paper inspired by the softer side of the kit's color palette. I replaced the bold yellow print with a mirror gold cardstock.

Next I pulled one die cut pack of Christmas embellishments from Pink Fresh Studio. You can see the colors certainly work with the inspiration kit.

Notice those die cut panels? These were leftover pieces from creating my Forgery on the Fourth project. If you haven't seen that post, go check it out. These pieces were my rejects from that project. I trimmed them down so that I could use them for card making.

The panel die is from Concord & 9th and it comes with two die strips to cut triangles for inlaying on the panel. Don't worry, I'll show you how you can do this without a die!

Using that first batch of scrap papers, I die cut plenty of triangles and got to work gluing pieces to panels. Here is where you can make the project fit your energy level. If you have more energy cover the entire panel like on the top left card. Far less energy? Try the bottom right card where I just used a single stripe of triangles. Or get creative and try some other patterns. Add simple premade ephemera pieces and top it all off with a bit of gold spatters. Done!

Now if you like the quilted look of these cards but don't have the die, no worries! I mentioned on the Forgery on the Fourth post just a couple of days ago how to tackle creating these quilting triangles by hand. Let me give you a refresher.

Here is a closer peek at the pencil "stitching" lines. If you create lines this way then you can still do the sparse triangle infill style pictured in the second card up above.

I hope I have inspired you to pull out your supplies and create some cards to share with friends and family for the holidays.

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

• 12th November - Challenge #1 - To inspire you to get creating from your own kit. 
• 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

November 2023 - Forgery on the Fourth

We're back today to give you an idea or two of how to make your own embellishments or elements for your own kit!

Let's just have a quick look again at our inspiration kit this month: 

The Hip Kit Club November 2022 main kit 

   This feature is all about the fun of having a go at making up your own embellishments or re-creating the papers as a way of getting the same look as the inspiration kit even if you don't have any of the original items. 

These tutorials are often so simple and easy that it really is a perfect chance to try out an idea or two. Make sure you share if you do, we love it when are motivated to give it a go!

Now it's time to see what our talented team have come up with - this is always such an inspiration for me. The Master Forgers often create things that would just not have crossed my mind.

 So talented, so resourceful, so inspirational!

Master Forger Misty just can't stop creating once she gets started. She made a sheet of pattern paper, with her kit colors in mind, inspired by this sheet of geometric paper.

She used a Concord and 9th cover plate die set to create an 8 1/2 x 11 pierced background that she then filled in with die cut triangles. 

This one you can recreate even if you don't have a die set! Here is a quick guide.

Next up she just needed to make some stars inspired by the add-on embellishment pack.

So she pulled out some scrap heavy weight vellum and used a brayer to ink it up. Then with several stars from a larger a die set (from The Stamps of Life) she cut out vellum stars.

Of course you could also you a punch, but the die set includes stitching-like details to the embellishments that adds and extra touch.

And finally inspired by the red and white cathedral window pattern paper...

 ...she used yet another die set (from The Stamp Market) to cut 6 panels out of pink cardstock. The panels were overlapped and glued down onto a 12x12 sheet of white cardstock. A bit of trimming on the edges cleaned everything up and resulted in a final paper size of 11" x 11". 

Master Forger Julene used a negative framework from a set of hexagons plus ink and mist to create a Christmas decorative area on some bland paper. Here are the before and after photos.

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

• 6th November - Mini Kit Reveal and Project Showcase - Inspiration for a smaller kit or project ideas. 
• 12th November - Challenge #1 - To inspire you to get creating from your own kit. 
• 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