January 2025 - Just the Gist of It

 Hello friends!   Welcome back to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog for January 2025. Master Forger Christine here and I'm going to talk about how I created my kit for the month. As a reminder, our inspiration kit is Good Things Ahead by Hip Kit from their September 2024 monthly subscription. 

I actually received this kit when it was released.  So I do have a bit of a head start.

But, when I create a counterfeit kit, I always begin with the papers.  My typical approach is to find a matching or similar paper to each one shown in the image of the inspiration kit.  For example, if there is a plaid, I’ll try to find a plaid – Stripes, I’ll look for stripes.  

In this collection, there are also several that would make great forgeries!

The first is the mixed media background.  A little ink and packaging technique and you are good to go.  The second is the icon paper with the soft gray icons.  You could use small stamps with gray ink and easily create a similar background.  And lastly is the "Charlie Brown" pattern.  You could use scrap papers to create this similar pattern in the center of white cardstock.

Next step for me is to start looking at the various elements that make up the "decorations" of the kit.  

For example, the rubons offer great inspiration for wordy bits and subtitles.  I also note some stars and icons like a camera or a football.  These are typically easy to find in old sticker sheets.

In this kit, there are some ephemera pieces and chipboard elements.  Both offer some great ideas to pull from you stash.  I see tons of circular items, some frames, tabbies, tickets, and flag banner.  

Next is the font and enamel dots.  For me, it's all about the color.  I might even add a second font in a bit more of a script if I have one.  But in this case, I'll stick with the original and add the wordy bits from above.

Then lastly, I pulled from my older stash to add just a couple items.  This is already such a big kit, I will have touble using it all!  As usual, I'm using the colorway as my inspiration.  I had some fussy cut florals and some journaling pockets.  Plus, I found a few chip board sticker elements in the right colors.

Make sure to pop over to the Facebook Group and Instagram to see what our other Forgers put together!I do have a video explaining my thought process with a bit more detail if you want to check that out as well.

Now, let's see what we have lined up for the rest of this month:

• 6th January - Mini Kit and Project Reveal
• 12th January -  Challenge #1 – New Year’s Resolutions!
• 18th January - Challenge #2 - OLW
• 22nd January - Challenge #3 Sketch Challenge
• 24th January - Follower Showcase 
• 28th January - February Sneak Peek (on Instagram and the Facebook Community)
• 30th January - Challenge #4 Baby, Use Those Scraps Challenge

Are you as excited for this month as I am?  Let's go!  

XOXO

Master Forger Christine

January 2025 Inspiration Kit and Social Media Hop

 

Welcome to January 2025 and a New Year on the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog!

 Master Forger Christine on deck to guide us through my first month of counterfeiting fun! Our inspiration kit for the month will be Hip Kit's September 2024 "Good Things Ahead". I chose this kit because I love the unique color palette and hey, it's a new year so there must be good things ahead!

This kit isn't your typical "winter" theme, which means you have so much opportunity to work with it!  I know in Texas, we don't see much winter, so this is a good fit for those of us without snow!  For inspiration, I've got the main kit and the embellishment kit images shown here.

Now, let's meet our guest designer for the month, Jennifer Cain!

 I've been following Jennifer on Youtube and Instagram for a while and love her non-traditional style.  I met her virtually when we were both on a design team together and then decided to pair up on our own YT Collab.  So she was the first person I thought of when inviting a Guest Designer. Here is a little more info from Jennifer herself!

 "I have been scrapbooking for 25+ years. I enjoy using just about anything to show off my photos and tell my story. I scrapbook 8 1/2x11 size, single layouts in portrait, landscape and double page layouts. I use lots of different items in my scrapbooking. I love learning new techniques and finding new items to use. I enjoy making interactive layouts including hidden tags, fold outs, mini waterfalls and pockets. I restarted my YouTube channel in that last year and have over a 100 videos posted. Also have over 1800 layouts posted on Instagram. I am under Jennifer ScrappinCain for both accounts."

Don’t forget to check out how our talented team of Master Forgers built their kits this month! I’ve linked everyone’s social media below, so go on, get out there and leave ‘em some love!

Social Media Hop:

• Counterfeit Kit Challenge - http://counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com/
• Tara - https://kryptonite72-rambles.blogspot.com/
• Christine - https://www.youtube.com/@ScrappingHarden 
• Tina - http://tinasscrapcorner.blogspot.com/
• Julene - http://julenebydesign.blogspot.com 
• Vikki - www.instagram.com/memoriesandmomentsscrapbooking
• Ryann - www.instagram.com/scrapbookjoey
• JoJo - www.instagram.com/scrappyconfessions
• Cindy http://cindyscreations-cinmfoster.blogspot.com/
  

On Sabbatical but show her some love: 

• Jody - www.instagram.com/floppyearedfarm 

 Now, let's see what we have lined up for the rest of this month:

•  2nd January - Just the Gist of it. 
• 4th January - Forgeries on the Fourth
•  6th  January - Mini Kit and Project Reveal 
• 12th January - Challenge #1 
• 18th January - Challenge #2
•  22nd January - Challenge #3 Sketch Challenge
•  24th January - Follower Showcase 
• 28th January - February Sneak Peek (on Instagram and the Facebook Community) 
• 30th January - Challenge #4 Baby, Use Those Scraps Challenge

Show us what you've got!  Drop in your projects to our Facebook Community Group and of course tag us on Instagram at #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcjanuary2025

Happy Scrapping!

XOXO, Christine

                                                       

December 2024 CKC!

 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 forever!

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, or perhaps you'd just like to play with some pretty paper. 

So, moving away from our normal monthly kit, we'd like to offer you something low-key, peaceful, 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 program of more
inspiration kits, challenges and projects. 

But in the meantime, please join us for CKC's December Challenge Game!

Instructions for play:

Print out the document that will be posted in the Facebook Community Group.  We have created a Challenge A Day for you to play with.  The idea is that you have all of the Challenges up front, and you can do them IN ANY ORDER you wish!  Additionally, you do NOT have to do a "Christmas" layout for any of these - these are just prompts to inspire you with the photos and stash you have.  There are a few that are Christmas-focused, but if you do not celebrate, feel free to skip those or do something else!  Also, you are ABSOLUTELY allowed to combine several challenges together!  

If you'd like, cross off the numbered "ornament" that corresponds to that day's challenge to keep track of what you have done.  The printable doc will be linked in the Facebook group.  There are also albums for each day's challenge that you can add your layouts into.  It'll be a great way for all of us to check out each album and see all of the inspiration!!!

Your Master Forgers will be putting some examples on the Facebook group to help inspire you further!

Merry Christmas to all, and may your days be full of joy, peace, beautiful memories, and more photos to scrapbook!

Make Every Day a Day Worth Scrapbooking, and Remember to Sparkle!  ~ Ryann

November 2024 Challenge #4 Baby, Use Those Scraps

 Hello! Master Forger Vikki here with our final challenge for the month of November.   We always like to finish out the month with the Scraps Challenge.  Use the scraps you've accumulated this month on your project.  You'd be amazed at how far your scraps can take you.

                 Let's take one last look at our inspiration kit, which is Goldenrod by Traci Reed Designs.

Here are the projects from our Master Forgers.

Master Forger Misty 

I'm sharing how to create your own punched border strips, no specialty border punches needed!

Confession #1: I have barely touched my kit this month so I did not have a lot of scraps to work with. I made sure to utilize both the A and B sides of paper to make things go farther. Plus I did cut some extra strips. My tip: when cutting pattern papers try to cut things in a way that you save a 12x12 strip to use as borders.

Confession #2: I've never done this before so you get to see my thought process as I create this idea!

Notice the various strips of pattern papers on the lower half of the page? They were the scraps I started with for this project.

I used just ordinary punches to create "border punches". It did take some alignment marks to get even spacing. But the spacing is all up to you? Want the images closer together, then do more math. I just kept it really simple!

For the 1" circle punch I marked the back of my paper every 2 inches. That way I knew there would never be any overlapping of the shapes.

For the star I punched out the shape I thought I would use and measured it. It comfortably fit within a 3/4 inch space. Thus I marked the back of my paper every 3/4 inches, starting from the center so my border would be even.

I did play with other spacing just to try it out. I liked the tight, yet not overlapping space.

Master Forger Vikki

I didn't get to play with my kit as much as I would have liked this month, but I had a couple of large paper scraps plus what was left of my forgeries.  With this page I also finished off a sticker sheet of pumpkins.  It's always a good feeling to use something up.

I can't wait to see what you create with your scraps of the November kit.  Be sure to post them on the Facebook group.

Thank you so much for joining me on my first month hosting the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog.  It's been loads of fun!  I especially want to thank our Guest Designer Tamra Hunt for sharing her talents with us this month.  Many thanks to our Master Forgers for all of their hard work. Be sure to come back tomorrow when Master Forger Ryann kicks off December with the daily challenges.

 

Show us what you've got!  We love our followers! Make sure that you come hang out with us on the Facebook Community Group.  You can also catch us on Instagram by tagging #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcnovember2024.

Until next time, happy creating!

Vikki :)

November 2024 Follower Showcase

 Hello! Master Forger Vikki here and it's time for our Follower Showcase.  Selecting one person from our amazingly talented group is incredibly hard.  

                   Let's take a look at our inspiration kit, which is Goldenrod by Traci Reed Designs.

Our featured follower for the month of November is ...... Lisa Cuneo Scrapbooking.

"I've been following the Counterfeit Kit Facebook group for a while now.  I always admire what the master forgers and members create, so I decided to dive in this month and create a kit!  The colors of this month's inspiration kit drew me in because I felt like I could use the with a variety of photos, and I have!  Creating this kit had me looking at some old supplies in new ways, and it's been fun to see what I could put together."

Here's a look at Lisa's kit and some of her projects for the month.  I just love her style.

There's a lot of goodness in the kit she put together.

I love the placement of the photos in this layout.  The tags make great embellishments.  Her journaling is placed on strips of paper, which is a nice design element. 

Here is a close-up of her layout.

   

   

Her second project is another two-page layout.  Look at those beautiful autumn colors in the papers she chose.  I love the filmstrip and banner on her page.

  

Here is a close-up of her page.  The grid paper is where she will write her journaling.

                                                           

 Lisa also created this beautiful card with her kit.

I hope you like Lisa's projects as much as I did.  Be sure to check out her YouTube channel, which you can find HERE.

I hope you'll stick around.  We still have a couple of more things scheduled for this month.

• 28th November - December Sneak Peek (on Instagram and the Facebook Community)
• 30th November - Challenge #4 Baby, Use Those Scraps Challenge

Show us what you've got!  We love our followers! Make sure that you come hang out with us on the Facebook Community Group.  You can also catch us on Instagram by tagging #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcnovember2024.

Until next time, happy creating!

Vikki :)

November 2024 Challenge #3 Let's Get Sketchy

 Hello! Master Forger Vikki here with the third challenge of the month, our sketch challenge. Let's take a look at our inspiration kit, which is Goldenrod by Traci Reed Designs.

Here is the sketch I created for this month's challenge.  It's sure to get you into the fall mood.  Remember, a sketch is just a jumping off point.  You don't have to follow it exactly.  Turn one of the photos into a journal card or additional ephemera.  Do what works for you and the photos you have.

Let's take a look at how our  Master Forgers took on this challenge.

Master Forger Brandi

Too many photos for a single page sketch? Stretch it out! I took Vikki's design and stretched it across a two-page layout by adding a second block of photos! Instead of aligning the photos in the center on each page, I opted to shift them to the center of the layout for a more cohesive look. 

Master Forger Laurie

Since our inspiration kit this month had some star, pumpkin and autumnal leaf papers, I used papers similar to create a ghostly Halloween layout. I didn't have 4 photos so I made a spooky night scene on the other space instead in place of a photo.

Master Forger Vikki

I also didn't have four photos for this layout, so I framed a 3x4 pocket card that came with the inspiration kit. I used pumpkins as embellishments to tie in those in the photos. I added images of the characters into the embellishment clusters.  This was a fun layout to create and came together quickly with the help of the sketch.

 Now, let's see what we have lined up for the rest of this month:

• 24th November - Follower Showcase 
• 28th November - December Sneak Peek (on Instagram and the Facebook Community)
• 30th November - Challenge #4 Baby, Use Those Scraps Challenge

Show us what you've got!  We love our followers! Make sure that you come hang out with us on the Facebook Community Group.  You can also catch us on Instagram by tagging #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcnovember2024.

Until next time, happy creating!

Vikki :)

November 2024 Challenge #2 (Favorite Thanksgiving/Fall Memory)

Hello! Master Forger Vikki here and it's time for the second challenge of the month. Let's take a look at our inspiration kit, which is Goldenrod by Traci Reed Designs.

This challenge is to create a layout or project documenting your favorite Thanksgiving or Fall memory.  This can be something from the past or present.  Show how you love spending time with family or a simple pleasure like enjoying the leaves changing colors. Let's take a look at how our  Master Forgers took on this challenge.

Master Forger Tara created a layout featuring mostly items from the Inspiration Kit using an older photo of her son playing with pumpkin guts while her family was carving pumpkins one year.  It's a precious memory and a GREAT photo showcasing her son's personality. There's a process video if you'd like to watch it HERE. 

 

Master Forger Christine

My favorite fall memory now has to be my daughter's wedding.  The weather was stunning, the leaves were turning and we were so blessed to have family members come.  And now, we have an even bigger family with the addition of my new son-in-law and his family.  

I cheated a bit and used a zipper that I didn't originally have in my kit, but had been laying on my desk for some time.  It was such a sense of accomplishment to finally get it on a page!

Master Forger Cindy

Created a layout using page kit #5 from her counterfeit kit. My new fall memory is creating projects with the grandkids. I really need to start taking pictures of the supplies. I brought the supplies to Derek for Thanksgiving (it required a separate box). In this photo he is showing Mom and Dad how he made and decorated a pop-up turkey.

 Now, let's see what we have lined up for the rest of this month:

• 22nd November - Challenge #3 Sketch Challenge
• 24th November - Follower Showcase 
• 28th November - December Sneak Peek (on Instagram and the Facebook Community)
• 30th November - Challenge #4 Baby, Use Those Scraps Challenge

Show us what you've got!  We love our followers! Make sure that you come hang out with us on the Facebook Community Group.  You can also catch us on Instagram by tagging #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcnovember2024.

Until next time, happy creating!

Vikki :)