September 2025 - Mini Kit and Project Reveal

 

Today we are going to talk about mini kits.  We know that life can be busy, and you know that you just won't have a lot of time to play along here at CKCB.  Perhaps you're going to have only a few hours to create some projects.  Maybe you've just found us and the thought of making a kit is just a little bit overwhelming.  Let me introduce you to the idea of mini kits.  Mini kits still allow you all of the creativity, just with fewer supplies from your stash.  It's a great way to get started with CKC.

Here's our inspiration kit, Life Captured by Simple Stories.

Let's have a look at the mini kits and projects created by two of our Master Forgers.  I hope they inspire you to try a mini kit of your own.

Master Forger Misty

This month I decided to create a traveling scrapbook. I'll be heading to the east coast and I want to capture those memories as they happen on the go!

Now my notebook isn't really a traveler's notebook, nor is it a traditional scrapbook. Instead I'm using a type of Japanese notebook that works more like a binder. It has a spiral spine that opens to allow adding or removing papers.

Here it is pictured in the middle of the products.

(More info on these notebooks at JetPens.com)

Speaking of products, my kit build started with some very basic papers. In fact, the globe paper came from some of the inspiration embellishments...
and it sparked this entire travel project!

 Here is a look at the papers I chose to start. I love how the speech bubbles looks so much like the month bubbles from the inspiration! Note that these were cut down from 12x12 papers since I'll need a smaller size for this notebook. I will take the rest of the paper pieces as well.

I've included cut-aparts based on the cut-apart nature of the inspiration's pattern papers. I do have more of these to pack along as well. This is just a sampling.

With my embellishments I begin to veer off from the inspiration a bit. I did include some inspiration based everyday life elements & phrases. Then I made this more my own by including more travel icons.

This project will be a combination of pre-made pages and impromptu pages. The products above will be the ones I take to go. Below are the products I chose for my pre-made pages. I've based them on some of the activities I know I'll be doing on this trip. 

Included are Game Night, Theater Show, Market Meals, and Pool Side.

Now let's take a look at what else I will need. I'll bring basic tools.

This is how everything will be packed for travel. I also have an Instax printer that will come with me. This'll allow me to print photos right from my phone.

And, finally, here are a couple of the layouts I've pre-made. You'll see that I've left room for things I'll make live. Luckily I can move things around if I need more or less space.

It really is best to watch me flip through all the pages in order to see the whole project!
[[video coming very soon]]
I hope you give scrapping on the go a try!

Master Forger Christine

I think I have decided Mini Kit is my jam!  For my mini kit, I stuck with just 4 sheets of paper (although I did end up bringing in one piece of white cardstock).

This kit had such a good variety of colors and themes!  I went with a yellow/orange/pink base with a few pops of blue and green in the little hearts.

For my embellishments, I'm really trying to work through some old sticker sheets, so I pulled out an alpha and another sheet with a similar color palette.  I also pulled an acrylic title, some paper ephemera, and sequins.  I think this will work great to make a couple of projects.

So let's get crafting!

For my first project, I really wanted to use the acrylic title.  I went looking for a photo that seemed to represent the idea behind the title.  Then I looked through the papers.  Initially, I thought to use one of the pattern papers as the background.  But as I worked through the process, I realized I wanted to create a bit more interest.  Hence, the reason I brought in the white cardstock and introduced some mixed media.  I used my Distress Oxide swatches to find two matching colors (Rusty Hinge and Evergreen Bough) and used the packaging technique, stencil and stamp to create this look.  It's fun and messy.

For this layout, I wanted to use my pink grid paper, but it had these bows across the top (it's an old Prima paper pad).  So I definitely wanted to cut it down.  This led me to make a frame of the yellow polka dot, which I did gut in order to create the circle mat under the circle of the orange plaid (which was leftover from my first layout).  My paper ephemera had a cute title and tags.  I pulled the green letters from the sticker sheet.  Once I assembled all the layers, I decided sequins were in order.

I added a little journaling to the right hand tag.

Once I finished my two layouts, I had just some paper scraps left, plus a little more ephemera and stickers.  It was perfect to grab another piece of colored cardstock and create a couple of cards.  

All I had left were a few stickers and pieces of ephemera that didn't happen to match my project themes.

I may be doing mini kits for the foreseeable future!

                       Be sure to check back in with us. There's a lot more coming up this month:

• September 12th - Challenge #1
• September 18th - Challenge #2
• September 22nd - Challenge #3 Let’s Get Sketchy
• September 28th - October Sneak Peek (FB Community & Instagram)
• September 30th - Baby Use Those Scraps
  

We always love to see what you are working on!   We often choose our Guest Designers by looking at the work you show us.  Share your projects on our Facebook Community Group and be sure to tag us on Instagram at #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcseptember2025 

Happy Scrapping!

Master Forger Vikki