August 2026 - Mini Kits and Project Reveal

 Hello friends! 

You have had a few days to take a look at the kits that the Master Forgers have put together - and hopefully had some time to put one together yourself -- but not to fear - if you don't have the time to play with a full kit this month -- put together a mini! 

Here are the photos of our inspiration for August:

Let's take a look at what Master Forger Tara, and Master Forger Christine came up with for their Mini kits!

Master Forger Tara

I think that this might be my smallest mini kit yet.  I only pulled four sheets of patterned paper and two packs of ephemera plus three alphas!!  Here's the photo of my kit:

 

 For my first layout, I knew that I wanted to use my pink swirl patterned paper.  It reminds me of ice cream and summer!  I also knew that I was going to stitch on it!!!  Here's the finished layout:

 

 

My second layout is fairly simple.  It's also only a one photo layout but I used a 4x6.  Here's the finished layout:

 

My final layout uses scraps from the previous two plus a little more ephemera and the scripty font.  I consider a kit bashed when I use all of my paper.  I managed to do that and the rest of the ephemera will go back into the original Hip Kit Club kit.  The alphas will go back into my rainbow ordered thickers as well. 

 

 I did create a process video for this kit and layouts and you can view that HERE!!! 

Master Forger Christine

I went true "mini" on this one, pulling just 3 full pattern paper sheets (one of which was a tag sheet), a paper scrap, a leftover sticker sheet, some puffy stickers, black letter stickers, and little ephemera.  I was also proud to have found yellow pom pom in my stash!

For my mini, I was inspired by the lemon elements and the tags in the inspiration kit.  And as I mentioned, I made sure to pull some black letter stickers and a similar sticker sheet to the inspo.

I had such fun with this kit and got 3 layouts out of it!  (I did end up having to pull a couple of solid cardstock from my stash - white, yellow, and aqua.)

This is the first layout where I used that piece of white cardstock. To make my supplies go a little farther, I gutted the center of the pink diagonal plaid paper to use on another project, but it still made a great frame around the page. I also made sure to include the citrus paper I'd pulled because I couldn't resist pairing it with the "Main Squeeze" puffy sticker for this sweet photo of my hubby and me. The layered tags, twine, and scattered hearts add just the right amount of playful movement, and I love how they keep your eye traveling around the page.

For my second layout, I used the aqua cardstock along with the frame I had gutted from the first layout to get the citrus paper. I even repurposed the square I had cut out of the first layout's frame by trimming it into two banners, which let me show off both the A and B sides of that pretty patterned paper. I love finding ways to stretch my supplies and get every bit of a paper into a project!

I also pulled in several stickers from the sticker sheet, including the dragonfly, frog, and snail. Those little critters were the perfect embellishments since they're such a common sight during our rainy season. The photos capture a pair of ducks that decided to make themselves at home in the temporary "ponds" that formed around our property after all the rain. Sometimes the best memories come from the unexpected visitors!

My final layout uses the full sheet of yellow cardstock along with the leftover aqua cardstock from the previous layout, so nothing went to waste! Since I had already used all of the full-size patterned papers, this was the perfect opportunity to dive into the tag sheet I had included in my kit. The four tags became the foundation of the design, giving me lots of places to mix and match the remaining patterns.

I finished the page with the large "Beautiful" ephemera title, a few stickers, and some butterflies to tie everything together. (And can you spot the little pom pom detail under her photo?). This was such a sweet way to document a favorite photo of my baby, Cleo, sitting in the window. With the butterflies floating around her, it almost looks like she's watching them flutter just outside. Sometimes the simplest photos tell the sweetest stories.

All I had left of my mini kit was two tags, a partial sheet of puffies and stickers.  I so enjoyed using this inspiration kit this month!

If you want to watch me create these layouts.  Check out my process video here.

Here's what we have coming up this month:

• 12th - Challenge #1: Summer Adventure
• 18th - Challenge #2: Let's get a little Messy
• 22nd - Challenge #3: Let's Get Sketchy
• 30th - Baby Use Those Scraps

We'd love to see what you create! Share your projects in the Counterfeit Kit Community on Facebook or tag us on Instagram @counterfeitkitchallenge.  #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcAugust2026

I can't wait to see what you come up with - I hope you will play along with your stash! 

Happy Scrapping!  XO Amanda Bass 

August 2026 - Forgery on the 4th

 

Sometime when we look at a kit, we have nothing in our stash that matches what we want to add, BUT we can use the kit for inspiration to make things for our own kits! I love being able to pull out my stamps and stencils to create something that I don't have!

Here is a reminder what the inspiration kit looked like

 Master Forager Amanda

A favorite for me is to create at least one background paper - the pink with the yellow heart was a must try. I used a cardstock pink paper, and mustard seed distress oxide through a Hip Kit Club stencil. The yellow looks a little more orange on the pink paper -- but I am OK with that.  If you wanted to give this a try, but wanted more of the vibrant yellow - take your yellow ink, and a white texture paste and mix them together before applying! 

I also had a lot of fun creating some of the embellisments from the including the strawberries and lemons, and I had a stamp for some cherries - so why not?  I used the stamp set from 49&Market and Sissix called Perfectly Imperfect. I love that some of the items came with metal dies to make cutting them out easy!   First I choose some inks that would go well with the two strawberries (large and smaller stamp) and the cherries.  I choose Festive Berries for the large strawberry, Picked Raspberry for the small strawberry and Lumberjack Plaid for the cherries.  I used the packaging technique to add color to white cardstock first, and then used my black archival ink to stamp over top.  A few of the berries also have the addition of some Fossilized Amber Spritz added before stamping with the packaging technique too! 

I also stamped a few two overlapping color titles.

I also decided to mimic some of the lemons in the kit using the same stamp set.  I used Mustard Seed Oxide to add some color to white cardstock with the packaging technque and then stamped with black, and then hand cut them out. I stamoed these just black and white, as there are some black and white lemosn in the kit too.  I also felt inspired and did a mini background paper with using the packaging technique with the yellow ink, and the spritz and then stamped the background with a repeating lemon pattern! 

You can see my process for all of the above bits here: https://youtu.be/V4oFYI10qLU 

We'll be back in two days with some Mini Kit inspiration. Stay tuned for that and much more.

• 6th - Mini Kit and Project Reveal
• 12th - Challenge #1 Summer Adventure
• 18th - Challenge #2 Let's get a little Messy
• 22nd - Challenge #3 - Let’s Get Sketchy
• 30th - Baby Use Those Scraps

We love to see what you are working on so don't forget to show us on our Facebook Counterfeit Kit Community.  Also tag us wiht #counterfeitkitchallenge #ckcAugust2026

Are you inspired to create? I sure hope so! 

See you soon! Amanda

August 2026 - Just the Gist of It

Master Forager Amanda here, with a look at how to set up a kit! All of the master foragers set-up their kits a different way, and not even the same way each time! The important part is to get the gist of the kit, but you can take it any direction you would like! 

We are using the kit from Crafty Templates as inspiration this month -- as a reminder this is what it looks like:

Sometimes pulling a kit can be quite intimidating -- but there is no wrong way to pull a kit and no rules to break when setting up a kit!  There are so many bright colors and fun prints in this collection that I thought I would start with the strawberry print and dig deep into my stash to find some strawberry papers! I don't worry about matching a paper completely, or even with the scale of the print -- I find things that kind of work, and go with it! 

After I pulled the strawberry and cherry papers -- I had to pull butterfly papers because of the cute butterflies that are sprinkled throughout some of the papers in the kit.  I have so many butterfly papers I had to scale back what I had so it was more reasonable which ended up being three papers because I cannot scrapbook 20 papers of butterflies in one month, and keeping them all in the kit would have been overwhelming! 

Then I remembered that I had 49 & Market's Nature's Haven in my stash, and had to pull it too, those strawberries, bees and butterflies are perfect to add! (I am pretty sure I am not the only Master Forager that pulled these papers to play with this month!) 

The last papers that I gather from my stash are the patterns.  I try and pull items that are similar - such as the stripes, plaids, poka-dots and florals. In my stash, I have these papers organized by color and pattern/theme, so it makes it quite easy to see what I have. 

Last - I always pull a few embellishments -- if I have a ones that match a paper, those are easy to include - if not, I can dig deep to find stamps and stencils, and other bits and pieces that will work. I don't worry if I don't pull a lot -- as I can always add and make more later or as they fit with the photo that I document! 

Here's what we have coming up this month:

• 4th - Forgeries on the Fourth
• 6th - Mini Kit and Project Reveal
• 12th - Challenge #1: Summer Adventure
• 18th - Challenge #2: Let's get a little Messy
• 22nd - Challenge #3: Let's Get Sketchy
• 30th - Baby Use Those Scraps

We'd love to see what you create! Share your projects in the Counterfeit Kit Community on Facebook or tag us on Instagram @counterfeitkitchallenge.  #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcAugust2026

I can't wait to see what you come up with - I hope you will play along with your stash! 

Happy Scrapping!  XO Amanda Bass 

August 2026 Inspiration Kit and Social Media Hop

 Welcome to August and a brand-new month of Counterfeit Kit fun!

I'm excited to be your Master Forger this month, and I think you're going to love the inspiration kit. For August I choose a kit from a UK company called Crafty Templates, and their May/June kit have lots of summertime, fresh fruit fun, with some great tags, some sequence and some great mixed media goodies! 

https://www.craftytemplates.com/product-page/may-june-2026-embellishments-kit

https://www.craftytemplates.com/product-page/may-june-2026-main-kit

Now, let's give a warm welcome to our Guest Designer, Sarah R, who participates often in our community!  

 I live in Newbury, Berkshire UK. I’m a PA to the Directors at a Building Society. I have two grown up children and one granddaughter Daisy who is 8. I’m a widow of 21 years so I know to make the most of every day - we’re only here for a visit. 

As a child I kept Newspaper cuttings of the Royal Family in a scrapbook and I started to scrapbook my photos about 13 years ago but stopped due to life events, however I really got back into it during 2020 - COVID and lockdown! I have followed Counterfeit Kit Challenge on the blog for years and a couple of years ago got stuck into creating kits from the inspiration each month. I have hundreds of photos still to scrap from many many years of snapping away and I like to use a defined kit for each event, occasion or holiday so CKC is great to help me focus on pulling different collections from my stash together to use this way for each project.  I love all the ideas each month and the support and comments posted in the group is so encouraging - everyone is so lovely.

I love CKC because it encourages me to use papers and supplies I already have, mix them with other kits, and make everything go further — especially all those odds and ends left over from older kits. This month’s inspiration kit is one I actually owned, as I’m a huge fan of Simple Stories, but I’ve used a lot of it already. By pulling in papers from my stash, I can recreate the same feel and make more pages for my summery photos.

I started by choosing papers that matched the inspiration kit, including unbranded fruit papers and some floral and checked designs from Carta Bella and Maggie Holmes — the patterns match even if the colours aren’t the same. Then I pulled out embellishing pieces such as file tabs, a few lemons, washi tape, pom-pom trim, and journaling cards that fit the theme and match the inspiration items. 

To stretch the kit even further, I added in older Simple Stories collections that share the same colour palette: Summer Snapshots, True Colors, Sun‑Kissed, plus the remaining pieces from Echo Park’s A Slice of Summer, which has lots of fruit elements. I also included my office style dies, a cut file (I have some birthday photos), some Vicki Boutin titles, matching Hobbycraft letters, and Bramble Fox Perspextives.

It’s a big kit, but I have plenty of photos to scrap — and hopefully more as we head into August. I’ve called my kit Lemon Sunshine.

Inspiration Hop Line Up:

Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog - http://counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com/
Guest Designer: Sarah https://buttononit.blogspot.com/

Brandi - https://www.instagram.com/scrappy.boymama/

JoJo - https://www.instagram.com/scrappyconfessions

Laurie - https://www.instagram.com/scrapbookingbits/

Ryann - https://www.instagram.com/scrapbookjoey/

Tina - https://tinasscrapcorner.blogspot.com/

Vikki https://www.instagram.com/memoriesandmomentsscrapbooking/

Amanda - https://youtube.com/@amandacreates1980

Shala - https://www.youtube.com/@Bookishshala

Briana - https://www.youtube.com/@lovemylifeonpaper

Here's what we have coming up this month:

• 2nd - Just the Gist of It
• 4th - Forgeries on the Fourth
• 6th - Mini Kit and Project Reveal
• 12th - Challenge #1: Summer Adventure
• 18th - Challenge #2: Let's get a little Messy
• 22nd - Challenge #3: Let's Get Sketchy
• 30th - Baby Use Those Scraps

We'd love to see what you create! Share your projects in the Counterfeit Kit Community on Facebook or tag us on Instagram @counterfeitkitchallenge.  #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcAugust2026

I can't wait to see what you come up with - I hope you will play along with your stash! 

Happy Scrapping!  XO Amanda Bass 

July 2026 - Last Challenge - Baby, Use Those Scraps!

 Can you believe we're already at the end of July?

We've spent the month creating with our counterfeit kits, and hopefully we've made a nice dent in our supplies. That means it's time for one of my favorite challenges: Baby, Use Those Scraps!

One last time, a reminder of our inspo kit!

If you're anything like me, you've accumulated a healthy pile of leftover paper strips, partial die cuts, sticker sheets with just a few pieces remaining, and odds and ends that seem too good to throw away. Today's challenge is all about putting those leftovers to work.

The music theme of our Crescendo kit reminds me that even the smallest notes contribute to the overall song. In the same way, those little scraps can come together to create something beautiful on a layout.

So dig into those leftovers, challenge yourself to use what remains from your July kit, and see how much mileage you can get from supplies that might otherwise end up back in a drawer.

Let's take a look at how our team used their scraps this month!

Master Forger Amanda

I had quite a bit to choose from for scraps today! I decided to use the left over pattern paper I made from Forgeries on the Fourth, and some of the smaller strips left over to put this layout together! I also decided to get a little messy and I used some Lunar pastes, and some spritz to add some glitz to this page! 

The green is from the same paste that looks crreamy on the page, except it is smeared into to lined of the textured black cardstock! I even took a fan brush with the spritx and brushed even more sparkle across the page (it looks pinkish in the photon)

I have a process video available on my channel to check out how I came up with this -- and I show all the scraps I had left over 

Master Forger Christine

After I completed most of my layouts, I had just 1 full sheet, a half sheet, this circle cutout piece, and some tiny strips I had cut from another full sheet. Because the half sheet already had a collage look going for it, I fully embraced the "junk journal" style and just went for it.  I did have to get into my stash for the title(s) but I really love how this turned out.  It is unique and really different from my normal style.

But I had JUST A LITTLE BIT MORE!

I mean, look, I still had scraps enough to make a card!

So placing the 3 music papers as little blocks to hold the three diagonal stripe pieces made into banners, I was then able to put the little embellishments.  And voila!  I used literally EVERY SCRAP of this month's kit!

We'd love to see what you create! Share your projects in the Counterfeit Kit Community on Facebook or tag us on Instagram @counterfeitkitchallenge.  #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcjuly2026

Life moves Fast.  Scrap the moments that matter.

Love, Christine | ScrappingHarden

July 2026 - Challenge #3 - Let's Get Sketchy

Welcome to our third challenge of the month!

It's time to pull out your July kits and get inspired by a sketch. I always love seeing how one sketch can spark dozens of completely different layouts, and I can't wait to see where this one takes you.

First, a reminder of our inspo kit:

This month's sketch was inspired by the bold graphic designs and strong vertical elements found throughout our Crescendo Deluxe Theme Kit inspiration. The large center panel creates the perfect foundation for photos, while the horizontal band offers plenty of space for embellishments, journaling, or layers.

Feel free to follow the sketch exactly or use it simply as a jumping-off point. Rotate it, flip it, add more photos, swap the embellishment areas for journaling, or adapt it to fit your story. The goal is inspiration, not duplication.

A few things I love about this sketch:

• It works beautifully with both bright and neutral color palettes.
• The four-photo design makes it perfect for documenting an event or series of moments.
• The strong vertical design creates natural movement across the page.
• It leaves plenty of room for embellishments without overwhelming your photos.

Most importantly, have fun with it! Use your counterfeit kit, shop your stash, and make the sketch your own.

Be sure to check out how our Master Forgers interpreted the sketch, then share your own version with us. We love seeing all the creative ways our community brings these challenges to life.

Master Forger Brandi Jo

I opted to use just a single photo to switch up the sketch just a little bit! 

Master Forger Vikki

I really liked the design of this sketch, so followed it almost exactly.  I replaced two of the photos with 3x4 pocket cards that I cut down to fit. I will add a little journaling and the date to these cards.  I added a small embellishment cluster in the upper right hand corner to finish the layout.

Now let's get sketchy!

Here's what we have coming up this month:

• 30th - Baby Use Those Scraps

We'd love to see what you create! Share your projects in the Counterfeit Kit Community on Facebook or tag us on Instagram @counterfeitkitchallenge.  #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcjuly2026

Life moves Fast.  Scrap the moments that matter.

Love, Christine | ScrappingHarden