July 2021 - Kill That Kit!

Wow, it's the end of the month already and I hope you've had as much fun as we've had with our kits and projects.

I'm back today with one last post to let you know what I did this month to "kill that kit"!

You might remember that I was on mini-kit duty this month and I decided to make a page kit from which I made a page I totally adored (you can see that in this post).

I ended up adding a single sheet of pink/peach marbled paper into the kit and making another page for my Simple Scrapper Creative Team assignment (which will showcase in the premium membership in September). 

This took my kit down to really a handful of scraps. If I had tried hard, I probably could have come up with a layout but I wasn't really that motivated or inspired. Maybe that should have been a sign that this kit really was done and didn't really need killing after all!

But, on a mission, I asked my scrappy friends what I should make which would be a bit different to my usual handful of cards solution and we came up with this super cute mini tag album which I was excited to try out. 

But this sort of detailed, precision project is really hard for me and I ended up making it much more complicated than was intended and then it went wrong. The cardstock split, it wouldn't fold correctly and I realised that it was a disaster. 

A super cute little fold-out tag-filled album!

Can you see how that is completely split along the bottom fold there?!?

The project wasn't designed to have extra paper on top of the base but I had wanted to decorate it a bit more!

I wanted to share this disaster with you to show you that we all make mistakes and, at the end of the day, it's just paper and so I changed direction!.

It was suggested that I could make a set of tags for our regular crafty swap that's coming up and that's exactly what I did.

And in a relatively short time, I'd die cut some tags with those scraps, layered them up with some fussy-cut elements from two different papers (including the pieces that I'd already glued to my disastrous tag mini-book) and finished them off with some gold twine. They were simple, easy, quick and absolutely "good enough".

Sorted!

I still have a few scraps left so the kit isn't completely "killed" but it's good enough for me at the moment and I'm ready to move on.

Lesson for today: sometimes it's enough to keep it simple and not try too hard. 

Thanks for sharing July with us and don't forget that we will be back tomorrow with a new month, a new inspiration kit and plenty of fun!

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 #ckcjuly2021). 

Lisa

July 2021 - Follower Showcase

 It can be a lot of work organising a month here at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge with the kit selection, a Guest Designer, sending out the info, picking challenges, writing all the blog posts etc etc. But it's all worth it when we see what our followers take as their inspiration. I love seeing their kits, their layouts, the take on our challenges - it's always such fun to see the different ways people go! 

And by far the highlight of the month is when I get to showcase a follower who has caught my eye. I can't tell you exactly why a kit or a layout grabs my attention but it's usually clear to me by the middle of the month who I'd like to highlight to you all! This month was no exception.

So, let's give a big Counterfeit Kit Challenge cheer for Ruth.

I remember clearly seeing her kit and thinking - oh yes! I could use that one myself 😀 

Isn't it lovely? There's so much to love here with the paper and embellishment choices and I know that I could dip right in and get crafting with it!

She's also been busy creating and I think she's uploaded four or five layouts already - you'll have to head over to our community to see them all! (Counterfeit Kit Challenge FB community here)

However, these two really caught my eye - who can resist a super cute puppy? And look! He really is super cute! I really love all the paper layers which give such good texture and dimension as well as a good mix of patterns and colours.

And this rather gorgeous layout featuring a photo of her daughter from 2015 and has been waiting for the perfect background. Simple but effective and what great photos! 

It's great to hear that Ruth is enjoying the community and finding motivation and inspiration to create her own kits and pages and we are so happy to have her! 

Please make sure you come on over to the  Counterfeit Kit Challenge FB community to see all her creations as well as all the other member pages. It's pretty hard some months to pick just one follower to showcase 😉

It's nearly the end of the month but we still have one last inspiring post for you!

• 31st July: Killing Kits - an idea or two for using up the bits & pieces left in your kit box 

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 #ckcjuly2021). 

 Thanks so much for stopping by! We can't wait to see your kits and projects this month.

Lisa

July 2021 - Challenge #2 - Buenos Dias!

 It's time for our second challenge of the month so let's just have a quick recap of the kit we've taken as our inspiration in July.

New Episode by Paper Person

And onto today's challenge...

Buenos Dias!

Get creative with a foreign language!  

Whatever your main/native language is at home, use a foreign word or expression on your page today.

  Link it to a story about a holiday spent abroad or even a foreign word you just love because of how it sounds or the literal translation.

Now let's see how the team has interpreted this prompt today!

Guest Designer Antonia told me, "The word "Citadella" means citadel in Hungarian and it's also the name of a fortress on top of one of the hills of Budapest." 

Master Forger Misty has created a layout talking about her multiple tries to learn new languages.

Master Forger Leslie used the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi for her inspiration. Read more about it on her blog post!

Blog post HERE

Master Forger Tracey just had to use some of her holiday photos from Hawaii for this challenge. 

How could she not title it with the Hawaiian greeting Aloha! 

Master Forger Tina used some french words on here layout for the mood of the day and used the words in each of her clusters. Read more about it over at her blog.

Master Forger Julene used some French for her layout too. Santé is French for "cheers" as there's a glass of wine in the photo. You can see more about her layout over at her blog.

Don't forget that there's still stuff to come here on the blog in July:

• 24th July: Follower Showcase - who has caught our eye this month 
• 31st July: Killing Kits - an idea or two for using up the bits & pieces left in your kit box 

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 #ckcjuly2021). 

 Thanks so much for stopping by! We can't wait to see your kits and projects this month.

Lisa

July 2021 - Challenge #1 Tickets please!

 Time is flying and it's our first challenge of the month, so let's get going right away.

A quick reminder of our kit for July - New Episode by Paper Person:

And now onto the challenge....

Ticket, please! 

The ticket and cinema elements in this kit reminded me of all the ticket stubs and piles of "stuff" I keep to use on my projects... one day!  Today is the day to get some of those memories out and onto a layout.  So I challenge you to use a ticket or in fact, any collected memorabilia on your project. 

Guest Designer Antonia included some ticket stubs and receipts on her layout. She placed them in a journaling pocket and incorporated them into the embellishments by layering some embellishment pieces around and on top of the pocket. 

 

You can find out all the details over in her Youtube process video here: https://youtu.be/92aSPIiM6Qg 

Master Forger Tara has completed her challenge using Military Ball photos and the ticket that her husband purchased for the two of them to attend. You should read about where this ticket has been hanging out on her blog post HERE. 

Master Forger Kate here with my take on Challenge #1- got to attend a local minor league baseball game for the 4th of July and it was so much fun and the first "normal" thing we'd done all year! We didn't get traditional tickets but I cut part of the photocopy receipt and they gave me a free thin team schedule magnet that I cut apart as well. 

Master Forger Cindy completed challenge #1 using photos of the line up at Allianz Field when they had their first Covid-19 shots.

Blog post here. 

Master Forger Leslie jumped on the ticket bandwagon with a catch of a recent family gathering.

Blog post HERE

Master Forger Juliet has been wanting to document this once in a life time dream when she got to see Cirque du Soleil when her hubby in Cancun in 2019. She saved her tickets, pictures weren't the best but the memory will not be forgotten! She did her journaling on one of her forged items too! 

Wow! That's such a lot of inspiration for a Monday morning. I hope you're feeling as motivated as I am to fish out those tickets and get creating.

And of course, as always, we have plenty more to keep you inspired later in the month! 

There's still more to come in July:

• 18th July: Challenges #2 - to inspire you to get creating from your own kit 
• 24th July: Follower Showcase - who has caught our eye this month 
• 31st July: Killing Kits - an idea or two for using up the bits & pieces left in your kit box 

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 #ckcjuly2021). 

 Thanks so much for stopping by! We can't wait to see your kits and projects this month.

Lisa

July 2021 - Mini-kit reveal and projects

Welcome back to today's post and it's all about going small. 

Perhaps you don't have time to do a full kit, or maybe you just like certain aspects of the kit? Then a mini kit maybe the answer for you! 

We'll be sharing a couple of mini kits, created by our Master Forger Laura and me, Lisa, along with  some projects to give you a little inspiration!  

 A quick reminder of our inspiration kit this month. New Episode by Paper Person is full of great colours, fun patters and super cute motifs. Plenty here to base a mini-kit on ;-) 

MF Laura brought together a bunch of products to make her digital mini-kit and while it may be bigger than some mini-kits out there, this is a really small selection of products for Laura 😂

"I started my mini kit by being inspired by the striped Obed Marshall paper which I fell in love with! I decided to make my own digital version using the paintbrush tool in my digital scrapbooking software. I literally just painted digital stripes in similar colours. 

After that I picked a further 5 papers that were similar to those in the inspiration kit. 

I'm obsessed with all things Heidi Swapp at the moment so went through my digital project life cards and found some that matched well and re-coloured some to match in, along with some other co-ordinating embellishments. 

It might not look too 'mini' but it's definitely a smaller kit than I would normally put together! 

I made a layout remembering one of the many walks me and my little one have done over the last year.

The actual photo was out of focus but I liked it, so made it a smaller size on my page to de-emphasise the fact. 

This kit just reminds me of summer and the beach and I can't wait to use it to scrap some more with it!"

You can find Laura over at Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/mrsp_scrapsandtea/

MF Lisa here! I couldn't make up my mind to begin with which direction to take. The colours were perfect for so many different things - a summer mini-book, a set of greetings cards, a layout. 

In the end, the page kit won out and I started with the acetate from the Obed Marshall collection and then used one of the colour palettes from my "Just the Gist of It" post and pulled in a darker blue paper from Pink Fresh (Days of Splendour), a teal-green-ish dotty paper from Simple Stories (Safe Travels) and a peach floral by Echo Park (Baby Girl). The Buenos Dias puffy stickers and enamel shapes were complemented by some labels inspired by the original kit and a cute washy-tape.

I decided to record another angle to the fun National Scrapabilly Day that I recorded last month with a less than perfect photo of us all proudly presenting our digital CV-19 negative test results which has become the norm round here when any socialising happens! You can't see that detail on the photos but a screenshot of my own official result and the accompanying journalling rounds off the story of what has become standard as restrictions have lifted. You either have to be fully vaccinated or take a quick test so that everyone knows that everyone is "safe". Another "norm" that was unimaginable 18 months ago that needed recording. 

I added in the die-cut title which I had left over from last year when Ali Edwards released a free set of CV-19 word art. I used some on layouts back then but thought it would be fun to fish out this combination for my title.

To make life easy for myself, I used a two-photo sketch from the Simple Scrapper membership - where I'm on the Creative team. I love the fact that you can search by number of photos! It makes it so easy to scan through dozens of potentially gorgeous sketches and pick one that works for you. As always, I tweaked it quite a lot to fit my photos but it came together really quickly. This one also gave me the space to add more journalling which was appealing.

Ps. Did you notice that I managed to sew down the strip of acetate back to front! Oh well, learning to live with the imperfections of my craft!

And of course, as always, we have a full month of inspiration to keep you inspired! 

You can look forward to these posts in July:

• 6th July: Mini-kit Reveal and Project Showcase - inspiration for a smaller kit or project idea 
• 12th & 18th July: Challenges #1 & #2 - to inspire you to get creating from your own kit 
• 24th July: Follower Showcase - who has caught our eye this month 
• 31st July: Killing Kits - an idea or two for using up the bits & pieces left in your kit box 

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 #ckcjuly2021). 

 Thanks so much for stopping by! We can't wait to see your kits and projects this month.

Lisa

July 2021 - Forgery on the Fourth

 

Here's a reminder of our kit this month which I think has lots of possibilities to make up your own elements!

Paper Person April 2021 kit - New Episode

Let's see what the Master Forgers have conjured up this month for our inspiration!

Guest Designer Antonia used the packaging technique to apply watercolour to card stock, then stamped and heat-embossed the flowers and stamped the phrases and cut them out with my Silhouette Portrait, using my Pixascan mat… 

You can find out more over on her YouTube channel here. 

Master Forger Julene has forged the torn paper look top left in the kit.

 

Master Forger Leslie "tore" right into her forged papers & "punched" her way to victory!

Blog post HERE

Master Forger Kate joins right in with these artistic takes on two of the cut-apart paper patterns:

New Master Forger Misty was also inspired by the torn paper look but created her take with acrylic paint.

New gal Juliet noticed the words from both the stamps and the ephemera.  She found this stamp set that is actually one big stamp with all sorts of words.  So she stamped them all and cut them up.  

Then she always loves tickets and labels.  For the labels, she simply cut a 1"x3" piece of white cardstock, took some of her sharpie markers, colored them in and snipped the edges for the label look.  For the tickets, super simple too...cut the desired measurement, like 1.25" x 2" and used her trusty hole punch to work the ticket magic!  

Master Forger Tara created some pocket cards that were her interpretation of a few of the cut apart cards from the inspiration kit.

And of course, as always, we have a full month of inspiration to keep you inspired! 

You can look forward to these posts in July:

• 6th July: Mini-kit Reveal and Project Showcase - inspiration for a smaller kit or project idea 
• 12th & 18th July: Challenges #1 & #2 - to inspire you to get creating from your own kit 
• 24th July: Follower Showcase - who has caught our eye this month 
• 31st July: Killing Kits - an idea or two for using up the bits & pieces left in your kit box 

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 #ckcjuly2021). 

 Thanks so much for stopping by! We can't wait to see your kits and projects this month.

Lisa