August 2021 - Kill That Kit!

Wow, it's the end of the month already and time for our Kill That Kit post. Time really seems to speed up as we go through the year.

I've hosted several months this year and I have a secret to tell - I don't really kill my kit very often! So when it comes to writing this post, I have to get a bit creative to find something to show to you. This month was no different but let me share what I actually did.

This month's mini kit was created just for my double spread (shared here) and there were a few items left - some larger pieces of paper, a handful of scraps and a bunch of die cuts and stickers as well as the alphabet which I immediately put back into my stash.

I decided to put the larger pieces to one side - they are big enough to go back to my stash or maybe make another page but I wasn't feeling inspired enough to pull a page together. That left the scraps and the embellishments. Yes, I would try and find something to do with these. The scraps were good sizes and I decided to go with the trusted idea of a couple of greetings cards - nothing themed so I can just use them to say hi.

I took the die-cuts and decided to sort through them to divide them into those I wanted to keep for pages in the future and those which I could "give up" to use on the cards. This kind of sorting is actually something I do quite often for these types of embellishments. I also group die-cuts for layering into die-cut clusters. I find this a good way to categorise what I have and get them used up in a better way. Those precious designs that I know will be perfect for layering up and clustering are identified and kept to one side for the layouts but the extras can be used up without feeling "guilty" or that you're losing something.

Then my eye spotted the packaging of the die-cut pack - a gorgeous watercolour effect design and perfect for using too. So I cut off the top where the staples had been and in the end, used it on two of my cards because it fitted so perfectly with the die-cuts - on one card as the patterned base and the other in the banner.

Then it was just a matter of layering items up into a banner across the page and stitching it down. A sprinkle of enamel dots and they were done. VERY quick and easy but perfect to just send someone a note.

Here I added in the heavier alphabet to give the page a little something extra but those really skinny scraps were perfect for this über-simple design. 

I still have a few of those scraps - more cards could be pulled together if I have the time! And I used up about 1/4 of the die-cut pack which feels pretty good. I also know that when I come back to those die-cuts, I probably want to use them all on layouts which is also timesaving and another decision that I don't need to make! Last but not least, I used up some of the word stickers which somehow makes the pack feel more "usable"! A brand new set of anything feels more precious and less likely to be used - strange but true!

Thanks for playing along with us in August and don't forget that we're back bright and early tomorrow with a new kit to play with!

Share your creations with us over at the Counterfeit Kit Community Facebook community here or over at Instagram where you can find us @counterfeitkitchallenge (or tag us using #counterfeitkitchallenge)

August 2021 - Follower Showcase

Ah! It's heading towards the end of the month and this is my happy post where I get to highlight and showcase a Counterfeit Kit Challenge follower who has caught my eye in such a great way that I just have to share!

Browsing through our Counterfeit Kit Challenge FB community here is so inspirational and I say this every month but it's really soooo difficult to pick just one member to share with you here so please make sure you had over and check out all the contributions this month! 

But pick I must and in August, Priscilla Heffernan really grabbed my attention.

Look at this gorgeous kit!

I love the lovely mix of colours with the soft pinks, mustards and greens and the embellishments look right up my street.  Ok, Priscilla, I'm coming over! Put the kettle on, I could definitely use this kit

And then, bam! Four great layouts at once!

There is a lot of design features that I just love so much - clusters, borders, tags, pretty bows, layers, duplicate photos to make an impact - love, love, love! And they all look so harmonious together - don't you love it when a kit makes this sort of impact?!? 

She has more to share including a great take on our sketch challenge so please make sure you go over to the community and take in all the scrumminess!

 

 August is going to end with:

• 31st August: 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 #ckcaugust2021). 

Thanks so much for stopping by and make sure you head over to the community to check out all the inspiration over there! It's been such a good month so far! 

Lisa

August 2021 - Challenge #2 - Sketch It Up!

It's time for Challenge #2 here at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge so let's start by looking at the inspiration kit we are using this month for our creativity.

 Dani Peuss main May 2021 kit

And now onto our challenge....

Sketch It Up!

We all love a good sketch and I found a cracker for us today. This is a BasicGrey (insert longing sigh here) sketch from way back in 2012 (see it at their blog here ). It's a double spread but feel free to use it complete or just one of the pages - it features some chevrons which reminded me of the photo corners in the HS sticker book from the kit and I really think it can be reinterpreted to reflect today's scrappy style if that's the way you want to go! 😉 

One, two, three... sketch!

 

BasicGrey sketch can be found on their blog here

Our team has been busy with this sketch and I know there'll be some inspirational takes on this fun design.

  Master Forger Leslie morphed the sketch into a single page layout.

Find out more at her blog post HERE

Master Forger Cindy kept the sketch as a two page but changed up some of the elements and photo sizes.

Blog post here

Master Forger Juliet used the left side of the sketch for a single page.

You can check it out on Instagram here

Master Forger Tina kept the sketch as a two page stayed true the sketch but added a few more photos

                                                                          Blog post here

There's still more going on here on the blog in August so make sure you come back and check it out!

• 24th August: Follower Showcase - who has caught our eye this month 
• 31st August: 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 #ckcaugust2021). 

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

Lisa

August 2021 - Challenge #1 - Going Diagonal!

It's the 12th which can only mean one thing... it's time for Challenge #1 round here at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge and I'm excited to see how you interpret it.

First of all - as always - a quick reminder of our inspiration kit this month: the main May 2021 kit from Dani Peuss

the main May 2021 kit from Dani Peuss

Challenge #1 - Going Diagonal!

Many years ago, I did a year-long scrapbook class with Heidi Swapp and I have to say that I learnt a lot of sound basics that are still part of my scrappy repertoire today. As this kit is full of gorgeous Heidi products, it reminded me of that class. 

One of the design principles that I use the most is using the diagonal for your page. Place elements on a diagonal to draw your line down through the page - whichever direction that might be.

So today, use a "diagonal" design on your page! 

  Master Forger Leslie gave this one a twist - she scraplifted Master Forger of Ceremonies Lisa!

Get the whole story + some bonus inspiration HERE

 Master Forger Tara dug into her kit for the first time to create a mixed media background for this challenge!  You can check out some close-ups HERE! 

 Master Forger Julene went vintage with her layout.

Master Forger Misty started with a diagonal paper and used it to cascade her elements across the page. You can always see more on her blog and YouTube channel.

Master Forger Kate layered up her corner diagonal with all the elements featured on her page! Even her photo features a cool diagonal composition! 

There's more to come in August so make sure you come back!

• 18th August: Challenge #2 - to inspire you to get creating from your own kit 
• 24th August: Follower Showcase - who has caught our eye this month 
• 31st August: 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 #ckcaugust2021). 

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

Lisa

August 2021 - Mini-kit Reveal & Projects

It's mini-kit time. Sometimes a full kit just isn't your jam! It could be that you have other things on your agenda but still want to fit in a little creative inspiration. Maybe you've got other supplies calling your name but a newly selected group of supplies is really appealing. Maybe you just haven't got the energy for a mega kit. This is for you. Master Forgers Laura and Lisa are here today with their "mini" kits (always relative of course!) and the projects they were inspired to make.

First up, a reminder of our inspiration kit this month by Dani Peuss in Germany:

Dani Peuss May 2021 main kit

And now let's see what our team have created!

MF Laura: "I decided to go with a physical mini kit this month. I love all things Heidi Swapp, so this month's kit was perfect for me. I also love her memory planner/Stop The Blur way of documenting everyday stories, so in true counterfeit kit fashion, I have started my own version! 

My mini kit will be perfect for documenting the everyday. 

I also pulled out some really tiny scraps (because I can't throw anything away!) and made some mini embellishment clusters to co-ordinate with my kit. 

I can't wait to put it to good use."

 MF Lisa - I had several of the Heidi Swapp papers as well as the die-cuts and sticker book which I could have just used to form my mini-kit but I decided to challenge myself a little more and use the "High Tide" collage paper as my starting point à la "Just the Gist of It" suggestion back on the 2nd!

I started with the vellum which is part of the Heidi Swapp Carefree collection, then added in the cloud paper by Crate Paper and completed it with two floral papers from two Echo Park collections - Our Wedding and Coffee With Friends. I felt like the papers formed a good combination and they brought out the colours that caught my eye on that original sheet of paper. Sometimes it's hard to see where the inspiration kit is but I have to say that I can totally see it! I also knew that the b-sides could come in useful too (pink, grey etc) which is a bit of a cheat but is always at the back of my mind.

I added in a Pinkfresh Studio alpha in rose god which matches the rose gold on the vellum and then finished off with a pack of die-cuts by Vicki Boutin and the Heidi Swapp sticker pack from the Carefree collection. I was quite proud of myself not to include anything from the original kit but to find items from that main collection which could complement the other items! In the end, I did dip into the HS sticker book but as I always say, "my kit, my rules!" It feels quite large for a mini-kit but I wanted to make a layout and I'm never one to use only one or two papers.

To make it easy for myself, I decided to pick out a sketch from the Simple Scrapper membership (where I'm on the Creative Team) and also one of their Story Starters because I had decided to print out a bunch of photos from our Mother's Day dinner in 2021. And that meant a double spread which I'm never so sure about. The sketch gave me an anchor point and made the process really easy.

I included some photo flaps so that I could include all the shots I wanted but they appear to be sticking off the page somewhat. I guess they will flatten down inside the page protector but I clearly need to practice this technique so that this isn't so obvious! 

We've got challenges and highlights still to come so don't forget to come back!

• 12th & 18th August: Challenges #1 & #2 - to inspire you to get creating from your own kit 
• 24th August: Follower Showcase - who has caught our eye this month 
• 31st August: 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 #ckcaugust2021). 

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

Lisa

 

August 2021 - Forgery On The Fourth

FOF is back again today to show you how it's possible to look at the inspiration kit, see if there are any elements which you would love to incorporate into your own kit but that you don't have in your stash right now, and then take the idea forward to make your own version! 

Let's remind ourselves once more of the kit we are using this month for our inspiration:

Dani Peuss - May 2021 kit

And now onto the Design Team's ideas!

Master Forger Leslie has collected some free printable links for you.

Rectangle labels, circle labels (3 colorways), rainbows, 100+ planner elements, cut-apart cards, paper airplane, camera +14, mixed media paper, BONUS link 20 Quote Printables (not pictured)

Master Forger Julene has copied the idea of the photo corners plus stamped some big flowers like those in the kit.

Master Forger Misty created a forgery of a pattern paper from one of the kit's add-ons. She shares her process via YouTube, but you can also read more on her blog.

Master Forger Juliet forged one of the papers from Heidi Swapp Carefree papers in the kit. 

Super simple forgery, she just took her 1" stamp pads that she has that she best thought matched the colors (although you could do them the colors you want!) and dragged them across the 12x12 white cardstock.  So simple but love the results! She also pulled her corner punch and is ready to use that!

MF Lisa has been searching Pinterest for some interesting freebies for printing, die-cutting and all round good ideas!

Fynes Designs here 

Stoffanker here

Crafting My Home here

Harbour Home Breeze here

Ink Happy here

SVG Crush here

Caluya Designs here

MBH Designs has a great tutorial for making your own twine wrapped rainbow element which is so trendy right now and I think would be perfect for your kit in a mini-version!

Tutorial by MBH Designs here

And last but not least, I was interested in the random note letter style stickers and found these:

You could download this "Earwig Factory by Ray Larabie"font over at Daily Font and use it for hybrid journalling or just fill a page with the letters and cut them out fussy-cut style!

Earwig Factory font by Ray Larabie here

OR - and how cool is this? - use The Ransomizer which is a ransom note generator! You could type out the letters you want or even the journalling, select the look you want and then you get a note that you could print and cut out or just stick onto your page! I love it!

The Ransomizer here

We are just at the beginning of the month and we have so much to share with you! The rest of August is going to look something like this:

• 6th August: Mini-kit Reveal and Project Showcase - inspiration for a smaller kit or project idea 
• 12th & 18th August: Challenges #1 & #2 - to inspire you to get creating from your own kit 
• 24th August: Follower Showcase - who has caught our eye this month 
• 31st August: 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 #ckcaugust2021). 

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

Lisa