April 2023 - Mini Kit Reveal & Projects

 If you ever need to take your kit smaller (for busy months, travel or even smaller projects) we are here to show you some tips and tricks for keeping your kit on the lighter side.

Remember here is the kit we are working with this month. This is the the SCT Sampler Kit from April 2022 sold by Scrapbook & Cards Today magazine.

Master Forger Lisa 

I knew that I wanted to make a mini kit that would be suitable for a small mini-album to record details of a small Easter swap I make every year with my local scrappy friends. 

I was looking for a way to interpret my vision from the items in the kit when I saw Misty's excellent idea that she featured in "Just the Gist of It" (see post here). Her idea of the rainbow kit, inspired by that sweet slice of rainbow cake was just the kick-start I needed! I used the kit SHE made and featured in that post as MY inspiration for my mini-kit!

This looks like a huge kit - to be honest it is a bit on the big side - but I knew that I just wanted a small amount of each of the Color Vibes sheets and all the papers were partial sheets of which I would again only used a small amount. The embellishments will give me some options to fill out my mini but I don't think that I will include a lot as it will have a lot of items from the swap presents adding decoration and bulk.

I started by matching my Color Vibes (Simple Stories) to the range of papers that Misty had picked out (a print out of her kit can be seen top right in the photo below 😉) and then went through my Easter papers - Simple Stories Bunnies + Blooms / Echo Park Welcome Easter - to find some matches there too. I added in the lilac and violet shades from a new Paige Evans 6x8 Blooming Wild pad.

A selection of enamel dots, a handful of puffy stickers, some Blooming Wild floral die-cuts which might be too bright (?) and some leftover dies from Bunnies + Bloom finish off the embellishments. I will add in a form of book connection - a ring or twine - once I have a clearer view of the size of the album.

I also added in this new ticket die in the hope that it will get christened! I love the design and think it could be fun to add in - let's see!

Included in the paper scraps were a few cut apart tags (bottom row in the photo below) so I used those to cut out some same-size tags from all the papers I had included. This will be the basis of my album. There are a lot of tags here and maybe it will be too many but my Easter Swap is 15 days long so photos of each present plus wrapping, ribbons, tags and decoration will be added in and the mini will no doubt get quite bulky!

I'm only on day 3 of my swap and I am taking photos every day at the moment. After Easter, I will get this book finished off and then I will be sure to share with you! But you can be sure that it will look something like the first Easter mini-album I made back in 2021! (You can see all about it in this post here) 

Master Forger Misty

For my main kit I focused on the floral elements of the inspiration. For my mini I am focusing on the birthday/celebration side. I created the layout in the photo below back in January shortly after my daughter's birthday. 

Only recently did I get photos from her that she took using her own phone camera. So now I have extra photos that go with this layout. What to do? Use photo flip pockets to add those photos and... why not decorate them up also!

I had to grab a set of supplies that would coordinate—NOT match, but coordinate—with the existing layout. The inspiration gave me a jumping off point: celebrate theme obviously, a bit of navy and just a pop of floral. I also wanted to add red to go with the layouts red elements. With that, I pulled this set of celebratory supplies in some good colors. It is a wide mix of paper lines and themes, from teen boy, to teen girl, to game night. But is is all about good times!

I got to work creating 4x6 canvases with these products to slide in opposite each photo. In the end I have a small flip book that I attached on the outside of my layout page protector.

To tie things in just a bit more I added a few of the elements from my mini kit of supplies onto the original layout. I also changed up my title to make more sense of these separate photo display "zones". The title now reads "Birthday Photos" and each section says "from my phone" and "from your phone" to delineate the photo groupings.

We always have lots of inspiration to share all month long. Next up in April are the challenges. Here is that schedule for you.

• April 12th:  CHALLENGE #1
• April 18th:  CHALLENGE #2
• April 24th:  FOLLOWERS SHOWCASE
• April 30th:  KILLING THE KIT

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 #ckcapril2023).