March 2025 - Challenge #1 - Birthday Bash!

 It is time for our first March challenge. We always start off with a reminder of the inspiration kit we are working with.

A Beach Tale

March is my birthday month!  I want you to scrapbook any birthday – but if you've got photos, start with your own!  Include a list on the layout – this could be your guest list, a list of birthday wishes, the menu that day, anything, but include a list.  

Guest Designer Martha says, "I love these beach themed papers and embellies! I couldn't find a birthday and beach picture but love this picture of my son's 15th birthday. I had fun playing with some simple embellishments and "dressing up" my layout."

MF Jody

Hello crafty friends! For Challenge #1 I am documenting all the family members that went on a Spring Break cruise. We were actually celebrating 2 birthdays, my oldest niece turned 20 and the youngest turned 10!

The Spritzed cut files were such a fun element to add. They make the blue ocean in the photo pop!

We had so much fun and made some great memories with such a big group! Hopefully we'll do it again soon!

MF Christine

Hello my scrappy peeps!!  I am documenting my daughter's 20th birthday since we spent time out of town in Houston and Galveston...so the beachy/travel papers seemed to fit perfectly.

My list is basically the things we did for her birthday (or I suppose we could say the vibes since that's the title!)  My color palette is a bit more muted than the inspiration kit, so you'll notice some softer blues and pinks.  My inspiration was more around the travel and beach, rather than the colors this time.  Huge shocker as usually the colors start my curation. 

MF Brandi

I decided to highlight a "birthday buddies" photo taken at my nephew's 2nd birthday party in 2022. We have a crew of four birthdays in just six days in my family (my sister, my son, my nephew & my sister-in-law) - I managed to capture a photo of the 4 of them together and knew it deserved a special spot in my album! The two little guys are actually less than 12 hours apart!

Now, let's see what we have lined up for the rest of this month:

• 18th March - Challenge #2
• 22nd March - Challenge #3 Sketch Challenge
• 24th March - Follower Showcase 
• 26th March - April Sneak Peek (on Instagram and the Facebook Community) 
• 28th March - Challenge #4 Baby, Use Those Scraps Challenge

We love to see what you are working on!  Drop in your projects to our Facebook Community Group and of course tag us on Instagram at #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcmarch2025

Remember to Make Every Day a Day Worth Scrapbooking!

March 2025 - Mini Kit and Project Reveal

Welcome back to the blog. Today is the day we share mini kits with you. If you are short on time, or if you have a specific project in mind, a mini kit can have you covered. Two of the team, Vikki and Laurie, are here to show off how they go mini.

As a reminder here is the inspiration We are working with this month.

A Beach Tale

MF Laurie

When I first saw this month's inspiration kit, I knew it would be perfect to scrap photos from a trip to Hawaii in 1988. Yes! I said 1988! I know you all have older photos you haven't scrapped, maybe not as old as mine, but we all have them. I loved the tropical feel/ Here are the papers I chose.

These are the embellishments.

Here is my first layout. I made by flowers with stamps and Distressed Oxide inks.

Layout number two is a double page spread.

MF Vikki

I went super mini with the kit this month.  I didn't have beach photos to scrapbook, so I pulled my kit from the colors in the inspiration kit. My kit consisted of four full sheets of paper, four pieces of scrap patterned paper, a few alphabet options, minimal embellishments and I couldn't forget enamel dots.

For my first layout, I made a page documenting my recent birthday.  By shrinking the photos, I was able to fit sixteen on the page.  A few simple embellishments and enamel dots finish off the page.

I was able to make a second layout with my mini kit this month.  I used the paper scraps for the backgrounds behind the photos and the scallop border.  I really loved the colors of the kit this month and it was perfect to document a breakfast date with my bestie.

Now, let's see what we have lined up for the rest of this month:

• 12th March - Challenge #1 
• 18th March - Challenge #2
• 22nd March - Challenge #3 Sketch Challenge
• 24th March - Follower Showcase 
• 26th March - April Sneak Peek (on Instagram and the Facebook Community) 
• 28th March - Challenge #4 Baby, Use Those Scraps Challenge

We love to see what you are working on!  Drop in your projects to our Facebook Community Group and of course tag us on Instagram at #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcmarch2025

Remember to Make Every Day a Day Worth Scrapbooking!

March 2025 Forgeries on the Fourth

                 

Today is the day when our Master Forgers share the forgeries they have created for the month of March. First, let me remind you of our inspiration kit, 

A Beach Tale

MF Misty

She took several ideas from this kit and created her own elements. Starting with those woodgrain phrase banners. These are not banner shape, but they work.

She used her new obsession, hot foiling, to create these elements. While she had her foil machine out, she also made an alphabet set. If you look really closely at that top inspiration picture, there is a big letter A in multicolor with sparkles. She wanted to capture the color and shine!

Here is the project that most excited her: creating paper Plumeria flowers. From soft and mild to bold and colorful. These will brighten up any layout.

MF Ryann found this example on the kit website really inspiring.  Despite the fact that the image shown here is a digital kit, she really wanted to make something with the feel of the die cut style image here.  She used her Cricut and put this cut file together.

 

Master Forger Tara pulled out her dies and created some embellishments based upon the embellishments in the digital kit.  She matched the colors in her own kit which are slightly different than the inspiration kit colors but they really are close.  Here are the images from the inspiration kit that she used to create her embellishments.

 

 

 

 

 

Here's her dies that she used.  They are from Hip Kit (palm tree) and Arden Creative Studio:

 

 

 

Here's the embellishments completed:

 

 

Now, let's see what we have lined up for the rest of this month:

• 6th  March - Mini Kit and Project Reveal 
• 12th March - Challenge #1 
• 18th March - Challenge #2
• 22nd March - Challenge #3 Sketch Challenge
• 24th March - Follower Showcase 
• 26th March - April Sneak Peek (on Instagram and the Facebook Community) 
• 28th March - Challenge #4 Baby, Use Those Scraps Challenge

We love to see what you are working on!  Drop in your projects to our Facebook Community Group and of course tag us on Instagram at #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcmarch2025

Remember to Make Every Day a Day Worth Scrapbooking!

March 2025 - Just the Gist of It

 Master Forger Ryann here as your hostess for this month. We just had our inspiration reveal yesterday. Sometimes our Counterfeit Kit building can be a breeze, and sometimes you may bump up against an item that you just aren't sure what to do with. 

When I was looking for a kit to counterfeit for this month, I was looking for something I could use for vacation, but something versatile enough to use for my sons, daughter, granddaughters, and my hubby. This kit felt like the right choice because it has so many colors and textures to work with.  I love that there are many colors of woodgrain, and there are fish, stars, and flowers.  I also love that the water elements have so much movement to them - which really inspires me to put movement on my pages.

Starting from the beginning, here is the full kit; "A Beach Tale"  there are two sets included in this kit - High Tides and Good Vibes 

And Woodgrain for both kits!

While I knew that I had a lot of options in my stash for this kit, I also knew I was going to pull more of the theme of vacation, too. I wanted a kit that was going to cover my husband's birthday, and even some photos of my granddaughters.  I also have some summer/fall photos that I'm hoping to scrapbook this month from when my husband and I were dating.

Here are the papers I pulled for my kit:  There are two photos of the same sheets, but I shuffled them around so they could be seen better.  I have a lot of Creative Memories papers - old and new - as well as a TON of really old stash of which I don't even know the names of the designers!

This is my batch of embellishments - a lot of CM again, as well as a few really old stickers from Mrs. Grossman's, Stickapotamus, and other random goodies!  I'm really looking forward to having an excuse to use these up!

Lastly, I decided to throw these two frame sheets and a REALLY old acetate overlay to play with.  These type of add-ons stay in my stash a really long time because I find myself stumped on how to use them.  This month I hope to dig down into my creativity and see what I can do as a personal challenge to myself!

I also plan to use inking, paints, Ranger Inks, and shaker filler while I'm working.

If you don't know where to start, here are a few suggestions on how to get started:

• Think about what you have.  Does your kit need to look just like the original?  Nope! 
• Think of a theme - water, vacation, flowers, sand, woodgrain - start there!  
• Think of photos you might want to use up this month - vacation, spring flowers, garden, pool, what do you have that has the same feel as the original?  Build your kit around that!
• Find a super inspiring pattern from the kit and use that for color, theme, or whatever you want to build from - again, it does NOT have to look just like the original!  

As you can see from my kit that I have built, I added a lot more dark orange than what was in the original.  That was how I wanted my kit to look.  There are no rules!  Just be inspired!

Now, let's see what we have lined up for the rest of this month:

• 4th March - Forgeries on the Fourth
• 6th  March - Mini Kit and Project Reveal 
• 12th March - Challenge #1 
• 18th March - Challenge #2
• 22nd March - Challenge #3 Sketch Challenge
• 24th March - Follower Showcase 
• 26th March - April Sneak Peek (on Instagram and the Facebook Community) 
• 28th March - Challenge #4 Baby, Use Those Scraps Challenge

We love to see what you are working on!  Drop in your projects to our Facebook Community Group and of course tag us on Instagram at #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcmarch2025

Remember to Make Every Day a Day Worth Scrapbooking!

March 2025 - Inspiration Kit and Social Media Hop

 Welcome to March 2025. It's time for a new Counterfeit Kit Challenge!

Master Forger Ryann here to come alongside you for the month. It's time for me to lead the team and you, our community, through another month of inspiration and scrapbooking. Our inspiration kit for the month is from Sweet Shoppe Designs . I chose the Beach Tale Collection by Kristin Cronin-Barrow. While this is a digital kit (and I have some of it) there is plenty to counterfeit from our stash!  

This one spoke to me since it looks like Hawaii - and I just got back from my first trip to Hawaii in February!  My husband and I hadn't been before, and we went for his birthday.  And speaking of birthdays, March is my birthday month, so we will use this kit for birthday layouts, too!   I know that not everyone has tropical photos to scrapbook, but this kit looks really versatile - lots of wood grains in different colors, water that can be pool photos, and there are two collections in this kit - one that is softer pastels, the other that is a little more bold.  There is enough of both pink and blue to appeal to nearly anyone!  The woodgrain and browns gives enough neutral options to make the whole kit great for a variety of layouts. 

Kit overview:

Kit 1 - High Tides

Kit 2 - Good Vibes

Now that we've seen the kit, let's welcome this month's guest designer, Martha Saenz. Martha and I met years ago on another scrapbook group.  She does a lot of detailed work, uses stamps and dies in her work, and loves to make cards.  I'm hoping we can see some of those creations this month as well!

Martha says, "Hello everyone!  My name is Martha Saenz and I live in San Antonio, TX.  I’ve been a scrapbooker since my early 20s – going on 27 years!  My favorite subject to scrap is my family.  It started with my nephews and nieces but then I got to be a Mom and my little boy Nick was my favorite subject, of course!  I may or may not have about 50 full 12x12 albums of just Nick’s life… LOL!  I blame it on being the youngest of five children in my family and there are hardly any photos of me growing up, but it’s all good!  I also have a chihuahua dog, my little Frankie, and three cats who Frankie works hard to “regulate.”  LOL!  All have their appropriate place in my treasured albums.

 

My scrapbook style is more symmetrical and neat with a touch of whimsy to keep it fun.  I love using my Cricut to make my own embellishments but do not set me loose in Hobby Lobby because things can escalate quickly!  Over about the last three years I’ve become more of a card-maker.  I lost my beautiful son Nick to cancer when he was 17 years old, which was almost four years ago.  I am here to tell you to never stop taking pictures because you never know if one of those may be the last one you have of that person (or pet)!  Keep on scrapbooking all.of.the.pictures. and always tell the stories of who and what you love, and the stuff that isn’t so great, too.  It’s so therapeutic to write it all down and get those treasured memories onto paper, not to mention Alzheimer’s is on the rise and it’s impossible to remember it all! 

 

I hope we have fun this month creating and chatting about all things scrapbooking with this newest counterfeit kit."

Our new kit reveal always comes with a team social media hop to get your creative ideas flowing. Be sure to visit all our team members this month to see a wide range of takes on the inspiration.

Social Media Hop:

 

• Counterfeit Kit Challenge - http://counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com/  

• Guest Designer - Martha Saenz - https://www.instagram.com/msaenzmd

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

• Christine - https://www.youtube.com/@ScrappingHarden

• Cindy - http://cindyscreations-cinmfoster.blogspot.com/

• Jody - www.instagram.com/floppyearedfarm 

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

• Julene - http://julenebydesign.blogspot.com/

• Misty - http://www.craftysoup.com

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

• Tara -  https://kryptonite72-rambles.blogspot.com/

• Tina - http://tinasscrapcorner.blogspot.com/

 

 Now, let's see what we have lined up for the rest of this month:

• 2nd March - Just the Gist of it. 
• 4th March - Forgeries on the Fourth
• 6th  March - Mini Kit and Project Reveal 
• 12th March - Challenge #1 
• 18th March - Challenge #2
• 22nd March - Challenge #3 Sketch Challenge
• 24th March - Follower Showcase 
• 26th March - April Sneak Peek (on Instagram and the Facebook Community) 
• 28th March - Challenge #4 Baby, Use Those Scraps Challenge

We love to see what you are working on!  Drop in your projects to our Facebook Community Group and of course tag us on Instagram at #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcmarch2025

Remember to Make Every Day a Day Worth Scrapbooking!