Thursday, April 11, 2024

April 2024 - Challenge #1 - Ordinary Moments

  Welcome, my friends!  Today I am going to be giving you the very first challenge of the month to help you use that beautiful kit that you curated this month!!  First, I need to remind you of this month's inspiration kit from Traci Reed Designs!

Traci Reed Designs:  Felicity

Today's challenge was taken from one of the phrases in the kit itself- “Bliss comes to us in the ordinary moments”.  Create a layout about an ordinary moment in your life.  Please feel free to take this challenge in your own direction!! 

Guest Designer Nikki

 


 

Master Forger Jody

This throw back picture of me and my sister was made for this quote! Our smiling faces and hand holding shows, "Bliss comes to us in the ordinary moments".  My heart will always hurt because she is no longer with us. Creating with older pictures does help to heal my soul.  

Using a mix of alphas helps you to read the quote and add color.  I also created a process video if you are interested YouTube Video Thank you so much for stopping by!


Master Forger Julene

I have a local art gallery and garden that I often visit. One part of that area has seats to sit and contemplate life. It is blissful taking in the scenery and calms me. 



Master Forger Tara

I can't think of anything more ordinary in the day of the life as a mom than giving your babies baths.  This set of photos features my granddaughter getting a bath before going to bed.  The moment is ordinary but absolutely pure JOY.

You can watch my process video HERE





Master Forger Christine

When thinking about this challenge, I saw this photo.  It's an ordinary late spring day where I happened to snap a pic of me and my daughter's shadows on the sidewalk.  I love spending time with her, just hanging out.  I fussy cut the floral paper and put it up on fun foam for a 3d look.






Here's what we have coming for you this month! So make sure you check out the blog!!

  •  18th April - Challenge #2
  •  22nd April - Challenge #3 Sketch Challenge
  •  24th April - Follower Showcase
  •  28th April - May Sneak Peek (on Instagram and the Facebook Community)
  •  30th April - Challenge #4 Baby, Use Those Scraps Challenge

We really love to hear from our followers! Make sure that you come hang out with us on the Facebook Community Group. You can also hang out with us on Instagram by tagging #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcApril2024!! See you next time!

Master Forger Tara

 

Friday, April 5, 2024

April 2024 - Mini Kit and Projects Reveal

 So, what happens when you want to make a kit for the month but you know you won't have a lot of creative time during the month to play?  That's where the mini kits come in! You could make a kit as small as a page kit or as large as a 2-3 page kit!  Let me remind you of my choice of kits this month:

Traci Reed:Felicity 

Our Guest Designer created a fabulous layout with her mini kit:

You can watch her process video HERE to see her mini kit!
 

Master Forgers Brandi and Vikki have your backs this month for the mini kit and projects so I'll let them tell you all about their mini kits and projects!

Master Forger Brandi

I am always drawn to colors first when picking apart a new inspiration kit, so I started with creating a color palette to swatch out some mixed media I had in my stash to help guide me in my kit-building process. Once I had the colors laid out in front of me, I knew I had several smaller paper pads that matched! 




That's when I had the idea to use mini paper pads to make Spring/Easter cards for my April kit! The florals and colors in this kit would also work really well for Mother's Day cards, just switch up the sentiments. I used sketches from Sketch n Scrap, Try a Sketch on Tuesday and Stick it Down for my cards. 






I did include a handful of 12x12 papers as I do love this color palette and hope to create a few layouts this month as well! Follow along with me on Instagram here! I'll also be back with a layout for Challenge 2 later this month! 


Master Forger Vikki

I fell in love with the papers and embellishments in this month's kit, so I bought the kit. I used four patterned papers from the kit, then pulled some coordinating patterns and solids from my stash. I used the embellishments from the inspiration kit, added stencils, wood veneer, lots of options for fonts and enamel dots.  Here is my mini kit for the month:

 




Despite being a mini kit, I was able to complete five pages.  The colors in this kit were perfect for creating pages of my great niece, as well as a photo of my dog and me.  I had fun playing with this month's kit.  Here are the layouts I made this month.  I can't wait to see what you create with your kits.









 

Here's what we have coming for you this month! So make sure you check out the blog!!

  •  12th April - Challenge #1
  •  18th April - Challenge #2
  •  22nd April - Challenge #3 Sketch Challenge
  •  24th April - Follower Showcase
  •  28th April - May Sneak Peek (on Instagram and the Facebook Community)
  •  30th April - Challenge #4 Baby, Use Those Scraps Challenge

We really love to hear from our followers! Make sure that you come hang out with us on the Facebook Community Group. You can also hang out with us on Instagram by tagging #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcApril2024!! See you next time!

Master Forger Tara

 

Wednesday, April 3, 2024

April 2024 - Forgeries on the Fourth

Hey hey hey!  It's the fourth of April and that means it's time to share our Forgeries on the Fourth with you!!  Let me remind you again of our inspiration kit:


 

Our Guest Designer, Nikki, from Nikki's Scrapbooking Adventures, created these beauties for her own kit and they are FANTASTIC!!  


Nikki says this about her forgeries:

 I love to include journaling blocks in my counterfeit kits, because I can use them for journaling or a cluster base. Taking a look at the Felicity Stickers, I noticed a circle journaling block with a grid background. Circles are a major theme within this kit and this journaling block seems to be easy to replicate that everyone can do it! Bonus, is that you get a smaller inner circle to make additional embellishments with.

Supplies:

  • Color Coordinating Solid Cardstock
  • Which Cardstock
  • Color Coordinating ink
  • Journaling block Stamp
  • Stamping platform
  • Nesting Circle Dies
  • Mint Tape
  • Die Cut Machine

Find two circles that will cover the dimensions of your journaling block stamp. In my case, my stamp is just over 3x3 inches. So I picked 2.75 inch and 2.5 inch circle dies and nested them so they have an even border between. Using mint tape to make them stable, I die-cut circles out of my colored cardstock. I recommend that you do a bunch at a time, while the dies are together, because we will take them apart later on. 


 Next, cut your white cardstock into a square that fits your journaling block stamp. I cut the white cardstock into 3x3 squares, the square shape is important. Place your stamp in the lower corner of your stamp platform and place your paper into the stamp platform. I did first generation stamping on one side of my paper, flipped it over and did second generation stamping on the back.


 To get a grid look, like our inspiration, rotate your square of white cardstock 90 degrees and stamp. Make sure that you are stamping on the first generation side and second generation side, respectively. 


 Once you have stamped your grid with the coordinating colors to your card stock, take your grid paper and cut it with the larger of the two circles. In my case, the 2.75 inch circle. 


 Now you pick which side you want to have the grid showing. I picked the 2nd generation stamped side so that the grid is lighter than the cardstock outline. Glue that outer ring of colored card stock to the large circle grid. Now you have super cute and easy journaling blocks that coordinate with your counterfeit kit!

BONUS!

With the leftover inner circle, we're going to make the circle embellishments pictures on the Felicity Stickers image.

SUPPLIES:

  • Inner Circle from previous project
  • Stamp that fits within the circle
  • Stamping platform
  • Versamark
  • White embossing powder
  • Heat tool
  • Anti-static tool
  • Two pieces of white cardstock scrap
  • Smaller of the two circle dies we used previously

To make this super easy and consistent, I made a jig to ensure that my image is centered on my color cardstock circle. Use a scrap piece of paper to cut a circle out of the middle. We will be using the outside and not the circle, so make sure that you have edges to place your magnets on.


Set up the stamping platform with a large scrap paper that can nestle into the corner and your circle image more toward the middle of your work surface. Stamp your image in colored ink so that you can clearly see what the image lands on your scrap paper.

 



Place the jig we made, of the cut out circle around your stamped image so that it is centered. 


 Now you can place your circle color cardstock within the jig and know that your image will be centered. This trick can be used with die cutting and stamping any image! 

Then you can follow the normal process of using embossing powder to make die cuts that stand out on your projects. 



 

Let's check to see what the Master Forgers have up their sleeves for you this month!

 Master Forger Ryann really loves the flowers in the kit so she wanted to create some big, chunky flowers for hers.  Using her die cut machine and cardstock, she created multiple colors and sizes to make her own.  She curled all the petals around a thin paint brush handle, and added some bling to the centers of them all. 





She also wanted to use wood veneer for the title of her layout. Using a wood grain printed paper and cutting five of the same word with her die cut machine, then stacking them together, she created the missing word she wanted for her layout.  This could also be accomplished by using scraps and then the wood grain printed paper only once.





Master Forger Misty kept it simple this month! She was inspired by two of the pattern papers and one little embellishment to created these doodles items.



 

Here's what we have coming for you this month! So make sure you check out the blog!!

  •  6th April - Mini Kit and Project Reveal
  •  12th April - Challenge #1
  •  18th April - Challenge #2
  •  22nd April - Challenge #3 Sketch Challenge
  •  24th April - Follower Showcase
  •  28th April - May Sneak Peek (on Instagram and the Facebook Community)
  •  30th April - Challenge #4 Baby, Use Those Scraps Challenge

We really love to hear from our followers! Make sure that you come hang out with us on the Facebook Community Group. You can also hang out with us on Instagram by tagging #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcApril2024!! See you next time!