Counterfeit Kit July 2013 Members Blog Hop

Welcome to my stop in the CKCB Members' Blog Hop!

This month we were challenged to pick a DT member and peruse their blog for a bit. Find something inspiring, and use that to create a project!

You should have come here from Lesley :-)

I have often been inspired by Jemma from Just Jim-Jams and so it was to her blog that I turned for this challenge.  I also liked Jemma's suggestion to draw a quick sketch of the layout that inspires you and list a few elements.  That way your finished layout will still be inspired by the original and not just a copy.

I took my inspiration from this layout by Jemma, which you can find blogged here.  I drew a quick sketch and took it with me on a night out crafting with friends.

Here is my Master Forger inspired layout with a photo from our visit with Goofy back in 2008.

"Goofy" inspired by Jemma

Even with all the themed bits in my kit I really like the colours in my finished layout.  It isn't an exact copy of the lifted layout but I like the sense of fun that it portrays.  I even used some of my new Sharpie Glitter Paint Pens to draw in some stitching.

The EK Success stamp set also came in handy for the three red circle embellishments.

Thanks for stopping by and now you should hop over to Leslie and she what lovelies she created!

The full blog hop list will be published on the CKCB so if you get lost along the way, head over there to find your way back onto the hop.

I love to read your comments so feel free to say "hi" if you've a moment to spare and happy hopping!

Chipper

Counterfeit Kit July 2013 - Layout 1 & 2

My Mickey Madness kit this month is lots of fun and my first layouts weren't even Mickey, but Buzz Lightyear!  They were quick to put together and used lots of themed items from my stash.  I little corny but perfect for the album.

They would have come together quicker if I could spell 'infinity'!!!  I was talking too much with my friends when one asked if I meant to spell infinity that way?  Opps ... third time lucky and it was finally right!  LOL  My brain had taken a holiday :-)

I used the shooting star stamps on blue and then cut them out.  I also used the tiny star stamps for some additional embellishment along with buttons shaped like stars.

It has been rainy and dark here and this is the best photos I could get but parts of this paper say 'Tomorrow Land' which is where we were.

When my boys were little they LOVED Buzz so this photo was a must do ... we actually went on a hunt for Buzz just so that we could collect his autograph stamp.

I love my Sakura 'Stardust' pen as it adds lots of sparkle to the layouts without making it 'girly'.  I must when you have two boys!

Pop back on the 24th if you have a chance as I will have something for the member blog hop.

It has finally turned cold here as winter is in full swing.  Lovely weather to craft in :)

Chipper

Counterfeit Kit July - Mickey Madness!

Welcome to another month of counterfeiting! I have spent a very pleasant few hours 'shopping my stash' while watching TV with the family this evening - but I tend to take over the living room floor while doing it!  Click on the button at the top right of this page to find out all about it and join in.  I can't believe that it is July already, where has the year gone????  The inspiration kit this month was from Scrapbook & Cards Today.

Summer Fun Kit

If you saw any of my posts from last month you may have noticed that I was scrapping Disney photos.  These are all from our trip in 2008 (as you can see I am way behind!) and I really want to make a dent in them this year.  Seeing these photos come to life on pages has been making the kids happy and we all need a bit of that around here :) When I saw the red and yellow influences and the polka dots in this kit it made me think of Mickey.  So I decided to use this month to go wild!  I will be scrapping photos like these ...

Mickey & Friends

So why not go to town and use all of the really themed papers that I bought at the time and haven't touched.  I have kept most of the pages so far un-themed but these photos are crying out for something a bit 'cheesier'!  Everything, including the characters themselves, are larger than life so here is my kit this month ... Mickey Madness!

Mickey Madness

The papers are all from  Hot Off The Press 'Busy Scrappers Disney Book'.  I took out all of the Mickey and Friends papers and left the Princess ones for another day.  The cut-apart sheets are from the book and so are the two sheets of tile alpahs (not sure if I will use these).  The red alpha stickers are from another Disney kit we bought at the park.  These papers are all paper weight but I am ok with that and I don't even back them with cardstock.  Once they are in page protectors I have never found that a problem and have always been too much of a Scrooge to waste a piece of card as a backing that no one will ever see.  It just means that they have to go into page protectors straight away and can't be stacked up in a box.

Mickey Madness - Metal Attack

There were pegs in the inspiration kit but I always have trouble using them and left them in last month's kit unused.  But I do like paperclips and as I had some FAB metal Disney ones from Creative Imaginations in my stash I added those.  I also included ribbons, buttons, and bling like the inspiration kit.  Of course I had to add washi tape as it has become ESSENTIAL!  LOL

Mickey Madness - Stamps

I also have some Buzz Lightyear photos that I want to use with the green 'Tomorrow Land' paper.  The Mickey stamps were a no-brainer and I added the camera stamp to counterfeit the camera from the original kit.  My final kit looks nothing like the original but it was a starting point and the embellishments gave me direction when looking for extras.

These are going to be fun and crazy to scrap ... so hold onto your hat and join me for a wild Mickey Madness ride!

Chipper

Conterfeit Kit June - Layout 6 & 7

Now that I am no longer hosting crafting get togethers at the shop, some friends and I meet fortnightly for a bit of crafting, laughs, and sometimes a glass or two of wine.  We rotate between three of our homes so that there is a week that someone doesn't have to drive, but there is also no pressure to host if that isn't your thing.  The host provides a simple dinner as we often come straight from work or dropping our kids to their evening activities.  Sometimes I think that if we hadn't set this up we would regularly be guilty of neglecting time for ourselves.

I haven't had a full day off in nearly two weeks and the only crafting I have done is at our Friday evenings with a few minutes here and there to add finishing touches.  This is where having a ready made kit comes in very handy!  This first layout was done a fortnight ago and uses a funky sheet of vellum layered over a piece of white cardstock.  As it isn't stuck down (except under the photo) the layout photographed slightly dull as the vellum kept lifting up, but I'm sure you get the idea.

Mad Hatter's Tea Party

I really wanted to work with the circles to help reflect the spinning ride.  It was quick and fun to put together and I like the three photos all on the one page.

This last layout is based on a sketch by Shimelle which I did this past Friday.  I flipped the sketch upside down as I didn't want the sky in the photo too close to the background paper.  We spend so much time laughing and chatting while we are crafting that I am lucky if I get the papers, photo and title on the page.  Do you get a chance to craft with friends?  If not I would absolutely recommend it, even if it is just once a month and you host it yourself.  One of my friends uses it as her UFO (UnFinished Objects) night and she works through stuff that has been hanging around unfinished.  It really is more of a social gathering!  And we don't limit it to papercrafting ... any sort of crafting will do.

You will get wet!

More photos scrapped from our 2008 holiday/vacation.  It will soon be time for me to stop and take stock of what I have done from that holiday and start to work on filling gaps.  I like to make 12x12's for each key part or story of our holiday/vacation and then use decorated divided page protectors to house the rest of the photos and memorabilia.  Sort of like a 12x12 album crossed with project life.  With 1600 photos to choose from I am NOT scrapping them all on 12x12 pages!!!!

I hope you had a great weekend,
Chipper

Counterfeit Kit June 2013 Members Blog Hop!

Welcome to my stop in the CKCB Members' Blog Hop! This is the first time I have joined in and I am very excited!

This month we were challenged to be inspired by a Farmer's Market!

Farmers' Market Challenge: get inspired by the displays, colours, textures, produce and all over feel of the place.

You should have come here from Lesley :-)

Now I currently don't live near very many Farmer's Markets, but I've been lucky enough to have visited plenty when we lived elsewhere and while holidaying in France.  The sights, smells and yummy produce are memories I will never forget.  For some strange reason when I think of a Farmer's Market I instantly think of blue, red and yellow ... no idea why, I just do!  Along with worn wooded boxes, awnings and plenty of bunting.

Here is my Farmer's Market inspired layout with a photo of The Thinker's 2nd Birthday way back in 2000!

 

I wanted a distressed/rustic blue background so I grabbed a white piece of textured Bazzill and inked the edges with Memento 'Paris Dusk'. When used this way I find Memento comes out lighter than when you stamp with it.   I used more goodies from my swap package and I just couldn't resist the cherry washi tape, what would a Farmer's Market be like without cherries!  I counterfeited the mini flag using the ones made by Jennifer Grace as inspiration, I love the seed bead on the top!

Thanks for stopping by and now you should hop over to Dawn and she what lovelies she created!

The full blog hop list will be published on the CKCB so if you get lost along the way, head over there to find your way back onto the hop.

I love to read your comments so feel free to say "hi" and happy hopping!

Chipper

Counterfeit Kit June - Layout 4

I have really enjoyed this month's kit!  I don't know if it is the clean bright colours or the addition of swap goodies, but I am eager to keep playing and use up all of the rest.  I am off to a friends for some crafting fun this evening and the left overs of my kit are packed and ready to go :-)

Today I used some more goodies from my swap package ...

The tag and blue button are from my swap package.

I counterfeited a flag following inspiration from Jennifer Grace in her kit reveal ...

Love the seed bead on the flag.

And I used a tea party charm that I bought from a friend's shop just for this photo ...

Tea party charm. Plus a brad from my swap.

Here is my layout ...

Meet Alice in Wonderland!

I have enjoyed using the Sn@p cut-a-part sheet by Simple Stories that I included in my kit.  They make for very quick layouts as some of the embellishing is already done :) I have since added some gems to this page as it needed more sparkle.

I hope you have a FAB weekend and don't forget to drop by on the 24th for the Counterfeit Kit Member Blog Hop.  I finished my layout today and have prepped my post ... SO EXCITED!

The other day Sian posed the question of what's on your mind when you scrap?  I have spent the day scrapping and meant to keep track of my thoughts, but now that I have finished I can't remember a single thought!  Not one!!!!  I wonder if that is a good thing or not?!?!?!?!?  So what do you think about while you are cutting and pasting? I obviously don't think very much! LOL

Chipper

Counterfeit Kit June - Layout 3

While catching up on my blog reading this morning I found a new sketch from Shimelle which caught my eye as something different ...

I liked the sun burst idea and thought I would tinker and play with this in mind.  I originally began by following the sketch to the letter using my Counterfeit Kit for the month but I was having difficulty with the patterns and my photos and almost gave up.

I started again beginning with white (I know, I think I am getting addicted) and focused on the sunburst.  I still used my Counterfeit Kit but chose another paper and left choosing photos until I had made a start.

I LOVE how it turned out but I couldn't get a great photo of it, sorry.  There are subtle stamped arrows with hearts where you see the black outline of a heart.  The page is also shimmery from the Glimmer Mists 'Mels Dinner' and 'Vintage Pink', along with highlights around the title and sunburst with a Sakura 'Stardust Clear' pen.  The black arrow strip is actually the reverse of the heart paper from American Crafts XOXO collection called 'All My Heart'.

Love at First Sight

The Princess is kissing Rascal the dolphin during our 'Twilight Swim with the Dolphins' at Discovery Cove back in 2008.  The first dolphin we played with was Diego and he was a character.  The Princess patted him but was a little timid.  But Rascal was so gentle and she finally felt secure enough to give him a kiss.  She was in love :)

I was supposed to be creating something for this month's Counterfeit Kit blog hop as I am joining in ... but I got side tracked LOL  So I am off to create something inspired by an open air farmers market, pop back on the 24th to see it.

Chipper

Counterfeit Kit June - Layout 1 & 2

Two posts in one day!  That doesn't happen very often but I decided this morning that my lovely swap from Lou deserved a post of it's own.  After a brief interlude at work I came home and started playing :-)  As you can see I used some of my swap goodies in my first layout!

I was originally a little afraid of this kit as all of the papers (except maybe one) are white based.  I hadn't realised until I started the kit that I have been defaulting to cream based papers for quite a while now ... white terrifies me!

But never fear, that is what a good Counterfeit Kit is for ... challenging you AND using up your stash :-)  This first photo was taken after we arrived at The Grand Floridian Hotel in Disney in a stretched limo for a character breakfast.  We pre-booked this breakfast and the kids were more interested in the limo ride than anything else.  It seemed to live up to expectation!

A Wish Come True

For all my fear of white I ended up starting off with it as the background ... so unlike me.  I liked it so much that I did it AGAIN with a second layout, this time leaving even more white.  Maybe white isn't so bad after all?!?!?!?

Bear Hugs

I used the wood hexagons from my swap and they matched perfectly with the die-cut hexagons I already had in my kit.  There is a light misting of Mr Huey Calico Shine along the diagonal as well but I have found it doesn't photograph well.

Two more layouts completed in quick succession.  The LOML asked me why I made a kit when I had a whole room of stuff to choose from.  I told him that I get to spend an enjoyable hour or two 'shopping' for my kit from ALL of my stuff, and then when I have spare moments to craft, I can just sit and play without having to rummage through everything looking for something to match.  I find it so much more productive when you don't have to keep getting up to get 'that perfect something' from the back of the cupboard.  Although I do add to my kit from time to time I do find that limiting my choices frees my mind to just play!

Maybe I will even finish a third layout this evening.  Love an afternoon off :-)

Chipper

Counterfeit Kit June - Kit

Now that my routine is falling back into place I am back to Counterfeiting (I love that it sounds like a crime ... or a guilty pleasure!  They sound more fun LOL) and am joining in for June.  There were four kits to choose from by Scraptastic and I chose 'Destination Unknown' as my inspiration.  I am a bit tired of the green, brown and blue that I used in my last kits and the bright sunny colour in this one grabbed my attention.  Here is the inspiration kit and it's add on ...

Destination Unknown

Destination Unknown Add-on

While many of you are posting about the joys of summer we have entered the darker days of winter (Hello Southern Hemisphere!) and my photos have been taken at night :-)  Welcome to "Memories of Summer"!  A bright cheerful kit inspired by combining the two inspiration kits.

Memories of Summer

I mostly shopped from the supplies I collected while previously subscribing to a popular kit club, with a few additions of older product.  I also included some toothpicks so that I can counterfeit some flags at a later date.

Memories of Summer embellishments

These are the 'B' sides of the papers.  There are some good tone-on-tone prints here that will come in handy.

Memories of Summer 'B' sides

The Princess recently cleared her desk for crafting and painting, and she is always fascinated with my kits.  I explained to her (again) how I assembled my kit and what the inspiration kit made me look for.  She decided to make a kit of her own (again) and spent the evening making up multiple kits with her stash. She has selected one to use for now and then plans to move onto the other ones after.  She will probably spend her weekends making layouts and I will share them as I share mine.  She chose the purple stack on the floor for her first kit.  I think she only added alphas and washi tape after I took this photo.

The Princess making her own kit

Happy Counterfeiting!  If you are wondering what is going on here then click on the link at the top right of my page and check it out.  A kit to copy every month and optional challenges to keep you inspired enough to use it!!!!  I love to go craft shopping but a recent change to a non-existant craft budged is forcing me to 'shop my stash' and I am loving every minute of it.  I have plenty to choose from so I should be good for a looooooooong time :-)

Chipper

Counterfeit Kit March - 2

Well March is now over and I do have few layouts to share that I made with my March Counterfeit Kit.  I still have a pile of stuff to use so this will also become my April kit, but as the most important thing is to USE my stash, that is all ok with me!  Still scrapping photos from that same vacation/holiday way back in 2000.  And if you don't know what a 'Counterfeit Kit' is, click on the link ----------->

I love this first layout and was so glad that I added in some teal and red to my Feb kit when I created my new March kit.  I even used more of my pre-cut Cricut cuts and these photos were the reason I welded letters together to spell 'squished!' LOL  We owned a very little Holden Barina and when we went camping (even to stay in a chalet) the car was packed to the brim with baby stuff, food, and other essentials.

This next layout was based on a sketch by Shimelle and came together quickly while I spent an evening crafting with friends.  I love that my Counterfeit kit enables me to travel for crafting and only take the one container that it fits in along with my tool tote ... allows for quickly grabbing my stuff and running out the door! (not a great photo ... sorry)

While I was making the next layout a HUGE part of the story returned to my mind that I had totally forgotten about.  I hadn't left enough room in the journalling block and so I think I will make a second page for it and fill it only with journalling.  I actually think that Glitter Girl's video this week is on this exact subject so that will fit in very nicely.

We were actually delayed a day in leaving for this vacation as we were both summonsed to court as witnesses for an incident that occurred BEFORE The Extrovert was even born.  We now had two children and this was only just coming to trial!  That is one very slow legal system!  There are more Cricut cuts on this one and I also used the stamp set from my original kit (LOVE that stamped lace).

This last double layout was a quick one to use up scraps and knock-off five photos quickly.  Normally when I have lots of photos I often insert a divided page protector and slot them in with some decorated paper scraps.  I thought that I would try something different as I only had five photos of this particular part of the deer park.  It is a bit plain for my liking so I will probably go back once I have finished all of the photos and use up some more scraps to finish it off.  I just didn't want to cut into any more whole papers yet as I am only about half way.

Well that wasn't too bad an effort for my very busy March!  I hope you had a fabulous Easter :-)

Chipper

Counterfeit Kit March

Over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge site the inspiration kit for March was the Noel Mignon's Soda Shoppe Kit.  It was a HUGE kit with very lovely colours and lots of yummy bits and pieces.

I still have LOADS left from my mega Feb kit, but it is starting to lack whole sheets of 12x12.  I am only 1/3rd of the way through my stack of photos that I am working on so I have decided to make an 'add on' kit inspired by Soda Shoppe to help me finish ALL of the photos from this vacation.
Here is what is left from my Feb kit ...

Feb kit left-overs

All of the patterned papers are now part sheets, and I am a patterned paper junkie!  So here is my 'add on' kit to bulk it out and help me finish.  I am sure no one will mind the slight cheat :-)  This time I am even going to name my kit (a first for me!) ... Down South (cause that is where the photos were taken LOL)

Down South

A while ago I joined a kit club (shock! horror!) with a friend.  It was a very popular club and it sounded great, especially as if we ordered together we got the international postage for free if we spent over the minimum.  We loved our first kit, we liked the second, we didn't really like any other kit for the rest of the subscription.  After awhile they all started to look the same, with the same brands (one of which is NOT a fav of mine), and not many embellishments/stickers.

I had used a few bits from the first two and made some layouts which I haven't had time to post, but after that they just piled up in their lovely brown bags.  Today I opened them all and sorted them out.  Papers in one pile, cardstock, stickers, buttons, embellishments, die cuts, and stamps in other piles.  I chose all of the pieces for Down South from these items.  Hmmmmm ... making a kit from kits .... 'Tis a bit ironic :-)

I was already using aqua, yellow and green in my kit but I loved the splash of red in the inspiration kit.  So I added more of the other colours and some red in slightly more muted shades.  I LOVE the camera washi tape and can't wait to use it.

This particular kit club that I subscribed to liked to add die-cuts in most of their kits.  This was a bit tiresome as they were mostly white based and were even added to kits that were cream based.  I have a pile of much of the same thing repeated so I have dug out a couple I might be able to make work and added them to this kit.

My favourite part of getting my kits were the stamps and alphas.  I have added a few sets that I haven't used yet but that might work with my theme.  I also added the stamp set with the frame to try and counterfeit some of the stickers in the inspiration kit.  I am also still keeping the tools and stamps that were in my Feb kit.  All in all this is quite a bit of stuff to use as it is one and a half kits rolled into one!

One last thing that I added was a sheet of card pre-stamped with sentiments that I might use.  I was crafting with friends and borrowed a set of Darkroom Door stamps to stamp out a page with the images that I loved.  I won't use all of them in this kit as many of these will be used for cards, but I will be trying to use a few bits, especially the words.

Hopefully I will get some crafting done this month, even if it is just half an hour!  Kits certainly help when time is short.

Chipper