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

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 - 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 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

Crafting with Studio Calico

If you read my last post you will know that a friend and I subscribed to a kit club for 7 months .  I loved my first kit and I made two layouts from it amidst moving house at the end of last year!  I haven't had a chance to post them and as crafting time is sparse this week I will share them now.

Why are you not crafting instead of blogging you may ask?  I have a very good reason for it, I have set my alarm for early tomorrow morning to watch a friend teaching a craft class on U-stream with Helmar and will soon be heading to bed.  If you are awake and at your computer at 11pm GMT Tuesday then click HERE to watch the class with Amy from Sparkling Gnome Studios.  You can also watch a recording of the class at any time if you happen to be sleeping/working when it is live :-)

Here are my layouts, both from the Character Breakfast at the Grand Floridian Hotel.  The first one is all about eating ice-cream for breakfast :-)  The papers in this kit were soooooo pretty!

The second page is about meeting Mary Poppins!!!!  I had to get into this photo!  Mary Poppins and Alice in Wonderland were my MUST meet characters :-)

I wasn't sure how to use the butterfly sequins but I think it turned out nicely.

Happy Crafting!

Chipper :-)

Online Crop with Shimelle - Challenge 4

After I spent so long on challenge 3, I decided to keep challenge 4 simple :-)  I had the Teresa Collins collection pack that I won recently (Thank you Teresa!) and blue is my most favourite of colours.  So the obvious answer to the question of "What I would mix with yellow and grey?" is going to have to be BLUE!

I cut the yellow flowers out of one of the papers and layered them up with some of the die-cuts from the collection.  Added a few bits and pieces like the navy silk ribbon and I was done.  Another Disney photo scrapped - YEAH!!!!  (only about 900 to go! LOL)  This one didn't photograph so nicely this morning, as the background is Bazzill Thunder - a dark grey & the Thickers are silver foil.  Quick, easy and effective!

Have a magical day!

Chipper

Shimelle's Sketch of the Week

This week has been chaotic and I have only just completed a layout based on Shimelle's sketch for this week.  As soon as I saw the sketch I knew which photos I was going to use, but I was worried that the scraps I had left to work with wouldn't stretch far enough.  The sketch this week used 4 small photos and lots of extras.  What a challenge!  Here is my version ...

 

I printed the photos out myself just so I had a guide, but I have only tacked them in place as I need to have some properly printed.  I have found that our printer distorts the colour on smaller photos, but as the layout is mostly black and brown the colour didn't really matter.

I made this layout to go with one I had completed in a class with the very talented Mandy. (she doesn't blog much, but can turn her hand an just about anything!) I only had the scraps left over from that class to work with so it was a huge challenge for me.

Original layout from class

In the original class I cut the center of the black Bazzill too small and had to make it larger, hence the square frame in the matching layout.  I also didn't have any pirate themed embelishments so I cut a Captain Hook on the Cricut and the skull on my Cuttlebug.

I had to add the background Bazzill and I found a scrap of Basic Grey 'Black Tie' to also go on the new layout.  That made enough paper to work with.  It is darker than I normally do but I like the final result.  I smooched the cuttlebug skull to add some definition and added lots of black gems to tie the two together.  I finished off with a Dusty Attic chipboard mini word 'treasure' at the top.

So that is Captain Hook and Mr Smee crossed off my list of photos from our trip.  I wonder who I should do next?

Chipper

I Believe In Fairies

Scrapping the boys with Tinker Bell the other day made me want to go all blingy and scrap the corresponding photo of The Princess and I.  To keep the two similar I used the same green Bazzill Dotted Swiss on both layouts.  It is one glittery layout!

I used backing paper purchased at the park.

I wanted to add as much sparkle to the purple backing paper as possible so I traced over the main pattern with Ranger Stickles "Star Dust'.  The photo doesn't do the sparkle justice as there was a big storm today and natural light was not an option for taking the photo!  I recently purchased a WRMK Sew Easy and have been wanting to use it for two weeks.  I was very disappointed and it is NOT so easy to use.  At first I was going to use the pendant and have it hanging on the page like a banner ... but it wouldn't even make the holes in Bazzill!  I managed to get the large loop to work, but I still had to go over it with a piercing tool to actually make the holes as all I got were marks.  I am not a huge fan of hand sewing so although I pierced a 12in border, I only stitched 3 loops!  But after all that effort I was going to use it on this page somewhere, or else! LOL It became part of the title along with a sticker from the park pack.

I love to make my own embellishments and although the green flower is from Prima, I made the purple ribbon flower myself.  It is easy to do using the Clover Bow Maker.  I used the middle size in the small pack and this is the first time I used a wire edged ribbon (It was the only one in my stash that matched).  I do love the effect of ribbon on a page.

The flower border is a Martha Stewart punch and the 'believe' is a chipboard word from Dusty Attic.  The other bits came from my stash and the 'Fairies' was cut on my Cricut and then stickled with 'Star Dust'.

I am very happy with the way this one turned out and it still co-ordinates with the one of the boys.  It is rare for me not to journal, but as all of these photos are from the same holiday, I don't feel I need to repeat myself just so that jounaling appears on each page.

Those are the Tinker Bell photos done, now I think I might start tackling the 50's Prime Time cafe shots.  Now there is a story worth telling :-)

Chipper

Faith, Hope & Pixie Dust

It isn't very often that you get the chance to combine boys and Tinker Bell in a layout.  So when the opportunity presents itself, you can't pass it up, even if the boys in question will later cringe!

When in Florida at Disney World, one of their photographers asked the boys to pose with their hands outstretched and to "look surprised".  This photo was the result.  The Thinker got his look perfect and for once out-acted The Extrovert.  When we picked up this photo I loved it immediately.  There are times when I wish they would stay that small for ever.

The layout is based on this weeks sketch by Shimelle, but I tried to keep it somewhat simple.  Although I blinged it up a bit, I really couldn't take it tooooooo far, or my boys might become a little offended!

Used papers from a Disney kit

I used papers from a Tinker Bell kit we picked up at the park but they weren't true 12x12.  So I trimmed some extra off and mounted it on Dotted Swiss Bazzill.  The journaling block is made from a Banana Frog stamp embossed with Ranger 'glitter lavender' embossing powder.  I struggled with the title as I tried and tried to cut one on my Cricut from the Tinker Bell cartridge, but it was just too intricate and it drove me nuts!

I used Smooch 'Illuminate' to add sparkle to the word "hope" and also in the centers of each of the larger white stars in the backing paper.  The title is from the movie theme song and now everyone is singing it!!! (Faith, hope and pixie dust ... are you singing it now too?)

But the most important part is that the boys love it even though it is purple and sparkly!  So I guess it is ok to scrap boys and Tinker Bell on the same page, but only once :-)

Chipper