Counterfeit Kit Blog Hop

Welcome to your next stop on February's Counterfeit Kit Blog Hop! You should have arrived here from Melissa's fabulous blog. If not, make sure that you start the hop right at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog so you don't miss any of the amazing projects!


This month's inspiration kit was from Scraps of Darkness. You can see photos of the inspiration kit HERE, and you can also check out my blog post HERE that shows the contents of (and the logic behind) my counterfeit kit. Here are a couple of projects that I've made with my kit.

Here is the sketch from Scraps of Darkness:

And here is my layout:



It's hard to see in the photo, but I finally used my Perfect Pearls mists! I sprayed the background and the brown chipboard flourish with Interference Red mist. So pretty when the light hits it!

I also made a couple of cards (of course!) The first uses supplies from my kit plus a cute little button card stamp from Unity Stamp Co. I'm embarrassed to say that I've had this stamp for a few months and didn't know what it was, lol. I just saw a new set from PTI that had a similar stamp and realized what it was! Now it is one of my favorites. :)

The next card was actually the first project that I made using my kit, back at the beginning of the month. The card base is made from the postage stamp die cuts (from the Create a Critter Cricut cartridge). The flower and sentiment stamps are from Ippity. If you would like these stamp sets, I happen to know a *fabulous* Ippity chick. ;) Plus, I think I finally achieved the vintage look with these two cards!
I am so very glad that you had a chance to hop along with us today. I'd love it if you left me a comment, too! Your next stop on the hop is the amazingly talented Marianne!

My Counterfeit Kit for February

I have to admit that this month's Counterfeit Kit Challenge was a huge challenge for me. While I loved the color swatches that Bethany and Meridy posted before the kit reveal, I was very intimidated when I saw the actual inspiration kit. It was totally not my style-not the colors, the patterns, embellies, anything. But I really wanted to play along, so I thought a lot about how I could use the inspiration kit.

I decided to make a list of kit contents, but in a very general way. First, I started with the papers. Rather than try to match the papers in the inspiration kit exactly (which would have been impossible from my stash), I wrote down what the inspiration kit contained: a distressed solid, a flourish/heart pattern, a polka dot, a basic geometric pattern, and three all-over patterns. Now this was a list I could work with! I started with the flourish/heart pattern. I looked through my patterned paper and found this beautiful heart flourish paper from the Bittersweet collection from Basic Grey. This is the paper that I built my entire kit around. I had the matching stripe, so that took care of my basic geometric. I was then able to pull other papers that coordinated. I added a distressed pink solid from Basic Grey (a different line, but still matched), a kraft/cream polka dot, and three all-over patterns: the heart woodgrain (Imaginisce), cream flower (My Mind's Eye) and little fruits (an old Basic Grey line-Recess.) I added one other patterned paper-the numbers-which remind me of the bingo card in the inspiration kit. I didn't end up using the bingo cards from my January kit, so I substituted patterned paper. I think that I am more likely to use this paper than the actual bingo cards.

For embellishments, I found some great printable postcards, tags, and vintage images on Flickr. I also fell in love with the printable doily tags, which I believe were linked on Write. Click. Scrapbook. I also threw in some journaling boxes which were leftover from an SEI album kit.

I found that I didn't include enough letter stickers in my January kit, so I really loaded this kit up with some fun stickers and rub-ons. More mini alphas from Making Memories, a sheet of Basic Grey stickers that have sat untouched in my stash for 3 years (since my very first CKC class!), two different sets of rub-ons from Imaginisce and Cosmo Cricket (thank you, Eryn Hagen!), some pearl flourishes and Momenta Bubbles & Bling. The Bubbles & Bling will work great in place of the mirrored embellies in the inspiration kit, which really weren't my style.

For 3D embellies, I included some chipboard pieces from Colorbok (flourishes) and Fancy Pants, large postage stamp die-cuts which I plan to use for a card base, tiny pearl ribbon slides, and assorted trims. I am anxious to make some of the faux Prima flowers, but I will do that as I make my projects. I also plan on using buttons on my projects, but I found it was just as easy to add the buttons to my kit as I go along. My buttons are all sorted by colors in individual jars, so I can easily just pick what I want. :)

Finally, I added two sets of seriously neglected clear stamps. The smaller set is The Language of Love by Technique Tuesday. The flourishes are from Gel-a-Tins. These stamp sets will work really well with my papers, and I hope that by including them in my kit I will remember to use them!

Thanks for stopping by today. I know this was a long post. Hopefully I have inspired you to think outside of the box a little bit when it comes to finding inspiration in other kits or projects. Can't wait to start creating with my Counterfeit Kit!

Just Saying Hello

I made this card in response to a friend's Facebook post that said her mom was feeling a bit down because of poor health. She had asked if any of her cardmaking friends would want to make her mom a card to make her smile. I know that I always smile when I see an envelope in the mail from a fellow cardmaker. :)

It also uses papers that my sweet cardmaking friend Stephanie Muzzulin recently sent me. Aren't those patterns and colors so spring-y? I hope they make Jana's mom smile. The stamps on the outside are from Gel-a-Tins (flower) and Hero Arts (sentiment.) The greeting inside (hello) is from Lawn Fawn.

Although I used a sketch I found online, this card is not for any contests, challenges, or submissions. It's a "just because" card. Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in all of the competition, as one cardmaker recently commented. Underneath it all, we do this for the craft. I love to make cards, and every once in a while, I make a card "just because." I hope you do, too. :)

A late Valentine's Day share...

but I just had to show you all. This is my first time trying something "shabby chic." I was very pleased with the results, but let me tell you-IT TOOK FOREVER! I second guessed myself the whole time I was making it. I knew that when it was done, I wanted to give it to someone special who would appreciate it. I gave it to my mom and dad. They've been having a rough time of it for the past few months because of my dad's health issues, so I wanted to give them something special to let them know how much we all love them both.

I made the shape of the card by tracing a chipboard mini album by K & Co. The base of the card is made from Bo Bunny Double Dot cardstock, flourish background stamp (heat embossed on the red heart) by Hero Arts, brown flourish on text paper from Gel-a-Tins.

Happy Everything Spinner Card

Whenever I work with sketches, I always rotate them and reverse them in my head before I actually start my project. That's the beauty of using sketches-you can "tweak" them however you'd like!
For this sketch from Card Positioning Systems, I rotated the sketch 180 degrees. I immediately thought the sketch looked like a spinner card, so I pulled out my buzzing bee stamp and funky flowers from Gel-a-Tins.
Quite happy with the fun little card that resulted!
Thanks for looking!