June Counterfeit Add-on Kits

I admit that I got a bit carried away this month while I was creating my add-ons for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge. I created a small add-on kit based on the add-on from Burlap & Buttercups, which I shared yesterday with my main kit. When I was looking through some of the other kit clubs, however, I found that I really loved the Studio Calico Star Dust Add-on. After I assembled my main kit, I realized that I could counterfeit the Star Dust Add-on and have it coordinate with my main kit. So this month I have a mix of two kit clubs. Here is my counterfeit Star Dust Add-On:Everything was pulled from my stash or handmade. I really wanted to include a chicken wire background stamp, but didn't have any stamps in my stash that would work. My solution: an onion bag (thanks, Lesa!) I created a frame from a scrap of chipboard, then adhered a piece of the onion bag over the center of the frame. To use this, I applied ink to one side, placed it ink-side-down on my paper, then rolled a brayer over the top. It worked great! Can't wait to try this on a project!

Here are my counterfeit tin pins. I had one package of buttons to cover leftover from last month's kit, so I decided to cover them with paper to make my version of the tin pins. I used a cloth to slightly dampen my paper, then covered the buttons. I then applied a layer of Glossy Accents, and they look very similar to October Afternoon's tin pins!

These are the tapes that I made in place of the Smash Tape. I used some old first aid tape, and stamped the checked background with teal and red ink. I then used some different stamps from my stash to add words, phrases, and numbers. I'm not quite sure what I will use these for yet, but they were fun to make! Note to self: need more first aid tape. :)

Finally, I counterfeited the Kitch brads from the inspiration kit. I simply cut or punched circles from patterned paper scraps and placed them inside the rim of these buttons. I then covered the paper with Glossy Accents. Super easy, and no one will ever know that they are buttons, not brads, once they are on my projects!

I also made a Summer Add-On so that I can play along with Kim's Summer challenge later this month. I have had my eye on Echo Park's Splash collection for a while, but I simply couldn't justify buying it when I still have lots of last summer's paper in my stash! So I decided to counterfeit the Splash collection (instead of a kit) as my Summer Add-On. I had so much fun making the journaling blocks and the ticket embellies. You can see the "real" Splash collection from Echo Park HERE. Here is my counterfeit Splash kit:

I'm excited to use my kits to make some projects! If you haven't played along with the Counterfeit Kit Challenge, you are missing out! Check it out HERE. I know you'll be inspired!

Counterfeit Kit Challenge-Memorabilia

I am so excited to share my very first chipboard mini album with you! I had so much fun making this-I can't wait to add my photos and memorabilia! I can't yet because I made this album to document my upcoming weekend at CKC-Manchester with my scrappy friend, Lesa!

The page above has a fun pocket on the right-hand side. Recognize it? I "stole" a leftover pocket from my March kit! Then I dressed it up a bit with alpha stickers, a border sticker and some gems. This pocket will hold my class stubs from Friday and any other items that I want. The pocket is 5" wide.

This page also includes a fun pocket to hold memorabilia, probably the stubs from my Copic classes. Can you spot it? It's my mini transparency! I need to tell you how I made this transparency on a budget! I recently transferred all of my Imaginisce Snag 'Em stamps to a Cropper Hopper folder. Each stamp had 2 square transparencies in the package-one printed with the design and one that was "plain". Being the frugal scrapper that I am, I had to save those plain ones! They were the perfect size for the heart stamp that I used for this kit. I stamped the image with black StazOn ink, then colored the back side with Bic Mark-It markers. Then I trimmed around the top of the heart to add a fun edge and stitched it to my paper. Cute little free pocket!

And did you see the zipper flower! It was SO easy! I made it using Becky Olsen's tutorial, but I used Glue Dots instead of the double-sided tape that she recommends. Worked great!

Thanks for stopping by to check out my mini! Don't forget to visit the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog for the other designers' takes on this challenge!

Counterfeit Kit Blog Hop

Welcome to your next stop on the Counterfeit Kit challenge Blog Hop for the month of March! If you didn't start at the very beginning, you will want to head on over to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog. We have lots of great scrappers participating this month-you won't want to miss a single hop!

Our mini challenge for the blog hop was to scraplift ourselves. I don't do this very often, so this was a fun challenge for me. I knew right away that I wanted to scraplift this gift bag that I made for my mom's birthday back in January:

I really loved this project-the stamps, the label shape of the bag topper, and the fact that it was a fun way to give a gift. I tried to think of a way to make the bag differently. I was a little stuck, but I was quickly inspired when I saw the cute little boxes that Backyard Farms uses for their tomatoes:

I loved the die-cut fence on the front and the fact that it was made from kraft cardstock. Being the frugal girl that I am, I decided to take the elements that I loved from my gift bag and use them to create a gift box. Here is what I came up with (my sweet daughter even baked some Double Chocolate Chunk cookies so my box wouldn't be empty for the hop!)

Everything (except the box and the cookies) came from my March Counterfeit Kit. I hope that you like the project and are inspired to upcycle your produce packaging, too! Your next stop on the hop is with the fabulous Karen Williams. Don't forget to leave some love along the way!

Mini Challenge: Etsy Inspiration

This week's Counterfeit Kit Challenge is to be inspired by a project from Etsy. HERE is the project that I chose. I have always loved the look of printer's trays, but finished ones tend to be a bit pricey. I knew I could make my own for a fraction of the price. To save even more money, I found a small shadowbox at Goodwill to alter. The price was definitely right: 45 cents!

Here is a before photo:

Pretty outdated and dusty, huh?

Here's what it looks like now:

Here are the details:

Top left: I cut this butterfly from my lace paper, but the color just didn't "pop" like I wanted it too. So, I covered the butterfly with Versamark ink and heat embossed it twice with silver embossing powder. Two bling brads form the body.

Top right: I stamped the sewing machine on a piece of clear packaging (from the Bella Blvd. fabric flowers.) I then paper pieced just the body of the machine and added an epoxy brad and some stickle-y thread. For the "fabric", I cut a little slit in the transparency and threaded a scrap of rickrack through.

Middle left: Just a rub-on and gems on a Spellbinders die-cut.

Middle right: I cut a Spellbinders die-cut in half, then distressed the edge so it looks like a tiny notebook edge. Studio G stamp and butterfly punches, plus a little doily that I created with an EK Success border punch.

Bottom left: My favorite! I stamped the dressform on the same clear packaging from the flowers and paper pieced the dress. The text flowers are just two punched flowers, adhered together with a foam square and topped with a button and gems. The little metal flowers are my soda can flowers. :)

Bottom right: I trimmed a corner off the stamped doily from my kit, then topped it with a butterfly rub-on on white cardstock. I popped the butterfly up with foam squares. I love this punched flower, too. I layered three Martha Stewart flower punches, attached an epoxy brad, then "squished" the petals up to give it some dimension. The tiny stamp is from an old (uninked!) Studio G set.

Thanks so much for stopping in today! I hope you can join us for this challenge this week! Check out the details at the Counterfeit Challenge blog!

My Counterfeit Mossy Knoll Kit

This is the most masculine portion of my March kit-lots of geometrics and neutral colors. For papers, I started with the stripe in the bottom right corner because I felt that would be the most challenging to match in my stash. Once I found this stripe from My Mind's Eye, I was able to build my papers around it. I'm not sure if I would use the papers from just this kit, but I think they will make interesting additions to projects made from my other kits.
A fun addition to this kit was the package of metal flower brads. I LOVED these and couldn't wait to make something similar! I was able to make my own for literally pennies, which made me very happy. Scroll down to my next post for the tutorial for my flowers, plus see a sneak peek of a project that I made using them!

A button layout to share...

I was just browsing around in my Flickr photostream and came across this layout that I did a couple of years ago. It just made me smile-for those of you who have been reading my blog, that is my daughter on the left. You know, the one who just went to the prom?! Wow, how time flies. That is my son on the right-he's going to be starting middle school in the fall. Doesn't he look stylin' in those Blue's Clues sneakers?

Anyway, before I get all teary, here is an idea for using button borders on your layouts as well as your cards. As you can see, this variation doesn't require a ton of buttons. You can add doodling in between (the bee's trail in this case.) Also, mix it up a bit by using mostly one color buttons, but include 3 of a contrasting color. Remember your "rule of three's"? The three white buttons help the layout feel balanced.

I also used some tiny buttons to dress up the frog's spots (frog and bees cut from Basic Grey's Color Me Silly paper.)

Thanks for looking!

Trying to make a dent...

in my stash of buttons. I have been using buttons on every project lately, it seems. I have been collecting buttons for years, and like all of my crafting supplies, I accumulate them much faster than I use them. It's also great for the scrapping budget, since buttons are pretty inexpensive. Save even more by buying them in bulk in the sewing section instead of those pre-packaged for scrapbooking. My favorites are the color-coordinated multi packs. You can get a bag of 100+ buttons for less than $2.00 at Walmart.

One way to use several on one project is to make a border with them. On this mini card (4" square), my border covers the seam between my two patterned papers. To mix it up a little, I used a couple of different threading "techniques." Nothing hard, just something to add visual interest.

Bazzill cardstock, American Crafts striped paper, Bo Bunny Double Dot cardstock, Hero Arts stamps.

I "scraplifted" this card idea from Lucy Abrams in the Hero Arts Flickr group. There are some absolutely beautiful cards there. Anyone can post projects to this group, you just have to use at least one Hero Arts stamp on your project. Go check it out for some great cardmaking and scrapbooking ideas! If you'd like to see the cards that I have over there, click HERE.

For some other great button cards, visit last week's round of Gallery Idol on the Papercrafts site. Lots of different ideas there, too. I just love the button-embellished trees, especially this one from Shanna Vineyard. She actually created her tree with buttons-so clever and cute.

Hope I inspired you today to raid your button stash to create a new project. Thanks for looking!

Have I mentioned that I love owls?

It's my latest obsession-owl anything. I even ordered checks that have owls on them. They are just the cutest things-makes bill paying more fun, ya know?

Here's my latest project-owl and all. This actually satisfies a couple of challenges and submissions in addition to being just plain cute. First, it is my take on the Be Inpsired #39 challenge over at Cuttlebug Challenge. Yes, it is a real twig-and yes, I might be crazy-but it went so well with the theme.

It is also part of my submission for the design team over at My Sketch World. My first time trying out for a design team-keep your fingers crossed for me. I really love sketches, so this would be perfect for me.

Finally, I decided to submit it to Papercrafts magazine. I loved it that much! And three's a charm, right? Somedays you just come up with something that you just can't stop looking at. This is one of those. I'll keep you posted...

Going Green

Last year, one of our family's resolutions was to start recycling. A year and a half later, we're still at it, hoping to make a difference.

I was inspired by a challenge over on the Hero Arts blog to make a card using some recycled materials. Since I save everything I had quite a stash of recyclable supplies from which I could choose. I decided on a bag from my local stamp store that looked like it had pink vines stamped on it. It was the perfect companion for my new Sassafras Lass paper and Hero Arts stamps. I also trimmed a strip from the bag for my sentiment. I left the jagged edge from the top of the bag to add a little texture.

I loved the finished card so much that I couldn't wait to try another card using a different patterned bag. That meant a trip to the stamp store-such a hardship! I ended up with a new stamp set and a totally different patterned bag-aqua and black. Can't wait to use it!