November 2023 - Bonus Birthday Challenge #3 - Sprinkles!

And today we have an extra bonus challenge for you. It would be great to know that this inspired you to find some creative time at this busy time of year to make something pretty! 

Today is my special day and I love to scrap pages about birthdays and celebrations but I'm also aware that Christmas is just around the corner and Advent - such an important thing on the German calendar - is coming up just next week! This time of year is so special on so many levels! 

Therefore, I'm continuing with my idea of birthdays and celebrations and exciting things to look forward to with an extra challenge today. 

Thinking about glitter and birthday cupcakes covered with sprinkles and pretty presents and falling snow and twinkling lights and snow globes, I'd like you to include some sort of "falling sprinkles" on your page or project today!

I knew the look that I wanted to achieve on my layout as soon as I decided on our challenge. I had a vision of sequins falling down the page. Maybe it hasn't turned out exactly the same as the vision in my head but the sewn on sequins are definitely making me happy. 

I decided to make a page with a few thoughts about getting older. The number today is a little scary but I'm trying to stay positive and am happy to have captured a little on this page.

Keeping it simple with the embellishments as the sequins are more than enough, this page came together quite easily. The design of the page was loosely inspired by a sketch from the Simple Scrapper membership.

And I'm delighted that my friend and this month's Guest Designer, Silvia, was inspired to make a page for us today!

"First of all: Happy Birthday Lisa, I am so happy to have you in my galaxy!

Sprinkles - what a great theme for a challenge. 

Fortunately there is a sprinkle story on my to-do list for layouts. In fact it is a story about our "hunt" for my favourite sprinkles "Cosmic Galaxy" - spoiler I got a mega pack and it is already half empty again.

Because of the colours on the photo wallpaper from the Happy Sprinkles Shop I chose my blue and yellow papers for the layout and there are for sure also some stars."

There's still a few more posts to come this month so make sure you stick around to see it all and of course, we will be letting you know what is happening round here in December. You are going to love it.

You know that we always love to see your work, so please share your kits and projects with us. You can post them in our Facebook Community or share them on Instagram (we are @counterfeitkitchallenge or tag us using #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcnovember2023).

Lisa

November 2023 - Challenge #1 - Moodboard Inspiration!

It's time for the first challenge of the month where we hope to inspire you to use up those supplies that you have so lovingly put into your kits! 

We have a lot of fun translating the inspiration of the original kit into a sneak peek moodboard to whet your appetites for what is to come each month.

 

So, this month, be inspired by our moodboard! 

Take the colours, the patterns, the layout or whatever takes your fancy from the moodboard and use that inspiration on your page or project!

GD Silvia 

"When getting the mood board from Lisa, I first recognized the darker flower paper from the inspiration kit on the bottom left side. In my kit this is the darker star paper. Then I saw the photo in the bottom middle of the moodboard and remembered a photo I took from our cousins trip this month when I was walking behind my cousins. With that paper and picture in mind, I decided to also use the mood board as a sketch to create my layout and here is the result:"

MF Brandi 

Brandi’s kit is full of lots of Christmas-y goodies, so she had no trouble pulling festive inspiration from the moodboard! She pulled out music notes, reindeer, florals & even some sweater print paper inspired by the yarn. 

MF Cindy 

Cindy's kit is not a Christmas themed kit, but a Fall and Autumn kit. Cindy took inspiration from the mood board the colors turquoise and yellow then the flower paper and buttons for her layout.

MF Lisa 

Lisa decided to pick out the red and pink vibe from the moodboard as well as the blue yarn and the reindeer to select pieces from her kit for her layout.

She always knew that she wanted to use the whole of the Kaisercraft knit paper as a background because she loves it so much so that was where she started. From there she picked out the red and two pink papers as a contrast to the mint and as a bold mat to her busy photos. Two cut-apart cards either side of the central block and a few fussy cut tickets in some cute colours and then a handful of small embellishments and a sprinkle were all this layout needed. 

Eye-catching title letters and some journalling finished off this simple but happy layout!

Ps. Did you spot our wonderful Guest Designer in my photos? 😉

MF Tara 

Master Forger Tara went rogue with her kit and used only the color palette from the kit to create her kit, which you can view HERE.  So, her inspiration from the moodboard will not reflect any Christmas themed layouts!  What she saw in the moodboard was the turquoise twisted yarn, the music notes, and the rosettes.  Here's her completed layout!

 Here is what the rest of November's inspiration will look like: 

• 18th November - Challenge #2 - To inspire you to get creating from your own kit. 
• 22nd November – Bonus Challenge #3 – To celebrate birthdays and offer even more inspiration to use your kit this month! 
• 24th November - Follower's Showcase - who has caught our eye this month. 
• 30^th November - Killing the Kit - an idea or two focusing on using up the bits and pieces left in your kit. 

You know that we always love to see your work, so please share your kits and projects with us. You can post them in our Facebook Community or share them on Instagram (we are @counterfeitkitchallenge or tag us using #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcnovember2023).

Lisa

August 2023 - Thank you to our GD Clair!

There are many things that I love about being the organiser for our creative months. There's picking out the kits, coming up with interesting challenges, picking out a follower to highlight, thinking up ways to help others use up the kits I've encouraged them to make and then of course, there is the picking of a Guest Designer!

It's so great to be able to approach someone you are inspired by, someone whose work you love, someone who does things differently to yourself, perhaps someone the community isn't yet familiar with, or someone we are all fans of!

As you know, this month I asked our community friend and ex-Master Forger Clair to join us. I ALWAYS love anything she creates and I really enjoy the way she makes these tiny (for most of us) kits and then turns them into mini-masterpieces. Small format pages, cards, mini-books - it's all so adorable and I am always tempted to try out the smaller sizes she shares!

However, my passion is 12x12 so most of the time, I just drink in the inspiration and save up the ideas. But it's always lovely when she is around in the community and this month was no exception. 

Now, I have to confess that I messed up this month! She shared her kit and her creations for BOTH the challenges way ahead of the beginning of the month and then, when it came to bringing the blog posts together, I forgot to add in her creation for the second challenge. 

I know that she shared her gorgeous mini-book with you all over in the community but I just wanted to give you a chance once more to see her wonderful creations here and THANK her for being our Guest Designer in August.

Aren't they adorable? I am so happy to have had her with us in August and can't wait to see what she shares with us in the months to come. You can find her on IG here: https://www.instagram.com/obstinatepursuit/

Don't forget to come to the blog on 31st for my last post of the month - Kill That Kit! - where I share an idea for using up the ends of your kit.

I hope that you are inspired to make something and share with us. You can post them in our Facebook Community, or share them on Instagram (we are @counterfeitkitchallenge or tag us using #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcaugust2023). 

 Thanks so much for stopping by.

Lisa

April 2023 - Challenge #1 - Nature Element

  It is our first challenge for April. I like to keep the challenges relatively open ended so anyone can get a story scrapped! For this first one I was thinking about all the florals in the inspiration kit. 

Now, I know flowers aren't everyone's "thing" so my prompt for you today is to use some nature element on your layout. Even if you didn't tuck some into your kit, don't be afraid to reach for your stash when you are using your kit each month. We all do it. It isn't "cheating"!!

Guest Designer Kathy will be sharing her layout over in our Facebook Community so be sure to give her some love over there.

Master Forger Julene has used a large flower combination, plus another smaller one. 

She has also added silver skeleton leaves to her layout. 

Master Forger Leslie has a frog hatchery in her backyard pond! It doesn’t get more natural than that - and oh, the songs they will soon be singing 😊

Master Forger Misty here with challenge one as well. I added several nature elements to make this layout shine! There are clouds & stars, woodgrain letters, pretty dimensional flowers, a cute little bee (can you spot it?), eggs and more! Such fun.

We are about half way through the month, but we aren't done with inspiration yet! Coming up, you'll find these events on the schedule.

• April 18th:  CHALLENGE #2
• April 24th:  FOLLOWERS SHOWCASE
• April 30th:  KILLING THE KIT

You know that we always love to see your work, so please share your kits and projects with us. You can post them in our Facebook Community or share them on Instagram (we are @counterfeitkitchallenge or tag us using #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcapril2023).

November 2022 - Challenge #1 - Life Right Now!

The original kit includes a pack of embellishments from the Pinkfresh Studio Life Right Now! collection and that seems like a great place to start our challenges this month.

Record something about your life right now! 

The small things or the big things in life are always perfect for us memory keepers so dig in and see what makes it onto your page this month!

Guest Designer Machelle  

When I read the challenge “Life Right Now” I immediately thought about the last few weeks of fostering a puppy.  Our dogs are 5 & 6 now so it’s been a while since there was a puppy in the house.  I was so excited to dive in to my kit & use two full sheets and two partial sheets of my papers, along with those two notebook journaling cards.  I think they are so cute.  I did end up pulling the pet related embellishments from my stash, but using your stash is what it’s all about, right?

Head over to Machelle's blog here for all the info!

MF Julene 

Master Forger Julene has made a layout about feeling good at this place in her life. She's happy with her achievements and situation. The Kraft paper had a map of the North Pole hence the song title.

MF Leslie 

Blogpost HERE

Master Forger Leslie used the fussy-cut tickets to guide her documenting, then found the perfect photos & embellishments for them!

MF Tara  

 Master Forger Tara created a layout with some very recent photos telling a short story about a current deployment and the subsequent self-care she's making sure happens on a daily basis. You can see more about her process of this challenge on her blog HERE.

MF Anna  

Master Forger Anna created a 6x8 layout to continue her theme of gratitude in the month of November. Literally documenting a photo from Friday night pizza and movie tradition, this is Life Right Now (on Friday evening). The pre-made mixed media background papers make these pages super easy to finish!

And of course, as always, we have a full month of inspiration to keep you inspired!

November is going to look something like this:

• 18th November: Challenge #2 - to inspire you to get creating from your own kit 
• 22nd November: An extra challenge to add a little extra inspiration this month!
• 24th November: Follower Showcase - who has caught our eye this month 
• 30th November: Killing Kits - an idea or two for using up the bits & pieces left in your kit box 

You KNOW that we always love to see your work, so please share your kits and projects with us. You can post them in our Facebook Community, or share them on Instagram (we are @counterfeitkitchallenge or tag us using #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcnovember2022). 

 Thanks so much for stopping by! We can't wait to see your kits and projects this month.

Lisa!

October 2022 - Forgery on the Fourth

 

A reminder of our inspiration kit:

August 2022 Cherry Box

(For a closer look at each element refer to the October 2nd Just the Gist of It post.)

Beautiful hand lettered phrases & words, elements from nature, beautiful mixed media papers offer a great opportunity for forgery! Let's see what the Master Forgers have come up with.

October Guest Designer Nikki:

This month I decided to combine the chipboard adhesive stickers and the bobbles in the kit. I used stamps from Close To My Heart that are small enough to fit on a one inch circle punch. I created a jig so I can ensure that the phrase is in the center of the circle. You can check out my video here: https://youtu.be/VUw5ojkg0hU

Master Forger Julene has created her own page. "I started by wiping a used teabag across white paper then after it dried, I glued a scrap of book paper in one corner. The edges of this were inked with Tim Holtz distress ink "Old paper" first. Next, I lightly traced 2 bird outlines, then stamped a patterned stamp randomly. I might make similar if I need them"

Master Forger Cindy was inspired by the laser cuts. I really liked the border on the 12x12 cut outs. She included a couple of punches in her kit, and used the Cricut Paper Lace Cartridge for a few more.

blog post here.

Here are a few free printables to fussy-cut:

Butterflies & bugs  

TONS of gorgeous printables!

http://stampomania-challenge.blogspot.com/2015/04/free-printables.html?m=1

http://www.markmontano.com/p/butterfly-and-bug-images-for-curiosity.html?m=1

Botanicals

https://www.thetatteredpew.com/diy-roman-shades-free-printables-spring-mantel-decor-vintage-artwork-more/

Words

https://www.pinterest.com/senorajauregui/mixed-media-free-printables

Full sheet washi counterfeit

https://thegraphicsfairy.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Vintage-French-Collage-Paper-Tags-by-Dreams-Factory-for-The-Graphics-Fairy.pdf

MF Misty created a cut file to layer up and forge one of the frame embellishment on the laser cut sheet. (If you use svg cut files you can download this file for your own use too.) A bit of ink blending and spattering, and we have a vintage frame piece.

DON'T FORGET THE GIVEAWAY!  

Counterfeit Kit Challenge is offering one of our community members an opportunity to win their choice of the October or November Cherry Box! Post your kit & projects in the Counterfeit Kit Facebook Community Every post & comment will give you an entry. Winner will be announced on the November 2nd Just the Gist of It post!

Don't miss a thing this October: 

• 6th October: Mini-kit Reveal & Project Showcase - inspiration for a smaller kit or project idea 
• 12th & 18th October: Challenges #1 & #2 - to inspire you to get creating from your own kit 
• 24th October: Follower Showcase - who has caught our eye this month 
• 31st October: Killing Kits - an idea or two for using up the bits & pieces left in your kit box 

You KNOW that we always love to see your work, so please share your kits and projects with us. You can post them in our Facebook Community, or share them on Instagram (we are @counterfeitkitchallenge or tag us using #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcoctober2022). 

 Thanks so much for stopping by! We can't wait to see your kits and projects this month.