042115 CKC Scrap Crush REVEAL!

 

Here is my Scrap Crush page.

I wonder how many of you guessed that my crush is...

SoapHOUSEmama aka ASHLI OLIVER!

her blogpost HERE

 Ashli is currently on the Design Teams at
Cocoa Daisy, A Flair for Buttons, the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge blog & CATfile store.

A gallery of her work can be found HERE.
Her YouTube channel is HERE.
Her Pinterest board of her work for Cocoa Daisy is HERE.

Here is a compilation of some of my faves:

   

      

       

 Stitching, stamping, fussycutting, grids, flair, scraps, 

stitched alphas, watercoloring, small pieces,  gesso over alphas, 

stencil w/paste, doodling, layered papers under photo as a mat...

Such a freestyle approach with a generous splash of artsy.

I decided to use this one as my inspiration & did a fairly literal scraplift.

her process video HERE

She does wonderful process videos that take all the mystery out of
how she makes her decisions for the page & the various techniques.

I have to say as well that she has an adorable little family.
She is very relatable in many ways & seems genuine & unpretentious.

I mean, this woman doesn't even own a paper trimmer!
Why do I think I need the perfectly-sized circle punch
when I can just grab my scissors & CUT. ONE. OUT.
(...and this comes from the Queen of Fussy-Cutting, lol!)

I hope I have made YOU fall in scrappy love (maybe just a little?) with this talented artist.

Comment below to let me know if you guessed right!

Thanks for stopping by!

041615 CKC April Challenge #3

And the inspiration just keeps coming over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog!

April Challenge #3 Spring Inspired: 
Let Spring help inspire your project

Living in a state at the top border of the U.S. makes me delight
in those first signs of life after the blanket of Winter begins to recede...

This moodboard at S.W.A.T. Challenge #53 was a great inspiration!

I began with the Messy thought of mimicking a pocket page with a grid.
I chose some elements & dressed them up with some vellum & stitching,
then made a simple title block with plans to add a little strategic stamping.

As I began to add the photos there was still a lot of empty white space.
Mounting the page on a grey & white polka dot helped add a border, an idea I got
from Susan's page HERE, but there was still an especially large space at the top... ugh.
I tried adding some stitching but it looked dreadful & now I had a row of holes!

I thought perhaps adding some washi, but couldn't get that to work either.
Eventually I cut strips of the script card from my kit to work in here & there.
I added some polka dot washi tape to them as an accent, covering the top corner with it.
Getting happier! Finally fussy-cut a little bee for that corner & it's done.

I also added some flowers made from the vellum circles & brads,
just like the ones made by Elsie at A Beautiful Mess!

One last change was mounting my title on a photo overlay with a big heart,
another subtle layer that adds the perfect sentiment about Spring.
It also gave me something to attach the title letters to with a tiny attacher!

I think I'm drifting further & further from the messy vibe!

Go ahead - celebrate Spring with a page from your counterfeit kit 
& a little Spring mood from S.W.A.T. Challenge's gorgeous inspiration board :-)

Thanks for stopping by!

020615 CKC February Challenge #1

Time again for our first challenge of the month at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog!

Challenge #1:  

Use something sheer or clear on your project!

 Do you remember this forgery of mine?

 

Well, it's the obvious choice from my kit for THIS challenge!  

When I made this it was with a page about our retreat in mind. We are in an area with a fair sized Amish population & are delighted with regular glimpses of these living simple folks. 

On our way into town the last trip we followed two horse drawn wagons. At first, we couldn't make out what they were transporting, but then spotted a pair of large ice tongs on top of the load. The blocks of beautiful blue ice became discernible as we closed the distance. 

We snapped a quick shot with a smartphone for posterity.

Okay - don't laugh! That little postage stamp selfie magically appeared. I chose the little camera icon, pointed at the cart ahead, and pushed the little camera... I have begun to convince my family, especially after things like this happen, that I simply repel technology.

Back to the scrappy end of things...

I backed my vellum with an icy cool green paper from my kit. I trimmed my custom vellum down to it's original size but the page felt lopsided. I thought I could use some white cardstock with snowflakes punched out as a border on the left - kind of lacy.

 Then I worked on a little fussy cutting of the inner edge. A tryout helped me realize that my beautiful vellum's sheer quality was being squandered. Serendipity brought the idea to slip those "waste" snowflakes under the vellum! (I wish I could say that was the idea from the beginning but I've gotta keep it real.)

This is the part where I get a little stuck. 

Why would I want to cover that gorgeousness with a photo?

 Perfect :~)

 Thanks for stopping by!

020415 CKC February Tutorials

Our February inspiration kit 

"Across the Miles" from Scrapbook.com 

included this totally gorgeous gilded vellum:

Chic Tags World Traveler "Let's Go"

Irresistible!

I would be willing to bet you saw many of these in the DT kits.

You may have been tempted, too!

My version:

No, it's not a map! But it is gold on vellum :~)

I subbed in this paper as a combination of the map & the red cardstock.

I used these for my counterfeit:

I hadn't used a stencil adhesive before, but you can bet I'll never stencil without it again!

All of my edges were crisp & clean - no bleed-through mess & distortion of the pattern.

I used an old expired credit card to scrape the paint into the stencil & then remove the excess, like you would with modeling paste or gesso. The stencil isn't thick enough to create much relief.

Counterfeit #2 is a forgery of this paper:

Basic Grey Capture "Right Now" B side

My papers were a bit more bold than the original, so I chose the right-hand paper for my base:

Then I punched out gold paper chevrons in place of the gold triangles.

I have plans for this paper! Watch for it to make an appearance later this month.

This is one of the few months where I was able to find quite passable substitutions for most of the elements in the kit right from my stash, as is. Feels almost like I got off too easy!

I hope we have inspired you to dive in & recreate some of your favorite elements

 in the inspiration kit. Remember that we have a tutorial post each month. 

You can easily access the older posts for more ideas. 

Be sure to post your kit & projects on the Monthly Link-Up tab at the CKC blog.

Let me know you stopped in!

110414 CKC November Tutorials

Wow! A lot of fun things to forge this month from the Fabulous Fall kit.

I tackled some Project Life styled cards (there is a whole sheet to cut apart in the original.) 

I used some gold foil paper to create an embelli similar to
the Maya Road heart & leaf paper clips.

I couldn't let the scraps go to waste so I punched some random confetti!

I thought I could forge the We R Memory Keepers
metallic copper sentiment vellum paper.

But the question was...

Yes, it did!

I taped some ruled paper behind to keep my writing straight.

I grabbed some more of the gold foil paper & raided my washi stash...

...to forge this MME Market Street "Ashbury Heights" paper.

I like mine better & the gold even shows through the patterns.

By far the most ambitious forgery was a nod to the We R
Memory Keepers Indian Summer Feathers paper -

only in GOLD, using a gilding
kit & Amy Tan feather stamp.

  I did a test to make sure the stamp wasn't too fine of a design.

The process:

I stamped the leaves with the gilding adhesive & let it dry until tacky.

I added pieces of the gilt paper & smoothed it on with a soft brush.

As you continue to brush the excess gilding pulls away to reveal your design.

Voila! I love it.

 Of course, you could just as easily do this with regular glue & a super fine glitter.

That would be fun! A counterfeit of  a counterfeit.

Hope we have inspired you to new heights of forgery this month :-)

Let me know you were here!