February CKCB Projects

Oops-just realized after posting my March Counterfeit Kit that I haven't shared any of my February projects yet. *blush*

 

Lots of cards! 8, to be exact, plus one tag.  One of the cards I can't share, however, because it is being published in Cricut magazine!  I am so excited! :D

 

Here's what I made:

 

 

Thanks for popping by!



Operation Write Home

I am Guest Designing for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge this month, and I loved that our first challenge for July was a cardmaking challenge. :)

The challenge: use your July Counterfeit Kit to create cards for Operation Write Home.

I created 3 cards already, but I think I will add more as the month goes on.  I find that I make many more cards than I actually mail, and this is such a great cause.  Hope those that serve will enjoy sending my cards to their loved ones back home. :)

Here are shots of the individual cards:

Thanks so much for stopping by today-I would love it if you left me a comment! 

We would love to have you join us for this challenge!  Let's see how many cards we can make for OWH-post your number in a comment on THIS post!



Fun with BasicGrey Challenges!

I am so excited to be Guest Designing for BasicGrey Challenges for the next few weeks!  Today's challenge is to use your favorite color combo to create a project.  I usually choose the colors for my project based on the patterned paper, so I went to my new favorite BG paper collection, What's Up?  The colors in this collection are so pretty-I love purple, so the papers with purple are my favorites. My color combo was lavendar and aqua.  I created both a feminine and a masculine card using these colors and fun papers from the What's Up? collection.

For my "Thank You" card, I used THIS stamp set from Basic Grey/Hero Arts.  The little flowers are stamped on a few different distressed solids from several different BG collections (Plumeria, What's Up?, Porcelain, and Olivia.)

I just love THIS fun stamp set from The Craft's Meow!  Cute mustache images and snazzy sentiments, too! 

I stamped the mustache twice on a figgy brown cardstock .  The first layer is adhered flat on my tag.  The second mustache is folded in half and only adhered along the fold so the edges pop up.  You can see the detail a bit better here:

The DT over at BasicGrey Challenges has some beautiful projects to share using their favorite color combos, too!  Check it out, leave some love, and play along to win!

CAS Thinking of You

My card today is a quickie, made from scraps that were on my desk. :)

The background paper made the perfect frame for this label die-cut, but the sentiment that I had originally stamped on the die-cut bled a bit.  What to do?  Cover it up, of course!  I had already stamped these little flowers out of coordinating papers for another project, so I used some leftovers to cover up the icky sentiment.  I created a little tag to house a tiny sentiment, then tied it through the center of one of the flowers.  The fun border on the bottom is just a border sticker.  Super quick!

I am actually entering this in 2 different challenges: BasicGrey Challenge (CAS) and Hero Arts' Thinking of You.

Please stop by tomorrow, as I am Guest Designing for BasicGrey Challenges for the next few weeks!  I have two fun projects to share with you tomorrow, using some of my favorite new Basic Grey products!  Play along with me and you could win a fabby gift certificate to Simon Says Stamp!

A few spring cards...

Here area few spring-y cards that I made this week using my March and April Counterfeit Kits.  The first one, with that adorable little fox, was made with scraps from my March kit.  I used one of the sketches found on the Hero Arts blog, and I am entering it in this month's Hero Arts Challenge.

These next cards were made with my April kit.  The first is based on a sketch from a CARDS magazine call. 

This one is one of my all-time favorites, I think!  So simple and a great way to use up scraps.  I made my pennants by punching the ends with a Martha Stewart border punch. 

Thanks for popping by today!

Lovin' Hexagons!

One of the April challenges from the MME blog was to use hexagons prominently on a project.  I have been saving just bits and pieces from this older MME collection called "Love Me Do" just because I loved the colors and prints so much.  Punched hexagons were the perfect way to use up these scraps to make a cute card!

I added a stamped sentiment from Hero Arts, a couple of heart die-cuts from the same MME collection, and a bit of stitching to frame my background.  I think it came out quite cute. :)

Thanks for stopping by, and if you come back later I will have a few more cards from my April Counterfeit Kit to share!

Some Spring Cards...

I got to play a little bit today with some new stamps and my March Counterfeit Kit.  I struggled a bit with these colors, and I'm not quite sure that I was successful.  Getting inky made me happy, though!  Here are the 4 cards that I made today-but I still have a ton of paper in my kit that I want to use up!  I see a few more blue and yellow cards being created before the weekend is over. :)

This card uses some older stamp images from Hero Arts and Art Impressions.  My wonderful sister-in-law, Patti (the one who got me hooked on stamping a few years ago), recently passed all of her stamping supplies along to a few lucky recipients.  This is a thank you that I made for her using some of those stamps. 

I am in love with this little bunny stamp from Unity and Jillibean Soup's "Chicken Dumpling".  Isn't he sweet?  This is a super-simple CAS card that used just a few scraps of patterned paper from my kit.

I'm not quite sure about this card.  I think it needs a "pop" of color somewhere.  What do you think?  I think it just may be a bit too much blue for me.  I love the white lace over the kraft, however.  To make the kraft border, I traced a blue die cut border from my kit onto kraft, trimmed it with scissors, then used a brass stencil to dry-emboss the edge.  You can see just a hint of it in the picture.  Adds a little "oomph". :)

This card is super bright and cheery.  I used a Hero Arts flower set and a "vintage" sentiment from PSX (another pressie from my SIL.)  The blue and green patterned paper on the bottom is actually a journaling box that was on the back of one of my kit papers.  It worked perfectly as flower stems!  I added some bling to the centers and a little notch to the sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by today-and remember the Lily Pad Cards' Birthday Blog Hop starts tomorrow morning at 9 AM!  Lots of inspiration and goodies up for grabs!

Chicago Style Deep Dish

I have been scrapbooking this weekend-not just cardmaking, but REALLY scrapbooking! This is a one-page layout that I made using my July Counterfeit Kit. If you haven't checked out the Counterfeit Kit Challenge, you need to hop on over there-right now! :) We have some amazing tutorials and inpsiration projects posted already this month, with more to come!
For this layout, I tried my hand at paper pleating. There are tutorials listed on the blog, but I tried my own version and machine-stitched across the top. This is a super simple layout, so

there's really not much else to say about it. One thing I would add is that I re-colored my chipboard letters and the "loopy" border sticker at the top using my old chalks. It really helped me to make the most of my kit contents, plus use up a little bit of my chalk! I also stamped a little "mmm..." near my title using a stamp from my donut stamp set that I included in my kit. Thanks for checking it out!

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!

Mini Challenge #3

Mini Challenge #3 for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge is to choose an embellishment from your kit-and create your project around it! This was an easy one for me because that is usually how I start my cards! Ironically, my favorite embellishments from this month's kit were the ones that I made myself. I will have to remind myself of this the next time that I am scrap shopping, lol!
My little girl embellishment was made using scraps of cardstock and patterned paper and a cute stamp set from Hero Arts. The card came together really quickly using this embellishment-just a punched grass border and letter stickers for a sentiment. Super easy!
Thanks for stopping by today, and I hope that you have a chance to play along with us for the mini challenge!

Happy Wishes

Happy Friday, everyone! I can't think of a better reason to celebrate this week. What a week!

Today I am sharing the card that I made for this week's Lily Pad Cards sketch challenge. Lucy has made a sweet little sketch for us-I know you will love it and hope you can play along! Our sponsor this week is one of my very favorites, too-Lawn Fawn! I just love Kelly Marie's adorable stamp designs, and I was so excited to get to play with one of the new releases from CHA Winter. The set is called Lunar Lights. Here is what I made:

I decided to use a Hero Arts acetate card for my card base. First, I stamped the lanterns and string on the white cardstock inside the card. Then I stamped the lanterns and string directly on my card front using black StazOn ink. Paper-piecing the lanterns allowed me to add lots of fun colors and patterns.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Don't forget to check out all of the Dream Team's cards and challenge details HERE.

Counterfeit Kit Mini Challenge #3: Inspired by Food

Our mini challenge was to create a project inspired by our favorite foods. My favorite food is ice cream-hands down! I knew that I wanted to scrap these photos from our trip to the Ben & Jerry's factory last fall. As I looked through my kit, I noticed my cloud papers and chipboard shapes, the scalloped borders, and the blues and greens. My mind instantly thought of the B&J's containers. I thought it would be fun to recreate the background from the packaging. Although it's not exact, it's definitely inspired by the packaging. I am so proud of myself for getting these photos scrapped and on a 2-page spread, to boot! :)
We would love to see your take on this challenge! You can see the original post HERE on the Counterfeit Kit blog.

New Lily Pad Cards Challenge!

It's Friday, so it's time for another fun challenge over at Lily Pad Cards! This week, we're hosting a Frames, Dies & Dimensions Challenge. To enter, simply create a new card that uses a frame or die-cut mat that uses pop dots (or something similar) to add dimension. The design team got to work with these fabulous frames and cards from our very generous sponsor, Globecraft Memories. I paired my card with fun new papers from Momenta and a sweet stamp set from Hero Arts. Check out the Lily Pad Cards blog for all of the DT's gorgeous creations-hope to see yours linked there soon!

Lily Pad Cards-Our First Challenge!

Welcome to the first challenge from Lily Pad Cards! Kathy came up with a beautiful Color Throwdown for us-I love the rainbow of colors, don't you? When I first saw this color combo, I knew that I wanted to do something fun and light-hearted.

I decided to ink up one of my newest sets-the Birthday Purses set from Skipping Stones Design. I paper pieced the stripes using scraps of cardstock. I also added a fun circle border using Versamark ink.

The Dream Team would love it if you would play along with us!

The challenge. Make a card using the color palette above (an exact match is not required-just land in the same ballpark.)

The prize. The lucky winner will receive her choice of ONE of the following fantastic marker sets from Letraset:

You can see all of the challenge details HERE. The deadline for this challenge is Thursday, April 14, at 11:59 PM. Now hop to it! :)

My Counterfeit Wildflowers Kit

With this kit, I once again started with one paper, inspired by the Studio Calico kit. I chose the butterfly print from Basic Grey, then found some coordinating papers similar to the inspiration kit. My lace paper has butterflies, which went perfectly with this kit! I printed the sign language and song cards from websites, and I was AMAZED to find the images identical to those in the inspiration kit! Glittery die-cut letters and vellum sentiment stickers from Momenta, and lots of fabric flowers from my stash complete this kit. I am hoping to try some fun things with Meridy and Bethany's flower tutorials, but I really want to use up these flowers, which have been in my stash for too long. :)
Be sure to stop back tomorrow, when I reveal my project for our Etsy-Inspired Challenge!

My Counterfeit Sunny Clearing Kit

I love this little kit. The colors, the patterns...and how easy it was for my to pull together. :)
All of the papers are from Cosmo Cricket's Material Girl 6x6 paper pad. I also pulled a few Cosmo Cricket Elements from another line, some cute little chipboard flower buttons from Dollar Tree, and a set of Studio G number/alpha border stamps. I decided that instead of the large scalloped calendar from the inspiration kit, I would use my Hero Arts doily stamp. I really love this stamp, and I think it works well with the rest of the kit. I stamped it on Crushed curry cardstock with Versamark ink, then heat embossed it with white embossing powder.
My sweet mom crocheted me some tiny doilies, too, but I didn't have them when I took this photo. I also made a couple of embellished paper clips using buttons and oversized epoxy brads. You will see them both on a project or two very soon. :)
Don't forget to stop by the Counterfeit Kit challenge blog to see Meridy's kit and Bethany's kit, along with some fun links to freebies for your own kits.

Yakkity Yak...

This is another of my favorite "rejects" from the recent PaperCrafts pub call. I don't know what it is about this card, but I just love it. Just a fun little card to mail a friend. It's a great way to use a journaling lines stamp, too! I have had this set of journaling block stamps from Autumn Leaves for a couple of years now, and they have been sitting on the shelf, uninked. I paired the journaling block with a Hero Arts speech bubble stamp and some cute little Lawn Fawn stamps. All papers are from SEI. Thanks for checking in!

Birthday Cupcakes

Today's card is for my SIL, Jeanie. Jeanie is a cardmaker, too, so I wanted to do something fun! I made this card during the Hero Arts 90-minute Scramble last weekend. The challenge was to make a birthday card with more than one fold. My card has the "main" fold at the bottom, and then the top has a flap that folds down. After scoring my folds, I used my circle cutter to round the flap. Then I covered the card front and the flap using papers from My Mind's Eye's Quite Contrary collection. Such pretty and fun colors! The string and button closure holds the top flap down, and can easily be untied to open the card.

The cupcake and sentiment stamps are all from Hero Arts. I paper pieced the cupcakes and added some Crystal stickles to the frosting. I originally stamped the sentiment directly on the card front, but it just didn't "pop" the way I wanted it to, so I stamped the words again on cardstock scraps, trimmed, and adhered them right over the originals using foam squares.

Thanks for stopping by! I will have lots more shares in the next few days (all of my submission rejects, lol!)

Nesting Doll Thank You

One final share tonight-this Nesting Doll Thank You card. I loved this stamp set when I bought it last year, but I have to admit that I have really struggled to use it. I've tried lots of different color schemes and mediums (ink, markers, colored pencils) and it just never comes out right. Today I decided to just use dark brown ink and stamp the doll on kraft cardstock. I loved it! Then I just distressed the edge of the kraft cardstock with Creamy Brown chalk ink.

I created this card for three different online challenges. First, I used this month's sketch from Sketch For You To Try. I chose this image for the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge, which was to make a card based on a childhood memory. My memory was my trip to the Soviet Union (back when it WAS the Soviet Union!) I went as part of a school trip when I was 13. I spent two weeks there. One of the souvenirs that I brought home was a set of nesting dolls. This stamp was perfect, and I paired it with a floral patterned paper from Stampin' Up! that reminded me of the design on my nesting dolls. Finally, because I used my favorite kraft cardstock, I am entering it in Kraft Journal's Anything Goes challenge. Speaking of The Kraft Journal, my Vintage Thinking of You card won a Top 3 in their Flourish challenge!

Thanks for stopping by again tonight-I'll be back tomorrow with more shares!

Valentine Hoot

I made this VERY pink Valentine last weekend as part of the Hero Arts 90 Minute Scramble. This little challenge was so much fun. At the announced time, a Hero Arts hostess (Barb was this week's!) announces a theme or embellishment that you must use on your card. After the announcement, you have exactly 90 minutes to complete and upload your card. Barb's challenge was to use a frame on your card. I used my Spellbinders Nestability die to cut a scallopoed square, then I cut out a circle from the center. I then popped the frame up around my owl image using pop dots.

Stamps are from Hero Arts; papers are from the Target Dollar Spot a few years ago. Still trying to make a dent in my stash!