Triple Challenge Layout

What do you do when you have no time? Look for ways to combine not one, not two, but THREE challenges all in one! This layout is using my February Counterfeit Kit, the Valentines Day/stamping challenge from Week 2 of the Curious Scrapbooker's Field Guide and a new sketch posted at Write.Click.Scrapbook. This came together as easy a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I just happened to have all the right ingredients.

I used several different stamping techniques including distress inks, masking and cutting out stamped images. Stamping is so much fun! I LOVE it!

February Counterfeit Kit Challenge

I am off to a bit of a late start this month. Life has been really hectic (in a good way!). I feel like this always happens in February. It is my birthday month and we have two great trips planned so I'm accepting that things will be s.l.o.w on the blog front.

This month the Counterfeit Kit Challenge offered two fabulous kits from Scrapbook Circle. I am big into holidays so whenever there is a holiday themed kit I usually go that route. Plus, February is my favorite month so how could I not pick the Valentine's Day kit. Here is a picture of some paper original kit:

I have to tell you that I kept it super simple this month. I went with one of the smallest kits I've ever created. But I was trying to be realistic about what I think I can do.

Here is a picture of my kit: 

Baby Cards

Two of my friends recently celebrated the arrival of their baby boys! The blue papers in my Counterfeit Kit were perfect for creating boy cards. I used the Cricut Sugar and Spice cartridge (which yes, is the girl cart), but I changed the color of the stork from pink to blue. The white ribbon and orange scraps were an add on to the kit. Sweet and simple!

My Scrap Room

We moved into our house a year ago and I was very lucky to be able to convert one of our bedrooms into my personal craft retreat. It is a continuing work in progress as the space is an awkward shape and I am still trying to figure out how to best organize all of my stuff.

My favorite part of the room is that it is at the front of the house and gets tons of sunlight so it keeps the room bright and toasty. Here is a view from the doorway:

I kept the mess on the floor for the picture because it shows off my scrapping work style which is to sit on the ground surrounded by supplies.The curtains are from Target and my mom was nice enough to hem them and make matching pillows for the chairs with the left over fabric.

Here is the technology work station with my Cricut, laptop and printer.

Here is a view of the main desk. It is the Ikea Expedit desk which I absolutely love and wish I had one of these bookcases in every room in the house.

The desk is not normally this clean. However, I am taking The Curious Scrapbooker's Field Guide with May Flaum at Big Picture starting in a few weeks and I got a head start on pulling my supplies together and cleaning up. I just installed the Ikea Bygel rails on the side of the desk and filled them with supplies for class.

And the last part of my room, and certainly the least, is the super small closet that I haven't quite figured out what to do with. Originally there was just the one shelf on the top, but I added two more for additional storage.

And there you have it! I think if I could have my dream space it would look something like this:

Here's what I love:
1. The mix of blues & whites
2. The window seat. I love window seats and would like to figure out how to install one.
3. Oversized chairs for relaxing and reading breaks
4. A huge counter that goes on forever. I think if I had more counter space to spread out, I wouldn't need to sit on the floor
5. Those cabinets! I would love custom cabinets to get everything out of the plastic bins and into nice shelving.
6. An area to display my favorite work

Counterfeit Kit: Christmas Layout & Card

I have been so inspired this month and am just glad that I've been able to spend most of the long holiday weekend locked away in my scrap room. Here is a double page layout I put together using my Christmas Explosion kit and a sketch from the Double Take class I took last year at Big Picture.

Full Page Layouts: 

 Page 1:

Page 2:

I was also able to throw together a birthday card for a co-worker. This is the first time I have tried to make my own rosettes using the Martha Stewart scoreboard. This one had a few mistakes that I just hot glued together so you can't exactly tell, but I think I need some more practice! The lighting is off, but the rosette is made from the light blue pattern paper in my One Calm Day kit. The border paper is a solid light grey.

Counterfeit Kit: Sketch Challenge

The first Counterfeit Kit challenge of 2012 was to play along with the Creative Scrappers sketch         # 189.

I thought this would be perfect to use with my Christmas Explosion kit! Lots of patterned paper options.

The plaid paper was one of my favorites in my kit and it actually was a close match to the shirt in the photo. The small striped paper also played off the pattern in the chair. The snow globe and gift stickers are from K&Company. About the photo - we got my brother a custom Fathead of his favorite NFL referee -it is an inside joke with our family. This photo captures his complete surprise!

January Counterfeit Kit

And we're back! After taking the month of December off, Counterfeit Kit returns in January with not 1, but 5 potential kits to choose from. All of the kits are from Cocoa Daisy. I knew immediately that I wanted to tackle the Christmas kit. I'm still in the Christmas spirit and I've got a lot of fun photos from this holiday season.

Here is a picture of the Coca Daisy Merry and Bright kit:

 

Here is a picture of my kit which I am calling "Christmas Explosion": 

 I was also inspired by the Sunshine and Snowflakes kit:

 Here is my kit which I am calling "One Calm Day":

 Now I've got to go catch up on the tutorials and challenges!

Giveaway Winner!

Happy December!

The winner of my November blog hop giveaway is......

Congratulations to lucky #3 -- Crystal aka Caitlynsmommy!!

Counterfeit Kit Blog Hop Challenge - Home Decor & A Giveaway!

I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving! Welcome to the November Counterfeit Kit Blog Hop Challenge! You should have arrived here from Bethany's blog, if not you can head back to the start to see the list of participants. This month the challenge was to make a home decor item. This is not my area of expertise. However, that is just one of the things I LOVE about Counterfeit Kit - every month challenges me in new ways and makes scrapping even more fun.

I picked up a chipboard ornament mini book at Michaels in their $1 bin and was inspired to use this to create my own ornament. I didn't have any Christmas paper in my kit so I decided to make a photo frame of my husband water skiing for the first time.

My favorite part of the ornament is the shrink plastic tag I made using the stamps in my kit. Have I mentioned my new addiction to shrink plastic? :)

In honor of Thanksgiving, I just wanted to say a huge thank you to Meridy and Bethany for creating the Counterfeit Kit Blog and for all of the design team members who are so inspiring month after month. I have learned to find new (but "old") treasures in my stash and to look at products in different ways. I'd like to provide a small giveaway as part of my thank you! All you have to do is leave a comment and I'll randomly select a winner on Thursday, December 1!

Thanks for participating in the hop this month! Hope to see you all in December!

Thanksgiving Card

Earlier this month, I saw an awesome technique from one of the Counterfeit Kit design team members that I was so excited to try. Shrink plastic!! Check out Milissa's tutorial here. After a few hours of searching, I found my missing package of Shrinky Dinks. Since I am at my parent's house, I don't have my Cricut and had to go to the old stand-by of cookie cutter stencils. Luckily my mom had 2 cutters that matched my paper perfectly!

Thanksgiving Cookie Cutters

Shrink Plastic/Card

I simply traced the cookie cutters on the plastic, cut, punched a hole for the string and shrunk! So super easy! This year I also made sugar cone cornicopia's as favors.

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!

Counterfeit Kit Sketch Inspiration

I am so excited and inspired by all of the challenges over at Counterfeit Kit this month. The only problem is, I am on vacation visiting my family for the Thanksgiving holiday and have limited time to play this month. I've managed to put together a card and layout so far and I'm working on my blog hop challenge. I realized that I never made my Thanksgiving cards - so I am also hoping to squeeze a few out of the two sheets of fall paper in my kit.

My layout leverages the sketch inspiration from Scrapbook Challenges. I stayed true to the sketch and only increased the size of the photos.




Here is the anniversary card I made for a friend! I can't believe a year ago we were in Aruba celebrating! I loved the beachy colors in my kit. I made my own embellishment following the great tutorial for this month.


Hopefully I can find some additional time to keep using my kit!

November Counterfeit Kit Challenge

November came around so fast that I didn't get a chance to jump right in to the November Counterfeit Kit Challenge. But I'm ready now! I've been waking up early each morning and slowly assembling the pieces. This month's inspiration kit is from Scraptastic Club’s November 2011 selections. I was drawn to the Home Sweet Home collection.
Here is my counterfeit kit:


I've also done a special add-on this month. This week there was a post on Scrapbook Update about wrapping up 2011 and finishing those unfinished projects that continue to haunt us. Operation Clean Slate. As I thought about my kit, I realized that I have several unfinished class projects from the Creating Keepsakes Convention I went to in May. Yes, May. One project in particular - the Studio Calico Terrific Trends - stood out as something I need to complete. The colors really played off the solid card stock in my Counterfeit Kit and I thought it would be a fun enhancement.


Appreciate you stopping by and hope you have a fabulous, crafty weekend!

October Counterfeit Kit Blog Hop Challenge

Hello! I am so excited for another fabulous Counterfeit Kit Blog Hop Challenge! I am sitting here posting a Halloween layout as I watch the snow fall. Yes, that is correct. SNOW. Something is not right with this picture. (See photo of my skull lights covered in snow)


You should be joining from Julie's blog. If you hopped in from somewhere else you can always head back to the CK blog where you will find the complete list of participants.

This month's challenge was a tough one for me. We needed to alter stickers and use them in an unexpected way in our project. My first challenge, well, I didn't have a single sticker in my kit. I don't even have all that many stickers in my stash. However, as I was cleaning out some paper bins I found this giant lime green circle sticker. I decided to use it as a journaling tag. I guess you could say I'm keeping it simple this month.


If you look back at my original kit post, you'll see I mentioned I had a plan for the stencil of the letters I cut out. I used a sponge and inked over it to create my title. I also mentioned in that post that I have no Halloween photos. I did find this one photo of my friend and I having lunch while I was visiting her in CA.

I'm also adding a picture of some cards I made with my kit. The Mummy was inspired by the pillow box tutorial on the CK blog earlier this week.


Thanks for stopping by today! Please head over to visit Bethany's next. See if you can recognize her stickers.

Counterfeit Kit: Candy Inspiration Challenge

In honor of Halloween, one of the challenges over at Counterfeit Kit this month was to use candy to inspire your project. I chose my favorite candy - Junior Mints! As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have no Halloween pictures, but as I was digging through a box of old photos, I found one of me from high school. I honestly didn't remember it being taken, but I remember the costume. For dress up day at school, I decided to go as a Christmas tree. It is ok for you to laugh at this photo... I haven't stopped laughing since I found it.

I took inspiration from the mint box and used a circle punch for the black border. I also tried to use papers with circles and traced the outline of my title with a white pen. Now that I'm craving Junior Mints, I'm off to go by some!

Counterfeit Kit & Double Take Halloween Mashup

October is a busy month for me and I've found I need to be efficient with my crafting time. That is how this layout came to be. It is a complete Halloween mashup of using my Counterfeit Kit and also leveraging a fabulous sketch from the Double Take class I'm enjoying over at Big Picture Classes. I had the best time puling this together. It gave me the chance to use lots of the bright patterned paper in my kit. In fact, 10 different papers were used for this layout. As I mentioned, there are no Halloween photos in my stash, so this won't get filled in until next month, but it is all set to go. Bring on the pumpkins and trick or treaters!

October Counterfeit Kit Challenge

Little Red Scrapbook Kit

My Counterfeit Kit

I am a big fan of October and Halloween! And there is something about Halloween scrapbook supplies that makes me really happy. The funniest part is, I never take any Halloween pictures. Not even a picture of a single pumpkin. But this year, that is all going to change! I'm getting my camera ready and as extra motivation, this month's Counterfeit Kit Challenge features a wonderful Halloween kit from Little Red Scrapbook.

I had two sheets of the Echo Park Haunted House paper that matched the LRS kit, but everything else is just random goodies from my stash. I'm really leveraging my Cricut Paper Doll Dress Up Cart this month for all the wonderful Halloween cuts. I used the Blackletter cart for the Happy Halloween font. I saved the background of the cut out because I have an idea for how to use it. Other than that, lots of stamps, ribbon and bling. I may have to do some layouts with photo placeholders, but I'm looking forward to playing with my kit.

September Counterfeit Kit Blog Hop Challenge

Welcome to the September Counterfeit Kit Blog Hop Challenge! If you are hopping, you should have arrived here from Angela's blog. If you'd like to start at the beginning, head back to the Counterfeit Kit Blog. This month we have been focusing on stamping. The blog hop challenge was to use a stamping technique to create a project. I had a bunch of Stampin Up technique books and so I decided to use those for inspiration.

Technique #1: Repetition. It's super easy - just stamp your stamp image and then restamp the image one or more times without re-inking. I love this look! You can see I've done this with the HAPPY stamp on the chipboard embellishment.

Technique #2: Two-Step Stampin. For this technique you simply stamp your images as normal. Then stamp the same image on a different piece of paper. Cut out the second image and overlay it on top of the original set of images. I did a slight variation of this with my title letters. (I left out the apostrophe in man's).

And I guess you could say I did a third technique - stamping on buttons! This was one of the other challenges this month. I used an animal paw print and stamped two buttons in the top right corner. Stamping on buttons is fun and addicting!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have fun playing around with your stamps. Next up is Milissa's blog.

September Counterfit Kit Challenge #1

The Counterfeit Kit Club is focusing on stamps this month. I. Love. Stamps! The first challenge was to create your own background paper using stamps. I tend to use plain solid backgrounds, but my kit this month was filled with crazy patterns. So I opted to use a pattern sheet and then did a more subtle secondary paper using a word stamp -"favorites". I used this on the paper and also on the chip board frame that I filled with journaling. I also stamped the "pizza" title. Creating this layout made me very hungry - now I've got to go find a snack!

September Counterfit Kit Challenge

Sweet Peach Kit
My Counterfeit Kit

The chilly, wet air has settled in. As I write this, I'm wearing a sweatshirt and slippers, gripping a cup of tea for warmth. How can September be well under way? How did it get so cold so fast? Luckily its time for the new Counterfeit Kit to distract me from the weather. The kit this month was from Sweet Peach Crop Shop. There were two kits to choose from. The first kit was all Sassafrass Indie Girl - I already own the whole kit and didn't want to go that direction. The "Juicy Kit" was calling my name. Lots of browns and greens with black and white mixed in. I've got a lot of cards I need to make this month and I think these papers will get the job done nicely. I've got a few stamp sets and some calendar cards. Can't wait to see what challenges there are this month.

August Counterfeit Kit Layout & Card

With the long weekend, I've had a bit more time to work on projects. I actually have a list of a dozen things I need to complete before October. It is going to be a busy month.
Here are two additional projects made with my August Counterfeit Kit. The first one is a simple Happy Birthday card using paper and stamps from the "Birthday" add-on kit. The second is a layout of my adorable niece. There was a sketch in the Oct. Scrapbooks Etc. issue that inspired this layout. Looking forward to Monday and the new September Kit!