Seasons Greetings!

Best Friend Ever!

I have a GREAT scrappy friend.  Despite several moves, we still talk frequently and do card challenges together.  I appreciate how well she listens and how funny she is.  She spoils me often, and while that is NOT why I like her so much, I do appreciate the happy mail.  Pam has a friend who went to the October Afternoon Warehouse sale and her friend mailed her a box of goodies.  Look at what my scrapbook fairy shared with ME!

Yep.  I am spoiled.  (THANKS, PAM!)

Mini Calendar Spots Tutorial

Calendar Spots: Versitile, gender nuetral and just plain handy to stick on a page or card. 

 

First I cut some grid paper (if you don't have grid paper, then go HERE to print some out) down to 2x4.

 

Print out some Mini Calendars (Mini Calendars HERE) and cut them apart.

 

Glue the mini calendars onto the grid paper.

 

I have a great tab punch and a banner punch.  I punched out shapes in colors that matched my kit and then glued them to the calendar spots.  Super easy and they look cute.  You could use a die cut machine or even stamps to decorate yours.

Love these...now let's see if I can use them up!  I might try some different shapes later.

Hat Paper tutorial

I love the paper from Pretty Little Studio Monsieur Collection.  It has such a fun, vintage feel to it and is definitely for boys only.  When I saw the Mr. Smith paper (see below) I knew I had just the right things to counterfeit it!

 



Pretty Little Studio

 

 

Sometimes I find a treasure in the dollar stamps at JoAnnes.  This was one of those times.  I also got some fabulous Mustashe stamps, too!

 

So, how to make the paper....here we go:

 

Pick a selection of stamps to use for your paper.  Normally I would pick a variety of large and small stamps, but I decided to stick with these hats and one more tiny stamp that you will see later.

 



You can have SO much fun with the paper process by choosing different inks.  It can give you paper a whole different feel!  Try tone on tone...mixing different colors...or doing black and white, like I did.

Most of the time I stamp starting in one corner and moving accross the page, stamping some of the images a bit off the page to give it more demention.  This time, I tried to be more medthodical and grid like as I stamped in rows.

Here is the finished piece.  I stamped with a tiny stamp in between each hat.  I decided I didn't like it after I finished, but it is growing on me now.  LOL

Here are some videos that might help you as well:

 

If you have not tried to make your own paper then what is stopping you?  Try it out.  Go on.  Right now.  I'll wait. 

November Counterfeit Kit

Welcome to our Counterfeit Kit Hop!  Call me crazy, but we thought it might be fun to each counterfeit something different this month!  Whoohoo!  If you want to join in, then pick your FAVORITE collection pack from this past year and make your own version of it.

To join in on all the fun, check in at Counterfeit Kit Challenge!

A kit that I have been eyeing is the Monsieur Kit over at Pretty Little Studio.

Here is a peek at the paper from this kit:

Pretty Little Studio Monsieur Paper Pack

 

I love the fun patterns and the vintage feel of it!

 

Aren't you anxious to know what I did with it?  Well, here is my version:  No Girls Allowed!

 

I was happy to see in my stash a fair amount of masculine paper.  Happy and surprised.  LOL  How did that get in there?  See the Hat paper?  I made that myself...you'll see those stamps momentarily.

 



I am a bit better in the masculine stamp category.  I actually have a fair collection of those.  Do you spy the hat stamps?  I love them...almost as much as the mustache stamps.

 



I had fun making some more neutral embellishments.  The kraft tags were snagged from my last kit and the tickets underneath were leftovers from another project.  I printed the Bingo Cards out from oneline.  I really need to learn how to make them myself.  Aren't the calendar blocks cool?  I like how they came out!

 



I made the banner pieces myself.  Aren't I brilliant?  LOL  Lots of little triangles.  I have had these corregated alphas for awhile and not used them yet.  They have some interesting possibilites.

 



More banners and some journaling blocks.  Easy enought with a Cricut.

 





I will admit that I did skip the vintage paper doll guys, but I know you can find some to print out if you look for printable vintage paper dolls. 

So, what Collection are you going to counterfeit?

Morph Challenge



This was such a fun challenge!  I love the game Telephone, so this was a great challenge to see how people get inspired by other scrapbookers work.  Here is my layout inspired by Jemma's  layout...

 



 

 I kept the basic design of Jemmas...I really liked the clusters of embellishments.  I changed up the photos from one to two.



This is the list of Design Team Blogs so you can see the progress from Crystal's layout all the way to Lisa's.  Have fun seeing how they each changed...Lisa's looks NOTHING like Crystal's layout.  LOL

Crystal**Inspiration Layout
Rebecca
Susanne
Jemma

Bethany **You are here
Milissa  **GO HERE NEXT
Margie
Lisa

 

 

October Counterfeit Kit

I will admit it.  I have done NO scrapping lately.  I have had a nasty cold that keep threatening to turn into something more serious and is just leaving me drained.  I hate being tired all the time.  I hate not being able to sleep.  I hate not feeling like creating.

Okay.  I'm done pouting now. 

I did get my October Kit done!  I had SO much trouble with this one!  I pulled paper and ut them back...and pulled more and put them back.  I finally put EVERYTHING away and started over. 

Our new kit to Counterfeit is posted on the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog right now!!  Why are you still hanging out here?  Go look at the kit we picked!  Go on...I'll wait, but come right back.

We have a great line up of Counterfeit Kits to inspire you this month!  Our lovely Guest Designer Katie Scott is starting us off for the hop.  Here is the entire list in case you got a bit turned around.

 

Guest Designer: Katie Scott http://kissandtellscrapbooking.typepad.com/

Crystal http://crystalscraftycreations.blogspot.com/

Jemma http://just-jimjams.blogspot.com/

Lisa http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com/

Libeeti http://creationswithlove-li-bee-ti.blogspot.com

Margie http://scrappinmargie.blogspot.com/

Milissa http://millermall.blogspot.com/

Rebecca http://howiburb.blogspot.com/

Susanne http://www.snapsandsnippets.blogspot.com/

Bethany http://inspiredscrapper-bethany.blogspot.com/

Whew!  Now that you have been informed and redirected, would you like to see what I made?

 

 

 Even though I had trouble to start with, I really like how this kit came out...

 

I think I will use these more for layering than journaling...



 

I'm pretty proud of the papers I assembled.  There are a few that I would swap out if I could, but most of them are great!

 

Let's see how much of the washi, twine and ribbon I get around to using.  I usually forget.  LOL

 

So many fun pieces to layer!  I will have a hard time covering some of them up!

I love these stickers!  So many fun patterns and shapes!



 

How cute are these flowers?  I have the things to make my own, but have been a chicken about it.  I am very into date stamps right now, too.  Love this one from Dear Lizzy!

I have been SO inspired lately by one of Glitter Girl (Shimelle)'s videos on 2 Peas that I just have to share it with you!

 

Cluster Combinations

 

 

Many of the things I pulled for my kit were based on their ability to layer nicely.  I have been loving this technique and hope to show you some examples soon! 

 

I hope you get some time to hang out with us some this month!  And I hope I feel up to scrapping soon!

 



A Bit of Counterfeit Kit Love for September

I am VERY excited about the kit for this month.  It is a bit smaller than we usually do, but the add on kit and our extra bonus project will help you fill it out nicely.

This month, our kit is from Birds of a Feather.  I love the color combinations they use for thier kits and the embellishments are always so fun and interactive to use!

I was in a vintagy/ecclectic/whimsical sort of mood when I created my version and I think you will see influences of that.

When I looked at the kit, the first thing to jump out at me was the very difficult to counterfeit papers.  They are beautiful, but would be tricky to recreate.  Instead I stuck with the overall color scheme and feel of the papers (circles, diamond shapes, tags...)

I love the look of the papers I picked.  They are fun, bright with a good mix of neutral thrown in.

I thought the journal spots would be complicated, but then I remembered some great shapes on one of my Cricut carts.  I layered them on white to mimic the shadow effect of the originals.  The buttons are punched (thanks Martha Stewart) and the banners are cut from some linen paper.  I have some ideas for those!

I layered up some felt flowers I already owned.  I have not mastered the art of cutting out felt flowers.  The bows were a bit of an experiment to get just right, but were easier than I thought. 

Washi tape and twine?  Easy enough to find in my craft space.  I had some great twill ribbon, too, that has some interesting possibilities.

 

 

This kit seemed a bit small for what I want to do, so I happily made an Add On kit.  The one from Birds of a Feather (at the bottom of the page of the August Kit) is full of very bold colors.  I think I went a bit heavy on the black, but we will see how that translates with my photos.

 

These papers also had me stumped for a bit, but I tried to stop focusing on recreating them exactly and worked on getting the colors/patterns/scales as close as I could.

I have not used pockets for awhile.  These should be fun for layering.

These borders and tags were a gift from my friend Sherri...I think they will be a great addition to my kit!

 

 

Do you remember the other part of our challenge this month?  Pick 3 things from the latest CHA and adding them into your kit?  (I will admit, I got so carried away with my kit and so excited when it all came together, that I briefly forgot about this part.  That is pretty bad when I am the one who issued the challenge.  LOL)

 

 

 

 

Have you seen some of the new Amy Tangerine goodies?  I love her collections!  2 Peas showed a video of her newest release HERE.  I was intrigued with her die cuts.  They are very one dimentional, but look like they would be really fun to add to a project.  I recreated them with some stamps, my Cricut and cutting some images out of some patterned papers I had.  I also had some random die cuts from other kits and some flowers (thse had a bit of demention) that I threw in as well.  Do you spy the owl?  Love it!  I stamped it on some polkadot craft paper.  I love the camera I cut out of the DCWV Snapshot stack as well.

 



Jenni Bowlin always has some great neutral stuff so I took a peek at her video HERE and fell in love with these fun tags.  They were easy to make with some stamps, craft paper, eyelets and string.  These look like great layering pieces to me!

Jenni also has some fun vellum feathers in her new release.  They have wire in them, so they are really fun to play with!  I wanted to make a simpler version and found a great template HERE so I could cut out my own with some patterned paper and even some of that linen paper.  I did try cutting some out on my Cricut, but like the shape of these much better.  How fun would they be on a turkey for Fall?

 

Thanks for taking a LONG look at my kit!  It is pretty picture heavy today, but I just love everything.  Stop on by Counterfeit Kit Challenge for some instructions about how to play along.  Also, we are doing a blog hop today showing off our Master Forger's kits, so make sure to take a look at all of those.

 

Have fun!





What to do...what to do...

A day off?  Unheard of!  I got off to a rough start.  Thought I would do a little bit of work.  Ummm...yep.  Two hours later I asked my hubby to please ban me from work today.  You know how it is; one thing leads to another and there goes your day.

Now what to do today.  I suppose I must feed my family at some point and the talk of some card games has been bandied about.  For now, though, I am happily in my scraproom deciding between scrapping and reorganizing something.  Both good choices in my opinion.

Here are a few cards that I made in the past week. I got out my Card a Day book and started browsing for some inspiration.  The fact that I have a head cold has translated into cards that I am just "eh" about, but at least I got some time to create and used up more of my August Kit.

Garden Challenge

I really enjoy gardens, although I do not have the talent for making one myself.  (Believe me....things die...it is bad.  Very bad.)

We went on a short vacation earlier in the month to Kentucky and came across these beautiful gardens at the Creation Museum. 

For the CKCB challenge, I reminiced about my Grandma and her vegetable garden while we were growing up.  She had a small garden in the back of her yard and I loved to help her pick and cook things from it.  Grandma had a very bad habbit of trying to pick things a bit early (mainly carrots) to see if they were ready and then trying to stick them back in the ground if they weren't.  She cracked me up!

I was happy to use some of the die cuts from my kit and really like how these papers all fit together.