A very sweet RAK

One of the plays for our Counterfeit Kit Challenge is offering the kit she put together as a RAK!  Isn't that sweet?  Head over to Love Joy Scrap and leave her a comment to be entered to win.  She will take comments until Friday!

Lace Flowers

Did you see Meridy's tutorial for the Satin Posies? Aren't they amazing? I can't wait to try it, but in the meantime, I needed to come up with an alternative flower. I don't own any material that will work with those flowers (I don't even have any clothes I can cut up...LOL). So I looked around at what I did have and decided to give some lace ones a try.

All it took was a circle cut from cardstock, some hot glue, lace and something to pretty up the center.

Here are links to some tutorials to show you how easy these were to make:
http://http//floralshowers.com/crafts/ribbon-flower/
http://http//thehillsarelivin.blogspot.com/2010/05/jax-from-aly-ash-lace-flower-tutorial.html
Enjoy! My daughter has requested some lace flower hair accessories now. I'd better get to work!

Our first mini challenge is up!

The Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog has it's first mini challenge up!  Mini Challenge: Back to School!  We will have a total of 3 mini challenges for January to get us to use the pretty kits we just made.  Play along and post a link on that post of what you create so we can ooohhh and aaaahhhh over it! 

Challenges start tomorrow!

I will post challenges every few day starting tomorrow on the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog (http://counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com/)! I have three challenges for you for the rest of January so you can use your new kits. I had a blast creating based on these challenges and hope you do, too!

Today I am using the rest of the paper from my kit and then I will have make an extra kit for myself until February's challenges. :) It is so nice to be scrapping so much this month. Maybe I will start on a card kit for me to use for the rest of the month.

Just a quick card!

FYI: 2 Pease does free classes and just started a new round of them for 2011! I love them and try to participate as much as possible (I even have them planned in my daytimer). So far 2 of the months classes have gone "live" and they are great! I am trying new things already!

One of my least used supplies would be stickers. Just never really got into them. One of the challenges for January is to use border stickers. Yikes! Luckily, I did have some stickers on hand (American Crafts Remarks collections) that I bought because they were cute. I thought I would try a simple card to get my feet wet.

Not too bad! I think I like them because they are the clear kind. The colors are fun and this was the fastest card I have ever put together! I layered 3 different borders for the bottom. Not much demension, but it looks cute. Rounded corners and faux stitching and I was done.

2 more classes will go live later this month...I can't wait!

Studio Calico Notions Tutorial

The Studio Calico Notions in the kit look so fresh and are a nice neutral element. They are also pretty easy to recreate yourself. I decided to make mine out of dictionary paper, but you could use tissue paper, patterned paper, old sewing patterns...anything really!

Here is what you need: Dictionary (or other light weight paper), adhesive, scalloped edge scissors, regular sciccors, twine or floss

Tear a page out of the dictionary and cut it into 2 inch strips. (My dictionary is about 7x4 inches)

Take your large scalloped edge scissors and cut scallops along both long sides.

Accordian fold the scalloped strip at each notch (lining up the scallops as you fold..don't worry if it doesn't come out even, just keep folding at the notches).

Hold the folded paper tightly together and cut a small triangular notch in the middle. Do not cut too close to the center as you will need to do the same thing on the other side and don't want to cut all the way through.

Take a piece of baker's twine or any kind of thin floss and tie it around the notches.

Put adhesive on one side of the fan and stick the sides together to form half of a circle.

Do the same on the other side.

Trim the twine, if you like or use it to attatch a button on top.

Play around with different sizes, types of paper, embellishments on the top. Have fun!

If you haven't checked out our challenge blog yet, stop on by to see the kit we are counterfeiting: http://counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com/2011/01/counterfeit-studio-calico-notions.html

It's HERE! Counterfeit Kit Challenge is up!

I am so excited! It has been a hectic month and a half and our vision is big, but Counterfeit Kit Challenge is up and running! The saying goes that Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and we are planning on flattering some great kit clubs this year!

If you have never made a kit before, you are in for a treat! As a mom of 2 with limited time, I have found that creating kits for layouts, cards, mini albums and other projects is the most efficient way for me to get my mojo going. Sometimes I just make a basic kit and see what comes from it and other times I make a kit based on a theme of specific pictures/projects I want to get done. They are great to pull out at home when you have a few minutes and are wonderful if you are going to a crop and don't want to drag everything you own. Can I tell you the best part? Making up a kit from your own stash is a wonderful way to save money and use what you already own as well! Here are some samples of the kits that sparked the idea over the year ago.

Have I convinced you yet? LOL Every month, on the 5th, Meridy and I will post a kit from a monthly kit club that we love and want to "copy" with our own stash. Over the next few weeks, we will show you examples of our kits and give you links to ways for YOU to create some of the embellishments in the kit. The last two weeks we will offer challenges and a blog hop so that we can share our work and use our kits. All through the month you can check both the main blog and each of our blogs for inspiration and fun ideas! We have plans to post several times a week, so check back often!

Rush on over to http://counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com/ to see the beautiful kit we will be re-creating this month! And if you decide you would rather just purchase that kit, we promise not to tell. :) Tomorrow Meridy will be showing you the kits WE created based on that inspiration and I will be posting on this blog how I plan to store my kits.

I hope you will play along, create alot and share with us on our blog! We will have a rockin' year together and get alot of beautiful creations made!