Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog - April 2023 - Challenge #2

 Hello!  Welcome to my blog!  Today, I am going to be sharing the layout that I created for Challenge #2 for CKCB.  First, let me remind you of this month's Inspiration Kit SCT Magazine.

I chose to curate my kit from the right hand side of that photo, using those florals and the color palette. I haven't created a single layout with my kit until now!  EEEEKKKK!! What happened??  I lost my momentum after a month of daily videos and then going on vacation!  LOL!!  

Master Forger Misty challenged us with this for our second challenge for April:

"The inspiration kit has a birthday theme included in it. Birthdays are about celebration. But there are so many things we all celebrate. My prompt is to tell ANY celebration story."

Easy Peasy!!!  The month of April is our wedding anniversary and that is the story I will be telling you today!  The first week of April, we traveled to Pigeon Forge/Gatlingburg area and enjoyed 5 days away in a cabin in the mountains!  Cell signal was spotty and internet was slow.  It was a good time!  

I also created a process video for my layout, which you can watch HERE.

Make sure you head over to the CKCB blog post to see what the other Master Forgers created for this challenge! Thank you for stopping by today!  Have a great day!

 

CKCB - October 2022 Challenge #2

Master Forger Leslie is in charge of the blog at CKCB this month!  Let me remind you of the kit that she has chosen!!  It's a beautiful neutral kit - the August Cherry Box from A Cherry On Top! 

 Leslie challenged us with this:

Go Big or Go Home! 

It’s no gamble to set your sights on a large element on your page to emphasize your story! Check out these examples in the “Get It Scrapped Ideas for Oversized Embellishments on Scrapbook Pages” 

Link:: https://getitscrapped.com/2012/09/ideas-oversized-embellishments-scrapbook-pages/  My personal favorite is the mustache!

I love to use big elements on my layouts, especially if they draw attention to the photo or photos I am scrapbooking.  There are just so many things you can do with a large element!!  I recently cut a large hexagon and used it as a focal point for my photos and embellishments.  I loved how it turned out!  For this challenge, I chose a Bella BLVD cutfile from the Silhouette Design Store (design #405662) to create a focal point on my layout.  This layout will serve as a beginning page in a series for the day trip I took with my husband and sister last fall. 

 

 I had no intentions of stitching on this layout, but once I backed the words, it looked just BLAH!  It needed SOMETHING!  Stitching to the rescue and I was so thrilled with how it made the title pop but didn't take away from the beauty of those photos on my layout. 

 

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today!  Make sure you check out the blog post for Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog for today's challenge to see what the other Master Forgers and our Guest Designer came up with for this challenge prompt!!! 

CKCB - September 2022 Challege #2

Master Forger Juliet tasked me with Challenge #2 this month!  Let me remind you of the kit before we get down to business!  This is a kit by Traci Reed.  It is a digital kit! 

I have had great fun playing with my kit this month!!!  So here's the challenge that Juliet issued:

The sneakers (both paper and elements) just really are cute!  Reminds me of one of my daughter obsession with Converse High Tops…she had several different pairs.  For this challenge I would love to see something ‘laced’ on your layout or card or paper crafting! Think inside and outside the box! 

I didn't include any of the sneaker elements in my kit because I couldn't find any that matched the color palette so I decided to use a cut cutfile that I found in the Silhouette Design Store. It is a Paige Evans design and is cutfile #329480.  I used this as sort of a cover page for a day of hiking my husband and I enjoyed last September!!  I was tickled that I was even able to use my forgery of Wander as part of my title.  This was just a fun layout to create!

Make sure you check out the CKCB blog post for today as well to see how the other Master Forgers interpreted this challenge!  Thank you for stopping by my blog today!  Have a great day!!

 

CKCB July 2022 - Challenge #2!

 Master Forger Tina has taken over the blog this month and has selected a sweet kit for us to curate out of our own stash!  She's also in charge of issuing the challenges this month.  For Challenge #2, she says:

Day Tripper

Day trips are part of vacations too, Day In Your Life of your Trip is the challenge here for this 2nd challenge. A layout featuring a few aspects of your day from a trip you took, I love to add these to my trips as a fun break in the album.

 I had utilized Snapfish's 100 free prints from their app in May to print off a ton of photos from a day trip that my husband and I took while my big sister person was visiting from Texas.  So, I was happy to be able to come up with an itinerary layout from this trip focusing on the overall day rather than just the details as the other layouts will inevitably show!  It's awesome when I am ahead of the game, especially since the moving company arrives at my house in two days (YIKES).   

 Make sure you check out the other Master Forger's layouts on the CKCB blog today and have a great week!  Thank you for stopping by today!!

June 2022 CKCB Challenge #2

Today, I am bringing you the second challenge that Master Forger Kate gave us for the month of June!  Here's what she had for us:

Let’s use 2+ black and white photos!

I don't know about you, but I just don't use black and white photos very often.  I don't even understand WHY not!  I love the contrast of the colors with black and white photos, especially when playing with a bright collection such as the Bungalow Lane in my June kit!  I chose to step out of the year 2014 where I have been scrapbooking this year and pull some newer photos but not current year-2015!  

 

I started with a leftover cutfile that I cut with my Cameo at the beginning if the month. I ended up not using it on the layout that I cut it for, but set it aside.  It seemed perfect for these photos though so I backed it with a scrap from a previous layout I created this month. 

I also used a Perfect Pearls mist on my background cardstock using the packaging technique to smoosh it.  I think this is my favorite way to play with my ink sprays right now!!  After that, I just began building my layout, moving things here and there.  I knew that I wanted to use the foam title Growing on this page so I pulled that onto waxed paper so I could decide where I wanted it to go.  

 

 Thank you for stopping by my blog today! Make sure you check out the blog post over at CKCB to see what the other Master Forgers have done for this challenge!  Have a great Saturday!

March 2022 - CKCB Challenge #1

Today, I am sharing a challenge that I created for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog Master Forgers and our Guest Designer!  I really wanted to see some real life from our team and they really shared some!  Make sure you check out my blog post over there today too! 

I asked the team for this:
 

Life Unfiltered

I am taking this challenge from the piece of ephemera with the phrase “No Filter Needed”.  I want to challenge you to do a layout of your life unfiltered.  Find the beauty in the mess.  

 In 2015, my husband was deployed overseas.  We celebrated four of our kids' birthday, his birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Valentine's Day, and our wedding anniversary while he was gone. Our soldiers miss so much when they are away!  I created a layout of my husband and I having a Valentine's Day date on FaceTime.  It was a very short call, but we always enjoy talking to one another. 

 

 I used the dark green patterned paper that I had in my kit.  I also had a few scraps on my desktop from previous layouts and I grabbed the black "xoxo" scrap. I even managed to stamp the love border along the bottom!  There were a few added embellishments as well: the bow, the rainbow, chipboard frame, arrow sticker, and the "it is what it is"sticker.  I was tickled with the way this turned out! 

Please make sure you check out the CKCB blog to see what the other Master Forgers came up with!  Thank you for stopping by my blog today and have a great weekend! 

 

 

CKCB February 2022 - Challenge #1

 It's time for our first challenge of the month over at CKCB and Master Forger Misty gave us the following challenge:

With Valentine's Day only two days away here in US, a lot of minds are on love. As I was looking into traditions of love from around the world (https://traveltriangle.com/blog/valentines-day-traditions-around-the-world/) I found some interesting ways love and affection are shared. In Argentina a "week of sweetness" is celebrated in July. Valentine's Day cards may have originated in France. And in South Korea, romantic love is celebrated each month on the 14th day. So my challenge for you is to tell a story of love —romantic or not! Do you have a love language that guides how you show love? Do you have a love for a favorite food or place? I'd LOVE to see all your love pages!

I just so happen to be participating in the LOAD event over at Scrap Happy and one of the prompts this month fit this challenge perfectly!  I used my kit to create this layout!

  The photos were taken in front of the very first home that we purchased in February 2014.  It was our 22nd wedding anniversary and we were going out on a date after not being together the previous year due to my husband being overseas for a year.  Ironically, he was also gone the following year (2015).  We try to celebrate our love all the time, no matter the time of the year, but moments where we can get out and be alone have been rare while raising our children!  

I was very happy with how this layout turned out!  Thank you for stopping by my blog today.  Make sure you stop by the CKCB blog as well to see what our Guest Designer and other Master Forgers have created for this challenge!! 

January CKCB 2022 - Layout # & A MeWe Sketch Challenge

Today, I am sharing a layout that I created using my January CKCB Kit for I'd Rather Be Scrapbooking over on MeWe.  If  you are interested in a wonderful scrapbooking group, check out that link!  Miss Kimberly gave us this sketch to work with:

What a cute sketch, huh??  I only did a minor bit of mixing it up.  Instead of the upper strip, I latered a larger width strip underneath my background and rounded the corners.  I swapped the title and journaling around because I felt like my layout was out of balance the other way.  I also used splatters for the circles on my layout. 

I really like how my layout turned out!  I am working through my 2014 albums as well as finishing up the December 2013 albums.  I thought that this photo was perfect for this layout! 

Thank you for stopping by today! I hope you have a GREAT week.

January 2022 CKCB - Challenge #1

Today, I am going to share the layout that I created using my January CKCB kit for Challenge #1.  Here's what Master Forger Cindy had to challenge us with:

Challenge #1 is to use your tools. You may have received a tool or two for Christmas. Well, let’s put it to use and let no dust collect on it.  So, pull out your punches or dies, that stamp set, your embossing folders, or that new cut file and make a project with it. 

First, let me remind you of this month's Inspriation Kit.

 I got some cute little leaf and nest dies for Christmas from my sister. I used the leaves to layer behind my ephemera on this layout of my daughter, Courtney, and I on her high school graduation day.

 I also got a set of PinkFresh stamps, dies and stencils from my daughter so maybe I'll play with those as well on another layout this month. 

Make sure you check out the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog to see what our other Master Forgers have done for this challenge as well!  Thank you for stopping by my blog today!

A Themed Challenge!

Today, I am issuing my own challenge for you scrapbookers out there.  The beginning of a new year brings change for many of us.  Sometimes it is lasting change.  Sometimes it's only temporary.  My themed challenge for you is:

Transitions:  New Things On The Horizon

I know that most people make New Year's Resolutions or Goals on January 1st.  Let's scrapbook that!  Let's put it down on "paper" and talk about that story.  We all have stories to tell and I think stories about transitions are important.  Wait...you don't make New Year's Resolutions?  Neither do I.  Life is all about transitioning into new and different things.  Here are some transition stories I could easily tell:
 

I am a military spouse.  We transition into a new community every couple of years. 

 I am a mom.  I am currently transitioning into a mom of adult children, since I only have one minor left at home.

I am a homeschool parent with only one student left.  I could tell the stories of how that era (20+ years) is coming to an end.

I eat a mostly Paleo lifestyle.  I could tell you about that transition.  Whew!  It was hard.

Transition means change.  Change is always happening.  Changing of the seasons in our world.  Changing jobs.  Changing careers.  Our health changing (for better or for worse).  There are so many changes. 

I will be using my January Counterfeit Kit Club Blog kit to create a page kit for this challenge.  You can see my full kit here.

I created a color palettte to play with for this challenge:

I really love the soft colors in this palette.  Here are the things that I pulled to create a page kit.

Here's the product that I have in my kit:

• 1 piece of Coconut Swirl Bazzill cardstock
• Cocoa Vanilla These Days Family Ties
• Cocoa Vanilla These Days Pretty Posies (B Side)
• Cocoa Vanilla These Days Daybreak
• Cocoa Vanilla These Days Ephemera (flowers, houses, banner, phrase banner)
• Cocoa Vanilla These Days Puffy Stickers
•  Ali Edwards Transitions Acrylic Word
• Ali Edwards Transitions Ephemera (heart, black phrase sticker, 2 bubble phrases)
• Ali Edwards Chipboard Circle Phrase
• Ali Edwards Transitions Story Stamp Set
• Ali Edwards Wood Veneer (flowers and hearts)
• Ali Edwards Pocket Life Change card
  Ali Edwards Transitions Puffy Hearts Stickers
• Yellow Gingham Label is cut from a scrap piece of PinkFresh Studios patterned paper

***Note....all of the Ali Edwards stuff came from one of her monthly Story Kits.  This one was titled Transitions.  It is no longer on her site for sale (the stamp set is, but not the kit itself).

 If you know me and read my blog often, you know that I cannot create a small kit. I.  Just. Can't.  LOL!  I tried.  Believe me, I tried. I did have some photos in mind for the layout that I am creating from this kit so knew what kind of papers I needed and already had a layout design in mind!  

In 2017, I embarked on a lifestyle change that truly changed my life.  I have a spinal injury and when it hurts...IT HURTS.  I was living in constant pain.  I was taking prescription pain killers as well as Naproxen daily plus getting corticosteroid shots in my back.  I am terrified of needles, but I was literally that desperate to find relief.  I started reading information online about how eating the right foods for your body can virtually eliminate inflammation in your body.  I wasn't sure if I truly believe it at the time, but I was DESPERATE.  I found the Whole 30 website and started my Whole 30 journey and Food Freedom way of life on February 3, 2017.  

This transition in my life was incredible.  Today, I stand before you virtually pain free.  No prescription medications daily.  No stupid shots that terrify me.  The layout that I am going to share with you is part of a story that I am telling.  I have created the title page for this album but nothing else.  I am using my page kit to work on this album.

This layout shows the process of meal planning and grocery shopping that took place for me to start the process of ending my inflammation.  The whole album will actually tell the story of the transformation that took place. 

I know that each one of you have your own stories of the transitions in your lives to tell.  I'd love to hear them and see the layouts that you create using this theme to curate a page kit. 

Thank you for taking the time to stop by my blog today. 

CKCB Challenge #2

Master Forger Tracey gave us some great inspiration this month, as well as some wonderful challenges!  I chose to do this challenge because I am in love with tags.  I love to layer with them and journal on them!  Here's what Tracey said in her email to the Master Forgers:  

Tags and Labels

In the May Hip Kit kit there are a few patterned papers that have labels and tags on them (American Craft Amy Tangerine Brave & Bold, Pink Fresh Keeping It Real Big Mood and American Craft Jen Hadfield Reaching Out) so for Challenge 2, I want you to use as many tags and labels are you can on your creation. The minimum is three...... the maximum is ???? whatever you can humanely get onto your creation, let see who can get the most!!

 

The very first thing that I did was create a messy background with my inks!  I had the wrong shade of blue but it ended up working well with my layout anyway!  

I had some really cute photos that I wanted to scrapbook with my October kit and I had included tags in my kit so this was an easy peasy layout for me.  I am not sure I'll win "the most" between the other Master Forgers but I did get five on my layout! 

 

 I think it turned out cute!  Thank you for stopping by my blog today!  Don't forget to check out the Counterfeit Kit Club blog today to see what the Guest Designer and other Master Forgers came up with for this challenge!!!  Have a great Monday!!

September 2021 CKCB Challenge #2

Master Forger Tina gave us a Fall Colors Challenge for our second challenge this month:

Falling for You!

Over here in the states Fall seems to be a huge thing! Pumpkins, Apples, Old farm trucks especially with decor, you can see it starting to pop up everywhere. So with that in mind use the colors of Fall in your Area of the world to help you with your creation

 I chose a really cute photo of Seth trying to "steal" all of the pumpkins from a Homeschool Group fall party that we attended on Fort Belvoir in 2013.  

 I hope you are having a wonderful weekend!!  Happy Saturday!

CKCB August 2021 - Layout #1 and Challenge #1

I am finally digging into my August 2021 CKCB kit!  I just love this kit so much so it was painful to wait to dig into while my granddaughter was here at the end of July and early August.  This month at CKCB we are using a kit from Germany as our inspiration and I chose to do more blues for my own kit because I have several pictures coming up to scrapbook that have predominantly blue in them!  

Lisa, our fearless leader, gave us this challenge to complete for our first challenge in August: 

Many years ago, I did a year-long scrapbook class with Heidi Swapp and I have to say that I learnt a lot of sound basics that are still part of my scrappy repertoire today. As this kit is full of gorgeous Heidi products, it reminded me of that class. One of the design principles that I use the most is using the diagonal for your page. Place elements on a diagonal to draw your line down through the page - whichever direction that might be.

Today, use a "diagonal" design on your page!

I really wanted to play with mixed media on a layout after not being able to really scrapbook while little miss was here, so I started with some texture paste and a stencil.  I put the paste onto smooth white cardstock at a diagonal and then built up a background with sprays, inks, paint, and stamps.  I actually didn't know what photos I was going to use when I started, but found these back to school photos of Seth in 2013 to use.  I added some Buttons Galore and More products to my background...these beautiful hearts from Sparkletz (SPK140-Hearts & Kisses) plus some beads and buttons from their 28 Lilac Lane Kit (LL116-Sew Crafty) that I had included in my August 2021 CKCB kit. 

Here's the layout itself!  I am quite proud of how it came out!

I love getting messy in my scrappy space!  How about you?  Do you play with mixed media on your layouts or journals!  I hope you try it at least once!!!  Thank you for checking out my blog today.

CKCB Challenge #1: LIST IT!!

Today, I bring our first challenge from CKCB for our January kits!  I am always super excited to do the challenge that I am assigned for the month!!  Lisa has challenged us with this prompt:

One of the papers features a pocket page card with a list of fun winter activities and at January, some of us make lists for the new year with resolutions, goals or just plans for the year. So, let's let listing and feature some sort of list on your page! 

I had a photo that I was getting to scrapbook of my youngest daughter's Christmas list from 2012.  I don't normally scrapbook photos of our kids' Christmas lists because I already have so many photos to scrapbook with 5 kids!  However, this list has a story that lets you peek into the lives of this military family a little more than you normally would. Emily wished for her daddy to come home for Christmas that year.  He was gone for a one year tour in Korea.  Emily was struggling with daddy not being home and so she wished for him to come for Christmas!  Luckily for her, that was in the cards that year as daddy already had plans to come home.  The kids weren't informed because the military can change your plans and so we didn't want their hopes up! 

This is my 3rd layout using my kit!  I added some decorative stitching to the bottom of my layout.  Since the story was a little longer than normal, I also opted to type out my journaling.  I am so glad to have this memory included in our family albums for 2012.  Do you have stories like this that you haven't scrapbooked yet?  I hope that this inspires you to get those stories told!  Have a great day!
 

 

 

SG Scrap Squad Online Crop-Revisited!!

I had mentioned that I participated in an online crop on a FB Group at the end of September.   The due date for the challenges is October 25th, so I have been busy trying to get those all done before I head out to Tennessee next weekend.  Whew....You can see the first sketch challenge that I did at the link I shared above.  I have been slowly working on those and have shared a few others as I went.  Today, I am sharing a few more!!  The first layout is from my trip with my friend and her children to Orlando, FL while both of our husbands were gone.  This set of photos is from Sea World.

We were given a sketch from Allison Davis to complete the challenge on Saturday (Sept 26th).  I changed up the photos a little bit on the second page but I really tried to stick fairly close to the sketch.  I also have a longer title than the sketch allowed since I used such big Thickers for the word "dolphin", so my embellishments that were to go next to the title ended up on the second page. I also adding stitching underneath each line of journaling.  I liked how that turned out.

My next layout to share is the Wild & Free One Page Sketch.  I used pictures from the same trip as above but this time the photos are from Legoland!

The last layout I will share today is the Sunday Allison Davis sketch challenge.  Again, I used photos from the Orland Trip.  This time we are at Legoland.

I really loved how this one turned out!!  I did change the size of the square photos up to 3x3 and left out the matting that was on the original sketch. 

The fun part of these three layouts is that most of the papers were from my September 2020 CKCB kit and I used up almost ALL of the rest of those papers.  I have a bit of the stripe left and a bit of that green.  I was also quite tickled to use up so many small embellishments from that kit as well as a few that I had on my desk top!  

Thank you for stopping by to see me today.  I hope you have a great Thursday!!

CKCB Layout #4

Hey!  Can you believe it's already Thursday!  Wow!!  I have a virtual doctor's appointment today.  This is defintely a sign of the current "times".  I find it so weird to have an appointment with a doctor that I've never seen on the phone.  LOL!!  As I like to say, "Weirdness of weird!" 

This layout is from my July 2020 CKCB kit and I am finding that I love the neutrals with the pops of color!  I started this layout not knowing where I was heading but LOVED how it turned out!! 

I am hoping to use up most of those large black letters from my kit because I know that I have included them in several kits over the past couple of years.  I had fun mixing and matching the fonts for my title and using up a ton of those little red letters.  I used up one of my forgeries that I created this month as well.  I love those little buttons!  They turned out adorable. Here's a close-up!

I cut tiny circles out of white cardstock with my cameo, stamped on them with stamps from my kit and then added a word or butterfly to the cardstock before gluing it into the wooden button.  After that I added Diamond Glaze to seal it all. 

I only made four buttons but could totally go back to make more. They were so easy!!

Did you make any forgeries this month?  Are you using them?  I did make more than just these buttons.  I created some tags as well as some labels and tabs with the stamps from my kit too. 

I actually already used several of the tags and labels, banners, and tabs on previous layouts.  Thank you so much for stopping by today!  Have a great Thursday!

Gettin Sketchy sketch challenge

OK...I decided to do this.....NOW. Bee put a challenge up on her Gettin' Sketchy Blog. I've been in a serious funk so decided to play with the sketch she put up. So here's my take on it!

I used Basic Grey patterned paper, some blue scraps, and my Sizzix Sidekick to complete this LO...as well as some chipboard letters and buttons. Oh and Stickles....hush, SGers....yes Stickles...I have a bunch, I should USE them.

Unfortunately this isn't a great picture of it. It IS almost 3 in the morning so picture taking light is terrible AND the Stickles are wet so can't scan. LOL....this will have to do!

IT Challenge for March 15-31

This LO is SO not my normal style. But I liked what I ended up with and probably won't GO THERE again...ROTFLOL....


Here's where my inspiration came from:



I wanted to keep the texture of the sea/sand combo and the colors and the movement of the waves, so I did some painting, eyelets, some stamping, some screen mesh purchased in a Club Scrap forever ago (LOL)...hope you like it...if NOT....LALALALALALLALALA

My FH2S Challenge

I forgot to post this! OOPS

For the challenge this time I took my inspiration from a painting.



Aren't those little owls so cute. What can you get from this painting? Lots of things...mommy and daughter photos, the colors you choose to scraplift, or as in my case-those sweet little owls:



I edited my photo to make it softer to look at...the original WAS already fuzzy but I softenened it to give you the idea of a sleepy person. (UM-yeah don't talk to me in the mornings....I be grouchy). I made the owl from a coloring page I found online. He's all Basic Grey papers with some cardstock and handmade paper thrown in for texture and color.

For my blog readers...if you do my challenge...just link your completed LO back to me so I can see what you have done.

A Sketch Challenge for you

My friend on a Yahoo group posts sketches for us each week. This week her sketch is just fabulous so thought I would challenge you to use it. First person to do the LO and link me to it will get a small RAK from me! Here's the sketch:




Also if you crave MORE sketches by Lissa, here's her sketch blog.

Remember to link me your LO!!!!




UPDATE on the challenge! I have a winner!! Pauline did the challenge and linked me to her LO first.

Pauline's LO