"Summer in Swansea," the Counterfeit kit Challenge

If you're a reader of blogs, (and if you're reading this, then you most probably are) then this scenario will probably be familiar to you . . . you peruse your blog list and click on an interesting sounding link.  Sometimes that leads you to another link . . . and before you know it, you've added another blog to a reading list that's already too long to do justice to. .  .

That's how I came across the Counterfeit Kit Challenge.

I've been more aware of the whole idea of Scrapbook Kits lately.  They've been around in the stores for ages, of course, but I've never been tempted to purchase them, as they are usually too embellishment-heavy for my budget.  Lately, though, I've been reading more and more about people making up their own "kits", whether individual page-kits or larger ones.  Shimelle fans will already be familiar with her recent video where she makes her own kit and then keeps on scrapping until it's all gone.

So anyway, while I'm still not convinced that I'm a kit type of scrapper, I thought it was time for a bit of a different challenge, and I'm going to give the Counterfeit Kit concept a go this month!  The basic idea is that each month they choose an existing kit to "counterfeit" and then challenge members to copy it as closely or loosely as they chose, and then scrapbook using those supplies. (Follow the link for more details)  It's all about "shopping your stash" rather than shopping for more stash you don't need.  Now that's a challenge that's right up my alley!

The first thought that my too-literal brain had was that I wasn't going to have papers (and especially embellishments) that were close enough to work, but after going through the "Master Forger's" kits (what a cool name for a Design Team) I was reassured that anything I came up with was going to be just fine!

I started out with the papers I bought last month, which meant all Echo Park, "This & That" and "Hello Summer".  All except the paper on the far left are full pages.

The back side of the same papers (but not in the same order)

Next I added my cardstock, a few more sheets than the kit had:

The blue in the middle matches better than it looks in the photo; the light was fading as I was putting my kit together, but I knew I wanted to start crafting TODAY and didn't want to have to wait until tomorow for better light to take pictures. Edited 9/7/12 to add:  NO! that blue does not match at all! In the light of day, I've swapped it for another blue that matches better!

Now for lettering:

My new (and first ever packet of) white thickers, This & That tile stickers, which made me think of my good old scrabble tiles, plus the blue stickers which were my free gift with that last big purchase.

Embellishments include tags:

Sorry about this really bad photo!

All old Basic Grey (all except one from Lollipop Shoppe). 

Ribbons, twine and flowers:

I pulled out two different yellow ribbons and one of my new sets of twine.  The flowers in the photo represent all the flowers I own in each of those colours!

The kit also included a set of stamps, as well as other embellishments that could be replicated to some extent using stamps.  I pulled out:

The first two sets  I chose because they resembled aspects of the kit in some way. The third one because it had some words in themes that might match the holiday photos I've got in mind to begin with.  The final set I chose because they are my new stamps and I haven't used them yet!

The kit also included a book page, some linen   I haven't pulled either of these but I've put a note on my board to remind myself to consider them when making my projects.  Also buttons.  I forgot to take a photo of my jar of white- and off-white buttons, but they are also there in the kit.  Some  of the girls had DIY-ed some more decorative buttons, and I totally love this idea, but would want to make them for a specific page, not make some random ones before I know how I want to use them.

Finally, I added a sheet of ledger-style paper to match the off-white tones of the This & That papers, and another large off-cut:

This brings my total to 7 full sheets of paper and 2 large offcuts.  I totally reserve the right to add as many other off-cuts as I need to, as the month goes on. 
You'll notice I haven't included any ink or other form of colouring into my kit.  That's because it seems silly to limit myself - for me the point is to make sure that products get used, not to only use certain products.
For the same reason, the stamps I've put into the kit are ones I want to think of using first, not the only ones I want to limit myself to.  So I reserve the right to use other stamps, tools, my Silhouette (of course!) . . .um . . . . I'm actually feeling nervous about not including more cardstock, so we'll see how we go!

One more thing!  All the girls have named their kit, so I thought I'd better do that too.  I've named it "Summer in Swansea" in honour of our camping trip last school holidays.  (which was actually Autumn, but "Autumn in Swansea" totally has a different sound, especially for you Northern Hemisphere visitors, to whom autumn has a completely different colour palette!)

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back soon to see how I'm doing!