Counterfeit Kit + Coloured Cardstock Challenge

I wanted to show you a few double-page layouts I've made using my Counterfeit Kit, but first, I'd like to tell you a little story . . .

Once upon a time there was a scrap-booker who loved to collect craft supplies.  She almost always made double pages with a coloured cardstock background, so she collected cardstock in every colour of the rainbow.  Her stash grew, like huge towers all around her craft room. Then one day she woke up, as if from a dream, and realised the amount of money she was spending was not in proportion to the amount of time she was spending in using the stash.  So she created a Blog, dedicated to using up her craft supplies and keeping a closer eye on her budget.  She used up all those huge towers of supplies and lived happily ever after. The End.

True story?  Yes! Well . . . up to the last sentence that is!  (You can go back to the beginning of my blogging journey here if you like)  I have made progress on using my stash, but in the past year of so, I've started to create a lot more single page layouts, with a lot fewer cardstock backgrounds.  When I do use cardstock, it's much more likely to be a neutral colour, so that "tower" of coloured cardstock . . . still looks like a tower of coloured cardstock!

When I was looking for photos to use for my Counterfeit Kit this month, I've pulled out lots of older ones from past holidays and other events that call for a double-page layout.  So I've decided to go back to my scrapbooking roots a bit this month and see how much coloured cardstock I can use.  I'm calling it the Counterfeit Kit + Coloured Cardstock Challenge . . . CK + CCC for short!

OK then, are you ready for some photos?  Me too!

I really had a hard time with this first one, partly I think because I ended up using the A-side of the patterned paper after choosing it for the B-side, and struggling to find anything else in the kit that matched.

I managed to rescue it (just barely) with the washi tape (the only one I own I hadn't officially included in the kit) and the columns of stamps.

I was a lot a happier with this one . . .

I love how I got to use washi tape, ribbon, old letter stickers and felt on this one about a summer camping holiday.

Not much journalling, but that's what you get when you're writing about a holiday you had 4 and a half years ago!

One more to go, and it doesn't really have the "summery" feel of the kit as a whole, but almost all of the elements really were from the kit!

The only elements that I used that weren't from my kit were the letter stamps and stickers in the title (dug from deep down in the depths of much older supplies) and the splatter stamp.

I love that I got to use that train stamp in a way that actually made sense on a page!

Now if you're wondering, "Hey! Where's the coloured cardstock on that last page?" then I'll let you in on a little supply-conserving secret of mine.  (OK, it might not be much of a secret, but there might be someone out there that's never thought of it before!)  On pages like this one, I often use a sheet of cardstock as a base that I will totally cover up with photos and strips of patterned paper.  This means you can get better usage out of your full sheets of paper (like my top one) or stretch the use you can get out of your off-cuts (like my bottom one).  Not only does it conserve your papers, but it is a great way to use cardstock that might be slightly damaged, in a shade you don't like, or those plain white sheets you sometimes get in page protectors.     
Whew!  There's still a lot of life left in my Counterfeit Kit at the moment . . . I might have to go and do a singe page to mix it up a bit!  Thanks for visiting and hope to see you again soon.