April Counterfeit Kit Challenge Member's Blog Hop

Hello and Welcome to my stop on the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Members blog hop for April!

You should have come here from Candace, but if not, you don't want to miss out on the fun! You can always go to the CKC blog and start at the beginning! 

This month, our challenge was "All about a Picture". This picture, to be precise:

Now, if you don't already know this about me, I'll tell you . . . I tend to be very literal with this sort of challenge.  When I first discovered sketch challenges on the internet I used to follow them almost to the point of getting my ruler out! (and therefore got annoyed with anyone who didn't, as they must be doing it "wrong"! LOL)

So I really wanted to fight the urge to have a tree on my page! My next thought was to have some kind of "path" leading into the page . . . which totally could have been amazing . . . but didn't end up happening. 

Given my current fixation with coloured cardstock, my next thought was to have a solid "sky" of blue cardstock, with a "horizon" of a green patterned paper.  There. That's inspired by the photo, isn't it?

 

   

 But then I started to think about what I wanted to put with this photo of the kids with my parents from a few years back . . . 

. . . and the symbolism of a "family tree" totally jumped out at me!

 

Oh well, turns out I'm still pretty literal after all!

  

Thanks for visiting!  I hope you'll stop and say Hi before hopping over to the wonderful Jennifer's blog.

Coloured cardstock . . . feeling the love!

If you're visiting from the purplemailbox  Layout Love Linky, from Shimelle or anywhere else, then welcome!
Here's a bit of a mix of pages I've been creating in pockets of time during the school holidays.  The one thing in common? I'm managing to use my coloured cardstock! (although there's quite a bit of my DIY "flair" and dimensional dots in there as well)

First up, another Hamish page, using this sketch from Shimelle:

I started with a sheet of cardstock from my April counterfeit kit as my background, then diverged to my Pink Paisley stash as I knew the page would be opposite this one in my album.

When Hamish was a puppy we often commented on how he wanted to be friends with the whole world, so this page tells that story, supported by his first meeting with a few little cuties!  Hard to tell who is enjoying the attention most!

This next page uses the last two full sheets of patterned paper from my April main kit, with a sheet of hot pink cardstock in between.  The die-cuts are from my Add-on kit.

I thought the viewfinder and polaroid frame added a bit of a fun retro feel to these photos of Maddy and two of her friends at a 60's themed event.

Next up, my submission to the Scrapbook Supplies Online monthly sketch competition:

This page documents our first year of having a membership to the Jets, our local soccer team.

I love how easy it was to make customised soccer ball "flair"! (Hardly anything from my Counterfeit kit in this one, just in case you're wondering)

I hope you're still reading, because I've saved my favourite page for last! 

See these girls?  Think they look alike enough to be sisters?  That's what people have been saying since they started school together over 5 years ago!  So when Eva got dressed after Maddy's sleepover last year in an outfit just like hers, we HAD to take a photo, and then document it!

This page started as a page kit I made out of the left-overs from my November Counterfeit Kit "purple people eater", to which I've added bits and pieces from probably almost every kit since!

We're 90% sure that the "just add sugar" tag is from the actual jacket Maddy is wearing in the photo. It's definitely from the Trade Secret where the jacket was bought (and, coincidentally, where Eva's older sister works)  At any rate, I think it makes a cute title for the page!

With the addition of paint splatters, different layers of stamping, die-cuts, sewing and all the rest, who said that coloured cardstock was boring?!

CKC "Nothing but Stickers" Challenge

Challenge #2 at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge this month is "Nothing but Stickers".

Stickers are something I haven't collected in too vast a quantity, thankfully.  Most of the ones I own have come with collection packs. I find the papers much easier to use than the stickers, though, so I tend to have stickers left over long after the papers have gone.

I've taken the lead of many designers I've noticed lately by layering my stickers, which seems to avoid that "stuck on all by itself" look.  
 

And thanks to whichever of the CKC girls to was that pointed out that washi tape is also a sticker!

For this page I've used patterned paper from my Add-on, and I'm pretty sure all the stickers (except the washi) were included in my main kit.

How about you? Are you stuck on using stickers?  Why not take this challenge and see how you go!

Scrapbook Page using Upcycled Packaging.

  OK, Confession Time. 
I knew, when I put together my Kraft-and-Black coloured Counterfeit Kit* add-on, "Something Borrowed" that the April challenge from Kraft It Up is  to use product packaging on a scrapbook page. 

Here's the "product packaging" that I used on my page:

• An Oxfam paper bag (cut down to 12 inch size)
• An envelope from Compassion.
• Map-print tissue paper which was originally used to wrap a pair of shoes from Colorado
• A canvas tag from a pair of jeans, also Colorado.

Other than that, all I added was some bits from my Julie Kirk kit, some DIY flair,  and some super-old flower brads and scrabble tiles. 

 

These photos were taken when I was heavily pregnant with Angus, which dates them at a little over 12 years ago.  At the time, one of Rohan's favourite things to make out of Duplo was guitars!

*If you've come here from Kraft It Up, and haven't heard of the Counterfeit Kit Challenge, allow me to introduce you!  The CKC isn't a "challenge site" in the traditional sense, but rather, a starting point for creating scrapbooking kits from your own supplies.  Each month, they provide an inspiration kit to Counterfeit using supplies from your own stash.  Need a bit of help stashbusting?  Why not give the CKC a go, and tell them I sent you!

Re-embracing coloured cardstock

It's the end of Term One and I am still totally yearning for a bit of structure to my week - a consequence of working casually in Childcare and not knowing from one day to the next what my week will bring.
I've just had a couple of catch-up days at home that I've really enjoyed, owing to the fact that I took my own advice:

I started my days off with a devotion (2013 style, I've just downloaded an app called "Explore" from The Good Book Company), then wrote myself an achievable list of household chores and worked through it.

The bonus?  An hour or so in the afternoon before school pick-up to spend in the craft room, guilt free!

* * *

Since my decision to re-classify coloured cardstock as an "old supply", I've been determined to include some in my pages this month.

I wonder how many others out there are in the same boat as me, the colours that I'm most drawn to have started to run out, but I'm reluctant to buy more until the stash of cardstock as a whole is significantly reduced!

I thought I'd start with the obvious: using cardstock as a background or significant element in a sketch.  I chose this sketch from Shimelle:

Yep! I think I can find a spot for some cardstock there!

Perhaps it was the fact that we just bought some new chickens last weekend that attracted me to documenting these particular girls . . . 

And then I decided to make another page with a kind of similar feel.  Similar that is, if you reverse the paper and the cardstock, rotate the sketch 90 degrees to the left, expand it into a  double page spread, decrease the smaller photos to one . . .

See what I mean, so similar you can hardly tell them apart! This page depicts a quintessential Aussie farm Christmas moment - a swim in the dam after lunch.

I love including pages like this here on my blog, because Southern Hemisphere visitors would look at this and totally related to it because going for a swim - in the dam, at the beach, the backyard pool or whatever - is so what you do on a hot Christmas day or Boxing day.  For Northern Hemisphere visitors, on the other hand . . . it's so the opposite of what you're used to!

I'm linking up once again with "Whimsical Wednesday" from The Memory Nest, so if you've come over from Leslie's blog, then welcome!

We used to dress up . . .

Finally, I have a couple of pages to show you using my April Counterfeit Kit.  

See that paper second from the left with the large peacock in the corner?  I figured that would be the most challenging paper to use, so I wanted to use it first.

I found some old photos from our pre-children days, dressing up for a friend's "Lord of the Rings" themed party.

To add a bit of interest, I ended up being loosely inspired by this sketch at the PageMaps blog:

 Using this sketch meant I went to town using some round elements from my Kit . . . and some that weren't . . .

This is going to sort the book-readers from the movie watchers . . . this party was WELL before the Lord of the Rings movies, I can  tell you!

And since I was doing a Rob-and-I dressing up kind of page, I though I may as well use a photo from another dress up party from the same era. I've used  co-ordinating papers and elements, as well as a slightly closer take on the same sketch:

Asterix and Obelix this time!

The sad thing is, that is all the information I can tell you about this photo.  I don't remember whose party it was, what we were celebrating, and I don't even recognise whose furniture is in the background (other than the fact that it is very representative of the Uni student furniture so many of our friends had at Uni and in the years shortly after).

The moral to the story: document your memories while you can still remember, people!

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something YOU!

No, this isn't a wedding post, it's the reveal of both my April Counterfeit Kit and my motto for 2013:

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something YOU.

The old and the new are pretty self-explanatory. It's all about using a balance of old and new supplies when I make a scrapbook page or other project.  It's a balance that's constantly changing - if I've recently bought up big on new supplies, I try to make the most of those supplies while they're still new.  When I'm using older photos, on the other hand, I might dig into some older supplies a bit more.

(If you're new to my blog, and interested in reading more about my philosophy, you might want to read the post here about my last year's motto, "Use what you have in a way that makes you happy".)

In the original wedding tradition, the "something borrowed" is a literal borrowing of an item from a loved one. But the way I mean it in this instance is more about borrowing ideas - trying out a new trend, or technique I've seen on Youtube, for example.  Even better is borrowing the idea of an expensive pre-made embellishment, and making my own, more affordable and one-of-a-kind version.

Which leaves something YOU.  In other words, trying out new techniques and styles is great, but it doesn't have to mean throwing out the baby with the bathwater.  The wheel doesn't have to be reinvented with every page I make, and it's OK to go  back to the simple page designs that I'm comfortable with without trying something different with every page!

So in other words, the same philosophy, just a new motto.  But I'm not going to be selfish with it . . I  don't mind if you borrow all or part of it for yourself!

But on to the Counterfeit Kit . . . (if you're not a counterfeiter already and have no idea what I'm talking about, you might want to pop over here and find out!)  The kit we're taking inspiration from this month is the March kit from Gossamer Blue:

Quite pretty, don't you think? And a little simpler in terms of embellishments than we've had in recent months.

Here's my version:

 

The something old in this case, is the chipboard pieces (not all photographed), some of the lettering products, 2 of the patterned papers . . . and the cardstock.  That's right! I've decided it's time to re-classify coloured cardstock as an "old" supply, and have included some in my kit this month.  Will I use it for backgrounds? For matting photos? For running through my Silhouette machine?  Or will it still be sitting in the bottom of the box at the end of the month?  Only time will tell!

 

 

Papers are from Carta Bella, Studio Calico, Echo Park and Basic Grey.

The B sides

I've added in some braid, buttons and DIY dimensional dots.

I decided to do some more DIY "flair" this month, too, but have left off the last step of adding the dome sticker.  That gives me the flexibility to leave them plain or add something extra based on the project I'm working on.

But wait, there's more! I thought the papers I chose this month might be a bit limiting, and liked the idea of making a "colour add-on" so here it is, in black and kraft:

In this case, the something borrowed refers to the fact that some of these supplies are "borrowed" from sources other than traditional scrapbooking supplies.  There's a shopping bag I've cut down to a 12" square, map-patterned tissue paper that was packaging from a pair of shoes, an envelope, a book page, and other goodies from a Julie Kirk pack I won last year (not all photographed).

As well as my Oxfam bag, I've included a couple of Studio Calico papers, and some plain cardstock.

The polaroid and viewmaster cuts didn't really work in my main kit, so I thought I'd include them here:

(edited to add: viewmaster cut file is a free file from As You Wish designs here; the other files are from Blinks of Life here.

OK, I wonder what I'll get made with these goodies?  What about you?  Will you be counterfeiting this month?

March Counterfeit Kit wrap-up

Here's what's been happening with my March Counterfeit Kit that you won't have seen yet:

a super-quick and simple motivational poster:

 

 (not meant to be read as the latter being necessarily a natural consequence of the former, but rather two things I really need right now to get my life on track!)

an as-yet unfinished double page from when Angus was in Kindergarten, documenting a couple of events at school:

and then a funny thing happened.  I felt a bit unmotivated by the papers I had left.  Not that I didn't like them, but they just weren't working for the photos I wanted to use.

A bit of a paper add-on, perhaps?

OK, that's better.  Immediately I was able to use the woodgrain paper with some photos for another school event for Angus, this time from last year:

this one, about my kids playing with their cousin, uses one of the "add-on" papaer and some branding strips:

and another one with an add-on paper, branding strips and other off-cuts, this time another of Rohan's skateboarding photos taken by his friend Liam.

Last but definitely not least, I used this sketch from Shimelle:

to do this page about Hamish when he was a puppy.  Love that I got to use lots of the little paper scraps I had included in my kit to make the triangles!

The writing's pretty hard to read in the photo, but is legible enough in real life.  It tells the story of how we used to compare having a puppy to having a new baby, much to my sister's disgust (she had a new baby at the time!), and that, just like a baby with older siblings, he ended up with hand me down toys.

So that's my March Kit finished!  I still have two unused papers from the original kit, but used three from the add-on, so it kind of evened out.  I'm really happy with how much of my embellishments I've used this month, although there's still plenty to play with another day.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope to see you soon with my April kit!