February Counterfeit Kit - Love in a Box

After finally getting back to scrapbooking after months of renovating one house and moving into another, there's probably two ways I could go.

One would be to treat myself to a huge "haul" of new supplies, and I don't think too many of you out there would begrudge me that, would you?

Or, having just gone through the endless "culling" that goes with moving house, I might be wanting to keep the stash at a manageable level and use the supplies I already own.

Well, if you've come over from the Counterfeit Kit Challenge, then you can probably guess which path I took!

Based on this lovely kit choice from Esencial de Scrapbook . . .

 . . .I'm loving the colours and should be able to find some stripes, dots and woodgrain . . .



. . . let me reaveal my own version, "Love in a Box"

A closer look, perhaps?

I started with the stripe on the top left to base my colour pallette on, and added papers from Echo Park, Dear Lizzy, Basic Grey, Studio Calico and Crate Paper.  They are all fairly recent collections to my way of thinking, but if you like to keep up with the absolute current trends, some of them might border on the old!

The one paper I loved but couldn't match from my collection was that gorgeous watercolour heart paper.  Time for a bit of counterfeiting, perhaps?

I simply mixed some watercolour paints to get colours to match my papers, painted my stamps and stamped away!  The hearts are unmounted acrylic stamps from Fancy Pants, and the flowers are an old foam set from Making Memories. (Confession time, who else still has that set lurking in their stash? I still love it and don't get it out often enough)

Stickers and lettering . . .

Stamps . . .

Once I added stamps I decided to include some matching cardstock.  Other than that, I've added a couple of sheets of tags, some doilies, sequins and die cuts . . .

The one way I have spent money on craft this year is to renew my subscription to the Silhouettte Online Store, so  I took this opportunity to try out some of my new cut files for this kit.
When it comes to my kits, I'm more and more into the idea of using white cardstock for my diecuts - the thin kind that often comes in a set of page protectors.  That way, they're virtually free, so no big deal if I don't end up using them, plus I have plenty of colouring options at my fingertips if I decide I want to use them but not in white. Or again, if I decide to use a different paper or cardstock, and even resize them again, no biggie if the original white cut doesn't get used.

So that's my kit.  If you've visited before, you know I'll have no qualms adding other bits and pieces as the month moves on.  But I'm happy with a box of goodies to start with, and can't wait to start playing.  What about you?  Have you had the satisfaction of building a kit out of your own supplies lately?  Or can I tempt you to try?