"Just One Sheet"

Hello and welcome.  I'm back with another International Scrapbooking Day challenge from the Counterfeit Kit Challenge.  This time it's the challenge to be inspired by "Just One Sheet" of paper.

I've interpreted this challenge two different ways.

I often include in my Counterfeit Kits one or two "challenge" papers - papers that have been sitting around for a while and/or that I've found particularly hard to use.

This month it was that green and brown paper, fourth from the left.  It's from the Basic Grey "Oxford" collection, and it was one of those internet purchases on super-special that looked a whole lot different in real life to what it did in the little picture on the screen.

My first thought was to cover most of the paper with gesso, and then kind of work from there, which I did.  But I then I thought, why not just use it to back another sheet of paper/cardstock, so I did that.  A bit of the gesso shows, but I'm OK with that.

Next up, I was inspired by a video I saw on Youtube on mixing patterned papers.  Among other things, she cut a sheet of paper in half and then used both A and B side at once by taping them together with washi tape.  (You can watch it here)

I thought this was a super-fun idea, and one I'll probably use again.

I added a couple of 6" sheets from my stash and ended up with . . . something that doesn't look even remotely vintage! LOL.  That's OK, I've still got a couple of ideas up my sleeve to make the most of my vintage-inspired "Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow" Counterfeit Kit before I abandon the concept of vintage altogether!

First 2 pages with May Counterfeit Kit

I've been struggling with the whole "vintage" vibe of my Counterfeit Kit this month . . . perhaps I don't have the "right" photos to scrap, or perhaps it's just not my style?  And I think I've definitely been trying too hard to focus on using all the brown papers I included this month.
Anyway, I've managed to have a couple of pages ready to show you today, with a couple more coming soon.

First up, a page about the present Maddy gave her Dad for Christmas last year, where I quite by accident used some "traditional" red and green.

For the next page, I used the Shimelle sketch from one of the Counterfeit Kit NSD challenges:

 This sketch to me is the sort of Shimelle-inspired page that I've done so often that I've almost forgotten where the inspiration comes from. 

A bit of stamping gave the Jenni Bowlin tags a soccer twist.

Thanks for visiting, I hope to see you again soon!

Comfort Scrapping

I've been in a bit of a funk this week, both in the craft room and out.  I decided I really needed a boost of some kind.  Maybe something like this . . .

No, I'm not talking about comfort eating . . . (I actually gave up sugar recently, and in some ways, I've never felt better, so not only am I not at )

I'm talking about comfort scrapping! This is the May inspiration for Scrapbook Boutique.  We're talking white, pink, gold and BUTTERFLIES!! YAY!

I got to play with some fun things on this page.  My gelatos, some Wilna Furstenberg "print and cut" files, and an old favourite of mine, embossed vellum butterflies.

To match the inspiration  piece, I stamped the butterflies using Brilliance "Galaxy Gold" and embossed with "Sparkle" embossing powder, which is clear with glitter. Nice.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you have a great weekend!

May Counterfeit Kit, "Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow"

Hello and welcome!

The inspiration over at The Counterfeit Kit Club this month is something a little older . . .

A Jenni Bowlin kit from 2011, accompanied by a more recent Jenny Bowlin add-on . . .

 This month for my Counterfeit Kit, I did something I've never done before . . . I bought some new product!  I know, right?  That's not what the whole Counterfeiting thing is about, is it?  And it's certainly not what I'm about! 
But you see, I've been wistfully browsing the websites of the various Kit Clubs again recently, and yet again come away saying, I just can't afford it!  The overseas ones work out over $50 a month by the time they're posted, and that's without thinking about all those lovely add-ons!  The local ones don't work out that much cheaper, and aren't my favourites.  Then there's the fact that kits tend to be a bit "embellishment heavy" for me, and what about the things you end up with you don't like . . . you know how it goes.
So I figured, maybe what I'm really craving is a regular injection of "newness" into my supplies.  So  while I can't justify $50+ every month, I can do that every 2 or 3 months, with a smaller purchase squeezed in every now and then.  And I also figured, as I usually buy paper, paper and more paper, that I'd experiment with buying a little bit more embellishment fun, and see how that goes for a while.

But enough chatter, let's have a look at the kit that I put together, which I'm calling "Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow" . . .

Ok, let's take a closer look.  Like last month, I didn't try and follow the kit too closely. I just came away with a list of characteristics I had noticed.  It looked a bit like this:

• vintage
• orange, green and brown
• labels and bingo cards
• doilies and flowers.

I started with some 6" papers that came in my parcel (Basic Grey "Fact" and Studio Calico "Memoir")  and added some more from my stash . . .

Lots of orange, green and brown! I decided to use that patchwork paper as the colour scheme of my kit, so I added a bit of blue and red as well.  12" papers next . . .

Yikes, this is turning into a big kit again!  But sometimes it's easier to go with that than waste time paring it back . . .


Now I know you're waiting to see what I bought to put in the kit, aren't you?

OK, so obviously when I'm talking about an injection of "newness" I mean new to me, not necessarily products new to the stores! Not one item did I pay full price for.  In there you'll spot some "tiny type" stickers, label stickers and other journalling spots, Amy Tangerine embellishment pack, flags and bingo cards from Jenni herself.  My one regret?  Somehow I didn't realise that I was paying $2.99 for one flower. Three dollars.  For ONE flower.  Imagine if I paid full price of $7.99!!  Admittedly it is a big flower.  Possibly too big for me to use.  But I've put it in the kit and I figure if I haven't used it by the end of the month, I'll put it on a hair clip for my daughter.

 After last month's stamp-and-emboss style of lettering, I'm ready for some quick and easy titles.  Rather than pull out  a couple of alphas, I've divided my entire letter sticker stash (suprisingly large for someone who doesn't buy them that often) into ones that might potentially work with this kit and ones that won't.  I've also rifled through my growing stash of cut-apart tags and journalling spots and pulled out any that might potentially work.  Here's a sample . . .

I've also pulled out this little box of layering goodness, mostly won as a prize a little while back . . .

My kit is finished off with some doilies, and a Kaisercraft "Vintage Timeless" paper pad I bought a while back but haven't touched yet.  I love that Kaisercraft make their pads 6 and a half inches, meaning you can matt a standard 6x4 photo without trimming it down.

I might also pull out some doily stamps, and some lace or ribbon.  If I have the time, I'd love to try my hand at some of the "shabby chic" flower tutorials I've been watching lately, also.

I can smell the sausages sizzling, which must mean it's time to finish up.  Happy Mothers Day to everyone for tomorrow, I hope you get spoilt rotten, and maybe find some crafty time, too!

Gold Fever!!!!

 Do you remember your first love?  Your paper crafting first love, that is!  What got you started on this hobby? For me, it would have to be heat embossing.  Stamping an image, pouring the powder on, and then . . . the magic!  Heating that powder and watching it melt and transform into a beautiful shiny, raised surface.  Those of us who didn't have heat tools used our toasters . . . powder side up, of course!

So I'm so pleased that the gold thickers of the April Counterfeit Kit Challenge inspiration kit, "Messy Kit" reminded me of this love. And a bit of gold ink might have found it's way to some edges, as well. . .


After I'd made a couple of pages with my April kit, I decided I needed to focus on the black-and-white papers that I had included, and, with a bit of help from my February kit, ended up with 11 "starter page kits" scattered on my floor.

I didn't really think I'd get very far with those page kits, but a day off work during The Big Storm gave me some extra time.  (Mind you I did have a whole title ready to emboss before I realised it's a bit hard to use a heat gun with no power!)

I gave myself until the end of this weekend to finish as many as I could and I'm pretty pleased with how much I got done . . .


A little story about a giant pizza . . .

Our family loved the second of "The Voice" Australia.  If you haven't seen Harrison Craig's blind audition, it's totally worth a look. Maddy and I went to see him when he came to our local Westfield . . .

Loving the pink, gold and black/white stripe combo on this page . . . .

Working the green frame paper as a patterned paper as well as an embellishment  . . . 

After I scrapped this page about Rohan's presentation day last year we both realised there wasn't actually much to say . . . 

I'm loving those vellum hearts, and the bright colours on this page of Maddy painting a rock on the Port Macquarie breakwall . . . 

Rohan took some awesome photos of my niece and nephew with my brand new DSLR.  I love scrapping these guys, and not just because of the "you've scrapbooked my children more than I have" comments I get from my sister (check the comments below to see if she's been!)

Just a coffee break at our local shopping centre, but an Instagram competition (which I never entered) encouraged me to take this cute picture . . . 

Terrible photos but a memory I wanted to record . . .

It never would have occurred to me to put gold on a teenage boy page, but I'm loving how it looks . . .

There's two page kits left which I've set aside for now, mostly to see if there might be some other photos to include.

Thanks for stopping by. . . I hope you've had some crafty time this weekend, too!

April Scrapbook Boutique Challenge

So today's been all about the post-blackout cleanup.  I've hung out 3 loads of washing, finished cooking up the meat from the freezer and spent endless hours trying to clean out what seems like a tree's worth of leaves the storm dumped into our pool.  Still, better than an actual tree, like a friend found in their pool the next morning!
High time to catch up on some blogging, I say! (By the way, if you're here for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog hop, keep scrolling down to the next post).

I fell in love with this month's challenge at Scrapbook Boutique the minute I saw it!

With my renewed love of metallic embossing, revived by this month's Counterfeit Kit, I knew I was going to have fun with this one!

 

The photos from Maddy's first aerobics challenge - with their black and silver uniforms - were perfect, and I thought this would be a brilliant opportunity to play with my gelatos!

I white-embossed some big swirls onto some watercolour paper, then went to town with 3 shades of gelato.  Some finger smudging, some water, and voila!

For the title, I pulled out some super-old chipboard letters. I peeled the top coat of patterned paper off, created an "r" out of an "n" and an "o" out of a "d", and embossed with silver.  Love it!

The wood veneer butterflies are my token nod to the chocolate icing on the inspiration piece.

Thanks for dropping by, I hope you're finding time to get inspired and get crafty this weekend, too.

Counterfeit Kit Challenge April Members Blog hop

Hi crafty friends, I'm madly typing this after 3 and a half days without power or internet due to a huge storm, in order to get this post live on time for the April members blog hop from the Counterfeit Kit Challenge.

This is the page I made using my Counterfeit Kit for challenge #2, the sketch challenge.

Everything is from this month's kit, except I added the navy cardstock, and some left-over white fronds from my February kit, which I coloured with gelatos.  Yay!

I'll be back soon with more crafty adventures from my time without power, but in the meantime, why don't you hop on over to Tina at http://tinasscrapcorner.blogspot.com/

Or if you get lost  or started here and want to go back to the beginning, jump on over to the  http://counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com.au/