Unique Possibilities

Hey all,

I have just had a lovely four-day crafty weekend of painting and scrapping. It started off with my best friend arriving to spend the day watercolour painting with me and ended with me sorting old family photos with my darling mum.

The watercolour painting is a new obsession after I went to a workshop at Summer School. The workshop was for botanical watercolour painting and I must say I was a little worried at my ability to paint flora to a scientific standard. Turns out that it wasn’t that strict and I did alright. So, my friend and I have become very keen to keep up with the watercolour painting and now spend every free Friday we have painting! Nothing better than painting with good company, a gourmet lunch and wine 🙂

Here’s what I painted on Friday, fruit and foliage from our fig tree.

Onto the scrapbooking…

This weekend I worked on using my subscription kit from Uniquely Creative. For those of you who haven’t heard of them, Uniquely Creative is an Australian company who sell both cardmaking and scrapbooking products, they offer a few different subscription kits each month. This months scrapbook kit features their new collection called ‘Urban Garden’. It is a gorgeous collection filled with floral and geometric designs in purples and greens. Each kit comes with a detailed booklet of scrapbook layout and card designs for you to create. I decided to try a few layouts from the booklet and get creative making my own layouts using the kit supplies.

I tried Kylie Kingham’s ‘Inspirational Layout’, not going to lie but this was a lot of work! This particular layout in the booklet doesn’t have instructions, it justs states which kit supplies you need. I was able to work out how it was constructed just by studying the photograph, well, I guessed how she had created it. A few people have asked me how I made the heart like in Kylie’s original layout. So, here is my version and what I used…

The background of the layout is made from three layers (see pic above), I used a darker purple patterned paper from my stash for the second layer, instead of the lighter paper Kylie used.

I think perhaps Kylie used an electronic die cutting machine to cut out the heart shape from the background but as you know, I don’t own one. So, I did it the old school style and cut it by hand. Here’s how…

I freestyle drew a heart on a scrap piece of card, the easiest way to do this is to cut the card to the size you need and then fold the card in half. Draw half a heart on the folded card, then measure an inch in around the inside of your heart and draw a second inner half heart. Keeping the card folded in half, cut around both of your heart line drawings, when you unfold the card you will have a heart template (see photo with pencil).

Flip the paper/cardstock layout background that you will cut the heart from over to the reverse side, use washi tape to hold the template in place and carefully trace around the inner of the template. Remove the washi tape and using scissors carefully punch a hole into the centre of the drawn heart, then cut around the drawn heart line neatly. Hurray, you now have a heart hole in your paper! You then need to secure the striped paper behind the heart cutout.

Next, use a ruler and pencil to measure and mark the stitch holes around the heart. Then pierce each hole ready for hand stitching.

Use embroidery thread and a needle to stitch around the heart. The rest of the process is fussy cutting out flowers and embellishments, and building them up into layers around your photo. I also added a touch of purple glitter(from the kit) to some of the circle designs on the background paper, if you try this do it before you add your embellishments and make sure you let it dry. I then added a title cut out to my layout which was from a previous UC kit.

I love Kylie’s design and was pleased with how mine turned out. I may even have another go making a second layout with the heart feature, though the stitching nearly did me in! I’ll share the other layouts I made in another post soon.

Keep on scrapping 🙂

May 2019 CKC Forgery on the Third!

Hello again,

Time to join in with the May 2019 Counterfeit Kit Challenge, Forgery on the Third!

For this month, I decided to have a go forging some of those lovely, cute, girly teens which are featured on both the Jen Hadfield’s “Chasing Adventures” patterned papers and the various embellishments.

For me, the immediate image that popped into my head when I was looking at the collection was paper dolls. As a child, I was obsessed with paper dolls, all my pocket money went on buying paper doll books from the local newsagent’s store. I had wedding paper dolls, teen paper dolls and even troll paper dolls. In the seventies, paper dolls were high currency amongst little girls and I remember swapping different dolls with my friends and spending many hours role-playing happy stories with our sets of paper dolls. When we didn’t have money to buy paper dolls we made our own. I spent hours with my younger sister and brother making papers dolls and then designing collections of clothes for them to wear. So, so much fun 🙂

So, for the forgery, I went hunting for paper doll templates online. There are hundreds available and many are FREE. I was looking for teen designs similar to the collection and came across paperthinpersonas.com. What an amazing range of paper dolls are available here! I used the Marisole series of dolls which had a funky teen look. The templates can be downloaded in colour or black and white. I went with colour as I was feeling lazy, but black & white allows you to colour them to match your layout colours.

It takes a while to fussy cut out the dolls and their clothes but is worth the effort if you are looking at making some fun girly embellishments. There are also male paper dolls and a range of aliens, TV/film based characters available on the paperthinpersona.com website.

When you are cutting out the dolls and clothes you need to cut off the tabs. Sometimes, when you do this you will leave a little white showing, I just coloured these white bits with a black permanent marker. Then, I used a little tiny bit of the Tim Holtz Micro Glaze to rub over the surface of each piece, this adds a little sheen to the printed cardstock. Next, you fix them together with glue and thin foam tape for a little dimension.

Having taken on this challenge I really had no idea how I was going to use them in my layouts. I didn’t have any photos of my daughters on holiday or travelling, which I hadn’t already scrapped. Then I reflected on what trips and outings that I had taken over the last two years, there were a few trips with my besties and a few events where I took on the role of tour guide (over the Christmas holidays) to introduce some of my husband’s relatives to our region. I wasn’t sure that it was going to work, can images of young teens be inserted into layouts of a bunch of over 50 ladies on an art trail safari?

Anyway, here is what I used and how it all went together.

Layout 1. My papers and paper doll…

The process…coloured pencils to forge the floral paper. Some ink and mist to create a background paper. Layers of patterned paper and a grid design to feature my photos. A few embellishments.

The finished layout…

That cute paper doll…

Layout 2.

The papers and doll…

The process… some messy fun with inks and mists.

The finished layout…

Overall, not a bad effort and I had lots of fun reminiscing and making those cute paper dolls embellishments.

Make sure that you check out what the Counterfeit Kit Challenge team are creating this month. There are always some fabulous ideas, skills and techniques used.

Counter Kit Challenge Blog

Guest Designer: Leanne Wagner

Keep on scrapping 🙂

November Counterfeit Kit Challenge

Hello everyone, it’s a new month and once again I am having a go participating in the November Counterfeit Kit Challenge. What I really like about joining in with this challenge is that it makes you look through your supplies and really see what you have. You realise what you don’t need, what you should use up and you see what you are getting low on. That can mean a little shopping without the guilt. For me, this month I realised I really have very little indigo, navy blue to mid blue patterned paper left. Much like the earlier kits, when I had very little woodgrain paper left. It is because, for the last 18 months, I have mostly been scrapping boy layouts for my grandson and son’s albums. There have been some girly layouts along the way (with fussy cut flowers), but the majority have been male. Also, remember that I had a go making my own Indigo Hills 2 collection, well…there goes my indigo coloured papers!

This months CKC inspiration is a good mix of colours and papers for both sexes. It is very contemporary, as it is based on a kit from the wonderful Citrus Twist Kit company, released only last month! Wow, yep, October!

There is a lovely range of papers in this kit, including an Indigo Hills 2 paper, some scrummy Maggie Holmes papers and a gorgeous Vicki Boutin paper. My selection of papers is less indigo and more pinks and greens. I have tried to base mine on picking up the colours and feel of this kit.

*Note: Sorry for the slight blue tinge to the photos, I took them in daylight at 5am. Note to self, DO NOT DO THAT AGAIN!

Because I didn’t have any stars or multi-patterned stripe papers, I decided to select some similar papers with which I could create my own striped paper. Here’s what I came up with…

The embellishments from the Citrus Twist kit is a lovely mix of colours and styles with a little craziness. Pandas, foxes, cats and tassel bows, why not?

My choices are based on colour and using stuff up, I have several packets of mismatched puffy shape stickers. I have thrown in a few stamps and text dies to create embellishments, some wood veneers and some embroidery thread to make tassel bows. I am going to make some die cuts using some FREE cut apart sheets from the Citrus Twist Kite site.

So, my kit is almost complete. I am looking forward to getting started on making some layouts. This month will be a challenge for me, I have a lot of work commitments to get done and a house to get ready for the silly season. It is funny how things finally have to be completed and fixed when you are having long, lost relatives coming for Christmas! Out comes the paint and a major spring clean organised…it is Spring down under.

Counterfeit Kit Challenge – October

Hello Scrappers, I am back joining in with the October Counterfeit Kit Challenge. This month’s Counterfeit Kit is based upon the kit club, The Wild Hare Kits. The Wild Hare Kits are different from most kits, as you have a very personal experience. They offer a service where you supply information about what you like and don’t like, your favourite brands, colours, etc., and they make you a kit to suit your needs and wants. Wow, it would be like Christmas every time you place an order, a big surprise based on your wish list.

This month the October Counterfeit Kit Challenge is made from the wish list of Mandi Holmes. You can view the unboxing of the kit here. The kit features many colourful elements, textures and interesting patterns.

I was excited to get started on selecting my papers and embellishments for this counterfeit kit. I worked through my paper stash first, luckily for me I had some Simple Stories ‘Domestic Bliss collection which worked beautifully in hitting some of the thematic elements. I purchased the Domestic Bliss supplies last year from Anna’s Craft Cupboard and had never got around to using them. I had planned to use them for an album on our daily life but life got in the way! This collection has made up the majority of my kit with a range of other brands filling the gaps.

First up, these are my papers 1-3 substitutes…

I didn’t have any quote/block paper in the right colourways so I have used some free download 80’s quote cards.

Then, 4-6 papers…

No frame paper for me houses instead and distressed paint instead of stripes. Two flower papers because I couldn’t decide and a straight woodgrain instead of chevron. I have just stocked up on woodgrains from ACC after I discovered in last months CKC that I had run low.

Next, 7-9…

I struggled with the quilt papers, I found one chevron quilt paper and have added in a city map and a geometric design for that pop of colour. Two text papers, I did have the “Change is Good” text paper but only have very small scraps left over 😦

Embellishments!

I didn’t have any substitutes for the quote frames and have included more alpha stickers and word stickers to make my own. No puffy stickers, I have included some wood veneers instead which I may colour. I will make my own woodgrain Thicker phrases using my Sizzix.

I am looking forward to getting started as I work through the kit and mini-challenges. If you would like to see what other scrappers have gathered together for their kits make sure you follow the hop blog list on Counterfeit Kit blog.

The hop blog list…

Guest Designer Becca Sadler – All About Autumn

Lori – October Kit

Tina – Tainted Love

Cindy – Fun Stuff

Julene – October Kit

Laura – October Kit

Leslie – Shalom

CKC Showcase and #8 Chinese Tallow!

Wow, just wow! Two exciting things happened this week. It is school holidays (term break) in Western Australia and I have had the most lovely five days travelling around the rural Great Southern region of our state. Three of my artist friends and I set off on Sunday to begin our road trip pursuing the 2018 Southern Art and Craft Trail. We saw the most amazing artworks, met fabulous artisans who are passionate about their work and who happily shared their techniques and medium knowledge. It was a great experience and we have all come back inspired by what we saw and heard. We also picked up a few art supplies along the way, after viewing some paintings and speaking with one artist, Terri Pikora, we had to have some cold wax!

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Know idea what that is? We didn’t know either. It is a medium which you can use that gives the appearance of encaustic wax without all the mess and heating. You can create luscious layers of translucent colours, embed materials in your work and if using oil paint, it speeds up the drying process. You can get several different versions/brands, we managed to track down some Langridge Wax Paint Paste. I can’t wait to try it out and see if it works with a range of mixed media techniques.

We also saw lots of amazing scenery, vast farming land, extraordinary coastline and amazing forest. We got lost several times, laughed a lot, ate wonderful meals made from local produce and sampled local wines, whiskey and gin. Here’s a little spot we ended up at after the GPS, nicknamed Roberta, got us lost.

Exciting thing number two… whilst I was away I was selected as the September Counterfeit Kit Challenge showcase member. Given that it is my first attempt at the CKC I was very surprised to be chosen. It has been a great experience joining in with the challenge. I have enjoyed all the little challenges, the sharing of others and the encouragement to use up what you already own. If you haven’t heard of CKC you can check them out on FB, Instagram and their website.

My latest layout, number 8, was created just before I went off on the art trail journey. It is a simple layout. I used one of my leaf stamps to make long strands of leaves, I stamped the leaves onto 12″ strips of patterned paper and then fussy cut them out. I fixed the leaf strands on to the background cardstock and woodgrain paper. Then I added some simple embellishments and the title. The photo is of trees which my husband is growing to later sell as mature trees.

I am looking forward to seeing the October CKC kit, there have been sneak peaks on FB. I am loving those colours and the woodgrain. I can’t wait to see what everyone creates with their version of this month’s challenge kit. Keep creating and enjoy the last day of September. I will be trying to get a couple more layouts completed from my counterfeit kit.

#6 & #7 – Counterfeit Kit

Two quite quick scraplifts today for layouts #6 & #7 using my Counterfeit Kit collection. I am enjoying participating in the Counterfeit Kit Challenge and am finding that it is motivating me to get photos into albums. Sometimes you just want to scrap and not really have to put a lot of time and creative thinking energy into scrapping. It is when I feel like this when I just want to relax and enjoy the process that I scraplift. Both scraplifts were taken from old scrapbook magazines, the first used as inspiration was a layout created by Doris Sander, called Blue Crab Love, 2007. Doris has an online presence, you can check out some of her work here. I selected this design because of the wide border and that it featured three photos.

My photos are of my grandson with my eldest son, his uncle. They both adore each other and love spending time together. There is always lots of rough and tumble play, laughs, chasing and ball games…boys being boys! The paper I used is double-sided, so I cut out the floral frame and flipped the central square and set it back in place to complete the background. Then, I quickly stuck everything down, no playing with mixed media, just good old fashioned scrapbooking.

Layout #7 was also lifted from a magazine, 2008, clearly, circles were all the go then. There is a lot of layouts featuring circle formats or circle embellishments. So, I delved back in time and was inspired by Julie Walton’s, Belly Laugh layout. Julie’s layout is pretty simple with clean lines, as usual, mine turned out very busy with lots of embellishments. Well, I am trying to use things up!

I thought the circle format would go well with my photos, the photos are from about four years ago when we went out to lunch at a Chinese restaurant. The circle representing a dinner plate. As you do, when you have a small child, you need to keep them entertained while you wait for the food to arrive. Out came the book and we read it together, still one of his favourite things to do, read! The messy, circular background was what the highchair table looked like after eating and also his face…wish I had a photo of that! I created the background with Tim Holtz Candy Apple distress stain and some Heidi Swapp gold colour shine, then added all the embellishments and title. It is hard to use red in mixed media without it looking like a forensic scene, let’s pretend it’s Sweet and Sour sauce.

Always Enchant – Counterfeit Kit

#5 layout for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge. This layout was also a simple one using a little ink and my handmade leaf embellishments.

I started with a little oxide ink on my background papers and card stock. Then I splashed on some gold Heidi Swapp Color Shine.

Next, some fussy cutting, I cut out my hand stamped leaves. I used both the glitz-ed ones and plain ones. The photos I am using are of my youngest daughter, she is bubbly and bright, and loves to come home to visit. Playing with the Autumn leaves is one of those favourite childhood memories which she cant resist as an adult. It was sunny but cold and we were on one of our strolls around the property and heading off towards the bush (State Forrest, next to us) when she jumped under the tree and into the leaves. Some people just never grow up 🙂

Then, I worked on building up the embellishments and title. I decide I wanted to frame the photo rather than mount it with card stock. I must admit that I am old school and usually mount all my photos. These photos worked really well with the papers and blended into the background, so I used them as is. I had some very old stickers in my kit that needed using up, I used only the leaves. The corner frames I made from a piece of 6×6 patterned paper, and used the central leftover image as an embellishment. I had to change my title, as I had wanted to have Always Enchanting but only had two ‘n’s left. One of the pitfalls of using up alpha Thickers/stickers.

Overall, it turned out nicely and I like the scattered leaves across the layout. As usual I need to add my journal notes, that is what the space on the left corner is for.

These last photos of the layout have a slight blue tinge, the true colours are like the images above. I took these photos at 5 am in the morning, the light streaming in was different. Outside it was freezing, there was ice on the ground, a typical Spring morning for us.

1-2-3…GO! – Counterfeit Challenge

This layout is my attempt at the #1 colour challenge for those participating in the September Counterfeit Challenge. My layout, my fourth for the Counterfeit Challenge is a fairly simple layout with not a speck of mixed media in sight. The colour challenge specified using the colours red, gold and purple. This proved difficult for me as I had no purple in my counterfeit collection of papers. I ended up having to rummage through my stash and pull out two purple papers, one which had lots of text and one with a fine white polka dot. I have no idea what brand the papers are as they were purchased in a bag of craft paper scraps from the local market. I cut up the purple text sheet to use the quotes as embellishments on my layout. I also had no red cardstock in my kit and used a piece from my stash for my background.

I decided to go with a simple background made up of different widths of strips of patterned paper. I added some Washi tape in rose gold around three edges of the layout. Then, I mounted my photo on cardstock and added the embellishments, some text and die cuts. It is pretty busy and definitely not a layout I would scraplift but it is one more layout for the album. I did find it challenging using these papers, for the photos I had selected.

Yellow Challenge!

Hello again, I am just popping in with a layout I created for a September colour layout challenge on the Scrappingclearly FB page. I had fun playing with some mixed media when making the background. I used a Kaisercraft brick wall stencil with some white gesso paint to add some texture. I scraped the gesso across the stencil, then I lifted the stencil and laid it in the other direction and applied more gesso. This created a criss-cross brick texture on the page. I dried it off with a heat gun and applied some Tim Holtz Wild Honey Oxide Ink using the plastic back technique. After drying the ink I applied some Heidi Swapp Mustard Color Shine, again using the plastic bag technique.

Next, I fussy cut a section of flowers from my patterned paper and used it face down as a stencil on the background, dabbing some distress ink over it to create some foliage shadow areas.

Then, I fixed the flowers in place and mounted my photo on some scraps of yellow-toned patterned papers. I rough up the edges of each layer with my fingernail. I then decide to do the same to the fussy cut flowers and used my fingernail to turn up the petals of each flower.

I used my Sizzix Big Shot to cuts some flower and foliage embellishments in grey and yellow card/paper. Then, I created some small clusters of the embellishments on three edges of the photo. Last, I added my titles using two-word die-cuts and some puffy alphas from Pink Paislee.

Bounce! – Counterfeit Kit

Bounce! A quick layout for #3 using my September Counterfeit Kit. This layout got the lovely smoosh effect using the Tim Holtz Oxide inks. One of the self-imposed challenges that I placed on myself several months ago was that any new art/craft supplies coming into my house must be used. No hiding supplies away and not using them. This has been easy with these inks, I am using them every time I scrap.

One of the reasons I decided to join in with the Counterfeit Kit Challenge was that it hit my other self-imposed rule which is using up old supplies and using old tools/media. The materials and tools I have used for this layout are both old and new. I started off working on my white cardstock background using the crushed olive ink. I love this colour, it glows on a white background and really has the translucent sheen of virgin olive oil. I used the simple and fun plastic bag application technique. Swipe the ink pad a few times onto the bag. Then use a paintbrush and water to activate the ink on the plastic, move the ink around so you lose any indication of the stamp pad ink image. Place the ink side of the bag down onto your cardstock and use your hands to smoosh the ink around. Lift and move the bag to smoosh in other areas, if you can see wet ink on the surface double dip and pick up that ink to use somewhere else on your page.

Because smooshing is so fun and I was trying to create an explosive type of texture which would emphasise the energy of a bouncing ball. I went in again with a second colour. I attached a piece of patterned paper and then applied the mowed lawn ink. You need to be a little bit careful when doing this, as you will get some warping if your paper is too thin or you apply too much ink/water in one area. You can see on the right side, the lower corner has a bit of warping occurring. I knew photos were going over this corner so I was heavy handed but I was careful to not have any warping on the other three corners which I knew would be exposed to the viewer.

Next, I added in my photos, I mounted the first two together on an old, green floral paper. The photo featuring the new ball and my grandson I mounted on white because I wanted it to stand out. This was a little moment in time when I was on Nanny duty looking after my grandson while his mum was at work. We had a great day doing lots of things and stopped along the way to buy a drink. The store had one of those giant gumball type machines filled with coloured bouncy balls. He was very excited to use his $2 coin and get a ball. We went across the road to this little park to try out the new ball and did it bounce….yeah, like crazy! Thirty minutes of fun and laughter.

Time to add the embellishments, I still wanted to emphasise the bounce and craziness of a ball out of control. I didn’t have any embellishments which would do this, so I got out some black acrylic paint and a shot glass and made some circle prints to represent the bouncing ball. I dried it off with a heat gun and attached my other embellishments and text from my kit.

I’m really happy with the finished layout, it didn’t use up much of my kit supplies but I did get in a few of my forged leaves, I used 3 papers and some enamel dots. My journaling will go on a tag in the yellow wood grain pocket. The pocket was made from one of the patterned paper sheets I had in my maybe pile. I have used a part of that paper, the wooden drawer front, on layout #2 as well.

All Year Long! – Counterfeit Kit

Layout number two using my September Counterfeit Kit. A little bit quirky, I imagine not many people scrapbook photos of socks but these socks are special to me. My lovely daughters gave them to me on Mother’s Day this year. Well, they didn’t just give me one pair of bed socks, they gave me nine pairs! You see, I have this weird obsession in wearing these socks while at home for most of the year, partly because we have no floor coverings and partly because they are comfy. We have concrete floors and the socks keep my feet warm and create a sense of relaxation. If I have socks on inside it means me time, a little Netflix, some painting, some crafting, some wine (not every day) and maybe a little chocolate or cheese. Who would think a pair of 99c socks could create such luxury. It’s the simple things in life.

After layout #1, I wanted to keep playing with the sewing machine and my distress oxide inks. I put my pale blue and white snowflake bedsocks on and got started. First up, some inspiration! In my recent cull, I decided that I would get rid of at least half of my scrapbook magazines. Like most scrappers now I use the internet for inspiration. The half I have kept I have to use for scrap lifts or if there is nothing useful in the mag they get passed on to my Mum who also scraps. Today’s inspiration came from an old 2007 Canadian magazine, with a layout called Family by Summer Fullerton. I think this may be her blog but I could be wrong, there may be another Summer Fullerton.

The reason I decided to have a go scrap lifting this layout was that Summer had machine stitched the heart photos and papers together, much like a quilt. I thought this idea would give my layout a cosy feeling to go with the socks.

First up, I sketched a heart shape onto a piece of white 12×12 scrap paper. Then I cut out the heart and used it as a template to cut a heart from my patterned paper.

I added some colour to my white background cardstock using the oxide inks and the plastic bag technique.

Then, I roughed up the edges of the heart using my fingernail and attached it to the cardstock.

Next, I worked on creating the central heart, joining my photos and patterned paper together onto my template and trimming it to a heart shape. Then I stitched it together using a zigzag stitch. Both hearts were machined stitched to the background.

Embellishments and the title were added.

The finished layout. I may add my journaling to the top left corner of the heart. On to layout number 3!

Nature’s Wonder – Counterfeit Kit

My first Counterfeit Kit layout features photos of a few of the autumn foliage trees on our property, they were planted over the last 25yrs by my husband. One photo shows some of our daily wildlife which resides in our garden, several well fed kangaroos who love to nibble anything available. They have exotic tastes and at the moment have developed a taste for citrus, stripping our orchard trees of any leaves within their reach. Fencing garden areas and netting the trees is the only way we can harvest anything for ourselves.

I had fun creating this layout. My design inspiration came from Meggy Blethen. Meggy just released a video of her latest layout featuring a shaker section. It is a great layout and the shaker made me think of falling leaves…ahha…genious! I asked Meggy if I could scrap lift her shaker idea and she kindly agreed. With visions of falling autumn foliage tumbling down I got started. I decided to use a piece of paper which I had been holding on to for years. I really loved the crayoned drawn leaves in the design but had not wanted to cover it up. Years later, the answer was simple…fussy cutting! I got busy and fussy cut all of the leaves.

I then went on to make my shaker pocket. I used another old product, a sheet of printed vellum from the now defunct TLC scrapbook company. I used my craft punched mini leaves, I literally sprinkled a handful over my strip of white cardstock and then spent time turning over any wrong side up (white) leaves, and fixing the leaves into place using some clear gel medium. The gel medium worked well, I poured a small amount into the lid of the bottle and applied it with my fingers to the cardstock, pouring a little on and smooshing it around. Some leaves did move a bit but it just added to the random, chaotic effect of leaves in the wind.

Next, I got out the sewing machine and stitched down three sides of the vellum and tossed in some of my forged stamped leaves and some sequin leaves. Then I stitched down the opening and voila…a pocket of falling autumn leaves!

Then I got busy with the sewing machine stitching on my fussy cut leaves. I tried to enhance the leaves by adding some stitched veins. If you try this make sure you shake the loose leaves to the bottom of the pocket before you stitch, otherwise you get them caught up in your sewing and will lose the motion aspect of falling leaves.

I then used one of my 6×6 papers to make some corner strips to mount my photos with. I was able to just use one half (one triangle) for the whole layout.

Next, I got busy sticking down my photo and adding some embellishments and a title. I used a few of the forged stamped leaves and handmade bows.

I was very happy with the finished one-page layout but then decided to turn it into a two-page spread. It took me a while to put together anything I was happy with, I walked away several times and had a break. Which is why this blog post is late, I just couldn’t get the layout finished and fussed around, moving pieces back and forth. I slept on it and finally got it completed the next day. My journaling is missing, it will go into space at the top of the layout. I may also add a few more leaves around the top edge…see, still not completely happy. I need to let it go and move on to the next layout. I had loads of fun making the shaker pocket and doing the stitching.

Forging My Way – Counterfeit Kit Challenge

Forgeries on the Fourth is the first mini-challenge in the Counterfeit Kit Challenge. Those joining in with the challenge try and make some embellishments or papers from the original Crisp Apple Classic kit designed by Noel Mignon.

I started early and made some hand cut paper bows in a similar fashion to the Apple Crisp kit bows but I added metallic buttons for a little bling. I am not a scrapper or fashionista who indulges in bows so it will be a challenge for me to include them in my layouts.

Then I had a go at reproducing some autumn leaf embellishments. I decided to use my recent Tim Holtz mini distress dies and some very old stamps. I am not even sure what brand they are, they are made with purple rubber and are very detailed with defined veins. I used up some little scraps of cardstock and patterned paper, stamping the images on with two colours of ink per leaf. I then added some glitter glitz to several of the leaves and fussy cut out the remaining leaves. The glitter leaves will be fussy cut when needed.

I also pulled out some very old small craft punches with three different leaf designs. My first attempt to punch them through cardstock proved disastrous, even with brute force. After some help from hubby who offered and also failed, we got out some Alfoil (aluminium foil) and folded it several times then punched away in the hope of sharpening the punches. It didn’t work 😦

I then decided to try some patterned paper and we had more success, yes, I said we because Hubby had got into the crafting groove and was helping me create a pile of autumn leaves. He is usually the person in the garden raking up the leaves. I plan to use the leaves in my very first layout which will feature photos of our autumn trees planted on our property 20 years ago by my husband.

Counterfeit Kit Challenge – September

Hello Scrappers, I am excited to be joining in with the September Counterfeit Kit Challenge. My inspiration came from my favourite YouTube blogger, Janet Madison from RTS Scrapbooking (Record The Story). Janet is a dedicated scrapper determined to use up her inventory. She kindly shares how she creates kits, makes embellishments and organises her supplies.

This month’s Counterfeit Kit is based upon a Fall/Autumn theme and proves a real challenge for those of us South of the equator. The kit features many elements which are foreign to those located in Australia, such as autumn pumpkins, racoons, bears and pumpkin pie! For us Aussies, Autumn is quite green due to our non-deciduous native trees, unless you live in an area which has been planted with deciduous foliage or have a husband like mine who has an obsession with Japanese Maples.

This months kit has been borrowed from Noel Mignon, called the “Apple Crisp Classic Kit”. You can find it here at https://www.noelmignon.com/products/apple-crisp-kit.

The challenge for me, when trying to put my own kit together was finding papers to substitute some of the traditional fall elements. I also don’t use many orange and yellow papers/embellishments in my daily scrapping. Many of the papers I found were B side papers, designs which I hadn’t purchased the patterned paper for. I also had problems finding any dark wood grain paper, as I love wood grain and have been making a lot of male layouts this year. My supplies are now low, I only had two dark woodgrain papers, both have butterflies featured in the corners. So, what did I find?

First up, these are my check and stripe substitutes…

Then, woodgrain papers…

Next, flowers and foliage…

For pumpkin papers…spots/circles!

And, mason jars/autumn cooking…

Embellishments proved a little easier, I found many Kaisercraft elements from various kits which I could use. I decided to substitute the word die-cuts for actual dies and will cut words/elements as needed. My substitute for the Tim Holtz distress stain is two Heidi Swapp shines in gold and mustard. I haven’t decided on which stamps to use but will most likely use some leaf and foliage stamps. The bows I will make out of scraps from the kit and I will turn some of my embellishment die-cuts into chipboard elements. My choice in washi tape is a lovely metallic and white diagonal stripe for some added bling. I may also add some wood veneers and some ribbon.

My choice of alphas for titles is a mix of stickers and rub-ons. I have a packet of the foam gold Thickers used in the original kit and decided to mix in some burnt orange glitter stickers and chocolate brown rub ons.

So, what might I make from this huge kit? I’m thinking about doing a range of layouts, some will be autumn themed, some will be cooking and a few will be based on family events, like picnics. I can’t wait to see what everyone else does.

Some of the papers and embellishments came from the following paper pads and collections…

I have a few sheets which are in the maybe pile, I may or may not use them. There is a couple of mushroom papers, one in gold and one in black and white. I thought perhaps I could colour the images to bring them into the same colour palette as the kit. I also have a vellum which has a fall/autumn print which may be useful, a white and gold floral print and a wooden drawer print which could be used.

I will share what I create as I work through the kit and mini-challenges. If you would like to see what other scrappers have gathered together for their kits make sure you follow the hop blog list on Counterfeit Kit blog.

The hop blog list…

Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog – September 2018 – Counterfeit Kit Challenge Kit Reveal

Guest Designer – Janet Krause – https://youtu.be/V4KS39SmlXc

Cindy – https://cindyscreations-cinmfoster.blogspot.com/

Lori – Hodgepodge of Fall

Leslie – Blessed

Tina – Falling for You

Laura – https://www.instagram.com/mrsp_scrapsandtea/

Times

What I have been working on is my one and only subscription kit which I purchase from Uniquely Creative. In my challenge to use things up and cut down on my spending, this is the one thing I couldn’t give up. What I love about this scrapbooking kit is that it often challenges you to try new techniques and products which you may not have used before. It is great value, you get loads of product based around one of Kaisercraft’s new collections. This months kit, from June, featured the Anthology collection. I try and create every layout with the kit which is possible if you add a few more pieces of cardstock and swap a few papers around. They also include card projects within the kit but I am no longer a card maker, so I use the ideas as embellishments on layouts.

Here are a few layouts I have made using June 2018, kit. The first is one of the layouts designed by Tracey Schultz. I swapped the paint colours to suit my photo and used different bird embellishments.

The next kit layout I created was designed by Elisa Ablett, once again I made some changes to work with my photo and layout theme. My photos are of my grandson and husband stalking our chickens, well, there was a little bit of chasing involved. No chickens were hurt in the production of this layout!

I swapped the floral print paper for the Anthology 12×12 Scrapbook Paper – Plumology paper. Then I got to work colouring in the feathers to match with the colours in my photo, my grandson’s t-shirt was the inspiration. I loved how Elisa Ablett had coloured the chipboard title, so I followed her lead and used my Copic markers to do the same. It was an easy process, line up the ruler and run the marker along the edge of the ruler, the result is beautiful pastel lines!

I had several photos to use and decided to make it a double layout. The original design has flower die cuts, so I grabbed my Tim Holtz dies and some matching paper/cardstock scraps to make a bunch of flowers. I also inked up some flower embellishments and doilies to go with the colour theme. I am pretty happy with the finished layouts, they will be back to back in my album and I will add a pocket page layout for the rest of the chook chasing photos.

After making several of the kit layouts I went rogue and created my own layout. I selected papers and embellishments from the kit but added a few extras, using Kaisercraft dies, cardstock scraps and a very old Cosmo Cricket chipboard alpha called ‘Extra Extra’. Hitting the mark with my self-imposed challenge of using up an old product.

Clean & Keen

Today I am on a mission to use up a patterned paper which I don’t like. We all have some paper which we wonder what were we thinking to buy that? Perhaps, it came in a kit or was a bargain that you couldn’t pass up. My piece is from a now defunct company, TLC, and has a very bright red, white and blue geometric circular design. It is definitely a dated design which would look very out of place in most contemporary scrapbook albums.

Having strong primary blue and red, I decided to use it for one of my son’s layouts. I am currently working on finishing off his childhood albums, let me just say that I am way behind. He turns thirty next month!

I started off by altering the paper itself, my photo is of my son and daughter bathed and ready for bed, and I was thinking about what related to clean. Bubbles seemed to pop into my creative brainstorm and would link nicely with the circular design on the paper. I used a Kaisercraft stencil and acrylic paint to sponge bubbles across the page.

After letting it dry, I sponged Ranger ‘Denim’ Adirondack Earthtones ink over the white painted bubbles. The layered stencilling creates an interesting texture. You can see in the photos that I use ordinary car wash sponge to apply my mix media colours. I have been using car wash sponge for years, you can pick one up from any of the cheap, two dollar type shops. Use some large scissors to snip the sponge into 8-10 pieces and you a have a very versatile application tool which has only cost you a couple of dollars for the whole lot. When working with inks you can use each edge of your sponge piece for a different colour! They wash clean very easily with soap and water, some staining will occur but doesn’t transfer when you use them next. When you use them with acrylic paint, wash them as soon as you finish otherwise they will dry with a firm crust. Should this happen, you can simply trim off the stiffened surface and you are good to go again.

Next, I got busy making some embellishments. One of my self-imposed rules is if I purchase anything new I must use it straight away. This week I purchased the WRK Precision Press, it is similar to the Misti and Tim Holtz stamping plates. It helps with aligning your stamps and makes stamping multiple copies of images a lot quicker. I grabbed a nice dotty border stamp and some text stamps and tried it out.

I cut some dies, the Uniquely Creative scribble circle die and layered them with my stamped embellishments. It took me a while to decide on the final placement and I shuffled and reshuffled them until I thought it looked balanced.

Finally, I decided what I liked, glued everything into place and added the title. I used some fairly new Kaisercraft alpha stickers and some very old Me and My Big Ideas alpha stickers for the title. I’m not that happy with the look of the title and may change it later, everything is a learning process. Overall, what went from an outdated and unloved piece of paper turned into something a bit more funky and fresh. It is not an outstanding layout but it is acceptable and is one more photo in the album.

Mix it up!

Well, here I go, my first scrap blog. I’m not sure why I have never done this, the blogging thing for my papercraft. I have been paper crafting for many years and sharing, learning and teaching various art disciplines for at least two decades. Because of this, I have some very old supplies and I am on a mission to use them up. I have set myself a few rules this month: using what you have; anything new must be used straight away and not stashed away; join in more challenges; make time for what I love and share what I create, and use my mixed media supplies to create embellishments.

Ok, so, in the last few weeks of June I have been working on making this happen. First up I have been researching the work of other wonderful artists and companies who have monthly challenges for us creative scrappers…woah, there is so many! For my first post, I am starting off with my favourite, who I have been involved in for a few years which is Anna’s Craft Cupboard Community, owned by Bri Richard Bartlett. The store provides a wonderful service but the scrapping community is what I treasure, everyone is passionate about what they do, supportive and fun. Bri and the design team put together two monthly challenges and also offer online crops throughout the year with loads of challenges. Their June challenges included a sketch challenge and a ‘share your favourite technique’ challenge.

Draw! — My entry for the Anna Craft Cupboard, June 2018, sketch challenge.

My entry for the sketch challenge hit most of my self-imposed rules. I dragged out some old purple rubber text stamps and created some text embellishments using scraps of old papers. I had fun smooshing watercolour paint to create the rainbow background, then I scribbled over the paint with a Zig writer pen trying to recreate my grandsons drawing. I used some older KaiserCraft border dies and newer Uniquely Creative scribbly circle dies. Then I topped it off with some text quotes from my recent purchase, the Cocoa Vanilla ‘Boys Rule’collection.

Awesome - One Cool Kid — My entry for the June 2018, Anna’s Craft Cupboard challenge.

My favourite, go to technique is stencilling. It is such a quick and easy way to create interesting backgrounds. This layout is also made from the Cocoa Vanilla ‘Boys Rule’ collection, I love the embellishment collections with this range and bought every one. They are super versatile and I have been using them for a whole range of layouts. The stencilled background was created from one of my favourite KaiserCraft stencils, the diamond pattern layers really well and creates great texture when you overlap it. I used my very old Ranger ‘Pool’ Adirondack Brights ink and the Stazon Jet black ink. The Stazon black looks very light as I intentionally sponged it very lightly, after sponging off the excess dark, full strength ink on a scrap of paper. I also bumped up the grunge of the paper by flicking on some black, brown and blue watercolour paint.