CKC Challenge #1: Tone on Tone Background

Challenge # 1 charges us to create a tone on tone background.  How you achieve that is entirely up to you.  Tone on tone brings interest to a page without letting things get too busy.  It provides that little somthin'-somethin' that plain cardstock lacks.  So, I grabbed some of that plain turquoise cardstock that I added to my June Piña Colada kit and got stamping with a tropical flower stamp and a turquoise stamp pad.

Here's what I came up with...

I added some bling, also in turquoise to keep with the tone on tone, to add a bit of dimension.

Here's a closer look...

There are many ways you can add tone on tone to your layouts. 

 Stamping, paper punches, misting...  

Try one out today and be sure to share with us over on Mr. Linky.

Thanks for stopping by!

Counterfeit Kit Challenge June Reveal and Blog Hop

Well, hello there!  It has been a while, but I am back after a little hiatus.  It was sweet to hear through the grapevine that some of you were looking for me and my kit.  I missed you, too, but it is nice to take a little creative break.  I am ready to come back out and play!  The fun starts over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog, so if you've stumbled in, be sure to start back over there.

This month Bethany had a hard time choosing between 2 kits to counterfeit, so she put them both out there as options!  And you know, a girl NEEDS options...especially when it comes to scrappy supplies!

Option #1 didn't speak to me so much.  Maybe it will appeal to you, so I'll provide the link here.

Option #2, on the other hand...SWOON!  I chose this one instantly.  Here, take a look:

This Good Day Sunshine paper pack by Simple Stories is the majority of the Summer School kit presented by Clique Kits as seen here.  Those fun summery colors set against the rich wood tone just transported me to a happy place.  Since I like to share, let me invite you to my happy place under the awning where I have this month's kit displayed.

If you like piña coladas...and gettin' caught in the rain...  Sorry, that song has been in my head since I came up with the title!

Let's look at the papers and see how I made the connection from the inspiration.

Bright colors and wood tone paper is such an interesting and tropical combo.

The tropical chipboard pieces were a recent bargain purchase and worked so well with this kit.  It was meant to be!

Could those wood veneers be any cuter?

Now if Margaritas are more your drink of choice, we have paper straws and summery tags to help wet your scrappy whistle.

This month the printer's tray is brimming with tickets (courtesy of Leslie), flowers, a handmade felt polaroid from Whimsical Nature (aka Pam), View Master reels (as a nod to the inspiration) and a little whale sticker from Vineyard Vines...to name a few.

Ahhhh...after a long harsh winter, summer is finally here!  Help yourself to a drink and some scrappy inspiration.  Come kit and scrap with us over at Counterfeit Kit. 

This month I am the caboose of the hop, but if you've missed anyone along the way, here is the line-up.

Bethany  http://inspiredscrapper-bethany.blogspot.com

Angela http://colestoucan.blogspot.co.uk/

Jemma http://just-jimjams.blogspot.com/

Julene  http://julenebydesign.blogspot.com.au/

Lesley G.  http://ohblogitifyoucantbeatthem.blogspot.co.uk/

Lisa H. http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com/
Leslie  http://lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.com/

Lynnette http://sassyscrapper2010.blogspot.com/

A fond farewell to Milissa!

  A talented scrapper, faithful commenter and true Master Forger.  

We will miss you. 

 Please come back and play when you can. 

 Hugs!

CKC Challenge #1 - Inspired by a Blog Design

Our first challenge over at Counterfeit Kit was to be inspired by one of the Master Forgers' blogs.  I actually fell in love with our guest designer Maggie's blog.  Her butterfly and banner have a fresh and fun look that says spring.  Check out her blog here.

Here is how I translated it to my layout:

And here are some close-ups:

I used my April Counterfeit Kit, "Breakfast in Bed" which just happens to be the same color palette as Maggie's header AND I had several butterflies in my embellishment tray.  PERFECT!

Thanks for the inspiration, Maggie!

Remember you can join in all of our challenges and participate in our month end blog hop.  Find out more over at the CKC blog here.

Counterfeit Kit Challenge April Reveal Blog Hop (and some shenanigans, too!)

We're up to some high jinks over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog in honor of April Fool's Day. If you are a faithful follower, you'll probably see that our regular blog hop order (listed below) has been mixed up just to mess with you a bit.  LOL!  It is no joke, though, that Maggie is our guest designer!  Join me in welcoming her to our team this month.  Welcome, Maggie!  You should have arrived from Stephanie's blog and after my post, you will hop on to Lisa.

As you visit us in our willy nilly order, you're going to encounter a little game featuring some facts and fibs about your Master Forgers. As you read the three statements, you choose which one you think is a downright lie. Post your guess in MY comments below and you will be entered into a random drawing for a prize from our fearless leader, Bethany.  You have until April 16th to enter. Only one guess per person per blog will be counted, but you can comment on EVERY BLOG! A winner will be chosen by random number generator from all eligible comments on all blogs in the hop. The winner & the bogus Design Team factoids will be announced on the CKC blog on April 18th.  Got it? Great! Here we go...

1. I once had a crafting conversation with THE Martha Stewart.

2. I received a call to play the travel trivia game on Live! with Regis and Kelly and won a trip to St. Lucia.

3. I met the former New York City Mayor, Rudy Guiliani, on a street corner in New York.

Okay...now onto our kit, which is also not the standard this month. Instead of using a traditional kit club, Bethany provided us with a fabulous color palette and photo inspiration from CSI. Take a look and be amazed...

Since we're doing everything avant garde this month, I decided I would create my kit almost exclusively from my scrap drawer. As you can see below, my drawer is full of some pretty great paper scraps.

Keeping the inspiration color palette in mind, I sorted out the scraps that would work best for the kit.

 Eye Opening Turquoise

Buttery Yellow

Honey Dew Melon

Blueberry Muffin

Farm Fresh Eggs

Next, I assembled them together in a vignette (my signature way to present my kits) to create this month's kit entitled...

The dreamy bedroom scene in the inspiration lead me to my scrappy Breakfast in Bed. Let's take a closer look at the tray...

Some "Alpha-bits" make a good start to a layout.

Fresh chipboard flowers and sprays of paper strips will really dress up my layouts.

And a closer look at the selection of embellishments in my printer's tray...

Isn't the packaging FAB on that assortment of trims?  Will definitely be re-purposing that!

Now, since I don't have any full sheets of paper, I'm giving myself permission to add those in throughout the month, but the emphasis will be on using the scraps that are here. So, here's the line up for our crazy mixed-up blog hop.

Guest Designer Maggie: http://maggiebscrapblog.blogspot.fr

Bethany: http://inspiredscrapper-bethany.blogspot.com

Stephanie:  http://skylinepaperie.blogspot.ca

Lynnette: http://www.sassyscrapper2010.blogspot.com  YOU ARE HERE

Lisa: http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com  VISIT LISA NEXT

Leslie: http://lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.com

Lesley: http://ohblogitifyoucantbeatthem.blogspot.co.uk

Julene: http://julenebydesign.blogspot.co.uk

Jemma: http://just-jimjams.blogspot.com

Angela: http://colestoucan.blogspot.co.uk

And remember...Breakfast, especially a scrappy one, is THE most important meal of the day!

Using my March Kit and Seeing Stars

This past weekend my daughter celebrated her 7th birthday so a little photo shoot was in order.  She is head over heels for American Girl dolls so it seemed appropriate that Caroline should be in the pictures as well.  The dolls cost a pretty penny and some of the accessories are through the roof!  What a lucky girl to have one and the chance to choose another for her birthday!   Thinking of lucky 7 and lucky stars reminded me of the Whimsical Musings prompt to be inspired by stars.  While this isn't a scientific connection to the stars, I thought the layout did fit nicely with Lisa's prompt.    In my tucked away journaling, I write about how lucky my kids are to have so many blessings.  I remind them to appreciate and take care of what they have and not lose sight of the important stuff like PEOPLE.  And while things are great, it's the love and relationships in our lives that hold the most meaning.  I think they do get it, but it's always good to remind them :)

Here's my lucky layout using my March Counterfeit Kit, "Chalk and Talk".

Be sure to count YOUR lucky stars, too.  Thanks for stopping by.

Counterfeit Kit Challenge #1 - Using Watercolors

I seem to be one step ahead of the game!  If you remember, last month I did a tutorial on watercolor heart paper.  I used every last scrap of that paper while creating lovey-dovey pages with my February "Love Birds" kit.  Well, that's okay to use watercolors again because they are easy, fun and inexpensive to play around with.  While not necessary, I did purchase some thicker watercolor paper to prevent sogginess, but regular cardstock works just fine with just a little bit of care.  The texture of actual watercolor paper also provides a nice effect.

I kept my technique rather simple just creating subtle blocks of color and drips of paint.  Here's my layout using my March kit, "Chalk and Talk".

Some on-trend stars in turquoise and green tie in nicely to my subtle watercolor mats.

The mini canvas of watercolor provides a nice contrast to the black and doesn't detract from the real beauty in this layout!   <3

Remember, you can join in the fun by creating a watercolor inspired layout for our Reader's Blog Hop.  More details on the CKC blog.  We would love to see your creations.

Counterfeit Kit Challenge March Reveal

Welcome to a new month of stealthy scrapbooking as we rummage through our supplies to assemble copycat versions of an inspiration kit.  Our adventure begins over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog here and you should have arrived here via Leslie and her fabulously creative kit.  The whole line-up, including our guest designer is listed below.  Welcome Elaine!  Hope you have fun this month!

This time around we are looking at Cocoa Daisy's February offerings as seen here.  There are many varieties from which to choose your inspiration...art journaling, project life, straight up scrapbooking.  And even if you don't do one or the other, don't feel you can't draw your inspiration from any of the choices.

With chalkboard art being so on-trend, I was drawn to this one entitled, "Mood Board".  Here's the inspiration:

 I love the chalkboard art scrap supplies so much that I've also taken a stab at creating some as a home decor piece that I change up seasonally.  Here's my creation especially made for my kit along with this month's collection of goodies appropriately named...

Chalk and Talk

I took some color inspiration from the sheet of tickets and receipts in the inspiration for my papers.  Since this was an add-on, there was a limited number of papers and I knew I would need more to meet my scrappy needs throughout the month.  Here's an up-close look:

Here's a look at some of the embellishments I added.  Of course, I had to raid my MME Chalk Studio stash as well as this fabulous piece on the end from DCWV Vintage Collector series, but not everything needs to be chalky.  I am desperate for some better weather and brighter colors, so pops of lime green and pink give me hope for warmer days ahead.

I stuck with black and grey letter stickers to drive home that chalkboard feel, but I can't wait to use that new turquoise Heidi Swapp Color Shine to add that WOW factor to my layouts!

My handy dandy printer's tray wouldn't fit into my vignette, but it was still worth photographing to show you all the goodies.  

Flair, wood veneers, journaling cards, baker's twine, ribbon and even polka dot crepe paper will make interesting additions to a page.  I highly recommend a little tray like this.  Bits and bobs get used and it is so much fun to fill each little compartment.

So, let's re-cap.  Lots of black and chalkboard accents coupled with pops of color make a kit that should put you in a good mood.  I'm not sure I'm enough of a chalkboard artist to be writing menus in restaurants, but it is fun to play at home.  Try it...worst case, you just erase it.  And better yet, try assembling a chalkboard art kit with supplies you have - even if it's just black paper, a white gel pen and some papers with a punch of color!

As promised, here's the blog hop order:

Guest Designer : Elaine http://chidkids26.blogspot.co.uk

Angela http://colestoucan.blogspot.co.uk/

Jemma http://just-jimjams.blogspot.com/

Julene http://julenebydesign.blogspot.com.au/

Lesley G. http://ohblogitifyoucantbeatthem.blogspot.co.uk/

Lisa H. http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com/

Leslie http://lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.com/

Lynnette http://sassyscrapper2010.blogspot.com/

Millisa http://millermall.blogspot.com/

Stephanie http://skylinepaperie.blogspot.ca/

Want to play along?  Post your kit over on Mr. Linky on the CKC home page in the sidebar.  You'll be glad you did!