Thursday 16 June 2016

Old is New Again − Counterfeit Kit June Challenge 3

Hi there,

and welcome to June Challenge #3 at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge! The prompt is
"Old is New Again: Showcase the oldest item in your kit in a new & fresh way!"

My oldest items were the floral papers from The Sweet Blossom Stack by Die Cuts with a View: one 12x12 paper and a 12x12 that has tags in different sizes.



I picked three other papers in shades of aqua/mint green/teal. I cut the solid mint green cardstock in half to make a 6x6 card.



This was the perfect moment to open the Studio Calico wood veneer package I got recently...



I was once again crafting at night so I didn't get to take process pictures, I'm afraid. But here's the finished card!



In addition to the papers and wood veneer, I used stamping inks, 7 Dots Studio Alpha Stickers, Geometric Neon Washi tape from Papermania Docrafts Capsule collection and Liquid Pearls glue paint in Mint Green.

Although I didn't have any of their papers this time, just the alphabet, I was also inspired by the Gardening challenge at the 7 Dots Studio blog!



Another challenge theme that inspired me was Berries at Studio Leto.



I'm really happy with how the fuzzy cut painterly flower and branch look in the card! The paper was restless to use as such, and that's probably why I hadn't used it. It definitely needed a new and fresh look from this challenge!



For those of you who aren't familiar with the The Counterfeit Kit Challenge, it's is all about putting together our own kits from what we have, inspired by actual kit club kits. I'm happy to be their Guest Designer this month and got to Counterfeit the May kit from Hip Kit Club. If you want to see what else I included in my kit, it's here!



Thank you so much to Leslie and the team at Counterfeit Kit Challenge for inviting me as the June 2016 Guest Designer! It has been a lot of fun and I continue to be inspired by the kit I created. A ready made kit is also very easy to take with me when I spend some summer weeks in the countryside, so that's an extra plus side!



Thank you for coming and hope to see you again soon!

Monday 6 June 2016

Amazing Glass House − Counterfeit Kit June Challenge 1

Hello! Today's the day for June Challenge #1 at Counterfeit Kit, where I am happy to be the Guest Designer this month.



The challenge prompt is to be inspired by one of these mood boards at Burnett's Boards − you're free to choose one that works with the color/mood of your own counterfeit kit!

The images that you see on the main page are only partial so if something looks promising, take a closer look!

There are some really gorgeous color combos & moods... This one seemed spot-on for my May Hip Kit Club inspiration this month:

Neon Wedding



The neon colours inspired me to use the yellows and pinks of my kit. And I loved the decoration with the hanging glass pieces and the alphabet in different colours. The letter O in the word LOVE has a metallic finish that made me think of using my sequins. Instead of alphabet, I cut out and decorated two arrows from my kit.



In the background, I've used some gesso and acrylic paints in neon orange and yellow. I thinned them with water so that I could splash them like watercolours. There is also some pencil doodling and stamping.



I used washi tapes and strips of my papers to create the background for my photo.





I'd love to see you pop in and link your own challenge project at Counterfeit Kit Challenge. It'll be so fun to see what mood boards everyone will choose!



Thank you for coming!

Saturday 4 June 2016

Hellos and Bows − Forgeries on the Fourth for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge

Hi again!

I am honoured to be Guest Designing for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge this month, and at CKC, the Fourth of each month is for Forgeries!

In other words, we look for DIY solutions to replace some of the items included in the original inspiration kit. This month, it is the May Kit from Hip Kit Club. The image is from their website and it is their Embellishment Kit, more precisely.



And here's what I made!



I had just learned an easy way to make a tiny bow, so I decided to make paper clips with bows! I learned it from a Finnish crafting friend/teacher/shopkeeper Mira Ekonen, whose tutorial can be found here! There are images, but if you need guidelines in your own language, just Google "fork bow" and plenty of tutorials will come up.

I didn't have ribbons in matching solid colours, but I'm really delighted with these polka dot organza ones that I found.





Other items that I love in the Hip Kit Club Embellishment Kit are the handwritten-looking word stickers and chipboards. I had just bought the Sizzix die set called Warm Winter Wishes, where one of the dies is the word Hello.



I made the words into stickers, backing my paper scraps with 50 mm wide double sided tape before I die cut it. Rather than in craft stores, in Finland and Sweden you can find a wide tape like this in Biltema, a car supplies store of all places! It is also very economical and good quality.

Thank you for coming, and don't forget to pop into the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog to see what handmade embellishments or other items the regular DT members did!

Friday 3 June 2016

Sweet Macarons − Bookmark Set for Scrap Africa

Hi everyone and welcome − it's mood board time again at Scrap Africa!



I made this set of mixed media bookmarks inspired by the lovely fresh colours of the mood board, especially the aqua colour. And of course, the delicious macarons! They are from a scrapbooking paper and I added the glossy finish on each one with Glossy Accents.



Above is the lovely Scrap Africa Mood Board 75 by Denise van Deventer!



Whenever I intend to create with pastel colours, my palette tends to go a bit darker or brighter than the original inspiration. But that's perfectly fine at Scrap Africa! Our boards are not colour challenges and are therefore free for your own interpretation.



I used Gelli printed papers, leftovers of scrapbooking papers, stenciling, stamping, heat embossing, and for mounting each macaron image, I had old wallpaper pieces.

I am also joining the Summer themed June challenge at Wow! Embossing Powders and the Bookmark challenge at Art Piaskownica.



In this photo I had the flash on so it caught the Glossy Accents finishing really efficiently!



The bookmarks are sized 2 3/4 x 10 inches. I wanted them very large to have a lot of room for different collage elements. That does make them too tall for a carry-along book, so if I want to keep them in good condition, they are best suited for reading at home. Nowadays I often have many books going on at the same time, so I need plenty of bookmarks!



For us in Finland, the beginning of June already counts as summer and this is also our end of school weekend. We're leaving for our summer cottage right after that and I've been busy packing some crafting supplies to take with me. I'm also taking the kit I made for guesting the Counterfeit Kit Challenge, so I'll be sure to create some more with those products this month!



Before that, you're most welcome back tomorrow to see the Forgeries on the Fourth here at my blog and at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge site! There'll be cool ideas for DIY embellishments and other replacements of our inspiration kit.

Until then, happy Friday!

Wednesday 1 June 2016

Hip State of Mind: Guest Designing for Counterfeit Kit Challenge

Hello everyone, and happy June! My exciting news today is that I've been invited to Guest Design for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge!

At the Counterfeit Kit Challenge, the idea is to be inspired of a given kit from existing kit clubs, and put together a Counterfeit version from your own stash. It’ll help you see your products in a new light and give new ideas for using them. Before this, I've joined the Counterfeit Kit Challenge once last year, with a very different kit.

Can anyone guess which was our inspiration kit this month?



Here you go! It is the May 2016 Kit from Hip Kit Club. (photos by Hip Kit Club)

May 2016 Main Kit from Hip Kit Club



The May 2016 Kit from Hip Kit Club is a fun mix of colours, but also a cool contrast of graphic black, white and navy. Looking at the papers I had in my stash, I decided to go a bit more in the black and white direction. You'll see my picks soon, but first...

May 2016 Paper Kit from Hip Kit Club!



The kit has several fun patterns, like triangles, irregular dots and doodled five point stars. It also has some painterly papers, flowers and circles that again make a fun contrast.

Inspired by these features, I started building my Counterfeit Kit. But let's look at all the Hip Kit Club add-ons first:

May 2016 Project Life Kit from Hip Kit Club



May 2016 Embellishment Kit from Hip Kit Club



And last but not least, May 2016 Cardstock Kit from Hip Kit Club



Now let's take closer look at my kit, starting from papers in the photo below. From top left:

Canvas Corp – Yellow & White Big Stripe
My Mind's Eye − Love Me Do − Heart of the Matter
Studio Light − Flower Delight
Die Cuts with a View − The Sweet Blossom Stack − painterly floral paper
Die Cuts with a View − The Sweet Blossom Stack − painterly striped paper
Tiger − pink paper with black doodles
Tiger − black paper with white dots



Bottom row:

unknown – black with white stripes
Die Cuts with a View − The Sweet Blossom Stack − white polka dot on black canvas-looking paper
We R Memory Keepers − It Factor − Hello Bobby
Dear Lizzy − Documentary − Mondays
Sodalicious − Cozy Moments − Time for a Cup Of

And here below, from left:

Kaisercraft − Bow & Arrow − Sunrise
unknown − aqua check pattern
unknown − teal with polka dots
unknown − sea green/white diagonal stripes
unknown − pink triangle pattern
unknown − four 6x6 papers with black, white and grey patterns



A general view of the embellishments and Project Life supplies I found to go in my kit:

Here are the embellishments for a closer look! From top left,

Maya Road − Rag Tag Animals, Mini Sheer Set
Queen & Co – Twinkle Goosebumps
unknown − metal frames
Studio Calico – Wood Veneer



Middle: I found plenty of washi tapes in suitable colours and patterns.

Papermania Docrafts − Capsule − Geometric Neon Washi tapes
unknown − white with blue ledger
unknown − white with blue stripes
MT Washi tape − sea green/white stripe
Papermania Docrafts − Capsule − Spots & Stripes Brights washi, dark blue with dots
MT Washi tape − narrow yellow with text
MT Washi tape − traditional Japanese Samekomon aka Wavy Dots on dark blue
Papermania Docrafts − Capsule − Geometric Neon Washi tapes re-shown out of their box
unknown − pink with stripes

Always good to add a mixed media element: American Crafts − Pop! Microbeads − Lipgloss

And bottom row:

Papermania Docrafts − Neon Pink Adhesive Gems
Papermania Docrafts − Neon Yellow Adhesive Gems
Doodlebug Design − Sprinkles, Lilac Assortment
Navy blue sequins
American Crafts − Thickers Delight −Glitter Letter Stickers
American Crafts − Thickers Playroom − Felt Letter Stickers

In Finland we have this cool tape store called Teippitarha (Tape Garden), that also delivers internationally. Check it out if you are a fan of washi tape − they have a huge selection of tapes, also the MT brand which is the original Japanese one.

(*Note: this is not sponsored advertising, apart from a postage-free next order, having mentioned the store in my blog.)

Then let's check out my Project Life add-on.



Die Cuts with a View − The Sweet Blossom Stack − 12x12 of journaling cards
Kaisercraft − Shine Bright − Mango, 12x12 of journaling cards
large black paper clips
Papermania Docrafts − Capsule − Spots & Stripes Brights, leftover journaling tags
We R Memory Keepers − It Factor − 6x6 paper pad
13arts − leftover words and arrows for fuzzy cutting
Sodalicious − Whoo Lives Here − DIY journaling cards from leftovers
Sodalicious − Cozy Moments − So Delicious Notes

And last but not least, my cardstock choices! In addition to the solid cardstock, I have these two papers from 7 Dots Studio. They're previously lightly gessoed and I may or may not use them in one of the May Challenges at Counterfeit Kit.

7 Dots Studio − Love is in the Air − Whisper of the Tree
7 Dots Studio − Domestic Goddess − Overused Tablecloth

Yes, there will be more to look at in the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog! In addition to the challenge of building your own kit, there are also weekly challenges. Before the first of those, do come back on the 4th for our Forgeries on the Fourth Blog Hop, where the DT presents DIY embellishments to add to our kits!

And to see the rest of today's Counterfeit Kit Reveal Blog Hop, here's the list of the regular Design Team members!

Julene
Kelly
Lesley
Leslie
Lisa
Lynnette
Margie
Susan
Susanne
Jemma

Thank you for coming and I hope to see you soon again!

Edit: Blog hop list updated.