Fall Back

After a three month break from the kit building routine, I am ready to fall back, into the flow of creating and using kits made using the inspiration of the monthly Counterfeit Kit Challenge. I busted through two kits last month (my May and June compilations) and disassembled a bonus kit I built a year ago, but never shared here or used in scrapping, (I really like building kits from my stash. Sometime I do it just because.) All that remains in my backlog of kits is the one from July, Community First. And I should be turning to it right now. Finish what you start and follow through responsibly with a wrap-up blog, says the analytical part of my brain. But it is the beginning of the month and that means a new inspiration kit to copy and well, you know how it is with us artistic types. Always want to look at what is new and pretty, and well, pretty and new.


Oh how pretty is this?

And how scrumptious is the add-on? 

 The inspiration kit is from Jenni Bowlin Learn all about the challenge here

I see blues and golds and textures that bring to mind crisp air, clear skies and crunchy leaves underfoot. Just perfect for the season. So to commemorate yesterday, Sunday, November 3, the day that we "fall back" off daylight savings time. And to recognize my renewed commitment as I fall back into a scrapping routine. I would like to present to you my November Counterfeit Kit Challenge kit, aptly named "Fall Back"

The usual start is with the papers.

Top row: Three colours of cardstock from Close to My Heart (CTMH).
Multi-Striped, Dream Street Papers, Birdie Bits, Building A Home, Audrey Neal Designs.
 The next two are from a stack that I think was by Deja vu.

Stacks seem to just sit there for me. I forget to look in them for papers. This summer I took apart most all of my stacks and resorted them into rainbow sections. As this kit shows, they are more apt to be used by me if they are sorted into colour families.

Bottom row: The first piece is an odd duck. About 20"x16" it is a folded piece of high quality paper, I found at a thrift shop. It is too heavy for gift wrap so I am guessing it originated in a craft/scrap kit.
Blue plaid, manufacturer unknown. (muk)
Scroll, again from the Deja vu stack.
Off white, Core'dinations Whitewash collection.
Blue diamonds, muk.

I wanted some more variety so made an add-on paper kit.

Die cut Making Memories.
Lattice with corn motif, muk.
Multi pattern with dots, CTMH Dreamin'.
Floral, Basic Grey, Boxer, Slim Fit.
Borders pattern, Basic Grey, Boxer, Corduroy.

For Alphas, I added CTMH mini epoxy letters. I will use other alphas as needed.

Also a roll of washi. Why is it that the manufacturers don't put their name on the inside of the roll? I have only two rolls that identify their makers, and they were from a garden shop.

For messy technique, which I need to encourage myself to incorporate them by adding them to the kit. This month is stamps from Tim Holtz Collection, Stampers Anonymous, Artistic Collage

Then I decided to make it easy on myself. Rummaging through past kit remains, and half packs of die-cuts, I chose a selection that I though might work well for me, without worrying if they resembled the inspiration kit. My goal it to use up these hangers-on.

Some of the items shown are from the following;
Die cuts,  Glitz Whatnot Vintage Blue.
Dimensional stickers, Forever in Time .
My Mind's Eye, Lost and Found Two, Rosy "Everything" Dry Goods patterned paper the "b" side. Will cut apart to use the vintage newspaper ads.

Layered stickers, My Mind's Eye, Follow your heart.
Odd bits and snips, Making Memories, Vintage Findings, Mini birthday kit.
Flowered buttons, H.A.Kidd , Inspire.
Rosettes, American Crafts, delights, Spice.
Slide mount frames, Hot off the press, Attachments, Travel.
Blue chipboard banner, Teresa Collins, Everyday Moments, Chipboard Elements.
Bingo cards and journal cards left overs from Simple Stories cut apart pages.

Borders, K&Company, Que Sera Sera.
Overlay, Seven Gypsies.
Glimmer glass, Tattered Angles, Regal.
Mirror bird, Heidi Swapp.
Asst. stickers, Glitz; Creative Memories.

Glassine paper, Tim Hotz. From this I counterfeited feathers by stamping or free hand and fussy cutting.

Word/definition stickers, muk.
Burlap bag, salvaged from packaging.
Vintage look tags salvaged from Cactus clothes.

and a little bag found in my drawer with buttons, tickets, die cuts, lace, flair, fabric flower (Prima), ribbon, some bits of wood from packaging, etc. all in the brown/gold/orange part of the spectrum.
Journal cards I made using last months leftovers.
Finally a bag of word strips and mini alphas that came from the charity shop. muk.

I expect I will be reaching for ribbon and fibers, inks and punches. I usually do, so there isn't a need to include them to make sure they get used.

So now it's time to make a mug of cocoa, and flip though my photo storage albums. Find some good fall photos that have been waiting to be scrapped.

Thanks for stopping by. Double thanks for comments.

Wrap up for Country Cousins

The June mega kit, Country Cousins, has been providing inspiration throughout the summer and now still, into fall. Last weekend, I took it to a retreat and blew through it, decimating its contents. On Wednesday, at Scrapbook Club, I used some that last snips to make counterfeit Project Life cards. At first I tried to keep track of which of the two kits, the layout came from. Either Sam and Mel, or Heather and Gwen. But then when the four kits started to play together, I couldn't tell them apart so for convenience they were all filed together.

Started with a busy layout, all layered up just like my dear subject in the photo.

Used some low quality pics off facebook. Turned the fuzzy one to b&w and layered vellum over it to distract from the pixelation.

It was a special Mom's day. We were all together (surprisingly rare considering the close proximity we are to each other) and 2013 brought around my mother's 80th birthday.

I hope that my scrapbooking can evolve to being less event oriented and more subject motivated.

Oops, not done. Need some journaling to tell the story here.

Do you scrapbook special cards too? My problem is that they are all special to me.

Rebecca and Cohen shared their birthday party.

Because the kit was around for several months, and because I printed lots of pictures on Mother's Day right after our dinner. I kind of lost track of what I had scrapped and have several similar layouts. Oh well, I really enjoyed making them.

This lo was for Whimsical Musings 100 celebration.

Probably go back to this one and fill it up. Too much "white space" for me to feel comfortable with it. Or maybe I can convince myself it's a "zen thing" and call it done.

Very happy with Garden Girl. The journaling is about how when Rebecca saw these photos a couple of months after they were taken, she declared "I want to do it again!"

 It was a banner day when we brought home our new acquisition. A '56 Chevy.

Lady Lucy had her first spa day experience. I took apart and used the flower that they had pinned to her collar. 

A simple, quick layout. No dimension. No array of products or techniques. Just photos, paper, a strip of ribbon and adhesive. 

Really enjoyed making this one. Photo taken of the view just outside my kitchen window.

Cropped down 4x6 photos to 3x3. Note to self, try this more often.

The last day of the weekend retreat, I took inspiration from Lisa H and a single photo layout with lots of layers of paper. Using assembly line techniques, I laid out four pieces of cardstock that were left in the kits. Chose a photo for each one. Then sorted all the off cuts to each photo/cardstock combo that it best supported. Next, keeping half an eye on a sketch I had made of Lisa's work I assembled four layouts in about five hours.

Then I finished off the bits with a small stack of  journal cards.

And thus I concluded the mega (four-in-one) kit, Country Cousins to be completed and kissed it goodbye.  Just two full sheets and two half sheets of pp remained to return to the stash. Normally I would have pushed through to the end, bringing in more paper and items from stash to keep the mojo moving, but I was eager to finish this kit and get ready for the next Counterfeit Kit Challenge, which starts today, so I will see you again soon with a new kit reveal. That was quite a long sentence, so you need to read it really fast, just like I would say it, all in one breath.


Thanks for dropping by. Double thanks for comments.

Wrap up for "Mother May I?"

Sometime during the month of May, I seem to have fallen off the scrappy wagon. It was no surprise that the fine summer kept me outside, trimming trees and picking posies. But even, when I was inside, the paper muse just didn't seem to call me to the studio to putter and play.

I still enjoyed making my monthly Counterfeit Kit Challenge. But by July, I had five kits built and on the go. With no layouts coming from them, I called a moratorium on kit building. When the kits are used up or dismantled, I promised myself, (and my CKC friends) that I could again, indulge in the guiltless pleasure of shopping my stash to build a new kit.Today, I am a step closer to joining in the fun again. Today, I finished using my May Counterfeit Kit, "Mother May I?"

(cheers! whistles!! high fives all around!!!)


The kit started as such:

Details here

I put it all in a box with pair of scissors, and a tape runner. Shook it vigorously, and poured out these:

The background for the final one was made by cutting one inch strips and covering a 12x12 sheet in a seemingly random order. When DH saw it, his first comment was that the layers of paper are referencing to the layers in the lasagna. Uh-huh! That's what I was going for. That, and next to no bits to add to the scraps box.

What is your best scrap busting tip? Please share. I have four more kits to work through, and I could use your ideas.

Hop along with me.

Welcome to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Members Blog Hop. 

You should be arriving from Lesley at  http://ohblogitifyoucantbeatthem.blogspot.co.uk

If not, you may want to go to Counterfeit Kit Challenge and start at the beginning.  http://www.counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com/

The challenge was to pick a project that is either not finished or something that you always intended to start and FINISH IT!

I began with the goal of finishing my daughter’s wedding album. A daunting task, for certain. Usually I work in non-chronological order, creating a layout or two with whatever photos or papers are calling to me at the moment. Might be a current event or one from three or four years ago.  And my style may change from one day to the next so that the layouts in most my albums do not relate to each other. They are each one, a unique individual canvas or short story.

 

Wedding albums, by their nature of being one (major) event with lots and lots of photos, have the inherent requirement of some sort of coordination amongst the pages. They require forethought and planning. And God forbid that you find a couple of new photographs after you have it all organized. (cough…cough)

The easy part of this album is that it is not the main, showcase for the event. My daughter has completed her story already in two albums. With two hundred pages of photos and journaling, the day has been well documented. So then why am I making this album? Well, for several reasons. I made one for her sister’s wedding, so I feel somewhat obligated to give fair time. Those two beautiful albums she made reside at her home, not mine. And because there was a large stack of photos, duplicates and out takes that didn’t make it into her albums. Always inspired to work with what I have, my personal challenge was to create a story book that doesn’t look like it was made from left overs.  

Now for confession time. I did not complete the project as called for by the challenge. The album is not yet ready to be put on the shelf and viewed by visitors. It is, however much, much further along than it was at the start of the month. I can lay claim that I have finished some of the steps towards completion.

The pages were all designed using the power layout system. This approach uses your time effectively and your paper efficiently. It produces albums in a clean, classic design. The secret to power layout is its assembly line process and standardized measurements. This results in a reduced number of design decisions. Seconds are saved at every point which can add up to hours saved at the completion of an album. 

Once the photos and papers were chosen and cut for each page, they were then glued down. Next step, I assembled the album. Then I began adding titles, and embellishments. As I am treating this as a photo book, there will not be much, if any, journaling in it. At the moment, more than half the pages are sporting pretty bits, charming titles and poignant prose.  So while the album is not fully complete, most of it is ready for its page protectors. And I take comfort in the knowledge that every small decision made on each page takes me a step closer to the final, finished production.

Maybe you would like to have a peek at it?  

 

78 pages

Cover page

Example of the results of the Power Layout System

Cute little clusters

 The November wedding had an autumnal colour scheme. I used Creative Memories Divine power pallet and incorporated lots of different stickers, rub-ons, and bling that had found their way into my wedding stash. Using the paper line gave continuity to the pages while the eclectic clusters gives personality to each layout without ending up  with a matchy-matchy feel.

 Fabric leaves that had decorated the carpet in the chapel were saved to be worked into clusters, either featured whole as in the example above or cut to fit in layers, as in the example below.

 There were some duplicates of colour photos that offered the opportunity for dimension by  fussy cutting one and layering it over the other.

 Confession time again. One page has not been designed. Need to secure an enlargement of the bride entering the chapel.

 Now here's a lovely cluster that contains no less than six different manufacturer's product.

 I also pulled out my cuttlebug and put it to good use. Here the wings were made from a scrap strip and Tim Holtz embossing folder.

 Throughout the album I used these Creative Memories Wedding Accents, Paper Titles and Frames. No idea how old they are but they probably belong in a paper trend museum. I put the frames through the cuttlebug to give them the swiss dot effect and left the titles, smooth.

The happy couple

The happy family

One more cute little cluster

Next we will be going to visit Lynette at    http://sassyscrapper2010.blogspot.com

Thanks for stopping by. Double thanks for comments.