Counterfeit Card Kit {Counterfeit Kit Challenge}

I love the process of putting together my kits for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge each month so given the opportunity to put together a Card Kit, based on this month's Inspiration Kit, I became a little bit excited! Another kit to put together? Where do I sign? 

I wanted a card kit that would work well with my main kit because I knew that I'd eventually want to start mixing things together, especially when it comes to all the little leftovers. With that in mind, I started with some 6x6 papers from Studio Calico's Heydey and Dear Lizzy's Neopolitan, which will co-ordinate perfectly with the selection I put into my main kit. Some amazingly awesome patterned papers from Lawn Fawn's Dewey Decimal Collection and Ils' Summer Dreamer, along with some plain cardstock in complementary colours added more options, but not so many that I'll feel overwhelmed!

I used this 3 x3 Envy Template to emulate the cute, little envelopes in the Inspiration Kit. Then used the rest of the sheets to make some card bases to fit - I do like my mini-cards! 

As I still had a lot of embellishments, including ribbon and buttons in my main kit, so I went with an ecelectic mix of little stickers, rosettes, resin flowers and leaves that were just 'hanging around' on my desk and then threw in a couple of plain washi tapes for good measure. 

No card kit is complete without some multi-purpose stamps, so I've included two sets from Lawn Fawn's recent release - Happy Everything which literally covers all eventualities - seriously, no card-maker should be without this little gem of a stamp set -  and A Birdie Told Me, which makes a lovely change from using banners and labels.

So, although it might be nearly the end of the month, I still have some counterfeiting to share with you before the next inspiration kit is revealed on the 5th October. Stick with me.

Pennant Banner Tutorial

Today, I have a little tutorial for you all, inspired by The Counterfeit Kit Challenge, where I'm this month's Guest Designer. September's Counterfeit Inspiration Kit contained some of Maya Road's Canvas Pennants. They're a little bit too big for my style, so I created my own, much dinkier version using the Bannerific Stamp Set by Lawn Fawn. I can highly recommend purchasing this little lovely. It really is one of my favourite sets because each of the elements is adorable - perfect for cards and scrapbook layouts; and most especially for counterfeiting your own embellishments.

Your first step is to gather up some scraps in a colour combination which will suit your finished project and I chose colours that would compliment September's Counterfeit Kit. I then stamped directly onto my little pieces of patterned paper scraps - sometimes managing to fit on all five of the little pennants, sometimes only one or two. It's doesn't really matter, because you'll be cutting them out individually, so use up as many of those small scraps as possible!

Cut out all of your stamped pennant images and arrange them roughly into the order you'd like them to appear in your banner. Now it's time for some machine stitching. (If you're not a confident stitcher, try working your way through my recent series of tutorials Stitching On Paper.)

Start by setting your sewing machine to straight stitch and adjust the speed to it's slowest setting. Now place your first pennant piece under the presser foot, with the needle in place just above the outside edge of the pennant. Sew three or four stitches - aim to leave a little bit of space between your last stitch and the edge of pennant.

Ensure that you leave the needle in the 'down' position - then lift the presser foot and slide the next pennant into place, so that the edges of your pennants are close but not overlapping.

When the pennant is in place, drop the presser foot and continue stitching. Repeat until you have completed your banner - stitching to the very edge of the last pennant piece. Now remove the banner from your sewing machine, pulling on both working threads.

Knot the working threads at each end of your banner - this will stop the pennant pieces moving around - and use a needle or paper piercer to ensure that the knot is tight up against each end. Now display your banner proudly on your cards and layouts!

It's Autumn. Believe.

Over the weekend, I delved into one of my boxes of scraps (the large one full of long, thin strips of patterned paper) to make a sweet and simple card. The combination of colours that I chose reminded me instantly of autumn - although I could, of course, have been thinking about it subconsciously when I chose the colours. Who knows?

To decorate my card, I've used some of the teeny, tiny leaves and flowers from Lawn Fawn's Flutterby set; finishing off with a cute sentiment (which is part of the main sentiment from the same set.) Quite simple really. 

I'm thinking that I might just sit down and make a whole batch of cards, all with little strips, stitching and some stamping. It could be the perfect way to whittle down my box of scraps, while wasting away a happy, little autumn afternoon.

Learning Something New - Mini Album

I'm eagerly anticipating the start of Shimelle's Learn Something New Every Day at the weekend.I've taken part in this annual class many times and there is something wonderfully about revisiting an old favourite. One lesson that I have learnt the hard way though, is that if I don't prepare for the class, I never finish my album!

Using August's Counterfeit Kit has made it fairly easy to get started. I cut down a lot of cardstock and patterned papers to 3 x 5 inches, 'chomped' all of the corners and punched a hole in one end of each piece. To start making the base album feel a little bit more 'lived in', I've decorated the front using a little spritz of Mister Huey's Calico Shine; added a patterned paper effect with the camera stamp from Lawn Fawn's Say Cheese Too; and added a title with some Sassafras Alphas.

Inside the album, I've started to add some additional pattern with the chevron stamp from Papersmooches Geographic - it stamps wonderfully and, because it's a clear stamp, it's so easy to build up the pattern to create a fuller effect - and some extra embellishment with some of the smaller stamps from Papersmooches Teen Routine.

It's shaping up to be a fun album, full of colour and pattern - which is one reason why I love mini-albums, they really give you a chance to experiment with new ideas, products and techniques. Looks like I've started learning already!

Is anyone else planning on taking part this year? Have you done your preparation? Please let me know so that I can come and take a look. You see the best thing about starting class, is all the new friends!

Mini Lovin', Card Makin' {August's Counterfeit Kit}

It might seem a little late, but my Counterfeit Kit is finally ready for it's reveal. I've had hugely hectic month - and my little craft room looks like the four riders of the apocalypse stopped by for a spot of fun - so trying to find the time (and, um, find the supplies under all the mess) has made putting my kit together a little more difficult this month.

As Stitching On Paper (my very first paper-crafting class!) will wind down next weekend, I'm looking forward to starting Shimelle's annual class - Learn Something New Everyday - at the beginning of September. Having taken the class for the past two or three years now, I know that the best way for my to finish the class - with a complete album - is to prepare everything in advance. So, I've designed this month's Counterfeit Kit with that in mind.

I've once again pulled out my (now dwindling) box of scraps and have chosen papers from American Crafts, Echo Park, We Are Memory Keepers, Crate Paper and Bazill which echoed the colours and patterns from the inspiration kit - Summer Lovin'. I've then cut these papers down to 3x5 inches, chomped the corners and punched a hole in the end - creating the base for a mini album.

I've saved all of the scraps from cutting the pages for my mini-album and, as I'm hoping to have a card making session with a good friend very soon, I've added in some extra cardstock and that beautiful, chevron fabric paper from American Crafts. *swoon*

In order to choose my extras I made a small list of the embellishments in the inspiration kit and then set to with my stamp sets from Make The Day Special. I've used stamps from Say Cheese Too, Admit One,  Learning Year By Year and Blossom Stackers to create stars, circles, cameras and tickets. Then added a healthy dose of alphas, sequins, ric rac, sentiments, ribbon and twine. 

All based on the inspiration kit, but with my own little twists! You know how it is, right?

Stitching On Paper - Inspired To Stitch By Hand

Well, it's a little later than I expected but I'm having a little bit of a manic weekend - and am busy juggling house guests, far too many loads of laundry and ... um, a craft class. When I over-commit myself I really like to do it properly. Let's move on swiftly, shall we?

This morning’s Stitching On Paper - Introduction looked at all of the tools and supplies that you’ll need to start hand stitching. Hopefully, by now, you’ll have rummaged through your craft stash and will have everything that you need to hand.

If stitching on paper is something new to you, you might still be feeling a little apprehensive – so how about a little bit of inspiration to whet the appetite? In the next part of our class - Inspired To Stitch By Hand - you'll find projects from Guest Designers Jennifer Grace and Lara Watson. There's also a tutorial and template for creating your own hand stitched card. 

If you’re inspired by any of the techniques and tutorials featured in Stitching On Paper, please feel free to post your projects on your own blog, in your own online communities, anywhere!

You can post a link to your projects using the Mr. Linky in the Stitching On Paper – Introduction so that I, and all of the other class participants, can ‘ooh and ahh’ over your project.

And – just in case the recognition of your fellow classmates isn’t enough of an incentive to share – at the end of the class, I’ll be picking one participant at random to receive the rather splendid prize pictured above. The prize includes patterned papers from Crate Paper, Prima, American Crafts and We Are Memory Keepers,; American Crafts 'Fellow' Thickers; Elle's Studio Pink Pennants; Embroidery Threads; Organza Ribbon; Doilies; K & Co. Diecuts; A Clear Mini Frame; Floral Embellishment - and the latest edition of Scrap 365. 


Also included (but not pictured) is this super cute, Papersmooches Stamp Set - Summer Grooves - kindly sponsored by my lovely Design Team Co-ordinator, Emily from Make The Day Special.

So, what are you waiting for, get stitching!

Notts Weekend Mini Book

For the last couple of weeks, I've been working on turning my July Counterfeit Kit into a mini book recording our beautiful Nottingham Weekend. Lots of cutting, corner chomping, stamping and sticking later and I've finally finished. There's a lot of pages packed into one little mini book, so I've only included a few photographs. (Here's the whole Notts Weekend Mini, if you're interested.)

I very much wanted the emphasis to be on the photographs and the journalling - and, I've included a lots of journalling cards to make space for those all important stories. There's still a few more stories to add in - and I'd especially like to have The Steve write a few of them. I'm conscious that I don't often include our stories from his point of view!

Because there's so many pages, I've kept my embellishments to a minimum, using my favourite Lawn Fawn sets - Bon Voyage, Bannerific and Say Cheese Too, along with some of the smaller doily shapes from the Unity set Blossom Stackers. There's some teeny bits of bling too, just to add some, but not too much, dimension and some continuity between the pages.

The Sassafras and Lily Bee Alphas from my Counterfeit Kit were also the perfect sizes to include mini-titles on some of my pages, highlighting important photographs and adding a little bit of texture.

Getting seriously excited by the idea of a new Counterfeit Kit which will be 'revealed' on Sunday. Between you and me, I become a little obsessed with the 'refresh' button on the 5th of each month!

Hey, Hey, Hey!

I know, I'm always featuring cards that use greetings like 'Hello', 'Hey' or 'Hi', but really, I don't know that many people who happen to be getting married, or have just had a baby. These more generic greetings are perfect for just reminding someone that I care about them - and I send them all the time. Just because.

I'm currently in love with the Samantha Walker Blossom Stackers from Make The Day Special - I simply cannot get enough of the amazing circular and doily style images. I've used two of the larger images on this card - cutting them by hand and 'stacking' them with some dimensional tape.

The cute 'Hey' sentiment from Boob Tubes by Paper Smooches, is also one of my favourites and, surprisingly, seems to work well with some of the more intricate doilies in the Blossom Stackers set. 

It just goes to show that combining your stamps successfully is all about playing around with colours and styles. So get out your stamps and your inks - and start messing.

Little Gift Tags

In between projects, I always clear my desk of leftovers, but to make tidying feel a little less like a chore, I like to gather up some of my scraps and make something small. I find it helps me to use up those teeny, tiny scraps while I still have the incentive!

Stamps help with this process, because the smaller designs really make the most of those scraps - and there's very little waste. So, during my last desk clean, I pulled out some of my stamps from Make The Say Special and decided to make a few little gift tags. I chose my designs and colours based on a few leftover pieces of ribbon which were floating around. It's as good a reason as any, right?

The first tag uses a sentiment from Cruising Through Life, a little cloud from Bon Voyage and a circle element from Blossom Stackers. Doesn't it look like a little sun when it's stamped in yellow? On this second tag, I've used some leaves and floral elements from Blissful Botanicals and FlutterBy. The two sets compliment each other so perfectly. And lastly, a simple little tag made with a sentiment from Boob Tubes and an embellished star element from Learning Year By Year.

*** Please note that although the new website for Make The Day Special is now open, Emily is still working on the shop and we're currently unable to link to each stamp set. I'll let you know as soon as everything is re-stocked on the website. ***

West Kirby Marina

I found a little bit of time this weekend to do some scrapbooking. I've really missed playing with my pretty papers over the last few months, so it's lovely to be feeling inspired again. Thankfully, there's lots of inspiration around at the moment - I had some new (well, old really) photographs printed off recently which is always a big boost to my scrapbooking mojo and, of course, I've been playing along with the Counterfeit Kit Challenge. 

The paper's in my kit for this month are perfect for scrapping the blues, greys and browns of my spring-time photographs from last year and I'm hoping that they'll be just as useful in scrapping the rest! I seem to have a lot of kit left, but not a lot of month though - so we'll have to see if I can manage to squeeze in everything I have in mind.

I come back to this simple formula of strips and stitching, time and time again, because it works for me. It's minimalist, but it works especially well with my larger photographs. I've added in a little extra detail with some Cosmic Shimmer Mist and a selection of stamps from the Blossom Stacker Set by Unity and a word stamp from the Say Cheese Too Set by Lawn Fawn (both of which are available in the UK from Make The Day Special.) 

Do you have a scrapbooking formula? One that works for you when you're in a hurry, or when you need a kick start? I'd be interested to know - so that I can try it!

Such Happy Days

Prompted by one of the challenges in the Master's Forger's National Scrapbooking Day Blog-Hop, I started thinking about how I could make my own version of the Sassafras Collage Text Paper to include in my May Counterfeit Kit. 

Just a little bit of stash diving and I was ready to go! First I dug out some white cardstock, the remains of a chipboard alpha set, some spray inks, co-ordinating stamp inks and some of my trusty stamp sets. 

Using the chipboard alpha set as a stencil, I misted part of my cardstock with the spray inks. Once dry, I inked up some of my luscious stamps and used them to add additional colour and texture. Here you can see stamps from three Unity Store Kits - Quiet Essence, All About The Journey and Learning Year By Year, as well as Schoolhouse Backdrops by Lawn Fawn.

Although I've cut the final paper down to include it on my layout, I'll be keeping the extra bits to use in other projects - even on a smaller scale the misting and stamping make excellent backgrounds - so expect to see them making an appearance over the next few weeks. 

With such a colourful paper as the main focal point of the layout, I only needed a simple, but colourful background and a few, well chosen embellishments. To add a little bit of dimension, I've layered a tag, some cardstock from my scrap box and some ... um ... extra stamps.

Even I was a little shocked that I managed to include even more stamps, but those cute clouds and the sweet florals from Bon Voyage and Flutterby - both by Lawn Fawn - added just the right amount of whimsy. And I do like a bit of whimsy!

We're Day Trippers, Yeah! {Saturday Scrap}

At the beginning of my relationship with The Steve, we decided to have a 'Ferry Across the Mersey' date - so we took the ferry from Birkenhead across to Liverpool, had a mooch around The Albert Dock, a spot of lunch at The Tate Liverpool and then went out for a few drinks. It was such a lovely day, even if it was a little bit blustery. And, since this photograph is one of our favourites, I thought it was about time it had it's own layout.

I've used stamps from Say Cheese Too! which one of my all time favourite stamp sets from Lawn Fawn because it's absolutely fantastic for scrapbooking. It includes months and numbers - making it perfect for including dates - and it has the most adorable camera stamp I have ever seen! As soon as I started this layout, I pulled out my stamp set and added one of the sentiment stamps from the set 'A Great Snapshot Warms The Heart'. Couldn't be better for a layout about one of our first dates, right? I also added the little camera to one of my embellishment clusters - I told you it was adorable!

To tie in with the sentiment and the theme of the layout, I also used the teeny, tiny heart stamp from Cruising Through Life. Stamped, coloured and cut-out, it adds a few pops of colour and movement. I haven't decided whether to add some more journalling, so I'm going to pop this to one side and have a little think about it. Anyone else finish a layout and then get a little bit scared of ruining it by adding too much?

A Little 'Hi!'

I'm a huge fan of sending a little traditional mail every now and then and what's nicer than receiving a handmade card - especially when it's not for a special occasion? That means someone thinks you're special, right?

And luckily for me, my favourite stamps, from Lawn Fawn's Summer 2011 Release, are full of cute phrases and short sentiments, perfect for a general greeting.

I've made this card using the ticket and balloons from Admit One, a cute flower from Blissful Botanicals and a dinky sentiment from Cruising Through Life.

Why not have an afternoon creating some cards so that you have a little stock on hand? And a bit of ink on your fingers?

Stamping & Stashbusting

After all my time away, I'm thrilled to rejoin the Make The Day Special DT. I've really missed playing with my lovely stamps - so I was thrilled to have some time this weekend to get stuck in. My fingers are now satisfyingly inky!

First I made a couple of little gift tag backgrounds using some teeny, tiny scraps. It's really simple, just stick them down, then sew them up! I thought the colours would be perfect for spring - even though they're actually scraps from my October Counterfeit Kit. It's the kit that just won't end!

The first tag uses a partial sentiment and balloons from Admit One and a little cloud from Bon Voyage - both sets from Lawn Fawn's Summer 2011 Release. Still one of my favourite stamp collections!

The second tag uses a simple sentiment from Cruising Through Life, another set from Lawn Fawn's Summer 2011 Release, and some pretty stars from Learning Year By Year, one of Unity's Store Kits.

Such super, simple stashbusting projects that I hope will add a little 'something, something' to my gifts.

Such Bad Weather (For Photography!)

Hello! Hello! I have no idea what kind of weather you're all experiencing at the moment, but I've been surrounded by grey, miserable rainclouds for the last few days - and I must apologise because they're seriously affecting my ability to take a good photograph of my crafty makes!

I've been clinging to my memories of summer for as long as possible by using Admit One from Lawn Fawn's Summer Release. Though if you're hankering for some autumnal projects, may I suggest that you take a peek at the rather delicious Autumn Release now available at Make The Day Special?

My sentiment is created using the super cute ticket stamp (which is set to be an all time favourite) and I've also used two of the sentiment stamps that came with the set. It's fairly easy to mask of individual words with a couple of Post-It-Notes and you end up with a whole new sentiment!

To add a little bit of 'pop' to the card, I've also added the larger of the two pinwheel stamps that come with the set, colouring it with Pro-Markers to co-ordinate with the spray ink on my card base.

Et voila!

Nearly, But Not Quite, Autumn

It's nearly autumn. I can feel it in the air and I am so excited. Every year I eagerly anticipate the return of thick tights, scarfs and woolly jumpers. And, of course, the return of slightly colder weather and the odd rain storm that make me feel justified in staying indoors to craft and drink copious amounts of tea!

I busted out one of my autumn stamp sets earlier today, just to start playing around with some ideas that I've had in my head for a little while.

I used just one of my stamp sets from Make The Day Special (Unity's Harvest Of Memories) to create the card, because it comes with so many different little leaf stamps and the perfect sentiments. To make sure that I could easily stamp the leaves in a circle, I actually cut apart one of the longer stamps to make each leaf an individual stamp. Shock! Cutting my stamps!

The resulting card isn't quite what I was expecting. It's one of those projects I think is 'nearly, but not quite' but I'll definitely going to be trying this again with some different colours, techniques and probably a bit more layering. It's good to experiment, right?

*** By the way, if you've not visited Make The Day Special for a little while, be sure to take a peek at Emily's new stock - there's new Zig Pens from Kuretake, Papersmooches Stamps from Kim Hughes and there's some fantastic reductions in the August Sale. ***

A Confession & A Craft Catch Up

I have a little confession. I scheduled all of my Make The Day Special DT Projects for while I was away, but never even thought about scheduling posts for them over here on my own blog. Duh!

So, here's a little crafty catch up...

This little note card uses one of the longer, background stamps from Beautiful Botanicals, along with one of the sentiment stamps from Sophie's Sentiments.

Using an ink in a similar tone to my cardstock, I simple stamped back and forth to create a subtle background pattern on my base. Then added my sentiment and a handmade ruffled ribbon flower. Done in minutes!

This bright and beautiful card uses three of Lawn Fawn's most popular stamp sets - Jessie's ABCs, Blissful Botanicals and Bon Voyage. Jessie's ABCs is a super set full of letters - upper and lower case - along with numbers and punctuation. It even includes multiples of some letters, making longer words and phrases easy and quick to stamp. I can now stamp my own sentiments whenever I like - versatile and easy on the pocket!

So, to use the sentiment I'd stamped, I then created a card to showcase it a little. The background is created using one of the stamps from BLissful Botanicals - stamped in the 'sing along' colours of the rainbow - and the clouds are from Bon Voyage.

A little tag that I made using some of the leftovers from a project using my mist inks. Little cards and tags really are a great way to use up all of those scraps you have lying around!

The base of the card was already misted in autumnal colours, so I wanted to create something 'earthy'. I used the corner stamp from Lawn Fawn's Blissful Botanicals and coloured it using Promarkers, then added a suitably nature inspired sentiment from Unity's Naturally You. Quick, simple and, yet, extremely satisfying!

And, of course, today's teeny tiny card...

I just love this cute label stamp from Unity's Garden Variety set - which is part of the Make The Day Special's Amazing August Sale. The label can be stamped with or without the 'Genuine' sentiment, but I left it in and then squeezed in some extra alphas from Lawn Fawn's Jessie's ABCs and made a little 'congratulations' card with a difference.

And if that's not enough inspiration for you, do head over to Make The Day Special to catch up on all of the projects from our amazing design team.

Have a good weekend folks x

I'm A Card-Making, Pennant Monster!

Ah! It's been a strange old week! I had a little bit of a reaction to one of my injections for India (which is now only a week away - excited) and have been unbelievably ill. Bleh! So there's been very little craftiness in this house over the last week. The inspiration has been there, the inclination has not.

But, after reading through the posts in Going Postal, a new blog series by Julie Kirk, I had the undeniable urge to make cards. So I sat down last night, cracked open my Counterfeit Kit for July, and came up with a card inspired by Julie's General Greetings.

The base of the card is quite simple - a little patchwork of co-ordinating papers and a bit of stitchery. To create the pennant greetings, I stamped the ticket image from Admit One and used Jessie's ABCs to add the lettering. (Both sets are available from Make The Day Special.)

I then 'strung' them onto some embroidery thread (by sticking them with double-sided tape) along with some colour co-ordinating beads. And voila!

I've never used the tickets as pennants before, but I feel a lot of cards on this theme coming on. I have a feeling that Julie may have inadvertantly created a card-making pennant monster!

All Packaged Up {Giveaway Winner!}

I just wanted to say a really big thank you to everyone who took the time last week to visit Make The Day Special and join in our Get 'Em While You Can Blog Hop. All of the DT Girls were thrilled with the extra love!

I've had a little giveaway planned for one lucky follower of the Make The Day Special Blog and thought it was about time that I put you all out of your misery. I used Random.Org and then checked the blog's followers....

....which means Louise, you're a winner! I'll be contacting you later on today to ask for your address and then I'll be packaging up this little pretty.

It's decorated with a combination of embellishments from The Girl's Paperie, Precocious Paper, John Lewis' Haberdashery - and, of course, some stamped images from Blissful Botanicals and Harvest Of Memories. Inside there's a little packet of tickets I stamped using Admit One, plus the Sweet Little Notes I showed you yesterday. There's also some handmade flowers, jars of teeny tiny embellishments and some pretty, pink lace.

Remember, if you entered any of the other competitions along the way, you'll need to visit everyone's blogs to check whether you've won. You never know what could be waiting for you!

Sweet Little Notes

After finishing up a craft project, I often find myself with small leftovers and there is nothing more pleasing than finding a use for them! Yesterday, I ended up with a long piece of stripy kraft cardstock. I decided to cut it down into smaller pieces and create some sweet little notes using the teeny tiny stamps from Sophie's Sentiments and Say Cheese Too.

It can be all too easy to overlook some of the smaller stamps in these sets, but I think they're really versatile - and they're fun too! I also added a couple of small sentiments to the mix, by only inking up part of the larger phrases. You can see that with just a few stamps, some black ink and a little bit of time - five minutes to be exact - I ended up with something I can use in other craft projects, instead of something to add to the scrap pile.

I'm thinking gift tags, tiny journalling spots, or cute card toppers - lots of options. So, make the most of your own stamps by constantly looking for new ways to use them!

And, don't forget that some of the giveaways we featured as part of last week's Get 'Em While You Can Blog Hop are still open - including my own - so now's your chance to make some last minute entries.