Out of the Mire: February 2014

Monday, February 24, 2014

022414 CKC February Challenge Blog Hop

Welcome to the February Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog hop! We have quite a diverse selection of challenges to choose from this month. Take a look:

Challenge #1 Ugly Sweater Inspiration - do you love them or hate them? Let those big shapes and bright colours take centre stage on your projects!
Challenge #2 Angled Backgrounds - create an angled background for your project
Challenge #3 10 Minute Craft Dash - time yourself ... you have TEN MINUTES to make a card!

Challenge #1: Ugly Sweater Inspiration

Here's what I chose from Bethany's Pinterest board

SERIOUSLY??? you say? Well, yes!

Having just spent a late Christmas celebration with the entire family at home,

I was immediately inspired to "elf" the grandbabies.

This was really FUN :~D

Now YOU get to have a little fun! Check out the list of challenges at the first stop on the hop list below, then keep on hopping & see how everyone else was inspired.

Be sure to post your project at the Mr. Linky button!

CKCB    http://www.counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com
Jemma http://just-jimjams.blogspot.co.uk
Julene http://julenebydesign.blogspot.com.au
Tina   http://tinasscrapcorner.blogspot.com
Annie      http://www.artyfartyannie.com
Lesley      http://ohblogitifyoucantbeatthem.blogspot.co.uk
Maggie    http://maggiebscrapblog.blogspot.fr
Chrissy      http://craftychrissycreates.blogspot.co.nz
You are here: Leslie   http://lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.com
GO HERE NEXT: Elaine      http://chidkids26.blogspot.co.uk
Karen      http://www.karenscorneroftheweb.blogspot.com
Susanne    http://snapsandsnippets.blogspot.com
Virginia http://celtichouse.blogspot.co.uk
Cindy      http://www.cindyscreations-cinmfoster.blogspot.com
Lisa         http://lisahausmann.blogspot.de

Sunday, February 16, 2014

021614 CKC February Challenge #3

10 Minute Speed Challenge!!!

A card was suggested, and as I need a Valentine for my DH

let's see what my Starstruck kit can cough up in the way of romance.

I pulled these items to work with:

And now the clock is ticking!

3 minutes in I had this:

7 minutes in I had this:

and voila!

I am usually a leisurely scrapper, and I rarely make cards, so this was a GREAT stretch for me.
I was amazed at how quickly 10 minutes passes!

Now you go straight to your stash, hunt & gather, then set your timer & GO!

Don't forget to post your creation on the Mr. Linky gallery :~)

Saturday, February 8, 2014

020814 CKC Tutorials

What a fun lot of pretties this month to counterfeit!
The Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog inspiration kit this
month has two full kits & a slew of fab papers & product to forge.

I chose to substitute stars for the heart-studded Valentine theme of the kits.

This sweet vellum paper translated into vellum star confetti in my Starstruck kit.

I did like the idea of including a vellum paper, though, so I subbed in this Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm/Lucky Lady Bug vellum w/forged detail to match the polka dot paper - 2 in 1!
Just glued a punched star onto a polka dot & drew the circle around it.
Zig Blue Glue makes easy work of gluing onto the slick vellum surface.

This forgery of the chalkboard Valentine was as easy as some stamping, sticker alphas, rub-on alphas & wood veneers added to the MME chalkboard paper w/bonus corner elements.

What could be easier than counterfeiting the original paper on the left?

Found a similar chevron in my stash and simply accented two lines of color!

I wanted to capture something of the graphic quality of the message on the MME Cupid's Arrow Alpha Love paper, but in order to work my star theme into it I needed to repeat my ABCs and stagger them to accomplish the message, "U R A star". Jennie Bowlin's alpha stencil paper to the rescue.

I may not have produced something as elegant as the inspiration paper, but I won't feel too bad when I have to cover some of it up with my layout. Next up is the heart garland paper, which inspired me to create a sewn garland of stars.

Give the inspiration kit a second or even a third look to find the elements that attract you, and then make them your own! Sometimes it can be a very simple process to forge your own goodies :~)

020714 Week One of Scrapbook Mythbusters LOAD 214

Three times a year I get to indulge my creativity & get my scrap on every day all month with Lain Ehmann's LayOutADay challenge. This month's theme is busting all of the scrapbooking myths we live with. Every day we are given a unique prompt to stretch us in new directions. It is a lovely community of all levels of scrapbookers who generously share their work in a private online gallery & give each other lots of love in comments & a lively discussion board.

Week One in Review

Day One: Less than perfect photo

Used my February CKC kit - a great help on LOAD months to help me scrap more quickly.

Day Two: The small things

A quiet moment while Chloe was here for Christmas in January. Used my kit again.

Day Three: No title

I reeeeally want to add "Still Crazy" upper right & "After All These Years" upper left!

Day Four: Limit your time to 30 minutes or so

My motto? "Let the patterned paper do the work!"

Used my kit again to add the pink ticket, little banner & yellow ruler plus the title treatment.

Day Five: Use old product

Not even sure how old that background paper is!

Day Six: No words

I love how this turned out! I think I will add a 6x12 page that talks about the mega-Winter we have had.

Day Seven: Scrap in a location that is out of the ordinary for you

Used my kit again & scrapped on the sofa with an ottoman in a supporting role.

My scrap muscles were certainly rusty but I am beginning to get into the rhythm of LOAD & am loving seeing so many old virtual friends. I want to try to tell more stories this month & am hoping that the prompts will lead me in new directions. So far I have been able to stay on track & follow the prompt each day but if I get "stuck" I will do a few of the challenges from Whimsical Musings.

Gotta go - the new prompt should be posted! G'nite all :~D

Saturday, February 1, 2014

020114 CKC February Kit Reveal Blog Hop

How delightful!

An old friend of ours at CKC, Susanne returns this month as our featured Guest Designer.

Our inspiration kit for February over at Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog comes with
a little foreign flavor from Kitsdesomni.com and actually includes two complete
kits plus a Project Life add-on kit (shown on the website.)

There are lots of GREAT designs to forge this month, so be SURE to tune in to the regular

monthly tutorial post "Hey!...I Can Make THAT!" featured at CKC on the 8th of each month.

Both kits included lots of hearts, as it is Valentine's Day month, but not many (any?) flowers.

I am really missing floral patterns in the current trend of geometrics & highly graphic designs,

so I'm doing my own rebel change up of this kit. First step is to replace those hearts with STARS!

Now let's see what's in the Magic Blue Box...

As usual I really love starting off with the papers & used some from both kits for inspiration.

top: Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm/Lucky Lady Bug vellum w/forged detail, forged hidden message, Pebbles From Me to You/Ring Ring Ding Dong, unknown chevron w/forged detail, Crate Paper Maggie Holmes/Wonderful, MME Bramble Rose wood planks, MME Chalkboard w/forgery.

bottom: MME Chalkboard, Echo Park Photo Freedom #1/Everyday Moments, American Crafts Dear Lizzy arrows, Studio Calico PrintShop!/Criss-cross, American Crafts Dear Lizzy triangles, Pebbles From Me to You/Letters (B side), Basic Gray Soleil/Bikini.

As always I give myself permission to use white/black/kraft cardstock.

I may attempt a few more forgeries along the way, particularly the painted (in my case) stars.

Here is the full Starstruck kit:

One of my favorite pieces of my kit are the French wood veneers recently sent by a
generous friend - totally in keeping with the foreign word stamps in the Project Life kit

Starstruck, up close: