Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog Hop

As most of you know, I was a member of the Counterfeit Kit Challenge design team until earlier this year, and I loved being a part of this team. What a great concept it is, forcing me to look at the supplies I have on hand, and find ways to turn older stash into something that feels fresh, something that I am eager to use! My life got crazy hectic and a wee bit haywire earlier this year, so I felt that I should step down from the team, since I was not able to spend as much time preparing kits, visiting participants blogs, and promoting the challenge as the design team should. And, even though there were a few months that went by without me making a kit, or even scrapbooking at all, I have continued to follow along with the challenge and be inspired by them. So, I was very happy to have the time and opportunity to jump back in and play along with this month's Counterfeit Kit Challenge, and to be a part of the blog hop today! Here is a list of the participants:

CKCB         http://www.counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com/ 

Jemma        http://just-jimjams.blogspot.co.uk

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

Sherrie        http://sherriesmuddlepuddle.blogspot.ca

Lynette       http://sassyscrapper2010.blogspot.com

Julie            http://jsquaredscrapspot.wordpress.com

Margie        http://scrappinmargie.blogspot.com

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

Kate Blue   http://kateblue.blogspot.com

Lisa H         http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com

I will share my contribution to the hop in two parts...First, my kit for the month (since I made it up and never shared it, I figured that now would be the appropriate time to share my kit for September). The Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog urged us to take our cues from Citrus Twist's July kits. I took the travel theme to heart, and came up with my own kit, " Summertime Adventures":

A closer look at the papers:

You might notice that is this is mostly newer stash...but I am just so excited to use it! After stalking Tuesday Mornings, Marshall's, and TJ Maxx for The Pier collection, I finally found it at Hobby Lobby on half off paper week, so I grabbed it up right away! I actually haven't worked on this kit yet, because I have been working on the blog hop challenge. But I will, I promise!

Here is the challenge that we were given for this blog hop:

Project Completion Challenge:  Pick a project that is either not finished or something that you always intended to start and FINISH IT!

I definitely felt that I needed to take this challenge to heart, since I had so many projects "floating around" unfinished, in the form of kits, pages, and many other projects. Which leads me to the second part of my post today, Finishing Things Up!

I mentioned unfinished kits... I have many kits in my craft bag (think 7+), so I have decided that I must use them up or put them back into my stash. The first kit to go under scrutiny was a kit from Gossamer Blue, last October's kit:

I was lucky enough to win it last year, and I was so excited, but it's just been hanging out in my stash, not being used, but too pretty to take apart and file away. So, I put it under the microscope. Why wasn't this kit working for me? Why wasn't I using it? The answers I came up with were...not quite enough embellishments for me, and I like to have a larger font letter stickers in my kits for titles(i.e. Thickers). So, I knew how to fix this "problem", and how to turn this kit into something that I am excited/inspired to use. This is my revamp, Which I am calling "Colors of Fall":

What I added? The Thickers, a couple of larger scale patterned papers, and several yummy embellishment packages-flowers from Prima and Sassafrass Lass, die cuts from American Crafts, K&Co fabric brads, gold feather rub-ons from Jenni Bowlin, tortoise shell buttons, brown velvet ribbon, and Sassafrass Lass stickers.

Now, this is a kit that I can not wait to use!

 

Another "UFO" hanging out in my stash was a more recent kit that I won, JBS Mercantile's May 2013 kit:

This kit was definitely a good one for me, I just needed to kick my butt into gear and get some pages made with it! These are the pages that I made with it:

 I added in a few small bits from my stash here and there, but I would say the pages are at least 90% from the kit. I feel happy that sufficiently "killed this kit", so, I will be moving onwards and upwards. I do have to say that I really loved the colors and feel of this kit for summer time!
 

That's all I have to share for today, thank you for visiting with me! Leave me a comment to let me know what you think, then don't forget to hop on over to Leslie's blog to continue on the inspiration train with us. You are sure to gather lots of great ideas for using up those kits, whether they are premade or from your stash!