Kill a Kit for March 2016 Counterfeit Kit

Would you like to see what I got done with my March kit? I feel pretty good about how much scrapping I got done in March, and I pretty much used it up! Here's a quick video showing what I made, and what I had left.

If you like it, I would love it if you gave me a thumbs up and followed!

Dear Children...An Open Letter to My Teenagers...

A young cousin of mine posted something she saw on Facebook recently, and although I responded to the post there, I thought I might respond here as well. I don't even know if any teenagers read my blog at all, but if it helps even one person, it's worth posting.

Here is the post that she shared...


And here is my response: 

Dear children... If you only know how much we do love you! We only(or mainly) get upset with you for your choices because we have already experienced life, and pain, and regret, and we want protect our precious children from all of the pain and hurt that life has to offer. You can't know until you are a parent yourself... we get angry because we want the best of everything for our children and we feel helpless when they make choices that we feel will lead to heartache or unhappiness. We love you NO MATTER WHAT- but we want you to be happy, so we are happier when we feel you are making good choices. When you are are heartbroken and crying because someone/something hurt you, we are heartbroken too because we want SO BADLY for you to be happy, and we want to hold you and rock you until you are all better, but we know that that won't work, because you shrug off our hugs and resent our words of guidance. And we hurt inside too, and sometimes,  we even lash out because we are hurting inside for our babies and we don't know how to fix things (as mammas and daddies feel they should). But we love you...if you only knew how much!!

I feel very blessed that my children (at least at this point) are making good choices. But there are times when they haven't, or don't. I want them to know that I love them, even if I don't accept bad choices as ok. Hug your babies-even if they aren't little anymore!

March Counterfeit Kit Challenge Member Blog Hop

Welcome to the March member's blog hop for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge!I have gotten lots of scrapping done this month-this kit really worked for me. Here's a reminder of what I started with:

The challenge that I took for this blog hop was
Challenge #1 Base a project on something spotted on Pinterest. But, here's the twist, it can't be a craft project (so no layouts, minis or mixed media as inspiration.)

I immediately thought of mood boards, since I love them and pin them for inspiration all of the time. I found this one on my Pinterest: Inspired By Mood Boards board, and it suited my kit, so I knew it would work:

It was actually a mood board to inspire a kit from Studio Calico a year or two ago.  I loved the colors and whimsy of it, and the patterns were very reminiscent of the ones in my kit. Here is the resulting layout:

 I think that this layout captures the whimsy and colors of the mood board pretty well, and also carries out the same fresh spring feeling of the mood board. I also got a bunch of the bits and pieces of this kit down on the page here:

If you have come here via Elaine's blog, you are on the right track, and you should head over to Lisa's blog next. If you are stopping by my blog first, here is the whole list-you should definitely drop by the other contributor's blogs and see how they are using their kits!
CKCB        http://counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com
Jemma    http://just-jimjams.blogspot.co.uk
Sally        http://sallyschallengechatter.blogspot.com
Natalie    http://thebigdills.blogspot.com
Susanne  http://snapsandsnippets.blogspot.com
Tina         http://tinasscrapcorner.blogspot.com
Elaine      http://chidkids26.blogspot.co.uk
Margie    http://scrappinmargie.blogspot.com *YOU ARE HERE
Lisa          http://lisahausmann.blogspot.de

Insta Inspired ...CKC Challenge #3

Our challenge over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog today was this:

Challenge #3: Create An Instagram Inspired Mini. Create a small, but perfectly formed mini to show off those dinky, little photographs of your lunches :) 

I don't do a lot of minis besides December Daily, so I chose to be inspired by the instagram square sized photos instead, and got a layout scrapped that has some interactive elements, rather like a mini on a page. I just received an order of 4x4  prints on pearl paper (it's thick and beautiful like cardstock-very heavyweight paper) from Persnickety Prints that I have been dying to use, so I knew these would be perfect! Bonus: I got a LOT of memorabilia on this page too!

This layout was all about my daughter's recent role in a play put on by her school. It was such a fun event, and I am so glad to have it scrapped, along with our tickets (that have the dates of the play- I went on opening night by myself, that ticket is on top of the ticket stack, and all of our other tickets from the Sunday afternoon matinee when we all went are underneath), and a copy of the program, which is only attached along the edge- with journaling underneath. Far too often, my memorabilia just gets tucked in a box, so it was nice to go ahead and get it on a page. I kept my embellishments to a minimum, since there was so much memorabilia.

Making the Most of my March kit

I had a little time  this past week to play along with a few more of Shimelle's scrapbook weekend challenges, and put a significant dent in my March CKC kit in the process. For the first layout, I took the challenge to use Shimelle's original collection, which I combined with several cards, washi, and Thickers letter stickers from my March kit:

For the next layout, I took Shimelle's challenge to "Use Hearts" on a layout- most supplies used are from my March kit (I even used one of the awesome digital stamps from the Click kit Digital Stamps- bonus-I learned how to install brushes into photoshop, and it is soooo much easier than I thought it would be!) along with a few bits from my leftover die cuts bin (I even sneaked in an orange Chatterbox tag from forever ago):


This next layout was made for a couple of challenges from Shimelle, "Use Shaped Paper", and "Use Maps and Globes on a Project". I also used a Sketch from Sketch Savvy:

(Which, I love that Susan Stringfellow has made these sketches available for easy download, and they are fantastic for Disney pages, which she has many samples of...I think I am going to be using a bunch of these to get the rest of my Disney stories scrapped from our 2014 trip, before our next trip rolls around.)



And this layout for Shimelle's "Use Circles" challenge, and I based it on Sketch Savvy #1:

Thanks for visiting with me today-hope you enjoyed a peek at my layouts and what I have been creating with my March Kit. If you make a kit from your stash this month, I hope you will share it with us over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge!

"Marching" into March...

Happy March! There's nothing like a good scrapbooking crop and challenges to get my creative juices flowing, and this weekend, Shimelle is hosting one over at her blog:

It was just the boost I needed to get started on my March Counterfeit kit! The first challenge I took was the older photos/monochromatic challenge. I used all the yellows in my March kit, plus several neutrals, such as gray, black, and white. (ps-I love yellow and gray together! Reminds me of sunshine breaking through the clouds!)  Here is my layout:

I layered up a bunch of the journaling cards, washi, a frame, a couple of diecuts from my scraps bin, and a few cameras cut from the Amy Tangerine camera paper from my kit, flipped the green chipboard stars over, and inked them with charcoal American Crafts ink (that's actually why you notice a couple of smudges on my page, I tried to put them down before they were fully dry-oops!). I also glittered a wood veneer camera from my kit, and stamped a few of the stamps with the AC charcoal, as well. I love it, smudges and all, because it records a moment in my life that I actually haven't documented yet-my high school graduation. And it does it in a rather unexpected way, by telling what I thought my life was going to be like at that time, and how it is much richer and better now than I could have dreamed. Bonus:I got a great start on my March stash kit! We'd love to have you join us over at the Counterfeit Kit challenge blog!

CKC Kit for March, "Photos and Stories"

It's a new month...which means a new kit to scrap with! There's nothing like a fresh batch of supplies to scrap with! This month, we were given the Ali Edwards Click kit to be inspired by.

Here is my take on the kit:

Here's a quick video taped look at my March kit:

I have to be honest...I loved this kit, and searched for the stamps, but I couldn't find a place to purchase them, so I bought the digital files:

Normally, the point of the Counterfeit Kit challenge kits is to use your own supplies instead of purchasing new ones-but no one does stamps like Ali, and I think that I will definitely use this set of digital files with my CKC kit this month, especially since I am printing more of my photos at home now. I can't wait to try it out!

Hop around and see how the other designers were inspired by this kit:
Lesley (GDT) - http://ohblogitifyoucantbeatthem.blogspot.co.uk/ 
Susanne: http://snapsandsnippets.blogspot.com
Clair: http://obstinatepursuit.blogspot.co.uk/
Jemma: http://just-jimjams.blogspot.co.uk
Julene:  http://julenebydesign.blogspot.com
Kelly: http://66.147.244.112/~honeysv0/
Leslie: http://lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.ca
Lisa: http://lisahausmann.blogspot.ca
Lynnette: http://www.sassyscrapper2010.blogspot.com/
Margie: http://scrappinmargie.blogspot.com
Susan: http://littlethingsbigdays.blogspot.de/