October Counterfeit Kit

It's that time again! Time for the Master Forger's blog hop to reveal our kits! This month, we were inspired by the stunning September kit from Gossamer Blue Kit Club:

My itchy fingers really wanted to just buy it, but I have so much stash, I decided to see what I could pull together from that. Here is the kit I came up with:

 I have papers from My Minds Eye, Basic Grey, Echo Park, and Nikki Sivils. Embellishments
are from October Afternoon, American Crafts Thickers, Making Memories, Pretty Little Studio, Elle's Studio, and Prima (and of course  I had to put some washi tape in there!).
My Add-On Kit:

 

 More Thickers, October Afternoon, some vintage mailing labels for journaling, and some stamps.
I had my kit all together, and then Jessica Sprague put some of the Everyday Eclectic digitals on sale this past Wednesday, so I decided it was fate and added them into my kit:

I LOVE this collection, so I am sure I will get a lot of use out of the digi kit-my favorite part of digital scrapbook elements is the ability to print them over and over!

I already made one page with my kit, inspired by this week's Glitter Girl episode:

See It On 2Peas

I used Tea Dye and Frayed Burlap Distress inks to really "muddy it up", and the background pp is the B-side of the Basic Grey blue floral print from my kit. I die cut the cameras and "Memories" word jumble with my Cricut, using the Graphically Speaking and Cricut Sampler Cartridges. I used the Martha Stewart Drippy Goo border punch, lots of digital papers and embellishments from my digital kits, a Tin Pin from the OA set, backed with a small scalloped circle punch by Martha Stewart, and the journaling spot is a piece of patterned cardstock from the 5&Dime pad that I trimmed down.
Close-ups of the page details:

Thanks for dropping by my blog today, now be sure to drop by the rest of the Master Forgers' blogs today for lots more kit inspiration!
*Edited to add: I posted this early on accident, the other girls won't be up until midnight tonight or tomorrow morning
Here is the list:

Guest Designer: Katie Scott http://kissandtellscrapbooking.typepad.com/

Crystal http://crystalscraftycreations.blogspot.com/

Jemma http://just-jimjams.blogspot.com/

Lisa http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com/

Libeeti http://creationswithlove-li-bee-ti.blogspot.com

Margie http://scrappinmargie.blogspot.com/ *You are here*

Milissa http://millermall.blogspot.com/

Rebecca http://howiburb.blogspot.com/

Susanne http://www.snapsandsnippets.blogspot.com/

Bethany http://inspiredscrapper-bethany.blogspot.com/

Autumn Love * A Layout Revamp*

Have you ever had a layout that just sticks in your mind after you've "finished" it? This was one of those layouts for me! I photographed it and put it away, but it still didn't "feel" finished to me. So I pulled it back out and went to work on it! Here is what it looked like before:

And here is what it looks like now that I fiddled with it a bit:

See It On 2 Peas

I like it much better, don't you?
What I did to change/fix it: The title and leaf die cuts just weren't "popping" the way I wanted them to. So, I inked the edges with Walnut Stain and Barn Door Distress inks, and backed them with red washi tape. I really wanted to tie it all together with the red, dark brown, and orange that I already had little touches of, so that is what I worked on next. I added some Jenni Bowlin vintage buttons in red and orange, tied them with brown and white baker's twine, and added a couple of little ruler border stickers that had the cream and dark brown.

My little printed tickets seemed just a little bit too pink to me, so I inked them a little more heavily with Barn Door and Walnut Stain Distress Inks...now, they are just the right color!

Just to balance all of the embellieshments and make the photo stand out a little bit more, I added a strip of golden yellow grosgrain ribbon to the right side of the photo, which I love, because it adds a lovely bit of texture.To finish it all off, I inked the edge of the whole layout with Walnut Stain.

So, what do you think? Do you like the newer version better? Did I improve it, or should I have left well enough alone?

Making Your Own Patterned Paper: A Tutorial

Today, I am goingto share my "Counterfeits" of a few of the papers that were included in the Scrapbook Circle kits-just because I loved them so much!

The first (and probably my favorite) was the My Mind's Eye Kraft Funday Streamers:

And this is how I made my "knock-off":

Started with plain ol' kraft cardstock, and some Tim Holtz Tissue tape:

Grabbed a pair of decorative edge scissors- remember these ;-)? Yes, I kept mine!

I cut the bottom edge of the tape with my scissors and attached it to the cardstock, leaving gaps between the strips, and remembering the top edge:

Now, I thought it looked pretty good, but I wanted to soften it and make it blend together a little better:

So I pulled out some chalk ink (don't judge the smudged case, I use my supplies!):

...smudged on a little light brown over the tissue tape:

And the edges:

And violia, awesome patterned paper (if I do say so myself!):

Next up to "Counterfeit", Fancy Pants Love Story "One Heart":

I knew I couldn't do an exact replica, but I could get something similar! So, I gathered my heart stamps and Staz-On Black ink, along with some smooth white cardstock:

 Stamped them, making sure to "bleed them" off of the edges (not sure if that's exactly the right term, but we're going with it):

 Kept on stamping and staggering the types of stamps used:

 And this is the finished product that I came up with:

 Last on the list, the Pebbles With Love "Dear Valentine":

Again, I started with kraft cardstock (and some red pens, and quote stickers):

 I put the stickers on randomly, but evenly spaced, allowing some to "bleed" off the edges:

 Trimmed the overhangs with my trusty Cutterbee scissors:

 Outlined the stickers:

Looks good, but a little bare:

 So, I rummaged through my stash and found some partially used packs of rub-ons and glitter stickers:

 Added them to the empty spaces:

 And came up with a finished paper that I like very much:

I also loved the My Mind's Eye Kraft Funday Ziggity paper:

So, I printed a black chevron digi paper on kraft 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock:

Up in a day or two-I promise, I start sharing how I am using my kit!

Family...

I love my family more than anything else!And I rarely get to scrap photos that I am in, so it was so much fun to scrap this one of my brother,sisters, and me. I was inspired by a couple of challenges for this page: A sketch (#172) from Creative Scrappers, and the challenge from The Paper Variety to "make a monochromatic creation using your favorite color"- my favorite color is blue of all shades (aqua, navy, sea blue, periwinkle (my wedding colors were periwinkle and white), teal, sky....I could go on and on...

This is the way I do monochromatic-a few different shades of the color I am using, mixed in and tempered with a good bit of neutrals (kraft, cream, and black in this case):

Supplies used for this layout:

Lily Bee Designs This&That "Milk Bottle" patterned cardstock,Lily Bee This&That banner stickers, ZVA cream pearl flourish, handmade blue houndstooth (made with Lindsay's Stamp Stuff Uptown Houndstooth digi paper) flower, a sky blue glittered cardstock punchout border from Colorbok's Flea Market Punchout pad, American Crafts puffy black Thickers, scraps of cream shimmer and kraft cardstock, pale aqua pearls from the wedding section at Hobby Lobby, and an ANCIENT quote from one of those DCWV vellum quote stacks (this was one of my earlier scrapbooking obsessions-I loved those stacks-not that I used them much ;-p  ). I mounted the quote on another scrap of the cream shimmer cardstock and inked the edges with Tim Holtz Sapphire Distress Ink, and attached it with pop dots to make it stand out.

Handmade Flower Mini Tutorial:

Here is a closer look at my handmade flower:

For this flower, I first printed out this paper from my Counterfeit digi kit:

I printed it out on 8 1/2 by 11 white cardstock first, then I cut out the 6 pt flower on the Mother's Day Bouquet Cricut Cartridge (last flower on the right, third row down) in several different sizes, starting at 2 3/4, and then stepping down a quarter inch at a time, with the exception of the last one, which is 1/2 to 3/4 smaller than the previous layer. I misted each layer of petals with Sea Glass and Turquoise Glimmer Mist, and then dried with my heat embossing tool. I scrunched and shaped the petals with my fingers (another idea would be to use an icepick or pencil), then glued them on top of one another, offsetting the petals, with my trusty hot glue gun. I put Crystal Stickles on a paintbrush and dabbed it on the edges of the petals and left the flowers alone to dry over night. I really do have to say, this is such a fun way to use those digi papers that you are hoarding!! Try it out-you can even flip the paper over and print on the other side for your own double sided paper!

How to Make Decorative Page Pebbles...A Quick Tutorial

This is what I woke up to this morning...isn't it pretty? Anyway, I thought I would share a quick tutorial on how to make your own decorative page pebbles. Here is an example of page pebbles from Prima:

And here are mine:

It only took a few easy steps to make them!

1. Gather your supplies. I used some old leftover Making Memories Page Pebbles, but if you don't have those, you can use Glossy Accents. Just be aware that the Page Pebbles sometimes yellow with age-that doesn't bother me, because it kind of adds to the vintage/aged look. I also used free Vintage Sheet music from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff, Steampunk and Posh and Trendy digistamps, and Harlequin digipaper from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff Bold Black And White Collection of digipapers, along with other various scraps of patterned paper with small prints (it's a great way to use up those small scraps you just can't bear to throw away!).

2. Leave your pebbles on the plastic backing and trim around with fine tipped scissors.
3. Trace arount the circle or oval with a pencil and cut with your fine tipped scissors on the marks(don't worry if it's not perfect, we'll fix it in a minute). Then you can ink or chalk your circles before adhering the pebbles if you want, I did with some of mine. Adhere the pebbles and trim any excess, using the pebbles as your guide for your scissors (don't be scared, it's easy!)

4. Voila! Page Pebbles-and you can customize them how you like!

Now hop over to Lindsay and the rest of the LSS Design Team for more crafty inspiration and another freebie!

Lindsay Weirich (Owner & Stamp Designer)
Cindi Hooks
Diane Bove
Jennifer Bliss
Karin Martin
Leanne Garner
Margie Visnick(me)
Micki Harper
Rhonda Walker
Shannon Neparko
Tracey Allen
Tamara Bennett