For the more adventerous scrapper...

how-to-make-a-bound-jotter-book

Have you seen this site?

Really.  You have to check it out.  Right now.  The CLASSroom

Why are you still here???

A little cupcake love...

And because I can:

And because you really want to:



That's what she said cupcake line crafts pt. 1
That's what she said: cupcake liner crafts pt. 2
Cupcake liner genius!
Time for cupcake liner crafts

March Blog Hop!

Happy Blog Hop Day!

We are really excited about this hop!  Each of our hoppers has scraplifted from themselves this month!  We each found a project we had previously done and recreated it with our March Kit!  This was really a fun challenge!

Here is a complete list of our hop (just in case you get a bit lost on the way).  Our very first stop is our lovely Guest Designer for March, so head on over to Sherri to see what she made!

Sherri

Karen

Marlynn

Stacey

Ang

Mary

Sue

Melissa

Kim

Emily

Margie

Angela

Lesa

Missus Wookie

Clair

Kathy Jo

Susanne

Glinda

Jemma

Gabrielle

Thomisia

Ann Marie

Jessica

Geri

Bethany

 

Altered Mini Composition Books

So, I am always looking for fun things to do with my scraps before I move onto the next project.  Usually I whip out a bunch of cards before I call it quits, but I have been itching to do somthing different this time.  I spied some altered composition books on a blog and ran out to Dollar Tree to pick some up.  They are 3/$1 and are an easy project to use up scraps and make some kids/friends very happy.  Here is one I made:

Confession:  Yep.  This one is for me.  If you spied the owl then you probably already knew it.  LOL  I have several more to alter for some of my kids friends, though.  Honest!

You don't really need them, but here are some other sites about Altered Mini Notebooks:

**Really, these are so easy my husband could make them!  LOL

You tube - altered mini comp books

You tube - I LOVE THIS LADY!!

It's all about Glitz and Glam

Splitcoast Gallery

Just a little pretty...

Martha Stewart

Blog Hop Reminder and Sneak Peek!

How is your blog hop project coming along?  Do you think this one is easy or a bit hard?  I wondered who was the smarty pants who came up with this one and remembered it was me.  LOL  Hard to complain to myself about it.  Once I settled in, it was easier than I thought.  Here is little peek of what I created:

To see the rest of the layout, you will need to join us for our blog hop on the 28th!  Today is the last day to e-mail us if you want to be one of the stops on the hop! 

Photo Organization and Photo Editing References

I realize there are probably 100's of photo organizing programs and web sites, I thought I would share some of the FREE sites that I use...

Simple Photo Editing and Collage Making

I use Picasa 3 to do simple cropping and editing on my snapshots.  I also use it to create "mini" wallet prints on a 4x6 size photo.  Picasa 3 is a free download from Google.  It helps you organize, edit, and share your photos.  Click here "Picasa 3" for a link to the Picasa site. 

Enhancing Special Photos

Picnik is a fun, free site I use to (quickly) add enhancements to some of my photographs.  It is VERY user friendly and good for someone who does not own Photoshop.  Photoshop is much more advanced, but Picnik is much quicker to learn and it's free.  There is a "Premium" membership available through Picnik, which costs about $25 a year.  You can see exactly what comes in the "Premium" membership when you browse their website.


Project 365 On-Line Storage and Organization

If you are participating in Project 365, or Project Life, (where you take a photo every day of the year), a good site that many people use to organize their photos is Shuttercal.  I personally have not used this site, but I have heard great things about it.  There is also a place for keeping notes about each photo you download, and all of your photos are organized on a "calendar" for easy reference.

Sherri's Layout Mini Challenge #3-"Frames"

 

"I am still trying to make a dent in my bottomless stash of chipboard!  I trimmed my frame to better fit my design, painted it with acrylic paint, then heat embossed it with iridescent embossing powder.  I then used Glossy Accents to adhere a little gem in the hole in each scallop.  Being the frugal scrapper that I am, I saved the side that I cut from the frame to use as a chipboard border on another project."

Bethany's Framed Challenge

I was so inspired by the projects that I listed yesterday that my brain froze up!  LOL  I finally had two ideas for using frames. (See, just because I make up the challenges, doesn't mean that I am ready to knock them out of the park!  LOL) 


My layout is inspired by the frame that was around the TV in my collage...I liked the angels of it.  After I glued everything down I had some great ideas for it, but was not about to do it all over again!   I used my curvy ruler to make the curves of the frame and patched pieces of each of my papers from my Wildflower Kit.

Kit used: Wildflower
Additions: Green stickers, scraps of green and pink

For my card I just had to use the blinged out sentiment I made.  I loved mixing the grid paper with the patterned paper, too.

Kit used: Into the Woods

Added: Navy Ribbon, Kraft card base

This is all I had time for.  These challenges are keeping me busy!  (Hey, I have to finish them early, remember?)

Now it is YOUR turn!  Don't forget to post to Mr. Linky.  I have a feeling you will remember, though.  Those are some HIGH numbers on there!  I love it!

Mini Challenge: You've been framed!

We have come along way from simply having a print made of our favorite photo and sticking it in a frame.  We have turned displaying our photos into an art form.  I love it!  Let's not forget the importance of a good frame, though.

Mini Challenge #3: You've been framed
Use your kit to make a project with some sort of frame on it.  Try to be as creative as you can!

Here is some great inspiration to get you started:
Framed Journaling

Framed photos

Layering a frame

Postage stamp framed card

Homemade frames

Decorative framing

Creative circle frame

Felt Frame

Don't forget to e-mail us if you want to participate in the blog hop!  You have until the 25th to get me your e-mail.  And post away on Mr. Linky to be entered to win a prize this month!

Masters of Forgery Introductions Part 3

Lisa

My Word: MASTER FORGER

M aya Mist
A ltered Art
S ketches
T im HoltzE - Embossing
R ipping paper

F riends
O ctober Afternoon
R anger
G runge
E phemera
R ibbon
S tamps

Margie

My word: COUNTERFEIT KITS

C amera, Cricut (2 of my most important scrapbooking tools)

O ctober Afternoon (I love their patterned paper!)

U niball Signo (my favorite white pen)

N ew supplies (I love finding deals and getting new scrapbook goodies!)

T im Holtz (need I say more?)

E mbossing ( I love both dry and heat embossing for scrapbooking and card making-it really adds a special touch!)

R ibbon! (It adds such yummy texture to a page!)

F lowers (I love Primas, Handmade flowers, you name it...)

E cho Park (love their papers-Especially the newest collection, "For The Record"!)

I nking (one of my favorite techniques)

T wo Peas In a Bucket ( I have been addicted to this site since 2002!)

K it Clubs (Counterfeiting them from my own stash=even better!)

I nspiration (It's everywhere! Some of my favorite sources are: Two Peas Gallery and Photography Board, Crafty blogs, and home decor, fashion, and craft/scrapbook magazines)

T attered Angels (Love their mists, screens, and paints!)

S ketches! (There is nothing like a good sketch to give my creativity a jump start!)

Gabrielle

I Spy game:

1.  Find my picture.
2.  Find photos of my hubby, my daughter, and my three sons.
3.  Find the state I live in.
4.  Find the first and last letters of my name.
5.  Find eleven stars, representing the eleven MASTERS OF FORGERY.
6.  Find our newest family pet.
7.  Find the two pictures of my 2nd son's favorite sport.
8.  Find something you would wear to our favorite place to visit in the summer.
9.  Find the instrument my hubby and kids play.
10. Find one popular building toy that my son's love to play with.
11. Find two common childhood fears.
12. Find 13 (or more) rhinestones.
13. Find 12 flowers.
14. Find the largest living land mammal.
15. Find the largest living sea mammal.

My word:  COPYCAT

C osmo Cricket
O ctober Afternoon
P ink Paislee
Little Yellow Bicycle (this was a bit of a stretch!)
C reating
A dhesive
T im Holtz

Sherri

My Word: STAMPER AT HEART

S pellbinders

T hickers

A merican Crafts

M omenta

P earls

E K Success border punches

R ubber stamps

A li Edwards

T echnique Tuesday

H ero Arts

E mbossing Folders

A ny color of Stickles

R hinestones

T iny Alpha Stickers

Masters of Forgery Introductions Part 2

Melissa

My word: COUNTERFEIT

C hipboard Accents (the more colorful, the better!)
O-Rings (my favorite type of mini album binding)
U tility Knife (for all the fussy cutting I like to do)
N ew paper (come on, who doesn't love that!)
T rimmer (love my Rotatrim!)
E vening crop time (just about the only time I get to scrapbook)
R ainbow Order (it's how I organize almost EVERYTHING!!)
F elt (love running it through my die cutter to make accents)
E ntertainment (Doctor Who on Netflix, anyone?)
I nks and Mists (Studio Calico's Mister Huey is my favorite)
T iny Letter Stickers (I seem to use them on every layout)

Jessica

My word: COUNTERFEIT

C ricut Paper Piecer

O bsessed with October Afternoon Label Sticker

U nconditional love for all things Flower.

"N eat, Tidy, & Organized Scraper" WANNABE.

T welve by twelve scrapper

E xtreme Perfectionist

R ed, Red, and RED!

F orever committed to Cosmo Cricket

E cho Park obsession

I f all else Fails, ATG can get 'er done!

T hickers Lover

Jemma

My word: COPYCAT

C amera: I can't scrap without it - I'll even snap variations of a page in progress to see which is best.

O n-line inspiration: I surf for titles, sketches, tips and supplies.

P unches: corner rounders, borders, circles, flowers, I love them all!

Y earbooks: I'm scrapping a page summary for each month of the year - it makes a great record.

C hipboard (preferably bare so that it can be painted, papered, inked or embossed)

A utumn colours: I love the earthy red, orange, yellow, green and brown tones.

T orn edges: very liberating for a straight-laced mathematician!

Shazi

My word: SCRAPBOOKING

S habby Chic

C ards

R ight side

A ssymetry

P earls

B uttons

O ctober Afternoon

O wls

K itschy Kitchen

I nk pads

N ote Cards

G lue glider pro

Mini Challenge: Good Old-Fashioned Scraplifting and BLOG HOP info

Scraplifting (taken from the Pebbles Blog)  is the the act of "lifting" or copying ideas and/or designs from another person’s scrapbook page to use in your own pages.  Designs or ideas can be copied in whole or in part.  And most importantly be sure to give credit where credit is due.  If you do "lift" someone else's idea be sure to mention where the idea originated.

We all, at some point, scraplift and that is great!  We get ideas from scrapbook magazines, galleries and even every day life! 

The challenge for this time is to scraplift with a twist.

Mini Challenge #2: Scraplift YOURSELF
Look back at some of your older work.  It could be something that you absolutely love or something from long ago that you wish you could have done better.  Now your challenge is to make it again, but using your kit.

This challenge is our Blog Hop challenge, so get your project ready, but please don't post it to the our main link just yet.  We are going to save showing this one off until the end of the month.  And speaking of the blog hop....

Blog Hop Details:
Create your assigned project and take a photo of it


On the 21st of each month I will remind you of the blog hop.  You will have until the 25th to e-mail me at counterfeitkitchallenge@yahoo.com with March Blog Hop in the heading.  In your e-mail please give me the link to your blog and be ready to publish a post with the challenge photo on the 28th for the hop.


I will put together a list of all participating blogs and will e-mail everyone the order of the blog hop and how to do their post!


On the 28th (or earlier if you want to schedule it to simply post on the 28th) you will create a blog post that shares your creation and then posts the link to the next blog on the list.  Easy!

Masters of Forgery Introductions Part 1

We are excited for you to get to know our very talented Design Team this month before they WOW you with their creative genius next month!  We asked each Forger to make an I-Spy Photo collage that tells us about them and gave them a few scrappy words to choose from to make an accrostic that tells about some of their favorite things!  Here are the first few designers we want you to get to know!

Kim



My word: COUNTERFEIT

C reate

O pen spave

U PS (as in delivery!)

N irvana

T ape runner

E mbellishments

R ibbons

F riends

E njoy

I nnovation

T echniques

Crystal

My word: SCRAPBOOKING

S ketches

C orrugated or circles

R oad, Maya that is!!!

A ltering or Alphabet stamps

P OLKA DOTS!!!!

B o Bunny

O rganizaing

O dds and Ends

K its

I inks (chalk!)

N otebooks

G eorgia Pacific Card Staock/ Graph paper

Susanne



Here’s how I am prepared to be one of the COPYCATS:

C ardstock – colors by the crateful

O rganized - baubles and bling by the way I scrap

P atterned Papers – plentiful & pretty, pretty, pretty

Y ears - of memories to scrap, pages to come

C lasses – countless taken, more to learn

A dhesive – to attach every kind of bling accumulated

T ools - many to be used with easy Techniques

S tudio – my little papered piece of heaven on earth

We will have more introductions coming up in the next few days!  

Bethany's Etsy Mini Challenge

I love any excuse to browse on Etsy.  Hehehehe.  (Honey, I have to go window shopping...it is for a scrapbook challenge!)  I found so many ideas, it was hard to narrow it down.  Here is my first inspiration:

I really loved the newsprint type on the tree...

And here is my take on it:

It inspired me to try some graph paper for my tree and use my woodgrain as the base of my page...
(I used my Into the Woods Counterfeit Kit with the addition of scraps of green and orange buttons)

I was having too much fun to stop at one!  Want to see another one?

With this one, I was inspired by the layout of the cover...the squares, rectangles and oval.

And my take on it:
(Kit: Into the Woods Counterfeit Kit with the addition of Alphabet Stickers)

I have so much Etsy inspiration that I had to start a folder on my computer.  LOL  I think it will be fun to browse and create whenever I have a few minutes.  I can't wait to see what YOU find on Etsy!

Let's Welcome Your Masters of Forgery!

Numer of DT applicants: 41

"Folders and Notes" sections we created to keep track: at least 6

Days spent agonizing over our decision: 36

Number of times we changed our list: too many to count

Number of DT members: 8...no wait...let's do 10....no wait, how about 11...

Okay, 11...and here they are:

 Crystal

Jessica

Melissa

Sherri

Kim

Shazi

Jemma

Margie

Susanne

Lisa

Gabrielle

Interesting note: we have 5 first timers on our DT!

Congrats to our new team!

Now head off to their blogs to leave them some love!

Sherri's Etsy Challenge

Printer's Tray:

When I heard about this challenge, I knew right away that I wanted to make a printer's tray.  I had seen some on Etsy before, and I loved them!  I also knew that I could make my own for a fraction of the cost.  I found this printer's tray which I absolutely loved: Etsy Printer's Tray.

Because I am a frugal scrapper, I thought I could save a lot of money just by re-purposing a shelf.  I found this one for only 45 cents at Goodwill!  You can see the original shelf on my blog-I love looking at the before and after shots!  Almost everything I used to alter it was from this month's kit.  The only things that I added were some epoxy brads.  I made the most of the die-cuts from my kit, plus lots of fun tools like punches and stamps.  Did you notice that the dress form and sewing machine were stamped on a transparency?  No transparencies in my kit, though-check out my blog for how I made these accents from my kit.

(  Don't you just love it!  To see more about Sherri's project, please go to Bits and Pieces of Me.)

Mini Challenge: Etsy Inspiration

I'm thinking of a word.  It is a little word, only 4 letters.  Nope, not that word.   Guess again.  No.....I said FOUR letters.  Come on, you know what it is...it is the greatest thing since sliced bread!

I bet you know what it is!  Shoppers and crafters alike heave a sigh at the mention of this site. (Plus, it is mentioned in my title, so if you don't know what I am talking about it is totally not my fault. LOL)

Have you been there lately?  It is excellent for unique shopping, totally cool for window shopping and unbelievable for finding inspiration.  Want to take a peek at my favorite finds from the last few weeks?

Seriously, I see dozens of excellent crafting ideas just from these few photos.  Really fun stuff! So.......

Mini Challenge #1:  The Etsy Challenge
Use any item on Etsy to ispire your next project (layout, card, mini, altered item...).  Make sure you share both the inspiration item and what you created with us.

Hints:
If you google Etsy and then (on the left hand side of the page) click on images, it will pull up random images from Etsy which can be a fun way to browse and see new things.

Also, try to go in with no ideas in your head...just browse and start snagging things that grab you.  You can get technical with it later.  :)

Have fun!  I can't wait to see what you create!  Don't forget to post it to our Master Linky to get a chance to win a prize this month.

"Wildflowers" Tutorials

Sherri's "Wildflowers" Counterfeit Kit:

"This kit was harder for me to match exactly from my stash, so I looked for inspiration in the kit, then went from there.  As I did with my February kit, I first picked one paper as my focal point and built my kit around that.  I chose the butterfly print first (from the same line as my main kit rub-ons), then chose some basic prints for the others.  I included two printable cards, a woodgrain stamp, and some premade fabric flowers."  For more information on Sherri's Wildflower kit, please go to her blog at http://sherrithompson.blogspot.com/.

Meridy's "Wildflowers" Counterfeit Kit:

I had lots of fun with this kit.  I used lots of new things that I got in JoAnn's new Flea Market line of papers...I couldn't resist buying a few items last month with a Gift Card I received!  Technically, the stuff is from my stash...just my "newer" stash!

Bethany's "Wildflowers" Counterfeit Kit:

"I love the lightness of this kit, but needed to go a bit darker in mine.  Mainly because I am running out of light colored paper that would work.  LOL  The vintage pages are adorable!  I can't wait to decide how to use them!  Check out my Blog for a complet list of my kit contents and more pictures."

Tulle Daisy Tutorial:
Here is a link to learn how to make this flower from tulle.
Tulle Daisy Tutorial

Carnation Tutorial:

Start off with some tulle and a silk carnation.

Pull the carnation apart into layers.

Cut the tulle into circles; layer tulle and carnation silk petals; fasten the entire flower together with a brad; and finally spritz with some Glimmer Mist for a little added color.

Another variation is a paper carnation.  See the following blog for a tutorial:
Paper Carnation tutorial

Printables:
Sign Language Alphabet
Cute Bicycle Printable
Two Peas Free Digital Bicycle Add On
Children Dancing Sheet Music
Maypole Image
Sheet Music

"Sunny Clearing" Tutorials

Here's a link to the original "Sunny Clearing" Kit.  Here are our Counterfeit Kits...

Sherri's "Sunny Clearing" Counterfeit Kit:

"This is my favorite add-on!  I used similar coordinating papers, plus some Cosmo Cricket Elements from another line.  Instead of the calendar paper in the inspiration kit, I stamped a doily on yellow cardstock and embossed it with white embossing powder.  I also added some colorful chipboard accents, ribbons, and a little set of number and alpha stamps.  I will be adding some crocheted flowers and button clips, too, like the ones from the inspiration kit."  For more information on Sherri's Kit visit her blog at http://sherrithompson.blogspot.com/.

Meridy's "Sunny Clearing" Counterfeit Kit:

My favorite part of this kit might just be...all of it!  I LOVE this old line of Cosmo Cricket, I think croched flowers are so cute, I was waiting for the perfect papers to match to the vintage notecards I found a a thrift store a while back (the little boy and little girl ones), I'm excited about every piece in here. I can't wait to start using this kit!!!

Bethany's "Sunny Clearing" Counterfeit Kit:

I love the bright colors in this kit!  It reminded me of some BG sets that I have, so I used those.  By this kit, I felt pretty free to skip stuff I knew I wouldn't use without feeling guilty.  LOL  Check out my Blog for a complet list of my kit contents and more pictures.

Mini Doily Tutorials:
There are multiple was to go about re-creating the mini doilies.  I grabbed some stamps, a scalloped punch, and various colors of ink and went to work stamping images in different colors and punching them out. 

Create your own mini paper doilies
Printable mini doily designs
More printable mini doily designs

Another variation:
Do a Google "Images" search for  Spirograph Images or Spirograph Designs...100s of images in lots of colors will be available.

Printable Labels:

This piece of paper might be the one thing I "have to buy" from this month's kits...I ablsolutely LOVE them!


Inspiration Cosmo Cricket "Salt Air" Elements Paper

Cute "counterfeit" labels to download are found here...

I was inspired by the "beach theme" in the Cosmo Cricket Paper and found the following images.  I found all of them on multiple web sites, so I decided to include the images, rather than the links...

Crochet Flower Patterns:

I think mini croched flowers look so cute on a scrapbook page, or layout...I just wish I knew how to crochet!  Here is a link to insturctions for making 100 different croched flowers!
100 Croched Flowers

"Number" Stamp:


"Lickcurl" Font

Here's the link to download the free font (above) which looks similar to the number font in the original kit...
Lickcurl Petite Font Download

Altered Paperclips Tutorial:

Clips from the original kit

Making your own altered paper clips is as easy as adhering qnything you want to some office paper clips.  You can add silk flowers, felt designs, buttons, bling...any tiny embellishment will look great adhered to the end of a paper clip!  Here are a few cute examples...

http://www.moonlightstamper.com/blog/altered-paper-clips
http://creativepad.typepad.com/creative_pad/2009/01/altered-item-thursday-paper-clips-match-book.html



Meridy's altered paper clips

I hope you have as much fun with this kit as I did!