Challenge 1 of the month over at Counterfeit Kit Challenge, and oh boy did this one roll around unexpectedly. π²π²π² OK that's not entirely true...
I knew it needed to be done by TODAY, it's just that today was TODAY that surprised me. One minute it's Last Week and then yesterday I glance at the date on my phone and panic ensues.
Fortunately I've had ideas about this challenge turning over in my head since we got the brief. The challenge is called "Sprinkle and Sparkle". Lisa says: "
there's always a sprinkle of shimmer, confetti, sequins or glitter to be seen. Make sure you make your own project shine this celebratory month by adding some extra sparkle". November is Lisa's birthday month and while I don't celebrate birthdays, I very much love all things glittery!
THIS was the right challenge for a particular story about my little nieces and and my older niece's very VERY sparkly and blingy clothing choices when they went on an outing with their other aunt and their cousin (the one and only SmallCraftyDude)!
I had paper in my kit for November that would work in terms of colour, but I did have to "borrow" some embellishments from Shimelle's various collections which have plenty of glittery and sparkly words!
These very words were the next layer in Lisa's challenge:
Are these not the most perfect words for a layout on this topic? (the "Shine" one was from the Alice in Wonderland chipboard sheets from the kit and the rest were die cuts and cut aparts from various Shimelle collections over the years.
My favourite has to be "Try a smidgen of Bling". The story makes it quite clear that Miss L tried a heck of a lot more than just a smidgen and we love her for it! πππ
As I was pondering how to actually arrange the photos on paper, I looked through the prompts in
Shimelle's Layer on Layer on Layer class which I have been working through, and found Prompt 21 to be perfect!
The focal point of each embellishment cluster was a cut file which gets backed with patterned paper and repeated in each area in a different size.
I was about to "settle" for a typical heart shape (and I have plenty that fit the bill) when I remembered have several gemstone shaped cut files by Paige Evans (there's that brief again!) that give the cut frame and you back them onto something else. There are sooo many cool things I could do with them! π€
One of last month's forgeries got tinkered with again and cut out areas got backed with glitter paper. ooooh! πππ
I could totally do that...OR...make shaker pockets stuffed full of all kinds of sparkly bits. I didn't add any glitter because the static makes it stick to the plastic and you can't see anything else in there so I just used lots of iridescent spangles.
More about that later. Anyway it turns out I found the nib I was missing to my WeRMK Fast Fuse tool. Where was that 2 weeks ago?? π It's the one for cutting not fusing anyway, so didn't stop me from getting out a page protector design that I rarely use and sacrificed it for the greater glittery good.
The hole left behind by in the cardstock after the shape was cut out worked well as a template to know where to fuse the shape. I wanted to leave one small section open into which I'd put in the glitter (or in this case spangle mix). Mix?? I guess I'd better get onto it then!
I used hollow and solid hearts and stars and flowers and squares and
circles. I tried to mostly stick to white or translucent, but I bit of
gold and pinks, blues and purples went in as well. Gold might seem like an odd choice, but it was a pretty important element in the story. π
Stuffing
it to just the right volume is a bit of an art. If I were making a
card, I'd definitely leave enough empty room to make it shake, but on a
layout where gravity will settle it (possible at the bottom if the album
is stored upright), much of the sparkle may be hidden by embellies
placed on top. I guess shaker pockets are a bit of a misnomer in this
case.
After fusing the pocket closed, there will be a little discrepancy
between the cardstock shape and pocket. Some parts will have
embellishment on top, but if you don't like it, cut it back and re-fuse
from behind.
I am pleased to report that I didn't even cheat with any of the papers (well except for the large mat behind the photos). It's because I wanted something with contrast that also brought in the yellow green and purple from the border around the background and I also wanted to be able to bring those colours in though the embellishments...and to break up all the pink and blue.
The basic construction was pretty quick. Picking out and positioning all the little bits took a lot longer. Possibly even longer than those glitter pockets since much time was spent putting things on and pulling them off! π
Finding the right alphas for the title was a struggle. The gold were from the kit, but had to bring in the blue since not of the others (not even the "messed up ones") looked just right. They don't look nearly as "wobbly" in real life! I put pop dots of various heights under the last two letters of "girls" to get them to the same height.
The journaling was straightforward enough...if you consider the fact I needed a journaling card (actually another cheat there since I used Shimelle's writing pad from Box of Crayons) that fit in the space, looked OK AND gave me enough room for my story. π
Here it is if you want to read it, since it isn't entirely obvious from the pictures. Pics should be larger if you click on them.
Here is the full layout. Have you noticed anything DIFFERENT popping up in the embellishment clusters that didn't show up on the CKC blog? It's not the copious gold mist or little blue gems from the pack of messed-up-enamel-dots that are fair game.
Here is the full layout and look again.
Juicy Girls
So, I was all done and rummaging around while waiting for the pics to sync from my phone onto my Mac. Then I found THIS.
The clear ones are pretty much identical to the bling on L's tracksuit! πππ
There was nothing to be done, but re-work the embellishment clusters and re-do the photos for the blog. Yes there was already too much there, but more is more and I actually like it better now!
In terms of the brief I managed to sneak some sparkle into:
- The topic of the layout and photos
- Sparkle themed word embellies
- gemstone shaped cut files
- filling cut files with spangles
- gold glitter thickers (alphas and star shapes)
- gold mist drops
- flat gold stars
- chipboard stars and gems
- stars on pattern paper and die cuts
- blue and clear gems
Seems excessive, right? In that case I consider this mission accomplished!
Please also visit the other ladies who are also presenting their take on this fabulous design brief. I'm really excited to see what they (and YOU) make. If you take part, please don't forget to link up your project here on the
monthly CKC link up page.
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Love and Sparkly Shenanigans!
