Forgeries on the Fourth (aka FOF), May ’26

As a design team member over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge group I play along with as many of our monthly inspiration challenges as I can. The Forgery on the Fourth project is definitely one I enjoy! That is where we see a scrap product we like and set out to recreate it with supplies we already own. So let’s go ahead and dive in to what I have for you this month.

Since we always start our forgery projects with inspiration, here is the image we are working with this month. It is the cut-apart sheet from Echo Park’s Mon’s Kitchen collection.

I thought I was only going to reproduce the chalkboard element as an independent embellishment. But once I started looking at all the cards I wanted to do more! I wanted to do them all, but I didn’t get quite that far. I did get four out of six, which is pretty goo.

This one was by far my favorite. I drew and/or cut out all the imagery on this card (except the bowl). I had so much fun giving more artful skills a solid go. Yay!

If you want tips and tricks for each of these cards. I break down how I created that mixer as well from seeing and object, to seeing shapes.

For more creative ideas, the CKC blog has more forgery examples to check out. I hope this gave you some ideas on how you can recreate your favorite product ideas with supplies you may already have on hand. Don’t forget to show off your stuff over on the CKC Facebook group, or tag us on Instagram @counterfeitkitchallenge or use #counterfeitkitchallenge.

Until next time, have an artful day.

CKC Kit Build, May ’26

Welcome to a new month of kit building. I’m hosting the activities over at CKC this time around. And I have an announcement. This is my last month being on the team at CKC. I’ve had another opportunity come up and have decided to move on. More on that in a future post. For now I’m happy to share my final month of CKC team work with a final hosting lead.

I’ve invited my friend Debbie Barton to be our Guest Designer this month. She has energy and fun layouts to share so I know she’ll do great! Plus she said she has wanted to try this whole kit building project anyway! So welcome Debbie!

Now, the kit I chose got a little bit of side-eye from my team members. I just had to laugh because I do like to challenge people. I’m a bit of an imp that way. So, we are using the Mom’s Kitchen collection from Echo Park.

At first glance this kit is heavily themed. So many mixers, aprons, pies and so on. Don’t let that stop you though. If you don’t like the theme, you can pull other inspiration from this kit. In fact you’ll see that my own kit largely side steps the theme in favor of color and pattern.

So these are the papers I came up with. I leaned into the checkered print with a selction of cheks/plaids and even some stripes in a variety of colors. I did pull in some fruit imagery as an adjacent theme. I have lots of supporting small scale prints to layer up with everything.

With the embellishments is where I brought in more of the theme. These can be left off if they just don’t fit the stories I’m telling. It is hard to see in the mix of everything, but I have some pots & bowl die cuts toward the left. I’ve got a pouch of “food” embellishments in the center (see that donut toward the top center?). Plus on the far right I have dies for creating pies as well as more bowls & pots.

It’s a nice big versatile kit this month since May is a typical heavy scrapping month for me!

Don’t forget that each month I also create my own elements to add into my kit. Of course these are inspired by the original kit, but often have a twist of their own. So don’t miss what I will make in just a couple of days. I’m loving my ideas this time.

There is a tradition over at CKC of titling our kits just like companies do. As my final kit going out with a food theme and I’m calling mine…

Farewell Fiesta!

If you want more details on my kit building thought process, check out my kit build video.

I hope you can follow along with the other designers and see how they interpreted their own kits.

Here’s the full hop link list

I have a free download “worksheet” to help guide you through your own kit build process. It is a printable pdf and there are two worksheets per letter size page. Have fun kit building!

Don’t forget to show off your stuff over on the CKC Facebook group, or tag us on Instagram @counterfeitkitchallenge or use #counterfeitkitchallenge.

I’ll be back on the 4th, for our Product Forgeries. Until then, have an artful day!

Advent All Year, April 2026

Hello, hello! Welcome to the info page for my newlivestream series. I’ll be using my Spellbinders Crafty Advent Calendar from 2025 to extend the fun all year long in 2026. I’ll have a live stream on the 4th Friday of every month at 4pm Pacific time. The stream will last between and hour and an hour and a half. This series is also a craft-along!

I will preplan a project, post sneak peeks and post of things you can prep ahead of time if you want to craft live with me. I’ll try to use the advent supplies in a way that may not be super obvious. That way you can get more ideas on using your advent goodies. Hope you will join me.

April 2026

The next live will be April 17, 2026 at 4pm Pacific Time. Note that this is a change of time due to scheduling conflict. Join the live now or watch the replay.

Project

This month we will be creating a Get Well inspired card. There is a fun technique using a basic die. Then as usual we will alter up pieces to create new images.

I will explain several options/alternatives during the live. And remember—you can always use the colors you love most.

If you want to craft along with me, here is a preview of the preparation list. Click this link to download the instructions. A zip file will download. The folder includes PDF and JPG files.

If you have any questions or comments, you can message me here on the blog from the Contact tab. Or you can email me by using misty at craftysoup dot com. I’ll do my best to get back to you in a timely fashion. Hope to see you on the live!

CKC Kit Build, April ’26

I love kit building and that is why I am on the design team for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge project. We take an inspiration kit each month and proceed to replicate it, or as we say, counterfeit it. This is a free, friendly group that helps inspire you to use up supplies you already own. We are not about needing to buy the latest and greatest thing (though we won’t stop you if you enjoy new crafty goodies😉 ).

Welcome to a new month of kit building. Julene is our hostess this time. She chose a set of papers the and coordinating supplies from Citrus Twist Kits! Before we dive into the details of this kit, let’s give a warm welcome to our guest designer this month, Diana Vanderleist. She has been scrapbooking for more than three decades! What an amazing accomplishment.

So let’s move on with our kit. Here are a few looks at what we have in store this time around.

I loved the mellow color and patterns of the papers. That woodgrain paper is right up my alley! So that is exactly where I started my kit build. I knew I wanted to keep my choices under control. I managed that with my papers. But as you’ll see, my embellishment choices went way overboard, LOL. So here are the papers.

And here are the embellishments…

I was inspired to pull lots of diecuts, arrows, hearts and flowers from a peek at the kits simple embellishment selection. Plus I even spied a little bit of scalloped edges so I added a border punch to my kit. Even small things can be inspiring!

Don’t forget that each month I also create my own elements to add into my kit. Of course these are inspired by the original kit, but often have a twist of their own. So don’t miss what I will make in just a couple of days. I’m loving my ideas this time.

There is a tradition over at CKC of titling our kits just like companies do. When I went searching for a bird pattern paper I found multiple options which was unexpected. With that I’m calling my kit…

Bird Watch

If you want more details on my kit building thought process, check out my kit build video.

I hope you can follow along with the other designers and see how they interpreted their own kits.

Here’s the full hop link list

I have a free download “worksheet” to help guide you through your own kit build process. It is a printable pdf and there are two worksheets per letter size page. Have fun kit building!

Don’t forget to show off your stuff over on the CKC Facebook group, or tag us on Instagram @counterfeitkitchallenge or use #counterfeitkitchallenge.

I’ll be back on the 4th, for our Product Forgeries. Until then, have an artful day!

Advent All Year, March 2026

Hello, hello! Welcome to the info page for my new livestream series. I’ll be using my Spellbinders Crafty Advent Calendar from 2025 to extend the fun all year long in 2026. I’ll have a live stream on the 4th Friday of every month at 4pm Pacific time. The stream will last between and hour and an hour and a half. This series is also a craft-along!

I will preplan a project, post sneak peeks and post of things you can prep ahead of time if you want to craft live with me. I’ll try to use the advent supplies in a way that may not be super obvious. That way you can get more ideas on using your advent goodies. Hope you will join me.

sneak peek of a card project

Date

The next live will be March 27, 2026 at 4pm Pacific Time. Join the live now or watch the replay.

March Project

This month we will be creating a lovely lady to adorn our card. She is also interactive! While I went all in on pink, feel free to use your own color palette. Believe it or not I’m not really a pink girl. LOL.

There is a bit of prep if you want to craft live with me. The “hair” can be done later if you want to reduce the amount of die cutting. However, I find if you cut one “hair” piece each time you cut something else, the work isn’t that bad. We will do some die cutting on the day of the event as well. I’ve noted in the preparation instructions what you need for now and what we will do live.

If you want to craft along with me, here is a preview of the preparation list. Click this link to download the instructions. A zip file will download. The folder includes PDF and JPG files.

If you have any questions or comments, you can message me here on the blog from the Contact tab. Or you can email me by using misty at craftysoup dot com. I’ll do my best to get back to you in a timely fashion. Hope to see you on the live!

CKC Kit Build, March ’26

I love kit building and that is why I am on the design team for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge project. We take an inspiration kit each month and proceed to replicate it, or as we say, counterfeit it. This is a free, friendly group that helps inspire you to use up supplies you already own. We are not about needing to buy the latest and greatest thing (though we won’t stop you if you enjoy new crafty goodies😉 ).

Welcome to a new month of kit building. Team lead Tara is our hostess this time! She chose the Inklings, Feb ’26 kit from Cocoa Daisy. to inspire us. Before we dive into the details of this kit, let’s give a warm welcome to our guest designer this month, Neyla. You can find her on Instagram or on YouTube.

So let’s move on with our kit. Here are a few looks at what we have in store this time around.

I need a small kit this month so I focused on just a few elements. I wanted to follow some of the color pops, add in some mixed media, plus include really non-themed embellishments. Here is what I came up with. I was going to add in a mixed-media friendly stamp set, but forgot! No worries, I can just grab that off my shelf and use it anyway.

Don’t forget that each month I also create my own elements to add into my kit. Of course these are inspired by the original kit, but often have a twist of their own. So don’t miss what I will make in just a couple of days. I’m loving my ideas this time.

There is a tradition over at CKC of titling our kits just like companies do. So I’m calling mine…

Media Pop

If you want more details on my kit building thought process, check out my kit build video.