Counterfeit Kit Challenge mini-challenge #2

March is already skipping along and I'm here today to share my creation for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge mini-challenge #2 - to be inspired by Vera Bradley. 

ETA: The main challenge set by the CKC girls was to mix up at least three patterned papers - something that I sort of missed in my efforts to get to grips with the Vera Bradley design idea! Ha ha. I'm bad at reading like that. However, as luck would have it, there are three pattered papers on here - all Crate Paper. The bright pink down the middle, the small print I used as photo mats and the large flowers were cut from another sheet. Phew - I'm relieved I realised this crucial point.

This designer was totally new for me and I had to go online to see what she was all about. Well, colour seemingly! It reminded me a lot of all the Amy Butler stuff that K&Co came out with some years ago (and yes, I have all of that!).

I'm not really sure this is really my kind of style but I can see that it's gorgeous. Full of bright, bold colours and strong patterns. There's nothing "quiet" about these designs.

So I started off by saving some photos that caught my eye that I could use for inspiration. This is what I came up with...

Photo mosaic made over at BigHugeLabs.com

The things I noticed were:

• lots of white space background (which isn't very noticeable at first but is a very strong design point)
• strong flourishing designs
• bright colours
• layered flowers
• clusters of leaves
• strong lines in the designs themselves
• beautiful font for the brand name
• gorgeous shop front

So I decided that this would be the direction I would go.

I took the shop front photo which is definitely designed to be warm and welcoming - I'd go in for sure - and made a layout sketch out of it. I loved the panel for the door with the script shop sign and the windows either side giving us a hint of the bright colours to be found inside.

Then I decided to layer some cut out flowers and leaves, bring in all the colours that I found appealing - not automatic colour combinations for me -  and base it all on a white background with some sprinkles of mist. I mirrored the lines of the shop front with my papers, the journalling block and the photo mats and just layered it all up until I thought it was enough.

March kit, Disconnected #2

This was a good stretch for me and I'm glad I took some time to look around before I started this layout. It came together so well and I think the inspiration is really easy to see.

Don't forget to link up your projects {here}. Where will this inspiration take you?