Counterfeit Kit Challenge November kit reveal blog hop

Happy November 1st.

It's a Bank Holiday here in Germany but due to the fact that I am always doing things at the last minute, here I am at 7 in the morning, getting my post ready to go live in an hour!

Anyway, I love November. Yes, a bit controversial. It's not usually up there in the top three (or even in the top ten!) of anyone's list. But it's our Birthday month and a few years ago, I decided to change my attitude to this grey, dreary month and since then have been able to see it for all its glory. And we've been lucky the last few years and have had some incredible Novembers full of sunshine and blue skies and even a smattering of snow. I tell you this because since then I have tried to make my November Counterfeit kit a bit special to support this better feeling about the month :-) And this month, I think I have another winner to create with all month long.

So onto the reason you are here - the Counterfeit Kit Challenge kit reveal for November. If you've come to me via the inspirational Lesley - the first slice of my Lesley/Leslie sandwich - you're on the right track. If not, why not pop back to the Counterfeit blog and catch up with all the team - you won't regret it.

This month we are happy to have Vikki as our Guest Designer so please make her welcome and say hi to her as you go along - I'm sure she will have something gorgeous to share.

We were given a really autumnal kit for inspiration from Jenni Bowlin this month. It's really got that seasonal feel to it and is a great place to start. There are a few more close ups if you follow the links (here and here) and even some add ons so there's plenty for you to choose from...

 Realising straight away that I didn't have a single item from the original kit, I let it inspire me in a more fluid way and came up with a kit that definitely has its roots here but they might be difficult to pick out.

Let me introduce "Comfort" to you - and yes, I'm already in love with it!

 First off was to notice that the JB kit had quite a lot of BasicGrey and some Crate paper so to start selecting my papers, I decided that this is where I would go. I've been trying to incorporate a lot more of my newer stash into my kits recently as it seems a shame to let them sit there getting old while my CKC kits are full of older stash. Therefore, I turned to BasicGrey Hipster and Crate Paper DIY shop as well as some from Acorn Avenue (also Crate). I found a stripe that reminded me of the original, some spots, a floral and lots of papers that had a similar small repeating design. I also tried to match up, in a very loose way, the tones and colours although I ended up with something far less brown and much more neutral with a splash of red. Mmmmm. One extra sheet of word bubbles replaced the word bubbles embellies in the original.

  

Having decided on these two companies, it seemed sensible to me to pull out some of the stickers, chipboard and die cuts from the Crate Paper lines which are practically untouched and add them in.

The JB kit has a whole pack of BG transparencies which include a lot of leaves and flowers. Flowers are covered in the Crate die cuts and stickers, so into the kit went a pile of wooden leaves that are so adorable.

Looking back to the inspiration kit again, I picked out letter stickers, stamps, jutte and sequins that needed to be added. So two extra sets of alphas - one large one small; some buttons because I hardly use them any more and I have gazillions; a SC date/phrase stamp (Thanks Bethany!) with a new stamp pad seemed to match and will encourage me to use it up; and some very old ribbons that I threw in for good measure.

Going back to my room, I then picked out a few last things that I think will really be useful such as the Crate slide frames, some lace and a few left over items from Crate Paper's The Pier.

This is another BIG kit. But I'm fine with that because there is lots of variety (especially when I look at the B-sides of the papers and all those stickers) and it's a kit full of stuff that I know I love.

I have promised myself that I will go back to my older stash in the new year for a few kits but at the moment, I'm really enjoying making up my CKC kits with scrummy, inspiring new stash. Last month thanks to LOAD,  I used up my WHOLE October Stargazer kit (12 layouts) which is something that hasn't happened for as long as I can remember. Of course, creating every day helped but also, I was SO in love with my kit that it just inspired me day after day after day. I have big plans for this kit too.

Thanks for dropping by and please let me know you were here - why not let me know how you feel about November?

The ever creative and endlessly delightful Leslie is the top slice of my sandwich and your next stop along the hop.

If you get lost, here is the full list. Have a great day everyone!

Guest Designer:  Vikki  http://islandscrapper1.wordpress.com

Angela:  http://colestoucan.blogspot.co.uk/

Dawn:  http://dawnsscrapbookcottage.blogspot.com

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

Julene:  http://julenebydesign.blogspot.com.au

Lesley G.:  http://ohblogitifyoucantbeatthem.blogspot.co.uk

Lisa H.:  http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com/ You are here

Leslie:  http://lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.com Go here next

Lynnette:  http://sassyscrapper2010.blogspot.com/

Millisa:  http://millermall.blogspot.com/

Stephanie:  http://skylinepaperie.blogspot.ca