Counterfeit Kit Challenge May member blog hop

It's Counterfeit Kit Challenge member blog hop time again!

I'm kicking off today so when you are done, please hop over to this month's wonderful Guest Designer, Susan (links to her Flickr feed) and the full list can be found at the Counterfeit Kit blog or at the end of this post.

This months challenges were:

Challenge #1:  Roll The Dice:  Bethany rolled the dice back in 2012 and chose a challenge to make a fashion inspired card
Challenge #2:  Back To School: School supplies, school photos, school memories ... you choose
Challenge #3:  No Photo Challenge: Forget the photos on your layout!

And we were also offered a whole lot of inspiration over InterNational Scrapbook Day weekend which we were encouraged to dip into for our pages today.

I decided to revisit the Back To School challenge for a second time and also Susan's 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 challenge (you can find it here)

I came across this close-up shot of my nieces uniform socks just before she started school and thought what a lovely little detail it was.

I was really lucky that this month's kit, Rejuvenate had some aquas which seemed to match up with the uniform and plenty of pinks to match her very girlie character. A Kelly Purkey sketch from the Sketchbook class and I was good to go.

Counterfeit Kit Challenge May kit, Rejuvenate lo #3

Next up is May's Guest Designer Susan who you can find over at Flickr. It would be lovely if you left me a comment to let me know you were here before you go!

Be sure to share your own creations over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Mr Linky page.

Here's the full list of today's hoppers in case you get lost along the way.

Happy hopping.

CKCB         http://www.counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com
Lisa           http://lisahausmann.blogspot.de
Susan       https://www.flickr.com/photos/102444136@N07  leads to her Flickr gallery - check out the first layout in her feed!
Tina           http://tinasscrapcorner.blogspot.com
Leslie         http://lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.com
Solange     http://isbahashome.blogspot.fr
Susanne    http://snapsandsnippets.blogspot.com 

Scrapabilly May kit shares (part 2)

Glad you've come back for part 2 of my Scrapabilly May kit shares. You can find my first shares here.

A reminder of the Jillibean Soup filled kit using the Summer Red Raspberry Soup collection.

This layout started off with the small cluster as a centre point and just developed from there. 

And this last layout used up a whole lot of scraps and plenty of little bits and pieces left in the kit such as the die-cuts and stickers. My Big Shot served me well with the nested star die - this has proved to be the most versatile and well used die I've got and I use it all the time. I really liked the idea of piling up the different sizes and colours to give different effects. I was happy to use up five photos taken just recently too. I love capturing the colours of spring.

I wonder if the red banner is a little bright for the page? I might consider changing it out - what do you think?

Don't forget to check out the Scrapabilly gallery where you can see all the Design Team creations and the kit is still available here. Such a lovely kit - why not treat yourself?

Scrapabilly May kit shares (part 1)

Back again for another month of Scrapabilly kit shares.

The Scrapabilly May kit features the pretty, summery Jillibean Soup Summer Red Raspberry Soup with lovely fresh colours and lots of cute designs - fruity and delicious!

Seven of the collection papers including cut apart sheets, Jillibean Soup mini-alpha, label stickers and  die-cuts, washi tape, a set of Thickers, a Scrpabilly exclusive flair, cardstock and Simple Stories Colour Light Vibe papers all combine to make a really super kit that was perfect for scrapping warm days, happy colours, cute girls and random art.

Several of the papers were so gorgeous on both the a-side and b-side that it was really difficult to make a choice of which one to use. The green paper below was one of those - pretty doilies on the a-side and then this gorgeous green geometric on the b-side. The green won out although I did manage to salvage many partial doilies from the piece I cut off.

When I first looked into the kit, I just saw those happy colours and that reminded me of colouring as a child which in turn reminded me of these photos. I need to remember to play with colour more - this layout is a reminder for me.

The doilies I fussy-cut from the green paper off-cuts were used as trimmings for this little cutie. The butterflies and doilies from the die-cut pack, mixed in with those I cut from the papers seemed the perfect decoration for my little ballerina niece.

Last share for today is the random art I was talking about at the beginning of the post. I took inspiration for this design from Pinterest - nothing in particular, just the look of several pages I've admired recently. And the gentle, fresh coloured papers seemed the perfect ruse for this enormous, impressive statue that I used to admire every week at one of the companies I worked for. I think it must be two or three meters long. I loved that rhino and got several sneaky photos of it while I worked there. Happy to have this memory captured. The blocky design seems to match the solid form of its body.

I'll be back again later this week with the last two layouts from the kit but in the meantime, why not go over to the Scrapabilly gallery to check out the Design Team creations.

15 loves {May 2015}

Welcome to the next in the series {15 loves} for 2015 based on the original concept by my beloved friend, Pam, back in January 2013. I shared my loves (mostly late) all through 2014 and now it's time to see if I can continue the series through 2015. I hope you will come back each month to see if there is anything in my list to inspire you. You can see all my {14 loves} {here} and now all my {15 loves} {here}

Another month, another late post! But I was busy showing someone special around my little corner of the world, so I'm sure you can forgive me!

I hope there's something in here to inspire you or maybe just make you smile.

one

This is the special someone I was showing around! Stephanie from the Counterfeit Kit Challenge team. It was simply wonderful to meet her and her husband in person and introduce her to the delights of Germany. We took in the sights of Cologne and then went up the Rhine to take in a few Schloss!

two

On Pam's recommendation, I signed up for the Kelly Purkey Sketchbook class over at Studio Calico. I had been a little sceptical about a sketch class but once Pam showed me how the contributors layouts are also turned into sketches, thus providing you with literally dozens of new ideas, as well as seeing how inspirational Kelly is, I was sold. It's proving to be a great class so far and I've already done one or two of the sketches.

Kelly Purkey's Sketchbook class at Studio Calico

three

There are a lot of circles around at the moment and this one caught my eye. I have a fancy to make a more "messy" layout like this one. I love the colours and of course the stars. 

Corrie Jones at Shimelle.com (Pinterest source here)

four

It may be because we aren't eating that many potatoes right now, but this one made my mouth water - literally. I have no idea what Asiago cheese is or if I can find it here but I will have a look around. I think I need a whole plate of these.

Asiago Potato Stacks at A Family Feast

five

Of course, the skyline caught my eye as it reminded me of NYC. And there's something about this card that is very NYC. Whatever, I love the simplicity of it and would love to have a go at something similar.

Julie Ebersole for Ellen Hutson.com

six

This cup says it all! Ha ha!

Found on GetPersonalEtc at Etsy.com

seven

It's been so much fun over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge recently with our Scrap Crush challenge and lots of inspiration from InterNational Scrapbook Day. I still love the concept of creating our own kits, adore the girls on the team and love the inspiration over there. If you've not yet counterfeited your own kit and would like to give it a try, why not head over there and get the run down on what to do and how to do it. You can also find a list of our tips for creating and using your own Counterfeit kits here

eight

I am so drawn to Sasha Farina's pages. I adore the detail, the white space, the stitching, the designs. I seem to pin them all the time even though I'm not sure that her style is something I can reproduce! Especially love this one - see, there's those circles again!

Sasha Farina for Studio Calico

nine

Suits is back. Love it. I get to actually have the TV to myself for a whole 90 minutes a week to watch the double episode for Season 4. A treat for me.

ten

Looks like the ideal t-shirt for me. 

Found at AwesomeBestFriendsTs at Etsy.com

eleven

I purchased some of this October Afternoon Treasure Map paper collection at Scrapabilly - love the colours, the designs and the travel theme - there but not overwhelming. This particular page grabbed my attention on Pinterest because it was was interesting to see it used for a sports page - just goes to show how versatile it is.

Layout by Wendi at Scrappy Day in Paradise

twelve

Funny. Yes, that's me. Need to change that.

Pinterest source here

thirteen

Words to live by perhaps?

fourteen

I want to sit here, read a book, sip a cup of tea and take it all in. Some inspiration for my room.

Pinterest source here

fifteen

Asparagus season is back! I need to eat as much as I can for the next six weeks while this short season lasts. I could eat it every day. I don't, but I could :-)

I’d love you to share your own {15 loves} lists with me. Why not link up in the comments below?

{15 loves} is a series that will feature on my blog each 15th of the month

Counterfeit Kit Challenge - Back to School

Over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog this month, we have the theme "Everything old is new again" and this includes going back to the past and re-mixing those older challenges to make them right up-to-date!

Challenge #2 is up and it's all about "Back to School" which was the very first prompt to help us use our kits. Check out the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog for the details of the challenge this time around and the link to the original post. Go on! This is fun! There are links to some TwoPeas videos over in that original post. Don't forget that all (or at least a lot) of old TwoPeas videos can be found on their YouTube stream as mentioned in one of our posts on InterNational Scrapbook Day!

I decided to use the title of the challenge as my starting point and combined it with a rather abstract photo and sub-title. I will be writing some personal journalling about what I mean by all of that (pressing that elusive reset button!) on the little yellow journalling card tucked into the right hand corner.

Looking at the layout now, I think it needs a second subtitle after the main "Back to School" - something relating to how I need to re-learn lessons from the past for my/our future together.

See? I warned you my layout was a little abstract regarding the prompt! But it works for me and pulls everything together.

Counterfeit Kit Challenge May kit, Rejuvenate layout #1

I used a sketch from Kelly Purkey's Sketchbook class over at Studio Calico and really enjoyed following it rather literally. The little selection of items in the corner is in place of page corners.

This little yellow card is where I'll write my thoughts. The gold thread shows me that there is something to pull out.

I used my May kit, Rejuvenate and loved picking out the pinks and golds with that flash of aqua. These colours just make me happy!