June Counterfeit Kit Challenge member blog hop

Happy 24th June.

Hopefully, you're here for the June Counterfeit Kit Challenge member blog hop and are raring to go hopping. I'm first today, so when you're done, go on over to Tina who is sure to make you smile with her creation. She is all about the happy :-)

This month, we were asked to be inspired by these challenges:

Challenge #1:  Patterned Die Cuts: Use only PATTERNED PAPER to create a layered die cut for your project

Challenge #2:  Transportation Challenge: Have something transportation related on your project

Challenge #3:  One side or the other: Focus on only ONE side of your project (either one...we don't have a preference) and keep the rest white space

Additionally, I was inspired by Stephanie's design on the CKC challenge post so I went with #3 - One side or the other.

I used to be known as The Queen of No White Space and managed to totally fill my pages with papers and embellishments. While they looked great, used up loads of stash and made me happy, they are so very bulky in my albums - as I'm finding out right now in my layout sorting process - that I found myself using less on my page and therefore finding the joy of white space.

First off, let me show you what I made using my June Counterfeit kit, Spectrum.

June Counterfeit kit, Spectrum lo #1

I actually wanted to incorporate challenges two and three and also include some sort of transportation. But I didn't have anything suitable in my kit and then couldn't decided on a photo.  In the end, I settled for just the white space option and scrapped a photo from our recent trip to Vienna where top of the food list was Sacher Torte from Hotel Sacher. It was delicious.

Loved using the gold Silhouette cut here and finding a way to incorporate it into my title.

I've just noticed two spelling mistakes in "Sacher" up there, so as soon as I've finished writing this, I'll be making that correction!

Another take away from my "layout-into-album-sorting" experience is that I often repeat information on more than one layout or even copy the same information without realising. This comes from the fact that I usually scrap in a non-chronological manner and don't know/remember what I've already scrapped. In fact, I've been known to scrap exactly the same layout, even using the same title without realising until I find the second one by co-incidence. This really jumped out to me while I was going through my layouts and putting them into order for my albums. So, as a learning point, I know that I will make more than one layout about the Vienna trip so I don't need all the details of why we were there or what else we did on every one. That's the reason this layout just talks about the Torte experience and nothing else. I feel liberated in my scrapping through this organisational process. It makes me happy to see these points and then make small changes in the way I scrap.

Ok, so my "white space" has some misting splats which isn't exactly clear of anything but I think it still counts, right?

Keeping it simple was fun and created a page that will fit right into my Vienna story.

Next up is Tina and the full list is here in case you get lost along the way.

Happy hopping and we'd love to see you joining in over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge. Find out how you can get involved here, here and some tips and tricks here.

CKCB   http://www.counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com

Lisa   http://lisahausmann.blogspot.de

Tina   http://tinasscrapcorner.blogspot.com

Leslie   http://lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.com

Julie   http://jsquaredscrapspot.wordpress.com

Karen   https://pinkycrafter.wordpress.com

Susan   http://littlethingsbigdays.blogspot.com

Cindy   http://www.cindyscreations-cinmfoster.blogspot.com

Kate   http://www.kateblue.blogspot.com/

Margie   http://scrappinmargie.blogspot.com

15 loves {June 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 2013 & 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 {13 loves} {here}, my {14 loves} {here} and now all my {15 loves} {here}

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

one

I've been sorting layouts. Hundreds and hundreds of layouts. There's a lot of progress and several hundred are now sitting in albums in roughly chronological order awaiting the next step of the process. There's a lot of work still to be done and some years are way over-scrapped but it's good to see boxed layouts seeing the light of day and a beginning to my system.

two

Talking of sorting layouts into albums and beginning on a system, I had already purchased the Shimelle course, Cover to Cover in anticipation. So when the Deep Dive Paperclipping audio course was released featuring Shimelle and Noell talking about Story Centred Albums, it was a no-brainer for me. It's fantastic and I can only recommend it as a spring-board to get those thoughts whirring about how you want to organise your layouts and ultimately, your stories. I've listened to it about five times all the way through now and each time I do, I come up with more ideas and more stories that I want to tell. Fabulous.

Details about the Deep Dive audio course here

three

I love moons. I love full moons. Not sure I'm cool enough to carry this ring off, but I love the idea.

Pinterest source here

four

It's summer round here and luckily for me (or unluckily for the diet), there's an ice-cream parlour right opposite where we live now. Yes, we are frequent visitors and yes, Erdbeerbeche (strawberry sundae) is a winner every time.

five

Who doesn't love happy mail? This delightful package arrived from Lynnette and made me smile all day long. She is a sweetie! 

six

There's a lot of sorting, decluttering and reorganising going on round here and I love this shelf wall. I'd love to set up something similar - just not sure where right now. Floating shelves have been a favourite of mine for some time. Dust traps they may be, but I love the look of them.

Pinterest source here

seven

Resort Fling by Essie. A great summer shade for those rare occasions when my nails can stand some attention!

eight

I first saw these on Pinterest and saved them right away. Love the idea of map buttons. I wonder if I could convince Sylvia at Scrapabilly to allow me to make some map flairs? I see more maps in my future. I especially love how my of these buttons below feature towns in my area of Germany!

A Pinterest find but originally from the Veridiana Fromm blog. There are loads and loads of gorgeous buttons to be found over there

nine

Just a silly that made me smile. So true, so true.

Pinterest source here

ten

I pinned this from the members only area of Simple Scrapper and I just knew right away that I need to do this - that paper and the pile of photos combined with the long journalling. Love it.

A Jamie Leija layout originally pinned from the member site of Simple Scrapper, the pin can be found here

eleven

This is my life.

twelve

Such a great, simple look. The pops of red and union jack blue are perfect with the neutrals. Another look for me to ponder for our new home. We have a lot of neutral round here.

Pinterest source here

thirteen

I love the look of the new Simple Stories collection Summer Vibes. We don't really do a lot of real summer stuff that needs this type of collection but you can be sure that several items will make it into my shopping basket on Thursday when I get to Scrapabilly again after a 4 week hiatus! This layout by Ashley Horton is a perfect example of the fun style that comes from mixing these gorgeous products.

Ashley Horton for the Hip Kit Club

fourteen

My mum sent me this the other week. I thought it was hilarious. Maybe it's just me? What do you think?

fifteen

Last but not least, who can resist these little ballet feet?!? My two year old niece and her first performance. Adorable!

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

Scrapabilly June kit shares (part 2)

The June Scrapabilly kit is full of Pink Paislee Atlas collection and if you know anything about me and my scrapping, you should know that I'm a huge fan of travel papers and especially map and globe designs. This kit felt like my destiny!

Just to remind you, here's the full kit and you can get one of your own over at the Scrapabilly shop here.

You can find the first three pages I created in the blog post here and I'm back today to share the last two layouts. To be honest, I'm sure I could get the kit all over again and keep scrapping another five pages. I loved this kit - did I mention that?!?

Another paper design that I needed to use as a full background sheet because I loved it so much and so I tried not to cover up much of the main pattern. It has a flight route design but I matched it up with some road trip to the UK photos and then added in a flurry of the themed die cuts and embellishments.

And last up, a layout using all the same products but for a non travel theme to show just how flexible the kit is. Most of the b-sides were so neutral that they could have been used for all sorts of different topics. This is a "stolen" Instagram photo of two of my nieces and my nephew and it just reminds me that we don't see each other often enough.

Using the b-sides and creating little touches of pink across the page give this layout a totally different feel to the other four I made.

Just a reminder that you can see what the team did with this great kit over at the Scrapabilly gallery here and pick up a kit of your own in the Scrapabilly shop here!

Go on, treat yourself!

Scrapabilly June kit shares (part 1)

The June Scrapabilly kit is fantastic and a thrill to work with. It's based around the Pink Paislee Atlas collection which of course, is absolutely my kind of collection. It's full of maps, globes, travel icons and cute cameras. I love it. I can never resist travel themed items so I knew I was going to have fun with it.

There's 10 sheets of paper, the matching die-cuts, chipboard elements and some sparkly enamel shapes from the collection as well as white luggage tags, twine, a full set of twirly white Thickers and matching cardstock. I added in extra cardstock, a set of October Afternoon Mini Market alphas here, a few letters from a navy blue set of Thickers and some mists. I also got myself the full set of Atlas sparkly enamel shapes here.

Here's the full kit and don't forget that you can get yourself one at the Scrapabilly shop here.

I made five layouts with the kit and so check back on Saturday to see the second part of my share.

I loved this paper so much that I just needed to be used as a background which is something I don't do so often these days. I need to add the journalling about meeting Stephanie when she came over to Europe but the rainbow plane seemed so perfect for this May highlight. The pack of die cuts was so much fun to use with the stars, cameras and that cute stack of suitcases.

Continuing along the travel theme, I considered how my view of where I want to travel to is changing over the years. Rather than getting longer, the list of places I still want to visit is getting shorter! So it might be time to just record the places still on the list right now. The pull out journalling still needs to be completed. In fact, the journalling for all five layouts needs to be written because I decided that I wanted to take my time to really think about what I want to say. Something that has come about due to my recent sorting of layouts.

Another sheet of paper that needed to be used as a whole :-) Map paper is a weakness of mine so I knew that I had to design around that world print. Taking some photos from a long time ago, I wanted to reflect on the fact that we have so many incredible places to see here in Europe. Even though we feel that some places are a long way away, in reality all these destinations are on our doorstep! I love that about our continent.

There's more to see over at the Scrapabilly gallery here. Such a great kit that inspired us all and hopefully you too.