Thursday 24 September 2015

Counterfeit Kit Challenge September member blog hop

Welcome to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge September member blog hop!

Hopefully, you've been hopping along and are here via Julie's creations and I'm at the end of the hop. But if you're here direct, you might want to start back at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog so that you don't miss out on any of the fun and inspiration this month.

We were given the following challenges to get our creative muscles moving
  • Challenge #1:  Single Pop of Colour on White - keep most of your project white and use one nice pop of colour 
  • Challenge #2:  Card Collection - make a collection of three cards using the same type of paper/embellishments 
  • Challenge #3:  Mix a Sketch - mix the two sketches together to make a fun, one of a kind project
I decided to go with #1 as this seems to match my style recently. However, I "interpreted" the "white" as more neutrals! Considering I had such a bright kit, I was happy to find some wonderfully calming colours in there and the bookeh paper was perfect as the background to my layout.

Counterfeit Kit Challenge September kit, Difference #1

Again, as is usual these days (more because I never have any photos printed out and ready to go when I start to scrap than by design), I made up the whole page before deciding on which photo to use. I knew I wanted to use something from this summer but it also needed to be calm and not too colourful to match the mood of the page. When I saw this sunrise photo of the white cliffs of Dover, taken from the ferry on the way to London, I knew it was the one. Yes, it's colourful, but also very relaxing to look at all the same.


 

The die cut foam leaves create my pop of colour and I even used a silver pen to journal round the outside of the page so that it didn't distract from what was going on across the rest of the page. Note to self: organise a new silver pen, I like it!


I even stitched - did you notice? Now that I have my machine out right next to me all the time, it's a great fast addition to my pages.


I hope you enjoyed the hop today and are inspired to make something of your own using one of our prompts. Don't forget to link up your creations over at our Mr Linky page. You can upload your page to our Flickr group (here) if you don't have a blog - always a way to join in on the fun.

Here's the full list in case you got lost along the way, and the next month is almost here with its new kit. I'm excited already!

CKCB    http://www.counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com
Jemma    http://just-jimjams.blogspot.co.uk
Tina    http://tinasscrapcorner.blogspot.com
Stephanie    http://skylinepaperie.blogspot.de
Binty    http://scrappingpluv.blogspot.com/
Julene    http://julenebydesign.blogspot.com.au
Julie    http://spendlesscraftmore.blogspot.com.au/
Lisa    http://lisahausmann.blogspot.de

Wednesday 16 September 2015

15 loves {September 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.

A few days late but still....



one

These aren't available any more in the Etsy shop the pin linked to but I couldn't resist pinning them all the same - they are just the prettiest autumn biscuits I could ever imagine. If only I was talented enough to have a go at these for myself. What do you think?!?

Autumn cookies from Whipped Bake Shop on etsy here 

two

I dream of making cards as beautiful as this. One day maybe!



Julia Stainton for MFT stamps

three

The September kit over at Scrapabilly is actually not one but two! You can choose between a blue/orange selection from the "So Rad" collection or a pink/gold mix of products from the "So Fancy" collection from Simple Stories. I bet you can't guess which one I chose to work with? I added in some extras and love the results that I made (sharing next week). Snap up your own here before they all go!

Scrapabilly September kit(s) available here

four

Pinned this. Looks delicious. Have to try it.


You know how much I love maps. As you can imagine, I adore this layout. I think I have to try this Silhouette technique. I must have this cut file or at least one that is almost the same. Watch this space.

six

I'm so not a shopper. I rarely look at clothes and hardly ever buy anything new. But I seem to have a bit of a thing for coats. I SO don't need a new winter coat but this one caught my eye and I'm wondering how I can get my hands on it.



Mint Ledbury coat from Boden here

seven

Using the Scrapabilly September kit (the Simple Stories, Oh Fancy version) I decided to break my own resolution and make a mini-album for Shimelle's Learn Something New Every Day. I first joined LSNED back in 2006 and have watched from the sidelines each year since then. But this year, it all came together and I decided to participate again - pretty paper and some self-reflection was too tempting.


eight


A mirrored bedside table and fresh roses. Sigh. A dream for me.

nine

I pride myself on not having any half-finished layouts hanging around - including journalling. So I was a bit shocked to find so many incomplete pages hanging out in my room. I sat down and finished off all but two - these need a bit more work and thought but they will not be forgotten. However, seeing those pages now ready to put into albums made me happy. Do you have any projects that need that final touch?



ten

I'm excited to see Shimelle's new Christmas collection at American Crafts. This might have to land on my shopping list or it *might* be that I *might* have preordered Shimelle's Christmas kit which will feature a lot of the Christmas Magic paper!


Showcased at Shimelle.com

eleven

I am trying to get to new places here in Germany so I was thrilled to see that there was a Karl Lagerfeld exhibition at the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn. You might remember that Bonn used to be the capital city of the Federal Republic of Germany (west Germany!) so I was excited to go and check it out. Anyway, long story short, the exhibition was incredibly amazing but we didn't get to see the city at all! I stole a sneaky photo of one part of the exhibition as we weren't allowed but I was a bit disappointed that there was no official exhibition book :-( Trying to keep the memories of this fabulous selection of his creations in my mind.


twelve

After the Bundeskunsthalle, we went along the road to the Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (House of German History) which is an amazing museum recording the history of Germany from wartime up to the present, following both eat and west Germany through their separation to their reunification. It was great. So well done and so interesting. We could have spent a lot longer there as there was so much to read but after a while, you just can't take it all in. JFK's visit to Berlin in 1963 is one of the highlights of that time and his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" one of the most famous quotes in German history. 


thirteen

Saw this on Pinterest and thought it was worth pinning for my Christmas album maybe.


Available at TipJunkie.com

fourteen

A new name for me but I found these bold stripes with the simple design so appealing.



fifteen

True words.




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

Tuesday 1 September 2015

Counterfeit Kit Challenge September kit reveal blog hop

It's Counterfeit Kit Challenge kit reveal time - again. Which means it must be the beginning of the month - again!

Hopefully you're reaching me via the delightful Guest Designer this month Cindy who we are thrilled to have play along this month. Next up is master kit stager, Lynnette who as always, you won't want to miss.

The full blog hop list can be found at the end of the post.

This month, we were given a modern, bright and fun kit by Studio Calico to be inspired by. Their August Pop Art scrapbooking kit is the one I went with, but we were given free range to select the scrapbooking, Project Life or planner kit. I was drawn to the colours and simple, clean lines of the main kit but did find it had its challenges!

First up, here's the inspiration


Knowing that all the products are SC exclusives, there was nothing I could do to really match up the items exactly so I started with a list of design elements that caught my eye:


  • yellow
  • pink
  • orange
  • sky blue
  • white
  • grey
  • gold
  • splotches
  • lines
  • spots
  • stripes
  • large flowers
  • large numbers
  • clouds
The embellishments were rather thin on the ground for my liking but again I made my list:
  • large black and white alpha
  • small blue alpha
  • washi with a gold design
  • foam die cuts
  • yellow luggage tag
  • acetate shapes
  • diamond die cuts
  • small stamp set
Now, I've certainly kept that list in mind while pulling my supplies together but the result seems quite far away from the original - hence the name



But looking at the papers top left (3) and bottom left (4), they are what I matched up piece by piece.

  • blue and cream splotchy paper (for the blue and white diagonal)
  • grey bokeh print (for the large cloud filled number on white)
  • bright yellow (for the large yellow daisies)
  • small pink and black spot/stripe (for the yellow stripes with black spots)
  • word covered paper (for word covered paper)
  • pink and orange large flourish design (for the splotchy pink and orange)
  • gold spots on very pale off-white/pink (for the oversized gold spots)
I then added in some papers that had come into my hand in the selection process and I just decided to leave them in - including two gold vellum designs

Then I added in a large black alpha (with only one e so that will be a challenge) and some smaller coloured tile alphas for variety. 


I cut out some foam sheets with leaf dies and included a yellow tag. 


Instead of the circle acetates (although I did track down a couple of very old ones), I used a sheet of printed gold and black acetate from Crate Paper which I've cut apart already. 


Then I added in a couple of washi tapes featuring gold and a few diamond and triangle cardstock die cut shapes which Silvia kindly donated to me from her own SC kit from some time back! 


For good measure, I added in a small stamp set and matching the stars from the original kit stamps, I threw in some veneer stars. As if there wasn't enough gold in this kit, I included some gold glitter stickers (given to me by Lynnette) which I thought would add a little extra.

There are still not really enough embellishments for me but let's see how I get on with it. I know that the collection of items I've brought together is vey much me and includes some real golden oldies which I'm interested to see if I use up. I like the mix of designs I've got with the more organic patterns and the geometrics. The combination of gold and stars is of course, a winner!

Hope you will join in this month! Don't forget to link up over at the Counterfeit Kit challenge Blog and let us know what you created with this very modern selection of products as your inspiration!

Off you go to see what Lynnette's got in store for you and here's the full list in case you get lost along the way.









LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...