February at Simple Scrapper #2

With LOAD keeping me busy this month, I've struggled to keep up with blogging over the last few weeks but just scraping in under the wire to share this second layout I made for Simple Scrapper this month.

I used a current story prompt to scrapbook a Pinterest quotation find. This photo has been sitting there for some time just waiting for the perfect moment to be used and I decided that another retrospective about my feeling regarding Bowie's death was the right time. I reflect on something I saw online when the news first appeared. It really did the rounds and summed up what so many were feeling at the time:

The design of the page was driven by a Simple Scrapper sketch. Each month, members receive a set of story prompts and a collection of sketches to help inspire their pages. This is a sketch that I had used before but I love it so much with those layers in the middle that I knew I wanted to go with it again.

 I used my May 2015 Counterfeit Kit Challenge Rejuvenate kit for this and I have to say that it might have been my favourite kit last year. The mix of pink, gold and aqua was just so good.

I love the way the sketch had all those layers tucked into different levels of the middle band. It gives a lot of dimension without the bulk.

To find out more about the many resources available to inspire you to create beautiful pages and tell meaningful stories in a supportive, communicative community environment environment, check out the Simple Scrapper premium membership.

Counterfeit Kit Challenge February member blog hop

Welcome to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge member blog hop. I'm heading up the hop today so when you're done here, Tina is next up and you know she has something fun to share - she always does :-)

February is LOAD (layout a day) month and while I write this, I have a pile of 24 completed layouts waiting to be put into albums. Those make me very happy and we haven't finished the month yet so that pile is sure to grow.

Now, you might remember that my February kit was considerably smaller than kits I've made in the past - you can see the kit reveal here - and I expected to get probably three layouts from the supplies. So imagine my surprise when I realised that I've actually made 6! Ok, so there is a little extra paper that has found its way in there but nothing really much else.

The February Counterfeit Kit Challenge prompts are listed below but to be honest, I've been mostly following the "Around the World in 29 Days" LOAD inspiration which was based around different aspects of places around the world.  But let's see if maybe any of my 6 kit layouts fit the CKC prompts at all.

• Challenge #1 - Sappy Movie Inspiration 
• Challenge #2 - Life is Just a Fairytale...
• Challenge #3 - Say What?

This layout is pretty sappy although it's not really related to specific movie!

I added in that little journalling card from the On Trend 2 collection which matched the geometric pattern in the background

You could say that this layout is all about the "And they lived happily ever after" which would fit challenge #2 - Life is Just a Fairytale.

Now this one definitely fits challenge #3 - Say What! as it's all about some language confusion while I was in Manila and the fact that I just said "Oo!" to everything (it means "yes" in Tagalog)!

Here I added a little gold glitter washi tape and the hint of blue paper in the corner and below the picture crept into the kit too

For this layout, I finished off that blue spotty paper and also added in the map paper. some of the embellishments were smuggled from another of my CKC kits!

At a push, I think I could pull together one more page using the scraps and leftovers from the kit. But you know what? I think I'll just say that this kit is well and truly killed!

LOAD + Counterfeit kits = success!

I know Tina will agree with me on that one as she's also participating in LOAD, so off you go to see what she has to inspire us.

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

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

Lisa    http://lisahausmann.blogspot.de

Tina    http://tinasscrapcorner.blogspot.com

Kelly    http://www.honeysucklehillcrafts.com

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

Jemma    http://just-jimjams.blogspot.co.uk

Thanks for dropping by. Make sure you let me know you were here :-) it's always fun to hear from you.

16 loves {February 2016}

Welcome to the next in the series {16 loves} for 2016.

For the last few years, I've been sharing my loves each month - a little bit of everything that has caught my eye or been enjoyed over the last month. So, a new year and new inspiration. I hope you will come back each month to see if there is anything in my list to inspire you. 

To see what's inspired me in the past, click to find all my {13 loves}, my {14 loves}, my {15 loves} and my {16 loves}.

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

There was a lot making me smile in the last 4 weeks.

one

Britain's first male astronaut, Tim Peake is currently living on the ISS. While I've not been following the story closely, I've been enjoying catching up with some of the amazing photographs he's been posting - especially with a focus on the UK. This photo below shows France (right) and the UK (left) and I adore those bursts of light that you can see - London, Birmingham et al!

two

February marks the final LOAD challenge hosted by Lain Ehmann (so basically, the final publicly available LOAD challenge). And I was delighted to be asked to be one of the featured Designers, contributing five layouts based on prompts relating to life in Germany! I loved making the layouts and am loving the daily creativity - 16 days in and so far, I have 17 layouts and stories added to my pile.

three

A pinterest find that I just love. Look at all those gorgeous layers by Mary-Ann Coulter Maldonado for the Paper Issues Creative Team.

Pinterest find here

four

I love British Pancake Day (Shrove Tuesday) but I was a bit busy so combined it with Valentine's Day and finally - after about 10 years in the cupboard - got the heart shaped forms out and made special pancakes. Man, I love pancakes with lemon juice and sugar. Combined with a glass of pink bubbles, it was the perfect mini romantic celebration!

five

So far, I haven't really "got" the planner craze but these might really persuade me to jump in. They are certainly my colour. Hoping that Scrapabilly gets them in stock when they are available!

Platinum Rose Gold by Webster's Pages

six

My very own Whimsical Musings celebrated 200 prompts with a week long party. We also launched a new Whimsical Musings Facebook Group - and we were thrilled by the positive response. Happy days!

Whimsical Musings here

seven

We had snow. Not a lot and not for long, but it made me happy. This winter has been warm and wet and generally pretty miserable! I love our twinkle lights on the balcony.

eight

Shimelle's Starshine came into my possession. Happy dance!

nine

We had two family birthdays in February and I love how modern technology makes the process of wishing Happy Birthday across the miles so much more personal. This little girl turned 9 and I was thrilled to chat for a few minutes and get to see her beautiful face.

ten

Still sad about Bowie. Just saying. But this raised a smile.

eleven

In the first few days of LOAD, I made this layout which I totally adore. I know we shouldn't blow our own trumpet so much, but this is a real fave of recent times. One for the NYC album(s).

twelve

This looks delish. I really need to start making these food pins I keep!

Pinterest find here

thirteen

Another happy dance over here. Love the Glitter Girl is back. Full of scrapbooking inspiration, I'm finding that I totally adore everything Shimelle does these days. If you don't already catch her videos each week, I really suggest you subscribe to her YouTube channel.

fourteen

I've missed Jingle Belles. I got out of the rhythm of making cards early in 2015 and then found it hard to catch up at the end of the year. I really want to try harder in 2016 and the inspiration the Belles offer is so great that there's not really any excuse! Why not join in and get those holiday cards made easily throughout the year?

Find Jingle Belles here

fifteen

Another inspirational layout I pinned. Suse Fish for Citrus Twist Kits. I'm so loving the grid right now.

Pinterest find here

sixteen

Just a little motivation that I found on Pinterest - although I haven't saved the pin so I can't link back. Nevertheless, so true.

I’d love you to share your own {16 loves} lists with me. Why not link up in the comments below?

{16 loves} is a series that will feature on my blog each 16th of the month

February at Simple Scrapper #1

February at Simple Scrapper means a new set of gorgeous sketches/templates and inspirational Story Starters on the theme of "Quotables". 

My first layout is using one of the sketches featuring a 5x5" photo. I don't usually use such a large square photo so it was interesting to find out just how much I like it! I will be trying this bigger size again.

I chose a black & white photo I found online of my musical hero, David Bowie and matched it up with neutrals and basic prints which don't try to compete with the bold contrast of the photo.

My journalling is short and prompted by a story starter from some time back, "Right Now..."

Some of the embellishments are a little symbolic such as the music washi, the note clip and elements of gold as well as the cork stars.

With the combination of the sketch and the story starter, this layout came together so easily. This was the second of now four layouts I've made about Bowie since the shock of his death at the beginning of January. Scrapping thoughts such as this has been a very therapeutic activity and I'm happy that they will have a place in my albums.

Come back early next week for my second February Simple Scrapper layout. Can't wait to share with you.

To find out more about the resources available to inspire you to create beautiful pages and tell meaningful stories in a supportive, communicative community environment environment, check out the Simple Scrapper premium membership go here.

Scrapabilly February kit shares (part 2)

Back on Tuesday, I shared details of the all new Scrapabilly kits which went on sale on the 1st and which I have the honour to be able to create with as part of the Design Team.

Go to that post for details about the there different kits - Kit des Monats, the SchnickSchnackSack and the PrettyPlannerPack!

Here's a reminder of the Kit des Monats which I used to create five layouts.

I just had to use as much of the bokeh paper as I could as one piece but still stretch it over more than one layout so a large strip as an anchor for my photos as well as a place for my journaling seemed about right. For this layout I added in some Shimelle star vellum paper and trimmed down two of the pocket page cards so that I could fit all five elements across the page. I love this series of photos of my baby sister with her beautiful new daughter. 

One of the little tags included in the kit proved ideal for tucking into the corner here as a little something extra decorated with some of the washi elements.

I fell in love with all the little strips of washi that were included on the sheet and it was great to find corners to tuck it to add a little extra detail. And I totally adore the diagonal stripe as well as the bokeh - I wonder if I can get more of that???

This is a page which needs a little something extra. I will be creating a 6x12 add on for my journalling as I'd like to record some details of my plans for the year. I realised for this one that I definitely need to take more, and to improve the quality of, selfies! I look so stern in this one. But it kind of reflects my state of mind regarding goals so maybe that's not such a bad thing...

I decided to pick up the various colours of the papers and elements with three different inks and then went to town with stitching and adding messy stuff to decorate up my grid design. The Schriftbild exclusive flair was ideal for this corner along with a bunch of messy gold thread.

I used my stitching to highlight a couple of words on the cards to give them emphasis.

More messy thread and another gorgeous strip of washi - the gold elements were so beautiful.

I'll share my final make on Saturday so make sure you come back but in the meantime, you can go over to Scrapabilly's gallery (here) and see what the whole 16 person team created with these fabulous new kits. It's inspiration overload over there!

And don't forget to check out the kits here.

Wednesday Wonderland!

Over at Jingle Belles this week, we were prompted to "Bling on the Holidays" which sounds like exactly my kind of prompt.

I decided to make it quick and easy with two almost identical cards using some off-cuts, a little gold foil/glitter cardstock, two cute Simple Stories bingo cards and a few star sequins from my rather large supply!

I also made two more cards last week for the previous prompt "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" ...

... and managed to finally get a photo of the first four I made for the prompt "Something Old, Something New" which means that my total so far is already 10 cards. I'm just trying to make as many as I can before life takes over!

Why not play along over at Jingle Belles where you are sure to be find inspirational prompts and fabulous examples provided by the Belles. Getting ahead of the chaos is the name of the game. The more the merrier!