Sunday, 24 April 2016

Counterfeit Kit Challenge April Member blog hop

Welcome to April's Counterfeit Kit Challenge member blog hop!

I'm kicking off the hop today and when you're finished here you need to head over to Elaine! So make her feel welcome and then continue hopping through to see everyone. We are thrilled that we have such a lovely mix this month with some new members joining in as well as some seasoned followers! You know that we love it when you share your Counterfeit creations.

This month, the challenges on offer were:
But of course, as usual, anything made with our Counterfeit kits, not yet shared, were up for grabs on the hop.

I'm sharing a layout I've made for the Simple Scrapper Creative Team this month using my April CKC kit, Bisou and one of the Simple Scrapper member story starters for May 2016 which is all about life in the 80s - yes, exactly my kind of story prompt!  I've teamed it up with a Simple Scrapper sketch from February 2014.

And while it's not exactly what you might consider a shabby chic layout, there's lots of layers, muted colours, dusky roses and an older feel to it so let's just say that I fit that challenge too!


I see lots of journalling on strips at the moment and I really like the look of it. I used to do it a lot and thought that this fuller story might be the ideal chance to retry it. Yes, I still like it!






To find out more about the many resources and inspiration - including the sketches and story starters I use each month - available at Simple Scrapper to encourage you to create beautiful pages and tell meaningful stories in a supportive, communicative community environment, check out the Simple Scrapper premium membership here.

Thanks for dropping by today. Make sure you let me know you were here and here's the full list in case you get lost. Now, on you go to say hello to Elaine!

Saturday, 16 April 2016

16 loves {April 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.



one

One of the things I miss most about the UK is the wonderful BBC so I'm very happy to have the chance to download literally dozens and dozens of podcasts each week to keep me in touch with the great programmes available on BBC Radio 4. This documentary presented by German comedian Henning When (link here to listen) "This Is Me Totally Sausage" is one of the funniest views of the difference between the British (and their language) and other cultures and languages I've heard in a long time and goes a long way to describe why we are "different". It's something I've recommended to my students who are getting to grips with the language and the culture. I laughed out loud several times as I recognised several British-ims that I use with my own German husband. No wonder people can't understand us!

PS. This is me totally sausage makes perfect sense in German - ha ha!


two

I know I say this every month, but this salad is a must for me to try in the next 30 days.


Love this layout by Magda Mizera for My Mind's Eye. All those neutrals with the hint of yellow is so appealing. 

Magda Mizera for My Mind's Eye 

four

I went back to the UK for a few days over Easter and dropped in on beautiful Cambridge. When I lived there, I didn't have a camera nor did I do any sight seeing whatsoever so I took the chance to grab a few shots to remind myself of just how lovely it is. Of course, the friends I caught up with while I were there were more important but I have a terrible memory right now and forgot to take photos - yes, I dare to call myself a scrapbooker!

five 

And I stopped by my wonderful schoolfriend Geraldine who runs Gerry's Cakes - amazing!. She rustled up some cupcakes for me and R which were delicious. Once again, I have photos of cakes but not of the two of us :-(
 

six

But I didn't forget to capture my gorgeous nephew and cheeky niece...
 


seven

And my beautiful niece... I miss them all so much.


eight

Next up, I headed "up north" to meet fellow Counterfeit friends Jemma and Lesley. It was simply wonderful to meet them both and cement our online friendship in real life. Hope to do it again sometime soon.
 

nine

Jemma gave me a cute selection of eyelets so that I can complete Whimsical Musings prompt WM#203 which features eyelets. Now I just have to get them onto a page. If only there were time to do more scrapbooking!

  

ten

Even though I tried to get all 4 of my siblings into one photo, I failed miserably and had to content myself with my two handsome brothers who make me feel both small and old! It was so lovely to see them and spend a little time with them. Hope to get all five of us in a photo next time.



eleven

English niece #3 was horribly camera and aunty shy this time around so I will leave you with two photos of sweet niece #4 who doesn't have any choice but cuddle up with Aunty L and have her photo taken


twelve

This might be my favourite. 


thirteen

There's somethng about the bold border, the stitching and the layers on this layout which I adore. Another one for me to think about lifting. 

 
Pinterest source here

fourteen

I was delighted to see my layout featured on the cover of the Simple Scrapper membership magazine, Spark this month! What an honour. It's a fabulous Creative Team to work for and a really super membership to be a part of. You can find out more about the many resources and inspiration - including the sketches and story starters I use each month - available to encourage you to create beautiful pages and tell meaningful stories in a supportive, communicative community environment, at Simple Scrapper here.
 

fifteen

Happy mail this week thanks to sweet Susan over at Little Things Big Days. I had been admiring all her confetti layouts and look at the delicious goodies she popped in the post for me. My scrapbooking friends are really fabulous and I truly treasure each and every one.
 



sixteen

Sometimes I just need to remember this.


Pinterest source here



Ilove 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

Friday, 1 April 2016

Counterfeit Kit Challenge April kit reveal blog hop

It's April 1st and this blog hop is no joke! It's a good one this month, a little old school even!

Welcome to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog hop this month. You should be here after seeing Leslie's wonderful Blue Box full of goodies and next up is Margie who will no doubt have something gorgeous to share too!  And don't forget to check out Louise, our GD this month and say hello! If you've arrived here direct, you might want to jump back to the beginning of the hop at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog and start at the beginning. I can't wait to see all the different kits this time around!

Clair picked out this month's kit (in fact she's been on Kit Patrol the past couple of months) and she was given a long list of dos and don'ts from the team about which type of kit we'd like to forge this month - all in fun of course - and she scoured high and low to give us a kit full of romance, soft colours and lots and lots of "real" product, paper and flowers. It's a little vintage, a little 2010 maybe, a little different than our usually more modern kits. We were all up for the challenge!

So, April's Counterfeit kit is the February kit by C'est Magnifique Kits (check out the reveal here)

Here are photos of the main and add-on kits - all of which are open for inspiration.


There's a lot of interesting new product in there including the Treasured Moments collection by Kaisercraft and Prima flowers. I saw florals, pinks, spots, frames, butterflies, flowers, ribbons, doilies, leaves and a vintage feel to the tones and designs of the elements.




And I came up with my romantically inspired kit, Bisou.


Following my "rules", I picked out some older floral papers in colours that I saw in the inspiration kit, some dots, some wordy paper, a gold foil paper just because and a treasured piece of star vellum (I have several sheets of this and each inch of it is beyond precious!)




And then I just built up from there. Die cuts, doilies, and lots of bits and pieces from my container of left-overs from collections and kits.


Butterflies, birds, flowers, hearts, sequins...


"Old" brads, some florals that have already been fussy cut from BG papers, some pennants, lots of different sized alphabets in loopy designs as well as some mini letters which match the colours of the kit.


I dug deep into my flower and ribbon pot for some pretty pieces which I often forget to use so I'm happy that I was encouraged to add some in.


 Frames, twine, lace...


And some washi tapes in vintage looking wordy design and woodgrain.


This is a kit that is a big bigger than the first few months of the year but still fulfils my rules, is considerably smaller than the kits from last year, and should produce my target of four or five layouts.

All in all, this looks like a kit I would have made a few years ago but I have to say that I love it! I'm excited to use it and see what sort of layouts I create. Will they look like layouts I made years ago or can I combine these products to look right up to date? What do you think?

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

Louise (GDT) http://scrapbook-me.blogspot.co.uk/
Clair: http://obstinatepursuit.blogspot.co.uk/
Jemma: http://just-jimjams.blogspot.co.uk
Julene:  http://julenebydesign.blogspot.com
Kelly: http://66.147.244.112/~honeysv0/
Leslie: http://lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.com
Lisa: http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com
Margie: http://scrappinmargie.blogspot.com
Susan: http://littlethingsbigdays.blogspot.com
Stephanie:  http://skylinepaperie.blogspot.com
Susanne: http://snapsandsnippets.blogspot.com

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