Counterfeit Kit Challenge - Mood Board Challenge #2

Welcome back to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge prompt #2 which is all about Susan's wonderful mood board.

Check out the details of the mood board over on the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog here.

She asked us to take inspiration in any way we wanted to from her curated collection of beautiful images. And there's a whole lot of gorgeousness there so I'm interested to see how everyone else takes their pages.

The bow of decorative plates on the wall caught my eye, especially with the "block" of furniture which reminded me of a blocked photo on a page design, as well as that super quote in the middle. Several of the photos were all about messy piles or layers and then of course, there was the round cake and the arched doorway.

I decided to focus on a curve of messy stitched circles which would frame my blocked photo and incorporate the quote as my title. This gorgeous photo of my wonderful nieces seemed like an all round perfect fit. 

I picked out lots of circular elements from my kit in soft pinks to match those pretty faces and then added in some darker shades which tied in with their bold school uniforms. The curved stitching, the random element placement and the bunched up threads were inspired by the piles of books and papers in the mood board as well as some of those darker shades.

I wanted to add in a glittery heart for interest and then realised that I needed some other glittery items because it was too stand alone. I used more glitter hearts and then cut some very thin strips of the same shade of pink glitter paper and layered them under here and there. They are not totally obvious but make two visual triangles. I also added in a couple more small hearts for interest.

I went with a mixed title which is something I love to do and included a couple of phrase stickers for variety. More stitching was added for interest and to make sure that those pesky Thickers don't come off (super unsticky which is irritating!).

This layout was quick and easy and a lot of fun to pull together once I had decided where the inspiration was taking me! I love it.

You can see what the other Master Forgers did with this mood board over on the blog here so why not check that out. And don't forget to share if you're inspired to create too!

You can add it to our Link-up page, post it in our Facebook Community, or share it on Instagram (use #counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcjanuary2019).  We love seeing what you make!

(Inter)National Scrapbook Day Colour Inspiration with the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog

Welcome to the (Inter)National Scrapbook Day Event courtesy of the Counterfeit Kit Challenge!

We have been having a weekend full of colour inspiration and challenges and I kicked off today's posts with a colour inspiration post (here) using a mood collection from A Creative Mint. Look at this lovely selection of items and colours, perfect as we head through spring and look forward to summer. 

I especially love all the whites with the splash of green contrast along with the softer peach and greys. And of course, the burst of raspberry really spoke to me!

You can find the source of this photo along with the other inpsiration shots at A Creative Mint (here)

I created a mini page kit (enough for two pages) using the colours that spoke to me from the mood board.

If you've come from the original Counterfeit Kit Challenge post (here), you'll have seen that I created two pages using my products. Well, I had enough left over to have a go at a third layout as well.

This was an effect I had seen in a 2Peas video by Wilna last year and was determined to give it a try. I love how these glitter dipped feathers turned out and you will no doubt see these again on another layout.

 

If you came here direct and have not yet checked out the celebrations over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog (here), I suggest you head over there directly! You should start at the first post from Saturday morning (here) and work your way through all the challenges and inspiration posts. For EACH of the 5 challenges, there are sponsored prizes to be won (open until 16th May) and there's a grand prize too! It's worth checking out, I can promise you!

Counterfeit Kit Challenge mini-challenge #2

March is already skipping along and I'm here today to share my creation for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge mini-challenge #2 - to be inspired by Vera Bradley. 

ETA: The main challenge set by the CKC girls was to mix up at least three patterned papers - something that I sort of missed in my efforts to get to grips with the Vera Bradley design idea! Ha ha. I'm bad at reading like that. However, as luck would have it, there are three pattered papers on here - all Crate Paper. The bright pink down the middle, the small print I used as photo mats and the large flowers were cut from another sheet. Phew - I'm relieved I realised this crucial point.

This designer was totally new for me and I had to go online to see what she was all about. Well, colour seemingly! It reminded me a lot of all the Amy Butler stuff that K&Co came out with some years ago (and yes, I have all of that!).

I'm not really sure this is really my kind of style but I can see that it's gorgeous. Full of bright, bold colours and strong patterns. There's nothing "quiet" about these designs.

So I started off by saving some photos that caught my eye that I could use for inspiration. This is what I came up with...

Photo mosaic made over at BigHugeLabs.com

The things I noticed were:

• lots of white space background (which isn't very noticeable at first but is a very strong design point)
• strong flourishing designs
• bright colours
• layered flowers
• clusters of leaves
• strong lines in the designs themselves
• beautiful font for the brand name
• gorgeous shop front

So I decided that this would be the direction I would go.

I took the shop front photo which is definitely designed to be warm and welcoming - I'd go in for sure - and made a layout sketch out of it. I loved the panel for the door with the script shop sign and the windows either side giving us a hint of the bright colours to be found inside.

Then I decided to layer some cut out flowers and leaves, bring in all the colours that I found appealing - not automatic colour combinations for me -  and base it all on a white background with some sprinkles of mist. I mirrored the lines of the shop front with my papers, the journalling block and the photo mats and just layered it all up until I thought it was enough.

March kit, Disconnected #2

This was a good stretch for me and I'm glad I took some time to look around before I started this layout. It came together so well and I think the inspiration is really easy to see.

Don't forget to link up your projects {here}. Where will this inspiration take you?

National Scrapbooking Day Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog hop

Hey!

Welcome to our Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog hop in honour of National Scrapbook Day! I'm delighted you've decided to drop by. Now if you've arrived here via the delectable Libeeti's blog, you are most certainly on the right track. And I suggest you just keep working your way through the hop.

But if you've arrived here direct, I think you should go back to the beginning to see what the other Counterfeit Forgers are up to today so that you don't miss out on any fun (and there *might* be prizes) - just sayin'!

We thought it would be a lot of fun to have a whole blog hop FULL of challenges - if that doesn't keep you busy all day long, I don't know what will! If you decide to join in the fun, just link up your project or blog post in the comments below each of the relevant posts so that we can come over and love you up a bit!

We've all chosen different challenges and you know how creative the girls are, don't you? Go on, what are you waiting for!

Anyway...

What did you think I was going to challenge you with??

My very first thought was this...

 which I pinned on Pinterest some time ago and let's face it, could be my life motto. I am seriously thinking about purchasing this from the beautiful etsy site it's featured on. Go on over there and check it out.

But I was thinking that maybe that was a bit TOO predictable.

So I got searching through my Pinterest colour board again and came up with this STUNNING color scheme from Design Seeds that just has my name all over it...

*Be still my beating heart*

And you know that I'm going to be creating a little mini kit just for this, don't you. So I dived into my stash and picked and mixed and mashed until I came up with just a few papers that seemed to match the colours I was looking for....

And then you also know I'm going to be mixing up the challenges and it IS LOAD month after all, so I've combined the colour challenge with the LOAD prompt for 4th May which was all about "Five Sense Friday - Hearing!"

I decided to record some of the sounds I can remember from the 7 years I spent at grammar school attending school assembly every day.

"The tap of teenage heels and the scrape of chair legs on the wooden floor. The rustle of hymn book pages. The whispers and giggles of friends. The rushed shuffle as everyone stood up. The pitter patter of Head Mistress's heels. The respectful silence before the ritual began. The mumble of shared prayers. The out of tune singing to the day's hymn of choice. And thirty minutes later, the unified sighs and chatter as assembly ended and our school day began."


Now, what can YOU do with this gorgeous colour scheme? I'd love to see.


Your next stop on the hop is Milissa and wait till you see what she got in store for you - you are going to love it.


Here's the full list in case you get lost:

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

Crystal: http://crystalscraftycreations.blogspot.com/   

Jemma: http://just-jimjams.blogspot.com/
Jen: http://mypair-a-dice.blogspot.com/ 

Julie Ann: http://julieannshahin2.blogspot.com/ 

Libeeti: http://creationswithlove-li-bee-ti.blogspot.com/   

Lisa: http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com/ <---- you are here

Milissa: http://millermall.blogspot.com/  <---- go here next!

Rebecca: http://howiburb.blogspot.com/ 

Susanne: http://www.snapsandsnippets.blogspot.com/ 

Bethany: http://inspiredscrapper-bethany.blogspot.com/ 

Don't forget to drop by again tomorrow for the May Counterfeit Kit Challenge kit reveal blog hop! Two days, two blog hops. Now that's what I call double the fun!

More neutral love

Well, it's Wednesday which means that I *try* to get into my room to create a Christmas card or two for Jingle Belles. I made three last week actually (I blogged about two but ran another identical one off at the weekend) and now I've managed another two.

My strategy so far seems to be to just put together two very similar cards while I have the papers and embellishments out in front of me. I don't spend a lot of time on my cards and the extra couple of minutes to make another one really makes the effort worth while. I think I have way more than 20 cards already.  :-)

I really wanted to have a go at the wreath designs that appeared on so many gorgeous cards including Stephanie's but when it came to it, I didn't think I had the right products and it seemed like so much work. I know, I'm a lazy card maker which is funny as I spend SO much time on my scrapbook layouts. I think I need an intensive card making/design course to give me some fresh ideas and maybe help me to break out of doing what I always do and to take a bit more time. In my next life maybe!

So, I used Bohemia Christmas from MME which is really old but I still think it's one of the favourite Christmas lines I've ever bought (shh... don't tell BG!) and the colours were perfect for the neutral challenge.

The next prompt will be up on Friday and I'm looking forward to it already! Are you joining in yet? You know we're already a quarter of the way through the year - better get started sooner rather than later.

Will this kit ever end?

I am still working on my Counterfeit Kit Challenge August kit, Balmy August. But it's like Mary Poppins bottomless bag. It seems to go on forever.

I have now made 8 layouts and there's at least one more in the kit so that is a target between now and the end of LOAD.

It was also my Whimsical Musings challenge (#10) to make a layout inspired by what's directly outside your door. I was lucky that the weather was as good at the weekend as the previous because I left it quite late to actually do it and I really wanted to use up-to-date, current photos. And the weather really was good. Blue skies, sunshine, jewell-toned leaves, the lot. I struck lucky on my short photo safari.

So, wanting to use up my Balmy August kit, I set myself another challenge of making this autumnal layout with non-autumnal colours and papers.

I found it impossible to limit my photo choices so came up with a photo block to include as many as possible. The usual layering, clustering and tying ensued and the layout was complete.

I'm pleased with how it turned out and that the colours in the photos show as strongly as they do. I hardly edited the photos and didn't need to enhance the colours at all.

Ahh, autumn. Have I told you how much I love autumn? *wink* 

Lacking the Midas Touch

Joining up with Jingle Belles for this week's prompt is The Crooked Stamper (aka Leslie) who set us the challenge of using Midas for inspiration. So a colour scheme of gold, gold, oh and a bit of gold.

Luckily for me, the colour scheme was widened a bit to include silver, white and cream because when I looked at my Christmas paper drawer there was NO gold and NO silver - nothing at all! I guess I'm not all that surprised as I'm a bit (!yeah right!) of a BG fan for Christmas papers and they don't do metallic. But nothing at all? I had expected to find a scrap or two. But there was really nothing. So I had to get creative.

I started off by finding some creamy gold (at a push) Bazzill bling paper as my base and then cut out a white glitter paper snowflake, adding another snowflake in the centre and a silver CC sentiment.

Ok, I could do better than THAT...

Next up came white cardstock, some white embossed cardstock on top which I brushed over with silver ink, then a pre-made white snowflake I had salvaged from some cards a few years ago on the top and some glitter Thickers.

Better, but still not really what I wanted.

So more Bazzill bling cream paper, the same embossing, this time brushed with gold ink and a gold glittered wooden deer shape that has been hanging around for about 12 months, finished off with some gold glitter letters. The shape reminds me of the Jägermeister stag! (And I need to go back to this one and straighten up those dodgy letters!)

Getting there...

Finally, I grabbed more white cardstock, a nestie shape from white dotted swiss, the inevitable silver ink, a wooden snowflake covered with silver glitter, a gorgeous white ribbon bow and a silver CC sentiment.

Finally I was satisfied!

But hey, all that indecision added four cards to my collection this week! That has to be a good thing, right?!?

Grey, coral and a lot of texture

Week #4 of the weekly Whimsical Musings challenge and we (Pam and myself) are still going strong.

Poor Pam got caught up with the tropical storm Irene and has been without power and/or internet for most of the weekend and hasn't been able to share yet but all has been well in my part of the world - apart from the lack of summer...

I had found this gorgeous photo on Pinterest and immediately knew I wanted to use it one week for my challenge - the colours are just so gorgeous and I loved all the texture and items that could also be used for inspiration.

The challenge proved more difficult than I had anticipated as when I looked through my supplies, I realised that I had very few papers in these tones. I didn't want to go too obvious and just go for BG Ambrosia and was determined to find a few items from different collections. After a lot of rummaging, I did manage to come up with a dozen or so papers in grey and coral tones and figured that when I got to it, I'd manage to rustle up some bits for embellies. In the end I found papers from BG Ambrosia, Marrakech, Oliver and Curio, and Making Memories Paper Reverie Sienne. The embellishments ended up from just about all over my room including some vintage Bellaboo sewing thread, buttons, seam binding that I Glimmer Misted, pins and a flower brad that caught my eye.

Even though I usually shy away from sewing because of the time it takes, I decided to go for it this time around and was happy with the added texture and dimension it added.

Looking at the layout now, I think I will probably change out the journalling for a single strip across the page, but that can wait for now. I also struggle with journalling for these types of pages - what to write when the subject of the page is just a building with not all that much story around it?

This week's challenge from Pam is a gorgeous advertising spread from Anthropologie - my brain is whirring!

Making connections

Last week's Whimsical Musings challenge set by Pam was all about making connections. Something we both love to do in our scrapbooking storytelling but sometimes something that takes a bit of time and thought to do. These pages (at least for me) are often not the quickest pages to come up with.

But Pam challenged me to pick three or more seemingly unrelated photos and find a connection to scrap about.

The most difficult thing for me was to just pick three photos without already thinking about which to pick and why. In the end, I lifted down three different year binders and flipped through grabbing a handful of interesting shots – 2007, 2008 and 2009. I had chosen some photos of the two of us together and decided to bring together these photos that are all very nice, but have no story. Nothing really special about them. When I looked at three of them (one from each year) I realised that what they represent is our family. Our little exclusive family of 2. That was the layout. And that was what I made.

I used my Counterfeit kit “Balmy” and created a little flat cluster in a different position than usual for me which made a nice change.

I didn't need much journalling but made sure I included the title of the Marvin Gaye/Kim Weston song, “It Takes Two” as it's the one we chose for our wedding and is totally perfect for us.

Whimsical Musings week #3 and Counterfeit Challenge layout #2

Pam made a fabulous layout (it's not up on her blog yet but go over there and say hi - she's got lots of funky creating going on) about three very unrelated activities that she really enjoys and made me realise that this is a topic I'd also like to do – I'll be revisiting this prompt for sure.

My challenge for this week is a photo inspiration from Pinterest. Not only do I think the colours are amazing (so loving grey right now) but there's so much texture in the photo, so many items to be inspired by and so many little elements that could be lifted and taken. I'm excited to see what the adorable Pam comes up with...

I downloaded this from Pinterest but it (and so many other gorgeous collections of items and colours) can be found over at NiftyThriftyDryGoods.com

Whimsical Musings goes weekly

As you know, I'm all about the daily layout challenges (three this year so far) but that really doesn't leave much time for ANYTHING else including housework, cooking or generally carrying out either my main or my second dayjob.

And I'm aware that I haven't actually shared many of my July creations which I will probably just drop in from time to time. But at the end of July, my über-creative friend Pam and I decided that we'd move Whimsical Musings from a daily layout to a weekly challenge. We'd take it in turns to create a prompt for each other and then we'd have the whole week to create and share.

Pam kicked off week 1 with this gorgeous colour scheme:

She thought it was a combination that neither of us use so often and that glorious yellow, while my second all time favourite colour, really doesn't feature much on my pages so I was very inspired. It took me all week to get around to it which says a lot about how fast time is flying right now, and nothing about how inspired I was!

I immediately thought of Canda when I saw this wonderful nature-toned palette so Engineer Creek seemed to be a perfect fit with all those shades of sunshine yellow. I fell back on my favourite Cosmo Mr Campy (might have to get even more of this!) and created another little snippet of my Yukon story.

Week 2 was my turn and I decided to jump right out of the box by offering up a quote and life motto from the US Polar explorer Norman Vaughan, “Dream Big and Dare To Fail”. When I first heard him talk about his life and motto back in 2007 it resonated so much with me that it stuck and I try to use it as my own motto.

I created two layouts the first of which might turn into a series of “Bucket List” ideas. I've always wanted to go to the Antarctic and it deserves place number 1 on my list!

And then I just wanted to capture a few words inspired by the motto itself. I used the Scrap Happy sketch for August for the design and my new Counterfeit Kit, “Balmy”.

Layout #2 for Whimsical Musings and #1 for Counterfeit Kit Challenge

This week's prompt is all about connections which has the cogs in my brain working already.