Counterfeit Kit Challenge September kit reveal blog hop

It's September and time for the new Counterfeit Kit Challenge kit reveal, this month chosen by Margie.

Hopefully you've arrived here from Leslie's gorgeous Blue Box reveal and next up is the ever inventive Lynnette and her wonderful staging. However, the full blog hop list is at the end of the post and you can go back to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog to make sure you catch the whole hop. And I'm delighted to welcome Nicole Mackin as our Guest Designer. A seasoned kitter and a much loved YouTuber, we are thrilled to have her with us this month so make sure you say hello!

This month, Margie has given us the Felicity Jane August kit which is full of beautiful, exclusive products in wonderful, summery colours proving that summer is most definitely still in full swing at the CKC blog :-)

(Even if I'm longing, ever so slightly, for autumn to make an appearance!)

Here's their mood board for the kit.

Here's my kit bringing summer to an end in my neck of the woods. I originally wanted to call it Sundown and then realised that Sundance summed up that end of season feeling much better!

As Felicity Jane kits only use exclusive FJ items, I knew I was going to have to do some serious matching and that I wouldn't have a specific starting point.

And that is where I started really. I just grabbed piles of paper and looked for papers with colours which seemed to match the inspiration kit to some degree. I had to stretch my understanding of orange, coral, pink and blue a little so that I had enough papers. This is when I realised that I am missing blue paper and products. All the blues I found were a touch lilac, teal or aqua which is definitely not the original blue in the FJ kit. That's why there is a bit of a mix of tones. I tried to match up some of the designs on the papers and used gold foil sheets for the spots and hearts. The geometric blue and veneer paper is a simple forgery that is much more blue in real life and one that I'll feature in Forgeries on the Fourth.

Yes, there are a LOT of papers! I've blown my own "rules" out of the water this month, and when you think that most of them are double sided (with totally different colours), my guess is that many pages will not look like they come from the inspiration kit!

Again with the embellishments, I knew that I was just going to have to match them up by type and colour rather than specific items because they are all exclusives. So I added in doilies, flair and some veneer/doily stickers.

Some pocket page cards instead of a cut apart sheet, some strips of wood veneer and vellum so that I can cut, punch or just use as and when I need it.

I included some confetti which matches the original and then some glitter tags and two brand new washi tapes just because I thought they were pretty and would work well in the kit.

A wood veneer pocket card matches the large heart on one of the journalling cards in the original kit and then I included Thickers which have a dip technique (more in Forgeries on the Fourth). And then I spotted this cute sheet of flamingo and pineapple "sprinkles" which I picked up recently. It doesn't really match the kit at all, nor is similar to anything in the original kit but I just wanted to give myself an excuse to use them!

I am missing die-cuts and couldn't find anything in my kit that gave me the same feeling as the FJ kit so I decided to leave them out for now. If something catches my eye, I'll be throwing them in. A couple of smaller alphas and a partially used sticker sheet completes my kit.

It's HUGE but I like it and think it will be easy to use. I know I'm going to need to add some more embellishments in as I start using it but that's ok. My kits tend to develop organically across the month so this will just be a little more of that.

Thanks for dropping by today. It was lovely to see you! Hope you let me know you were here and let me know which colour you think you need more of in your stash?!?

Here's the full blog hop list and next up is the delightful Lynnette, give her some love from me too!

• Guest Designer Nicole: http://nmackin.blogspot.com

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

• Lisa: http://lisahausmann.blogspot.de

• Lynnette: http://www.sassyscrapper2010.blogspot.com

• Margie: http://scrappinmargie.blogspot.com

• Susan: http://littlethingsbigdays.blogspot.com

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

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

• Kelly: http://www.honeysucklehillcrafts.com

• Julene: http://julenebydesign.blogspot.com/

• Lesley:  http://ohblogitifyoucantbeatthem.blogspot.uk

Don't forget that we love it when you join in and make up your own kits. Share your kit and your creations over at our Link-Up page and don't forget the Member Blog Hop on the 24th. 

***** MEMBER BLOG HOP ***** 

Find out how below!  
Go on, you know you want to! 
Your project should be something new, using a Counterfeit Kit Challenge kit, that you haven't shown before and will only post for the hop. Be inspired by any of the challenges this month or just share something you've created with your kit. Remember, the more the merrier and it never fails to be a lot of fun! 
To be a part of our blog hop: 

• E-mail us your name & blog address & promise to participate at thecounterfeitkitchallengeblog@gmail.com by the 18th September.
• You will receive an e-mail from us by the 20th September with a list of the hop participants.
• You will need to schedule your own blog post showing your project based on a challenge and link to the person after you in the hop.All Blog Hop posts will need to be scheduled to go live on the 24th September at 12:00am Mountain Standard Time (Arizona) but we will help you with the scheduling

August at Simple Scrapper #2

My second layout for Simple Scrapper in August uses a current sketch teamed up with a Story Starter from March 2015 "You've got mail".  You can find out all about these resources as well as all the other amazing benefits of a premium membership with the link at the end of this post!

I decided to make another layout for my NYC album about meeting up with the sweetest girl, Lynnette! It was a fabulous day and a joy to get to know her in real life.

As you might remember, I have a large kit of supplies that I'm using for these layouts which feature a selection of papers and mismatched embellishments. But there are common elements and colours through all the layouts I've made so far and I'm hoping that the album will feel cohesive in the end.

I loved that the sketch provided space for two 4x6 photos - which I rarely combine on one page these days - as well as enough room for a good chunk of journalling. I was able to fit in a lot about how we first met online and the value of our friendship.

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

Counterfeit Kit Challenge August member blog hop

It's that time of the month again and with the busy month I've had so far, I suddenly realised yesterday that I hadn't actually made my layout! So I got busy with the inspiration from the Counterfeit Kit Challenge this month and created something to share with you today!

In fact, I did have another page ready to go but it features my internet-shy husband who isn't so keen on me sharing so much these days :-) so I had to come up with something else.

However, the challenges on offer this month - courtesy of me actually! - are:

• Challenge #1: Challenge #1 - Happy Sandcastle Day
• Challenge #2: Challenge #2 - Outside The Stash
• Challenge #3: Challenge #3 - Sounds Foreign To Me

I knew that I wanted to use Happy Sandcastle Day and had the perfect photos from a time where we took my younger brothers and sister to the beach and they all built the perfect German fortress! Ha ha. But I seem to have mislaid that box of photos which was rather disappointing. Hopefully I will track them down when I go back through some of the boxes in the cellar and find them - there are a lot missing so wish me luck!

But the Sandcastle Day was still going to be my inspiration with all the soft neutral tones of my kit so I went with what my eye landed on right there and then. A sea shell. A single, perfectly formed double sea shell that I picked up when I went to Harlingen in the Netherlands back in February. It's just been waiting for the perfect moment to record a few thoughts and this was it.

I wrote my journalling in gold so that it didn't detract from the soft feeling of the rest of the layout.

The layout didn't really seem to need a lot of embellishments. This tiny veneer heart said everything I wanted.

I didn't feel the need right now to journal more than the few lines I've already included but there is a ready made journalling card inside my pocket in case I want to write something a little more deep before this layout gets tucked away in its album - whenever that is!

I'm kicking off the blog hop today so next up is the lovely Julie and I'm excited to see what she is sharing over on her blog. Here's the full list in case you get lost along the way but don't forget that the full list is always available at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog.

It's a bigger blog hop this month which makes me very happy so make sure you catch everyone along the way. There's going to be some great inspiration, I promise. Why not join in yourself in September - the more the merrier. Check out the blog for details on how to get involved.

CKCB     http://www.counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com 
Lisa        http://lisahausmann.blogspot.de
Julie       http://jsquaredscrapspot.wordpress.com
Leslie     http://lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.com
Karen       https://pinkycrafter.wordpress.com
Tara          http://kryptonite72-rambles.blogspot.com
Margie     http://scrappinmargie.blogspot.com
Tina          http://tinasscrapcorner.blogspot.com
Salla       http://pistojapiiri.blogspot.com
Jemma   http://just-jimjams.blogspot.co.uk

August at Simple Scrapper #1

My first layout for Simple Scrapper in August used an older sketch from the archive, and a Story Starter from the August "Exploration" topics. All of these resources are available for the members and they are such a wonderful starting point to any layout I want to make

I wanted to capture a little about heading up the Rhine to visit my husband where he's working at the moment, in the historical city of Worms (pronounced Vorms of course!). The sketch provided me with place for two photos and lots of space for journalling which was perfect to record my thoughts. 

It's a relatively small town which makes this already impressive cathedral all the more impressive! It really was quite breathtaking and walking in, you could almost feel those 1,000 years of history all around you.

I used my Counterfeit Kit Challenge July kit, Scooped, choosing the softer colours and b-sides to give this layout a completely different look to the overall feel of the kit.

I expanded the title so that it was obvious I was talking about the city - the problems of living a dual-language life.

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

August at Scrapabilly #3

My last share using the latest Scrapabilly Kit des Monats which is now available featuring Party Time by Echo Park!

Here's one last view of the gorgeous kit. So much to love.

And here's my last and favourite layout made to celebrate being in Germany for 15 years! I can't believe how fast that has gone and how much life has changed.

This little cluster was all the embellishment I really needed after that title which just grabs your attention.

I die-cut the title using my Cameo and then stitched around the edges. Yes it took a lifetime but so worth it!

And just to finish off, I ran up four happy cards for the basket. The frames, die cuts and stickers just seemed to stack themselves to make these easy but fun cards.

Thanks for dropping by and don't forget to check out the kit here on the Scrapabilly site, as well as the Design Team gallery.

You can also find the Schnick Schnack Sack (embellishments) and the Pretty Planner Pack kits and galleries there too. So much to discover and so much inspiration to be had.

Back soon with some Simple Scrapper shares!

August at Scrapabilly #2

The latest Scrapabilly Kit des Monats is now available featuring Party Time by Echo Park!

Here it is for you to take a peek. There are lots of party and birthday themed items but as you'll see from my pages, there's so much more to lift from the wonderfully bright colours and fun patterns.

I loved all the bright, happy colours and designs and decided to go with a simple homage to my love of stationery! I gathered up pens and notebooks for a photo session and kept the design easy.

I'd pre-made some of the clustered embellishments I've used across my pages and this super cute typewriter seemed perfect.

There were so many little bits and pieces included in the stickers and die-cut pack that it was a lot of fun to just mix them all up together.

A few extra hearts to make a typical three heart cluster.

And then I noticed the pencil and pen die-cuts. Talk about perfect!

This page features fellow Master Forger Julene when I went down to Cologne to meet her! She was on a Rhine/Danube tour and this was the ideal meeting point. We spent a few hours together and chatted just like old friends. It also ties in with a Whimsical Musings prompt WM#127 be inspired by "your vibe attracts your tribe". I'll have to post it over there too.

Another of my pre-made clusters. This was a lot of fun to make and was inspired by Leslie's find over on YouTube here.

This one too.

Check out the kit here on the Scrapabilly site and don't forget to check out the Design Team gallery here while you're there. I love looking at the gallery to see all the different ideas we've come up with. You can also find the Schnick Schnack Sack (embellishments) and the Pretty Planner Pack kits and galleries there too. So much to discover and so much inspiration to be had.

Last shares to come soon!