Scrapabilly Shares June kit part 2

Yesterday, I shared my mini-book which I created using the Scrapabilly June kit (see blog post here). Let's just remind ourselves of the fun, bright colours that can be found in the Jillibean Soup collection which is focussed, but definitely not limited to, social media and modern technology...

As well as the mini, I created two layouts and a couple of cards. I added in a little cardstock, a small amount of washi and some twine to complete the projects

The first layout features Instagram photos from my two über-adorable nieces. I love how individual they are. I created two collages and then stuck them down together to appear as one. I will complete the journalling on the card in the pocket with a few lines about how impressed I am as they grow up and become so much their own little people.

And this layout is just comparing my selfies of today with my younger self when I would often hand the photo to someone to take a shot of me. I think that if we'd had mobiles phones and Instagram back then, I would have been a total addict!

I used mostly the B-sides of the papers here with just a small strip that has the smaller icons. I wanted it to be clear that I was talking about social media but not too much. IG is really the only media where I'm very active.

Love these letters - need to stock up on some more!

I added in the Mini Market letters to help with the longer title. I especially love that the Thickers alpha has the hash tag symbols - we need more of those

And lastly, here are two simple cards that I made up using the scraps I had leftover.

This card was inspired by a design I found on Pinterest

Once again. don't forget to check out the Scrapabilly site to see all the team's creations in the June gallery (here). You can also find links to Ilonka, Nadine, Maria and Silke's blogs in the right hand side bar. You don't want to miss out on their amazing projects. Make sure you say hi to them!

Scrapabilly Shares June kit part 1

I'm late - again - with posting my Scrapabilly June kit shares :-(

And I was all ready to post right there at the beginning of the month - where does the time go?

Anyway, let me show you this month's fun kit which is perfect for capturing a slice of modern life! All forms of social media, internet and our love for our phones can be recorded using this kit full of Jillibean Soup's Spicy Social Soup. But I have to admit to particularly loving both sides of the papers and the B sides could certainly be used for any topic. 

Here's a peek.

Papers, cardstock, a full set of die cuts, word stickers, twine, labels, chipboard and rings suitable for a mini-book, mini-bags, buttons and brads all topped off with a stunning brush script alpha. It was hard to know where to start.

Now, you all know that I'm not a big mini-album maker but I challenged myself to make one for this kit using the chipboard in a creative way. I was inspired by a mini-album I'd made some time ago with a kit by Cleo Jarvis who's known for her detailed folding techniques. You can see my original circular album (here). I decided just to go for a three fold-out page square book to record a whole month of Instagram.

I had a lot of fun just piling things up on top of the front cover.
I painted the chipboard in a cream colour before covering it with paper to match the inside pages. 

I left some space between the pages for some journalling cards to be tucked in there. I added the red twill to tie the book closed and to serve as tabs on my story cards

It takes a little brain power to work out the orientation for the papers and how to position the photos - especially when they go over the edge of a fold but with a little time and thought before the glue came out, I didn't make too many mistakes :-)

You can see that I only decorated the one side of the book and left the other side as simple cardstock. But I still managed to fit over 30 photos and labels. So imagine how much more could be squeezed into this space if you decided to use both sides!

I simply copy/pasted the captions I had written in IG for each of my photos. 

I organised and stuck down all the photos first and then printed out my journalling very small, cut it into strips and just fitted it in where I could.

I'm not saying that I'm a mini-book convert but this was a lot of fun to make and lovely to just look through to see the type of images I'm capturing across the month. And it reminds me that I have to get back on the treadmill!

Join me again tomorrow to see the layouts and cards I made to complete this fun kit.

Don't forget to check out the Scrapabilly site to see all the team's creations in the June gallery (here). You can also find links to Ilonka, Nadine, Maria and Silke's blogs in the right hand side bar. You don't want to miss out on their amazing projects. Make sure you say hi to them!

Counterfeit Kit Challenge - lining things up

The next challenge is up over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog and today we are being asked to line up our embellishments (see post here). Looking into my kit, I realised that I didn't have so many automatic options for this without making my own embellies - and you KNOW that I'm a bit too lazy to do that! So, back to the kit to see what I did have that could be used for the challenge and then my eyes fell on the frames I'd included in the kit.

I have a confession to make. This pack of frames has the most gorgeous gold frames in it, guaranteed to catch my eye. Well, when I was making up my kit I realised that I had bought two packs by mistake - clearly blinded by those gorgeous gold, glittery gems! So it didn't feel so bad to include a whole pack in my kit and now to use several of them (8 in fact) on one layout.

June Counterfeit kit Woodgrain, layout #6

I decided to place different sized frames along a common horizontal line, filling each one with different colours scraps to give the very neutral coloured page some splashes of colour. Stitching around the edge and then along the bottom and top of the frames as well as over the title adds some interest and dimension.

A pocket for some journalling to keep the front of the page focused on those cute frames.

A few mist splats, enamel dots and veneer hearts were all that was needed to finish off the embellishments.

I used my real wood veneer "paper" as a mat for my photo. I love the added texture it gives the page

This challenge was a lot of fun to try out and a chance to add a new design to my arsenal. Why not try it yourself? Make sure you remember to link up to the Counterfeit blog using the Mr Linky (here).

14 loves {June 2014}

Welcome to the next in the series {14 loves} for 2014 based on the original concept by my beloved friend, Pam, back in January 2013. I enjoyed sharing my loves so much through the year that I decided I needed to continue through 2014. I hope you will come back each month to see if there is anything in my list to inspire you. You can find previous posts  {here}

I missed a month. And I'm late today in getting my post up but let's see if I can find 14 things that have made me happy over the last two months. There's been a lot going on in the background with a new/old job, a quick trip back home to the UK, lots of scrapping and stuff to keep me busy.

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

one

When I was home, I got to spend two days with my baby sister and her little family. It was so nice to catch up with her, her partner and of course, their little bird. 

two

Then it was over to my other baby sister's to see #1 nephew to be amazed at how grown up he is...

three

... niece #1 who is adorably sweet even if she is beginning to show teenage tendencies...

four

... and niece #2 who made sure I caught up on my cuddles and kisses to keep me going until we see them again in September

five

There was also an opportunity to drop in on my 92 year old grandmother. And while "fit as a fiddle" might be an over-statement (!), she is amazing and it was lovely to see her so well.

Of course, I also spent time with camera shy mum and #1 brother and all in all, it was wonderful to see everyone and share as well as catch up on the news. I even managed to get over to see my best friend from school - we don't do that often enough. She is a genius cake maker and impressed me once again with her skills. 

six

As mentioned above, I started back at my old job and found myself in familiar surroundings. It was great to see that nothing has changed at one of my favourite Essen landmarks - the RWE Tower 

seven

A month of LOAD was completed with a total of 34 pages and many nostalgic older stories told, and 6 Counterfeit kits killed!

eight

You might have noticed that I'm always on the lookout for the perfect nail varnish which is ironic as I have the worst nails and don't often wear nail varnish! This Essie - Good as Gold - looks gorgeous for the summer. On my list...

nine

Still reliving my NYC experience even if I haven't even started scrapping it yet. (Photos locked on a dead computer and limited editing/printing possibilities right now)

ten

Super cute flair buttons perfect for cards and layouts when I want to add a little local something! Love the colours of this small selection I picked out for myself from the Scrapabilly exclusives.

eleven

Good weather and lots of Bank Holidays means evenings sitting outside with the BBQ grilling in the background. Home-made burgers proved simply delicious.

twelve

I'm sure I've posted a similar love to this before, but I LOVE that I have the best barman in the world living with me. Without a shadow of a doubt, the BEST Cosmopolitan I've tasted is created right here.

thirteen

Yes please.

fourteen

I have been excitedly waiting for the arrival of the We R Memory Keepers GOLD albums to arrive at Scrapabilly. So imagine my delight to receive this simply gorgeous specimen as a gift. I was grinning from ear to ear all evening!

I’d love you to share your own {14 loves} lists with me. Why not link up in the comments below?

{14 loves} is a series that will feature on my blog each 14th of the month

Counterfeit Kit Challenge sketch challenge

Over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog today (see post here), you'll find that we are being challenged to use a lovely sketch by Retro Sketches for our projects.

sketch rs#110 here

I agree with Bethany about loving to use sketches, and that the end result is often very far away from the original design. This layout was no exception as you can see!

I turned the sketch to suit what I wanted with the new diagonal corner trend and the single photo I wanted to use. Of course, changing the card sketch to make a layout means a few more changes to fit the photo but I maintained the position of the bow and the journalling. I like to think you can still see the original design even if my layout looks all mine :-)


Do you like sketches? Do you stay true to the design or merely take the essence of it into your own creation? Why not give this great sketch a try and link up to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Mr Linky (here)

Counterfeit Kit Challenge June kit reveal blog hop

Welcome to the June Counterfeit Kit Challenge kit reveal blog hop and I'm hoping that my technology works for you! Since my trusty iMac died a few weeks ago, I'm fighting with a mixture of antiquated Eee PC netbook and iPad neither of which work particularly well with Blogger. But fingers crossed! 

Anyway, hopefully, you've landed here from Lesley's blog where I'm sure she has astounded you with a glorious kit! If not, and you've come here directly, why not hop back to the start of the hop at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog (here).

This month, we were given two gorgeous kits to provide inspiration. Originally, I fell head ove heels with High Five over at Scrapbook Circle (here) and even voted for it it be our kit for the month.

But while I was putting my kit together, I suddenly veered off course and went for the Clique summer class kit which Bethany decided to offer as a second option after all. 

I loved the woodgrain papers matched with the bright colours and decided that this would really be a great summer feel kit - perfect for a bit of good mood scrapping! Something I'm in need of :-)

I decided to base my kit around a few sheets of real wood veneer as well as a veneer envelope that I'd picked up on my dream trip to NYC and the rest came together from there. I'm happy to present my appropriately named kit, Woodgrain! 

Some basic wood patterned papers support the wood veneer "papers" (bottom right) and have also since been added to with another full 12x12 sheet of veneer paper and a 6x6 pad of wood patterned papers.

Then some bright colours to contrast against the neutral backgrounds. I tried to pick patterns that matched the original kit such as the cloud paper, spots, words, Polaroid frames and stripes.

The class kit only showed the papers so I "improvised" by adding some bright, happy, colourful, Lisa-esque products for me to pretty up my pages! 

Brads, twine, die cuts, flairs...

Enamels and mini-alphabets...

Frames - some sprinkled with glorious gold glitter and veneer patterned alphas...

Coloured doilies - a present from mummy!

Tags, tape and wooden hearts to follow on the theme...

A few extra bits and bobs have since worked their way into the kit and four layouts have already been created as part of LOAD which I hope to share with you soon.

Thanks for dropping by today. I hope that technology has played for me and that the post here is ok :-)

You can find the full hop list in case you get lost along the way here at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge, but next up is Leslie who always thrills us with her blue box! 

Make sure you leave me a comment to let me know you were here and that my struggle with technology was worth it!