March 2023 - Counterfeit Kit Challenge Mini kit reveal and project

I find it hard to believe that this is the first time I've put anyone on the blog since the middle of January, but there you have it! Busy times - which is mostly a good thing ;-) 

Anyway, I'm back today with a post about the Counterfeit Kit Challenge mini-kit which I signed up for this month.

MF Anna picked out this kit for us to inspire us - "Time to Thrive" by Traci Reed which had a very distinct look with the embellishments and colour scheme. I was pretty unsure which way to take it.

I thought about making a mini-album but after a less than successful LOAD in February (I only managed 11 layouts in total), I decided to make another page kit from my huge Mabel kit and tell another of my "28 Days of Mabel" stories. I'm still planning on getting the full 28 Days of Mabel done as soon as I can - just a goal for myself.

Looking at the original kit, I decided to go with the yellow, blue, green colour scheme with a red/pink heart paper which could be useful and matches the inspiration. I also decided that the floral embellishments, labels, twine bows and banners were good things to include and I liked the idea of hearts, florals, stars, leaves and dots so made sure my papers or embellishments highlighted those parts of the inspiration as well. I brought together some papers (all of which are partial sheets), some tags left over from last month's mini, alphas, some floral die-cuts and a handful of dies to make some extra embellishments if needed. My "Mabel kit" is full of peach, lemon, pinks and soft pastels so it was interesting to sort through and find some items which didn't exactly fit that colour scheme and was pleased with the resulting kit. It looks bigger than it really is! I might squeeze out two pages but this was really only designed for the one layout - let's see.

Here are my papers. I thought the smaller designs would make this page come together more easily and the tags seemed to have colours that complemented the papers - more or less! The spot paper reminded me of the watercolour effect of the striped paper in the original kit. I've added it in but am unsure how I will be using it.

I also included some of the dies that I've been repeatedly using on my Mabel pages recently. They may or may not prove useful but these small shapes are perfect for tucking in under corners or creating dimensional interest here and there.

One of my strategies recently is to fully prepare pages ahead of time so when I sit to create, everything I need is there and all the decisions have been made. I even write and print out the journalling whenever I can. This page was put together in the same was so I also added in a Simple Scrapper membership sketch, some photos I wanted to use and the story I wanted to tell before I considered my page-kit to be complete. The story I wanted to tell featured Mabel's friend - a black Labrador - so I felt that this stronger colour scheme would work well and still fit into my album of mostly softer shades.

The Simple Scrapper sketch is 8.5x11" so I adapted it for my 12x12 preference and the two photos I had picked out. The bottom photo - where they are cuddling - is almost identical to one I had printed out to tell another story about how they cuddle up. I had been irritated to realise how similar they were and that I couldn't use them both on one page so I was determined to find a way to include it in another story and by adding in the photo of Luna nudging Mabel to initiate play, the idea for the story came together.

I tried to stay guided by the sketch and I think the little line of tags is super cute and the addition of some leaves and flowers, as well as keeping those stronger shades to smaller proportions, keeps the layouts looking sweet and girly! They are both gorgeous "little" girls after all!

28 Days of Mabel #12

Even though it's definitely different to the other Mabel pages I've made recently, I think it will fit into the album nicely and it was a great exercise to pull out papers and colours from a very full-on, baby pink themed larger kit to match the inspiration kit! This layout tells a very important friendship story for Mabel's album and it makes me happy! It's great to be challenged to think outside of the box of your normal scrappy go-to's. Why not give it a try!

You can see the other mini kits over on the blog here and then be part of the Counterfeit Kit Challenge FB community here.

July 2019 - Counterfeit Kit Challenge - Challenge #2

Welcome to my somewhat neglected blog these days.

Today I'm sharing my take on the sketch Tina challenged us with.

I think you all know how much I love sketches and this two photo template was really appealing. I assumed that the photos were 6x4 and therefore, I'm not sure my page has the same proportions as the original, but other than that, I stayed pretty true to the design.

The double photo design was perfect to record a then and now version of me on this anniversary page for moving to Germany. How can it be 18 years already? It feels like yesterday even on days when I think about all the ups and down and changes we've gone through - enough to last a lifetime or two!

The photo on the left was taken at the leaving "do" I had when I left my job in Cambridge to make the big move, and the photo on the right is from just a few weeks ago when we were visiting a fabulous Baroque/Rococo Schloss in southern Germany.  I'm not sure I'm the same person as I was back then - yes, of course, a "bit" older these days - but I feel as if I'm totally different.

Anyway, this challenge gave me the chance to write a few lines about the topic and I'm happy to have been given the nudge to make it so close to the event.

I interpreted the line of stitching and flower element along the top as an extension of my title and a few gems.

The flowers on the edge of the page have changed into a flair, some gems and a little fussy cutting from the Shimelle word paper. I just picked out a handful of phrases that loosely fitted the topic of the page.

And again, the element on this side of the page transformed into another flair, some more dots and a few more phrases.

The places on the top of the photos were a final idea so that I don't forget to notice how the places affected the person in the photo!

Here's to the next 18 years. I wonder what that time will bring?

I hope you'll check out the others and how they've interpreted the sketch for themselves? You can find them all over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog here and don't forget to share if you make a page using this sketch - we love to see you using your kits!

You can use our Monthly Link-up page, post them in our Facebook Community, or share them on Instagram (we are @counterfeitkitchallenge or tag us using#counterfeitkitchallenge and #ckcjuly2019).

November at Simple Scrapper #2

The last share I have for you this month is a new favourite of mine using the Simple Scrapper current sketch collection and an older Story Starter from October 2015 Inside of You.

I decided to do an online Myers Briggs type personality test - it's a free online test rather than the controlled official one but seemed very thorough and tied in with the results I've had in the past so I'm sticking with it!

I used my Counterfeit Kit Challenge August kit, Alpine because I wanted to keep the whole layout a bit calm to reflect what I re-learnt about my personality.

I used three selfies from the stack I took in April in my 30 days of selfies challenge. I'm often hiding behind sunglasses to cover up my shyness, so once again, this all supported the theme of the page.

The most interesting part of doing the test for me was the Introvert element at 89%. I used the Story Starter prompt to write about how people usually assume I'm a total extrovert. I'm loud and able to talk for England. But naturally, that's a whole lot of act and in reality, I'd be happy as a hermit!

I captured all these thoughts in the hidden journalling behind the photo which was shown on the original sketch too. This was perfect for me to turn into a larger pocket (I actually used a brown paper bag) to keep all the information I printed out from the website about INFP type people which I thought was so so interesting. It makes the page really heavy but it's great to know it'll be there to read again any time I want.

That's the last of my November shares for now so thanks as always for dropping by.

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.

November at Simple Scrapper #1

This layout for Simple Scrapper uses an older sketch from July 2016 along with a current Story Starter on the subject of Getting Stronger.

Using my October Counterfeit Kit Challenge, Lucid kit, I picked out the brighter papers and combined them as a background to the colourful personality of my adorable niece who just turned four! It's crazy how the time has flown but these photos show what a little character she's turned into.

I really got into the splatted effect letters while I was using this kit and here I sprayed them all over with pink and then just dripped on some gold and aqua to pick up on some of the colours elsewhere on the layout.

The numbered washi tape was perfect to note here age and I added the stitching to provide some texture and dimension to these edges. I wanted to have lots of depth so that the bright colours wouldn't compete with the photos.

The original sketch had embellishments in this place but I decided just to include an extra photo and add a few mini embellishments here and there for good measure. As luck would have it, I had some veneer numbers in my kit which I decided to use to number her age in the photos. I'd never have thought of that if I hadn't spotted them at the bottom of my kit bag.

Using the Story Starters combined with a sketch each month has really pushed me to try out different page layouts which I've really been enjoying. I tend to stick to the same half dozen designs and I think that the sketches are really adding some great ideas to change up that feeling of every layout being the same. The Story Starters encourage me to start my page with a story and to often look at the photos in a different way to tell the story from another angle. I recommend both these wonderful resources which are part of the premium membership.

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.

October at Simple Scrapper #1

October at Simple Scrapper saw me combining two of the month's sketches to have a go at a double spread - something I rarely do these days. It was a lot of fun to work out how to make it look like a cohesive design and flow nicely across the full 24".

I tweaked both sketches to accommodate my design. This sketch indicated embellishments under the photo so I just swapped it out for my main journalling and a sub-title. The card on the left of the photo replaced out a journalling tag.

Sketch #326 from the October 2016 collection and Story Starter #1 - "On the Table" from November 2015

And on this side, I skipped the journalling under the title and went for some simple text directly on the photo to indicate the food that we enjoyed. However, both sides are still relatively true to the original designs of both sketches and prove that you can combine two to make a full spread very easily.

ketch #323 from the October 2016 collection and Story Starter #1 - "On the Table" from November 2015

To ensure flow and cohesiveness across both the pages, I used tones of red, white and blue which match the theme of the page but not the true tones that you can find in the photos. Additionally, I used one collection of paper and embellishments, (Jen Hadfield, DIY Home) ensuring that elements of all colours, designs and patterns appeared on both sides. This was so much fun and reminded me just how great it is to make spreads where you get so much space for all the typical elements on a page - photos, journalling and pretty stuff.

The Story Starter "On the Table" really focussed me to concentrate on the real story of this very British afternoon tea. The bringing together of family - across language and culture which is a very important part of my life.

I wanted a title that supported the subject of the page without being too obvious. And the gold won out even though I use this alphabet so sparingly! I can't bear the thought of it running out - good job I bought three sets.

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.

October at Simple Scrapper #2

I was thrilled to see that this second Creative Team layout for Simple Scrapper in October made the front cover of the membership magazine Spark. This is an amazing team to be part of and the talent of the other ladies is just so impressive that I feel honoured to be highlighted in this way. And this is a particular favourite layout of mine so that made me doubly happy.

I combined an older sketch with this month's Story Starter, "Tending the Nest" to talk about my mum and my 94-year old granny.

Sketch #300 from May 2016 and Story Starter "Tending the Nest" #7 from October 2016

I also used my September Counterfeit Kit Challenge kit, Sundance and found that the softer tones of the kit matched my photo so perfectly. I wanted to ensure that the whole layout felt soft, caring and feminine.

Counterfeit Kit Challenge September kit, Sundance lo#2

I used my favourite way of keeping the journalling a little private - a vellum pocket. You can see it's there and if you are close enough to me to feel comfortable to pull out the card to read it, it's relatively easily accessible.

The original sketch was designed for an 8 1/2 x 11" page with four 2x2 photos so I just stretched everything a bit bigger to fill my 12x12 page and made my single photo 5x5.

I loved how the blue and aqua elements in my kit matched my granny's cardigan so perfectly. I don't often try to match up my design with the photos featured, just using what I have in each kit in a way that pleases me, but this worked out so perfectly.

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.

September at Simple Scrapper #2

Another late share but the last from September before I post my Simple Scrapper and Scrapabilly makes for October.

September's Story Starter©️ collection with the theme of Simple gave me the chance to talk about our progress on decluttering our life.  I matched this with a sketch from May 2013 (#124) which has lots of layers and space for journalling as well as plenty of white space.

My Counterfeit Kit Challenge August kit, Alpine, was perfect for this because of the many neutrals that were in the kit and which I was able to select to match my theme.

It's not easy to see in these photos but instead of the paint swashes featured on the original sketch, I misted through a stencil before building my layers on top. It's a subtle effect but adds interest and texture to the overall layout.

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.