Counterfeit Kit Challenge May member blog hop

Welcome to this month's Counterfeit Kit Challenge member blog hop.

I'm right at the end of the hop so hopefully you've reached me via Natalie but if not, why not pop back to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog to start at the beginning so you don't miss out on the fun.

As always, we are here today to share anything we've made with our kits - Challenges, Forgeries on the Fourth or in fact, anything new. Here are the challenges we have to choose from in May:

• Challenge #1: Quebec Kilo - feature Q or K
• Challenge #2: One of our Two Sketches
• Challenge #3: Escher Effects

I'm doing LOAD516 at the moment so I combined one of the prompts about what was making me happy or excited along with the CKC challenge #2 - sketch #1.

As usual, there was a bit of free interpretation of the sketch but I think you can see the original in there if you look close enough.

Counterfeit Kit Challenge May kit, Sprinkle #5

I see there's a little bit of stuff along that white cardstock edge - I'll have to erase that off. Can't imagine how I missed that.

I added in a little paper from my November 2015, Remembrance kit, which is still going strong

I misted these letters and then used my heat gun which gave it this really intense gold surface

While the photos were taken in March during my trip back "home" to the UK, I was totally excited to get to meet fellow Master Forgers Jemma and Lesley! We chatted and laughed and shared experiences over a delicious lunch and became real friends rather than "just" internet friends! That brings my tally to a grand total of FOUR MFs met in real life. Love that I've had that chance and later on in the summer, Julene and I also have plans to meet up here in Germany.

I also have these two layouts which I made using my May kit.

It's not a perfect photo as it was taken at night but I think you get the idea - Counterfeit Kit Challenge May kit, Sprinkle #2

I love these little veneer hearts so much - I could have used dozens!

Counterfeit Kit Challenge May kit, Sprinkle #4

Thanks for dropping by today. Here's the full hop list in case you get lost along the way.

CKCB    http://www.counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com

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

Tina    http://tinasscrapcorner.blogspot.com

Jane    http://alittlescrap.blogspot.com/

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

Elaine    http://chidkids26.blogspot.co.uk

Natalie    http://thebigdills.blogspot.com

Lisa    http://lisahausmann.blogspot.de

16 loves {May 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

A gin & tonic is one of my go-to drinks on a Friday evening and we've been enjoying the fact that so many wonderful gins are available at the moment - gin, it would appear, is a bit of an on-trend drink right now. This was a new one for us and at 57% alcohol, you have to be respectful but it's delicious. Fragrant and a little floral. 

two

I'm always on the lookout for interesting travel layouts and so this one seen on Pinterest grabbed my attention right away. The use of the map in the background and then the position of the photos directly onto that map is a perfect way to record a day trip or a short weekend city break. I love it.

Found on Pinterest but originally posted over on Lynn Ghahary's blog here

three

HRH Queen Elizabeth II turned 90 on 21st April 2016 and I, alongside many others at home and around the world, celebrated. I'm so proud to be British at times like this.

four

And to mark the momentous occasion, we had a party! My mum came over and we had a celebratory afternoon tea party. Sandwiches, scones with clotted cream, coronation chicken, red, white and blue decorations and lashings of tea. It was a lot of fun and all the family enjoyed this little slice of Britishness right here in Germany.

five

Of course, no afternoon tea is complete without scones with strawberry jam and delicious clotted cream. My Delia Smith recipe never fails to hit the spot and these remain the best scones we've ever had! You can find the infamous recipe here.

six

Always on the lookout for cute map embellishments, these heart garlands are exactly my thing. Available on Etsy at PaperNotebook and very reasonably priced, us crafty girls could get busy with a paper punch or our Silhouette and run these up to match exactly what we needed.

Map heart garland available at PaperNotebook here

seven

April saw me try a month of selfies. I more or less managed it and some were better than others. I scrap a lot about myself so it's necessary for me to have a ready stock of pictures available to use as and when I need them. This one will be finding its way onto a page before long. Thank heavens for IG filters! I'll no doubt do this again one month as it was quite fun to see how to manage those "bad face" days!

eight

Over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge, there have been a few changes over the last two months. One is that I've taken over the main admin responsibility for the site and the whole team is now working together to select the kits to counterfeit and the challenges to use them up. There are also some new features popping up here and there which we are all finding very motivating! There's new energy over there which is great. For (Inter)National Scrapbook Day, we offered a whole range of Master Forgers'  favourites to inspire our readers. It was super to see the different directions we all took and I loved reading each entry. Even though it's over now, check out the posts starting here for a bunch of ideas!

nine

Still thrilled to receive my Scrapabilly DT kit each month. It's the best day when it's handed to me when I'm in the shop but it's even more exciting to receive it in the post!

ten

It's May which means it's LOAD516. This is the first month that Alice Boll is at the reigns of Scrap Happy for a LOAD month since she took it over from Lain Ehmann and she's doing an awesome job! The prompts are fun and thought provoking and there's been several extra challenges and spot prizes which is nice to shake things up a bit. I missed a day at the weekend but so far, have 18 layouts done for the month so it feels good considering I wasn't intending on trying for a full month. LOAD is one of the best scrappy times of the year.

eleven

Found this on Pinterest. It's calling me...

Pinterest source here

twelve

It was the Eurovision Song Contest at the weekend and the opening ceremony featured elaborate costumes made of paper. They were amazing. A paper crafter's dream inspiration. I tried to take some photos but this stock photo from the ESC site is better and gives you an idea of the incredible creations. Just goes to show that inspiration is everywhere!

thirteen

It's been a while since I posted a nail varnish in my ongoing love of beautiful nails (which I don't have!). This collection of greys by Essie is so beautiful, I'd love them all.

fourteen

Isn't this cute? A Pinterest find which I adore and would love to have a go at one day.

Pinterest source here / originally found on Design for Soul here

fifteen

This makes me want to embroider. I've had a go from time to time and lack the skill and patience but this is simply so beautiful, I might add it to my list again. Check out Mary Whelan Art to see embroidered pieces that will take your breath away...

Pinterest source here / Mary Whelan Art here

sixteen

Something every scrapbooker is aware of. Something I need to keep in mind during my constant battle with decluttering and downsizing.

I’d love 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

Forgeries on the Fourth - the May edition!

Great to see you here today and are you excited to see that I forged some items? It's not often that I'm creative or imaginative enough to actually come up with ways of forging the embellishments or papers in my Counterfeit Kit Challenge kits - after all, we have the Queen of Forgery, Leslie, to show us all how it's done. 

But with the recent changes going on over there at CKC (see the blog post here) and me being more involved than ever, I thought it was time for me to pick up my output and get my thinking cap on more often.

Two items in the current inspiration kit (plus add ons) caught my eye - the two-toned veneer pieces and the stripes alphabet.

So let's see how I got on. It's definitely not all perfect round here...

First up, I had a go at the veneer items. I fished out a handful of hearts because I can see me using those most often.

I then added some washi tape along the centre line to create a masked off area and leave the other half to be coloured. 

I took out a handful of paints in colours I thought I could work with - some came out better than others - pink, lemon, blue and green with lashings of white to get the shade I wanted.

And then all I did was paint the exposed half in the different colours.

As you can see with the results below, some of them have a super clear, clean line of colour while a few have a little bleeding of colour into the other half. My feeling is that these paints were a little thinner and therefore a bit more watery allowing the colour to seep under the washi line. If you keep the paints relatively thick, I think the effect is super.

I'm particularly in love with the pinks and yellows.

Next up was a frustrating attempt at the black&white striped alpha.

I found a plain white canvas Thicker pack which is designed for colouring or misting. Of course, a diagonal or striped stamp would have been much better and easier, but I don't have one and in the spirit of counterfeiting without adding extra stash or cost, I continued to work through all these examples with just a ruler and Sharpie.

The canvas alpha proved too rough a surface for the pen to really make a good, clean line and at that point, I still hadn't quite got the knack of the distance etc I needed to leave with the ruler lines.

Next up was a basic font, plain chipboard pack of Thickers and this one worked much better, even if I wasn't quite so neat in the first place. With practice, I was able to make a few letters quite tidy and I really like the result.

The ruler needs to be used so that the edge is slightly lifted off the letters or you get a nasty drag mark such as below and I used some of the letters I'm unlikely to use for practice to get a feel for it.

I will not be turning the whole set stripey but if I want to make a striped title, then I will lift off the letters onto some greaseproof paper and then slowly and carefully, make the stripes. This is not an exercise to be rushed (which is my usual way of working) and I really like the effect that it produces.

So there you have it. Trial and error but still a lot of fun. And you know how long it took me to try these two ideas out? Less than 30 minutes in total! I always imagine it's going to take much longer than it really does. I often think that coming up with the idea is the time consuming bit.

Anyway, check out the Counterfeit blog today to see what other Master Forgers have come up with - there are quite a few this month! And I happen to know that at least three of us had a go at the veneers so I'm interested to see if they were more successful than me.

Counterfeit Kit Challenge May kit reveal blog hop

Great that you're here!

Hopefully you should have reached me via Leslie's blog and next up is Lynnette. If you've landed here direct, why not start back at the beginning - the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog - and hop all the way through so that you don't miss out on any of the inspiration. Of course, you really must also pop over to our GD Jane and say hello! We are thrilled to have her with us this month.

This month, Jemma was responsible for picking out this kit by Quirky kits. and I have to say, it's a great one! There's a main kit and two add-ons to choose from.

It's My Party by Quirky Kits

Shiny Happy People by Quirky Kits

You've Got the Love embellishments by Quirky Kits

I loved them all and decided to just incorporate elements from all three into my kit, Sprinkle.

I was lucky enough to have hoarded saved two pieces of the Echo Park bokeh print paper which matched the inspiration kit and I decided to build my kit from that. I added in the alpha sticker sheet and then found some matching papers. I didn't exactly follow my "rules" as I started with older papers and just kept adding in from there which I felt fulfilled my basic requirements overall.

I didn't have exactly the same items from the My Mind's Eye Market Street as the original, but chipboard and buttons from the collection are a perfect match all the same.

I added in several alphabets so that I have some choice. The plain white with the stripes will appear in my Forgeries on the Fourth!

I also forged the coloured veneers - come back on the fourth for those!

I just added in some bits and pieces to give me a feel of the original and am super satisfied with the result. Sprinkle will take me far I'm sure!

As mentioned, come back on the fourth to see my forgeries and then next weekend, I'll be part of the Counterfeit Kit Challenge inspiration weekend for (Inter)National Scrapbook Day.

Did you see the news over at the CKC blog? If not, you might want to check that out too. #justsayin'

Here's the full list in case you get lost along the way but I would suggest you check in at every stop to make sure you get the full inspiration. Go along to Lynnette now for her fabulous staged reveal!

Guest Designer: Jane at a little scrap... http://alittlescrap.blogspot.com
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.de
Lynnette: http://www.sassyscrapper2010.blogspot.com
Margie: http://scrappinmargie.blogspot.com
Susan: http://littlethingsbigdays.blogspot.com
Susanne: http://snapsandsnippets.blogspot.com
Clair: http://obstinatepursuit.blogspot.co.uk