High Five!

Welcome to the start of the July Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog Members' Hop.

I've picked Challenge #2: Inspired by Cool Waters in Hot Weather for my hop page this month - which was pretty easy as my July Counterfeit Kit had some patterned paper with a wonderful mix of cool and hot colours along with cool dotty overlays and warm rub-ons.

I've used the July sketch from at Sue's @ Me & Mine which is a great one for scrappy scrapping.

The photo is from my local crop's 5th anniversary photo earlier this year - we are indeed a happy bunch!

Next on the hop is this month's Guest Designer - Gretchen.  The full hop list is published on the CKCB today.

Sketching with Sue Again

Sue at Me & Mine posts a monthly sketch challenge which is always fun to join in with.

On top of that my crop buddy Gill challenged me to do a page where nothing was straight ... I nearly managed it!!

And this week UKScrappers has a challenge from my retreat buddy Ruth who wanted us to use enamel dots (enamel shapes count I'm sure), handwriting journalling (a date is journalling), old stash (well my March counterfeit kit is full of OLD stash), plain cardstock, individual alphas, and fussy cutting (not that fussy, but my frames were home-made)!

Looking back at Sue's original sketch ... I have yet again strayed miles off the beaten track, but I'm happy with the page!

A Fairytale Ending

Welcome to the final post of the February CKCB Members' Blog Hop; if you didn't reach me from Cindy then you might want to start at the beginning with Lisa (the full hop list is here but it's a short one this month).  We had a choice of three challenges to use for the hop (#1 Sappy Movie Inspiration , #2 Life is Just A Fairytale, #3 Say What?) or indeed, anything made from this month's kit.

Using my February Counterfeit Kit, I chose #3, taking some extra inspiration from Whimsical Musings #53 (Grids) plus the lovely February sketch from Sue's blog and I created a page to record the day Child No.3 encountered a real Fairy Godmother!

She'd agreed to promote our theatre's pantomime, posing in a "glass" carriage, chatting to children during a local town's festival of transport.  Unfortunately, mid-April was particularly cold last year and a sleeveless dress wasn't much protection against the chilly wind.  A passer-by saw her goosebumps, popped into one of the local charity shops and returned with a very pretty, and more importantly, warm, evening shawl for Child No.3's bare arms.  Truly kind!

Thanks for hopping around with the CKCB Members this month - it was very short but definitely sweet this month, so why not join in yourself in March - EVERYone is welcome!

P.S. While I'm challenge combining this might as well be my example for Scrap Like You Mean It which I have rebooted over on UKScrappers ... 48 weekly prompts from Shimelle's wonderful 2009 challenge ... starting with #1 Scrap in your favourite colour ... teal every time for me (definitely NOT pink!)

Third Time Lucky

You'll recall that I've just returned from a scrappy weekend with bloggy friends.  It gave me the opportunity and impetus to scrap the group photos from last year's retreat!  I used this month's sketch from Sue at Me & Mine too:

The main photo is courtesy of Sandie who was busy elsewhere this year and couldn't join us.

Most supplies are from my September Counterfeit Kit, but I added of the teeniest alpha stickers I have ever seen ... they're from Kaisercraft and were perfect to label those feet!

One of the lovely things about getting together with fellow crafters is that you get to share each others tools and supplies as well as ideas and company: lots of people wanted to borrow my chevron border punch, I got to use Ruth's mini chevron punch and that "Happy" embellishment came from the give-away pile (thanks Kathy).

Happy Mail #4

One of the things that I love about the "wonderweb" is the ability to connect with people with similar interests.  I've had holiday tips, book recommendations and scrapping inspiration from all over the globe. It also allows me to enter challenges and competitions ... resulting in the arrival of a fun prize parcel from time to time.  I recently entered Sue's Sketch Challenge and won one of her lovely kits with this page.  Not only could I choose which kit I liked best, but it came with an inspiration sheet as well.  Brilliant Sue - many thanks!

They say what goes around, comes around ... I was able to return a favour to Sue when I made her a replacement foot for her Big Bite using ThermoMorph (which I had received for review here):

I also entered a contest on my friend Lesley's 500th blog post and won a super tailor-made prize package, full of the things that she knows I love, including some personalised frames cut on her Cameo - aren't they incredible!

Thank you Lesley :-D

There's a contest running over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog at the moment. It's to celebrate their 1000th post and the prize is to be Counterfeit Queen for October.  The deadline is August 9th ... don't be late!

Not Left Out

I've been challenge combining again for my first page with this month's counterfeit kit.

This time I've taken inspiration from the June sketch over at Sue's blog (she publishes a prize sketch every month if you fancy joining in) and the July challenge criteria over at S J Crafts ... to pick 1 each of shape, colour, phrase/theme from 5 choices ...

... and to tell the story of last year's Easter Egg Hunt that almost didn't happen!!!

As No.1 & No.2 Son were both occupied elsewhere during the Easter holidays, I'd thought that Child No.3 wouldn't be bothered with our usual garden hunt for plastic eggs filled with clues to the whereabouts of something large and chocolatey ...

... but when I saw her looking expectantly out of the window on Easter morning, trying to spot her pink and purple plastic eggs I realised my mistake!  Luckily I was able to set up the hunt in Granny's garden instead and nobody was any the wiser ... until today :-)

The title has been cut with Sizzix Round-a-Bout dies and outlined with my journalling pen and the subtitle has been Dymo-punched with whitewash coredinations.  I'll let you into another secret too (those three squares and the clear letter stickers are covering up an unfortunate bare tummy and an ugly piece of metal  on the wall - funny how these imperfections influence the final page isn't it?!)