Counterfeit Kit Challenge November member blog hop

Welcome to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge November member blog hop.

Busy times round here so I'm going to leap right in.

Hopefully you've reached me via the very delightful and faithful follower Tina is was sure to inspire you with her creation. I'm at the end of the hop today so if you've missed anyone along the way, there's the full list at the end of the post. 

This is the last hop for 2016 as we'll be having special Christmas posts during December so make the most of it and we'll be back in January, hopefully.

In November, we were challenged by the following prompts:

• Challenge #1: Challenge #1 - Yum!  
  
• Challenge #2: Challenge #2 - A Walk In The Woods
• Challenge #3: Challenge #3 - Bundle Up!

And I decided to add on the layers for my layout which is of course, what I do on most of my layouts anyway, to give a bit of an overview on my two days out in The Netherlands to visit my sister.

Thanks for dropping by today and I hope you enjoyed the last hop of 2016! We hope to see you back on the hopping trail in January. In the meantime, we are not leaving you with nothing to inspire you in December. Come back towards the end of November to get a sneak on what we'll be up to.

Here's the full hop in case you missed anyone along the way.

CKCB    http://www.counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com 
Jemma    http://just-jimjams.blogspot.co.uk
Dawn      http://www.dawnsscrapbookcottage.blogspot.com
Sherrie    http://sherriesmuddlepuddle.blogspot.ca
Julene     http://julenebydesign.blogspot.com.au
Tina        http://tinasscrapcorner.blogspot.com
Lisa        http://lisahausmann.blogspot.de

16 loves {November 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.

This time, they are all experiences I've had this month and in date order too. I hope you'll forgive a little self-indulgence!

one

This one does not offer kisses and cuddles very often. Especially to an auntie she rarely sees. So I was thrilled that my Lilifee wings, wand and sticker book was a suitably good enough present to warrant such a show of affection!

How can it be that she's four already?

two

Yes, I think the wings were a success. She insists on wearing them the whole day we had together looking around Rotterdam when I headed over there to see my sister. What a thrill for me and what a cutie she is.

three

What more can I say - I adore the colours of autumn. Trees like this make my heart sing.

four

I headed down south again for the long 1st November weekend and we stumbled upon this simply gorgeous water tower which has been turned into apartments. Now the really freaky thing is that my baby brother had a German work experience exchange some years ago and stayed down in the city of Worms, working in the architect's office who planned the conversion work. This was long before I'd even heard of the name of the city and I didn't even remember the connection until he reminded me. We kept meaning to find the tower and then one day, took a wrong turn and there it was.

five

I wandered around the Jewish cemetery, Heiliger Sand, early in the morning and discovered the most beautiful light and scenery that I could have imagined. This is the oldest Jewish cemetery in Europe dating back more than 1,000 years and it felt like stepping back in time. A perfectly wonderful, peaceful start to the day.

six

Somebody won't allow me to take a photo nor to post it, so this one will have to do. I'm not quite sure what has caused the hunchback I appear to have developed but for now, I'm happy with this one.

seven

The palace in Karlsruhe. A great panorama but one that doesn't fit on the blog too easily. Unfortunately, it was heavily bombed in the war and is no longer open as a palace to view, although it now houses the Baden State Museum - something for another time perhaps. But this walk down memory lane for him and a catch up of his history for me was a lovely day out.

eight

The weather is cold enough for a coat and a thick scarf. Yes, this also makes me happy.

nine

I wore my Remembrance Day poppy with pride. As I try to do each year. I was mortified to realise that I'd missed my two minutes of silence at 11am and just made sure I made that time later in the day, on my own, with time to think.

ten

The 1st Essen Light Festival took place and some of the lit up buildings were right in the area where we live which was lovely. All too short at just a week, it was great to see the lights changing and to hear the soft splash of water in the ponds, installed especially for the light festival. A light show to check out again next year for sure.

eleven

My first TNL which is always to be celebrated. Even without the appropriate red cups. Hopefully, they'll soon hit the shops but the red sleeve was a good starting point.

twelve

I miss Bonfire Night in the UK a lot. It's really something I can't copy over here - I think the city might be a bit annoyed if I just built and lit a huge bonfire on the public green outside our flat. So an English Guy Fawkes Night dinner party was the next best thing. It was a great success and beef wellington is now a family favourite.

thirteen

I'm not going to discuss the US election, the result or my feelings about it. But this picture goes a small way in describing those feelings. 

Part of my month of selfies which isn't going so well. There might be half a dozen or so at the end of the month.

fourteen

I was invited to a lovely, girlie, birthday celebration and I broke out my pretty Cadbury purple shoes and matching bag. Forgot the selfie of me with going-out make-up (a rare sight these days) but seemed to remember to take a shot of the shoes. That's the way I'm rolling these days.

fifteen

I'm thrilled to be part of the Scrapabilly Advent Swap again this year. With a limited budget and the fact that I'm just not that crafty at making items for my presents, I tend to cover up the lack of content by going all out on the packaging. I think they turned out well. The ribbon is actually gold and not green as it looks in this photo. Swapping this week. 

sixteen

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Just a couple more days until the Christmas Markets open. With lots of visitors in the next few weeks, I think I'll be going here for poffertjes and a tipple more often. 

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

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.

November at Scrapabilly #3

Back again for my last shares with the November Scrapabilly Kit des Monats featuring Jen Hadfield for Pebbles, Warm & Cozy collection. I loved the neutrality of all the papers with the rose gold elements. It really did make me feel all warm and cosy and ready to bunk down for the winter. Love this time of year!

For my last two pages, I decided to head back to 2007 and touch on two more snippets of my Yukon adventure story. The papers had that rough and ready feel to them and seemed perfect.

I scrap lifted myself for this sunburst effect page because I wanted to showcase as many of the papers as possible on one page. It's quite a lot of work to do and the stitching is fiddly but I adore the results and will no doubt make more versions of this design.

I really wanted to find a way to use this pocket page card with the photo realistic design. Not always easy but this seemed an ideal page. And again, there's that long title made possible by the added in mini alpha.

An off the page cluster with a hint of dimension was all this page needed to feel finished. The stitching along the sunbursts is the main embellishment and with all that detail, I wanted to be careful not to over decorate.

Finally, here's a page about our daily breakfasts while we were on the road.

Imperfect photos make for a perfect story and I'm so happy to have captured this little - even the hand grabbing the last blueberry pancake with a plastic fork makes me remember these days with longing! (yes, when it was our turn for breakfast or food, we went with the disposable options to limit the tidy up work - lazy but true)

I really went to town with the sprays for this one and ended up ironing the paper to get it relatively flat again. I don't do this sort of wet technique very often but I like the effect here.

The layout uses up a lot of scraps and last bits of washi tape with which I cut out some stars to scatter - subtle but there.

Another of the photo realistic pocket cards seemed to find just the right place on this page. It was a great relaxed start to our day - every second morning!

I picked out several elements out of the die cut pack which supported my theme but didn't overpower the overall design.

It was lovely to see you here today. If you'd like your own kit to work with, you can find the kit here on the Scrapabilly site. 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.

I'm hoping to get back soon to share my Simple Scrapper November makes so come back soon.

November at Scrapabilly #2

November's Scrapabilly Kit des Monats features Jen Hadfield for Pebbles, Warm & Cozy collection. Gorgeous! The papers include a stunning rose-gold foiled leaf outline on white  design along with lots of neutrals and a cut apart sheet. The die-cut pack was full of gorgeous elements again featuring the rose-gold foil and the chunky set of rose-gold Thickers made my happiness complete. There was also a shet of washi paper strips.

The next layout I'd like to share is the only one that is specifically about autumn. I think I might have used these photos before (the downside to being album challenged and not knowing what I've already made!) but the layout makes me happy and I used a die cut wreath that I'd downloaded a month or so ago. To be honest, I have no idea where it came from so I can't credit it I'm afraid but it's gorgeous and perfect for this page. I clustered up some of the leaves with gold thread and kept everything simple and white.

This was one of those "just want to make it" layouts - pretty with not a lot of story.

I used foam dots to give the background die cut some dimension and texture. This gives subtle definition to the white on white effect.

Some gold and chocolate mist just finishes it off.

Thanks for dropping by today and I'll be back in a couple of days with the last of my two layouts.

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.