Counterfeit Kit Challenge - 2017 Trends

Welcome back to today's post for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge second inspiration prompt of the month.

Master Forger Leslie challenged us to be inspired by scrapbook trends from 2017 that were featured in a recent Scrap Gals podcast by Tracy Fox. You can find out all the 12 trends she mentioned over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog today as well, of course, at Tracy's own blog here where she's brought together all 12 trends into one blog post with links to the individual blog posts. I love that Leslie brought our attention to this and love all the names Tracy gave to the trends. I picked a few to choose from: Get Angular, Yippee Strippy!, Embedded Embellishments, Scribble It! and Decorated Seams.

Independent of the Counterfeit challenge, I realised that I had recently had a go at the Decorated Seams style with a layout I made for the Scrapabilly May Kit des Monats which features Pinkfresh Studio Be You products, This was my favourite layout of the kit and I really piled on the die cuts across the join of the two papers. I've seen this style online here and there and was happy to have a go myself. And I'm really pleased with the result.

This meant that I didn't really want to repeat the same style again so soon and went through the list once more, eventually deciding on Get Angular. I really think I'll be going back through this list to try some of the others too as they all look really fun to make - it was hard to pick just one.

There were some full sheets of paper left in my May kit, Funky which was great for this as I layered up three angular papers coming in from the same direction as Tracy's. I realise that I could have made this angle more pronounced to really get that triangular shape coming into the page but overall, I'm really happy with how this turned out.

Sorry for the poor photos. Maybe I'll try to get some better ones in daylight and change them out!

Are you inspired by this prompt? Have you made up your own Counterfeit kit? Have you been busy using it up? We would love to see what you come up with, so please share your kits and projects with us. You can do this by using our Link-Up Page here on the blog, posting in the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Facebook Community or on Instagram (we are @counterfeitkitchallenge and use the tag #counterfeitkitchallenge). Hope to see you there!

15 loves {July 2015}

Welcome to the next in the series {15 loves} for 2015 based on the original concept by my beloved friend, Pam, back in January 2013. I shared my loves (mostly late) all through 2013 & 2014 and now it's time to see if I can continue the series through 2015. I hope you will come back each month to see if there is anything in my list to inspire you. You can see all my {13 loves} {here}, my {14 loves} {here} and now all my {15 loves} {here}

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

one

Ever one to follow all the trends, I rather love these trendy flamingos on this layout - tempted to lift this completely!

Anna Kosakovskaya for Pink Paislee - found here 

two

Everyone who knows me, knows that I love pretty shoes. And pink. And bows. Think these tick all the boxes. Originally from J. Crew and now not available but I can dream!

Pinterest find here

three

I hung pictures! Prints from my home town and even my home back there along with some special places, a happy quote and a look back in time. Making our home piece by piece.

four

I loved the Scrapabilly Atlas (Pink Paislee) based kit and made six great layouts. But this one is just amazing and I'd love it give it a go with the Silhouette.

Gina Lideros for Pink Paislee here

five

I think I need to make these. Sometimes I just crave corn fritters and I have no idea why! These look particularly delicious!

Found on TableForTwo blog here

six

I pinned these some time ago and think it would make an amazing present for someone sometime. Or maybe just to me. I love such personalised ideas.

Brevity Jewelry here

seven

Yes, another map based layout but I just can't help myself.

Previously on TwoPeas - Pinterest source here

eight

I know I should be bringing more colour into my life (as Pam would say!) but this caught my eye and I'd love to achieve this kind of look. So calm. So stylish.

Pinterest find here

nine

A few weeks ago at Scrapabilly, we had a lot of fun die-cutting these cute, on-trend flamingos from foam. I managed to use three on my July kit pages and I'm so tempted with the die. Could I really find enough uses for it?

Cottage Cutz at Scrapabilly.de

ten

Just because...

Pinterest find here

eleven

I travelled back to the UK last weekend to spend a few days in London. I met up with a very dear scrappy friend and even spent a day with my baby brother. What a treat! 

We had a Fortnum & Mason afternoon tea at The View from the Shard and this was honestly our view from our picnic table on the 72nd floor. I couldn't have hoped for better!

twelve

We stopped by the Palace in the hope that Queen Liz would be in for a cuppa only to find her not at home. :-( But this place is always a highlight for me and I think it was very special for my friend from the US.

thirteen

Oh my, I was in heaven! I never thought I'd manage to get to this exhibition and was so excited to get there at last. It was fabulous and he really IS the King!

Elvis at the O2

fourteen


I also managed to fit in this exhibition which was amazing and another one I never thought I'd make it to. I dragged said baby brother along and being the good sport he is, he seemed to enjoy it too. Such a beautiful selection of stunning photos and plenty of information. Amazing.

Audrey Hepburn at the National Portrait Gallery

fifteen

I don't get much chance to spend time alone with each of my siblings so this day with my baby brother was such a treat for me. We did some sightseeing too such as The Natural History Museum and caught up on the all goss! All in all, such a fabulous weekend and worth the aching bones and blisters, although I was happy to sleep in my own bed last night!

The Natural History Museum

I’d love you to share your own {15 loves} lists with me. Why not link up in the comments below?

{15 loves} is a series that will feature on my blog each 15th of the month

Counterfeit Kit Challenge October kit reveal blog hop

Phew, it's October. Which in my book means it's nearly Christmas! Where did the year go?

But you're not here to hear me going on about time and Christmas. I'm hoping you're here to catch up on the latest Counterfeit Kit Challenge inspiration.

If you've arrived here from the first slice of my Lesley/Leslie sandwich, the ever delightful Lesley G's blog (here) you're on the right track. But if you've landed here directly, you might want to pop back to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog (here) so you don't miss anything along the way.

This month, we are happy to welcome Stacy as GD so please drop by and say hello!

This month we were given a whole array if choices to counterfeit in the form of September's Cocoa Daisy kits (you can see them all here). There's the main kit, the PL kit and all sorts of extras and add ons which made for a bit of head scratching to decide which direction to take.

In the end, I went with the "5th & Main" kit as I liked the colours and the different feel of it in comparison to the kits I've made recently. The dark blues and contrasting pops of pink and the elements of gold really appealed.

This kit also reminded me of a recent Glitter Girl video and layout where she featured navy, aqua/turquoise and gold (see here). And these two inspirations combined to give me the direction I decided to take with my kit.

Ever the one to jump on the latest trend bandwagon, I've been snaffling a few bits and pieces of gold into my stash for the last month or so and this kit was a great excuse for me to get some of them out and combine them with the blue tones showcased so well by Glitter Girl.

In a nod to the original kit, I also added in some pinks (what a surprise) which I think really lift the whole kit. Of course, all the papers are double sided and therefore, the combinations available from this simple colour scheme is really wide. Love that.

While I was looking through my stash looking for the darker blues, I came across a few items that also tie in with another Glitter Girl highlight (here and here) and current trend, stars. Into my kit these went too.

And so my Stargazer kit came into being. And I love it!

Recently, I've stopped putting cardstock in my kit as I tend to reach for white, cream or kraft and the colours I put into my kits are left over at the end. Seems a bit pointless to include them but you never know, I might come back to card sometime in the future.

So, the starting point was paper and knowing I didn't have any of the original kit papers, I just pulled out some blues and the aqua I had decided on and then a few geometric designs and some soft pinks. Then I found the constellation papers and that inspired me to print out the Two Peas star printables I had purchased in June and add them in as well. Papers done. But the inspiration kit also had some vellum so I added in a few sheets - a SC chevron printed one, one with stars, a yellow that doubles up quite well as a gold and a sheet that I sprayed with gold mist using a polka dot mask. Cute.

The design on the vellum doesn't show up so well in the photo but there is the polka dot, the chevron, the stars and the plain gold/yellow.

Onto the fun bit of adding in alphas and embellies and to be honest, I think I'll be adding in more throughout the month as when I look at the photo, there doesn't seem to be so much. Ha ha!

Three different alphas to give variety, a few washi tapes, some Mr Huey mists (gold, navy and aqua), some gold doilies, enamels, Tim Holtz film strip, some flowers, a set of stamps (something I hardly ever use) and a handful of mini gold sequins.

That may be a lot for some of you but with all the stuff I throw on my pages, it's really not so much LOL.

Anyway, I love the outcome.

I have yet to break into my September kit so I'm hoping to do better with this kit and get going on it straight away!

The next stop today is Counterfeiter Extraordinaire, Leslie S, who just happens to also be the top layer of my Lesley/Leslie sandwich!

And here is the full list of hoppers today in case you get lost.

Guest Designer: Stacy: http://stacy.typepad.com/stacys_paper_crafts/

Angela:  http://colestoucan.blogspot.co.uk/

Dawn:  http://dawnsscrapbookcottage.blogspot.com

Jemma:  http://just-jimjams.blogspot.com/

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

Lesley G.:  http://ohblogitifyoucantbeatthem.blogspot.co.uk

Lisa H.:  http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com/ You are here

Leslie:  http://lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.com Go here next

Lynnette:  http://sassyscrapper2010.blogspot.com/

Millisa:  http://millermall.blogspot.com/

Stephanie:  http://skylinepaperie.blogspot.ca

I love to get comments so let me know you were here and tell me if you are also a fan of the latest gold trend?

Loving the washi tape trend

Mini challenge #3 is up over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge and it's all about getting those über-trendy washi tapes out and being creative with them.

Washi tapes are quite new for me although I've had some of the TH tissue tapes for a year or so now and love using them. But the last time I was at my LSS I picked up three toning rolls and then added them into this month's kit, Blossom. I also picked up a bright red one from a local home deco store and added it in too. You might have spotted me sneaking them onto one or two of the layouts I've done recently and have really enjoyed the ease and look of them. This challenge had me thinking again.

I added in a piece of kraft cardstock because the tape picks up the background colour to some degree and didn't really think it would go with bright pink or yellow. I ended up deciding to actually decorate the cardstock with it but keep it really simple. I love the subtle effect and the rest of the design and colour scheme followed naturally.

Counterfeit Kit Challenge April it, Blossom, layout #4 

A cute but older photo of my two brothers and sister from just before I left the UK made me realise just how much they've grown up and become adults in the time since then. Sweet photo, sweet thoughts.

What will you be doing with your washi tape? Don't forget to link up over at the CKC site!