just can't stop scrapping those holiday photos!

Sometimes I just can't make the criteria for the weekly challenges on UKS fit my style of scrapping or tie them in with my Counterfeit Kit but then sometimes everything just falls into place.

This week's challenge from CoventryAnn is nice and easy with lots of options to play around with:

use holiday photos (tick); more than 3 photos (tick) use Kraft (tick).

I did have to grab the orange card stock from stash to use as the background and cannibalize some PL cards to add interest to the tags.

I made the tags and journalling strips from the Kraft card stock in my Retro Metro kit.

The Jenni Bowlin March Bingo card, enamel dots, paper clip, brads and patterned paper all came from this months forged kit, too.

Finishing off my April Kit

Well, I don't know how it's happened but the month is almost over!

I've had fun using my April forged kit "It's A New Season".

Beach Tennis condo's, South Beach HHI.
My LO for the UKS April week 1 challenge

It's been interesting to use the black and white that I've had in my stash for years 

paired with the blue and pink colours which I don't normally use,

 especially on pages that feature me!

I've focused on scrapping holiday photographs taken last month in Hilton Head, 

our go to destination for r&r and retail therapy.

On the balcony enjoying a glass of wine after watching
the St. Patrick's Day parade for 3 hours.

There are still bits and pieces of black and white left in the kit.

I've used the picture frames, PL cards and some of the other coloured pp's

 but notice that I haven't used the pink or white alphas that I included.

With a few days left in the month I may get another LO or two from this kit 

then I think I'll break it down.

Counterfeit Kit Challenge - January 2015. Kit reveal - It's A Start!

Well, I have finally made it back into my sacred scrap room in the attic - after a couple of weeks of not scrapping I was feeling the need!

Where better to go for some New Year inspiration than the Counterfeit Challenge Kit blog I thought, so I headed over there this morning to check out the January 2015 kit and this is it.

HIP KIT CLUB DECEMBER KIT.

HIP KIT

The mix of colours and patterns really appealed to me so I began by looking through my patterned papers to find similar styles and designs then dug into my stash of embellies,

which I have to say is looking quite sparse. 

I feel it might be time to hit those internet scrapping stores for a bit of retail therapy, 

there are quite a few "soldes" (sales) going on at present 

and I might pick up some bargains to add to my kit as the month goes on.

This is the kit that I've assembled today and I'm calling it

  It's A Start!

IT'S A START!

I added some co-ordinating card stock to the mix and found, at the back of a drawer, a partly used Heidi Swapp writers block, I thought they might be a good fit when scrapping Challenge # 1 "Scrapping Lists".

The Bodyguard

Using my Counterfeit Kit made the UKS weekly challenge quick and easy for me to do. 

I actually finished it within a few hours of the challenge being posted, a first for me.

This is my interpretation, I chose the title The Bodyguard from the film starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner and turned the spotlight onto my own personal bodyguard, our 3 year old German Shepherd, Fleur.

The pink paper & flower came from my stash, everything else was in my forged kit.

Linking this post to the CKCB.

too darned hot to scrap!

At last summer has arrived in Normandy (yay!) and my days are filled with gardening and tending vegetables.
Or, I might be sitting on the patio with a good book and a cold glass of something, iced tea or coffee or a g&t depending on the time of day.
My craft room is up in the attic of our ancient house and it gets really, really hot up there with only a Velux window in the roof for ventilation.
So, have I given you enough excuses reasons why I'm not getting much scrapping done?
Before the temps started to soar I did manage to do some of the challenges posted on UK Scrappers this month which I'd like to share with you.

My example for week 1

I set the week one challenge, my first solo attempt. The criteria were to use the colour palette, the sketch and a favourite quote or saying.

I was thrilled that so many scrappers joined in, they seem to love the sketch & colour scheme.

when the girl in your arms is the girl in your heart
Cliff Richard sang this song in the Young Ones movie

The journaling tag tucked behind the photograph tells the story:
When I was 11 years old my Aunties took me to see "The Young Ones" and I fell in love for the very first time. When Cliff sang "When the girl in your arms is the girl in your heart" it was the start of a life long crush. About 30 years later living in Germany I went with some girlfriends to see Cliff in concert. The next day the SP and I were flying back to UK for a visit, Cliff was checking in for the same flight! Shaking, I approached him and said "Thanks for last night". He replied "No, thank you"!
The love of my life drew this heart, with our initials inside, in the sand on South Beach, HHI October 2012.

and finally the July House Challenge.

on the final day of our last visit to Cancun it took some very dark storm clouds
to persuade me to leave the beach

I managed to use quite a bit of my July Counterfeit Kit for these LO's, with just a few dips into my scraps and stash for embellies and cardstock.

CKCB July Kit

The "Summer Fun" kit from crop & create is the one chosen for this month's Counterfeit Kit challenge over on the CKC blog.

Bright and sunny with a touch of black & white a perfect choice for July and the (hopefully!) hot, scorching days of summer.
I love to rummage through my stash and create my own forgery each month and today was no exception.
Look what I found ..........

I had thought that I'd be able to apply the KISS principle to my kit this month, (keep it simple stupid) but as you can see, I failed.

The shiny item in the photo's is the Jenni Bowlin bingo card packet, guess I should have taken them out of the cellophane!

Kit details:

Fancy Pants Hopscotch banners; Jenni Bowlin mini bingo cards & tickets; Basic Grey Soleil pins & tags; Teresa Collins enamel dots; For The Record & Jilly Bean Soup alphas & stickers; Basic Grey black/white polka dot chipboard alphas; atd black/white polka dot alpha stickers; white/red/cream mini alphas; jillibean soup labels; Pebbles toothpick flags; labels, washi tape, black alpha stickers & bits and pieces from stash.

Papers: Glitz Design; Studio Calico; Dear Lizzie; American Crafts; Teresa Collins; Crate Paper; 3 Bugs in a rug; Hampton Art; kesi’art; lily bee design; Little Yellow Bicycle; Toga; Kraft, yellow & red card stock from stash.

Looking forward to creating some great LO's using this kit which I'll call "Fun in the Sun" and who knows I might be lucky enough to make the July Fab 5 list, making it three in a row!

Smile

This is my take on the June House Challenge on UKS which this month has been set by my house The Blue Brads, thanks Sarah (TL) for providing such  great motivational prompts to inspire us.

I chose "Smile and the world smiles with you" as my inspiration for this page, another souvenir of our stay in Swaledale, Yorkshire a couple of months ago.
My sister Kathryn, stepmum Joyce & me practicing our Oprah smile!

Shoulders down; push your face forward and smile! 

Get's rid of any double chins that might make you look less than your best.
It is also guaranteed to set everyone off laughing which always makes for a great photo.
I think little sister may have overdone it though this time!
I created the LO using my 2nd Counterfeit Kit (June) and some bits & pieces from stash
The quote beneath the photo is by Robert Brault:

Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.

Counterfeit Kit - a re-think!

Earlier this week I assembled my take on the Destination kit by Scraptastic for this month's CKCB.

After several false starts with a couple of layouts I've decided that I chose the wrong kit to forge and that I should have gone with the After The Storm kit instead.

Guess I'm just not into pink because I'm not feeling the Barbie love at all!

So, I put most of the June is bustin' kit back in the box and played around with some other bits & bobs. This is what I came up with.

Fancy Pants Hopscotch banners; Cosmo cricket Tiny Type; white mini alphas; bakers twine; Pebbles Chips; jillibean soup labels; October Afternoon toothpick flags; Little Yellow Bicycle Clear Cuts; labels, alphas & bits and pieces from stash.

Papers: Graphic 45; Glitz Design; Studio Calico; Dear Lizzie; American Crafts; Teresa Collins; Crate Paper; 3 Bugs in a rug; MME - Miss Caroline; Carta Bella; Basic Grey – Hello Luscious and co-ordinating card stock from stash.

I think this kit will work much better for me and the pix that I hope to scrap this month.

Counterfeit Kit - June is bustin out all over!

June is bustin' out all over

All over the meadow and the hill

(Lyrics from Carousel by Rodgers & Hammerstein)

This month the kits to forge are Scraptastic's "After the Storm" and "Destination Unknown".

I chose to go with Destination Unknown simply because most of the layouts that I did with last month's kit "May Daze" turned out to be masculine and I feel like doing some pretty summery layouts as June is my Birthday month.

This is the fairly big kit which I put together this time.

 "June is bustin' out all over"

Papers: Graphic 45; Glitz Design; Studio Calico/American Crafts; Teresa Collins; Crate Paper; MME Bloom & Grow & Miss Caroline; co-ordinating cardstock from stash.

Embellies: Fancy Pants Hopscotch banners; Cosmo cricket Tiny Type; red & white mini alphas; bakers twine; K & Co mini flower/button accents; jillibean soup labels; Crate Paper On Trend chipboard stickers; Basic Grey pins & mini labels; Pebbles toothpick flags; labels & bits and pieces from stash.

Linking this post to the

Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog

Oh, and before I forget 

guess who was featured in the CKCB "Fab Five" list

and won the Mr Linky giveaway of a $20 gift voucher

from Little Blue Button Stamps last month?

Oui, c'est vrais! Moi!

CKCB Challenge #2 & a blog hop!

Challenge #2 over on the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog this month is  "Children's Book Challenge".

Trying to incorporate as much of my May counterfeit kit as possible, I decided to scrap the first Famous Five book by Enid Blyton.
I discovered the Famous Five when I was about 8 or 9 years old and fell in love with them all, especially Timothy, George's dog.

Reading about their adventures took me a million miles away from "real" life and I was always happy to be on a treasure island; go off to camp; run away together; off in a caravan; fall into adventure; get into a fix; go to Billycock Hill or have a wonderful time with them.
Believe it or not all of the above titles are still on my bookshelf over 50 years later!

I had to go into to my stash for the red cardstock, Jenni Bowlin stars, tag and Bingo card.

The paper bag with black chevrons was part of my February kit which didn't get used that month.

I'm linking this post also to a blog hop organised by Suzy

 a member of my Scrap-A-Sketch group over on UKScrappers

as she reveals the makeover her blog

Sea Glass & Sand has recently had.

Click here to see the full list of those joining in the hop today,
there are prizes on offer along the way.

If you are already hopping you probably came over from 

Suzi's blog Sugar & Spice and have now reached the end of the hop.
Well done!

1st May Daze LO

The challenge over at UK Scrappers this week required us to use this sketch for a masculine layout.

Add some flowers and use an inking technique.

I searched through my photos and found one of my husband with his best mate when they visited New York City to celebrate BM's 60th birthday in 2008.

Using my May Daze Counterfeit Kit, which I put together last week, I completed the challenge in less than 3 hours, which for me is fast!

All I needed to add to the kit was the blue cardstock; Prima flower and Ranger ink.

CKC - May Daze

The Counterfeit Kit Challenge this month features the March kits from Polly Scrap Kits and the one I've chosen to recreate is "Totally Rad".

With just 4 patterned papers this kit relies heavily on embellies, I see note cards, twine and an envelope in there too.

 From my stash I put together my take on the kit which I am calling "May Daze"

3 of my papers are double sided, I may have to flip them or add extra card stock to stretch the kit out.

B/W printed paper - Teresa Collins
Red / white chevron paper - Studio Calico
Cream/ blue polka dot paper Lily Bee "French Couture"
Black/blue flowered paper American Crafts "Sixth Avenue"
Memories chipboard elements - Teresa Collins
Flags/banners Fancy Pants
Glassine envelope - Tim Holtz
Tickets - Jenni Bowlin
Decorative trim & bakers twine - MME
Various alphas (the sheets of alphas have been used, I will probably need to use others, too); chipboard elements; journaling cards; paperclips; washi tape; parisiennes from stash.

Happy National Scrapbooking Weekend 

to all our American friends & bloggers.

CKC are hosting a NSW party with fun & games for all. 

There are prizes, too!

click here to join in.