I've Said It Before!

And I'll say it again, I am certain that one of the Counterfeit Kit Design Team sneak a look at my photos before setting their challenges. 

This month there was a choice of either Shoreline or Totally Rad from Polly Scrap Kits and, knowing I wanted to scrap a photo from my Navy days, I chose the lovely Shoreline with its anchors.

So, have you hopped from Dawn's blog? If yes, you're hopefully hopping around with those of us taking part in the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog Hop. This happens every month and is a great way of being taken out of your comfort zone. 

If I am lucky enough to have you as a follower, why not start at the beginning of the hop with Jemma HERE, you won't be disappointed.

Either way, why not join in next month and be a part of the blog hop?

So, onto this month's challenge...

Masking Challenge: 

Make your own or use one you have, but use a masking technique on your project!

There are some great links for ideas on the CKCB site HERE

I have recently started buying a lot of masks (and using them) but, as this is a forging challenge, I decided to make my own. Nothing special, but using my Cricut I created my title to cut out to use as a mask. I then used acrylic paint to dab over it so I was left with the negative effect.

Have you made your own mask?

Can I tempt you to make one? 

I would love it if you could leave me a comment to let me know you have stopped by before hopping over to Maggie in France to see whether she was tempted to make her own.... 

  

CKCB   http://counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com/

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

Dawn http://www.dawnsscrapbookcottage.blogspot.com/

YOU ARE HERE >>>>>> Lesley   http://ohblogitifyoucantbeatthem.blogspot.co.uk/

Maggie http://maggiebscrapblog.blogspot.fr/

Milissa http://millermall.blogspot.com

Julie H http://spendlesscraftmore.blogspot.com.au

Molly http://www.42shadesofpink.com/index.html

Lisa H http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com

Candace http://usthreebythesea.blogspot.co.uk/

Sherrie http://sherriesmuddlepuddle.blogspot.ca/

More Cards

My sister has asked for a "running" themed card. No, as I've said before, I really struggle with male cards so I did a bit of googling/pinteresting and saw THIS.

The card maker on Etsy had hand cut her image which is something that fills me with fear.

Using my Cricut would surely be far easier - and it was!

I found a Google Image and off I went.

This is the outcome - not bad?

"Blue flowers" was the next theme. 

With jars and jars of flowers that I hardly ever use, what better way to get rid of them?

Next came "wine" or "chocolate"

and then "canal" themed. Hmm, what to do here?
Finding a canal image, again I used my cricutand used different colours to mount the outcome on

a "pretty, nature" them was the next challenge and Pinterest came up trumps again

 "walking"

a simple anniversary card

 
And finally a "funky/modern" theme. THIS one using a Penny Black stamp made me wonder how easy it would be to create me own - VERY!!!

So now I'm all up to date with my sister's card order - happy days!!!

 I've just got to make my own now....

A Card Day

It's been a card day today. 

Eight in total and I'm now up to date again until my sister come back to me with theme suggestions for the next lot on her list.

 I didn't follow any sketches after all today but I was

 inspired by a card from

 Maile Belles 

 which I came across on Pinterest.

I made three cards.

I love the simplicity and yet I do think they are quite stunning

 (I can say that because it wasn't my idea!)

The order for the next card was "shabby chic"

and a couple of "male" ones

(is it just me, or do you hate making "male" cards?)




Back to layouts tomorrow - we shall see...

3 in a Day!!!

I've never done a card sketch challenge before so I thought I would give it a go.

The sketch was part of the NSD celebrations at CKCB and I'm slowly making my way through the others

The sketch...

and the card...

Might give the other card sketch a shot tomorrow....

A Promised Layout

 

On THIS post last week, 

I promised a layout with the rest of the kit 

I had put together for CSI #29.

I finally got around to that layout this afternoon. 

Another photo from our recent family photo shoot.

I love it when I can use odds and ends

 out of my leftover box and 

especially so when it turns out OK!!!

It's Catch Up Time (Again!)

I haven't scrapped much lately in fact I haven't done a lot of anything lately apart from book and plan our Summer holiday. 

A good friend gave me a much needed kick up the doodah last week.

 I am usually very organised when it comes to holidays but I just haven't had the enthusiasm this year. 

Thanks Gillian, I'm very excited now and now have something to look forward to...

Now, as I said, not much scrapping going on here lately and with lots of challenges to catch up on, which one to choose first?

CKCB and their challenge #3 although I don't think I've done #2 yet!!!

Challenge #3:  Pull out your holiday paper, people!  We are going to have some non holiday fun!  Use some holiday paper on a non holiday project.  (Be brave...use your most obviously themed piece if you can.)

Oh so mean, my Christmas papers etc hardly ever come out of their box.

I only make Christmas Cards for family and I don't think I've ever done a Christmas layout!!!

So, how to get around this one?

I recently came across SugarHillco Shop and with a recent offer I bought ALL MissTiina's digis for the bargain price of $50. I've been busy downloading and sorting so I thought I would use some of the Christmas papers etc from there.

 (Cheating a bit but I really can't be a***d to find my Christmas stash)

Thank you for popping by to see my digi creation, maybe the scissors will come out for the next layout!!!

Did you see...

...my layout in this month's Scrap365???

I was soooo excited!!!

Here's a sneak peek

but if you want to see the rest, turn to page 30 of your favourite scrapbooking mag!!!

Another Investigation

Now, this Case File couldn't have come at a better time. 

Whilst browsing my local Home Bargains yesterday, I happened upon some gorgeous paper straws that just so happen to fit in with the "evidence" and the "scheme" of  Case File #29.

Although this is the last one posted on the Counterfeit Kit Blog over NSD weekend it certainly won't be the last time I use the case files. 

There are many, many more to be found on the Colour, Stories, Inspiration website

As there is no sketch to lift, I have taken the opportunity to be free!!!

Onto my kit - see those pretty straws (99p a pack). I'm hoping they get more in but in different colours!

and here's what I made

a 50th birthday card ...
 


and a layout ...

to follow...

If You're Anything Like Me...

...then you will look at the following picture and take great inspiration from it!!!

So what did you see? How can you use it?

Keep reading to see how I used it as I followed another investigation, this time

 Case File #37

which is Inspiration #4 from

CKCB's National Scrapbooking Weekend Celebrations.

I'm really enjoying these Case Files, they have made me root for things that I haven't used in years which is always a good thing for me. I buy new things all the time (bit of a hoarder) and forget about ALL the other stash I have.

I love the sketch on this case file, it is very "me" with lots of white space but will my "evidence" and "testimony" fit in?

 Here is the mini kit I have put together using the "scheme" and the "evidence"

 and along with my pizza box, I made this...

So, did you see how I used my pizza box?
(I will be using the same pizza box as a mask on my next layout)

What inspiration have you taken from every day items, I would love to hear/see your inspiration...

Bad Blogger!

Two days with no post from me!!! 

(I am halfway though a post for Case File #37 but with that project incomplete I will save that one for another day)

After a very long couple of days (Friday and Saturday) I felt as though I had swallowed a packet of razors blades so just had to have a few medicinal Sloe Gins.

Luckily these seem to have helped and today I have been catching up with a few challenges that have been posted over the weekend.

Jennifer Grace has hosted her Onward and Upwards blog posts over the weekend. Her Frosty Festivities last year was a great way to be inspired so how could I possibly miss the next installment.

Being a bit out of action I was very behind in keeping up with her posts but I'm all up to date now.

There were 4 main challenges and with many more inspirational posts in between I think I'll be here all week making up for lost time.

First is the
 Onwards Recipe Challenge
and the ingredients are

1 small square photo (you can crop down a larger photo) or square element

Something shiny or sparkly

Some encouraging / uplifting / happy words

At least one sticker (alphas don’t count for this)

At least 3 stars

Some yellow!

One stamp

I think I've managed to use all the necessary ingredients on my layout.

The photo must have been taken circa 1989 when cameras didn't bother me at all. The dress I was wearing in the photo always made me feel quite special although I've no idea why - maybe that's the reason I smiled!!!

The next one I've had a go at is

A Challenge to go Up, Up, Up!

which is to make something that goes up, up, up.

It didn't take me long to find a photo of my daughter for this one.

She is always climbing up, up, up. If there is something to climb, she will be there, front of the queue. I swear she should've been a boy. I hope her up, up, up stays with her in every walk of life.

For both pages I have used the Counterfeit Kit that I put together for my DT application - well I counldn't waste it could I?

Onto a

 Challenge to be Inspired

 Make something inspired by this weekend

 Well I was inspired by so many things during the weekend that it took a while to come up with something.

Something I haven't done for a while is a digi page. I love doing digi but I can't put them in my album so hence I don't do them very often. I do use my digi images though by printing onto my 12x12 before I start my layout. Here I printed the quote and then scrapped around it...

 I wanted to keep this layout quite simple as I didn't want the eye to wander away from the photograph.

 A Challenge to Be as Free as a Bird

Make something to go with the theme ‘as free as a bird’

Mum and Dad are having to much fun in this photo that I also wanted to have fun putting the layout together so I've stamped, splodged, doodled, splatted, crinkled, daubed, misted, sprayed and much more on this page to hopefully show the joy and happiness that surrounds the photo.

 So, there we go, all the Jennifer's challenges complete - I had fun being inspired by Jennifer this weekend and I will be inspired by the other prompts during the next few days/weeks...

 

Not Really Here!

It is a figment of imagination that I am here with you today.

It may seem that I am here and I am in spirit but really I am in another place, namely London but I thought I would leave you with another attempt at a case file from CKCB's National Scrapbook Weekend of celebrations.

Take a look at Case file #52 

 

Again, this Case File did not have a sketch so I decided to use this one from Studio Calico which was posted on CKCB.

I like this sketch as it's very "uniform" and I can use multiple photos if required.

Onto my kit...and as the Case File asks to "document a gift", the photos of Imogen receiving her laptop a few years ago sprung to mind. I had them printed sometime ago but have never scrapped them. The sketch and Case File were just perfect. My tags are from Ikea and I've chose a page out of an old dictionary instead of the newsprint.

 The photo shows how overwhelmed Imogen was when she opened her laptop. She cried with happiness.

Tomorrow I'm off to Happy Stampers at Port Sunlight so will you forgive me if I don't blog tomorrow?

 

This Is Me

I don't very often (hardly at all) create pages about myself but following our recent family photo shoot there was a photo of me on my own.

Actually, I'm lying, there were two and I didn't like either of them but the one I'm scrapping today was the best out of a bad bunch.

Still playing catch up from the NSD challenges and today I'm using Case File #64 for inspiration.

CKCB posted a few of these and this is the second on their list from the weekend. 

This case file didn't have a sketch to follow so, to kill two birds with one stone, I used a sketch from a different CKCB post, but still from NSD weekend.

 

Again, I put my kit together for that specific photo of me.

And here is the resulting layout...

 

 

          

(this was just calling

out to be on my layout!)

 

I will move on to Case File #52 tomorrow...

Case File #67

As part of NSD weekend, the Counterfeit Kit Team posed a few challenges.

THIS is the one I've been playing along with today.

CSI is a great way to get inspired - why not take a look yourself?

I chose Case File #67 as my inspiration today and put my kit together knowing which photo I wanted to scrap.

 

and here is a rather blurry picture of my mini kit.

  I didn't want to put too much into it as I only anted to create one layout.

The story behind this picture takes us back to 2011 when were travelling Route 66. Heading through Beverly Hills and down into Santa Monica, we came across this guy, wearing just very tights undies and bicylce helmet, on a bike, pulling a trailer with the US flag flying out the back.

We hoped we would see him at the end of the road but sadly we will never know the reasons behind his ride. A great photo to scrap through don't you think?