Boy! doesn't time fly!

I can't believe how long it's been since I blogged on here, or blogged at all come to think of it.
I did finally manage this week to do a couple of posts over on my Normandy Life blog about our trip to Derbyshire, in September, which you might enjoy so just click on the sidebar link and hop over to Normandy for a visit.
Anyhoo...........................
I have done some scrapping this week a couple of circle journal pages for the Flyers CJ which is coming to an end soon and also this LO for the Simple Recipes challenge on the UK Scrappers site.
The criteria set for this month were the following.

Colour palette: Vintage Coral, Burnished Gold & Old Navy, use a poem as inspiration or as part of the page embellishment; use woodgrain or wooden embellishment and make a garland or use garland pieces on the page.

It was a top tip from Leo though that brought everything together on this challenge for me.

The idea of creating an introduction page to show what type of layouts an album contains was a revelation because although I keep my pages in scrapbook albums I never themed them.
I do now!

Memories of Kos.

As promised some LO's showing just what a fabulous time we had on our Kos vacation last month.

poolside shadows, Michelangelo Resort & Spa
my take on the UKS September week 4 challenge

ancient statues & fountains beside the
Tree of Hippocrates, Kos Town.
My LO for the UKS September House Challenge

My LO for the September Scrap a Sketch challenge
newly retired and loving it!

The Flyers cj - final pages

First of all I can't believe it's been almost 2 months since I posted, the weeks have just flown by. 

I have been scrapping on and off , gardening a lot and we've also been away on holiday to the wonderful island of Kos. 

There'll be LO's of stunning views and ancient monuments appearing on here soon but for now I wanted to share some pages from my cj that I did for Heidi.

in pensive mood

The subject she chose was "self portrait".

I called it "me myself & I"

with my girl Fleur

strolling along Blackpool Promenade with Nana

That's me!

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.

Flyers Circle Journal - the wonders of nature

The Flyers Circle Journal Part Deux concluded this month and we're already talking about going for a third and final round.

For this page I layered fabric, gauze & thread on to vintage sheets of music
covered them with layers of gesso and kept layering until I got the result I wanted

These are the pages that I did for Becky, her theme was "The Wonder of Nature".

Using Photoscape I created some flower collages.

Couldn't resist including one of  my nosy neighbours!

No word yet what the themes for next time will be, watch this space...........................

CKCB August Kit - French Life.

Yesterday, the Master Forgers @ the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog revealed the August Counterfeit kit, "The Confidence Kit" from Scrapbooking from the inside out.

The Confidence Kit

Whilst I was thinking about how to put my own kit together I visited some of the Master Forgers blogs for inspiration.

This is what I came up with.

French Life

Printed papers.

Graphic 45, French Country Collection; Teresa Collins, Now & Then; Crate Paper; Basic Grey, Hello Luscious; Toga, Doux Souvenirs; Bo Bunny, Mama-Razzi.

Cardstock.

Vanilla, caramel, sage, red & blue cardstock from stash.

Alphas.

Lots of mini alphas stickers. Echo Park red alphas; brown & black polka dot American Craft alphas and some typewriter style alphas from stash.

Forgery.

I saw on Jemma’s blog justjimjams how she forged some “Polaroids”,  I pinched  was inspired by that idea and created a few for my kit using the Graphic 45 papers.

Extras.

Gorgeous pastel toned Dear Lizzy chipboard stickers; champagne bottle caps; upsy daisy embellished brads; home sweet home ribbon; red striped washi tape; Ranger Distress Ink; bundled sage & fired brick; Distress Stain; worn lipstick; Adirondack Colour Wash, Lettuce; assorted stamps “a la française”,  trim & border stickers from stash.

I've set myself an extra challenge again this month since my summer/vacation/beach theme worked so well in July.

August's challenge will be to use only new photographs taken here in Normandy.

CKCB members blog hop - just keeps on hopping!

Whilst hopping around the CKCB blog hop last week, admiring all the great master forgeries, I found this fab one on Jemma's blog Just Jimjams.

She had chosen to forge this gorgeous LO from Leslie @ Out of the Mire.

Well, what's a girl to do but have a go herself?

This is my forgery, of Jemma's forgery, of Leslie's LO, which I did for the UKS July week 4 challenge!
Loved the tags in the corner with the stitching and the fabric, so did several others who commented on my LO in the UKS gallery.
I think this is one LO that will keep on hopping for a long time to come.

What summer means to me.

This is the probably the last LO that I will do using my July Counterfeit Kit, looking forward to seeing the August kit very soon.

CKCB - July Blog Hop

Welcome to my stage of the CKCB "Master of Forgery" blog hop.
If you came over from Leslie's blog "Out of the Mire" you must be really hopping, if you came here just to visit why not hop on and join the fun?

This was the challenge this month:
Challenge #1:  Pick one of our DT members and peruse their blog for a bit.  Find something that inspires you and use that to create a project!  When you blog about it, please make sure to link up to their inspiration as well as to your finished project!

Well, you know the Design Team are all pretty talented scrappers and it was a pleasure to take time out and mooch through their blogs checking out all the great stuff on them.
I originally picked three LO's as possible scraplifts but finally went with this one which I found on Lesley G's blog "Oh! Blog it!" on a post entitled "Peg It".

Although I didn't have any mini pegs to include in my July Kit I liked this LO so much, this is my interpretation.

I used Photoscape to create the collage image of a pink hydrangea taken in my garden last summer, sadly with the heat we're having here in Normandy at the moment the poor hydrangeas are not looking quite so healthy.

Mostly created using items from my July "Fun in the Sun" kit, with added embellies: Dear Lizzy thickers arrows; "pink" basic grey mini monogram stickers; the "Lovely" clear cut shape is from Little Yellow Bicycle.

I hope you've enjoyed your brief sojourn in Normandy, time now to hop off to Greenville, SC and Ashley's blog "Paper For People".

Or, if you want to start the hop from the beginning go to the CKCB where you'll find the list of everyone taking part today.

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.

Before I forget...

Although I've already assembled my July CK, I just want to share the final LO that I did using the June kit.
One of my favourite groups within UK Scrappers is the monthly Scrap - A - Sketch group.

this is the June sketch

and this is my take on it
 using my Counterfeit Kit

The photographs of the espaliered fruit trees on our west facing garden wall were taken last Autumn.

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!

The Flyers Circle Journal - Elaine's Bucket List

Elaine's theme for our circle journal this time around is "Bucket List".
Since a bucket list is a list of things you want to do before you die I don't have any pix because I haven't done them yet! If you see what I mean?
What I do have though are masses of photographs of our trip last April to Italy's Amalfi coast which had long been on our bucket list and consequently has now been "ticked".

opening the left page reveals journalling
and a photograph of  beautiful tiling outside a shop
famous for products celebrating the amazing Amalfi lemon

Journalling:

A trip to Italy’s Amalfi coast had long been on our bucket list and not just for the stupendous lemons famously grown in the region.

In 2011 we went online and discovered a small family run restaurant and B&B, “La Tagliata”, situated high in the hills overlooking Positano.

The reviews of this family run “jewel” serving food fresh from the terraced gardens made us determined to go.

opening the right page reveals the rest of the story
and Amalfi lemons grown on the property.

Because La Tagliata only has two guest rooms it took us over a year to get a reservation.

It was so worth the wait to be able to experience that amazing view for ourselves.

To make our stay even more memorable our wonderful driver, Vittorio, took us to the beautiful cities of Ravello, Sorrento and the ruins at Pompeii.

Un meraviglioso viaggio, ci vediamo!

CKCB Challenge #1- Farmers' Market.

Welcome to my part of the CKCB Members Blog Hop.

You probably hopped over from Lisa's blog Recklinghausen Musings

 but if your arriving here was pure serendipity 

why not stay a while and join in the blog hop with us.

The CKCB #1 June challenge was to create a LO

 celebrating Farmers' Markets and the great local produce which you can find there.

When I first read the idea of the challenge

 I knew it would be a great opportunity to use

some very special papers which I have been "stroking" for some time.

Graphic 45's "French Country" range

and to share with you our favourite stall at the Sunday market

 in Port en Bessin, Normandie

 where you can always find a veritable feast of local artisan cheeses.

I hope you've enjoyed your brief visit to Normandy,

time now to hop off to Julene's blog 

Julene By Design.

If you lose track of just where you've hopped you can find the full list

of participating members on the CKCB blog.

click here for the complete list.

UK Scrappers Trendy Tag Swap - June.

I forgot to photograph the May tags which I made for the TTS but luckily remembered this month before mailing them off to Heidi in the UK.

The theme for June is "Beside the Seaside" and despite the terrible weather we are having in Normandy this month, (the rain hail is beating down on my attic window as I type) I rose to the challenge.

Listen and you will hear a Symphony

I found a gorgeous sea shell stamp on ebay and used it as my inspiration. 

I tried using a pale blue ink but the impression was too faint.

Eventually I went with TH Kraft cardstock and sepia Archival Ink to try and achieve a beachy/sandy look.

The three bugs in a rug cabana striped pp made me think of deckchairs.

The shells are from a local beach and the TH game spinners/compass pointers add a slightly nautical touch.

Looking forward to receiving my swapped tags soon and seeing how the others interpreted the brief.

Latest pages

I'm really loving working with this CK based on the Scraptastic Club's "After the Storm" kit.

I did this LO for the Simple Recipes challenge on UKS, the colours suggested in the challenge were right there in my CK, I call that serendipity!

and this LO is my take on the UKS weekly challenge.

Swaledale in winter
timeless

The criteria were: use lots of blue; outdoor scene & stripes.

Once again my CK had it all.