Halloween tags

The theme for this month's tag swap

 hosted by Jill is.........................you've guessed?

Halloween!!

The swap has already happened

 and I have received 3 spookily gorgeous tags

 from 3 very talented scrappers.

(I hope they are as happy with one of these as I am with theirs.)

 

Woo Hoo!!

Catching up

At the end of last month I joined several other members of UK Scrappers' Green Buttons House at the Beeches Hotel, Bournville, UK for a long weekend of scrapping and chatting.
It was my first experience of scrapping with a group of like minded crafters and I really enjoyed meeting everyone IRL, learning some new techniques and seeing how other people make magic happen using just paper, glue and other bits and bobs.
Michele gave us a short tutorial on how to incorporate modelling paste, gesso and inks into our LO's and this was one of the things I was keen to try for myself once I got back home to Normandy.
The first of the UKS's October challenges was all I needed to get my hands messy.
Use a Cliff Richard song as the title.
Use 5 of something.
Add a foreign element somewhere on the LO.
Further inspiration came from Sue's Sketch Challenge featured on her Me & Mine blog.

I haven't yet ordered some modelling paste so had to leave that technique for later but I did cover the clean white cardstock quite liberally with gesso, allowed it to try before trickling Adirondack alcohol inks, Sandal & Aqua, down the page.
I quickly spritzed with water then dried everything with my hand dryer before giving it all a light shimmer with Perfect Pearls Mist in perfect copper.

Using my finger I applied a light coating of Fired Brick Distress stickles over and around the hexagon shapes and then applied a German language stamp randomly across the page before completing the LO with a photo of me and my Dad on cross country skis which was taken in the garden of our house in Ellmau, Austria in 1992.
Five colour coordinated brads and a Cliff Richard song title "I Could Easily Fall" completed the page.

Tag Swap September - News print

The theme for the September Tag swap is news print so I tore up some old, really old probably antique (shame on me!), pages from a French school text book that I discovered at a local flea market a couple of years ago.

I gesso'd the strips to some kraft card stock and applied blue & white paint randomly using a scrunched up plastic bag.
Then layered on a strip of blue kraft cs with a light coating of gesso and another strip from the book page which I'd crackle glazed using white acrylic paint and glue, a technique picked up from youtube!
A final layer of another thin strip of book page topped by 3 blue & white painted butterflies and a piece of antique french lace, et voila, fini!

Tag Swap August 2015 "TRAVEL"

The theme for the tag swap on UK Scrappers this month is "TRAVEL".

I've been itching to use some of my Tim Holtz idea-ology 

"Expedition" ephemera, papers and metal word bands.

They've been sitting in my stash for way too long 

waiting for the perfect project.

I think this was it.

bon weekend!

Archi - Scraps August Challenge

This month's Archi-Scraps challenge is to use something CLEAR on your layout. 

Click HERE for details and to see what the Design Team have come up with to inspire you!

June seems so long ago now but my LO was inspired by the wonderful tradition of afternoon tea and there's no better time for a tea party than during Wimbledon fortnight.

Strawberries and cream anyone??

The patterned background paper is entitled "C'est la vie - deja vu" 

and is from the  BoBunny Back to Backs range, 

it's been in my stash forever.

My see through elements were the blue doily (Little Yellow Bicycle - clear cut shapes) 

layered upon the white paper doily 

and the clear title alphas which I received in a kit swap recently.

The prize for Australian entrants this month is 

an 8 x 8 etched acrylic album.

Overseas winners will be invited to be 

Archi-scraps Guest Designer next month!

Archi - scraps July challenge.

I've loved dogs all my life and they have featured in many of my scrap booking pages.

The Archi - scraps July pet challenge was just up my street.

Take a look at this cute little guy! 

What a great prompt!

The perfect excuse to scrap yet another photo of our 

darling German Shepherd M'selle Fleur.

Fleur likes nothing better than to sit in the back of the car 

waiting and watching the world go by. 

That way she's always ready

when it's time to go! 

For this LO I used a kit which Michele @ Crafts For Eternity 

sent to me as a birthday gift 

on behalf my Scrap Happy teamies over at UKScrappers.

For more pet inspired projects from the Design Team

click here

and maybe join in with a LO of your own. 

Check out the optional sketch prompt provided by Mystical Scrapbooking.

There will be prizes!

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.

Archi-Scraps/CSI Challenge

I recently discovered Archi-Scraps a scrapbooking challenge blog with a twist.

It is hosted by Julene a member of the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Design Team.

As the blog's name and badge suggest the monthly challenges are inspired by something architectural, she had me with the Eiffel Tower!

This month Archi-Scraps are collaborating with the CSI Detectives and using this case file as the prompt.

Quite the fairy tale cottage, n'est pas?

A little over the top perhaps 

and rather more suited to my April CK 

than this month's Retro Metro Kit I thought.

My sister Kathryn and me at the Quimper Club Meeting, Nice France. September 2014.

I had a look through the leftover bits and bobs from the April kit and found an unused double sided sheet of paper with a camera design, a journalling card with a pretty butterfly

 and a Heidi Swapp foil card that I thought would work well together.

A quick rummage through my stash uncovered 

the evidence and testimony needed to solve the case!

Evidence: hearts; paint; metal.

Testimony: journalling from two points of view.

CKCB May Kit - "Retro Metro"

This month under the heading “Everything Old is New Again” 

we are taking a look back at the very first kit that the CKCB Master Forgers were challenged by

 in January 2011, created by Jenni Bowlin.

Introducing “Retro Metro” my Counterfeit Kit this month.

My first impression of the JB kit was 

that it had a strong whiff of nostalgia with floral and flock patterns, doilies and lace. 

As I began to sort through my pattered papers 

one in particular caught my eye a floral décor by Crate Paper. 

I added the complementary sheet of tags and labels and voila the Retro Metro kit was born.

 Two bright floral papers, (Crate Paper & Studio Calico) 

another with a doily and butterfly design (Echo Park) 

two more pp's from Studio Calico all carry on the nostalgic/vintage vibe.
Finally I added a JB paper (Tangerine Bookprint) from 2008 (!)

and a page from a vintage book of French Musical scores 

found at a local flea market..

In my stash I also found an unused page of Jenni Bowlin Bingo cards, result!

Cardstock in red and yellow 

and a luscious deep teal ( Tim Holtz Kraft-Core Nostalgic Collection) from stash.

Assorted part used alphas, some from JB;

 paper doilies & bakers twine;

 gorgeous paper rosettes from Recollections; 

stick pins, die cuts, bottle tops, stickers from stash;

 KaiserCraft resin Blossoms 

and a beautiful melange of buttons, brads, pen nibs, dots and paperclips will all add to the retro feel. 

If you'd like to be inspired to use up your stash be it old or new

why not join in with the Counterfeit Kit Challenge 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.

April's Counterfeit Kit Challenge Members Blog Hop!

Time for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Members Blog Hop, always a fun thing to do,
where we get to check out what has inspired everyone during the month
 and pick up even more ideas to keep the scrapping mojo happy.

Welcome to my sacred scrap room up in the attic, 

if you're on the hop you probably arrived here from Margie's blog.

 After me please do hop on over to K's place.

Don't worry if you get turned around, or can't finish the hop in one go,

 there's a list of participants at the end of my post that should get you back hopping again.

 The 3 challenges on CKCB this month are

#1 Pick a Challenge

(here's a link to my LO for that)

#2 Sketch Challenge

(I skipped that one!)

#3 Spring Challenge

and that's the one I'm revealing today for the hop.

My inspiration for this page came from the LO below

 which I found on Pinterest.

As soon as I saw it my mind went straight to my forged kit 

"It's a New Season".

I thought that the PL cards and embellies in there were perfect for this scraplift.

Thanks to Eyoung Lee @ Studio Calico 

for making this image available to pinners everywhere.

I hope you've enjoyed stopping by in Normandy today.

Please leave a comment so that I know you were here
then I can hop on over and visit you back.

The blog hop participants list.

CKCB   http://www.counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com

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

Sherrie   http://sherriesmuddlepuddle.blogspot.ca

Julie   http://jsquaredscrapspot.wordpress.com

Leslie   http://lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.com

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

Tina   http://tinasscrapcorner.blogspot.com/

Margie   http://scrappinmargie.blogspot.com

Maggie   http://maggiebscrapblog.blogspot.fr

K    http://kscraftycorner.blogspot.co.uk/

Lisa   http://lisahausmann.blogspot.de

CKCB April Challenge #1 - Scrap A Challenge.

The Master Forgers over at CKCB 

are really thinking outside the box with the first challenge of the month.

Instead of setting a challenge they've sent us on a challenge treasure hunt throughout blogland.

A kind of DIY challenge, challenge!

Scrap A Challenge - Any Challenge.

Google is an amazing tool for a blogger to have, I'm sure you'll agree,

 look what I found on the Scrap Our Stash Challenge Blog.

Stash Challenge # 25 is a word challenge 

 create a layout and include an item from your stash for each letter in the word S-T-A-M-P.

really happy

Here's my entry for both the CKCB and SOS challenges,

 a scraplift of a beautiful page that I saw on 

Michele's blog "The Lilac Diary" recently.

The TH arrow, Mister Huey's Color Mist (Water Cooler) and string from stash
all other elements from
 " It's A New Season"  my April Counterfeit Kit.

the Senior Partner exercising on South Beach, HHI.
March 2015

S - silver "Happy"; striped frame & string; 

T - tape (washi); A - arrow (TH); M - misting; P - parisiennes!

STAMP

Counterfeit Challenge Blog

Scrap Our Stash Blog