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.

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!

About a boy.

One of the stops along the way during Suzy's blog hop was to Sue's blog Me and Mine.
Sue's post featured a great sketch, a fab page and a challenge with a prize attached.

When I saw the page that Sue had done I knew I had the perfect photo to use.
Last summer when the family came out to Normandy for a visit we went for lunch to a local restaurant, a favourite of ours where the first course consists of a serve yourself cold buffet.

After piling his plate high "a la Uncle Roger", Alex sat down beside me and I quickly snapped this photo.
I think the title of my layout says it all.

"can I eat now" 

Tim Holtz papers, alphas and embellies were perfect for this masculine page.