Third Time Lucky

You'll recall that I've just returned from a scrappy weekend with bloggy friends.  It gave me the opportunity and impetus to scrap the group photos from last year's retreat!  I used this month's sketch from Sue at Me & Mine too:

The main photo is courtesy of Sandie who was busy elsewhere this year and couldn't join us.

Most supplies are from my September Counterfeit Kit, but I added of the teeniest alpha stickers I have ever seen ... they're from Kaisercraft and were perfect to label those feet!

One of the lovely things about getting together with fellow crafters is that you get to share each others tools and supplies as well as ideas and company: lots of people wanted to borrow my chevron border punch, I got to use Ruth's mini chevron punch and that "Happy" embellishment came from the give-away pile (thanks Kathy).

Pass The Page 2015

I've just spent a grand weekend in the company of some lovely scrapbookers.  It was the fourth meet-up for some while others had a chance to reconnect after a year's absence. For three brave ladies it was an introduction to a supportive, creative, giggling gaggle and for one particular crafter, it was a chance to show off her 2½ week old baby!  Some one-handed cutting and sticking was done, but there were more than a dozen willing "aunties" happy to cosset such a sweet wee thing.  Here we all are balancing on a handy fire escape at the Royal Agricultural University:

Ruth, Fay, Jo, K (& baby), Zahra, Missus Wookie, Claudia, Alison, Mel
Kathy, Jacky, Julie, Alexa, Lizzie and Me!

We'd got into the creative mood even before the weekend started, by doing a Pass The Page scraplift and perhaps you've already been following the progress along the path taken by Julie's original page.  I was last in the chain and received Ruth's version:

I kept the central band and matching top and bottom borders but adjusted the sizes to match the supplies I had in my September Counterfeit Kit.  Those two layered anchors transformed and extended into three faux Polaroids and I added some enamel dots as they weren't in my kit.

The photo is for our Disney 2004 album ... it must be nearly finished by now ... hard to believe that little girl on the left is just starting her 2nd year at university!

Looking back at the chain of pages we came a long way from Julie's original - it was especially fun to line them up and see the gradual metamorphosis. Thanks for a fun challenge Julie x

Down The Dhoon

Welcome to the start of September's edition of the Members' Blog Hop from the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog.

This month I had a go combining the sketches from Challenge #3: I kept the side "white" space and full central section from the first sketch and used two photos (assuming that those two rectangles are meant to be photos.  From the second sketch I kept the background squares but offset them to allow for my journalling tag.

The vellum circles and gold brads from my September Counterfeit Kit helped break up the lines a little and echoed the cluster from the first sketch as well.

The photos are from our trip to the Isle of Man earlier this summer: we walked off a delicious Sunday brunch by descending one of the deepest glens, passing a stunning waterfall and resting on a beautiful beach before climbing the 190 steps back up.  Not that I counted, as I was too short of breath!

Next stop on the Members' Hop is the lovely Tina and you can find the full list of participants Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog today.

Summer Scavenger Hunting - Isle of Man

Have you been playing along with Rinda's Summertime Scavenger Hunt?  I've participated for a couple of years now but this time I was only able to concentrate on it during my holidays ... two long weekend trips to the Isle of Man.  Hubby and I were invited to my friend's wedding to be held in July, but had yet to meet her husband to be, so we decided to have a "catch-up-with-her-and-get-to-know-him" trip in June, followed by a return visit for the actual wedding.  They joined in enthusiastically with pointing out photo opportunities as well as posing for them!

#1 Bouquet (for the bride-to-be)   #2 Ornate Door Knocker (in Ramsey)   #3 Dog Walkers (by Ramsey pier)
#4 Board Gamers (in Ramsey)   #5 Architectural Colums (at Peel Castle)

One of the highlights of our trip was seeing the special facilities of the Isle of Man TT, a super-fast motorbike road race circling the island, including crash mats strapped to walls and lamp-posts (to protect them from damage rather than the riders), porta-loos in the middle of nowhere for the use of race marshals and pedestrian bridges to allow people to cross from inside the circuit to the rest of the island while the race is in progress!

#6 Metal Bridge (in Ramsey)   #7 Turtle (or possibly a tortoise, in the garden)
#8 Someone plugged into social media (what else is there to do while waiting for the ferry in Douglas?)
#9 Cellular Tower (on Snaefell mountain)   #11 Tent (ready for the wedding reception in the garden)

There are no universities or colleges in the Isle of Man so there's no #10 :-(

#12 Public Toilet (at Peel Castle)
#13 Merry-Go-Round (a spinning {water-}wheel at Groudle Glen was the closest I could manage!)
#14 Traffic Signal (the electric railway crosses several roads)    #15 Multi-flagged pole (Peel Harbour)
#16 High-up Panoramic View (of Ramsey bay)

#17 Matching uniforms (runners training along Douglas promenade)   #18 Overloaded Vehicle (time for a new bike?)
#19 Ticket Booth (for Groudle Glen Railway)
#20 Natural Body of Water (another stretch ... the base of the waterfall at Dhoon Glen)
Plus Substitute A (for #10) Hubby & I eating al fresco (outside the museum in Peel)

Finally there's that pesky, un-substitutable self portrait with a scavenger hunt sign ... which I somehow forgot to take ON the Isle of Man, so instead, here's me with a double page spread commemorating the holiday hunt and more, made this weekend at a fun scrapbooking retreat.

Lots of fun ... thank you Rinda for organising it all - the final link-up is here for anyone that's curious.  Here's hoping that 2016 will produce more fun scavenging.

Inspiration Is The Simplest Form Of Forgery

A pinch and a punch, it's the first of the month ... which means that it's time for another reveal at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog. Today the Master Forgers are blog-hopping how they took inspiration from this month's kit-to-copy, starting here with our February Guest Designer Cindy and, if you're following in order, then you will have reached me from Susanne.

February's kit-to-copy is from Studio Calico's August subscriber kit called "Pop Art".  I have to say, it's not quite my "thing" as it contains a) pale pink and lilac b) realistic florals c) HUGE patterns ... so I struggled to see where I could start with my counterfeiting.

The most appealing thing to me in the kit were those diamond shaped puffy stickers ... and when I spotted some patterned paper from Pink Paislee with multicoloured diamonds, I decided that they would be my inspiration starting point!  By adding some dots, stripes, grids, pale blue alphas and a little gold washi I had the basis for a whole kit:

I punched various sized circles from coloured vellum to imitate the Studio Calico "Circle Transparency Die Cuts".  I then added some journalling cards and broke out some gold brads, orange gromlets and bling to give me some useable embellishments because feathers, especially green and blue rubber ones, don't really do it for me!

Supplies:
½ sheet of Echo Park Rough & Tough (orange and white zigzags reverse) from All About A Boy
Doily from Echo Park's For The Record 2 collection (blue and green doilies reverse)
Numbers from same collection (green floral reverse)

Glad to get rid of these "B" sides to be honest!

6x6 stripes, diamonds, spots and grid sheets from Pink Paislee's Prairie Hill collection
Echo Park For The Record 2 sticker sheet
Gold dotty washi tape
Orange striped washi tape
American Crafts gold medium glitter brads
Crate Paper's Story Teller alpha stickers
Various journalling tags from my stash, including a part sheet from Echo Park's For The Record
Circle-punched coloured vellum
WRMK orangel gromlets
MME Follow Your Heart Be Amazing rhinestones

Well that just goes to show: you don't have to like a kit to be able to take inspiration from it ... though I'd hardly call my kit a copy ... would you?!?!

I'll be back in a couple of days to share my first page; in the meantime, please join me over at Julene's and see what she has put together for this month.