Aperto for Business!

Welcome to the final post of the August CKCB Members' Blog Hop; if you didn't reach me from Salla then you might want to start at the beginning with Lisa (the full hop list is here).  We had  a choice of three challenges to use for the hop (#1 Happy Sandcastle Day, #2 Outside The Stash, #3 Sounds Foreign To Me) or indeed, anything made from this month's kit.

Using my August Counterfeit Kit, I used Italian to title my double page spread about a surprise tour of an Italian castle!:

The blues and browns of the kit were the perfect mix for both interior and exterior shots of the Catello di Torre Alfina.  We've visited this quirky town many times over the years - it has an excellent Gelateria!  The castle, however, has always been a mystery.  Never open to the public.  Until this time!

We don't read or speak Italian so we weren't quite sure if we were allowed through the open door ... but others were wandering around taking photos so we joined in!

People then started gathering around a staff member, but we still had no idea what was going on and hoped we wouldn't get chucked out.  However, another member of staff worked out that we were "foreign" and we ended up having a private tour for two of the newly-opened-for-occasional-tours castle!

We were so happy that we'd been cheeky and walked through the green door ... it was a fabulous experience.

I hope you enjoyed the CKCB Members' Hop this month - why not join with a page next time?

A Germane Kit to Copy!

Kit reveal time again ... with the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog's hop around the Master Forgers' blogs.  We started with our Master Forger Karen and I'm a hop away from Susanne.

This month it was Lisa's turn to choose a kit and, appropriately enought, the kit-to-copy came from Germany: Papier Werkstadt's March Kit.

A lovely muted kit, full of neutrals plus hints of pastels.  I started leafing through my papers to find kraft/white patterns, but spotted a trio of Basic Grey's Scarlett's Letter that I'd been saving ... and decided that they could work as a starting point.  I added a couple more modern neutrals from Crate Paper's The Pier pad and then added some hints of pale blue ... no suprise that pale pink didn't feature!  Well actually, it is there on a pattern reverse that will NOT be being used!

Supplies:
Crate Paper's The Pier (numbers)
Daisy Bucket Star KissedStardust (fawn reverse)
My Little Shoebox In Bloom Botanical (floral reverse - the pink one!)
Unknown damask pattern
Crate Paper Maggie Holmes (interlocking circles)
Crate Paper's The Pier (chevrons)
Confession, Pearl and Desire from Basic Grey Scarlett's Letter Collection
Paper Salon Enamoured's Iron Gates, Blue Scrolls and Floral
Scenic Route Small Random Kraft alphas
Crate Paper Story Teller alphas
Unknown brown and blue alphas
MME Follow Your Heart decorative brads
WRMK enamel shapes
Paper Salon cardstock stickers
Basic Grey cream rub-ons
Bo Bunny brown rub-ons
Home made paper rosettes

Next on the hop we are welcoming the lovely Julene back from her holidays. If you get lost along the hop - the full list is on the CKCB here.  Have fun!