Saturday, May 28, 2011

Counterfeit Kit Challenge: May Blog Hop

Welcome to the May Counterfeit Kit Challenege Blog Hop!

The 28th is my favorite day of the month. I always look forward to participating in the challenge and also hopping and finding inspiration on all of the gorgeous blogs. This month the challenge was to pick your favorite scrapbook manufacturer and find something to inspire you on their blog. I immediately went to October Afternoon. I am in love with their paper. L.O.V.E. The best part of their blog is they have a quick list of all the paper lines that takes you to a specific project gallery.

I found my inspiration in the Thrift Store gallery. I loved the overall clean and simple design and the use of stitching. In my layout, I stayed true to the design, but went for larger photos, lighter wintery tones and a bit of bling. The blue & white dot paper from my kit really got a workout. I used every last scrap across multiple projects this month. The nail polish bottle is from my Everyday Paper Dolls Cricut cart.

This layout captures my favorite birthday tradition - getting a pedicure. I get the same polish every year - it is called Days of Wine and Roses! This year I decided to capture the day with photos of my feet with the wintery blizzard outside and then happily hanging out by the fire inside. Check out those icicles! A silly yet memorable page!

Now its time to head over to Ashley 's blog! Thanks so much for dropping by! I hope you enjoy the hop and find lots of inspiration today!

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Rock N Roll Birthday









My friend Kathy loves rock music.. absolutely loves it. So I wanted to do something special for her birthday. I whipped up a batch of Rock N Roll cupcakes - complete with little guitars that say Kathy Rocks (thanks to my Cricut)! My husband helped me come up with the best names to use. I also put together a Rock N Roll card! She was so surprised and went straight for the Nikki cupcake first. Yes, I spelled Flea wrong, but she laughed so hard because it is a running joke what a bad speller I am -- and I know nothing about music so I had no idea I was spelling it wrong.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

May Counterfeit Kit: Layout #3



This is another 8x8 page for my Lake album. I like to keep these pages super simple. The Breakfast Nook is my favorite place at the Lake and deserves its own page. It is like being transported back to the early 1900s. A truly tranquil place. I wanted to give the page a vintage feel. I used Thickers for the title. The toaster and silverware were cut using my Cricut. The paper & border sticker are from Studio Calico. Can't wait to get back to the Nook this summer!

Monday, May 16, 2011

May Counterfeit Kit Mini Challenge #1: Cards

Mini challenge sketch:


Mini challenge - no sketch



Two of my friends just had baby boys and I've been trying to find the time to put together some cards. This weeks Counterfeit Kit Mini challenge was an inspirational card sketch. For my first card, I followed the sketch, but for the second one, I was inspired by the sheet of alaphabet paper in my kit and went a little different direction. The Its A Boy ribbon was a last minute add that was not part of my original kit. It probably would have been, but it was hidden in a box under a pile of stuff...Somehow I remembered I had it!

Sunday, May 15, 2011

May Counterfeit Kit Layout #2: Watermelon



It looks like Blogger is back up and running! It was kind of a bummer losing a few days of posting and losing some of the wonderful comments that everyone took the time to share. My commuter trains were also experiencing tech issues last week - so let's hope the rest of the month is smooth sailing!


I absolutely loved the watermelon tutorials! I started to make the embellishments from the Scrapbooksetc.com page and I ended up scraplifting the page! I had the perfect photo. I am slowly working on several 8x8 albums that capture everything we love about the Lake. This one happens to be a traditional dessert that one of the cousins makes. The rule at the Lake is you eat all meals outside, unless it is raining, and sometimes we even eat in the rain!


My new favorite product: October Afternoon Tiny Type! Picked these up at CKC Manchester and seriosuly did not know how addicted I would become. I just ordered 4 more packages on Scrapbook.com. You cannot beat the price for the quality and quantity.






Sunday, May 8, 2011

May Counterfeit Kit Layout #1

There were so many different activities for National Scrapbook Day yesterday that I had to combine some of the challenges. I truly wanted to particiapte in everything, but realized I didn't have the time. This layout was made using my Counterfeit Kit, but follows a sketch that was part of the Big Picture Classes all day crop. I'm really excited about the pinwheels. While I was at CKC Manchester last week I learned how to make them (super easy) and I couldn't wait to test them out. The paper is mostly from a Basic Grey Kioshi kit that I got in one of the CKC classes. The border is the Martha Stewart loop punch.





Saturday, May 7, 2011

May Counterfeit Kit Challenge

Inspirational Kit: Work in Progress



My Counterfeit Kit


Happy National Scrapbook Day! I am so excited to be locked away in my scrap room celebrating. I'm over at Big Picture Classes participating in their all day crop challenges and also taking May with May. And I am hanging out on the Counterfeit Kit Challenge putting my May kit together.


This month's inspirational kit is from Work in Progress Kits. To be honest, this is the first month I have struggled to find the right things from my stash. I tried to make it more my style and focused on the numeric, alphabets and polka dot papers. My tags were cut with my Cricut. I also decided to throw in a bunch of leftovers from past kits so you may see some familar items. I included a bunch of plain card stock as well because I work best having that as my base. I feel like my kit is kind of all over the place, but hope to make it work.