May Counterfeit Kit (and a card)

I haven't joined in with the Counterfeit Kit Challenge for ages. I've been scrapping mostly with new(ish) items, and keeping my pages to one manufacturer at a time. I feel guilty that I've been neglecting the rest of my stash, and not putting different manufacturers items together - I was starting to forget how well they can mix!

So I was determined to join in again this month, and that was before I even saw the Studio Calico 'City of Lights' Kit that was chosen for counterfeiting. Yellow, green, pink, woodgrain and kraft, perfect spring colours, and quite 'me'.

I looked at the Studio Calico main kit, and the add ons, and jotted down the bits that called out to me, including the colours mentioned above, and the details like bicycles, butterflies, glazed brads, washi tape, twine, and frames.

Then I put this kit together:

Lots of pretty pieces, including Crate Paper, My Mind's Eye, Prima, Cosmo Cricket, and Pink Paislee, along with some butterflies I punched from coordinating scraps, frames cut with my Slice cutter, and a bicycle stamp that has been in my stash for years but rarely gets used.

I also used my Slice cutter and some punches to make these tags, which I forgot to photograph with the rest of the kit:

And I loved the kit so much that I had to create something with it straight away:

So my little-used bicycle stamp has been put to good use already!

What items have you got lurking around in your stash that should really be pulled out and used on a project?

x

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Storytelling Sunday - How we began

The first Sunday of each month sees bloggers from all over the world join Sian at From High in The Sky, to blog a story. Be it funny or sensible, happy or poignant, there are many tales to be shared. You can join in and tell a story of your own, or just sit back and be enveloped by the yarns of others!

It's our 4th Wedding anniversary this month, which means we've been together now for 12 years. So I thought I'd share with you the story of how I met my husband...

I was working in McDonalds, as a Supervisor. You can picture me in a maroon polo-neck t-shirt, wearing a blue badge with my name on, and several gold stars for knowing how to flip burgers and being polite to customers. My friend who also worked there (wearing a dark green t-shirt for general staff) told me about this guy that fancied her. The conversation:

My friend: "Do you want to come out tonight? There's this guy that really likes me, but I'm not that keen. Want to come, and keep me company so you can see him?"

Me: "Yeah, why not?"

Fast forward to later that night, all traces of colour-co-ordinating baseball caps are removed to reveal our glossy hair, though we do still smell faintly of gherkins. We walk into Tom Peppers, the main pub, with it's sticky tables and carpets from all the drinks that have been spilt, and a palpable sense of release in the air as everyone forgets about the day job, and takes advantage of the buy-one-drink-get-one-free offer.

I sip a Bacardi and Coke and follow my friend to the table where her mates are all sitting, and one guy stands out straight away, maybe because he's 6ft 4".

"That's him" my friend whispers.

"Yeah, I see what you mean," I say, "he's not much to look at is he?"

Hmmm... wait a moment. This is maybe not the fairytale love at first sight story you were expecting?! But it's the truth! I was not attracted to my husband when we first met. Perhaps because I was kind-of seeing someone else.

The guy I was seeing was an idiot though. And as I became closer to my friend, started hanging out with her more, and therefore kept meeting the tall, cheeky guy that liked her too, me and him became friends. We lived near each other, so he'd walk me home after a night out, and he'd tell me the guy I was with didn't deserve me. That I deserved better.

And then one day, about 6 months later, we went out on a drive. I grew up in Essex, where one of the main forms of entertainment after the age of 17 is to go out for a drive, with the car crammed full of people, and my future hubby was a bit of a boy-racer. So I was squished in the back seat while we drove through the dark night (probably on the hunt for some food), and I couldn't stop staring at him. He was driving, so no chance of him catching me while I gazed at him!

The next night we kissed - I'm going to say 'under the moonlight' because that sounds much nicer than 'in the smoky corner of a busy pub'. And that was the beginning of a very happy romance:

Thanks for reading, I hope you don't mind that it wasn't a romantic fairytale, but a tale of true love, none-the-less!

(P.S. conversations are possibly inaccurate. It was over 12 years ago. And you get the gist!)

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Happy NSD! Layout & Links

Hello all!

Are you having fun on (Inter)National Scrapbook Day? I am!

The main site I've been stalking is Two Peas in a Bucket, who have tons of challenges, chat topics, and more - you can see it all here. So far I've joined in with the challenge to create a Pinterest board with links from their site (my board is here), chatted a bit, and completed this layout for the challenge #1 - to use a teal/yellow/green colour combo:

Supplies: Papermania Kraft Cardstock; Bazzill Basics Paper Dino-Mite 6x6 Paper; Avalon 6x6 Paper, Paper Tape, and Stickers; Vintage Marketplace Paper Tape and Pretty Buttons; Wayfarer Pretty Buttons; Blue Brad Jackets; Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type Cream; My Little Shoebox Mini Alphas Cream; October Afternoon Sticky Keys Black; and Making Memories Shimmer Alphas Black; White Cotton For Machine Stitching; Prima and Kars Gems.

I love it that my kids are relaxed and happy when my best friend is giving them cuddles and attention! I'm so lucky that she lives just down the road.

If you want some other National Scrapbook Day activities, then check these links out:

• The Scrap Kitchen Blog Hop has 50 participants, each offering a prize just for commenting, and some of the prizes are amazingly generous!
• SRM are giving away $100 worth of stickers here.
• Elle's studio are having 3 big giveaways here.
• The Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog are having a blog hop of challenges here.
• Big Picture Classes are having some free challenge and chat event here - you need to sign up if you haven't before but it's all free!

There's probably even more going on but these have been enough to keep me busy! Happy Scrapping! x

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