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Around the Block, August CKC

Wednesday 1 May 2013

Mother May I?

May is a great month.
Warm weather, garden season begins, Mother's day, and I have the inestimable honour of being asked to be a guest on the design team for Counterfeit Kit Challenge.

This is my tenth kit with CKC. I am super delighted to be the guest designer for May. After lurking around the site for the better part of a year, I jumped in last July and have not looked back as each month I discover new ways to exercise those scrappy muscles, and develop my personal style.

This month the inspiration kit is actually two kits. Shore Line and Totally Rad and are from Poly! Scraps

I approached the recreation of this kit in my typical literal manner.  What item do I have that most closely resemble the colour, energy and style of each item in the kit?

And the resulting collection is called "Mother May I?"
This compilation reminded me of a photo taken in my grandmother's living room. This one is  from the early '80s  of my daughter, my mother and both of my grandmothers.
Don't you just adore the wall paper and the crochet pillow in the middle? On the left is a needle point pillow. And the ubiquitous, made in Mexico, over the sofa painting. That red and white thing hanging in the middle is a light-up plastic star decoration for Christmas. Gleaming hardwood floors too. The sofa is a soft, nice to touch, velvet. Likely a rayon blend.  The ceramic doll in front of the lamp, is painted to look like a Spanish dancer. The table lamp(s) my grandmother had before the one showing here, had crystal drops. I bet the replacement was chosen for its ease of dusting.

And now to the kit contents:

Patterned Paper:
Basic Grey, Boxer, Low-rise
My Mind's Eye, Stella & Rose, Mabel "So Sweet" Herringbone
Foofala, copyright 2005, Item 47063. I didn't start to scrapbook until 2006 so it has not been in my stash for eight years. I swear on it!
Basic Grey, June Bug, Aggie, side B
Blue circles, manufacturer unknown (muk)
7 Gypsies, Messina
Dream Street Papers, Delight, Enchantment
Basic Grey, Boxer, Skinny Jeans
My Mind's Eye, Lost &Found, Blush "Princess" Pintuck
Green Floral, muk
And while no cardstock is called for in the kit, you know there is plenty on hand.

Alphas:
Basic Grey, Chipboard Stickers, Max & Whiskers
Basic Grey, Cappella, Mini Mono Stickers. They are not really mini, though. More like 1" tall.
Basic Grey, Blush, Sticker letters.
Also have a bit of leftover American Craft, Thickers that look like the style in the kit. They are the leftovers of two different coloured sets that I covered in dark brown to give them new life. Will incorporate them whenever possible.  Cover-up disclosed here.

And then the delightful bits:
Title Stickers; Close to my Heart, Stickease Assortment, Fanfare
Chipboard Shapes; Dream Street Papers, Just my type
Wood Veneer; Close to my Heart, Color Ready, Garden, Wood shapes
Nothing on hand like the bingo chips. Substituted, American Crafts, Flair, Delish, Adhesive Badges and two wood button-like bits from CTMH, wooden Mini-Medley Accents
Orange trim, muk
Brown twine, CTMH, wooden Mini-Medley Accents
Washi, a roll I picked up in December from Michael's for gift wrapping. It failed to adhere to the gift wrap paper.
And how do you like the button card I made from the button stash? The two on the top right are chipboard buttons. The remainder are the real thing. Some of them around 50 years old.
Tiny Word Stickers; Tim Holtz, Idea-ology, Chitchat, Verbiages, Charla
Wood pegs, CTMH, Wooden Mini-Medley Accents
Enamel Dots, Creative Memories, Enchanted, Glitter Accents
Stars; going to use two wood ones, painted yellow, and some blue brads. All muk
For sequins we will sub out with the dots and commas from American Craft, Thickers, Lullaby that have also had a date with the ink pad. So now they are brown with a bit of sparkle.
Denim and Blue twine is from an Etsy order, muk.
A couple of extra items that mimicked the inspiration kit include a die cut of a van from My Mind's Eye, Abby Road and a strip of tickets off a patterned paper, Jenni Bowlin Studio, Ticket Roll

Now if you have glazed over and not carefully read all the details. That's ok. There will not be a test at the end of this blog. I don't expect your rapt attention to the intricacies, and I don't want to be boring, However, the ONE TIME, I did not divulge my kit in painstaking detail was the time someone asked, "What is that gorgeous piece of paper you have there?"   So it is ok, if you just look at the pictures for the kit reveal.

Did you happen to notice what has been left out? Missing are the envelopes. They would be easy enough to counterfeit, but I may not go that route as I usually find it difficult to include them in the layout concept. And I will need to keep it easy and smooth if I want to get anything done this month. It is, after all, May. This is the month we remove the winter tires and take the winter emergency kit out of the car. This will be replaced with a sturdy box with sunscreen, bug spray, bug bite relief, toys, towels and swim wear, to be ready for the spray park on the first summer-like afternoon. Snacks and water are a good thing to keep in this lot. also.

At the same time yard work begins. And I have lots of yard. Clean-up of flower beds and watching to see which perennials made it through the winter, and which need to be replaced. Also, Mr. Muddle deemed it important that I have a greenhouse. There are a number of boxes sitting on the patio waiting for the ground to show its self again. I want to note here, that they have been snowed on twice since they arrived. It might be a while yet before greenhouse assembly begins.

So while I oscillate between looking forward to spring and wondering if winter will ever leave, the point I am trying to make is that once it turns "nice" outside, not much gets done inside. I learned this lesson last May when I registered for LOAD. My first two LOADs  (October and February) were highly productive. But the one in May, could not hold my attention when the buds started popping.

What about you? What part of the year do you find it hardest to "make time" to indulge yourself in your craft? 

And now it is time to hop along to the next blog. I would like to introduce you to Andrea. http://snappingmonsters.blogspot.com/

Thanks for dropping by. Double thanks for comments.


15 comments:

  1. Bravo!! I just adore the name of your kit. I'm such a sucker for names. What a great collection of papers and very cool buttons. I'm with you in that I find this time of year to be very hard to scrap. So many things to do outside! Have fun being our guest designer and good luck with your garden. As I recall, it is always a beauty!

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  2. Lovely kit!Love your embellies!

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  3. Spring is probably the hardest time for me to scrap. Here in TExas the wether is GORGEOUS !! We've yet to hit that hotter than @#$%% time of the year , the wildflowers are everywhere and the critters are back in the yard. although I have been known to scrap out on the back porch if its not too windy.

    Love the blues and reds in this kit !

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  4. Good look with the gardening....I'm loving those buttons! :) x

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  5. your literal reproduction of the kits really made me smile this month. I swear i could have used your photos for the inspiration photo and no one would have noticed! You have really created two gorgeous kits and I love the touch of reminiscing you gave us too with that cool photo and all the details you could remember.

    Lovely to have you featured this month - I just know you are going to delight us!

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  6. I'm with you - this is the first time in 3 years that I have gotten into the garden (and it's a wreck)and I am loving it! SO EXCITED that you are the Guest Designer this month! but I'm not surprised :~D Your kits are awesome. I really like how you brought in the vintage photo - totally fun.

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  7. I know what you mean about spring - I become somewhat gardening obsessed too! But it is autumn down here, so I should get some scrapping done . . . good luck with the yard work as well as using your lovely kit!

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  8. I have a very similar photo of me and my Nanna which I cherish. Great kit :)

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  9. Congrats on your guest designer stint! Happy to have you with us! I love your kit and the fabulous title you've chosen!

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  10. My goodness that was a thorough explanation .LOL I love your kit and your photo.

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  11. Congrats on being guest designer, I look forward to seeing what challenges/tutorials you share with us.
    Your kit is pretty extensive, I think mine will be a little lighter than that!
    I envy you the greenhouse so much better for growing toms and cukes, etc. This is the time of year where my time in the craft room gets limited, so much to do in the potager this month.

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  12. Welcome to the team! Great kit, I love those gorgeous vintage buttons! The old photo is so cool, I like that crochet pillow! I struggle most to craft in the school summer holidays - I'm busy at the beach! x

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  13. Lovely kit and totally understand about wanting to be outside enjoying spring!

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