Freshly made sketches

 At Freshly made sketches they have this sketch

I decided to use some of my scraps and chose pink and blues.

The teacups were fussy cut and coloured.

My sentiment is from a simple stories set I own.

Crazy is our Fame.

 I've made a card for Crazy is our fame. I started with a chevron stencil and pale-yellow paint.

When that was dry, I used 2 branding strips cut from patterned paper then added a dog.

Don't remember where the dog came from, but I've had it a while. 

Shopping our stash

 I found a good challenge at Shopping our stash. We have to use something old and something new.

I've had a small piece of striped paper lurking in my shelves for years. I decided to use it on this general card. The thickers saying XO and the coloured hearts are brand new, I bought them around Christmas time.

Little Red Wagon and Atlantic Hearts

 I made this card for Little red wagon where the theme is dream.

My daughter dreams of becoming a costume designer so I added the corset and the vintage coat picture. I used a collage technique with lots of small offcuts.

At Atlantic hearts they have a sketch challenge. I varied it slightly because I wanted to use the tassel.

The male room

 At the male room they want a tag (on a card).

I've made this tag using 2 smaller scraps of paper plus a slice of gold ribbon across the middle. The sentiment says LIFE and could work for a variety of purposes. A birthday, a graduation or even a death.

Challenge YOUrself

 At Challenge YOUrself the want One word for 2026.

I looked back and here are words I have used for previous years.

Healthy, Freedom, travel, boost, heal.

This year I have chosen "FUN"

I had 2 photos of myself in Puerto Vallarta in front of a mural of Frida Kahlo.

The colour scheme is bright and cheerful so I went with that. I used turquoise base with a matching turquoise hexagon patterned paper. Next I used the word fun as my title and added a few hearts plus a bow to match Frida's hat.

I was then inspired to add butterflies so added 2 rather large bright ones. Before gluing them down I thought of the netting which came from some Christmas chocolates. I used that behind the butterflies to add depth. I'll add my journalling in the right-hand corner.

Throwback sketch

 

I made this layout based on this sketch

The story behind is that our tour bus stopped at a hotel to pick up some people. This duck was in the front garden so I hopped out to take a photo. The valet was nearby so I asked him did the duck have a name? He told me it was Melania the wife of Donald Duck. That made me laugh. 

Sketches in Thyme

 I've completed using my kit this morning. Last layout was for Sketches in Thyme.

Here's my layout

This is the original sketch

Now to put away the remaining bits and pieces.

Counterfeit Kit challenge #1 Use a doiley

 As the challenge involved a doiley I decided to use the biggest one I had. It is a white oval.

I had 4 pictures which I put at skew angles then added my mixed title in the centre. I added several sticker dots and stars to brighten up the page.

Jumpstart sketch and Play layout

 

I put the background paper in my kit because it was printed crooked. It slopes to the right.

The above sketch meant that I had straight lines to follow. I used a strip of brown across the bottom mainly because it was a kit offcut. Then I used 2 different washi tapes as my thinner strips.

I added a journal card with the details as I knew nothing about this until I looked it up.

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Here's a second layout I did for The scraproom and the challenge was to use the letters of PLAY.

Stash challenge- P pale background, paperclip L-lizards,little things A acorns, angled photos and title Y years old alphas (Had them for about 15 years.) yellow in flower clusters.

It's too hot today to do any more but I had fun with these two.

Time out Challenges

 I've just come home from a nice lunch out with a friend.

I found a card challenge at Time out challenges.

They want glitter. I had a chipboard fairy on an ATC. I tizzied her up by using liquid pearls on her top and sprinkled glitter for her skirt. I mounted all that on another layer then used Li'l Davis metallic paint in rose on the background. It shimmers in the light. Finally, I added a row of rhinestones and the number 4.

Black magic sketches.

 

This layout is for black magic sketches. We had to use black background. 

I decided to scrap some photos of the food on the cruise. I wound the remaining string around the top of the vertical paper then used old map paper as my horizontal. Most of it was covered with the photo strip. The bon voyage was cut from the map paper prior to sticking it down.

Soul Scrappers tic tac toe

 

I decided to try something different with this one.

I randomly painted through a negative frame from some words I had already used. This became my background. One of the words was sunshine. I had a small piece of tissue paper with the word "times" at the top. I angled it beside the sunshine and both became my title.

I then added the clock face which had been aged with a tea bag as well as the 2 tags with string wound around them. The tags were made years ago using washi tape.

I added a few enamel dots as my final touch.

2 bright colourful layouts.

 

These 2 layouts used the bright papers I put in my kit.

The whole mood of the Malecon in Puerto Vallarta was fiesta so they suited that theme. I used journal cards to document each statue so I will remember in the future.

I'm slowly using up alphas I have had for years.

Archiscraps example layout

 

I made this layout as an example page for my challenge group, Archiscraps. Here's the link. Archi-scraps

The bell tower in the photo is our picture and the challenge is to use a crown. I chose papers with earthy tones to match the walls on the church.. The embellishments are from Cocoa Vanilla.

Sketches in Thyme

 At Sketches in Thyme there is this sketch

Here's my take on the sketch.

I used 3 photos from Puerto Vallarta.

Forgeries on the Fourth.

 I used wet teabags to age some lighter neutral papers.

These will make good backgrounds or pieces to layer on my work.

Scrap the boys

 

At the end of my recent cruise, we had chaos at the disembarkation terminal in Los Angeles.

Apparently, there was a car outside full of drugs. This left 2 people to process our passports and scan the luggage. It took 4 hours for 3,500 people to get through!

I took a couple of photos of the crowd and was helped by a man to manoeuvre my bags.

Here's the sketch challenge we had to base it on.

Christmas card throwdown.

 

I've made this card for Christmas card throwdown. I love recycling so I used the little wooden plaque which came on a tiny bottle of perfume last year.

January Counterfeit Kit.

 Our kit this month is 49 and Market - Vicki Boutin - Curiosities In Willow Grove Collection - 12 x 12 Starters Collection Pack

Here's my kit.

I've kept it simple this month and will add other embellishments as needed. I'm trying to use more flowers from my stash and as my recent cruise was tropical, I can do that.

A big welcome to our guest designer Melinda Barkman

Here's the blog hop.

• Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog - http://counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com/
• Guest Designer (Melinda)   https://www.facebook.com/groups/1983693112166026
• Brandi - https://www.instagram.com/scrappy.boymama/
• Misty - https://craftysoup.com 
• Cindy - https://cindyscreations-cinmfoster.blogspot.com/
• JoJo - https://www.instagram.com/scrappyconfessions
• Julene - https://julenebydesign.blogspot.com/
• Laurie - https://www.instagram.com/scrapbookingbits/
• Ryann - https://www.instagram.com/scrapbookjoey/
• Tina - https://tinasscrapcorner.blogspot.com/
• Vikki https://www.instagram.com/memoriesandmomentsscrapbooking/
• Amanda - https://youtube.com/@amandacreates1980