012514 Date Day Saturday

Wow - it's been awhile since one of these posts!

Today we headed up to Frankenmuth, just a little jog north of us, for the Zehnder Snowfest.

Ice carving displays...

 

Go, Detroit Tigers!

Ice sculptures are scattered all over town, along with the Zehnder chicken!

The weather required some hot drinks.

Love the chalkboard marquee on the coffee booth.

My favorite snow sculpture. Amazing how that little guy is suspended!

This was "sweet" (as in honey) & so detailed.

Love Batman's expression! (uh-oh...)

Wouldn't be a visit to the ice festival without a brat in the open air.

And a little bonus when we arrived home - chicken #3, Barbara Maran, laid her first egg!

French Maran chickens lay deep brown chocolate colored eggs so we are sure it was Barbara.

Quick visit in the afternoon to see the grands - Grandma was too busy playing to get any snaps, but hopefully tomorrow. They are growing up so quickly. Such a delight to get some time together.

012414 CKC January Challenge Blog Hop

It's always been fun to hop along with all of the wonderful Counterfeit Kit Challenge 

members, but in Twenty Fourteen there is a new twist - ANY of our three challenges 

is fair game for your hop post BUT it must be something not seen before.

I always love how creative each challenge is & how different they are one from the next!

Old habits die hard & I ended up choosing Challenge #1:  

Subway Art

Use the subway art technique (using different colors/fonts in a block of writing like a title or journaling)

Fortunately my kit coughed up a suitable ready-made accent card, but I definitely want to try a custom-made subway art technique using my abundant alpha stash - staying true to the precepts of the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog to use up what you have in a fresh & trendy way!

In case you missed anyone, here's the full hop listing:

Lisa http://lisahausmann.blogspot.de

Tina http://tinasscrapcorner.blogspot.com

Katie www.kissandtellscrapbooking.com

Lesley http://ohblogitifyoucantbeatthem.blogspot.co.uk

Cindy http://www.cindyscreations-cinmfoster.blogspot.com

Julene http://julenebydesign.blogspot.com.au

Annie http://www.artyfartyannie.com

Milissa http://millermall.blogspot.com

Chrissy http://craftychrissycreates.blogspot.co.nz

Elaine http://chidkids26.blogspot.co.uk

Dawn http://www.dawnsscrapbookcottage.blogspot.com

Jemma http://just-jimjams.blogspot.co.uk

Leslie http://lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.com

011614 CKC January Challenge #3

Happy New Year!

Twenty Fourteen's 3rd challenge is to stamp on patterned paper.

I decided to make use of some of those "Wow, these are cute! And they're only $1.00!" stamps 

 to commemorate a BIG event in our family - Cooper took his first steps!

It was fun to use my counterfeit happy dot paper & glitter stars.

That's the bonus of making your kit & following the challenges :~)

010813 January Counterfeit Kit Tutorials

A few fun CKC forgeries this month! These dots looked easy enough...

I liked the translucent quality of the original, so I thought I'd use watercolor. The eraser end of a pencil was just perfect as a rubber stamp, although it was quite tedious...

I didn't get as dense of coverage, but I think it is festive enough for a New Year's page!

On close inspection of the chevron paper it turned out to be music in the background.

At first I thought about creating a stencil so that I could put a white mist over patterned paper,

but I took the easy way out and stamped a music note background stamp on chevron paper.

This was my favorite!

 Theirs.  Mine!

(I had to use hairspray to fix the pencil, lol!)

Martha Stewart glitter rocks!

010114 Happy New Year at CKC!

 Welcome to our first kit reveal of the New Year, 2014, at Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog!

Be sure to give a warm welcome to the amazing Tara, our special Guest Designer this month.

The full listing of the hop will be at the end of this post, so don't miss a thing!

Over at CKC we get the chance each month to troll our 

stash, put it together & then actually USE it but first, we have to be inspired... 

January's inspiration comes from Hip Kit Club's December 2013 kit.

And as if that weren't enough, we need a few more trinkets!

The December 2013 OhDeerMe Kit, an embellishment kit from Freckled Fawn.

These were a few of my favorite things... to forge!
More on that on the CKC blog on the 8th...

Let's check out what's new this month in the Magic Blue Box!

As always, I reserve the right to add white/black/kraft cardstock, stamps,
inks/mists/glitter, & the occasional totally rogue supplies that will make my page perfect!

Now HOP ON to more creative kitting :~)

Tara O. http://kryptonite72-rambles.blogspot.com/

Angela http://colestoucan.blogspot.co.uk/

Jemma http://just-jimjams.blogspot.com/

Julene http://julenebydesign.blogspot.co.au/

Lesley G. http://ohblogitifyoucantbeatthem.blogspot.co.uk/

Lisa H. http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com/

YOU ARE HERE: Leslie http://lcsmithsaved-outofthemire.blogspot.com/

GO HERE NOW: Lynnette http://sassyscrapper2010.blogspot.com/

Millisa http://millermall.blogspot.com/

 Stephanie http://skylinepaperie.blogspot.ca/