Christmas in July Blog Hop Day 1!

Welcome and thank you for joining us for our Christmas in July Blog Hop! This is a three day hop starting July 22 and ending July 24. You should have arrived here from Sylvia. If you just happened to stumble upon this hop, please be sure to go back to Elaine's blog @ ExpressionsByElaine so you don't miss any of the wonderful projects we have to share. 

Be sure to visit & follow all the blogs to be entered for the Grand Prize! After you have stopped at all the blogs don't forget to go back to the beginning blog Elaine @  ExpressionsByElaine and leave your name in the inlinkz.

I am so excited about my project today! It is probably my favorite creation. I have always loved to ice skate and when I was young, my dream was to be an Olympic ice skater. My dad even built a rink in our back yard in the winter with two-by-fours and tarp so my sister and I could skate! Sadly, my skating career never came to fruition, but I still love to hit the ice when I can. So my card today is in honor of those childhood dreams.

The paper is from My Mind's Eye Christmas stack. I used the Winter Woodland cart for everything except the center Christmas tree. That was cut at 5" from the Christmas cart and embossed with Swiss dots. For the background forest, I cut the trees at 4" and embossed them with three different folders: seeing spots, Swiss dots and polka dots. I cut the skater at and the deer at 3". Here is my favorite part...she skates!

The button on the front of the card actually moves her along but thanks to the wonderful world of Photoshop, I can show you! I wanted to have tutorial to post on how I made this but I didn't get a chance to put one together. If anyone is interested, I'll try to get one posted.

I am also entering this card in the following challenges

1. My Craft Spot Challenge #17 - Christmas in July
2. Cricut 360 Challenge #4 - The Great Outdoors
3. Paper Cutz Challenge #101 - Anything Goes
4. Joyful Stamper Inspire Me Fridays #16 - Show Us
5. You Had Me at Craft Week 8: Made It Myself Monday

I have blog candy! Since this is a three day hop and I will have a project for each day, I will add a little something to the candy each day. Today I have a set of Cuttlebug Asterisks dies. I really wanted snowflakes to go along with the Christmas theme, but my Michaels doesn't have the greatest selection. I thought these were close and could be used for snowflakes.

All you have to do to be entered in the drawing is:

1. Be a follower and
2. Leave a comment on this post with a way to contact you. Since this is a three day hop, if you leave a comment after each new project, you will have three chances to win! I will combine all the comments from the three days to select one winner via random.org on Monday, July 25th.

Also, I am having a 500 Follower Cricut Cart giveaway! Click HERE to enter for a chance to win a brand new Picturesque cart!

Your next stop on the Christmas in July Blog Hop is Amber. Don't forget to visit Elaine @  ExpressionsByElaine once you have hopped along and enter your name for a chance at the grand prize! 

Here's the lineup in case you get lost along the way:

Elaine @ ExpressionsByElaine.blogspot.com 
Jessica @ Jessicascraftshaque.blogspot.com 
Sylvia @ Bellascrapbookdesigns.blogspot.com 
Lisa @ Indymermaid.blogspot.com < YOU ARE HERE
Amber @ Pixiperfectcreations.blogspot.com < NEXT STOP
Rochelle @ Twotearsinmybucket.blogspot.com 
Jen @ Jenscraftcorner.com 
Cely @ Hawaiipaperparty.blogspot.com 
Chris @ Chatterscene-mom.blogspot.com 
Kimberli @ Kimberliscreations.blogspot.com 
Pat @ Patsscraps.blogspot.com 
Shirley @ Lookatmycutestuff.blogspot.com 
Tiffany @ Sparkledmemories.blogspot.com 
Georgiana @ Carsonscricutcreations.blogspot.com 
Candace @  scrappin2littleprincesses

Thanks so much for stopping by and hopping along :)