Christmas in July Blog Hop Day 2!

FOR THE OPERATION OWL BLOG HOP, CLICK HERE

Welcome and thank you for joining us for Day 2 of 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.

For my project today, I have a little Christmas house scene to share with you.

I used Winter Woodland to cut the cute little house. I used the fit to page option, so the house ended up cutting at 3 3/4" - much smaller than I thought! It's tiny! But adorable :) I used the Tim Holtz Bricked embossing folder to make it look like a red brick abode. I cut the roof in black paper and then stamped it with Hampton Art A La Mode white ink and embossed it with Utee thick embossing powder three times to give it a frosted look. The wreath on the door was cut from Christmas Village at 3/4". The lights strung around the house are from the Hobby Lobby doll house section. I really, really wanted ones that would light up but couldn't find them :( The 3D trees are from Winter Woodland, cut at 3". The background paper with the moon is from the DCWV Immortal Love stack and I thought perfect for this project. Santa and his reindeer are from the Christmas cart, cut at 1". The Merry Christmas is a stamp from my stash and I used a Nestabilities die for the base and Tim Holtz walnut distress ink on the edges.

I want to sincerely thank you for the response to my skater card from yesterday. I am working on a tutorial and will get it posted very soon :)

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 added The Paper Studio Bubble-A-Abilities Winter stamps to yesterday's set of Cuttlebug Asterisks dies. Tomorrow I will add something else to the pot for one lucky winner :)

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!

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 :)

Just Keep Swimming, Blog Hop Weekend and Award Thanks!

 Click HERE to enter my 500 Follower Cricut Cart Giveaway!

Happy Thursday, everyone! I hope you are having a great day! It is so hot and humid here. Ugh, the heat just wears you out. Thank goodness for air conditioning :)

I have a card to enter into a few challenges today. Except for the base of the card, all the paper I used is from my scrap pile. I used Wild Card to cut the shape and I embossed the inside layer with the swirls folder. I cut Ariel from the Disney Dreams Come True cart at 2 3/4" and attached her with a wobble so she shimmies and swims. The quote is from K Andrew's awesome Splastastic Summer stamps. $1 from each stamp set sold benefits The Autism Research Institute. Click HERE to buy your own set. I inked the edges with Tim Holtz Broken China Distress Ink and added light blue crystals. The ribbon is from Hobby Lobby.

I am entering the card in the following challenges:

1. Die Cutting Divas Challenge #24 - Shaped Die Cut Cards
2. Whimsical Wednesday Challenge #15 - Use Your Scraps
3. Crazy About Cricut Thankful Thursday - Summer Movie Theme (Little Mermaid)
4. Amber's Crafts and Stuff Challenge #19 - Circles and Swirls

I want to sincerely thank two awesome blogger friends for gifting me with the Cricut-tastic Award! A great big thanks to Amy of  redheaded crafter and Pam of craftycards4u2! Not only are Amy and Pam amazingly talented and creative, but they are wonderful friends. I look forward to visiting their blogs every day and so appreciate the sweet comments they leave for me. I am so thankful to have met them both. They inspire me daily! Please visit both of their blogs - you won't be sorry! They truly are fabulous! Thanks again Amy and Pam!

It is going to be a hoppy weekend here! Please don't forget to stop back by tomorrow for Day 1 of the Christmas in July Blog Hop! There will be awesome projects to see and blog candy to be won! This is a three day hop and I will be adding something each day to my blog candy giveaway! Also, please stop again on Saturday for the Operation Owl Blog Hop! Again, fabulous projects from talented crafters and lots of awesome candy to be won! You won't want to miss either hop!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Have a great evening :)

Cooking With Cricut Guest Designer!

Happy Tuesday, everyone! I'm so honored and excited to be the guest designer today at one of my favorite challenge blogs, Cooking With Cricut! CWC has launched a new showcase where on Mondays, one of their awesome design team members will be featured with a project from one of their favorite carts and on Tuesday's guest designers will be featured. Every Wednesday, CWC posts a fun new challenge and provides amazing inspiration from their very talented design team!

Here is a peek at my project, made with the Nifty Fifties cart. Please visit Cooking With Cricut for all the details and don't forget to stop back there tomorrow for another exciting challenge.

I am also entering the card into the Cricut 360 Challenge #3 - For Parents

Thanks so much to the awesome ladies at Cooking With Cricut for inviting me to be a part of your wonderful blog today! And thank you for stopping by! Have a great day :)