Christmas in July Blog Hop

Welcome to our Christmas in July Blog Hop!  We will be featuring a whole lot of fun Christmas themed items that CTMH has available.

If you have come here from Darlys' Blog, you are on the right path! The blog hop is a great big circle, so you can start here and work your way all around.  If you get lost along the way, you’ll find the complete list of participating consultants on Melinda’s Blog. 

This month we have 14 Close To My Heart Consultants sharing their creations on their blogs. This is simple to do - just click on the link at the end of the post on each blog to move to the next one! Here we go!

I always need Christmas cards, and they are sent all around the globe, so I decided to embrace the wintery feel since it has been rather cold here in New Zealand!

 To prepare the base of my Christmas card, I cut a snowflake stencil using my Cricut and the City Sidewalks Cartridge, and sponged over it using Glacier ink and a Sponge Dauber. This created a lovely, soft snow background for my card and the stencil can be used again!

I then cut some houses out of the same City Sidewalks Collection using Pewter, Blue Belle, Flamingo and Sapphire cardstock and layered them together. I placed these on my stenciled card base and framed in more Blue Belle cardstock. 

I added some Diamond Stickles to the base of the houses to make it look like snow, and lastly stamped the sentiment in Sapphire Ink from the Merry,Merry stamp set. 

Now "Hop" on over to Maureen's Blog to see her work! Be sure to visit all the Consultants at their Blogs to get some great crafting ideas and other fun ideas! 

Christmas in July with Double Trouble

This week I have a combined challenge for you- featuring Heart 2 Heart and our fun sister blog, Double Trouble!

Being in New Zealand, we do have our midwinter Christmas here and so I have been happy to sit in my craft room and create in this cooler weather.

For this card, I pulled out my old Merry, Merry stamp set that has just been re-released by CTMH, as I love the wreath! I stamped the wreath in Avocado ink and the pine cones in Toffee, and then added a bright Candy Apple sentiment.

I pulled out an old Christmas paper that had some holly springs in it, and then matted the wreath and paper on Kraft Paper.

My finishing touch was a bow made from burlap ribbon for the Double Trouble optional part of the challenge. What do you think?

Holiday

This week, Anything Goes at Heart 2 Heart challenges with a Holiday theme!

I had some scraps left over from my Cedar and Pine kit, and I still hadn't used my gorgeous Nutcracker sticker from the sticker sheet. I simply framed him with the plaid Evergreen paper, which I matted with Candy Apple cardstock. I then added a simple sentiment and a cute little holly cluster at the side. 

I can't wait to see your holiday themed projects over at Heart 2 Heart challenges- we would love you to link up and spread some holiday cheer.

Christmas in July

I always love a chance to pull out old stamp sets and papers, and the Christmas in July challenges that are live at the moment make this the perfect opportunity to look through my Christmas stash!

I decided to do a fancy fold card, keeping it rather simple. I used these instructions and embossed the top triangle with a Candy Cane embossing folder.

I then stamped the inside of the card with a simple Santa face.

I am linking up with the following challenges:

Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge

AAA Cards- Christmas in July
H2H Challenges-Christmas in July

Double Trouble- Fancy Fold and Nice List

Midwinter Christmas Crafting- Candy Cane Christmas Card

I haven't been able to participate in Merry Monday for a while, but this week's Red and White challenge was exactly what I needed to be inspired.

I found some scraps of the retired Sparkle and Shine paper, which reminds me of candy canes, and the idea for the card blossomed from there as I love red and white candy canes!



This card came together exactly how I planned, and then a stamped sentiment was all I felt it needed to bring my idea together. The result is a candy cane inspired card that has made me get my cardmaking mojo back.

CTMH supplies used:
Cardstock: Ruby, White Daisy
Ink: Ruby
Paper Packet: Sparkle and Shine
Stamp set: Merry, Merry

Midwinter Christmas Crafting- Rolled Paper Tree

Welcome to the second feature for my Midwinter Christmas Crafting series!

This week I am sharing a cute home decor option that you can easily customise to match your home and furnishings.

To start off, you need a 6x6 canvas. Close To My Heart has a 6x6 Canvas that is perfect for this project.



This is the fun part- choose 8 different papers that you would like to use for your tree. Remember that CTMH papers are double sided so you can get two patterns out of one piece. Cut these pieces into 12" x 4.5", going down in half inch increments to cut pieces at 12" x 4", 12" x 3.5", 12" x 3" etc all the way down to 1".

Taking each piece, add a strong adhesive to the start of the side you want to show and then roll it away from you. Using a pen or knitting needle to roll will help to get the pieces even. Secure each rolled piece with sticky strip or other strong adhesive.



Keep rolling your pieces- they should start to form a tree shape.



Once you are ready to assemble your tree, secure each rolled piece to the canvas with Liquid Glass. Also place some of the Liquid Glass along the side of each piece so that the rolled papers stick together where they meet. This way, you will get a nice, tight rolled look.



Keep gluing until you have placed all your rolled pieces of paper on the canvas in a tree shape.



Decorate as desired.



There you have it- your very own paper Christmas Tree Canvas! These look great with any variety of colours, and you can mix and matched patterned papers to suit.

CTMH supplies used:
Canvas: My Creations 6x6 Canvas Display
Embellishments: Red Enamel Hearts, Silver Sequins Assortment
Paper Packets: Frosted, Snowhaven, Sparkle and Shine
Tools: Liquid Glass