Christmas In July Week 1

 Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas in July to all my friends and fellow crafters! Welcome to the first weekend of our Christmas in July Blog Hop!Each week we are having a different theme. Today's theme is Christmas Cardholders.

Paulette, our hostess, is offering some great prizes on her blog. She is offering a different cartridge as a prize each week and will have a grand prize drawing on July 31st of a rare brand new Christmas (Noel) Cartridge! You can earn entries into the drawings by following and leaving comments on the blogs in the hop. Here are Paulette's prizes for the hop.

Week 1~July 6~Christmas Gift Card Holders:
Prize is a Gingerbread Cart & winner drawn July 12
Week 2~July 13~Christmas Cards:
Prize is a Christmas Cards Cart & winner drawn July 19
Week 3~July 20~Christmas Ornaments:
Prize is a Trim The Tree Cart and winner drawn July 26
Week 4~July 27~Christmas Anything Goes:
Prize is a Christmas Village Cart and winner drawn July 31st

Here are the blogs for today's hop. You won't want to miss any of the great projects, so if you have just fell off Santa's Sleigh and landed here first, why not go back and start at the beginning! 

1~Paulette: http://scrapalette.blogspot.com/
2~L.B: http://www.coolbeansbylb.blogspot.com/
3~FranTimme: http://lovebugtimme.blogspot.com/
4~gonescrappin'; http://scrappycol.blogspot.com/ You Are Here!
5~scrapsbygracie: http://scrapsbygracie.blogspot.com/
6~SeaSwan:  http://seaswancreations.blogspot.com/
7~BetsyBoo:  http://betsymcreates.blogspot.com/

I chose to create a bottle or door hanger gift card holder. It was fun and super easy to create.
I used my Art Philosophy Cartridge - page 25/keypad button 5 and using my Cricut Mini, I cut it at 7.45 width by 10.80 height. 

Then I used December 25th Seasonal to cut Merry Christmas at 2.27 width by 1.25 height for my sentiment. 

Finally, I used a Cricut Craft Room Basic Accent from the bottom row on the basic tab and cut it at 3.375 width by 2.5 height. 

Decorating it was a cinch. I took the accent mat and ran it through my Cuttlebug using the Reflected Damask Embossing Folder by Anna Griffin. I used Gathered Twigs Distress Ink on the mat, then took an old wet toothbrush and dipped it in white acrylic paint, and ran my finger across the bristles to splatter the paint on to the mat. 

 

I decorated the hanger before I put it together and added some ribbon from Webster's Pages to the top.

 

I had a couple of left over tags that I made with Santa's Village using my Imagine last year, so I used one of the tags to add some interest to the center of the hanger. It just looked a little "bare" to me. 

Then I added a fun green and red wired bow with a Santa Charm attached to the top. 

I thought it looked cute as a bottle hanger, but I would leave the top bare if you want to use it that way.

Here I hung it off a Winter Candy Apple Soap from Bath and Body Works.

I also thought it would nice hanging off a larger bottle like wine. I didn't have any wine in the house, so I tried hanging it off my shampoo bottle. LOL! 

I love to give Gift cards as presents. It's so much fun to use my Cricut and dress them up in fun unique ways. I really enjoyed sharing a Christmas in July project with you today. Your next stop on the hop is the wonderfully, talented Scraps By Gracie. I know you will enjoy her project!

Finally, how about some blog candy? Leave me a comment before July12th to be entered into a drawing for a $10.00 Michaels Gift Card. 

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Happy Crafting!

Colleen