{Believe} - Practical Scrappers "Scrap Our Stash" Blog Hop with Giveaway

Hi everyone and welcome back for another Practical Scrappers Scrapping Our Stash blog hop!  I love the blog hops -- there's always so many lovely projects to see.  This month is no exception with our Christmas in July theme!  Visit the Practical Scrappers page if you want to start at the beginning or you've lost your place.  You should have come from Brenda's blog.  See my project below and don't forget to enter my giveaway!

My project today is a Christmas layout.  I loved the Fancy Pants Designs "Tradition" collection when I purchased it back in 2010, and I still love it!  Such rich colors.

To create my layout, I was inspired by the My Mind's Eye June sketch.  I knew my layout background would be the distressed dark brown paper (Tradition Cards)....so beautiful!  To create a nice shimmer on the paper, I mixed CTMH Create-a-Shade Pearl paint, some Heidi Swapp Color Shine Bronzer, and some CTMH Chocolate re-inker to shade the pearl.  Then I just painted some on.

Next I chose the red "Holiday Sentiments" paper to use as the background for my photos.  I distressed the large rectangle, and then trimmed and matted the photos with green "Trim the Tree" paper.

Next up was "trimming" my rectangle with various Christmas-themed shapes and papers using my Cricut and CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge.  You can see the shimmer paint and some of the trimming below.  I decorated the ornaments with gems, gold twine, and sequins.

Then I created a journal area to include below the trimmed area.  You can really see the shimmer below.

To complete my layout, I placed gold alpha stickers to create "Believe", framed it, and popped up using 3D tape, and then created a paper "bow" to put in the top left corner to balance the layout.

I hope you are enjoying a touch of Christmas in July!

***GIVEAWAY TIME!***

  

I'm giving away one $15 e-gift certificate to A Cherry on Top online store!  All you have to do is:

1. Be or become a member of my blog with Google Friend Connect or Bloglovin AND
2. Leave a comment on this blog post

Refer a friend who joins my blog for an extra chance (please note it in a 2nd comment or have the referral tell who referred them in a comment).

Easy, right?  You have until Monday, July 28, 2014 at noon CT to enter for your chance to win. International entries are fine.  I'll randomly choose one lucky winner and announce it here on my blog on Tuesday, July 29th.  Good luck, and thanks so much for joining my blog and referring your scrappy friends!

Next, head over to Lyne's blog to check out her project...I know you'll like it.

Have a fun, scrappy weekend.

Majken