Christmas in July Blog Hop!

Welcome to the Cutters Creek Christmas in July Blog Hop!  If you came from Kim's blog you are in the right place, if not and you would like to start at the beginning please jump to the Cutters Creek Design Team blog. 

We have some great projects in store for you today to provide you plenty of inspiration to help you jump start your holiday crafting. So grab your favorite beverage, sit back and relax, and get ready for some fun, inspiration, and the chance to win some blog candy too! 

I have a fun Advent Calendar for you today.

I started with a wooden 12 X 12 frame I found on clearance and spray painted it red. I then sprayed it with some Gold Glitter Dust spray.

Next I took a 12 X 12 square piece of metal that I found in my local craft store and covered it with some paper. I happened to have a piece of scrapbook paper that was actually made to make an advent calendar with so I used that, but you could use just about any patterned paper you wanted. I used Glue N Seal to adhere the paper to the metal piece, I then added a coat of Glue N Seal to the top of the paper to seal it.

Next I used my Silhouette and the print and cut feature to print out 25 different round Christmas themed tags at approximately 3/4".

I used some Glossy Accents to adhere small magnets to the backs of each of my little tins. I also used Glossy Accents to adhere the small tags to the insides of my tins. To decorate the frame I cut some small square images out of an older Graphic 45 8 X 8 paper pad, Christmas Emporium and using my trusty Glue N Seal adhere them to the frame, and again I added a top layer of Glue n Seal to seal the paper. (If you would like this paper pad, check with Kim to see if she can still order it).

I cut some numbers at 1/2" out of some black vinyl and adhered them to each of the lids to the tins. They are a little hard to see in the photo but I wanted the tag inside to show through. My plan is to fill each tin with a little piece of candy. I want the tag to be a surprise after they open it up and take out the candy each day.

Finally I cut the banner for the top at approximately 10" wide, again using my Silhouette and an image from the Silhouette store. I used my Scotch Quick Dry adhesive to adhere the banner together and used Glossy Accents to adhere it to the front of my Frame.

To hang my calendar I have some of the Tim Holtz Seasonal Ribbon attached to the back. I lightly tacked it with more Glossy Accents, but I want to use the staple gun to staple it to the frame. Unfortunately I can't get to the staple gun to do that so I didn't want to hang it. (Again, this item is not in stock in the store but check with Kim to see if she can order it).

I would love to hear what you think of the Calendar. Thanks for visiting me today and enjoying our blog hop. As a thank you for enjoying our hop, we have some awesome blog candy for you.

To be eligible for the blog candy, we would love for you to follow us and leave a comment on all the blogs along the way. We will use Random.org to select a winner. The winner will be posted on the Cutters Creek Design Team blog on Monday July 15^th. Your next stop is Fran.

Here is the complete blog hop line up in case you get lost along the way.

Design Team Blog: http://cutterscreekdesignteam.blogspot.com/

Kim: http://kreativekim.blogspot.com/

Deanna: http://deannaspapercrafts.blogspot.com/

Fran: http://scallopsandswirls.blogspot.com/

Mindy: http://www.scrappyandpiggy.blogspot.com/

Anne: http://www.annesscrapcorner.blogspot.com/

Cindy: http://www.cindyvernon.blogspot.com/

Jearise: http://lorbysworld.blogspot.com/

Michele: http://www.scrapytaz.blogspot.com/

Advent Calendar

Here is my project I have been working on for the last two days. Last Christmas I made my mom an Advent Calendar so this year she asked if I was making one for her this year. So, I thought why not. So off to Google I went and did a search for Cricut Advent Calendars. Here is the site I found for inspiration.http://www.bubblyfunk.co.uk/tracie-hudson-christmas-advent-a-39.html.

This calendar was made using small matchboxes. Of course I thought I can make those. I used the Tags, Bags, Boxes and More, Cricut Cartridge and cut 24 matchboxes. I cut the drawer part at 3" but had to enlarge the box part so the drawers went in easier. I resized the box part of the cut on my Gypsy and cut them at 3.08". The boxes were scored and assembled using Score-Tape. I added green and red brads from American Crafts. Directions on how to create this project can be found on the link above. I used two 6" X 6" pieces of chipboard for the top and bottom portions of the "cabinet". For the top I cut Christmas Wishes from the Winter Frolic Cartridge at 2 1/2". Cuts for the sides were cut at 1 1/2". I cut the numbers for the drawers at .45" using the Roly Poly font from the Plantin Schoolbook Cartridge.

The mittens were so small when I cut them I couldn't use the snowflakes that were cut to go on top of them. Instead, I used my white gel pen to draw in the snowflakes and then used my Quickie Glue Pen to apply glue and Martha Stewart Sugar Cube glitter. I also used the same glue and glitter for the white cuff's of the mittens.

Patterned Paper: DCWV Christmas Stack

Paper: Bazzill Card Stock, and Scraps from Stash

Cartridges: 

Winter Frolic -Sentiment

Simply Charmed - Santa and Chimney

Jolly Holidays - Mittens, Noel Banner, Gingerbread Man

Doodlecharms - Stocking

Tree and Snowflake Buttons

Adhesive

Beacons 3 in 1 Glue (buttons)

Score-Tape (boxes and cabinet)

ATG Gun

Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive

Quickie Glue Pen (numbers)

Foam Tape

Stickles

Lime Green

Christmas Red

Stardust

Brads - American Craft Burgundy and Leaf Green

Martha Stewart Sugar Cube fine glitter

Countdown to Christmas

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Did everyone head out for the Black Friday Sales??? I did not go out this year. My son took me to Michaels last night and I did get a couple of cartridges and I was able to order his gift online. No crowds!

With some extra time off of work I was able to make this Advent calendar inspired by the Christmas With the Cricut Blog. If you haven't checked them out you should. Everyday they have a different craft idea and they also have giveways once a week, usually a Cricut cartridge as well as paper or other items featured on their blog or by their sponsor of the week. To find out more Click Here.

Now on to the Advent calendar. I used my Accent Essentials cartridge to cut the snowflakes for the tags. I cut them at 2 1/4". I created the numbers using my Cricut Design Studio and my Lyrical Letters cartridge and cut at 1 1/4". The sour cream containers were cut 6" X 4".  I filled each container with a couple of pieces of chocolate and a small ornament for the tree. I am going to give this to my Mom. the paper I used was from Stampin Up and some I got at Big Lots a while back for $1 a pack as well as from a paper pack I got at Joanns a couple of weeks ago. I bought the tree from Big Lots as well for just $4.  It was fairly quick to make this and definitely easy.