Welcome to the Christmas in July Blog Hop, inspiring you to get out your christmas stash and use it before all the new collections are introduced this month. Join the fun and create something too. If you'd like to share your work, use the hashtag #scrapbookchristmas on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.
I have a ton of Christmas scrapbooking joy for you in this post, so you want to bookmark this page and come back to watch all the videos, check out all of the links and enjoy all the other things in here. There is also a giveaway at the end of the page. And a drink recipe!
Here's a list of the contents in this blog post:
1. Scrap Stash Kit for Christmas in July: Santa on the Beach - with video.
2. Christmas layout made with traditional Christmas supplies.
3. Summer layout (!) made with traditional Christmas supplies - with process video.
4. Christmas layout made with non-Christmas themed supplies (but with the latest big trend: Chalkboard!) - with process video.
5. Where to find all the NEW Christmas collections!
6. Santa on the Beach - drink recipe!
7. Giveaway entry for those who want to play along with the 'stash kit'.
8. Entire Christmas in July blog hop list.
Whew! That should keep you busy for the rest of July, so please come back and enjoy this post a little bit at a time. :)
1. Scrap Stash Kit for Christmas in July: Santa on the Beach - with video.
The Scrap Stash Kit Club is a free monthly kit club with no requirements for shopping (or shipping), you only use what you already have. Read more here and sign up to join the club and receive monthly inspiration images and video links.
Every month, I will pull a kit from my own stash and show you how to use older supplies to make your projects look on trend, to inspire you to do the same and to create with what you have. We are already more than 500 members in the kit club and you are very much welcome to join us!
The July kit above is called Santa on the Beach (yes, it's kind of named after that drink, you know ;) and here's the kit video showing you my stash kit:
2. Christmas layout made with traditional Christmas supplies.
Let's start with the easiest one: Making a Christmas page with Christmas supplies. This is a page about the Christmas market fair at the Royal Mews (that's the King's Stables) here in Stockholm.
The layout and design is very traditional Christmas looking, with the burlap background (Glitz Designs) and the vintage Santa and snowman images (Reminisce). Wood veneer pieces from Studio Calico, painted with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist. Title letters from Dear Lizzy (American Crafts) and October Afternoon.
A great tip to cram in as many photos at possible on a page (I wouldn't want to fill an entire album with the memory of a single day at the Christmas market fair. lol! One page like this is quite enough.) is to make collages of your photos in a smartphone app and then print the collage. You can cut it up in tiny photos or as photo strips.
3. Summer layout made with traditional Christmas supplies.
Having more Christmas themed papers than I could ever use, even if I'd live until I get 150 years old or so, calls for unusual measures! Here, I have been experimenting with using my Christmas stash to make a summer page from June, when my husband and I was hiking at a nearby national park trail (hence the funny title, hahah ;).
It turned out that the red Christmas color went excellently along with the greens and blues of summer nature photos! I used a paper from Basic Grey's Aspen Frost as a background. Paper pieces from Crate Paper's Sleigh Ride and Studio Calico's Wonderland. Big embellished butterflies and journal label from Jenni Bowlin. Title letters from Dear Lizzy (American Crafts) and October Afternoon. Washi tape and punched butterflies (se tip below).
Tip for the thrifty scrapper: Get an inexpensive small butterfly punch, grab a cheap scrap of cardstock or patterned paper from your stash. Punch away and sprinkle those little butterflies all over you page. Adhere with a tiny dot of Glossy accents below the butterfly's belly and then bend up the wings slightly. Super cute embellishment that will add a little dimension to your page without getting bulky. Cost: next to nothing!
You can watch my process for this page here:
4. Christmas layout made with non-Christmas themed supplies.
Here's a page using the latest and greatest trend: Chalkboard! The background paper is from Glitz Designs (Color Me Happy) and then I used wood veneer hearts from Studio Calico. I also punched some small hearts from American Crafts glitter tape. Number border and title letters from Pink Paislee.
Here's a process video for this page. It's a little wonky in the lighting, because I had to constantly adjust for the disappearing daylight yesterday evening. I can't tell you how relieved I am that hubby ordered some photo lights for me last week. Can't wait to get more stable light conditions with lamps! On top of that, the sound card in our Mini Mac acted up at the very end of the video so my finishing up the video is a little bit abrupt. But hey, I wanted to show you anyway, and this is keeping it real. Making YouTube videos isn't always a cakewalk. :D
5. Where to find all the NEW Christmas collections!
Well, now that we have been good and used up some our Christmas stash - where's the new collections to be found? In a week, it's time for CHA Summer trade show, where all the brands and manufacturers are releasing the upcoming lines and designs. All the news are on display here! Welcome to log in (it's free!) and use the CHA sneak peek manager where you can check and rate the collections you are interested in, and then add a private note to plan your purchases for this season.
6. Santa on the Beach - drink recipe!
I couldn't resist to invent a drink called Santa on the Beach, just to celebrate Christmas in July! Here's the ingredients (the alcoholic ones are of course optional):
3/5 White rum
1/5 Applejack or Calvados
1/5 Coconut milk
One egg white
One small dash of red grenadine
Shake with loads of North Pole ice. Decorate with a sprig of fresh mint, a drink umbrella, a candy cane and a red and white paper straw. Enjoy!
7. Giveaway for those who want to play along with the Santa on the Beach 'stash kit'.
If you would like to play along with the Santa on the Beach stash kit, sign up for the Scrap Stash Kit Club (free!) and post a scrapbooking page or a card (or more) on the club group page at Flickr.
Then you will be entered to win a pack of Swedish scrapbook products (see the image above)! The prize pack consist of one wood mounted rubber stamp, 9 4x6 cards cut from Swedish design papers (Maja Design, Pion Design and Inkido). One roll of washi tape from YouDo. Brads from Panduro and paper clips from world reknown Swedish office supplier Ordning & Reda (photographer Annie Leibovitz is said to once have ordered one of their gorgeous notebooks with a regular flight from Stockholm to New York, just because she won't use anything else).
A winner will be randomly drawn on Monday, August 5. So you have 3 whole weeks to create. Entries from all the world are welcome!
8. Entire Christmas in July blog hop list.
Next on the hop is Taniesa. Thank you so much for visiting my blog, and have a very merry Christmas in July hop! :)
In case you get lost at any point, here is the list of all the participating blogs. They are quite a few, so be sure to bookmark this page so you can come back later and visit all of them!
A big thank you to Ruth Bonser, organizing this wonderful blog hop!
