Merry Christmas in July!!!

Today is the actual day of my traditional Christmas in July Celebration. Overeating, secret santa gift exchange, and Christmas carols will begin around 6:00pm. I'm looking forward to it, but not nearly as much as I am looking forward to announcing the winners of my giveaway from the Scrap Our Stash Blog Hop!

I am so appreciative of everyone who stopped by, made comments, and became followers of my blog! I hope you all enjoyed the hop and found some inspiration along the way!!! I wrote everyone's name on a piece of paper, turned them over, shuffled them, and drew names for the winners. I usually have help with this part, but I wanted to get these posted sooner rather than later



The winner of the December Daily album and leftover supplies is:

Froggy530

Froggy530 said...
Your mini album is too cute. I really love that line of papers and embellies. thanks for the chance to win!
July 22, 2010 7:44 AM

The winner of the random Christmas RAK from my stash is:

Michele

Michele's Scrapy Creations said...
Just love your Dec Daily. I'm planning to do one this year. I can't wait to get start.
July 22, 2010 6:50 PM

Please contact me via email at RachLHawkins at gmail dot com with your name and mailing address and I will send these out ASAP!!!


Some exciting events are on the horizon here...

On Wednesday I will debut a new topic on my blog and I'm so very excited about new adventures!

The All About Me 1 Year Anniversary Celebration will begin on August 1st

We will have fabulous challenges, a blog hop, and many chances to win some FABULOUS prizes!!!

SOS- Christmas in July Blog Hop

Welcome to the Scrap Our Stash Christmas in July Blog Hop. If you did not come here from Scrap Our Stash go back and follow the blog hop in order. This will allow you to discover the secret phrase which will make you eligible for the grand prize.

One of my favorite traditions is Christmas in July. At Horn in the West, we are only together from June until August, but we are like family and it is tradition to celebrate Christmas in July with a huge meal and a gift exchange. I'm so happy to share this with you all through the Scrap Our Stash Blog Hop.

Last year was my first time participating in Ali Edward's December Daily and I LOVED IT! Christmas is my favorite time of year and it was such a blast creating an entire album for December. Since I loved it so much, I decided I was definitely going to do it again this year. I pulled out last year's Little Yellow Bicycle collection- which I love- and created a mini album for this blog hop!








My word of the secret phrase is : of

Since I'm in the Holiday spirit- I'd like to give away two prizes to anyone who comments on this blog post.

The first prize will be the December Daily featured in this post and the coordinating papers, tags, and stickers that are leftover so that you can put your own finishing touches on the album.

The second prize will be an assortment of Christmas themed goodies from my stash (the challenge blog is called Scrap our STASH!) which includes pretty papers, stickers, chipboard embellishments, ribbons, and who knows what else I'll throw in there!

All you have to do to be eligible for my prizes is comment on this post! I will draw names on Monday morning so, make sure you have commented by Sunday evening- 11:59 EST.

Happy Hopping- your next stop is Angie's blog.

Scrappy: July*4

The July challenge at Scrap Our Stash is to use brads or eyelets on a project. I created this layout about the traditional July 4th celebration that
I participate in each year. I looked EVERYWHERE for brads in my stash,
but didn't find any! I resigned that I wouldn't have any, so I
substituted buttons for brads for this challenge and used them in the
center of my flowers. When I was looking for my cutting blade to cut
the 2 pages apart, I found some brads so I added them to the upper
right corner to add some extra detail!



Pictures are: a dulcimer player, firing shots with each of the 13 toast to the 13 colonies, and hanging King George to be burnt in effigy.


This is my first double page 8.5x11 layout and I really enjoyed creating it. Will I ever go back to 12x12 paper?

Scrappy: Tiwanaku

The current sketch challenge at Scrap Our Stash was certainly a challenge for me! I don't usually use multiple pictures and the sketch called for FOUR! As I built this page I was uncertain about it, but I think I managaed to pull of the sketch while working within my personal style!



On our last day in Bolivia we went to Tiwanaku, the ancient ruins near La Paz. The site is currently under excavation, which I think is really neat- new things are being discovered daily. I didn't get to see the whole site because I had an asthma attack hiking around the hills. I went to the bus to lie down and regain my breath, but it never came back. It was hard to breathe for the rest of the day at that altitude. I'm so glad I have these gorgeous pictures to remind me of that day because my memory is a little bit foggy now.

The SOS Sketch Challenge is open until July 14th! At least one winner will be chosen and given the opportunity to become a Guest Design Team Member for the following month. Come check it out!

Scrappy: Cristo de la Concordia

This month's challenge at Scrap Our Stash is to stitch on your projects. Luckily for me, faux stitching was included in the challenge! I had a run in with a sewing machine in middle school. My homeroom teacher was the Home Economics teacher and so before school would start she would have me help with some projects. One of the projects was to make a bajillion bean bags for the PE teacher. I must have sewn every morning for two weeks. One morning a boy snuck up behind me and I ran my finger through the machine. It wasn't a terrible injury, but I have pretty much avoided sewing machines ever since.

The journaling reads: "Cristo de la Concordia is one of two "protectors" in Cochabamba. While I enjoyed seeing the statue up close, I really loved looking Him from afar- I felt safe and always protected. 11 Mayo 2010"





I was inspired by this Page Maps sketch by Becky Fleck:


I loved the sketch, but had to modify it to fit with my 8.5x11 style. I like to scrap in 12x12, but a lot of the time I feel overwhelmed by all of that room. I like keeping things simple, which in the long run saves me money and supplies!


Do you have any money saving tips?

Scrappy: Geocache Log

I'm honored to be a guest designer for Scrap Our Stash this month- the challenge is to scraplift a layout or use a sketch for complete a project. When mojo is low, I find that the best thing to do is to find inspiration in someone else's work or to use a sketch to spark your creativity. I used a layout from DT member Danielle which you can find here. I was inspired be the criss-crossing strips and buttons. Here is my take on paper strips and buttons:





Supplies: Cardboard- repurposed Bind It All box, Inner pages- The Paper Company cardstock, Paper- Pink Paislee, Alpha- October Afternoon, Buttons-from my stash.

I created a logbook for one of my other hobbies, Geocaching. With the nice weather, I have enjoyed being outside more often and the challenge of finding modern day hidden treasure. I decided to create a journal of sorts so that I can write down memorable things from my adventures!

What hobbies do you enjoy?

P.S. Don't forget that it is the LAST DAY to participate in the AAM blog hop. I will announce a winner with my reveal of the next challenge tomorrow! I will have one of my students draw a name for a $10.00 gift certificate to Two Peas in a Bucket.

Scrappy: I'm a finalist!

I've been meaning to post about this all week long, but with being a bit under the weather (literally by being UNDER the snow and figuratively by being sick with an allergic reaction to some sort of trigger). This week I was announced as a finalist for the Valentines Challenge at Scrap Our Stash. I'm so honored to be a finalist for this challenge and I hope you'll check out their blog-it is full of inspiration!



I'm so happy because I've seen THE SUN for three days in a row. It is amazing and I'm feeling fully recharged after full month (or more) of continuous winter weather.

What are you happy about today?