Shirley's Christmas Blog Hop - Week One

I'm so happy that Shirley from Look At My Cute Stuff decided to do a Christmas Blog Hop and I'm getting all revved up to play along.  Isn't her little Blog Hop badge just the cutest!  Makes me want to start my Christmas baking. 

Anyone can join in this fun weekly event which will last up until Christmas time.  Hope you can play along too, cause I'd love to see your creations. Shirley has a few rules which I'll share with you now. Shirley’s Christmas Blog Hop, want to join the fun, here is all you have to do:

1.        Add the Christmas Blog Hop badge to your post and link back to Shirley’s blog (http://lookatmycutestuff.blogspot.com/)
2.       Anything goes, it just has to be Christmas.
3.       It has to be a new post.
4.       Add the Hop to your Post.
5.       Have fun!

For my first creation I drew inspiration from the DSP and colours in Shirley's Blog Hop Badge and from the Holiday Mini Catalogue. 

I've been seeing these floral designs on various blogs and on page 28 of the Holiday Mini so I thought I would try my hand at using one for the focal point on my Christmas Blog Hop Card #1. 

The DSP is from last year's Holiday Mini and is called Candy Cane Christmas.  I have a ton of it left over as I was partial to this paper and the Merry Chrittermas stamp set last year.  When I saw Shirley's Hop badge I knew what I would be doing, so started digging through my stash.  I used Pink Pirouette and Baja Breeze cardstocks.

I layered the flower onto a piece of Red Glimmer Paper (121790 pg 181 of the IB&C).  The glitter in this paper perfectly matches the little glimmer dots on the Candy Cane Christmas DSP.  Talk about luck!  I love this Glimmer paper and think I'll be buying some extra sheets for my stash before the year is out.  It'll be perfect for Valentine's Day projects.

This floral image is made by cutting twelve 1 1/4" squares of DSP and rolling them into little cones.  Do your rolling first and then secure with Tom Bow or Crystal Effects glue.  This is tricky as they want to pop open, so you'll have to hold each one a few minutes to make sure they are secure.  Once you have all the little flutes made then adhere them to a circle punched out with 1 3/8" circle punch.

Make sure the points all work to the center.  I did mine like a clock (12, 3,6,and 9) and then filled in the gaps.  Once this piece has dried add a flower center or focal point that will hide all the little points from the flutes.  I used a 3/4 inch circle cut from the Red Glimmer paper and a small flower and Rhineston Brad (Circle Fire 109110 pg 198 IB&C), for mine.

 This sentiment is from the 2010 retired Merry Chrittermas set.  It's layered on Pink Pirouette and Baja Breeze cardstocks. 

Inside View:  Sentiment is from a retired set called Merry Chrittermas.I used the Candy Cane Christmas  DSP  layered on Baja Breeze cardstock for some interior design. 

Okay I probably have missed the deadline this week, but I'm posting anyway.  Hope you enjoy this entry.  Thanks for dropping by.