Christmas in July!

Good Morning to you all and a very happy Sunday! That of course means a brand new challenge at THE CRAFTY PAD.

Well, after the vile weather we had yesterday I think I could well have been 'fast-forwarded' 5 months and our theme this week doesn't seem so out of place!! Boy it was so cold, wet and so so dark!

Anyway, onto the challenge; this week we're having a

CHRISTMAS IN JULY

theme! A chance to get ahead, and make a start on those Chrissy cards! It's a fairly popular one too it seems, having done a little blog-hopping recently.

Our  sponsor this week is the lovely Joanna Sheen with a £10 gift voucher to spend in her shop.

Our fabby boss, Debbie Moore has just released some wonderful Christmas images which are available at THE CRAFTY PAD DESIGNS and the DT have used some of them this week. Make sure you take a look, they are FAB as always.

My card is called a DIAPER FOLD card, and I must thank KURLYGIRL for the inspiration, as I saw this fold on her blog and felt inspired!

 It started life as a 12"x12" piece of double-sided card, and was folded using the diaper fold. Sadly, the candy canes are just images of canes....try as I did, I couldn't find any candy canes on sale in the middle of July!! If I were making this again (which I'm sure I will as it's quite easy but really effective,) I would love to add real candy canes or some other little gift into the pouch, and give as little christmas gifts; great for kiddies or even teachers!

 Isn't this little chap adorable!? He is just one of the new Christmas Elf images.....to see them all, click HERE. Available as digi stamps, there are even pre-coloured versions too....which is what I used for this project. There are also loads of sentiment tickets too! My little chap has been layered up and the starburst backing mat was made in Powerpoint. I added some red gems to the points.

 here's a closer look at my candy canes, which slide down into the pouch created by the diaper fold.

And a close-up of the ticket-tag I used to match the image. I added a tiny ribbon and a gem, as well as a larger red organza bow to the card and voila!

Oh yes, even MORE great news! The Crafty Pad Designs are now offering SPECIALS every week, so it's well worth popping over regularly to see what darling images you can snag at an extra special price ;-D

As I said, there seem to be a fair few christmas challenges out there, so I am going to enter my card into the following:

• 2 Sisters #48 - Christmas in July.
• CYDA #24 - Fancy Folds.
• Crafty Emmas #45 - Christmas.
• Bah Humbug #28 - Shaped Projects.
• Simply Create #48 - Christmas Time.
• Stamp Something - Christmas in July.
• Stampin' with the Dragon - Christmas in July.
• Craft us Crazy #12 - Christmas in July.
• Delightful Challenges - Fancy Folds.
• Digistamps 4 Joy #23 - Christmas in July.
• Celebrate the Occasion #22 - Shaped Christmas Card.

Thanks so much for popping in, I really appreciate you taking the time :-D