Canada Day Bog Hop and Giveaway!

Happy Canada Day!

Joyeuse Fête du Canada!
Welcome to my part of the Canada Day Blog Hop. If you have just arrived from Holly's Scrappily Ever After blog, you've landed in the right spot!  At the end of this post, I'll let you know where to go (and provide a list of all blogs involved).

I decided to make a banner to showcase for our blog hop.  I've seen a number of banners created by Sammye Jo at 62 Cards and felt that they were such a bright and cheerful way to decorate for any festivity.   With Canada Day in mind, I attempted one of my own!  I'm so pleased with how it turned out and plan to hang it outside today as we share celebrate our country's birthday with family.

To create my banner, I used the scalloped squares from Mini Monograms and added circles in the upper corners using Design Studio.  The circles were added for the ribbon used to tie everything together.  (I have noticed that the Celebrations cartridge has very similar squares with little circles in all four corners.  Those could also be used.)  I arranged the scalloped squares so that four could cut on a mat, so they are just shy of 6" each.  I used Pooh Font Set for the letters and hid the contour of the middle of the A letters in order to replace the centres with little maple leaves.  The maple leaves were cut from Create a Critter.  I also cut a larger leaf to go on one of the scalloped squares.  For the first square, I cut the sweet little beaver from Create a Critter.  I also cut a little red leaf for his front.  I used one of the leaves leftover from an A to go on that square as well. 

After gluing all the letters and images down, I turned the cards over.  I used a bit of tape to hold the ribbon in place at the back of each card so that they would remain 1" apart from each other.  I then alternated red and white tulle between each of the scalloped squares.  Voilà!  My banner was ready to go.  Now all I need is food, family and fun and we're good to celebrate!

Your next stop on the blog hop is Kerry's blog at MommaK Crafts.  Hop on over and see what she's got to show you!!

Now for my giveaway:  I am offering a brand new Stampin' Up Picture This acrylic stamp set to a random winner.  All you need to do is comment on this post.  If you are a follower of my blog, leave me a SECOND comment indicating as such in order to get a second entry.  Although this is a Canada Day, I am inviting my friends from all over the world to join our celebration!  Please leave a way for me to contact you should you be my lucky winner.  I will draw one name on Monday, July 5 from all entries received by Sunday, July 4 at midnight EST. 

(If you are in Canada and need a Stampin' Up Demonstrator, Mandy Reedyk is a fantastic creator who can sell to anybody across Canada.  She's full of wonderful advice and ideas - and makes a delicious chocolate chip cookie to boot!!  She's an expert on all things SU.  You can contact her through her website: Kids' Collage.)

Here is a list of the blog hop participants, in order, should you have missed one:
1. Heather at Princess' Paper Projects
2. Nicole at Canadian Nickel Scrapn
3. Tracey at The Cropping Canuck
4. Holly at Scrappily Ever After
5. Kate at Small Bits of Paper - That's me, so you are already here!
6. Kerri at MommaK Crafts
7. Amanda at Bella's Crafty Creations

If you have not yet had a chance to enter my CSN Giveaway, head to this post and enter now!