And the Winner is... & freebie calendar QP templates!

Thank you so much for all your amazingly great ideas (and even recipes!). I'm looking forward to adding a few new holiday traditions to our next Christmas. Comment number five was picked by this fun thing. I'll have to do another drawing again sometime soon because I loved hearing from all of you! Congratulations again Lor!

And, since in my family everyone is a winner (growing up there were always second winners, and third winners and fourth winners...... you get the idea), I wanted to post another freebie today for all the rest of you wonderful scrappers. This one coordinates with the 2008 CD calendar QPs that the pcLayers design team made as a freebie before Christmas. Well, actually, it's the templates that I made for us all to use to make those QPs. They also make really cute tags and things on scrap pages (place the tag, circle the date, type of thing). They are for personal use only, but I figured that some of you may have missed a page or two and this is a great way to fill in any missing spots you may have in your calendar. And you can use your own kits! The file comes as a psd, with all the dates and four different labels to choose from, as well as the cutting template. All of the dates are in "folders" in your layers palette. Click on the folder to make it drop down and then you can pick the month that you'd like. There's also a .png file in case you have trouble or use a program that doesn't read psd files. I hope you all have as much fun with them as we did!

Freebie - Vintage Garland & DRAWING!

I know! It's way too late to be posting this, but I love it and maybe you can use it with your scrapbooking, or for decorating next year. The files come ready to print, and even have a faint cut line around the circles so you can use your favorite pair of decorative scissors to cut them out. I cut mine out with some scalloped scissors and then used this fun Cricut machine thing to cut some white and green paper into fun circle shapes to glue behind the original circles. Then I used an awl (or an ice pick) and made holes and used brads to attach them all to the ribbon. The file also comes with one red and one green blank circle so you could type up your own garland if you'd like. Or make some cute photo ornaments. Or coasters. DH is a bit confused as to why I'm still decorating for Christmas, but when you have no furniture moved to your house yet (oh, yes, a Christmas tree, two chairs and an ottoman... still!), it makes it feel more home-y. After Christmas, it's going to be depressing around here! I'm going to be that neighbor with the decorations still up at Valentine's day...

Anyone have any great Christmas/Holiday traditions to share? I'd love to hear them if you do! Leave a comment here on the blog, and I'll do a random drawing for a FREE sugar cookie digital scrapbooking kit on Friday the 28th! (which means the winner will be contacted on Saturday - so you have till midnight Friday to post!).

I hope I have time tomorrow to make the annual Christmas cake. When we were kids my mom always made "Baby Jesus Birthday Cake" to teach us who's birthday it was. The cake literally had, "Happy Birthday Baby Jesus" written on it, and she put a candle for each kid at our house on Christmas Eve and we'd blow them out, and then read the nativity story. Oh, and open a present. Last year I forgot to get cake ingredients and so we had to have Happy Birthday apple pie instead. It wasn't quite the same... Anyway, from my family to yours, hope you have the Merriest Christmas!

Freebie - Neighbor Gift

It's the season of giving, and when my amazingly talented friend Aly Dosdall posted this in her pcLayers gallery, I knew I had to have the instructions so I could make some too! What a great digi freebie! I'm pretty excited. She made this way cute cocoa topper tag from my Sugarcookie tag making kit, and left room for you to add your family's name in the bottom right hand corner. I added a matching 5x7 recipe card with all of her instructions (mostly because I myself wanted a cute one to print out and add to my recipe box!). I also decided to throw in the blank recipe card (not shown in preview) in case you would like to type up your own cookie recipes etc, and and take that with a plate of your favorite holiday treats as a neighbor gift. I'm planning to take some around in the new neighborhood this week, so I'll have to let you know how it goes. ;)

Vintage Wedding

Yesterday I had the privilege of shooting a wedding for a close friend and talented artist, Lori Gardner. Lori was the glowing mother of the bride, both of whom looked spectacular even though it was only 18 degrees outside!!!

Madi wore her grandmother's vintage wedding gown, which set the tone for her reception and invitations as well. While I was sitting in the photo room, waiting for the bride and groom, I heard all the other photographers talking about having trouble with their cameras because it was sooo cold. Of course, all I could find to wear on my hands (yes, still in the process of moving - does it ever end?!), were some mittens. Mittens = not good for anything requiring manual dexterity. Luckily Lori had some amazing leather gloves she was kind enough to let me borrow, or else I'm pretty sure I'd be fingerless by now.












I'm still not sure how they did it all, Lori was completely sick with the flu for two days before the wedding (yikes!), but the wedding reception that night was amazing. I'll have to post pics from that when I get them downloaded.

Special thanks to Greg, the father of the bride, for all his help carrying my equipment! He, the bride, the groom and I were the only ones to last through the whole hour long session outside.
Congratulations again Eric and Madi!

Freebie - 2008 CD calendar Quick Pages

So here's a great blog scavenger hunt project brought to you by the pcLayers Design team! I love this idea. They are quick pages that you can just drop your own photos into and print away, and they fit into a CD case flipped around backwards and propped open. I think it'd make a great Christmas gift for parents and grandparents or a fun stocking stuffer. I'm planning to have mine spiral bound across the top and hang it on the fridge with some ribbon and a cool metal bulldog magnet clip. Hope you have as much fun with them as we all had making them!

PS just a small disclaimer, but I'm posting a couple of hours early while I have access to the internet; the hunt actually officially starts tomorrow.

Be sure to stop by Becky's blog for april, and Lori's blog for january, and in case you get lost along the way, there's a cheat sheet included below. Credits for the two kits used for my months are: Sugar Cookie for December, and Amelie for March. Happy Holidays!
Cover Page - get it right here, from the previous post
January - Lori's Blog February - Indah's Blog
March - right here on my blog!
April & July - Becky's Blog
May - Bren's Blog
June - Rachel's Blog
August - hosted for Aly on Celeste's Blog
September - Kayla's Blog
October - Celeste's Blog
November - April's Blog
December - right here on my blog!

Freebie - Christmas Tags/Calendar Cover

So, we've been pretty busy the last week, moving etc. Last night was the washer and dryer, and tonight is the fridge. My wimpy arms are really looking forward to it. But it will be fun to finally be in the new house; that's always exciting. And I'm ready for some real food. Ramen and does not qualify as real food no matter what my husband says. Our fridge is e-m-p-t-y! And the pantry is too. If you happen to live in UT and love architecture you should go check out daybreak. I love it because it reminds me of the east coast, with all it's pretty traditional victorian, arts and crafts, and colonial style houses. PS that yellow one is not my house (ha! I wish!). There's lots of parks, and a lake. We found it on accident out driving around one day and then kept going back just because we like to drive around and look at all the cool houses. It's really Christmas-y looking with all the snow now.

So, anyway, it inspired me to make some more Christmas Gift Tags, but this time in a more traditional color palette. But! Wait! There's also a free calendar cover as a preview for the Quick Page CD calendar that the pclayers design team has been whipping up. Check back on Monday for links to the rest of the 12 pages you can use your photos with to make your own 2008 mini calendar. I think it'd be a fantastic gift idea for the holidays...