In the Christmas Spirit

As I sit here in my home office writing this post, I have Christmas music playing and "fresh balsam" scented oil burning in my electric oil burner. I am in a reluctant holiday spirit. Truth be told, this hasn't been my favorite time of the year ever since 2006. My mom was very ill with cancer in December 2006. Christmas 2006 was the last Christmas that we spent together as a family. The Christmases after that have been a little sad for me. Todd and I have come up with some new traditions and I look forward to those, but it is always a wistful time for me.

BUT, I am really grateful for all that I do have, and the family and friends that are a part of my life. I AM starting to get into the holiday spirit and perhaps this weekend I'll even have our Christmas cards designed and shipped off to print! :)

I wanted to point out a few fun holiday things that are going on in digi-land right now. I've been surfing around the blogs and looking at all the fantastic crafts and giveaways. (Not during work of course, I would never do that. ::whistle::)

First off is the 25 Days Of Christmas newsletter from Little Dreamer Designs.



Even if you're a regular newsletter subscriber already, you'll need to opt-in for the 25 Days of Christmas newsletter. Why, you ask? Because everyday is full of FREEBIES, coupons, and inspiration/craft ideas! Seriously, I've been blown away by the daily newsletters so far. You can subscribe here. And just a hint about upcoming newsletters... I may or may not have an exclusive coupon in tomorrow's newsletter, good for Sat 12/4 and Sun 12/5 only. Also, I may or may not have an exclusive holiday freebie in the 12/10 newsletter. :p

Leora Sanford, a fellow designer at Little Dreamer Designs, is having her "25 Days of Christmas" on her blog again this year. Every single day she has a fantastic giveaway! Not only does she have digi-scrap sponsors, she has sponsors that are artists of all sorts of mediums. It's fantastic eye-candy and even better, FREE stuffs! And guess who is the sponsor today? My friend Peppermint of One Little Bird Designs. She is giving away TWO sets of her 12 Days Layered Templates and 12 Days Word Art.

Plus there's an exclusive coupon for these products, in case you don't win. So hop on over there and check it out! And continue to follow Leora's blog everyday for giveaways, until December 25th.

Next is fellow designer Wild Blueberry Ink at Little Dreamer Designs.  Shirley has put together an incredible lineup of giveaways in her "12 Days of Giveaways"!

There are necklaces, totes, art prints, and much more!  I'm so excited to be a part of the "Ultimate Digi Pack" that she's giving away as well.  Click on over to her blog and check it out everyday as there's a new giveaway!

Next up is something I'm no affiliated with, but super-inspirational and fun and got me into the holiday spirit.  Four creative digi-scrapping designers (Mari Koegelenberg of My Digital Art Studio, Melissa Wilson of Domesticated Lady, Pamela Donnis of Keeping Life Creative, and Kelleigh Ratzlaff of Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs) have put together a "12 Days Blog Hop" of holiday tutorials and giveaways. Pamela Donnis is a fellow designer at Little Dreamer Designs, and that's how I actually found out about this fantastic blog hop.  So far there's been a great tutorial on how to make a sugar scrub and package it as a gift.  And also how to make a fabulous ornament.  And many more.  I'm so impressed with the crafty goodness I've seen so far.  So go to any of these ladies' blogs and check out their 12 Days Blog Hop!

Next, I found these FREE printable gift tags at Jones Design Company.  They're PDF downloads that you can print out and they're just beautiful!  

How about more free printable downloads?  West Elm has these awesome gift tags, recipe cards, place cards, name tags, and menus for free download, and they're so cute!

Lastly, an update to my post yesterday.  I went to my first physical therapy session today for my IT band injury.  I got evaluated and I got some homework/exercises to strengthen some of the muscles surrounding my hips, quads, and core so that I don't make up for it by irritating my IT band when I run.  I'll be going to PT regularly for a few weeks.  I'm so excited to be on the road to recovery.  Hopefully by February I'll be back to running regularly!  :)

Oh and if you're reading my blog in a reader, click on over to check out my newly made-over blog, using some of my designs in my "Under The Tree" holiday digi-kit. :)