Delightful December Day 4

Dear Reader,

Sunday.  What better day to view all the handmade beauty out in the world?  To feel more hopeful?  To be uplifted? 

Advent Calendar

Sarah Jane
Christmas Book Advent Calender is my personal absolute favorite.  Any gift including dozens of wrapped books is superb in my opinion.  Holiday book wrapped and numbered as an advent calendar for a family is perfect.  Story time...spending time together reading about the wonder of the season, what could be better than that?  The same idea was done by Susan Weinroth this year.  Simple and magical, these will be something that your kids (and you) will cherish.  I think this would also be the perfect holiday gift for a beloved bibliophile in your life...merely change the books to suit their tastes.   

Maya Road Design Team Blog
A new twist (ha ha!) on an advent calender using bottle caps.

ScrapGoo
Here is a wonderful cheerful advent banner.  She also has a Christmas Planner tutorial in a later post as well as chalkboard gift tags.

Party with Prizes

Holly Jolly Holidays with Echo Park Paper Co.
Every day another new project, sale, giveaway, journaling prompt or surprise.

Lily Bee Design's 24 Days of Holiday Inspiration
Cute projects with tutorials and prizes too.

12 Tilda's of Christmas with Simon Says Stamp
Tilda of Magnolia stamps is the focus of this blog celebration.  Each day a new Tilda, a giveaway and a sale on Magnolia stamps through Simon Says Stamp. 

Gift Guide

Jennifer McGuire's Holiday Gift Guide
Over 50 gift items to help those needing something crafty for their friends or family. 

Class

Online Card Classes' 2011 Holiday Card Boot Camp
It may no longer be live, but should you need an extra boost to get those Christmas cards out right now, you may want to try this online class by Kristina Werner and Jennifer McGuire.

Holiday Enabling

October Afternoon's Santa Sack
I am a sucker for grab bags.  It is a mixture of finding a good deal and an intriguing mystery.  If you love October Afternoon and have a bit of extra money to splurge on yourself or someone you love (or if you want to buy one and keep some and give some away who is know, right?) then I recommend purchasing one of their Santa Sacks as you won't be disappointed.

Happy and merry crafting,
Shay.

Delightful December Day 3

Dear Reader,

The first Saturday of December, already.  I hope today finds you with plenty of time to play and get crafty.  Perhaps you need a little inspiration?  Or a giveaway to dream about?  I hope these links will help.

December Daily and Journal Your Christmas

Michelle Wooderson
I have been following her due to her work with Papertrey Ink and am really inspired by her Project Life work and now she has a wonderful December Daily to follow.

reverb 2011 / Hope Wallace Karney
Hope Wallace Karney of Besottment by Paper Relics is taking on reverb this year and using the daily prompts to fill up her delightful December Daily.  Plus she also has free downloads.  Cool lady (by lady I mean a woman of refinement and grace).

Nancy Wyatt
I love that Nancy Wyatt's December Daily is made from Rhonna Designs digital products and that she customized everything to fit with her needs and vision.  As someone who loves hybrid projects, Nancy's blog is so much fun to follow and she's a sweet lady (see above definition).

Baers Garten Designs
A fabulous designer of digital products and scrapbooker, Iara Baer of Baers Garten Designs never disappoints.  She shows her off her beautiful December Daily and I can't wait to see more.

Video Series

Kristina Werner's Holiday Card Series 2011
An annual event, Kristina Werner creates 25 different holiday cards on video.  Not to be missed for anyone who loves graphic and clean card design along with stamping.

Quick and Easy Holiday Cards by Britta Swiderski
She has a video series running of Quick and Easy Holiday Cards.  You can subscribe to her Youtube channel where she has great video tutorials for beginning cardmaking, stamp techniques and the like. 

Generous Blogger

Creativity Prompt
Every Friday there is a Friday Freebie including lots of cool journaling cards to use in your December Daily, Journal Your Christmas, Project Life, mini books or any other project you fancy.  She should receive a reward.  Thank you (not much of a reward, but heartfelt). 

Creativity Countdown

December Countdown with Scrapbook & Cards Today
"Join SCT for 24 days of inspiration from some of our favourite designers..."

December Daily with kesi'art blog
It may be en Francais, but isn't inspiration universal?  Or a picture worth a thousand words?  Whatever the cliche, their are some good tutorials.  If you don't read French and wish to read the blog I recommend subscribing through something like Google Reader and using its "translate into my language" option.

Classes

The Gifted Stamper with Julie Ebersole
Ellen Hutson now has the HOWNow School of Creative Arts and The Gifted Stamper is their inaugural class.  Looks like a wonderful opportunity to make some handmade gifts for those on your list.

Party with Prizes

anthropologie's 20 Days A'Gifting
Who doesn't love anthropologie?  A giveaway of anthropologie goodness...brilliant.  When I was straightening up my studio Thursday night I found 3 catalogs from 2009.  Did I toss them?  No way!  They withstand the test of time and are little marvels.

12 Days of Christmas Blog Party by Rahel Menig
A party with recipes, decorations and a giveaway.  Rahel Menig's style is really lovely and her bunny is adorable.
 
Happy and merry creating,
Shay.

Delightful December Day 2

Dear Reader,

Are you capturing your December in the December Daily with Ali Edwards or Journaling Your Christmas along with Shimelle Laine?  I have intentions of doing the project myself, but in the end I often fawn over images of others' December projects. You like to do the same as well?   Love other gorgeous projects celebrating the season? Or perhaps some digital goodies? Then here are some links. 

Inspiration for December Daily or Journaling Your Christmas

Nichol Magouirk
For a December Daily that has a traditional Christmas feel (love the reds and browns) and plenty of panache look at Nichol Magouirk's album.  Beautiful and full of her masterful use of the Silhouette, there is plenty to inspire.

Lisa Truesdell
I love how fun her December Daily album looks and the non-traditional colors are lovely and festive.  I am really charmed by her use of confetti and the chalkboard bits on her cover. 

Kelly Purkey
I love Kelly Purkey's simplified, straight-forward take on the December Daily which makes me feel even I could do one!

Amy Tan
Fun, graphic, bright and sassy, Amy Tan's December Daily is another project that is accessible and still has a lot of style.

Susan Weinroth
Susan Weinroth's December Daily is elegant, cool and classy with a color combination that is one of my favorites any month of the year.

Doris Sander
Using a piano lesson book as a base, Doris Sander's Journal Your Christmas book is handmade, vintage goodness! 

Alissa Fast
Another lovely and creative Journal Your Christmas book taking shape.

Advent Calendars

Liz Kartchner
Beautiful, rustic and chic her 25 boxes are well worth the viewing.

Jamie Pate
Get over to this blog and check out these gorgeous advent tags!  I am now a devoted follower of Jamie Pate's blog ever since she was named one of the ladies on Rhonna Designs Creative Team.  Everything she does is pure loveliness. 

Add to Your Digital Collection

The Lilypad's December Deals
Each day another category is 25% off.  One of my favorite shops full of awesome designers.

Catscrap's Advent Calender
A different lovely digital freebie every day by very gifted designers.

I hope you have found these links as inspiring as I have!  If you have more holiday eye candy or deals, please comment away!! 

Happy and merry creating,
Shay.

Delightful December Day 1

Dear Reader,

I have been batting around ideas of how I want to celebrate this holiday season in a meaningful and personal way.  Have you?  One of my favorite activities is to see how the talented people out in the world celebrate.  I love observing so much beauty and creativity!

I thought I would do something a little different to celebrate the holiday season and all of the crafting goodness awaiting us online.  Why not list what is available right here?  I hope I can add something every day to the list.  Please comment with more suggestions!  I love visiting new blogs and sites. 

No admission fee:

2011 First Tag by Tim Holtz

1. The 5th year of Tim Holtz's 12 Days of Tags. 
Chock full of inspiration, techniques and a daily giveaway.  This is today's tag bu
http://www.timholtz.typepad.com/

2011 December Daily Album Cover By Ali Edwards

2. Ali Edwards' December Daily. 
Chronicle your December in anyway you want with ideas from Ali Edwards blog.  A wonderful way to celebrate and savor the season.
http://aliedwards.com/

3. Basic Grey's 25 Days of Christmas Advent Calendar. 
Each day another goodie.  Today is a favorite recipe.  Tomorrow?...a surprise!
http://www.basicgrey.com/pages/advent

4. Pink Paislee's Winter Wonderland Blog Event. 
Giveaways, free printables, pretty projects...what is there not to like?
http://www.pinkpaislee.com/pink-paislee-blog/

5. Oscraps' 12 Days of O Christmas. 
"Check daily for challenges, freebies, tutorials, some fun Christmas trivia and even a sale or two."  What a treat!
http://ozone.oscraps.com/blog/

6.  20 Days of Christmas Crafts on Design House Digital Blog.
Tutorials of beautiful digital designs used to create lovely physical crafts.  I am there.
http://www.designhousedigital.com/content/category/blog/

Small admission fee:

1. Designer Digitals' Days of Christmas.
Each day a new $0.99 digital product and 285 items 30% off.

Online Classes:

1. Shimelle Laine's Journal Your Christmas. 
Awesome class with daily prompts for journaling and photography to capture the wonder of the season.  This can be used in conjunction with December Daily.
http://www.shimelle.com/paper/1284/journal-your-christmas-2011-online-scrapbooking-class/

2. 12 Artsy Ornaments of Christmas. 
Looks like a fun class with 12 different projects from 12 great teachers like Christy Tomlinson of Scarlet Lime, Donna Downey and Margie Romney-Aslett.
http://christytomlinson.typepad.com/christytomlinson/2011/11/sneak-peeks-holiday-cheer.html

Spark your Christmas garland by Margie Romney-Aslett

3. Spark your Christmas with Margie Romney-Aslett. 
Looks like a class full of ways to add handmade holiday sparkle and decoration to your house.
http://margieromney-aslett.typepad.com/im_just_a_girl/2011/11/spark-your-christmas.html

Hope this either reminds you of something you had wanted to see today or introduces you to something new!

Happy and merry creating,
Shay.