From the He{art}

I don't know why it is, but somehow every year December's arrival catches me off guard. It's not like I don't know that it's coming - I mean after all - it does happen at the exact same time every year, but here I am once again in complete and total shock that today is December 1st and I have no idea where 11 months have disappeared to. In addition to my disbelief that yet another holiday season has descended upon me, I am extra busy this week and I already feel like I'm smack in the middle of Hurricane Christmas that wont blow over until December 26th.

So what do I do when I am overwhelmed by a seemingly endless to do list, why I go blog surfing of course. One of my first stops today was over at Tim Holtz's blog. I was very excited to read that he is going to share another 12 Days of Tags with his readers.





If you didn't get a chance to check out his awesome tags last year, now is a great time to catch up. You can check them out here.

I then found a wonderful e-mail in my inbox from Label Tulip. Not only have they put their exclusive stamps up for sale in their boutique (their stamps are usually only available as part of their monthly scrapbooking kits), but they also have Grab Bags available for $18 (each bag contains paper and embellishments that have a total retail value of approximately $44 - that's a whoppin' 60% off), and last but certainly not least, they have put all of their past kits on sale for 40% off of the original asking price (you scroll down past the Grab Bags to see the kits). The stamps are only on sale until 12-10-08, but everything else will remain on sale until 12-31-08, or until they sell out.

And just when I thought it couldn't get better, it did. I am a big fan of Got Sketch's website and classes, so naturally I am on her mailing list. Well, today I received an e-mail from Valerie Salmon and Janna Wilson with a surprise announcement that they are offering a free mini class. Here's a copy of the email:

Introducing Got Sketch Mini!

It's a week-long class just for you, our Got Sketch supporters! Since this is the season for giving, we thought we'd give you our early Christmas present!It's our way of saying thank you. And yes, it is totally FREE!! So, go ahead and share the news with your fellow sketch fan friends. The more, the merrier! To those of you who have been curious but have yet to take one of our workshops, this is your chance to participate & get a glimpse of what our classes are about. It's a sampling of our Got Sketch workshop -- minimized into a 7-day program. We know you will enjoy it!

Here's what you can expect:

• TWO top-notch 12x12 sketches from Valerie Salmon & Janna Wilson
• The sketches will include a sample layout, supply list, instructions, and project notes which are delivered in high-quality printable PDF files
• 1 Sketch Challenge on Day 1
• 1 Tip & Trick Sheet
• An interactive community
• Inspirational gallery from your classmates
• A Live Chat session with Valerie, Janna, & community members
• Prize Giveaways
• A self-paced class: No deadlines, No homework, No tests
• The community will open on Wednesday, December 3, and ends December 10

Register ahead of time to join to be assured that your entry will be approved by Wednesday, 12/3 or Click Here to join!

So go check them out, what do you have to lose, it's a free class after all.

Speaking of free, I downloaded some awesome digital freebies this morning from Sueli Colbert's website. Just click on the flashing "Download" icon underneath the images you want to open. They download in a zip file that you have to extract to your computer. All of the images shown are included in the download as separate files so they can be used alone or combined however you like. I know I will get plenty of use out of these goodies (you can either click on the pictures or the link above to access her website):

There are obviously some things that I am just not going to get around to doing today since I spent several fabulous hours in front of my computer , and although I don't regret the time I spend online, I do regret not having found the time to prep for Ali Edward's Daily December Album. I have known who Ali Edwards is for quite some time, and a frequent her blog, but I was somehow incredibly oblivious to this project until very recently when my scrappin' buddy/meetup organizer, Cheryl, told me about it. Well as soon as I found her web page detailing the project I thought, "Great, I'm in." I had recently purchased a Bind-It-All from the Portrait Bug, and I thought, "This is fantastic, I have a reason to use my new toy and in the end I'll have an adorable memory book from this holiday season." So, if you read my first post a few days back you may recall my very first entry where I confessed to being a chronic procrastinator, so needless to say, there is no book ready to go so I can easly jot down the daily happenings during this holiday season - oh yeah - and the Bind-It-All has never even made it our of the box. So instead of giving up, I have had to compromise. I am keeping a record with snippets of daily events in a cheap spiral notebook (the kind you find for $1 at Michael's), and once the holiday season is over I will transfer it to a handmade book. I am on vacation from work all of the days between Christmas and New Year's, and I think putting the book together during that time will be a nice way to reflect on recent events, and maybe - just maybe - I will be able to appreciate the holiday more since it all seems to be over in a flash and all I remember is 25 days of exauhstion.

Are any of you working on Ali's December project or do you have another special project planned specifically for the holiday season? I'd love to hear how you make it through the madness and still find time to capture the memories.

Well, I am finally going to have to go and get some offline work done. I have printed out a copy of my Scrapbooking Meetup's December Sketch Challenge (didn't I just finish the one for November), so I am adding that to the things I have to do before I go back to work on Thursday. I still have a gazillion things to do to get ready for our Holiday Party this Friday night, but more on that later - I don't want to ruin any of the surprises I have planned for any of our members that may be reading this blog.