Oh What Fun!

Hope everyone had the happiest of holidays! I didn't realize quite how much we had going on, but looking back, there was a lot of wrapping, holiday partying, friend and family enjoying, and other general merrymaking in the last few weeks, and I didn't get the chance to post anything.

I did get a request to see which holiday card we ended up choosing, so here it is:

Front

(Our names are off-center since I deleted out the last name.)

Back

(I left some room so I could write a little personal message to everyone - hopefully everyone turned it over!)

Address Labels
(Left over from last year, but I still think they're pretty cute if I do say so myself.)

This photo (a result of playing around with the effects in Picnik) makes me wish it weren't over already. We're down with J's parents at their beach condo this week, and they just took down the Christmas tree and lights. I think when we get back I'll go lie under our tree and look at the twinkly lights for a little before taking it down. (Since I am lazy, it will probably not be put up right away anyhow.)

How was your holiday? Any exciting plans for New Year's Eve?

Help a Procrastinator Out

Statements:
1. I don't know why I wait until December 15th to order Christmas cards. One would think that since I looked at designs before Thanksgiving that I would not wait until weeks later to try and get a puppy to pose for photos. Who knows why I am such a procrastinator.
2. I don't know why I waste so much time picking out a design, photo, and adjusting fonts. One would think that it should be a pretty quick process. Who knows why I am so indecisive.

Questions:
1. Which one do you like better and why?
2. Is the message lame, cute, or too cute? (It won't hurt my feelings. And if you didn't think it could get even better, the non-religious option I just came up with is "Peace, Love, & Puppies". Preference?)

Option 1:
Option 2:
Option 2 with 1's photo:

Oh Hot D@#&, This is My (Christmas) Jam

I am loving the song on this cute video. It shall be my Christmas Jam for 2008. (I have a new one each year.) A Google search on the lyrics brings up a singer named Lenka.

The sweet printable calendars and cards showcased in the video are a great way to give a nice, pretty gift for not a lot of moolah. And not to take away from this seller, but I just came across a link to download this 2009 calendar for free. You have to sign up for their newsletter, but you could a) always unsubscribe, or b) use your "junk" email account (if you don't have one, I highly recommend it). I'm going to print it out!

Advent Calendar

Check out this modern, mirrored advent calendar from Target! Do I fill each drawer with candy? I could keep this out every month and uh, have candy every day up until the 25th.

Should I get it? I really need to put up my tree and other Christmas decorations before buying anything else. I'm pretty excited to do this; all of my Christmas stuff remained in storage last Christmas since I was a nomad.

Christmas Cards

Some Christmas card goodness:

from Manta Ray Designs

from letterpress

from Sycamore Street Press



from Chick Print



from Darling Shoppe



from Nastee Notes



from a favorite design

Not a card, but super cute:

from The Craft Pantry

This year I plan to do a photo card for the first time with a photo from the wedding. (I figure this is the last time we'll do this until we have a kid, and then we'll probably be like everyone else and only produce cards exhibiting how cute our offspring are.) I was too lazy to order when there were some sweet deals going on (of course) and I'll be running out of time soon, so one of my goals tomorrow is to pick out the picture and order them. MIL is dead-set on one, although I don't think it's the one I want to use since it's of us and the church and you would barely be able to see us when it's printed on a small card. She also suggested doing a collage, but I think that would be huge overkill - I already feel a little weird sending out a card with a picture of us. Maybe I'll post my choices tomorrow if I need help.