On the 7th Day of Christmas Creativity...

Iit's my turn to host the 7th Day of Christmas Creativity!  Woo Hoo!

Well, now, it's exactly one week until Christmas!  So exciting!  I really love this time of year.  I know, I know, I complain that Christmas is coming too fast.  And in a way, the really complaint is that I wish the holiday season lasted longer.  Why do I take on so much? Why do I think I have to do so much?  I wish I could just relax and enjoy the season.  Does this happen to you, too?

I need to find some way to bring myself back to what's really important.  Oh right, remember what I said on the 1st Day of Christmas Creativity?  Service!  Time to get out and do some more service.  That will bring me back to reality.  Then I'll realize that all that stuff I thought was so super important really isn't and that it's okay to let a few things go.

I know, I know, what you are really here for is the next tag in the set.  Are you excited to see some swans a-swimming?  I love swans. The look so serene swimming on a beautiful lake.  Let me tell you though, they aren't very nice.  Not to be negative or anything.  Ever come upon one? I have, and these things are big and don't like people near their nests or babies!  I prefer to enjoy from afar, thank you very much!

Boring but Important Legal Stuff: My terms of use are included in each zipped download. If you have any questions about how you may use this file, please read it. By clicking to download the file, you are agreeing to abide by the terms. If you'd like to share it, please don't. Rather, send your friends a link to this blog post. Once it's no longer available as a freebie, you might be tempted to share it with someone. Please don't! 'Nuf said!

This design will only be up for today, so be sure to grab it while you are here! Click to download your favorite file type.  Remember to click and not to right click!  You need to go to the download page or you won't actually get the zip file!

SORRY!  This download has expired.  Please look for it in the Sam & Hailey Designs Store!

Before you go be sure to enter my 12 Day of Christmas Creativity drawings! In case you missed it the other day, I've decided to give away more copies of my complete set of 12 Days of Christmas Tags. Be sure and enter by commenting on each day!

Here are the prizes:

1) Three Prizes: The whole set of 12 Days of Christmas Tags
2) $10 gift code to Sam & Hailey Designs
3) $10 Michaels Gift Card
4) The December VDBC Grab Bag (or a $7 gift code to Sam & Hailey Designs if you have already purchased it)

How can you win them? On the 12th Day (that will be the 23rd for our little blog-fest) I'll hold a drawing for each one of the prizes (that's four six drawings in one day... I think I can handle it!). All you have to do to enter is comment on my blog to enter. You can comment on my blog on each of the 12 days so you'll have up to 12 entries in the drawings! Each day I'll have a new thing I'll ask you to include in your comment so keep an eye out for that. It's as simple as that!

Today's comment requirement:

Leave a comment with something you do to try to remember the true meaning of Christmas. I need all the ideas I can get!

Be sure to include some way to contact you in case you win the drawing (for example, your VDBC forum name, your email address, etc.). If you don't, I might not be able to get your prize to you!

Time to get crafty, people!

On the 4th Day of Christmas Creativity...

It's the 4th Day of our 12 Days of Christmas Creativity blog-fest!  Yay!  That means it's my turn to host again!

Before I share a freebie with you today, I want to talk about Christmas Music.  One of my favorite things about the Christmas season is the wealth of beautiful music available to celebrate the season.  If I had to pick a favorite song, I don't think I could!  For many years, when we lived in Connecticut, I sang in a concert choir.  It was one of my favorite parts of celebrating Christmas.  I really miss it so much.  I think we need to start one here in Arizona!  Through that experience I really fell in love with choral music.

I was thinking about the song the 12 Days of Christmas which is fun but also very, very long.  We like to do sing-a-longs at our house during December.  This one is generally not my favorite just because it seems so endless.  Once at a Christmas party we did something fun with this song, though, and I thought I'd share it with you.

Here's what you do.  You need a good amount of people at your party to do this.  Divide everyone up into 12 groups and give them each one of the 12 Days.  Each group sings their line when the times comes in the song.  Some people are very serious but others will really get into it and do crazy things for their line.  It makes the song so fun and no one seems to mind that it's super duper long when you are cracking up the whole way through it.  Make sure you give your wackier groups the lower numbers since you'll get to hear them more often than the higher ones.  Have fun at your next Christmas party with it!

On to the freebie!  It's the 4th Day of Christmas, so of course I'm going to share with you my Four Calling Birds Tag!  I was struck by how many bird related items are in this song.  Kind of funny, isn't it?  Good thing I can think of lots of different ways to draw birds.

Boring but Important Legal Stuff: My terms of use are included in each zipped download. If you have any questions about how you may use this file, please read it. By clicking to download the file, you are agreeing to abide by the terms. If you'd like to share it, please don't. Rather, send your friends a link to this blog post. Once it's no longer available as a freebie, you might be tempted to share it with someone. Please don't! 'Nuf said!

This design will only be up for today, so be sure to grab it while you are here! Click to download your favorite file type:

SORRY!  This download has expired.  Please look for it in the Sam & Hailey Designs Store!

Want a little peek at the other days?  Here are Two Turtle Doves and Three French Hens.  These will be in the whole set you can win! See below for details.

Want em?  Here's how you can win them!

Here are the prizes:

1) The whole set of 12 Days of Christmas Tags
2) $10 gift code to Sam & Hailey Designs
3) $10 Michaels Gift Card
4) The December VDBC Grab Bag (or a $7 gift code to Sam & Hailey Designs if you have already purchased it)

How can you win them? On the 12th Day (that will be the 23rd for our little blog-fest) I'll hold a drawing for each one of the prizes (that's four drawings in one day... I think I can handle it!). All you have to do to enter is comment on my blog to enter. You can comment on my blog on each of the 12 days so you'll have up to 12 entries in the drawings! Each day I'll have a new thing I'll ask you to include in your comment so keep an eye out for that. It's as simple as that!

Today's comment requirement:

Leave a comment with your favorite Christmas song (if you can possibly pick one)!

Be sure to include some way to contact you in case you win the drawing (for example, your VDBC forum name, your email address, etc.). If you don't, I might not be able to get your prize to you!

Check back tomorrow to see what we have in store for you on the 5th day!  Ileana will be hosting, and I know it will be fun!

Time to get crafty, people!

Trendwatch Tuesday: Ravens

Whoa, one week before Halloween and the feathers are flying!  Raven feathers that is!  It's been the year of the bird and the year of the owl in the design world recently.  Could it be the year of the raven?  Will we be seeing the raven dressed up in a Santa suit?  Bunny ears?  Probably not, but this certainly seems to be the "Season of the Raven."  Raven's are popping up everyone.  And, frankly, I'm loving it.  I'm not a blood and guts Halloween fan.  I'm more of an Edgar Allen Poe Halloween fan.  I prefer the creepy, vintage macabre of Poe over just about any other form of horror Halloween.

My favorite Simpson's episode?  It has to be the very first Annual Treehouse of Terror episode featuring James Earl Jones' reading of Poe's The Raven.  Best episode ever, in my humble opinion.


Linking for the video. Hope it works!

So, with that little introduction...

Today's Trendwatch is: Ravens

They're perching just about everywhere and the site I've seen the most on?  Definitely MarthaStewart.com.

Check out these lovelies hanging out on a front porch.  There's even a tutorial on how to make them.

Here's a tutorial on how to make cobwebs from MS.  But what caught my eye were the ravens eating out of the candy dish.  Love it!

Lastly, why not make your own No-Sew Raven Costume!  I'm not much for dressing up but this one tempts me.

Another Go-To Decorating site is Better Homes and Gardens (bhg.com).  Lots of ravens spotted there, too.
Ravens in a dead tree, a spooky centerpiece.

This Bed Dead & Breakfast sign with the waiting ravens cracks me up.

Add a little classic Poe to your decor with the caged bird.

In the Papercrafting universe... AKA the Paperverse... why not try a little Raven Flocked Paper from the My Minds Eye Haunted line.  Ravens?  Flocked?  On Kraft Paper?  Why yes, I'll have seconds please!

Even Stampin Up is getting on the Raven bandwagon in their 2011 Holiday Mini Book.  Their raven is dressed up as a clown, though. How humiliating.  Nevermore!

How about a printable sheet from The Raven by EA Poe before you go?  Click to enlarge and then right click to download.

Hope this gets you all riled up for some spooky {but not gory} Halloween fun!

Time to get crafty, people!