DIY: Holiday Gifts!

Remember in October I brought you multiple DIY projects that I stumbled upon in blogland? They were mostly targeted toward Halloween/Autumn but could easily transition into winter. I am hoping to do that exact same thing for you throughout the weeks leading up to Christmas! For me, I just like having so many projects and inspiration all in one place. It saves me so much time and energy trying to think who posted what! Okay... before I keep blabbering on... your very first DIY: Holiday Gifts post!

Over at Design*Sponge, this beauty was posted a while ago. As a person who loves tea cups but just leaves them sitting around the house on shelves and in nooks, I find this DIY to honestly be a blessing! Tea cup candles!

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A little holiday inspiration...

Right now, I can't get enough inspiration. I know I might be overwhelming myself, but I just want to spend all my time surrounded by materials making pretty things. My brain's default setting right now is "create"! It could be worse...

Anyway, as we gear up to head into one of my most favorite times of the year, I wanted to show you a few photos that are particularly inspiring some current projects for me! Of course, when the time is right, I'll be sharing those projects, too :). And just so you know, I have been collecting inspiring holiday photos for months, so this is just the first of many, many inspiration posts to come!

 Enjoy!

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Simply beautiful.

I was scrolling through my Google Reader and saw this post from Goodknits.

This picture made me happy. The simplicity is gorgeous and totally what this season is all about.

I wanted to share it with you for a little extra Sunday inspiration!

Oh me, oh my.

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Yesterday evening I got all dolled up to meet up with some pretty ladies for Meghan's bachelorette party. Meghan, Cory's sister, and I are very close in age and get along really well, so I was excited to spend an evening in her honor. Meghan and Sam are getting married New Years Eve and we are so excited for them! In fact, we are excited for the day in numerous ways, because Cory is officiating the wedding! That's right, a few weeks ago he received his license to officiate weddings. Unbelievable...but it's what Meghan wanted! Anywho, last night we went for delicious sushi and then out for drinks and dancing. All in all, it was a really fun evening. Cory ended up meeting up with us towards the end, just to spice it up, and he did a great job hanging out with just the girls. By the end of the night, I was in a good place and happy to have had an evening to unwind.

This morning, however, I did not wake up feeling gross due to anything alcohol related, I woke up feeling gross because I had a full blown cold! Boo! Cory, who is also suffering from the sniffles, has been spending most of the day on the couch with me trying to combat whatever grossness is infiltrating our systems. My body is becoming increasinly achy, so I'm worried this could be a precurser to the flu. I hope not. Too much to do!

Alas, while I sit back and say horrible things in an effort to scare this cold away, I will be bringing really great blog posts to you! Can we say: awesome holiday DIYs, cozy/yummy recipies, great gift ideas, and a few crochet patterns? I think we can!

Check back later tonight for the first... I'm going to head back to my couch and take a little more Dayquil.

In love and tissues,

Liz

Drum roll please...

I am so happy to have woken early on this beautiful Saturday. Cory and I are downtown right now grabbing breakfast at our favorite spot, Cafe Nola. It's a perfect place for us: coffee shop, great place for meals (mostly organic), and transforms into a pretty fun bar at night. Cory is usually up pretty early on Saturday mornings, and while I am a morning person, I try to take my time leaving the sheets. This morning, however, our kitties (who we have renamed as Thing 1 and Thing 2) decided that 6:30 was far too late to sleep in. Alas, Cory and I got ready and headed down to Nola to split a delicious portobello benedict breakast.

Now on to the important stuff: giveaway winners!

Thank you so much for your kind words and entries for this past week's holiday giveaways. It was great to hear from you! Donna's will be hosting many more giveaways as we head through winter (just to spread a little cheer), so make sure you keep an eye out :)

Drum roll please..

The winner of the Winter Wonderland Giveaway:

Leslie Clark!

The winner of the Magical Holiday giveaway:

Carrie Lynn!

Congratulations!

If you're a winner, please email me your mailing address at donnasdecembers[at]gmail[dot]com! I will have these lovely packages to you asap!

 

Happy Saturday! :)

 

xo,

Liz

Hey you

Good morning!

I just wanted to pop in to say hello! I have been away from the blog this week preparing for tomorrow's Holiday show. St. John's has done a great job advertising in the Frederick area, so I had a teeny tiny panic attack that I wouldn't have enough inventory to get me through the show (let alone take me into next weekend's show). However... it's okay. I'm happy to dedicate my evenings to crocheting!

If you're in the Frederick/Baltimore/D.C. area, drop by St. John's Catholic Prep School for their annual Holiday festival tomorrow from 6-9 pm. There will be 25-30 great vendors that have been hand selected, plus food and a family friendly atomosphere! I'm excited to see St. John's new campus, as they have just opened the doors to their brand new school.

In other news, you have until SATURDAY morning to enter the Winter Wonderland and Magical Holiday giveaways (scroll down). I'm planning on throwing in a little Donna's Decembers treat with both packages, so you'll get even more. Don't you just love the holiday spirit?!

Anyway... I'm off to work. I hope you have a great Thursday. I'm pretty sleepy today, so I need to go scrounge up a cup of coffee :)

xo,
Liz

Winter Wonderland Giveaway!

Greetings! There is a lovely chill in the air in Maryland today. It's so lovely that Cory and I have spent our day cleaning, cooking two different kinds of soup for the week, and crafting (well...I have been, not Cory). With that being said, I have been in a fabulous state of mind all day long, which brings me to some awesome news. There will be TWO giveaways today!

 

As I was compiling the goodies for this week's giveaway, I realized that I wanted to reach out to two groups of people: Red & Green Holiday people and Winter Wonderland people. Some people like to go all out and deck the halls with shades of cranberry and pine, while others like to keep the decorations winter friendly and add a bit more glitz and gleam with silver and blue. I'm hoping that you belong to one of these two camps. I like to decorate with both schemes, but in different rooms. There is something really special about those colors, yeah?

 

So here we go... the giveaways will be two different, side by side, blog posts (scroll down for the second one). You can enter BOTH giveaways if you want!

What you need to do to enter the giveaway:

(1) be a follower of this blog.
(2) leave your name, email, and url address for your blog (if you have one) in the comments.

AND you can get EXTRA entries if you blog about this giveaway and post a link to the blog post in the comments of this post!

 

Drum roll please...

This Winter Wonderland Giveaway includes:

*A blank Moleskine notebook perfect for holiday art journaling.
* 6 handmade pom poms in silver, royal blue, and white/gold

* a vintage (1979) copy of Southern Living's Creative Crafts periodical.
*a vintage silver tassle necklace that is the perfect amount of sparkle for ANY holiday outfit!

*Donna's Decembers knitted garland in a creamy white.

*10 different pattern sets of 10 strips of paper perfect for paper chains around your home

*two rounds of winter-blue ribbon that will be perfect for dressing up presents

The winner will be announced this Saturday!

Good luck!

xo,

Liz