Hi Everyone!

Has anyone noticed that it’s getting a lot cooler outside? For us here in most of the United States at least. Crisp cool mornings, frost on the lawns, trees in all shades of warm colors. With Halloween behind us, I get the itch to start working on my Christmas designs. (All of my previous Christmas kits have been added to my SBG store and they are 30% off.)

2011 Countdown 2 Christmas Workshop

For the last three weeks I have been immersed in preparing, filming, editing, and BLOGGING my 2nd Annual Countdown 2 Christmas Workshop (and Digi Kit). Last year we had so much fun painting, photographing, and journaling our way through the months of November and December and I couldn’t wait to get started this year. I am super excited about how the workshop format has changed a little.

For newcomers to my blog, Countdown to Christmas is in it’s second year of “production”. Because I wanted to create my own holiday journal with a vintage feel from mid-century graphics and hand-painted papers, I decided to offer a class using myself as the guinea pig. From start to finish, I share the process of painting background pages, to cutting and pasting of images, to bookbinding, and finally, daily journaling. My workshop is split into two halves. The first half is all video, broken into easy-to-follow steps, that covers the creation of the bound journal. This portion can be done in a leisurely pace through the month of November. The second half is all about the journaling and memory keeping on a daily basis. Each day in December, from the 1st to the 25th, I share with you my journal process. Here’s a little more detail:

• * The C2C Workshop is available November 1st and all the videos are up and running on the Countdown2Christmas blog.
• * All content has been set up on a permanent blog where it will be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year, with NO expiration date! 
• * After the purchase of the workshop, blog logon information is provided to you in a downloadable file from SBG.
• * Images used in my journal are provided as 25 downloadable collage sheets in .jpg format sized for  8.5″ x 11″.
• * 25 Art Starts (quick pages for Art Journalers and exclusive to the workshop) scanned from my own journal. This year I wanted to make a “skinny” book, so the Art Starts are created as printable 6″ x 11″ pages, which can easily be layered onto traditional 12″ x 12″ layouts as well. So much fun to work in a unique size!
• * December 1st thru December 25, I blog daily which includes my Holiday Journaling, a downloadable piece of coordinating word art (exclusive to the workshop), journaling prompts, photographic prompts, and the occasional video if I do anything “unique” to my journal during the process. (For example, last year I shared how to “tip-in” a handmade acetate envelope.)
• * Then we’ll wrap up the workshop the week after Christmas with a video tutorial on how to create a custom felt book cover as well as adding 3-dimensional items to our holiday memories.

If you can’t tell, I absolutely LOVE creating this workshop and sharing the process with fellow holiday enthusiasts each day of December.

To purchase the workshop, be sure and click on the pic below.

2011 Countdown 2 Christmas Digital Kit

As part of the C2C process, I start by collecting together a group of mid-century holiday graphics. (All images are determined to be copyright free.) Then with my graphics in mind, I paint all my background papers to coordinate. Finally, the Countdown 2 Christmas Digital Kit is assembled from the collection of graphics and the hand-painted backgrounds. This option is great if there is a desire to have only the Holiday graphics without the physical mess of paint and glue. Included in the kit this year:

• * 25 unique .png holiday graphics that can be used for traditional scrapbook layouts and holiday journals alike.  Many of the holiday elements come with a Greetings version, a “blank” version and a reverse print version to allow for placement anywhere on your layout. Images are sized to fit nicely on a 12″ x 12″ or smaller layout.
• * 35 hand-painted and stenciled background papers
• * bonus set of numbers 1 through 31 for documenting each day in December
• * bonus pack of 11 decorative Christmas 12″ x 12″ Backgrounds.

The bonus sets are exclusive to the digital kit. 

2011 Countdown 2 Christmas Journal Spots

I’m excited to introduce a new C2C product this year, Journal Spots. While creating the daily Word-Art for C2C this year, I designed 25 unique graphics for creating titles or writing memories. They were so cute, I decided to scan them in and make the blank 2011 Countdown 2 Christmas Journal Spots element pack available for everyone. 

2011 Countdown 2 Christmas “Whole Enchilada”

For those that prefer the “Whole Enchilada”, I offer the Countdown 2 Christmas Workshop AND the Countdown 2 Christmas Digital Kit AND the Countdown 2 Christmas Journal Spots in a bundle, which saves you a little moolah. This is a great option for those that like to go between digital and physical, depending on the mood at the time. I bounce back and forth between digi and physical all the time.

A little birdie told me that ScrapbookGraphics is having a holiday challenge this week. Be sure and check out the blog to see some incredible eye candy and find the details on a chance to win free a C2C class from me. C2C is an incredible holiday journey through memories past and present. I adore my journal from 2010 and I am already anticipating the process and completion of 2011. Come join me!

Everyone have a great week!