thank you notes & december daily :: tutorial and free downloads

This post was originally presented in July 2010 at write.click.scrapbook. where I am a Design Team member.

Christmas in July :: Thank You, Thank You, Thank You & December Daily

My heartfelt thanks to you all for your kind and encouraging comments. I read each and every one of them and they are all appreciated by this first time blog host, I assure you. 

What secret to reveal about myself today? Hmmm. Well, I have two actually, but they're kind of related. Secret #1: There are some Christmas carols I don't know all the words to in English. My Mom is German, so I learned the carols in both German and English and to this day I sometimes mix a little German in with my English while singing. If I catch myself doing that, I try just to hum along so as not to embarrass myself. But I'm not a very good singer so let's just say that I embarrass myself while singing. Period. 

Which brings me to Secret #2: I find it very difficult to sing Silent Night without being overcome with emotion. The song, the sentiments, the tempo, the music...they all just fill me with emotion and bring tears to my eyes. For me, it is one of the most beautiful songs ever. 

What are a few secrets shared among friends?

Now, to make your Mama proud, another download to add to your collection of Christmas in July goodies!

 download thank you notes or visit the downloads section in my sidebar or the menu under the blog header 

There are two notecards. One is for your munchkins to write thank you notes to the aunts, uncles, grandparents and family friends for the goodies they were gifted. The other note is for you to sent to the aunts, uncles, parents, grandparents and family friends for the kindness they showed your family. We are a big thank-you-note-writing family {blame my German Mom!}. Well, let's put it this way, you don't write the note...you don't get to keep the gift. 

If you're not sure you can get holiday photo cards sent out this year, use this note as a chance to include a photo! Instead of folding the card with the printed sentiment on the outside, here I added a photo to the front and let the sentiment be the inside of the card. There's still plenty of room for the kids to write a short note, which they will appreciate, let me tell you! Since this one was printed as a black and white sample, I used a color envelope to add a dash of color and you could let the kids use markers or crayons for color, too.

These notecards were printed in color and look equally charming with either a white or red envelope. Embellish them with a heart button and embroidery thread or a chipboard shape for an easy and fun note card. Older kids could even help with this project!

I used one of my favorite stamps to embellish the inside of my notecard and an epoxy sticker to take the notecard one step further.

Although I didn't share any layouts with you this week as I thought I might, I will share with you a few of my 2009 December Daily pages. 

These are 3" binder rings. Silly me didn't think that she would ever utilize the full 3", but you can see that they are almost overwhelmed by the number of pages I included!  I began the album on Thanksgiving Day and documented through to New Year's Day. Whew, that's a lot of layouts in 38 days! 

This flip-open page utilized a digital template to include several of our homemade ornaments, which happens to be one of our advent calendar activities...making the annual homemade ornament. And we always have 4. One ornament that each child makes for their own family tree one day and one for our family tree so that we can look back and smile.

December Daily Thoughts: this year I am thinking of designing a hybrid version to force myself to try something new, learn something new and become more comfortable with digital! Don't hold me to that, though. Looking through this album as I was posting photos makes me realize how much fun I have playing with paper!

And in the spirit of being prepared for the holidays, my last secret? I pre-made most of my pages so that after adding photos and journaling, very little else is needed to make my December Daily album complete. 

I included notes that coordinated with Advent Calendar activities, family plans and holiday projects so that it would make it easier for me to remember {and also in case I lost the calendar page I had printed out with my Master Plan}!

Here's to wishing you all the jolliest of times in preparing for the holidays!