‘Tis the season for resolutions and goals and intentions that often seem to fizzle out before they really get started.  Personally, I am not a “New Year Resolution” maker.  I like to set goals whenever I feel like I need or want to improve on something – no matter what day of the year it is.

I feel a sense of pressure with the idea that January 1st means I am committing myself to some lofty goal and then by January 15th, feeling like I have already failed for the year.  That whole process seems overwhelming, stressful and entirely too extreme for productive goal-setting and more importantly, goal accomplishing.

Therefore, no.  I am not going to give you a download about resolutions or goals or anything like that today.  You’ll see those kinds of downloads from me at other times of the year (remember when I started at Jim’s Gym?  click here for that download).  I am more effective at succeeding at my goals when I don’t set them January 1, but instead, set them at the time that seems right to me in my life.  Maybe it’s March 10, or maybe it’s September 21.  The date doesn’t matter – the motivation and determination to accomplish something does.

So however you go about goal-setting, just know that you have a friend out here in cyberspace who is supporting you if you would rather set a goal a month from now instead of making a New Year’s Resolution.  Resolving to change or become better or work harder at something is a habit meant for all-year long, not just the first week of January.

In the midst of new gym memberships and vowing to lose 50 pounds or committing to write in a journal every day, prepare a home cooked meal each night or prevent global warming, I give you today’s download.  Chill.  It’s snowy outside my window and temperatures are much below freezing.  But this download is not just celebrating the weather – it’s a reminder not to over-pressure ourselves during this time of year with extreme resolutions.  Goal-setting in general should be doable, broken up into manageable steps where we can feel proud of ourselves along the way instead of only at the end.

Whatever you decide about New Year’s Resolutions (you certainly don’t have to share my opinion), take a minute to “chill” and enjoy the month of January, too.

This will be my last download for 2009 – I’m hanging out with my family till the New Year instead of designing!  Happy Holidays to all of you, wherever you are in the world.  Thank you for being a part of 2009 with me – it’s been a wonderful, new journey and I can’t wait to see what 2010 has in store for our little family.

Enjoy the holiday!

I’m a water girl because I have practiced it.  I never really liked the taste of water but have taught myself to like it because it’s good for me.  So I always have a water with me.  A couple of years ago my mother-in-law asked me to design a label for custom water bottles for the Hall family.  Just like a business or company can create their own custom waters, a family can as well.  Since she’s the Hall family and we’re the Hall family, I design the labels and order custom water bottles when she does.

I know it sounds a little over the top, but you’d be surprised at how inexpensive it really is.  So we have designer water.  It makes me happy to see something that I have created in a format that I can carry around with me and share with others.  Plus, it’s a great conversation piece.

This year for the holidays, we are giving away cases of water to those who are close to us.  It’s practical (which I love) and unique and fun.  I’m pretty sure people haven’t received water for Christmas before.

I even took a case to Jim’s Gym – I can’t think of a more fitting gift to give to Jim, the Water Nazi.  Drink up, everyone!

For our download, I’m giving you a version of our Christmas water label to use in your holiday frame or on a card or whatever you want to do with it.  When I was in high school I had a friend named Mary Little so whenever I see this phrase I still think of her. Tis’ the season for creativity…for me, I’ll enjoy this download on my water this month.

Cheers!

I’ve been out of the country for the last week visiting my parents in the Dominican Republic.  As I sat on the beach and visited the sites I didn’t think once about this blog – I just spent time with my family.

So now I am back and I thought I would give you something for Download Day.  My mom is not super confident with the computer and asked me to help her learn how to download the files that I offer here each week.  At the last minute I had packed an 8×10 frame I had.  It came with a mat that was fit for a 5×7 photo.

As I was showing her how to download last week’s image (just double click on it, Mom – it will come up), I realized that if we wanted to fit the smaller version of the image into her 5×7 opening that it wouldn’t fit correctly.  We needed more room at the bottom of the image to have the paper fill the whole space.

Therefore, I am going to rework the holiday frame downloads from now on and give you a little more wiggle room to work with.  Hopefully this will help you as well as my mom down there in the DR.

Enjoy the download and I’ll share more of the DR soon!

I hope you had as fabulous of a Thanksgiving weekend as we did.  In the words of my father-in-law, “It’s been the best Thanksgiving of my life.”

The Halls got a late start in the marriage and grandchildren department but have made up for lost time over the last couple of years.  So, while last Christmas when we were all together we had three little munchkins running around (all from the same family), we have doubled the number of grandkids during 2009.  Let’s just say that things were a little different this year at the Hall house than they have been in the past!

It truly has been a wonderful weekend and I loved every second.

Since all these new babies have been on my mind this weekend, I thought I would share this download with you for your holiday frame (click here).  I also designed a Christmas card for our sister-in-law on Saturday and decided that these would work fabulously on your own holiday cards as well as in your frame.

Enjoy the download – and ’tis the season!

I know, I know….I didn’t do a download last week.  Some weeks are just like that.  But it’s back today and I have had requests this week for some Christmas downloads for our holiday frame (click here for more info about our holiday frame idea).  If you’re like me, you want to get those Christmas decorations up!  If you’re like Jason, you are determined to wait till after Thanksgiving to make sure it gets some attention, too.  I believe that Thanksgiving and Christmas share the same purpose – being grateful, giving to others, etc. – so I don’t mind lumping them together in the “spirit of the season.”  I do hold off on listening to Christmas music till after Thanksgiving, though.

No matter how you do it, the time has come for a Christmas download.  This week I decided to do something that will work for many situations.  Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, I think that this message applies to all of us during the holiday season.  So, here you go – you even have two color combos to choose from this week.  Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays (including Thanksgiving) to all of you!

You have requested the pieces and parts to my simple version of the Gratitude Journal (click here) and so here you go – click on the image to see the various color options.

Enjoy!

Halloween took on a whole new meaning for us this year.  Cole didn’t even mind wearing his costume for the neighborhood Trunk or Treat on Friday, some photos in the front yard on Saturday and even the Skype chat with Grandma and Grandpa on Sunday.  Holidays are a blast with kids!

But now it’s November 2.  Here in the US that means Halloween is officially over and we look ahead to Thanksgiving.  But whether you celebrate this holiday or not (hello to our international friends out there), this is a time that you can participate in the spirit of Thanksgiving just as easily as we do.  It’s all about having gratitude.  Seeing the good.  Being thankful.  Giving back.  And that can be celebrated anywhere you live – which is why I made last week’s download, “Never suppress a generous thought,” one that will fit into your holiday frame.  It’s good for Thanksgiving for sure, but it truly works anytime and anywhere across the globe.

Today I’ll cater to those close to home when it comes to your download.  It also will fit into your holiday frame, but this one is geared toward what we think of when we celebrate Thanksgiving here in the States…the turkey dinner feast, of course!

You can also use it to make dinner invites or place cards for the big meal to keep the festive spirit going strong.  Happy planning and give yourself a chance to stop and be grateful.  You’ll be glad you did.

Enjoy!

I know, I know.  Download Day is late by about 36 hours.  But I just couldn’t bring myself to sit down and blog yesterday.  I was doing mom stuff and wife stuff and family stuff – in other words….I was running errands.  But between each errand I ended up having to keep coming home to help Jason or put Cole down for a nap and I don’t know what else.  All I know is that my list of errands ended up taking me three trips to finally complete.  Have you ever had one of those days?

The truth is, though, I really enjoyed myself.  I didn’t allow myself to get frustrated because I kept being interrupted and I just worked my way through the things I wanted to get done.  It truly made for a great day.

So as I was running my errands, I decided to stop by our local wholesale decorating store to see if I could find a fall wreath.  I didn’t really see one I wanted so I became inspired instead.  It’s been about 20 years since I have made my own wreath but yesterday I decided to try my hand at it again to see if I could do it.

No, I am not an expert.  No, I didn’t even google how to do it.  I just jumped right in and made up the rules as I went along.  Here are some of the things I learned during my self-taught wreath-making workshop:

1.  Find some interesting items to use on your wreath.  3-5 different types of things works well.

2.  Stock up on hot glue gun sticks because you need a lot to make sure everything is secured.

3.  Prepare yourself for getting burned with said hot glue gun sticks when you press leaves and things onto your wreath.

4.  Have a larger pair of wire cutters than I own because a lot of silk flowers have chunky wires in them that you end up having to bend back and forth a million times to get them to break.

5.  Use a sheet of felt to cut arc-shaped strips that you can glue to the back of your wreath so that it doesn’t scratch your door.

6.  When you are using small skinny things, consider putting them in a little bunches of about 5 flowers and tape them together with scotch tape at the base of the stems.  Then it’s easy to hot glue the bunch to the wreath instead of when they are separated.

7.  Work in a circle with small cuttings of your flowers and leaves but then to add some dimension, have something pop straight out from the wreath or go the opposite way.  As long as you blend the parts it will look fabulous.

Camilla Kimball said, “Never suppress a generous thought.”

And that leads me to my final tip for creating a successful wreath: Never suppress the thought to use a generous amount of supplies.  Seriously.  This could be the tip of all time when it comes to beautiful wreaths.  It seems like you can’t really go wrong if you don’t make it look too skimpy.  Sure, there are wreaths out there that are made to look minimal on purpose and they create a cool effect.  But in general, BE GENEROUS.  Create a wreath that bursts with personality – just remember to watch your fingers around that hot glue while you’re at it.

Thank you Camilla Kimball.  Thank you for those five simple words that can be applied to so many aspects of our lives – including crafting (I’m sure that’s exactly what she had in mind when she came up with such a beautiful sentiment).  Enjoy your wreath-making tips and the following download – this one will fit in your holiday frame (click here).

And especially, as the holidays approach…never suppress a generous thought.

I facebooked a couple weeks ago that I had made “Crazy Caramel Brownies,” which, although I did not concoct this recipe, I gave it this name because of its crazy goodness.  There was a request for the recipe and so I am gifting it to you as our download.  Simple for sure since that’s all I do.

Tasty stuff for a Monday morning.