Whew! What a weekend! This post begins with December 9 and works backwards to December 7. There's an AWESOME freebie at the end, so keep reading!
{December 9}
Today I hosted my 2nd Annual Christmas Ornament and Cookie Exchange! I loved having my girlfriends over for a little holiday spirit! Chris was an awesome bartender and made pitchers of Pomegrante Maritins! The girls claimed they were the best they've ever had!
I made a 4x4 template to use one of Ali's 3x4 December Daily Story Cards with. I added a piece of digital paper so I wouldn't have to punch the holes directly into the journal card.
On the backside of that 4x4 template with the journal card, I printed out a photo of my fun friend Debbie. Prior to her coming the the party, she ran in the Santa Fun Run that is held in Old Town Riga each year (for sure I want to do that next year). All the participants have to dress up as Santa for the run! So much fun! To top it off it was Debbies birthday too! What a way to celebrate!
{December 8}
On Saturday Chris and I helped out with the Children's Christmas Party that was held at our Ambassador's Residence. I was in charge of the children's craft that day, but Chris, on the other hand, was the star attraction. He was asked to play the part of Santa. It totally melted my heart watching each child bring their list to Santa and tell him their Christmas wish as sat on his lap. I was also in charge of taking Santa pictures and it was so hard not to get choked up! I absolutley loved watching Chris take on this roll.
Of course I couldn't help but sneak a kiss from Santa!
The two photos above show a tag I created with Blue Star Outline digital paper from Ali's Happy Christmas Blue Paper Collection and the 3x4 December Daily Sentiment Boxes. I love the way it turned out! The paper ring tree in the photo is the craft I had the kids make at the event. I saw it on Pintrest and altered the size a bit. It was a fun thing to make!
I used one of Ali's 4x6 Layered Templates to create the image above. On the back of the above photo, I printed and attached the bottom photo of the choir. I then used two small pieces of washi tape to secure it to the journaling card and slipped the journaling card into the page protector.
The Ambassador and his wife invited an all-girl children's choir to sing at the party. Latvia is steeped in a strong tradition of song and dance. It seems as though every one in this country has the voice of an angel. These girls were wonderful and sang Christmas songs in both Latvian & English. You couldn't help but leave the residence with the Christmas spirit!
{December 7}
It snowed all day here in Riga. This town is so gorgeous when it is covered in freshly fallen snow! Although it was cold, I didn't mind getting out of the apartment to take a walk and buy an ornament for the party on Sunday. I loved the way one of the coffee shops had their windows decorated and snapped a picture of it for my album:
The little star mirror is from my own stash...
...as are the mini stars on my POTD:sparkle page. The photo to the right is in front of the Black Heads House, across from the Town Hall. This square also marks where the world's first decorated Christmas tree was believed to stand. The location is marked by a plaque and is right where the tall tree in the photo is. This page also flips to reveal another layout I made using one of Ali's Layered Templates and opens to show the journaling card as well.
Thank you soooo much for reading this long post! You can tell by the photos that it was a super busy weekend and I would have had a hard time putting my pages together and then blogging about them! I needed a quite Monday morning to get them done!
So I mentioned a freebie, right? You know that piece of red diagonal digital paper I added to my template in the 2nd photo of this post? Well...I created "December Daily Diagonals," a set of six 12x12 high resolution papers and I giving them to you as a free download! They are clean (no distressing) and the colors coordinate with those from the "bah humbug" freebie I made, as well as the Happy Christmas Paper Collections by Ali Edwards. Just click the link below and they're yours! Enjoy!
Download SeptBlue_DecDailyDiagonals
