Holiday Season Begins

The UNC Wellness center was a blessing to be thankful for yesterday as I worked off at least a thousand calories! And then was too tired to tackle much else.

Accomplished late last night: the 2007 Christmas shopping, not only did I NOT go to any mall, I did not get out of my bathrobe. Everything was ordered online with shipping in mid-December. It's ALL edibles and ALL delicious.

The number one project Friday was to create the gift tags for the bottles of champagne we plan to give as gifts. As usual I headed to the Home and Small Business 'Activity Center' on Hewlitt Packard's website to find a quick and easy solution. Their list of cards, invitations and the like will fit most occasions but not this time. The posted Holiday Cards, tags and party favors look good but no bottle tag to be found. Am I getting too picky or what? Then I landed on a great suggestion. Make personalized gift tags with photos. What a great idea!
CorelDraw12 made it easier than expected and I had just the photo. Ed and I with Crater Lake in the background from our west coast trip last August.

The steps:
1. Select a picture and size it to under 3".
2. Grid an 8.5 x 11 page into thirds in Corel Draw, one page for the OUTside and one for INside, positioning for printing back to back. Since my printer does not do two-sided printing in one pass, I had to print OUT and then print IN as a second pass.
3. Import patterns or art for the back and edges.
4. Create a frame around the photo.
5. Add the cover text "Best Wishes," or whatever you want to say and create a signature line on the inside.
6. Print, trim to exact edges and fold. Punch a hole near the top fold and insert ribbon or string for tying on the bottle. Voila....you have personalized gift tags and EVERYBODY will remember who gave them that particular bottle.



I have one more card to make. My sister's birthday is December 23 and I try to make something that says 'Birthday' and is still seasonal and festive.

The next assignment will be making the holiday table-cloth to fit our extra wide table and add a border of plain cloth with mitred-corners to all sides. Ed and I sampled the Date-Nut Log last night after dinner and I must say we have a winner. Once we finish the holiday food shopping and menu planning (later), we can turn our attention to preparing for the January cruise.

The Holiday Letter is still a concept at this moment without much working for it. Got to get going on a chronology of what we did this year and make a summary. Getting it down to under two pages is the hard part. Of course this year my new Blog will help - I can send the blog address to friends and skip the hard copy. Isn't technology grand?
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