Day 1 of 12 Days of Christmas

Edit: The next 12 Days of Christmas post will be after Thanksgiving. Have a great turkey day everyone!

The much anticipated day has arrived. My sweet friend, Melissa Phillips is joining me for 12 wonderful days of Christmas blogging. Welcome to Day 1! Here is the link to Melissa's post for today.

We're not quite past Thanksgiving yet but we wanted to kick off this week with a special post. We know you all love the notebooks, especially the holiday planners. So our theme today is notebooks. I can't wait to see what Melissa has created, I know it will be swoon worthy. I think a holiday planner is a must during this busy time of year. I like to give my creations to friends and family a bit before the holiday rush begins. Thanksgiving gatherings would be the perfect time to give out these wonderful paper treats.

I wrapped my holiday planner up in a Long Sleeve so that part of the notebook peeks out. I used Wrinkle Ribbon, a glittery holly sprig, baker's twine and a vintage silky threaded ornament to fancy up my packaging. There's nothing prettier than a fancy package.
Here's the front of my holiday planner. I decked it out with papers from Papertrey and The Girl's Paperie. The notebooks themselves are from Papertrey.
I couldn't create a holiday planner and not use my Take Note set from Papertrey. I added a word sticker from The Girl's Paperie to the top of my circle accent. Underneath the circle accent are lots of Papertrey dies and more sticker accents from The Girl's Paperie.
Here I've added some Wrinkle Ribbon tied up with a button, baker's twine and a Small Metal Tag stamped with *no peeking* from Friendship Jar Holiday Fillers and some chunky Martha Stewart glitter. Under all that are some fun banner shapes die cut from Cork Paper and patterned paper.
More word stickers are along the bottom. I love that these have some of the letters colored in.
Here's the inside of my double padded notebook. I covered one side with patterned paper so that nosy little redheads can't see what's inside.
More letter and border stickers. I love those things! And of course, an embellished clothespin that has patterned paper, chunky glitter, and a button tied with jingle bell and baker's twine. Those are perfect for holding recipe cards, little notes and coupons during the holidays.
More word fun with the stickers...
Double sided patterned paper makes for easy work on this cover sheet.
I hope you are inspired to create some holiday planners of your own. Be sure to check out Melissa's sweet creation. Before I go for today, Melissa and I have another surprise for you. Each day of our 12 Days of Christmas countdown, we'll each be posting a recipe. That's a total 24 recipes, peeps!

Today I'm sharing a soup recipe that I made over the weekend for guests. It was the best dish of the night. My nephew ate 3 bowls and said *Awesome Aunt Michelle*. Gotta love that from a teenage boy! The girls said *Mom, we should not just make this when company comes, it's a keeper*. Double bonus points from the reds! Seriously, if you make one soup recipe this winter make this soup. It's creamy and yummy and the best comfort food evah! I served mine with some crusty bread that I drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with cracked black pepper...and we topped it with cream cheese and some of my candied jalapenos that I made a while back. Heaven in a soup pot, I tell ya! Hope you enjoy!
Of course I had to make a recipe card. The above photo is the front of my 4 x 6 recipe card. Below is the back side of the recipe card. Papers are from Wild Asparagus and My Mind's Eye.

Here's the recipe that you can copy and paste, enjoy!

Potato and Onion Chowder

2 cans chicken broth
1 cup water
½ cup yellow onion, chopped
2 bags frozen, shredded hash browns
½ teaspoon parsley flakes
2 cups cured ham, chopped
1 can celery soup
1 can onion soup
1 cup velveeta
1 small tub cream cheese with chives
half and half, 1 pint
cracked black pepper to taste

Brown onion and ham in large soup pot in a little olive oil. Add chicken broth and water and bring to a boil. Add hashbrowns and cook for 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Add parsley flakes, soups, cheese and cream cheese. Let dissolve and cook for 20 minutes. Add enough half and half to create desired consistency. Add pepper to taste. I like to serve with a crusty bread that has been sliced, drizzled with olive oil, topped with cracked pepper and warmed in the oven. The ultimate comfort food and soooo yummy on a cold day. from Michelle Wooderson Nov 2010.

Edited for questions: Both soups were the cream versions...Cream of Celery and Cream of Onion (not French Onion Soup) and I don't know what size the hash browns were...not the giant bags.