Welcoming Twenty-eleven on in, (with all of it's hope and promise) in vintage style.

 Are you a fan of New Year's Eve celebrating? I am. Big time.

Now, I don't necessary mean whooping it up at a loud giant party, but more the concept of celebrating the possibilities that every new year carries, and sharing it with someone special. I know we can (and should) look at every day as a fresh new start, but there is something just so inspiring to me about the start of a new year, all brand new and clean, with no mistakes in yet...the opportunity to make a list of resolutions, no matter how outlandish, (and whether I am able to keep them or not is of no importance in the end) it seems that anything is possible.

Everything is possible.

When I was a young married girl, we would spend our New Year's Eves out and about, at a crowded bar or concert, with hoots and hollers and horns and whistles going off at midnight. As the years passed, we began spending out New Year's Eves with a smaller cowd, out to dinner. Later still, we enjoyed quiet candlelit dinners by the fire, sharing our resolutions and hopes, and welcoming in the fresh new year with Dick Clark while sharing a new year's kiss. (and doing this on Eastern time, so we could go to bed at 10:00!)

After becoming suddenly single, I spent a couple of new year's eves with a very close, also suddenly single girl-pal, at my cottage on Norman Drive, sharing our resolutions and plans for the upcoming year with dinner and champage...and Dick Clark. No new year's kiss, but still the wildly romantic notion of all the good things that the upcoming year could hold.

Last year I welcomed in the new decade (and shared my New Year's kiss) with my Pacific Northwest Baby-love (who was asleep by 6:00 pm)...and Dick Clark. (Ya gotta love that man. He just keeps going...)

While I am still not quite sure what the exact plans are for this New Year's Eve, or if Dick Clark (Or Ryan Seacrest, for that matter) will even be involved, I am once again ever hopeful for the new year and all it might bring to me. I'm mentally making my resolutions lists and...this just might be my year to get to share another New Year's kiss.

Anyway.

Enough about my personal history of New Year's celebrations over the decades and my loose plans for this year. Thinking about all of this inspired me to whip out a new lil' banner kit.

Mmmm hmmm, just in time for New Years, and not a minute too soon, I made an e-kit that will work famously for this coming new year, and next year too.(All you'll need to do is print a second "2" instead of a second "1" for 2012.) I printed mine on manilla folder paper (I cut some manilla folders to be the right size for my printer) but scrapbook paper, sheet music, or old dictionary pages work just as well.

The really nice part is that the kit arrives as a PDF in your inbox, and it takes only minutes to print, cut, and string together...a perfect hostess gift for a New Years Eve party, or just to spruce up your own home-sweet-home for the occasion.

Cost: $5.00

Comments

[Maggy]

>

Now THAT'S what I call **planning ahead**!!

LOL!!

[Nadine]

I had to laugh at you talking about celebrating with the East Coast as that is what we do in our house. Midnight is waaay too late when you hit my age.

[Jill at buckscountyfolkart.blogspot.com]

Hey you cheater! If I have to stay up til midnight (I live on the East Coast), you should too!

Sounds like you've progressed like the rest of us - going out with friends...then more intimate gatherings....then romantic one-on-ones.....then the kids come and you're in bed long before the ball drops.

I'm gonna miss Dick Clark. The man who defies aging.

Have a great one this year! I hope you get that special kiss.

Jill

[Bettsi]

Hey Tracey! Love the kit- just bought it and can't wait to make it! I get excited about new years too; oh, the possibilities! Here's to a great 2011 for both of us!

[Lady Dorothy]

I made a banner for my daughter as a hostess gift for our New Year's Eve party. She loved it! I used antique/vintage sheet music. You can see it (hanging in my house) here: http://ladydorothy.blogspot.com/2011/01/2011.html