Thank you everyone who participated in our Valentine’s Giveaway! I am so excited to announce the winners!  Don’t forget, if you weren’t one of these 3 lucky winners, you can still get FREE shipping on any purchase over $25 (pre-tax) with code SWEET at checkout. Congrats to our winners!

Day 1 Winner: Mandy Bamsch Derryberry

Day 2 Winner: Elizabeth Vincent Gillenwater

Day 3 Winner: Laura Thompson Pastor

To claim your 25 Valentine’s Day Stickers or Tags, email me at admin@shophollydays.com and we’ll get your tags going!

Have a great weekend! Now, it’s time for me to finish up getting the house ready for a sweet baby shower that starts in 3 hours! Can’t wait to share pictures!

It’s Giveaway Day #2! Don’t forget to go to our Facebook page and comment under the Valentine’s Giveaway Day 2 photo on our wall to be entered in the contest! You could win a FREE SET OF 25 VALENTINE STICKERS OR TAGS! If you missed it, for more details on the giveaway, you can check out our post from yesterday. Good luck! Winners will be announced on Saturday.

Have a great day!

I really cannot believe it is already February 1st! I am so excited to tell you about our FREE shipping offer we have going on through Saturday! Just spend $25 or more and use code “SWEET” at checkout and your entire order can ship for FREE! Also, for fun, we are giving away a free set of 25 Valentine Tags or Stickers on our Facebook page every day this week starting today through Friday! Become a new fan and LIKE US on Facebook and comment below the giveaway announcement on Facebook each day (yes you can enter one time per day) to be entered to win*. The winners will be announced on Saturday!

*If you have already purchased 25+ HollyDays’ Valentine Tags or Stickers for 2012 or purchase the tags/stickers during the giveaway period, you will be reimbursed the purchase price including tax (if applicable) for 25 Valentine Tags/Stickers. If you have already purchased fewer than 25 HollyDays’ Valentine Tags or Stickers for 2012 or purchase the tags/stickers during the giveaway period, you will be reimbursed the purchase price including tax (if applicable) for the number of tags/stickers you purchased and given a credit for the remaining tags/stickers. OPEN TO US RESIDENTS ONLY. Facebook Giveaway Disclaimer: Facebook giveaways are in NO way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook. Information collected is NOT collected by Facebook. In signing up for this promotion, participants release and indemnify Facebook from all liability.

Valentine’s Day is almost here, so we wanted to share some of our cute Valentine’s with you. They are available here on our website. Also, we have some cute tags & lollipops only available by emailing us at admin@shophollydays.com or commenting on them on them Facebook to purchase:

Designs above and below are available on the round tags.
They are $0.75 each for the tag and string.
Need them made with the lollipops, too? $2.25 each (includes lollipop with personalized tag tied on the lollipop)

So it was time for us to have some head shots done for HollyDays for our bio page, etc, so Jen and I met up with photographer Stephanie Benzaia of Benzaia Photography to take some fun shots of us.

Here’s some behind-the-scenes photos… we even had a little more excitement than we expected…

So here’s how it went… Stephanie had Jen and I set up holding balloons but this piece of metal was just a little in the way, so she pushed it over with her foot…

Out from a pile of cut grass run not one, not two, maybe three, might as well been 100, mice running out and of course being the scared girls we were, we did the only natural thing possible, scream and run all over the place!

You must know, that we were not far off the side of a road that was of course busy with cars and I’m sure they were filled with a bunch of laughing people. Stephanie just said she wished she would have been ready with the camera; however, she was running and screaming along with us.

Anyway, there is never a dull moment around here. You should have seen me Friday when my 2 year old made the toilet overflow. I know you can relate.

Hope your day is filled with excitement!

I am loving how cute these earrings by Emily Schuler and Amy Henson of Tootlebugs look on the Earring Cards we designed for them! How southern and cute!

Hello! I’m back from Americasmart! I had such a great time seeing and learning new things! I even was able to have dinner with some amazing women in the stationery industry!

Oh, and I witnessed a FLASH MOB! How exciting! We were literally on the 13th floor (yes, really, they don’t leave that one out) and were leaning over watching it! It was so neat to hear the music and see thousands of people hurry over to see!

One of the sessions we went to was about how blogging changes the industry with speakers Heather Clawson of Habitually Chic, Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan of Apartment Therapy and Christiane Lemieux of DwellStudio. It was so neat to hear how blogging and social media has changed business.

My favorite session was Recipe for Press, presented by Amy Flurry, an amazing woman with incredible press knowledge with work featured in InStyle, Conde Nast Traveler, O, Four Seasons, House Beautiful, Country Living and more.

Source: Photo by Renee Brock | AmyFlurry.com

I purchased her book, Recipe for Press, and I can’t wait to read further on how to generate media exposure. If you are a business owner reading this and want to grow your brand, you should immediately purchase this book! You can purchase it HERE.

Source:  AmyFlurry.com

Oh, and I did do some shopping, of course, so I would call the trip a success!

Here I am just getting a chance to write out my goals for you for 2012. I now have a new perspective on New Year’s Resolutions. I have always been like the typical person, starting off January first like a whirlwind, attempting to accomplish daily what I set out to do. Of course, what I find is that by March, I am given out and discouraged. Maybe I was able to accomplish what I set out to do and I was tired, but more often than not, I wound up discouraged because my hopes of keeping to my resolutions faded a little every day because of distractions that caused me not to be able to check all the items off on the list for the day. Now, with a 2 1/2-year-old in tow, I realize my life needs to be lived differently. Rather than overwhelming myself with a daily checklist of this and that, I have a list of written out goals for the year that I want to accomplish by December 31. After all, as a wife, mother and business owner, I probably would overwhelm myself with what I actually do daily if I saw it all on paper (are you with me on that one!?!). Anyway, back to the point of this post: I have written out my Goals for 2012 or as I like to call it, my “Write It & Claim It List”. It’s a list of all the things I would like to either focus on or accomplish in 2012! During the year, some goals can be added or changed, but it is like a running thought process of where you want to go in 2012.  Ok, so here it goes: I’m listing out all of mine below and I will delve into them deeper in upcoming blog posts. Also, keep reading because below, I’ll have a FREE download for a form to help you make your own “Write It & Claim It List”!

Here they go (in no particular order):

• Read at least one book per month
• Blog 3 times per week
• Cherish Family Time
• Write out my goals & set myself up for success
• Teach my daughter to read
• New HollyDays branding identity
• New HollyDays website
• Hire a new additional employee
• Live my own version of success
• Be a “Grace Based Parent”
• Look at a blank piece of paper more rather than the computer… imagine possibilities instead of obstacles
• Don’t let comparison steal my joy
• Send Birthday Cards
• Get published in one magazine
• Get published on at least one website
• Have one day a month of random acts of kindness for my daughter
• Pray & Keep a journal seeing how God answers prayers
• Be a better friend
• Live my life so others see my love for Christ
• Have a dinner at least one time per month… dinner parties here we come!

Ok, so that is what I have so far – all attainable, but not too easy. So here it goes, want to write out your own list and keep it handy so you can refer to it daily/weekly to track your progress. After all, writing it out helps you visualize the outcome! I can’t wait to see what we all can accomplish this year! Click the text below the image to start downloading the PDF printable file.

Click Here to Download the “Write it & Claim it Goal Sheet”

Good luck and I can’t wait to hear from you about what you have planned to accomplish this year! Set yourself up for success!

Happy New Year! We are back from taking a short break for Christmas to spend more time with family and friends. I am so excited about what 2012 holds for us.  2011 was a great year for HollyDays and that is why I am ready for 2012! I just have to share the top 11 things I learned in 2011…

11. Your metabolism does slow down at 30… I return this year wiser (hopefully), 30-years-old (yikes) and 10 lbs heavier than Jan ’11 (double yikes)…

10. Business is about relationships.

9.  I need to set myself up for success.

8. The HollyDays brand is not a logo it is the entire experience.

7. I need to write my goals down to claim them and go after them!

6. Encouragement and accountability are golden.

5. Don’t be afraid.

4. Giving is great. After the April 27th tornadoes, we designed and sold t-shirts in order to donate money to the American Red Cross in Alabama.  We were able to donate over $4,000 thanks to our wonderful customers. 100% of the profits from the shirts went to the cause.

3. HollyDays is about Memorable Moments… that is our whole goal here with the products we create.

2. I should love what I do and do what I love. I have learned that our products aren’t for everyone, but for those whose style aligns with ours, we work to create the best gift or party experience that we can… and we love it!

1. I MUST re-energize, rest and relax in order to be my best and do my best. I also return to work today re-energized {maybe not as rested or relaxed… my 2 1/2 year old has called it quits with napping (another yikes) }

Thank you so much for a wonderful 2011! I can’t wait to share my goals for 2012 (see #7)! What are some of the things you learned in 2011?