Friends

i_hope_that
For many of us, the holidays can be kind of rough. If you're searching for a network of understanding friends, this ultra-nurturing community encourages you to express your heartfelt wishes and offer other members encouragement and acceptance. Not for the terminally snarky or emotionally-challenged, this is a good-spirited place to lend comfort and support.

diygifts
Feeling crafty? If you've got a few last folks on your holiday gift list, this is a great place to seed your creativity and generosity. You'll also discover wonderful DIY tips to decorate your home and entertain guests. Offering a no-frills-no-skills attitude that welcomes the cash-challenged and arts-phobic, you're sure to get ideas and make friends in the process.

cooking_club
A fun and friendly community dedicated to those who love to cook, whether you're a meat-and-potatoes type, an aspiring gourmand, and/or a vegan. In search of a brilliant dish to use up those weekly leftovers? Post your ingredients and you'll be whipping up a feast by dinner. You can also share favorite recipes. For Type A chefs, you can spice up your culinary repertoire with exciting cooking challenges.

stepstomarrow
When granddaughter, Jada, was born with leukemia, a donor-match was located and Jada made a miraculous recovery. In honor of her grandaughter's health, Jeanna has decided to walk across the country (in the dead of winter) to raise awareness and build support for the bone marrow registry (all that's required is a cheek swab). Follow Jeanna's remarkable journey as she travels the United States by foot.

CALLING ALL ARTISTS!

(Sorry for the repost, LJ did strange things to the previous post and I had to delete it.)

It's that time again! Time for ... NEW BANNERS! Yay! I know, I know ... The Holidays Ate Our Lives. (Or exams for some of you ... I'm grading!)

I'll be accepting submissions up through Dec. 28, midnight, US Central. Then, depending on the number, I'll try to get the turnover for voting done quickly. The current banner will be up through January 5th. I'd like to have a new one ready to go by then, so voting will run from December 29th through January 4th.

ONE banner, roughly the size of what we've got. ONE icon to match it.

Submit to minisinoo-at-yahoo.com (correct the -at- to @). Be sure 1) 2Seekers Banner Contest, and 2) your LJ handle are included in the header. Drop any questions in comments.

EDIT: Bookaddict pointed out (in previous comments that screwed up the previous post) that THIS June will be the 15-year anniversary of Cedric's death ... this might be something to consider in banners. :-)

taste_buds
Holidays provide a built-in excuse for indulgent entertaining. This all-purpose foodie community covers everything from homemade hangover cures to dinner party menus. Need quick advice? Get five-minute snack suggestions, low-fat ingredient substitutes, and even measurement conversions. Delicious recipes garnished with humorous advice. Yum.

naturesbeauty
Always on the lookout for compelling images, we were delighted to discover this flourishing community of artists who share a love of nature. Honoring the subject with photographs, paintings, sketches, prose, poetry, and other creative works, you'll be simultaneously riveted to your monitor and inspired to run helter skelter towards the nearest wooded dale.

I've made almost 300 icons of my new HP holiday-themed mistletoe icons, but rather than make you slog through them looking for our boys, here is the Harry/Cedric mistletoe icon for you guys:



Be sure to credit karli_meaghan or wicked_visions in the keywords if you use it.

If you're curious about the rest of the icons, the posts for them are here (het), here (slash), and here (femslash).