Bird's Nest Pendant and Leaf Charm Bracelet Giveaway: Still Celebrating My Blogiversary

Are you tired of giveaways yet? This is another one from me to you celebrating my blogiversary week. If you spend any time here you know how much fun I have making jewelry and one of my recent popular posts involved wire bird’s nest pendants so I made one to give away!

For the eggs, I used silver glass pearls and wrapped them in aluminum wire. The pendant is strung on suede cord.  I also love making stretchy bracelets, so the same winner will get a coordinating one of those. In keeping with the nature theme, this one has a silver leaf charm.

The bracelet is a mix of stone beads and more silver glass pearls.

Ready, set, GO:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Blogiversary Giveaway #3: $25 Gift Certificate to CutCardstock.com

Hope everyone is having a great week and participating in the giveaway fun. I'm thrilled to be a Design Team member for CutCardstock.com. The wonderful folks there are giving one of my readers a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to their site!

With upcoming holidays like Father's Day ( I'm sure you've all got Mother's Day taken care of by now) , graduation season, prom season and it's always someone's birthday, who couldn't use some notecards or invitation sets?  CCS has got you covered. Flat Cards, Gatefold Cards, Invitation Sets and more, ready for your creativity. 

If you want full size card stock, CCS has a variety of sizes and brands. In case you need some ideas on how to use the variety of products you can find at CutCardstock.com, pop on over to the blog and see what my fellow Design Team members and I are up to each month. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Blogiversary Giveaway #2: Cigar Box Full of Goodies to Alter It With

Don't forget I have a giveaway from My Memories Suite going here.  

This giveaway is sponsored by : ME. My readers know that I love to alter things. I'm also really lucky to have a husband who gets that, and does things like bring  home cigar boxes for me to play with. I have seen them for sale at up to 10 times what he's gotten them for. SO ...I want to give one away to one lucky reader. 

I think I read somewhere( or just made up in my head) that it's bad luck to give away an empty box. What fun would it be to have a cigar box to alter without anything to alter it with anyway?  One reader will get a box filled with some of my favorite goodies to play with. Want to see? 

There are rub-ons and embellishments and washi tape oh my! Couldn't resist including a mini paper mache dress form too. 

Here's the top of the box (some places I've found cigar boxes rip off the lid but this lid is fully in tact which makes this a great place to store bits and pieces) You can use as is, cover it, or incorporate the design into your altered vision. 

And the box itself is a nice cedar ( I think ..but it's some kind of wood!). So in keeping with my history of "craftsplaining" um no, I don't smoke cigars but I sure do love the boxes they come in! Who wants it? (Gonna have to limit this to US only because ....postage)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Third Blogiversary Giveaway: My Memories Suite Digital Scrapbooking Software

Time to start having some Blogiversary fun! Be sure to check back this week for continued celebrating. Each giveaway will be up for three days. 

First up, I have loved using My Memories Suite digital software to create all kinds of things. Ironically, I haven't done much actual scrapbooking with it but I've used it to create holiday menus, in cardmaking, printables, and lots of graphics. 

My blog banner and buttons, and my anniversary banner and buttons were all created using My Memories. My weekly link party rules graphic was also created using it. So I'm excited to be able to give away one copy ( disclosure, I am a My Memories Suite affiliate, opinions are mine ). 

The winner will be able to download their own copy of the SW ($40 value) which comes with lots of great digital papers and embellishments. There are also a lot of free kits in the shop as well as kits you can buy, and each week there are "Friday Freebies" available on the My Memories Facebook page. It also works great with other photos and png files. 

Details are in the Rafflecopter-thingy-ma-whatsit . Good luck! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I Don't Know How It's My Third Blogiversary But It Is!

I’m 3! It seems surreal to think that three years ago today I plunged in, logged on to Blogger, set up a blog and hit publish. Who the heck was I to start a blog and why would anyone (would anyone?) decide to read it? I had no clue that the day I chose was National Scrapbooking Day or that there was a whole Star Wars meme devoted to May 4th. See? The things you learn through blogging.

Three years later, I’m still as excited about blogging as I was that first day. With every post, I still wonder “will anyone like this”? and then hit the post button to find out. I started this blog because I’ve always loved creating and writing. The irony to my non-blogging friends is that they know me as somewhat of an introvert, someone who’s not overly social ( look up homebody in the dictionary and you’ll find my picture).

But here I am now with this, my 780th post and:

• 1031 GFC Followers
• Several hundred more via RSS , Blog Lovin and G+
• 700 Facebook Fans
• 947 Twitter Followers
• 1300 Pinterest Followers

I’ve loved every minute of it and see no signs of stopping any time soon. I’ve met such amazing, inspiring, passionate, brilliant, and above all supportive people through the places blogging has led me.

I’m not going to attempt to name names only because there are so many and  I know I will unintentionally forget someone and honestly? Everyone I’ve encountered through my blogging life has had an impact.

I’ve had opportunities to work with companies I love and have been honored beyond measure to have had my work shared by them and accepted onto Design Teams.

It was kinda karmic that my link party this week was #103 , to coincide with my 3rd anniversary. The inspiration and creativity that gets shared each week feeds my creative soul. The chocolate recipes feed my chocoholic cravings!

If anyone out there’s reading this and has thought about starting a blog but something’s stopped you, take the chance. If you have the passion that makes you want to start, I guarantee you it only continues to grow.

Bloggers are a community, a family. I’m so glad to be among them.

OK so enough with the mushy gushy. Stay tuned this week for some “blogiversary” fun. I may still not be the biggest blog out there with the super-sized giveaways but we’ll for sure have some fun.

For now, a huge THANK YOU to anyone who has ever stopped by my little chocolate covered corner of the internet. To all who have decided to follow along with me one way or another, THANK YOU. To everyone who has featured my work, THANK YOU. To those who have given me an opportunity to stretch my skills, test myself, increase my confidence, THANK YOU.

And of course to The Mumster who bought me my first Martha Stewart book; to Mr. Chocolate who brings home cigar boxes, wine crates, and any number of found things for me to play with and understands and supports my excitement over things he has no clue about; to College Boy who spent countless hours in Michaels and JoAnn’s growing up ( and who now texts me from school asking “Does Michaels carry _________”  for a party or project or....) THANK YOU and I love you guys.

BFF Open House #103 : It Must Be A Flower Thing Edition

Whew. I'm so so glad it's almost Friday! I still can't believe it's May already and that Mother's Day is two weeks away and will be here in a blink. Let's check out some of the ideas that were shared last week that would make great ways to celebrate the Moms in our lives. I didn't intentionally hone in on floral projects but they jumped out at me. 

Would you ever guess that these lovely water lilies from Bliss Bloom Blog started out as milk jugs? Anyone can have a garden water feature with this idea. 

Sweet Malia from Yesterday on Tuesday is sharing these pretty Mother's Day printables done for her by Free Pretty Things For You. Ready, print, use! 

The always talented Aimee from Twigg Studios has a tutorial to make these beautiful ( and realistic) looking paper anemones. What mom wouldn't love a bouquet of these?

I'm always intrigued by what Mich in LA sees when she looks at things. Some people would see fonts in the font stencils she used to make this storage jar. Mich saw flowers. 

While these aren't flowers, you know I have to have a chocolate feature and with Cinco de Mayo on Sunday, I thought these Shortbread Dulce De Leche Bars from Karyn at Pint Sized Baker were "perfecto". 

Now let's get to this week's party! Welcome if it's your first time here. Welcome back if you're returning. Thank you either way for partying with me! 

New Scrappy Tags Giveaway Winner and Mom/Sister Printables

Remember these? I was giving them away and I never heard back from the original winner so Rafflecopter has picked a new one. Congrats Tiffany! 

I was also playing around on PicMonkey again and adapted this saying that I've seen into a printable that can be used for Mother's Day. I also made one with the original version. Since I don't have a sister but I do have a mom (who has sisters and who first told me about this), win-win.