Blogaversary Giveaway Winners!

 

Hello dear Friends! 

Thank you again so much for all of your kind comments and for signing up for the giveaway - which is just a small token of gratitude I love doing each year. Thank you for being here! 

Over the weekend I watercolor painted the cards that I will also be sending to the winners. So here is a peek at them. I had blank cards with floral bouquets sketched on them. I thought that would fit nicely with the Valentines theme. 💝  In the process I mix my own colors, layer the colors to add dimension (so I let areas dry between layers), and I'm learning shading and shadows etc. It's truly a hobby I am loving! I will be putting my initials & the year on the front of the cards and then write a message for each of the winners. :) 

And here is how I got the names together and drew them. It's pretty high tech. Lol

here are all the names written on strips of paper I cut up

here's a closer view so you are sure to see your name in the mix and that I didn't miss anyone 💗

put all the names in a bowl and shuffled them up

Here's a reminder of what the 1st person will receive:

And here's my handsome and sweet assistant drawing the first name and the winner is....

congrats to you!!

And here is a reminder of what the 2nd person will receive:

And that winner is...

congrats to you!!

Congratulations to Karen and to Marilyn! Please email me at cbeargroup15@gmail.com so I can get your address and make arrangements to ship your goodies to you. 😊💗

Thanks again to you All dear blogging Besties! I will be back later with my HHM post for today too. I will be gone some of this week and will be taking a blogging break until next week, but I will post my usual Monday post yet today, so please come back and say hi!

Blessings. xo

Blogaversary Giveaway

 

Hello my Dear Beautiful Blogland Besties!

First of all, thank you so much for being here. I treasure this blogging fun and the wonderful friendships I've made here. I like blogging for many reasons - including a place to keep memories...but the main reason is YOU! Connecting with you friends and sharing our worlds means so much to me. 

Even though my true blogaversary was late last Fall (when it gets so busy for the holidays) - I like to at least do a little something, even late, to acknowledge how much I treasure you being here. It is my 11th year blogging now. I can't believe that's real, as it's gone so fast! 

I thought I'd do a giveaway based on some of my favorite things lately, and that fact that we're whizzing through January with lightening speed and Valentines Day is right around the corner. I finally got Christmas down and kept up some greenery, snowmen, deer (all things we'll be seeing in the northwoods for months to come yet). But I also added some Valentines touches everywhere:

Okay onto the real fun: for this giveaway I'll be giving away 2 separate packages of goodies. For the first name drawn I will be sending you this:

A pop-up floral bouquet. 

I love the pretty vase with it and that roses just say Valentines Day (or maybe I should say Galentines Day😉 💗) It comes with a sweet little card too.

The first person chosen also get this blind date with a book. If I remember correctly it's in the thriller genre. I have been so much more into reading this past year...than I have been in years! So to honor that I thought this would be fun. 

Again, connected to Valentines Day I thought some sweet heart shaped earrings.  I found these crochet ones (& I've just started to get into crochet as a hobby). 

I bought these earrings (& the 2nd pair for the 2nd person drawn) from this small business on Etsy. I love that she included the Jesus stickers with her box. :) 

I forgot to take an individual pic of these - but these are also something bookish + coffee (another of my favorite things!). They are tiny adorable magnets. I thought they might be cute if you had a fridge where magnets work. Or maybe a little magnet recipe holder in your kitchen where you stick a recipe card to follow. Wherever you may find a spot they sure are cute and very detailed! They were also bought from a small business. ❤️

Now on to the 2nd name drawn...that person will receive this:

also a pop-up bouquet, cute book & coffee magnets and a pair of crochet earrings

Aren't these earrings SO cute too? And again, some hearts in honor of Valentines Day coming up. 

*Not seen is that I will also be including my other favorite hobby lately - watercolor painting. I will be hand painting cards for each of the winners plus maybe a few tiny extras thrown in to be a surprise. 

Oh, and I will do the drawing by Sunday and post the winners on Monday. All I will need is an email to reach you and get your address if you win. Thanks dear Friends. See how to enter below:

All you need to do to enter is leave any kind comment below about blogging, or Valentines Day, or your favorite hobby. I will ship internationally as well. And you don't need to be a blogger to enter either. Again, I appreciate you being here as well as your love, support, and friendship all of these years! 

🙏🏻💗

And I need to mention this little Valentine of mine as our sweet Ruby turned 14! Yay!! She is our other baby and we treasure her sweet little soul. Happy Birthday Ruby! 🎉🎂

💗💗💗

Happy Homemaker Monday

Hello and happy Monday Friends ~

And happy Martin Luther King Jr. day. It's so nice that Matt doesn't work today, so it feels like an extra long weekend. Starting a Monday sipping coffee and watching morning news together was a treat. :) 

I hope you had a cozy and restful weekend. We did over here. We mostly cozied in because of the cold weather (teens below zero) other than to go to church and run some errands.  On Friday night we snuggled together in the living room in front of the fire listening to music by candlelight and fire flow and reading. It was so wonderful! 

Saturday night was fun as we scratched off one of our date night ideas that was one you could do at home. (Matt gave me a fun date book for Christmas a few years ago) It's fun for shaking it up now and then. It suggested to revisit our youth and for dinner to eat one of our favorite childhood snacks or meals and watch a favorite childhood show together. So we did just that and it was so fun and filled with lots of laughs! Matt's snack was "chips & cheese" which he said was where he would grate cheese onto a plate of doritos. Then microwave it a little. And dip the cheesy chips into salsa. And he picked the show Saved by the Bell - so we watched an episode of that. My snack was cereal (cap'n crunch to be exact) and I chose an episode of the Muppet Show. It was one of my absolute favorites in grade school! Lol It was all pretty hilarious and brought back so many other childhood memories we both enjoyed sharing with one another. 

We also watched lots of football. I bet you're happy about those Chiefs Jean! Wow, was that a nice TD by Travis! And always nice to see Taylor cheering him on. 😉 Matt and I are already talking about and making fun plans and a menu for the Super Bowl ahead. Do you watch the Super Bowl and like to make fun plans for food or time with friends?

**And just a reminder that I'm doing my 10th Blogaversary Giveaway Wednesday and you only have through tomorrow to leave a comment.  Please go back to that post, check out the prizes and enter! You can find it if you click here.

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

 Coffee with protein creamer and some almond milk, a little piece of kringle. We grabbed some to be a treat throughout the long weekend. It's so good! 

ON MY TO DO LIST THIS WEEK:

errands, home projects, help my Mom with some things, dinner with a friend, grief work from home and at the facility, home projects

THINKING ABOUT:  

What we're going to do this afternoon for some fun together. Probably play some cards and maybe watch a movie, as it's still so cold outside....which is a bummer because it would have been so fun to go walk on the frozen bay.

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE

It's nice and clean and always looks so empty without the tree up. Listening to some Celtic music and I'm going to head into the kitchen soon and make up some chicken salad for our lunch.

CURRENTLY READING

not sure of my next book yet?

ON THE TV TODAY:

When Calls the Heart, Virgin river, All Creatures Great & Small, The Rookie , Miss Scarlet, Shifting Gears, some movies taped & HGTV shows

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

    MONDAY - leftovers from the weekend (meatballs, chicken, veggies & protein dip)

TUESDAY -  pinwheel pork chops, roasted sheet pan of veggies with balsamic glaze

WEDNESDAY - pho soup with chicken, crackers, fruit

THURSDAY - cheese pierogis with grilled onions, salad

FRIDAY - maybe out for dinner?

TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:

 work on our wedding scrapbook I'm making, watch a movie, maybe bake up something?

TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:

❤️❤️❤️

FROM THE CAMERA:

pretty sunset:

clean and bright living room and no more Christmas tree :(

our cozy night by the fireplace when the wind was howling outside (it has been SO COLD here)

That night I made us mugs of homemade cocoa on the stovetop. I'll share the recipe later this week. 

We got in some snuggly naptime over the weekend too :) 

Feeding the birds brings other critters too. 

PRAYER LIST:

 For an end to the conflicts all over the world and anyone living in war & fear. For peace and unity in this country, especially from hate and shootings or violence.  For anyone sick, suffering, in pain, fear, loneliness etc ... that God bring them comfort and peace. For all those affected by the wildfires in CA and for the firefighters working so hard. 

For Christ's Light and Love to cast out the darkness everywhere and help the world find its way. 🙏🏻

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

Have a great week ahead Friends! I'm sharing this with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.