April 23, 2012

Handmade Olympics - Forwarding Kindness

The handmade olympics, an event showcasing members of the handmade community, is going on at Rikrak Studio. I'm happy to see that one of the sites I nominated, Tiggy's House, which is earning money for a home for child victims of sex trafficking, made it to the finalists in the "forwarding kindness through handmaking" event.    You may remember that Tiggy's House sponsored a giveaway here for the Hearts Should be Free event to raise awareness of modern slavery!  

Anyways, hope you all will take a look at the featured sites and vote!!

Easy Wins: Low Entry Giveaways

The cool thing about blog giveaways is you can usually tell now many people are entered. The less entered, the better your chances to win. Here's some I found with low entries ending soon.

Ends April 24 


The Forgiven Duke (92 entries)




Ends April 25






Ends April 26

Multilingual T-Shirt (30 entries)

If you have a giveaway with less than 60 entries per prize ending in the next 5 days, please click here to submit it.

April 17, 2012

Easy Wins: Low Entry Giveaways

The cool thing about blog giveaways is you can usually tell now many people are entered. The less entered, the better your chances to win. Here's some I found with low entries ending soon.  This week's just happens to be mostly books!

Ends April 19

 The Mysterious Benedict Society (18 entires/3 winners)

Ends April 20

How it Works:  Machines, iPad Ap (24 entries)
6 Pack of Zevia Soda (9 entries)

Ends April 21

The Jesus We Missed, Book (4 entries) - Scroll down
Broken English, Book (4 entries) - Scroll down


Ends April 22
 
The Case for Christ (12 entries)*
*I read this book, and highly recommend it!
Ready, Set, Draw Animals (8 entries)
Paperwork Made Simple Audio Download (18 entries)
5 Love Languages of Children (48 entries)



If you have a giveaway with less than 60 entries per prize ending in the next 5 days, please click here to submit it.

April 13, 2012

Friday the 13th - What a Wonderful Day!

DSC_0031.JPGHey...it's Friday the 13th! My lucky day!

I'm kidding a little...cause I don't actually believe in luck...but I'm not being sarcastic. I actually like the number 13...and it started with a specific Friday the 13th from my childhood.

When I was a kid I liked to collect old and unusual buttons (it was one of the many things I collected then). My button collection started when I discovered a box full of beautiful old buttons that were being sold for a quarter each at this wonderful shop in California called "The Sea." Can't remember what city it's in now, but it's an amazing place...they have a whale skeleton on the wall, shells inlaid into the floor, and hundreds of nautical nick-knacks. Buttons don't exactly fit into their theme, but for some reason they were selling them that day, and I picked out some beautifully ornate ones which were the first in my collection.

After that I started going to antique shops trying to find more. That takes us to Friday the 13th in 4th grade. In class the students had been talking about how "SCARY" the day was, and wondering what strange horrible things would happen that day. The teacher even told us some spooky stories.

After school that day, my mom took me to an antique shop. Inside I found some pretty glass buttons with flowers painted on them, and asked the shopkeeper how much they were. "Free," she said. "You can take them."

Next door was a different antique shop where I found a little black button with a fake diamond set it it. Again, I asked the shopkeeper how much it was, and he too said I could keep it.

So, I decided that the whole Friday 13th things was a bunch of bunk...that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the number 13.

Much later I discovered another piece of trivia that makes me like the number 13 even more. A chapter in the Bible many of you may be familiar with, the chapter on love, is 1 Corinthians 13...and it is exactly 13 verses long. For those of you not familiar with it, here's what it says...

1 Corinthians 13

1. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

2. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

3. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

4. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

5. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

6. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

7. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

9-10. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.

11. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.

12. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

It's hard to think of 13 as a "scary" number in light of that.

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear."

- 1 John 4:18a

So, when my oldest son was born on a 13th, it was just one more reason to like the number. His birthday will always be a special day for me, even when it falls on a Friday.

April 10, 2012

Easy Wins: Low Entry Giveaways

The cool thing about blog giveaways is you can usually tell now many people are entered. The less entered, the better your chances to win. Here's some I found with low entries ending soon.

April 10

April 11

Hair Piece from Tailand (6 entries/4 winners)

April 14

Copy Kids DVD (27 entries)

April 17

If you have a giveaway with less than 60 entries per prize ending in the next 5 days, please click here to submit it.

April 2, 2012

Submit a Giveaway

To save time while I work on Hearts Should Be Free, I'm having people submit their giveaways on linkies at the links below.  This may become a permanent situation depending on how well this goes.







GUIDELINES FOR GIVEAWAYS FOR GOOD 
I also promote giveaways for good.  To count as a "giveaway for good" the GIVEAWAY MUST EITHER BE FAIR TRADE, HELP RAISE MONEY FOR CHARITY (such as sale of product being given away raises money for charity), OR RAISE AWARENESS OF A CAUSE.  Being useful, healthy, likeable etc. DOES NOT COUNT.  


Not sure if you're giveaway counts as a "giveaway for good." Here's examples of ways a giveaway can benefit a good cause:
  • Fair trade items
  • Product given away comes from a shop which donates a percentage to charity (and info about their charitable project is shared on the giveaway post)
  • Product given away helps winner do good (a donation to a charity of the winners choice, a "how to volunteer" book, etc. ).  Sorry, vitimins and health and wellness products aren't included.
  • A prize of something that helps with a specific disease or condition (other than vitamins or general health products).  Examples would be a "quit smoking" kit, or an arm band which tells about an allergy, or something like that.  
  • Entry requires learning about a cause
  • Entry requires doing something to help a cause
  • Entry requires blogging about a cause for entry or extra entry
What does NOT qualify for giveaways for good (unless it also has one of the qualifications above):

Submitting does not guarantee that your giveaway will be posted, as giveaways are posted at my discretion (and sometimes life just gets busy).   I don't add giveaways on Sundays, and will also be away from the computer on the following dates:  Good Friday though Easter Sunday,  May 18 - 21, October 27, Dec 22 - Dec 25.

April 1, 2012

Easy Wins: Low Entry Giveaways

The cool thing about blog giveaways is you can usually tell now many people are entered. The less entered, the better your chances to win. Here's some I found with low entries ending soon.

End April 1

4x4, 4x6 or Set Of 3 Buttons (30 entries)



End April 2
Easter Activity Book (40 entries)


Ends April 4


Pillow from Delysh Designs (46 entries)



If you have a giveaway with less than 60 entries per prize ending in the next 5 days, please click here to submit it.