Blog Hop WINNER!

Thanks for making the Use It Tuesday Hop an absolute blast! I am pleased to announce that #14 won!

soccermom23 said...

I really like both of these cards! I love the bling and I like how you curled the ribbon on the balloon card. This would be a great stamp set to win. Thanks for giving it away! My contact info is mc-reeda@seovec.org.

I will be contacting you shortly! Thanks so much for playing with us!

UIT: Birthday Blog Hop!

We have a little excitement this week at Use It Tuesday…you know why? It is our 1 year Blogiversary and we are celebrating with a blog hop and presents! (And cake with ice cream, too…please excuse the frosting on our keyboards…)

I am the very last stop on the hop! You should have arrived here from Sami’s blog. Be sure to stop by the entire design team’s blogs as well as the Use It Tuesday blog because we have hidden prizes all along the way!

Now, being we are the blog that encourages you to use your stash, we don’t usually do ‘prizes’ per say, but hey, this is a PARTY after all! And what is a party without presents?! (…and the aforementioned cake and ice cream!)

So, how can you win?

1. Hidden along our hop are prizes on each of our design team member’s blogs! Leave each of us a comment and you will have an opportunity to win. Easy as that!
2. Play with us! Link your creation to our challenge post using Inlinkz; one lucky participant will win a GRAND PRIZE package donated by our fabulous sponsors!
3. You MUST be a follower of the Use It Tuesday blog to win!

As always, our winner will chosen by the Inlinkz Froggy. In order to win, you MUST mention that you are playing with us at Use It Tuesday, make a project that meets our guidelines, AND tell us what hoarded supplies you used! And…of course, the grand prize winner will be asked to guest design for us in an upcoming challenge!

Now, on to the challenge! This week is all about our 1 year blogiversary; we want to see a project that has to do with BIRTHDAYS! Simply link your creation to our challenge post using Inlinkz by Friday, Februrary 24th.

For my project, I was lucky enough to be sponsored by Sami at SP and Company!

I used her Mini Card Creations I and II sets! I just love the look of smaller card for attaching to a gift...and yet they are big enough to also fit a gift card perfectly! For my card, I still used a ton of hoarded supplies. I hate to admit, that ribbon was bought off eBay in 2005. Oh yes, I got like 3 yards of all the Stampin' UP colors! LOL And the Pool Party paper had NEVER been used.

And I could not stop there...this set is just so fun! I made a few extra little 4x4 cards for my kids to use on gifts. Plus it is had been forever since I had the opportunity to craft, so I had to take advantage of it!

You have the chance to win the Mini Card Creations set from SP and Company by leaving me a comment with your contact information by February 24th. A winner will be randomly chosen, so good luck!

We want to thank our other FABULOUS sponsors, too! A full list, as well as a peek as what is in the Grand Prize package is linked on the Use It Tuesday blog. :) And since I am the last stop on the hop, don't forget to make your birthday creation and link it up in time to win it!

Thanks for stopping by!

UIT: All About Winter

This week at Use It Tuesday our theme is All About Winter...and boy do I know all about that! I know all about it to the tune of -42F (the coldest I have personally experienced). I can honestly say that seeing temps that low was certainly NOT on my bucket list of 'must dos' but hey, the Northern Lights were and I guess you have to pay in some way to experience such beauty. (Kind of like the pain of eyebrow waxing??!)

Anyway, we would LOVE to have you join us this week! Use your hoarded supplies, link up your creation, and play away! You have until Jan 20th!

This card was particularly fun because DH bought me the PTI Stamps and matching dies last Christmas and they had yet to see ink! I love working with the matchy-matchy stamps/dies they have! Plus, I used up another SU ribbon slide and ribbon from a dusty multi-pack!

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Joy...and The Hunt

This year I decided to include a card with my annual Christmas story...because the card's sentiment is exactly how I feel when I retell this year after year...

For the past 3 years, I have shared a story here on my blog. It is about the Christmas spirit and trust me, it will be worth the read! It is my favorite Holiday story ever...and one that I never tire of telling! I hope you will take the time to read it. :)

Historically I get a lot of comments asking if readers can share the link to this post. In short: Absolutely!

It was December 22, 2001. We were living in Utah at the time. I was 8 months pregnant with my second child, had a 22 month old baby running around, my husband was living in Egypt for a year (for work), and we had our house up for sale. Yes, life was a little chaotic, but good!

Due to my husband's inability to make it home for Christmas, our dear friends had invited my son and I over for Christmas dinner. Awesome! My son is the pickiest eater EVER, so making turkey and the fixings only for myself would have been depressing.

At 6:30 pm on the 22nd, my doorbell rang. I answered it and was greeted by some overly cheerful people wearing reindeer antlers and Santa hats.

"Hello!" they exclaimed, "We are on a Christmas Scavenger Hunt and hope you can help us!"

"Sure," I said, intrigued by this proposal, "what are you looking for?"

"Well," the lady replied, "We are trying to provide a needy family with enough food for Christmas breakfast and dinner. Do you happen to have some green beans, a pound of bacon, or rolls?"

I excused myself and went to check. Opening the pantry door, I was reminded of the fact I was not cooking anything this year! No green beans...no rolls in the fridge...and no bacon. Darn! This was such a cool scavenger hunt and I really wanted to help!

"Sorry," I sadly said to the cheerful hunters, "I don't have any of those items."

"Oh, that's OK," she gleefully replied. "We are also taking donations to buy the family a gift card from Target so they can do some Christmas shopping. Would you care to donate to that?"

I ran to my purse as well as I could being so pregnant! Opening my wallet I realized I literally had NO money. Nope...not even a dollar. How embarrassing!

I sulked back to the door and had to tell them how sorry I was I could not help. "But good luck to you," I exclaimed!

About 8:45 pm my doorbell rang yet again. Oh my...now it is getting late. Who could this be? I opened the door to see 25 people on my porch spilling onto the walkway and into my front yard. Candles were lit and carols were being sung. Before I could react, they were in my house, delivering boxes upon boxes of toys and food.

"Merry Christmas," the same jolly lady replied, "Part of our scavenger hunt was finding the needy family...and YOU are it!"

I was literally speechless. Of course, being hormonal, I started to cry. What a dismal sight I must have been...BIG pregnant, young child, house up for sale, no husband in sight! All I could do was stand there. There was no telling them to stop! They were SO HAPPY to have found me! I could not bear to tell them I was NOT the needy family!

They only stayed for a few minutes, finishing a beautiful rendition of Silent Night and Joy to the World, ending with a round of hugs from all. After they left, I stood there with a tear stained face just looking at the boxes upon boxes of things, wondering what I should do with it all.

The next morning, I called our church office and relayed my story of the night before. By divine intervention just hours before my call, 2 needy families contacted my church asking for immediate help. I quickly loaded my Ford Excursion, which was FULL to the brim with boxes, and drove over to make my special delivery. It felt so good passing this wonderful gift on to someone else who truly needed it.

Our pastor shared this story with each church service that day. It put a smile on our congregation's face and led to many jokes about my "neediness" and inability to keep anything in the pantry or a dollar in my wallet!

I love this story. Whenever I retell it, I get the same feeling in my heart as the day it happened. It is truly a testament to the generosity of strangers and the true meaning of Christmas.

May the joy of the season bring warmth to your heart as it did mine.

Amber Ink WINNER!

Thanks for playing along with Amber Ink! The winner from my blog is:

Erika Owens said...

I've been naughty only a little bit - but you're being super nice by giving us a chance to win the cutest elves! Thanks

December 5, 2011 4:08 PM

Result: 3 Powered by RANDOM.ORG


Erika, please email me at UseItTuesday {at} gmail {dot} com so I can give you the information you need to claim your prize!

Thanks for playing and congratulations!

Hopping with Amber Ink!

eta: Good grief! Those elves have been naughty today! My picture was there when I looked at 6:20 this AM...then I had to do some 'magic' to the html code to get the icons below to work...I think the 'magic' erased my picture! Sorry! :)

Hello from the North Pole! (Literally...I live 10 minutes from North Pole, Alaska!) And welcome to our second annual Amber Ink Holiday blog hop. This year our alumni are tapping in to their inner elves for some fun and frolic.

We've made our list but you'll probably want to check it twice.
Or check it thrice. We just don't know who'll be naughty or nice.

There are 23 commenting spots to be precise
And 23 prizes to help entice.

So see those badges down below?
Roll the dice. Let elf magic flow…

Hop on Monday
Hop on Tuesday
Prizes on Wednesday

One Grand Prize winner will receive an Elf of the Shelf gift set, so be sure to visit every single elfin spot. The final list will be sent to Santa, so remember… the only person you are really competing with is your elf.

Thanks for coming. Now hop on!!!

THE ELF ON THE SHELF

And

The Fabulous Amber Ink Alumni

present our 2nd annual Holiday Blog HOP!!!

There are elves and prizes behind every badge.

Giving Thanks

Just a quick 10-minute CAS card for our challenge over at Use It Tuesday! The theme this week is 'giving thanks'...and I had fun using my hoarded washi paper tape for the project. :)

{Before we moved from Japan, I went a tad-bit crazy and bought 42 rolls of various colors/patterns of washi tape. How many cards have I made with it in the 18 months since I purchased it? Two. Until now! Yay for using my stash!}

I wish all my American friends a wonderful Thanksgiving full of fun, food, and football! And, as always, thanks for taking the time to visit my little corner of cyberspace. :)