Before I announce the winner of the new header, I want to apologize for not getting this up sooner. But I have three sick kids and was relying on my cat (see below) to help me draw the winner. Without further ado, here’s the scientific way we did it:

First, I printed out all the entries, minus the anonymous ones (sorry, anonymous!). Next, I cut them all up (I was planning on having the kids do this, but they were of absolutely NO help.)Then, I folded them all up and stuck them in a beautiful silver plated bowl my mom gave me last year. It’s a family heirloom and I’m using it because you’re special. I’m just sayin’.This is where it gets tricky. I had to get the cat involved. She just looked at it like, “What am I supposed to do with this? This isn’t milk.”So I ruffled my hand through the bowl to get her interest. Then she looked at me like, “What ARE you doing, you crazy human?”But she finally went for it (after I placed a piece of cheese on the bottom of the bowl)After eating her cheese, she didn’t want to give me the winning entry back.She quickly snatched it from me and began to lick the rest of the cheese off of it.So I snatched it right back and then she rolled over for me to scratch her tummy. Can you read it? No? I can’t either…the flash was on. Sorry.Here’s a blurry close up of the winner, Penguins and Ladybugs. It’s blurry because my batteries are dead and I’m too lazy to replace them.

Congratulations! And thanks to everyone for playing!

Technorati Tags: contests, giveaways, Texas

The big bloggy move contest ends tomorrow at noon. Up for grabs is a custom designed header by yours truly. Go here for details. But in order to win? You have to enter!

Technorati Tags: giveaway, contest, Texas

In case you are reading this in a reader, I got a new look in January. After a year of playing around with my header and all sorts of templates, I’ve finally settled on one I love. I even drew the birdy myself and I love the cheerful look, because anyone who visits will be fooled into thinking I’m actually quite a cheerful person. Oh, I jest – I’m generally an optimist – always seeing the bright side, hence the tagline.

I’ve been wanting to try my hand at headers and templates for a while now, especially since I now have the New Adobe CS3. So, in honor of the Big Bloggy Move, I am offering one person a custom header for their blog. Since you’ve never seen my work (other than the above), you’ll just have to trust me when I tell you that I am exceptionally talented and it will rock. (Okay, that may be an overstatement, but the Bible says “as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he”). But hey, it’s free. And I’m willing to work at it until you are happy with it. If you don’t need one, then enter anyway – you can always give it to a friend who doesn’t have one! (Besides, I have a fragile ego and really want to give something away – nothing says love like something handmade from me)

The details:

• ~One comment per person, per day. (Yes, you can enter daily – just come back here and comment, easy peasy)
• ~Winner will be chosen via a drawing (it’s a highly scientific operation) and not a random number generator, so the more you enter, the better your chances.
• ~Drawing will be held Friday morning at 12 noon central time.
• ~Winner notified via email (so it’s important that you leave me some contact information! If you are a blogger, make sure your email is somewhere on your profile page or main page.)

If you’ve recently started your blog, moved it or redesigned it (no earlier thanDecember 2007), you can go here to let the world know about it!

Technorati Tags: free stuff, contest, big bloggy move, Texas

Congratulations to Megan from Megan’s Cookin’ , who won the 14K gold cherub pendant and the little bag! {Megan said… count me in too! I’ll be your BFF.January 28, 2008 10:07 PM} An email has been sent, so please send me your mailing address so I can get this out to you this week.

Thanks to everyone for entering and I can’t wait to show you what I have for the next giveaway! This has been incredibly fun and although I haven’t won anything, I had a ton of fun visiting all the blogs and visiting the blogs of those who entered here. I even added a few more people to my google reader list, if you can believe that!

Technorati Tags: Bloggy giveaway carnival, Texas

It’s finally here – the latest edition of Bloggy Giveaways. For information on how the carnival works, check here — in a nutshell, lots of bloggers are having giveaways on their blogs and all you have to do is comment for a chance to win. This is my very first-ever and I’m so excited, because I actually have one of these necklaces myself, so if you win, we can pretend to be bbff (bloggy best friends forever).

This is a 14K gold cherub pendant worth $125! I purchased two of them about a year ago with the thought that I would eventually give one of them away, so I guess I was waiting for such an occasion as this. And just in time for Valentine’s Day. You can keep it for yourself, or give it away — you decide. Heck, I’m feeling generous — I’ll even throw in the silk and velvet bag it’s pictured on. 🙂 It’s quite dainty, measuring about 16 inches total length.
How to win:

1. To enter, just leave me a comment. You don’t have to be a blogger to enter, but you do need to leave your name – I can’t contact you if you win if you enter anonymously.

2. One comment per person, please.

3. Open only to those with U.S. mailing addresses (this includes Alaska and Hawaii – not just the lower 48!)

4. I will use a random number generator to pick the winner and you have until Friday, Feb 1 at 12 a.m EST to enter – so if you leave your comment after that, well, you’re just out of luck! But I love ya anyway!

5. The winner will be contacted immediately as well as announced on my blog.

Easy-peasy. This is going to be the best bloggy carnival giveaway ever – now go get ya some!

Technorati Tags: valentines day, bloggy giveaways, Texas