Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Christmas Anniversary Giveaway

I started my blog in December 2009.  December is my favorite month, and anyone who knows me well, knows I love Christmas.  I love to see the lights on the houses, decorations in the stores,  and everyone I meet seems a little more polite. My favorite cards to make,  are Christmas cards.  Instead of waiting until December,  I decided to celebrate early so the recipient would have time to use the goodies for Christmas. 


Here is what is included in my giveaway:

1. Hero Arts stamp set LP103 Holiday Birds.  It is my all time favorite Christmas set.

2. Hero Arts stamp set CL465 Tree-Mendous.  A new set.

3. Making Memories Christmas Blossoms.  A poinsettia brad set.

4. A spool of burgandy plaid Offray ribbon.   (12 feet)

5. And last, but not least, a sampling of my Grandmother's vintage buttons.  


There are only two requirements to be eligible for the giveaway. 

1. Please become a follower of my blog, if you are not already.  I prefer to call them "Creative Friends," because sharing creativity is what blogging is all about.

2.  Leave a comment on this post telling one of your favorite Christmas memories.

I will keep the giveaway open until September 25th EST.  If I cannot navigate the random selection, I will pick a name out of the hat, the old fashion way.

Merry Christmas!

34 comments:

  1. Am I the first? This is such a nice assortment of goodies, Nancy!
    My favorite memory of Christmas is going to bed on Christmas Eve, and then waking up to find the tree decorated and presents underneath it. My parents would wait until that night to put up the tree and spent all night decorating it....my Mom often said she was just getting to bed when we munchkins woke up in the wee hours too excited to sleep! The smell of the fresh pine (usually cut down on our property by my Dad) is one I would love to live again.
    Great topic, and I'll be back to read about others' memories!

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  2. Nancy, I can't believe that I've been blogging longer than you (just shy of a few months, but it seems that you do so well at it!). What a great candy! I'm already a follower. And oh, my favorite christmas memory? It would have to be sitting alone on the hospital bed on Christmas morning enjoying a frosted christmas cookie from the hospital cafeteria looking at my first born son laying in his nursery crib not just 24 hours old yet!

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  3. What a nice giveaway, Nancy! Thanks for the chance to win...I love those little birdies!

    My favorite Christmas memory is one of my son when he was 3 years old. My husband made a large boot print in front of the fireplace by placing a boot on the ground and sprinkling ashes from the fire, around the boot. When he lifted the boot, there was a perfect print there, looking like Santa had just come down the chimney and out the fireplace. When my son woke up Christmas morning, he noticed the boot print and went over to see it. The look on his face was priceless. He was in such awe of the fact that Santa had been right there! It brought tears to my eyes, (I am such a sap) and we actually had to remind him to go look under the tree to see what presents Santa brought for him. Thanks for bringing that memory back for me, Nancy!

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  4. Whoe doesn't love Christmas- and such a fun giveaway!

    One of my favorite memories is always being allowed to open up one small present on Christmas Eve (I still follow this tradition), and then we would all go lay in bed trying to stay awake long enough so we could hear Santa and his reindeer land on the roof! Silly huh- but it sure was so fun to believe! Thanks for the chance to win some amazing candy (your granmda's button look very lovely). I'm already a fan of yours Nancy!

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  5. Nancy, what a lovely giveaway.
    Congratulations (in advance) for your first Blogaversary :0)

    I too love Christmas, I think I have yet to meet someone that doesn't.

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  6. it's so thoughtful of you to do your giveaway early :)

    when i was around 7 we had this crazy cat, named guiness and he was always either in a cast or breaking something...christmas morning we slipped into the living room to find the tree had been dragged half way across the room, tinsel off, garland askew, kitty sleeping underneath the mess

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  7. Hi Nancy! Just signed up as a follower!

    I, too, love Christmas. As I was born 2 days before the big day (hence the 1223 after Judy) I have so many childhood memories tied together of the excitement of my birthday, half day of school, day off for Christmas Eve (best day EVER!), and then Christmas. The lights, the songs, the anticipation...Christmas Eve mass, hanging stockings, etc. The best part is now we are making these memories with our children...and the excitement continues!

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  8. I LOVE Christmas.. it's one of my favourite times of the year. (The other time is my anniversary). My most poignant Christmas memory is Christmas Day 2000. My oldest was with us (she was living with my in-laws for medical reasons) and the four of us had a good day. However, my mother had Lou Gerhig's disease, and passed away peacefully at about 5:30pm..... Even though the memory of my Mom dying is sad, she would have been thrilled to know that we had a great Christmas with the four of us. My Mom had wanted the four of us to be together on Christmas.

    Now that the kids are out of the house, my husband and I need to make new memories together, with just the two of us.

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  9. What a great giveaway! My favorite Christmas memory was the year my dad made me a dollhouse... I had NO IDEA he was working on it! What an incredible surprise. I had countless hours of wonderful playtime, and now I have an incredible family heirloom for my future kids.

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  10. Hi Nancy,

    Thanks for this giveaway and happy in advance for your anniversary in blogging.

    Christmas for me is about holiday and celebration. We celebrate Christmas on the 24th and 25th follow by 31st and 1st for new year. Thus, it is a long holiday that used up to catch up and bonding with family and friends. Not to mention the gift exchange moments and the children excitements over their gifts! Christmas is the best holiday of the year!

    Hugs,
    Evelyn @ Message Keeper
    http://messagekeeper.blogspot.com/

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  11. Very Nice giveaway Nancy, so nice of you.

    I am now your Creative Friend, and lets see, I guess one of my favorite Xmas memoriss is when I was young, I thought I did not get the one thing I really wanted, Barbies Dream house, it was only made of cardboard, but boy did I want that, and Santa did not leave it, and I was trying to act so Happy, and said thanks for all my nice gifts, and then my grandmother came over later after breakfast and she brought it, I was so Happy, that was one of my favorite Xmas's as a child!! My parents said they wanted my big gift to be from them and not Santa, they felt Santa should bring reasonable gifts, not something outlandish.

    I just remember being so happy and our whole family was so close, just happy years!!

    Thanks for the flashback!!

    Happy Holidays in advance!!!
    Donna

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  12. Hi Nancy, wonderful selection of goodies, gorgeous vintage buttons. someone will tons of fun creating with your yummy blog candy :)
    My favorite Christmas memory is thinking about my grandparents and how much they enjoyed Christmas. The big colourful Christmas lights on the outside bushes with the Christmas tree peeking through the inside window & their traditional Dec 24th dinner. I just melt thinking about it,they enjoyed Christmas so much!I was given my grandfathers ceramic Christmas tree a few years back which I just cherish & I decorate my Christmas tree just the they had it with old ornaments,big lights,& knee huggers elves.Such a great memory.

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  13. Hi Nancy,

    What a generous gift!

    I am a mother to four wonderful kids, 2 boys & 2 girls.
    I would have to say that my favourite/memorable Christmas would have to be 2 years ago.
    We had not long moved & I had just had my 4th child (the others were 6, 4 & 1) when my husband was deployed overseas. We had to spend Christmas on our own as we had no family close by. The kids got up on Christmas morning & were sitting around the tree opening their presents when that phone call came through. It was Daddy. The look on the kids faces was something I will never forget. They lit up like the lights on the tree. That one phone call really made our day hearing from him.
    The thought of having to do that all over again this year is something I am not looking forward to & we are even further away from family this time :( Lets just hope that he is able to make that Christmas call again this year.
    It is amazing how we take the little things in life for granted.
    An early Merry Christmas to you all.
    Happy Crafting
    Regards
    Mel

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  14. what a great giveaway nancy! i am eyeing your grandmother's vintage buttons!

    what i remember the most about christmas during my childhood was carefully untaping my presents to take a peek! [yes, i was a naughty girl]

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  15. I love Christmas! I think my favorite Christmas memory is from about two yeras ago, when we had my sister and her family, over for Christmas. My nephew, who was 2 years back then, really enjoyed opening his present, but when opening a package with clothes, he just threw them under the coffee table and immediately went to find another present! I guess he didn't like the soft presents for christmas =)

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  16. Hi Nancy, what a great giveaway! I became one of your creative friends. I love your blog header photo!
    I love Christmas! One of my favorite Christmas memory is when my youngest daughter (she was 6)made a fop package for her uncle. My brother in law was always teasing her by pulling her ponytail. In that year there was a commercial on the radio for a temp agency using a story about Suzanne. Now we had a doll (an ugly one) with a ponytail. She put her in a box and I had to write a note saying: This is Suzanne, you can pull her ponytail instead of the one of Ann.
    When my brother in law (who is a very quit person)opened his gift, I never seen him laugh so loud and hearty. And all the family laughed too. He kept the doll and put her in his study.

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  17. I love Christmas too. My favourite memory is when my hubby proposed at Christmas, down on one knee with the tree lights sparkling. Romantic!

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  18. I started making cards last DEcember, but started blogging in May I think.. My favourite type of card is also Christmas cards, the are so fun to make! I love the fact that for once I have actual people to send my cards to, as in general they just sit in a box over on a shelf!!

    My favourite Christmas memories decorating the tree last year. and then decorating our dog Martini with Christmas tree lights and taking a few pics of him goofing around! It was so much fun, really looking forward to doing that this year too!!

    Also you are so thoughful to include Christmas goodies for card making this year,.. Love the idea:-)Blessings!

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  19. Happy Anniversary!!!! I just became your follower. I have just started stamping this year and is in love with it.

    My Fav Christmas memories is when i was studying in US (OSU) and invited my close friends to decorate our apartment with a gigantic xmas tree and had a cute ginger bread house set up. And halfway through it started to snow ;-)

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  20. Nancy, you're too generous! I'm one of your creative friends already. :) Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year too!

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  21. Nancy this is a great give away and thanks so much for your kindness and the chance to win. I so love that you write about your memories of yesterday. I so believe that we could learn some great things from days gone bye. I so love your blog header. Beautiful picture. I am becoming a follower too okay sweetie.

    My favourite Christmas would be when I was a little girl and I so wanted a cut Christmas tree and we always had an artifical one. My Daddy was working and couldn't get to go into the woods to cut one down. I will never forget when I came home from school and I asked Mom if we could put up our tree and she told me to go behind the house. There was my Daddy bringing in the smallest, but most beautiful tree I ever saw. I actually cried when it was sitting decoarated in our living room. It was the best "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree ever! Thanks Nancy for helping me to go back in time to a day so greatly loved. Hugs.

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  22. Happy blog anniversary Nancy and what a generous giveaway :)

    Christmas is my fav holiday, every year my family having a Christmas Eve dinner, we exchanging gifts to each other and had a lovely and loong chat updating everybody's news after that we go to the Christmas Eve mass together.. i love the moment of togetherness in every Christmas.. can't wait till Christmas time again :)

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  23. Absolutely gorgeous give away. Congratulations with the anniversary.
    I love Christmas too. My favorite Christmas memories from I was little is Mechanical dolls and Santa Claus in a shop window. We went to town to see them every year. When I was a little girl, there was not so much as now;)

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  24. I love all of the glitter and color, and of course the presents. My favorite memory is of when we thought it would be really fun to take our teenage children to Hawaii for Christmas. What a mistake that was! No Christmas trees, nos smells of the holidays, no decorations, and very few presents. It was hot! It wasn't Christmas at all! What were we thinking!

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  25. Happy Anniversary Nancy! One of my favorite memories (as a child) is of decorating the tree with these wonderful old and delicate ornaments from Europe. They weren't mass produced and were all so unique, I just loved that!

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  26. Nancy
    Happy blog anniversary for December. I have so many wonderful memories of Christmas as I too love the season. I have great memories of wonderful aromas of cooking around our house growing up - turkey, plum pudding, spiced beef ... hm, gorgeous.

    I now adore making memories with my children and hubby - milk and cookies for Santa, reindeer food with a sprinkling of glitter in the back garden so rudolph can find the house! So much fun. Thanks for the chance to win.

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  27. Hi Nancy, Happy blog anniversay for December, Christmas really is a magical time of year and now my children are grown up the memories are all together different. I loved seeing their faces when they opened their stockings on Christmas morning, we always had fun filled times with lovely food, always a new board game to play and lots of laughter. Can't wait for some Grand children!!!lol.

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  28. What a great giveaway! It's Christmas in September! :) My favorite memory is when I got a pair of ice skates one Christmas. I think I've almost went to bed with them!

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  29. Love your header photo btw--I always loved to go to my gma's for Christmas eve buffet and to see Santa Claus who always had time to stop by!

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  30. Nancy thanks for the chance to win such wonderful goodies and thanks also for asking everyone about their favourite Christmas memories - I've enjoyed reading them all!

    I love Christmas so much and remember as a child going to midnight mass (a real treat to stay up so late!) walking home and hanging up our socks for Santa and leaving out some treats for Santa and his reindeer. Then it was time for bed and I remember thinking I'd never fall asleep before Santa arrived - but somehow I alway did! The sheer excitement of running down to the Christmas tree on Chrismas morning with my sister and brother was just fantastic. In more recent times I love seeing Mark and Adam enjoy all the magic of Christmas (usually starting at 5\6am!) including the messy reindeer who manage to drop bits of carrots that they must have munching on in the lads' bedrooms!

    Thanks again Nancy - now I can't wait for Christmas!!

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  31. Cute idea... my favorite Christmas memory was when my brother ate too many chocolate covered cherries at my Grandma's on Christmas eve... may mom kept telling him to stop but he kept sneaking more and more. When we go home he put on his Garfield pajamas and went to sleep. And in true Christmas morning style my sister, brother and I all got up at 5 am to check our stockings, and my brother had chocolate covered cherry vomit all over himself. My sister asked "Dave, what's all over your pajamas?" And he said "GARFIELD" Makes me laugh when ever I think about it.

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  32. Dear Nancy, can`t believe a year has passed allready. Seams like yesterday! Many thanks for your amazing giveaway.
    My christmas memories are very young, since christmas in my childhood was `forbiden`, because of the comunism. But am am happy as a child when I see our children happines. We allways find a friend to dress like santa and come to our back yard during christmas dinner. And this year hopefully santa will have to come to a new adress :-))
    Thanks, Nancy.

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  33. I LOVE how my kids get all ready for Santa...leaving out the cookies and milk..making sure all is tidy...they wake up convinced that they heard him eating the cookies!!!
    hugs!

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  34. Nancy - made cards last night and used those fab white vintage buttons as flower centres..... so great.... will post a photo...

    Thanks again.... still inking!

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Thank you for your comments, they make me Happy!