Giveaway Time!
1 Feb
Welcome to February! Can you believe that we have already moved on to the second month of the year??? I can’t! But since it is now the 1st of February, that means that Valentine’s Day is only 14 days away.
This year I decided to share the love a bit further than just to Mr Wonderful and a few friends… I am having a giveaway! It is all “love” themed and some items can be passed on to others as gifts if you wish.
I am happy to post anywhere, so international readers feel free to enter! I’d really like to share some love with you too!
Here is what the winner will receive (all made by me, with ideas from a few places) -
2 Valentine’s Day cards (can be used any time though):
3 Heart Bookmarks (can be re-gifted):
Idea and printout came from Thirty Handmade Days
This one is just a bit of fun… a Naught’s and Crosses (or tic-tac-toe) heart game:
And I have 2 Valentine’s Day printables for the lucky winner too. These will be e-mailed to the winner and they can be printed as Subway art or turned into cards.
Kisses:
and I love you:
To enter all you need to do is leave me a comment with a little love… feel free to share a Valentine’s Day story if you have one! Extra entries can be gained by sharing the giveaway, either blog about it or post it on facebook, just let me know you have done so! Entries are open to everyone worldwide and they will close at 8pm on Tuesday the 7th of February (New Zealand time). Hopefully this will give me enough time to post the goodies to the winner!
Good luck!!
Love this giveaway! I have a giveaway on my blog closing on Valentines day too. Please pop over and enter if you want some coasters. (Post from Monday)
I especially think your printable is SO cool! and the tic, tac toe
I sometimes think that life would be a lot less painful without love. There’s something odd, don’t you think, about a thought, a physical feeling and a sweeping sensation that (reportedly!) has all the attributes of the very best drug high, while at the same time has all the potential and depth that accompanies the very worst things (experienced!) that can ever happen. At the very pinnacle of love’s feeling nothing compares. It’s the ultimate roller coaster ride. But nowhere near as safe as any theme park. These roller coasters come off the rails and when they do the impact is terminal. It’s easier to die from a broken heart than a broken leg.
And yet we seek love above all else. We might call it something else. Like fame, recognition, wealth, success, houses, cars and electronics. But really it’s all about love. Being connected. Being accepted. Being welcomed. Being Home.
Does love last forever? Well, of course it does. Just recall that broken heart. It still twinges, doesn’t it? Love leaves scars. Which is actually really good. Because these scars prove that we have loved and been loved. Love never ends.
When your child screams in pain and you can do nothing to ease the pain except pray, that’s love. Maybe, you think, this feeling of helplessness and anxiety will go away as both you and she grows up. But that proves to be foolish thinking. When you’ve loved someone once you love them always. And when you hear of their joy you also rejoice. And when you hear of their pain, you weep.
In many ways love is intensely helpless. ‘Intense’ being the key word. The intensity of love compels us to try to relieve sorrow and pain. But often it can’t take away the causes of that sorrow. So love can make us so very angry as we wish for, hope for, pray for, yearn for; release, success, hope, desire and healing but finding ourselves helpless to change the world.
The wisest, and the saddest, people tell us to avoid falling in love. “Love”, they say, “will kill you.” And they tell the truth. Because when you love you open yourself up to others, making yourself intensely vulnerable. Being this open means that even by mistake it is easy to be harmed. So the wise say, “Stay away from love”.
The foolish (the rest of us) go to the theme parks with the intention of riding the roller coasters. We ride them hard and fast, breathlessly and dangerously. Laughing, screaming, waving and rolling all the way. The wise may be right about love. But who wants to live in a theme park watching others have so much fun? Wild rides? You bet! Heart-stopping? Absolutely! Thrilling? Of course! Dangerous? Oh, yes!! That’s the best part! A wild and dangerous love makes fools of us all, but, what a way to go!
Wow Dad! Is that your Valentine’s Day sermon? :) Thanks for sharing about love! I’m happy in my theme park, even if it’s not always easy :)
I love it! :-)
We have to celebrate valentine’s day every day and share the love, and on Valentine’s day even more!
Greetings –and HAPPY VALENTINES DAY – from the wintry desert southwest of New Mexico, where Valentine’s Day is usually snowy. Here are a few thoughts about love:
Love is waking up to the surprise of snow—when even the weatherman didn’t expect it! The pure delight of a sparkling white blanket, coating the earth in a fresh, clean, crystal comforter presents an opportunity for play. Snow angels, snow people, snowballs. Or just the pleasure of scooping up a handful of fresh snow, and looking for individual flakes; crystals created when water surrenders to cold, and form. That surrender is love. When I watch snowfall—a favorite comforting past -time, I bless the courage that is required of each individual star crystal snowflake to fall into an unknown whiteness, and join it. Losing its individual shape, becoming part of large white beauty. This is also love.
This particular snowstorm is a perfect example of love, because, it truly was completely unexpected. My husband and I had just returned from Park City Utah, where I remembered why I ended up in the West in the first place—because my dream has always been to live in a quiet wooden cabin, shrouded by a forest of deep green pine trees and a long winter of snow. Winter is my favorite season—I believe its essential that the earth, and we humans who find ourselves living in areas where winter is a natural occurrence, have this fallow time. Deep rest, quiet, stillness. Love is nourished in this interlude of quiet space between the busy-ness and sunburst energy of spring and the colorful, bold, pungent deepening of autumn.
In the wee hours of this particular Friday morning, I couldn’t sleep, so began to think about our flight home from Utah. We took off over the Wasatch mountains just after dusk. The air between us and earth was tinged with cobalt light; illuminating the snow below. We flew over small mountain towns, forested swatches of land, and mountain peaks, stretching their jagged contours upward. This wintry landscape was dotted with warm orange-gold lights—reflections from peoples’ homes; created by a fire, perhaps, or the glow of lamps and maybe even televisions. Cold winter outside; people and families and their pets protected inside their mountain dwellings. Warm, I imagined—warmed by the light and heat causing those orange-gold glows. My own heart warmed as I watched these cozy glows appear and disappear from my view. Love.
On this early Friday morning, as I remembered this heart-warming, love-inspiring journey through the air, I began to worry that the early Spring we seem to be experiencing in New Mexico meant there would be no more snow. Global warming, drought, forest fires—all worries that interrupted my feelings of love—and I suddenly felt sad that we might not have any more snow. I drifted off to sleep again, coaxed into slumber by the memory of a place where there was still a lot of winter. When I woke up at 7:30 am, I found my husband shoveling almost 8 inches of snow from our driveway and our cars (now that’s love!) so we could get to work! Initial confusion was quickly replaced by the pure delight I felt as a child at a first snowfall. Within minutes, my dogs leash was on, and we bounded out into the day to walk, run, and play in this unexpected gift of winter, frozen water, moisture, and — love. Pure, delight-inspiring, heart-warming, unexpected and always present, love.
What cute valentines! thanks for the chance. my valentine and i have been married 39 years this year,and i still get sentimental on valentines day :)
Thanks for the comment! Wow 39 years is amazing! We are up to 7 and I think that’s pretty good these days :)
Thanks Amber! And greetings to you too! We are in the middle of a cold cloudy summer :) Thanks for your thoughts on love!
What a fantastic site, and a great competition for the cherry on the top too! Valentines day is a magical day, it is a chance for those who may not usually show their feelings, to do so without inhibition. It’s a day for us lovey dovey types to celebrate our love and loved one, without inhibition. It is a day of friendliness, kindness and love. Wishing all of you, a happy valentines day xxx
Lots of Love to you and your site. My partner ‘embarrassed’ me by sending a huge bunch of flowers to the place I worked. That was fine except where I worked was a long walk away from the office to which the flowers were delivered. I got a message from my boss to go to the office, walked up there and was presented with the flowers. I then had to walk all the way back through open yards with lots of men on forklifts or otherwise just walking around whistling and yahooing at me. I am a shy person and generally don’t like being the centre of attention so as lovely as the surprize flowers were I told my partner never to do that again, lol!
I like the alphabet one