GIFTS UNDER MY CHRISTMAS TREE GIVEAWAY

Okay- I'm ready to give away some blog candy!!

As I said in my last post, I would be doing a couple of giveaways. I will do one with my crafty followers in mind, and another one geared more towards my readers who love all things "vintage".

As I mentioned before, due to the high cost of international shipping, I will only be able to send these prizes to a winner in the United States. And because that really has been bothering me, I gave it some more thought and came up with an idea so that my wonderful blogging friends from other countries can still be part of this giveaway. I hope you will agree that this is a great alternative to spending a lot of money on shipping- should the winner be from outside the U.S.

Before I give you the details of the giveaway prizes, please let me first tell you about my "alternative prize":

I have decided that anyone can enter. But if you are the winner of either of the prizes and not a U.S. resident, then you may choose from the following list of charitable organizations and I will make a donation of $25.oo to one of them for you. These are all organizations that I'd love to donate to and each one has a special place in my heart for personal reasons. I can not imagine that any one of my wonderful followers wouldn't agree that these are great places to contribute to. So please take a look at them and if you would also consider making a donation yourself I'd be thrilled! Here are my choices and a little bit about why I picked each one:

Charleston Animal Society For those of you who know me or have read my blog for some time, you know this has been a tough year. My wonderful brother Rich (who was also my husband's best friend) died suddenly and unexpectedly last Christmas Eve. He was just 54 years old and in the process of moving here to live near us.

When I (being his "next of kin") got the phone call from the coroner telling me the news, I was in total shock and disbelief. But, when reality finally hit I was consumed not only with sorrow and grief, but worry and concern about Rich's 2 precious cats. He lived with them only; they were his "children". They were also with him when he passed and it was very traumatic for them to lose their owner and suddenly have to be caged and taken to a shelter. But the wonderful people at the Charleston Animal Society were the ones that took them and cared for them- and went to great lengths to see that they both made it safely all the way across the United States to come live here with my daughter. This was the most important thing I could do for my brother and they were so instrumental in assuring that the kitties were well cared for and taken to the airport and carefully sent on their way here.

The Arthritis Foundation I have learned a lot about arthritis from this organization and it has been very helpful to us. One of my children was diagnosed with a form of arthritis called Juvenile Ankylosing Spondylitis. It can be a very debilitating disease. My son has not been able to attend school for nearly two years now. He has been on chemo for over a year. And he's had to endure over two years of intense physical therapy. It's been quite an ordeal, but it's finally paying off! He is actually going to return to school next month! And having had this website and resources that have been provided through the Arthritis Foundation has been extremely helpful. I really would have felt so much more confused and alone had I not had them to rely on.

CHOC Hospital Oh my goodness! I LOVE this hospital! I am there (at least) on a weekly basis and have never had anything but a great experience. The care and treatment my child(ren) have been given is among the best I have ever witnessed in health care. The doctors, the nurses, the entire hospital community treat you with such kindness and respect. I can not say enough good things about them.

CHOC (Children's Hospital Of Orange County) does AMAZING things for the kids! Check out their blog it is awesome! They had Ryan Seacrest there not long ago, and they have lots of other celebs and athletes visit the kids. There is the Disney CHOC Walk and other Disneyland related events, and there are therapy dogs and all kinds of things for kids and their families. They even do a prom for the kids who can't go to their high school proms due to their illnesses! It's amazing. (Caution: be sure to have tissues handy when viewing the website and the videos!) This place will touch your heart!

Autism Speaks and TACA (Talk About Curing Autism) Having autistic children myself, this is naturally an area near and dear to my heart. When we got our first autism diagnosis, we hardly had any idea what Autism was. We had barely heard the term "autistic". I remember trying to get information on it and looking everywhere for help. There wasn't much. Back then I did not have resources available to me like these. Boy, how things have changed! And the numbers have changed, too. The rate of autism diagnosis is astounding. I don't doubt that everyone reading this knows someone or at least "of" someone affected by autism. Living with autism is hard, to say the least. And treatment is crucial. Both of these organizations are wonderful, and therefore made my list.

Samaritan's Purse I wanted to include an International organization on this list, and this one I know is fabulous. And there are sooo many areas you can chose to donate to. Please check out their website. You will see how far a donation of only $25.00 can go, weather it is to feed, clothe, educate, give medical help to or even provide a source of income through farm animals to a needy family. If you are not familiar with Samaritan's Purse, please take a few minutes to check them out. It's really a fabulous organization.

Okay- I know this is only a handful of places and so many others are so deserving as well. I hate to leave so many good ones out. But these are among the ones that top my list and that I would like most to donate to. Maybe when I do my next giveaway I can add some others ;-)

Now, for the two prize packages:

(click on the pics to enlarge)

First, piled up beneath my Christmas tree are the gifts I have for those of you who are my stamping/scrapping/crafty friends:

I realize Christmas is only a week away and you won't get these things in time to make any Christmas items for this year, but I just had to include some Christmas things! Besides, if you are like me, you like making Christmas things ANY time of year! Also, many of you will likely be scrapping your holiday pics in the coming months, so some of these things may help you with your pages.

Here's what is included:

Coluzzel Nested File Folders

Stampin' Up! On Board Bitty Book

Small scissors

Oriental Trading Company set of check book covers for altering

Marcella K Embellishment Kit: 3 tubes of blue glitter, brads and gems

Box of 3 yards assorted blue ribbons

Funky Fiber Fringe Yarn

Sizzix Sixxlits Decorative Strip Die: Gingerbread Men With Hearts

Sizzix Simple Impressions Embossing Folder: Christmas Lights Border

Sizzix Simple Impressions Embossing Folder: Ornament

Chipboard book and hardware rings

Teresa collins Tag Book

Wacky Tac Adhesive Sheets

Bag of Papertrey Ink Vintage Buttons

Making Memories Button Brads

Pack of mini Jingle Bells

Magnetic strips

3 spools of ribbon: Poinsettias; White Grosgrain with words "Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire" with Christmas trees; and Burgundy velvet

3-Pack of Stampin' Up pens

3 Wood mounted stamps: Stampabilities Christmas Tree; Rubber Stampede Cardinal on Branch; and All Night Media Small Snowflake

Lace: 3 different kinds: 1 is 3 yards long and the other 2 are each 2 yards long.

Another shot of all the crafting goodies:

And here is what I have for my "Antique/Vintage" fans:

Sorry if the pics are kind of dark. I have very dim lighting near my Christmas tree, but the flash whited it all out too much. Hopefully you can get a pretty good idea of what the things are like, though.

(Any tree decorations you may see are not included, lol) ;-)

I had such fun collecting things for this give away!! That pretty aqua colored bell is an old salt shaker. And it really rings, too :-) I have been buying vintage salt, pepper and cheese shakers to store my old hat pins and stick pins in. I also make stick pins and when I sell them, the shakers work great for displaying them. Hat pin holders can be very expensive and hard to find, so I have found these work really well. I thought it would be fun to pass one on to you :-)

The picture frame does not appear to be very old, but I thought it was pretty, and kind of "fit" in well with the other things.

The "Happy New Year" postcard is old, though! Isn't it darling?

And check out the little suitcase! I just love this! No, that's not "old" either, but it is vintage/ retro looking. And perfect to put some vintage/retro jewelry in! I have included some faux pearls, a couple of pins and 3 pairs of clip on earrings. Fun stuff!

There's also 3 yards of old lace trim, and TONS of old buttons. I love old buttons. Maybe I should have included them in the craft giveaway, but I found them at an antique store, so I put them here.

I have also included a pretty vintage hankie. I love the colors of the flowers on it. I figure a lot of you could use something that makes you think of Spring about now. I watch the news. I know how brutal the weather is in many parts of the world is right now! ;-)

And last, I have a very small tea cup and saucer. I'm not sure how old it may be, (the woman I bought it from said it was an antique, but I am not sure). But it's Victorian looking and I thought it was a cute addition to this collection.

So here are the details on how you can win:

There are different ways to enter, and you have multiple ways to earn more chances.

First, leave a comment on this post. That will earn you an entry. NOTE: (This is the tricky part) You can only win one prize. Please be sure to tell me with each entry which prize your entry is for!!! If you wish to be entered for both prizes, you can earn an entry for one prize and an entry for the other prize. BUT, you must specify which prize each entry is for! If you do not, your entry will not count.

If you are a follower of my blog, mention that and you will get another entry (one time only).

Become a follower and you will get an entry.

Grab my blinkie, put it on your blog and tell me it's up! This will get you 3 bonus entries!

Mention this giveaway on your blog, with a link to this post and you will get another 3 entires! (One time only.)

Then, for every day until the drawing, you may get one additional entry per day by commenting on whatever is my most recent blog post (even if I have not updated/posted again since your last comment).

The drawing will be on Sunday, December 26th. I figure that with the let down of Christmas being over, maybe a win will brighten the day for a couple of you ;-) Plus, this gives you 8 days and 8 chances for comment entries. And don't forget about the additional entries for being/ becoming a follower; sharing this post on your blog, and for grabbing my blinkie. You can get a total of 15 entries- but be sure to specify which prize each entry is for!!!

Okay- that's it for today. I'll be looking forward to hearing what you think if this giveaway and the prizes- and adding entries up for you :-)

Have a wonderful Saturday!