Photo Challenges!

I haven't entered any photo challenges in awhile, so I am jumping back in today. I am entering five photo challenges today, and some of these photos are ones that I am entering in the fair this year also!

Photo Challenge #1:

"Over My Head"

I took this at our annual Balloon Fair last year. I love all the colors!! Can't wait for the balloon fair again this year. 

Photo Challenge #2:

"Landscapes"

This was taken just a week ago at the Ride in the Light Christian Biker Rally. This was during the Sunday morning ride. I followed behind the bikers and took this picture out the sunroof of the car. This is one of my favorites from this weekend. 

Photo Challenge #3:

"Faces"

This was taken at a friends wedding a month or so ago. This sweet girl was resting on her Momma's shoulder right in front of me. I just couldn't resist snapping a few pictures of her precious face. I used The Pioneer Woman's Vintage Photoshop action on this photo.

Photo Challenge #4:

"Action"

My "babies" playing and running around. I am amazed that this pic is not more blurry!

Photo Challenge #5:

"Ice Cream"
My furry baby, Cammie, loves ice cream, which is probably part of why she is a little pudgy!! This was taken when she was just a pup. She really loved that Coconut Sorbet!

That's all for now. I hope you enjoyed my pics!

~Amber

A Bloggy Award

Happy Monday!

This is officially my last Monday unemployed. Next Monday will be the first day of my new job. Yay!

In other news, one of my favorite blogs to read, In a Yellow House, is hosting a giveaway right now, featuring an item from my Etsy shop, and another Etsy shop, ShopLeah. Leah has some beautifuk stuff in her shop! Thank you so much to Chelsea of In a Yellow House for hosting this giveaway! I hope you will all head over to her blog and show her some love!

Chelsea also recently passed on some bloggy awards to me and some other bloggers. She had 4 different awards, and said we could take which ever ones we wanted, so I chose these:

I think I am a versatile blogger and a beautiful blogger, so these fit. Plus, I think the buttons are pretty. :-)

The rules of the awards are that I have to share 7-10 interesting facts about myself, and then pass on the awards to some other bloggers. Here goes!

• I have 10 siblings, ranging in age from 9 to 30. Wowza!
• I love to sing, and I just recently worked past my fear of singing in front of people. Now I sing with the worship team at my church. 
• I found out a few months ago that I actually really enjoy Star Trek.... I watched the new movie, and then some of the older stuff, and it was really good!! Ummm.... Did I just admit that???
• I have lived in 22 different houses in my lifetime, in 7 different cities. I'm pretty done with moving for a bit.
• If I had cable TV, I would watch The Food Network all.day.long. and never grow tired of it! Especially the cake decorating shows!
• I have been decorating cakes for about 5 years now, and I only have one month of actual formal training. For the most part, I am self taught.
• I have 7 tattoos, and more to come someday... This is one of my favorites. I designed it myself, with 1 Corinthians 13:13 in mind. 

• I want to go live with The Pioneer Woman and be her personal assistant. Dream job!!!
• A large percentage of the blogs I read are "mommy blogs" despite the fact that I have no babies, and may not for a very long time... I can't help it, I love seeing pics of adorable babies, and reading about cloth diapers and adventures of growing little people. :-) They make me happy! 
• I love my Lord with all my heart, and I am so thankful for His blessings and teaching in my life. 

And now to tag some of my favorite bloggers. I hope everyone will check out their blogs and show them all a little love.

 Feel free to take either award or both!  

• Chelsey @ The Paper Mama
• Beka @ Confessions of a New Mom
• Amanda @ Amanda Pratt Photograhy
• Brooke @ Fun with Fuentes
• Moriah @ Josiah's Nest
• Lena @ Rick & Lena
• Elizabeth @ yelizabeta
• Kelly @ KLSPhotography
• Vanessa @ The Crafty Nest
• Kelly @ The Startup Wife

Time for bed... I really need to get on a better sleep schedule!

~Amber

And The Winner Is.....

Good morning all,

I have some exciting Etsy shop news! As of yesterday, I have made 10 sales! That may not seem like much, but ik now some people start out their Etsy shop with months without sales, so I feel truly blessed that I am starting out pretty well!

For all you Etsy shoppers out there, you should really go check out some items now, as there is a site wide promotion, "Christmas in July", going on for any sellers who wanted to participate. Also, one of the teams I am a member of is also hosting a promotion right now, the Cool CAPS Promo. If you go to the Etsy homepage, and type christmasinjuly or coolcapspromo in the search engine, you will find all the listing that are part of these promos. Part of the Cool CAPS Promo is a whole lot of giveaways from many of the CAPS team members, inculding myself! Check out the post here with info on how to enter. Happy Shopping!

One other Etsy announcment before I announce the winner of my giveaway! I am very, very excited to announce that I have officially purchased my first advertising spot! One of my bloggy friends, The Paper Mama, had mentioned in her blog yesterday that she was looking for some new sponsers for her blog. I had been looking for a chance like this to advertise that was in my (very small) price range. I found just what I was looking for with The Paper Mama. And, she even created a button for me, check it out!

Isn't it great? Thank you to Chelsey of The Paper Mama for the advertising spot, and the button. :-)

And finally, the winner of my giveaway is.....

Yay for Becky! Congrats! I will be emailing you shortly regarding your prize. :-)

I also just want to say thank you to the hosts, and sponsers of a few other giveaways I have won recently. I love entering giveaways, and of course love winning them too! So, a big thank you to:

Mom to Bed at 8 and UGLee Pen
Mom to Bed at 8 and Brie'Denee Jewelry
Mom to Bed at 8 and One
The Crafty Nest and Lily Queen Jewelry
Songberries and Soda Stream
Little Birdies Secret and Button of Hope

Please visit these guys and show them some love! Also, show some big love to The Crafty Nest, who just had her first baby!! And if you only check out one of the sponsers, check out Button of Hope. 100% of their proceeds go to the Relay for Life foundation to help cure cancer!

Have a great Thursday all!

~Amber

My Etsy Shop Giveaway

Happy Thursday!

I just wanted to put out a quick note to let you know that I am extending my giveaway for a bit longer. So, you now have until next Wednesday, July 14th to enter. I will randomly chose a winner on Thursday, July 15th. I realized this week that since the giveaway was at the bottom of a VERY long post, that some people may not have seen it. So, I hope you will check it out now!

**My Etsy Giveaway**

~Amber

Who doesn't love a great giveaway?

I know i have been posting about giveaways a lot lately, but you know what? I LOVE giveaways! I love entering them and hosting them. And, I have actually won a few giveaways lately! Check out what I have won:

The first giveaway I won was from Clever's Corner. She hosts a giveaway every week, and a few weeks ago, I won her giveaway for a gift certificate to the Etsy shop, ComeShopPinkLemonade. My purchase from the shop is going to be a customer tank top. I am sending her a tank top of mine, and then she is going to customize it for me with some pretty ribbon flowers or ruffles. I can't wait to see how it turns out!

The second giveaway I won was hosted by Susie B. Homemaker for a Brugo Mug.

This is a super cool travel mug that has a special little chamber that cools one sipful of your drink so that you don't burn your mouth, while the rest of your coffee stays piping hot. I just received mine yesterday, and I love it! This is the one that I received:

The next giveaway won was hosted by The Paper Mama, who I love!>

Anyways, the giveaway was for a set of labels from Pear Tree Greetings. I am planning on getting some labels to use on my Etsy shipments. These are some of the ones I am considering:

And the last giveaway I won (so far!) was from Mom to bed by 8

This giveaway was for a $50 gift certificate from Swimsuits For All. They have wonderful swim wear for women size 8 and up. It is so nice to see some swimsuits made for all sizes of women! I placed my order today, and I was able to get all of these great items:

Thank you so much to all of the bloggers who have hosted these giveaways and also the companies & shops who have sponsored them! It is so generous of each of you to host these giveaways for your readers. :-)

And to my readers, don't forget to check out the giveaway that I am currently hosting by clicking here. Maybe you will win something great too!

~Amber

Jeremiah 29:11

I have been unemployed for 1 year and 14 days.

As of July 21st, I will have been unemployed for 1 year, 1 month, and 2 days.

But on July 22nd, I will no longer be unemployed. On July 22nd I will officially be a full time employee of Siskiyou County, as an Eligibility Worker for Human Services! I can't wait to start my new position and get back to work. As crazy as it may sound, I have missed working. It is so very hard to stay motivated when really don't have anything that you HAVE to do. Being unemployed for this amount of time has been a struggle, and I am glad to see it come to an end.

This past year has been interesting, because not only was I unemployed, but my husband was also, and I was the only one receiving unemployment. Financially, things were tight, to say the least. But God provided for us, every single step of the way. We were blessed to be living in an area that has a lower cost of living. We were even more blessed to find a rental home within our price range that really should not have been within our price range! We have had a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs, and food in our bellies over the past year, despite the lack of employment. God has provided extra work for us on the side to bring in some extra money. And now, at precisely the same time that I am losing my unemployment, God has provided me with employment. Some people would say that all those things are just good luck or coincidences, but I know better. I know that God has been watching over us and caring for us every day.

Not only has God provided for us financially, bu he has also given me a number of opportunities over the past year that I may not have had if I had been working full time:

• Started making jewelry
• Worked on my photography skills
• Took a Photoshop class
• Took a ceramics class and found out I really enjoy ceramics!
• Started blogging
• Opened my Etsy shop
• Actually sold some items in my Etsy shop!
• Started organizing my craft studio/guest room
• Made a few cakes
• Helped plan/coordinate some parties and weddings

Sure, I could have done many of these things while working, but I don't know if I would have... When I am working full time, I find it is so easy to just get caught up in life and not spend as much time cultivating the talents that God has given me. I get busy and just put things off. But I think now, after having the time to really enjoy these new parts of my life, I am going to make a conscious effort to keep them in my life. I don't want to go back to just working every day and not doing the things that I love also. I want to enjoy life, every day.

I don't know if any of you read Confessions of a Young Married Couple, but if you don't you totally should! Katie blogs about life, real life. She writes about her marriage and being a mom, and all the good and not so good things that come along with that. I love that Katie is so open and honest. She doesn't just share the good times, she shares the rough patches too, and that makes it oh so easy to relate to her and her adorable family. Her family recently made a long distance move, and it has been hard on them. Katie recently started Operation Bloom Where You Are Planted (BWYP) for herself. Her goal is to, well, bloom where she is planted. In other words, to enjoy life no matter where you are, and to embrace the present instead of looking to the past or grasping for the future. She is recognizing that you can't be content with life if you are never happy where you are right now, so she is making a conscious effort to change that way of thinking in her own life. I feel like that is also something i have been working on over the past year. It can be very hard to be content when you have two unemployed people in the same household. All the days kind of run together, and it is easy to get discouraged, frustrated, and even depressed. It is during those times that is so important to know that God has a plan, and that he wants you to bloom where he has you right now!

Over the past year, I think I have bloomed where God planted me. It took me a while, but I finally found my roots, and bloomed. Now, I need to continue blooming in this new position, while also not forgetting the desires God has grown in me over the past year. God is already providing new opportunities to me that will hopefully help my blog and Etsy site grow, so I need to keep putting in my time, energy, and love into these things in order to help them grow.

If you are going through a difficult time in your life right now, and you are having trouble "blooming" where you are, then I hope you will take a look at this verse:

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." -Jeremiah 29:11

Over the past year, this has been the verse I have turned to for encouragement. I have it on the banner of my cell phone so that I see it every, single time I open my phone. These words from God have helped me tremendously to remember that God already has it all figured out for me, and that his plan is definitely better than mine. It has reminded me that God has great plans for my life, and that he will not lead me astray. This verse has given me hope on days that I felt hopeless. I hope it may bring the same light to your life. :-)

So that is my exciting news for the week! In order to celebrate, I'm having a giveaway! One lucky ready will receive a $15 gift certificate to my Etsy shop to spend however they would like!

To enter, just comment below and tell me one way that you are going to try and bloom where you are planted.

You can also get some bonus entries, but you must do the first entry before you can get any bonus entries! Just be sure to create an extra comment for each bonus entry!

1 bonus entry for following my blog on Google Friend Connect.

1 bonus entry for adding my shop to your fav's on Etsy. (Leave your Etsy username)

1 bonus entry for telling me your favorite item in my Etsy shop.

2 bonus entries for posting a link to my giveaway on your Facebook. (Leave 2 comments)

3 bonus entries for blogging about my giveaway on your blog. (Leave 3 comments)

And 1 bonus entry if you visit Katie at Confessions and tell me what you like best about her blog. :-)

That's it! You can get up to 10 entries, and a winner will be chosen on Friday, July 9th. You have until Thursday at Midnight to enter. Good luck!

~Amber

Cutestfood.com

Hi friends,

I have a blog post coming up with something new and exciting, but, before that, I have some other exciting news to share...

The wedding cake that I made a few weeks ago was just featured on the blog Cutest Food!

Pretty cool, right? :-)

So, if you have any "cute food" pics of your own, submit them on the Cutest Food website. They have all sorts of awesomely cute categories, so check them out!

Stay tuned for something awesome...

~Amber