PANDA-emic: christmas

Thursday, November 1, 2012

It's for a GREAT Cause!

Hello Friends and welcome to my very first Blog Giveaway! I wanted to make it extra special so I'm doing this one in honor of Calvin's Hats Charity!

Calvin's Hats is a non-profit organization with a mission to provide hand made hats for babies who are born too early to survive. My niece was born too soon and she was only 1 pound at birth. We were fortunate in that she continued her fight for survival and now, 11 years later, she is a happy and healthy little girl. I can never forget the anguish and fear we all went through as a family, praying that she would get better. I know every little bit of love and compassion counts in those times of need and seeing people come together to do something as small as providing a warm hat for a tiny baby can make a big difference. I normally crochet tiny hats and mail them in but I really wanted to do more and I know that the more people know about it, the more they will want to help.

Here are the links to Calvin's Hats on facebook and their official website:

Facebook.com/Calvin's Hats
Calvin's Hats Official Website

With that in mind I am running this blog giveaway and also raising money on my online shop this entire month to benefit Calvin's Hats charity! Now let's get into the details!

Here is the Prize:

One lucky winner will be the proud owner of a handmade Cool Beans and Things Bear Scoodie. A scoodie is a scarf with a hood attached! I crochet them with adorable bear ears and pockets for your handsies at the ends of the scarf!The colors of the Scoodie may vary. It is one size fits all. :)

How to Enter:

Each person can have a MAXIMUM of 16 entries into this contest!

You gain 1 entry for commenting below.
If you share a status about this giveaway with a link to the Cool Beans and Things facebook page and/or blog, that is worth 2 entries!
If you have a blog of your own and you post about this giveaway with a link back to it, that is worth 3 entries!
Finally, if you make a donation to Calvin's Hats charity you will get a whopping 10 entries!! There are three ways to donate:

-You can go to http://www.calvinshats.com/Ways-You-Can-Help.html and click to donate using paypal. You would need to email a screen shot of the donation confirmation page to CoolBeansandThings@yahoo.com to confirm this.
-Or, you can make and send one or more micro preemie hats. The instructions and patterns are on this page: http://www.calvinshats.com/Hat-Creators-Area.html. For proof, please share the picture of the hat(s) you made to facebook.com/CoolBeansandThings.
-Or you can make a purchase by clicking ---> Cool Beans and Things shop as 20% of every sale will be donated to Calvin's Hats.

MOST IMPORTANT PARTS BELOW, PLEASE READ CAREFULLY AS I DO NOT WANT TO DISQUALIFY ANYONE.

Eligibility and Shipping:

If you are under 18, please have your parents consent to enter this giveaway as the prize will be mailed to the winner and your address will be required. Please note that this giveaway is open WORLDWIDE but International winners may need to wait up to 6 weeks for shipping as each country has different customs rules on shipping. Continental U.S. shipping will be via U.S.P.S Ground. Shipping and Handling will be covered and this giveaway does not have any cost to the participants. No purchase is necessary to win. Please note that this prize is non-transferable.

Giveaway Dates and Details:

The last day to enter will be December 1st, 2012 and the winner will be chosen via Randomizer.com on Monday, December 3rd.

The winner will be posted on this blog and it will be completely up to them to contact me via email to claim their prize. If by December 5th, the first chosen winner has not contacted me back, a new winner will be chosen.

To make sure you don't miss out, be sure to subscribe to my blog via email so that you can get notified when the winner is chosen.

That's all for now folks, let's start the season of giving off with a BANG!

Thanks for reading.
Love,
Mery Ann/La Lady Panda

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Christmas in July

I've had the idea to make a blog post about Christmas in July and today feels just right for it. I love Christmas!

I'm doing it as a pick me up mostly because lately I've been feeling down and in pain. I went to the hospital to check a painful lump in my right breast and they referred me to Libby's Legacy Breast Foundation in downtown Orlando on Orange Ave. for a free mammogram.

If you're a woman, please get yourself checked. Its better to be safe than sorry.

If you have no health insurance and you live in Orlando, you can call and set up an appointment with Libby's Legacy here

1718 South Orange Ave
Orlando FL 32806
(407)898-8991

If you would like more information on where to get free screenings in your area, please check out this site:

http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/dcpc_Programs/default.aspx?NPID=1

I'm hoping the lump in my breast is just fibrous and swollen due to fluctuating hormones but I'm going to get it checked either way.

Now that you know why I need a pick-me-up, let's get on to the good stuff...recipes, patterns, and ideas!

RECIPES

Here's a fun one for "Lumps of Coal". Use a regular rice krispies treat recipe from this site:

http://www.ricekrispies.com/en_US/default.html#/en_US/default

and add black food coloring! Look how cool it looks!

There are some great Christmas snack recipes at the Pilsbury site too! Check out these Santa Crackers

http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/santa-grahams/69f0fff6-8ccc-418a-8e23-58d5cfd491e6/

DECORATION

Check out this pipe cleaner Christmas Tree from Martha Stewart:

http://www.marthastewart.com/265414/pipe-cleaner-decorations-christmas-tree

TOY IDEAS

Make some CLOUD DOUGH and put it in a decorative container to play with the kids! All you need 8 cups of flour and 1 cup of baby oil. It feels like flour but you can mold it!

http://www.jugglingwithkids.com/2011/11/cloud-dough.html