Look who turned one — first giveaway eva!

Let's all sing the Happy Birthday song together!
   Inspire. Create. Bake. is one year old today! The year went by really fast, and I've enjoyed sharing all 263 posts with you. I've moved in several directions with posts in the past year. Originally, I posted a lot of recipes for cooking and baking. I still love to be in the kitchen, but I haven't really had time for cooking in the past few months. You'll notice more food posts coming back since the weather is chilly, and I will avoid being out in it.

   I started experimenting more with photography, mainly outside the walls, which led to a new desire for macro photography and becoming more visually aware of my surroundings. I felt one day I'd come back to photography since taking classes at Wichita State several years ago. I used film then, and hope to dive back into it next year and not rely on the digital so much. (inspired by my friend, Jimmy) Shooting more photography has also led to setting up photoshoots for kids and families. That has kept me so busy lately. I have five shoots this weekend, and then I'm pulling the plug until there's sunshine and blue skies all around.

   I've also FINALLY cleaned and organized my art room and started using it. That was one of my main goals in starting this blog - to help motivate me to start painting/crafting/creating again. I also hope to expand on that further next year.

The top five most viewed posts for the year are:

1. Peanut butter oatmeal sandwich cookies

2. Baby Karis

3. Pineapple pretzel fluff

4. DIY fabric poms

5. DIY birthday banner

That's my year in a nutshell. I hope you'll stick around for another year of new inspirations, creating and baking. I have discovered some stellar blogs and met some fantastic, supportive people through blogging. I can't wait to see what this next year has in store. Now on to the giveaways!

I'm focusing on three areas of giveaways over the next three days - appropriate for Inspire. Create. Bake. since it's named rightly so. Thursday is INSPIRE. Friday is CREATE. Saturday is BAKE.

INSPIRE.

The following two women are stay at home moms and some seriously crafty ladies.

Inside BruCrew Life

I became acquainted with Jocelyn through blogging. We started following each other's blog and have been blog buddies ever since. She's a very positive person and posts some fantastic recipes as well as craft projects and little tidbits about her family. She has an Etsy shop called The Trendy Owl — fun, trendy fabric headbands and clips. We teamed up to give away one of her creations.

This fun headband features 3 singed flowers that have been hand made from different satin fabrics. Each flower measures two inches and has been accented with a pink glass bead. The flowers are attached to a black stretch headband that fits most heads very comfortably. Looks great on straight or curly hair styles.

Avenue Creative Co.

A fairly new shop started by jill-of-all trades, Sarah Hebert. Sarah and I attend the same church, but we originally met through our husbands. They have been friends for many years and he was a groomsmen at our wedding. Sarah became a stay at home mom last year and kept her passion to be creative. She started her own business, and just recently had a launch party for her creations. She also has AMAZING penmanship. You should check it out on her website. We also teamed up to give away one of her creations.

5 x 7 inch in size, hand stamped and embossed notecards with an Indian flower, in a rich peacock color and red envelope combo, perfect for Christmas! Set of eight.



Giveaway is closed.
~ REGISTER TO WIN ~ REGISTER TO WIN ~ REGISTER TO WIN ~
Leave separate comments for:
1. What you are most looking forward to this Thanksgiving?
2. Become a follower of Inspire. Create. Bake. or tell me if you already are.
3. Follow Jocelyn at Inside BruCrew Life.
4. Like The Trendy Owl on Facebook.
4. Like Sarah's Avenue Creative Co. page on Facebook.
5. Blog, Facebook and/or Tweet about this giveaway for extra entries. (Leave a separate comment for each please.)


You can comment a total of eight times! 
Please post your email address as well, if you don't have a blog or a way for me to contact you.


Thanks for stopping by and joining in on the fun. This giveaway will run until Tuesday night, November 23. I will use a random generator to pick the winners on Wednesday. One person will receive the headband and one person will receive the Indian flower cards. Good luck!


Check back Friday for the next giveaway category - CREATE!