Birthday Giveaway & The Heartfelt Roots Behind Delightfully Noted

Disclaimer: This post may be a little long- winded. Even though it is uncanny of me I’m feeling a little emotional this evening. There's only two possible explanations for this; either the husband laced my food tonight or I have some serious damage to my hypothalamus from when I banged my head on a cabinet earlier. I've really contemplated sharing this story! Nonetheless, take advantage of it, I don’t get heartfelt like this very often.  Tomorrow I’m back to being an ice-cold broad.
I remember one year today jumping for joy and proclaiming to the hubby that I finally posted my first item on Etsy! I had spent the previous three months spending every waking hour trying to teach myself graphic design {Trust me, it wasn’t always lollipops and unicorns, I recall a certain night that I flipped out because I couldn’t figure out how to use the software to draw a circle!} and attempting to absorb every piece of information that is out there about running your own handmade biz. I remember the hubby saying “I don’t want you to be disheartened if you don’t have any sales right away.” In which I responded, “I won’t. I’m giving myself 6 months and if I don’t get a sale by then, I will reconsider this whole thing.” Eight days later I practically peed my pants when I woke up one morning to see that someone had actually purchased an item from my shop! Wow, someone likes my stuff and it isn’t my mom {or maybe it was and she was purchasing under some alias name???}.

{I took a picture when I was preparing my first order.  I was so excited I swear I must of took two hours cutting and packaging this one! }. 

I had discovered Etsy two years prior to the birth of Delightfully Noted, when we were I was planning our wedding.  I’ve always enjoyed being creative and after designing all of our bridal stationery I kept thinking in the back of mind that it would be fun to open up my own on-line store.  But then all those doubts started creeping within----who would want to buy what I have offer? These excuses allowed me to keep this dream in the back of my mind. Fast forward a few years later and I found myself trying to make sense of a tragedy that had struck my family.  In the midst of dealing with the trauma that was unfolding around me I received the sad news that one of my best friends had unexpectedly passed away.  These grievous blows were finally what inspired me to take the leap of faith and open up Delightfully Noted. If misfortune has taught me one thing it is that life really can change in the blink of an eye. Failure won’t matter to you on your deathbed but regrets will.  

{Little girl, Big dreams}

Ahem…. now for my Oscar speech {I’ll be expecting my little, naked, gold guy in the mail next week!}. To each and every one of my customers; I thank you from the bottom of my heart for allowing me to be in some small way a part of your lives; in particularly the happy moments!  Delightfully Noted has been one of the most fulfilling things I have ever done for myself. It has, in many ways, been my form of therapy and with out my customers, well, I would have had to turn to crack. I kid! I kid!  I also want to note how grateful I am for all my friends and family who have been incredibly supportive of this little endeavor of mine {You didn't laugh in my face when I shared my dreams! Now what you did behind my back is your business} A BIG, BIG THANKS to my hubby who does all the grocery shopping, and cleans the kitchen, and makes me dinner every night so that I can come home from my day job and jump right into finishing my orders. Hugs to him for only commenting every other week about me allowing our house to look like a bomb test site. And mad, mad props for the fact that he never loses his patience with me even though every morning I mumble profanities at him from underneath our comforter when he notes for the hundreth time that he has no clean socks.  Lastly,despite thinking I’m addicted to my computer, he still hasn’t forced me to seek treatment and for that I thank him!

I have to admit when you feel like you are always living your life in "crisis mode" you become a little jaded when people talk about what the future beholds.  For the past couple years, I've dreaded New Year's because I fear what kind of bad news another year will bring.  But I do have blessings and Delightfully Noted is one of them and in this instance, I can't wait to see what's in store for me and my little dream! So again, thank you to each and every one of you!


Now on to the part you care about; the giveaway!
This giveaway is for two different winners.

Winner #1

$50 Kohl’s Gift Card + Set of 10 Delightfully Noted Chevron Thank You Cards {$15 value}

Winner #2

Set of 10 Delightfully Noted Chevron Thank You Cards {$15 value}

Here’s how to enter:

**Please leave a separate comment below for each entry!**

MANDATORY ENTRY IS:

--Leave a comment telling me one of your dreams in life! It can be a goal to run a marathon or perhaps you’d even love to open your own biz one day. Whatever it is, I want to hear about it!

FOR EXTRA ENTRIES {Don’t forget to leave a separate comment for each entry that you do!}:

--Become a Delightfully Noted Blog Follower. If you’re already a follower, leave a comment telling me so! Make sure if you are "no reply" follower that you leave an email address for me to get ahold of you!

--Like Delightfully Noted on Facebook, already a fan tell me in a comment!

--Share this giveaway on your Facebook page and leave a link to your page in my comments {it’s best if you tag me in your post!}

--Follow Delightfully Noted on Twitter

--Tweet about this giveaway on Twitter

Remember the more you do the higher your chances are of winning! I know this because I was a scholar at math. Wink-wink.

*Contest ends at midnight on Wednesday, August 31st*

  *Winners will be announced here on Thursday, September 1st*

*Your entry is your comment/comments left here*

*Open to US & Canadian residents only*

Good luck!

Linking here:
http://www.homemakeronadime.com/
http://www.smartandtrendymoms.com/