Happy Birthday, My Dear Blog!

Well, it's been one year since I started Emerging Em!

I can't believe it's been that long. My main inspiration for blogging came from my dear friend Mandy of Mandipidy fame, who was my first follower. Her blog, then called Mandy's Yellow Corner, was so cute that I wanted to create my own blog for sharing the things I love to make. She helped me through the (somewhat overwhelming) beginning stages of creating a blog, and I am forever thankful for that.

Here's my first post about my first forays into blogging and my first project.

About a week later, I opened my Etsy shop, and my rosette hairpins have become my most popular item!

I am so thankful for the sweet blog friends that I have made over this past year. You all have been so supportive and encouraging! My little blog has grown from one follower to over 80 followers, and I hope it continues to grow. My blog has now become a place to share not only my crafts but my adventures in life as well!

Thanks for reading along as I found my incredible boyfriend (or rather he found me)...

... and ran a half marathon...

...and graduated with my Master of Music degree.

To celebrate you, my wonderful readers, I would like to giveaway a $30 shop credit to Emerging Em!

To enter:

Please visit my shop and leave a comment telling me your favorite item.

Extra entries:

1. Follow my blog.

2. Become a fan of Emerging Em on Facebook.

3. Follow me on Twitter.

4. Blog, tweet, or facebook about this giveaway.

Please leave a separate comment for each entry. Be sure to leave your email address so that I can contact you!

This giveaway will run through Friday, July 22nd, and I'll announce the winner the following day!

Your Favorite Color {A Winner}

Just popping in to announce the winner of the giveaway!

The winner of the necklace and hairpins and items from Mandipidy and Moonbeamwishes is...

...comment number 32, Gina from Hiya Luv!

Congrats Gina!

Disappointed you didn't win? Use the code BLOGFRIENDS30 for 30% off your purchase from Emerging Em until Wednesday, April 20th! Don't forget that I'm participating in Handmade With Purpose, and 50% of proceeds this month go to the American Diabetes Association. Please consider shopping for a worthy cause!

:)



Your Favorite Color {and a giveaway}

Remember how I told you that I would host a giveaway for reaching 50 followers?

Well, here it is!

I've teamed up with two other bloggers to give you a whole lot of cute stuff!

First up is the very sweet Ms. Megan, who blogs over at moonbeamwishes and sells her beautiful paper magic on Etsy.

She is giving away a $10 credit to her shop!

Here are some of my favorites.

Next up is the adorable Mandy from Mandipidy, who sells fun prints (and now cards!) on Etsy.

She is giving away the winner's choice of print!

My favorite right now is this...

...and I own one of these.

Lastly, I'll be giving away items from my Etsy shop.

The winner will receive a Rosette Necklace...

...and a set of hairpins, both in the winner's choice of color!

(They don't have to be the same color, of course.)

That's 50 dollars worth of delightful items!

To enter:

Leave a comment telling me what color or colors you would choose for the necklace and hairpins if you win.

Extra Entries:

1. Follow my blog.

2. Become a fan of Emerging Em on Facebook.

3. Follow me on Twitter.

4. Blog, tweet, or facebook about this giveaway.

Please leave a separate comment for each entry. Be sure to leave your email address so that I can contact you!

The giveaway will run through Friday, April 15th, and I'll announce the winner next Saturday!

:)

Giveaway {Coming Soon To You}

I've reached 50 blog followers!

YAY!

I think I'll celebrate by treating myself to a cupcake. With sprinkles.

(City of Blackbirds) 

I think I'll help you celebrate with a giveaway from Emerging Em!

(Unless you want cupcakes, too...)

Be on the lookout soon!

And thank you for being such wonderful, lovely readers! I truly appreciate your comments, advice, and support!

:)



I'm now old enough to rent a car. Yay.

Woop woop - I'm 25!

(That sounds so old!)

And yep, I was born on Christmas Eve. It's a cool story, but in reality, it kind of stinks.

Here's how it went down:

My mom went into labor sometime in the afternoon on Christmas Eve, but she insisted on my dad wrapping all the Christmas presents before they left.

Dad: Teresa, no one is going to be here to open them tomorrow.

Mom: Just wrap them!!!

Dad: Uh, ok.

(Dad - I don't speak from experience, but I think it's probably a bad idea to argue with someone labor. Just sayin'.)

They arrived at the hospital, and I was born at 11:35 p.m. I'm pretty sure I would have been born on Christmas - but my mom had a c-section - and I have a feeling the doctors were just thinking "let's get this kid out and go home for Christmas." So Christmas Eve it was. The next morning, I was brought to my mom in a stocking. Yes, I fit into a stocking. As far as I know, there is no photographic evidence of this adorable event. But here are some pictures of me throughout the years...

(I love this one of my dad and me and his Model A!)

(I was a ham!)

By the way...the birthday-at-Christmas-time is a family curse. Here's a list of family events at this time of year:

December 22: Mom's birthday

December 24: My birthday

December 25: Christmas

December 29: My sister's birthday

January 1: New Years

Whew. Good times.

Alright. Now what you've all been waiting for...the winner of my $25 shop credit giveaway is:

Gina from Hiya Luv!

Yay! Congrats!

A very Merry Christmas Eve to everyone!

A Beautiful Hello

Since Daniel now has his Christmas package I can share pictures...

But first I want to share with you an Etsy shop I found called Beautiful Hello.

Aren't her cards gorgeous?!?

They all have fun song title names!

(Her name is Emily, too. And she lives in Greenville. How fun.)

She's new to Etsy, so please go check out her shop!

Since I didn't have time to order one to put in Daniel's package, I decided to make my own.

(Emily's are far more beautiful than mine, but I tried.)

So I pulled out my big girl watercolors (not the ones you use when you're little...the kind you squeeze out of a tube), and mixed up some pretty green colors so my tree would look like a Christmas tree. Instead of Emily's intricate, hand-stitched tree trunk (I don't know how to do that!), I drew in the tree's trunk with a metallic copper colored pencil.

So, here it is:

*crappy phone camera picture alert*

I think it turned out fairly well. And I think Daniel liked it. ;)

I'd also like to say that I'm pretty proud Daniel is learning how to do this:

This one is a mocha...my drink of choice. Mmmmm.

(Sorry, Daniel. I stole these again.)

Go on. Admit it. You're jealous.

:)

p.s. Don't forget to enter my giveaway!

25 + 25 + 25 {and a giveaway}

...equals 75. But that's not really the point of this post.

Thanks to the lovely Mandy of Mandipidy and her birthday bash giveaways, I gained quite a few new followers in the past week. I passed 25, and I now have 39!

Thanks Mandy!

Since my 25th birthday is also coming up next week, I thought those two things were reason enough for a giveaway. Don't you think so?

Symphony Rosette Headband

Awesome. Me too.

In celebration of all the other 25s going on in my life, one of you will win a $25 shop credit to Emerging Em!

Light Peach Bowtie Necklace

To enter:

Visit Emerging Em and leave a comment with your favorite item!

Extra Entries:

1. Follow my blog.

2. Become a fan of Emerging Em on Facebook.

(I'm also having a giveaway for my Facebook fans. Head on over and comment there, too.)

3. Follow me on twitter.

(Yes. I caved. I got a twitter account.)

4. Blog, tweet, or facebook about this giveaway.

Be sure to leave your email address so that I can contact you!

The giveaway will run through December 23, and I'll announce the winner on my birthday - Christmas Eve!

:)

Oh hello, December.

Whew, I survived to the end of school and got my 2322843 papers written.

Writing papers for me is like pulling teeth. It was not fun times.

Anyhow, they're done, and I'm loving Christmas break and all of my holiday gigs! I just got back from a weekend of playing with the Symphony Orchestra Augusta in Augusta, Georgia. I made some new friends, and we enjoyed playing our holiday pops concert!

My stand partner and I decided to turn bowties into headbands. :)

I'll have to tell you about the guy in the picture above a little later... ;)

Now. In case you haven't heard - Mandy over at Mandipidy is hosting a whole day of giveaway goodness for her birthday! Happy Birthday Mandy!

You can win lovely items from 17 different shops including Emerging Em!

Go check it out!

Giveaway Winner

The winner of my rosette hairpins is...

...comment number 5 - Hallie!

Congrats!



Etsy Love

If I had a significant other, and he loved coffee as much as I do (or even if he didn't...but he probably should for his own sanity), I would have to send him this...

(Dawn Correspondence)

...because it's so adorable!!!

Seriously, my heart jumped a bit when I ran across this. Or was that one cup too many this morning?

Don't forget to hop on over to Facebook, become a fan of Emerging Em, and then enter my giveaway here!

Giveaway: Facebook Fans

Have you seen my new rosette hairpins?

If you haven't, here they are...

...and I'm giving away a pair to my Facebook fans - in the color of your choice!

If you win, you can let me know your color of choice, and I'll do my best to find ribbon in that color.

To enter:

Mandatory: Become a fan of Emerging Em on Facebook.

Extra Entries:

1. Visit my Etsy shop, and tell me what your favorite item is.

2. Blog or post on Facebook about this giveaway.

Please leave a separate comment for each entry, and don't forget to leave a way for me to get in touch with you!

The winner will be chosen on October 23 through random.org.

Good luck!



Giveaway Winner

The winner of the rosette headband...

...is comment number 12, which was Jamie at The Riplets!

Congrats to Jamie!

Look for new items in my Etsy shop soon.

Etsy

After much hemming and hawing and trying to figure things out, my Etsy shop (drumroll, please) is finally open!!!

Check it out here.

To celebrate this opening I've decided to have a giveaway...

...of this lovely headband:

Isn't it cute?

To enter:

1. Visit my etsy shop, and leave a comment here.

2. Follow my blog.

3. Follow me on Facebook.

Leave a separate comment for each. The giveaway will end July 24th so that I will have time to randomly pick a winner and get it in the mail before I leave for the Adirondacks.

Thanks for stopping by!

Running and Winning

I've taken up running recently. I was inspired by a few friends who run, and I am training for a marathon in February. February 13th to be exact. (Gulp. Nervous.) It's the 26.2 with Donna National Marathon to Finish Breast Cancer held in Jacksonville, Florida. For more information visit this website.

The true inspiration behind the marathon and all of my running is my violin professor at Florida State University, Beth Newdome, who passed away on February 13th, 2010. She had been battling breast cancer for five years. I think the date of the marathon is no coincidence, and I can't think of a better way to honor her and celebrate her extraordinary life.

Here we are in London my freshman year:

Beth was not only my teacher but a trusted advisor and dear friend. She was a model for determination and perseverance and will always be an inspiration in my life. She was a spectacular violinist, a lover of art and books, and a wonderful friend to so many.

So, Beth, I'm doing this all for you! It's just a fringe benefit that I'm getting in shape at the same time.

I went to buy running shoes at Fleet Feet. Here are my Adidas Supernova Glides...

...too bad I don't feel like I'm gliding in them most of the time - more like trudging. I'm slowly getting better, though. My first race was the Candlelight Run 5K. Here I am pre-race:

My second race was the Red, White, and Blue Shoes 5K at Furman University. Here I am (gross and sweaty) post-race:

The first and last parts of our course at Furman were down the mall - isn't it pretty?

My third race, another 5K, was this past Saturday at the South Carolina Peach Festival.

 

They had peaches at the finish line, of course...

...and - the fun news - I took third place in my age category!

I've got quite a fun collection of bibs now:

Hopefully that collection will keep growing.

Look for posts in the near future about my ETSY SHOP and a GIVEAWAY!