Spiffy’s F21 Giveaway!

It’s your lucky day, friends! Over at Spiffy (the blog I co-edit with fellow classic film bloggers Kate, Millie, Nicole, Sarah, Elizabeth & Raquelle) we are having a giveaway for a $25 Forever 21 Gift Certificate! It’s totally free to enter and we don’t even want to know your date of birth or the name of your first born child. Make sure you drop by before February 3, 2010 and submit your entries!

GO ENTER NOW

If you haven’t been to F21 before, or just need some inspiration on spending options, check these out: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 (Oh and I totally borrowed this splendid idea from Millie. Check out her terrific plug post with more ideas here.)

Pay it Forward Challenge

Come one, come all for the Pay it Forward Challenge! I stumbled upon this challenge on Snowbell Handmade’s blog and it seems such a lovely idea, I decided to give it a whirl. I’ve been dying to do another giveaway for ages, and here’s a perfect chance. :)

The fine print:

I am entering into the following contract with the first 5 people to comment on this post and then commit to do the same on their blog. Just read below and if you feel up to the task, copy the following into your blog and leave me a comment. (International entries welcome!)

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make. Whatcha get is whatcha get. (Although I will try to make something I think you will like!)

2. What I create for you will be just for you, with love. (ie, one-of-a-kind)

3. It’ll be done this year (2009) (for me, hopefully by the end of the summer!)

4. I will not give you any clue what it’s going to be. It will be something made in the real world and not something cyber.

5. I reserve the right to do something strange or weird. (This is in the contract, but I’m not really going to do anything strange or weird.)

6. In return, all you need to do is post this text on your blog and make 5 things for the first 5 to respond to your post.

7. Send me your mailing address (I’ll send my first 5 emails requesting it.)
Can’t wait to see who responds first! Happy Wednesday, my friends!

Exciting Deviations: Silents & Talkies Giveaway

My friend Kate Gabrielle over at Silents & Talkies is currently holding an unbelivably exciting giveaway. She has three amazing basketfuls of goodies (one from each of her Etsy shops) up for grabs. This is much too good to miss, so don’t waste another minute – it ends on July 15, 2009! Hurry over and enter for yourself!

Anniversary Giveaway Winners!

The results of the giveaway draw are in and we have five new owners of the sachets!

Before I announce the winners, here’s all the lovely participants:

A great big thanks to everyone who entered!  I am so happy and amazed at the terrific response.  This won’t be my last giveaway, since it was so popular, so if you’d didn’t win this time, there’s still hope!  Just for fun, I tallied all the votes for each sachet and the Pink Floral Silk Charmuse and Green Brocade were tied for votes (5 each).  The Brown Suede came in a close second with 4 votes.

Okay, without further ado, here are the winners (in alphabetical order):

Jen

Lise

Nicole

Raquelle

Tracy

I’ve emailed each of you for mailing info, so check your boxes!  I should be able to have the sachets in the mail by Saturday.

The little story we wrote is quite good.  It was so much fun to watch it grow with each comment. :)  Here’s what we came up with:

“The cool breeze reminded me of an autumn day three years ago in the city.  A ravishing young woman with fiery red hair sauntered past me.  She seemed to be in quite a hurry, her heels clicking away at the pavement…”

Pretty good, huh?  So, any guesses as to who our ravishing young woman with the fiery red hair is?  Or where she is hurrying to?  (Yeah, I know she can’t really saunter and hurry at the same time, but this is our story, so why not?)  Tell me what you think in the comments.

Again, thanks so much to all of you for the very kind comments.  I’m looking forward to my next 100 days with glee!  And, if that was your first time commenting, please don’t let it be the last.  I love hearing from all of you!

Anniversary Giveaway!

(trumpet fanfare, please)

…Announcing the first ever Noir Girl giveaway…

…in honor of my 100 Day Anniversary!

Noir Girl has now been in existence for almost 100 days, all thanks to the many marvelous readers who frequent this blog.  I am so grateful to each and every one of you for all your kindness, camaraderie and friendship.  I truly enjoy reading and commenting on all your posts.  You inspire me, challenge my thinking and back up my gut reactions.  In a sentence: You guys are wonderful!  It’s so exciting to be a part of the blog community. So, I’ve been plotting how I could say thank you in a more tangible way, and I think I have a pretty good offer.

I made 5 handkerchief sachets that I am going to give away to five lucky readers in the coming weeks.

Fabrics (from left to right): Brown Tooled Suede, Indian Inspired Multicolored Brocade with Gold Overtones, Cream Cotton Calico with Yellow Flowers, Pink Floral Silk Charmeuse, Green Silk Brocade

Lining Fabrics (from left to right): Pink Crinkled Satin, Deep Purple Crinkled Satin, Gold Silk Brocade, Pink Taffeta, Green Silk Brocade

The fabrics for each one are listed above and they all have satin ribbon ties. The Pink Silk Charmeuse sachet is lined with the same pink taffeta from the Vogue Jacket project.  The rest are all fabrics from my stash.

If you’ve never heard of Handkerchief Sachets before, they are small fabric pockets usually made out of luxury fabrics used for keeping a lady’s delicate handkerchiefs safe.  I believe that some may have had lavender and other sweet smelling items hidden somewhere inside to freshen the hankies.  I have a vintage one that lives on my vanity (that’s my vanity above).  The allure for me about handkerchief sachets is the fact that many young women used theirs as hiding places for secret treasures.  I became fascinated with them after watching At Bertram’s Hotel (1987) with Joan Hickson as Miss Marple.  In this made for tv film, there is a scene where Miss Marple is showing her friend some recent purchases:

Miss Marple: Oh, and I also treated myself to a handkerchief sachet.

Lady Selina: Oh, how pretty!

MM: My old one had fallen to bits.  I’d had it ever since I was a girl.

LS: Oh the things I used to hide in my handkerchief sachet! Photographs, love letters, diaries…

MM: Oh, yes!  I once kept a valentine card in mine – for years.  Given me by a young man called Lionel Mattingly.

LS: Romance, Jane? What happened?

MM: Oh, nothing. Mother nipped it in the bud.

LS: You mean you never saw him again?

MM: Oh, indeed yes.  I came across him years later. And of course, Mother was absolutely right.

This can kind of give you an idea, anyway of the feeling I’m trying to tap into with my own versions of the Handkerchief Sachet.

On to the nitty gritty:  This is an open invitation for everyone to participate (International friends included! – don’t worry about the postage).  Feel free to enter if you’ve never commented before, whether you know me or not, or if you just found my blog today.  I want to hear from you!

How to win: Comment on this post and be sure to fill in an email address in the form, so I can contact you when you win. And, specify which sachet you like the best, and I’ll try to give you the one you like.

For the comments, let’s play a little game.  Let’s see if we can write a story, with each comment adding two or three words.  The first words are:

The cool breeze

Take it anywhere you want to go, but let’s refrain from profanities and objectionable content.  Keep it clean.  I’d love to get 100 words – one for each day my blog has been up. When I announce the winners, I’ll post the finished story and we’ll see how we did. :)

I will draw the winners from a vintage hat on April 1, 2009. On that day, I’ll do a post announcing the winners and email each one.

Good luck, my dears!