Banned Book Week Giveaway!

For those of you who didn't know, this last week has been Banned Book Week (It goes until tomorrow, Oct 3rd... so check it out! It's never too late to start reading!)

In honor of this, I am having 2 giveaways!

Giveaway #1:
Our local bookstore was giving away these nifty little pins that say "I Read Banned Books"



Needless to say, I go to the bookstore a lot (A LOT) and now have enough pins to share!

I have 4 pins to give away, 2 blue, 2 pink. I will send one pin to the first 4 people who reply to this saying they want one (make sure to include an email address I can reach you at, so I can get your actual address... or you can just send it to the email addy on my sidebar to the right). There are no other stipulations to get a pin, you just have to say, "Hey! Send me one!!"

If you want a specific color, let me know (although if I run out I'll just send you the other color)


Giveaway #2:
Giveaway #2 is for a Hard Cover, First Edition copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (aka, a banned book!)




For this item, if you would like to be entered in the giveaway, please post a link to my giveaway on your blog (either in a post, or in the sidebar... you can use the icon I've made to link to it if you like!) and then post here to let me know that you've done it!

You can enter until October 15th, and then on October 16th I will draw the winner!

It doesn't matter to me if you already have a copy of this book, or if you've already read it... if you know someone who hasn't, or who would be interested in it, then please enter! You can also post this to your blog even if you don't want to be entered (if I'm an avid reader of your blog, though, let me know you don't want to be entered!!)... my main goal is to get folks reading!

International entries are welcome for both giveaways! :)

Also, if anyone wants, they can steal my "I read banned books" pin image from my sidebar to post in their blog XD

I hope you guys find this fun!

Getting Going

I've, since yesterday, found several helpful forums where a lot of my questions have been answered.

More than anything, I now have a list of books that I want:

1. Making and Dressing Miniature Teddy Bears by Julie K. Owen
2. The Encyclopedia of Teddy-Bear Making Techniques: A Comprehensive Visual Guide to Traditional and Contemporary Techniques by Alicia Merrett and Ann Stephens
3. Learn Bear Making: Easy-Intermediate-Advanced by Judy Maddigan
4. Teddy Bear Art: How to Design and Make Great Teddy Bears by Jennifer Laing

If anyone has any input on any of those books... or others you feel I should add to the list, please let me know!

I've almost finished my first bear... he just needs his back seam sewn up. He's... not quite what I figured, since I ended up not being able to find the correct joints... his poor little head is just sewn on and the joints I ended up using in his arms and legs (the smallest ones I could find in the area) were still way too large!
I also didn't have the right eyeballs or a good color floss for his nose! All in all... a bit of a disaster, and yet, I still love him. He's my first, so I'm not discouraged, I figure it can only get better!

I don't have a picture yet, I felt I should sew up his back first... but tomorrow hopefully I will have an image of my first little disaster bear! :)