Monday, January 31, 2011

Spotlight: Heidi Jacobs Crochet

Heidi Jacobs Crochet


I am not crafty and don't really sew or knit or crochet, but I love cute homemeade hats for my kids. My aunt made a pumpkin hat for one of my older kids when he was a baby and I LOVE it so much it has gone through all my kiddos! I am sure the baby will be forced to wear it whether he wants to or not.

Lucky for my untalented self and for any of you that also love adorable homemade crocheted items for your families, I have a lot of talented friends and family.

One of my very best friends from high school, Heidi, has just started a blog/online shop, Heidi Jacobs Crochet where you can buy her amazing creations. She is SOOO talented. I know it is hard to take my word for it when I am her guardian angel (sorry-I could not help myself-that is an inside joke, but she is my great friend), so check out some of her stuff for yourself:


Are you impressed yet?! You should be!

She has more stuff on her blog, and is adding more and more each day-there are a lot more items she has done that she will be posting in the days to come! Make sure to check out Heidi Jacobs Crochet!

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New Giveaway pages on the Blog...check them out

In case you are reading this in just an email or a feed, I wanted to let you know you should stop by and take a look at a couple new features on the blog. If you look across the top (under the title) you will see that I have added a couple of new pages: Giveaways at Beckees Deals and My Winnings.

The Giveaways at Beckees Deals page has a list of all current giveaways on the blog as well as a list of all old giveaways I have done with the winner listed! Check it out here.

On the My Winnings page I have begun to keep track of all the giveaways I win. If you are interested in reading about how I win so many giveaways (well over 50 in the past 9 months), there are links to the posts I have written about my methods. There is also a running list of what I have won that I update with each win. I have one new one to add today!! Make sure you go check out the full list on the page here.

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Sexy Modest Winner!

I used Random.org to generate a winner in the $25 Sexy Modest Gift Card giveaway. I had 37 entries, and Random.org chose comment #2 which was Jakell from at Smile a Day Giveaways! You ought to go check out her blog when you get the chance! I am her newest follower!

2. jakell said...
posted on their FB wall too!
jakell
(smile a day giveaways)


I have emailed JaKell and she has 48 hours to get back to me (If you are JaKell and did not get my email, please email me at beckeesdeals AT gmail DOT com)!

Congrats Marci!!!


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Annie Chun party part 2: Pictures and FUN!!

I just posted about how much fun we had at the Annie Chun's party. Here are some pictures of all the fun (with some more info and descriptions of what we served and how it looked!!)

All set and ready to go...

 We served Korean noodles as an appetizer, then as pictured below was the main dish of Annie Chun's Sticky White Rice, Korean beef BBQ, and Chinese Chow Mien Vegetables. SOOO good...I am drooling just remembering it all...
 Wes's grandparents enjoying the company and the food!!
 Time to Dig in!!
 Wes's mom (who helped get it all together a lot the day of as well when I was so sick-she also let us use her house-thank you!!)
 Wes's dad and nephew-that little nephew of ours could not get enough of the Korean noodles!!
It was so cute!
 My parents with my baby girl
 I though I should include a picture of myself so you could see I was really there! I know I look stunning...
 Wow-that went fast (and was GOOD!)
 The kids table-some of them sat on the floor-that is 2 of my kids and my brother.
 Finishing up the main course and getting ready for dessert!!
 Lots of help getting dessert ready-we had prepped coconut milk with a bit of sugar in advance and had just warmed up the Annie Chun's Black pearl rice (which is so quick and easy BTW and tastes fantastic). Everyone is preparing the fruit (mangos and bananas) to finish off the dessert.
 Dessert was Black Pearl Rice and Sweetened Coconut milk with mango and banana! LOVED it!!!!
 My brother LOVED his dessert!
Great times!! Thanks you Annie Chun's!!

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Annie Chun's Products and Party review part 1

I mentioned on here a few times that I won an Annie Chun's dinner party. I was able to actually have the party with our family while we were in Utah in December. I was quite sick at the party, but it was still such a BLAST!! I want to share with you some of the fun and also give you a little review of the awesome Annie Chun's Products we used/ate.

First let me tell you all the awesome stuff they sent me:

1. A Menu Card with three types of cuisine: Thai, Korean and Chinese. I was able to chose a gourmet Asian meal of my choice for my dinner party-We chose to do Korean and got Annie Chun's Korean Noodle appetizers, made Korean BBQ beef (with Annie Chun's ingredients), and admittedly cheated a little on the Korean theme by also making some Chinese Chow Mein Vegetables.

2.Annie Chun’s products to make all three menu options. (They sent stuff to make all 3 types of cuisine, and I do still have many leftover Annie
Chun’s items!! And I am LOVING them!)

3.One $20.00 check from Annie Chun’s to help in purchasing the remaining required ingredients for the party (I went all out though so it cost me a bit more than this amount, but how nice to have the $20 help!!)

4. One Annie Chun’s product coupon for each guest (We gave one to each family as we had more guests than they expected for the dinner party-we have big families!)

5. A gift of premium wooden chopsticks for each of guest (again-it was each family)

6. One OXO Good Grips silicone extra-large spatula for me – as the hostess/host of your party.

WOW-this was one big box of items that showed up at my house!! I loved it all and could not wait for my party to begin. My husband, Wes and I planned out what we were going to serve, where to have the party and how we were going to make it all happen. We invited just our immediate family members and went to work.

As I mentioned, the day before the party is when I got sick (diagnosed with pneumonia at 26 weeks pregnant) so I was pretty sick, but luckily we had done a lot of planning ahead and I have an amazing husband who took over and became the main host (in spite of his aversion to hosting parties).

It was a blast and out food was amazing! I loved ALL the Annie Chun's products we tried at the party (and have tried since the party). I recommend checking for Annie Chun's products in your local stores and giving them a try! I will buy them in the future for sure. I am going to post some fun party pics and videos in a separate post, but I do want to leave you with these two short videos in case you wondered what other people thought of the food:

Wes and the others loved it as you see!!

And...there you have it...even the kids liked the food!!



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