ALY ALLEN | THE BLOG

i had to tell you guys about my friend Jami. she's someone that i've been fortunate enough to meet through blogging. i mean, the fact that it's possible to have friends you never would have met otherwise, just because you write a blog and they write a blog and you happen to be going to the same conference two years ago ? pretty mind-blowing. and she's amazing, you guys. hilarious and kind and so easy going. and now i'll let her tell you about the rest... all of the below is from Jami: today is the day! the day you get to see all the goodies up for grabs. aaaand, i'm nervous. there i said it. i feel better already. if you read my post from last week you know that hubby is part of a mission team going to uganda this summer. we are thrilled to be able to participate and can not wait to see what the Lord does. the team will be traveling with children of the nations  spending time teaching and loving on children in group homes. they will also be visit...

*this giveaway is now closed. thank you SO MUCH to all who donated!  we built that well !* by all means,  please continue to donate ! the extra money will just go to another well :) as you can see, this little blog got to 100 followers recently. i sorta missed the boat on the "celebrate-100-followers-giveaway" thing. if that's even a "thing". lots of people do a giveaway when they hit a certain amount of followers, right? i did have a fleeting idea that i would have wanted to do a giveaway in celebration of 100 followers, but obviously i never got around to it. have you heard about this? Project 320 . for the past few years, these gals have rallied together to host a bunch of giveaways on a bunch of different blogs, to build a well for people who have no access to clean water.  no access to clean water, you guys. they use their blogs to get the word out and raise money through charity:water  to build a well. last year, they built three! watch this: ...

i'm so excited to tell you guys about this! a few weeks ago,  Jess  of Allora Handmade , contacted me asking a favor. of course i was excited to participate, and even more honored to have been asked, in donating a tutorial that would be sold to raise money for her best friend Sharlie's medical bills. i think they need to raise $250,000 [but eventually more like $1 million!?] for her double lung AND heart transplant. she has cystic fibrosis and has been living with it for 32 years, but needs this transplant ASAP to survive. [i'm pretty sure most people don't live past 20 or so with cystic fibrosis so this is pretty much a miracle already]. anyway, in pure genius fashion, Jess and her sister Mique [these are the two masterminds behind the Queen Bee Market , btw] set up a shop filled with tutorials, printables, and advertising, and all the money goes straight to Sharlie. they didn't want to do the usual donate-money-and-have-a-chance-to-win-a-giveaway. they...

have you guys ever heard of the "dollar mob" ? okay, well it's this new organization that i've seen mentioned a couple times around blogland.  Ashley Ann [you all know who i'm talking about, right? awesome photographer and DIY-er extraordinaire?]  and my friend Kim [both Ashley and Kim are going through the  adoption process right now] have mentioned it. basically, you sign up through paypal to give $1 every week . $4 a month. what you could scrape together in your car and couch cushions, probably right now, and at least once every month. you know what i mean? but the idea is that if enough people are giving the $4 per month, they can fund some really awesome projects. mostly adoptions. each month they'll introduce a new family or project that they're going to fund, and your $4 will go toward that. $4 is basically nothing. if you don't have an etsy shop, which means your paypal account probably always has a at least $4 in it, you could e...

hi friends. i wanted to let you know about [and remind you of] a few things that are going on right now: first, please take a minute to visit  my friend Kim's blog , where she has sixteen lovely giveaway items waiting for you! $2 gets you one entry to the item of your choice. $25 gets you 15 entries (up to ten entries per item). and every penny goes to this place in Ethiopia called "Restoration Orphanage" that is in dire need of funds right now. the children are not doing well and they need money, like yesterday. i know we can all give a few bucks! and if you do, you can enter to win a set of ALL NINE of my flower tutorials  [a $60 value], or a set of finished headbands. remember how cute they are? go back to this post to refresh :) they're just sitting in my "craft room" waiting to be claimed and shipped to a deserving home. it could be your home that i ship to, for just a couple dollars?! okay, and also, i had to let you know that Nicole over at Red ...

hey friends. i wanted to let you know how you could win a master set of all my flower patterns. all 9 of them, which is like a $60 value. not bad, huh? there will be FIVE winners selected to receive the master set of patterns, and i think you really want to be one of them, don't you? i actually forgot one of the patterns in this collage. so, you get to be surprised! oh, and also, i'm giving away two sets of finished headbands. one set is for babies. the other set will fit toddlers up through mommies. they're pretty cute, i think. take a look: this is the set for babies... collage was done at picnik.com  which is amazing, you should try it. toddler through adult set, also collaged at picnik.com okay, but that's not all. if you don't like my designs, or if they're totally not your style [don't worry, i'm not offended at all] there are thirteen other prizes  up for grabs for you to win?!? so, head over to my friend Kim's blog to learn more...

well hello, friends [and hopefully family, who have just started reading. hi!] i wanted to pop in and share a little story with you. maybe some of you have already caught wind of this? i read about it on shauna's blog  today.  there's a sweet momma, Danielle , whom i've never met, and she has a blog... and her family is adopting a precious baby boy from Eastern Europe. this little guy, Sergey, has downs syndrome . what i didn't know, and i assume most of you didn't know either, is that if these sweet babies [who are currently staying in orphanages] are not adopted by the time they're 5, they are admitted to adult mental institutions with terrible chances of survival. Danielle explained it this way on her blog: If these children are not adopted between the ages of 4 and 5 they will be sent to an adult mental institution where they will be tied to cribs to live out the remainder of their lives.  Which statistically 95% of these children will die in the very...