I’ve sure had a lot of fun this week reading all your comments and getting to give some things away- thanks for your enthusiastic response! It’s made my whole week so much fun, checking each day for comments and mailing out prizes. And just so you know, YOU’RE all the best in my book.
And, oh yeah- I think we’re going to be having more giveaways around here, ’cause I like them and hope you do to!
The final giveaway for this week is a gift card to one of my favorite places to shop. Seriously, isn’t Target* a frugal person’s dream store? Good regular prices, excellent sales and clearances, awesome designs and lots of choices. Plus, it’s clean and organized (and you know how rare that is in the discount-store biz…). And then they went and added coupons a few years back.
Coupons for clothes? I’m there!
I hope that $50 to Target* will be able to buy you something you’ve been needing or just wanting! I know I would not have any problem spending it in one fell swoop. *blush*
And I had no idea my handwriting looked like something from middle school until I took this picture of it- ugh. At least the sentiment is nice.
So- this one is pretty easy to enter (even easier if you’ve been entering the other giveaways this week) and will be open all weekend:
- Do One of these (if you haven’t already): a)Subscribe here by email or here by RSS; b)”Like” An Oregon Cottage on Facebook; c) or Follow me on Twitter
- AND tell me one of your favorite past posts here on An Oregon Cottage.
- Make sure I have a way to contact you- if your email is not on your Google profile, or you are commenting with another option, leave your email with the comment (just write it with the “dot” written out like: (dot) to avoid spammers grabbing it) OR check back to find out who the winner is and email me at the address under my “Contact” button. If I don’t hear anything within 48 hours, I will choose another winner.
-
I will use random.org’s integer generator to choose the winner, who will be announced on the blog and will receive an email (if one is available). The giveaway is open to anyone who lives within driving distance of a Target store! Entries will be accepted from 5:00am (PST) on Friday, February 25th to 10pm, Sunday, February 27th and I’ll post/notify the winner on Monday morning the 28th.
*Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Target in any way- I just walked into a store and purchased this card to offer to you all. Though wouldn’t it be great to be affiliated with them?
Love ya,
-Jami
* Giveaway ended: comments closed*
I believe a cottage can be anywhere or anything (condo, ranch, farmhouse) as long as you have a "cottage mentality" which puts people above things, celebrates imperfections, embraces simplicity, and finds joy in everyday life. Thanks for joining me!
What a great giveaway! I follow you on Google Friend Connect and two of my favorite past posts are the Sad Saturday with the pig snout sourdough bread (LOL!) and the one about making the jillion gallons of apple juice. I hope I win this gift card! I LOVE Target!
Oooh, I can get lost looking at everything Target has. Love that store. I follow via RSS feed. I enjoy your gardening posts and the on your family working together to get home projects done in a weekend.
I follow on Google. I like your gardening posts best. I’m fairly new but have read a lot of old posts. I like the one about potatoes in straw.
Thanks, Jami, for your anniversary giveaways this week. I enjoy all of your blog posts, especially your Monday Menus and your before and after pictures of your home improvement projects. My very favorite posts, however, were the ones you did about your family traditions and your Thursday Family Cleaning Nights . My boys are grown now, so I wish I could try some of them. Instead, I’ve passed your blog site along to my younger friends with children.
jean.nichols52@gmaildotcom
Fabulous! Who doesn’t love Target? I already follow your feed. How could I possibly choose a favorite post? I do love your cooking posts, and probably love the bread ones the most. I’ll say the French Bread one, since I’ve made that most recently. Delicious!
I am one of your twitter followers and first found you when I was searching for how to cook bread, in my retirement. So… my favorite post would be Artisan Bread.
I like you on Facebook, and just email subscribed this week. Honestly, I benefit from just about every post. My favorites are your recipes, pantry posts, and menus. We have children similar ages, and I enjoy reading how you are feeding them.
I am an email subscriber. My favorite post is the one that brought me here: your dining table re-do. Thanks!
gswprchick AT aol DOT com
I subscribe already. I enjoy all of your posts, but my favorites are your cooking ones. I would have to say that your canning and freezing ones are the best for me. I even made your pickled green beans! They are very good and a wonderful coversation maker! I have even given out your recipe with your blog name. Keep up the good work!
I will check back Monday to see if I’m a winner!
Thanks!
oohh Target! Yay! I already follow your feed
but I have to say my favorite posts of yours are your gardening posts….(seed catalogs, raised beds especially).
You are in my google reader under the file Favorite Blogs. I’d love a Target gift card so I hope random organizer is a friend of mine
My favorite entry is probably Decorating From Your Garden although I love all your Tuesday Garden Party entries, and your recipes and your decorating entries as well.
I’m really new to your blog which I found through, I think, a string of four or five different blogs to get here! I’ve been reading back posts and so far have liked the recipes for more simple food and the Tuesday Garden Party. Of course, I always like to figure out how to save a little here and there and your ideas seem fun and not too complicated.
I subscribe RSS. I’ll tell you the post my husband would say is his favorite (he’s not actually a reader, just a “benefitter”) – the Best Sausage and Lentil Stew recipe!
your hamburger bun recipe…yum!
My favorite would be hard to pick – I use your pesto recipe often and can’t wait to try it with sunflower seeds. I also loved the paper floor as I babysat for a family in the 70′s who did that – it seemed so radical at the time.
I still laugh over your ‘painting the cottage’ post. Those Oregon ‘Gray Paint Laws’ still crack me up.
~C8>
Yes I think I like the ‘house redo’ and how wonderful it looked. Also the artisan bread was wonderful I haven’t tried it but it looked fantastic,.
I subscribe via rss in my google reader and follow you on twitter!
My favorite past posts have got to be the ones about canning! Canning 101 is awesome, and I also love the recipes you give!
Oh! And Frugal Pesto! WHAT a revelation!
Thank you for a fun give away! target is my favorite store too! My favorite post is also the one that got me reading daily.. i googled foil packets for camping and your blog popped up! 1.. your recipe and tip was great..2… i have been reading since.
angela macorganist7041@yahoo.com
Hello: I am a newcomer and I love your blog. I especially like the demos on making bread…there is just something so comforting about making bread or even watching someone making bread. I also love Target but feel more faithful long time followers should get first dibs…but lookout once I get more acquainted..I will be jumping up and down saying pick me pick me pick me. Sincerely, Mary.
mskeslock@yahoo.com
Hello Everyone: If you have an old Kitchen Aid or any type of mixer with an attachment for making bread lying around and would like to sell it, please let me know. The brand new mixers are beautiful and wonderful but a tad expensive for me right now! Thank you. Mary mskeslock@yahoo.com
I subscribed on my Google Reader after my first visit to your blog.
I love your Tuesday Garden Party posts and your honest style of writing.
I am including a little blurb about your blog and your giveaway tomorrow on my blog with a link back to you. Hope some of my readers will hop over and get to know you.
I love getting your emails. My favorite was the one where you listed your favorite garden tools.
Lynn
Hi Jami! I keep up with you on Facebook most often. My favorite posts are your home improvement posts. In particular, I liked the one about using brown paper for a floor. Super creative. The videos you and your hubby make are a hoot! I love them.
my email is lemonadesun@gmail(dot)com
oooooooooooooo I love Target! *rubs hands together while planning what to buy*
This is an awesome giveaway. We just moved into a new home here in Oregon City
and we’re still trying to find little cutsie things for the walls, etc.
I follow you on Google and I love all of your blogs but I look forward to your weekly menu and I really enjoyed the blog for the Chocolate Topped Oatmeal bars. I made them last spring for the Awana kids Graduation and the kids just gobbled them up
Hi Jami,
I’m a long time subscriber via blogger reader. I LOVE your pesto post… it revolutionized my life! I can eat my favorite without feeling guilty for blowing the budget. Although, its really hard to pick a favorite. Thanks for inspiring us! Shannon
shanzanne at hotmail dot com
I love your cottage re-do articles! I also made your stuffed peppers last night, adding bits of chicken sausage. They were so yummy. I go to your blog when life is stressful and I need to feel calmness. I am a follower and “liked” you on Facebook. Lesley Palmer
I loved the brown paper floors you did. How are they holding up?
Holy Cow – what a great giveaway!! I want to win – I want to win!! Anyway…..
My top two most favorite posts that I have bookmarked and refer to ALL THE TIME are:
1) how to garden the no-till way
2)how to make homemade chocolate syrup (which I make on a weekly basis – I have four boys at home!!)
Jami, there are so many aspects of your blog that I enjoy. Really, your entire philosophy of living with less and making do is what first got me reading–though your brownie recipe is amazing and seeing the transformation of your cottage has been a treat!
Erin
P.S.–Though I’ve subscribed to your blog since last fall, I apparently hadn’t been a follower. How’d that happen?! Ah well, now I’m your newest!
Oh did I mention that really and truly my most favorite thing about Oregon Cottage is TGP?????
I have had three envelopes full of seeds from people I found on TGP. I have had numerous wonderful friends and fellow Oregonian gardeners. I have learned so much that it has catapulted me into a really good home gardener. TGP was your best invention yet!!!
shannandesh at msn dot com
Hi! I signed up to receive the email feeds, not sure why I didn’t do this sooner! Love reading your blog and trying out your recipes. My favorite post was the one with the recipe for the carmel sauce. It is SO GOOD! I have coworkers who now crave this stuff and pay me to make it for them. My email is pupplyluv79 at yahoo.com
Oh, this is so fun reading all your favs, I just have to comment- I’ll keep it out of the random.org numbers, though…
-Barb- thanks for the shout-out, I appreciate it!
-Shannan- you and all my TGP peeps made last gardening season the best ever!! And seed sharing? What a great idea- we’ll have to set something up so everyone can partake.
-Jerilee- Our paper floors look as good as the day we did them- and I have a wonderful surprise that came from that floor post I’m going to share with you all in the next few weeks- stay tuned!
I’m a follower (facebook) and a subscriber (RSS) and appreciate the information in your post about the sad tomato covers (I think that’s how you phrased it!) I’m hoping to give them a shot this year and see how it works.
Following by RSS and on Facebook already. I love the home improvement posts. Especially spray-painting old fixtures. I will be doing that this year.
I love your simulated wood floor technique. I am going to try it. I don’t like the carpet in my food storage room. This would be a perfect room to practice this technique.
I just subscribed by e-mail…but I’ve enjoyed your blog for about a year now…always a bright spot in my day! Thanks for that!
My favorite post was you and your hubby’s video on making good coffee…love the videos!! You are a sweet couple…your husband reminds me of mine…so I am a big fan of the humor! I follow on FB already too.
e-mail is puregraceward@q(dot)com
I follow you on facebook as well as a follower of the blog. One of my favorite posts is the artisian bread. I also love the menu posts, I have tried new recipes and it help me in my meal planning. Thank you for all YOU do, I thoroughly enjoy your blog!
Linda
findourstar at gmail dot com
Email subscriber for some time now.
Jami,
Congrats on your blog anniversary!
It is too hard to select just one of my fav. of your posts.I love the Sept. 28 2010 Garden Party Photos, oh those raspberries! I have been dreaming of those Carmel Coconut Shortbread that you posted in Dec. 2010 – I plan on making them for a spring tea. Your blog has all things I am interested in: gardening, cooking, thrift store finds, family unity, your work ethic(love the dining room table re-do), saving money on groceries, menu planning, decorating.
thanks,
Chris
treehouse.queen18(at) (yahoodotcom)
PS We have radishes up.
I am an email subscriber and really enjoy your blog. One of my favorite articles was your “Easy artisan bread”. I haven’t tried it yet, but looking forward to it. I also really enjoy all your gardening posts and recipes. I really want to tryout your recent granola bar recipes. Thanks for all your great info.
I bookmark so many of your blog posts! You are such a fantastic resource for local gardeners and cooks! I am always referencing your garden “calendar”.
I subscribe, and I really couldn’t choose a very post! I reference the recipe posts the most often, though, especially the one for homemade chocolate syrup. It has made my life complete!
I “like” you on facebook and I “follow” you. One of my fav posts is your gardening the no till way. I think thats how I found you. I really like all of your posts tho! I am eager to try a bunch of your recipes and I love all the gardening stuff and the Garden Party. Thanks for all you do!!! stampintami at aol dot com
Favorite post…hmmm…thinking….generally I like your menu postings…specifically, the granola bars post.
I’m already subscribed to Google connect, hope that counts.
thebittersweetkitchen@yahoodotcom
I like you FB and I get your emails.
I loved your post about redoing your daughters room.
I would love to win. Thank you for the chance!
Maren Lee
Not only are you one of my favorite people, but your blog is one of my favorites as well! I love getting the great ideas and having them written down and with photos to boot! You’re simply amazing Jami!
My favorite post was your son’s bedroom makeover series followed by your daughter’s bedroom makeover. I love the video’s that you and Brian do together. What a hoot! Plus I usually learn something new.
The post about family cleaning night has been revolutionary for my little family. It is the greatest idea ever!! (Especially having ice cream at the end of the evening!)
The post about your cute little niece trying to save the mouse while you couldn’t wait to help it pass onto …. wherever mice go. Thank goodness Brian came to the rescue on that one!
Thank you Jami for all the great ideas!
Faun
funwithfaun@aol.com
I’m a follower (see my X over there in the ‘friends’ boX). One of my favorite posts was a how-to about roasting tomatoes in the oven, for freezing. ThanX!
I would have to say that your sandwich bread post is my favorite, considering I make all my bread from that recipe once or twice a week. (-: Congratulations on 2 years!
How to pick a favorite post??? I like the ones where you repurpose something, or redo a garage sale find for cheap. So inspiring! I like you on FB and I’ve followed you for about a year. I’ve also linked up to your gardening posts. Love your blog!
Hi Jami, I am Bea’s friend Laurie and I think she mentioned to you that I read your blog. She encouraged me to comment…so here I am! Love your blog, love to read about things in Oregon and all I learn from you. I think Nathan’s room makeover was one of my favorites! Keep up the good work!
Laurie – Frugalite in Milwaukie, OR
I just subscribed by e-mail and my all-time favorite posts are the Pantry Basics series. Do more, please!
Jenny
damselflydreamsathotmaildotcom
Hi Jami! I have been following your blog for over a year and I love so many things about it! My favorites are the recipes–the clear directions & pictures of each step. (: I always go to your blog when I am looking for a new recipe to try!
Thanks!
Gretchen (joshgretchen@hotmail.com)
You were my first “Like” on my brand-new Facebook account, Jami. I got hooked on your Artisan Bread! And my dutch oven came from Target, now that I think about it. Maybe that’s a sign!
I really wanted to like this blog, as it came recommended, but between *EVERY* link opening a new browser window and it being so heavy with ads that I could barely find the content, I’m sad to say I won’t be back.
Less is more in in your life .. I sure wish less was more on your blog.
Hello! I clicked over here after a recommendation by Barb at Harmony Art blog. So glad I did. Love your blog! I subscribed in a reader. My favorite posts are your garden parties – what a fantastic idea! Can’t wait to share.
I just joined your site and looking over some of your great posts I found ‘frugal-menu-planning’ to be a post I’ll re-read for sure. BTW, I found link to your blog on Harmony Arts Mom’s blog.
I have a giveaway on my site too. a $20 gift code on CSN.com stores.
I have been an RSS reader. I love your website. It hard to narrow it down to my fav, but I would say it is between the bread recipes you post and the canning/putting away food information. I love it all and always feel inspired.
I’m “liking” your site indeed; I just grabbed the recipe for the baked chewy granola bars and the peanut butter blondies (although I’m gonna try and make them gluten-free).
Btw, Barb from Harmony Art sent me.
To Anonymous (comment #54): I’m sorry about those links opening new windows, I was trying something new and fooling around with html! It’s now fixed and back to normal- only outbound links will open (if I remember to add the codes..).
I am also sorry you think the blog is “ad heavy” as I try to make it as clean looking and uncluttered as I can. I don’t make very much from this site and I put hours into it, so the little I make enables me to keep blogging (and offering giveaways like this!).
I think finding content is as simple as clicking the navigation bar under “recipe” or whatever interests you.
If anyone else has trouble finding content, I’d love to know, as I definitely want you all to be able to find things!
I am a rss subscriber and twitter follower. I have been following for years. My all time favorite post of yours is the Roasted Veg/Tomato sauce. I make batches of that in the summer and store in my freezer year round. I love how each batch I make tastes different depending on what vegetables I had on hand or what was in season.
email – familybalancesheet at gmail dot com
ps – I don’t think your site is ad heavy at all
Hi Jami:) Happy Blogiversary! Of course I am a follower! I enjoy all of your garden party posts… full of good info and I like to visit all the links. More specifically I liked your pesto post about subbing sunflower seeds.
I like the new look of your blog… light and bright with a wider screen for posts/pictures. Nice work, m’ dear!
Hi Jami,
I love getting your emails. My favorite is a toss up between the remodeling series,(love the kitchen) and the christmas gifts that you and your family exchange. Keep up the interesting blog! I hope I win the gift card I could definately use it.
God Bless You, Rhonda
I love this site! The post that led me here was the homemade caramel apple dip. I knew there had to be something better than the store-bought!!! Boy, was I right..I’ve been following your site for about a year since…Oh, I also love any of the home improvement posts..so many ideas…
Jenn
schultz43231@hotmail.com
To just select one favorite post is a challenge. There are SO many! I did LOVE the homemade gift tutorials you provided. Such great things, made with love, it just doesn’t get any better than that.
jayce004@yahoo dot com
Well, I’m brand new to your blog, but looking forward to exploring! Reading everyone else’s favorites has me salivating!
Leslie at thebrashers1@bellsouth.net
One of my favorite past posts was the caramel dipping sauce recipe. I LOVE that stuff! But it was hard to choose a favorite- really love your blog!!!
Christi
Loved the Sad Saturday green chair. The detail on the back of the chair came out so nicely. I wanted to paint all the rest of the chairs so they’d stand out too! Makes we want to throw some color around here. Thanks for the inspiration.
Cindee
cindee at threeriversinstitute dot org
Hello-
Happy Anniversary! I am a new Twitter follower @evrywoman.
My favorite post is the Granola Bars..Yum !
Thank you,
evrywoman at yahoo dot com
Hi! I follow you via Google and Facebook. I favorite posts are all of your Pantry Basics, particularly your Tomato Soup, Chocolate Syrup, and bread recipes. I absolutely love Target too!
Ashley
ashleywhite99 at gmail dot com
I’m so glad to have found you. I love the way you post your recipes by season. I like to group my recipes that way, too. Looking forward to going through all your older posts and gleaning what I can.
I follow on Twitter (so surprised I wasn’t following you before!), and I loved the post where you used sunflower seeds in your pesto. Genius!
aslobcomesclean at gmail dot com
I have followed you for a while and just signed for your email. I like to read your menu ideas.
oregoncouponmom at gmail dot com
I am following you on Facebook and just happen to stumble on your website tonight! My favorite past post (since it sounds awesome AND it’s what brought me here!) is your recipe for homemade chocolate syrup. My hubby LOVES chocolate syrup and frankly I’m tired of paying so much for so many chemicals! Love you site so far and can’t wait to see more! rumblebug00 at yahoo dot com