Yup, today marks the second anniversary of Domestic Imperfection. Two whole years! I’m having a hard time wrapping my brain around what this little blog of mine has become. When I started Domestic Imperfection Elijah was a baby and I had a lot of free time on my hands. So I worked on my house and read blogs about working on houses, cause that’s what I enjoyed. Then one day I said to myself ”Self, the stuff you do is as good as what these internet people do”, then I googled “how to start a blog” and signed up for blogger. I thought about my blog name for about five minutes, if that. It didn’t really matter because I wasn’t planning on telling anyone about it, I was just… bored I guess. I loved staying home but missed the adult interaction and conversation I used to have everyday at work (still do actually)… so I talked to my computer screen instead (still do actually, lol). Over the course of a couple of months I wrote a few posts that no one read….and then one day I got a comment. Someone read what I wrote…and they liked it! This was kinda fun. So I kept blogging, and I kept getting comments and I decided that I loved it. I felt like I was contributing to the world, even if it was just silly home decor projects and a few laughs.
Fast forward to today where this blog has become an actual job for me. Not the “man I don’t want to go work tomorrow” kinda job, but the “oh my gosh I’m contributing to my family doing something I love” kinda job. Adam jokes that one day he will be able to quit his job and just work for me. I’m about 90% sure that is never going to happen, but it’s fun to think about. And I like how he says “just” like I wouldn’t work his fingers to the bone, lol. Maybe you should stay where you are baby ;)
So just for fun, here are a few stats:
Number of posts: 153
Number of (non-spam) comments: 6,452
Number of spam comments (since April 2012): 64,044
Number of pageviews (since Sep. 2011 when I figured out how to install the tracker): 2,065,739
Number of paint and stain cans currently in my closet: 47
Number of house tours completed: 0
Number of tables I’ve posted about: 10
Number of times my paisley stenciled table has been pinned on pinterest: 313,000
Number of paintbrushes I’ve ruined: 452
Number of arguments Adam and I have had about how I treat paintbrushes: 452
Okay, so those last two are more of a ballpark… but they don’t feel all that far off!
As a thank you to all my awesome readers I have set up a pretty great giveaway! There will be three winners and each package is valued at over $100. Then there is a bonus giveaway for all you bloggers and wannabe bloggers where TEN winners recieve win a free year of hosting, three will win a free domain for a year, and one will win a blogger to WordPress migration or WordPress install. Isn’t that awesome?
So here are the three packages and a little about each sponsor…
Package 1
Fish Foam, Cutting Edge Stencils, Pick Your Plum
First we have a three pack of Fish Foam. You are probably either thinking “what the heck is that?” or “OMG I love that stuff!” I have never tried this myself, but is a window cleaner that is supposed to be the best thing since sliced bread. Many bloggers have reviewed it, including my friends Virginia from LiveLoveDIY and Jacque from The DIY Village, then of course there are lots of biggies like Mandi from Vintage Revivals and Stacy from Not JUST A Housewife. Also, they have a window cleaning service where they will come to your house and make it look like you don’t even have windows. To see if they are in your area and get a free estimate, go HERE.
Y’all know that Cutting Edge Stencils is a sponsor of mine, and they are donating a $50 stencil (your choice!) to the winner. I have used their stencils on my paisley table, Indian Inlay table, dog house end table, Texas forever sign and my birch forest hallway. The stencils are great quality (I’ve lent my paisley stencil to about 8 different people and it is still going strong) and they have a ton of fun designs. Also, you can get 10% off with the code DIM10, and if you like their facebook page they have flash sales every so often where you can score a stencil for cheap.
The last prize in this package is a $25 plum box from Pick Your Plum. I’ve talked about PYP before, but in case you’ve never heard it is a deal a day site for craft supplies. I buy stuff from them all the time, I’ve used their deals for my Texas Forever sign, my kitchen command center, and a bunch of other stuff I’ve never blogged about. Their deals go up each morning, and if you like the Pick Your Plum facebook page you can get a reminder and snatch up the deal before it sells out.
Package 2
Minwax
There is only one sponsor of package 2 because the prize is so awesome. Seriously, how generous is Minwax? I love Minwax, I use their stain and polyurathane/polycrylic on all of my wood and furniture related projects. There is stuff in this package that I have never tried before…like the polyshades, which is stain and poly in one. I’ve never tried gel stain either, and having samples of all the stain colors would really come in handy. Anyway, I am officially jealous of whomever wins this tub full of project goodness.
Package 3
Silpada, Downtown Tape, Allenaim Photography
The first part of package 3 comes from a generous reader! Amanda has her own business selling Silpada jewelry. Many of you have probably heard of it, they sell beautiful .925 sterling silver jewelry with a lifetime warranty. The winner will receive the Ace of Spades necklace (pictured above). Amanda was nice enough to send me this necklace and I can attest that it is beautiful, feminine, and well made. If you would like to be alerted about Silpada goings on you can join her facebook group HERE, or if you would like to host a party (and earn free jewelry!) or talk about becoming a representative yourself you can contact Amanda HERE.
This prize comes from Downtown Tape, a company that exclusively sells Washi Tape. Once again you are probably either like “sweeet!” or “what the heck?”. Washi tape is a craft tape that comes in a crazy amount of colors and designs … and you can do pretty much anything with it. Seriously, here is a blog post from A Night Owl blog on 100 different ways to use washi tape. So if you are the lucky winner of prize package 3 you will win 10 rolls of the stuff.
The next part of this package is from Allenaim Photography. You know how sometimes snap a picture that would be fantastic if it wasn’t terrible? Yeah, me too. Amy will work on 15 of your family photos and take them from basic and boring to beautiful, light and ready to frame! She can’t help your photo if the subject got blurry because they moved or if the whole picture went way too bright, but she CAN help you fix color balance issues, red eyes, dark photos and crooked alignments! Here is an example…
Bonus Package
I know a lot of my readers aren’t bloggers, but if you are (or are thinking of starting one) then listen up! This prize is from my hosting company, InveHosting. It’s a small company run by the husband of one of my readers, his name is Bobby and he is awesome to work with. He takes the time to answer all my question and explain things to me, which I appreciate. He is very fair and helpful and I highly recommend his hosting company. Plus it’s always nice to support small business! So Bobby has generously offered to give TEN winners a free year of hosting (starter package, $75 value each), three winners a free web domain for a year ($10 value), and one lucky winner gets a Blogger to WordPress migration or WordPress install ($1o0ish value!).
To enter, use the rafflecopter’s below. The first rafflecopter is for package 1,2 & 3, and the second is for people interested in winning the prizes from InveHosting. Please note, entering the InveHosting giveaway DOES NOT affect your chances of winning the first three prizes, you can win both!
Good luck everyone, and thank you for reading!
Recent Comments