400 hugs and a giveaway!

four hundred posts ago i wrote this, my very first blog entry:

thank you, martha, for encouraging me to start this blog...a digital journal of growth and progress in my world of art. i look forward to this crusade...armed, of course, with a bar of chocolate and a bag of potato chips.

and four hundred posts later, i'm celebrating the fact that things are still growing strong here in elvie studio, i'm still having fun being creative, and i'm still eating chocolate and potato chips...

but mostly, i'm celebrating you.....and thanking you for hanging in there with me through four hundred posts of babbling, blathering, and yada yada's. i could never truly express how much i appreciate your checking in with me every day, leaving such heartfelt and encouraging comments, and inspiring me by inviting me to over to your blogs to share in your world. meeting you and becoming friends with you has been the absolute highlight of my bloggy journey.....and i'm grateful for you four hundred times over!!

but what kind of celebration would this be without a door prize?!! my very first blog entry featured a handmade journal, so i'm following that lead, and i've created this little journal using repurposed hobby lobby gift cards and offcuts of my favorite decorative papers, and then bound it all together with some waxed linen thread and a coptic stitch.....and just to help keep your secrets safe inside, i've included an elastic band to keep it closed!

to make sure your name gets in the hat, just leave a comment on this post by midnight thursday (one comment per person, and please make sure i can contact you!). i'll use the random integer to choose a name and announce it on friday!!

and in the meantime, i'm sending you four hundred

woo-hoo-bloggy-hugs.....!

edited: thank you all for participating!! i'll be announcing the winner of the journal tomorrow!!!