Liebster Award and a Giveaway!

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 I've been nominated not once but twice for the Liebster Award! :) Thanks T'onna @ Navy Wifey Peters and Shannon @ Sewing Barefoot. The Liebster Award is given by bloggers to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. It is to show new bloggers that they are appreciated  and to help spread the word about new blogs. 

The rules:

- You must post 11 random things about yourself.

- Answer the questions that the nominator set for you.

- Create 11 questions for the people you nominate.

- Choose 11 blogs you love (with less than 200 followers) and link them in your post.

- No tag back (but please leave me a comment on this post with the URL to your Liebster post so I can learn more about you)!

11 Things About Me:

1. I've been purposefully being vague and not giving away too much about myself here but I guess it might be time to divulge a little more! :) So number 1 - my name is Karen.

2. I live in Ireland. Which is lovely most of the time but way too cold and wet at others! 

3. I originally started this blog to keep myself amused as I recovered from an illness. It definitely served that purpose and I'm pretty sure it's here to stay!

4. I am a primary school teacher and love my job. Although in magic land I'd be paid 3 times as much and people would actually appreciate what I do... :)

5. I keep telling myself I'm going to learn how to crochet but somehow manage to find a million other things that need to be done first. 

6. I am a world champion procrastinator. (See number 5.)

7. I am addicted to crisps (chips for you Americans) and would happily give up chocolate forever just so long as I could keep eating my crisps. mmmm

8. I used to live in Bangkok, Thailand and might hopefully be moving back there soon!

9. I am a terrible singer. Like hands over your ears, panes of glass breaking, I'd rather scrape my nails down a blackboard terrible. ha ha. Thankfully little kids don't mind too much and nobody else has to hear me sing!

10. I still haven't learnt how to drive. Another thing sitting pretty on my to do list.

11. I spent a month volunteering in an orphanage in Thailand and googled to see if any of the adoptive parents had blogs so I could follow along and see how the kids were doing. Thus began my adventures in blogging!

11 Questions asked by T'onna @ Navy Wifey Peters and Shannon @ Sewing Barefoot

What is your favorite craft project you've created? Hmm that's a tough one. Probably my little hedgehog pin cushion. He looks cute (so much so that I included him in my header) and unlike most of the things I make I actually use him every day. :)

What's your favorite book? I love to read. But I tend to be a bit feast or famine about it! Haven't been reading too much lately as all my free time is going into this blog and my TPT store. But my all time favourite book is "We Need to Talk about Kevin" by Lionel Shriver. Or any of her books really.

Do you have any children?  If so, how many and what are their names & ages? Nope no kids!

What's your favorite season and why? I love Christmas but hate the cold and dark so I'm gonna go with summer. I'm all about the sunshine and beach time!

What are a few blogs that you read on a daily/weekly basis? Way too many! The 11 blogs I've nominated of course. And I'll give you a few others across the spectrum:
- Thai Adoption Blogs (lots of Thai Adoption blogs)
- Creating my Way to Success, The DIY Dreamer, Earning My Cape (3 awesome crafty blogs)
- Living Montessori Now, 4th Grade Frolics, Classroom Freebies (full of great teaching ideas)
- Our Sonny Life (if you're going to read any read this one)

What is your favorite TV show? I love "How I Met Your Mother" and "The Big Bang Theory". I'd love to lock Sheldon and Barney in a room together and watch them drive each other crazy! ha ha

What project(s) are you currently working on? Too many! I have a tangram project that I should get finished and up on the blog in the next few days. And I'm making a princess superhero cape, a house warming gift and a few new TPT packs too.  What is your favorite pin on Pinterest? Too many! My sewing inspiration board is probably my favorite board so I'm just picking something from it that I'd love to make but seeing as I have a very long surname I probably won't! - Pencil Banner
Are you a dog or cat person? Cat. Definitely cat. :) I like dogs, and will probably own one someday but they are a lot of work and too jumpy and dirty for my liking! Cats on the other hand are always clean and are independent enough to be able to cope on their own when I go away for the weekend. And you may have to work a bit more for their affection but that just makes you appreciate it more! 
Where do you buy most of your clothes? I'm a huge fan of H&M, Penneys, Forever 21 and Zara. Basically the only shops I can afford to buy stuff in at the moment!
How long have you been blogging? I started this blog last January, just to see how to do it. I put up a picture of a bag I'd made and then forgot all about it. Then this summer I found myself with too much time on my hands so I decided to turn it into a real blog! :)
Questions I'm Asking My Nominees:

1. Why did you start blogging?
2. I'm giving you a thousand euro - what are you going to do with it?

3. Do you like to travel? What's your dream holiday destination?
4. What achievement are you most proud of? Permission to brag!
5. If time wasn't an issue what new activity would you take up?
6. What's your favourite Christmas tradition?
7. Any blog recommendations?
8.What's your favourite pin on Pinterest?
9. A few easy ones to end with - chocolate or crisps/chips?
10. Cats or dogs?
11. Real books or ebooks?

Blogs I'm Nominating:
- Ana Love Craft
- The Purple Pumpkin Blog
- Learning with Mrs. Leeby
- Sew-Licious Home Decor
- Sunny Stitching
- Fall Fever
- One Less Headache
- Making Boys Men
- Fifth in the Middle
- Kinder Love
- Ever Never Again

Don't forget to comment on here and leave me a link when you've answered!! :) It is a little time consuming but it's nice to get to know a bit more about the people behind the blogs!

I participated in my first giveaway this week! It's being hosted by Leah over at Learning for Keeps to celebrate her reaching a milestone 200 followers!! She has 4 different prizes to be won, each containing about 10 teaching resources made by teachers. There's some great stuff for all you teachers, homeschoolers and moms out there! :)

My CVC Word Jigsaw Center is included in pack number 4 so be sure to enter that one!! :) And if you're already following me then you don't even need to do anything new, just head on over and enter.

Or click here to buy one for only $3! :) It contains the letters of the alphabet on jigsaw pieces and a bunch of work mats to practice making CVC words on. 

I promise to do my very own giveaway when I reach 100 followers so if you're not following already be sure to join up! :) And don't worry, there will be more recipes and crafts coming in the next few days too! 

Things I've Learnt:

- The power of social networking and collaboration.

- I seem to follow a lot of big blogs! In deciding on who to nominate I visited lots of my favourite blogs only to realise just how huge some of them are!! Kinda made me realise I need to spend more time visiting smaller blogs. We need some attention too! :)