NBUS Challenge #1 Winners and Rap Up

Hello There!

I have a few thoughts to rap up my first NBUS Challenge, but already your eyeballs have drifted down the screen and your finger is twitching on the mouse, so I'll save them for after! 

Applause, applause, applesauce, applause, applause!! Congratulations to all the winners! Some of you may not even be aware that I added five more $25 gift certificates after the entries reached 100. So here are the TEN winners chosen by Mr. Random and Mrs. Dot Org! If the Orgs weren't in charge, I'd have prizes for all of you who entered!!

Colleen #55   

Petra #254     

Jill #162           

Alanna #90        

Di #242              

Susan B. #80  

Hettiecraft #53  

Marybeth #62  

KandA #190          

Carol L. #100     

• In addition, I am adding two surprise $25 gift certificates:

First, to 11-year-old Alli who was the youngest participant using her loving Aunt Carole's blog, This Small Corner of Texas! It's wonderful to see a young person engaging in the ancient art of card making!

#197

Second, to Mamie Reese as a representative of my "behind-the-scenes" readers who don't have blogs. Mamie has been a long-time supporter of my blog and we have become card pen pals. Here is the pretty NBUS card which she mailed to me:

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Thank you so very much to everyone who participated with your beautiful works of art!! I've made a Pinterest Board for NBUS #1 so it's easy for all of us to refer back to the gallery for inspiration. It goes without saying that the response was overwhelming and heartwarming and heartfilling! Mwah, mwah, mwah all over your smiling cute little faces!!

Winners, enjoy!! Please email me at darnell dot knauss at gmail dot com, to let me know your choice of the company where you would like to shop your $25 gift certificate! Yippie!!

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NBUS begets NBUS

So. Okay. I got about a third of the way through the entries and visiting your blogs to thank you for kindly joining in and it hit me that this challenge might be one of the stoopidest things I've ever done. 

Gasp!!  WHAT? What do you mean?

Well, I mean, think about it.

Why did I coin NBUS and start purposely numbering and using the acronym when blogging my cards?

Answer: Because I realized that I was buying lots of new schtuff after seeing other blogger's cards and then I was putting it away (too much to leave on the desk, oink!) and then forgetting about it. By challenging myself publicly, I started looking at and using my NBUS.

So, that's all good, I was making progress, but what's happened since I commented on 281 challenge entries and focused on the wonderful NBUS products you were using?

Answer:

It turns out that now I've bought loads more NBUS, thanks to you guys! Mt. NBUS is so high that the newest NBUS is covered in SNOW (not an acronym) and I've had to hire a miniature sherpa to help Hammy help me!

Not to worry, you've all convinced me that you love the idea of this challenge, so I will do another one when I reach 600 followers, if not before.

I think I will need to take a few days off from blogging pretty soon, however, so I can make mole hills out of that mountain and keep the NBUS from overtaking the BUS!

I also think it's time for a new acronym, one shared with me by my friend Redanne, who heard it used on TV:

SABLE =

Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy

Yup. At my age I now have a SABLE of NBUS! But I love it, so what can I do? And I love finding out that I'm not alone with this tissue. Thank you for making me feel "normal!"

Okay, settle down. Nobody is buying that I am normal in any way! (Hammy, stop it, you'll choke.)

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Kindness Begets Kindness

I would also like to thank you for following my lead and taking an extra minute or two when you are surfing the waters of card blogs to leave the artist a meaningful comment. I see a lot more of that happening and it makes me very happy!

There are many serious or super busy bloggers who just want to post their work or who just want to make cards to inspire us to buy product and for them it's not about visiting and commenting. And that's fine. We don't judge. But there are even more bloggers who want to post their project and maybe market a product AND have you follow them and make friends. It's wonderful to see you taking that first step and then watch as it is resiprocated around the globule! 

I also see some of you are duplicating my "New Friends Corner" or similarly taking the time to introduce your new followers to your readers so that they might make new friends, too. It's like a handshake across the intertubes ... ice being broken ... conversations starting ...

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Finally, I also want to pacifically thank my many new followers who have recently joined! I will continue with my New Friends Corner introductions, five at a time, when I resume normal posting. I haven't forgotten you!

Enjoy your day, everybody! No, seriously, enjoy.  LITS!* 

As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse and special thanks to you if you take the time to leave a comment and/or join as a follower! Please let me know you came by, so I can be sure and return the flavor!

MWAH! 

  

 

*Life Is Too Short!