My friend Rebekah Speakman sells chocolate…yes that’s right she’s a chocolatier.   I had no idea they even had such things and then a friend invited me to her Dove Chocolate Discoveries party.  I wasn’t sure I had heard right….a party….with chocolate….to taste!  I was there.  I was also pregnant at the time so it was a perfect match.    The party was so much fun.  We got to try all sorts of yummy goodies like chocolate fondue, chai tea mix, a smoothie, chocolate mousse, and some other things.  I was in heaven! I had told myself when I went that I wasn’t going to buy anything but I ended up buying a mousse pack and the chai tea.  I’m telling you this stuff is good. I love the Dove chocolate they sell in the stores and this is even better!  If you live in the area you totally need to have a party with Rebekah and try this stuff for yourself!   You will not be sorry you did, plus you’ll get all sorts of goodies for free, and who doesn’t love free chocolate, right?

When I told her about the giveaway series on my blog she was willing to be a part. She gave me White Chocolate Raspberry Daiquiri Mix and a sea salted caramel.  I was excited to try the daiquiri mix (minus the rum since I am nursing and all) since I wondered what chocolate would be like in a daiquiri but it was amazing!  Really yummy and I even shared with my 7 year old and he loved it! You just mix it with some ice and lemon lime soda in the blender, well and rum if you are making it that way. It tasted heavenly.  You could barely even taste the chocolate…just enough to know it was there and the raspberry was really yummy.

My favorite, however, was the sea salted caramel!  I popped that one into my mouth right away and it was so, so, so good! I love the salty, sweet taste of it.  A package of those would make a great Christmas gift for teachers, family, whoever you have to give gifts to this season.

Now that I’ve piqued your interest I’m sure you are asking what do we win this week.  Well, Rebekah is giving away 2 Daiquiri Mix Packets and 10% off your order!  Enter below.

Congratulations to Jessie Bates who won the Cakes with Jaz giveaway!! She was also one of the winners in the Usborne Books giveaway! I promise I am using rafflecopters random picking. She’s just good at getting all her entries in. 

This week was going to be Dove Chocolate Discoveries but I forgot to get the 7 Up I needed to try the margarita mix.  LOL So we are going to do the Savoring Living Water book giveaway this week.

If you have been reading my blog you know that I have recently found and love the Do Not Depart blog.  It has tons of info on Bible study and memorization. I am currently slowly working on their Abiding Fruit study as part of Maximize your Mornings and loving it! I am also getting ready to start their Hiding His Word in My Heart challenge and was originally going to do Philippians but since I’ve been spending so much time in 1 John I’m thinking of memorizing that instead.

I kept hearing about this great book that they had written called Savoring Living Water and wanted to see if I could get a copy to give away to you my readers. Well, ask and you shall receive!  Then I asked my hubby if I could buy a copy for myself and he said sure. I’ve now read it and I love it. Many of you may not know this but I have my Bachelors of Ministry in Theology, so I do have some experience in Bible Study techniques.  However, I still found their book very enlightening and helpful. It is so encouraging and will give you practical step by step instructions for deepening your time in the Word.

And for every purchase of the ebook they will donate $2 to oneverse to translate the Bible into the native language of the Vidunda people. These people are without a single Bible in their language. Every 13 copies sold pays for the translation of one verse!  Wouldn’t it be cool if The Craft Home readers bought enough books to sponsor a few verses!!

I am so excited to be giving away a copy of this!! Just use the rafflecopter below to enter.  A winner will be randomly chosen next Monday.

Every week this fall I will be featuring a home based business and giving away something to you my readers!!  This is going to be so awesome.  So far it looks like I will have Cakes with Jaz, Sew Cute Designs, Gourmet Cupboard, Dove Chocolate, Beachbody, The Modest Mom, Scentsy, Pampered Chef, Tupperware, and Usborne.  I’m still working on getting some of these lined up and even more!! So check back every Monday or better yet sign up for the RSS feed or via email on the sidebar so you don’t miss a thing.

The first giveaway in the series is from my business with Usborne Books and More.  I have been a consultant for about two years now and I love it!  At the beginning of the year I promoted to supervisor and it has been a great business through all of my children. I love books and have kids so it was the perfect fit.  Plus the fact that there are no monthly minimums and I am a consultant for life was a huge selling point since then I don’t have to worry about stuff while I am pregnant or after birth, ect.   My kids love Usborne books and love to help me pack the bags when I get books ready to deliver.

This is our mission statement: ”The future of our world depends on the education of our children.  UBAM delivers educational excellence one book at a time.  We provide economic opportunity while fostering strong family values.  We touch the lives of children for a lifetime.”  One of our taglines is “Books Kids Love to Read.”  And time and time again I see this to be tree. I have tons of customers who have told me their kids wouldn’t read anything until they got them some Usborne books.  They are colorful and engaging with knowledge in bite sized chunks.  I love our books!!

I specifically want to show you two of the books in a new drawing series.  They are great for Christmas gifts and I am giving away the Drawing Pirates and Drawing Princesses but we also have Drawing Dinosaurs and Drawing Horses. They have great plastic covers and are super sturdy with stickers, papers, instructions, stencils, scenes to draw on, and some info on the topic to learn in the back.  The girl ones (horses and princesses) even snap and have a handle so they look like a purse.  They retail for $14,99 a piece.  When I pulled them out of the box my kids were ooohing and ahhing and it was all I could do to keep them away from them. Needless to say they will be getting them for Christmas. So without further ado here is a short picture tour through the books.

Starting with Drawing Princesses because we all know that girls go first.  :)

Cover

Inside the Front Cover

One of the Sticker Pages

Removable Stencils

Some of the Fabric Like Paper

Silhouettes to Decorate

Directions in the back

And now on to the Drawing Pirates book.

Cover

Inside the front cover

Some of the stickers

Papers

Removable Stencils

Close up of how the stencils go in and out

Scenes

Info in the back

So there are the great books! In addition to giving away a copy of each of those, if you host a catalog, online, or regular party and it reaches $200 in October you will be entered in a drawing for the Very First Reading Set. So far there is only one person entered! You don’t want to miss out. Here is a picture and description of the set.

Very First Reading Set

Usborne Very First Reading is an exciting series of fifteen books for children who are just starting to learn to read. It offers:
- the appeal of imaginative rhyming stories and irresistible illustrations
- the support of a well-researched framework
- the enjoyment of shared reading with an adult

So enter the drawing just use the rafflecopter below! If you need help figuring it out just leave a comment. You have until next Monday to enter! Stay tuned for a review of Cakes with Jaz next week.

You don’t want to miss out on the 31 Gifts Giveaway on The Joys of Home Educating blog!!! She is giving away a large utility tote. http://just-starting-out.blogspot.com/2011/09/facebook-giveaway-thirty-one.html

I am so excited!!! Tickets for the May Schoolhouse Expo went on sale today. It is expected to sell out in a few weeks like it did last time. I can’t tell you how much I loved it last time. I didn’t make it to everything but the things I did were amazing. It’s an online homeschool conference with door prizes and a goodie bag even. You get to listen to all sorts of great speakers and chat with fellow homeschool moms. There are even devotionals daily. I was surprised at how much I learned and how motivated I felt and I loved that I could do it all from the comfort of my recliner and even in my pj’s if I wanted. During some of the sessions I would leave it on and help Ben do school but I think this time around I will just take the time off of school. But you really could do it either way. AND after the expo you get the mp3′s of all the speakers so you can relisten anytime you like.

So now that you are super excited to go to the Schoolhouse Expo in May I have some good news! I am part of the Expo Squad and as such I get to give away one ticket to the expo!!! So all you have to do to enter the contest is post a comment and why you would like to win the ticket. Than I will do a random drawing on Friday, January 28th at noon for the free ticket. It’s that simple. And for those of you that don’t win you can go to this link to buy your ticket for only $19.50!!! And to learn more you can go to The Schoolhouse Expo.

The Modest Mom is doing another giveaway. It’s for an acupressure mat. It sounds super cool. So go and enter!!!

The Modest Mom (see link on sidebar) is hosting another wonderful giveaway. This time it is for a book that includes a coupon for a free night at a B&B when you buy a night. Go check it out!!

I have recently started reading a blog called “The Modest Mom“.  I found it through another giveaway on another blog for her skirts.  She makes super cute, modest, custom skirts.  Anyway, she is doing an amazing giveaway right now so go check it out.

One of my friends in cyber space is having a comment contest! Go check out 1870pearl. She has a great blog and she gives great prizes as well.