One Year Blogiversary and 600 followers GIVEAWAY!

Hello!!

Guess what?

Today is the one-year anniversary of my very first blog post. I can't believe it's already been a year!

Okay...if I go back and look at that first post, I can believe it. >.>

I started this blog shortly after discovering nail stamping via Konad. My first few manicures I shared with friends on my Facebook page and then on my Weebly website, but I started doing it with such regularity that I decided it would be best to start a blog for it, so I'd stop flooding the people I knew who didn't care about nail art, lol. Here is the very first picture I ever posted to the blog, of the second Konad manicure I ever did:

Ugh...I shudder a bit when I see it. One of the things I've learned over the past year is that it's much more effective to have pictures that actually show your manicure clearly, lol. This is dark, has an ugly claw pose, and most of the design is hardly visible. The center of the picture is the bottle of polish, not the manicure. I also posted my pictures in a small format back then, which didn't help anything. The sad part is, I took a bunch of pictures and determined this one was the best. ::shudders::

I've learned a lot since then due to practice, looking at other blogs, and the advice of a wonderful community of bloggers. I still have a ton to learn, but I think I'm better than I was.  I'm proud of the progress I've made and I'm also proud that I have posted every single day for a year. Thank goodness for post scheduling! :)

I am so incredibly grateful for everyone who follows me--I still can't believe that people actually want to look at what I post, or read what I write about. I can't tell you how much it means to me that you take time out of your day to see what I've put up, and I can't thank you enough.

But at least I can thank you a little bit, with a giveaway! To celebrate the anniversary of my first post, and reaching 600 followers (I think this might be closer to 500 really, due to overlap on the reader platforms) I'm going to give away a $20 gift certificate to Ninja Polish, home of the newly-returned NerdLacquer, among other awesome brands!

Ninja Polish ships internationally, so this giveaway is open to anyone who can use the gift certificate. I believe there are some countries they are not able to ship to, so please check their site to make sure your country is included. :)

The contest begins now, and runs through the end of the month (it ends at midnight on 30 April 2013). At that time I will verify the entries and have Rafflecopter pick a winner. So please make sure your entries (links, follower names, etc.) are correct and up-to-date, so you'll be sure to be included:


a Rafflecopter giveaway


Good luck to everyone, and thank you so much for following my blog! I never thought I'd come near to making it a year, or even having 10 followers, let alone 600. You guys rock!!!

Big hugs,
M.