I am SO excited about this Give-Away today because today is a SPECIAL day!
This Give-Away is in honor my son, Zach. It's his 9th birthday today! And this Give-Away is also in honor of Autism Awareness.
You all know that raising awareness for autism is a passion of mine. During the duration of this give-away, I'll be sharing links and information about autism, while showing you how I've interspersed my passion for autism awareness into my art.
For starters, the guys over at MockUTV.com have created a page dedicated to my son and his story, along with some fantastic links to learn more about autism and different organizations than can help you find services for yourself or to pass on to someone you know that might need them. Knowledge is definitely power and one of the ways that we can help children and adults that deal with autism on a daily basis is to become aware of what this disorder is. You can CLICK HERE to explore these sites.
I'm so blessed to be working with some wonderful people that have hearts of gold and have pitched in to help with spreading the word and giving me some awesome prizes to give away.
I have 5 wonderful prizes to give away and that means 5 WINNERS!
The first prize is:
The Love you to Pieces set from GinaK Designs.
This set was created to benefit autism awareness and $8.00 from each set sold goes directly to Autism Speaks, an organization that funds research into the causes, prevention, treatments and cure for autism.
Gina created this set in honor of my son and this is a set that is truly dear to my heart.
Because autism itself and its causes are so puzzling, the international symbol for autism is a puzzle piece. In order to begin to solve the autism puzzle, public awareness of the disorder is crucial.
The second prize is:
The Love & Luck set from Kitchen Sink Stamps.
This set is perfect for making cards and gifts for those you hold closest to your heart.
And it's also great for the upcoming St. Patrick's Day holiday next month.
These two sets above tie into my next prize.......
The third prize is:
20 handmade gift cards.
10 cards are made with the Love you to Pieces set and 10 cards are made with the Love & Luck set. These little cards are 3 x 3 inches square and come with matching envelopes. They're perfect for putting on gifts, tucking into your child's or partner's lunch box, adding to a bouquet of flowers and so much more. 
The fourth prize is:
The amazingly hilarious "mockumentary" DVD: "Inside Scrapbooking" from MockUTV
The guys from MockUTV (Russ and Kevin) have been so generous with helping raise funds for Autism Support Daily through the sales of this DVD.
Originally, this fund raiser ran through November and December, but Russ and Kevin believe in the cause of autism so much that they've decided to make this an ongoing fund raiser. Every time a DVD is purchased, $1.00 will be donated to Autism Support Daily. If you haven't yet gotten a chance to watch the preview for this movie, you can check it out ---> HERE. And to purchase your own copy of the DVD for yourself or a friend, you can click ---> HERE.
The fifth prize is:
The Stampin' Mama Artwork Inspiration CD
This CD has over 300 pictures of papercrafts that I've designed over the past 18 months.
It's an instant picture library right at the click of your mouse.
It's full of amazing samples for you to glean fresh inspiration from when you're looking for innovative ideas for your paper crafts.
*** This Give-Away is NOT limited to where you live.....so even if you are outside of the US or Canada, you can still participate.***
So......what do you need to do to enter this Groovy Give-Away?
Simply leave a comment on this blog to be entered. And if you want to go the extra mile, help spread the word and send people over. You never know who might need to be exposed to autism and learn more about it. If it weren't for someone sharing in a "Good Housekeeping Magazine," who knows how much time we would have lost in getting Zach the intervention that has helped him so much over the last 7 1/2 years.
I'll pick 5 winners with the random number generator on Thursday (2/21) at 11 am Eastern Time and announce the winners here!
And make sure to check back each day to learn more about this disorder that affects 1 in every 150 children.....and to see how it touches my life of art.
Happy Valentine's Day and Happy Birthday to my Zachy Boy!
-Erika
Happy Birthday Zach! Great giveaways!
I have become more interested in autism now that I have a student with autism. Thanks for all the info!
Posted by: Anita | February 19, 2008 at 12:24 PM
Well I don't see my post, so here goes another...Happy belated birthday to Zach! Great your parents got to get up there to celebrate too! Hope I win something!
Thanks for all your great articles!
Jean
Posted by: jean | February 19, 2008 at 12:24 PM
Happy Birthday Zach! So many people know so little about Autisim. We need to keep the awareness going!
Posted by: Merry S. | February 19, 2008 at 02:08 PM
Happy Birthday, Zach! I hope you had a day as special as you are!
Posted by: Rose C | February 19, 2008 at 03:04 PM
Happy Birthday Zach! Thanks for sharing with us!
Posted by: Michele Zwart | February 19, 2008 at 03:13 PM
Thanks for your dedication to Autism!!! Happy Birthday to Zack and thanks for celebrating his birthday with all of us! Your work is amazing!!!!
Posted by: Kristin Homoly | February 19, 2008 at 03:35 PM
Wow - what a great way to celebrate your son's birthday! I have a friend whose son is also autistic, and she is a crafter, so I will be sure to send this on to her as well.
Thanks!
Jessica in Seattle
Posted by: Jessica | February 19, 2008 at 03:54 PM
Happy Birthday Zach! . . . and thanks so much Erika for the wonderful opportunities! Keep up the good work.
Posted by: Sarah Nelosn | February 19, 2008 at 04:27 PM
Happy [belated] Birthday, Zach! And thanks, Erica, for a chance to win a wonderful prize!
Posted by: kathy | February 19, 2008 at 04:46 PM
Hope Zach has a great Birthday! :) What a great way to celebrate his special day and to raise autism awareness at the same time. I'm a teacher in Michigan and in my few years of teaching, I've had experience with quite a few, very special autistic gentlemen. They've changed my life and the way I teach. Thank you for your blog!
Posted by: Jen R | February 19, 2008 at 05:21 PM
Happy Birthday Zach. This is an amazing give-a-way! You are so kind and so generous and in the midst of all of it, you always think to help others. You are amazing :D
Posted by: Crystal | February 19, 2008 at 05:51 PM
A Happy belated birthday to Zach and what a fabulous blog candy! I work with a 6 year old with autism so I know about the joys and the trials.
Posted by: Sara | February 19, 2008 at 06:24 PM
Happy Birthday Zach - what a great giveaway!!! Lots of fun things being given away!!
Posted by: marla howell | February 19, 2008 at 06:49 PM
Wowww Ericka you are so generous and your son melt my heart. I hope he had an excellent Birthday!!!! Thanks so much for your generosity and God bless you all.
Giovana
Posted by: Giovana | February 19, 2008 at 07:44 PM
What a great cause and I would love to win any of the prizes. You can pick me!
Posted by: Barbara | February 19, 2008 at 08:11 PM
I always enjoy checking out your blog. If you haven't added anything new I still like to browse what you have already shared.
Posted by: nclark | February 19, 2008 at 09:22 PM
What a generous give away. Such a good reason too! I hope your son had a wonderful birthday and what a great way to spread the word of something so important.
Posted by: Charlene Austin (Willow01) | February 19, 2008 at 11:33 PM
Erika, how fun to celebrate Zach's 9th birthday with a giveaway. I will pass along your website links to our friends/neighbors--especially to the one who has a grandchild with autism.
Posted by: Anne | February 19, 2008 at 11:50 PM
I love to get to be creative and generous at the same time. Bless you. My granddaughter has just been diagnosed with Asperger's. She's the love of our life.
Posted by: jenna | February 19, 2008 at 11:58 PM
I love to get to be creative and generous at the same time. Bless you. My granddaughter has just been diagnosed with Asperger's. She's the love of our life.
Posted by: jenna | February 19, 2008 at 11:58 PM
What a wonderful site you have and I am so glad I came to visit today. I loved watching the video about JMac. I had seen it before but I will never grow tired of watching it. It's a dream come true. Thanks for sharing this great candy and even more, thanks for sharing a chance to become more aware of autism.
Posted by: Jill Gardner | February 20, 2008 at 09:24 AM
WOW, what an awesome giveaway. Thanks for a chance to win. Also a belated Happy Birthday to Zach.
Posted by: JoAnn Burnham | February 20, 2008 at 10:43 AM
I hope Zach had a wonderful birthday. Thank you for being a crusader for autism awareness and thank you for sharing your creative works of art.
Posted by: Pam | February 20, 2008 at 12:31 PM
Happy Birthday, Zach!!
Erika, what an amazing lil man you have there!
Posted by: Jana M | February 20, 2008 at 01:02 PM
Thanks for the info on the subject, it really affects so many people!! Good luck with sending your message on...
Also Happy Birthday to Zach and thanks for the opportunity in receiving some goodies with your groovy give-away!!
Posted by: Kathy | February 20, 2008 at 02:22 PM