Blogoversary & Giveaway! It's here!!

Holy crap, guys! As of May 19th, my blog will be one year old!! How freakin' exciting is that?? I never knew when I started blogging that I would have so much fun and be introduced to so many amazing people, but it's all true. So thank you, yes all of YOU, for being your awesome selves and helping Sami by the Sea along through its very first year. (Awwww.)

For my birthday blog celebration I'm hosting a giveaway! It's nothing huge, as I am surely unemployed (hopefully not for much longer!), but I wanted to do this as a way to say thanks to all of you in a hand-made, sea-like way...

I've recently discovered these tiny little jars, and have been traipsing about the beach (the non-touristy areas, I mean, who wants to traipse with tourists and their band-aids anyways?) collecting sand and shells and arranging them just so. It's a great way to bring that beachy feel into your home; as you can see, this one is on my kitchen windowsill.

You can get a better judge of size in this photo with the votive candle! What I enjoy about these little jars is the size of the shells needed. I have a few other glass vases around the house like this, one is long and rectangular, and one is a large glass bowl. I can use bigger shells for those obviously, but the tininess of the shells needed for these jars is what makes it so awesome! I find a lot of times the you'll find the little baby shells completely intact, not broken in half or chipped. I like to use them alongside chipped pieces of bigger shells with really fun colors and textures. :)

Here you can see a little more detail on the top layer of shells. The barnacley piece on the bottom was a really awesome find, and added some fun variety along with the pure black shell and the orange one with the snail pattern. :)

SO! THE GIVEAWAY!

One lucky reader will be receiving two jars of their very own, complete with the freshest beach sand my feet have ever laid eyes upon (huh?) and your own personal assortment of hand-picked fresh outta the tide shells. (I find the best specimens when I walk right at the waterfront.) I'll send you the two jars, the shells packaged carefully in their own little bag, and the sand in another separate bag, so you can assemble them however you want at home.

My jar has about 14 small shells in it, so it's not completely full. If you want more shells than that, like to fill the jar up all the way to the top, just let me know! I'm always happy to hang out on the beach for more time... ;)

Since the winner will receive two jars, you can either assemble them as I did mine, or dump all of the sand into one and all of the shells into another for fun variety. The choice is YOURS! :)

HERE ARE THE RULES!
They are very easy! You won't have to promise me your first born,
or recite Jabberwocky backwards in Pig Latin.
(I don't like contests that make you jump through a lot of hoops!)

RULE 1
Be a follower of SbtS, and leave a comment!
Tell me what one of your favorite things about going to the beach is.

(OPTIONAL) RULE 2
Blog about this giveaway! Leave a separate comment with a link to your post.

DONE! Totally easy peasy. I'll choose a winner on Wednesday the 19th. Happy entering, and happy Friday! :)