Reverse Birthday Gifting

 As I said earlier this week, my birthday is July 28th. I'll be 35 years old/young this year. I'm not quite sure what to think about it, really. It seems that as I've gotten older, my birthdays cause me more confusion. I want to be excited about my birthdays like when I was a little kid. I have great memories of birthday parties, even if I do have a summer birthday. Yet, these days, it is rare I have a party. Most of my friends are off doing their own thing, especially being that it is summer. So, I try not to get up my hopes nor have any sort of expectations and still I can't get this sort of undercurrent buzz out of my system that my birthday is coming.

This year isn't any different. Up until today, I haven't really had time to consciously think about my birthday. Work has kept me very busy for the 3 weeks and after work I'm just so tired and hot that I don't think about much. But today marks the first day of holiday and I've finally got some time on my hands. Yay! But I have still had that undercurrent buzz I always have, but I also know this year's birthday will be a little different. The differences this year are my mom and my age. This is the first birthday without my mom. I'm a bit sad about it now, but I think it will effect me more on the day. As for my age, I've never been particularly worried about it. For the most part, age is just a number and some days (mostly) I feel younger than that number and other days older. But 35 seems to be the 'magical age' of when TTC gets harder and pregnancies become higher risk. But I've (we've) already been having a hard time TTC for the last 3 years, how much harder can it get?! This stresses me.

So, as usual, I'm trying not to have any sort of expectations for my birthday. I don't really want anything that can be bought. Although, it would be nice if Mr Siili would make dinner (or suggest going out without me having to decide where to go) and maybe a cake. Other than that, let's see what happens.

Now, about that Reverse Birthday Gifting (in other words, give away) I mentioned earlier this week and probably the only reason you've read this far... (hehe, I hope not.) I really liked what Mel at Stirrup Queens did for her birthday. She gave some games away instead of wishing for gifts. I've always liked giving and this seemed like the perfect timing.

I thought about this for quite some time of what I'd like to offer. I love doing crafts, but I wasn't sure what I felt would be worth giving away. I've made bookmarks, phone cozies, dream catchers, collage items and more. And then I also have glass jewelry that I make. I love making these items and I've gotten amazing compliments on them, so I thought I'd offer one (or two) up for the prize. Above you can see some (additional) examples of glass pieces I've made over the last 2 years.

The glass pieces I'm giving away are below. I have decided that the lucky person can choose 2 pieces of the following 12 items.

I know the picture doesn't do them justice, but I think I did pretty good at getting the colors quite true. But just in case the coloring looks different on your monitor than mine, I'll explain them quickly.

1. red & yellow base with a smokey-clear-black cover

2. black base with a blue metallic design and covered with clear

3. black base with metallic rainbow and covered with clear

4. white base with bits of metallic orange and covered with clear

5. red bits in the shape of a star

6. a see through grey stripe flanked by 2 green stripes and covered with clear

7. lime green base with a metallic clear/pearl strip and covered with clear

8. purple base with orange strips (same orange as in #4) and covered with clear

9. 3 stacked layers of milky purple, each one progressively smaller

10. lime green base with a metallic clear/pearl on top (no clear cover)

11. metallic turquoise base with a darker turquoise piece in the middle and covered with clear

12. black base with a metallic green/yellow piece and covered with clear

The 12 pieces above have not yet had their backing put on them (so you can choose which way you want them to hang). The backing will look like the following. A metal bit glued onto the glass and then a hoop for the necklace.

When signing up for my Reverse Birthday Gifting, I'd love to know your favorite color.

Please make sure that I have a way to contact you in case you are the lucky one to receive my gifting. (If you don't want your email here on my blog, you can email me at rowan6 at gmail dot com. Make sure you put Reverse Birthday Gifting in the subject. Sign-up for this will end at midnight July 28th local Finnish time (UTC/GMT +3 hours). I'll draw a name at random (using a random number generator thing online).
Best of luck and Happy Birthday to all!