What better way to kick off the week than with a giveaway? We are partnering with a company called Basic Invite to bring you a unique raffle.
Basic Invite is a stationery design company working hard to create the perfect card for all of your major life moments. They have everything from custom wedding invitations to birth announcements and photo graduation announcements to custom thank you cards. Basic Invite has something for all your stationery needs. You can choose from hundreds of designs and more than 180 color options, as well as tons of fonts, accessories, and more to suit any style or taste.
Currently, Basic Invite is offering 15% off everything site-wide, using code 15FF51. And for two lucky winners, Basic Invite is giving away 25 free thank you cards! Check out all they have to offer and customize yours today.
Follow the prompts on the Rafflecopter widget below to enter to win.
Why is this website becoming more and more a site for products and 'give-aways' of Duggar "approved' items? Please stop this if you can. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteOur loyal readers tell us that they enjoy the giveaways. (Is there anyone who wouldn't jump at the chance to win a neat, useful prize for free?) We only do a handful per year, and you're welcome to just scroll down to the next post if you would rather not enter. :)
DeleteLily and Ellie
I absolutely love the giveaways!!! Thanks so much, Lily and Ellie!
DeleteIt sounds to me, Anon 2:15, like there's a chance that, rather than being a fan, you might be one of the Duggar critics devoted to trolling this site and dropping bits of negativity with each comment. Please consider allowing true fans to gather in peace and chat about the things we enjoy, including Duggar "approved" items. There are plenty of sites devoted to criticizing the Duggars and the things they enjoy -that might be a more appropriate place for your comments. We won't mind at all if you mock and show disdain for our kind elsewhere, but it's quite useless to do so here. True fans of the family happen to be interested in Duggar "approved" items because the Duggers are fan "approved" people in our circle.
DeleteI'm guessing if you frequented a recipe site, you could expect giveaways for things related to cooking. If you followed a fitness site, you might find raffles for free-weights or protein shakes. If you have a favorite blog you go to for homeschooling help, you would be delighted to find a giveaway for curriculum or learning tools. How odd that you are suprised to find a raffle for Duggar "approved" items on a Duggar fan site.
Lily and Ellie you handled that one very graciously. Thank you. I love giveaways!
DeleteRight! And because in this dark world a little bit of light and fun is super neat. Thanks!
DeletePlease explain the connection between this company, the Duggars, and yourself.
DeleteWinning free things is fun! Thanks for including these giveaways!
DeleteVery well handled Lily and Ellie!!
DeleteGiveaways are fun and interactive. I love the giveaways!! Never won anything but still fun. 😉😀
You ladies do a great job. 👍🏼
Thank you for your kind words! :)
DeleteTo the person asking what our connection with this company is, it's very simple. Basic Invite reached out to us and graciously offered to sponsor a giveaway.
Lily and Ellie
Thanks, Lily and Ellie for another fun giveaway! In response to the raffle question, yes, I do think handwritten thank you notes are a dying art form, but this is something that should not be dying! I'm doing my part by endeavoring to write thank you notes to family and friends, even for small gifts and favors. Handwritten thank you notes are a great way for the writer to slow down and relax, and to show respect to the person they are writing it to!
ReplyDeleteYes! :D
ReplyDeleteLily and Ellie,
When will you announce the winners?
Hi Emma,
DeleteWe will announce the winners early next week. They will be listed on the widget when the giveaway is over, and we will contact them via email.
Thanks for reading!
Lily and Ellie
Okay! Thanks for answering :)
DeleteLove you guys
I do think "hand written thank you cards" are a dying art but will never fully be gone because a hand written card means so much. I know I will continue to write my thank you cards. :)
ReplyDeleteI do think that thank you cards are a dying art. I love the feeling I get when someone sends me a card. :) I enjoy sending them to others as well. - Rachel Robbins
ReplyDeleteHi, I'm wondering if you have to be over 18 or 21 to do the giveaway? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHi there,
DeleteReaders under 18 are able to enter, as long as they have parental consent and are using a parent's email address to enter.
Thanks for reading!
Lily and Ellie
I do think it's a dying art! I LOVE getting a handwritten note as much as I love sending one! I recently got married and have had such a fun time writing them.
ReplyDeleteSo cute! Hoping to snag a set.
ReplyDeleteYes snail mail is still the best!
ReplyDeleteI unfortunately do think that hand-written notes are a dying art. I am one of the few people I know that still communicate via letters and cards. This is especially important for grandparents and the elderly, who don't necessarily use the internet to communicate.
ReplyDeleteThat's the company who printed the invitations for Jinger's wedding, right? Please disclose exactly who they are and what possible affiliation you have with this company, before you ask us to participate in this give-away.
ReplyDeleteNope, Basic Invite did not do the invitations to Jinger's wedding or any of the other Duggar weddings. This company reached out to us to do a giveaway.
DeleteLily and Ellie
I thought so too when I looked at their website and saw the same floral designs that Jinger had on her wedding stationery. You sure? Did you see Jinger's?
DeleteUnfortunately yes, you don't see many people who do this anymore :(
ReplyDeleteyes, I believe they are a dying art, but I still like them!
ReplyDeleteI think people still use handwritten notes for special occasions. I don't think they'll die out completely.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I think thank you notes are dying out, but I do appreciate when I receive them and I send them in thanks all of the time! There is nothing like a hand written note!
ReplyDeleteYes, I do think written thank you notes are a lost art. Maggie P
ReplyDeleteThose are gorgeous! I personally love writing and receiving handwritten thank you cards. But on the whole it seems to sadly be a dying art
ReplyDeleteI think thank you cards get sent for big things still. I would love some custom thank you notes to send out!
ReplyDelete(this is for the giveaway entry): I think handwritten notes are still used often for thank you notes and birthday cards, so no, I don't think it's dying.
ReplyDeleteI sort of think so, yes. I certainly hope not, though! I love getting a hand-written thank you note!!
ReplyDeleteI don't think it is a dying art. :))
ReplyDelete-Eve
Sadly in this world of electronics, I think the world thinks of handwritten notes as a dying art, but I do think they are treasures and a small minority of people will continue on spreading heartfelt messages on paper! :)
ReplyDeleteI still use Thank you cards all the time. I write letters to my friend to
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, yes. No one seems to want to write any more. Thanks for the giveaway.
ReplyDeleteMarilyn
I still write hand written thank you notes. And send out Christmas cards too. I don't receive many in return. kristiedonelson(at)gmail(dot)com Thank you. Happy March!
ReplyDeleteI hear you! Every year I spend maybe $40-50 on Christmas cards, including the stamps, and I receive maybe 10-15 cards, max. It's sad.
DeleteYes! I miss handwritten things.
ReplyDeletemia2009(at)comcast(dot)net
I do believe handwritten thank you notes are becoming less popular, but I also believe they are a gracious way of expressing appreciation.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that a handwritten card is something that is lost in our fast paced world. I know when I get a handwritten card there is something extra special. It's a shame it is not the norm. Thank you cards in general are not done enough these days.
ReplyDeleteI do think the writing of Thank you notes is a dying art. I still try and write them, but don't always get around to it. I find it more difficult getting my children to write them.
ReplyDeleteI think hand written cards are a dying art. I LOVE handwritten notes and I actually have an ink well and pen. Writing is my passion and I love stationary so this would be AMAZING if I won!
ReplyDeleteEither handwritten notes are a dying art, or I have no friends. :) I rarely get any real mail anymore and made it a goal to send several "hello" notes last year and received 3 back after a couple dozen were sent. Even Christmas cards aren't as plentiful as they used to be.
ReplyDeleteNo!!!! I don't think thank you cards should be a dying art at all though sadly.. *sniff* .... it is starting to..
ReplyDeleteMe on the other hand, I LOVE sending thank you cards to people even more than I do receiving them! Thank you cards, Christmas cards, letters and more! I LOVE doing snail mail :D
Thanks for this giveaway! God bless ya'll! ;) :)
Yes
ReplyDeleteI think handwritten thank you notes are a dying art. I have given many gifts in the last few years and not received a simple thank you note (from adults and children). I have received thank you cards from many young people, though, which has been a pleasant surprise. My mama taught me to write thank you notes, so I always do, and am teaching my children to do the same. Thank y'all for the giveaway opportunity!
ReplyDeleteStationary is unfortunately a dying art. I love stationary though and send it all the time! It needs to make a major comeback
ReplyDeleteWhat a great giveaway!!!
ReplyDeleteSorry, I didn't answer the question in my last comment. Yes, it is very sad that many today feel that emails and texts are suitable replacements for a handwritten thank you card.
ReplyDeleteI entered
ReplyDeletethanks for a great giveaway!
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteYes, I do feel that "Thank You Notes are a lost art.
It is sad! When a person takes time to write a Thank You note, it shows that one really stopped to be thankful and appreciative for the act of kindness bestowed upon them.
The least one can do is take the time to write a "Thank You" note with a heart-felt message.
Often times "social media" technology takes the "personal touch" away from a beautiful sentiment hand written from the heart.
Society suffers as a whole because some individuals have never been taught the etiquette and joy of sending and receiving a personal "Thank You" note!
Let's all do our part to continue this gracious, thankful act of kindness!
I'd be interested to hear Michelle's current take on how women and girls should dress, since her married daughters have taken to wearing tank tops, shorts, and more relaxed necklines. Not to mention the skin tight t-shirts all of them have been wearing for years.
ReplyDelete12:49 Tank tops, shorts and relaxed necklines.... Oh my!
DeleteIf the daughters are dressing less conservatively, perhaps it's because they are now adults. Frankly, I think it's a good thing if they are able to make some decisions for themselves.
Yes, I do think handwritten letters are a dying art
ReplyDeleteHandwritten notes are a much more intimate form of communication, as opposed to emails/texts/etc. There is definitely something to say for taking a good old fashioned letter delivered by regular post out of your mailbox. 📬
ReplyDeleteYes - thank you cards are a dying art, but I try hard to teach my daughter to continue the tradition.
ReplyDeleteI think writing notes is a dying but beautiful and sentimental art. Thank you so much for the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteReceiving a handwritten note means so much more then an email or text......And while it might be going out of style it's still what I choose to do.
ReplyDeleteOur society is getting so lax that sending someone a handwritten note is getting to be too rare. A handwritten card is so much more meaningful and classy!
ReplyDeleteHandwritten cards are so much more meaningful and classy!
ReplyDeleteTHANKS SO MUCH FOR ANOTHER FUN GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!!! I personally do think it is a dying art but my husband and I still love writing each other notes!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks again!
Eve :)
I feel like people don't use handwritten thank you cards that much, but I always make and send my own cards since I feel they are more personal that way. I send to children with life-threatening and chronic illnesses.
ReplyDeleteAww! your so sweet!
DeleteThank you! I send them through my ministry I started called Hope Alive Ministry that supports families facing life-threatening and chronic illnesses. - www.hopealiveministry.wordpress.com
DeleteI love getting cute thank-you cards!
ReplyDeleteI miss hand written notes. I love getting snail mail letters and thank you notes. And yes sadly it's a lost art and I wish it would come back.
ReplyDeleteSame here. I actually hand-write thank-you notes and letters frequently because I just love to have penpals and meet new friends that way, but I agree, I wish more people did it more often. :/
DeleteIt may be a dying art, but I love writing and receiving cards!
ReplyDeleteI think that sadly handwritten letters are becoming a dying art, but it's not too late to turn that around! I so appreciate it when I receive a letter in the mail rather than e-mail, and I hope that will never die away.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure my nephew's wife even knows what a thank-you note is. I got nothing after I sent them a gift from their wedding registry. I had to track down the delivery via the department store to make sure it had been delivered (it was). This gift (almost $200) was billed to me, so I was concerned that it wasn't delivered. I never got a thank-you.
ReplyDeleteFast forward two years, and I got an invitation to their baby shower. I went out of my way to find the books they requested on their registry, wrapped them up with a stuffed animal, and sent them (tracked). I know the box got there. I know they had the shower. I know they had the baby! But after almost a year, no thank-you note.
So that's two gifts that went unacknowledged. There is no excuse for that. Another baby, another shower, or any other invitation from them, and I will not participate.
While I do think it's sad that so many people lack proper etiquette and there is definitely a shortage of handwritten thank you notes crossing in the mail, I find it even sadder that you would let yourself become bitter over someone else's shortcoming, and to the extent that you wouldn't bless them further. Do you give gifts to bless others or to feed some sort of personal emotional need?
DeleteI have a nephew and his wife who never let me know if they got the wedding gift and the baby gifts for their 2 kids. I'm like you, I wondered if the gifts got taken off the front porch and they assume I didn't send anything. Unfortunately, good manners seem to be a lost art
DeleteGood for you. If the recipient is not grateful, why should you spend your hard-earned money. 99% of parents don't teach their kids to write thank you notes anymore, I've learned after buying many birthday party gifts.
DeleteI wouldn't give gifts any more in that case, either. That is rude and ungrateful of the recipient. No need to "bless" someone with any more gifts when two already went unthanked.
DeleteWhat gets me are the kids who get married and don't send thank you notes, yet they seem to be able to keep their Facebook page updated and post pictures of themselves every day. If you have time to do that, you have time to write your thank you notes. You sent someone a printed invitation, and they took the time to send you a gift, but that's where it ends? No response of thanks? Just leave the giver hanging, wondering what happened? No wonder the giver gets upset.
DeleteTo Elizabeth at 3:58 -- Don't be so quick to label other people as "bitter," etc. It's not fun -- in fact it hurts -- to spend time and money shopping for a gift you hope someone will love, then not be thanked for it. And if someone does not express gratitude for a gift, that's a signal they they do not value the gift.
DeleteAn easy solution to relatives that don't send Thank You notes for gifts (or their children), with the next gifting event, send a less expensive gift and an age-appropriate Etiquette Book. ;) Some people have simply never been taught to send Thank You notes. My parents always required it within days of receiving the gift. We've taught our daughter to do the same. When she was little, we made the lists of gift & giver and had tea & cookies while she dictated the message and decorated her own cards. As she got older, she compiled the list right after the event and within a day or two we went shopping to choose her own "personal" Thank You cards. She likes to feel independent and responsible, handling this on her own and we're happy she feels that way. Just a side note: Perhaps with the increased cost of cards and stamps and everything else (particularly with elderly people and those on fixed incomes), for some people it may be a matter of finances rather than a lack of manners.
DeleteIt costs nothing (well, relatively speaking) to pick up the phone and call someone to thank them, if you can't afford cards and postage. Or to at least email them! If you've thrown a party or had a party thrown for you, you should be able to thank the gift givers somehow.
DeleteHi! I love this blog, it allows me to keep up to date with the family, especially when the show is off the air. In response to the question, I think it is a dying art, but it shouldn't be! Handwritten notes allow people to maintain a personal connection that is lost with increased use of screens.
ReplyDeleteWhen I have opportunity, I write thank you notes and just notes of encouragement to different people. It's always a blessing, knowing someone thought of you enough to take the time to write a handwritten card.
ReplyDeleteYes! Ellie I DO! Thanks so much for giving me the chance to enter! Sal!
ReplyDeleteIt is my experience that very few people still send handwritten thank you notes :-(
ReplyDeleteI love handwritten notes and regularly send them just wish I received them more often, they are indeed a dying art.
ReplyDeletedefinitely a dying art. convenience usually beats homemade.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the opportunity.
ReplyDeleteIt does seem that paper-ing is fading due to convenience and modernity. But I would have to say that Thank You notes, handwritten, are one of the few things I still receive on the regular.
ReplyDeleteOh, it's defintely a dying art, but I absolutelly love giving and receiving handwritten thank you's, so I will continue no matter it's lack of popularity. :)
ReplyDeleteHow fun!! I absolutely love to write cards! Thanks so much for doing a giveaway!! :)
ReplyDeleteI agree that handwritten notes are dwindling and they shouldn't be. Good manners never go out of style.
ReplyDeleteAren't stationary, thank you cards and note cards still readily available in most stores? I buy them still. Why hock them here?
Sadly, handwritten notes are a dying art.
ReplyDeleteThis is sort of off topic but I was pleasantly surprised to get my replacement Simplicity Pattern and my address was hand written instead of a sticker with my name printed on it.
ReplyDeleteLike you Regina, I'm always pleasantly surprised to receive a hand addressed piece of mail from a business. I do some volunteer work with a prison ministry and often my co-workers will express surprise that I don't use a word processing program to print out envelopes for inmate mail. Mail Call is a very big deal to inmates. Living in a very industrialized environment, always aware of being of being a number (and just one of huge number), having someone take the time to hand write the envelope is a personal touch in an impersonal world.
Delete12:30 AM -- God bless you -- you're doing HIS work, and I can tell you have a heart for it.
DeleteFirst of all, I would just like to send a huge THANK-YOU to Lily and Ellie for their incredible upkeep of this blog. I tried to start one last year and realized it is really hard work, not to mention time-consuming and hard to come up with interesting posts and stay up-to-date. You both do an AMAZING job at this blog though, and I am so grateful for this positive, honest outlet for news of the Duggar family. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI honestly do think that thank-you notes are a dying art.... sadly. I live in a very conservative community and penpal regularly with conservative Christians also, so thank-you notes are common in my house (giving and receiving), but I think when you think of the whole America, probably a lot of the population just settles for words of thanks when they see the person or something else. That's just my opinion anyway.
Thank you cards for graduation would be perfect!
ReplyDeleteI don't think they are dying, but merely being reserved for special occasions.Thank you guys so much for doing this1
ReplyDeleteI still send cards. I keep a box at my desk and when ever I feel like someone needs a card I send it.
ReplyDeleteI love snail mail and send handwritten notes-- thank you and otherwise-- all the time!
ReplyDeleteYes, because it makes it special that you took the time to write.
ReplyDeleteIt is a dying art for most people, but if you're creative and are artsy it can be fun to create cards!
ReplyDeleteI love this program
DeleteI think that handwritten notes are becoming a thing of the past. However, I still enjoy them. And I do send out handwritten thank you notes for any gifts. Also, I still enjoy sending birthday cards and Christmas cards
ReplyDeleteI love writing letters because it's like spending a special gift just because in the mail. Letters are small time capsules to one person's day and feelings that aren't possible to replicate through technology.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, yes, handwritten thank you cards are a dying art. Thankfully, my husband isn't one of them. He will say thank you in other ways, but he still sends a card.
ReplyDeleteAwesome giveaway! I loveeeeeee all stationary!
ReplyDeleteI agree with the comment above, for the question. We try to do them. Sometimes it's hard to remember! :)
Ooh I was the 100th comment!😄
why are all the pictures so blurry, don't look right
ReplyDeleteI entered your giveaway, it was fun. I liked watching your videos. I like writting Think you notes to whom i get something or someone writes me a very nice message. I love watching my favoite T.V. Show Counting On. It is a Awesome Show. Thank you. Jodi.💜
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, yes, handwritten thank you notes are a dying art. My students can't even read cursive anymore!
ReplyDeleteI pray for all the Duggars, and I enjoy their new show Counting On.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful notecards!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely a dying art. They even stopped teaching cursive in our local schools presumably because most everything is electronic these days.
ReplyDeleteSo glad for the update on Josh and Anna.
ReplyDeleteMorning & Evening for 03/19/2017
Morning:
"Strong in faith." — Romans 4:20
Christian, take good care of thy faith; for recollect faith is the only way whereby thou canst obtain blessings. If we want blessings from God, nothing can fetch them down but faith. Prayer cannot draw down answers from God's throne except it be the earnest prayer of the man who believes. Faith is the angelic messenger between the soul and the Lord Jesus in glory. Let that angel be withdrawn, we can neither send up prayer, nor receive the answers. Faith is the telegraphic wire which links earth and heaven-on which God's messages of love fly so fast, that before we call he answers, and while we are yet speaking he hears us.
But if that telegraphic wire of faith be snapped, how can we receive the promise? Am I in trouble?-I can obtain help for trouble by faith. Am I beaten about by the enemy?-my soul on her dear Refuge leans by faith. But take faith away-in vain I call to God. There is no road betwixt my soul and heaven. In the deepest wintertime faith is a road on which the horses of prayer may travel-aye, and all the better for the biting frost; but blockade the road, and how can we communicate with the Great King?
Faith links me with divinity. Faith clothes me with the power of God. Faith engages on my side the omnipotence of Jehovah. Faith ensures every attribute of God in my defence. It helps me to defy the hosts of hell. It makes me march triumphant over the necks of my enemies. But without faith how can I receive anything of the Lord? Let not him that wavereth-who is like a wave of the Sea-expect that he will receive anything of God!
O, then, Christian, watch well thy faith; for with it thou canst win all things, however poor thou art, but without it thou canst obtain nothing. "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth."
-Charles Spurgeon
From Highlights
For all the Duggar clan.
yes it indeed is a dying art
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely a dying art!
ReplyDeleteI love sending and receiving mail, and I especially love thank you notes. They are so important!
ReplyDelete