Sharing My Winnings!

A few weeks ago Amanda at Krystelle's Miss Tells (she writes a lot about World of Warcraft, book reviews, nerdy crafts, and TV shows! She updates her blog regularly :)) hosted a giveaway to win a copy of 'Find It In Everything', which is a photo book by Drew Barrymore. At first I went, "Photos by Drew Barrymore?" but then I read the description and found myself a little interested. Over the years she has snapped a photo every time she's found a heart shape. The photos range from light reflections, to leaves, to tears in clothing. They're not technical masterpieces and probably wouldn't win any awards, but they're charming, unique, and surprisingly heart warming.



I've never had strong feelings about Drew Barrymore either way, but Amanda went through the trouble to host a giveaway and I like photography, so I figured why not? I'll enter! Imagine my delight when I actually won! I never win anything!!

 

Picard investigating the package and assisting with opening.

 

Some super cute stickers and a card as well!

Not only did Amanda send me a book, but she sent me a handwritten note and some Valentines! I haven't had a Valentine in years :D

 

Getting mail is awesome, and she provided quite the presentation.

 

No one sends hand written Thank You cards anymore! Just lovely.

I was all smiles the whole time getting all of this open. It was thrilling to see those cute little Valentines fall out of the envelope, and has me thinking about how much I'd like to get a pen pal! I love hand written notes and letters, as well as sending and receiving mail!



Thanks again to Amanda over at Krystelle's Miss Tells! 'Find It In Everything' is a lovely little collection that will put a smile on pretty much anyone's face. It would make a wonderful Valentine's Day gift, birthday present, or just something to say "I love you" to someone special in your life. I'm so pleased that I won this giveaway!



-MJ

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Geek Prize Pack Giveaway!

We did it! 200 'Likes' on Facebook! Thank you to everyone who follows our updates, reads our articles, and shares the love with their fellow geek loving friends. We are humbled and touched, and want to thank you all so, so much! We've come a long way since launching the new site and adding more contributors, and it has just barely been two months!

As was stated earlier in the week, we are commemorating this absolutely fantastic milestone with a prize pack giveaway!

So, what are we giving away? It's pretty awesome, actually:



The prize pack includes the following: Doctor Who Dalek mug (1), Mega Man plushie toy (1), Mass Effect playing cards (1), Mass Effect sticker (1),Spider-man Web Ball Shooter(1), Three comics (1 Iron Man, 1 Amazing Spider-man, and 1 Dr. Strange), and Avengers temporarytattoos.




We thought it would be fun to provide a gift that reflected each of our personal interests and specialities! The Doctor Who mug is from Miranda (that's me!), the Mega Man plushie is from Zach, the Mass Effect items are from Rachel, and the comic book/Spider-man items are from Tom! We're all very passionate about these subjects and our hobbies, and being able to share them with like-minded readers is a true joy!

BUT WAIT! How do you enter?! It is simple,I promise. But do please read the instructions carefully!

1. If you haven't already, LIKE the A Bit of Geek facebook pageandFollow @abitofgeek on Twitter(if you havea twitter account)!
2. Tweet about the giveaway (I entered to win a geek prize pack from @abitofgeek ! Find out how you can enter at http://tinyurl.com/lsx9uqu) or share our giveaway announcement from the A Bit of Geek facebook page (we'll keep posting about it, so it won't be hard to find)!
3. Comment on THIS ENTRY and tell us that you have liked/followed/shared, and in that same comment tell us your favorite video game ever!
4. If you already Like and Follow, then don't worry, you can still enter! Just leave a comment saying you already Like/Follow, that you shared, andthen also tell us your favorite video game!
5. One entry per person, and don't forget to leave a way for us to contact you! Twitter handle, e-mail address, etc.
6. Open to US residents only, so we apologize to any international readers!

You have until 10:00 PMPST onSaturday, August 3rd, 2013 to enter! The winner will be chosen via random number generator and contacted the next day (so be sure to leave a way to contact you!!). If you win the giveaway then we will need a mailing address for you, so please be mindful of that fact!

Good luck, and thank you again for your support!

-A Bit of Geek

*header image present icon found here

***CLOSED***

Thank you to all who entered! The lucky winner is....

comment number six, Lily!!



Thank you again!

P.S. Please know that we are aware of the fact that only the four most recent comments are showing up. We are currently working on a solution to the issue and we appreciate your patience and understanding! All of the commentsdo show in our backend.

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We Have a Surprise For You!

Happy Monday, folks! Here at A Bit of Geek we're getting pretty excited. You know why? Because we're nearly at 200 fans on Facebook! That's an awesome milestone, and we want to celebrate properly.

So what will we be doing, you ask? Well, we're hosting a prize giveaway, of course! Want to know what you can win? I'll give you a tiny sneak peek:

Looks enticing, right? Once we hit 200 followers we will reveal the full prize pack and you can enter to win it! So go on! Let your friends know about us at A Bit of Geek and the passionate, geeky work that we do.Share our website on twitter,Like us on Facebook, send us your loving comments!Help us reach our milestone! *confetti*

-MJ

*header image file from here

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Review Time! Paper Mario: Sticker Star.

In light of the fourth quarter release lineup, the 3DS is rapidly becoming my favorite gaming system. All of the demos at PAX were extremely promising, and the games are finally rolling out to anxious hands all over the globe.

I've had the great pleasure of playing Paper Mario: Sticker Star, and now that I'm on the final (and incredibly difficult) Bowser battle I'm ready to talk about the game in all of its papery glory.

Paper Mario: Sticker Star. Source.

Paper Mario: Sticker Star bursts onto the 3DS with crisp, bright graphics, witty dialogue, new twists on old enemies, lots of tricky puzzles, and a brand new sticker mechanic. At first the stickers seemed like a simple gimmick, but after familiarizing myself with the gameplay I was able to see their full and fun potential. Battles require more tactics and preparation, and the game creators obviously had a great time coming up with the "thing" stickers that Mario finds around the world.

"Thing" stickers range from teapots, to goats, to scissors, to shaved ice, and pretty much everything else in between. These stickers can be used in battle for greater damage or effects such as doubling attack power. The stickers also interact with the environment via the "stickerize" screen. Mario can, for instance, use a refrigerator to freeze flowing lava, or a fire flower to melt some snow.

Mario placing a sticker in the "stickerize" screen. Source.

Fans of the series will really appreciate this first-time portable offering. It brings back the turn-based RPG battle style of the first two Paper Mario titles, but sadly does away with in-game partners. I prefer the turn-based style, and I sorely missed it from Super Paper Mario for the Wii.

While the lack of partners is pretty noticeable and makes the game a little lonely, Kersti (your sticker helper) is an amiable and entertaining companion. She cushions the blow of having only one attack per turn by giving Mario the opportunity to use up to three stickers per turn via the coin roller. Timed taps to the A button might yield two or three of a kind (much like a slot machine), thus providing more chances to deal greater damage to the enemies at hand. The player could also use the opportunity to apply a healing mushroom to Mario.

Three separate attack stickers can be used, as indicated by the three dotted squares. Source.

The game is covered with battle stickers, so players won't have to worry about scrounging up coins to buy them at the shops (shopping is an option too, of course). There are six worlds in all, and each one introduces even more stickers to use. When you start the game your Sticker Album will only have a few pages which serve as inventory space, but as you gather Sticker Comet stickers your album will increase its pages, allowing you to carry more with you at a time.

Paper Mario: Sticker Star includes a museum where you can showcase the stickers you've found. Source.

At any moment the game has given Mario everything he will need to progress, but the puzzle solutions won't always be simple. I've gotten stuck more times than I can recall at this point, and often times the answers found online resulted in me thinking, "Who would have thought to do that?!"

Sticker Star has been an absolute treat to play, and it is fair in length. Including all of the times I've achieved a Game Over screen, I'm sitting at about thirty hours of gameplay. I wish the game were longer, but that's really because I can't get enough of Paper Mario. I highly recommend picking up this title! It's a great addition to anyone's gaming library. I hope that the people over at Intelligent Systems will be teaming up with Nintendo again in the future to bring the fans even more amazing Paper Mario gameplay!

Did you pick up Paper Mario: Sticker Star? Do you plan on it? If you have a copy then what do you think so far?

-MJ

p.s. If you don't have a copy yet, then be sure to enter my giveaway contest to try and win a free copy!

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Paper Mario: Sticker Star giveaway contest! [CLOSED]

Does everyone remember the Paper Mario: Sticker Star diorama contest that I entered a few weeks ago? Well, I WON! That's right, I was one of five lucky winners to get an amazing prize package from Nintendo! I started to scream when I read my e-mail, and then I sat down and cried with happiness for about ten minutes, and then I had a celebratory shot of whiskey which doubled as a nerve calmer.

Once I had my head on straight again I realized I was going to end up with two copies of Sticker Star. This is because I knew I was going to buy a copy on Sunday the 11th because even if I won the contest I wasn't going to be able to wait for them to ship me my copy. Who has that kind of patience?

***We interrupt your regularly schedule post to bring you these gratuitous photos of the prize pack***

Paper Mario: Sticker Star for the 3DS, $100 in eShop giftcards, and a red 3DS XL. 

A few glamour shots of the 3DS XL, because look at how beautiful it is! 

My paper trophy! It's so cute!

***Thank you for your patience during the photo interlude. You may now return to the regular post***

So then came the dilemma: what to do with my winning copy of Paper Mario: Sticker Star?

Host a giveaway, of course!!

This game is really excellent and I want to share the love with fellow Nintendo and Paper Mario fans! The contest will run for two weeks starting from today, Friday the 23rd, and it'll go until midnight PST Friday, December 7th. The winner will receive one (1) copy of Paper Mario: Sticker Star for the 3DS. The game is brand new and still sealed in its original box. The giveaway is open to US residents only (I'll be paying for shipping), so I apologize to any international readers!

Here's how you enter:

1. "Like" A Bit of Geek on Facebook!
2.  Tweet about the giveaway! ----"I just entered to win a copy of Paper Mario: Sticker Star from @abitofgeek Go to her post for your own chance to win! http://tinyurl.com/b84mqmx"
3. Comment here and tell me which Mario game is your favorite and why!

It's one entry per person, so just let me know that you've done the first two things in the same comment as your favorite Mario game! If you already 'like' A Bit of Geek on Facebook you won't be excluded from entering, don't worry!

The winner will be announced on Saturday, December 8th and will be chosen via random number generator. You'll have one week (7 days) to respond to me. If I don't hear back from the winner within that timeframe then I'll generate a second number.

Be sure to leave your e-mail address or your twitter account or something so that I can contact you!

Be sure to check back next week for my review of the game, too, just in case you need some nudging in the right direction :D

Good luck!

**EDIT**

We have a winner!

Mai Koythong, congratulations! I will be contacting you shortly. Thank you to everyone that entered!

-MJ

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Doctor Who minimalist wallpapers!

Now that the cat's out of the bag with the Doctor Who lip balms, I can share these wallpapers with you! After creating the labels for the line over at Earthtastic! I realized that the screwdriver designs might make for some fun computer backgrounds. I'm quite a fan of this collection from Karma Orange. The minimalist approach is very nice, and I love the textures. I see similar kinds on some of the fancier Penny Arcade comics and I am always impressed.

So, allow me to present my Ten and Eleven Sonic Screwdriver minimalist wallpapers!

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Please feel free to use and share, I only ask that you leave my little watermark and link back if possible!

Is it obvious that they're screwdrivers "unrolled"? That was my intention. I'm currently rocking Ten's on my computer monitor and it's making me smile. Does anyone think they'll use them? :)

Also be sure to check out my post from Monday about the lip balms and enter the giveaway!

-MJ

*texture from here

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Doctor Who Lip Balm Announcement and Giveaway! *Updated*

I am extremely excited to announce a new line of products launching from Earthtastic! in correlation with A Bit of Geek: Doctor Who themed lip balms!!

Earthtastic! is a line of natural body and skin care products started by my sister Cassidy. She creates small, handmade batches of preservative and chemical free products that are good for the environment and good for you, too. They are also organic (when possible), vegan, and nut free, so those with allergies can rest easy. She always offers custom orders to make sure customers get the exact product that they want and need.

A little bit ago we were talking about how we wished we could team up together, but that our focuses were very different (hers being body products and mine being gaming and technology) and we were stumped, and that's where the Doctor Who line was born!

Created with the conscientious geek in mind, this line of lip balms has been designed with the intention of encapsulating the Doctor Who universe. As a default they come unscented, but you can request either orange or blueberry during your order for no additional cost! Buy them separately or together as a beautiful gift pack for yourself or your Doctor loving friend.

The line includes Ten's Sonic Screwdriver, Eleven's Sonic Screwdriver, Sonic Lipstick, Gallifrey, and the TARDIS. Inside each gift box is a cloth bag wrapped in a blue ribbon for a lovely presentation, and the gift box includes one of four "greetings": Fantastic!, Geronimo!, Allons-y!, and Hello, sweetie.

 The Sonic Lipstick is available as a balm only or as a lip tint! Just make your request during the order!

Be sure to check out all of the listings on the Earthtastic! Geekery etsy page to learn more about the products and the business. I'm positive that you'll like what you read!

Now, time for information about the giveaway!

Would you like to have this set for yourself or to gift to a friend? Here are the requirements for entry!

-"like" A Bit of Geek and Earthtastic! on Facebook
-follow A Bit of Geek and Earthtastic! on twitter
-comment here letting me know that you've done those things, and make sure you leave a way for me to contact you (e-mail or twitter handle)
-bonus SECOND entry if you tweet about our giveaway! Be sure to leave a second, separate comment here if you send out this tweet:
"Doctor Who lip balm giveaway from @earthtastic and @abitofgeek http://tinyurl.com/9l4swad"

The giveaway will be open for a week, so you have until Monday, October 15th at 10pm PST time to enter! Good luck to the entrants and thanks for taking the time to look around! Of course, if you'd prefer to just buy the set, you can do that too ;)

-MJ

10.16.12 UPDATE!

We have a winner!

Congratulations saltkiin! I'll contact you on twitter to get your shipping information! Thank you everyone for participating :)

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