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giveaway: baby bibs and banners

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

Thanks everyone for your kind words these past few days via email, text, phone, Twitter & Facebook. I loved being on TV (now that it’s all over and my heart has stopped pounding so quickly). I wanted to say “thank you” by offering up this giveaway: my favorite girl bib and my favorite boy bib from Lillybelle Designs. Plus I’ll include the matching banners that I made for the TV segment and they coordinate with the free downloadable cupcake toppers. I know it’s totally a blogging faux pas, but I don’t have any pictures of these. You can see them on the video. I know, I’m totally lame. Think of it as a surprise or a grab bag of sorts or just trust me. I would never giveaway anything that I wouldn’t want myself.

Let me know if you want the girl set or the boy set in your comment, but don’t say “either” or “both.” I’ll pick a winner Friday morning, March 12th–right after I drop off cupcakes at my daughter’s class. That’s her birthday. Oh, and this is the first giveaway that I’ve done with my new Wordpress format, so I’ll still need to moderate some comments. Don’t worry if it takes a few hours for your comment to show up, it’s still there.

I found some pictures:

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the great pumpkin

Monday, October 5th, 2009

Do you hate leftover Halloween candy as much as I do? I mean, really, do my kids need that much sugar? I read about this idea before I was ever married and I’ve been using it since my oldest child could understand the concept. The Great Pumpkin comes on Halloween night, takes the candy that kids put out for him, and leaves a present in its place.

Here’s the scene. On Halloween night I get my kids dressed up in their costumes, make them eat dinner, and then either my husband or I takes them out trick-or-treating. It’s always cold here in October, so they don’t stay out too long. My kids walk into the living room, dump their candy onto the floor and check out their loot. I let them eat as much candy as they want. I let them keep all of the non-candy items. And then they willingly put their uneaten candy back into their trick-or-treat bag and put it on the kitchen table. They don’t have to do this–it’s purely voluntary. But they know that if they leave their candy out, if they can part with the mini sized candy bars and endless rolls of smarties, there will be a cool present waiting for them when they wake up. The Great Pumpkin then comes sometime during the night and takes all of the candy out to the car to be taken to work the next day. Much like Santa, he then leaves a gift for each child.

Why I love this:

1. I don’t need all of that candy lying around my house and I certainly don’t want my kids to eat it. I know, I sound like the bah-humbug of Halloween. I’m not. All four of my kids get to choose if they want to participate. Every year every single one gives up their candy.
2. I don’t have to fight with my kids over getting rid of the candy.
3. I really love Christmas and since it’s still 2 months away, I love the chance to give my kids a quick present to tide us all over through the holiday season. I know, it’s contradictory. I don’t care.

I’m posting this early in the month so that you’ll have time to think about this, an opportunity to introduce the concept to your kids, and a chance to purchase a Great Pumpkin gift for whoever wants to participate. Let me know if you’re going to give it a try.

Tags: holiday tip
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what i’m reading: handmade home

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

I have been reading Handmade Home by Amanda Blake Soule. No, I have been slowly savoring it. The pictures make me want to snuggle down in some cosy handmade quilts and the projects remind me of my two kiddo days, when crafting filled my yellow kitchen and laundry included two fewer girls. In all honestly, I didn’t go to the bookstore to buy this book. I’d actually never heard of it. It caught my eye because it had a party looking banner on the cover and as I flipped through it, I loved the variety of crafts. I was a bit surprised, however, when I got it home. I guess I should have looked closer to where it says, “includes 30 sewing projects.” But I do like small sewing challenges and I can’t find fault with patterns that start out by saying “use what you have.” And there is a definitely a theme woven throughout this book that is right up my alley: don’t throw it away, just re-purpose it. Though I don’t have the slow paced life pictured within the pages, and I no longer sew with a nine month old on my lap, it doesn’t mean I can’t escape for a moment and remember when I did. *If you want you can check out Amanda Blake Soule on her blog Soule Mama.

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some favorite photos

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

I wanted to post a few of my recent favorite photos. These were taken by the awesome & talented Casey Hyer. I swear, his photography can make anything I create look amazing. I recently used the last photo in a magazine ad.

Tags: Casey Hyer
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favorite glamor girl gift

Friday, August 7th, 2009

I love this natural, eco-friendly fingernail polish & remover from Piggy Paint. Great for little girls who always want their nails painted. And how perfect for babies who are always putting their fingers and toesies in their mouth! No more worries about toxic polish. I actually bought four different bottles of this polish in January and me and my three girls love it. I’m all for natural gifts for kids which is why I’m such a huge fan of this stuff. They often have specials going on so follow them on twitter (@piggypaint) to get the coupon codes. And Piggy Paint even made it’s Hollywood debut on June 6, 2009 at the birthday party of Stella McDermott, daughter of Tori Spelling. Very cool.

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