Old Navy giveaway!

Hey y’all, check this out:

From Dates to Diapers is giving away NINE $65 off a $100 purchase coupons to Old Navy!  Get the scoop here: http://tinyurl.com/nhmjja.

Also be sure to check out www.OldNavyWeekly.com for more chances to win coupons.  Some are huge, like $75 off a $100 purchase, and others are smaller, like 15% off your entire purchase.  But in my book, any savings is good!

Enjoy, and good luck with your entries!

Custom Card Giveaway!

I can hardly believe it, but next week my little Catiebug will be 4.  It’s strange because in some ways she seems older – she’s got such a big personality, it seems like she’s been here a lot longer.  But it also seems like it was just yesterday she was snuggled up in her baby blanket, laying beside me and – oh wait.  That was yesterday.  But you get the point.

Anyway, it’s been such a busy time here lately I really hadn’t thought much about her party yet.  But then I got a reminder email from my favorite invitation spot, which I was so excited about!  (Yes, little things like that really do make my day.  I’m a simple girl.)  How easy, yet how genius is it to send out a reminder like that?  Perfect timing too of course, since they know when I ordered last year.

There are hundreds of card designs to choose from, so we looked through all of the girly birthday ones.  The search was over when we found this little beauty though – how perfect for my little bug!

The personalization is awesome too – I did these myself in a matter of minutes!  You have two options for getting the actual cards.  You can purchase a jpeg download and print them out yourself, or you can order them directly from the company.  What’s awesome about the direct order is that you don’t have to wait for the cards to arrive in the mail.  They are sent to the closest photo shop in your zip code!  (From my house that could be Walgreens or Wal-Mart.)  So even when you order them printed, you can have them very quickly.  A last-minute mom like me loves that!

I discovered these great cards last year, also for Catie’s birthday, when I was searching for Strawberry Shortcake themed invites.  Check these out:

And if you love matchy-matchy like I do, you will love that every card on their site has a matching thank-you!

Even cooler, you can get a ton of matching party favors like play-doh wrappers, crayon or bubble wrappers, treat bags, coloring books, edible images for cakes, & much more!

I know I sound like an advertisement, and I suppose that I am, but I am not being paid or receiving anything for free to write this!  I purchased our invitations out of my own pocket, happily.  I am writing this because I use the company, I love them, recommend them, and believe in giving good service its due reward.  Beyond that, though, I knew you would love these too, and I wanted to share the wealth.  I wrote and and asked if they would be willing to donate a design for a giveaway, and lucky you, dear readers, they said yes!  And yes in a big way too, because they are donating not one but three invitations!  So 3 lucky readers will win their choice of design! Woo-hoo!  Cool product and they are generous.  Smart marketing to know the power of a happy mom blogger!

Now you may have noticed I’ve been holding out on the big reveal.  Didn’t want to lose you too soon, because I knew when you saw this awesome website you’d be gone for hours checking out all of the designs.

So now that you have the scoop, go to uPRINT Invitations, pick a favorite, and return to tell me which design tickles your fancy.  If you really want to win, I’ll even give you an extra entry for posting about this giveaway on Twitter, Facebook, or your own blog (and let me know what you did).  Tweet @hopelessnflawed.  Contest will end at midnight EST on Sunday June 14.  Catie will choose the winner by random (ok, by random.org – but I’ll let her do the typing) on Monday morning – her birthday.

Good luck!

And the winners are…

Cindy & Soliloquy!  Congratulations ladies!  I will be in touch soon with information about how to download the ebook!

You Can Make This Giveaway

So here it is, the crafty giveaway I promised you.  I know I was supposed to deliver this yesterday, but when I posted I forgot that it was a holiday weekend.  Please pardon my tardiness.  I think the cool factor is worth the wait!

So last year I found a new project that I love to make.  I made these name pillows for my neice:

my nephews:

and all three of my daughters:

for Christmas.  I even made one for the Angel Tree child we shopped for:

I have since sold these in local boutiques, given them as gifts, and made them for friends. 

They are always a huge hit!  They are especially unique because they can be personalized to match the child’s room (as I did for my girls):

You can also use their favorite character, sports team, etc.  And they are the ultimate present for a child whose name isn’t common.  (Don’t we all remember looking through those plastic bike license plates?)

Even better than that, they are honest-to-goodness easy to make.  I promise!  You do not have to have any special equipment or sewing knowledge to make this pillow.  The instructions are easy to read, very clear, and detailed enough that you will not feel lost.

The cost of the project will vary depending on the finishes you choose, but I know you can do these for under $10 per pillow if you buy inexpensive fabric.  An easy and economical project! 

In the interest of honesty, I have to tell you that I was asked to review this item for a giveaway.  However, you should also know that when asked I was able to tell them that I did not need their free instructions to try the pattern out, because I had already bought it!  So I can whole-heartedly tell you that this is a good, high quality product that is worth every penny.

I know some of you are probably thinking that you couldn’t do this.  You are wrong.  You Can Make This is the name of the website, and it ain’t called that for nothin’.  I promise you can do this.  You’ll need your sewing machine, scissors, fabric, thread, wonder-under, pillow stuffing, and a spare hour or two.  The more you make, the faster you will get.  And did I mention that they’re fun?

Now for the goods.  YouCanMakeThis.com is offering two lucky readers a FREE copy of the Pesonalized Name Pillow e-book!  How awesome is that? 

All you have to do is leave me a comment here telling me who you would make a pillow for, and you’re in!  If you really really want to win, you can receive an extra entry each for blogging, tweeting, or linking to this post.  (If you tweet, send it @hopelessnflawed so I can find you!)  All entries must be received by midnight EST next Tuesday, June 2.  The winner will be chosen by random drawing and will be announced on Wednesday, June 3.

Good luck, and happy sewing!

Printer love

I have a printer that I love.  It’s a Canon with Wi-Fi which totally rocks – I love being able to print from all over the house.  I thought all was well, until I stumbled upon this post from Marcy at the Glamorous Life Association.  Wow, am I seriously overpaying for ink.  Who knew there was a better way?  Well apparently Marcy did.  But anyway.

Check out the ink calculator and enter to win one yourself!  Huge bonus?  The winner of the printer will then be entered in a drawing for a FULL sponsorship to BlogHer! Woo-hoo!  Of course I want this oh-so-badly, but if it can’t be me, then I hope it’s one of you.

Good luck!

Excuses, excuses

Oh blogosphere, how I’ve missed you so.

A few weeks ago we were leaving for a Disney vacation, and then I sort of dropped off the face of the Internet.  I know.  I’m sorry.  It’s been crazy crazier than usual.  I will update properly on our vacation, pictures and all, but first here are the obligatory explanations for my prolonged absence.

One new-to-us experience we had on this vacation was ‘having a child get sick in Disney World.’  I don’t really want to repeat that one.  I don’t know exactly how it happened, but long story short, Lilly was infected with e coli.  She (and I) spent the second half of the vacation pretty much tied to the resort room, and she was hospitalized the week we got home.  Not fun. 

And then came Easter.  And after she was released, my parents went away for a few days, which left me and my unruly brood in charge of our website (total plug for Garden Party Teas).  I love, love, LOVE working with the site, but it’s not easy to do with the amount of ‘help’ I get from my 2 & 3 year old daughters.  Anyway, we’ve been very busy lately – it’s Tea Party season, don’t you know?  I’m grateful for our customers, but it does keep us on our toes!

After all of that died down, I came back to blog.  I had very good intentions.  Unfortunately, though, a spammer sidetracked me.  I had to weed through and delete literally thousands of spam comments.  When I finally got that tedious task off of my plate, I checked my email, only to discover that every single comment also generated an email notificaion, so yet again I had to weed through them all.  UGH!  It was such a long, annoying process that by the time I finished (several days later), I had no desire to blog!

Then we had a crazy soccer week (I’m the coach of my daughters’ rockin’ U-6 team), busy school week (I volunteer there on a regular basis – so fun!), yada, yada, yada.  And now my poor Mom has hurt her back and is unable to do much of anything but lie in pain.  When it rains it pours I suppose!

So there you have it, the list of excuses reasons why I was unable to join the land of the living for a while.  But never fear, I’m back baby, with lots to talk about, lots to show you, and a few really awesome giveaways in the works!  Woo-hoo!

And the Dare goes to…

Darcie at Such the Spot!

Congratulations Darcie – your book will be in the mail as soon as I find your address!

Darcie winning this actually gives me a great lead-in to tell you something else about her. Namely, she rocks. And as evidence of her awesomeness, she is now a finalist in the Mabel’s Labels scholarship contest, just a few votes away from a trip to BlogHer. Could you please take just a moment to pop over here and vote for Darcie? You don’t have to take my word for it – read all the essays and I know you’ll agree. This girl needs to be BlogHer bound.

Fireproof/Love Dare Giveaway!

My husband and I were lucky enough to have a date this past Saturday night. We’ve had about, oh, maybe 3 of those since Annie was born 6 years ago, so this was a real treat. The church had a dinner and movie night with free childcare, so we took them up on the offer and were able to see Fireproof. If you haven’t yet, I highly recommend it. I was touched by the movie, and inspired by the story behind it. A nerd at heart, I always love to dig into the background, and this is an amazing story. Grab a cup of tea and read on!

For those who may not be familiar, Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia is the driving force. In fact, they were once upon a time the only force. It all started in 2002, with an associate pastor at the church, Alex Kendrick, and $20,000 in donations. Relying on the time, talents, and generosity of their congregation, they set out to make a movie. In 2003 Flywheel, their first effort, was released. Facing the Giants followed in 2006.

Movies with a positive, Christian outlook on life are rare. Usually when Christianity is mentioned it is in reference to a crazy person, to make fun of believers, or to push the secular agenda that God doesn’t exist. So refreshing to see an honest, accurate portrayal of Christianity and the journey we are on.

These movies were made in a most amazing way. The actors are all unpaid volunteers. Ditto for the stage crew, the caterers, the laborers…everyone donated their time. Flywheel was shot with a single digital video camera, on a homemade dolly and crane. No sets were constructed – church members volunteered their own homes and businesses.

Along with his brother Stephen, the Kendricks comprise the creative core of more
than 500 church members who participate in making the movies. Alex and
Stephen, both associate pastors at Sherwood Baptist, hatched the idea to make
movies nearly six years ago after reading a George Barna poll that said movies
influenced Americans more than the church. “That really grieved us,” Stephen
Kendrick remembers. “We said to our church, ‘We can either curse the darkness or turn on a light.’ I am a firm believer that we should not be overcome by evil but we should overcome evil with good.”

“When we proposed to the church that we go in this direction, it is crazy how many things came together,” Alex Kendrick adds. “People would walk in unannounced and say, ‘We heard you were doing a movie. What do you need?’ They would ask us if we needed money. We said yes. They gave without reservation. Other people offered to sew, cook, or let us use their house or business out of the blue. When that kind of stuff starts happening you can’t give anybody any credit but God.”

The next time around, they had word-of-mouth on their side. Many more volunteers lined up to help, and the money from the first film allowed them to rent more professional movie equipment for Facing The Giants. 6 weeks of filming, again using one camera, and again dependant on the donations and generosity of church and community members. Facing the Giants was a success, and attracted even more attention to their mission.

Enter Fireproof. By far the most critically acclaimed of their films, this movie also had the widest theater release of the 3. This is thanks in no small part to Kirk Cameron, a devout Christian who was so inspired by Facing the Giants that he very generously volunteered to star in Fireproof – for free. (Ever heard of another Hollywood actor doing that?) Another decidedly UN-Hollywood aspect of the movie, as quoted from the website:

In a romantic scene in FIREPROOF, lead actor Kirk Cameron is actually kissing
his wife Chelsea rather than Erin Bethea, who plays Catherine. Chelsea was flown
in from Los Angeles just for that shot.

The scene was filmed in silhouette and works incredibly well, with Chelsea wearing the same outfit and a wig to mirror Erin. Sherwood Pictures has upheld this standard in all their movies: actors and actresses should guard their own marriages while on screen the same way they would do in real life. That’s why you don’t see Coach Taylor (Facing the Giants) or Jay Austin (Flywheel) kissing the women playing the on-screen wives.

Kirk also has long held to a principle that he would kiss no woman other than Chelsea. He was able to honor his marriage while making a movie that inspires others to do
the same.

Fireproof is the story of a marriage in peril, and one man’s journey to save it. Before filing for divorce, his father asks him to commit to a 40-day ‘Love Dare’. For 40 days, he follows the simple instructions in the book, one day at a time, and finds a way to save his marriage.

“This is such an important movie,” says Cameron, who in addition to acting,
has his own ministry called Way of the Master. “Today, we live in a society where
the meaning of love has almost been entirely lost. We reduce love to a quick and easy feeling, something we fall into effortlessly. When that feeling is gone we bail out and find something else to give us that feeling again. God has designed marriage to be a lifelong process of learning how to selflessly give yourself to someone else. That is where character is built. That is where faith is forged.”

“The whole idea of Fireproof is that it’s not that a marriage will never go through trials or fire but when fire comes or trials come it can withstand it,” Alex Kendrick explains. “This is what we mean by being fireproof. It also has a spiritual connotation. The only way you and I can be spiritually fireproof is through Jesus Christ. The only way our marriages can be fireproof is when they are dedicated and lived out using biblical principles.”

We were truly blessed by this movie, and I hope you will be as well. Please take the time to see it. No matter how good your marriage may be, there is always room for improvement. And in that vein, I’d like to bless your marriage as well, with a little commitment from you of course.

I am offering a free copy of the Love Dare to one lucky reader. Just leave me a comment about why you liked this movie, or how the Love Dare would benefit you, and you are eligible! Don’t forget to leave an email address where I can contact you. Winner will be drawn at random, and entries must be received by Thursday, February 12 at midnight EST. Good luck!

Someone who CARES

Short and sweet today (because I’m sick, remember?)

Flying with kids can be a real hassle. Lugging all of the gear through the airport, dumping out the sippy cups so you can pass through security, explaining to the annoyed security guard that actually, your child wouldn’t be crying at all had you not just had to dump out their drink, collapsing 2 strollers, removing 10 shoes, 3 car seats, 6 carry-ons, 2 video game systems, 3 ipods, 2 cameras, 2 cell phones, 1 video camera and 1 laptop so that they can be scanned for approximately 7 seconds, then replacing all 10 shoes, video games, cameras, phones, computers, unfolding 2 strollers and loading up 3 car seats while the childless people behind you sigh in disgust at the delay, immediately seeking out the nearest water fountain to replace the liquid you just dumped, and proceeding to the terminal. Forget the flight itself – that’s the easy part compared to making it through the airport.

There’s not a whole lot that can be done to improve this process (thanks terrorists!), but one less item to haul certainly helps. Especially if it’s a bulky item like a car seat. And that is where CARES comes in. This great travel item works as an FAA-approved safety restraint system for your little one, so car seats on planes can be a thing of the past. Good news indeed for weary travelers like myself.

Would you like one to make your life easier as well? Just visit the website linked above, and then leave me a comment here telling me how CARES will improve the quality of your travel. A winner will be chosen at random, and one lucky reader will be able to enjoy having a CARES system of their very own. Contest ends Tuesday, 12/9 at midnight EST. Good luck!

OK, very annoying Blogger glitch. AGAIN. The link won’t work, but the website is www.kidsflysafe.com

Now THIS is the Christmas spirit

Richard Paul Evans is one of my favorite authors, and if you haven’t read any of his books you definitely should, ASAP. You won’t be sorry. But besides being a great writer, he is a great example of the American Dream.

About fifteen years ago he sat down and wrote a story for his young daughters. A simple, heartfelt gift to capture his love for them. He finished the piece in six weeks, and was so pleased with the result that he printed off 20 copies of it to give to family members and their closest friends. He touched their hearts, and they were inspired to pass the story along to others, who passed it along, who passed it along…you get the idea. Encouraged by his small success, in 1993 he was inspired to seek out an agent and a publisher for his little story. He failed. Not to be discouraged, he went the route of a vanity press and produced the books himself, distributing them to local bookstores where they flew off the shelves.

Once again encouraged by the book’s success, Evans published the book nationally. Again on his own dime. And the book flew to the top of the New York Times bestseller list. The publishing houses who had rejected him before were suddenly very interested in this budding author, and a bidding war ensued. Simon & Schuster eventually won out, giving Mr. Evans a $4.2 million dollar advance. For the book they didn’t want before. Evans had only published it in paperback before, but now that the publishers had it they released it in hardcover, and in 1995 that Christmas gift for two little girls became the first ever book to be #1 on the New York Times bestseller list for both hardcover and paperback editions.

That was the year that I found Richard Paul Evans, and the year that I opened for myself The Christmas Box. I was so moved by the story that I cried – hard – while I read. I devoured that book in one night, and read it three more times that holiday season. And now, 13 years later, I still read it a couple of times a year.

In 1999 I was delighted to be able to meet Mr. Evans at a book signing in Birmingham, Alabama. Of course he is now a renowned author with numerous titles under his belt – all worth reading. He is the most successful self-published author of all time. And I was thrilled to learn a few weeks ago that he is coming to Louisville next week, not only for a book signing but to speak. In my excitement to gather the details, I visited his website where I was blessed yet again by this great man, and I wanted to share that with you.
He is very kindly, very generously offering a bit of Christmas cheer to all of us, and I am so touched. I’ve never seen another offer like it, which is further proof of his character.

For FREE, Richard Paul Evans is offering you a case of his paperback bestseller, The Christmas Box, just to make your own holiday gift-giving a little bit easier. An entire case, 25 copies, that you can share with your family and friends, and all he asks is that you not resell the books for profit. I was so moved, and very happy to pay the nominal shipping charge to get these books. I intend to tuck them in with teacher gifts, our Angel Tree presents for the elderly, and perhaps for a few friends and family members who haven’t read it yet.

If you’d like to share this inspirational story with your nearest and dearest, just visit the free book page on his website to place your own order. The offer is valid through December 1st or while supplies last.