What to Expect When … {Contest Closed}

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Congrats to Sara B. – who won our What to Expect When Giveaway! Stay tuned for more contests and giveaways...

I have great respect for the What to Expect book series. Each book, in turn, guided me through what could have been a pretty intimidating batch of years with babies and young children.

As an expectant mom, What to Expect When You’re Expecting helped me to understand the changes that my body was going through in a straightforward and helpful style. I was so nervous and excited for the birth of my first child that I spent a lot of time reading and rereading chapters of the first two What to Expect books.

And here’s a funny fact: I once used one of my What to Expect books to diagnose my husband’s appendicitis. (It was the closest book at hand with trusted medical advice in the middle of the night when he was overcome with wrenching abdominal pain. Apparently, appendicitis exhibits the same in toddlers and men in their mid 30s.)

WhattoExpect.com – the online version of the What to Expect When You’re Expecting book series – has generously offered to give a lucky Momscape reader the first three books in the series:

The winner will receive 3 books:

What to Expect When You’re Expecting

 

What to Expect the First Year (What to Expect (Workman Publishing))
What to Expect the First Year
What to Expect the Second Year: From 12 to 24 Months (What to Expect (Workman Publishing))
What to Expect the Second Year: From 12 to 24 Months
HOW TO ENTER

There are multiple ways to enter, but you must comment below after you’ve done these items because that’s how we’ll choose a winner (at random). You needn’t leave a separate comment for each action. Just tell me which of the items you did in a single comment. Also, comment moderation is turned ‘on,’ so there might be a slight delay before your comment appears below.

WAYS TO ENTER

1. Register for your free customized newsletter at WhattoExpect.com (Click this link. Signup form is on the right, under the heading “Track Your Baby’s Growth Today!”): 1 entry

2. Subscribe to Momscape’s email newsletter: 1 entry

3. Subscribe to our Freebies, Coupons, and Deals Newsletter: 1 entry (You’ll also be automatically entered to win a $50 Target gift card to a subscriber every month that you’re a subscriber.)

4. “Like” Momscape on Facebook: 1 entry

5. “Like” What to Expect on Facebook: 1 entry

6. Follow Momscape on Twitter: 1 entry

7. Follow What to Expect on Twitter: 1 entry

8. Tweet about this contest with hashtag “#momscape” : 1 entry
(You can even RT this one: New #Momscape #Giveaway: Win 3 books from the What to Expect series! http://tinyurl.com/3j4t3ja )

9. Blog about this giveaway on your own blog: 1 entry

Contest ends October 25, 2011. One winner will be drawn on October 26, 2011 using random.org and will have 48 hours to respond to email notification, after which a new winner will be drawn. *No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Contest open to US Residents only, 18 and over. Official contest rules are here.

And if you – or someone you know – would like to sponsor a contest on Momscape, we want to hear from you! Email susie at momscape.com

Read Baby Care articles at momscape.com

Get gift ideas for babies and new moms.

Things We Love – Zulugrass Jewelry Review and Giveaway {Contest Closed}

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Congratulations to Natalia, who won our ZuluGrass Beads of Learning Bracelet. Stay tuned for more Giveaways!

Here’s the story behind Zulugrass Jewelry – and why we love it.

First some background on The Maasai people in Kenya, who handcraft each piece of Zulugrass Jewelry.

The Maasai are a nomadic, pastoral tribe centered in Eastern Africa. For centuries, the majority of a Maasai family income has derived from herding cattle.

After a terrible drought devastated pasture lands, the men of the Maasai were forced to drive the few surviving cattle hundreds of miles north in search of better grazing land – leaving many of the women and children behind.

Philip and Katy Leakey – who live among the Maasai in Kenya – came up with an ingenious idea to help in a way that utilized the skills of the Maasai women while also making use of the area’s sustainable natural resources.

First, they dried and cut the long grasses in the region. These grasses are then dyed rich hues and strung on super-strength elastic. Czech glass beads are added for sparkle and a little contemporary flair. Then the pieces are sold, individually or in multi strand pieces, as Zulugrass Jewelry.

Zulugrass jewelry is lightweight, durable and versatile. The elastic, which is the same that was invented for the movie Spiderman, is said to hold its shape for over six years, even if worn daily in the sun, shower, pool or ocean. This durability means you can wear the colorful strands as a necklace, anklet, bracelet, hair tie, or choker.

The best part is this: The Leakey Collection now offers employment opportunities to more than 1400 Kenyans. The Maasai women work in the shade of acacia trees using mobile work stations.

The products they make – the items in The Leakey Collection – are now available in more than 1200 stores nationwide or online at http://www.leakeycollection.com

The Leakey Collection has given us a Zulugrass Beads of Learning Bracelet to give away to a lucky Momscape winner.

Every Zulugrass Beads for Learning Bracelet has been designed by Maasai artisans to symbolize the bright futures of educated children. The Leakey Collection donates 100% of its profits from the sales of these bracelets to pay for local teachers’ salaries.

To enter to win the Zulugrass Beads for Learning Bracelet

There are multiple ways to enter, but you must comment below after you’ve done these items because that’s how we’ll choose a winner (at random).You needn’t leave a separate comment for each thing. Just tell me which of the items you did in a single comment.

WAYS TO ENTER

1. Visit The Leakey Collection and tell us, in a the comments section below, which item(s) you like the best: 1 entry

2. Subscribe to Momscape’s RSS feed or email newsletter: 1 entry

3. Like Momscape on Facebook: 1 entry

4. Follow Momscape on Twitter: 1 entry

5. Tweet about this contest with hashtag “#momscape” : 1 entry

(You can even RT this one: New #Momscape #Giveaway: Win a ZuluGrass Beads for Learning Bracelet: http://tinyurl.com/3qz92ej )

6. Blog about this giveaway on your own blog: 1 entry

One winner will be drawn on September 29, 2011 using random.org and will have 48 hours to respond to email notification, after which a new winner will be drawn. *No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Contest open to US Residents only, 18 and over. Official contest rules are here.

And if you – or someone you know – would like to sponsor a contest on Momscape, we want to hear from you! Email susie at momscape.com

Etsy Artist Interview and Giveaway: Linda Smith from BurlapAndBlue.com {Contest Closed}

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Congratulations to Debra H. She’s the winner of our BurlapAndBlue Giveaway. Stay tuned for more contests and giveaways!

Our last Etsy Artist Interview and Giveaway was so much fun that we couldn’t wait another minute to do it again!

This time, we’re giving away this lovely Personalized Matching Game from BurlapandBlue.com. It’s a set of 16 tiles personalized with your photos, and it’s just one of many sweet creations in the Burlap and Blue etsy shop.

I’ll give you all the details about how you can win this adorable prize in a sec, but first – let’s get to know Linda!

Etsy Artist Interview

Tell us a little about yourself.
I am a stay at home mom to a sweet two year old boy. I started Etsy a couple of years ago as a way to stay creative and connected while being at home. I also have a home/DIY blog, www.burlapandblue.com, where I share tutorials, shop updates, and DIY projects around my home. My style is a little bit vintage and a little bit shabby, and I love to “play” with my home decor. Spray paint and my hot glue gun are two of my best friends. :)

What 3 words best describe you?
spray-painter, blog-reader, endlessly-inspired-DIYer :)

Tell us about your etsy shop.
In my Etsy shop, I sell vintage-inspired goods, including dessert pedestals, personalized coaster sets, and other home decor. It’s a mix of thrifted finds that are given a second life, and fun and unique gifts.

What 3 words best describe your etsy shop?
vintage-inspired, unique, eclectic

What is your top selling item?
My dessert pedestals tend to be my bestselling item…my personalized matching game, though, is very popular around the holidays!

Tell us about your creative process.
There is so, so much that inspires me…in the online world, design/home decor blogs and Pinterest are extremely inspiring. Nature (especially the ocean) is also inspiring, as is art, sculpture and poetry.

What advice do you have for other Etsy sellers?
First, make sure you have great photos! Even if you have a great product, no one will know it unless your photos show it! Also, use social media to your advantage. Create a blog and/or a facebook page, and use it consistently.

Etsy Giveaway

Now, here’s how to register to win! There are multiple ways to enter, but you must comment below after you’ve done these items because that’s how we’ll choose a winner (at random).You needn’t leave a separate comment for each thing. Just tell me which of the items you did in a single comment.

WAYS TO ENTER

1. Visit the BurlapandBlue etsy shop and tell us in the comments section below what your favorite item(s) are in the shop: 1 entry

2. Heart BurlapAndBlue on etsy: 1 entry (To heart an item or shop you must be signed in to your Etsy account. Then click the link that says Add this to favorites (in the right sidebar on a shop or item page.)

3. Blog about this giveaway on your own blog: 1 entry

4. Subscribe to Momscape’s RSS feed: 1 entry

5. Subscribe to BurlapandBlue’s RSS feed: 1 entry

6. Follow Momscape on Twitter: 1 entry

7. Follow BurlapAndBlue on Twitter: 1 entry

8. Post this giveaway on a giveaway site. 1 entry

9. Like Momscape on Facebook: 1 entry

10. Like BurlapAndBlue on Facebook: 1 entry

11. Tweet about this contest with hashtag “#momscape” : 1 entry
( You can even RT this one: New #Momscape #Giveaway: Win a personalized matching game from BurlapAndBlue! http://tinyurl.com/3e7zhyt )

One winner will be drawn on August 8, 2011 using random.org and will have 48 hours to respond to email notification, after which a new winner will be drawn. This giveaway is sponsored by and will be shipped by BurlapAndBlue. *No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Contest open to US Residents only, 18 and over. Official contest rules are here.
And if you – or someone you know – would like to sponsor a contest on Momscape, we want to hear from you! Email susie at momscape.com

Tuesday Giveaway Linky {7/19}

Add your family-friendly contest, sweepstakes or giveaway to Momscape’s Tuesday Giveaway Linky

Please no spam, no affiliate links, and no links to contests that require an entry fee. Any inappropriate links will be deleted.

Enter as many giveaways as you like! And come back each Tuesday for a new Giveaway Link!

 

Etsy Artist Interview and Giveaway: Katie Buller from SoSoHippo {Contest Closed}

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Congratulations to Linda R. She’s the winner of our SoSoHippo Giveaway. Stay tuned for more contests and giveaways!

I’d like you to meet my friend, Katie Buller.

Katie is one talented chica. Plus, in the words of my 10-year old, “She’s nice, and she always smiles.”

Katie once whipped up my child’s talent show costume from a 7-year old’s notebook sketch . Another time, she created elaborate Baroque-era costumes for our elementary school’s spring musical. These were gowns complete with corsets, bows, petticoats, and caps for the girls and flared coats, lace ruffles and silky cravats for the boys.

These are the things she does in her spare time. Clearly, she is a “giver” of magnificent proportions, and now she wants to give away one of the designs in her etsy shop (SoSoHippo) on Momscape. Yay!

More specifically, Katie is giving away one of her monster sweatshirts, like this one for girls:

Or this one for boys:

The winner gets to pick the style and size they like best from the available selections in her shop. (Prize value : $75)

I’ll give you the details on our etsy giveaway in a bit. First, let’s get to know Katie:

Etsy Artist Interview

Katie Buller of SoSoHippoTell us a little about yourself.
I am a mother of 10 year old twins, highlight of my existence, married to my husband of 15 years who makes me laugh and whose first big gift to me when we were dating was a Bernina sewing machine (what’s not to love!?)

I can barely figure out anything on the computer or cook a meal but I can whip up a pretty amazing wedding gown in 2 days if need be. I started sewing when I was 11.  I would cut up old pillowcases and towels (indulgent Mom) and hand sew them into dolls and clothes. They were very rudimentary but I thought they were incredible!  I completely fell in love with costumes later that year when I watched Gone with the Wind and My Fair Lady with my Mom.

As luck would have it, we even moved into a new house soon after that had an old pair of velvet drapes in the living room windows which my Mom let me cut up and sew into my first costumes (I imagined myself as Scarlett O’Hara doing the same thing!)

What 3 words best describe you?
Fun, smiley, a bit obsessive  (my son’s description but i think it fits)

Tell us about your etsy shop?
SoSoHippo is filled with wonderfully fun things, which celebrate color, texture, imagination, humor and playfulness in items such as furry monster sweatshirts, adorable colorful stuffed animals, playful clothing, extravagant costumes (these are awaiting photographs but will be posted soon for the halloween season) and who knows what’s coming next.  I sew every spare moment and have about 4-5 years worth of ideas waiting for their turn to be created.  I started the shop as an outlet for all these things I’m dying to make after having spent my sewing time over the years making prom dresses, wedding gowns, home decor, doing alterations and most recently costuming shows locally.  I am mostly self-taught after a summer of lessons from my Aunt Georgeann, who is a full time costume designer.

What 3 words best describe your etsy shop?
Colorful, playful, fun

Tell us how you came up with the name SoSoHippo?
I came up with name of the shop quite by chance after reading the Etsy tutorial about coming up with a memorable name for your shop.  I was in the midst of making a collection of stuffed animals after multiple requests from my children and their friends. I looked around Etsy and found that some of my favorite names of shops didn’t make all that much sense but were fun and memorable so I went with the name that seemed most fun.

When did you start your shop? How did you get started?
I started my shop in February this year after encouragement from friends.  Etsy is an incredible marketplace: it’s secure, easy to use, and packed with truly original things you won’t find anywhere else.  It’s a great alternative for finding things that are made right here with passion and care rather than mass-produced across the world.

What is your top selling item?
My top selling item is the monster sweatshirt, especially locally, because they are soooo cool in person.  Once the kids see them, they fall in love and want one too.  I’ve been able to have some kids by the studio to “design their own” which they really love. They pick their sweatshirt, then their monster, then their fur. It’s so fun!

Tell us about your creative process. (ie. When are you most productive? What (or who) inspires you? How do you keep yourself inspired?)
I tend to notice things I like around me all the time and wonder how I could make something fun with the idea.  This fall, when I was in Mountain Wave getting snowbaords for my kids, I was struck by all the supercool graphics on all the boards and decided to make the stuffed animal collection that was fun like those snowboards.  And I’m always asking the kids and their friends what they like. The overwhelming response usually involves COLOR. Kids love it! Most kids have a favorite color, so they love to have special things that capture that.  I’m also a fabric junkie.  I LOOOOOVVVVEEEEE fabric, color and texture!  My favorite bargain fabric is from great thrift stores in their bedding and drapery sections (I know!! once again, the draperies!!) but they are especially good for costumes.  Mostly though, I order and buy fabric like everyone else and I can spend 8 hours in a fabric store with no trouble at all.

What advice do you have for other Etsy sellers?
I’m just starting out so I don’t feel like I have a lot of sound advice except to encourage everyone to pursue their passions and don’t be afraid to hand over some old pillowcases and towels to your kids to pursue theirs!

ETSY GIVEAWAY

Now, here’s how to register to win! There are multiple ways to enter, but you must comment below after you’ve done these items because that’s how we’ll choose a winner (at random).You needn’t leave a separate comment for each thing. Just tell me which of the items you did in a single comment.

WAYS TO ENTER

1. Visit SoSoHippo and tell us in the comments section below what your favorite item(s) are in the shop: 1 entry

2. Heart SoSoHippo on etsy: 1 entry (To heart an item or shop you must be signed in to your Etsy account. Then click the link that says Add this to favorites (in the right sidebar on a shop or item page.)

3. Blog about this giveaway on your own blog: 1 entry

4. Subscribe to Momscape’s RSS feed: 1 entry

5. Follow Momscape on Twitter: 1 entry

6. Post this giveaway on a giveaway site. 1 entry

7. Like Momscape on Facebook: 1 entry

8. Tweet about this contest with hashtag “#momscape” : 1 entry
( You can even RT this one: New #Momscape #Giveaway: Win a Kids’ Monster Hoodie from SoSoHippo! http://bit.ly/kpuO95 )

One winner will be drawn on July 13, 2011 using random.org and will have 48 hours to respond to email notification, after which a new winner will be drawn. This giveaway is sponsored by and will be shipped by SoSoHippo. *No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Contest open to US Residents only, 18 and over. Official contest rules are here.

 

New Momscape Giveaway: Tell us your best summer diet tip for a chance to win $50! {Contest Closed}

Congratulations to Christy – the winner of our Best Summer Diet Tip Giveaway. Stay tuned for more contests and giveaways!

Summertime can be an inspiring time to get fit, lean and healthy. All the fresh fruits and veggies, the farmer’s markets, the family bike rides, and – of course – all of those opportunities to show off a new leaner physique.

So to celebrate this season of healthy choices, we want to know your best summer diet tip.

We’ll give a $50 Visa gift card to a randomly selected reader who leaves a reply at the end of this post with their favorite, most helpful weight loss secret.

Your tip can be a favorite way to eat more healthfully, a favorite weight loss plan or program, a new way of thinking about your body, a useful trick that helps you motivate yourself to move…whatever is most helpful to you!

The drawing will be random and the entry deadline is Friday July 15, 2011 at midnight mountain time. (US residents, ages 18 and over, please. Complete contest rules are here.)

Also, please note that comment moderation is enabled, so your comment will not show up immediately, but as long as it’s not rated R, it will appear below quite shortly.

Then follow us on Twitter or find us on Facebook because these are the channels through which we’ll announce the winner on Saturday, July 16 (in addition to sending the winner an email.)

So, tell us: what is your favorite weight loss tip?

New Giveaway Announcement – Enter to win a Club Med Family Vacation

WeJustGotBack.com  and Instructables is giving you a chance to win a Club Med Family Vacation.

To enter, simply submit a new step-by-step, photo, or video instructable in which you share your family’s favorite games, crafts andor activities that involve family travel. The contest deadline was June 5, but has just been extended to June 19 and involves some pretty great prizes. (Total prize value is over $5,500.)

Ready to go? Click here for all the details.

New Momscape Giveaway: Annual Membership to The Fresh 20 Meal Planning Service

Lately, I’ve been talking to a lot of moms who say they have hit a wall when it comes to what to feed the family each night. It seems quite a few of us are on a 2- or 3-week cycle of dinners because it’s hard to find meals that fit 3 important criteria. Optimally, those family dinners will be:

1. Quick to prepare.

2. Agreeable to at least a majority of the people sitting at the table with you (otherwise, what’s the point?)

3. Healthy and made with primarily fresh ingredients.

So I was thrilled when The Fresh 20 meal planning service approached me to say they wanted to give an entire year’s membership to one of you Momscapers!

This service does all the planning and thinking for you. I’ve just reviewed one of the weekly meal plans, and it’s got 5 savory dishes, such as braised flank steak with garlic mashed potatoes and pan roasted broccoli, or how about Mirepoix scallops and quinoa?

Subscribers to The Fresh 20 receive a weekly email with everything you need, including:

* A week’s menu of five dinnertime meals, along with detailed recipes and quick tips to help make the cooking easier and more enjoyable.

* A well-organized list for you to take to the store with all the ingredients you’ll need for the week’s meals.

What sets this meal planning service apart is that the meals center on fresh ingredients. These plans use only 20 fresh ingredients per week to make 5 weeknight dinners, and quality is a priority, so you won’t find any canned soup or frozen foods, nothing processed, and no preservatives. And it’s budget friendly. The average cost of dinner for four is $14, and each meal plan comes with a corresponding cost estimate.

Enter the giveaway:

Prize: Annual membership to The Fresh 20 meal planning service (a $49.99 value).

You can enter in one of two ways (or enter both ways to double your chance of winning):

1. Follow @momscape on Twitter (if you haven’t already). Send a tweet about the Fresh20 giveaway – such as Enter this great giveaway from @momscape http://tinyurl.com/29pttzt
(Just make sure you include @momscape in the tweet, along with your mention of the contest, so I can properly track the tweet and enter it into the drawing.)

2. “Like” Momscape on Facebook (again, if you haven’t already), and answer/respond to this simple question: “What’s your family’s favorite healthy dinner?” on our wall.

This giveaway will be open until November 20, 2010 (12 midnight MST).

We’ll choose the winner in a random drawing of twitterers and facebook commenters.
Complete rules are here.

Good luck!

(And thanks to The Fresh 20 for sponsoring this contest.)

*** Congrats to Julia S. who won our Fresh 20 membership giveaway. Join us at facebook to learn about new giveaways as they are announced!

Steak. Butter. Love. (And a new giveaway for Momscapers)

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Like many of you, I’m sure, I love  The Pioneer Woman’s blog and so, of course, I bought her cookbook. (It was another one of those gifts that I wrapped for myself and put under the tree for myself and feigned surprise when I opened on Christmas morning.)

It’s got a lot of recipes that feature ingredients you actually might already have in your kitchen, which is unusual and quite nice. So the other night I flip open to  “Rib Eye Steak with Whiskey Cream Sauce” and we have more than three quarters of the ingredients on hand so I decide to go for it.

The funny thing is, it says to fry the steak in butter.

Um.

I’ve never, ever done that before. Ever. I mean I’ve heard of people doing it before. But two saturated fats, together, frying? Together? It must be some sort of sin.

But I did it. I followed that recipe.

So I have this buttery, oniony sauce going and I have just put on the steaks when my husband walks in. Ty is (or, rather, would like to be) a Montana-sized-steak kind of a man – who is, as it turns out, living in a vegetable-soup-and-celery kind of a household.  He has been framing houses all day in the subzero Rocky Mountains.

He sees these steaks, which have been peppered to oblivion. They are frying in actual butter in a cast-iron skillet and he stops right where he stands. He looks at me and he looks at the steaks and he looks at me again with tenderness and devotion, not unlike on our wedding day, and he says to me, in a whisper: “I’m so impressed with you right now that I don’t even know what to say.”

And I gotta say, it was melt-in-your mouth delicious. Everyone thought so. Well, except my 7 year old son, but he doesn’t eat meat right now for some reason so he didn’t actually try it.

And while I will always be a salad and veggie kind of girl, I now have a cookbook to refer to on those special occasions, such as Ty’s birthday or when his parents come to visit.pioneer-woman-cooks

The Pioneer Woman makes me smile every day. Her cookbook is like the take home version of her blog, which is funny and warm and genuinely useful.

I’m giving away a copy of The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl to a random Momscape Facebook fan who posts the name of his/her favorite dish to serve up for dinner on our Facebook wall. (Better yet, you could include the recipe or link to it because I need all the help I can get – but all you need to do to enter the drawing is to post the name of the dish on the Momscape facebook page here.)

I’ll award the cookbook to one of you facebook wall post-ers in a week’s time and post the results here and on Facebook and Twitter, too on January 21 – so make your post by midnight January 20, 2010, kay?

Good luck!

The Winner of our Artful Soap Giveaway…

Congratulations to Kimberly, who won our Artful Soap giveaway! (I’ve just sent you an email, Kimberly).

Thanks to all who participated. I especially enjoyed reading about all the ways that you celebrate winter, indoors and out, because this is the time of year when I sometimes need a winter pep talk.

I live at 9500 feet elevation in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, so winter is both exciting (because we get to play new sports) and long (because it doesn’t fully end until July.) Oh, I might wear short sleeves and sometimes even cropped pants in May and June, but as soon as the sun goes behind a cloud, I secretly wish that I wasn’t.

So, sometimes at this time of year, I have to prepare myself mentally for the start of a long winter by making a list of all the things I love about these many frigid winter months:

Here are a few:

  • Fresh corduroy on ski runs.
  • Icy ponds.
  • Irish Coffee.
  • The way my dog rolls in fresh snow, like it’s the best thing that ever happened to him.
  • My red snowboard with polka dot bindings. (Her name is Lucy.)
  • Snow forts.
  • When snow sticks on my daughter’s eyelashes.
  • Watching toddlers sled down snowhills that their dads have made.
  • The sight of steam coming off my husband’s head when he takes off his hat after a good, hard backcountry ski. And then sitting on the tailgate of his truck and sharing a Thermos of coffee.

There. Now I’m feeling better. Now it can snow.