giveaway just in time for Christmas

It is a small world, dude. So you know my obsession with Karen Le Billon's piece. Well, one of our readers (and college friend) happens to be a children's editor with Harper Collins, and she just helped publish the most beautiful Christmas story written by Nora Buck and illustrated by Sara Jane Wright.

Who illustrated French Kids Eat Everything.

Source: amazon.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

And lo and behold, Molly O'Neill, the editor, kindly surprised me with a copy of A Christmas Goodnight to give away to our lovely readers!

Comment on this post to win your own copy and answer one of these questions: What is your favorite children's book? What do you look for when choosing a children's book? For me, the illustrations are key as they add as much to the imagination as the text itself!

Extra entries: 
1. Tweet the giveaway and comment with the url.
2. Pin the photo above and comment with the url.
3. Facebook it, and comment.

Giveaway closes Friday, December 21st, 11:59pm.


Good luck!

icj,
~j

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November's Giveaway winner

Egads, it's December 11th and I'm just posting the winner. All I can say is where is all my time? I want it back.

As goes our monthly giveaway, I hit days 1-30 through random.org generator, and then I let it pick the winner of the day's 2 comments. Though let's be honest, how would I have gone with anonymous?

So congrats to Jen, commenter on November 2nd! I'm forwarding your info to Luvalexa and you should receive the calendar in no time.

THANK YOU Luvalexa for the calendar!  I'm hoping to snag one myself one of these days.

We have a special, shorter giveaway scheduled next week

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monthly giveaway : July 2012 winner

Afternoon, friends! Ready to announce the first winner of our monthly photo-edit giveaway. It took me a while to make it happen. My random.org generator kept choosing days that I either didn't post (it was a weekend) or where no comments could be seen (I'm sure they were there, right? Right? hmmmm)

So the first step was to plug in 31 days for July and hit generate.

Then I did it two more times until I hit a day when I both posted and someone commented, even one person. I ended up on the 23rd.

 And then put 1 of 2 comments (since I was the third, as a reply).

And that winner is Anna of An Inch of Gray! I'm so excited to do this with her, so I'll update you on the progress soon!

Have a lovely weekend, friends. And again, thanks for such a great week.

icj,
`j

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fresh photo giveaway! : yours with kick

Morning, friends!

I hinted at this yesterday, but I finally get to announce it today! I'm teaming up with one of my favorite blogs, ohsweetjoy!, and along with a handful of others, I'm offering my very first from-me giveaway on her site. Which means that if you pop over there, you can enter, too!

Here's what you could win from thishawksnest:

The winner will receive a free 10-photo edit! 

This includes a personal consultation via email 

about your style (vintage, trendy, or bright, etc.), 

1 black-and-white and 1 color edited image for each of the 10, and 1 adjustment edit for up to 3 of the 10 submitted photos.

I've easily paid anywhere from $25 - $65 per photo for professional editing in the past. I'm entirely self-taught, so I'm eager to work with someone who is hands-on and excited about finally getting those photos up on the wall that just weren't making the cut before!

Head over to ohsweetjoy!  to enter later today. Hope one of you win it!

icj,

~j

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fantella giveaway winner!

The winner of the Fantella gray wool clutch giveaway is...


Amanda! Who wrote:

Amanda said...

Fantella!

I would take this clutch to my husband's black and white christmas party this year because it's a perfect mix of both! I love the etsy site and love that mustard messenger bag, I must say.

I'm afraid we couldn't include the entries posted after midnight (12:00am) on December 3rd, so using random.org's generator, we found that Amanda's new lucky number is 22. Congrats!

Now, Amanda, your task is upon receiving the clutch, you have to take a photo of it in that special use, and send it back to us. 

Thank you, all, for being so patient. I have a good reason for being so very late in updating the giveaway. I'll tell you about that next post.

icj,

`j

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baby art's little adventure

We've been happy to discover that our baby art project was linked up with two other fantastic sites we follow regularly:

The Virginia House's we can do it cheaper Event

Ana White's Handmade Holiday Craft Challenge 2010

How great is that?!

Remember to enter the fantella giveaway!

icj,

~j

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fantella giveaway!

A few etsy fridays ago, we found this incredible shoppe, Fantella, filled to the brim with the most wonderful bags---clutches, hobos, market bags, oh my! I spent quite a bit of time looking through her work that day. Her quality handbags are both functional and stylish...and affordable! Pam, owner and creative director of Fantella, was also recently featured on thebudgetfashionista.


We featured this green gem:

And since then, I have had the pleasure of conversing with her regularly. She's a pretty great gal with a phenomenal sense of customer relationships that reveal her work ethic and general disposition. Check out a few of her specialties:

clockwise from upper left: irish tote, xl bookbag, bridesmaids clutch, guns&roses laptop sleeve, diaper/hobo, loveme messanger


I'm so honored to be hosting this week's giveaway of her gray wool clutch:

How to win...
Comment below with the following:
1. Begin with the word, "Fantella!"
2. Check out her etsy shop.
3. Tell us where you'd take this clutch during the holidays.
4. One entry per email address.
5. Receive an extra entry if you post this on your blog, twitter, or facebook page and then comment with a link.
6. US domestic addresses only, please.


Giveaway closes at 12:00am, CST, Friday, December 3rd. One winner will be chosen and announced Friday, December 3rd.


Please note: When you make your way over to Fantella's etsy shop, please be sure to only put an item in the cart if you intend to purchase it, as an unpurchased cart item can have a negative impact on the vendor's statistics.



We're now in the final days before Ace's arrival. Even if posting is spotty this week, the giveaway will still run smoothly, with perhaps a minor delay in announcing the winner.


Thank you, Fantella!


icj,
~j & Hawk


you can also view this giveaway at free!gretchen

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smell swell: win a candle or two!

Hello faithful readers!


Lately, I've been obsessed with this:

Before Ace, I couldn't stop cleaning the house in part because I adore the scent of Mrs. Meyer's Geranium products. Since becoming all preggo-my-eggo, I practically gag at it (not your fault, Mrs. Meyer's! I'll never give you up!). Two of my perfumes are lost to me, and laundry even makes me sick. With problems like this, I won't even tell you about those bad garbage smells that waft from...well, the garbage.


The only scent I can stand, and certainly the only one I crave (besides coffee ice cream...) is this Autumn candle from Bath & Body Works.


Everyone asks us when the baby is coming. Love that question. I know when it is scheduled to arrive, but of course, it's already here--so whenever Ace decides she/he has had enough of those cozy cramped quarters and makes an appearance, we'll let you know. These happy excited people are starting to make us REALLY worried that Ace is going to come early...


For now, would you humor us with a gamble? We're prepared to give a $10 gift card to Bath & Body Works so you can pick up 2 of the smaller candles, now $5.00 each instead of $9.95:

bathandbodyworks

How to enter:

• Comment below with the phrase: Smell Me Swell and include your guess as to the calendar date and the time of the birth (make sure to include AM or PM).
• You're going to have to include a way for us to contact you. For those of you non-google members who hate leaving your name publicly, make up a new one and comment with "Name/URL." You can then type in your email address instead of your URL. We don't suggest that you put your email address in your comment area--who knows who might email you!
• We will leave the comments open until Ace officially arrives on the scene!

Enjoy, and thank you for encouraging us so much in this new way of life...

icj,

j & Hawk

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winner winner chicken dinner!

We have a winner!  #13, K Long. Congratulations!

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:13Powered by RANDOM.ORG

She's already promised to send us a photo of where she placed the chalkboard in her home!

Thank you, Marisol of ShabbyChalks for your generosity and quality work!

icj,
~j

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giveaway giveaway giveaway!

As previously mentioned, we're hosting our first giveaway from the very generous Marisol of Shabbychalks. She repurposes a number of items to transform them into versatile, practical chalkboards that offer an air of style. We've talked about her work here , and you can find her etsy shop here . I want one for myself, but rather than keep it all for myself, we've decided to let you take a stab.


The item itself:

Normally priced at more than $50. Ah! I'm so jealous that one of you faithful readers (or new readers, for that matter) will receive this! Please pass the site on to our friends so they can join in---- or don't, and then you'll have greater chances of winning.


Here's what you need to do:


Comment on this post with: 
1. Your name (choose the Name/URL option below)
2. Where you're going to put your new chalkboard?
3. What do you want to see more of on thishawksnest?
4. Email us at thishawksnest@gmail.com so we can email you back if you win


Happy tries, dear friends! Giveaway ends Thursday!


icj
~j

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30 Challenge: what's next!

The 30 Challenge is still underway and for the last two weeks of March, we have a few things you'll want to check back to see.


March 16: Beginning Monday, we'll host our first giveaway from Shabbychalks. Here are a few of her repurposed chalkboards to wet your appetite:

Next, the 30 Challenge continues with more guest posts, and we really think you're going to love them! We've had to hang back from posting them the past week because for many of these women, life happens. So we're happy to bring them back!

Then, we have 2 HouseNotMine tours! We visit Katy's "new" place, which is really her 1928 baby:

And then, the End House, which is going through an extremely budget-conscious minute-makeover in effort to sell their Mikkey:

We have updated house pictures...but be ready, because they're definitely in-progress. And we have an update on the 30th birthday party and some fun birthday gifts that anyone can appreciate.

And a few self-challenged 30 Challenges for the two of us. We picked out our 30 favorite things about the house, and 30 things we want to add...but that will be much later in the month.

We're so grateful for all of you!

icj,

~j & Hawk

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we're very put out

Yesterday began as any other Wednesday, except that all the surrounding Milwaukee areas were cloaked in an all-day-and-night fog. Thick fog (pretty cool, actually). So I should have known something was up. I started straightening up the house as I do every day before I leave for work. Specifically, I went around popping the balloons the Mangiones blew up for me and our Saturday Sheepshead night.

And when I opened the fridge, I found that the light was off. And the fragrance wafting from the formerly on dishwasher smelled like this:

photo found here

And we don't exactly eat a lot of fish. So I opened up the washer and found nothing was clean, but everything was wet.

EGADS! It was dead. .

And the fridge was off, which meant somewhere, something blew a fuse! (And my teens reminded me aaaall day that it really was a circuit breaker since homes no longer use fuses. Stupid education. At least I still taught them about Evites and Pandora). So I rush downstairs and rework the breakers. 

I hear everything shut off, but when I return upstairs, the fridge and DW are still silent.

I resort to Plan B: 

Call hubbie at work and tell him he needs to fix it. Note: this photo is not Hawk at work. Well, it is, but not the work he does to make a living. You get the idea.

I rush off to work. He calls back and tells me to go home and flip this switch, which is located above the DW, on the opposite wall as the fridge, behind the coffee maker. I rush home as soon as I can after work. After all, our food is beginning to waste...

Just looking at that cord and knowing it's attached to the coffee maker makes me really crave coffee. Ugh, Lent! 

I flip the switch and the fridge goes on! The DW restarts! And then...

It dies. Permanently. With all our dishes inside--and we load that sucker so we only have to run it 2-3 times per week.

So now it smells like rotting fish all through the house. I resort to those way-too-strong candles you get at Walgreens:

So now it smells like Christmas. And it's spring. In Wisconsin. Which is very confusing for one's senses.

So our home insurance covers the DW. The guy comes by tomorrow morning. We'll see what needs to be done with it. Do you think I need to remove the dishes? I was hoping after 12 years of handwashing dishes, I'd never return to the act.

Happy Thursday!

Sneak peak: We're holding our very first giveaway next week! Get ready!

icj,

~j

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