Janson Pottery - Review and Giveaway!

Oh pottery, how I miss thee! The last time I ever worked with pottery was in grade 4 when I made a horribly deformed bowl for my mum for Mother's Day. It was small enough to hold her rings and earrings and deformed enough to wobble on her vanity table but I loved it just as much as she did. Mind you, it wasn't deformed on purpose. My hands weren't exactly those of an expert potters' hands but I did try my best! I never got the chance to work with pottery again after that to master the technique and really miss it. Maybe an opportunity will come some day! For today's giveaway, I am so pleased to be featuring a potter whose work I greatly admire and feel is worthy of exposure. If you're shopping around now for a unique and special Christmas present, perhaps you need to pay Janson Pottery a visit!

Jan, from Janson Pottery, has been making functional and sculptural objects from both porcelain and stoneware since 1993. Her primary focus revolves around functional forms, pieces that are lovely to look at, to hold, and to use. She believes that through handling and using pottery, that its true beauty is revealed; it’s amazing how a piece of mother earth can be transformed into something that has a spiritual connection, a functional purpose, and an everlasting impression. Hence, the pieces Jan specifically designs for people are always created with their daily rituals in mind.

For as long as Jan can remember, she has always loved clay. She always felt connected to this wondrous soft and sensuous material and it inspires her to acknowledge the depth of the human spirit and soul. When Jan made the decision to enter into this field, there was an instant acknowledgement within that this was what she had longed for her whole life through. Since she primarily works in oxidation (electric kiln), it seems necessary to give more attention and thought to surface design and decoration. Jan loves to explore glazes and reactions to one another. She recently took a week long course on slip decoration, which not only enhanced her skills as a potter, but gave her the opportunity to connect with other potters. Jan finds such connections are inspiring because it gives more clarity to where she is at creatively and also direction to where she hopes to be in the future.

Jan sent me a multi-coloured large latte bowl for my review. When I took it out of the box, I was so blown away by how beautiful and flawless it looked. I could certainly see the amount of care Jan puts into her work. Its gorgeous multi-coloured matte finish made it a lovely piece to look at and it was very smooth to the touch. I especially loved how it was big enough to serve many functional purposes. I've used it as a latte bowl (something I've been drinking a LOT of lately), a serving bowl for nuts, and even used it to store little odds and ends. I can attest to the fact that Jan's items are of top notch quality that are made to last. You will find a wide variety of items in her shop from trays to vases, tiles and coasters and so much more. Jan is currently holding a 20% off sale on all items in her shop so make use of this deal while it lasts!

Janson Pottery is giving away a multi-coloured large latte bowl to one lucky winner!

Beautiful hand-thrown porcelain latte bowl glazed in cream, blue and red glazes measures 6" x 3.5". It holds approximately 3 cups. Each piece is made individually, trimmed, bisque and glazed fired in an electric kiln to 2200 degrees Fahrenheit. Great for latte however, I also love keeping this size bowl on my counter to hold garlic or tomatoes. Also great for keeping on your table or desk for a catch all. All glazes are non-toxic and are suitable for use in the microwave and dishwasher, although handwashing will prolong their life.

Here is what you have to do to enter this giveaway:

Visit Janson Pottery, then come back and tell me which item is your favourite (besides the ones featured in this giveaway) AND why. You must answer both questions to qualify. No copying other peoples' answers!

(You can do this ONCE a day so be sure to come back each day and post a different answer to gain one more entry!)

To gain extra entries:

1) Tweet this giveaway on Twitter, then come back and post the link. You can do this ONCE a day! - 1 extra entry
2) Leave a comment on my other review posts. They must be meaningful and not something like "hi", "yeah" or "cool". You can do this once for each of my posts and earn an entry for every comment you leave! - 1 extra entry
3) Post about this giveaway on your blog, website or a forum, then come back and post ONE comment with the link to that post. - 1 extra entry
4) Post my blog button on your blog, then come back and post TWO comments with the link to your blog. - 2 extra entries
5) Become a public follower of my blog on Google Friend Connect. Post THREE comments that you follow. - 3 extra entries
6) Subscribe to my blog either by RSS or email. Post FOUR comments you did this. - 4 extra entries
7) Follow me on Twitter! Post FOUR comments you did this - 4 extra entries

That's a total of 17 entries into the draw if you do them all, plus you can get one entry for each day you come back and post a different comment or tweet the giveaway. The more times you enter, the better your chances of winning!

The giveaway will run for one week starting on November 23, 2009 and end at 11:59 pm EST on December 1, 2009. I will use Random.org to pick the winner and they will have 48 hours to get back to me.

This giveaway is open to US and Canada only! Good luck!



*Disclosure: The product in this review was provided to me free of charge by Janson Pottery in exchange for an unbiased review. All opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own and are not influenced by monetary or other means of compensation. This review is in compliance with the FTC guidelines.

Winners of Verdigris Dye and Toosis giveaways!

Two giveaways down, two winners to announce! Who will be the lucky winners on this Friday the 13th??? Mind you, I don't believe in this silly superstition anyway and think there could be no better day than to announce the winners today. :-P As always, I used random.org to help determine the winners and they are:

Winner of Verdigris Dye

Here are your random numbers:

186

Timestamp: 2009-11-13 20:30:45 UTC

#186 is PixelatedMushroom!

Winner of Toosis

Here are your random numbers:

210

Timestamp: 2009-11-13 20:34:06 UTC

#210 is Vittoria!

Congrats are in order for PixelatedMushroom and Vittoria! Please respond to my email within 48 hours otherwise I'll have to select new winners!

More exciting giveaways to come starting Monday. In the mean time, please feel free to check out my Twitter page where I will be announcing upcoming giveaways and reviews. They are just starting to get bigger and better! :-)

I Touch Roses - Review!

You don't have to be a goth or into dark wave culture to appreciate this featured seller, even though it may come across as one at first glance. I Touch Roses caters to anyone who loves mineral makeup and even those who are just starting to venture into this hot, new trend in cosmetics. I'm fairly new to mineral makeup myself and only just got into it this year. The simplicity and ease of mineral makeup application probably means I may never return to liquid foundations ever again. Gasp! Not even MAC!

I Touch Roses is run by Ahna, who has loved arts and crafts her whole life and can't seem to get enough from just one medium. She started out studying photography at the Ca. College of Arts and Crafts as well as the Academy of Art College in SF. Later, she went on to take classes in sewing, painting, beading, stained glass and metalsmith. She also taught herself the art of lapidary as well as some other crafts such as perfume blending. All of Ahna's products are made by her using her own formulas which means she mixes her own colours and creates her own perfume blends.

Ahna sent me a generous pack of samples for my review. I received a sample perfume vial in Love Struck and perfumed body lotion in the same scent to try out. Love Struck is a very deep scent which smells of white sage and lavender with a hint of sweetness. The first time I smelled it I thought it was interesting and different from scents I normally wear but then it slowly began to grow on me. The staying power is fantastic and mellows out after a while so you don't need to worry about it being too strong. As of right now, there are thirteen different scents to choose from in her blended perfume collection. I think I may have to return at some point just to try out the rest of those perfumes. Her scent descriptions sound divine!

I tend to gravitate towards pink and golden toned eyeshadows for everyday wear so Ahna was kind enough to include a wide variety of colours in that range for me to try out. Out of all the ones that I tried, my favourites were Starting Over, Make Me, Butterfly and In Time shades. Her eyeshadows go on silky smooth and I loved that I could control the intensity of the colour. I don't like to look overly made up so I apply just a little bit of eyeshadow - enough to show that it's there without looking like a clown! A little pot of these will last you a long way. Each eyeshadow sample baggie was enough to last me about twelve applications so I was quite impressed with how many uses I got out of it. Aside from the eyeshadows, I also tested out her foundation and blush. The blush I tried in Rose Dust had great coverage and, again, a little bit of it went a long way. The foundation, however, didn't give me as much coverage so I had to use quite a lot of it than I'm accustomed to for mineral makeup. I did bring this to Ahna's attention and she will be rectifying the situation. Overall, I was quite impressed and highly recommend her sample kits if you're not sure which shades will look good on you.

Check out Ahna's shop, I Touch Roses, and have a look around. There's bound to be something you'll love. The bulk of her products are makeup so if you're not into that, you may be interested in her incense sticks and cones scented with her perfume blends if that's more up your alley! You can also visit her stand alone website Art Created to see more of her talented work.

Salad For Breakfast is now on Twitter!

Tweet tweet! A little bird told me to do it! After months and months of pondering, I finally took the plunge and opened up a twitter account for Salad For Breakfast. I do wish I had done it earlier, considering its many wonderful benefits. So come on over and join me! I will be tweeting all of my product reviews and giveaways there, and who knows - I may even run some specials for my Twitter followers. You can follow me as "SFBblog" or you could just click on the shameless bird's butt below to go directly to my Twitter page. ;-)

Fresh Deals - Review!

Deal seekers, frugal shoppers, bargain hunters...whatever you like to call yourself, I have an neat little website for you! Fresh Deals is a fairly new online shopping website dedicated to helping shoppers find the best deals possible. I know that when I'm looking for the best deal on something I want to buy, I like to do a bit of comparison shopping to get the best value for my money. How often have you wanted to buy something, but found yourself saying "I'll just hope it goes on sale next week so I can buy it"? The next week rolls in and the item doesn't go on sale. Seriously, are you just going to sit there for weeks waiting for that damn bamboo backscratcher to go on sale for 99% off? Or you could just give Fresh Deals a shot, you know. It will help you immensely with this headache. Or back ache, if you will.

You may want to take advantage of Fresh Deals now, especially those of you who have quite a lot of Christmas shopping to do. So, what did your mother-in-law ask for Christmas this year? What? A GPS navigation system? Well, unfortunately, Fresh Deals doesn't have one that will direct your MIL to drive farther away from your house, but they sure do have some great deals! I did a simple search for GPS and came up with well over 99 pages of deals. Don't let that overwhelm you though! You can narrow down the search list further by specifying the price range that fits your budget, the brand you're looking for, product type, and even the store where you would like to purchase it from. There is also a Q&A section where you can ask questions about a product you want to purchase. Of course, you can respond to other people's questions to weigh in with your expertise and knowledge about a certain product as well. Fresh Deals pretty much covers everything and anything - from books, clothing, electronics, computers, beauty products and much more. Alas, you're not going to find any self-imploding GPS device to scare off MIL from using it. Bummer.

So go on right ahead to Fresh Deals and play around with it. Be sure to come back and post here if you find any good deals! It's super easy to use and took me very little time to become acquainted with all of its features. They even have a Facebook Connect application which lets you login to Facebook from their site and share deals you find with your family and friends. This can be a very handy feature if you want to drop hints about a gift idea.

By the way, I found a really great bamboo backscratcher for just under $2 from Fresh Deals. It even comes with a shoe horn on the other end. Oooh I can't wait for this!

Announcing the winners of Fabulous Rocks and One Dolce Vida giveaway!

Wow, this giveaway had quite a huge turnout! Thank you all for making it such a huge success. :-) Since you all love her so much, I will be featuring Linda from Fabulous Rocks and One Dolce Vida again sometime in the (very) near future, so keep your eyes out! I'm dying to know who the winners are so let's get moving! As always, I used random.org to help determine the winners and they are:

Grand prize winner: $75 goodie bag

Here are your random numbers:

182

Timestamp: 2009-11-06 03:25:26 UTC

#182 is JuliaA!

-------------------------------------------

Second prize winner: $38 goodie bag

Here are your random numbers:

37

Timestamp: 2009-11-06 03:36:32 UTC

#37 is Lilly!

Congrats are in order for Julia and Lilly! Please respond to my email within 48 hours otherwise I'll have to select new winners!

More exciting giveaways to come. If you haven't already entered my current giveaway from Toosis here, then go ahead and rack in those entries now because it ends next week! :-)

Toosis - Giveaway! - *COMMENTS CLOSED*

I think my love affair with Turkey (the country, not the animal!) began a few years ago, when I became horribly addicted to Turkish Delight. And if that weren't enough, the love affair continued when Turkish coffee came into my life, along with the Turkish Figs and Barazek (sesame cookies). Seriously, do they make the most amazing edibles or what!? This triggered a keen interest in wanting to learn the language. Sadly, I must say the first thing I learned to say apart from the obvious "Hi, how are you?" was nothing related to Turkish food. It was "Bardaktan boşanırcasına yağmur yağıyor" which means "it's raining as if it's leaving the (upside down) glass". Right. Brilliant. Much better than our "It's raining cats and dogs"! Can anything more true be said about this nasty weather we've been getting? Why am I saying any of this anyway? Oh yes, we have to move on to our next giveaway now...featuring an artist from Turkey!

Meet Pinar Sondal of Toosis, an architect and jewelry designer living in Istanbul, Turkey. She has two sons and works full time in her family's company, Tetisan, as a manager. As a hobby, Pinar has been designing jewelry since 2001. She loves and enjoys art in lots of ways and has always been the crafty type for as long as she can remember. She plays the violin, loves to paint and also sculpts with ceramic clay in her mother's studio, who happens to be a ceramic artist. One can clearly tell that artistic talent runs in her family! Pinar choose a profession in arts and as an architect, had the privilege to learn lots of techniques in designing, creating and modeling. She enjoys custom making amethyst rings for her customers and has made quite a few of those to date. In her designs, she uses metalsmithing techniques combining silver with fresh-water pearls and semi-precious faceted stones such as quartz, amethyst, peridot, jade, aquamarine, citrine, and onyx to name a few.

The name Toosis actually came about because, simply put, it's a play on "two sisters". Pinar has a sister who also happens to be an architect and loves to design accessories and jewelry. They started their business together and wanted their brand name to reflect that they are two sisters, hence the name. Her sister also runs her own shop, Queenece, where she sells stunning hair accessories and bijouterie.

In the earlier days, Toosis sold their line of jewelry in local haute couture boutiques, but also wanted their brand to be known internationally. Since discovering Etsy and sharing their taste in design with the rest of the world, Pinar feels blessed and loves getting inspiration from international customers' Etsy feedback.

Toosis is giving away a turquoise bracelet in gold coated silver to one lucky winner!

This bracelet is hand crafted and designed with pure and sterling silver, then coated with 18K gold. I used a turquoise stone and a pearl in this design. The bracelet is adjustable.

Here is what you have to do to enter this giveaway:

Visit Toosis, then come back and tell me which item is your favourite (besides the ones featured in this giveaway) AND why. You must answer both questions to qualify. No copying other peoples' answers!
(You can do this ONCE a day so be sure to come back each day and post a different answer to gain one more entry!)

To gain extra entries:

1) Tweet this giveaway on Twitter, then come back and post the link. You can do this ONCE a day! - 1 extra entry
2) Leave a comment on my other review posts. They must be meaningful and not something like "hi", "yeah" or "cool". You can do this once for each of my posts and earn an entry for every comment you leave! - 1 extra entry
3) Post about this giveaway on your blog, website or a forum, then come back and post ONE comment with the link to that post. - 1 extra entry
4) Post my blog button on your blog, then come back and post TWO comments with the link to your blog. - 2 extra entries
5) Become a follower of my blog. Post THREE comments that you follow. - 3 extra entries
6) Subscribe to my blog either by RSS or email. Post FOUR comments you did this. - 4 extra entries

That's a total of 13 entries into the draw if you do them all, plus you can get one entry for each day you come back and post a different comment or tweet the giveaway. The more times you enter, the better your chances of winning!

The giveaway will run for one week starting on November 4, 2009 and end at 11:59 pm EST on November 11, 2009. I will use Random.org to pick the winner and they will have 48 hours to get back to me.

This giveaway is open to everyone worldwide! Good luck!

Soy Spacasso - Review!

Soy. We see it in tofu, soy milk, soy candles and, of course, soy sauce! But did you know that this bean is also used in cosmetics? I didn't! I recently stumbled upon a bath and body care company, Soy Spacasso, and was quite amazed to learn that they use soybean in their cosmetics. My curiosity got the best of me so off I went to have a closer look.

Soy Spacasso's products are made using one main single component: the soybean. This bean is rich in amino acids, nutrient lecithin, vitamins A, E, F and isoflavones which aid in diminishing dryness, smoothing skin texture, and improving the skin tone by maintaining skin elasticity. The soybean is complimented by several other ingredients such as shea oil, natural mica powder and essential oils to ensure the products allow your skin to feel refreshed, rejuvenated and, of course, delicious smelling! And the best part? You don't have to worry about any parabens or cancer causing chemicals. We are exposed to enough of those every day. The least we can do is try to minimise exposure to these harmful agents by being careful about what we apply directly on our skin.

I had the wonderful opportunity to try out the Soy Vibrance shampoo and conditioner in my choice of scent. This shampoo and conditioner duo claims to aid in building hair protein, strengthening and moisturising the hair. Seeing as I've been on a fruity kick lately, I picked the Strawberries and Champagne scent for my review. When this arrived in the mail, I quickly had to have a sniff and was immediately drawn to its wonderful scent. I thought. "How awesome would it be if the scent stuck to my hair?" Well, it did! I could catch whiffs of it throughout the day and often found myself sniffing my hair, much to the amusement of the people around me. Oh, and let's not forget the people who were sniffing MY hair at work. I love to use this from time to time as a little pick-me-up or when I feel like my hair could use some moisture from the dry weather. The only suggestion I can make for improvement is to tone down on the oil and increase the amount of soap to give it more cleaning power. I do like my shampoos to lather up to give me that clean feeling and I found that I had to use quite a lot of it to create enough suds for a bubbly lather.

Soy Spacasso offers eleven awesome unisex scents for you to choose from so you're bound to find something everyone in your family will love. Apart from the haircare line, Soy Spacasso also sells body moisturizers, lip balms, skincare products, soy candles and much more. They also carry a line specifically for men called Manstyle. If you would love to give their products a try, you can purchase them from Soy Spacasso's website. Go ahead and give them a shot! You'll be amazed by how good soy can be for you!

Winners of Creative Designs by Laura Staley and Smallpackagess giveaways!

I know you've all been eagerly waiting to me to announce the winners from the last two giveaways that ended a while ago. Well, let's get on with it then! As always, I used random.org to help determine the winners and they are:

Winner of Creative Designs by Laura Staley

Here are your random numbers:

199

Timestamp: 2009-10-27 19:43:26 UTC

#199 is Egater!

Winner of Smallpackagess

Here are your random numbers:

161

Timestamp: 2009-10-27 19:44:52 UTC

#161 is Cherdon!

Congrats to Egater and Cherdon! Please respond to my email within 48 hours otherwise I'll have to select new winners!

There are still two giveaways currently running so if you haven't entered them, you're going to miss out. Fabulous Rocks/One Dolce Vida giveaway can be found here and Verdigris Dye's giveaway is here. Go! Now!

Verdigris Dye - Review and Giveaway! - *COMMENTS CLOSED*

Have you ever wanted to improve the look of a room in your house, but could never figure out where to begin? I am one of those. If you were to ask me for redecorating advice, I'd look at you like you've just grown three heads. I easily get lost in a sea of rules when it comes to interior designing and become so overwhelmed with trying to understand complimentary colours, lighting options, furniture placement, and all that jazz. However, those on very short time and budget can do something about it quickly and for very cheap. I had great fun testing out a very cool vinyl decal set from Verdigris Dye. Read on to learn more about this awesome business and why you need to give vinyl decals a try!

Verdigris Dye is run by Nathan and Annie. Nathan is currently studying electrical engineering and Annie recently graduated having majored in fashion design and minored in art. Both have been hand making products for nearly as long as they can remember. Art has always been a huge part of their lives and they constantly make things for friends and family, including Annie's cat! Nathan has made her cat, Akio, a custom scratch post and a handmade water fountain that recycles the water via a pump. Since high school, Nathan has worked on the development of robots through programs such as US FIRST and SA BEST. He now mentors high school students and helps them make robots for the same programs, which he has been doing for about eight years. Annie used to make clothes for her sisters and their dolls out of Kleenexes. In high school, she entered a contest to make something out of recyclable items and decided to make an outfit. The top was made out of newspaper articles and “tiles” of root beer cans she meticulously folded to eliminate any sharp edges. The bottom was a flared pair of capris made out of brown paper bags and they were painted with the phrase “What goes around, comes around” around both pant legs. Annie used a machine to sew the pants together, taped the top and punched holes in the root beer “tiles” to knit them together with elastic. She won first place and was featured in the community newspaper where she had to write an essay explaining her concept.

Since Nathan works with vinyl at work, he thought it would be a good thing to get into selling car decals. Annie had been searching online for a place like Etsy, and researched art and creative projects for inspiration. She heard about using vinyl as interior décor when he suggested they get into vinyl for car decals. Annie wanted to find a job that would allow her to work from home and the best solution they could think of was to run a crafting business. Making and selling vinyl decals seemed like a good opportunity for achieving their goals so Verdigris Dye was opened for business!

I had the opportunity to try out the "Feathers" decal set. Actually, I should say they really were leaves because the feathers double as leaves when made in green! I had never worked with decals before so was quite intimidated at first with how I was going to do this. The directions that came with the decal set were very easy to follow. Herein lies the challenge: how to lay out the design on to the blank wall of the guest washroom that I wanted to "redo". I carefully cut the leaves out and played around with several different layout patterns. It also doesn't help that I'm a perfectionist...the falling leaves look had to look right or the entire guest washroom (sorry, HATE the term "powder room") would be in ruins! It took me about 15 minutes to apply the decals which is not bad at all. The guest washroom was a creamy beige colour so adding a bit of green to the entire look really helped to liven it up. I was so impressed with how easy it was to apply this vinyl decal set. These decals are fun and very versatile and not just for your walls but they will look great on your bedroom windows, laptops, fridge, and yes, even your toilet! Who doesn't like a fun and colourful toilet??

Verdigris Dye is giving away a "Plane and Simple" large decal set to one lucky winner!

This is made of high quality vinyl, and is guaranteed to last for 6 years of outdoor use when applied properly. Meaning the colour will not fade from the sun; it will withstand heat, rain, snow etc. So if you use our decals on your car they will look great for at least 6 years, all the same please be gentle when you wash your car where you’ve placed them. Transfer tape is already in place for ease of application and instructions will be included. The giveaway winner can choose the color for the decal set out of our in stock colors which are: black, red, orange, yellow, forest green, spring green, sapphire blue, olympic blue, pink, beige, cloud grey, silver, imitation gold, purple, chocolate brown, or white.

Here is what you have to do to enter this giveaway:

Visit Verdigris Dye, then come back and tell me which item is your favourite (besides the ones featured in this giveaway) AND why. You must answer both questions to qualify. No copying other peoples' answers!
(You can do this ONCE a day so be sure to come back each day and post a different answer to gain one more entry!)

To gain extra entries:

1) Tweet this giveaway on Twitter, then come back and post the link. You can do this ONCE a day! - 1 extra entry
2) Leave a comment on my other review posts. They must be meaningful and not something like "hi", "yeah" or "cool". You can do this once for each of my posts and earn an entry for every comment you leave! - 1 extra entry
3) Post about this giveaway on your blog, website or a forum, then come back and post ONE comment with the link to that post. - 1 extra entry
4) Post my blog button on your blog, then come back and post TWO comments with the link to your blog. - 2 extra entries
5) Become a follower of my blog. Post THREE comments that you follow. - 3 extra entries
6) Subscribe to my blog either by RSS or email. Post FOUR comments you did this. - 4 extra entries

That's a total of 13 entries into the draw if you do them all, plus you can get one entry for each day you come back and post a different comment or tweet the giveaway. The more times you enter, the better your chances of winning!

The giveaway will run for two weeks starting on October 23, 2009 and end at 11:59 pm EST on November 5, 2009. I will use Random.org to pick the winner and they will have 48 hours to get back to me.

This giveaway is open to everyone worldwide! Good luck!

Fabulous Rocks and One Dolce Vida Giveaway! - *COMMENTS CLOSED*

Alrighty, let's get this thing rolling! I am so pleased to once again be featuring Linda, whom I have featured before twice on my blog. If you missed those and would love to know more about what she does, you can find the posts here and another one here.

In celebration of Linda's husband's 38th birthday, she has been running a sale across three categories in her shops Fabulous Rocks and One Dolce Vida: 10% chains, briolettes and findings. Everyone is bound to find something that they like! If you make and sell jewelry or like to buy beads just because they look pretty and like to hoard a stash for yourself (I'm guilty of this!), then you'll want to take advantage of this sale!

To keep the promotion going, Linda wants to give away two fun and amazing prizes from her stores to my lovely readers! Here's the crazy loot:

Grand prize winner: $75 goodie bag

Second prize winner: $38 goodie bag

That's a total of $113 in amazing goodies! I have seen Linda's goodie bags and she is beyond generous with the lot. I will be so jealous of whoever wins!

Also, if you can't get enough of free stuff, there is a hidden picture in some of her store items with the word "free" written on it. You're going to have to go on a little scavenger hunt to find these! Please see the shop announcement for precise details here on how to qualify for this. These are limited to one free item per person to keep things fair so go and get the best of the lot now before I grab...I mean, someone else grabs them!

Here is what you have to do to enter this giveaway:

Visit Fabulous Rocks AND One Dolce Vida , then come back and tell me which items are your favourite (besides the ones featured in this giveaway) AND why. You must answer both questions to qualify. No copying other peoples' answers!
(You can do this ONCE a day so be sure to come back each day and post a different answer to gain one more entry!)

To gain extra entries:

1) Tweet this giveaway on Twitter, then come back and post the link. You can do this ONCE a day! - 1 extra entry
2) Leave a comment on my other review posts. They must be meaningful and not something like "hi", "yeah" or "cool". You can do this once for each of my posts and earn an entry for every comment you leave! - 1 extra entry
3) Post about this giveaway on your blog, website or a forum, then come back and post ONE comment with the link to that post. - 1 extra entry
4) Post my blog button on your blog, then come back and post TWO comments with the link to your blog. - 2 extra entries
5) Become a follower of my blog. Post THREE comments that you follow. - 3 extra entries
6) Subscribe to my blog either by RSS or email. Post FOUR comments you did this. - 4 extra entries

That's a total of 13 entries into the draw if you do them all, plus you can get one entry for each day you come back and post a different comment or tweet the giveaway. The more times you enter, the better your chances of winning!

The giveaway will run for two weeks starting on October 20, 2009 and end at 11:59 pm EST on October 31, 2009. I will use Random.org to pick the winner and they will have 48 hours to get back to me.

This giveaway is open to everyone worldwide! Good luck!

Smallpackagess - Giveaway! - *COMMENTS CLOSED*

Don't let the name Smallpackagess fool you! You're not going to find any miniature wares here for your doll house or tiny collectibles for your grandmother's display case. This is a young (and small) crafter with a big heart whom I've had the delight of meeting on Etsy and am so excited to be featuring her here for all to see!

Meet Stephanie Schmidt, who is 25 years old from western Pennsylvania. She grew up in Michigan about an hour away from the Canadian border but sadly, has never left the country for even a minute. Stephanie has a bachelor's degree in graphic design but her first love is arts & crafts. She started young, in early elementary school, when she was taught how to crochet a single chain which she would make as long as she could until running out of yarn. Beyond that, Stephanie is entirely self taught. In fact, she only learned how to read patterns with abbreviations in the last year or so, which she used to call "Granny Code" and was convinced that it was some kind of conspiracy.

The store name, Smallpackagess, came about in college. She was taking a class on corporate branding where she learned about the importance of continuity of design from the logo to the business cards, websites and other marketing medium. When she had to make up a company for herself, she came up with Smallpackagess because she is only five feet tall, and about a hundred lbs.

You will find a wide variety of items from Smallpackagess ranging from leg warmers, doilies, appliques, owl pillows and gorgeous snowflake ornaments which you will read more about later. Stephanie decided to open an Etsy shop because she liked the comfort of being able to run her business from her home. Since she is a stay at home mom to her one year old daughter, she didn't like the idea of strangers watching her child so daycare was out of the question for her. She thinks Ebay is gross and whilst looking through craftster.org, she saw some mentions of Etsy, decided to check it out and got hooked.

Smallpackagess is giving away a set of three crocheted snowflakes to one lucky winner!

Use them as ornaments for your christmas tree or as gorgeous favours for a winter wedding! Each ornament is unique and measures approximately 4 inches across. They are crocheted from 100% cotton thread, then washed, soaked in a stiffening solution and pinned until dry (about 24 hrs) to retain their shape for many many years as long as they are stored flat. They are not washable!

Here is what you have to do to enter this giveaway:

Visit Smallpackagess, then come back and tell me which item is your favourite (besides the ones featured in this giveaway) AND why. You must answer both questions to qualify. No copying other peoples' answers!
(You can do this ONCE a day so be sure to come back each day and post a different answer to gain one more entry!)

To gain extra entries:

1) Tweet this giveaway on Twitter, then come back and post the link. You can do this ONCE a day! - 1 extra entry
2) Leave a comment on my other review posts. They must be meaningful and not something like "hi", "yeah" or "cool". You can do this once for each of my posts and earn an entry for every comment you leave! - 1 extra entry
3) Post about this giveaway on your blog, website or a forum, then come back and post ONE comment with the link to that post. - 1 extra entry
4) Post my blog button on your blog, then come back and post TWO comments with the link to your blog. - 2 extra entries
5) Become a follower of my blog. Post THREE comments that you follow. - 3 extra entries
6) Subscribe to my blog either by RSS or email. Post FOUR comments you did this. - 4 extra entries

That's a total of 13 entries into the draw if you do them all, plus you can get one entry for each day you come back and post a different comment or tweet the giveaway. The more times you enter, the better your chances of winning!

The giveaway will run for one week starting on September 30, 2009 and end at 11:59 pm EST on October 7, 2009. I will use Random.org to pick the winner and they will have 48 hours to get back to me.

This giveaway is open to everyone worldwide! Good luck!