yum yum giveaway

Tell me you're not as obsessed with Pinterest as I am.  

I'd heard of the site from a few sources but finally joined when "following" certain people earned me extra entries in some online contests.  Pinterest allows you to "pin" basically anything to categorized electronic boards, whether its a recipe, home decor items you covet, hairstyle ideas, or planning notes for your upcoming wedding.  You browse the internet, or the boards of other users, and pin whatever strikes your fancy.

I'm finding the site to be a springboard for creativity.  The art and DIY projects found on the boards of the people I follow are concentrated awesomeness.  No need to spend hours picking through silly ideas that are outdated, impractical, or just plain unattractive.  Pinterest displays the best of the best at a glance.

The best part about the recipes I've been pinning to my Yum Yum Recipes board is that they're all accompanied by a gorgeous photograph - since all pins are represented by a photo on your boards.  I'm finding myself partial to the breakfast and brunch offerings across the web, but there are some awfully tasty looking cookie recipes too.

With the weather in Portland being very conducive to baking lately, I'm hosting a new giveaway in honor of my new found Pinterest addiction.  The winner will score a batch of their choice of delicious cookies, selected from the recipes below. 

To enter, just leave a comment below with which cookie you'd choose and why it looks the best.  Make sure you're a follower of SaraPDX (by clicking "Join This Site" on the right hand side of the page).  I'll ship within the United States (or hand deliver, of course).  The contest closes TONIGHT at midnight!

• White-Chocolate Cherry Shortbread Cookies

•  Chocolate Mint Truffle Cookies 

 

Photo by Lauren at Lauren's Latest

• Chocolate Turtle Cookies 

• Chewy Lemon Snowdrop Cookies

Photo by Jaime at Sophistimom

and the winner is...

McKenzie!

Thanks to those who participated!  McKenzie, please email me your mailing address and your prize will be on its way.  

Stay tuned, because I'm thinking about offering up another prize (maybe something delicious?) over the holiday weekend.

a little luck & a little giveaway

Contests, sweepstakes, raffles, giveaways. . . I cannot get enough of them!  Here are some of my simple tips and tactics.  Keep reading for a chance to win your own little giveaway.

I've had a lot of "luck" with contests for as long as I can remember.  In elementary school I won a coloring contest (I used the school's colors, blue and gold, in the design) that earned me lunch with the principal, including a Nestle Crunch ice cream bar for dessert (strangely memorable).  I've also won $100 and an art tote bag in two different writing contests in the past couple years.

• Tip:  Skill contests draw far fewer entrants, increasing your odds, so look for those that match your talents.

• Tip:  Consider your audience when entering a skill contest and tailor your entry to appeal to their preferences.

Two years ago I attended the annual Christmas party at my apartment complex and was the grand prize winner - $500 off a month of rent!  The next year I won a free carpet cleaning and this year I won a $50 gift card to a fancy Portland steak house.

• Tip:  Enter local contests!  These are some of your best odds.  Check the websites for radio, newspaper, and local businesses for even more opportunities.

Just yesterday I won a new casserole dish, pasta fork, cheese grater, and a jar of steak seasoning from a small cooking blog!

The About.com Contests & Sweepstakes page is a great resource for contests across the internet.  These are often for the biggest prizes like cash, vacations, and vehicles, but there's also a page for instant win contests with more prizes and better odds.

I'll also search Google on occasion, looking for contest, sweepstake, blog giveaway, or some similar search terms, and then restricting the results to the last 1 hour, 24 hours, or 1 week.  I'll try searching for the word giveaway along with a specific item I want to win, too (like an iPad2 or a Silhouette Cameo).

Now, for a modest giveaway of my own.  

For your chance to win a Powell's Books mug and a copy of Coffee Time with Perk Up Puzzles, Brainteasers, and Trivia, comment below with your answer to the following question AND make sure you're a follower of SaraPDX.  U.S. residents only, please.  Entries will be accepted until midnight PST on Wednesday, January 11th.  Good luck!  

What's the best prize you've ever won in a contest?

le winner

And the winner of my first giveaway is commenter number 2 - Tim, who said "Inspiration: ballet."  I thought at first that his suggestion was in jest, but it turns out he intends on giving the finished product as a gift.  This theme should be a healthy challenge for me.  I plan on getting a few more details from Tim and hopefully commencing work next week.  Stay tuned for photos of the process!

summertime giveaway

Much to my chagrin, I won exactly ZERO of the Giveaway Day giveaways.  Can you believe it?! 

I must have used up all of my luck landing the little lime-sized baby that's in my belly!  Well, that's a contest I was happy to win.  That's right, I'm pregnant with my first little one.  This little boy or girl will join big sister Chloe, my exuberant 8-year old stepdaughter, who has been waiting for years for us to break this news to her!  Here's a pic of her bouncing wildly right after we shared the exciting announcement:

I'm due on December 9th and hopefully we'll find out the gender on July 7th - little more than a month away!  Fortunately, Chloe will be able to accompany us to that appointment and will learn the news when we do.  She has already chosen the names Jordan, for a boy, and Sally, for a girl.  :) 

So in celebration of this great development, and despite my utter lack of luck in the giveaways, I have decided to hold my own giveaway.  I've settled on giving away a cute and functional Summertime Messenger Bag.  The best part is that the prize will be specially crafted with the winner in mind!  So leave a comment with what you'd like the inspiration for this bag to be if you're the winner. 

I'll accept comments until Thursday, May 27th at 11:59pm PST.  On Friday I'll choose a winner using a random number generator - so be sure to include your email address so I can contact you!  I'll probably solicit some more of your ideas on what you'd like the bag to look like, then I'll get to work on it after our long Memorial Day weekend at the Oregon Coast.  (ps: I'll ship internationally!)

In the meantime, here's a photo of the one project I've found the energy to work on in these harrowing first months of pregnancy!  This sunglasses case was a birthday gift for my dear friend, Sarah.  Kudos to her on snapping a great pic. :)

taking notes

Have any of you heard about the amazing Giveaway Day events on the Sew, Mama, Sew blog?  Holy smokes, what a dream for me (have you noticed I'm a contest junkie?)!  If you visit the blog you'll find three hyperlinked lists.  Each list contains a TON of blogs that are participating in Giveaway Day and are raffling off sewing supplies, handcrafted items, or both.  I estimate I entered at least 200 of the contests!

I obviously didn't submit my blog for the event, but I'm interested in doing a little giveaway.  I'm curious what people would like to see given away though... You can browse back through my blog to see the projects I've worked on, but I'd also be more than willing to try out a new idea.  Feel free to comment with your suggestions, or else I'll just figure something out on my own!

I actually did a bit of sewing recently, but I can't post photos of the item yet.  It's sitting at home, waiting to be wrapped up in a birthday package.  It was nice to pull the cover off my sewing machine finally - after weeks and weeks of unproductive laziness.  Now I've got my eye on this tutorial and maybe this one, and I'm interested in making curtains for Chloe's room.

Secondly, browsing through the photographs on my cell phone always helps to remind me what I've been up to since I wrote last.  I was happy to come across this beauty:

That's right, one of our favorite local bands, The Builders and the Butchers, will be playing a handful of presumably FREE shows in the Portland area this August.  I highly recommend that if you have the chance to check these guys out, that you do.  Need a preview?  Here's a video of a song from their most recent album.  Oh man, they are so good.