Ethan's Days of Giveaways: On Peanut's Shelf CLOSED

My bloggy friend Shaun is here for Ethan's 3rd giveaway! You can enter the other two giveaways by clicking the links above. Now I'll hand it over to Shaun to tell you a little bit about herself what she has to offer you!

Hi All! First off, CONGRATULATIONS to Sarah & Jay, and big brother Braden on the birth of Ethan...what a handsome little man :)

I'm Shaun, the creative head behind Living with Peanut and a new/little shop on Etsy called On Peanut's Shelf. I take wooden letters, in various fonts and sizes, and cover them with high quality scrapbook paper to match a room's decor/theme. In honor of Ethan, I'm giving away a 5 letter name or phrase to one lucky reader of Sarah's! This is a custom piece so you will have a say in the wooden letter style, paper theme, and the finish of mod podge (glossy or matte).

Good luck to all of you!

Shop! You can visit On Peanut's Shelf now and Shaun is offering my readers 20% off their order with code ETHANSBDAY. If you do purchase, you get 25 extra entries in the giveaway!

Win! This giveaway is for a custom 5 letter word/name of your choice in the style that you'd like from On Peanut's Shelf. If you would like more than 5 letters, the extra cost is $3/letter.

How to Enter This is a Rafflecopter giveaway and the first two entries are mandatory. Please leave me a comment telling me what name/word you would choose if you won and go on and like On Peanut's Shelf on Facebook to unlock the rest of the entries on the widget! Don't forget to come back every day to tweet/share on Facebook for extra entries! This giveaway is open to Canadian and US residents only. If you do not see the widget, please click the "Read More" link to enter. (If there are broken links or any problems with on the widget, please let me know!)

Ethan's Days of Giveaways: Happy Heart of Mine CLOSED

I'm so happy to have my friend Ashley on the blog today to host our first giveaway celebrating the birth of Ethan! This is the first of a few giveaways this week so keep coming back for more! And now I'll hand it over to Ashley!

Hi! I’m Ashley, wife to Kris and mom to Alex. I have a blog over at Happy Heart of Mine that revolves around the growing ups of Alexander James, my son and how I'm surviving parenthood. My mom taught me how to sew when I was a little girl. In second grade, I got in trouble for lying when I told everyone I made my outfit (I indeed did make that outfit, MC Hammer pants, vest in all.) Over the years, I’ve taken everything my mom has taught me along with a few things I’ve taught myself and created new bags and accessories for myself and my family and friends. After the birth of my son, I added baby items to my list of projects and so the Happy Heart Etsy shop was created. 

I have a brand new item to introduce and what better way than a giveaway!? Together with Sarah, we’re offering the Birdie Flock set for the giveaway. The Flock consists of 9 Birdie blocks, each handmade and each unique just for you! Enter today and be the first to have a Birdie Flock of your own.

Here are some of my favorite items from Ashley's shop!

Shop! Be sure to head over to Happy Heart and check out her other amazing items! Diaper bags, clutches, owls, giraffes, stuffed baby blocks and lots more!

Win! As mentioned above, Ashley is generously offering her newest item the Birdie Flock which includes 9 unique and original birds.

How to Enter: The first entry is mandatory, visit Happy Heart and tell me another one of your favorite items from her shop. Once this entry is completed on the Rafflecopter widget, the other options for more entries will be unlocked! If you do not see the widget below, please click the "Read More" link to enter. Good luck! Open to US & Canadian residents.

Thank you for generously giving away these adorable birdies to one of my readers, Ashley!

Nursery Inspiration

 Laura and I took the little boys to Ikea yesterday and we all had a great time. The boys are so well behaved together, Luke is always on the lookout for Little Cousin! We only had one escape attempt by Braden, but Luke caught him trying to go downstairs and Laura quickly captured him!
Anywho, back to the topic of this post. Being at Ikea gave me wonderful nursery inspiration, especially for a girl. I am LOVING the lime-ish green & plum purples that they have this season. So, I went to trusty Etsy and typed in "purple lime baby" in the search bar and all these goodies started popping up and had me squealing with joy! Here's a collage, my first with PicMonkey - LOVE IT - to show you some of my favorite girly inspiration. If Squishy is a girl, we will have a purple/lime color theme with owls incorporated!

I'm sure that Mom will be more than happy to supply me with the hats, and I just adore that flower headband! I am really hmming and hawing over that bedding. It is PERFECT and would be exactly what I want...but custom crib bedding on Etsy is almost $300!

For a boy, I was certain that I was going to do owls too, because I LOVE baby owl stuff...but when we were in Vegas, I bought a newborn girl and a newborn boy coming home outfit from Carters. And the baby boy outfit is from this set:

I know it's hard to really see the detail, it's the biggest image I could find, anyway - it's whales! Now, I am loving the whale theme if we have a boy. So here's my boy nursery inspiration if Squishy is a boy:

I apologize that some of the pictures are so pixelated, but you get the point! HOW CUTE! I didn't really love any of the custom Etsy whale bedding, the most popular fabric/print is very bright and vibrant, and I really like the hues and softness of these blues/greens...plus that crib set is only $150-$200 depending on where you buy it from.

I'm definitely going for a more "modern" look in the nursery this time and not so "baby baby". I loved Braden's nursery and still do, but especially if we have a girl it will be a bit more modern and not 100% owl like I originally had in mind.

So, what do you think? All images and links to these items can be found through my Pinterest board!

Seraphina Rose Review & Giveaway! CLOSED

I love me some Etsy shopping! I love to support work at home moms (WAHM's) as much as I can and buy homemade, unique gifts! Jay and I both really like Star Wars, and I wanted to find a cute Star Wars shirt for Braden, so I started searching on Etsy, and I found Seraphina Rose!

I love his little personalized Luke Skywalker shirt! The graphic is so child friendly, and even with what I consider to be a "normal" name...I still can't find any "Braden" items in the stores, so it's so nice to have the option to get him cool, personalized shirts! The t-shirt is really good, thick quality...and just as described below, the image isn't crunchy at all and has gotten softer with every wash! I will definitely be purchasing from Seraphina Rose in the future...perhaps even a cool birth announcement/big brother shirt! (But not anytime soon!)

She does birthday shirts, character shirts, sibling shirts, and many more! The shipping was probably the fastest I've ever received from an Etsy seller and the customer service was above and beyond. Jessica, the shop owner, emailed me and told me that I would be receiving and free t-shirt as she found a flaw in the first one she made. I can hardly tell that there is a "flaw" on the shirt, but I sure appreciate her honesty and stellar service, it's hard to find these days and I will be a repeat customer for this reason, among the awesome quality of her product!

The image, edited by Seraphina Rose, is applied with a professional heat press. The transfer is absorbed into the onesie/tee using transfer paper that is Neenah Green certified as safe and friendly for infant/child clothing. These designs do not peel or crack and get softer with each wash! And as always, made in a smoke free and pet free home.

Here is some info on the shirts:

White t-shirts are made by Rabbit Skins and run a little small. They are available in the following sizes: 6M, 12M, 18M, 2T, 3T, 4T, 5/6, 7. Upgrade a size or two for average or larger than average people. The white onesies are quality 100% cotton onesies made by Gerber and may also run a little small. Short sleeve onesies are available in the following sizes: 0-3M, 3-6M, 6-9M, 12M, 18M, 24M.

About Jessica of Seraphina Rose, taken from her Etsy shop:

I am yet another crazy mom waiting to be discovered as the next Martha Stewart. I work part time as an addictions counselor. Two kids keep me busy the rest of the time. My husband of 6 years thinks I work too much. Somewhere in there, I try to fit in some work on my favorite leisure activity - being crafty!

Perfectly personalized designs are fun and funky for the perfect people in your life! These designs are created and/or edited by me, printed on high quality professional grade transfer paper and then pressed onto a onesie or t-shirt with a professional heat press. The transfer paper is Neenah Green certified as safe and friendly for infant/children's clothing. These designs do not peel or crack, and get softer with each wash! And always made in a smoke free and pet free home. 

Please note: this process is different than screenprinting and provides a different feel.

Shop! Why not grab your child/relative a personalized shirt for a Christmas gift? For a limited time, Seraphina Rose, has generously offered free shipping to all of my readers! Just enter code "FREESHIP" at checkout!

Win! This giveaway is for any one item + free shipping from Seraphina Rose. The entries for the giveaway will close in 7 days on November 23, 2011 at midnight EST.

How to Enter This is a Rafflecopter giveaway, so please click the "Read More" link at the end of this post. It is mandatory to do the first step (visit Seraphina Rose & tell me what your favorite item is and what you'd select with your winnings by leaving a comment on this blog) and then you can fill out the rest of the form for more entries. You might want to just do that now to get that step out of the way! (More entries = more chances to win!)

Questions/Confused?  Please email me at sarah@nurselovesfarmer.com and I'd be happy to help! I'd also appreciate to be notified of any links that aren't working on the widget!


You can share this giveaway daily on Twitter and Facebook so come back every day for more entries! (I can't give you extra entries for this, but if you vote for us on Top Baby & Mommy Blogs...we'd love ya for it!)

Portraits of a Future Ring Bearer

As you can tell by the new blog picture, I finally took some new pictures of Braden! I figure it be best if I actually tried on his ring bearer duds before the wedding which is just over 3 weeks away! First I tried his outfit without the tie...

Okay...I'm outta here!

What a handsome little guy!

And with the tie, so cute and much better!

My fave:

And they look pretty great in black and white too!

I know Joy commented that he's looking more like Jay...what do you guys think?

I'm also thinking of having him wear chocolate brown shorts or trying to find some black shorts. What do you think? In person it seemed that the darker color would be better, and I think Ben and the groomsmen are wearing dark, last I heard. Now I just hope he will walk down the aisle and not play "chase me" when his big moment comes! :)

And in case you're wondering:
Vest: The Children's Place
Shirt: Gap
Shorts: Carter's
Photography fabric backdrop: Etsy seller SagebrushSerendipity
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel XTi (as always!)