December 2012 ~ Freemples

Monday, December 17, 2012

We Have 2 Winners!

Congratulations to our Holiday Giving winners!

Giveaway #1 featuring Forking Queen

Winner: Alicia K

Giveaway #2 featuring Aalbers Creations

Winner: Rachel M.

Thanks to all who entered and WELCOME to those of you who are new!

I look forward to hearing from you again soon.

Winners have been contacted.

In the event they do not respond,

new winners will be chosen Wednesday morning.

Holiday Giving (A Giveaway) #2

Have you entered Holiday Giving (A Giveaway) #1?

Be sure to head over there and get the back story on both this and that giveaway.

Holiday Giving (A Giveaway) #2

One Item of Your Choice (up to $40 value)

from Aalbers Creations shop on Etsy.

So, this is my sister Kimberly! Over the past 3 years she has created herself a business doing exactly what she loves. Using 1000x more creativity than I was ever born with, she makes beautiful accessories for girls and their mom's and then travels the Renaissance fair circuit donning her wares (okay, super cheesy, I know, but that is what she does).

Every item you'll find on her Etsy page is hand-sewn, hand-painted, or self-designed. She dresses her girls in all her own creations, and they beg her to give them painted fairy faces almost every day. Looking around you'll find a huge range of items from wings and fairy costumes...

Childrens Dragonfly Butterfly Fairy Costume Wings

Children's Pink and Blue Fairy Butterfly Tutu Dress Wings Crown Package

to play tents and crowns...

Children's Blue/Orange Fairytale Play Circus Tent

Children's Felt Pink Flower Princess Headband Crown

to leg warmers and bibs...

Infant/Children's Rainbow Fuzzy Leg Warmers

I know you'll love looking through her shop on Etsy! Check out the entry form below and let me know what you would choose!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Haven't checked out Holiday Giving (A Giveaway #1) yet?

Head over there now and get your entries in!

Giveaway being sponsored across my blogging gamut.

All entry forms will be combined to choose one winner for each giveaway.

Prizes are being offered at no cost or benefit to me. Just a good sisterly deed.

Holiday Giving Giveaway #1

I started December with good intentions of helping my family give service this month and focus on other people instead of ourselves and I think we've been doing okay. After delivering mailbox treats we've brought our neighbor's trash bins back up to the house on trash day, chose chores to help each other out with in our own house, and helped all the "big guys" put away chairs after church on Sunday. Today, we want to offer two-fold service by supporting two of my sisters and their businesses and giving you the chance to win something fun and beautiful for the holidays!

Holiday Giving Giveaway #1

(okay, I tried to find a picture of my sister Brooke to post,

but 1) I couldn't and 2) she would have killed me! :)

One item of your choice at

Forking Queen on Etsy

(up to $50 value, or $50 credit can be used

towards 1 item of higher value)

Forking Queen is the business my sister Brooke started doing about 7 years ago. She started out creating unique silverware jewelry pieces like these:

Now she's expanded with a "Leather and Lead" brand:

and some other really beautiful things!

Take a look around her Etsy shop and then get your entries for an item (up to $50 value) in below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Ready to win a second prize?

Be sure to enter our Holiday Giving (A Giveaway) #2!

Giveaway being sponsored across my blogging gamut.

All entry forms will be combined to choose one winner for each giveaway.

Prizes are being offered at no cost or benefit to me. Just a good sisterly deed.

Potty-Training with Charmin #FreshmatesClean

This post contains affiliate links. I do receive a tiny commission from purchases made through them.

Everybody on the planet has advice for a mom when she embarks down the path of potty training. Most of them say the same thing, only half of it will help you be successful, and most of them are remembering a glorified experience that happened years ago. I'm here to tell you, being in the middle of it with my 3-yr-old twins, potty training is absolutely no fun!

When I trained my first son we did okay, until it was time to get him clean. NO ONE gives you any warning on how to teach a child about end-of-potty cleaning! That's why I'm so grateful for Charmin Freshmates flushable wipes. They're a great size, even for little hands, and have the perfect amount of moisture without making my little ones' behinds feel wet and uncomfortable. They are extremely helpful if Mom is the one trying to do the cleaning because they glide smoothly over sensitive skin and are thick enough to guarantee no unpleasant mess gets on the hands.

Before trying Charmin Freshmates flushable wipes, I only used toilet paper for potty-training. I was always nervous putting regular baby wipes down the drain and then having to clean up a flooded bathroom. With the reassurance I get from Charmin that their flushable wipes are safe for drains and septic systems, I know I won't have to worry about the extra cleaning headache.

To any parent about to start potty-training, I want to make you this promise: Using Charmin Freshmates flushable wipes will make the next 3 months of your life (and the rest of your toddler years, too) so much less messy. If you have the wipes in the bathroom to help your little one transition from baby wipes to toilet paper, I'm guessing you'll find that you love them for you, too! And then you'll find yourself wondering how you ever lived without them. At, least that's the path my family has found ourselves on!

Want to try Charmins Freshmates for yourself?

I received a complimentary product from VocalPoint

to use before writing this review.

I'm grateful for their providing it and the coupons,

but my thoughts here are in no way influenced by them.

Quick & Fun Ideas for Holiday Entertaining

Update: These appear to no longer be available.

In the day and age of Pinterest, where any idea you didn't know you had is available at the click of a button, I was skeptical to try out a package of printables which costs money to access. But, after being asked to review them, I'm happy to say I was surprised at how much I can see there being real value there!

These are the two things that really amazed me:

Once you've paid and downloaded your Python Printable Games package, all the games/activities included are yours to keep and access for ever. No additional cost and no expiration date
There is a HUGE variety. Ranging from trivia to mad libs, religious to ridiculous, games to coloring pages, and more. Also, pages for kids, adults, families, office parties, and just for when you're bored.

Here is an example of what you'll find in your printable Christmas package:

A few of my favorite pages included Christmas Bible Trivia, several HILARIOUS variations on the classic white elephant gift exchange, a cute thank you for your kids to send out, and the all-important A Christmas Story movie trivia page.

What's important to know?

The package costs $19.95 (but remember the entire 60+ page package is yours to use forever)
These pages download straight to your computer and print in seconds
You will find a page to fit every person in your family, every situation you're in.

Ready to download your Python Printable Games Christmas package?

Click the picture below.

Not quite sure?

Check out these FREE printable games ezine with dozens of free downloads updated regularly.

I was a skeptic, and now I believe. Check them out. I'm pretty sure they'll have something to fill each of your holiday entertaining needs!

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com.

Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Do You Enter Giveaways?

Let me tell you right now that I love entering giveaways...because I love getting things for free! And I seem to be a little lucky. I remember that I won the very first blog giveaway I ever entered, and right away I was hooked.

I'll also admit up front that entering giveaways can be a little time consuming. Let me pass along a few of my favorite tips:

I only enter "low-entry" giveaways. Generally that means under 200 entries, although Rafflecopter now allows entries to be worth an absurd amount of points so sometimes it's worth figuring out how many people have actually entered to find out if a giveaway with higher entries is still worth your time.
Don't bombard your friends and family. For me this means rarely ever completing the "like us on Facebook" entry. It's not worth it to me to have pointless giveaways getting in the way of my real relationships.
Have a throw away account. I know a lot of people have an email address they use only for giveaways. For me, it's my twitter account. No person I know personally is following me there so I only use it to follow products or blogs or posting tweets for giveaways. (Want in on the good giveaways I'm finding? Click that Twitter follow button and don't miss out)
Winning for the sake of winning isn't always fun. I go back and forth on this one, but a mailbox full of dog shampoo prizes when you don't have a dog doesn't make a lot of sense. If it's going to pile up in your house, it's probably not worth your time. BUT, if it's something you can pass on to benefit someone you love, then BONUS! Free gifts are awesome!

Want to see some of the things I've won as of late?

Refrigerator Magnet from Thru My Lens