avatar by on November 30, 2011   •   Giveaways

Giveaway: Vortex Marble Run & Connectagons from Hearthsong

This giveaway is now closed. Check back soon for the winner!

I‘m back for another Home for the Holidays giveaway! We’ve got 15 giveaways across the entire network this week—all great gift ideas, perfect for the holidays.

So last year I was psyched to give my daughter a dollhouse as one of our giveaway items. This year, it’s the boys’ turn! I can’t wait to see their faces when they open this on Christmas:

This is a serious marble run. Specifically, it’s a Vortex Glow-in-the-Dark Marble Run from Hearthsong. This will be Reed’s main Christmas gift this year!

Not only that, Hearthsong is also including Connectagons in today’s giveaway:

These are going to Tate for Christmas—the girl loves to build things, so I know she’ll love them.

Together, these two items total a prize package of $100!

Learn more about these toys and how to win them.

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avatar by on November 29, 2011   •   33 Comments Inspiration

Home for the Holidays: Compassion

We could do a daily run of giveaways during Home for the Holidays, but instead we wanted to pepper our week by telling you about some organizations doing remarkable things.

I met Maann on another hot, sweaty day near the equator in the Philippines (her house is shown above). Our group of bloggers had been visiting families and communities impacted by Compassion all week, and the stories were, as you might imagine, heart-poundingly emotional.

Here’s how we’d spend our days: We’d leave the hotel soon after breakfast, and ride on bumpy roads via a chandelier bedecked bus, sometimes for an hour or two. Our mornings were spent at one of many development centers, where Compassion was working in a community. We’d have lunch with those volunteers, spend the afternoons visiting families with sponsored children, return to the hotel for a shower and dinner, and get to clacking on our keyboards long into the night. Rinse and repeat.

We were exhausted.

So by day four, we met Maann and some of her friends, and for me, that’s when it all turned around for me in the Philippines.
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avatar by on November 28, 2011   •   Giveaways

Giveaway: Epiphanie Bags

This giveaway is now closed. Check back soon for the winner!

Welcome to Simple Living Media’s  Home for the Holidays!  We’ve got 15 giveaways across the entire network this week—all great gift ideas, perfect for the holidays.

Today I’m psyched to give you a chance to win a gift for yourself, or for another lucky lady in your life:

That’s right—we’re starting things off with an Epiphanie Bag! I’ve had my eye on one of these since I first saw them at a blog conference a few years ago, and in the few short weeks I’ve had one, I’ve been completely impressed.

Valued at $155 to $188, these are high-quality handbags that double as durable camera bags, too!

Learn more about Epiphanie Bags and how to win one.

I love that I no longer need to carry around a utilitarian-looking camera bag when I tote around my DSLR. With this one bag, I can carry my camera equipment and my normal purse stuff!

All the dividers are removable (and moveable), so I’ve actually taken them all out and used my Lyric bag as a laptop bag. It works wonderfully! And I love the bright, happy color.

Epiphanie Bags are the brainchild of Maile, a San Antonio-based photographer, blogger, and mom. She calls herself a “man bag liberator.” Love that.

One reader will win an Epiphanie Bag of her choosing!

How to win

Everyone has two chances to win. Here’s how:

1. Comment on this post, telling me which Epiphanie Bag you love most. (No worries, you can always change your mind after you win!)

2. For an extra entry, follow both Simple Mom and Epiphanie Bags on Twitter, and tweet about this giveaway. Make sure you include both our Twitter handles and this post’s URL. Your tweet can be something like this:

Win a pretty camera bag from @EpiphanieBags on @SimpleMom! http://lvsm.pl/s9Y8j3 #Christmas #giveaway

Then, you must come back and leave an additional comment on this post.

3. For an additional extra entry, you may also ‘like’ Epiphanie Bags and Simple Mom on Facebook—then come back and leave an additional comment to tell me you’ve done so.

This giveaway will end tomorrow, Tuesday, November 29 at 11:59 p.m. I hope you win!  We’ll announce the winners of all the holiday giveaways at the end of the week.

Enter today’s other Home for the Holidays giveaways:

avatar by on November 27, 2011   •   5 Comments Links

Weekend Links

If you’re in the States, I hope you’ve had a restful Thanksgiving week. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed not spending much time online and reading a really big book almost cover to cover. There’s something so peace-giving about shutting down the pixels and getting back to good old paper for a few days, isn’t there?

But guess what I’m getting psyched about? Tomorrow kicks off our annual Home for the Holidays week here at SLM! Monday through Friday, all five channels are hosting three giveaways, a charity spotlight, and a fun Christmas Q&A party. It’ll be a lot of fun—and I’ll see you there!

“Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time.” -Laura Ingalls Wilder

avatar by on November 25, 2011   •   22 Comments DIY Your Home

Plan Your Peaceful Christmas: Task 4

We’ve covered ordering your holiday cards, organizing your holiday calendar, planning your holiday gift giving, and prepping your holiday budget. What’s next?

This week’s task is one of my favorites, and though I start it the weekend after Thanksgiving, it lingers until December 24. I like the personal challenge of upcycling, going handmade, and otherwise thirfting as much as possible, and the kids love this just as much as myself (if not more).

I bet it’s one of your favorites, too.
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