Giveaway #5 of 5! Tiny Prints

**Allllright! We are at the end of my blogiversary week! Don’t forget to enter the past four giveaways to win $25 Premier Designs Jewelry gift certificate, $60 delivery of Relished Foods, an 8x10 art print from uh oh pasghettio, and a free customized lunch box from I See Me!**

Today’s giveaway is a $50 Tiny Prints credit! This giveaway will come in handy for so many of you, especially with the holidays quickly approaching! Besides holiday cards, Tiny Prints can be used for a variety of paper goods from party invitations to personalized gifts.

Before Tiny Prints even knew who I was, in the past year I've used Tiny Prints for my 30th birthday party and last year’s Thanksgiving card while four of my clients used them for newborn birth announcements. 

Use the Rafflecopter widget below (or click the Rafflecopter link if the box doesn't show up) to enter to win a $50 Tiny Prints credit. Giveaway ends Sunday, September 29, 2013 at 11:59 CST. Winner will be chosen at random and announced on Monday.
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Giveaway #4 of 5! I See Me!

**If you’re new around here, don’t forget to check out giveaways 1, 2, and 3. There’s still time to enter!**

Today’s giveaway is a personalized lunchbox from I See Me! I love I See Me! for their super high quality custom children’s books. I’ve purchased five books from I See Me! because of how the books feel {I totally judge books on how they feel} and the customization on pages throughout the entire book.

Mia loves the books she has and I’m sure she wouldn't mind having a matching customized lunchbox to play with even though she doesn't bring lunch to school. The winner of this giveaway can choose from 10 different designs.

Use the Rafflecopter widget below (or click the Rafflecopter link if the box doesn't show up) to enter to win a personalized lunchbox from I See Me! Giveaway ends Sunday, September 29, 2013 at 11:59 CST. Winner will be chosen at random and announced on Monday.
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Giveaway #3 of 5! uh oh pasghettio

**We are on day three of my blogiversary giveaways! Don’t forget to enter here to win $25 to use on Premier Designs Jewelry and here to win $60 worth of Relished Foods.**

Just like the first two giveaways, this third one supports local entrepreneurs. Up for grabs today is an 8x10 print of your choice from the designs available at Uh Oh Pasghettio.

Uh Oh Pasghettio seeks to capture an authentic picture of life with kids: it’s vibrant and humorous and sometimes it’s sticky…but at its core, it’s beautifully simple and wildly entertaining. Uh Oh Pasghettio is led by two women who have worked together in marketing, design, and business development for years. After helping a number of other entrepreneurs launch and grow their businesses, we decided it was time to truly work for ourselves. So, we created a company where we both get to follow our passions and excitement every day - Amanda as Chief Creative Officer and Kim as President and Marketing Director. Many of our prints begin as hand-drawn creations, including pen drawings and watercolor paintings. You can personalize our prints by name, and match them to your décor with the option of customized colors. All wall prints are printed on a beautiful thick paper that looks gorgeous in a frame, and it won’t fade with sun or time.

I love uh oh pasghettio’s fresh and modern look with a touch of whimsy. Wouldn't you want one of these custom alphabet art prints for a little one's nursery?

Or perhaps artwork for a kids playroom or gallery wall?

I also love these party invitations for adults, a little man or little ballerina...

Use the Rafflecopter widget below (or click the Rafflecopter link if the box doesn't show up) to enter to win  8x10 print of your choice from the designs available at Uh Oh Pasghettio. Giveaway ends Sunday, September 29, 2013 at 11:59 CST. Winner will be chosen at random and announced on Monday.
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Giveaway #2 of 5! Relished Foods

Did you already enter yesterday’s giveaway for a $25 gift certificate to Premier Designs Jewelry? You did? Good, now onto giveaway #2!  The winner will receive one free box of fresh ingredients and recipes delivered to your door to make three delicious meals {two servings of each meal} courtesy of Relished Foods. That’s a $60 value!

Relished is a Chicago-based fresh ingredient delivery service that takes the time and stress out of shopping and planning for a restaurant quality meal at home. They send you all of the fresh ingredients and instructions needed to cook three tasty dishes in the comfort of your own kitchen. Their executive chef creates three new seasonal meals for you every week with ingredients sourced from local suppliers. You learn how to cook delicious food using their step-by-step recipe cards and quality fresh meats, seafood and produce, handpicked and portioned by them. 

Recently, I received a box of fresh local ingredients accompanied by three recipes crafted by an experienced executive chef. After creating each meal, I can certainly vouch for the deliciousness that will come out of that box and your kitchen!  My particular delivery included fish, pork, and chicken – I love that there was a variety and each protein was accompanied with healthy vegetables. I definitely don't incorporate enough veggies in my normal meal planning. If you haven’t yet, you can read my complete review here. But basically, with everyone’s busy lives, leave the grocery shopping and searching for a recipe up to Relished Foods. All you have to do is follow the instructions in your kitchen. Before you know it, you’ll have made a fresh, healthy, chef worthy meal! Here's a few dishes that have been on their past menus:

{Steak Salad}                                       {Chicken Vesuvio}                           {Shrimp Linguine}

This giveaway is open to anyone in the Relished Foods delivery area - a 100 mile radius of Chicago. That’s huge!

Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter (or click the Rafflecopter link if the box doesn't show up) to win one box delivery of Relished Foods to make three delicious meals {two servings of each meal}. Giveaway ends Sunday, September 29, 2013 at 11:59 CST. Winner will be chosen at random and announced on Monday. a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Giveaway #1 of 5! Premier Designs Jewelry

Can you believe September is almost over!? This weekend not only marks the beginning of Fall, but also my third year of blogging! To celebrate, I have a full week of giveaways to thank all you readers who give me a reason to keep this lil ol’ blog of mine going. So come back every day this week to see what you can win! The first three days of giveaways support fellow entrepreneurs and today, we’re starting off with a $25 gift certificate for Premier Designs Jewelry from the 2013/2014 catalog.

Premier Designs is a 27 year old business that was founded to provide an opportunity for mothers to be able to stay home more with their children and be a company that would support ministries in America and around the world.

Recently, I hosted a dinner party with the ladies in my building for a girls’ night in complete with delicious food, a few lot of bottles of wine and beautiful Premier Designs jewelry. In between catching up, our consultant Jackie showed us tip and tricks on how you can wear pieces of jewelry in numerous ways. We were all amazed at the simple ideas to give one piece of jewelry a different look. After trying on pieces from Jackie’s full table of goodies, orders were placed, bottles of wine were finished and we all had a good night. A few weeks after the party, our orders came in and ever since, I’ve been wearing my pieces frequently!

Use the Rafflecopter widget below (or click the Rafflecopter link if the box doesn't show up) to enter to win a $25 gift certificate towards Premier Designs Jewelry from the 2013/2014 catalog. Giveaway ends Sunday, September 29, 2013 at 11:59 CST. Winner will be chosen at random and announced on Monday.

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{Noah} - 2.5 years

With fall officially starting this Sunday, my weekends are full of beautiful families. This one in particular, I've been photographing since Noah was just two weeks old! And now look at this lil man at 2.5! But those big brown eyes haven't changed. They get me every time!

I'm not sure why, but Elijah loves posing lying down! On his own! He's done it for me time and time again.

Elijah, just a few months shy of 5 years old recently started pre-school. While normally you prepare the preschooler for the adjustment and as a mom look forward to the one on one time with the younger sibling, we often forget to consider how the change will affect that younger sibling. Noah misses his dear brother so so much on those days Elijah is away at school. 

Kids are always silliest with dads!

Sometimes I forget that "Hug!!" means choke hold to toddlers. 

One thing I love about photographing babies as they get so big is seeing how they change over time, right before my lens.

Ah! They found me!

And an updated headshot for mama. Can't you see this pretty face on the inside sleeve of a book? Someday, Christine!

Golden Hour

One spare afternoon, I convinced Doug and Mia to go location scouting with me. I know there's so many hidden treasures in our big city that I have yet to uncover and it's not often I shoot for myself anymore. While exploring the grassy wooded areas alongside Montrose Beach, my mini model was more than willing to dish out her own poses as I chased the evening sunlight.

We capped off our mini adventure with fresh ground burgers, lobster fries and a Nutella milkshake from Edzo's. Yummm!

 

{Connor} - 2 years

Every now and then I get to see this two year old boy zooming around the park on his scooter or pushing his baby doll in its stroller down the block. And without fail - it makes me smile every. single. time. I mean come on! Look at that sweet, innocent face! The last time I photographed Connor was well....just a few days before his due date, at 40 weeks in his mama's belly! I am so glad I finally got to capture Connor's two year old portraits!

Connor has the longest, thickest, curliest lashes I have ever seen on a child!

Oh you know...just hanging out with Abe.

Happy Birthday little man!