Bari J. – Keeping it Real

Posted on March 25, 2010 by Trish

I heart Bari J. I hold a special flame for my friend Bari because we are both bag ladies. And I mean that in a good way.

Bari designs handbags and other cute little accessories. I own a sweet little wristlet of hers that I adore. But most recently Bari has ventured into sewing patterns.

When I was planning this birthday week of giveaways I knew there was one person I really wanted to include, Bari. Bari has so many great things coming on the horizon and if you haven’t been properly introduced well, consider that introduction done now.

She has an adorable project being published in the soon to be out book “Little Birds”. This is a book you will want if you sew and you like birds (my friend Renee would hate this book – she’s deathly afraid of birds). Bari has two beautiful fabric lines and another on the way from Windham fabrics. She has new book she has authored that is currently in production as well. The girl has a lot going on to say the least.

Bari has been generous enough to offer up for my birthday surprise today to one of you…a set of her new sewing patterns, all four! How cool!

This last one is my favorite. Take a closer look. That oven mitt is no ordinary oven mitt. Check that out! It’s an art quilted oven mitt! Isn’t that fantastic! Well, seeing that inspired me to share one of my favorite recipes with you.

I’m quite the soup maker if I do say so myself. My friends and family have their favorites and make requests. My kids LOVE my chicken tortilla soup the best. I think it’s my fav too. You’ll want to try this one out…and use your new made it yourself oven mitt of course! (I believe you can click on this recipe to bring it to full size and then print…if you can’t and you want me to email to you, let me know.

To take home the set of four patterns from Bari J., visit Bari’s Open Sky Shop and come back here and tell us what your favorite find was. That would be nice OR you can just leave a quick comment – tell Bari how much you love her new patterns, etc. That’s it! This giveaway will be open until midnight on Wednesday, March 31st. Random.org will choose the winner. Good luck and if you try the soup – let me know what you think!

Don’t forget to scroll back to enter the other giveaways this week and stay tuned for our last birthday giveaway tomorrow from Where Women Create!

xoxo,

Trish

Happy Birthday to…

Posted on March 24, 2010 by Trish

{the giveaway for this post is now closed}

ME!

Today is the day! It’s my birthday! It’s my birthday! Put your hands in the air like ya just don’t care! Now everybody sssscream!!

Just kidding! You can put your hands down now. Stop screaming. Really. Stop.

I will be brief today because I’m preparing to spend the day off from work and hang out all day with my husband. Something we haven’t done in a long while. (I hope he takes me to my favorite restaurant for lunch! I’ll tweet if he does!)

First, a giveaway. From the Two Peas studio.

I had an idea that for my birthday I wanted to make something for the giveaway that I hadn’t made before. Something unique. I thought…me, the working bloggy mom that I am, I’ll make a laptop sleeve since mine is constantly in arms reach of me. And how cool would it be to make it from a pair of mens pants, use the pocket to hold the cords, add a couple of mens ties. In my head, it was a great idea and it looked good too.

I used two ties for the handles...

In real life, what was a “swan” in my head, became this bit of an, I won’t say ugly but let’s just say “unique duckling”

The back pocket stitched on the front, little bling bling button...

Plus a little sparkly buckle {good call Kristen - she helped me pull this together}

Let’s call it our “punk rock business as usual” laptop sleeve. My sister said it was ugly. As did my oldest and dearest friend whom I’ve known since the day I was born (we were neighbors growing up and born 4 days apart. We like to say our Moms must have passed in the hall and we probably were bunk mates in the nursery) Somebody out there has to love it. I’m determined now more than ever to give it to a good loving home. Where someone will love her not because of her outer beauty, but because of who she is on the inside. A beautiful bag inside of a pair of mens pants and two ties. Oh, now that’s funny!

But wait folks, there’s more! Oh yes! (I sound like one of those crazy info -mercials) Because the bag turned out so crazy…I’m adding this one in too!

A cute little clutch...

Wait…there’s still more!!

Awhile back, Patty Young, textile designer extraordinaire, was tweeting about this.

A terrible photo of something really cool...

It’s hard to see how cool this is…Patty uploaded a few of her textile designs to this website and created a gelaskin for her iPhone. I asked her if she could get a couple extra for me and she did…way back in November. Because I knew, this would be cool for my birthday giveaway. Yes, I planned this out that long ago.

This gelaskin will fit on your iPhone or iTouch. It features a design from Patty’s Flora and Fauna line.

3 Fun prizes…ok two for some of you…some may think they are all great. And the last prize today…a shop credit from Two Peas for $25.

This giveaway will end next Wednesday, March 31st at midnight. The winner will be chosen by mr. Random.org. Here’s what you need to do to enter:

Leave a comment each time you do one for multiple chances:

1) Become a fan of my facebook page

2) Subscribe to my blog (it’s over there to the left in the sidebar)

3) Post this giveaway as your Facebook status and link back to this post.

4) Tweet about this giveaway and link back to this post.

5) Blog about this giveaway for TWO entries!

and last

6) Visit my etsy store and tell me what your number one must have item is for Spring

Sound good? All together 4 prizes. The laptop sleeve that needs a good loving home, the clutch, the gelaskin, and the shop credit.

Birthdays are good, yes?

The fine print Yes, this giveaway IS open to our international friends with one little hitch…you gotta pay $6 shipping if you win either bag (which will help cover my shipping costs…international shipping can be really pricey so feel free to play along so long as you don’t mind helping with the shipping expenses. Free US shipping on all giveaways. And Free international shipping for the gelaskin. )

Happy 37th to me, again! Thanks for making my days such great ones – I really enjoy our network of crafty friends and moms!

And don’t forget to scroll back to yesterdays post and get in on the Britt Lakin Photography giveaway

xoxo,

Trish

{capturing birthday memories in photographs}

Posted on March 23, 2010 by Trish

Once upon a time, long, long ago…I was once this small. And no, this is not me pictured above.

But that was many moons ago and this week as I celebrate my “37th” birthday – it’s a fun time to reflect back on so many previous birthday memories. My girls were talking about last year when they completely draped the driveway in crepe paper so I couldn’t pull in when I got home from work. Then there was the year my husband had them write Happy Birthday on my cake with my age and had them cross it out and correct it twice…oh, that was SO funny. Not.

Capturing memories in photographs is really important to me. It’s one of the reasons why I love this blog because it gives me reasons to take and share casual snapshots and stories that I think my kids might enjoy reading someday when they are my age and looking back. I wish I was a better photographer…like Britt who took all these awesome snaps on this post.

Well, my birthday surprise to you today is…a wonderful photography session from Britt Lakin Photography.

If you are located in the Columbus Ohio area, or are willing to travel to Columbus, then you are eligible to enter! (Sorry to our friends outside of Columbus but I promise to have some more amazing giveaways this week open to everyone!)

Here’s the scoop:

Giveaway for a free custom photo session!
-May be used for couples, maternity, family, and children (no extended family).
-1 hour of shoot time on location, here in Columbus Ohio.
-15-20 edited high resolution images on CD with a personal copyright release
-Photo Shoot must occur before July 31, 2010.

Here Are The Giveaway Guidelines:
-You have 1 week to enter this giveaway (closes March 31st at 8pm)
- The winner will be chosen via random.org and then announced on April 1st.

Here is how to enter:

There are lots of chances to enter!
For each item, leave a comment that you did it.

1) Go to Britt’s Facebook fan page and become a fan.

2) Post this link as your facebook status. (then have link to this blog post)

3) Become a follower of Britt Lakin Photography blog.

4) Tweet the giveaway!

5) Post about this giveaway and link back here on your blog.

6) Become a follower of Two Peas in a Pod Homegrown Designs blog.

7) Become a fan of Two Peas in a Pod Homegrown Designs on Facebook

To learn more about Britt, you can check out her website. {click on her blog and scroll down – you’ll get to see a lot more from our Two Peas photo shoot a couple of weekends ago!}

What I LOVE about Britt is that she is very passionate about the environment. At home she composts, recycles, reduces, reuses, shops for items with sustainable packaging, and drives a hybrid.

This was my snapshot of Britt snapping us!

“I feel that it is very important for businesses, even small ones, to be sustainable. It excites me that I can extend my efforts into my photography business.”

As a consumer, I love supporting businesses that are green. I know that my dollars are going towards supporting a green industry and that my demand for businesses to act in sustainable ways will put pressure on ALL businesses to act green in order to stay competitve. Britt does it because it’s just who she is and I love that!

So jump in the giveaway and good luck!

xoxo,

Trish