As a Thank You...

Thank you for laughing with me. Crying with me. Reading my rants. For giving me advice. And following along on my journey toward--and now through--motherhood.

Somewhere between denying my rising baby fever and cankles, people started reading. A lot of people did. I can't believe it. And I still am sorta asking myself why. But I'm grateful for my readers, and especially for my loyal commenters. Because without you, I'd probably be putting way too much of my business out there thinking no one is reading. Yea, this blog, believe it or not has a filter! I probably also would haven't have kept up with blogging like I have. But I get a lot of motivation from others who have been where I am.

I don't say thank you enough. But I mean to. And I want to more.

Thank you!

My new personal motto is "My blog is a diary, not a bulletin board."

I get offered an unbelievable amount of free stuff to blog about but I don't really want to most of the time. Because I'd rather blog about overflowing toilets, or about bikini waxing and just buy the stuff that's offered to me, and blog about it because I want to cause it's THAT COOL!

But I make an exception to say thank you to my loyal readers and offer a ridiculous amount of cool free stuff to yall! I think it's a win win win. It's a win for the sponsors cause more people can hear about their product. It's a win for you cause you get to win free cool stuff, and it's a win for me cause I get to live my dream for a few moments and feel like Oprah!

So as a thank you for all of m loyal readers I'm hosting a FLASH Giveaway. It won't be here on my blog, but on my Facebook Page. Details for how to enter will be there but I just have to say it'll be the most fun and easiest giveaway you've ever entered! And there will be lots of them! Here's what'll be up for grabs. And I'm guessing there will be more. If you're interested in getting your product on the list and gaining a new facebook fan base, which is a great way to connect with your customers, Email me!

*New*
Mo and Ozzy, another handmade shop has just joined the list! They're offering a $15 gift certificate to their shop to a winner. You can put it towards one of their adorable crocheted hats like the one below, or get some hair bows! There's quite a selection!

Organic Hand-Painted Rubber Duckie Shoes from Kayas Kloset. They have a wide selection in shoes and slippers for babies and adults. They are 100% soft, breathable cotton fabric with plush corduroy soles.  These little shoes stay on babies' feet to keep them covered and warm and to keep those little socks on!  The "rubber duckie" style would be great for a girl or a boy. And oh my goodness, I just spotted their mommy and me slippers and pretty sure Lil' J and I are going to need some for Christmas!!

$20 Gift Certificate to 2nd Story Window. Home of activities, teaching materials and games for parents, teachers and kids!

Wonder Bumpers from Go Mama Go Designs. These fabulous bumpers go around the stats of your baby's crib instead of the soft pillow kind that go in your kids crib. These not only lower the risk of suffocation, but are pretty stylish and a more than $100 value. Winner gets to choose their color!
Pregnant? Or have a friend who is? They need not feel exposed when bending over thanks to the Bashful Bump Maternity body suit. Created by a mom, for moms, these are comfy and keep you covered when you feel you need it most. Lots of different styles from tanks to three quarter length. We're giving away a comfy maternity bodysuit. That's a $70 value! There's also free shipping right now on all of your orders through December 26th!

All American Baby Boutique has bows, beanies, hats, and oh my so much more! I had to peel away from perusing that site all day long. They're sponsoring a $15 gift certificate to their cute store.

Gotta say whatsup to my generous Etsy sponsors. Burning Moon is sponsoring a nice variety of gifts for a winner. a 'Butterfly with Doves & Crystals" necklace, a Butterfly scrabble pendant, an adorable pink burst button with a real turquoise heart on top button ring, and a mineral makeup sample! Total value is $35.

One of my FAVORITE etsy shops really upped the anty with these giveaways. Every time I visit The Groovy Mommy there's something new that I'm dying to buy. My latest craze are these shopping tote baskets that you can get personalized. LOVE. It wouldn't be fair for me to pick what you win so she's sponsoring a $50 gift certificate to her shop!


My favorite birth education organization, Lamaze is also giving away 5 Giving Birth With Confidence books. I read it before having Lil' J and actually really liked it. I say that because I feel like so much of what I read is oober bias. This was a nice educational read that didn't leave me feeling pressured or guilty.

Abby Sprouts, based in Canada is also sponsoring a gift certificate to their shop. They are an online store based in Victoria BC Canada. They strive to provide families with the safest, healthiest, non-toxic products on the market, at great prices. They have cloth diapers and other eco-friendly products. One winner will win 2 Organic Cotton Onesies/T-shirts, in styles of the winner's choice, plus when Abby Sprouts ships them, they'll include a pack of fabulous samples, including Wipes Solution, Lavender Sachets, Compostable Wipe/Wash Cloths, and Rockin' Green Soap. It's a $40 value!

Also staying along the babyish theme. Kiki Fashions, sells inexpensive, trendy maternity fashions, and they're giving away a $25 gift certificate to their shop!

The woman behind the bag that was a lifesaver during my labor and delivery is giving away $50 off one of her fabulous pre-packed hospital bags! That's right. The bags that have everything you'd possibly need during labor and beyond. Heck I'm STILL using some of that stuff. Just the other day I was asking for my ear plugs. A big Horray for Baby Time Bags.

And last, but certainly not least, one of my personal favorites on this list is the Organic PumpEase Prize Pack. My PumpEase has been the BIGGEST lifesaver since returning to work and pumping. I can't even fathom double pumping without my hands free pumping bra and I'm glad I haven't had to! I've had a few friends get one too and they agree with me! In this prize pack the winner will get an organic hand free pumping bra from PumpEase as well as a breast milk storage guidelines fridge magnet, and a Best for Babies door hanger to use while you're pumping. It's a $47 value!

I've gotta say, I'm a little sad I can't win any of these prizes myself, but I'm happy because it's a win win win for everyone!

My 2000 follower giveaway is going to be all day Monday November 22nd on my Facebook Page. Keep an eye on my "discussions" tab on the page for more details, and for rules on how to play. Tuesday I'll announce all of the winners!

If you're interested in sponsoring a prize, email me and let me know. I'll give you more information and add you to the list and give you more details! Email me at babymakingmachine (at) gmail.com

Get Ready for the Flash Giveaway and Cloth Diaper Skeptic Winner

Well, there are a few more sponsors who are going to help me celebrate YOU! Yes, to thank you for reading along I'm doing a 2000 Follower Flash Giveaway, and have rallied up 21 prizes totalling nearly $1000 for 27 winners! So I wanted to let you know what's up for grabs!

First up, CSN stores has offered me a review or giveaway, and since I already have a lot of cool stuff I've decided to give away the $75 credit to their store, which you can use for things like children's luggage, kitchen wear, clothes, furniture, just about anything! Don't all thank me at once ;)

Now, a prize that I used religiously while I was pregnant, and still sometimes now that I'm nursing, BeNice Prenatal is also going to be giving away two boxes of their prenatal drink mix. One each for two lucky winners! Each box will be full of either berry or lemonade flavored mix packets, which are full of prenatal vitamins for mom and baby!

WildTree with Amanda is also giving away $15 to her WildTree shop, which has tasty foods like banana bread, Apple Cranberry Jam, soups, dips, dressings, and so much more! It's a company that helps family have great tasting nutritious meals that can be prepared in minutes.

Baby Sleep Bags told me they want to be a part of this giveaway. They're offering a great prize--An Oatmeal Merino Kids Baby Sleep Bag (for 0-2years) to giveaway. Some research has said these are better than the traditional fleece sleep bags and help babies sleep better. Sounds good to me! It's valued at $119.99!!

And last, but certainly not least, Chic Mama is going to be sponsoring a giveaway. Chic Mama is home to diaper cakes and much more. Just check out these glamorous tote bags, plus she has strollers, clothing, stuff more dads and more! For the giveaway a winner will get to choose a diaper cake of their choice up to a $50 value!

**New Sponsors-Just Added!**

If you didn't know, you don't have to make something to join in on my Flash Giveaway! One of my personal and totally awesome blog friends Mama B, is a sponsor for my flash giveaway and she's donating either a FuzziBunz one size diaper OR a $20 Amazon Gift Card... Your Choice!

Son Up Designs is also chipping in and going to be a sponsor for this giveaway! She makes Anything from cloth diapers, diaper bags, blankets, burpies, and totes, to headbands for mom. She's giving away a $35 certificate to use towards a private listing in her shop! You can have her make you something special and custom! She makes adorable stuff like this Hip Mama Diaper bag!

Getting a head start on Spring Cleaning? Clean More Green is sponsoring a giveaway for a green Antibac Enviro Cloth. It prevents the transfer of germs from one surface to another, and cross-contamination between your hands.

Another great sponsor offering something for families with little girls AND little boys is Mother Goose Collections. She hand-makes tutus, bows, onesies, dresses, cute shirts, bags and all sorts of adorable stuff! They're sponsoring $20 to get anything at their shop!

DoTERRA Worldwide is sponsoring a giveaway of their essential oils. I have some of these myself and LOVE them. The Lavender calms Lil' J down at night and gets her ready for bed. It's also soothing for my husband and I! I also use some of the Lavender for my own cloth wipes solution but it has dozens of other uses, along with the lemon and peppermint essential oils. They're Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade CPTG essential oils, the purest grade on the market and safe to use internally as well as typically and aromatically. Ok, enough of my raving about it, win some of your own in this giveaway!

And finally, last, but certainly not least, one of my other favorite Etsy shop owner is sponsoring a giveaway! Summer, from Sumo's Sweet Stuff is sponsoring a giveaway for $15 to her shop! I'm working on an entire new wardrobe for Lil' J encompassed of dresses and hairbows from this shop.

I have three already (one more being made) and probably like 10 more to go! She's so talented and can take an idea you have and make it into a reality! Plus, $15 goes a LONG way in her shop! I'm so happy she's decided to join in on the fun!

Well, I hope you're excited about the prizes. That's only about half of the sponsors, the rest are listed here, and there may be some more creeping in before Monday. I'll put the full list on my Facebook Page, which remember, is where the giveaway will be held, not here on my blog.

So, are you coming? I sure hope so! Comment here to RSVP and you may get an extra entry into a few of the giveaways!

Also, here's the winner of the Sprout Change Cloth Diaper Skeptic Giveaway! Lil' J chose the winner who I'll be buying the starter kit for!

A Blog Button: What I'm Makin' Monday

Once again I'm not doing the best job at creativity with my What I'm Makin' Monday meme, but I worked 11 days in a row and haven't had time to sit down and craft like I want to. Next week will be better!

This week the only thing I made (not even a real meal, isn't that sad?) is a blog button for my Flash Giveaway.

I'm not really good at making blog buttons, or designing anything for that matter, but I was sorta a little impressed with how snazzy I made this button in a matter of minutes.

I looked around at different blog event buttons and got a few ideas for what works and noticed a few things: 1. Having 2-3 colors in the button, no more. 2. Having 2-3 different fonts or sized fonts so it's not all the same size. This can make up for lack of graphics.

I'd much rather hire someone like The Design Girl or A Blog to Brag About to make me a fun button, but I thought I'd make a simple something instead of wasting their time rushing on something that's, oh yea--TODAY!

Speaking of which I got NINE more sponsor requests for the giveaway. So now there's more than $1200 (I lost count of amount once we hit $1200) worth of prizes for 38 winners! I hope you'll stop by my facebook page to enter. It's simple, and for you, my loyal readers who have stuck by me! I wrote a note on how the giveaway works so read that. It's only going on for 24 hours, so if you snooze you loose!

Here's some more info about the final nine sponsors who are giving away a fun prize in the giveaway. You can see the other prizes here.

One thing I noticed today is that a lot of my twitter and blog friends decided to join in on the giveaway fun to expand their facebook fan base. You don't have to have a business to sponsor. Double Duty Mommy make cute baby hair bows and she's giving away $15 worth of hair bows to one winner. That's enough to buy 3 custom headbands for your little cutie.

I'm so excited that Ellie Adorn has asked to sponsor this event. I was so excited when I saw her nursing rings that I bought one of my own! Lil' J loves to pull on my shirt, or necklace if I'm wearing one, and this will be a nice distraction while she's eating. Especially since she gets so distracted lately and tries to socialize instead of eat when we're out! This is ok when we're in the mother's lounge at church but awkward if we're anywhere else. I think it could also be a nice teething toy too since she's so into chewing on everything lately. I purposely got a limited edition leopard print cause I think she's like the black and while speckles, but the winner of this giveaway gets to choose the nursing necklace of their choice!

Sweet Dreams Maternity Wear is also chiming in with a prize for you. They sell beautiful maternity gowns so you still feel beautiful and special, even when you may not feel it so hot. Well, maybe you feel hot, but not in a sexy way. They also just released a new line called "Baby Rockin' Mama" featuring a flashy guitar over your baby bump perfect for your little rock star. Singer Alicia Keys owns one! Sweet Dreams Maternity is giving away a $25 gift certificate to their shop!

Another shop giving away $25 to their store is BBaby Bling. What baby doesn't look adorable in bling? Lil' J and I LOVE bling, and she has one of these adorable bibs! I'm going to snap a picture of her in her blinged-out slobber-catcher and post it later today on my facebook page so you can see how cute it is. Like I mentioned, the winner gets $25 to this store which also sells customizable baby bling in onesies, hats, shirts, blankets and bibs.

I'm on the hunt for Christmas toys right now for Lil' J, I don't want to go crazy but I want to get a few educational things and something she can have fun filling and dumping, cause really, that's all kids this age want to do. Totally Kids Fun Furniture and Toys has all sorts of toys and furniture for kids all ages and they're giving away a $15 gift card to their store for three winners!

I thought I made cute tutus, but Alyssa from She's Mommiefied makes some adorable tutus, and she's going to give one lucky winner their choice in color and style for a custom tutu! Technically, I guess you could get one for yourself, but I think this is aimed for smaller people. This mom has an adorable baby girl and apparently two cervixes... Crazy right? Yea, that's what she says! She's a fun read!

Emily, from Baby Dickey is one of my blog besties. She is being such a good friend in supporting me. Not only has she read my blog awhile (I think) but she's also chipping in this giveaway and donating a prize! Is giving away a $15 Sock Punky from, well, Sock Punky. These things are so cute. I personally like the Hippo the best but Emily things the Monkeys are cute so I'm sampling a monkey for you all to see. Be sure to check out the shop to see more of the cute stuff and eyeball what you want! More importantly, check out Emily's great blog. She does lots of great giveaways too, so if you're into that, be sure to visit her giveaway blog as well.

Another top Etsy shop favorie of mine--Mod Mom Me-- is one of the final sponsors who squeezed into the giveaway and I'm so glad. I have one of her beautiful diaper clutches and I bought a wet bag to match it, and I'm about to buy another wet bag and a burp cloth and... Ok, I need to stop. Seeing all this fun stuff yall get to win is making me spend WAY too much money! Anyway, the mama behind these adorable projects just started making changing pad roll ups and one lucky winner will win one today!

And finally, last but not least, Addi's Closet is wrapping up the flash giveaway with some of her beautiful satin and Swarovski clips. She has two adorable kiddos of her own and enjoys art adn creating beautiful things. Which she has done here with these pretty clips. The winner gets two in the color of their choice.

And there you have it my friends! I'm no longer taking new sponsors, and anyone else who's interested can be on the top of the list for my next one, which will be at a date that is not yet determined.

Remember, this all starts today around 9am, and lasts all day! I'll post a giveaway or two every hour and you'll have 24 hours to enter before the giveaway closes! More information in the Flash Giveaway Sponsor Lineup Note! See you there!

PS: Back to my regularly scheduled programming tomorrow! :)

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