Rejected

Well, I got an email from the representative for the photo contest I entered and it would seem that I have been disqualified. Apparently I did not completely follow the rules of the contest. So despite the fact that I received all of the participant emails, was congratulated for entering and encouraged to promote my photo and even had my photo uploaded by said website personnel, I am now officially out if the running. I have to wonder if the fact that I was seriously kicking everyones butts had something to do with it, I am guessing that the other participants got jealous and made some angry emails.

Apperently I am getting a fabulous consolation prize, but that doesn't change the fact that I can't win the big prize that I was obviously shoeing in for. If it was there mistake by overlooking a broken rule this entire time, than why wouldn't they let me continue participating. I am very angry at the amount of web traffic I provided by directing my friends and family members to. How angry should I be though? I mean if I didn't follow the rules than that's one thing, but it would have been nice to have known in time to present and appropriate photo right?

SIGH...

You can help me win Cash Money!

I am entered in a small photo contest, only about 10 other people participating. The prize is pretty big and I would love to win, please vote for me here, please give my photo five stars if you want to help out and vote. Also if you want my awesome recipe for my cranberry sauce let me know!

Win Number: 46

I won again on giveaway today! How lucky is that! It was out of over 2000 people too! Thing is, I was asked to enter for my friend, and she totally wanted this prize really bad, so I feel extra lucky that I won something for her. I hope she enjoys it, it is a fat jelly roll of quilt fabric and I bet she makes something awesome with it too!

Update: My friend got this fabric and said it is wonderful! I was so happy to pass on this win to her!

Win Number: 45

Thanks to Something Sewn! I won their latest giveaway! It is going to be a custom hand print like this one! We have to trace Diego's hand, which I will get husband to do tonight when he's sleeping and send it in, she will stitch it up like this one, isn't it cool! I can't wait to get it. Check out Something Sewn, she has a blog and an etsy store too!

Update: I received my handprint and it is way cute, what a nice keepsake! I wish it was already framed because I am having a hard time finding one myself, but otherwise it is very sweet!

Win Number: 44

Thanks to the fantastic Mom Blog, Outnumbered 3 to 1 for having a gerat review and contest which I happen to have won! Diego now has a super cool pair of Uneaks! They came so fast, it's not everyday you win a contest and your prize comes that week, what a great sponsor. They are for Diego for later, they are about three times the size of his foot now. but they are so cool, that I wanted him to enjoy them when he can appreciate them. the fun part about them is that they are see through, you get the matching socks to go with them and the socks become a cool decoration on the side of the shoe! Thanks again to Outnumbered 3 to 1, we love our new uneaks.

Update: These shoes are totally rad! They won't fit Diego for a while but when they do he is going to be so stylin'.

Giveaway Closed

The giveaway is now closed, the winner was notified and responded! Thank yu to everyone who participated, we hope to do another giveaway soon and to get a lot more people to participate. Last time we had over 100, so we want to achieve that goal again! Thanks again and congrats to our winner!

The Emmaline Fun Baby Review and Giveaway!

The Emmaline on Etsy Fun Baby GIVEAWAY!

I had the pleasure of working with Lindsay at The Emmaline on Etsy for my first review and giveaway. She was kind enough to send me pretty much whatever I wanted too! I specifically asked her what she was working on new and if there was anything she wanted people to get to see. So I was then the new and proud owner of the drool Bandanna! More stylish than a bib and just as functional; this was perfect for my little Diego. He has already cut those notoriously first bottom teeth and now he is working on those big top teeth too. In case you don't have a rug rat of your own let me in a nut shell break teething down for you. It hurts very bad, it causes baby to cry (unless you have a freakishly happy baby like my best friend who didn't even know he was teething because he's just so obnoxiously happy), they also chew everything and drool a lot. In fact you might compare it to owning a saint Bernard puppy. So here's the deal, Diego is a drooler, so much so that his shirt is always wet, he also happens to love his rocking horse and cowboy stuff. So he got a lot of good use from his bandanna drool catcher. I loved that it snapped easily and the part that goes against babies skin is that soft almost minky fabric. Plus he looked really cut in it, I think a cow boy print might be in order. I gave the drool bib an "A" for design and an "A" for functionality because Diego's shirt remained dry.

Here's the fun part! Lindsay has offered up a cool Ice cream cone Bandanna drool bib for one of our readers!

Here's how to enter:

For your first entry: All you have to do is go to TheEmmaline etsy page, look around and comment here on what you like!

For a second entry: Favorite Emmaline on Etsy

For a third Entry: Follow us here at the Winners Circle

For an extra five entries!!! Purchase anything from either of her two stores: Here or Here.

please leave a separate comment for each entry and we will draw the winner via online random number generator next Monday. The winner will be notified by email and will have 72 hours to respond. Lindsay will be mailing the prize out directly to the winner so once you contact me I forward your info to her.

Thanks and Good luck!

Reviews and Giveaways!

Hi Readers!

I am in the process of doing a little revamp on the winners circle. I mostly am excited to be in the process of recruiting some awesome artists and some cool products to review and giveaway. I know that it's tough to get started doing this but I really want to help out my fellow artisan community and show you all some of my favorite products as well. If there is anything that you might want to see reviewed and given away please feel free to post a comment or email me! Also if you want to let me host a giveaway for you please contact me. I am keeping My fingers crossed that I can host some great stuff for the Mom blogesphere!

Love,
Jennifer
The lucky winner

Win Number: 43

Thanks To Emily at Giveaway Today for hosting a great give away, well... Everyday! I visit once a day, even if i am not entering contests. She is one of the few blogs where there is just a review and a giveaway and it's easy to enter, just type your name! If you want extra entries you can always do more but the first one is free. I won a $40.00 gift certificate to Taffy Tree and I can't wait to pick some stuff out. Our Uncle has Diabetis and I bet he would really appreciate some sugar free candy!

Update: This was one of the best wins ever! I got the code to get my taffy super fast, it was shipped super fast and I got SO MUCH! I am sending lots of sugar free taffy to our Uncle who has diabetes because he doesn't get sugar free treats very often like that. I also got a bunch of small bags of assorted taffy to put in stockings this year. It was a great prize.

Win Number: 42

A big thank you to Baby Loving Mama who held a great Yo Baby review and Giveaway. She has tons of great reviews and lots of giveaways too! I am going to get some cool Yo Baby stuff from stoneyfield so Diego can try it. He is finally old enough to try the Yo Baby stuff because it is 6 months and older. Thanks again to Emilie at Baby Loving Mama for the super prize!

Update: I am all out of my free yogurt coupons, Diego love it so I am going to have to keep buying them. He usually eats it for breakfast and by the way I tasted it and it tastes like ice cream, it's so yummy. The vanilla and banana flavors seem to be his favorite. the bowl will come in handy once he starts needed a snack to take with us and the bib is soft and I love it.

Win Number: 41

Thank you so much to Mommy's Quiet Time Blog for doing a super review of Electra's Monograms and for giving me the opportunity to win my very own cool vynal wall decal! I chose the circle letter monogram for Diego's room. I got the letter "D" for him, we want to put it on his wall right as you walk in his door, there is a little section of wall with nothing on it and it would look great there! i also really liked her check book covers and car window decals too! Thanks again to Mommy's Quiet Time, I sure could use some myself!

Peter Potty Giveaway

The Mud Bug is having a super giveaway! They reviewed and are even giving away a very cool Peter potty to one lucky reader. Now I don't know about you but this has to be the coolest potty ever for a little boy. Diego would have to learn to use the potty early if he had this to pee in, his on urinal, how awesome is that!!!

So if you want to try to win one head on over to mud bug and leave a comment, check out the you tube videos too, so funny!

Win Number: 40

I finally hit win number 40! If you read enough Mom blogs and review blogs you'll win this much too I guess! One of the more review oriented blogs, it actually looks more like a great website, is My Mom's View. I have probably enter a hundred of her giveaways and I finally scored a win, yippie! It's a great one too! I won a $50 gift card to Eco Bebe Boutique and I have tons of stuff to choose from. I am deciding between the beetle baby chair, the food grinder, and some awesome stainless steel bottles, I might have to go over the gift card limit!

So if your wondering what the Canadian Moms are talking about shoot on over to My Moms View and check it out. She just did a review on "my feet Squeak" shoes and I totally all about those, so awesome!

Update: I ended up speding my gift card on the food grinder, and the stainless steel bottle. I am all about the stainless steel bottle. It has come in so handy and everyone asks me where I got it from! Diego loves water so that is his "water bottle" since the nipples that I use for his milk are to fast of a flow for water. I am super happy with everything I got and in the company!

Win Number: 39

Thanks to Prissy Green because of her great review and giveaway I am getting some Amy's wraps to try! I like Amy's stuff already but I don't normally splurge on it because they are expensive. Thanks again to Prissy Green who does great reviews and stuff for healthy and green products!

Update: I got the prize pack and it included a whole bunch of cool recycled Amy's products and some great coupons for free Amy's products. I gave them to my Nanny who brings Amy's wraps everyday for lunch as a nice treat. It was a great prize!

My Very First How To! How To make Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

How To Make Pickles and Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

So many people had asked me how to make these that I went ahead and documented the whole thing so I could make a tutorial. I made these for my friend Natalies Baby Shower, the theme was Pickles and Ice Cream! So here is how we did it.

Step One: Baking

Place ice cream cones in your cupcake baking pan using aluminum foil to create and extra wall to hold them upright. The foil will not brown the cones so use as much as necessary to hold up each cone.

Use any cake mix that would normally allow you to make cupcakes and follow directions per the box. I used my favorite funfetti mix for these cupcakes.

Fill each cone with the batter but only fill to the middle of the cone to allow for rising. Spoon batter into cones slowly as it will seep into the nooks and crannies at the bottom of the cone after a few seconds.

Follow baking guidelines from box but keep an eye on them as they may take slightly less time than normal cupcakes. Mine were two minutes faster than the box stated. Once you can stick a toothpick in and pull it out without any residue than they are finished.

They should rise to the top of the cone, if you used too much and they are overflowing up and out of the cone use a sharp knife to level them off and save the extra cake as a snack for yourself.

Step Two: Display

You obviously can't serve these on a regular plate or cupcake tower as they are unstable and would fall over. You can make your own display holder by using a cardboard box and some wrapping paper. I got these perfectly sized boxes from my local liquor store, they are used to store cases of beer and they are the perfect size! You'll want to measure around using a cone and make your holes a little bigger than the bottom of the cone. cut them out of the box allowing for at least 12 holes per box.

Wrap the box like a gift then from the underside, cut an "X" into each hole with an exacto knife.

Fold the excess paper under the box and secure with scotch tape.

Now you have a nicely decorated holder for your ice cream cupcake cones!

Step Three: Decorating and Storing

Using fondant that can be found at your local baker or cake shop I rolled out three balls of green fondant. One is for the outside of the pickle, one for the inside and one for seeds. I had also considered using one color and making individual sized solid pickles using the same fondant but just the one color. Use your imagination.

Like rolling sushi I made the darker color wrap around the inner color and created an easy to cut roll.

Once it was rolled I cut the pickle slices using a sharp knife and hand rolled little seeds to add to the top of each slice. After I finished I chilled these so they would firm up a bit.

Next I used a pastry bag and a large star shaped tip to ice the cupcakes like ice cream cones (soft serve). I put them quickly into the freezer to firm up so that the icing would not slide off.

Once in the freezer I added a pickle slice to each cupcake as the finishing touch.

Then Walla! I have an interesting and delicious desert for my pickles and Ice cream themed Baby Shower. I think in the future I would make these for a regular party, only I would add jimmies to make them look more birthday party-ish.

Win Number: 38

I have been too busy lately to read any blogs let alone enter any contests, but the other day I took a half hour to enter some and read some reviews too, because I enjoy it and I was taking some time for myself. It paid off because my name got drawn! This is really similar to my first win ever. I was over at lille Punkin' Reviews, she reviews food and children's stuff as well as keeps us info med of new products and recalls. So thanks to Lindsey i am getting a great prize pack from huggies and juicy juice, my two favorite things! Diego wears huggies and I have been using the little swimmers since he does like the pool and I have been drinking juicy juice since it came out I think! mmmmm cherry. Thank you to Lindsey and thank you also to Huggies and Juicy Juice, Huggies has been doing a lot for babies and families lately so you should definatly give them a try.

Update: This turned out to be a way bigger prize than I thought, I got over $100.00 n free coupons including two 100 count boxes of diapers and a free 400 count box of wipes, not to mention free juicy juice (my favorite) and a bunch more stuff, I was shocked at how much I got!

Win Number: 37

Thanks to barefoot mommies for hosting a slew of awesome giveaways! I took home one of these cool cars for Diego from Nico & Zoe. I got him the blue race car in the middle there. I hope he love it, i think they are pretty great! Can't wait to get it.

Update: We got this car and it is way more awesome than it looks in the picture! It is soft and squishy and rubbery and it even bounces when you drop it! it moves fast on our hard wood floors. Diego isn't into it just yet but he will be soon!

Win Number: 36

Thanks Classy Mommy for the two canisters of Clorox wipes. We actually go through these like crazy! I use them in the bathroom and on the kitchen trashcan and on the baby's changing table. Classy Mommy is not only a Mom blog by the way, she also does tons of reviews, giveaways, and has free coupons for kids stuff! I like her style too, she has more of a website format than a blog, you feel like she's running a big business or something! So thanks again, and stay classy! lol.

Update: I got my coupons, and then some, I thought I was getting two and I ended up with ten, count them, ten free canister coupons! I will not need to buy clorox wipes for a while, YAY!

Win Number: 35

I won Green Earths Journey's Nurture my Body Giveaway. I won some body wash for me, and some body wash for Diego! It's all herbal and natural just the way we like it! (If you read my family blog that is private you'll know soon if the herbal remedy for Diego's colic worked). So Hyla is the blog authoress and she is pretty amazing, she is a Mom of three with one on the way (I think she might be crazy). So more power to her for even being able to think about writing a blog with all those kids running around, WHEW! She does lots of giveaways and reviews and they are all earth friendly, YAY GREEN! so go and check her out, she is super nice and also look at my cool body wash from Nurture!

Update: This win came yesterday and let me tell you that it was one of the nicest things I have received thus far. It was packaged so lovingly with pretty tissues and dried flowers. It came with a note and a very nice hand written thank you. I love the washes and so does my baby, I will go to their store when I need to reorder for sure!

Win Number: 34

Diego just started to grab at stuff and feel things this week. His hands used to be tightly clasped all the time, now he fingers at everything! I have been putting toys in his hands and he even wants to grasp something while he sleeps ( I have been giving him his stuffed monkey's tail). So the fact the I won the giveaway from steals and deals is awesome, I will be the proud owner of a bunch of felt handmade food products from Paisley's playhouse! Diego will love holding these guys for sure and he can drool all over them if he wants (something else he just started to do). Thanks to Amanda at Steals and deals for the giveaway, she does a ton of them so click her on my sidebar, she does great reviews!

Update: We got the felt food and it is great! so lovely! Diego can only have the carrot and banana right now (choking hazard) but he looks so funny holding them, I love it!

Win Number: 33

Normally I don't enter to win books. I don't get a whole lot of reading in and the books never seem to interest me anyway. Wish List Worthy had a book giveaway that was too good to pass up, the "Perfect Baby Handbook". Seeing as how I just had a baby I jumped at a chance to try this book out, plus Aimee at the blog gave it a good review and made it seem funny and practical, just my style! So thanks to Aimee over at Wish List Worthy for the giveaway and the cool book, which I can't wait to receive! Check out her blog from my daily side bar or the link in this post.

Update: I got this book and I read it, I had no idea how funny it was! Seriously I am buying this book for all my friends who have babies. the illustrations are hilarious!

UpTake Spring Photo Contest

Uptake travel blog is doing their 2009 Spring Photo contest. I happen to have a great photo, I have a few but this is my favorite! We have tons of mushrooms in our yard and they are always covered with tiny bugs you don't even see until you look at the close up pictures. It reminds me of a few things that inspire me to travel the world. The light coming threw the translucent parts of the mushroom remind me of a womb, and birth and new life, which reminds me of the travelers of past discovering new worlds. So heres to Spring, I can't wait!

Win number: 32

AHA! I knew I would be back on the winning streak soon, I scored these sweet rain -X wipers and some rain-X merch from "A couch with a view" today. I hadn't read her blog until this week, but you know how I am with the Mom blogs. I can't stop reading them! So out of 201 comments I am the lucky winner (#140). My husband thinks this is an awesome win, he says he knows they are great wipers, so I can't wait to try them out on my Canyonerro, I mean Durango. Thanks to Casey for holding the great giveaway and stop on over at her couch, she does a ton of reviews and giveaways!

Update: I got these in record time! Put them on my car and they work great! they are such good wipers and I can't imagine not having them now. it also came with rain ex product and that works awesome as well!

Entering Machine

Ok, so I predict at least two wins for me by next week, I have been entering like mad!!! If I had to estimate the number of contest I entered I would have to say around 500 or so. I have been one bored lady. So keep your fingers crossed, I keep checkin my email!

Im Back!

My baby journey at home is over and I am back to work, which means I will have some down time to enter again. Keep your fingers crossed for a win this week, that would get me back into the groove!!!

Win Number 31

I am on Bath Body and Candle a lot, well because I love bath Body and candles so much. They do a giveaway for what seems to be everyday. They are all etsy soap, body supplies, or candle makers. I won one of the soap makers giveaways. I love handmade soap, Jaime and I are hooked after I won the last one. he has taken to the Lush soap now that we have one of those nearby. Klamath Rivers Finest is the awesome etsy store I get to pick soap from, I am going to be picking some peppermint soap and some gingerbread soap me thinks!

Update: The soap took a while to get but it came with some extras which was great of the etsy shop, and she didn't charge me shipping either! My husband said the gingerbread soap was the most awesome smelling soap ever! I loved everything she sent me, im still using the peppermint now!

Win Number 30

I finally won some cute baby shoes! There have been tons of baby shoes promotions from lots of companies on the mom blog market, and I was trying to win some especially because all the mom's give them great reviews. So thanks to Mommy Mandy I scored Diego the pictured shoes from Robeez and some great socks too! he is going to be the most stylin baby around!

Update: Baby shoes are a popular blog giveaway, I still haven't won a pair of "see kai's". I did love the robeez. He has worn all the socks already but not the shoes yet, they are leather soled and really soft though! he should start crawling in about 3 months!

Win Number 29

Goodies for Mom has graciously offered a ton of goodies and giveaways for the holiday season. I won the make your own gum kit from Glee Gum! I can't wait to make my own gum, im ganna save it for a rainy day so we have something fun to do.

Update: This was a fun win, we gave it to our neighbor boys and I believe they had a great time with it too. It smelled great and it came super fast after the win!

Win Number 28

Wish List Worthy is a great blog for anyone who loves to shop! They do reviews on products for just about everyone, including baby and Mom. Aimee reviewed and gave away a baby K'tan Carrier and I am the lucky winner, this is the second carrier I won but I know I will like this one better because it involves no wrapping, the other one I have yet to figure out, im saving it for when I have Diego so I can watch the instruction video online.

Update: this is my second K'tan win and having the extra one was great, because my son spits up a lot. I love using this and recommend it to everyone! It really is a great product.

Win Number 27

So you know what my favorite candy in the whole world is? Yeah, it's Ferrero chocolates, I got my first taste of these guys way back when I worked for this swank salon and they put them out every holiday for customers. I ate most of them when people weren't looking. So thanks to the crooked Eyebrow and her many Holiday giveaways and wish granting. I am getting one of these awesome Ferrero candy trees for myself!

Update: I didn't think I was ever getting these, they came long after Christmas, but heck they are my favorite candies!

Win Number 26

I was just about to tell Jaime this morning he better get me some replacement blades for my favorite razor to put in my stocking. Just then I receive and email that I won a Mommy Goggles giveaway, which includes a new Razor, replacement blades and some sweet shaving creme. These thing make me smile, i don't care that all my win lately have been small, it's honestly the small ones that make me smile when the come in the mail. Plus I really do enjoy reading Tanya over at Mommy Goggles so it's nice to get a little "thank you". Check her out she does ton's of giveaways!

Update: This was already the razor I was using, I love venus! It came just in time too, I was in dire need of refills. The shaving cream it came with smelled awesome, it was avocado and I loved it!

Win Number 25

Thank you to Alienpinked's blog where I have the pleasure of winning some great Mary Kay lotions. The scents include Bamboo and Lotus, I am really going to enjoy these if they don't sneak into my Mom's stocking first. If you need some Mary Kay stuff or just want to read about a busy busy woman who also loves to donate and do nice things for people check her out, she's fairly new to the blogesphere but I have a feeling she will do good stuff!

Update: This came super fast and was a great prize, I kept some for me and put some in stockings at Christmas! really great prize.

Win Number 24

Thanks to Lisa Reviews for holding the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Giveaway. I won one of five gift cards to the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Company. I haven't decided what to buy yet but I am thinking that I want this blue steel bottle, Jaime keeps telling me I need to stop drinking out of plastic and he's right I really do. The gift card is for 5 bucks and as tempting as the 100% Kona is I may have to try to restrain myself. Lisa Reviews does lots of giveaways, her button is on the bottom of the blog if your interested!

Afterthought: The graphic designer who clipped out the above picture really needs to be fired, it wasn't until I uploaded it to my blog on black that you can see the bad clip job, sheesh!

Update: I got this gift card but I haven't used it yet, I am waiting to see if anything goes on sale so I don't have to shell out a bunch of cash to get something with it.

Win Number 23

Thanks to Lille Punkin' Reviews for spreading the word on Fair Trade practices into the US and as well for the awesome free Joobles stuffed monkey, my second option is for the Giraffe but I have a feeling the monkey is on his way! Diego has every single animal from his bedding set represented in stuffed animal form now! Check out Lille Punkin and Joobles if you want the linkage is all here!

Update: This little guy came quickly and is very nice. he is soft and well made and my son enjoys him. My husband says his face is creepy, but I like him!

Win Number 22

Second win in one day WOW!!! I really like the Berrie Sweet Picks Blog, it's funny I was just reading some of her reviews before I got the email telling me I won! It's for Sassy Mom's and baby's with attitudes so it's right up our ally! I won a super cute Zebra for Diego, his nursery is the best theme ever!

Here is what Pauline had to say about Oopsy Daisey Zebra: My current fave is the 20" tall Oopsy Daisy Zebra from Sugarplum Dreams. I'll admit that the $65 price tag might be a bit shocking for a stuffed animal, but it is more than worth it when you learn the story behind this adorable and visually stimulating plush pal. Thanks Berrie Sweet and Sugar Plum Dreams! She's in my sidebar and in my button queue!

Update: This guy is so awesome! He is big and cute and hand made with lots of love! My son loves him and he is so well constructed! He took a while to come, I had to email the blog owner to get him but otherwise so awesome!

Win Number 21

Win number 21 comes from the awesome Blessings Abound. This is another great Mom/review blog. She does tons of giveaways and she's also a great Mom who homeschools and love Jesus! I check out all her reviews, she over on my dailies if your interested! So thanks to Blessings I now have $50 to spend over at Pukies! I am going to get Burp clothes and a cute little shirt for Diego, they are all organic soy cotton by the way, GO GREEN! Thanks again Blessings Abound and Pukies, we are so happy to win this one, I need more burp clothes!

Update: The code didnt work the first time so I emailed and they just sent my stuff directly to me, I like the burp clothes. I wish they were bigger, they also warp in the dryer a bit. I ordered the rest of my gift card money las tweek, I ordered pants!

Win Number 20

I knew I was due for a win soon! Win number 20 is from the awesome Superdumb Supervillian blog, they had a tea party with lots of tea inspired gifts! Thanks again and Superdumb should also be on my sidebar so go check her out! The tea is Mighty Leaf and I hear from Valeta it's the awesome!

Update: these teas were amazing! They tasted great and the box they came in was really lovely. We drank all that tea in record time, I loved the chai flavor, yum!