Win #166!

I've been a reader of Cake Mom for a very long time, I want to say somewhere in the neighborhood of three to four years!  I've had her buttons up for sometimes too, I bet i've been through a few different button designs!

What I love about her is that she does a ton of reviews and giveaways, mostly of things I need or want! She lists them all and they're easy to get to and i can enter them all from the home page without having to navigate to each individual giveaway!

I scored this space heater, I totally put some good energy behind this one because I've been borrowing the girl who sits near me space heater at work for some time, mostly because she blows a fuse if she uses it and I don't (stupid wires) but also because it's freezing in here.

Thanks Jaime at Cake Mom for the best win of the month!

Win #165!

I enter to win all the kids DVD's I see!  My kids watch DVD's in the car, on movie nights at home we build blanket fortresses with bean bag walls and make popcorn and sometimes I take them to Daycare on rainy days so we can share all the great movies we win!  I scored this awesome DVD from Sweeps4bloggers!  I have won multiple times from them and like I've said in the past if you're looking for blogs with easy multiple entries this is a great one to check out!

Thanks to Sweeps4bloggers for this great win!

Win #164

Another win saved from the spam folder, gosh am I ever glad that I check that thing regularly!  Learning Resources is a phenomenal website that has learning toys and games for teachers and parents!  Thank you to them for hosting so many giveaways and to 2 Classy Chics as well for having such a great review and giveaway blog that features so so so many contest on a daily basis.

Win #163

You all already know that there are several blogs I visit every single day without fail.  They meet my "multiple win" criteria.  I trust them, they have good prizes, easy and multiple forms of entry.  Yadda yadda contest jargon.  Gay NYC Dad is one I go see every morning over my coffee.  He's got a lot of great things to say and a ton of great things to give away!  So please as I have said in the past go see Mitch in all of his splendor and enter his contests because they are super awesome and you'll win eventually, I always do!

Thanks to Mitch at Gay NYC Dad for the Blip Toys win!

Win #162!

I've won multiple times from Sweeps for Bloggers.  They offer a daily easy entry on all of their giveaways so it makes for good odds.  They have a high number of loyal readers though so it's usually pretty high entry into their giveaways.  They do a great deal though so it makes it really fun!  This month in particular they are giving away a ton of kids DVD's so I entered a ton to try to stock up on new DVD's for my car for the kids.  They were getting sick of the same old movies we had.  So thanks to Sweeps for bloggers for helping me score this Leap frog DVD!

Win #161

Thanks to Day by Day in our world for the chance to try the Purex baby laundry soap!  I've won a coupon for a bottle and I can't wait to add this to my baby care package for my girlfriend.  So excited, I also only use Purex at my house so I know it's going to be great!

Win #160!

Another Funky Monkey Win!  You can bet im reading them every single day as I mentioned before.  They have a new giveaway almost every day!  I scored a cute valentines banner from Two Doodles Designs!  Super stoked as my valentines decor is pretty limited.  Go see Funky Money when you have time, they do reviews/giveaways on jewelry, prints, decor and more, I love them!

How to win blog contests: all the secrets.

A friend of mine asked me to teach her how to win stuff.  I guess at this point I am some kind of expert in winning huh?

 I can do you one better, I can teach anyone how to win stuff.  I feel like deep down inside my little winners soul I will regret giving away my secrets, but it's really not a secret in the first place.  It's going to be easy to lay these out as steps for you.

Step 1.  Subscribe to Online Sweepstakes Websites.  I have my favorite that I have belonged to for years now.  It's not a secret, these sites exist, they are googleable (say that ten times fast).  I like OLS, Prizey and Sweepstakes advantage.  There are links for all of these sites on the right hand side of my blog under "links that are full of Win".

Step 2:  Subscribe to every social network possible.  Blog contests thrive on social media outlets and they compete by number of clicks, most likes, most "ups", all kinds of internet malarky.  Your big ones are: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google + and Google Friend Connect.  Of course there are many sites that bloggers use to promote themselves and their giveaways but those are the most frequented.

It is helpful to create an alternate email just for giveaways.  Trust me, when you see the amount of spam you're going to get after subscribing to all these emails and publicly posting your email address on blogger you'll crap your winners pants.

Know how to use all of these sites by the way.  If a blogger wants you to repin a contest and provide them a link to it in order to win, you sure as shit better know what to do and what link to post.  This just takes practice.

Step 3: Use the force.. I mean Form.  There are several form widgets out there used to allow people to enter contests more easily and faster than ever before: WELCOME TO THE FUTURE!  Raffelcopter is your big one.  These forms not only make it easy for you to one click your entries but it also gets rid of a lot of cheaters.  I love them and I usually enter these a lot more often that other contests.

Step 4:  Take advantage of lazy sweepers.  Because of step 3 a lot of people who enter sweepstakes and contest are now lazy and don't like the old method of entering 100 comments on a blog in order to win something.  This is great news of course because if you aren't lazy you can throw your hat into a ton of low entry giveaways.  Low entry means good odds that you'll win.  I know several blogs that don't use widgets and still follow the tradition way of entering, I usually wind up in a pool of about 100-500 comments to win, if I entered ten times that means my odds are awesome!

Step 5:  Enter as much as possible.  keep in mind that you will go through periods where you don't win anything, this is when most people give up.  If you keep entering than you'll win something eventually. I enter every day while I eat lunch, this is my deal and it's my hobby, it's just what I do.  Maybe you do yours during your kids nap time, maybe late at night when you can't sleep, whatever.

Step 6:  Use your bookmarks, save your favorites.  There are five places I enter everyday, I have them book marked on my computer for easy access.  If your serious about winning something make sure you save the best places to enter.

Speaking of entering...  You can enter some contests daily.  If there's one you really want to win and it has daily entry methods, perhaps book mark it and do that daily entry everyday, that takes like one second of your lunch break.

Step 7:  Creativity.  If you have it use it.  There are some contests that only require something fun, if you have creativity you can destroy the others and come out with contest gold.

Step 8: Check back and claim your prize.  Most blogs you enter will email you if you win.  If you enter somewhere know how they'll be contacting you and if they don't email you be sure to bookmark it and check back to claim your prize.  Also most emails must be responded back to within 24-48 hours in order to actually receive the prize, so check your email at least once a day to make sure you aren't letting prizes get away from you.  Twice this year I checked my spam folder only to find I had won something!

BAM!  I just blew the milk out of your cheerios didn't I?

So there you have it, how to win stuff in 8 easy steps.  Now forget you ever read this because I don't need all you guys lowering my odds by becoming sweepstakes and contest pros.

Semi-win

It isn't a true win, but I still feel like I won something so I wanted to share it!  My friend from high school moved to Florida when we graduated, he recently started a wonderful jewelry business and is just fantastic!  I love all the leather pieces and the simplicity that some of their pieces offer, it means you can wear it with everything!

My wonderful friend mailed me the most beautiful bracelet, it looks like the one below only it's got swarovski crystals on it.  I love it so much I wore it to the gym, lol!  He has a Facebook page and does custom work, so go check them out if you are in the market for men's or women's jewelry. 

Jewelry by Sanders & Franklin

Win #159

TWO IN A ROW!  Wow, I received another email from Dandy Giveaway that I won their 13 in 2013 Giveaway!  There were 13 prizes and I won a beautiful item of my choice from Baby Wisp!  I chose I lovely bow with feathers on it for Delia and I to share.  It's purple for our Baltimore Ravens team so we'll wear it out for sure!

Thanks again Dandy for the great giveaways!

Win #158!

First win of February is a super awesome Valentines giveaway just for me.  Thanks to Dandy Giveaway I was able to score myself an awesome pair of Bed Head pajamas ($140 retail) to make my Valentines awesome.  Not only are these super cute but they have been featured on several television shows!  Check out this picture from How I met your Mother!

So thanks again to Dandy Giveaways, you rock, and I am totally going to be reading you guys all the time now!

Creative win# 157!

I love to enter creative giveaways but they often require voting and that makes me hate them with every once of my body, voting contests are hands down the worst thing ever and they are completely unfair in every sense of the word, BUT LET ME TELL YOU HOW I REALLY FEEL!

Well sometimes if you take an extra five minutes to enter a creative giveaway, like this one where The Flairist just wanted to know who your ideal houseguest would be and why.  I was the only one to actually type more than 2 sentences out of almost 90 people.  So obviously I took this one for mine!

here's my entry: "My ideal houseguest would be Martha Stewart. We would make doilies, she would teach me how to properly fold a fitted sheet and together we would make the most amazing beef wellington my family will have ever hoped to taste. In between all of the doilies and properness we’ll secretly discuss prison and how she spruced up her cell and I will educate her on the history of tattoos and abstract expressionism. She’ll be gracious even though I will cut her off often to interject about how one time I made a baby blanket and I learned to use a calligraphy pen to adress my own wedding invitations. Then, when her time closes I will wake up in the morning to fresh squeezed orange juice and a handwritten note on the finest stationary thanking me for letting her be my guest. She will have made the bed, organized my kitchen junk drawers and alphabetized my life. Yes. Yes, martha. You have and always will have an open invitation to my home."

They hold contests like this often and I plan on entering them frequently now that I know how fun they are.  I also can not wait to get this serving set, it's awesome!

Win #156!

Im not sure if I said this already but a couple of my friends are all super awesome and preggo!  I have been stashing and stock piling all things baby!  This means I put all the baby giveaways back into rotation!  I have done really well so far and I am putting together baskets and such.  Akron Ohio Moms was kind enough to review and giveaway Colic Calm, I used this when my son had bad colic, urgh god I can't even think about it, it still gives my nightmares.  Thanks to Akron Ohio Moms and Colic Calm for adding another fantastical goody to my baby basket!

Win #155

A few weeks ago as I mentioned in a previous post I started religiously following the Funky Monkey blog.  I have been an email subscriber to them for a really long time and I am not sure what caused our flame to smolder but now it is completely rekindled and engulfing my morning blog readings.  I can't get enough of the craftiness here, it's just outstanding.  There were a few really great Etsy-heavy blogs I read in the past and they seemed to fizzle out.  I digress.

I won a beautiful typographical print from In or Out Designs!  Thanks again to Susannah at Funky Monkey for making my morning lovely again and for holding SO many contests, I plan to win many more in the future.  She really wants everyone to visit her blog so check her out, but please don't enter anything because I need the odds to remain in my favor ;)

Update: I got this print and framed it, I gave it to a friend of mine that I felt really needed it.  I wound up making her cry, she hung it on the wall and I think this was a double win for me because I got to help someone!

Win #154

Another Facebook win for me, I am really striking gold on Facebook these days.  Handmade with Love by Leah just so happens to be a great friend of mines online store.  She makes scarves, pillows, blankets and some super crafty odds and ends.  I think I am going to either choose a blanket or a wreath from her and I am super stoked of course!  Check her out if you can, she's a local mom and her blankets sell like hotcakes so get em while they're hot!

Update: I got my Wreath in the mail and it is spectacular!  The best thing ever is that we won the Superbowl and I got a Ravens wreath for my front door, we'll be sporting it till next football season!

Win #153!

Natural products Network is a fantastic company that offers natural products at excellent prices and great coupons as well.  They have a Facebook page where they hold many contests and their website is free to use, you just set up an account and you're done!  They held a contest and Posted the first name and last initial of the winner, turns out there were two of us that have that first name and last initial, go figure.  I don't know if I was the true winner or not but the company was kind enough to send us both a prize.  I received a really nice scarf made of recycled plastic bottles and some really sweet affirmation cards.  Thanks to Natural Product network for being so cool to let us both win and also for having such an upstanding company.

Update: I received a recycled scarf made from plastic bottles and some inspirational cards, a really thoughtful thing to send a person who didn't even really win.

Win #152

Funky Monkey is a blog I started visiting daily!  I came across them about a month ago and now I am so hooked.  They feature contests almost everyday, they feature crafty and handmade things.  Everything is beautiful and girly.  I won for my first time form them a $150 credit to the etsy store: "Days Gone Design" and they have the most wonderful wedding invitations and personalized paper products!  I am going to get some lovely Holiday cards for next year and I can't tell you how excited I am for that.  I hope you'll all check out both Funky Monkey and Days Gone.

Win #151! We're on a roll for 2013

Im hitting the sweeps hard in my spare time in 2013!  I have a ton of pregnant friends right now so those baby sweeps and blog giveaways are on the top of my list while I gather their gifts!  I was one of 100 winners from Mommy Words and their team up with Brica to give away 100 of the awesome Mega Mirrors.  These come in super handy since our kids have to sit rear facing until they are 15 years old.  I am now in the running with 100 others to win a $100 Babies R Us giftcard also, SCORE!

First win of 2013!!! #150

YAY! I was starting to feel very unlucky when over a week into the New year I hadn't won anything.  My first win of 2013 and the 150th win overall is not a big win but it is pretty awesome, and not to mention I won this prize out of about 46, 000 people!  Those odds are so awesome that I get a little excited.

Stay at Home Mom blog reached 10K fans on Facebook so they gave away six prizes and I just so happen to win the one I really wanted, the wooden family block sign.  Check it out here!

Win #149

The SKIL iXO Vivo power corkscrew may be the best thing I won over the holidays!  My Grandfather is the biggest wine buff you'll ever meet so when I won this I prayed I would get it in time for Christmas eve which is his birthday.  We'll it came with two days to spare and he was enthralled! Thanks Review Stew for making his Birthday so special!

Win #148

Thanks to the Jackson family Blog I was able to send a huge Gators fan in my family a very, very awesome pair of jeans for Christmas!  OCJ is the company and from what I hear they are amazing!

Win #147!

Mommy Mandy is awesome, I have one lots from her in the past, everything is easy, comes really fast, and it's all great stuff too!  She hosts a ton of giveaways for all sorts of items.  She's a great read as well so head on over there!  I won these awesome blocks that are a ton of fun!  They went in my Daughters stocking!

Win #146

I think this might be my first Facebook win.  I follow Elonka Nichole on Facebook  they give away a prize every Friday!  I always enter and I won this week!!!  Here is there website, they have way more than mimis, all kinds of awesome baby stuff!

Win #145

Thanks to Sippy cup Mom for hosting some great Holiday giveaways and for scoring me this awesome Bratz doll that I will be saving for Delia or another very special girl in my life's Birthday this year!

Win #144

I have won from the Simply Stacie blog in the past, she's got all the great stuff I want to try or that I already love to review and giveaway!  Plus her blog is really pink and I love it!  I won the fabreeze giveaway from her and I can't wait to get my house smelling awesome!

Win # 143!

I was a winner from Smile a Day Giveaways!  I won a set of handmade BB Blocks!  They capture the age of your kids in all your pictures and I love them.  They'll be a gift to a special friend whose having a baby in a few months but deep down I want to keep them.

Win #142

I'll say it again!  I love Gay NYC Dad!  He does so many giveaways and all easy entry too!  I won this awesome Thomas DVD from him and I can't wait to win again, because I enter them all!

Win 141!

Another win this month from Sweeps4Bloggers!!!  I told you I love them and try to visit everyday!  Again they are super awesome for their daily easy entries and awesome raffelcopter set up!  I won a sweet custom leash and collar set from Lily and Abbie.  I could have gone either way with this one, big collar or small since we have many family doggies but I went small, and a pretty awesome print as well!  Thanks a million to Valerie and her amazing blog for giving away so much stuff!

140!

Deal Finder Dad to the rescue!  I've won from his blog in the past too, I am apparently a repeat customer...  I won a stainless steal wallet from dorm Co. and it's going right into my husbands stocking if I get it in time, good thing he doesn't read blogs, I don't want to spoil the surprise.  Thanks to Deal Finder Dad and his great reviews!

Win: 139

I have won in the past from Baby Loving Mama. You can find a button to her blog on the right side of my page and since I have been in love with her blog so long it's a bit far down.  I love this blog that does child related and Mom type giveaways because it's all stuff I need, not to mention for the HUGE prizes they give away their entries are pretty low.  I won a $50 Wal-mart gift card that is going to make the holidays awesome, and I won out of about 5000 entries which in my eyes is great odds!  I hope she does really well and the blog lasts forever because she's a great author and a fantastic host!

Win #138

Sweeps4bloggers is becoming one of those blogs I like to go to everyday.  They have so many contests though that it would take up my whole lunch break if I entered them all!  The best part about their contests is that they are all rafflecopter and have daily easy entry, so it's a super fast click a day to win!  I am now the proud owner of a glee gum prize pack from them and I am hoping there's more to come since I have been visiting daily!

Win 137

Tricia's Treasures mainly reviews make-up and beauty products, they host a slew of giveaways that any woman would die to win!  I was lucky enough to win this great Dewy Skin Mist Giveaway!  I actually got this in the mail already as they are super fast over there at Tricia's Treasures and I can't wait to pass this onto someone really awesome that I love for the holidays.

Win 136 First Twitter Win

Funny enough I was doing research for my job on twitter parties and stumbled on a twitter party that I wound up winning from!  How lucky is that?

Check out Funky Monkey and their healthy options, also gluten free, peanut free and all natural, you kind of can't ask for much more than that.

Win 135, finally caught up!

I am finally caught up with posting all my wins!  I won this changing table this morning so it couldn't be more up to speed!  I do visit this blog a lot: Rachels Reviews.  She does a ton of reviews and with that comes lots of giveaways, she reviews everything too, not just baby stuff!  As a matter of fact when I got the link for this post I happen to notice that they are giving away a saw, so lets file this post under giveaways I haven't won yet as well, smirk*

Win number: 134!

Thanks again to Sugar Pop Ribbons, I love to win from them!!!  I am going to be receiving a sweet shower spray and I can't wait to try them since they gave them such a great review.

Win: 133!

What an awesome win!  Thanks so much to the gals over at Kiddies Corner Deals!  The Hello Kitty Karaoke machine is getting a great home!

Win Number 132!

I won Halloween floppets from my favorite blog Gay NYC Dad, I wish these things were awesome so I could rave but they are useless.  I would be terrible at reviewing items right?

Win number: 131

I take that last post back.  I also visit Sammis blog of life every single day.  She is a great girl and does a ton of fun giveaways and i love to read what she's up to.  I won two bags of yummy pumpkin spice kisses, only problem is we all hated them LOL!  I had to take them to work because my family couldn't handle the spice!

130!!!

I won this dress for my daughter from Mikarose, they are an amazing company and offer really beautiful dresses and clothes for great prices.  Not to mention they must have a new marketing person because they are doing giveaways out the ying yang.  This dress I won is a little too big for now but she'll wear it next year, and it's not going out of style!  The best part about this contest is that all I had to do was follow a few steps and email them then they sent me the dress, there wasn't even a drawing!

Win 129!

I visit only one blog every single day.  Gay NYC Dad is my favorite blog, hands down end of story.  Mitch is hilarious and a great dad that is worthy of some serious credit.  He hosts tons of giveaways, im talking tons.  His son and my son are close in age which means most of the giveaways are like right up my freakin ally!  I won this iphone case and it's still on these to this day, I get tons of compliments on it.  I am going to encourage you to not go to his blog because you'll lessen the number of wins I get, but you won't listen to me will you.

Win Number: 128!

I have won from Sugar Pop Ribbons before, they are an excellent blog and have a great reputation, I can vouch!  I won a great DVD from them that I was able to add to a birthday gift to spruce it up for one of my friends whose name just happens to be Timmay!

So check them out if you already haven't because they do tons of giveaways, and coming from a multiple winner I want to say they are really amazing and fast!

Win Number: 127

Another great food win, I seem to have a thing with blog wins and food!  Thanks to the Wannabe Chef for hosting a great giveaway and for making more guacamole dip in my house a reality!

Win Number: 126!

I won the Custom Stationary/Invites on Etsy! Thanks to Ashley at Closet of free samples, I got my Name with a vintage camera screen print on them, I am really looking forward to sending some handwritten letters!

Win Number: 125!

Thanks to Print runner I won 250 custom stickers!  I used the layout to make address labels with our family photo on them!

Win Number: 124!

I won the Mixbook from WDW Not Just for Kids!  I made Delia's baby book for her first year.  It was fun and I really enjoyed doing it!  Mixbook was easy to use and now I even would like to do one of Diego.  Delia loves to read her book and she even kisses the pages with her and Diego in them!

Win Number: 123!!!

I won the Dora the Explorer DVD giveaway at The Mama Report! It was the Dora Easter DVD and the kids had a great time watching Dora and boots help the Easter bunny!

Win Number: 122

A very special Thanks to Tesa at 2 Wired 2 tired for the generous sponsored gift of the complete baby bullet package!  Mine cme with a steamer and recipe book too!!!

Win Number 121!

I think I have mentioned in the passed that there are many blogs that I read every single day and that I truly love, Stephanies blog is one of them, Metropolitan Mama is one of them. I have been reading her blog for what seems to be forever and I have actually won multiple times from Stephanie as well. She is a gerat lady and a wonderful Mom, I highly recomend her! I also won a great necklace from her blog this week and from "Grace tags Necklaces". Thanks so much and be sure to check out Stephanies blog, I can't say enough good things about her.