a giveaway with margaux and may!

okay people- it's wednesday, and teddy finally went down for a nap,
so let's celebrate with a GIVEAWAY!!!

margaux and may's blue fern swaddle ^^

i'll be the first to admit that i buy too many baby blankets, but they're soft, and cute, and i can't help myself, so this week we're giving a set away! ( if you win, maybe you'll develop a swaddle addiction like me, and we can talk through it with each other, ha!)

if you spend any time on instagram, i'm sure you've seen margaux and may's darling swaddles making the rounds. we've loved having these cute blankets in our home- they're thin and soft, and keep teddy just the right temperature. (nothing worse than a too warm blanket on a summer night!)

margaux and may's iconic feather swaddle. ^^

easy peasy giveaway- to enter, just leave me a comment below telling me one thing that you accomplished today that you're proud of. let's spread some good, shall we?

{entries double if you follow me and margaux and may on instagram.}

a winner will be sent not one,
but TWO gorgeous margaux and may swaddles!!

best of luck!! i hope you have a good wednesday, friends. xo

___________________


thanks to margaux and may for sponsoring this post.

a giveaway with usborne books! (closed)

it's no secret that books are one of my favorite things to collect for teddy. gid and i started reading to him when he was less than a month old, and we'd joke to each other that we were instilling a love of literature in our (snoring) newborn. keeping up the tradition of reading to him in the morning and evening has led to him loving books, which makes me feel like a warrior mom. (most days i can't remember the last time i showered, there's lean cuisine warming up in the microwave, and i'm pretty sure i forgot to pay for car insurance for the past 2 months, but my kid loves to read, so take that perfectionism; who needs ya?! mic drop. moon walk. exit.)

this two sided cloth book about a family of owls has been so sweet.

one of the things i love about books is that they last longer than clothes (especially newborn sizes, ugh).  i also love that every book we buy is potentially one we'll use for other kids we may have. building an awesome children's library seems way more a worthy investment than a lot of the other things screaming at me to buy them on the internet.

so when my dear friend from college, carrie- an usborne consultant reached out for a collaboration, i was thrilled. who doesn't want/need more books?! even if you don't have kids yet- this is something you can't start too early on- i wish i would've started my library years ago since books can add up, and i want them all.

we were sent four different books from usborne, and i was so impressed with the durability and quality of the materials, especially for the price. teddy is in puppy mode right now, and his chompers are ruthless when it comes to biting things. he's been gnawing on these books for almost a month, and they've endured beautifully.

my favorite usborne book of ours is from the "that's not my" series. we have the book "that's not my fox" written from the perspective of a little mouse looking for his fox friend. each page has a different texture that teddy can investigate (bite), and i love the colors and illustrations. there's a million other titles in this series if you're not into foxes, though- ha!

carrie's involvement with usborne is fairly new; we were laughing about how sales isn't something she thought she'd ever get into, but she's been able to make a steady income as an usborne consultant (which gives me major life goals-- to be able to support my family and stay at home with three little ones!!) and she and her husband are going on a cruise in a few weeks completely paid for by usborne's trip incentives! so awesome.

this is another thing i love about companies like usborne- i'm able to help my friend support her family (as opposed to going to barnes and noble or target). if i'm planning on investing in a library anyway, it makes me happy to know that my money is going to help good people that i love. what a cool way to not only touch the lives of children through reading, but also to give to your family.

---------------------------------------

for this giveaway, carrie is generously giving away any new title of the winner's choice! (new titles come out in about a week.) she's also offering free shipping (via refund) on any orders over $100 or more now through the end of june.

entering into this giveaway is super easy:
just leave me a comment telling me why you want to win, or which book you'd choose,
 and head over to carrie's usborne VIP facebook group.

(extra entries if you're a follower of my blog, or the blog's facebook page!)

she does a lot of cool giveaways and shows cool new books that have come out, which is awesome if you're passionate about keeping your kids engaged with reading at all different levels.

here's a little video i made of usborne being a part of our life:

i tried to focus on the detail of the books, 

since that's my biggest hang up in ordering online versus in person.
i can attest to their quality and longevity!

this giveaway will end in seven days. good luck!!
thanks again, carrie! xo

(giveaway closed. congrats to jenny h!!!) 

a giveaway with plan toys! (closed)

teddy is getting really excited about playing with toys and it kills me. sweetheart. my favorite toys are ones that a) don't make a ton of noise, and b) are nice to look at. i know it's high maintenance, but i reserve the right to not buy toys that are obnoxiously loud and ugly right? i don't have a play room to hide these things in y'all, so they better look cute in a little basket by the bookcase.

the lens on this camera is a kaleidoscope. so basically coolest toy ever.

several of teddy's fav toys right now are from a company called plan toys. i was introduced to them while i was living in slc, and have become more familiar with their brand and mission statement since becoming a loyal customer. i'm nuts about these toys for several reasons. they're made entirely from sustainable materials, they're responsibly manufactured (solar power, baby.), they use organic color pigments (no chemicals in their dyes), non formaldehyde glue, and all packaging is recycled.

a few months ago i purchased a three toy set that mistakenly had a duplicate in it, and within 15 minutes of emailing customer service, i had an apology response, and a shipping confirmation with the correct toy in transit to my house. it arrived within 42 hours of my email. i was blown away at their efficiency and consideration. they even checked in with me to be sure that everything was okay with the replacement toy. it's the little things.

i've teamed up with plan to give one lucky reader one of their sweet baby toys. all you need to do is be a follower of this blog (bottom of the page), visit the plantoys website, and leave a comment telling me which of their baby toys is your fav! easy peasy, guys! (extra entries for following on instagram and facebook, obvi.)

i hope you're having a good monday, people. thanks for stopping by.

this post brought to you by plan toys. 


-------------------------


congratulations to alexis!! i'll send you an email and we'll get you your plan toy!
thanks everyone for entering!! xo

GIVEAWAY WITH ESTELLA-NYC! (CLOSED)

hey guys, remember this post i wrote a while back about estella-nyc? they're this awesome company based in new york's village,
and they partner with a small community of knitters in peru to make their organic cotton rattles,
security blankets and kids decor items, and guess what?

one of you lucky readers is going to win a darling rattle from their spring 2016 line!!! 
is your monday getting better yet? mine too. 

alright, so these rattles are crazy cute, and a personal fav of mine and teddy's. they're soft (so when he drops them on his face, or smacks himself with them there's no harm done), machine washable, and the noise they make is gentle and quiet, which is particularly nice for my sanity.

another thing i love about estella-nyc is that they are all about fair trade, and creating a high quality, beautiful hand made product at a price point that is reasonable for you and me, while still compensating the artists fairly. (praise hands emoticon...)

i also know firsthand that this company has excellent customer support, which is just kind of a huge deal to me.

so here's what you need to do to enter, friends:

-visit estella-nyc's shop and tell me which rattle is your favorite in a comment. this is your entry.
-for more entries, complete the form below!

easy peasy, right? the giveaway will close monday the 14th,
and i'll announce the winner within 24 hours, k?
may the luck of the irish be with you!

GIVEAWAY WITH NYC ESTELLA!

CONGRATS TO MEENA H, from the UK!
Send me your email, and we'll get your rattle shipped out to you! Muah!

thanks so much for entering you guys.
i've got some more rad giveaways coming up in the next few weeks.

good luck, guys! thanks for stopping by. xo

SOLLY-CATION GIVEAWAY!

Friends! I'm sure many of you have seen my post about this on Facebook, 

but I thought I'd write about it for my exclusive bloggie buddies as well. 

The Solly Baby Wrap is one of the most popular baby carriers we sell at Babinskis. 

It's super comfy, chic and organic. 

They come in darling colors, and basically I really love them. 

Anyway, the company is doing a giveaway (read: FREE). 

You can win $2500 in airfare, $1500 in lodging, and FIVE Solly Baby Wraps of your choice. Friends, I haven't been asked to blog about this; I'm not being compensated in anyway for it. I'm blogging about it because who doesn't want to travel, and get some adorable Solly Wraps in a giveaway?! 

I figure I'll enter, and tell everyone I love to enter, and hopefully one of us will win. 

Anyway, enter at this link, and best of luck darlings! I sure hope someone I know wins a lovely little babymoon/lovetrip.

Aren't they just darling?

Lets hope one of us is a winner! 

Giveaway Winner.

Giveaway closed on Wednesday, and as I read the comments, 

I couldn't help but thinking how fabulous my bloggie buddies are. 

There was Jenni-- my sweet jenni who I danced with in russia and who is getting married in the coming months. She wondered if I could maybe make some clips for her bridesmaids. Like I'm not going to throw the whole contest and just pick her, right?! There were several dancing friends actually-- Ashlei (remember the library love story?), darling Kelli (ballet superstar), and my beloved Amber (girl crush ever since I saw her). 

Dancers are so strange- we share this weird bond that makes us fiercely loyal. 

Maybe its the tights.

 Then there was my best friend in the world Brittany. She's preggo...  which means (as it always does) that it may be a girl. How could the bestie not get some cool little hair flowers? Then there was my sweet neighbor McKaye who has the cutest little girly of a girl. Of course she's gotta win some. There were friends from college- Jenny my old roommate-- Lori with her sweet little e. Erin, who I was destined to meet, if for nothing else, just so she could introduce me to the coolest greek restaurant, and who I'm kind of obsessed with.

 Then there was Carrie and Anna. They were my rad college neighbors-- you know the kind I mean- the ones you want to be just like during those weird college years. Super classy and nice. They both have the most adorable little girls. There were others- Cora, who I stayed with when I was on tour dancing in Canada, and Ashley- a new reader!

So. If you haven't guessed already,
I'll go ahead and confirm what you may be suspecting.

Everyone wins. 

(I promised myself  early on if less than 15 people made 

comments I'd go ahead and give a bunch of freebies out.) 

Consider it my gift to you in celebration of summer. 

I still wanted to do the random number generator just to have an official winner. 

So: 

JENNI!!

Congratulations! 

Because you won the random number generator (which I swear I didn't rig) I'll go ahead and make some custom hair pieces for you and your bridesmaids. Oh, and Jen-- Remember how I just got into this hobby? Me too. So I'm glad we both understand totally that if you or your bridesmaids decide to not wear these on the single most important day of your life I will not be offended... :) You won fair and square, so you get the custom job. 

To my other sweet winners:

I'll do my very best to get everyone the specific pieces you requested from my already made stash. Send me your mailing address at alyssasuzanne@gmail.com and I'll get them to you in the next few weeks. 

Yay for summer!

Giveaway #2!

Hi Friends! As more than one time readers of this blog know- 

I'm not really a giveaway kinda girl. 

I've done a few, but haven't really found a passion for it... until now. 

(click on this to see which one you like the best up close) 

I'm not sure what finishing the semester did to me, but ever since turning in my last assignment I've been baking, shopping, and crafting all day long. 

Gid is actually concerned about me. 

I heard him telling his friend on the phone the other day that crafts, baking, and cute aprons are how I cope with stress... 

I can't decide if I'm flattered or annoyed by that comment.

Back to the giveaway though, yeah? 

On pinterest a few days ago I found a tutorial on how to make felt flowers for baby girl hair clips (they also works on ladies by the way).  

(I know I'm not nearly as cute as my main model...)

So I go to the craft store, and buy about 3 bucks worth of felt. 

24 hours later, I've made over 100 little felt flowers and attached them to hair clips or headbands. 

I don't know how it happened, 
but I got really obsessed with it in a short amount of time. 

My sister came over, saw the table covered in little flowers and immediately suggested I start some sort of summer booth, like lemonade, but hair accessories (which sounds cute, but I have a feeling would be suuper obnoxious). 

Instead, I thought I should have a giveaway! Surely someone who reads this blog would like some flowers either for their little one or for themselves. (I wore a one of the headbands to a party on saturday and got a ton of compliments!!) 

THE RULES:

1. Make sure you're a follower of this blog.

2. Leave a comment of which flowers are your favorite (up to five)- or what colors you'd like (I can make a custom one for you) along with one reason you're excited for summer.

3. The winner(s) will be selected with a random number generator.

4. Giveaway closes WEDNESDAY, MAY 2ND!

Pretty simple, huh?

*I don't actually have a huge number of followers so even if you're a little bit interested, you should definitely leave a comment- chances are you'll be selected for the giveaway. If there are a lot of comments I'll have multiple winners. (I've got a lot to give away...)

Hope you're having a lovely monday, friends!

Giveaway Winner!

Heya friends! It took me forever, but I finally got back around to this giveaway. After using the random number generator, it looks like little miss lindsay was our winner! Lindsay is recently engaged, so it looks like there are multiple congratulations in order. 

Sweet Lindsay, email me so I can send you the giveaway details, beautiful lady! {alyssasuzanne@gmail.com}

(numbers represent the comment order)

Have a lovely day, friends!