M&M’s Get Personal

Pssst — hey you!  Yes, you – the bridesmaid/baby shower thrower person/bride/new mommy/person throwing a birthday party/chocolate lover – I’m talking to you!  Check out this really cool idea for personalized party favors that your guests can appreciate (and devour!).  You can now create and customize your very own M&M’s from the comfort of your couch!  I created some online at the My M&Ms site for Little AG’s 2nd birthday (which is in a month — ahhh!) that have her picture on one side and cute little statements about her “Turning 2!” on the back!  The website makes it really, really simple to do, and I had the perfect M&M’s within minutes!  I even got to choose what colors I wanted!

The site also offers dozens of gift options to accompany the MY M&M’S, such as candy dispensers, decorative tins, and MLB-themed containers. And, new this year, MY M&M’S has even teamed up with Martha Stewart for ideas to make personalized gifts even more special. Each of Martha’s MY M&M’S personalized gift options provide easy step-by-step instructions.  Of course, personalization won’t come cheap – at $13 bucks for a decent-sized bag you’ll be shelling out some dough, but at least this is one keepsake that won’t collect dust on a shelf somewhere.  Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go dig through my pantry in search of chocolate.  This review made me hungry.

Cactus & Ivy: Design their Valentine’s Day Line! (A Contest & Giveaway!)

I’m sure by now if you are a frequent reader, you have figured out that not only do I love shopping, but I love beauty products.  I can literally spend hours searching for the perfect item in Sephora, would own every MAC eyeshadow if only I could find a place to store them all, and wouldn’t deny being obsessed with finding the perfect mascara.  Naturally, I found it unbelievably cool that one of my sorority sisters from college, now a very accomplished makeup artist, had actually designed and created her own line of makeup.  How exciting!  I mean, how many people can say they “designed” a line of beauty products?

Well, thanks to Lisa, the owner of Cactus & Ivy, now you have the same opportunity!  She has graciously offered one lucky Chic Shopper Chick reader the chance to work with her to create and design the Valentine’s Day Line from Cactus & Ivy.  Apart from bragging rights, you will also get the chance to take home some of your fab new products.  But, before I get too ahead of myself, let’s talk a bit about Cactus & Ivy.  Read on to discover more about these awesome products!

All products in the Cactus & Ivy line are natural, never tested on animals, and completely cruelty-free and vegan – meaning no animal by-products – not even beeswax or honey!  This is so important to me as a consumer because 60% of what you apply to your skin is absorbed, and I like to take care of my body so that it gets me through the long haul!  Not only that, but Cactus & Ivy products are formulated to improve the quality of your skin and to restore it’s natural balance by using essential oils that are high in vitamins and minerals.

The product selections are so plentiful that they are almost overwhelming – so I asked Lisa for some guidance.  She shared that her favorite all-time product is the Peppermint Tree Foot Balm, and I personally think I would love the Soy Indulgence line.

So how about it?  Are you ready to design the new Valentine’s Day Line for Cactus & Ivy?  The winner will receive an 18 oz. body scrub, 8 oz. Bath Grains, and 2.5 oz of Body Balm of their new creation, and will work hand-in-hand with Lisa to make it perfect by choosing essential and carrier oils for the products.  Then, the line that you designed will launch the week of January 19th on the Cactus & Ivy website as their new Valentine’s Day Line.

To enter, just follow the easy-peasy rules below:

• Visit Cactus & Ivy and come back here and ell me if there was something you could change about the Cactus & Ivy website or blog, what would it be?
  
• Earn extra credit! You may do these for extra entries.
• • Blog about this giveaway and link back here and to Cactus & Ivy. Tell me about it in a separate comment.
  • Follow me on Twitter and follow Lisa from Cactus & Ivy on Twitter.  Tell me about it in a separate comment.
  • Subscribe to the Cactus & Ivy Blog, then tell me about it in a separate comment.
  • Subscribe to my RSS feed via email or in a reader and tell me about it in a separate comment.
  • Stumble my main webpage (www.chicshopperchick.com) and leave me your Stumble Upon name in a separate comment.

That’s it! Good luck! Oh, and the official rules and legal jargon are below. (Please read it because it is a little different for this special opportunity!)

US entries only, winner will be chosen via random.org at the end of the contest. Winners are posted here, but please leave a valid email address or blog address if you’d like to be contacted should you win. Winner has 72 hours to claim their prize. This contest ends at 11:59 pm CST on January 6th, 2009.  The winner will be required to sign a release form saying that the creation of the above products are property of Cactus & Ivy and the winner has no legal claims to their ownership or development.

Fiddle your Photos with Photofiddle! (A Giveaway!)

I take lots of pictures.  I love photography, and almost everyone in my family seems to have an eye for taking good pictures.  We took over 10,000 pictures of Little AG in her first year alone, to give you an idea of what a photo-maniac I am.  On a typical vacation I will come home with hundreds of photos, oftentimes between 300-500 of them.  However, most of those photos, no matter how great they are, sit in iPhoto until I get the urge to make a Photo Book with them, or print them and make a scrapbook.

Recently I had the opportunity to try out Photofiddle — and they took a picture of me, Little AG, and hubby and quite literally turned it into a work of art!  I’m particularly a fan of this picture because a) Little AG is smiling.  At the camera.  Without squinting. b)  I don’t look particularly like a troll.  c)  It was taken at my favorite place on earth – Paris.  The photo is of the three of us, standing on the second level of the Eiffel Tower, with the city of Paris behind us.  C’est parfait.

Here is our initial photo, before it was fiddled.

They actually gave me tons of options — some looked like a Charcoal Sketch, some looked like a Comic Book, and some looked like an Andy Warhol Painting.  But we chose the Soft Pastel look in the end, because, well, it was our favorite!

And now, after it was fiddled, here it is hanging on my wall:

Cool, right?  Here is a little background on Photofiddle: The Photofiddle.com site went online in June 2004 and not too long after the launch it received a bit of press from the Washington Post, USA Today, PC Magazine & more.  The Washington Post called them “buzz worthy” and PC Mag rated us 4 out of 5 stars.  What really put Photofiddle.com on the map was  when Oprah put them on the O list in 2006.  More recently, the Today Show picked Photofiddle.com  as a great DIY decorating idea, the CBS Early Show featured them as a best Mother’s Day gift idea, and the New York Times editor wrote a great article including Photofiddle.com.  Pretty impressive!

Photofiddle.com comes highly recommended by me, and I think it is one of the greatest gifts that you can give, be it now for the Holiday Season or a special occasion in the future.  Heck, even if you don’t need a gift — it’s a great choice just to decorate your house with some of those photos that might otherwise just be hanging around!

Win it! You can win a $50 Gift Certificate to Photofiddle to start creating your very own works of art.  To enter, just follow the easy-peasy rules below!

• Visit the Photofiddle Site and tell me which design you would choose if you were able to “fiddle” one of your photos.
  
• Earn extra credit! You may do these for extra entries.
• • Blog about this giveaway and link back here. Tell me about it in a separate comment.
  • Follow me on Twitter.  Tell me about it in a separate comment.
  • Subscribe to my RSS feed via email or in a reader and tell me about it in a separate comment.
  • Stumble my main webpage (www.chicshopperchick.com) and leave me your Stumble Upon name in a separate comment.

That’s it! Good luck! Oh, and the official rules and legal jargon are below.

US entries only, winner will be chosen via random.org at the end of the contest. Winners are posted here and on Prizey Fetch, please leave a valid email address or blog address if you’d like to be contacted should you win. Winner has 72 hours to claim their prize. This contest ends at 11:59 pm CST on December 22nd, 2008.