Gee, My house smells terrific!

I know that is a funny title, but it's the truth and I will give you a head's up, if you will...Today, one of my April give-a-way items came! And I am beyond thrilled! I am working up a story board to put the give-a-way together...but here is another sneak peek (seems I have a lot of those lately!)....

As you might be able to tell....I don't like keeping secrets! I admit I was one of those kids who peeked at presents before Christmas morning! What can I say? I love showing people things that I LOVE!

I fell in love with these little sachets for a couple of reasons: 1.) They have the words every marriage needs to thrive and survive! They are "Life Mantras" to live by! and 2.) They smell heavenly! I absolutely love Lavender! These, however, are made in France and they are made with French Lavender - which, in my opinion, is the best! I love French Lavender because it's smell is so fragrant, a little sweet! So bloggie readers! One winner is going to get these three Life Mantra sachets....but guess what??? Again we are going to get an extra little treat! The person who makes these lovely sachets, Apol from La Pomme, has included another little thing for me to give-a-way in addition to my purchase of these for the April give-a-way! What does this mean to my fabulous readers? We will get a grand prize winner of goodies and a runner up again! YAY....two winners! Love when that happens! :) So, the runner up will receive a new item called "Inspiration Apples". I did peek inside the bag (see I can not wait for things!!) and it looks exactly like this one with the exception it has the hand written word "Live" on it!

I am over the moon about sharing these with you! Apol is a very kind, understanding person and has been a real dream to work with! Originally, I was going to have these as a part of my "Going Green" give-a-way but, I was concerned about shipping (these came from France, after all!). So, I wasn't sure if there would be additional fees to pay on the items, etc. Apol was very patient with me! I decided to have the items shipped directly to me from her etsy shop La Pomme so that if there were any additional costs I could pay them and the give-a-way winner would not be responsible! Once that was determined she got the items out like in 2 days and I had it here in like 4 days!!!! Amazing! So, there you have it! A sneak peek at one of the April give-a-way items! I should have the rest of the items up tomorrow so we can open it up to comments! Please check out Apol's store...her items would make AWESOME gifts for your bridesmaids, moms and any other special people in your wedding party! Just lovely...OH! And they smell good too! ;)

Flower Girl Basket for our March Winner

I was just sent pictures of the completed flower girl basket for our March give-a-way winner! It turned out so cute! I hope the winner loves it as much as I do! :) New Hampshire Wood Creations made this basket for our winner....and it only took a few days! Awesome service!

A Presidential Invite!

Did you know that if you send a wedding invitation to the White House you will get an official congratulations from the President and First Lady? The rules of etiquette require that a letter of congratulations be sent to you! I totally forgot about this tradition until reading it on Savvy Scoop - so thank you for the reminder! The hubby and I sent one at our wedding...and it was pretty cool!  

President Obama and his bride were wed on Oct. 18, 1992

Send your wedding invitation to:
The Honorable Barack and Mrs. Obama
The White House
Greetings Office, Room 39
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20500

Picture Collages

I have a lot of pictures that I like to use in my posts - it makes it a lot easier to show all the fun things I like to write about! So, today I was checking out the different online collage software. I decided to download a free version of Picture Collage Maker and tried out a few sample collages! I like it! Anyone who is using collages for the wedding websites, save the date cards or scrap booking will find the user interface very easy! Check out this sample for how easy Save The Date cards would be:

Another easy thing you could use this for would be for making a story board - which is what I want to use it for when I am blogging about color specific items for weddings or for my give-a-ways I host. I am working on the April give-a-way now and I think having one photo of everything (because you can save the collage as a JPG file or print it out!) is a perfect way to show off the items! Let me know what you think when you see the give-a-way I have planned for April! My final note about this product is that you can download the trial version and if you like it and want to purchase the full version - if you have a blog or website and you talk about your use of the product they will send you a license to use the product for free! That's a nice deal! So get creative and have some fun....let me know what you will be using it for!

DIY - Tea Party

I have posted a couple of times about tea parties and while surfing today I came upon a site that offered some free templates. What a cute, fun project this would be! I love things like this - simple yet creative and very memorable! Here are the links:

Teabag Label - Blue
Teabag Label - Red
Tea Canister Label

To add a little more fun to this do it yourself project - get creative and make your own tea! There is a great Etsy shop that provides the means to do this and it's very inexpensive! 25 Heat Sealable Paper Tea Bags sell for $3.50 and the shop also has herbs to make your own tea creations! Check out Flowering Tree Botanicals

Turn Up The Volume!

Did you notice something new coming out of your speakers? I added a play list to my blog! I actually love hearing the music while I am sitting here posting. The songs I have chosen all have special meaning to me! I played them at my wedding! The song titled "In This Life" was my First Dance song...it still bring tears to my eyes when I hear it!

For those of you who are married, what was your First Dance song?
For those yet to be married, what song will you be dancing to?

Recycled Bride Unveils Biggest Giveaway Ever: A Free Reem Acra Wedding Dress

Well, now, here is an interesting contest! Recycled Bride has teamed up with YourWeddingDay.com to offer this give-a-way. The bad news....it's a size 10 but the good news...as of this posting there are only 63 entries! Go type your story and let me know if you get picked!

So here is the deal:

Dress Details:

• Retails for over $4,800
• Silk satin
• Sweep train
• Strapless ballgown silhouette
• Reem Acra label inside
• Brand New
• Ivory with gold detailing
• Bridal size 10 / Daywear size 8 (can be altered to fit a size 8 or smaller)
• Bust: 36″
• Waist: 29″
• Hips: N/A
• Hollow to Hem: 60″

Enter to Win:

• You must be a Recycled Bride member to win, so sign up if you haven’t already (It’s free and takes just a minute).
• Go to the Your Dream Dress Giveaway Page and leave a comment telling us why you want to win this Reem Acra designer wedding dress.
• One comment/entry per person
• A panel of wedding experts from RecycledBride.com and Your Dream Dress will choose one lucky winner on April 2nd, 2010.
• Winner will be chosen based on the comment that most inspires our panel *UPDATE* WE’VE BEEN RECEIVING SO MANY INSPIRING COMMENTS THAT WE’VE DECIDED TO NARROW IT DOWN TO OUR 10 FAVORITES, THEN CHOOSE AT RANDOM FROM THOSE. YOUR STORIES HAVE MADE IT IMPOSSIBLE TO PICK JUST ONE THAT INSPIRES US MOST!