LillyMae Giveaway Winner!

The flower LillyMae Bag was the clear front-runner with 11 out of 17 votes.
And the winner of the flower bag (as chosen by random.org) is...
Anne (Brent and Anne)!
Luckily she was one of the people who voted for the flower bag.
She said: "I love the flower bag!! So cute! I also love all your California pics... you met a ton of characters!"
Congratulations Anne!

Even if you didn't win, you're still a winner because you can still get get 15% off any LillyMae Bag you want from the website with the coupon code "15001".

Happy Shopping!

Purse Giveaway!

Remember when I blogged about my friend's LillyMae Bags?
Well she's made some improvements is letting me give a NEW one away to my lovely friends!


But first, let me tell you how much I LOVE them.

As much as I shudder to compare it to a fanny pack, it really is just as convenient, but ten-thousand times cuter. And unlike your 80's fanny pack, you can also wear the LillyMae Bag as a cross-body purse.

It's small and light so you barely know it's there, but it's big enough to hold your cards, money, and phone (or ipod).
Every purse has an adjustable strap and an eyelet for your headphones.

I know from my experience of having one for over a year, they are sooooo perfect for working out or traveling.

This is me and my LillyMae Bag in Mexico!
I had easy access to my money when the street children ran up to sell me "chiclets".

What to see what other memories I've made with my LillyMae Bag?
Me at a Mexican Walmart.

Me, my LillyMae Bag, and Viagra Man.

Me and my LillyMae Bag on Catalina Island.

Me trying to ride a bike on Catalina Island. I would have been doomed without my LillyMae Bag. Can you imagine trying to do that with a bulky purse? Not fun.

Sometimes I think the LillyMae Bag was invented just for amusement parks.
I took my first trip to Disneyland and California Adventure this year.
My LillyMae Bag was glued to my hip the entire time!

I'm sure you get the point by now.

LillyMae Bags ARE AWESOME!

So for the giveaway, all you have to do is visit the LillyMae Bag website and tell me in the comments section which purse you want me to give away between these two:

The Flower Bag?
or
The Butterfly Bling Bag?

The winning bag will be shipped to a random commenter.
(So make sure I know you or have your e-mail address to tell you if you won.)

And don't worry.
If you don't win, you can still get 15% off on the website with the coupon code "15001".

Good Luck!
Giveaway ends February 5th.

Naming Contest with PRIZES!!

My sister-in-law, Andrea, needs a new name for her business and is willing to reward anyone who comes up with a good one!

Old name: The Baby Source (Doula Services, Breastpump rentals and sales etc)

New Direction: Sleep consultations and sleep coaching for kids (infants to teens), Parental support (parent coaching) And postpartum Doula Support (practical, in-home support for families with infants)

Basically Sleep and Support for tired parents (and eventually teens)

She's looking for a name that she won't have to change in the future and will not seem lame to teens using sleep services. (Not a babyish name.)

Anything works. Think of an alliteration, a rhyming name or a sleep related word in another language, or a name that is fun to say like Lululemon (too bad this one is taken)

Andrea also likes the idea of something related to blankets or the comfort of wrapping a blanket around you.

PRIZES:

1. $20 Gift card to Amazon (via e-mail). Picked randomly from everyone who submitted an idea.

2. $20 Gift card to Amazon for the winning name!

Submit name ideas in the comments on this blog post or on Andrea's contest page on Facebook!

CONTEST ENDS: Jan 31, 2011
UPDATE: Contest has been extended to March 22nd.

Muffin Giveaway!!

I finally bought something I've wanted for YEARS!

A crown muffin pan!
What's a crown muffin pan, you ask? I'll show you!

This is a crown muffin pan.
When I was 16 I worked in a bakery and we used muffin pans like this to make huge muffins!
They're pretty expensive. But I won an amazon gift card a few months back, so I was going to buy myself a present!
The day my muffin pan arrived in the mail, I just HAD to use it.

Crown muffin pans are great because they take regular size muffin cups, so the bottoms are the same size as regular muffins, but the tops are HUGE!

See?
Look at that masterpiece!
Can you guess what kind of muffins we made?
The carrot shavings were Ashley's idea.
She was my official guinea pig.

If you're thinking of buying one, you should know that the muffins take twice as much batter.
One regular muffin recipe (yielding 14-16 muffins), filled all six of my muffin cups.
So when you eat one, it's like you're eating two or three.
But it's sooooooo worth it.
Are you drooling yet?

Here's the giveaway part.
If you live in Utah...
AND you leave a comment about how awesome my muffins are...
I will make you a batch (six muffins).
You can even choose what kind of muffins you want (within reason).

For an extra entry, publicly follow my blog and tell me in a separate comment you are following my blog.

Easy Peasy!
Giveaway closes Sunday night.

Truffle Winner

And the winner is....ANDREA!!!

Wondering what you won? You are the proud owner of one dozen Oreo truffles AND one dozen Oreo mint Truffles. Wow, that's a lot of truffles! Aren't you glad you read The Harker Herald and leave comments? (The truffles will be ready to pick up on Wednesday.)

I swear there was no favoritism. The number was chosen by Random.org.

Andrea said, "Ok. And now I am a public follower. (And I better get some chocolate outta that one, because stalking yours privately was so delicious before...)"

Mwahahaha! My plan worked. I am happy to report I have THREE new public followers thanks to this giveaway.

So thanks to my lovely readers and thanks to the lovely Mallory for playing along.

Cakes and Giveaways!

This is Mallory.
Mallory is a good friend in my neighborhood.
Not only is Mallory GORGEOUS, but she's also super creative.
But I've managed to get past my jealousy so I can share some of her talents with you. In pictures and with a GIVEAWAY! (Details at the end of this post.)

One of the things Mallory makes is cakes.
Impressive fondant cakes.
You can check out all her creations here on her blog.
Here's a little taste.
(Click on any of the pictures in this post to make them bigger.)

I've always wanted to know how fondant cakes are made, so Mallory showed me.
This is not a tutorial, because there's no way I can remember everything she did.
Rather, it's a glimpse into the magical world of cake-making.
And it's supposed to make you drool, then order one of Mallory's super-amazing, super-inexpensive cakes.
Mallory charges next to nothing for her cakes because it's like therapy for her. She loves it.

First things first, did you know the fondant is made from marshmallows?
I didn't until this moment.
But it totally makes sense.
Now that I think about it, it does taste like marshmallows.

I should rephrase that.
Fondant is made from marshmellows and LOTS and LOTS of powdered sugar.

When you keep adding sugar, eventually the white blob turns into a white play-doh-like ball.

Did you know fondant cakes are make with more than one kind of icing?
Here Mallory is making a sugar icing.
It works as a glue to hold the cake all together.

Then Mallory gets out her trusty little cutting tool to cut the cake.
(She made the cake the day before and froze it.)
Pretty cool gadget, eh?

The cake Mallory is making is for a missionary farewell party.
The missionary was called to Omaha, Nebraska, so Mallory cut the cake into the shape of Nebraska.

This is me eating the scraps from cake.
Holy cow was it delicious!
Quite possibly the best cake I've ever eaten.
It was lemon and white chocolate flavored.

Next Mallory fills the cake with pudding, adds the top layer, and ices it all over.

Then she gets the ball of fondant out again (it was in the fridge), rolls it out, and places it over the cake.

After cutting off the excess fondant, Mallory gets out another cool gadget.
I call this one the "smooth operator" because it smooths the icing all over.

With the fondant scraps, Mallory balls it up again and adds brown food coloring.
She is making a belt for the cake.

Yellow food coloring for the belt buckle.

Here Mallory is making Rice Krispy treats.
This is one of her little secrets.
For specific shapes on top of her cakes, Rice Krispy treats work really well because she can cut it into what ever she wants and it will hold its shape.
Today she is making a tie.

She covers the tie with blue and red fondant.

Mallory adds the tie to the cake. Adds a pocket and a missionary tag...

And viola!
A fondant cake in the shake of Nebraska (with a star over Omaha).
The cake is also a shirt with a tie!
Perfect for a missionary!

GIVEAWAY TIME!!

Mallory doesn't just make cakes, she's also amazing at making truffles!
Need proof? Okay!
One lucky reader will win a batch of her delicious truffles.
All you have to do is leave a comment on this post.
Want a second entry?
Follow my blog publicly and tell me in a second comment that you are doing so.
I know this is a cheap way for me to get more followers, but whatevs.
It's my blog and I can do what I want!

What? You don't live in Utah County or Salt Lake County?
You can still enter!
If you win, I'll throw a party with your truffles, then e-mail you pictures of us eating them.
It'll be like you were there too!

Make sure you leave your e-mail in your comment so I can contact you if you win.
The winner will be expected to come and pick up his/her prize.
Trust me, they're well worth the drive!

The giveaway ends this Sunday (March 14) at 10 p.m.
Plenty of time to enter the giveaway and tell all your friends to enter!

Good Luck!

The LillyMae Bag

A friend of mine makes these ADORABLE bags. They're called LillyMae Bags and I love them!

The idea behind them is they're small enough to fit everything you need - hands free. She has them perfectly measured to fit ANY cell phone, plus your cards and money.

There's two kinds: the wrist bag and the waist bag. The wrist bag hangs on your wrist by a cute beaded bracelet. Perfect for a night on the town!

The waist bag doubles as a shoulder bag and is equally cute. The strap is even adjustable. Here's my friend modeling her bag for me. She calls these her bags made for moms by a mom (she has four kids.)

She started making the bags just for herself, but everyone started wanting them, and voila, a business was born. She even has a website where you can now buy her bags! Her prices are super reasonable considering she makes them herself. Some day soon these bags will be in stores everywhere, but I know you don't want to wait that long. My friend said I could offer all my blogger friends a coupon for 15% off her bags! Just type in the coupon code 74860 and she'll know you got the discount through me. Before long people will say "Is that a LillyMae?" and you'll be able to say "It's my LillyMae ORIGINAL!"

As part of this super-fun arrangement, my friend said I could give a LillyMae bag away FOR free on my blog. The only problem is I couldn't decide which one to pick, she has soooo many cute bags to choose from!

So here's the deal. I'm going to post a picture of each bag, with a corresponding number. I want you to VOTE for the one you like best and want me to give away for free. Everyone who votes will be entered into a draw for the winning bag. Easy enough right? Voting will end next Sunday at noon Mountain time, and the winner will be posted Sunday night.

I expect men to vote too. LillyMae Bags would make a great gift for your wife or daughter.

I tried to take some artsy photos. Hope you like them. Click on the photo to make it larger. (Yes I have plastic on my stairs. Don't make fun.)

Ready? Here we go! Sorry about the weird layout, it didn't work out a well as I'd hoped.

1. Black/Red Paisley Wrist Bag

2. White Fomal Wrist Bag

3. Satin Brown/Blue Wrist Bag

4. Light Green Wrist Bag

5. Pink/Brown Wrist Bag

6. Brown Polka Dot Wrist Bag

7. Brown/Blue Flower Wrist Bag (I really like the beads on this wrist bag)

8. Brown/ Blue Polka Dot Wrist Bag

9. Flower Power Brown Strap Bag (I personally LOVE the ones with flowers)

10. Brown/Blue Polka Dot Strap Bag

11. Flower Power Black Strap Bag

12. Blue Polka Dot Strap Bag (Still needs the strap)

13. Light Green Polka Dot Strap Bag

14. Orange Flower Strap Bag

15. Last but not least, the Black Gym Waist Bag. This is one of my favorites, and one I will be buying from my friend. When I go to the gym, I have no pockets and I end up sticking my iPod in my pants and carrying around my cell phone like an idiot (and forgetting it almost every time on the treadmill.) This is the perfect answer to that problem. See the industrial eyelet? That's for your headphones. Brilliant! See? --------->

So leave your vote for your favorite bag in the comments section. If you live in Canada, no worries, I will find a way to get you the bag if you win. If you vote and I don't already know your address, you must be willing to provide it if you win. If you don't provide it in a timely manner, you forfeit your prize and it will go to someone else.

Happy Voting!!