The Kick Start Your Handmade Holiday Shopping Giveaway

By now you all should know how I feel about buying handmade, local, and/or small.  I don't think that mentality should go out the window when the holiday season rolls around.  Yes, I know the kids want video games and the newest gizmos and gadgets, but not all your holiday gift shopping HAS to be from the big box stores.  Handmade, unique gifts are PERFECT for those friends and family on your list who seem to have everything already.  What are you going to get them anyways?  ANOTHER gift card?  Blech, right?

This month I have some creative and fabulous small shop sponsors, and they all want to help one of my lucky readers get a kick start on their holiday shopping- the small shop, handmade way. ;)  Of course, you could always use the shop credits on yourself... Totally up to you if you win!

Okay, so what will one lucky follower win?

~A $5 Shop Credit from Creative Designs~

Go check out Amber's etsy shop to check out her collection of cozy fleece hats, luggage tags, eye masks, and more!

~A $5 Shop Credit from The Pink Woobie

Go take a peek at Chrissy's etsy shop to see her gorgeous knitted scarves, unique beer bottle cozies, cotton and wood teething necklaces, and more!

~$8 Shop Credit from Rational Designs~

Click on over to Amy's etsy shop to see her beautiful handmade notecards, holiday gift tags, and more!

~$10 Shop Credit from City Girl Creations~

Hop on over to Kim's etsy shop to check out her stunning photography, cozy knitted infinity scarves, felt hand puppets, and more!

~One free item of the winner's choice from J&M's Eye Candy Shoppe~

Head over and browse Kristine's etsy shop to find some of the cutest headbands and hair pretties for yourself and your little ones!

Okay, ready to get yourself entered?  Let's knock out a few details of the giveaway first...

Since all my small shop sponsors ship outside the U.S., this giveaway is open internationally. (Please note that shipping charges may be more for orders placed outside the U.S.)

Most of my small shop sponsors will be holding Black Friday and/or Cyber Monday sales, and guess what??  You can use your shop credits with any additional discounts they are offering those days- BONUS! ;)

There is a pinning entry for EACH of my sponsors & my blog that you can come back & do EVERY day of the giveaway for additional entries so make sure you come back daily and pin, pin, pin! (A-hem... that is 6 additional entries each day of the giveaway, folks.)

You must do what you are claiming to do for each entry!  I will check and if you fibbed, you will NOT win. :P

This giveaway ends at 12:01am on Monday, November 19th.  Once the winner is notified, they will have 48 hours to reply.  If the winner does not reply back within 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen.  (Check those spam folders, friends!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Come Meet Kim from City Girl Creations {& A Giveaway!}

Hello Friends of Frugal Foodie Mama!  My name is Kim and I blog over at Singledou[b]t!  

Today I am here to talk about my Etsy Shop, City Girl Creations.  My shop started out as a place to showcase and sell my photography but quickly grew to other items such as my knitting projects and other creations.

At City Girl Creations you can find items like these infinity scarves.

  

Each scarf is hand knit by me and comes with a removable drawstring which ads extra versatility.  The scarves are available in SUPER soft acrylic yarn.

My newest addition to City Girl Knits are my wool blend scarves.

Made with 50% acrylic, 50% wool super bulky weight yarn, this cowl is both soft and ultra warm. These scarves are available in a wide array of colors.

And I can't forget my photography.
A true passion of mine, my photos each share a part of what I love whether its the city I love and live in or the creation around me.
Most of my photos are available in various sizes from 5x7 to 20x16.

Everything in my store, from my scarves to my dish clothes to my photography make great holiday gifts. I work hard to make every item fit the recipient.

My shop items are nicely packaged for easy gift giving.  

As you consider the gifts you will be getting for those in your life, I hope you will consider City Girl Creations!

If you stop by my shop between now and November 16th, you can get 10% off your entire order.  Simply use the code: FRUGAL10OFF.

Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest to access sales & discounts for the holiday season.  Keep an eye out for Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.

Now, lets get to the fun stuff!
I am offering a giveaway to thank you for following Frugal Foodie Mama and for reading this post about my little shop!

Winner will receive their choice of 1 of the following items from my shop

~ An infinity Scarf
~ A set of dish clothes or scrubbies
~ 2 Swiffer covers 
or
~ 1 8x10 photo from City Girl Photography


Thank you for checking out my shop!  
AND
Thank You Carrie for having me!

Happy Entering & Good Luck

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Kim Has a New Name & a Giveaway (Ends Tonight!!)

Good morning all!  In case you didn't notice, I have some fabulous new sponsors over there on my sidebar. >>>

And most of them are women-owned small online shops!  I am proud to have each and every one of them as a part of my blog family this month.  This coming holiday season, I think it is important for us all to buy small, buy handmade, and buy local as much as possible.  Want to stimulate our economy?  Think get clicking and get shopping! ;)

One of my lovely small shop sponsors this month is Kim from City Girl Creations.  

Some of you may also know Kim from her blog, Singledou[b]t. :)
Kim recently held a little contest on her blog to rename her etsy shop... and the big winner was City Girl Creations!  Kim is a NYC gal, so it is perfect, right?? 
In celebration of her new shop name and look, Kim is hosting a giveaway on her blog right now for a $15 store credit to her etsy shop- GREAT for getting a jump start on some of your holiday shopping!  Soooooo... get on over to her blog and get entered ASAP!  Her giveaway ends tonight at midnight so get cracking friends.  
CLICK HERE to go enter!
Psssstttt... she is also offering my readers 20% off their orders just this week to her shop!  Just use coupon code 20OFFCGC! :)   Kim will be on my blog next week, so be on the lookout for more awesomeness from this creative lady!

I'm Giving Away A Bushel...

of FREE ad space on my blog, that is! :)

I have pretty much steered clear of most advertising on my blog. I tried a few of those generic online ads service with very little luck.  I thought a little extra income, even if it is just a few bucks, would help our monthly income a little.  We budget and scrimp to allow us to live on a single income so that I can remain a stay-at-home mama.  But most ad services I have tried just cluttered up my page mostly with ads for products and services that I quite frankly couldn't support or get behind.  I was starting to feel like a sell-out for having them on my page at all.  I mean, do any of my readers REALLY want more information on going to nursing school??  Ummmmm... no.

After having been recommended to check out Passionfruit Ads by more than one fellow blogger, I finally clicked on over to see what all the buzz was about (with my feet dragging, I will admit).  I had been done with advertising for months.  I really wasn't expecting this website to change my mind.

But it absolutely did...

It is blogger friendly.  It is advertiser friendly.

I was able to choose how many ads, what size they would be, where they would be located on my page, and even how much I wanted to charge for each ad.  I get to choose who is advertising on my blog.  I can support mother-owned, female-owned small businesses and blogs.  And only those, if that is what I choose to do.

I want to keep my prices affordable for each ad space.  I am the Frugal Foodie Mama, after all. ;)  Each of my ad spaces also come with a little extra social media love.  The larger the ad  space, the more the love that comes along with it.

To celebrate finally finding an ad service that works for me, I want to give one lucky blogger or small shop owner one of my A Bushel sized ad spots for free for 30 days.  A Bushel ad is a  250x300 space near the top of my sidebar (right under the Follow Me By Email button) and includes one blog feature spot for that month (think a highlight of your blog or shop, a giveaway, guest post from you- your choice!), lots of Twitter love, and up to 8 pins of items from your blog or shop to my Pinterest boards.  I will even brag about you a little on my Facebook page. ;)

To check out all my ad spaces with their features and prices and my blog site stats, click here.

So how can you win?  Just fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Easy, peasy!

Following my blog via GFC (Google Friend Connect- in the sidebar to the right>>) and becoming a fan of my Facebook page are mandatory, will earn you 3 entries into the giveaway, and will open up the Rafflecopter to additional entries.  I have even added 3 fun Scavenger Hunt Questions as well, each worth 1 entry.  (Don't worry. I didn't make them too hard to find. Just use the tabs at the top of my page. ^^^ ;) )

The giveaway ends at 12:01am on Monday, July 30th!  Yep, this is a quick one. ;)  Winner will be announced & notified by email on Monday morning.

Please see the Terms & Conditions below in the Rafflecopter widget for the giveaway fine print.

**Please note-If I you win and I feel your blog or small shop does not reflect the goals of my blog, I reserve the right to choose a new winner. :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway