Penguin Personalization Review and Giveaway

This review has been a long time coming, folks. Five months in the making.

Mommy blogger FAIL.

But now, the stars have aligned. Megan over at Penguin Personalization is ready, I've actually remembered to sit down and do this, and all systems are finally a go.

REWINDING... I had so many ideas in my head of what I wanted Nora's birthday party to look like. I settled on an ice cream cone theme pretty early on, and started envisioning the details--the invitations, the food, the cake, a perfect sundae bar with fixings set up straight out of a magazine, the decor... and the birthday girl's outfit, of course.

Because of the timing of our move, I had to let pretty much all of it go (except the outfit!). It was still a nice party and everything was cute--but it was thrown together last-minute and it just did not completely live up to my Martha Stewart-like expectations for myself. But I long ago decided to give myself a break given the circumstances, SO I DIGRESS.

Anyway, a week or so before the party, I realized that I hadn't yet figured out what I was going to do for Nora's outfit. I had found a cute jean skirt I wanted her to wear, but I was at a loss for the t-shirt. I had been searching for something that would tie into our ice cream theme, but hadn't had much luck in stores. Online, I had pinned a number of options, but... I certainly hadn't left myself very much time.

And then I remembered Megan, who started up her own little business, Penguin Personalization. Megan and I "met" 4+ years ago when we were both planning our June 2008 weddings--hers in Louisiana, mine in New York. I shot her a quick e-mail asking if she would be able to do a custom embroidered t-shirt for me, and she not only agreed to get it to me in time for Nora's birthday (only about a week away), but also offered to give the shirt to me for a review AND sponsor a giveaway on my blog. That Megan; gotta love her. Seriously, though, at that time in my life I was possibly more stressed than I had ever been, so Megan was honestly a lifesaver. I almost cried. :)

So, point #1: Megan is flexible, friendly, and a doll to work with.

Once I described to Megan what I was looking for--a colorful shirt with an ice cream cone, perhaps Nora's name, and I liked the idea of a cherry on top--she went to work, creating several custom designs for me. She e-mailed me the concepts, and I was really impressed with her creativity. For one of them, instead of just a plain ol' cherry on top of the ice cream, she had made the "cherry" a #1! How cute is that? Of course, we picked that design.

Megan was also really helpful in determining the best size t-shirt to order for Nora. With inconsistent sizing among clothing brands, it can be really difficult to order things sight unseen, but Megan did her best to relay the brands and sizes to me in ways I could relate to (i.e. I was somewhat familiar with Walmart's sizing, and Carter's).

When the t-shirt arrived in the mail just a few days later, I was thrilled with the result. The applique/embroidery is of great quality, and done in a way that doesn't cause any "puckering" or other unsightly problems with the t-shirt fabric. We couldn't wait for Nora to wear it at her party.

As you might know by now, Nora's party was a success, and we received many compliments on her t-shirt. She wore it several more times throughout September, and the embroidery held up just fine in the washing machine.

If you're looking for custom t-shirts for your babes, I highly recommend Megan and Penguin Personalization.

And, she doesn't JUST do t-shirts; Megan has a variety of personalized products available, such as hats, towels, blankets, bags, handkerchiefs, and more. Peruse her website and Facebook pages to see some of her work. If there's something you'd like but don't see, or it's listed as out of stock, be sure to contact Megan directly at penguinpersonalization@gmail.com. One of the biggest advantages to working with her is that she can do pretty much anything (after all, it's personalized, y'all). Here is just a selection of the things she can do:

THE GIVEAWAY
Now... Megan/Penguin Personalization has offered to give away a MINT (brand) Cosmo Bag with an embroidered initial to one lucky Heather Drive reader! These bags (shown below) are really versatile, as they can be used as a makeup bag, wipe case, purse organizer, a case for pens and pencils, etc. Surely you could find a use for it, or give it away as a gift!

Giveaway Prize:
(1) MINT Cosmo Bag, embroidered with an initial from Penguin Personalization

Please make sure to follow the entry instructions carefully. They're not difficult, but you must follow the instructions in order to be eligible to win.

To enter, simply leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite item/design from Penguin Personalization's website or Facebook page. Also, please leave an e-mail address where you can be contacted if you win.

Limitations:
Only one comment/entry per person. Giveaway open only to residents of the United States. (Sorry to all of my international readers!)

Deadline:
This giveaway will end at 8 p.m. EST on Friday, January 27. Entries left after the deadline will be ineligible to win.

Winner:
One winner will be chosen using random.org. The winner will be announced on my blog and will be e-mailed notification of the win. Winner has 72 hours to respond to my initial contact, or a new winner will be chosen.

Good luck!

Disclaimer: Penguin Personalization provided Nora's custom birthday t-shirt at no cost to me, in exchange for my review of the product. However, opinions expressed within the review are my own. (I hope you know me well enough by now to know that I wouldn't positively review a product that I wouldn't back anyway, whether I paid for it or not!). Penguin Personalization is also sponsoring the MINT Cosmo Bag giveaway.

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Giveaway Reminder

We got a new computer (finally a Mac, wheee!) a few weeks ago and it's been difficult to transfer photos from our DSLR, oddly enough. So until we score a card reader (probably this weekend), my posts have been pretty boring and photo-less. There are some of Nora from earlier this week that I would love to share!

Until we rectify that situation, I just wanted to quickly remind everyone that the Abby's Lane $10 gift certificate giveaway ends TONIGHT at 8:00 p.m., so get your entries in now! I will be determining a winner this weekend. Good luck!

Enjoy your weekends! We don't have much on the agenda, aside from a little Christmas shopping and LOTS of loving on our girl! :)

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Blueberry Diaper Review & Abby's Lane Giveaway

Maybe you already cloth diaper. Maybe you're interested in trying it. Or maybe you're not into it at all.

Any which way you lean, don't discard this post! There is something for everyone; I promise.

I jumped into cloth diapering not really knowing how it would work out. I hoped we could do it, I was determined to do it, but I just wasn't sure. When I started to do all of my research and was ready to buy, one of the online stores I chose to buy from was Abby's Lane. And for every cloth diaper purchase I've made since building our initial stash, I've gone back to Abby's Lane.

Things I love:
1. Abby's Lane offers free shipping on every order, every day. There is no minimum purchase requirement. Want to try out ONE cloth diaper? Go ahead and buy just one; you won't pay for shipping. I love that, because I absolutely loathe paying for shipping.

2. If you're a member of their e-mail list, there is always a 5% off coupon code to use on every order (except for Ergo Baby products). While 5% may not seem like a lot, it is more than most cloth diaper retailers offer, and of course, every little bit of savings adds up!

3. Fast order turnaround and shipping. Most of the time, I receive my orders within several days of placing them. Even with the holiday last week, and the fact that the people at Abby's Lane were bombarded with Black Friday orders come Friday--I placed an order late on Tuesday night, it shipped on Friday, and I received it today. I love that, because when I order something, I want it yesterday. :)

4. Great customer service. One time, I placed an order for a couple different kinds of pocket diapers in different colors. As it turned out, the inventory on their website was off a little bit, and one of the colors I had ordered was out of stock. Stephanie (the owner) e-mailed me right away to apologize and let me know that it was out of stock, requested that I pick a different color, and refunded me $2 just to make up for the fact that I didn't get my first choice color. Not only that, but it's easy to ask Abby's Lane questions--and they answer them, too. Contact them by e-mail, through Facebook, or through Twitter, and they'll get back to you quickly.

5. Inventory includes a wide variety of products--those involving cloth diapers, and plenty that don't. All of the cloth diaper brands that I wanted to try are offered by Abby's Lane. Not only that, but they offer many other fun products as well. BabyLegs, Pedipeds shoes, shopping cart covers, baby carriers, etc.

All in all, Abby's Lane has been great to me. They are now my go-to online store for all things cloth diapering, and I'm just waiting for Nora to get some fat on her legs so I can order her very first pair of BabyLegs, because oh.my.gosh, so cute.

Because I love Abby's Lane so much, they sent me a Blueberry One-Size Deluxe Cloth Diaper to review on my blog. I recently told you all how we've been using bumGenius and Fuzzibunz one-size diapers, but I was excited to have the opportunity to try out a third brand as well. I picked the "pink lemonade" pattern, and when it arrived, I immediately loved it just for the way it looks.

One thing I don't care for with bumGenius is the colors--with the exception of their Artist Series they just released, all of their diapers are solid pastel colors. Booooring. Not so with Blueberry--they have many fun colors and patterns. It was difficult to choose just one!

As is the case with most (all?) pocket diapers, the Blueberry came with two inserts--a "newborn" insert, and a standard insert that is longer and more absorbent.

One thing I noticed right away is that the outside of the diaper shell is "silkier" than that of bumGenius or Fuzzibunz. The snaps are a little bit different, but the sizing mechanism is essentially the same as bumGenius--three snaps in the front allow you to "snap down" the diaper to the smaller sizes.

The pocket of the diaper provides plenty of room for extra inserts. It's also easy to get your hand in there, making for easy stuffing (which is a complaint I have about Fuzzibunz--difficult to stuff!). The pocket simply has an opening at the back; nothing fancy.

Upon trying the diaper on Nora, I noticed that it seemed just a tad bulkier than bumGenius, but still seemed to offer a pretty good fit all around. After wearing it for a few hours, however, when I went to change her, it seemed like the diaper had ridden down a little bit on her waist--meaning it was very low on her hips. This may just be a result of Nora still being a bit too small for this diaper, and perhaps this is something that will stop happening when she grows a little bit bigger. Still, she's worn the Blueberry diaper a couple of times now and we haven't had any leaks.

Overall, the Blueberry makes a great addition to our stash. We're going to wait another several weeks before putting the finishing touches on our cloth diaper supply, and if it turns out we like the Blueberry as much as the bumGenius in the long run, we'll probably order a few more of them to give some more variety to Nora's diapers.

Now... Abby's Lane has offered a $10 gift certificate to one lucky Heather Drive reader! If you aren't into cloth diapering, don't worry--as I mentioned before, Abby's Lane offers other baby/children's products as well. And if you don't have children? Well, surely you must have someone on your Christmas list that does, right? :)

Giveaway Prize:
$10 Gift Certificate to Abby's Lane

Please make sure to follow the entry instructions carefully. They're not difficult, but you must follow the instructions in order to be eligible to win.

To Enter:
1. Visit the Abby's Lane website and pick out an item that you would use the gift certificate toward if you were to win. (Please note that if you do win, you don't HAVE to buy the item you choose.)

2. Come back here and leave a comment on this post, providing: your first name, your e-mail address, and a link to your chosen Abby's Lane product. (To be eligible to win, you must provide all three of these things.)

Limitations:
Only one comment/entry per person. Giveaway open only to residents of the United States and Canada.

Deadline:
This giveaway will end at 8 p.m. on Friday, December 10. Entries left after the deadline will be ineligible to win.

Winner:
One winner will be chosen using random.org. The winner will be announced on my blog and will be e-mailed notification of the win. Winner has 72 hours to respond to my initial contact, or a new winner will be chosen.

Good luck!

Disclaimer: Abby's Lane provided the Blueberry Diaper at no cost to me, in exchange for my review of the product. However, opinions expressed within the review are my own. Abby's Lane is also sponsoring the $10 gift certificate giveaway.

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Heather Drive Baby Pool - WINNER!

In all, 167 people entered the Heather Drive Baby Pool. Thank you to everyone who participated; it was really fun to see the guesses pour in and added to the excitement while we anticipated the arrival of our baby.

The results were mathematically calculated by ExpectNet. The most important aspect of the guessing was the baby's sex--if you were wrong about that, you had no chance of winning! Then the other elements were taken into consideration as well, and everyone was given points for their guesses based on how close or far off they were. The object of the game was to actually get the LEAST amount of points.

Without further ado, the winner of the Heather Drive Baby Pool is...

CHRISTIE FROM TENNESSEE!! :)

To refresh your memories, Nora was born at 3:29 a.m. on 9/11/10, weighed 6 lbs., 10 oz., and was 20 inches long.

Christie correctly guessed that we were having a girl, and also guessed the correct birth date. She was also pretty darn close on the baby's weight and length. Way to go, Christie!

If you'd like to see how you ranked, you can check out the Heather Drive Baby Pool page to see all results.

Christie is the winner of a vintage apron of her choice from Etsy seller Terrace Hill, and the Martha Stewart Cupcakes book.

Congrats to Christie, and thanks again to all of you for playing!

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Baby Pool: Last Chance!

Now that I am (ohmygod) 36 weeks pregnant, it's time to shut down the Heather Drive Baby Pool. In other words, if you've been slacking, you need to get your guesses in now in order to have a chance to win an awesome vintage apron from Etsy seller Terrace Hill. In case you missed the first post with all of the details, it's here, but check out this cute apron as an example:

I'm also throwing in a Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book for our winner, so hurry up and enter!

All you need to do is go to our Heather Drive Baby Pool page on Expectnet.com and enter your guesses for our baby's sex, birth date and time, weight, and length. Also, PLEASE remember to enter your e-mail address in the "How do you know the parents?" field so that we can easily get in touch with you should you become our winner.

See all terms and conditions for the contest and giveaway at the original Baby Pool post.

You all have until Sunday, August 22 at 9:00 p.m. EDT to get in your entries. At that time, the pool will be closed, and we'll just be waiting for baby to arrive! :)

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Baby Pool & Vintage Apron Giveaway

The time has arrived! At 32 weeks pregnant with only 8 (maybe?) weeks to go, it is time to announce the start of the Heather Drive Baby Pool. And, we figure that a contest surrounding the birth of our baby is the perfect time to do our very first giveaway. In other words, if you make the best guesses? There are *prizes* to be won. :)

So here's the deal: Hop on over to our Heather Drive Baby Pool page on Expectnet.com and enter your guesses for our baby's sex, birth date and time, weight, and length. We'll leave it open to new entries until 9:00 p.m. EDT on Sunday, August 22, at which point the contest will be closed. (I'll be 36 weeks pregnant at that time.) Then, all we do is wait for the baby to be born. After that, I'll enter the baby's stats into the system, and Expectnet.com will determine a winner based on all of your entries.

Now you're probably wondering what you might win, right? Well, you're in luck because it is super cute, people. Etsy seller Terrace Hill has agreed to sponsor this contest, and she's offering one of her vintage aprons to the Heather Drive Baby Pool winner. Not only that, but I'm throwing in a copy of this Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book. So you'll have something to bake up in the kitchen AND you'll look cute while doing it!

How cute? Well, just take a look at some of these Terrace Hill aprons...

Every girl needs an apron, right? Gah, there are so many adorable ones that it is difficult to choose a favorite! Click on over to Terrace Hill's Etsy shop and take a look around, as the aprons are affordable and make unique gifts! And if you don't end up winning the pool, perhaps you'll still want to treat yourself. ;) Also consider becoming a fan of Terrace Hill Shop on Facebook so that you will be notified when new designs are added to the shop!

A couple of important things to note:

1) You do NOT need to register to enter a guess with Expectnet.com, so no worries. It is super simple! Enter on our Heather Drive Baby Pool page.

2) When you enter through Expectnet.com, YOU MUST ENTER A VALID E-MAIL ADDRESS in the "A phrase or two describing how you know the parents" field. Otherwise, we will have no way of validating who "Karen" or "Anne" is and will have no way of contacting you to let you know you have won.

3) If you are determined to be the winner, you will work directly with Chadley at Terrace Hill to arrange shipment of your apron. Also, you must choose among Terrace Hill's current stock of aprons at the time of the contest's official end (i.e. when you are notified).

4) Only one entry per person, please. Duplicate entries will be deleted.

5) Make sure to enter a guess for ALL of the fields (sex, birthday, time, weight, height), otherwise you will be hurting your chances at winning!

6) The contest is open to all, whether you live here in the U.S., or outside of it. My international readers are more than welcome to participate! :)

7) Again, all entries MUST be entered into the Expectnet.com system by Sunday, August 22 at 9 p.m. EDT. The contest will be closed to entries at that time.

8) You'll notice that Michael and I have entered our own guesses. We are just as clueless as all of you (we don't even have any "feelings" about the sex of the baby), so we thought it would be fun to venture guesses of our own. However, please rest assured that we are NOT eligible to win.

Questions? Please ask in the comments. Also, if you just HAVE to know whether my pillow faces north or south in order to make your guesses, ask those types of things in the comments as well. ;)I'll answer everything in the comments so everyone is privy to the same information!

A few basics: The due date calculated by my doctor's office is September 18. The due date calculated based on my ovulation chart is September 19. I was 10 days early, and Michael was born on his due date. (Supposedly this stuff is supposed to help? HA!)

We look forward to your participation and seeing all of the entries come rolling in. Happy guessing!

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