Shabby Apple Winner!

Hope everyone is having a very merry Christmas!  I'll get right to the winner of my Shabby Apple giveaway.  This girl is one lucky duck and will get her choice of one of these necklaces.

I chose the winner via random.org and it is comment #15.

The winner is...

{image via stolen from their blog}

Amber!

Congrats Amber, I'm so excited for you! 
 Email me at mommydiaries at hotmail dot com and tell me which necklace you want. :)


 Here was the winning comment-
Amber said...

I like Shabby Apple on facebook.

December 11, 2011 2:19 PM

Merry Christmas!

Josh has been waiting for this moment since I was pregnant with Grayson. 

 We bought this cute little red sweater, in size 18 months, on clearance at Gymboree about 2 years ago.  It matched a sweater we already had and used at a tacky Christmas sweater party.  We couldn't resist.  Josh wanted to be able to wear the matching sweaters with his son.

And they finally can!  Happy day. :)

Merry Christmas from our lil' family to you and yours!  

I'm going to be taking a little bloggy break.
I'll be back after lots of Florida family time and the Christmas festivities have been properly soaked in.
Yes.  I am in Florida for Christmas.  You may proceed being jelaous. ;)



P.S.  There are only 2 more days to enter my giveaway!  I'll announce the winner sometime next week.

.

WIWW #4 {Shabby Apple Edition}

It's been awhile since my last outfit post but I'm excited to share this one with you!  I know it's not Wednesday.  I had everything planned out perfectly to post this on Wednesday.  But then my pictures disappeared.  I had my photographer {aka sister} take pictures outside for me.  Big step up from the ones I take in the bathroom {although, there is still one of those}.  There was great weather and light.  I uploaded them to my computer, deleted them off my camera like always, and when I went to look at them, they were ALL completely black!  Ughhh!  I was super bummed. 

So we took pictures again today {when it was freezing} and now I can post my What I Wore Wednesday- Shabby Apple Edition!  Don't forget to enter my Shabby Apple giveaway!  It ends Saturday {the 24th} at midnight.

This first one is what I wore this past Sunday to church.  And I obviously took them myself.

 I love love love the giraffe print, so fun!

 I love this dress.  I promise it looks way better than these crappy pictures show, haha.

Here is a pic from their site to show you!

This was my first and probably favorite Shabby Apple dress.

I love the colors and the stripes and the fit.  It's great!

I've worn this to church and to a wedding this past summer.

Finally, dress #3.  Comfy and classic.  The top part is jersey knit, so super comfy and fits well.

It has pockets too!

The cut of this one is really similar to the first except this has an A-line on the bottom.  The first was a pencil skirt. {except in a dress}

So what do you think of Shabby Apple?  Have any of their dresses? I want way too many... :)

They can seem a little pricey, but I've never been disappointed.  Plus, I've always used some sort of discount code to get a % off or free shipping or both one time!   {You can use mommydiaries10 for 10% off now} And you have to remember it's all-in-one.  No buying a skirt, top, and cardigan or what have you.  By the time you put that all together it adds up.  That's another reason I love dresses.  One thing and you're done planning your outfit; simple and easy!

I'll be linking this up to The Pleated Poppy for What I Wore Wednesday and Real Momma Real Style!


Remember- enter the giveaway if you haven't yet!

Hat

During dinner this little boy decided to put his cup of yogurt on his head like a hat.  He even said "hat" as he was doing it.  Afterward, he wasn't too happy with the cold yogurt dripping down his face.  Being the good mommy blogger that I am, I told Josh to wait a minute before cleaning him up while I ran upstairs to get the camera first!  Gray wasn't too thrilled, haha.

Shabby Apple Giveaway!

Have you heard of Shabby Apple?  Probably yes, unless you've been living under a rock! ;) {I love that Geico commercial!}

Well I seriously was so excited when Shabby Apple contacted me about doing a giveaway!!!  I may have squealed out loud.  I love Shabby Apple, they have the most fabulous women's dresses ever!  for. real.  I currently own 3.  {I just bought my 3rd and can't wait to wear it soon!}  Maybe I'll show off my dresses in another post... if anyone is interested in that???  Let me know!

Ok, back to the giveaway!  Their women's dresses are to die for.  Here are a couple that I love:

 With Honors

This simple green dress is so pretty and sassy!

 Confidential

I would love this elegant, all white {mostly} dress!

Going Steady
 This gray polka dot dress had me at hello!

They have such a HUGE selection that you're sure to find something you love.  But if you knew all that, did you know they also have a gorgeous collection of vintage inspired jewelry?!  Well they do.  And it is fabulous just like their women's dresses.  And lucky you, you could win a beautiful Shabby Apple necklace!  When browsing their selection I couldn't pick just one, so they are letting me give you the choice between 2, yay!

  

The winner gets to choose between...

 Unlock the Queen's Castle

OR

Key to Wonderland

I love both of them, but I'm kind of drawn towards Unlock the Queen's Castle.  Too bad I can't enter my own giveaway!

Also I have an exclusive discount code for you, the readers of The Mommy Diaries!  Use code "mommydiaries10off" for 10% off any order.  Sa-weet!  Code is good for 30 days.

The Giveaway:

Required Entry- 

1. Be a follower of this blog and leave a comment stating that you are. :)

Optional entries-  

2. Like Shabby Apple on Facebook and leave a comment telling you do.  By liking them you'll get in on special promotions and exclusive discounts, woo-hoo!

3. Go visit their website and tell me in a comment which dress is your favorite! 

4. Follow me on Twitter! And leave a comment stating you did.

5. Tweet about this giveaway and tag me in it so I can see! @jennaer  Then leave a comment telling me you did.

You can copy and paste this tweet if you like-  Giveaway: "Win a choice between two Shabby Apple necklaces at The Mommy Diaries @jennaer http://bit.ly/thAoPz"

The Fine Print-  You must have a US shipping address to eligible to win this giveaway.  No exchanges for the winning piece of jewelry.   The giveaway will end in 2 weeks, Saturday the 24th at midnight.

Good luck!

Santa Bum

Is this not the cutest thing you've ever seen?!

 Oh I love that Santa bum!

Thank you Huggies for having the cutest diapers ever!  Have you seen these diapers around? 

I found them on sale at my local grocery store and paired with a coupon I was able to get them for around $4!  I couldn't resist at that price. :)

Here are few more random pictures I wanted to post-

Helping Daddy get out the Christmas decorations.

Bedtime stories.

 I love his elf PJs!

Come back tomorrow for an awesome giveaway!  

Here's a hint ;)

Ruffle Tree Skirt {plus a peek at my Christmas tree!}

Oh yes, I did!  I made something I stumbled on and then pinned to help me remember to make it.  And I actually did.  I've probably only made like 1% of all the things I've pinned.  But this was too great to just sit on my Pinterest board and never get around.

What is it you ask?  Why a gorgeous ruffly tree skirt!

It was inspired by this one from Miss Mustard Seed.  Oh my, so beautiful!  I needed it.

So I followed her tutorial.  Which was super simple and easy.  You wouldn't think so by looking at that gorgeousness.  But it is! 

I used some scrap white fabric I had that was big enough for the base.  Miss Mustard Seed used drop cloth.  Great idea if you don't already have something big enough on hand since it's cheap for the amount you get.  It doesn't really matter too much.  Just something big and neutral. Lucky for me we only have a small tree so I halved the amount she recommends. 

Here's my base piece. {and you can see the tutorial I was referencing on my iPad, haha}  It ended up being about 5 feet in diameter. 

Then I cut out tons of strips of fabric.  I bought the cheapie muslin for $2 a yard at JoAnns.  And I got 3 yards of it.  I didn't quite use all of it, 2.5 yards might have been enough.  But remember, I did a baby tree skirt.  A real size tree would need a whole lot more! 

My first ruffly ring.  It took the longest, obviously.  I like that it gets faster as you work your way in.  

And then after tons of glue sticks, a couple hot glue gun burns, and a few hours...

The fabric will fray, which adds to the beauty of it. 

 I'm in love with it!

After I finished I was kinda glad we don't have a full size tree.  Phew, that would have taken way longer to make. 

And for fun, here are a few of my ornaments that I love.

We got that horse one last year.  I HAD to get it.  I mean, we live in Lexington, KY- the horse capital of the world!  Is there a better way to remember and document our few years here?! ;)  I always get an ornament each year that has the year on it.  That's what my mom did.  And now I love picking one out for my family tree.

Now that my tree has a skirt it looks so complete and perfect, I'm just so happy!  {Plus she's modest, so that's a bonus;)}

So whaddaya think?  Did it turn out almost as good as the original?!

linking here :)