My First Giveaway!!

So, we’re all clear on the fact that FPIES has made the Cradle Rocking Family start stretching pennies into dimes, right?

And that even without having our house crumbling around us, we may be in serious dire straights this summer if I can’t manage to return to work in a way that will also keep Zac alive?

All clear?

OK, good.  I just wanted us to all be on the same page, so it would make sense to you when I tell you that Darrel and I are trying to come up with Ways To Make Money that don’t involve me going off to work.

We’ve considered and discarded many, many ideas, mostly due to the fact that it would be really hard for me to be a telemarketer out of my home with Jed shrieks and Zac babbles going on in the background (all set to a Thomas and Friends TV Show theme song, of course!).  And almost everything else we could think of would basically require large amounts of childcare to free my time, which, um, that’s kind of the problem – we can’t find childcare, and if we could, we couldn’t afford it!

So, we started thinking outside the box.  Hmm…

Well, once upon a time, I was a pretty crafty person. I let that part of myself fall by the wayside when I started having little boys running around my house; they think it’s FUN to unravel Mama’s crocheting while  she’s crocheting it, after all!

But I’m picking that part of myself up off the shelf, dusting it off, and giving it a little time and attention, because hel-LO! Have you SEEN Etsy? People BUY that stuff!!

(And, you know, we’re kind of almost broke, here.)

SO, I opened an Etsy shop!

(I’ll confess it here, if not on my actual shop: I’m squeezing this in between taking care of my two boys, cooking 6 meals a day, doing laundry, cleaning the floors 3-5 times a day, so, yeah, I know I need more pictures on my listings and a banner for the top and a whole bunch of other things to make it look better but, well, you have to start somewhere and if I wait til I can get all those things done and perfect I’ll NEVER sell anything! Whew! The run-on sentence patrol is going to ticket me for that one!)

Of course, the first things I could think of to make and sell were something I myself had wanted: birds nest pendants!  If you have daughters, you get pink pearls! If you have boys, you get blue pearls! If you have both, you get purple pearls! (Just kidding!) No, if you have both, you get a pink or blue pearl for each of your offspring. Totally customized to your own little nest of hatchlings!

Then I saw pea pod pendants and thought those were awesome, too!

And I have more ideas for things I’m going to add to the store, but for now, in honor of Mother’s Day next weekend (guys, did you forget?), I’m GIVING AWAY one pendant to one of my lucky readers! 

You have TWO chances to win. Leave a comment telling me you’ve subscribed to my blog for one entry. Leave a comment telling me you’re a fan of my Facebook page for another! (They have to be two separate comments, as the winning entry will be drawn from the comments section of this post.)

I’m going to let the entry period run through Tuesday morning, May 7th, which should still leave enough time to ship the winner their pendant in time for Mother’s Day.

SO…

Make sure you’re a “fan” of the Cradle Rocking Mama Facebook page (and tell me so in a comment).

Subscribe to my blog (and tell me you have in a comment). Just click on the RSS button or email button on the top right hand side of the blog page.

And Tuesday morning, bright and early, I’ll pick a winner! (Through some highly scientific but as yet undetermined method…like having Jed randomly point at the screen or something.)

Then, when YOU win, we’ll have a lovely email exchange where you tell me which pendant you want, designating however many kids/eggs/peas and which color you need them, and I’ll drop it off for quick delivery!

Click on over to my Etsy shop for more photos of the variations on these necklaces that are available.

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Now, if you just can’t wait for the contest to end because you HAVE to have one of these NOW, well, this is your lucky day! I’ve set up a discount coupon for my beautiful readers! (Really, have I told you how beautiful you are lately?)

From now through Mother’s Day, you can simply use “Mothers13” at checkout to receive 10% off your entire order from my shop!

I know I have the most brilliant, talented, amazing readers on the planet, and I’m SURE that you all have fabulous friends, too, right? If you don’t mind, would you be the kind and generous people I know you are and share this giveaway and my Etsy shop links with your buddies?

You know, to help feed my kiddos? They sure would appreciate it if you’d help their Mama out!

(The gratuitous gushing, fawning, begging and brown-nosing is over now, thank goodness!)

Ready…Set…ENTER TO WIN!!!

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And, I’m so sorry to my non-US readers, but I am not practiced at mailing things out of the country. So for at least this giveaway, I’m limiting it to US Residents only. Hugs and apologies, and I hope I can include y’all in future giveaways! Thanks for sticking around!