Much Love, Illy GIVEAWAY

hello, friends! my name is ilene from Much Love, illy. when i'm not writing at my blog, you can find me over at my etsy shop, sewing poppy garland headbands and oversized bows, creating rosebud earrings, and more! a few things that you need to know about me if we are going to be good friends is that...

- i am overly obsessed with coffee and need a cup a day - or on some days, two or three cups. 

- i write everything down - if it's not in a journal, you'll find my scribbles on a post it note or loose leaf piece of paper.

- superhero movies like spiderman, ironman and batman are my fave. i'm like a kid at a carnival when i watch them!

- i like to paint my nails every three days. 

- my weaknesses include chocolate chip cookies, potato chips, and peanut butter silk pie. so if you ever wanted to kill me, take these away from me, i will surely die.

and because i am SUPER giddy to be a part of Laura's blog, i want to offer 
you all a chance to rock your own Much Love, illy poppy garland headband or 
big bow hair clip! today you have a chance to win $25 Much Love, illy shop credit! 

{giveaway:}

for your chance to win the $25 Much Love, illy shop credit, please visit my shop
and let me know what you would spend the shop credit on if you win!
{leave a comment below}

{additional entries:}

- be a public GFC follower of this blog (1 entry)

- be a public GFC follower of Much Love, illy (1 entry)

- Like the Much Love, illy Facebook page (1 entry)

- follow @muchloveilly and @_laurahernandez via Twitter (1 entry)

- blog, tweet or facebook about this giveaway and include its link (1 entry)
{leave a comment below for each}

{don't wanna wait?}

use coupon code LAURAROCKS20 for 20% off of your entire order from my shop!

thank YOU so much, Laura for having me - and thank YOU to all of her readers for welcoming me here today! please remember to stop and visit - i always love making new friends! 

{much love, illy.}

The Mama behind Mama Marchand's Nest

Hi, Our Reflection readers! I'm thrilled that my sweet friend, Laura, has graciously allowed me to take over her bloggy space today. What an honor!

I am a youth pastor's wife, a mama to a sweet & spunky two year old little girl, author of Mama Marchand's Nest, owner of Mama's Nest Designs, and a part time employee (but not for long!). To say I'm busy is an understatement. There is a reason why this mama has to have a ginormous caramel iced coffee first thing every morning! Our life is chaotic but it's also wonderful. We often get asked "how do manage it all?" Well, very carefully.

1.) We say no. We have to. We just can't be involved in everything we're asked to even though most of it is good stuff! I've had to pass up several incredible opportunities both with my blog and my shop but I have no regrets. The hubs has done the same because family absolutely comes first!

2.) We have family meetings. We literally sit down every weekend and go over our weekly calendars. You should see my Erin Condren planner, y'all. It is highlighted, underlined, and filled with globs of white out, filled with playdates, the hubs' ministry schedule, blog posts, and more.

3.) We schedule in spontaneity. Say what? As crazy as that sounds, we schedule in free time. It's our precious family time, time that we don't touch, time that's just for us to do whatever we want, just the three of us. You'll often find us at IKEA, eating cheap but delicious food and wandering the marketplace or at Target, checking out the dollar aisle for fun stuff to do. We LOVE going to the National Zoo in Washington, DC and we also love to just take off in the car and find a new place to explore.

These are the three top ways that our family of three stays sane AND connected. Tell me - what suggestions do you have for keeping track of your family's schedule? What kinds of things do you do in your family free time?

Thanks to Laura for the blessing of guest posting for her today! I hope you'll click over and say hello! *smile*

blog | shop | twitter | facebook

July Group Giveaway Spectacular

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These ladies are fantastic! I encourage you to reach out and visit each one of them.

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Meet & Tweet Twitter Hop

I heart Thursdays! I love the opportunity to meet so many new friends.

Last week we had a record breaking turnout with over 200 link up's! AMAZING!

This week I'm raising the bar just a little more....

If we can get to 300 link up's, one lucky person is going to win 

250 custom business cards for their blog. How cool is that?!

Now let's get this PAR-TAY started! 

Ready to make new Twitter friends?
Sweetness, just follow the rules.


RULES:
Link up your Twitter account, not your blog.
Follow your host and co-hosts. {The first 8 in the linky.}

HOST: Laura from Our Reflection

Thanks so much to my amazing co-hosts:


Maria from Agape Love Designs
Erin from Pretty, Polished, Perfect.
Mar from Raising Bean
Jamie from Moms Test Kitchen
Amanda from Tales from a Far
Brittany from Bee Little Queen
Elizabeth from La Vita e Bella

Loving this hop? Shout it out to all your friends!

The more the merrier.

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Co-Host spots for August are now available. Interested?

Email me for details at momsgonnasnap@gmail.com.

Thanks so much for linking up today!

Hope you've had fun and made some amazing new friends.

Save the Date! Next Hop: 8/2

Grab a button and add it to your blog!

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Casey Wiegand Posing Tips + Ad Space GIVEAWAY

Hi! My name is Casey Wiegand, I am a freelance artist, wife and mama. I also own an art studio for kiddos in Dallas! I love painting and sharing our life through my blog...where you can expect pieces of my perspective on life, faith, kids, loss, marriage, with touches of art, creative inspiration, projects and things I love along the way.

Finding your style as a mama: know yourself. Expressing yourself through your style is a way that you can tap into a range of who you are. Your tastes, likes, interests, personality and channeling that all into the way you dress. Don't be afraid to express style through uniqueness and individuality. 

Make a board on pinterest. Pinterest is fabulous for seeking style inspiration. Sometimes it helps to just see your outfits planned out in visual form and then making those a reality when you walk in your closet! I have an inspiration board called style where I pin outfits and looks that I would love to recreate. Feeling comfortable in front of the lens: take your photos with someone you feel comfortable with! Both my husband & my friend, Kristen make me feel comfortable to be silly sometimes...they also can be honest when something isn't working. Another great tip is finding angles & poses that you feel pretty in. If you have 2 or 3 "go to" angles or poses then you will be set!

Lastly, you don't have to spend a lot. Even a white tshirt & jeans goes a long way with the right accessories. I think simple style with some fun accessories is a great "go to" as a mama. 

I'm just loving these tips! Thanks Casey. 
How would you like to win ad space on Casey's blog?That's just a crazy question! Who Wouldn't?!


Here's your chance....

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Threads by The Shine Project GIVEAWAY

K&Camera GIVEAWAY

hi you lovely Our Reflection readers!
i'm so excited to be here today.
first, let me introduce myself!

the name's kylie and i carry my camera everywhere.
i then named a blog after it.
yep - k&camera is the name!

i'm a self taught photographer and camera junkie.
i bought my first DSLR when i was 15 and broke.

i can remember that day like it was yesterday.
i walked into rockbrook camera in omaha, nebraska, and said,
"i'd like to buy that DSLR."
the worker looked at me as if i was supposed to be in school.
or day care.
or something.
apparently they didn't get a whole lot of 15-probably-looks-like-a-10-year-old girls.
i was heading over to europe with my cousin who's about 3 months younger than me.
i wanted a camera.
i wanted a NICE camera.
i wanted to be able to document this once-in-a-lifetime trip!
(ps - what mother let's their 15 year old daughter go to europe basically by herself? - yeah i don't know the answer to that question)
so, sure enough, he brought out a Nikon box with my brand new stinkin' camera in it.
i wrote that check - painfully - and walked out the door a new person.
a photographer. 
i decided that day that i was going to get good at this picture-takin'-stuff.

five years later, i still have that same old camera - she needs an update! :/
she's still kickin' and i'm still kickin' it old school with my D40.
come visit me HERE, i'd love to chat with you!!

anyway, let's get to the good stuff:
i'm giving away a rockin' prize today to one of you lucky readers!!
eeeeeeeeek!!!! how excited are you???

here's the goods:

yep, one reader will recieve 3 custom designed buttons for their blog or shop AND a medium ad space on my bloggy for the month of august! 

alright, so go do your happy dance and then sit back down and enter this shhhha-weeeeet giveaway. 

:)

xoxo - kylie

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Sponsor.

You have a blog, shop or business you want to promote?

Join the Our Reflection team!

Current stats

{as of July 2012}

18,000 monthly page views

1,330+ GFC Followers

1,500+ Twitter Follower

1,280+ Facebook Fans

I use Passionfruit for all sponsorships to make things easy peasy.

You can grab your spot HERE.

Thank you for your interest and I look forward to partnering together.  

Confession: I'm Addicted

Who would have though in such a short amount of time I could become addicted.

Seriously. My body has cravings and aches for more.

I'm talking about exercise. What did you think I was talking about?!

Just 2 short weeks ago I started a new healthier lifestyle.

Being aware of what I eat, counting calories and exercising daily.

This is not a diet, this is a lifestyle change.

The most awesome part, we're doing this as a family.

Farmers market every weekend to stalk up on our fruits and veggies.

Hitting the gym 5 days a week.

It's so much easier to keep it up if you have a team behind you.

It's weird, but I forgot how good it felt to live healthy.

How when you exercise you have more energy, more will-power, more metal strength.

Together my daughter and I have lost over 10lbs. 

A few things I'm doing differently that I have in the past.

1) My Fitness Pal - This is the new app I'm using to track my daily calorie intake.

It is extremely awesome and if you have friends using it, it's interactive. Let's be friends!

Screenshots

Photos c/o My Fitness Pa

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2) Do this 2-3 times a day. Yeah, you'll feel it. Trust me

I'm just pumped and wanted to share my excitement with you guys.

What I must keep telling myself...

The one thing I really wish I could do is run. I don't know what's wrong with me but I run down the driveway and I winded but I can ride a bike a miles. This is my new goal. At the gym I always avoid the treadmill. I'm not planning on running a marathon anytime soon, but I will run. The outcomes worth it.

God blessed me with this body, not its time I start taking care of it.

Coffee Date Vlog: Me & My Girls

 

Hi Everyone. Doing my little happy Friday dance over here. I'm so glad you stopped by for our weekly Coffee Date. These link ups make me crave Starbucks since I've been without for the past few weeks with my calorie counting. Random Fact: Did you know a Tall Skinny Peppermint Mocha has only 110 calories! My weakness. My third week in a row linking up with a vlog and I seriously need to lean how to do all those fancy smancy editing tricks some of you do. With the scrolling words, music... Maybe next week. 

This week I'm excited to have two guests, my girls. Now let me warn you going into this, they had no idea what I was doing. Creating a vlog, yes. They are used to me locking myself in my room every Thursday evening and talking with myself for a bit. LOL But this week I asked them to pull up a sofa cushion and get comfy. I reassured them they didn't have to talk, just listen. I had something I wanted to tell them. I apologize in advance for this turning into an all out cry fest on my part. 

When praying about what I should share with you today, I ran across this:

Photo credit

Made you think hua? If not, stop and read it again.Your children WILL become who YOU are; so be who YOU want THEM to be. It stopped me in my tracks. It got me thinking... Am I the type of mom I want my kids to be? Yes and no. I talk a lithe more about my weakness in the vlog. 

One thing we do a lot of in our house is praise. Our kids know we are very proud of them, of what they do and who they've become, but sometimes they need a little more. Especially if you have more than one. My head tells me that my kids know how I feel about them, and they probably do, but it sure does feel good to hear it every once in awhile right? I encourage you to take a few minutes and talk to your kids on a deeper level. Life is too short, we never know what could happen tomorrow. Make sure you kids know exactly how you feel. Don't assume.

Next week our family will be on a much needed vacation so I'll miss having coffee with you. The good news is while we're on-location, my hubby and I will be recording our first vlog together. We're traveling back to where we honeymooned 11 short years ago, and he thought what better of a place to do our vlog from. 

So until next week, be blessed.

Linking up today for Coffee here.

Linking up here today for what's on my heart.