Minted - Holiday Cards Giveaway- Over $100 Value!

Most of my holiday giveaways won't start until after Halloween, but I had to get this one in now. If you are like me, you are already booking your Christmas photo shoot this month. (If you don't book ASAP all the good photographers will be full!) I wanted to make sure you got this fabulous prize pack in plenty of time. 

(Scroll to the bottom of this post for some of my photographer recommendations.)

I am a bit of a stationary guru. I really really love stationary. I have the worlds worst handwriting, but I still love to send snail mail. And the very best stationary?

Minted.

I can honestly say I have tried out almost every major card company out there. Last year I ordered Christmas cards from three different companies. I wanted to see the difference. Minted is light years beyond anyone out there. First of all, their paper is gorgeous. Incredible quality and feel. You can upgrade to pearlescent paper or even recycled. The ink is crisp and rich. Second, the designs are darling. Always the most updated looks, because it is a community design team. They take designs from upcoming artists, let fans vote, and they sell the most popular. So you alway know that your design is a winner.

And the best part? A designer personally makes sure the card is just how you want it, and even sends you a digital proof! No way to goof that up.

Some of my favorites from this year.....

family year in review

notch

kraft ribbon

Rustic frame (almost all the photo cards have a non-photo version)

all the stops

we give thanks thanksgiving cards

Vintage Christmas Striped 

fresh flurries 

I am sooo tempted by the varsity holiday card. Yellow!!! Hard to find this color for Christmas time.

Yellow not your thing, no big, you can pick from several colors for each different card.

How about red? or blue or green?

Pick the color that best matches your photo.

And then you have all the backers for your card to choose from.

Or if you wanted it to be a folded card, you can design your interior.

Slip in envelope liner, so very posh.

And don't forget the skinny wrap address labels. Not only do they add that extra something, they keep your card protected. 

Want something totally over the top this year? Try the Minibooks. 

Last year I ordered some holiday nostalgia minibooks and they turned out amazing. 

Like a little gift. These would be great to order for family members to hang on their tree every year.

Pretty much I'm obsessed with Minted. Can you tell? 

As soon as you order from them, you will be too.

One natalie's sentiments reader will be receiving 50 holiday flat cards along with backers and skinny wrap address labels. 

Oh yeah! 

Everyone gets 15% off when you enter EARLYBIRD15 by Oct 17th!

To enter:

Head over to Minted and then come back here and let me know what holiday card you would choose if you won.

For additional entries, let me know in a separate comment if:

• Are a public follower 
• Like natalie's sentiments on Facebook.
• You have my button on your blog 
• Tweet or Facebook or blog about this giveaway.

I'll announce the winner on October 25th. Good luck!

US addresses only

Some of my favorite photographers:

For Spokane Washington Area: m photo

For Boise, ID:  Amber Fischer Photography

Chattanooga, TN:  Pleasant Vonnoh

Pumpkins and Puke.

Saturday: Shane ran his first half marathon. YAY!!!!!

That night our little family found ourselves skipping though the most sincere 

pumpkin patch we could find. 

Splurged on fair food and stayed up late. See our fun Saturday outing here.

It was a perfect day.

And then...

Sunday Morning: Shane kissed me goodbye at 6:30am.  I feel back asleep knowing I had at least another blissful hour of slumber. Ten minutes later I heard that tell-tale urgent cry on the monitor that only means one thing. I found a sobbing Collin in a huge puddle of vomit. The smell made me retch. I pulled him out, brushed his teeth and gave him a bath. Lydia was awake by then and decided she wanted an early morning bath too.

I cleaned up the puke.

Is there any worse chore than cleaning up vomit?

I quickly showered to get all the puke off me. I was just getting dressed when I heard Lydia scream.

Crap.

Literally.

Collin filled the bathtub with bright blue poop. Cotton candy apparently turns your poop blue. Good to know. Kids transfered to new bath. 

I cleaned up the poop. 

I had to shower again. The smell of my home was not pleasant. I went through a bottle of 409 and lit four candles.

No church for us. Collin was not a well boy. And I feel really bad about that because it probably had a lot to do with the food we "treated" the kids to the night before. We had a Sunday at home with lots of cuddle and naps. And more puking and baths.

And that was my weekend. 

I really do love being a mother. But sometimes it stinks.

R U LDS 2?

When I'm traveling though the blogosphere, I'm always amazed at how many bloggers are Mormon. I usually have a suspicion, once I hap upon a blog, that it's a woman of my faith. They just have a kind of Mormon feel to them. Then I see a little Mormon button and I know for sure. Not sure if I have a Mormon feel to mine. Hope so. I like being Mormon. It's a big part of who I am. (Though the actual name of our church is "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" in case you didn't know.)  I've mentioned before I have a deep respect for Mormon women. Though I openly admit some of the Mormon culture particular to this area drives me a little bonkers. But I guess every place has its issues. I've definitely learned this in the myriad of places I've lived.

So just wondering....

R U LDS 2?

Winner! 

The winner of my 4th Anniversary Giveaway is My Kids Recipes.  

Congrats! Email me and I will get you your prize.

SOOO many great giveaways in the works. Stay tuned....

Autumn Lovelies

You guys are so nice. Thanks for all the love during my sick day. Feeling much better.

As a little thank you, a few Autumn lovelies to warm your (hopefully) chilly day.

Love this sequin pumpkin tutorial over at Making Lemonade.

Perfect Autumn Cake from phemomenon.

One of my favorite pumpkin creations from my very talented husband.

(Seriously, he really is as cool as he sounds.)

Downloadable Fall Bucket list from Funky PolkaDot

Giraffe (free!)

Heirloom Pumpkin Cookies from Everyday Occasions

Someone please make me these ricotta pumpkin fritters. 

or Pumpkin and Brown Sugar Crème Brûlées.

You choose. Really, I'll be happy with either. Or both. Whatever.

Adorable Free Downloads from My Sister's Suitcase. 

(Brand new blog from two very talented sisters. Check it out.)

I can almost feel my tooth fillings trembling at the site of these.

Goodness. This is such a nice little hall table spread.

Oh wait! This is my house!

(Thanks Molly for the bird and plate. You always know what I like.)

Can't tell if I like my shelf this way. Too crowded? 

Maybe branches in the jar instead of berries? 

I do really like the new branch from Lisa Leonard.

Fall Pizza Party. Oh my perfect. From the Party Dress.

Snippet and Ink. The inventors of blog eye candy?

Found this photo from a past blog post and it made me miss Tennessee 

so much it made my heart ache. 

May you be lucky enough to spend an Autumn in the South.

*******

It's everyone's favorite season for a reason.

(But deep down, I don't think anyone loves Fall as much as me.)

What's your favorite thing about Fall?

The "4th Anniversary Giveaway" ends tonight at Midnight!

The mice will play

The very very worst thing about being a stay at home mom? 

Sick days. 

Sick days when your husband is out of town.

Yesterday and today have not been great. 

Though, can I say how proud I am of my little girl? She has been taking full care of Collin while I lay on the couch and try not to move.

Except for this play doh moment when she was distracted and I had to intervene.

And all the times I had to move to offer substance and clean diapers, give bathes and wipe noses, and all the essential mom duties that don't go away even when you feel terrible. 

But only the essentials are getting done.

The house has NEVER been this messy.

Ever.

There is not one toy that has not been pulled out.

I haven't opened Lydia bedroom door today. I'm afraid.

Collin hurt his hand on a toy and I actually heard him cry "Woe Is ME!"

That was kind of awesome. Not him getting hurt of course. Just him being darling.

(My kids really are darling.)

The kids didn't like the chicken, veggies and rice I reheated from the other night.

Collin actually threw zucchini at Lydia.

(Okay, maybe not all that darling.)

Too tired to put up a fight.

They had the "treat" cereal for lunch.

The treat cereal spilled all over the floor. 

It's still there and I'm not cleaning it up anytime soon.

I screamed at my doctor on the phone. There may have been some light swearing. 

That was inappropriate. I feel bad about that. Lightly. 

(Two DAYS before I can have an antibiotic!!! Are you freaking insane? Have you ever had a UTI???)

How's your day?

Halloween Pancakes

Shane has had to take a break from making pancakes lately. He's training for a half-marathon, so Saturday mornings have been dedicated to running. Our church now starts at 9, so there isn't time on Sundays. This weekend was our church's General Conference, where we stay at home and watch talks from our leaders. We always make pancakes on conference weekend.

 Shane and Lydia were up early drawing out what Halloween pancakes they wanted to make. 

Collin wanted a happy face pumpkin.

Om nom nom nom....

Lydia wanted a scary face pumpkin...

and daddy wanted ghosts.

Candy corns for Mommy.

Best Daddy ever!

No better way to get ready to run a huge race than load up on pancakes!

4th Anniversary!

Hey! It's my blog's 4th anniversary this week! I just can't let it pass without doing something now can I? That really isn't my style. If you're a public follower (or a regular reader) leave a comment below and enter to win this little yellow and gray bundle. (Yep, still my favorite color combo.) A bit of yellow candy, along with a pair of yellow earrings, made by yours truly. I'll be throwing in a couple fun surprises too :) And isn't the sticker I used on the bag cute? It's from Peartree Greetings, and I'll send a few different ones to the winner!

I'll choose the winner on October 8th. Thanks for reading. And thanks to you who leave comments. Really. They make my day. (They make every bloggers day. And if they say they don't care about comments, they're lying.)

On the shopping list, a little humble pie.

Shane and I have boycotted Walmart since moving to Boise. For lots of reasons, I won't go into. I do my shopping at Fred Meyer with their large health section, lots of dairy free and nut free products and free babysitting. Unfortunately we were totally out of humidifier filters and Walmart is the only place in the area that carries the size we need. I decided it was time to temporarily end the boycott.

As soon as I got there I saw this beautiful girl (I'm talking beautiful) wearing the shortest shorts I've ever seen. Part of her butt was showing. The shortest shorts with the highest heals. I'm sure you know exactly what stereotype flashed through my mind. I felt horrible as I then watched her help an old lady put groceries in her truck.

I walked back to the photo lab (while I was there I might as well get some pics for the grandparents.) The guy there was so helpful and nice, commenting on my cute kids in the photos and talking about his 6 grandkids.

The checkout lady and I laughed with the women behind me in line - poking fun of her insane amount of candy on the belt and me buying every humidifier filter in the county. The women told me her plans for her son's birthday party (Marshmallow themed! Cute Cute!) I left with a smile.

I won't be shopping at Wal-mart regularly, for all those unnamed reasons. But I was reminded again how much being around kind people changes everything. I did wear sweat pants. If you were wondering. And not everyone thinks Wal-mart is a bad place to visit. (Seriously. Click the link. It's awesome.)

photo source

Sponsor Love

So many fall lovelies out right now, I'm getting gitty. 

And it may only be September, but I'm in Christmas shopping mode.

Some of my favorites from a few of my sponsors....

My Sweet Owl necklace from Sora Designs

Organic Terry Bibs from Anabelfuzz

Sparkling Silver Druzy Earrings from Your Daily Jewels

Organic hat and Onesie Duo in Pumpkin from Crzy Bag Lady Designs

Love Without End - Sterling Silver from Luxe Adornments

Amy Butler's Optic Blossom Table Runner from Longrunners

The First Thanksgiving cards by Minted

clover camera bag by epiphanie bags

Interested in becoming a Natalie's Sentiments sponsor or 

having your product featured this holiday season? 

Email me at nataliessentiments@gmail.com