free stuff for moms Archives - Kristen Anne Glover

Thirty-One Giveaway!

With Mother’s Day coming up, I thought I’d give you all a chance to win something every mother needs: a third arm.

I know what you’re thinking: “Wow, it would be so great to have a third arm! Also, that’s a little creepy. I hope I win!”

Sadly, the government program in charge of the production of third arms sent me an extra set of hips instead, and I know you all don’t want a pair of those.

Fortunately, my friend Amanda Smearman is an independent consultant with Thirty-One, a company that sells a fabulous line of bags and accessories.

She said she had a bag that was like a third arm for moms. She’d send me one to review if I’d like.

If I’d like?

I had heard of Thirty-One bags and I knew those bags and I have a lot in common. We’re both bright, cheery, versatile, and, well, no longer twenty-nine.

Of course I’d like.

I ordered a third arm, I mean, a Large Utility Tote. It comes in a variety of patterns, but I loved the bright colors of the Island Damask. It screamed SUMMER! to me, and since I live in the Pacific Northwet, I knew that pattern was about as close to summer as I was going to get until sometime in mid-August.

As soon as it arrived in the mail, I loaded it up with some picnic trimmings and headed to the beach.

My third arm and I, at the beach.

Here we are, soaking up some rare sunshine.

I fell in love the first time I tried it out.

This tote can hold a ton. Beach towels, water bottles, sporting goods, and every pretty rock or shell five kids can find on a sandy shore. It’s made of durable, wipeable cloth and collapses completely so it’s always ready in the car for a trip to the store (I can fit the entire thing in my grocery cart so when I’m done shopping, I can just grab it an go).

Like a third arm, you won’t know how you lived without it. The metal rim stays rigid so you can toss stuff in even if it’s kicking and screaming.

I’m telling you, a mom can think of a million uses for one of these babies.

Not that I would know.

Of course, not every woman needs a third arm. I’ve seen some mamas on Pinterest, and man, do they have it all together.

That’s okay. Thirty-One has great stuff for the less-frazzled among us. Check this out: they even have reversible bags.

This is the Inside-Out Bag in Woodcut Floral. But if you turn it inside out, you have teeny, tiny polka-dots!

Polka-dots are so in.

But if I wear them, I look like a giant Minnie Mouse. So this is better.

I love the versatility of this bag. I’m a low-maintenance kinda girl, so changing purses is just about the last thing I’m inclined to do when I’m heading out the door (except I’m trying, really, to be cuter, so sometimes I have been known to wear a coordinating purse with nothing in it just to be darling).

Here I am, on a backyard photo shoot to demonstrate the adorableness of this bag.

Cue: wind

A little too much wind…

Alright, already!

Act like it never happened:

Still loving my Noonday bracelet!

The main point of this incredibly vain photo montage is that the bag looks great in the Woodblock floral print…

…or the polka-dots!

Also, it’s totally okay to wear fair-trade jewelry with a dress from Walmart. But that’s another post.

Meanwhile, back to this giveaway. Amanda has generously offered to give one lucky winner a third arm! I mean, a $35 shopping spree at her Thirty-One shop!

https://www.mythirtyone.com/AmandaSmearman

Hop over to her site, take a look at all the fabulous products, then tell us which one is your favorite when you enter through the Rafflecopter below.

But wait! Before you choose, you might also like to know that this month, you can get any thermal product for 1/2 off with any $31 purchase! So, you can get that child-shipping tote AND a thermal for a smokin’ hot price. That means, when you send the kid to Argentina, you can send a few snacks along too. LOVE!

Wanna win???? All you have to do is enter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Also, if you’re looking for a home-based business, you might want to talk to Amanda about the business options you have with Thirty-One. Her contact info is on her website! She’d love to help you get started!

Legal stuff: The views expressed in this piece are my own (like anyone else would come up with them?) and do not represent the views of Thirty-One.

Thanks for entering!

Win a $50 Noonday Gift Certificate

My friend Abbie and I have a lot in common. Together, we have ten kids, two sets of twins, a mess of crazy big hair, and the corner on the market when it comes to blogs starting with the number five.

Some day, we’re going to rob a bank together. I mean, write a book together.

In the mean time, we’re teaming up to bring you a great new giveaway sponsored by Brandi Mendenhall from The Fair Trade Fashionistas. As her blog name suggests, Brandi’s passion is fair-trade fashion.

Honestly, that was not something I spent much time thinking about before I met Brandi. I was pretty satisfied to find good deals and clothes that fit. I didn’t really think about how my purchases were impacting the global economy and combating the problem of poverty…or not.

But I couldn’t help but be drawn to Brandi and her commitment to combine her love of fashion with her heart for the world. That’s why Brandi became an independent ambassador for the Noonday Collection, a company that strives to break the bonds of poverty by training artisans all over the world and providing them with an opportunity to earn a fair and life-changing income.

Brandi sent me a piece of Noonday jewelry made by an artisan in India so I could see for the jewelry for myself. She also sent something equally stunning to Abbie.

The cherry-red bangle I received is gorgeous. I love the blue and gold details over the solid brass bracelet. The colors on this piece make me happy, and I like to wear things that make me happy. That means I’m wearing this bracelet almost every day.

Every time I wear it, I think of the young girl from India who made it. Noonday includes a laminated picture and bio of the artisan who made each piece. My cherry-red bracelet that makes me so happy was made by a young girl who is working to send her six younger siblings to school.

Now that gets at my heart.

I look at my bracelet and I think of that girl and I just want her world to be different and better, and if one bracelet can help her have that, I’m sold.

Now, I don’t have a lot of extra income to spend on jewelry and accessories. But I do have gifts I purchase for others, for Christmas and birthdays and even Mother’s Day. It seems to me that it’s better to purchase something for my loved ones that also spreads love to someone in need.

I could purchase something pretty at a mall or a big box store. It might even be cheaper. Or, I could purchase a gift that helps to change the world. That is invaluable.

It makes the decision easy when I think of it that way.

Brandi would agree. Listen to her words as she shares her heart:

“You can’t just sit in a comfortable chair one Sunday morning and hear that every DAY 5,760 more children become orphans, or that 60% of the orphaned girls are lured into prostitution, and 70% of the boys become hardened criminals, and not be compelled to do SOMETHING.”

Brandi’s “something” was to join forces with Noonday. And it’s working. Check out this video to see how Noonday is changing lives around the world.

Noonday: Kampala, Uganda. from Jessica Honegger on Vimeo.

Don’t you just love that?

As a means of getting the message of Noonday out to the world, Brandi has graciously offered one reader the chance to win a $50 Noonday gift certificate.

Oh. My. Goodness.

You will not know how to spend it! You might want to buy a beautiful necklace like this:

The Olivia necklace is beautiful in mint. I am in love with this piece!

or this…

The layers of this necklace make you look ten times more put-together in yoga pants and a hoodie. I kid you not.

Maybe you’re the bracelet type.

I love the color of this tagua seed bracelet in LAVA! Oh! But it comes in seagreen too!

Or the decorator type:

I’m a sucker for adorable bowls. Love these!

Of course, bowls won’t look as good on your ears as these beauties:

I could post pictures all day, but it’s better if you check out Brandi’s Noonday site to see all the handmade items for yourself. Which is your favorite?

Also, be sure to read Abbie’s review and her giveaway post! You’ll love how the jewelry looks on her because she’s so stinkin’ cute.

But for now–ENTER! I’d hate to have to keep this prize for myself. Worse, I’d hate to have to arm wrestle Abbie for it. {I think she’d win,}

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Win Les Miserables on DVD!

When I was in high school, I spent the better part of a year plowing through the unabridged version of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables. I’d pick it up and put it down and read three books between every chapter, but I read every word.

When I was through, I was devastated. It was one of the most beautiful, redemptive stories I have ever read. It was worth wading through the cryptic jabs at long-dead French politicians for that story.

Start ’em young

There’s a part of me that is very, very attached to the Victor Hugo version of Les Misérables. There is a part of me that never wanted to see the musical on stage or on film.

But now I’ve seen it. And now, there’s a bigger part of me that thinks everyone should see it

It’s not perfect, at least not for a read-it-unabridged-or-go-home kind of girl like me. But it is a powerful story worth telling (or, singing, as the case may be), even if some parts must be considered for their contribution to stage rather than their adherence to page.

It is a powerful enough story that most of those little things don’t matter at all. Are there some unnecessary crude parts I wish weren’t there? Yes. Should Russell Crowe consider singing in another musical ever again? No.

But then there is Anne Hathaway, whose relatively untrained voice makes her character even more poignant. There is Hugh Jackman, who transforms Jean Valjean over and over again as the character develops and leaves me awed.

And there is that story, that haunting story of redemption that even a singing Russell Crowe can’t diminish. It is the story that compels me to say everyone should watch this film.

That story comes straight out of my beloved book.

Few can craft a story like Victor Hugo. He tells it a little longer than most people but that’s probably because he didn’t have the benefit of Twitter training to help him keep things concise. But that story has transformed the course of literature and helped to shape history. Even if you don’t have time to read the book, you should familiarize yourself with a story that has remained captivating for 150 years.

If you do, you will find it is a story worth hearing. It is a story worth watching. It is a story worth engaging in a very deep and personal way because it is the most powerful story of all; it is the story of redemption.

There’s a whole bunch of sin and a whole lot about the miserable struggle, but then, doesn’t that make the redemption more beautiful? Doesn’t that make the story more like…mine. And yours? Because my life of redemption isn’t always Sunday-best. It’s Monday-morning. It’s Jean Valjean struggling to turn himself in when a perfectly good scapegoat has been caught. It’s making idols out of good things like beloved little girls, fighting for and against justice, wishing you could do more, finding you often do less, and wondering, at times, if you can bear up under grace.

It is my story. It is your story.

A story like that can be as powerful as a sword or as dull as yesterday’s news. It’s all in what you do with it.

That is why I hope all Christians watch this film. But not just watch it–think about it. Talk about it. Discuss it. It can be a force in the hands of real Christians who know the power of redemption and who have real-life stories to back up the Hollywood theatrics. You can even download a free discussion guide put together by Allied Faith and Family to help you get started. In fact, if you e-mail them, they will even send you hard copies to use at church or in home study groups.

But first, you have to watch the film, and I would love nothing more than to get you a copy for free. All you have to do is enter below. You have until Wednesday, March 27th to rack up all kind of Rafflecopter points. You can enter once, or you can come back every day to share the giveaway and increase your chances of winning.

But that’s not all! My friend Gretchen, who saves my bacon when the blogging goes bad, is giving away a copy on her site. Hop over there, tell her thank you for keeping Kristen’s blog afloat, and enter to win a copy of this hot new release!

a Rafflecopter giveaway