Our two winners are Cara and Gina! Congratulations!

Cara sent me this adorable picture of her two pups, Jacques and Gus waiting for peanut butter cookie dough at Christmastime. How cute are they? I’m sure they’re going to love their new treats!

Thanks for participating, guys!

I’m really excited about this giveaway, but I think Berlin is even MORE excited. See, we’re careful about what we feed our precious pup because an estimated 51% of American pets are obese. Most pups eat crappy food and don’t get enough exercise, and then when you start feeding them Doritos (which yes, I am sometimes guilty of) and standard dog treats, they’ll chunk up even faster.

Luckily, Berlin doesn’t seem to be an over-eater and she can casually graze all day without us having to measure her portion sizes. But it was hard to find a standard dog food that was actually good for her and didn’t cost an arm and a leg. After trying lots of different foods, we put her on Purina One’s Sensitive Systems diet, not because she has a sensitive system but because it’s the only food we could find regularly available at the grocery store with a meat as the first ingredient! You won’t believe how many foods are filled with fillers. Yuck. You have to pay extra for really healthy organic foods, but we figured her salmon diet with Purina One would be both convenient and healthy enough.

When it comes to dog treats though, I’m even pickier. She doesn’t get treats all the time, in fact she probably is rewarded with a treat only a few times a week. My guidelines for treats are that they MUST BE MADE IN THE USA (after all those pets died from Chinese food and treats a few years ago) and must not primarily contain fillers (ie: I have to recognize a few things in the ingredient list). It’s hard to find, frankly, so I wind up either buying treats with coupons or paying more for dehydrated organic chicken breasts and just give them to her less frequently.

But then we found Turtlebob’s!!! There is no going back. After her first bite of the peanut butter and banana treats, she was sold and will actually WORK for these tasty little bone-shaped biscuits. Recently we’ve been giving her solely Turtlebob’s treats, and when I tried to give her some generic Pedigree treat this weekend SHE REFUSED IT! Which is fine by me because the Turtlebob treats actually smell tasty to humans and don’t leave that gross meaty residual smell on your fingers.

So a little bit about our dear friends at Turtlebob’s Doggie Delights! Stacey, a mother of two, lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with Mt. Baker out back and Puget Sound out front. I know. I’m wicked jealous too! Their family pets include Misty Moo, a golden/lab mix, and Oliver, a black lab. And then there’s the infamous Bob, a Russian Tortoise and the inspiration for the name “Turtlebob’s Doggie Delights.”

Stacey’s been making treats for her own dogs since they were puppies. She recently started Turtlebob’s this January out of the love for making treats for her own dogs, and thinking it might be a good way to help pay for all the kids sports activities. She tries to buy local and get organic ingredients at the farmers co-op (hip hip hooray!!!), while her dad provides the BEST honey which helps act as a perservative and gives the treats a tad of sweetness dogs love. She gets help in the kitchen from her son who loves to help creating the little bone-shaped treats, and is working on some new recipes to add to the site soon!

This week’s awesome giveaway sponsored by Turtlebob’s Doggie Delights will have TWO WINNERS! Each winner will receive one 10oz package of Turtlebob’s Organic Peanut Butter Banana Treats. Remember, you don’t have to be a dog-owner to be the winner! These would make an awesome gift for your friend or relative who is a dog-lover.

Rules:

• Giveaway is open to US residents only (sorry Canada!)
• Two winners will be chosen at random
• Giveaway closes at 12:00 noon CT on Wednesday, March 24th
• You can enter more than once by sending me an email with a photo of your pup to be featured in the winners’ announcement post. Send your low-res image to priscilla at verbalintent.com.
• Bonus: Tell us about your favorite pup’s quirky personality traits, and what makes them the best doggie ever!

Good luck!

And the winner is… Big Ma! Congratulations! We hope you enjoy the coasters, and that the birds indoor help to usher in Spring a little early this year!

Next week we’ve got an awesome giveaway for the dog-lovers in the group. So stay tuned for some puppy lovin, and have an awesome St. Patty’s Day!

It’s hard for me to put into words just how excited I am about this giveaway. A few years ago, my friend Ginette hooked me up with a Ben Harper meet and greet after his show, and it was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. While shaking Mr. Harper’s hand I tried desperately not to A) swoon, B) drool down my shirt or C) kiss him on the mouth, and those are the same physiological responses I fought when Sesame Letterpress emailed me back to say Sure! They’d love to send me some coasters to give away on my blog!

These coasters are so beautiful that I have never actually owned them myself; I only buy them for other people as gifts. I kinda don’t trust myself with them because I know that if we ever had company over and they were reaching to put down their iced tea, I’d be liable to snatch up the coaster and glare at my guests explaining that these coasters were only to be admired, ne’er to be used.

But gorgeous coasters are not the only thing produced by Sesame Letterpress. They also print beautiful wedding invitations, baby announcements (Penny NEEEEEEEEEEDS these!), stationary, and biz cards that are absolutely to die for. Ok, and how about this Fox memo pad!?!?! Unreal.

You can check out their store with calendars, gift tags and coasters (which I’ve actually seen for sale in Anthro) – perfect for the person you love most in life (insert major hint to Matt). Also, check out this interview with Sesame Letterpress in NY Magazine, and a nifty podcast explaining more about their process and the appeal of letterpress.

Now let’s get to the giveaway, shall we!?

Our lucky winner will walk away with one set of eight bird coasters and my eternal jealousy.

(The coasters are of the bird shown in upper left corner)

Rules:

• Giveaway is open to US residents only (sorry Canada!)
• One winner will be chosen at random
• Giveaway closes at 12:00 noon CT on Wednesday, March 17th
• You can enter more than once by updating your Twitter, blog or Facebook status with a link to this post
• Bonus: Tell me which of the designs on their site is your favorite! I personally have a hard time choosing.

Good luck! And may the person who loves me the most win!

Congratulations to Princess Samy Vintage who is the winner of our candle giveaway! Princess Samy Vintage is another Etsy seller with nifty vintage finds from Florida.

Thanks everybody for participating, and thanks especially to Junebugcreative for sponsoring this giveaway. Don’t forget to support eco-friendly crafters on Etsy, and check back next week for another giveaway from one of my favorite vendors of all time.

I’m really excited to kick off another giveaway, this time a handmade eco-friendly product from an Etsy seller!

Junebugcreative is located right here in Nashville and makes beautiful hand-poured soy candles from repurposed and upcycled containers. The candles are for sale in earth-loving shops around the city, but now you can find her on Etsy selling these awesome candles. She also says that she’s been busy making custom candles from people’s favorite containers which they send to her for pouring. So if you’re looking to repurpose a container you already have, you can convo her through Etsy. The green-ness of this whole process makes me giddy inside!!!

I bought three adorable reindeer candles at Christmastime and absolutely loved them. We’re not big into having over-powering scents in the house (unless it’s lasagna in the oven), and these candles are really tastefully scented. This was also my first experience burning soy candles which last FOREVER! Did you guys know that? WHY DIDN’T YOU LET ME IN ON THE SECRET?

Anyway, Junebugcreative is sponsoring this weeks’ giveaway which is a beautiful blue and white teacup soy candle, perfect for you, or as a gift! (Hint: Mother’s Day is just around the bend!)

RULES:

• Giveaway is open to US and CA residents only
• One winner will be chosen at random
• Giveaway closes at 12:00 noon CT on Thursday, March 11th
• You can enter more than once by updating your Twitter, blog or Facebook status with a link to this post
• Bonus: I’d love to hear what your favorite candle scent is!

And don’t forget to check out Junebugcreative’s Etsy shop for more candles here.