follower giveaway announced & a sneak peak

wow, WOW, wow... 353 entries for the first BIG lovely poppy follower giveaway. i appreciate each and every one of you that participated and look forward to sharing more posts (and giveaways!) with you. i'm excited for the future of the lovely poppy blog, for new tutorials (i've got an awesome craft fair project in the works), inspiration, tips on starting a handmade business, growing your blog and more.

what's the number one thing i learned from this giveaway? i suggest if you are are planning on doing a giveaway to not have additional entries worth an additional point value. calculating 353 entries plus additional entries was a nightmare for my excel spreadsheet and myself.
however it was totally worth it and i'd do it again if i could write off 100 dollars worth of products again. i will be doing at least one giveaway a week with products from my shop, but won't be doing another giveaway with three digits until hitting a thousand followers.

you all are probably wondering who won the giveaway? did you scroll down to the bottom and skim through the first two paragraphs? (i probably would have too).

ashley from the vanilla tulip is the winner of the 100 dollar gift certificate to the lovely poppy shop.
ashley- please email me at thelovelypoppy at gmail (dot) com for more info.

again, thank you all participating. you'll want to stick around for the release of some new products..
                                                                       hint below!

giveaways galore.. part three

today’s feature and giveaway is from nicole over at bip and bop, which features the most adorable little felt headbands and accessories. not only is nicole a talented handmade business owner, but she also works with children with autism (which makes her even more awesome!).

here's a little more about nicole:

favorite blogs: Little Miss Momma, Hostess with the Mostess, Lee La La and La Vie Petite

favorite part of the day: It's a tie! I love the moment in the morning when I wake into my twin daughters' (11 months) room and see their smiling faces for the first time. They are so happy to see me that it makes me feel like the most important person in the whole entire world. My second favorite time of the day is the moment after dinner has been served, dishes done, girls bathed, nursed and put to bed. The moment when I get to sit down on the couch for the first time in what seems like an eternity, and do whatever I want.

family: My hubby and I have two twin baby girls, 11 months, Brooklyn and Isabella (aka "Brooke" and "Bella"aka "Bip and Bop" aka "Mini" and "Moe").

hometown: San Jose, California

favorite things about handmade businesses: Committing to my etsy shop has forced me to be creative everyday.

guilty pleasure: that's easy. Reese's peanut butter cups. Heaven!

something you wish you could do: knit or crochet. I am obsessed with crocheted finger puppets (so random, I know).

today she is giving away a 20 dollar shop credit.

*to enter stop by bip and bop's Facebook page and "like" her page, then comment on this post that you entered. you must be a follower of lovely poppy to qualify. for an additional entry stop by bip and bop's shop and comment here on what you'd use the credit for. the winner will be announced november 21st.

she also is offering free shipping on all orders over 25 dollars with the code: lovelypoppy.

good luck!!

last day to enter the giveaway

today is the last day to enter the giveaway for $100 worth of lovely poppy products.
**if there are 525 followers by the end of the day i'll give away an additional $50 gift certificate for the person who refers the most new followers

[christmas shopping would be a lot easier on the wallet if you won all of this]

..you have about 15 hours left to enter..
-comment on this post to enter if you are an existing or follower (counts as 1 entry)
-refer someone to become a follower and have them comment on this post that you sent them (2 entries for you, 2 entries for them)

weekend update and winners!

i'm feeling refreshed after an extra hour yesterday and haven't been able to stop daydreaming about how amazing it would be to have an extra hour, everyday. how would you spend it? mine was spent catching up with friends and taking a family walk to the neighborhood coffee shop. the rest of my sunday was spent catching up on emails and packaging orders. we celebrated my brother-in-laws birthday saturday night and bailey was pretty tuckered out after getting to play (run around in 3388420 circles) with all of the kids.

life around here has been pretty hectic lately. orders have been picking up and i'm preparing for another craft fair. you'll be noticing a lot of changes around here within the next month. i'll be switching over to wordpress (woohoo!) and will have a new home at thelovelypoppy.com. i'm contemplating switching over to big cartel, but haven't decided quite yet.

i've learned so much over the past month and am thrilled that traffic has increased by over 400%. i'm grateful for all of my followers and have some amazing giveaways coming up.

have i mentioned how terrible i am at saying no? it's really something that I NEED to work on. i'm signed up/ have donated around 20 products in the past/upcoming month. as much as i love being able to help others out, it hasn't financially been the wisest thing for me to do. keep your eyes open on the blog and facebook for where you can win some lovely poppy products!

speaking of giveaways, the winners of the two giveaways are:
little green bird- emily
me and my new life- lowercase letters
*please email me at thelovelypoppy at gmail dot com

a few new items and colors will be making their way into the shop soon.

mustard floral blossom necklace

blossom head wrap

key fobs

elegant red floral blossom necklace

new packaging!

grey sunshine minky camera slipcover

grey argyle minky camera slipcover

windsor floral blossom necklace

newborn blossom headband

all of these items could be yours for FREE! have you entered the HUGE giveaway that ends thursday? if not, you may want to :-)

giveaways galore.. part two

i really love supporting other handmade business. as the blog continues to grow, so do my sponsors. i'm excited to bring a lot of great giveaways to you throughout the holiday season.

did you think i was done with giveaways today? well.. i've got one more to share- dani from me and my new life is giving away a $25 dollar shop credit. i love her knit headbands, jewelry and diaper wipe cases.

check out some of her beautiful creations

to enter stop by dani's blog and become a new follower. then come back to this post and comment below. for an additional entry "like" me and my new life on facebook. the winner will be announced on november 7th, good luck!!

giveaways galore

the winner of the adventures of newlyweds' giveaway is...

ruthie, please contact me for details :-)

i have another great giveaway up my sleeve for all of my lovely new and old followers. nelou from little green bird is graciously offering one lucky reader their choice of a beautiful calendar or 8x10 print.

i'm eyeing up this new calendar for 2012..

to enter stop by little green bird's blog and become a follower, then come back and comment on this post. for an additional entry, head on over to her facebook page and "like" little green bird". winner will be announced november 7th. you must be both a lovely poppy and my little green bird follower to qualify. good luck!!

p.s. want to win a lovely poppy camera strap slipcover??.. head on over to her blog tomorrow to find out more!!

a little more about the lovely poppy

i'm so happy today to be posting a little intro about the lovely poppy.
the lovely poppy has been around since may of this year and i've already learned an incredible amount and have connected with some pretty amazing bloggers/indie business owners.

currently my husband and i live in milwaukee, wisconsin, with our puppy (treated like a child) bailey.

Source: thelovelypoppy.blogspot.com via Nicole on Pinterest

Source: thelovelypoppy.blogspot.com via Nicole on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Nicole on Pinterest

during the day i work for a local non-profit, managing an early intervention program for children with autism. i absolutely love what i do and helping children with disabilities is a huge passion of mine. i recently blogged about a football camp that i put together with a local high school.

Source: jsonline.com via Nicole on Pinterest

at night and on the weekends i run the lovely poppy. i decided to open up a shop because of my obsession with dressing bailey in a new collar every week and my love for shopping for fabric. the shop now focuses on accessories, such as necklaces, headbands, blossom pins, camera strap slipcovers, key fobs, pacifier clips, and a few new products are released each month. i enjoy being able to create things for others and have them feel confident wearing it.

Source: etsy.com via Nicole on Pinterest

i've recently started focusing more on blogging and connecting with other bloggers. i love waking up in morning and reading posts- which continue to inspire me and help come up with new ideas to grow the lovely poppy. i'm currently hosting a giveaway to increase followers and have had an overwhelmingly awesome amount of new followers.

i've shared a few quick and easy tutorials...

Source: thelovelypoppy.blogspot.com via Nicole on Pinterest

Source: thelovelypoppy.blogspot.com via Nicole on Pinterest

and love linking up for what i wore wednesdays and instafridays.

thank you so much for stopping by, let me know if you follow me, so i can make sure to follow you back. xoxo nicole

sponsor giveaway

i'm happy to introduce you all to ashley, the adorable lady behind adventures of newlyweds.

ashley is graciously giving away a 1 month sponsor spot on her page. perfect for anyone looking to drive new traffic to their blog and promote their business. also perfect for anyone who wants a new (and awesome) bloggy friend. 

how do you enter? pop on over to the adventures of newlywed's facebook page and "like" her or become a new follower on her blog, then come back and comment on this post to enter. winner will be annouced on october 31st. good luck!

edit: i forgot to mention that you can enter a chance to win a lovely poppy blossom necklace over at her blog (just another reason to stop on by).

giveaway and shop updates

-thank you all so much for spreading the word about the giveaway. 60 new followers have joined us in under one week = amazing. once we reach 200, the gift certificate will reach 100 dollars. an extra thank you to just lovely things, jessican designs, miss mommy, agape love, and through the eyes of the mrs for leading the way with referrals. there's still plenty of time to refer a few additional followers and enter to win, so send a few more over. :-)
-i decided to start offering a few sponsor options, all of them are currently free. i'm looking forward to sharing the sponsor giveaways with you in november, just in time for the holidays.
-i'm all caught up on shop orders and am finishing up on a few wholesale orders. i'm hoping to launch a few new products while things are a little slower around here.

-if you've stopped over at the shop recently, you've probably noticed the key fobs. i'm so happy with how they turned out and can't wait to make more. they are a perfect gift for teachers, new drivers, college students, family.. just about anyone that has a key!

-a few new pacifier clips have also been added

stay tuned for more giveaway and product updates. you all seriously rock!!

blog follower giveaway

so here it is, i love my followers and love giveaways.. so we have our first major giveaway underway. as most of you know, i'm new to the blogging world and one of the goals i set for myself was to significantly increase my followers. the giveaway will be based off of how many followers we are able to get to. pass along the info to all of your friends and followers for a chance to win up to $100 of lovely poppy products!! that could get you quite a load of products (like one of each from our line of camera slipcovers, necklaces, headbands, purses, baby pacifier clips, poppy petals, etc).

the gift certificate amount will be determined about how many followers there are when the contest ends on november 10th. we currently have 116 followers- the gift certificate amount will be based off the last two digits of the follower amount, so if only one person enters they will win a $17 gift certificate. if we get 199 followers, the gift certificate will be for $99. anything over 200 will result in a $100 gift certificate.

how do you win?
-comment on this post to enter if you are an existing follower (counts as 1 entry)
-refer someone to become a follower and have them comment on this post that you sent them (2 entries for you, 2 entries for them)
-all entries will be entered into a drawing for the gift certificate.

have fun & good luck!!