While brainstorming these giveaway items I wanted to offer the highest number of items possible, but eventually I started to run out of money. What could I give that might be of value to someone else but wouldn’t cost a ridiculous amount? Jenna Cole Photography Print Credit! The winner of today’s giveaway will receive print credit from me worth one luster print up to 16X20 in size. This is a great giveaway for past (or future!) clients, but there might be some of you interested in entering to win credit to put toward an image that falls under the “miscellaneous” category. Over the past few months I’ve been working to build up a portfolio of random images, mostly for use on That Wife to spice up my posts, but also for future projects I have in mind (and have yet to dream up!).

Examples of some of my miscellaneous images can be found here and include:

Some winter berries…

Graffiti that makes me smile…

A darling little dress form…

A quirky cow…

Hope for Spring in the middle of winter…

And my version of “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening”…

As I said, I’ve only been collecting images like these for a few months now, so the collection will grow over time. If you don’t see something you like right now, the credit is good through the end of 2010 and you’re free to hold onto it until you see something you like. Enter to win one luster print up to 16X20 in size by answering the question below in the comment section:

Who is your favorite photographer?

Comments close at 11:59 pm on 2/26/2010, and the winner will be announced on Saturday. Entries that don’t answer the question will be deleted because I like when people follow directions.

Edited at 2:00 pm to add: The response to this giveaway has been a little bigger than I anticipated (or maybe I didn’t realize so many people would like to have a print that I created hanging in their house, which is truly flattering!) and I’m starting to get nervous that I didn’t make it clear that the photo printed will need to be one taken by me. It would be no bueno for me to use my printing lab to print images taken by another professional photographer, as I certainly wouldn’t want my own clients doing that with my work!

A super sweet friend of mine from BYU gave me $25 at Williams-Sonoma as a wedding gift and I went crazy adding completely awesome yet somewhat silly items that cost somewhere around $25 to my cart. You know, something like The Great Cupcake Cake Pan, which I would pay a ridiculous amount of money for and use a handful of times. Happily I decided to use some sense and browse through items that would prove a bit more useful to me on a daily basis, which is how I found the VeggieChop. Pull the ring and the blades go round, chopping your food up into little chunks much faster than can be done with a knife (unless you are Julia Child of course, don’t you love when she chops up that enormous pile of onions?). Even That Husband loves this little device and when I listed off the givewaway items for the week he said this one was the best I was giving away.

I’m sure you get the idea, but I found this nice little promo video on YouTube so you can see exactly how it works in practice:

Amazing no? You’ll love it I promise. Just answer the question below to enter:

What’s one of your must-have items in the kitchen?

Comments close at 11:59 pm on 2/25/2010, and the winner will be announced on Saturday. Entries that don’t answer the question will be deleted because I like when people follow directions.

That Husband wrote me the sweetest card recently. In it he listed some of the things he loves about me (these are the best kind of list you can ever make, I strongly urge you to create one for someone who you love, it’s the kind of thing they will hang on to forever), and one of them made a reference to my penchant for never cooking the same thing twice. Sure I’ve made Sheperd’s Pie, tacos, mashed potatoes, and other American staples when I can’t think of anything to make, but I’ve only made the same dish from a new-to-me recipe a handful of times.

All of this experimentation has led to a lot of failures, because I’m really not that great in the kitchen. Instead of practicing the same skills over and over, I rush from one recipe to the next never understanding why my meat is so tough, why the dough won’t rise, or any other number of kitchen conundrum I’ve faced.

Enter the best cookbook ever for cooking dummies like me:

I first learned of this book on Weddingbee, and when a family friend gave us a gift card to Barnes and Noble this book was the first thing I added to my cart. It doesn’t just provide recipes, it provides tips and tricks for how to make them work, and as long as I follow the instructions closely my dishes turn out great whenever I use Mark Bittmans recipes and ideas. I’d be more than happy to send you your own copy if you answer the following question in the comments below:

What’s your favorite cookbook and why?

Comments close at 11:59 pm on 2/25/2010, and the winner will be announced on Saturday. Entries that don’t answer the question will be deleted because I like when people follow directions.

I tried to make these giveaways as universal as possible, but of the thirteen things I came up with I couldn’t resist making one of them a gift certificate to a local Dallas shop. That Husband and I take our cakes/cupcakes very seriously, and we were convinced that we would never find anything as delicious as the cake we had at our wedding from a bakery called Simply Desserts (best cake in Seattle, btw, go go go!). Some time spent on Yelp led me to Society Bakery, apparently voted one of the Top 10 places to get a mouth watering cupcake by the Ellen Degeneres show.

Ellen and her fans were right. I don’t think I could find anything better in all of Texas, and I think you’ll love them too. The ladies behind the counter will tell you that red velvet is the crowd favorite and it doesn’t disappoint!

This is a local bakery, with only one location in Dallas, so you’ll need to either be located in Dallas, plan on visiting in the future, or know someone in the area who you would like to gift this certificate to. To enter to win a $10 gift certificate to Society Bakery, answer the question below:

Where are the best cupcakes in your area? (Doesn’t matter where you are located, I’ll keep your favorites in mind if I ever visit the area where you live!)

Comments close at 11:59 pm on 2/25/2010, and the winner will be announced on Saturday. Entries that don’t answer the question will be deleted because I like when people follow directions.

A few weeks ago CJane started raving about some undershirts that she really loves, but I admit I think I’ve found a seller even better than the one she is recommending! I’m not really sure how I stumbled on Getti’s Accessories but it only took me a few weeks to snatch up 10 different items from her shop. Ever since then I’ve been tugging down my shirts/dresses to show all of my LDS girlfriends how amazing her crop-tops are! I own plenty of stretchy shirts from sites like Downeast Basics that I used to use to help bring my necklines up (and they are great for tucking in to help cover your bum), but I always found myself moaning about how they were riding up and creating bunches around my middle when I wore dresses. Then I discovered tops like these from Getti’s Accessories and I’ve been raving ever since. That Husband even realized their brilliance and immediately urged me to buy several and stock up. I think he was tired of seeing me wear v-neck stretchy dresses with the neckline pinned together with a safety pin. Classy, right?

No safety pinned dresses for me now! And no bunching of any kind whether under dresses or shirts.

My favorite is the Straight Neck T-Let:

And I bought a few of the Cap Sleeve Crop Tops as well:

See how I love these tops? I’m wearing a black one under this purple dress for my maternity shoot. No way would I have been able to get away without belly bunching with a full undershirt.

The winner of this giveaway gets $20 toward any purchase from Getti’s Accessories! I certainly don’t think only LDS readers will be interested in this giveaway as in some situations, no matter your sensibilities regarding modesty, showing off your melons just isn’t going to work. Enter in the comments by telling me:

No question for this one, as I couldn’t think of anything good. Just comment below to enter!

Comments close at 11:59 pm on 2/24/2010, and the winner will be announced on Saturday. Entries that don’t answer the question will be deleted because I like when people follow directions.

P.S.-I forgot to mention, if you buy from Getti’s Accessories, please mention That Wife! I”m secretly hoping she’ll get enough business that she’ll be interested in doing another giveaway in the future!