GIVEAWAY from MY SHOP!

I bet you're all thinking...

IT'S ABOUT FREAKING TIME!

I know, I know...

I haven't forgotten to come back to you all, my best readers & followers and hand out some free goodies.

We have a couple things to celebrate, so now is the PERFECT time to do this giveaway.

First off, we're celebrating 500+ followers! 

What a milestone that I NEVER thought I would reach. So thankful!

Secondly, we're celebrating 100 sales in my Etsy shop!

What better way to say THANK YOU than a giveaway?

So I'm giveaway away a perfect sample of my shop items:

ONE NECKLACE (of your choice)

ONE RING (of your choice)

ONE PAIR OF EARRINGS (of your choice)

to one lucky reader!

Here's some of the selection you can choose from!

Here's how you can enter to win!

MANDATORY!

Visit my SHOP and come back telling me your favorite item(s) - one entry

Be a follower/subscriber of The Bird's Papaya BLOG - one entry

EXTRA ENTRIES

"Like" The Bird's Papaya on FACEBOOK - one entry

"Follow" The Bird's Papaya on TWITTER - one entry

"Heart" The Bird's Papaya ETSY SHOP - one entry
Post this giveaway on your BLOG, FACEBOOK or TWITTER - one entry for each

Purchase anything from my shop - 3 extra entries

PLEASE BE SURE TO LEAVE A SEPARATE COMMENT FOR EACH ENTRY!

Winner will be drawn by Random.org Monday September 5th!

GOOD LUCK! and THANK YOU for being here.

It means more than you know

♥ 

JK Vinyl Designs Winner!

 Before I announce the winner, I want to remind you all of the

AWESOME SHM-AMESOME promos going on at JK Vinyl right now! 

BUY 2 GET 1 FREE

plus...

10% off with the coupon code "thebirdspapaya"

Get shoppin'!

For maybe one of these?

One lucky lady that definitely gets to go shopping is the winner of the giveaway!

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: 

Result:

22Congrats...

Susan @ homeroad.net said...

I am a follower of The Bird's Papaya!

Love it!

Susan

August 15, 2011 5:24 PM 

     YAY SUSAN !

Congrats girl!I'll be emailing you shortly!
Thanks to all who entered. I'll be back tomorrow with another exciting giveaway!*hint* I'm the sponsor!

Mustache Themed Party

My Dad.

Well, he's grown up on us all, and turned 50!

Actually, not for another week, but we celebrated early

something about me living 5 hours away and wanting to celebrate it all as a family ;)

My Mom toyed with the idea of doing a surprise party, but I know how hard and stressful those can be to pull off, so I suggested a surprise THEME. 

So along with my Mom & sister (and some help from a certain aunt who happens to be a chocolatier) we pulled off a mad awesome party.

I love how I interject myself as a big player, but really...my Mom was amazing. 

She made the meal, she did decorations, she even made my Dad a shirt to wear on his party day. She's a hostess extraordinaire. I have so much to learn. 

Perhaps you're wondering HOW we came across the Mustache themed party. And no, we're not just jumping on a fad here...although that helped. First off, a theme for a guy can be hard, but this one came almost instantly to us because my Dad rocked a 'stache for half of his adult life. It only seemed right to pay it homage. 

source

My Mom put together this hilarious collage of my Dad (showing his various 'staches)

 She made lanterns with different style mustaches along with nicknames for a mustache 

(ie: cookie duster, nose bug)

She used some fabric paint and did this shirt for him to wear

 She did mustache cut outs for decorations

There was a table full of mustaches ready for guests to pick to wear

We played Mustache cornhole (with homemade beanbags)

(those two kooks gentlemen would be my cousins)

(Maya playing with the mustache bean bags)

My aunt brought these Root Beer Float flavored Dark & Milk chocolate mustaches

 If you live in Southern Ontario...you should check out my Aunt's shop The Beanermunky Chocolate Experience opening soon on 50 King St West, Dundas, ON. 

(or visit www.beanermunky.com)

I made this game of "guess the 'stache" (of a celebrity or character) Feel free to place your guesses and I'll let you know if you're right ;)

(if you're doing a similar theme and would like to have a copy of this game, just email me at thebirdspapaya@gmail.com)

My Mom made this cake

 And the best part of this post...

the MUSTACHE COLLAGE!

I love my family.

They're great.

Like really really

Happy 50th Birthday Dad!

I streaked for cancer

I just got home from visiting with friends & family in my hometown.

Typically, I try and schedule in a hair appt too when I'm around there because I love my hairdresser (and we all know when you find a good one, you don't let 'em go...even when you move 5 hours away!)

I went to get my hair cut, and came home with something a little extra.

a teal streak!

No, I'm not having a mid twenties crisis.

It's for a good cause.

And a good excuse to have teal hair, lets just be honest.

Streak for Cancer is a charity that raises money for numerous cancer research foundations.

Each month honors a new foundation, and every color has a matched cause.

For instance, teal is for Ovarian Cancer.

Each streak is a minimum donation of $10.

They come really long, but mine was cut to suit my hair by my hairdresser.

source

Now, obviously this is currently being done locally in my hometown, but I did a little reseach (aka: googling) and found out there's a similar organization of the same name, doing things a bit different (with tinsel streaks and contributing to the National Breast Cancer Foundation) but is more widespread throughout the United States. 

You can read about that one HERE.

Best time I've ever had giving to a good cause, I'll tell ya that much!

JK Vinyl (review + giveaway reminder)

Last week when I introduced the GIVEAWAY for Jk Vinyl, I also told you that I got to experience JK Vinyl first hand. 

I love vinyl. 

I have used store vinyl, vinyl from Etsy shops and had some as gifts.

They are not all the same.

So you get excited when you have one that...

A) looks like you thought it would

B) fairly easy to remove from it's backing

C) doesn't bubble off the wall after a couple weeks

So, JK Vinyl has passed all my tests!

JK Vinyl completely worked with me to customize my order to the size of vinyl that I wanted.

To apply, I put tape on the edges of the backing and positioned it on the wall until I liked it.

Next, I removed the one side of backing, and smoothed it out onto the wall, removing all the bubbles with a smoother (you can use a credit card too!)

Then, peeled off the front backing (hmm...is that an oxymoron?)

DONE! THAT simple!!

It completes the awkward space above our pass-through.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

When Jordan came home and saw the newest addition he said "ooh...I REALLY like that"

uhhh...say what now? did he ACTUALLY just make a comment on decor?

DOUBLE WIN!

So make sure you go and enter the GIVEAWAY for a chance to win any vinyl of your choice (up to $19.99 in value).

PLUS, remember there's some deals going on right now over at the JK Vinyl Shop!

Buy 2 Get 1 FREE

Plus 10% off your purchase with coupon code "thebirdspapaya"

I know some have already taken advantage of the awesome discounts & deals to get a jump start on Christmas presents. Not a bad idea!

JK Vinyl GIVEAWAY (+ huge promos!)

Vinyl wall decals are so awesome. 

They're a great way to fill up wall space or add a little something-something that doesn't require tools. Vinyl is huge on effect and with little to no work, plus, removable (which is great for renters or those who move often!).

JK Vinyl is a shop I came across a while back while helping a friend find some affordable custom vinyl for a wedding gift. JK Vinyl filled that order for my friend, and she was SO pleased.

So now, The Bird's Papaya is teaming up with JK Vinyl to share with YOU ALL the chance to WIN any one item from JK Vinyl's shop.

There's more...JK Vinyl has a HUGE promo going on right now, BUY 2 get 1 FREE!

and then there's more...

JUST FOR US, there's a coupon code "thebirdspapaya" for an extra 10% off your order (ON TOP of the Buy 2 get 1 free promo)

FANTASTIC!

Her vinyl options, are nearly endless. Here's some that stood out to me:

LOTS OF COLORS TO CHOOSE FROM!

I chose out a great piece for my home, and it's up and GORGEOUS! Can't wait to show you in a post next week.

I love this shop! The prices are LOW, the shipping is LOW and the quality is HIGH (that's kinda how you want things to work out, right?)

Here's how YOU can enter to win any item from JK Vinyl 

(up to $19.99 in value)

MANDATORY: 

Visit JK Vinyl's shop, come back and tell me your favorite item - one entry

EXTRA ENTRIES: 

"Heart" JK Vinyl's shop on Etsy - one entry

Like JK Vinyl on Facebook - one entry

Be a follower/subscriber of The Bird's Papaya - one entry

Place an order with JK Vinyl - 5 extra entries

Be sure to leave a SEPARATE comment for EACH entry!

Good luck!

as always, I will draw a winner RANDOMLY using random.org 

in other words, don't suck up to me...it won't help you win ;) 

The coolest delivery to ever arrive on my porch.

It was an ordinary day in the life of us...

We got our gear on

And we strolled our way to the "little park" 

(it's the smaller, quieter of the two parks mere steps from our home)

The girls played in the sand...

and Bo had a mid-morning snack.

On our walk home, I saw a Fedex truck on our street.

I LOVE deliveries and mail. So I hoped it was for us.

I walked quicker...and saw a box delivered to my front step.

Then I saw the box...

Okay...Is this a joke? just coincidental packaging? WHAT IS THIS?

Y'all know I have MAD LOVE for the liquid gold that is Diet Coke...but certainly this couldn't be...?

OH BUT IT WAS.

I went a little squealy at this point...

IT'S A DIET COKE CARE PACKAGE!

It was sent to me as a fan (I think perhaps because I follow @DietCokeUS on Twitter and have blogged numerous times about my love) to check out their new limited edition super cool design/logo.

I love that it's still the classic Diet Coke look that I love, with a modern flair.

I even got this sa-weet tote bag.

You all need to know, this is NOT a sponsored post. 

If I ever got PAID to talk about Diet Coke, I'd need to retroactively charge them.

My love affair with the DC goes way back.

For instance, my wedding day...

or how my garage CURRENTLY looks...

(that's just the front of the stack, there's more behind)

So yah....today was a pretty cool day.

It's days like these, I'm so proud to be a DC fan!

and to TOP IT ALL OFF...

Last night, Emily Giffin tweeted me a Thank You for complimenting her latest book:

source

She also wrote Something Borrowed (now a movie), Something Blue, Baby Proof, Love the One Your With.

I've read ALL of them. She is by FAR my favorite author, and I'm not a big reader.

This last one? I finished in less than 24 hours. I was just enthralled. I didn't sleep much though. haha

seriously though, how crazy is this day?