this year, i wanted to meet and mingle with the talented people from minted, so i signed-up for their sponsored dinner at cucina tuscana. minted went above and beyond with the decorations, menu choices, custom notebooks for each guest, and of course the company!

if you haven’t visited minted before, allow me to introduce you to an amazing custom card-inviation-party resource. minted has an endless amount of styles to chose from, all created by independent designers who receive a portion of each sale. every design can be customized to fit your color scheme and is printed on paper so pretty you won’t be able to put it down. in the past year, i used minted for sela’s birthday invitations and our christmas cards {i didn’t blog about those – but i will one of these days!}

right now, minted has classroom valentines that you can order and have your kiddos hand-out at school! a set of 15 start at only $16. {if you order them TODAY, you can still receive them by 2/13!}

in honor of cupids holiday, i am thrilled to be partnering with minted to give one seejaneblog reader an 11×14 valentine art print, framed! this generous gift is valued at $150! to enter, simply visit the minted website, check out their valentine art – leave a comment below telling me which one is your favorite, and one winner will be announced via random.org on friday morning, February 8th! i am especially crushing on these three: one, two, three. i also adore the valentine card shown above that can be folded in to a little origami heart. when you place your order from minted, have high expectations, because they are ready to impress you.

happy browsing and best of luck! xo.

***

the winner is:

congratulations, lindsay! minted will be in touch with you soon.

after you check out the tutorial — follow @see_jane on instagram, re-post the pom-pom image found there today, hash tag #seejanepompom, and leave a comment below for a chance to win one of TWO of the garlands! i am giving away two of these pom pom garlands to two seejaneblog readers. a little homemade cheer – to you – from me.

the winners will be chosen via random.org, and announced at the bottom of this post – tonight! by midnight EST. you have till 11pm EST to enter, good luck!

***

congratulations jenny & rebecca! your garlands will be in the mail soon! xo.

{photo by me, Jane Rhodes}

sometime in july or august i decided i wanted to make simple, homemade advent calendars for a few of our dear friends and family this year as gifts. knowing this could become daunting i forced myself to start early. after all, they needed to be finished and delivered in november, right?

i took all my favorite details i’d seen on advent calendars via pinterest and created ours. i liked the look of kraft paper but knew i didn’t have time to do anything fancy, so kraft bags were the perfect option. the date was stamped on each bag, and then the hunt for 25 days of treats & surprises began. first, each member of our family created or chose something of their interest to add to the bags. kiana spent literally months making a few dozen christmas-inspired friendship bracelets. myla created and drew a christmas comic that is all folded up in one bag. kj did a little google research and made a full page of all his favorite christmas jokes. i added yarn ball bookmarks. big papi’s contribution was baseball cards. and sela helped me choose her favorite treats for one of the goodies because she took a particular interest in what treats would be included. {everything else included is still a surprise to my kiddos.}

and then whenever i was out-n-about and found something little over the past few months i kept it hidden for the calendars:

one of my favorite finds were the mini harmonicas i tucked in the last bag for christmas. who can resist a mini harmonica?

i hung the advent calendar on twine using clothes pins. to deliver the advent calendars i tucked everything included in a burlap bag from west elm and attached a few more pom poms, because y’know, i’m obsessed with pom pom balls!

is this a tradition in your home? do you use an advent calendar to countdown till christmas? do you have one ready? if not, then here is your chance to win the supplies shown below to make one just like ours for your home! {or, for someone else!} from our home, to yours:

just leave a comment below, and answer this question: what are your favorite blog posts/topics at seejaneblog? is it sharing in our life/family adventures? beauty tips? recipes? quotes? *new to me* posts? giveaways? home decor? DIY projects? toy reviews? a combination of a few of these? other??? i am starting to brainstorm for 2013, and would love your opinions.

a winner will be announced using random.org at the bottom on this post on Monday morning, November 26th. depending on how many you need the advent calendar for – i will also include a small bag of treats to help you fill those bags. {but not all of them.} xo.

if you follow me @see_jane on instagram, you are welcome to leave two comments and enter TWICE! extra love!

have an awesome weekend!!!

***

congratulations charlene!!! this will be in the mail to you today! xo.

{photos by me, Jane Beckner Rhodes}

julia is one of the first women i met when we moved to massachussetts last year. and she is one of the most involved-in-her-community women i know. from local politics to school council to being the ultimate football momma, this mother of six – five sons and one daughter is a talented woman. (everyone needs a julia in their life when they move to a new city!) as our lives have crossed throughout the past year, we’ve shared many a conversation about what we’re both currently working on – what our latest craft craze is etc. yet, Julia never mentioned to me that she could paint until recently! in fact, it was entirely *new to me* when i found out she not only paints, but she takes commissioned projects – portraits, landscapes!  she’s brilliant with her paint brush!

as soon as i found out julia did portraits, look what she painted for our family! using one of the photos from our shoot with blue lily photography {shown below}, she created a 14 x 18 masterpiece of my kiddos walking up this wall of rocks. i absolutely adore it.

the best part? julia is now a seejaneblog sponsor {see the button on the right?!?}, and is offering a very generous giveaway to one seejaneblog reader! one winner will receive an 11×14 portrait including up to three people valued at $220! original art is one of my favorite things to give and receive as gifts. and Julia’s acrylic work is beautiful! wouldnt this be fun to surprise someone with at christmas? this painting may be just what you need to inspire a gallery wall!

how does this giveaway work?

you can enter up to three times!

1: Go to the ‘contact’ link of Julia’s website and fill out the information about yourself + share which painting you like the best in the comments.

2: Follow Julia on instagram {@blakezoo} and “like” at least one of her paintings.

3: “Like” Julia Blake art on Facebook and “like” at least one painting.

Leave a comment {or three!} below for each time you can enter, winner* will be announced at the bottom of this post on Monday, November 26th! good luck!

*the winner will choose a picture – a high resolution digital photo, and send it to Julia. she will consult with you, whether the photo is a good choice or not, and then paint it! talk about an heirloom! {the winner can up grade to larger size or more people at an additional charge}

***

congratulations, catherine! start searching for the perfect picture for julia to paint! xo.

{photos by me, Jane Rhodes}

in honor of the season, i have assembled twenty-five days of elf gifts and mischief, for one lucky winner.

the prize includes one {mister} elf + everything you see below for up-to a family of six kiddos. {my sincerest apologies if you have more than six children, i had to draw the line somewhere. and i don’t personally know anyone with more than six munchkins.} check it out:

one winner will receive:

1: elf on the shelf + automoblox by manhattan toy C9 red sportscar.
2: your elf will receive a pair of custom-black-construction-paper-glasses made by me, plus weirdo glasses.
3: time to write your letters to santa with six large pencils!
4: elf helps you decorate by adding two mini light-up trees, and kits to decorate your own 3d christmas tree
5: hide your elf somewhere clever with pez candy dispensers
6: elf gets into the kitchen cupboards and gets stuck in a glass mug!
7: elf goes on a safari!
8: elf heads to the bathroom and snuggles up with a new santa towel + washcloth.
9: while in the bathroom, he decides to take a bath with his festive rubber duckies!
10: uh-oh! he tripped on the soap, and required band-aids!
11: might as well take another nap to recoup!
12: getting snow-crafty with some clay!
13: craft time continues with festive stickers to color!
14: elf gets his modern fix with the MOMA play town
15: in disguise as frosty!
16: elf finds some new friends – micro robots!
17: ahhh fiddlesticks! elf is stuck upside down!
18: add your favorite beverage and let elf enjoy a sip with stripy straws!
19: my personal favorite elf-mischief from last year, he gets caught taking pictures with the fuji instax! {plus two rolls of film!!!}
20: after all this work, he decides to take a break – hanging around in a felt bead garland!
21: he’s a little narcissistic – wants to pop popcorn {in a mini latte bowl} and watch his own movie!
22: elf is getting a little silly – he wants to play the buck stacking game!
23: …still in the mood for games? puzzle time – rockwell style!
24: oh man! after all that fun, the other guys in the house are ready to get rid of mr. elf! {festive lego’s – one, two, three}
25: and last, but not least! mr. elf is going to wrap you in your room!!!

{most items not linked can be found at JoAnn’s Fabric Store}

bonus:

* a stencil for adding santa’s footsteps to your home!

and yes, once again: WINNER TAKES ALL. (almost a $600.00 value!) i grin every time i think about this. not only some incredible gifts, but you will be prepared to elf for twenty-five days!

the details:

to enter this giveaway – just re-post this elf on the shelf giveaway on a blog, Facebook, or instagram with link!

for example: blog about the giveaway on YOUR blog and add a link to the post in a comment below. OR share the link to this post on your Facebook page, and tag the seejaneblog page so i can see the link – leave me a comment below telling me you tagged me on fb (in case i miss it). OR, follow me on instagram (i’m @see_jane) and re-post the elf instagram image found there (by taking a screen shot on instagram of the original post, hash tag #seejaneelf) and leave a comment below telling me you reposted on instagram.

the winner will be announced by midnight on thursday, november 22nd. a little thanksgiving surprise! {i will do my research & make sure you reposted!} when leaving a comment below, please make sure you add your email address so i can contact the winner easily. and! let me know how many kids you have, or maybe you are an aunt, uncle, cousin, godparent, friend – and you might gift this to someone, let me know how many kids you are planning on for this {up to six} – so i can make sure to send the right amount of goods! i would like to ship these goods on Friday, the 23rd to ensure they arrive by December 1st!

good luck!!! i am signing off a little early this week to prepare for my surgery tomorrow morning, hopefully this elf-business will keep you all busy while i am away. see you back here on monday, i have more exciting things to share with you {and giveaways!} next week. xoxo.

you can see mr. bean’s history from last year, right here. do you elf?

***

{drum roll…..} and the winner is:

congratulations Terri! your box of elf goodies will be in the mail tomorrow! xoxo.

*reminder to everyone who entered, you can still enter for the painting giveaway being announced Monday, and there will be one more giveaway posted this week, tomorrow morning! happy elf-season!

{all pictures by me.}