letterpress giveaway!

in honor of our new letterpress release, we're having a giveaway! check out the details below:



win 5 letterpress cards of your choice!

here's what you need to do to win:

1. go to the fin+roe website and tell me which 5 cards from our letterpress line you would choose if you won. 

if you'd like to increase your chances of winning, you can do any or all of the following: (please enter a separate comment for each item you complete)

1. follow my blog. you can do this over in the right hand column. 
2. tweet or facebook about this giveaway.
3. blog about this giveaway.
4. become a fan of marzipan inc. on faebook. 
5. ask me a meaningful question on formspring. (asking me what my favorite color is will not work) 

that's 6 chances to win!

ok, i think that wraps it up! i'll leave this open until friday at noon (CST). good luck!

and the winners are....

and the winners of the 1000th post giveaway are....

#1 connie

and

#9 earthlybeginnings

please e-mail me at lori (at) marzipaninc (dot) com

congratulations ladies

giveaway extended

i've been a little under the weather here and therefore forgot about the giveaway that was supposed to end last night. i'm going to extend it until midnight tonight for anyone who didn't get a chance to enter yet.

1000

when i started this blog back in january of 2005 i had no idea where i was going with it. it was random and sparsely updated. now, 4 years later (wow! 4 years!), i have a much more clear vision of what i want it to be. while it's still a blog about my life, work, & kids, there are definitely things i focus on more than others. limiting my blog to personal or business only is just not me.

so after 4 years and a lot of changes, i hit my 1000th post yesterday. in celebration of this major milestone, i'm holding another giveaway! with the launch of our new etsy site this week i thought it would be appropriate to celebrate the two events together.

so, simply leave a comment below with the name of your favorite photo from our shop. if you'd like to enter multiple times you may do so by tweeting, blogging, or linking to it on your facebook page. i will choose 2 lucky winners to receive an 8x10 print of their choice!

enter by monday at midnight (CST). winner will be announced tuesday!

and the winners are....

first of all, thank you all so much for voting for your favorite photo of the year! it was fun to see what each of you chose.

i thought it would be nice to post the winners along with the photos they chose! here are the three winning photos and the people who voted for them

winner #1

Tracy (paper + ink designs) said...
I LOVE them all and you have done such a great job, Lori. I can totally see some of these in magazines. One of my favs since the first time I saw it - which is the first one that came to mind when I read about your giveaway is 090909. I love the vintage yet modern look to it and it really lends so much to the imagination about what's not in the picture. I love the brightness of the color combo red & blue.
Love it. :)
Tracy

thanks tracy! i love this one too. it seems to have a story. i also love all the negative space in this photo. nice and airy!

winner #2

Hannah Chandler. said...
I promise I looked through all of them, but I must admit I am enamored by the picture you posted today. 091909
I think it's because it would look fantastic close to my newly painted white fireplace. :)

i love that hannah chose the last photo of the year. this is one of my favorites from the whole year. i love the vintage look of it!

winner #3

nancy a said...
ok...9/20, 10/08, 11/14, 12/06, 12/20, 01/05, 01/10, 01/22, 07/23, and of course 09/11...i guess you just need to let me know when you put them up for sale!! :) great job and congratulations!! keep up the inspiration.

i love that nancy chose a lot of photos that were still-life vs. nature photos. nature photos come much easier for me and one of my goals this coming year is to get better at still-life photos. since she chose so many i selected my favorite from her list! even though it's not the sharpest photo, i love the subject matter and the composition.

congrats to everyone who won! please contact me at lori@marzipaninc.com to claim your print. i need to hear from everyone by end of day wednesday so i can send all the photos off together to get printed and not make anyone wait for their winnings!

this was fun, thanks again!

september 20, 2009

yesterday officially marked the last day of my photo of the day challenge for 1 year! today begins year 2! i started a new set in my flickr stream to separate the photos out by year. year 1. year 2. i hope you'll follow along with me through the second year of my journey. i'm very hopeful of what will be learned and improved along the way! again, if you have any tips or tricks you'd like to share, i'd love to hear them! i'm always up for learning something new!

oh, and don't forget to enter our year in photos giveaway which ends at midnight tonight! (sept 20th)

a year in photos :: GIVEAWAY!

this sunday marks the 1 year anniversary of my "photo of the day" posts. it all started with a new camera i got for my birthday. i thought it would be fun to track my progress of learning how to take better photos. here was my first photo:



i feel like i've learned a lot in the last year, but i know i have a lot, lot more to learn! i'm ok knowing that i'll probably never be a super-great photographer because it's more about having fun for me. i enjoy being able to take semi-decent photos of my kids and the things around me....and that's enough. this isn't to say that i'm going to stop learning. i would love to get better, maybe even take a class, but even if that doesn't happen, i'm content.

i've gotten a lot of comments and compliments on my photos throughout the year. it makes me happy to know that some of you may be enjoying them too! i've even had a few suggest that i should sell prints! i'm not sure i feel my work is good enough to sell quite yet, but it's flattering to know that some think it is.

i thought a good way to repay you all for visiting and commenting on my photos (please continue!!) would be to have a little giveaway! while i don't feel confident enough to charge for my photography yet, i'd love to give some away! all you have to do to enter is visit my flickr "photo of the day" photostream and pick your favorite from this year. come back here and enter the name to win! (they're all named by date) 3 lucky winners will win an 8x10 professional print of the photo of their choice!

i'll leave the contest open through sunday (the official anniversary of the photo of the day) at midnight (cst).

i sure would appreciate your help spreading the word of the contest through twitter and facebook (and maybe even your own blog) if you can!

and the winners are....

a big thank you to everyone who participated in our 4 year blogiversary giveaway! i love reading everyone's comments....now if i could only get you all to comment without having to give something away! ;) i joke.

we have 4 winners, the first being the grand-prize winner! using the random number generator, comment #10 was selected to be the big winner! congrats to....


julie fellow mother, stationery entrepreneur, and blog writer.

and now for our 3 runners up, also selected by the random number generator. and the winners are....


#1 kat, fellow mother and blog-writer.
#11 leslie, fellow mother and stationery entrepreneur.
#15 heather, fellow blog-writer

thanks again to everyone who participated! if you're a super-special winner, please contact me at lori @ marzipaninc dot com and we can work on your custom winnings!

4 year blogiversary!

i can't believe that i started this blog 4 years ago today! it seems like yesterday! i also can't believe that i actually remembered it this year! i think it's the first time ever!

a lot of big things have happened since i started this blog:

we moved into a new house
had another baby
had some big business changes happen along the way.
started a photo of the day post

more often than not though, this blog has been about the daily in's and out's of being a mother, designer, stationery entrepreneur, crafter, and wife.

thank you to all of you who have taken the journey with me!

as a thank you for visiting, i'm having a little giveaway. what's up for grabs? well i thought i'd focus on my newest venture, so prizes will be provided by fin+roe. one winner will receive a set of 25 custom notecards (color, pattern, & text chosen by you!) as well as 10 custom magnet mementos featuring the photo, illustration, or logo of your choice! 3 other lucky winners will receive a set of 10 custom magnet mementos as well! plus, there are sure to be a ton of other freebies thrown in as well!


to enter, just leave a comment letting me know why you visit, what keeps you coming back, and what you'd like to see more of in the future! i'll leave the contest open until midnight on friday (CST).

the winner is.....

the winner of a complete set of magnets from marzipan inc. is comment #4, which happens to be the oh-so-talented patricia from a little hut! patricia, please send me your address so i can send your magnets off for you!

don't forget the giveaway!

i know many of you were gone over the christmas holiday and are just returning to the real world today. i wanted to remind you that today is the last day to enter the giveaway for my 500th blog post! in case you missed it while you were out, you can get yourself entered here

you can win all of these!

don't forget the giftaway!

don't forget the fin+roe giftaway going on over at operation nice! you need to enter by 8:00 p.m. EST today! yes, thanksgiving day! so if you haven't entered yet, hop to it!

and the winner(s) are....

ok, time to announce the winner(s) of the desk project giveaway!

i actually decided to choose two winners to split the prize because i thought they worked well together. i'm still working out the details because i don't know how feasible it will be cost wise. however, i figured even if i don't end up doing exactly what they suggested, it's what i would do if i could! so they win!

so the winners are: molly & melissa of operation nice

i thought molly's idea of using some of my patterns from my new photo correspondence division was brilliant!

"I really love some of the fabulous patterns you have on fin + roe, think that one of those printed in large format would look great covering the desktop. You could glue it on then either seal it with acrylic, or use a glass top to protect the paper."

and i thought melissa's idea of vinyl decals worked superbly with molly's idea!

"Would vinyl decals work on that surface?? You always seem them on walls and glass, but it might be good to have some elaborate colorful design on a desk top too. Maybe you could even design your own!"

like i said, i don't know if or how i'll be able to get it work, but it's a pretty cool idea! if i can't get the vinyl to work price wise, i may just have some patterns printed out large format on regular paper and then coat it in a sealer for protection.

i'll keep you posted on how it all works out and i'll be sure to post photos of the final project! thanks to everyone who posted their wonderful ideas. it sure was fun reading them. for the two of you that won, please contact me for your prizes! (lori at marzipaninc dot com)

almost a winner....

i just wanted to let you know that i'm very close to picking a winner for my desk project! i'm just checking on a few things before i make the official announcement! stay tuned!

giveaway : don't forget!

don't forget to enter our giveaway for $50 toward our shops: shades of violet or fin+roe! just help me figure out a way to make an old desk spiffy again and leave a comment here. deadline is sunday the 6th at 10:00 p.m. cst. (that's tomorrow!!)

help : giveaway!

i'm in need of some help. awhile back my husband was able to get me a rather large L-shaped desk for next to nothing. think cubicle desk without the walls. (sort of like the photo above) mine won't have file cabinets, but it does have some built-in shelving underneath. it's all horrible grey laminate type finish. the sides and base are a grey metal that i think would be fine if i did something cool with the top. i'm a little stuck for ideas......i do have one in the back of my head, but before i did it, i thought i'd ask for a little help here. i'm hoping all you creative folks can share some brilliant ideas of what i can do with the top to finish it. my only requirement is that it not involve paint. the finish is such that paint will most likely not adhere well, and to be honest, i want something more unusual than paint anyway.

so, if you have any brilliant ideas, post a comment with them. don't worry about how labor intensive the idea may be. i'm up for a challenge! if i select your idea as my final solution, i'll provide you with a coupon code for $50 of free product on either of my sites: shades of violet or fin+roe! if i end up using my original idea, i'll pick my favorite suggestion out of the bunch and send a coupon code for $25 just for the heck of it! put on your thinking caps and start commenting away.....you have until 10:00 sunday the 7th to leave your mark!