Imprecious Fingerprint Charm Jewelry (w. earring giveaway!)

Why is it that no matter how much jewelry a woman has, she can always find another pair of must have earrings, coveted necklace, or much needed bracelet to adorn her wrist? I wish I could answer that but I certainly fall into the category of always being able to find more jewelry to put on my wish list!

Most recently, I received my Cascade Necklace from Imprecious that is not only stunning but incredibly personal since the 4 charms that hang from the chain are fingerprints from each member of our family. Whenever I wear it I’m complimented on its design but then when I tell admirers that the charms are actually my family’s prints, they are in awe and love to look closely at them.

I’m a big fan of personalized jewelry and it has always been a goal to create some unique items that can be passed down to Little Miss Techie and Captain Computer as symbols of their childhood when they are older. Imprecious creates necklaces, earrings, and bracelets that are both beautiful and meaningful by capturing the unique beauty of a fingerprint in a delicate silver charm.

You might think that creating customized jewelry and capturing a fingerprint is difficult and I assure you it is not. Creating my jewelry was incredibly easy. I contacted Imprecious and worked with owner, Robin Foley who sent out my Imprecious™ Print Capture Kit. When the envelope arrived, I read the truly easy-to-follow instructions and gathered my family for my fingerprinting project. Little Miss Techie and Captain Computer were instantly fascinated by the two colors of putty in the little tubs. They watched with great interest as I combined the two colors to form the compound that they pressed their fingers into. I made a thumb and fingerprint for each person (including myself) in less than 10 minutes and then let everything dry so it could be put back into the metal tin and sent back to Robin in the pre-paid return envelope.

Before the kit was sent and even after it was returned, Robin was fabulous to work with! We had e-mailed back and forth a number of times because I was drawn to the Cascade style but wasn’t sure if there was a better way to display our four prints. Robin was extremely helpful in providing her expertise about what would be best for the look I wanted to achieve.

Less than 2 weeks later, my little metal tin was back! I opened it to find the most stunning necklace. My charms hang vertically, one right after another, with Tech Savvy Daddy’s at the top and Captain Computer’s at the bottom, and I couldn’t be happier with my newest piece of personalized jewelry.

Unlike other pieces of jewelry that I have, I know that the fingerprints that hang around my neck were captured in a specific moment in time where my children’s little fingers will never be the same.

If you are interested in capturing a moment in time for your family, Robin has offered one extremely lucky Tech Savvy Mama reader an Imprecious for a personalized pair of earrings or a gift certificate for $88 that can be applied to your choice of items from Imprecious.

Enter to win by visiting Imprecious and sharing what piece you like most in your comment. Be sure to also include your e-mail address!

Up to 18 extra entries are available by doing any of the following:

• Follow Imprecious™ on Twitter (one entry) and leave a comment with your Twitter name

• Become an Imprecious™ Facebook Fan (one entry) and comment telling us that you have become a fan

• Subscribe to the Imprecious™ Blog (one entry) and leave a comment telling me you have done so

• Visit the Imprecious blogger page to grab the Imprecious button for your site and leave the link in your comment

• Purchase from Imprecious™ while the giveaway is active (worth TEN entries) and leave a comment telling me what you purchased and for whom!

• Add the Tech Savvy Mama button to your site and leave the link in your comment. Use the HTML that can be found on the right side of this site.
  

• Follow Tech Savvy Mama through Twitter, Facebook, or through my RSS feed. Each follow counts as an extra entry when you leave a comment telling me how you follow. Leave one follow per comment for maximum entry credit!

Huge thanks to Robin from Imprecious for providing the gift certificate for this giveaway. I purchased my Cascade necklace for half price thanks to a blogger review program that is offered by Imprecious.

Fine print: All comments must contain a valid e-mail address so I can contact you when you win. Entries must be received by Friday, December 18 by 11:59 pm. Winner will be selected on Saturday and notified via e-mail. Winner must respond within 48 hours or another winner will be selected from valid entries.

iFood Assistant 2.0 for iPhone-Recipes at Your Fingertips!

You would think that since I’ve been reviewing products for my gift guides since October and publishing holiday gift suggestions at a furious pace that I would know that the holidays are upon us. Not so.

All of a sudden the holidays have snuck up on me! While I have everything almost all squared away in the gift department, a month ago I volunteered to host my staff holiday party and now it is tomorrow!

Although I have a great collection of cookbooks and a repertoire of tried and true crowd pleasers, I am not feeling inspired. Did I mention that my dish should go with the main dish of fajitas? Perhaps that’s the problem. So I’m on the hunt for something new, easy, and will be loved by my staff.

Rather than digging through my cookbooks or binder of tried and trues, Kraft Foods heard my plea and suggested that downloaded iFood Assistant 2.0. They told me about the many features (7,000+ recipes, ability to make shopping lists, and even grocery store and aisle locators) but they had me at first mention of the holiday and entertaining section. While I am usually a make-it-from-scratch kind of gal, time is not on my side here and I use can all the help I can get!

There are two version of iFood Assistant- 2.0 and Lite. I downloaded iFood Assistant 2.0 for $0.99 and went straight to the Holidays and Events section. The handy menu had separate menus and listings for categories like appetizers, soups and salads, entrees, side dishes, desserts, cookies, beverages, and even turkey leftovers! There are also full menus for holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas sit down dinner, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, and an open house.

Scrolling towards the bottom, I found a potluck menu. Tapping on it revealed a list of recipes each accompanied by a picture, ratings according to a 4 star system, and the prep and total time. I love seeing the finished product and my time-strapped self also appreciates knowing how long it might take me to prep and prepare each recipe.

So for my holiday party, I chose the Chocolate Mousse Torte. Made with Nilla Wafers, Baker’s semi-sweet chocolate, cream cheese, chocolate pudding then garnished with chocolate curls, raspberries, and whipped cream, I think it will be a crowd pleaser!

Later today I'll go grocery shopping and I'm already armed with a list of ingredients to shop for since the recipe is on my phone. I can leave the app open to my recipe and click on ingredients to see what I will need for ultimate convenience.

If all goes according to plan, Captain Computer and I should be able to make the Chocolate Mousse Torte this afternoon. Prep time is 20 minute but it will probably take me long with the help of my enthusiastic sous chef and chief taster. Then I'll the torte chill overnight, and garnish it in the morning so I can pull it out and have it ready to serve tomorrow night. I’ll let you know how it turns out!

iPhone users can download iFood Assistant 2.0 from iTunes for $0.99.

If you are interested in the recipe but without an iPhone, here’s the Chocolate Mousse Torte recipe on the Kraft Foods website complete with an instructional video!

I was compensated by Kraft Foods to cover the cost of groceries to try out recipes featured on iFood Assistant 2.0/LITE, downloading the app and conducting reader giveaways. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive sentiments towards iFood Assistant or other Kraft Foods mobile offerings. Images courtesy of Kraft Foods.

Announcing LeapFrog The Gift of Giving Recipient!

Thank you to everyone who voted for the four nominees for LeapFrog’s The Gift of Giving! I could have never anticipated that this effort would have attracted so much attention or that 630 votes would have been cast for all of our nominees.

It was a close contest with votes coming in up to the 5 pm deadline and when I tallied the votes, the winner won with 46 more votes than our second place contender.

So, without further ado, it gives me great pleasure to announce that The Gift of Giving recipient is Greentree Shelter in Bethesda, MD!

Huge thanks to Alexis and Fixation Marketing for nominating Greentree Shelter and to all of you who nominated and then voted for these wonderful organizations that could benefit from a donation of LeapFrog products this holiday season!

I’ll be sharing more about working with Fixation Marketing on behalf of LeapFrog to benefit Greentree on the LeapFrog Community in the near future.

Thanks again!

Cardstore.com for Fabulous Personalized Cards (w. giveaway!)

In my teacher gift guide, I recommended the gift of personalized note cards and can’t say enough good things about the personalized note cards that I recently received from Cardstore.com. I’ve been a stationary junkie forever with an eye for great designs and quality products. Despite spending most of my waking hours online, I still believe in the power of the handwritten note and love sending and receiving letters.

Whether shopping for yourself or for a gift this holiday season, here are just some of the reasons why I love Cardstore.com:

Selection- Flat cards, folded cards, stationary, and postcards come in classic, contemporary, and modern designs for adults, kids, teachers, holidays, weddings, party invites, births, and more! I love their personal card selection that includes business cards and mommy cards. The rounded corners that can feature pictures or a couple of blank lines to jot a note and are a pleasure to hand out because they just ooze class. Thinking ahead to two upcoming weddings in our family, I am recommending Cardstore.com to the engaged couples because they can coordinate save the date cards, invitations, response cards, and thank yous with ease because other cards in the collection appear right on the same screen. With over 2000 designs by over 50 artists and the ability to add up to 14 photos on some cards, Cardstore.com has a wide selection that will certainly suit every style!

Ease of Navigation- Despite the huge selection, I found the Cardstore.com site so easy to navigate. I paged through the designs and two caught my eye really quickly. Personalization took only 3 easy steps! For my notecards, it was really only one step because I just had to click on the place holder text to customize the message but for photo cards, adding a photo is step #2. Folded cards have the option of a step 3 where you can choose an inside layout to add additional text. Easy! Just review your proof, click the box that you approve, and order. That’s it!

Speed of Delivery- I placed my order on a Sunday and had my personalized cards on Wednesday. No joke! It says right on the site that orders ship within 2 business days and I found that to be absolutely true! So if you haven’t ordered your holiday cards yet or want to get place a gift order for personalized note cards, no worries! Cardstore.com can still make you appear amazingly put together and organized by getting their products to you that quickly! Or if you prefer, upload the addresses of everyone who you send cards to and have Cardstore.com take care of the addressing and sending for an extra charge.

Quality- I am a very tactile person. I love to hold stationary and feel the texture of the fine paper and the weight of a quality card in my hand. While you may have qualms about ordering online, the beauty of the cards is reflected in the finished product. Cardstore.com only uses the best high quality recycled cardstock for their products. I was a little concerned that the printing might be streaky because that has been my experience with other online stationary companies. Not so with Cardstore.com’s products. Even when some of the cards I ordered were deep solid blue. I ordered the Marine Blue ones that came exactly as pictured on the site…Well, with my personalization instead of what you see in the sample!

Price- Competitively priced with other online stationary stores, Cardstore.com offers volume discounts and has no shortage of coupon codes available. Use the code FRIEND15 for 15% off your order between now and 12/31/09.


If you don’t feel like sending photo cards or personalized stationary, Cardstore.com also offers a wide variety of boxed cards too perfect for still sending out holiday greetings or having on hand for thank yous for the many holiday parties you get invited to or for the gifts you receive this season. And check out their super cute pet cards so even your dog can demonstrate good etiquette for the box of Milk Bones received this holiday or send canine/feline season's greetings of their own!

GIVEAWAY: Win 2 sets of boxed stationary from Cardstore.com’s collection! Just browse the site and leave a comment telling me your favorite design! Winner will be chosen this Sunday at Noon!

Cardstore.com provided me with a gift certificate to try their site and order personalized cards but I was under no obligation to write about my experience using the site, nor was I paid to do so. Images courtesy of Cardstore.com.

Black Mountain Jewelry 15% off until 12/15!

If you have picked up a couple things this holiday season, you have noticed that I love handbags and handmade jewelry!

Black Mountain Jewelry is another fabulous company consisting of the husband-wife team of Mark and Carla Mead. Last Mother’s Day they offered one very lucky Tech Savvy Mama reader a Tree of Life Charm (left) as a giveaway and this holiday season they are offering a 15% discount off any order of $50 or more with the coupon code HS09.

Mark and Carla’s beautiful jewelry helps customers celebrate their milestones with gifts of jewelry that honor the special people and times in your life. I love the gorgeous simplicity of the Tree of Life collection and the Sonora Star line that features beautiful pearl color combinations with handmade charms that are lovingly antiquated to give them a patina which makes them look like you've had for years.

While Black Mountain's spectacular jewelry is indeed one of a kind, I’m impressed by this little mom and pop company’s commitment to fair trade and environmentally responsible business practices. Carla and Mark practice fair trade and responsible sourcing while minimizing the impact on our environment and are concerned about their own practices on their local environment. Black Mountain jewelry uses reclaimed and recycled materials and purchases responsibly sourced gems from companies whose mining practices don’t violate human rights. They also give 5% of each sale of each Tree of Life Jewelry sale to Jewelers for Children.

Not sure what to get? It is all really great but I really love their:

• Pearl Chokers (upper right- $65)

• Sonora Star Charm Bracelets (immediate right- $225)

• Drop Earrings (below left- $55)
  

Spread the word that all of Black Mountain’s one of a kind jewelry is on sale for 15% off until December 15th. And Carla has already offered me another jewelry giveaway for Mother’s Day! Squee! Believe it or not, I really do plan that far ahead! ☺

I was not compensated to share this sale. Just trying to help another mom and pop company with fabulous stuff!

Vote to Give LeapFrog Toys to Kids in Need!

Since last week’s call for help, I received some great ideas about recipients for LeapFrog’s The Gift of Giving.

It is time to vote and I need your help! As I mentioned in my original post, I want you to decide who should receive this generous donation of LeapFrog toys.

Here’s some information about each of the organizations a donation of LeapFrog toys could benefit. You are welcome to vote for your favorite organization as many times as you’d like between now and Wednesday at 5 pm EST.


Greentree Shelter in Bethesda, Maryland

• Greentree Shelter serves as a transitional home for families and assists mostly single mothers and children by providing support systems as they rebuild their lives. Greentree provides basic needs as well as a counseling, case management, life and career skills training, and substance abuse prevention and education that aid families in developing a sense of self-esteem, self-help skills, and healthier relationships which help them to avoid the recurrence of homelessness. Greentree is also the only shelter for homeless families in Montgomery County, Maryland with an on-site child care center. Thanks to Alexis for nominating Greentree.

MetroWest, serving Boston area communities in Massachusetts

• MetroWest is foundation that supports over 30 communities west of the greater Boston area. Executive Director, Judith Salerno, saw my tweet about The Gift of Giving and wrote the following to nominate her organization: “We are a community foundation serving the cities west of Boston. This year, Massachusetts has closed transitional shelters and families are now housed at hotels until permanent housing is found 6-10 most for many families. In one hotel in our community 95 families with 125 under age 5 live without any services. Recently the children were each given one book, collected by a local school. Leapfrog would be an amazing gift for these children, who have no access to early childhood ed. or services. Please consider helping these children who have no permanent home."

Parent Resource Center in Montgomery County, Maryland

• The Parent Resource Center with multiple locations throughout Montgomery County, Maryland is a county run program that provides children ages infant to age five with preschool activities, learning toys, art supplies, and circle and story times led by parent educators. Membership provides a preschool-like experience on a drop in basis and is affordable to all families since cost is based on a sliding scale. Kim, a regular reader, blogger, and a mom who often visits the Parent Resource Center with her daughter, wrote to nominate the Silver Spring location of the Parent Resource center because it has no money for new toys or materials. The parent educator in charge of the Silver Spring Parent Resource Center reduced the number of days and hours per week she works just to keep the location open.

Treehouse for Kids in Seattle, Washington

• Treehouse for Kids is a Seattle-based organization that helps foster children and foster parents. Foster parents receive up to $300 from the state each year that is supposed to cover the cost of clothing for the growing child. A donation of LeapFrog toys would greatly assist foster families provide toys to the children in their care. Treehouse relies on the generosity of individuals and community businesses to stock their Warehouse, a unique facility where kids and caregivers shop for free so foster posterns can stretch their family budget a little bit farther. Nominated by Heather, a regular reader and supporter of Treehouse for Kids.

Who would you choose? Vote as many times as you like here between now and Wednesday at 5 pm EST!



I am not receiving any compensation from LeapFrog for participating in their The Gift of Giving campaign other than payment for posts that are part of my weekly column in the LeapFrog Community. Participating in The Gift of Giving was completely voluntary.

The Best Gifts for Teachers (by a teacher!)

What does your child’s teacher want this holiday season? Don’t be tempted by those ornaments or tchotkes proclaiming World’s Best Teacher. Put down the apple paraphernalia. And please no baked goods! After years of watching my mom open gifts from her students and then bringing home a box of goodies from my own class each December, I know how important it to give your child’s teacher something that will show that you appreciate them for instilling knowledge in your child and their hard work all year long even though you aren’t quite halfway through the year.

What do teachers really want? Please no more mugs! In his new book, Close Encounters of the Third Grade Kind, teacher and author Phillip Done reported that he had 37 at last count and that teachers at his school call the week before winter break Mug Week.

To answer the question of what teachers would really love as holiday gifts, I went straight to my colleagues. Between bites of lunch, grading papers, and dishing about the previous night’s tv shows, they came up with fabulous suggestions based on gifts they have received during holidays past.

The #1 thing that teachers want are gift cards or gift certificates. Neither is impersonal if you know your teacher well. Here is a comprehensive list of ideas for gift card or gift certificate that include with a thoughtful gesture to make it a little more personal and allow them to remember your child.

• The stylish teacher who wears the latest trends would love a gift certificate to the mall. Stuff the gift card in a pair of gloves or wrap it in a scarf (I like the affordable line of Thermacheck accessories from Lands' End) to keep them warm when they are outside doing bus or recess duty.

• Help your teacher keep track of their classroom things with personalized gifts. A gift certificate to a site like Tiny Prints or an order of personalized stationary or business cards from Cardstore.com was said to always be appreciated. Both sites allow you to customize text and order for arrival in 3-4 days even if you are a procrastinator. I have been quite impressed with the speed of delivery and high quality products from both companies this holiday season including Cardstore.com's Happy Orange Thanks cards (pictured above). Add a set of personalized pencils so there will always be a set of teacher pencils free from kid germs so your child’s teacher will stay well.

• Keep your teacher organized and hang on to their belongings with Sticky Labels ($18.50 for 45) or Skinny Minis ($18.50 for 80)from Mabel’s Labels so their stapler, tape dispenser, hole punch, etc. so it won’t get mixed up with their colleague’s next door.

• One of your child’s favorite books for the classroom library paired with a gift certificate to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, or your local independent bookstore is a dream.

• Pamper your child’s teacher with a gift certificate for a manicure or pedicure at the local spa or salon. After obsessive hand washing and being on your feet all day, nothing is better than a manicure and pedicure. Pair a gift certificate with a cozy pair of socks or slippers for lounging at home or when the kids aren’t at school like my colleagues do!

• Coffee drinkers will love a gift card to a nearby coffee joint so they can pick up a cup of joe on their way to work to help them get through the long days and pair it with a great insulated mug like my favorite one from Oxo (doesn’t count since it isn’t of the ceramic variety!) so that caffeine fix will last almost to lunch time. Non-coffee drinkers might appreciate specialty teas. Adagio has a great selection and if you aren’t sure what they might like, order a sampler and get a nice tea infusion mug to go with it.

If the parents at your child's school generally take up a collection to provide your teacher with a gift from the class, here are some ideas that make perfect group gifts.

• Find out your teacher’s favorite restaurant, one close by to school, or use Restaurant.com to purchase a gift certificate that they can use on those days where it is just too much to go home and make dinner. Everyone has those days and teachers do too! Put it inside a great lunch bag (like the one I bought myself from Built NY as pictured right) so your teacher can carry their leftovers to school in style.

• A gift certificate to the movies is a great way to help defray the cost of a night out. If your teacher likes the convenience of delivery, send 2 movies a month to your teacher’s house so they can unwind at the end of a long day with Netflix’s $5/month plan. For $60 you can give your teacher a month of movies!

• Have a teacher with family far away? It is hard to travel on a teacher budget especially since winter break days likely fall on blackout days where fares are higher. Help offset the cost of travel by taking up a collection to send your teacher away on a real vacation or be home with their family for some real TLC with an airline gift certificate.

• If your teacher loves fresh fruit, send an Edible Arrangement to school or check out Harry and David’s fruit clubs where you can have as little as 3 months of fresh fruit delivered for $79.95. 6-12 month fruit of the month clubs are also available depending on your budget

• Flowers always brighten anyone’s mood especially when they are a surprise. Teachers swoon when they see beautiful bouquets delivered to the office and hope they are meant for them. 1-800 Flowers.com has a great selection of flowers for under $30 that are available for same day delivery. Flowers.com offers 3 months of flowers ($139.98) or 3 months of plants ($129.98). Another perfect gift from the class or a collection of families!
  

I hope that this post has inspired you to get creative in your gift giving for your child’s teacher this holiday season. If I have taught you anything, please don’t give your child’s teacher a mug! Take it from the teachers!

Huge thanks to my colleagues for helping me compile this list of ideas!

For more gift ideas for everyone on your holiday shopping list, check out the rest of my gift guides that are designed to provide thoughtful suggestions for everyone on your list and product giveaways that will make holiday shopping a little easier on the wallet:

• Toddlers
• Preschoolers
• Elementary Ages
• Tweens & Teens
• Adults
• Tech Gear
• DVDs and CDs

This post was inspired by Phil Done’s new book, Close Encounters of the Third Grade Kind and was designed to provide alternate gift ideas for families reluctant to buy mugs and any item featuring an apple.

I received a review copy of Close Encounters of the Third Grade Kind from the publisher as part of the Silicon Valley Moms Group book club. If you would like to win a copy of Close Encounters of the Third Grade Kind, I am giving one away here.

Cardstore.com provided me with a gift certificate to try their service and products and I received a Tiny Prints gift card while attending the Clever Girls Collective Sweet Suite at Blogalicious. No compensation was received for any of the other mentions. Photos courtesy of the companies whose products were mentioned thoughout the post.

Tech Savvy Guest Katrina Kugel Introduces jasmere.com

Today’s Tech Savvy Guest is friend and fellow mom, Katrina Emmerson Kugel, a mother of 2 and co-founder of the brand new jasmere.com. Katrina is here to give us the inside scoop on how her new deal hunting site, jasmere, came about and how it can help busy parents like you stay fashionable and score unbelievable deals on a wide variety of products.

Even though I drive a minivan and most days define “dressing up” as “showered”, I decided early on in motherhood I wasn’t going to give up on style that easily. The idea for jasmere came from an inability to go shopping. Not only were my department store visits limited to the time it takes a five-year-old to eat a pack of fruit snacks, but also I found that even browsing online retailers always took longer than intended. One minute I’m paging through 397 holiday accessories, the next minute my 3-year-old has ‘accessorized’ the suede chair with black ink.

Like most families these days, we try to save money wherever possible. I’d been noticing the growth of “deal of the day” websites but they didn’t offer the style factor I was looking for. Many of them still required you to search online through pages and pages of items, the best of which were often sold out. All this led to the birth of jasmere: a site for customers who care about savings almost as they do about style.

At jasmere, we seek out specialty retailers, underknown “gems” that deserve national attention. The site spotlights one merchant for a day, including a glowing review (I personally test all products we feature on the site, and yes, that’s probably the best part of my job). Customers find out about the best web retailers they’ve never heard of and get up to 70% off a desirable item. This daily discovery is delivered to their inbox and it all takes less than 5 minutes a day. Which leaves us more time for other things (like getting ink out of suede).
We know shopping is a often a shared event and encourage customers to forward the daily “spotlight” to their friends. Thanks to our “deal sweetner”, the more people sign up to purchase an item, the lower the price gets.

Working with my husband and our partners, who also happen to be our neighbors, has been very rewarding. The enthusiasm of our kids has been fun to see. My son has routinely insisted during playdates that his buddies sign up for the site. Mostly I’m grateful to be able to have found that elusive balance between work and family, and let’s face it, shopping!

Editor's note: Jasmere just launched yesterday so sign up to be notified of the deal of the day via e-mail and be among the first to hear about jasmere's premiere offering next week. From the tidbits I've gathered from Katrina, I'm excited to see all of the great items that will be available each day! And if you sign up before Tuesday, December 8, you will be entered to win a $500 jasmere shopping spree!

After graduating from the University of Wisconsin in 1991, Katrina spent seven years as a political and nonprofit fundraiser. She earned her MBA from Kellogg and managed brands like Yoplait and Magnolia Home Theater for General Mills and Best Buy. Katrina started her own marketing and events consulting practice in 2006 and managed conferences and events featuring then Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. She co-founded jasmere with her husband, Jeremy, and next-door neighbors. She lives in Silver Spring, Maryland with her husband and two boys.

No compensation was received for sharing this guest post. Just trying to help a friend out with her new business!