But today, I also have a guest post over on Kristen Duke Photography. She has been doing a series all month on decorating with portraits…tons of great posts and ideas all month long. Today is my contribution, you can click over to read it.

One winner is going to receive an incredible stash of prizes. I would like to rig this so I can win it all. Scroll through all the participating sponsors, visit their shops, and leave a comment here to enter. You have until Monday night…weekend shopping!  *the shops listed below have purchased advertising on this blog for the month of January, participation in this group giveaway is included in their advertising purchase

Linen & Thread

Giveaway: $45.00 store credit

Coupon: 15% off with the code SYCAMORE

shop & explore Linen & Thread by clicking here

Westmama Designs

Giveaway: $20 gift certificate

Coupon: AshleyAnn15 for 15% off

shop & explore Westmama Designs here

Storied Ink Studios

Giveaway: $20 store credit

Coupon: SYCAMOREFEB12 for 10% off for the month of February

shop & explore Storied Ink Studios here

Borsa Bella

Giveaway: $40 gift certificate

Coupon: FUN15 for 15% off

shop & explore Borsa Bella here

Whimsical Dragonfly

Giveaway: $35 store credit

Coupon: SYCAMORE25 for 25% off

shop & explore Whimsical Dragonfly here

The No Brainer Wardrobe

Giveaway: An online Personal Styling session worth $25

Coupon: sycamore for 50% off – for first 20 downloads

shop & explore The No Brainer Wardrobe here

Fresh Picked Whimsy

Giveaway: $50 store credit

Coupon: UNDERTHESYCAMORE for 25% off

shop & explore Fresh Picked Whimsy here

Gracious May

Giveaway: $20 store credit (eligible for use at Snugars.com as well)

shop & explore Gracious May here

For the Love of Joy

Giveaway: $40 store credit

Coupon: UNDERTHESYCAMORE for 10% discount

shop & explore For the Love of Joy here

Seamingly Sarah

Giveaway: $25 store credit

shop & explore Seamingly Sarah here

Lulu & ChaCha

Giveaway: $15 credit

Coupon: UTSFS for Free Shipping

shop & explore Lulu & ChaCha here

the Anderson Crew

Giveaway: MED ad space for the month of March ($40 value)

Explore the Anderson Crew here

Can you believe all those great prizes? Awesome.  I’d love to hear what your favorite items are in the shops.

After you check out the stores above, come back and enter to win it all!

So here’s the giveaway details:

Giveaway ends Monday, February 27th at 8:00pm US Central

One winner, chosen at random

One entry per person

To enter: leave a comment on this post

We got word today that our dossier (adoption paperwork) has been logged in China’s system. That means our next step is receiving a referral…that is where our agency matches us with a waiting child. OUR NEXT STEP IS SEEING A PHOTO OF OUR CHILD AND READING OUR CHILD’S STORY! How does one even wrap their mind around something like this? There is a child waiting….a family waiting…soon that little one’s name will be known and face will be cherished…until then we will celebrate this very big step!

I’m random today. The truth is all I feel is random these days. We are waiting word that our paperwork is “logged in” in China. Once that happens, the next step is our referral (receiving an email with information and a picture of the waiting child we are matched to). We are in the last days of not knowing our Little One’s name and not knowing our child’s face. I’m a distracted mess at all times. Random is all I got these days.

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The next SnapShop round starts on Sunday (there are a few more open spots). I have had some interest from those that don’t own a dslr and wondered if the course was a good fit. It is written for a dslr owner, but there are components that work for a point and shoot. I asked Cally if she’d do a swap with me…take the course with her point & shoot and as a trade send me a few bags. I was excited when she said “yes”. Everything she makes I like, so I just asked her to make 2 bags for little girls…no other details. I only have pictures of one, but it is cuter than I could have ever thought up. FireCracker is carrying it non-stop now.

My oldest wants a “Beaver Dam” birthday party. Not kidding. I made invitations with disclaimers at the bottom. Evidently the coolest party in his book is one where he and his friends explore the beaver dam near our house. He wants a cake shaped like a beaver. You better believe it will be red velvet if I make it. I realized about a week before the party that I had not sent out invites…nice heads up for the moms Ashley.

The Paper Clouds sent me some notecards and scripture cards….both are getting lots of use in this phase of distraction for me.

I always think it is interesting what people are drawn to at antique stores. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen something someone else buys and suddenly see it in a whole new light. So, I thought I’d share what I picked up at the antique store when I was at Craft Weekend.

A chalkboard box thing. It has some paint on it, but that doesn’t bother me. I’m not sure the original purpose, but I think I’ll replace the back side with new pegboard. After that I hope to hang it on the wall and store little things inside. However, it will probably sit in my garage for a few months because I’ll be too distracted to start on it.

Metal tray, vintage fabric and crocheted trim. If the price is super cheap, I never pass by these. I use the fabric and trim for random things (like patching holes on my TOMS). I have a growing collection of these kind of metal trays in different colors. One day I hope to fill a wall with them and use them as magnet boards.

Melamine platter and dishes. They are hard to break and have teal…couldn’t pass over them.

Not related to thrifty finds….a recent order from Mpix arrived. I ordered prints on matboard for the living room. They make me happy.

I also ordered 4×6 prints from 2011 for my collage wall.

 Here is more information on how I did this wall.

And because I am so distracted these days, I am living by my kitchen timer. Seriously, do you do that with your kids? You have 10 minutes to get the living room picked up…beat the timer. I do it all the time. Now I do it for myself. I time myself on dishes, laundry, cleaning, everything. If I beat the timer I reward myself with 10 minutes to house daydream. It is the only way anything productive is happening around here.

Some pages I am tearing out of old magazines…funny how many of them are on my pinterest boards!

So that is all for today.

Tomorrow is the big sponsor giveaway!