My Home Sweet Home » announcements

Everyone Needs a Cheerleader

Dawn — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 23:30:07 +0000

I‘m blessed to have cheerleaders in my life: friends that encourage; a husband that supports me and thinks everything I attempt is just fabulous; online-turned-real-life friends to bounce my creative ideas off of, like my friend Holley.

Holley is my Words With Friends BFF—we play a minimum of 5 games at a time, at all hours of the day and night.

I email designs I’m working on to Holley to see what she thinks.

Holley bought the first print in my new Etsy store (Oh, wait! I haven’t told you about that, yet!).

Holley believes in me. And that means a lot.

She and Stephanie invited me to the first Camp Creativpreneur with their new company Squee Inc. (This is a big day for them—their website launched!)

Aren’t they cute?

Here we are: the first Camp Creativpreneur campers
with our fearless leaders, Holley and Stephanie!

Holley possesses a God-given gift for encouragement, which she sprinkles lavishly on all those who read her words or listen to her. Her latest book, You’re Already Amazing releases on March 1, but you can pre-order it today and tomorrow from Barnes & Noble for half price—$6.99!

I’ve already ordered mine and apparently I’m not the only one: You’re Already Amazing is currently #1 at Barnes & Noble and it hasn’t even been released!

Spend some time with Holley and you’ll feel like she’s your own personal cheerleader, too.

Everyone Needs a Cheerleader is a post from: My Home Sweet Home
© 2012 My Home Sweet Home | All rights reserved

Technical Difficulties

Dawn — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 03:21:19 +0000

I‘ve had a couple of technical difficulties lately that I wanted to share with you: first, I not only haven’t been getting email notifications for new comments, but also my comment responder plugin (which emails you a copy of my reply) quit working with the newest WordPress (blogging software) upgrade. I don’t have a fix yet for the comment notifications (I care when you comment!), but I’ve just installed a new plugin that’s supposed to email you if I reply to you (I’d really love to know if this one works . . .).

Second, FeedBurner (the service that sends new posts to you lovely email subscribers) doesn’t seem to like Camera Phone Friday and hasn’t emailed out those posts for the last three or four weeks. Here’s a link to all of the posts in that category. The latest CPF and this post should arrive together in the same email, so I’m interested to see what happens.

I pray you all had a Merry Christmas and the new year exceeds your wildest expectations. Thanks for being here!

Technical Difficulties is a post from: My Home Sweet Home
© 2012 My Home Sweet Home | All rights reserved

Dreaming of Hilton Head

Dawn — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 14:56:38 +0000

I love writing for (in)courage and filling our home (and our friends’ homes) with DaySpring products. I really, really, really love the fact that (in)courage was “built” with a beach house theme, and that for the second year in a row the city of Hilton Head will open her arms and welcome the authors to put up our sandy, dirty feet in real beach houses, spending time together and cooking up ways to better serve and bless the (in)courage community.

“When we asked ourselves what kind of place we were building, we finally came to see it as a bit like a beach house. You can put your sandy, dirty feet on the coffee table, laugh late into the night with friends, and also hear God’s voice clearer than perhaps anywhere else. Life just feels more vibrant and real, as if you’ve stumbled upon a glimpse of heaven and it’s nothing like you ever imagined but everything you’d always hoped.” {Read the full (in)courage story here.}

Unbelievably, 24 of us will be there next week. With some I’ve been real-life friends for years and others I’ll meet face-to-face for the first time. It makes me giddy just thinking about it; what a sweet homecoming it will be.

I want to thank the sponsors of our trip in advance:

Resort Rentals of Hilton Head Island is putting us up in style in two side-by-side beach houses. If you’re looking for a safe, relaxing getaway for you or your family, I encourage you to seriously consider Hilton Head. Last year was my first visit there and I was so impressed by the beauty and charm of the island.
DaySpring continues to amaze me with their generosity and investment in the (in)courage authors and community. The (in)courage site may give a “face” to DaySpring, but I’ve seen the real face of DaySpring at conferences and in day-to-day email conversations with the people who work there. Believe me when I say that this company is the real deal.

[If you've been reading the website lately, you'll know that we're working on something big that will be revealed to the (in)courage community next week on September 9, while we're in Hilton Head. I'll blog the announcement here, too.]

Dreaming of Hilton Head is a post from: My Home Sweet Home
© 2012 My Home Sweet Home | All rights reserved

Bar and Sheet Hit the Streets!

Dawn — Wed, 04 May 2011 19:16:15 +0000

Last week the Bounce Facebook Page launched a truly wacky campaign called Bar and Sheet Hit the Streets and they want your help in brainstorming silly, offbeat uses for Bounce bars and dryer sheets outside of the laundry room. Two “fanatics”—one for the bar and one for the sheets—will hit the streets enacting ideas submitted by Bounce Fans.

Share your zany ideas on their Facebook wall each week from Saturday to Monday. The three best ideas from each week will be posted on the wall for voting and the winning idea will be made into a video featuring the Bounce Fanatics.

On Tuesdays through Thursdays, while waiting for the winning video to be announced, created, and posted, you’ll have a chance to win limited edition “B-shirts.” Winning videos will be posted on Fridays.

The process repeats each week until May 27!

Need some inspiration?

Submit your idea for Bar and Sheet Hit the Streets: it has nothing to do with softening fabrics and everything to do with fun!

{Disclosure: I am being compensated for my participation in this campaign.}

Bar and Sheet Hit the Streets! is a post from: My Home Sweet Home
© 2012 My Home Sweet Home | All rights reserved

I’ve Got a New NAPP Referral Bonus!

Dawn — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 12:30:32 +0000

As an evangelist for NAPP, the National Association of Photoshop Professionals, I get to offer you an awesome sign-up bonus with your membership: a $10 discount and Scott Kelby’s new Photo Recipes Live: Behind the Scenes, Part 2: Lighting Techniques DVD/book combo.

When the first book came out, Photo Recipes Live: Behind the Scenes: Your Guide to Today’s Most Popular Lighting Techniques, I asked for it as my sign-on bonus. I’m happy to be able to offer you the new volume now.

Here’s the scoop:

Scott Kelby, author of the best-selling The Digital Photography Book, once again brings to life his “Photo Recipes” chapter—not just from this book, but from his smash best-selling follow-ups, volumes 2 and 3. In this two-hour video and companion booklet, Scott shows you exactly how it’s all done, from scratch, without holding anything back.

If you’ve ever wondered how the pros use natural light, studio light, and even direct daylight to get those amazing shots, you’ll see it all here, live, as it happens. For this follow-up to the incredibly popular first volume of Photo Recipes Live, Scott heads to Miami—both on location and in the studio—to re-create the looks he describes in the book, along with some bonus lighting set-ups that aren’t in the book.

Everything is put together from scratch (from studio shots to location shots), all while the cameras are rolling— you see it all from the very beginning so you’ll be able to re-create those same looks without spending thousands on expensive high-end equipment.

Best of all, Scott explains everything in simple, plain English, just like he’d tell a friend, using the same casual, conversational style that made his series of books a worldwide sensation. If you’ve ever wondered “how they do it,” you’re about to find out in this amazing DVD/book combo that shows how easy this all can be—once you know the secrets.

What a great time to join NAPP—just enter DAWN as your promo code.

[I wrote recently about attending Photoshop World in Orlando this week. I've made the decision to reschedule and attend the conference in Las Vegas in September instead. I'll miss my NAPP buddies this week!]

I’ve Got a New NAPP Referral Bonus! is a post from: My Home Sweet Home
© 2012 My Home Sweet Home | All rights reserved

oops! I got a little trigger happy :-)

Dawn — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 12:08:33 +0000

For those of you subscribe here, wondering why the link I gave to my post at (in)courage today doesn’t work, it’s because it will post there next Saturday. Got my dates mixed up. oops! (hangs head)

What I will be looking for today (and hopefully have my dates right) is that a recommendation I made on whrrl (a totally addictive phone app) is supposed to be in USA Weekend magazine this weekend. If you get that newspaper and see it (I think USA Weekend is a weekend insert in the newspaper), let me know. I’m pretty psyched to see it!

oops! I got a little trigger happy :-) is a post from: My Home Sweet Home
© 2012 My Home Sweet Home | All rights reserved

31 Days of Encouragement: Make a Joyful Noise {Day 26} – a special guest post and a Quaver Music giveaway

Dawn — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 11:30:54 +0000

Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.
~Psalm 98:4

In November I wrote about the top secret trip that I took, working with a new music brand. Finally, the time has come to spill the beans!

A group of music professionals and a few blogging, homeschooling moms were brought together as an advisory council for a new music program, Quaver’s Marvelous World of Music. While Quaver was unknown to us and the public in general, this amazing group of musicians, producers, and technical wizards had been crafting the program for years.

They treated us to a fun getaway weekend in Nashville; picked our brains; fed us fine Southern cooking at B.B. King’s Blues Club; and gifted us with cool Quaver jackets and iPads for everyone!

I consider myself blessed to have been asked to contribute feedback when Quaver reached that point in its development.

I would like to introduce you to Graham Hepburn, the inspiration and embodiment of Quaver itself. Graham is guest posting for me today while I’m at BlissDom.

At the bottom of this post I’ll tell you how you can win a Quaver kit if you’re a BlissDom attendee.

It seems evident to me that life itself is underscored by music. The beat of our days, the pitch of our moods, the rhythm of our families, coming and going, growing and changing. Music is everywhere.

But sometimes, amidst all the noise, we miss the most important notes. Children, especially, forget the songs they once knew and begin to tune out the music around them. They need encouragement to tap into that native talent and truly make a joyful noise . . . for their Creator, for their families, for themselves.

Growing up in England, I studied music and performed on the piano, leading really energizing music workshops in grade schools. Now as Quaver I own an imaginative Music Shop where I have all the instruments and equipment to help kids discover and love music.

There is nothing more exciting to me than bringing that love of music to life in children. This is what I was made to do: to help them tune their creative antennae to the station they were meant to hear, to give them the tools and understanding they need to truly make a joyful noise in their everyday lives.

I believe music can transform lives and ignite children’s imaginations for success in all their endeavors. It all starts with just one note, one beat, one very joyful noise! I hope you’ll encourage your kids to let their imaginations’ soar through the wonderful world of music!

Written by Graham Hepburn

Graham Hepburn has a passion for igniting a love of music in the hearts and minds of young kids. He has served as an elementary music teacher in Illinois and his home country of England, is an accomplished musician, and is the heart and energetic force behind the Quaver character. To learn more and join in the fun go to QuaverMusic.com.

BlissDom protects its conference sponsors, as it should. There’s no promoting of other brands there. After BlissDom, Quaver will be giving away a music program kit to an attendee. To be entered in the contest, just give your business card to Abby Barnhart, @dearabbyleigh on Twitter. Exchanging business cards is A-OK!

Abby is pictured on the right next to me in this photo.

What’s Quaver all about? Take a look!

Connect with Quaver Online:

Website (site launch soon!)
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube

Winners of the BlissDom-Only Giveaway from DaySpring

Dawn — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 23:29:26 +0000

The winners of the giveaway are:

Alison at aPearantly Sew (God’s Heart for You necklace)
Cyndi Spivey at Walking in His Grace (One Thousand Gifts)
HopefulLeigh (One Thousand Gifts)
Oh Amanda! (Mr. and Mrs. Mugs)

Ladies, just find me at BlissDom to claim you prize. I look like the picture there in the sidebar, only much less Photoshopped.

The Winners of the 2010 Christmas Gift Guide Giveaways

Dawn — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 17:01:34 +0000

Random.org and I have been making our list and checking it twice. Here are the winners of the 15 giveaway prizes from 13 sponsors in my 2010 Christmas Gift Guide and Giveaway Extravaganza. Although the giveaway portion is over, please consider these wonderful companies for your Christmas shopping needs.

Artistic Photo Canvas: Michelle H. (comment 111)
DaySpring: Ever Grateful pitcher—Karen Schmidt (comment 286); Jesus is the Gift platter and tea towels—Judith (comment 209)
Eclectic Whatnot: Heather Ward (comment 114)
fashionABLE scarf: Meghan Tucker (comment 24)
From Head to Foot by Annie Downs: Jamie (comment 237)
Gussy: Beth (comment 235)
Lisa Leonard $50 gift certificates: Julie Martindale (comment 240) and Dianne (comment 306)
My Funky Camera: Jill Miller (comment 134)
NAPP: Yvonne (comment 187)
Red River Paper: John Seattle (comment 84)
Straight No Chaser: Tye (comment 272)
The Pleated Poppy: SLB (comment 238)
Union28: Michelle from Noblesville (comment 207)

If you see your name on this list, CONGRATULATIONS! I’ll be sending out emails later matching up sponsors and winners. Thank you so much for participating.

Something big is coming!

Dawn — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 07:05:52 +0000

There’s something big in the works, just for you! I’m creating my first ever Christmas gift guide. This isn’t your typical gift guide, because every company featured has also agreed to give away either a one or more of their products or gift certificates to their store.

At the present time there are 13 products from 11 companies. Stay tuned for more info!