Giveaway!!! Miss Money Bags!!!

The Giveaway is now closed! And we have a winner: number one, Stephanie Powell who said: "I like miss moneybags circles! all are cute, but thats my favorite. I Really need one of these. Recently started using just cash-no more card! I found I spend less money this way." Congrats!

I have been stalking Miss Money Bags' wallets for about a year. Basically, as soon as we started FPU. I love how her wallets incorporate form and function. Sarah, the brains behind the business, decided to share the story of her business with us AND to give one of her wallets away. All you envelope budgeters: you want this. You need this. You need to start spending cash again instead of putting it all on cards.

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Miss Money Bags' Story

"We are a family of makers. It's who we are...in our blood. Our grandparents made our toys and quilts, our mom made our pajamas, and we fell asleep in beds our dad made.

That's what's happened to me, Sarah Clark.  Hi there.  I make wallets and bags while raising my four kids with my tall, dark and handsome husband.  He makes things, too.  More on that in a bit.

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My parents started on Dave Ramsey a few years ago.  Money was always a pretty big battle growing up in our home. I was so proud of them, how with focus and sacrifices, they conquered their debt.  My mom is a cute lady.  She put that aside for a while and used this unattractive, but highly functional cash envelope wallet.  I knew I could make her a better one.  I could see the wallet in my mind.  The mind wallet was a form of defense, really, so I did not have to see her wallet anymore. Bad.

My mom wasn't the only one. I had seen a few friends who needed to boot their awful plastic accordion, too. I went to work, you know, for the good of the cute yet smart ladies of this world on a mission to live debt free.  I found an online tutorial and made my first envelope wallet out of some pretty scraps.  I tweaked it quite a bit, and went in for the kill.  I bought the perfect fabric, cut it up along with a canvas drop cloth I'd been saving.  Walaaa.. The MissMoneyBags cash envelope wallet was born.

It was perfect! My mom loved it, my friends loved it, I made one for myself.  Everywhere I went people would comment on it, and I got tons of orders.  Handmade, artsy, organic, durable, fun, functional, the list goes on and on. It's been three years with MissMoneyBags and they have been good!  I have customers who say they cannot budget without it. I know I can't.  This pretty wallet keeps me focused and motivated to make my cash mind!

Now my husband, Peter, and I are working on our new brand, Kith & Kin.  Kith & kin is an old folk phrase meaning friends and family.  He makes furniture and I'm making bags.  (We went to NYC this spring to feature his furniture in the architecture Digest Design Home Show.  Swanky! ) I love that we started out with MissMoneyBags.  We are debt free, are running our business debt free, learning to create, market, and go the pace that funds allow.  We'd love to share our handmade work with you!"

www.missmoneybags.etsy.com

www.kithandkinshop.com

She describes her wallets...

Designer fabric and durable canvas make this wallet super practical as well as fun. Perfect for you, the frugal fashionista! The front flap has a pocket and six card pockets, then four envelopes, and the back flap has a pocket and pen holder. The envelopes have a canvas label ready for you to assign with a name. The last envelope zips to close keeping your change and cell phone tucked in perfectly.

The Giveaway!!!

Sarah is kindly giving away her Mermaid wallet to the lucky winner.

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PRIZE : (1) Blue Mermaid Wallet made by Sarah of MissMoneyBags NUMBER OF WINNERS : (1) One TO ENTER : Enter by commenting on this post with your favorite wallet style from MissMoneyBags. (i.e., I LOVE the retro wallet!) The winner will then be chosen by Random.org. PRIZE SHIPS : Only to the US. NITTY GRITTY : This giveaway closes on Thursday, November 6, 2014 at 5pm MST. Only one contest entry per email address. The winner will be chosen by Random.org and will be announced in an update to this post the following Monday morning. We will email the winner directly, so please make sure you use your regular everyday email address when commenting. ***Discount for everyone: 10% off your order from MissMoneyBags! – code: HOB (Code expires November 30, 2014)

GOOD LUCK!

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Not Your Momma's Gratitude Challenge

I have not made it a secret that I have a new found passion/joy for taking pictures. I am BEYOND an amateur, but I don't let that stop me from taking and sharing my pictures. In the name of improving my photography skills and inviting you all to do the same, my friend Stacey and I are doing a gratitude PHOTO challenge for the month of November. NOVEMBER!?!? You ask. Why are you posting when it is still September? (You guys are so smart to ask such questions). The requirement is that you post a photo a day and I live in the real world where life is busy... crazy busy. This will give you the whole month of October to get your photos together. I am so nice and thoughtful.

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What's In It For Me?

The winner of the gratitude challenge (besides yourself for taking note of small things that give you joy) will also win a $50 Amazon gift card from yours truly. Now listen, I get to enter too. There will be three people that will vote on the winners (2 pros, and one normal person). They won't get to know whose pictures are who's and they will select a winner.

The Rules

  • You must be an amateur... no professionals.
  • You must have a camera that has a manual setting. It doesn't have to be a DSLR fancy pants camera per se. I have seen some power shots that have a manual setting. I would encourage ALL OF YOU to take that camera out of automatic mode and put it in manual. (I'll be posting some of my beginner tips from a beginner over the next month to get you pumped about growing your abilities).
  • We don't want iPhone pictures here people. This is a chance to improve your manual photography... so TAKE IT!
  • It doesn't matter when you took the photo, so long as YOU took it. Don't be that person.

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  • You can edit the photo as much as you like. Since I am amateur status all the way, I typically still edit in iPhoto on my computer.  At times I will experiment with Photoshop on LB's computer, but usually that ends with things being thrown...
  • Each of the 30 days in November, you will upload one photo to the House of Bennetts page on Facebook with a short caption that captures the spirit of that days category/theme. You will also tag it with #notyourmomsgratitudechallenge and #houseofbennetts.

The Themes By Day:

  1. Smile
  2. Leaves
  3. Morning Sky
  4. Books
  5. Something Funny
  6. Inspiring Person
  7. Nature
  8. Something Old
  9. Hands
  10. Written Words
  11. Movement
  12. Technology
  13. Animals
  14. Something New
  15. Friendship
  16. Your Favorite Room
  17. Clothing
  18. Gratitude
  19. Artwork
  20. Transportation
  21. Nighttime
  22. Light
  23. Something You Use Everyday
  24. Laughter
  25. Love
  26. Favorite Color
  27. An Accomplishment (a good candidate for a before and after)
  28. Work
  29. Music
  30. Self Portrait (I refuse to say Selfie)

At the end of the contest, you will upload your 30 days of submissions to a Dropbox folder and email me the link (houseofbennetts AT gmail DOT com).  This is the collection that will be judged by the judges because that is what judges do. :)  We hope to announce the winner no later than December 10 so that you can put that Amazon cash to good Christmas use.

*Helpful tip: you should upload your pictures to your Dropbox folder as you go through each day, that way on Day 30 you can submit the whole collection of your best work.

You must still upload to Facebook every day to be eligible to win the $50 Amazon card.

*If your collection wins, but you didn't upload each day, you will still be featured on the blog, but the gift card will go to the second place person who uploaded each day.

So comment away, either on Facebook or here at House of Bennetts. Share tips. Share praise. Keep it nice. We're all here to learn together. I will be doing a few periodic posts on gratitude reflections throughout the month of November and I hope to incorporate some Facebook uploads that catch my eye!

General Tips

Shoot outside... in cloudy weather and not direct sun. Also, check out this super simplified pin that helps ground what I think of as the three basics: apperture, shutter speed, and ISO.

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I typically set my ISO first and then go from there. I like to think of ISO as "Is the sun on?" If it is, I can use an ISO way down low (100-200). Even in pretty cloudy weather, if I am shooting outside the highest I typically need to go is 800.  Most of my shots indoors (unless I am lucky enough to have a ton of natural light streaming in) start at 800 - 1600.  The higher the ISO, the more grainy the picture.  Sometimes that can be a fun look, but also explains why outdoors shots are so smooth/clear!

So start there. Start somewhere. Just start. Let go of being self-conscious or afraid. You can do this! And you never know... you might win a $50 gift card on top of improving your photography skills. Win win I say.

Gratitude Challenge