Want Not

Don’t forget—you only have until early tomorrow morning to enter to win a fabulous DIY cardboard robot for your, er, I mean, your kids’ enjoyment.

You can’t win if you don’t enter, so get crackin’. Or entering. Because I don’t know what you would crack, and that probably wouldn’t count as an entry, anyway.

As always, please leave a comment on the contest post for a valid contest entry. Comments left on this post shall be limited to discussion of how anything you volunteer to do out of the goodness of your heart ends up taking at least ten times as much time and energy as you anticipate. Not that I’m bitter. Much.

If you’re like me, you embrace technology, sure, but every now and then you tire of every cherished children’s toy or activity working off half-a-dozen batteries. Sometimes simple is better, y’know?

I’ve written about the awesomeness that is Calafant’s cardboard creations here, before (I think we did a playhouse giveaway last year), but I’m absolutely smitten with one of the newest additions to the line—meet the Calafant Calabot, a 21″ tall cardboard robot that’s assembled without any tape or glue, ready to be decorated however your child pleases. The packaging suggests decorating him with found objects, even, and whatever you decide to do, this is one futuristic plaything that’s all about imagination.

Our generous friends at CreativeToyshop.com have provided a Calafant Calabot for one lucky Want Not reader! Want to win it? Of course you do! First go review the contest rules and regulations, then come on back here and leave a comment on this post by 8:00 a.m. Eastern (that’s 5:00 a.m. Pacific) on Thursday, November 10th, 2011 for a chance to win.

Ready? Go!

Sorry for the delay on this winner announcement—I believe I’m going to have a coupon to share with y’all, shortly, but I’m going to go ahead and post the winner because not getting this posted is delaying this week’s contest. And we can’t have that. So!

Last week I gave you the chance to win $75 towards anything at Something About Silver, and hundreds of you knew a good thing when you saw it. Sadly, we can only have one winner, but the lucky recipient of $75 worth of pretty hand-stamped silver jewelry is… commenter 187, Emily. Congratulations, Emily—please check your email!

As always, big thanks to all who played, and special thanks to our generous friends at Something About Silver for the prize donation.

Didn’t win this one? Don’t be blue! I have another contest coming right up….

Don’t forget—you have until early tomorrow morning to enter to win a $75 gift certificate to Something About Silver. You can’t win if you don’t enter, so don’t miss out just because you forgot. That would be sad.

As always, valid entries are achieved via reading the rules and leaving a comment on the contest post. Comments on this post are reserved for loftier matters, like why it continues to crack me up that the contractors doing construction outside our house right now insist on calling Licorice “Killer.” (Twelve pounds of terror!)

But seriously, enter the contest. It’s free money to spend on gorgeous jewelry. Go. Now.

Did someone say hand-stamped custom jewelry? Why, yes. I believe that Something About Silver did—right there in their inventory of various necklaces, bracelets, rings, keepsakes and more.

Choose the design that speaks to you. Maybe it’s the generations necklace, pictured here. Maybe it’s your kids’ birthstones and personalized charms with their names and/or birth dates. Maybe it’s the stacking rings, so you can wear them in various combinations depending on your mood.

I’m kind of smitten with the “I love you more” bracelet, possibly because my husband and I are terribly immature and any declaration of “I love you” is likely to be met with “I love you more.” Heh.

Anyway, my point is that they make beautiful things. And one lucky Want Not reader is going to win a $75 gift certificate to Something About Silver this week! Because the only thing better than pretty things is free pretty things.

Want to win it? Of course you do! First, go review the contest rules and regulations. Then come on back here and leave a comment on this post by 8:00 a.m. Eastern (that’s 5:00 a.m. Pacific) on Thursday, November 3rd, 2011 telling me what you’d buy if you won. I’ll use my handy-dandy random number picker plugin doohickey to choose the winner.

What are you waiting for? Go!

Last week hundreds of you vied for a chance to win some wine-themed goodies from Uncommon Goods, and in the end my automated winner-picker-thingie (yes, that’s the technical term) decided to stay low. Congratulations to commenter 12, Heather! You’ve won all three wine-themed gifts from Uncommon Goods!

Big thanks to all who played, and special thanks to Uncommon Goods for supplying the fabulous prizes. I feel 57% cooler with a platter made from a recycled wine bottle (truth).

Didn’t win this one? Don’t be sad! I have another chance to win something awesome coming right up….

Don’t forget—you only have until early tomorrow morning to enter to win a trio of wine-themed gifts from Uncommon Goods for your enjoyment or regifting pleasure.

You would be sad if you didn’t win because you simply forgot to enter, right? Make sure you get in there before the deadline. It’s the patriotic thing to do.

As always, please leave your comments on the contest post for valid entries. Also, I can’t help but notice that I offered you two additional ways to get extra entries, for this contest, and many of you are choosing to utilize them but forgetting to leave that extra comment for the extra entry. I’m trying to take a Darwinian stance on this, but if you do one of the extra things, you might want to check to make sure you then left an extra comment. Heh.

Comments on this post will not be considered valid contest entries. This post is purely for… oh, how about discussion of wine. That should be interesting….

How much do I love Uncommon Goods? I love them so much, that I loved them lots even before they offered to send me an assortment of their unique wine gifts for review and giveaway. But when they said, “Hey, how about you try these out, and then we’ll give a set away to your readers, too?” (hint, hint—keep reading!) I was definitely in.

For starters, there’s this Wine For Two wine glass holder made from a retired oak wine barrel stave. I’d call this item a bit more of a conversation piece than a truly functional item, but it’s sturdy and looks really striking, plus I love that it’s made from reclaimed wood. In spite of what the picture shows, this is best utilized before the wine is opened—hang the glasses upside-down in the holder, and you’ll have something to talk about before you pop the cork. (more…)

So my new contest plug-in both chooses a winner for me and closes the comments on the contest, which I already love, because the whole “This would be so awesome!” flood of comments hours, days, and sometimes even weeks after the deadline makes me sad. All hail the magical contest plug-in!

The winner of our contest for Roxio Creator 2012 is commenter 65, Susan. Congratulations, Susan—please check your email!

Big thanks to all who played, and special thanks to the folks at Savings.com and Roxio for the prize.

Didn’t win this time? Don’t be sad! Not only do I have a few very cool contests coming up in the next few weeks, does anyone remember Big Prize Week from last year, leading up to Black Friday? I’m in the process of lining up the goodies for a repeat of that this year, and I think y’all are going to be very happy. Stick around.

Don’t forget—you have until early tomorrow morning to enter to win Roxio Creator 2012 so that you can be awesome. And also so that you can edit pictures and videos and stuff easily on your home (non-Mac) computer.

You can’t win if you don’t enter, so get your comment in before the deadline. Not winning is sad, but not winning because you forgot to enter is kind of pitiful.

As always, contest entry comments go on the contest post. This post shall be reserved for discussion of… your favorite soup recipes. Yes. Because it’s cold and rainy and I like soup. Go.