look what i won + look what YOU won!

 

my fun new dancing shoes! (thanks BAITfootwear & sandyalamode!)

this morning the funnest package arrived!

though i love cheering on handmakers with great giveaways here whenever i can, i have to be honest: i really should enter other folks' contests MORE often!

but a couple of weeks ago i was enticed by the beautiful sandyalamode when i saw the vivid array of fun shoes i could choose from in her BAIT footwear giveaway.

and lo and behold - i WON!

much to my delight, BAIT has the funnest ever selection of primary coloured shoe-y superstars. the choice was a toughie - but my faves from the start are these cuties in cobalt blue. 

they are superfun and comfy, and so very well made! (and since you know my love of dandelions, i thought i'd show them off today in the photo above from our happily yellow & green park!) 

AND... much overdue, this starts a fun new blog series of what YOU nicies have WON here on the rikrak studio. (so many amazing sweeties have offered the funnest ever prizes here over the years. 

IF YOU'VE WON SOMETHING FUN ON MY BLOG, PLEASE DO SEND ME A PICTURE OF YOUR PRIZE (AND YOU WITH THEM, IF YOU FEEL KEEN!) to rikrakmail at yahoo dot com and i'll feature you, too!) 

let's spread the handmade love! 

(& speaking of giveaways ... just enough time to enter to WIN the little red door giveaway (ends tonight) & the may *i love my sponsors* giveaway, too! yay! )

..............

dana of made

won these superfun goodies from

block party press

strand redesign

&

amy may 

giveaway: one of eight gold medal prize packs in the 2011 handmade olympics!

.....................

 marta of a bilingual baby

chose this gorgeous clutch

from

homemadebags

giveaway: the 2011 handmade world cup

.....................

sandy a la mode

won this beautiful handmade moo moo

by

jules mae

giveaway: the jules mae giveaway

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fill-in-the-blanks interview with brilliant blogger: sandy a la mode!

it's a fun new series on the blog, nicies! a fill-in-the-blank interview with some of our favourite super-bloggers from around the blogosphere that inspire each of us everyday with their writings! we all know that brilliant bloggers spend so much of their precious time crafting the perfect posts. so  i thought we'd give our fave wordsmiths a little break: i sent each nicey a page full of fill-in-the-blanks questions { my words in pink } ...  & they filled them in with their insights { their words in grey/gray! }  hope you'll enjoy fill-in-the-blanks with our next brilliant blogger: the lovely sandy of sandy a la mode!

Hi all!  I’m super excited to be featured here on the fabulous rikrak studio blog! {editor's note: thanks, cutie! so honoured to have you! }

I'm Sandy from Sandy a la Mode, a blog and more recently, an etsy shop!

I love cupcakes & traveling & shopping for dresses.

I blog about my photography, baking, sewing adventures as well as inspirational finds over here: http://www.sandyalamode.com/.

{You might be surprised to hear that I travel almost every other week, to cities all over the world, for my full-time job.}

Beyond blogging, my perfect afternoon would be: a picnic, with my husband, eating ice cream, talking about our next vacation (hopefully Australia), listening to Billboard Top 100 songs.

I'm a huge fan of frozen yogurt with mochi + strawberries.

Here's my favourite photo of myself.

I love the photo because that camera strap cover was the first thing I’ve ever sewn and made me realize that I could be a crafty person.  Also, most of the time, you can find me behind my camera.

I just finished sewing a bunch of mini drawstring bags for my etsy shop.  To celebrate my grand opening, I am offering them for FREE with every order.

I love making anything with puff pastry & sugar.
 

The sunshine makes me happy & ice storms make me sad (and really cold).


A word I love to overuse is “amazing”.

And I may have made up the word “dramaful.”

I HEART blogging!

Taking pictures for the blog and meeting new bloggers inspires me to keep on posting!

I began blogging to document my journey in cooking, sewing and photography and now I blog about inspirations, our basement renovation progress and other DIYs as well.

What amazes me about blogging is that there is such a VAST community of encouraging, supportive bloggers out there!

My 3 tips to a great blog would be:

pictures
content
& humor.

Gosh! It's challenging blogging when I have a full-time job, travel all the time, have all this housework,
but fear not, I just try and schedule up posts ahead of time on the weekends so I’m not AS busy on the weekdays trying to blog.  It doesn’t always work out that way, but I try! J

One of my favorite blog posts I've ever written is this one on the baby shower I planned for my friend. 

 
I documented with photos the food we prepared, the decorations we made and the games we played.

I spend a lot of time reading other blogs.

I love the rikrak studio blog because it's fun and has posts about a vast variety of topics. { editor's note: superthanks sweetie! }

and I can’t help but check the bright side project blog because it's got giveaways every Monday, Wednesday and Friday – who doesn’t love giveaways?.

and of course the oh hello friend blog is beautiful because it's always got a daily dose of inspiration.

One thing I wish I had learned sooner in bloggyville is that it is super addicting.

and don't worry: if I can get myself to close my computer lid then I can step away for from blogging for awhile and enjoy the fresh air haha.

My favourite part of blogging is that I have been able to meet so many blogger friends online and even some in person.

However, I could do without spam comments.

Something regular happening on my blog these days is my Friday Flavors to Follow posts.  

sandy a la mode

blog | shop | twitter

Hope you all enjoyed reading a little bit more about me, a fellow blogger and friend.  OK time for me to go, ice cream is calling my name! 

......................

yay!

thanks so much, sandy, for your inspiring words!

be sure to visit sandy around the web.. she's such an amazing superwoman! 

& please leave her a hello here, too!

happy blogging, nicies!

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early bird catches the worm!

woohoo!
here we are @ the results for eco week giveaway # 4 of 7. so fabulous reading your lovely words, nicies! today i'm thankful to the lovely jules mae design for her gorgeous ooak moomoo prize!
and random.org chose ... #6 for us! yessirree bob! the early bird {entry!} got the worm! congrats to lovely blogger sandyalamode. gosh - what a gorgeous, inspiring blog you have, sandy! filled with lovely images, yummy recipes and great ideas! hope you'll show us a pic of you in your beautiful new moomoo! so head on over to sandyalamode!

and fear not.. there are still 3 more giveaways to WIN this week here on the rikrak studio!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
WIN WIN WIN
1. giveaway now closed!
2. giveaway now closed!
3. giveaway now closed!
4. giveaway now closed!
5. a lovely textile necklace by *vadjutka*, here. {ends wednesday!}
6. a pair of fabulous wall pockets by *greencouchdesign*, here. {ends thursday!}
7. a gorgeous rose organza purse by *karen meyers* , here.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
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