Coupon Code: My Publisher

When my inlaws were in town, my mother-in-law asked me to help her order some of our wedding pictures for various frames throughout her house. Happy to oblige, we looked through my photographer's site and filled up the shopping cart. $150 later, something had to give.

Looking at the pictures she wanted to order it really made sense to order the 11x17 and to print the rest at Walgreens (I have the disc and rights, so it would be ok)... except then when she said she really wanted an album, I had an even better idea.

I had used My Publisher a while ago to make Christmas gifts for my college roommates and remembered that it was really easy to use and pretty inexpensive for what you got. So I spent the day putting together a pretty comprehensive wedding album of the day's events. I started with the girls in the salon, went through the ceremony, and ended with an artsy shot of our hotel room. It ended up having about 200 pictures and was 53 pages long. The best part was I had a buy one, get one free coupon code, so I got a copy of the album as well!

My book came in this week and I couldn't be happier with the quality! The album arrived in a white cloth cover:
And the black leather was really nice:
Here are a few pictures of the inside pages, though you'll reeeeally have to excuse the terrible lighting. These pictures are a LOT brighter in person, but with no flash, this is the best shot I oculd get:

Each page can have a different layout, so it's easy to really "tell the story" of whatever it is you're making your book about. In my case, I was able to put in tons of pictures so that you could see our day progress. Here's a shot where you can see that all of the pictures are full-bleed (they go right up to the edge of the page with no border):

Here's another 2 page spread that shoes the different layouts I was able to use:

And here's a shot of the spine/binding:

Those pages are never coming out. And here's one last one, just cause I like it. It's our ceremony, in action:

Please excuse the white line up my dad's back - that was the flash on my camera.

The pages are thick and the quality is great. I used all professional shots (courtesy of Bella Pictures), and every one came out very crisp. Overall, the book was $80 (leather cover upgrade, 20 pages included, and 33 pages extra at $1.99/page), plus shipping. The great thing about My Publisher is they put the book online for others to buy, so I was able to send the link to my mom. She was able to preview the book online and ended up buying a copy for herself ($64 for the book, minus the leather cover upgrade).

After I got my wedding book, I decided to put together book using our roadtrip pictures. They have a bunch of different layouts where you can insert text, so that's what I used - I wanted to be able to put in names of restaurants we ate at and places we visited. The booked ended up to be about 45 pages (I cannot stick to the 20 free pages ever), but I found a coupon online (love http://www.retailmenot.com/) for $30 off any purchase PLUS free shipping. My book ended up to be $15!!! I was also able to select OVERNIGHT as the free shipping option, and got an email yesterday saying it was going to be shipping on Monday. Awesome!

So, My Publisher = awesome, and as an added bonus, here's the code for $30 off plus free shipping: 65AZ-QHZ4. Just enter it exactly like that when you get to the check out page! Happy book making!

Product Review & Last Back2School Giveaway!

Remember this post? Exactly a month ago I was contacted by the folks over at Living Rooms Direct to do a product review of anything on their website, and was pointed to their modern housewares sectional, notNeutral. After looking through the site (multiple times; it was impossible to narrow down my choices!) I decided on the Links Carafe, thinking it would be a great addition to my wine collection. First, let me say that the customer service from Living Rooms Direct was great. I got email updates throughout the process, letting me know that the order had been completed and that it had shipped. They also included the tracking number so I could see when it had been delivered so I knew to expect it when I got home from work.

It arrived in a standard brown shipping box, and inside I found this:

It was packaged perfectly, arriving completely intact, and I set it out with my wine on our entertainment cart:
The carafe is glass, and while it seemed quite delicate, it actually has a good heft to it and is very durable. The top rim is a good thickness, and the edges are rounded. We used it to decant wine, but it would be perfect for ice water, lemonade, iced tea.... really anything you want to serve in style. I can't believe I didn't take a picture of our wine in it (we were really enjoying the wine), but here it is again:

I hope the collection of wine corks in the pitcher (on the left) doesn't make me look like a raging alcoholic.

Anywhoo, I love the Links Carafe. It's simple construction definitely doesn't lack in style though - look at the detailing at the bottom! It's also easy to hold - there isn't a handle on it, but the neck is the perfect size and I'm able to pretty much wrap my hand around it. Oh, and see the little pour spout? No spills. I didn't even have any drips after a pour... which meant no red wine stains on my oak table. Happiness. It's on the website right now for $23.04 plus shipping, and has matching glassware - highballs, cordials, and old fashions. It all comes highly recommended from me, especially the carafe!

But here's the best part.... the fine folks at Living Rooms Direct sent me two of these babies, which means I'll be keeping one (to decant wine after breaking the cork inside the bottle, which happens quite often) and I have a second one to giveaway!

Here are the rules:

1. To enter, leave me a comment with your favorite item from the notNeutral collection. Trust me, there is so cool stuff over there!
2. For a second entry, become a follower on my Twitter account (Hagen23) and Tweet about this giveaway. Be sure to put me (@hagen23) in the Tweet so I see it.
3. For a third entry, become a follower of Bless This Nest.
4. For a fourth entry, post about this giveaway on your blog.

Now here's the important part - each entry MUST be a separate comment! If it's not, it won't count, and that would be sad. The entry period will end on Saturday, September 19 at noon (EST) and the winner will be announced that evening.

In the mean time, check out Living Rooms Direct... they sell way more than just living room furniture!

UPS man....

I’m so excited because in a few days this will be arriving at my door:

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It’s a carafe by notNeutral, one of the most popular lines at Living Rooms Direct! The fine folks at LRD contacted me regarding a product review for the carafe, and I was more than happy to oblige. I’ll be writing an official product review just as soon as I’ve been able to use it, so keep an eye out for that in the next few days… and in the mean time, hop on over to Living Rooms Direct and check out the loot! They have so much more than just living room furniture; check out this cute stuff:

A dinner plate with a map of Washington, DC. How cute/patriotic/awesome is that?
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I can totally see these pillows in a little boy's room. Love the blue and brown!
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I love the pattern on these tea cups... if only I drank more tea!
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Can’t wait to tell you all about it; till then I’ll be waiting for the UPS guy!