Forget about all the stress that can come with trying to figure out how to design and organize your own blog… Designer blogs can do it for you! They create custom, cute, and VERY inexpensive blog layouts for YOU!

Example:

“Designer Blogs specializes in custom blog design and premade blog design for personal and business blogs hosted through BLOGGER. Each custom design at Designer Blogs is created to reflect the style and personality of the client, rather than the designer, which is why every custom design created will always be tailor-made and 100% unique.“

Here are just a few of my favorites from their portfolio (click on their links to see the whole page):

Discount:
The lovely and awesome Amy at Designer Blogs has also offered to give my readers 10% off an order with Designer Blogs! Just give them this promotion code when you contact them: REFERRED BY THE PAPER MAMA. If you win the giveaway and would like to order a blog now, they will reimburse you for the giveaway. (the 10% off can’t be used with other discount codes or offers other than the returning customer discount).

You know what else is pretty cool? They always give a 15% discount to adoption blogs! Contact them for more info, and let them know I referred you. 😀

What do you win?

Or, you can do a mix and match order! Click here for more pricing information.

How do you win? Please follow these steps… AND make sure I have a way to contact you through e-mail. If I don’t… I’ll have to delete the entry… 🙁

Mandatory entry:
1) Go to the Designer Blogs pricing page and come back here to comment and let me know what package or a la carte you’d like to do for your blog! {1 entry}

Optional entries:
1) Follow me (see sidebar) {1 entry}
2) Follow Designer Blogs {2 entries}
3) Like my new Facebook page for The Paper Mama{1 entry}
4) Like Designer Blogs on Facebook {2 entries}
5) Blog about this giveaway… linking back to my blog (please post blog post link in comment). {3 entries}
6) Grab one of my buttons in the sidebar there… {2 entries}
7) You can vote for me… ONLY if you really want to. 🙂 Click here: {1 entry}


Giveaway ends October 1st 11:59 PM Pacific Time. 🙂

Have a lovely day!

Baby Girl,

You are 9 months old today! I can’t believe it. What are you up to this month?
– You are babbling up a storm. It’s pretty much non-stop.
– You look at Angus and my mom’s dogs and say, “Aanduh”. I think that’s you’re first word. 😀
– I’d say you’re REALLY close to crawling. You push up on your knees and rock back and forth. But, you only manage to move when your on your belly: in circles and backwards.

– I can get so much more done during the day. This is because you’re entertaining yourself better.
– You’ve got 2 teeth all the way in: on your bottom row.
– Screeching is a favorite of yours.
– You’re still getting up 1 – 2 times a night. We’re hoping you sleep through the night soon!
– Naps are getting better. You sleep about 3 hours straight.
– You aren’t that into cuddling… but, you’ve been resting your head on my shoulder sometimes. I love it.
– You still cry EVERY time before bed.
– We’ve been feeding you baby food every morning. You’re getting better at eating it all! Most of it now stays in your mouth.
– You are amazing.

Love,
Mama

This weeks guest judge: 

Jess from: irocksowhat
This weeks challenge: Fingerprint.
The challenge: The challenge will be based around your children. We’ve done this challenge before… And, I really loved it. Lets do it again! Take or find a photo of your baby (or kid… or puppy… or kitty) fingers or toes. Or both!

“Fingerprint” example from Jess:

“Fingerprint” example from me:

……………………..
There always has to be rules… I know, boring right? But, it’s to help me and you. 🙂 Click on the link for more details… Each entry does need to link back to my blog… Click here to see last weeks winner… All photo entries need to be in by 11:59 PM Pacific Time on September 23rd…
……………………..

Winners so far:

• Fingerprint: … no one yet …
• A hint of color: … no one yet …
• Confusion: … no one yet …
• Me and Mama: … no one yet …

♥♥♥♥♥♥
If you have an Etsy shop and would like to give away an item as a prize… please drop me a line! I ♥ sponsors and will show your shop some love for your contribution. 🙂
♥♥♥♥♥♥

<a href=”https://thepapermama.blogspot.com”><img src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_N5YyoVHof0Y/TCp76y9cYUI/AAAAAAAABbA/je3l_yRK6B0/s200/paper+mama+button+copy.png” alt=”The Paper Mama” width=”127″ height=”127″ /></a>

NOTE: SOOOOOoooo, the last couple people that won the vote off: I found a couple of envelopes in my hubby’s car under the seat for you guys. He was supposed to send them out. I think they got lost under the seat. Sorry! There was a whole pile of letters I asked him to send out for me. Anyway, I’ll send them out Monday. 🙂

• 1)  Flower: A Pile of Pics

Why Mandy chose this photo: “I love love love this. Great perspective, focus, and composition. I love all of the browns in the photo, the pink flower just pops. “

•  2) Self: Simplicity

Why Lindsay chose this photo: “Holy mommy-hood defined in a photo!“

• 3) Excitement: And then she snapped…

Why Joni chose this photo: “There is something about seeing a little boy and his daddy that is just so amazing to me.  I can see the bond and the love in this photo and it actually makes me a little teary eyed every time I look at it. Such a great moment that was captured!“

• 4) Brown: Knee Deep in Mommahood.

Why Tia chose this photo: “This shot is a great example of how a photo can be incredibly striking even if your child is out of focus. A very creative short DOF shot.”

 

Please Vote! Voting will end on July 30th, 2010 at 11:59 pm. Get your friends and family to vote! 🙂 Make a post on your blog linking back to the vote post.

What will the winner of this vote win you ask? A couple of cards from my Paper Lady Invites shop! Yay! So, go on and vote!

This weeks guest judge: 

chose the top 5 this week! Please go check out her blog! And, thank her for guest judging!

Now, on to the top 5 chosen by Tia:

• 1st: Knee Deep in Mommahood.

Why Tia chose this photo: “This shot is a great example of how a photo can be incredibly striking even if your child is out of focus. A very creative short DOF shot.”

 

<a href=”https://thepapermama.blogspot.com”><img src=”http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4153/4847449308_0ccb29e29f_b.jpg” alt=”The Paper Mama” width=”150″ height=”150″ /></a>

• 2nd: The Likes Family.

Tia says, “Love, love her cowboy hat and brown freckles. It’s hands down my favorite portrait entry in the challenge. ” 

Congrats to the top 5 winners! Great job, and please feel free to grab the top 5 button below! You’re all awesome!

<a href=”https://thepapermama.blogspot.com”><img src=”http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4087/4846828687_512b90c587_b.jpg” alt=”The Paper Mama” width=”150″ height=”150″ /></a>

The Paper Mama’s favorite photos (in no particular order):

• Unofficial Mom.

• Red Letter Rising.

• Bunch of Barrons.

• A Sorta Fairytale.

Although I did not pick the winner this week, I did want to share my favorites. So hard to choose! If you’re one of my favorites you are more than welcome to grab a “Paper mama hearts me” button below!
 

<a href=”https://thepapermama.blogspot.com”><img src=”http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4105/4847449116_38411d1fa1_b.jpg” alt=”The Paper Mama” width=”150″ height=”150″ /></a>

And, just for fun… Tia and I both have a couple of honorable mentions:

• Blue Jeans and Pearls.

• Me as a mother.

• Exposures from the heart.

• A Good Life.

• Buckeroo Mama.

• Cositas Bellas.

……………………..

Winners so far:

• Flower: … A Pile of Pics …
• Self: … Simplicity…
• Excitement: … And then she snapped …
• Brown: … Knee Deep in Mommahood …

AND: IT’S TIME FOR THE VOTE OFF! THE LINK WILL BE UP SOON. 🙂

Please check out this weeks photo challenge: “Fingerprint.”

♥♥♥♥♥♥
If you have an Etsy shop and would like to give away an item as a prize… please drop me a line! I ♥ sponsors and will show your shop some love for your contribution. 🙂
♥♥♥♥♥♥

Ruari’s been practicing getting up on her knees for a couple of weeks now. She mostly just scoots backwards and turns in circles. BUT, “Practice makes perfect!” I keep telling her. I love the photo above! It was totally a happy accident too.

So, I’ve been telling myself that “practice makes perfect.” too. I’m taking Simplicity’s SLR class and starting to understand a bit about my new camera. This week we’re working on shutter speed. I was practicing my shutter speed with Princess the kitty and little baby butt yesterday afternoon:

It sort of looks like Princess is controlling that teething ring with mind control. ;D

Do you like how my baby is halfway under her playpen? Such a good mom. ;D Anyway… back to the practice crawling…

I tried to tempt Ruari with this yellow doughnut…. She wanted it! But… still no crawling yet.

Practice makes perfect. 😀 I think she’ll get it soon.

Thursday’s Three:

1) My first pick is the AWESOME discount Layla Grace is offering! I finding it very difficult to not take advantage of this deal. 😀 What’s the deal? Here it is: You get an EXTRA 15% off ALL sale prices through the rest of September! Oh man. It’s crazy. Here are the sale goodies that I’d like to take advantage of (but, I’m broke… so I probably wont. 😀 ):

They really have quite a bit of selection in the sale section. If you do want to take advantage of this sale… click here and click on the sale section banner. 🙂 When you check out use this code: SALEx2

2) My second pick is the 20% off coupon for the Paper Mama readers to BabyLegs! My discount code ( PAPERMAMA ) ends on October 31st. They have some cute Halloween-ey BabyLegs up now. VERY cute. I should probably take advantage of the discount too! You know, since Ruari will be crawling soon! Here are my fave’s right now:

Can you tell I’m ready for Halloween? If you’d like to use the 20% coupon. The code PAPERMAMA you can use it during checkout. 😀

3) Unofficial Mom. She’s SO awesome and amazing. She sent me a collection of adoption information. Magazines, books, AND a couple of goodies! Just in case you’re wondering: Mike and I have decided it’s too dangerous for me to get pregnant again. You can read here to see why.

She’ll really be a wealth of information! And, she’s pretty awesome too! You should totally check out her blog and her super cute Pie baby boo head. In addition to all the amazing information… she sent me some VERY cute artwork for Laureli. L is for Laureli! AND, a REALLY cute shirt! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! I love it all!

WOW… that was a long post! Don’t forget today is the last day to enter the Brown photo challenge. And, it’s the last day to enter the Day in your life photo challenge at Paper Heart Camera.